#maybe if work’s slow tomorrow i may borrow a laptop and try and get something on paper

[rainbowinbeigeboots]

chapter 7 when

god i hope soon when my brain decides to function LOL, but realistically uhhhh hopefully sometime next month! idk if it helps any in regards to a teaser for this chapter but so far i have a nice hotel scene planned, trying to figure out how include an EXTREMELY small/niche reference just for myself, and have a future chapter shoutout to the spirit of carly rae jepson for possessing me that’s a pivotal moment for eve already written so it will happen!!! 💖

[thedistrictsleepsalonetonight]

Your mess is mine

Sue may only be a math major, but she knows this much about telling a story: it needs to have a beginning, middle, and an end.  

If she were to sit down and write one, here is where it would start — Emily laughs and she falls in love. It doesn’t matter the year, the month, or the minute; when Emily laughs, she falls in love. Sue’s a little slow when these things are concerned, love doesn’t come to her as quickly or as easily as it has historically come to Emily. I saw you in the coffee shop and I knew you were the one, she’s fond of telling Sue, usually during fights. It’s highly annoying that Emily thinks it’d work on her. Even more annoying is the fact that it does. 

Alright, does she have moments of intense déjà vu sometimes? Like when they’re lying in bed, after one of Austin’s house parties, and Sue curls up into Emily’s soft shoulders, plays with her pretty, pretty hands? Or when she catches Emily conked out in front of her laptop in a corner table at the café on her break and gently wakes her up? Sure. But isn’t that what love is? The same five gestures repeated in infinite ways, creating a well of infinite affection. So if walking the steps with Emily settles deep into her bones without flinching, as if they’ve done this before, she’s convinced that it’s because they’re well and truly perfect together. 

(Definitely not because — and this is something that has been occurring to her more and more lately — they were star-crossed lovers in a past life a century ago.) 

(That would be crazy.) 

(Right?) 

***** 

Falling in love aside, Emily can be really, infuriatingly, secretive about the worst of things. Sometimes it is charming, watching her having to pick her way through multiple explanations, create long-winded detours just to attempt to confuse Sue into getting exasperated enough to drop the subject altogether. But that’s at the very end, when it turns out that she was going to all this trouble to make sure Sue wasn’t going to find out she’d gotten her that one Hawaiian shirt Sue had off-handedly admired once, aeons ago. Or that she’s been holed up in their room all day because she’s been setting up lights in honor of it being exactly six months since they first hugged. Which is why she is more resigned that surprised when Lavinia sits down in front of her, leans in, and asks her what she’s doing for Emily’s birthday next week. 

Sue sneaks a look at Emily who is currently chatting with an old lady who usually comes in on the weekends. Her girlfriend happens to be one of those baristas who is beloved by the elderly, God only knows why. All the older ladies will hang back at the counter and tell her all about their grandkids’ schools and ballet recitals. In return, Emily will rant to them about college and apparently, Sue as well, which was something she discovered one day when she walked in and two old ladies gave her teasing yet approving smiles from their table. 

(And then took her aside to whisper — Showing a little skin wouldn’t do any harm and would keep your girl on her toes — which near about killed her)  

The entire situation is hilarious. Also the most adorable thing she has ever seen. 

“Why haven’t you guys discussed your birthdays yet?” 

“It’s just never,” Sue muses, “come up, I guess.” 

Austin rollerblades past, swivels to a stop and bends so he’s approximately level with their faces. “Are we talking about,” he says, lowering his voice to a comical whisper, “Emily’s birthday?” 

Lavinia pulls him down, so he’s sitting on the spare chair. “And Sue’s, apparently. Did you know her birthday falls, like, nine days after Emily’s?” 

Austin stares at her, wide-eyed. “That means it’s on the.... 19th? 

Sue nods. 

“The 19th of December? After Emily’s birthday, on the 10th of December?” 

“Y....es?” 

He swipes at his phone, taps a couple of buttons, and then looks up with a smug smile. “I knew I remembered something. Look.” 

Lavinia has to angle her whole body to see, but it registers for both of them at the same time. A certain poet and her muse, who also apparently shared the same birthday as her and Emily. 

“Huh,” Lavinia says. “Maybe there is something to Emily’s theory after all.” 

“You mean Emily’s theory that we’re the reincarnations of those two?” she asks, hearing her own voice get progressively more hysterical by the word. She clears her throat, takes a deep breath, adds it to the list of rapidly growing coincidences in her head that she’s never going to give a closer look to, because that would be crazy. 

“Really the only part of this I’m genuinely shocked by,” Lavinia says after a long pause, in which Sue is struggling to reason with the logical part of her brain, “is that Austin remembers Emily Dickinson’s birthday.” 

Austin smiles proudly, and the thought is so funny that it drives potential insanity out of her mind eventually. 

***** 

“Why didn’t you tell me your birthday’s tomorrow?” 

Emily startles from where she’s staring out the window of the car, and Sue has about a moment to regret blurting it out before they’re looking at each other. She’d spent the entire week setting up the entire thing for Emily and now it probably won’t even be a surprise, but she’s insanely curious. No better time for it, either way. She’d planned everything perfectly, from picking up Emily at the café in the classy car she’d borrowed from Austin, to making sure it wasn’t too late after dinner. And yet, here they were, surrounded by cars and honking people because traffic was a fickle bitch. 

“Is that why we’re taking this trip?” she asks, wide-eyed. 

Sue extends a hand towards her, ruffles up her hair, feeling fond. Trust her idiot girlfriend to not have figured it out yet. She moves her hand to Emily’s cheek, and feels Emily cover it with her own. Feels a soft kiss pressed against her palm. 

“What did you think it was, dumdum?” 

“Well, it is the three month anniversary of—” Sue’s alarm is probably showing on her face, so she backtracks quickly. “Kidding. Kidding. There’s nothing tomorrow.” 

Sue pinches at her cheek. “Except your birthday. Speaking of which—” 

“Eh,” Emily shakes her head, shuffles around on her seat awkwardly, “it’s.... uh, complicated.” 

“Is the complication that you happen to share a birthday with a poet from long ago?” she’s only half-joking.  

Emily laughs at that. “Caught on, did you? Did you also check—” 

“E-yup.” 

“That your birthday is also—” 

“E-yup,” she says. Then turns to look at Emily. “Wait. How do you know when my birthday is?” 

Emily opens her mouth, but before she can say anything Sue hurriedly cuts in. “And you’re not allowed to say you have your ways.” 

Years ago, when Sue was fourteen, one day her dad and her mom came home with the same vegetable. Same quantity. It was beans, and she could vividly remember all three of them staring down in mock dismay at the two separate huge bundles of beans that now took up most of the space on the table. Then they started comparing prices. Turns out her mother’s bundle had cost a couple cents lesser than her father’s. But it’s not the same , her mother had insisted, holding up both the bundles. See, yours weighs more. I think the grocer I bought it from took some off . 

To this day, she defines love as the way her mother’s hand fell over his, combined with the way her dad looked at her next — like a child who had just been told that the blanket fort he’d spent hours constructing, wasn’t going to be torn down. Like someone had just handed a piece of the world to him, and told him to make of it whatever he wanted.  

Sue recognizes it in the way Emily looks at her. Like she’s saying — Of course. Of course, you know me well enough to guess the next stupid thing that comes out of her mouth. 

(She’s not very good at love, but she hopes Emily can read the answer in her eyes just the same) 

“Birthdays are complicated,” Emily says, slowly. “I’ve had some very good ones and then some very bad ones.” First girlfriend who she asked out on her 20th birthday, and second girlfriend who she broke up with a week before her 23rd; Sue fills in the blanks as she talks. “So I guess I try not to tell people so I myself don’t expect anything out of it. Neutral birthdays are better than euphoric ones or sad ones, because at least they don’t haunt me forever.” 

“Baby,” she says, and then trails off. Sometimes she likes calling Emily endearments, or just say her name out loud, randomly, even if there’s no statement attached to it. The sentiment’s always the same, however. I’m glad you exist. I’m glad you found me. I like your name. I love you.  

(Emily’s fallen asleep by the time she’s driven to the top of the grassy knoll, by the time the clock hits midnight. Sue lets her sleep through it. There will be time to sit on top of the blanket and watch a sleepy Emily blow out the candles on a tiny cake that looks like a typewriter, to stare at the stars all night long while they listen to soft, slow songs on a pair of shared earphones. For now, Sue watches Emily sleep, head tilted against the glass and decides to hold off on telling her she loves her until the day after her birthday. It’s a perfectly neutral birthday. No use in spoiling it.) 

(Emily says it back though, in case anyone was wondering) 

***** 

Sometimes, when Sue sees Emily cooking for her, she loses her breath. 

(And sometimes, it’s not even due to the smoke from a burned dish) 

But there’s something peaceful about watching Emily cook, especially if she hasn’t yet cottoned onto the fact that Sue’s watching her. She’s one of those annoying people who always has their headphones on, so most of her cooking in the kitchen involves perfectly timing the beats with the swipes of her spatula. Sometimes she spins around in the middle of a pancake flip to see if she can catch it in midair. Juvenile shenanigans aside, what really gets Sue, even after almost a year of having watched Emily dance around in the kitchen is the care with which she handles food that they will eat. It’s so different to the kind of food she cooks when she’s just cooking for herself. Sue’s seen her slap on two days expired cheese on top of a tortilla and call it lunch. And yet. 

And yet. Sue will have the best of things. Lasagna that’s still steaming. A sandwich filled with the most delicious ingredients. Waffles topped with cream that Emily will get up early in the morning to get for her. Food enhanced with care, made better with love. 

Why don’t you make those nice things for yourself, she’s asked on multiple occasions, to which Emily’s always shrugged. It’s just me. I can have almost anything. 

(Emily deserves the best. Sue will make sure she has it) 

There are flowers on the table, an assortment of daffodils and lilies arranged on a vase. Right in between two shiny plates laid out with napkins folded carefully beside them. Sue slides into one of the chairs quietly, rests her elbows on the table and waits for Emily to finally turn around. 

There is a panicked scream when she does. Sue doesn’t want to be that girlfriend, but this is definitely going on the list of stories she’ll tell their future kids when they’ve grown. 

(Another day she would worry about how the term — Their kids — moves around in her chest comfortably like a sip of hot cocoa. Today, exactly one year to the day Emily told her she liked her, she shrugs it off) 

“You weren’t supposed to wake up for another half an hour at least.” 

Sue hums. “You did tire me out last night, that is true.” 

“Sue!” Emily says, scandalized, face rapidly turning red. “I — that’s highly — okay wait, first things first....” 

She walks over to the table, and bends to kiss Sue.  

“Happy anniversary.” 

Sue closes her eyes, kisses both her cheeks in response. “Happy anniversary, my love.” 

Emily grins back, then stands again. “Either way,” she says, as she ladles soup onto a bowl, and gathers multiple plates on a tray to subsequently bring to the table, “brunch! Courtesy of your beautiful girlfriend who finally managed to figure out how to make the perfect chicken pot pie without burning down the house, or worse, giving you salmonella.” 

Sue inspects what lies in front of her. “Babe, this looks amazing.” 

Emily looks proud, as she sits on the other chair. “And that’s not all, okay? This is just the start. Today evening I have gotten us both tickets to—” 

“Move in with me.” 

When Emily blinks, Sue startles. The words that had just come out of her mouth definitely weren’t well-thought-out, but now she was thinking about it and it seemed like all she ever wanted in life. To go to sleep with Emily, and wake her up in time for her morning classes, to be able to see her all the time, and not have to watch her go. 

“That wasn’t my gift, by the way,” she adds, speaking fast, thinking of the limited-edition original copies of a book she’d driven five hours to the next town to get. “But it’s what I want. Us. Living together. I love you. We should.... uh, live together so — uh, okay Emily make me stop talking please.” 

Emily shuts her up with a kiss. When they separate, she stays close to Sue, looking right into her eyes with that soft, soft expression.  

“Are you sure?” she asks. 

Sue takes in a deep breath. Nods. “Yeah.” 

Emily considers that for a moment. Then says with a teasing smile — “I thought this violated your relationship rules.” 

“What ae you—” 

“No kissing before the second date. No celebrating six-month anniversaries because that’s for dummies. No moving in before at least two years of dating—” 

“And if you remember correctly,” Sue cuts in, smoothly, “I kissed you two days before our first date. And serenaded you with a Taylor Swift song at the café on our six-month anniversary.” 

“You did do that,” Emily says, quietly. 

“And as long as we’re on the subject, I hate staying up past 11, or listening to sad girl music in the car, or watching that horrendous show about those two annoying men fake-dating,” Sue tells her, “but — it is my greatest honor that I get to do that for you. And with you. Emily, if you haven’t figured it out already, you’re kinda the exception to every single one of my rules.” 

Sue reads Emily’s answer in the kiss she receives next. 

***** 

The middle, the middle, everything boils down to the middle. It’s what Sue sometimes hears Emily muttering to herself in the middle of the night when she has an assignment due the next day. Sue will blink, look over to the desk where Emily is planted with her nightlight on, hands in her hair. Sometimes Sue will keep blinking slowly, taking in the sight of Emily typing until she falls asleep. Sometimes Emily will notice that she’s up, walk over to the bed, and hum snippets of songs until she’s drifting off again.  

And for all the beauty of the beginning, of first kisses and first dates and first times, there’s something to be said about the fifteenth time Emily plays her something on the ukulele, warning her beforehand that her voice might crack. Or the sixtieth burger she runs across the campus to hand over to Emily when she knows she’s got back-to-back classes scheduled. About the hundredth time she falls into bed, and scooches over, eyes closed, until Emily’s wriggling body is aligned against hers. There’s peace in knowing that a first time will inevitably lead to a second time, and then countless others.  

(There’s peace in knowing the middle lasts the longest)   

***** 

She knows she’s in trouble. Has known she’s in trouble the minute she came out of the store and discovered that there was a pileup on the highway. And then when Lavinia called her panicking because their house-warming slash house party was getting out of control because of a lack of beer and a general overabundance of Austin. And then when her phone died in the middle of her conversation with Emily.  

(So much trouble) 

She’s exhausted by the time she makes it back to her apartment (their apartment , she corrects herself, smiling at the thought) and makes her way up the stairs, hearing the volume of the music increase with every step. Opens the door and is assailed with extremes — the tiny sparkling mirror ball someone’s managed to hook up to the ceiling, the dancing crowd in their living room, and a very loud and weirdly on-point Austin making guitar noises on the karaoke microphone. 

“Lavinia!” Sue calls out in relief, when she catches sight of her. “Where’s Emily?” 

Lavinia excuses herself from a group of frat boys hanging onto her every word and walks over. “Sue! Emily!” 

“Yeah, I know! Tell me where she is!” 

Sue points towards the ceiling, and in the same smooth motion, grabs the crate of beer from her hands. 

Sue’s out of there before the first cry of “Beer” permeates the air. She climbs another two floors, and then the metallic ladder to find Emily sitting there, wrapped in her blanket, glaring up at her. 

“You promised,” she says, flatly. 

Sue drops onto her knees and takes Emily’s cold hands in hers. “I know.” 

“No, you,” Emily repeats, then pauses, looking like she’s struggling, “you promised you were gonna be here, okay? I agreed to the housewarming thing only because you told me there wouldn’t be many people and you’d stay with me the whole time—” 

“—baby....” 

“No, don’t baby me. Let me finish.” Emily waits until Sue nods. “And then you went off to the store.” 

“We ran out of beer,” Sue says, feeling sheepish. 

“I know — I know that, okay?” Emily says. “I know there’s a reason, and probably a valid one but I’m mad, okay? You promised me something and then bailed. That’s not cool.” 

Sue adjusts so she’s properly sitting down right in front of Emily. “I’m sorry,” she says, and means it. “It was inexcusable.” 

Emily sighs, and seems to relax a little. “Okay. Thank you for saying that.” 

Sue nods. “Some party, huh?” she says, after a while. 

Emily smiles a little, then. “Did you see Austin? He was performing the High School Musical songs when I left.” 

She laughs. “When I came in, I think he was doing the guitar riff to Bohemian Rhapsody.” 

“Hey,” Emily says, after they’re done giggling at that. “I never asked. What took you so long? I thought you just went to get beer.” 

“Uh,” Sue says, “I’d rather not tell you.” 

“What? Why not?” 

“Because I don’t wanna charm my way out of you being mad at me.” 

“Oh,” Emily draws the sound out, teasingly. “It can’t possibly be that charming.” 

If she wanted to play it this way, then okay. 

“I stopped at an animal shelter on the way home. There’s a young cat there I thought we could adopt. Consider her a housewarming present.” 

“Oh,” Emily says, then in an undertone. “Damn it.” 

“Charmed?” 

“Ugh, fuck, okay,” Emily admits, then pulls at their joined hands till Sue gets on top of her lap. “I hate you. I love you, but I hate you.” 

Sue kisses her in return, settles in more comfortably. 

“Tell me about her?” Emily asks, softly, in the quiet. 

“Well, she chased the light reflected off my watch round and round so it’s safe to say she’s not the brightest.” 

“I love her already,” Emily assures her. 

***** 

On her eve of her 25th birthday, Sue walks into her apartment and finds Emily, Lavinia and Austin panicking over how to fit the last half of her last name onto limited space on a handmade banner. She says hi to Juggers and Iguana, their two cats, then picks up their two-month-old puppy Rooney, all before one of the three already present humans in the room realizes she’s there. 

“Sue, I’m so sorry,” Emily says, walking over to her and looking at her with a slightly desperate look in her eyes. “We tried baking cake, but it’s half burnt, but we can’t decide what to get and all we have are balloons but then Austin’s going crazy trying to keep Juggers from bursting them, because guess what? The cat is the devil—” 

“—babe—” 

“—no, I tried to make it a good birthday, I really did!” 

She puts her hands on either side of Emily’s face, which forces her to quiet down. Then she looks over at the others.  

“Have you guys been here the entire time I was taking classes?” 

They nod. 

She feels a little overwhelmed. “Guys, I — thank you so much,” she says, then takes stock of the situation. “Can you order pizza? We’ll ring in my birthday with pizza tonight.” 

Lavinia side-hugs her on their way out to the couch, and then they’re alone in the kitchen. She kisses Emily on the forehead, then on both cheeks, trying to drive away the frown. 

“What?” 

“I just wanted you to have a good birthday,” Emily says, despondent. 

“You’re here, aren’t you?” Sue says. “And so are our friends, who sat and worked this hard for hours trying to make me happy. And we’ll have pizza! We like pizza.” 

“You’re just saying that.” 

“No, you idiot” Sue explains, fondly. “I mean it. We’ll have burned cake, and we’ll fight over the pizza, and even if the animals are outnumbered, we’ll probably lose to them. And then we’ll probably watch a movie, and somehow all fall asleep on the carpet because Austin always claims the whole couch. Either way, it’ll be a good birthday, because I’m happy. And you know why I’m happy?” 

Emily’s still pouting. 

“Emily, why am I happy?” 

“Because we’re together,” Emily completes, in a small voice, and then finally, finally smiles. 

(It’s the messiest birthday Sue has ever had. Also the best) 

***** 

Here’s the thing about endings: everyone who writes stories knows they don’t really exist.  

A famous author once said that they weren’t really the end of the story, just where you chose to stop it. Well, Sue agrees. Which is why this story in her head never ends. The imaginary typewriter in her head will keep typing long after, filling pages with anniversaries and birthdays and emergency dog adoptions. Maybe the next page talks about the day Sue breaks her arm, and Emily proposes to her with an onion ring she gets out of the hospital vending machine. Or the day Lavinia loses Rooney, walks around the entire block with Austin to find him and finally discovers he’s hanging out at the old café they used to work at. 

So. Yes. This is where she decides to leave it. Finish it. There will be more stories to write later.

The end. 

(Wink wink. Nudge nudge.) 

[grace-likes-things]

Chapter Seven - Something Different

Masterlist

A/N: uhhhh oops it’s been a long time. What with the world going to shit, I hope you can understand my struggle. Good news is I have the next 2 chapters written! This story is still going to be quite the ride so I hope you can stick it out with me, I hope you’ll enjoy it!

Warnings: burns

~~~~~~~

My sock-clad feet are digging into the soft carpet of Peter’s bedroom, my biology notebook across my lap, and a textbook strewn on the ground. Music plays softly to occupy the quiet of the room. We’ve just finished our second day back at school since the Sarah incident, and things are a little strange. Kids have all of a sudden been acting out of the ordinary, some small things — Jimmy S. dumped his lunch on the floor before laughing and walking out the door mid-day — and some more concerning — Hannah O. shook the climbing rope in gym until the kid on it lost his grip. The staff has been seriously concerned, and I think the school board is meeting to discuss what might be going on. 

“Peter?” I ask, lifting my head to the boy taking notes at his desk in front of me.

“Yeah?” He says without looking back.

“Have you gotten any other weird feelings at school? Like before someone acts up?”

“Yeah, but it’s usually minor. It’s probably just a fluke. I mean, it’s not like anyone’s done something villain-worthy.”

I sigh, contemplating the strange events, “I know, but people are still getting hurt, even if it is minor stuff. Do you think it might have something to do with the blip?”

Peter turns in his chair to face me, “What? Like how?”

“Well,” I say, “Sarah, Jimmy and Hannah were all dusted, right? And the other kids, too. They blipped, they’re acting up, but as far as I remember, no one who survived the snap has done anything weird.”

“I guess you’re right, but — what are you doing?”

I give him a confused look, and he’s reflecting it right back, staring at my notebook, “What do you—?”

But when I lower my gaze, I see scrawled pen marks all over my once-neat biology notes. I lift my right hand, and to my surprise there’s black ink smudged all over the side of it. My pen has significantly less ink than it did five minutes ago. The lines on my paper are dug harshly, nearly tearing the pages at some spots.

“Did you mean to do that?” Peter asks, now with his full attention on me, concern littered across his features.

I keep staring at my hand in disbelief, “No,” I mumble, “I didn’t even know I was writing…”

We sit in silence for a moment, trying to process what just happened and all of a sudden a wave of content washes over me, and it’s not a concern anymore.

“It’s fine,” spills from my mouth, “probably nothing.”

“What? Y/N, you just ruined your notes without even realizing— “

“It’s fine, Peter, I don't want to worry about it.”

He looks at me, brows furrowed deeply, but gives in, “Alright…”

“Kids!” 

Both of our heads turn toward the door, and May swings it open to address us, “Want dinner? I failed at lasagna so I’m thinking I’ll just door dash some Italian, who’s in?”

“Sure!” I say, cheery, “I’m up for Italian.”

“Y-yeah, May,” Peter says, not lifting his eyes from my notebook, “Italian sounds good.”

After dinner, once May has tired us out with questions about school, patrol, and lab work, Peter and I settle on top of his comforter to pick a movie to watch, his laptop laid precariously across our thighs. 

“So what are you thinking?” Peter asks, “True crime? Horror? Comedy?”

“Hmm, I don't know, you pick. I’ll probably pass out again.”

He lets out a short laugh, “Alright,” and keeps browsing.

My mind wanders to other things, thinking about my dad picking me up later and home life. And then I realize something, “Peter, I never asked how you were doing after all this. You know, how are you and May adjusting?”

He’s been tired lately, I can tell. He doesn’t act it, not around his friends or at the tower — my dad decided to keep it running while the compound is being rebuilt — but when he thinks no one’s watching he seems exhausted. Maybe calm, but still drained.

He whistles out his next exhale, “I dunno. I guess I haven’t thought about it much. We both blipped, so for us the biggest thing was having to find a new apartment, her new job. But your dad helped, even if May told him not too, so that made it easier.”

“Mhm,” I hum, “And you? I mean, we were both there, on Titan, at the battle. It was…”

“Some scary shit?” 

I laugh, “Yeah, some scary shit.”

Both of our giggles peter out before he says, “Yeah, I mean it’s hard stuff to deal with. It’s not like I’ve gotten over it or anything, but I’m just trying to stay optimistic. We got through it with almost everyone. I still have May, we’ve still got your dad, Pepper, Happy, and you’ve even got a brand new sister, so I’d say things are on the upturn for a while, I guess.”

“Yeah,” I mutter, a small smile on my features. Then I jostle his shoulder, “Knock on wood, though. Can’t be jinxing the only good luck in our lifetimes.”

He taps his knuckles lightly on his bed frame, “For sure, it’s nice not having an Avengers-level threat on the news every month.”

He slides the laptop closer, absently sliding his fingers across the track-pad, but I can tell he’s not really looking at the movie choices. 

“You know you can talk to me though, right?” I glance up at him, heart beating a little faster at the idea of getting a look inside his head, “If anything’s on your mind. If you want to.”

“Yeah,” he turns his head toward me, and now we’re just centimeters away, each breath shared in the same space, “Yeah, thanks. Me, too, you know, if you need to get something off your chest.” But he says it slow, airily, eyes glancing across my face, feature to feature, and I realize I might be doing the same. I nod, and our faces get closer, just the smallest bit, and I find my eyes are focused on his lips.

“Hey, kids!” We hear May call through the apartment and quickly turn our heads toward the door. She’s not in the doorway, thank god.

“Yeah, May?” Peter sighs, settling back against his bed frame.

May now appears in the room, coat in hand, “It's gonna rain tomorrow and I don't wanna walk in it, so I’m gonna grab some groceries before the stores close. Think you can handle taking my bread out of the oven in a bit?”

“You made bread?” Peter says, in a oh-my-god-what-will-I-be-poisoned-with tone. I suppress a laugh for May’s sake.

“Yes, I did, out of the kindness of my heart,” She smirks at him, then turns to leave “The timer’s going off in about 30, you’ll hear it. Thanks!” And then we hear the apartment door close behind her.

“Well,” I sigh, shaking off the awkward demeanor in the room, “Are we even gonna have time to finish a movie at this point?”

He laughs, “Probably not.”

And we both get up to monitor May’s bread experiment, because god knows it’ll burn if we let it bake until her timer goes off. 

“I’m telling you, it’s gotta mean something that I didn’t plummet to the ground when I webbed onto Thor’s hammer —“

“No way!” I laugh at Peter, tossing a dish rag his direction, “You weren’t even directly touching it!”

“But that’s gotta be some indication.” He protests, “Maybe I’m like, partially worthy.”

“How could someone be ‘Partially worthy?’ That doesn’t make any sense.”

“Cap was fighting with it! That means someone other than Thor can be worthy, so—“

“Yeah, but that in no way suggests that partial worthiness is even a thing,” I don't actually doubt him this much, but it’s fun to watch Peter push this idea so much.

“Fine, you know what? We’ll ask Thor if we can test it out next time he’s on Earth. I figure he’ll get drunk enough at the cookout to let us try it.”

“Oooh, you’re gonna try to steal drunk Thor’s hammer?” I laugh, leaning back on the kitchen counter, “That’s risky business, I don't think I want to be involved.”

“Not steal, just borrow for a brief experiment.” Peter tries to reason.

“Okay, fine, but don't come crying to me when a thousand year old god puts you in a headlock,” I turn away from him, checking once again on the sad-looking loaf of bread in the oven, “I think this thing’s probably done.”

“Thor wouldn’t put me in a headlock! I’m the baby of the team, he adores me.”

“First of all, I thought I was the baby of the team, and second, I am totally telling my dad that you took that title—“

“Y/N—“

“Nuh uh, you claimed it! I’m gonna make him give you shit for it—“

“No, Y/N, the—“

And then I feel the searing pain radiating across my entire left palm, down my fingers. A yelp of pain escapes me, and I look down in shock, dropping the bread pan out of my bare hand.

“What the hell?” Peter exclaims quickly as he darts around the counter, shutting the oven door and guiding me quickly to the sink. He turns on the faucet, and cold water starts running over my burned hand, easing the pain only slightly. I stare down in bewilderment at the throbbing red skin.

“What was that?” Peter asks over my shoulder, still holding my wrist to keep my hand below the water, “You weren’t even watching what you were doing!”

“I-I don't know—“ I say, flinching at the discomfort, just as confused as he is, “I didn't even know I was taking it out—”

“What?” He looks down at me now, “What do you mean?” I open my mouth to speak but I don't know what explanation to give him. I don’t remember making the decision to open the oven, I don't remember grabbing the pan.

“Okay,” thankfully, Peter seems to register the disbelief on my face and leaves me at the faucet, returning with the first aid kit from his bathroom, “Let’s get it clean and wrapped.”

I let him guide me to the couch, where he kneels in front of me and sets the first aid kit on the coffee table. I watch from what feels like miles away as he puts ointment on the worst of the burn — my fingertips and the heel of my palm — and gingerly begins to wrap gauze around it. While he’s working on my hand, I’m deep in my scattered thoughts; how did I manage to do that by mistake? Surely I should’ve felt the heat of the oven, should’ve flinched back at the first contact with the metal. I definitely shouldn’t have been able to hold the thing for more than a second without noticing — but I did, didn't I? Or else the burn wouldn’t be so bad. So what the hell happened?

I’m still sitting there trying to figure this out when the door to the apartment opens. We hear two voices enter, not just May’s.

“Hey! Caught your Aunt outside, Pete, thought I’d come up and say hi— what happened?”

My dad and May stop just as they walk through the doorway, just as Peter finishes wrapping my hand.

“Y/N burned her hand taking the bread out of the oven. Uh, sorry, May, it’s kind of ruined all over the kitchen floor.” Peter explains quietly.

My dad walks over and sits beside me on the sofa, taking my wrist gently to examine the injury, “What’d you do, kiddo? Ditch the oven mitt completely?”

“Uh… yeah, I guess,” I say. 

He looks at me quizzically, eyeing the bright red fingertips that weren’t wrapped, “That wasn’t a serious question… you’re kidding, right? This isn’t just a forgot-the-oven-mitt burn. Your fingers are singed.”

“I-I don't know. I didn’t realize what I was doing…” I mumble out.

My dad looks to Peter for answers, but he’s just as lost for words as myself. He gives a shrug and a lost look in response. May rubs his shoulder in a motherly fashion. 

“You okay, sweetie?” She asks.

“Yeah,” I say, looking directly into her concerned eyes, “Yeah I’ll be fine.”

I have a feeling she wasn’t asking about the burns, but I really don't know what other answer to give them. I don't know what happened.

Tony and May look at each other, communicating silently in that parent sort of way that they do, and I just stare down at my hand.

“Okay,” my dad says, “Well, we should probably get you home then. Pete, wanna grab her backpack for me?”

Peter diligently gets up and returns just a minute later with my backpack and sweater, handing it off to my dad, “I’ll see you tomorrow,” he says, and I can't muster up anything more than a ‘yeah’ before my dad bids the Parkers goodbye and guides me out of the door.

Before I know it, my dad is opening the passenger door for me and guiding me into the car, and I can’t do anything to shake this trance-like state. It's an unbelievable feeling, having no recollection of making a choice to do something so painful like that. My dad’s voice pulls me out of my thoughts.

“—Earth to Y/N,” he says, waving a hand in front of my face, “Hey, what happened? Are you alright?”

“I- yeah,” I look him in the eye now, “Yeah, I just- I must’ve grabbed the pan without thinking.”

He’s still staring, doubtful, “You sure?” And a beat of silence, “Is everything okay with you and Peter?”

“What?” I ask, “Yeah, everything’s fine, I just— he just helped clean it. I-I don’t know what I did.”

He starts the car, obviously not satisfied with that answer, but pulls away from the curb and begins our route home nonetheless, “Okay, then. Let’s get some sleep into you, huh sweetheart?” His hand comes up to ruffle my hair, and I hum in response. 

The drive home is quiet. 

~~~~~~~~~~

A/N: oooooh what’s goin onnnnnn?

[aesthyuckic]

AVENOIR | l.dh - TREDECIM

(gif not mine - credit to rightful owner)

Genre: High School AU (at beginning) ; Tarot Reader!Witch!Hyuck

Word Count: 3.1K

Warnings: (bold if in use) slow but with a purpose, belief contradictions, mentions of r*pe, blood, swearing, violence, mentions of abuse

Pairings: Lee Donghyuck (Haechan) x Reader (F)

II OF PENTACLES: balance, priorities, adapting to change

The summer days seem to sweep by slowly, much like the sand that blew softly in the desert in the afternoon. It didn’t take long for Donghyuck to read the book Cosimia have him for his birthday either. He took a quick interested in the subject of witchcraft, more than she had thought he would. Every time they moved, he would end up dragging her to the book stores to the town nearby and whenever he ran out of books, he’d borrow Sicheng’s laptop for further research.

To Cosimia it was quite thrilling to see her friend so passionate and interested in something... The curiousity and joy that came to light up his eyes in the form of a sparkle made her smile to herself and feel a bit of joy herself. It gave her a sense of hope as well let her see purity in the most unlikely places she wouldn’t imagine were possible. Lately, she was often too busy looking at the boy with her own sparkle in her eyes because of this.

“I think I’m gonna become a witch...” The boy has said to her from his place on the couch.

“Hmm?” She hummed as she was knocked out of her dream like state at the kitchen counter. “Oh... I think you’d make a good one. I thought you’d need, like, a coven for that though?”

“That’s only if you want to be Wiccan,” He informed her. “I just wanna do like magick stuff, you know?”

She nodded, understanding him before she took a sip of the coffee in her mug. As soon as the cup left her lips she let out a little chuckle as she put down the white mug on the counter.

“You’ve mature quick a bit, Haechan.” She smiled. “Mentally, that is.”

“Are you kidding?” He scoffed. “I’ve always been mentally mature!”

“Mhm, keep telling yourself that...” She rolled her eyes. “I meant with being more open minded about what the world has to offer and such. Also, I know you were the one who helped the seniors with their prank this year. Condom and togas? Really?”

“We were the Trojans! You have to admit it was pretty genius of me.”

“Genius isn’t the exact word I’d use to describe but yeah, sure.”

With every passing day, the closer it got to summer solstice. The solstices were always some of the most vital holidays of the years to witches. Though, the summer solstice seemed to be the most special... It was the one day of year you could brew love potions and they’d work as well as all witches having the ability to see the future.

He knew he had Cosimia. She saw the future every day, it was normal for her. There was always a part of him that wondered what it was like to see things the way she did. He wanted to see things the way she did sometimes...

Before he knew it, it was three in the afternoon on a very hot day. He sat on the floor of the trailer that felt like an oven as the carpet itches his legs from underneath him. Long pieces of dried grass remained scattered around him as he crafted away the best he could. It was oddly quiet. At least until Cosimia interrupted and found him there. She was quite shocked at the mess.

“You know, when you said you were going on a break I didn’t think it meant you were ditching.” She huffed as she looked intimidating in her all black outfit. “What are you even doing?”

“Making a besom.” He muttered, trying to tie pieces of the dry grass to the large, smooth, wooden stick. It wasn’t working for him and he got so fed up with it, he just threw it across the room which startled the girl. “This is so stupid!”

“No, it’s not stupid.” She sighed as she came to sit down to make him feel better.

“Then what is it? I’m just wasting my time and yours and honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if I was wasting other people’s time too. Everyone thinks I’m weird or a devil worshipper! And then everyone is like ‘no, you’re a warlock or wizard, not a witch. you’re not a girl’ but they don’t understand it’s gender neutral and the others ones are insulting for some reason!”

“Okay, first off, I know you’re mad but you need to calm down. Not a lot of people know that, Haechan. Witchcraft isn’t really taught properly to the general public. Not to mention, people are scared of those types of things. You know that well, don’t you? I get it’s frustrating but you also know if no one else will understand and support you, I will. Isn’t that how we ended up here in the first place?”

He nodded, the familiar feeling of his breath being taken away from him as she held her cheeks since the passionate little speech for it. To be honest, it filled him with a different type of delight and serenity as it calmed him down after his small blow up. It was just so loving and safe...

“And hey,” She spoke softly and gently to him. “We can go into the forest tomorrow and get better materials got your besom. You can practice there too. I know you’re preparing for summer solstice... but right now, we need to go back to the tent. Hendery can only stall for so long.”

He laughed at the last comment and nodded after before following her back. There was a huge line waiting for them at the tent. In front of all those people stood Hendery and Kun. The young, black haired boy blabbered on about how Cosimia had gotten his broken arm prediction correctly and how amazing it was. It caused them to snicker a bit before the girl tapped him on the shoulder as signal that they could go back to being security. They went back to their job as well.

He stared at the girl with a sort of goofy smile as she help one of the people before he helped another. It took awhile to get rid of everyone and once they all left, he decided to do a reading for himself as he made a habit to pull a card out of the deck every day. When he was shuffling, a card came out of the deck which he gladly grabbed before flipping it over. It revealed the tower, in reverse. The image made the color from his face drain. He swipe it of the table as quick as he could, before she could see it.

There was a painful event coming, one he or even they avoided... He had no idea what it meant but it made him feel uneasy. The fear of suffering, something avoided as it could be seen. There was no clue as to what it was which made it that the more ominous to him. If it was able to be seen, wouldn’t he know? He decided not to worry about it right then as the girl was already saying it was time to go.

Much like his friend promised, they went into the forest the next day. The birds chirped and bugs hummed around them as they trudged through the thin, tall, green grass and trees. The twigs and leaves crunched under their feet as well. Cosimia pulled a old, red wagon that creeked behind her that bumped against the uneven ground every once and awhile. She would pick up things everyone in awhile and put them in the wagon.

They decided before making the besom, Donghyuck would practice a bit first. He was going to cast a circle, it would be his first time ever doing so and maybe he’d cast a few spells. They just needed a place...

There was a point they reached in the forest. There was a circle of trees that surrounded a clearing. When they went in they couldn’t see the sky clearly as ivy had grown over the top only allowing small holes to let sunlight in. It did seem almost quite magical to them as they decided to stop there because it was too perfect for them.

It was obvious Donghyuck had so much to practice. Casting a circle was something he needed to learn first and foremost as well considering it was one of the most important things to know. He cleaned the area with the clear quartz like the books he read told them too. Who would have known Cosimia’s crystal obsession would’ve really come to his use?

He stood alone in the middle the clearing as the girl sat to side on rock close to a tree. She smiled at him before he turned to face the East. He tried his best to recall the words he read multiple times to be used in this situation. He closed his eyes while he started to cast the circle with his right hand. He envisioned it in his mind as he turned clockwise. Though, half way through he dropped his hand and opened his eyes. He looked at the girl with a pout on his face, he looked like he was about to cry.

“I feel so stupid...” He mumbled while lookin down at his feet and twiddling his fingers.

“Haechan, it’s not stupid.” She sighed. “You know witchcraft is about believing before anything else. I know you may feel funny at first doing it and that’s normal. But you’re never gonna get anything out of it thinking it’s stupid.”

He began to pout again, knowing she was right and only trying to help him, “Can you join me, please?”

“...I’m not a witch, though. And I don’t want to be one either...”

“You don’t have to be! You don’t have to do anything other than encourage me. I just don’t want to be alone while doing this.”

She rolled her eyes, mostly to herself because of how quickly she gave into him. Nonetheless, she still came over to stand beside him. It left a smile on his face which soften her up as well as make her feel better about. It was only a few moments later that she noticed how long they had been staring at each other in that beautiful place.

“Hurry up!” She hissed, interrupting them moment. “We still need to make your besom and Johnny’s gonna pissed once he figures out we dipped today!”

He kind of felt hurt by her attitude but understood it at the same time. So he picked up where he left off. He closed his eyes and raised his right hand once again to continue where he left the circle unfinished. He unknowingly grabbed Cosimia’s hand with his left while he finished casting the circle around them. He was done before he knew it. He dropped his arm to his side. His eyes fluttered open as his friend pulled on his hand, gently. He looked at where the spot where it connected in the end.

“I think you casted a circle.” She whispered in his ear, a tad of sweetness in her voice. “You did it.”

“H-huh?” He stuttered at the exact same moment he realized he was still holding her hand.

She let go, though. It made his heart clench in the way he missed the warmth of human touch. He expected it oddly enough. She was still getting comfortable around him and he was lucky she even put up with considering he initiated it. 

“I can’t even get out now to go get the stuff for besom.” She chuckled in the thick air as she noticed the red wagon was left by the rock. “I guess you’ll have to dismantle it.”

“You know there’s a way to go and out, right?” He asked.

“No, but it doesn’t matter. Why don’t we just relax here for a bit, anyway?”

She sat on the ground within the circle before she leaned back at the bright green grass with her arms behind her head. Her dark purple hair spread out around her, some parts turn red in the sun let in. The white light leaked in through the ivy to make her eyes sparkle and her hair look shiny and smooth.

“What about Johnny?” He teased as he sat down next to her.

She shrugged, “He’s gonna be mad regardless of when we come back. Why don’t we get a nice day out of it before we get yelled at? We won’t be back here, at least not for some time.”

For awhile, they just laid their in the oddly warm grass. It wasn’t until later they actually did anything productive. She helped him get his besom ready, the air becoming slightly cooler as the afternoon seemed to pass by. They sat in the exact same spots in the middle of the clearing, across from each other.

“So, are you excited for summer solstice?” She asked in the mist of silence.

“Of course!” He answered. “It’s the one time of year where I can see the future for myself.”

“And according to the Romanian witches, it’s also the one time of year where you can make love potions that actually work.”

“Yes, I do actually. I’m surprised you know that actually.”

“I was just wondering... if you are gonna make any? You know for me?”

He froze in his spot as she asked the question to him so nonchalantly. His eyes even bugged out of his head as his the rest of his face remained relatively blank. At the same time, maybe she wasn’t stuble poking at him having a crush on her... Maybe she wanted one herself but for who? Lucas?

“What would you even need one for?” Donghyuck grumbled as he went back to work.

“I guess I didn’t phrase it right.” She rolled her eyes with a sigh. “I meant, are you gonna make any for me for yourself?”

It was no longer easy to avoid the question by playing dumb unfortunately. It was too apparent that he had a thing for her anyway. He was a fool for thinking she wouldn’t know or figure it out. To even deny it would do no good.

“No,” He stated. “If you’re going to fall in love with me, I want it to be natural, not artificial. I wouldn’t like knowing you don’t love me for the sake of loving me…”

“That’s very beautiful of you, Haechan.” She smiled.

He hummed with a nod as a response. The both of them went back to working on besom. He avoided looking up for the rest of the time they were there like that. It was silent between them too but the bugs flying around and such filled it. It was warm, he sun light that seeped through the ivy was comforting and seemed like it could coaxed anyone into a nap right then.

It was truly the most calm and peaceful it had been for quite some time for them. The days leading up to the solstice were also that way. Donghyuck remained excited throughout their work day which put a smile on the girl’s face. The night was the most important time for it all though.

A fire burned bright a away from the grounds. Their newly founded friends even came to support him, mostly because Cosimia said how much the whole thing meant to him. All they really had to do was hold a candle and a specific type of plant they picked themselves the other day. To be honest, seeing everyone there for him made him feel so happy especially after the last time of where he was just ignored.

Nothing really happened until the clock stroke midnight though. It was time, by what the books said, ‘to open the sky’ which was most exhilarating part of it all. It would give him the power to see into future. He got his besom and lit the end of little twigs on fire before he raised it toward the sky. He felt awkward about it, just like with casting a circle the other day and also a bit heavy but continued regardless.

He started to mumble a spell as his besom was pointed toward the moon. The others that stood around him could barely make out a thing he was saying, the crackles from the fire not helping. He hadn’t notice but the end pointed toward the sky was becoming brighter and hotter. The other sure did take notice though, most of them scared as they only stood there.

They waited, there had to be more right? He still hadn’t seen anything yet and let alone feel anything besides the heaviness in his chest thinking maybe it wasn’t real... Though, in a sudden move, he fell back and dropped the rest of his besom in the fire before he saw himself be engulf in darkness. The darkness suddenly turned white. He saw another verison of himself, burning away much like a picture would only to reveal Cosimia. She was covered in ivy. Her father, he’d only seen once appeared out of no where with a crazed look in his eye. All he saw was the color of gold before he back to where he was before.

He found himself on the ground, rocks digging into his back and a painful headache. Everyone surrounded him with a concerned look on his face. Mostly he only saw the girl as she was the one cradling his head.

“A-are you okay?” Xiaojun asked.

“Oh, how many fingers am I holding up?” Jeno butted in while putting up two fingers.

“Dude,” Jaehyun started. “He could literally have a concussion, not now.”

“Y’all ain’t gonna talk about how he wasn’t just vibrating?” Jaemin brought up. “That literally can’t be a concussion!”

“Vibrating?” He questioned as he wondered what exactly happened when he went into state.

“Will you all just shut up?” The girl snapped.

“Is it a bad time to say Kun called the paramedics?” Lucas informed quietly from behind the boys. “They’re gonna be here soon but does Haechan even need to go to the hospital since he looks okay now.”

“Nothing wrong with a check up after what happened.” She sighed as she played with his silver hair a little bit which took his mind off the pain.

“Okay... but did you see anything though?” Hendery laughed nervously.

“Hendery!” Sicheng hissed whole hitting him in the arm

“What? I’d like to know!”

“No, not really.... Just some colors but that was about it...”

“Well, that’s boring.”

“Hendery!”

[hannahindie]

I Believe In Miracles: Part 2

Characters: Cas x Reader, Sam Winchester, Dean Winchester Word Count: ~2,600 Warnings: Violence, Super over it Cas, the use of hallucinogens, ;anguage, a lot of sass, getting lost in a corn maze...just shenanigans in general. A/N: This is the second part of my challenge fic for @winchesterprincessbride! You can catch up on the first part here! This was beta’d by the lovely @trexrambling and @pinknerdpanda and I love them more than I love most things on this planet. I hope you enjoy! As usual, tags are at the bottom. If you’re missing or would like to be added, please let me know!!

“I don't want to go over this again,” Dean practically whined as he spit more blood and grimaced at the sting in his lip. Cas moved as if to heal him and Dean waved him off, “Don't bother.”

Sam groaned as he picked a piece of glass out of his bicep, “The one time I’m not wearing a jacket, and I get thrown into glass table. By the way, thanks for that Dean.”

Dean glared at Sam, “You didn’t have to run after me. I had it.”

Sam rolled his eyes, “Oh, yea, you had it alright. You had two giant ass guys chasing you down because they thought you were some sort of religious zealot trying to save Y/N’s soul.”

Cas looked between the two battered brothers, a look of annoyance on his face, “So Y/N is still in there and you have been banned for life, do I understand correctly?”

Sam looked at Dean, then dropped his head, “I mean, if you want to be technical about it…”

“What is the plan now? Do you have a goal, or are you just going to sit and argue with each other while Y/N takes her clothes off for financial compensation?”

Dean looked at Cas, his eyebrows raised, “Listen, Jealous McAssface, we just got our asses handed to us while trying to keep her from taking her clothes off. I don’t need your holier than thou attitude right now.”

“Dean, I am an-”

“I swear to God, Cas, if you say you’re an Angel of the Lord one more time, I’m going to kick your feathery ass.”

Sam’s phone rang and he hurried to answer it, “Hello?” He grimaced and held the phone out from his ear, “Hey, Y/N….No, we….it’s not that we didn’t think you could....now wait a second, that’s a little harsh...I can go and do what?....Oh….Come on, we didn’t….sorry, Y/N. Yep. ‘Kay, bye.” Sam slowly slipped his phone back into his pocket. “Y/N is fine.”

Dean looked at Sam expectantly, “Is that it? She’s fine?”

Sam shook his head, “No, she had some other things she wanted us to do but...um...they weren’t relevant to the case, nor something I want to do with my brother, so.... Anyway, she said she would call us when she found something and for us to just leave.”

Dean opened the driver's side door and looked at Sam, “I say we head back to the hotel, get cleaned up, and wait for her to call. Clearly, she can take care of herself.”

Sam walked around to the passenger side and started to sit when he saw Cas looking forlornly toward the strip club, “Cas, you comin’?” Suddenly Cas was gone and sitting in the back seat, and Sam sighed, “Alright then.”  He slipped into the car and Dean took off, the roar of the Impala echoing off the building as Cas watched it shrink in the distance.

“I do not like the idea of leaving her, Sam.”

Sam looked over his shoulder at Cas and smiled gently, “She’ll be fine. If I’ve learned anything about Y/N, it’s that she knows how to take care of herself and when to ask for help. We aren’t too far away. It’s okay, man.”

Cas shifted his gaze from Sam back to the window, “If that is what you truly believe, then I will accept that answer.” He fell silent, and Sam and Dean exchanged looks. The next couple of days were going to be long...and probably weird.

 Yesterday

Sam and Dean were sitting in the hotel researching when Sam’s phone buzzed against the table.

“Hello?” Sam’s eyes jumped to Dean, concern etched in his features. “Y/N, slow down, what happened?” He put the phone on speaker and laid it in the middle of the table so that Dean could also hear.

“Listen, there’s so much corn….maize...maze? Maize maze. I think...I think I’m in the middle? The club owner….he’s got a teardrop, I think it’s him. TEAR DROP, SAM.”

Dean leaned forward, “Y/N, where are you?”

They heard a rustling, then Y/N cursing, then more rustling, “I told you, Dean, the maize maze. I’m in it. I think….there were some mushrooms? Maybe some flowers? They were pretty and smelled good. Have you ever had mushrooms on your taco? I highly recommend...hahah….high.” Dean looked at Sam, confusion clearly written on his face.

“Y/N….are you...are you high? What happened?”

They heard something else rustle, then Y/N giggled, “The nice man made me some tacos. ….Well...he was a nice man. But I think there was-” the connection started to crackle and Sam and Dean exchanged concerned looks, “-shrooms, but I’m not so sure I like them, and the owner left me-” there was more static, and then Y/N’s tiny voice came back through, “- I’m tired. I’m gonna lay down now.”

Sam grabbed the phone and held it closer to his mouth, “Y/N, don’t do that! Stay with us, okay? Where are you? Are you in the maze?”

“MAIZE. I am surrounded by maize. Sam, the owner has the tear drop! THE TEAR DROP-” the line suddenly went dead and Sam looked at Dean, his eyes wide.

“What was that?”

Dean spun Sam’s laptop around and started typing, quickly read down the page he’d pulled up, and groaned as he spun the laptop back around, “She’s high as hell Sam, that’s what happened. Xochipilli is also apparently known for his use of flowers from psychotropic plants and hallucinogenic mushrooms, which I think our precious ‘Angel’ found out the hard way. How many things is this guy the god of?!” He slammed the laptop shut and leaned back in his chair as he rubbed tiredly at his eyes. “Dammit…maybe we shouldn't have left her alone-”

“Why would you have doubts about that?” Cas interrupted, causing Dean to nearly topple backwards out of his chair .

“Shit, Cas! We've talked about this!” Dean rested his head in his hand, “Warn a guy before you freakin’ pop out of nowhere. Jesus.”

“I am sorry. But that does not answer my question. Why would you doubt your decision to leave Y/N behind? You specifically said she could take care of herself.”

Sam looked over at Dean, then back at Cas, who had narrowed his eyes at them, “Cas, listen, we’ll get her back. It shouldn't take much to narrow down where he took her-”

“Get her back? She should not be gone! And what do you mean, ‘narrow it down’? You promised that this would not be an issue, and yet here we are. I should not be surprised, getting involved with a Winchester, never mind both, tends to lead to kidnapping, torture, or death. I should not have allowed this.” The lights had begun to flicker as Cas went on his tirade, and Sam’s eyes widened as he saw the dim outline of wings on the dingy wall behind Cas.

Sam held his hands up as if to surrender, “We’re sorry, Cas…we’ll get her back. I know the general area she was talking about, and her cell phone should be on so we can track it. I promise, she’ll be fine.”

“I am going after her. I can locate her quite easily-”

“No, Sam can go get her.”

Cas glared at Dean, the shadow of his wings growing more pronounced, and Sam nudged Dean, “Dude...maybe don’t interrupt him…”

Dean flipped the laptop around so that Cas could see it, “Tomorrow night there is an amateur guys night at the strip club. Since Sammy and I aren’t allowed to go back in…we’re going to need you to do it.” The wings grew darker, and Sam silently shook his head. His eyes moved towards the door as if judging whether he could make the distance before Cas went into full on smiting mode. “Also….fun fact….Xochipilli is also the god of homosexuality and male prostitution, so maybe you could, uh...work some magic with those baby blues of yours.”  The only thing that saved Dean from Cas’s obvious rage was Sam’s phone ringing. He quickly answered it and put it on speaker when Cas switched his glare from Dean to him.

“SAM. Listen...I’m not sure exactly where I am….but there’s still a lot of maize. Maze. …Corn. I think I’m in the middle. Things are a liiiiiiittle spinny….and by a little, I mean a lot. A lot spinny.” There was a small thud and then the sound of Y/N sighing.

“Y/N, what was that?” Sam asked as he looked up at Cas, who was staring at the phone in Sam’s hand, his anger replaced with concern.

There was another sigh, then a quiet giggle, “I found a box, so I climbed inside of it. It’s nice. I think I’ll live here now, in my maze box. Maize box. Maize mazey maize…”

“Y/N, are you okay? You sound strange.” Cas’s voice had gone back to it’s normal, deep tone, and the room had returned to its well lit, wingless state.

“Cas!! Listen...I need you to follow the mushrooms. They will lead you to the….the umm….shit. Mushroom...leads to the….sadness. Yea! The mushrooms are the key to the Aztec’s tears. Corn tears. Wait...no. Maize? No...TALISMAN. Cas, follow the mushrooms!” The line went dead, and Dean looked at Cas with raised eyebrows.

“Now are you in?”

Cas’s shoulders dropped and he sighed, “Fine. May I please borrow your laptop? It seems I have some research of my own to do.”

Right Freakin’ Now

 Outside Poppin’ Pacoani

“Dean, I do not know about this. I do not think watching several hours worth of Youtube tutorials regarding pole dancing is sufficient training for this.”

Dean rolled his eyes, “It’s amateur night, Cas. They aren’t going to expect you to be perfect, and it’s not like you’re trying to get an actual job. I just need you in there to distract everyone while I look for Xochipilli, grab the pendant, and destroy it. You can do that, right? Y/N would be super impressed by such a selfless display of taking one for the team.” Dean winked and Cas frowned at him.

“Why would it matter if Y/N was impressed? I have told you, I do not-”

Dean waved a hand at Cas, “You aren’t kidding anyone, but if you want to keep denying that you have a thing for Y/N, that’s fine. We’ve all gotten pretty good at lying to ourselves about our feelings, so welcome to the club.” Dean looked at his watch, “Looks like we’ve got some time to kill. Why don’t we head over to the diner and grab some food, maybe go over what your game plan is?”

Cas shrugged, “As you are aware, I do not eat...but going over strategy would probably be a good idea.”

Dean rubbed his hands together, “Great. I saw that they had a special on the ‘World’s Best Bacon Cheeseburger’. Maybe they’ll have pie, too. Let’s go.”

 At the exact same time, in the middle of a corn maze

 “Y/N!” Sam half whispered, half yelled into the falling darkness. Although they were pretty sure Xochipilli was at the strip club, especially for their amateur night, Sam wasn’t taking any chances as he wandered alone through the corn, his gun drawn. He heard a rustling to his right and quickly turned to investigate the sound. “Hello? Y/N, is that you?” He glanced down at his phone to see the blinking dot he’d been following was straight ahead. The maze did not have a path that went in the right direction and he sighed before plowing through, nearly tripping over a large wooden crate when he came out into a cleared section. His foot connected harshly with the crate, knocking it over, and Y/N toppled out like a drunken toddler. “There you are! Jesus, Y/N, are you okay?”

She sat up and blinked slowly at him, “I don’t know...am I actually awake right now?” Sam nodded, and she rubbed an arm across her face sleepily. “Good news is...I don’t think I’m high on those mushrooms anymore. Bad news is that my head feels like it’s going to explode, and I have no idea how the hell I ended up in a crate….or in a cornfield.”

Sam reached out to help her stand, “Well, we think Xochipilli must have dropped you off here, although we aren’t sure why, other than this is where the bodies were found. But we’re pretty sure he’s at the strip club, so maybe he just wanted to mess with you...although I’m not sure what good that would do for him. Hmm…”

Y/N cleared her throat, “Umm...Sam...I’ve got some more bad news.”

Sam looked up from his phone, “What?”

Y/N pointed over his shoulder, and he turned around to find himself face to face with what looked like one of the Aztec statues of Xochipilli, only life sized. “Are you freaking kidding me?” he groaned as it shoved him out of the way and walked slowly towards Y/N.

“Now listen here, buddy, I don’t know what you think you’re doing, but I am not about this life right now. I guess this could be part of a bad trip...yea...that’s it. This is just a really bad trip. Have I mentioned how much I hate mushrooms? Why don’t you tell Chief Cornstalk that I’m gonna opt out of becoming a human scarecrow? It’s not really my style, and honestly I’d make a terrible one, too many curves on this bod. You’re not gonna fool anyone that I’m just made out of straw, ya know?” She ran out of room to back up and looked over the statue’s shoulder at Sam, “A little help here, Moose!”

Sam rolled his eyes at the nickname, but fumbled for his gun that had been knocked out of his hand when he fell. He finally found it, but the statue had grabbed Y/N, and he was afraid he would hit her if he shot.

“Sam, what are you waiting for? He’s...he’s trying to squeeze me to death!” Y/N was struggling to break free, but he could tell she was having trouble catching her breath. He looked around and felt relief when he saw a piece of rebar lying near where he'd found Y/N.

“Y/N, DUCK!” She ducked down as well as she could as Sam swung, the rebar connecting with the statues stone head. The statue shattered and Y/N fell to the ground, breathing heavily. Sam dropped the rebar and shook his hand as the vibrations from the metal connecting with stone traveled up his arm.

“This is the worst corn maze ever,” Y/N gasped as she leaned back on her hands and looked at Sam.

“It’s maize,” Sam corrected. Y/N flipped Sam off and he laughed. They both froze when they heard a rustle, “Are there any more of those things?”

Y/N scrambled to her feet, “How the hell am I supposed to know? I’ve been high as balls this whole time.”

Sam nodded, “Fair enough. Let’s go.” They took off running toward the car as the rustling began to come from what seemed like every direction.

Continue to part 3 HERE.

Forever Tags: @trexrambling @pinknerdpanda  @wheresthekillswitch @emilywritesaboutdean @arryn-nyxx @emptywithout @escabell @charliebradbury1104 @@jarpadandjensenaremyheroes  @deanssweetheart23  @canadianjelly @super-not-naturall @aubreyreadsstuff @dean-winchesters-baby @melissaj616 @fandomismyspiritanimal @keepcalmandcarryondean @assbutt-still-in-hell @owllover123 @rosie-winchester @amionthetumblr @duubaduu @hiimaprofessionalfangirl @goldenolaf25

I Believe In Miracles Only: @eringva @night-thinker-23 @curlyblondexoxo @deaths-damn-fruit-basket @thedevilinthedetails