#ok i was like seven seeing that movie for the first time i’m allowed to call them booger monsters THATS WHAT THEY LOOK LIKE.

[ilovecupcakesandtea]

Chapter one Chapter seven My master list

Title: Chapter six

Word Count: 1454

Archive Warnings: Smut in future chapters. Slight angst. Alcohol misuse.

Rating: E

Pairing(s): Eddie Munson/Steve Harrington Robin Buckley/Chrissy Cunningham

Character(s): Eddie Munson, Steve Harrington, Robin Buckley, Chrissy Cunningham, Benny, Uncle Wayne & The Party

Tags: Smut. Angst. Steddie. Buckingham. Steve Harrington. Eddie Munson. Robin Buckley. Chrissy Cunningham. Band AU. TW Alcohol use.

Summary (optional): Two different styles of music, two boys that really don't like each other. What could possibly go wrong?

Beta Reader: Thank you so much to my beautiful beta readers @slippy-slip @ladydarklord & @dontwasteyourchances

Art link and credit: Art is by the wonderfully talented @pink-luna-moth (as is the banner)

Fic link and credit: Ao3 Link

AN: First off thank you to Alex for the art and being just amazing to work alongside. Thank you to Slip for dragging me back from the edge so many times over this. I really am so excited to have this out here!!

I wrote this for the @strangerthingsreversebigbang event and had a lot of fun doing so!!

Divider links: reblog and music notes

“Right, great practise guys. Think we need to practise our timings for the second song but other than that we sounded great” Eddie voiced as he packed up his guitar and notebooks. “I’m off then, Chris, you need a lift?” he asked, turning to Chrissy. 

“I was thinking we could hang out a bit, I’ll order pizza and we can watch a movie,” Steve suggested before Eddie could leave.

“I’ll pass Harrington, see you all next time.” Eddie answered, continuing to leave. 

“That’s 3 weeks in a row now he’s just left. We always used to hang after. He’s missed writing sessions 3 times as well.” Robin pointed out, packing her own guitar away. 

“Yeah ever since that gig at Healer he’s been acting weird. Skipping out of practice as soon as he can, heading straight home after gigs, missing writing sessions and everything. He hasn’t replied to any of my messages or anything since that night either.” Steve huffed as he grabbed a bottle of water out of the fridge. 

“He’ll be ok, he’s just going through something right now, ok? He still turns up and plays and he’s here for practice, that's all that really matters.” Chrissy defended. 

She knew exactly what was wrong with Eddie, having done her own intervention 3 days after the gig when he’d called out from work and she hadn’t heard from him. Letting herself into his apartment, she’d found him passed out in bed. Empty bottle of whisky on the nightstand and half-smoked joint in the ashtray. She had made coffee and toast after waking him and they’d sat and had a chat which is when she had found out what happened between him and Steve at the club, including the bit afterwards. 

“Shall we go put a movie on and get a pizza ordered?” she suggested wanting to steer the conversation away from Eddie. 

“You never mentioned something was up with Eddie.” Robin started the conversation later that evening once they were both back at Chrissy’s house. 

“It’s not my place to say, can we leave this conversation? Let’s just get ready for bed and go and cuddle.” Chrissy said, trying to change the subject. 

“No, if it’s going to affect the band, we should know.” Robin pushed. 

“Your best friend should have thought about the band in the club,” Chrissy mumbled, grabbing a vest top and a pair of underwear and heading to the bathroom

“What was that?” Robin asked, following her girlfriend. Steve hadn’t done anything wrong.

“Nothing, this is why I wanted to leave it! Eddie will be ok. He just needs a little time away from Steve, that's all.” Chrissy huffed as she started to take her makeup off.

“Is this about what happened at the club?” Robin questioned, sitting on the closed toilet lid. 

“I’m not discussing this anymore. Please either drop it or allow me to get ready for bed on my own.” Chrissy sighed. 

“Whatever” Robin fumed, storming out of the bathroom and ultimately out of the flat.

Robin walked and walked, not really knowing where her legs were taking her until she got there. 

She knocked on the door before she could think twice and was greeted with the sight of Eddie, hair thrown up in a bun, topless and drinking a beer.

“Everything ok, Buckley?” he asked, clearly already drunk, letting her into the apartment. 

“No, it’s not.” Robin stated, “It hasn't been for weeks now, you keep missing writing, skipping out of practice as soon as possible, and going home as soon as gigs are done with. I’d hoped you had a partner we didn’t know about but you’ve been miserable for weeks now, not just everything else I mentioned, and if having a partner is making you this miserable maybe they aren't for you.”

“Nothing’s wrong, everything's ok.” Eddie frowned, downing his drink and heading to the kitchen for another. 

“Sure it is, you just ran out of practice as soon as you could to come home and get drunk because everything is fine.” she snorted, taking the beer she was handed. 

“Why do you care?” Eddie questioned the girl. 

“We’re all worried about you ok, you’ve been so different these last few weeks. What happened at Healer? Don’t say nothing, it was something.” She pressed. 

“Nothing happened at all. Just doing what I need to do, ok? I’ll be fine, just let me work through some shit. Please” 

“Is this about Steve taking that guy home that night? Do you have an issue with Steve getting laid?” She asked, confused.  

“No! I have an issue with him being on his knees for me less than an hour beforehand and then acting like it meant nothing. Not that I wanted it to mean something, just forget it, ok. Like I said, I’ll be fine.” Eddie sighed, pulling his knees up to his chest and making himself as small as possible. He really didn’t want to have this conversation.

“Oh, oh Eddie, I’m so sorry. This isn’t really for me to say but I don’t think the situation is as bad as you think. Let me talk to him.” Robin pleaded. 

The following morning Robin went back to Chrissy’s apartment. They had to talk. First of all, she needed to fix the issue she had caused last night and secondly, they needed a plan to get the two men together.

“Baby, I am so sorry for last night.” she said as soon as Chrissy opened the door “I should have listened to you and kept my mouth shut when you asked me to.” 

“Yes, you should have. But I love you too much to be mad at you, come in. I’ll make coffee.” Chrissy replied, walking back into her apartment and leaving the door open.

“So I ended up at Eddie’s last night when I left here. He was drunk already and he mentioned that something had happened that night at Healer.” Robin mentioned as she followed her girlfriend into the kitchen.

“Yeah he told me a few days after, don’t be mad I didn’t tell you. He wanted to forget it. It happened, not long after, he saw Steve making out with someone else, figured what had happened meant absolutely nothing to Steve, and walked off. He’s been in a funk ever since.” 

“Oh shit, so he likes Steve like that then?” Robin gasped.

“Yeah, he really does. He figured Steve didn’t like him like that but to see evidence of it so soon after thinking maybe something was there was crushing for him.” Chrissy shrugged.

“Ok, in Steve’s defence, they aren't together and he’s an idiot. Mostly the idiot thing. He likes Eddie so much it’s actually annoying, I’m just not sure he’s admitted it to himself fully yet.”

“We need to get them together.” 

“Yes we do, now can we drink coffee and make out, I mean make up?” Robin asked, pulling Chrissy into her before kissing her deeply. 

“Steven Brett Harrington, you are an idiot.” Robin declared as soon as Steve opened his door later that day.

“Good evening to you as well, what did I do this time?” He questioned. 

“You never told me about you and Eddie at the club for a start!” She accused, pointing a finger at him. “You know that’s why he’s been acting like he has been, right?” 

“Why? Because he’s upset that someone else wanted me when he didn’t?” He asked, annoyed at how he was being made to feel like the bad guy. “I put myself out there and after, he just walked away and didn’t look back. Why shouldn’t I find someone who wants me in that situation?” 

“You two are idiots I swear, you’re both going to give me and Chris migraines.” she sighed, pulling him into a hug.

After Robin’s conversation with him, both girls thought, and hoped, that he would talk to Eddie, either whilst at practice or go to Eddie’s without them knowing. This however did not seem to be the case. Eddie was still leaving practice as soon as he could and heading home from any gig as soon as he could. 

“Bunny, we’ve got to do something,” Robin sighed, throwing herself dramatically onto the couch after practice one day. “We’re getting more and more gigs in different states, we’re going to have to start staying over for some of them and there’s talks of contracts and things like that. They need to figure this shit out and quickly.” 

“Yeah, they do. We need to force them to talk, they won’t do it willingly.” Chrisy agreed. “I have a plan though” she declared, grabbing the other girl and pulling her into a cuddle so they could plot.

[galactic-pirates]

Ok Picard 3.02

My heart is still pounding to be honest.

Spoilers spoilers, many spoilers, all the warnings.

Ok Jack Crusher has charisma in spades. They seem to be going for a Han Solo type vibe and it’s working - I like him.

What I do NOT like and what I knew I wouldn’t like is the whole “Picard’s son” thing because I can’t make it make sense. Why would Beverley have hidden that from Picard? They were friends for years/a couple of decades before they gave being a couple a go. Even if Beverley was certain Picard didn’t want a kid, and admittedly I have just seen the movies and to mid-season 3 of TNG, but she seems honourable. She wouldn’t make him be involved. Perhaps she “didn’t want to trap him” but she always seemed to make moral arguments on the Enterprise about right to know. I just don’t see why the secret and until I do (and it makes sense) I will remain irritated.

I am doubly irritated by Shaw. I hate the man, I loathe him with the fire of a thousand suns. He is a grade A asshat and the way he just went “oh ok then” when Picard said “it’s my son” like that made a difference!?!? I mean Jack Crusher was somebody’s son! Beverley’s in fact so why does Picard providing half the genetics change a damn thing? I hate it. I would have preferred Shaw by like “yeah and so??” because the argument remains the same. The hundreds of crew lives vs. one guy. That is about the one thing Shaw isn’t wrong about. I hate him for how he treats Seven. Insisting on her deadname, being so blatantly bigoted and disrespectful. But Picard choosing to risk his own life for a personal mission is one thing, it IS irresponsible to decide to risk the lives of an entire ship. I mean “the greater good” is a bad thing to say I know, and I get principle is important but the crew of the Titan have value. Their lives are just as valid.

I mean I’m not saying they should have turned Jack Crusher over. Because Federation ideals and everyone onboard signed up for StarFleet and that fight. What I am saying is that make it about that, because it doesn’t matter a damn who is related to who. Being a Picard doesn’t make Jack Crusher anymore worthy of being saved and I hate the implication that it does.

I really think that season 3 is going to wind up like season 2 in that I find a big chunk of the ‘main’ story to be a complete waste of airtime. Picard and his whole mother story was something that weakened season 2 horribly and I feel like this son angle is going to be the same.

Seven deserves better. The premiere allowed some hints at what she has been dealing with. This episode barely gave her anything to do beyond repeating that Shaw is an asshat, and about the Rangers in addition to everything else. Seven is playing second fiddle, being like background and she is too good for that.

Now Raffi. Oh Raffi. The saviour of the episode. I may wind up watching this season for Raffi alone. She is knocking every damn scene she gets out of the park, my heart just breaks for her. Raffi blaming herself was something I knew would happen, Raffi being determined to get to the bottom of it and not believing the party line - well that’s how she was drummed out of StarFleet the first time over the Mars attack. You would think they should have learned to listen to her as Raffi was right then, and she was right now.

Bringing in her ex-husband was one big ball of pain. The ultimatum he put down of the case or her son was an impossible one. It’s actually a bit like the Titan/Picard scenario only Raffi didn’t choose what she wanted (her son), she chose her duty. Because it isn’t just about the lives that were lost - it’s about how many more are at risk. Whomever behind this gets away with it and their scheme will continue. They thought nothing of killing 117 people. They need to be stopped. But man Raffi’s face just about killed me because she knew this was a turning point. She has chosen duty over her son before, and she lost him, and when Gabe hears she did it again - she may never get another chance. I don’t know if she had a chance to begin with but if there was hope it’s gone. And Gabe doesn’t seem like he’ll care if Raffi saves the Galaxy. I guess it’s a cost of heroism they don’t usually show. Because he probably accepts it’s important but “why does it have to be my mom?” Because always coming second burns whether it’s for a noble reason or not.

I confess I did not see it coming that Worf was Raffi’s handler. I was thinking it was some shadowy enemy bad guy. I LOVE LOVE LOVE that he saved her. I love that they are giving Raffi this meaty story and integrating her into the TNG stuff through making her story be Worf’s intro. I just wish they would shine more light onto Seven as well. But hell Raffi deserves this, Raffi deserves even more. I hope that it continues and Raffi and Seven both get their time to shine even when more TNG cast are brought in. I am concerned that the cast is big and they might get shuffled to the back and forgotten by the end of the season :/

Anyway! Moving onto the last piece of my heart that Raffi stole. She risked her sobriety (and I would argue it’s a risk rather than a loss) to keep her cover and continue the mission. Raffi made a choice to go all in and that was brave. I suspect it will make resisting drugs even harder now she’s had another taste. That struggle will make her (hopeful) victory even more impressive. I wish I knew for sure whether Raffi was still in touch with Seven. They are in different places, doing their own thing, but Raffi needs someone that understands and that won’t judge her.

I am still like ahhhhh over it being Worf! The text messages have a different inflection now as Worf never did feel the need to explain himself. When I first saw the blade I did hope for half a second that Elnor has come for Raffi but I did know better as he’s not in this season :( I miss him.

I don’t get this villain. I do very much like the “doctors without borders” thing, very similar to Seven and the Rangers that they are suggesting Beverley was doing. But why does the villain want Jack Crusher? Given how much of the plot seems to hinge on this reason it better be a damn good one. Like maybe he stole something that is irreplaceable? It can’t be merely expensive as clearly they have enough resources to buy entire solar systems. I have a feeling the reason is not going to live up to the hype. I am much more invested in Raffi’s investigation!

I want Seven to either reform StarFleet somehow so they actually do some damn good, or tell them to stuff it and go back to being a Ranger. Seven deserves better dammit.

Ok I don’t think I have anything else to ramble about but Raffi is living in my head rent free right now. No thoughts, only Raffi. I have tried to make sense but my brain is just like ahhhhh because I have feelings. My heart breaks for her suffering. I want to fix it somehow for her. I want her to reunite with Seven and for them to work together and save the day.

Anyway next week I predict we’ll have a boring ass time playing peek a boo in the nebula and Seven won’t get enough to do. I remain deeply disappointed that the crew didn’t rise up against Shaw and throw him out of an airlock (I am kidding, mostly). And then we’ll have a handful of incredibly compelling scenes with Raffi and my heart will be in shreds again. Also bets on the next TNG appearance? I am thinking maybe Deanna. Her spider sense may have said Riker is in trouble I don’t know. We shall see.

[livvyofthelake]

also if i was arthur pendragon and i almost died getting that flower only for my father to a) not let me take it to merlin, and b) crush it up and drop it on the floor. i would literally hate him so much for that i might even kill him. it’s unreal that arthur was just okay with his dad after that… it’s unreal that we the viewer are expected to be okay with uther after that.

[magicalmarauder]

Broken Trust

Pairing: Jungkook x Reader

Warnings: I did not proof read this at all, so sorry in advance for any errors!

Word Count: 5k+

Summary: What happens when Jungkook betrays the trust of his girlfriend by sharing a highly personal detail about her life with his friends? How do you respond when the one person you trusted above anyone else does the very thing he vowed never to do – break your heart.

Being best friends with seven overgrown man-children was definitely an experience. An experience you hadn’t quite foreseen in your future when you first moved to Seoul, Korea. Nevertheless, it was an experience that you wouldn’t trade for the world. Most days, at least, you corrected yourself ruefully.

Over a year ago, you had made the biggest, most adult-like decision in your life thus far and decided to pack up all that you had, leaving behind everything and everyone that you knew in favor of starting a new journey in a completely different country. You were hesitant when you were first offered the job opportunity, but quickly realized that turning down such an opportunity would be a decision that you would always look back on with regret. And certainly, looking back now, you could definitely say that you had made the best decision of your life in moving to Seoul. Not only had it led you to the love of your life, but also to the aforementioned crazy best friends, of whom your boyfriend was actually one.

You could only describe the meeting as fate as it was truly a scene straight out of a romantic comedy. It had been your first week at your new job, you had frantically been checking the map on your phone, trying to navigate the winding hallways in order to find the room where your two o’clock meeting was being held. In your distracted state, you had failed to notice the man in front of you walk straight into the door that he had been too preoccupied to notice was closed before promptly falling to the ground, serving as the hazard that had caused your own frantic descent to the hard floor.  

The man had been so sweet and apologetic, ensuring over and over again that you were unhurt. You assured him that you were just fine and not to worry, but he had insisted on making it up to you, stating that he couldn’t rest until he offered you what he claimed was the most perfect hot chocolate in the world. Before you could protest, he pulled you through the door, this time successfully opening it before attempting to walk through, and into what looked like a large recording studio area.

He quickly dragged you over to the back corner of the room that seemed to serve as the designated snack area as it was occupied by a mini-fridge, coffee maker, microwave, and toaster oven. He wasted no time in getting to work, pulling out a mug and various different ingredients and before you knew it, he was proudly presenting you with his hot chocolate creation with a large, endearing smile on his face. You had been about to protest, worried about making your meeting on time, but there was no possible way that you could refuse that face. He looked so eager and so, with a rueful smile, you gratefully accepted the warm drink and took a nice long sip, relishing in the rich, chocolatey taste.

His eyes never left your face, eyebrows raising expectantly after you pulled back.

“You were right,” you assented. “Definitely the most perfect cup of hot chocolate I’ve ever had. You have a real gift, kind sir.”

“Why thank you, m’lady,” he responded, giving you an exaggerated bow that set you off in a fit of giggles. This guy was just too adorable for his own good.

Before you could inquire any further as to his name or any other details about him, a loud flurry of noises sounded behind you as a group of boys walked into the room, laughing and joking and shoving one another. However, once they caught sight of you standing in the middle of the room with the man by your sight, their conversations quickly shut off, eyes simultaneously bouncing back and forth between you and the mystery man by your side.

“Who’s this?” One of the men asked curiously, stepping forward and glancing between the two of you with eyebrows raised.

You and the man exchanged quick glances, realizing that you had yet to formally introduce yourselves to one another.

Realizing this, you took a small step forward. “Hi. My name is Y/N. I’m new to the company. I just moved here last week and I literally ran into your friend here in the hallway,” you explained, gesturing to the man beside you, who had a faint blush covering his cheeks.

“Yeah,” the man said, sheepishly rubbing at the back of his neck. “I kind of ran into the door and took her down with me.”

The boys stared at the two of you for a moment before breaking into laughter, seemingly not even questioning the events of the story.

“Awww, such the charmer you are, Jungkookie-ah,” the man who had originally stepped forward to question your presence joked. “Only you could meet a pretty girl in such a way. This type of stuff only happens in movies.”

The man besides you, who you now supposed was named Jungkookie? blushed, ducking his head down to hide his reddening face. “Stop it, Jimin-ssi,” he pleaded, sending a rush through your heart. This man was just too cute.

Taking pity on their friend, the tallest member of the group took a step forward. “Welcome to Seoul and to BigHit, Y/N. It’s very nice to meet you. I’m Namjoon,” he introduced, reaching forward to shake your hand before the others followed suit one-by-one.

Once finished with the group standing in front of you, you turned to meet the gaze of the man at your side, who was staring at you with a sheepish smile. “Hi.” He smiled. “I didn’t get a chance to formally introduce myself earlier. I’m Jungkook.”

You grinned. “Very nice to meet you, Jungkook. Thank you very much for the hot chocolate, it was excellent,” you complimented. “But I really do have to get going. I’m running a bit late for my meeting.”

“Oh, of course!” He flushed. “I’m sorry to keep you. I really should have asked before forcing you to follow me in here.”

“No worries at all,” you reassured gently. “It was well worth it. Now I know just where to come when I’m in the mood for some delicious hot chocolate.”

Jungkook blushed again and you were really starting to believe that that was just the permanent state of his face before the mischievous one who had spoken earlier, and who you now knew was named Jimin, spoke up. “Why don’t you come back here after your meeting, Y/N. We’ll still be here. Since you’re new to the city, I’m sure you don’t know very many people. Let us show you around a little bit!”

The other boys chorused along their agreement with that offer, insisting that you allow them to take you out.

“Let us make up for our little maknae almost maiming you on your first week,” the man who had introduced himself as World Wide Handsome a.k.a. Jin interjected.

You let out a laugh. “There’s really nothing to make up for, but I’d love it if you guys showed me around a little bit. I haven’t had a chance to go exploring yet. I’d love to see your country through your own eyes.”

“Then it’s settled!” Namjoon declared, a broad grin stretching across his face. “Come back here after your meeting is done and we’ll head out!”

“Ok, sounds like a plan,” you nodded. “I’ll see you guys soon then!”

***

And that had been that. At the time you hadn’t known that they were the most famous K-Pop group in the world, which they had teased you mercilessly about. Considering you worked for the company that employed them, they had found it unbelievable that you had had no idea who they were. But all the same, they found it refreshing to talk to someone who knew nothing of their background or their fame, someone they could have a normal conversation with and just be themselves around.

The eight of you had quickly bonded, meeting together often for meals, going out after work to explore the town, or even attending game nights at their shared apartment. Your relationship with each one of them had solidified so quickly, finding your own common ground that bonded you with each member. However, there was one that stood out from the rest. Jungkook. Ever since that first meeting, there was a spark between the two of you, something that the others were quick to pick up on. They were constantly teasing the two of you and scheming for opportunities to get the two of you alone together. So, with all of their plotting, it was no surprise that you quickly found yourself growing closer and closer to Jungkook each and every day. He quickly became your closest friend and greatest confidante. Therefore, when he had finally mustered up the courage to ask you out on a date, you hadn’t wasted a second before agreeing.

It was nothing but history after that. Your date had gone fantastic and you had been together ever since. There was no one you trusted and adored more than Jungkook and vice versa. Although you had never expected to fall in love with an idol, you wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world. Jungkook was your other half, complementing you perfectly. Your relationship came with its fair share of heartaches and challenges, but the two of you were a great team, solving each new trial as it came your way.

The boys welcomed you into their family with wide open arms, agreeing that you were perfect for their little golden maknae. They teased the two of you relentlessly about your relationship, but always out of love and affection for you both.

Despite the fact that you were extremely close with all of the boys, there were certain things that you only confided in with Jungkook – one of which being your relationship experience, or rather lack of. Jungkook was actually your very first boyfriend, something that you tried not to advertise too much. You weren’t ashamed of your past and your decision to prioritize other things in your life up until this point, but you recognized that to the outside world, it was a very rare and weird occurrence that usually resulted in people asking what could possibly be wrong with you if you went twenty or so years without having a significant other.

You tried not to dwell on it too much, after all you had a boyfriend now and you were very happy together. All of the waiting had absolutely been worth it. However, with your lack of experience came a certain shyness. This was all so new to you and you wanted to take things slowly, something that Jungkook absolutely understood and never once made you feel guilty or insecure about. Sex was something that was completely off the table for the moment.  As you probably guessed, you were a virgin and had no plans of changing that status anytime soon. You loved Jungkook more than you could express and taking that step was definitely something you could imagine happening with him, even more frequently now as time continued to go on. However, that was still a huge decision and one you were not yet completely ready to make.

When you had finally opened up to Jungkook about that personal detail about yourself, you had been so nervous as to how he would react. You of course had had entirely nothing to worry about, though. Jungkook had been the absolute sweetest and most understanding person in the world, admiring you for sticking to your convictions and never compromising your values simply because others around you may or may not have been engaging in certain activities.

Although this was a part of your life that you accepted and something that you had had no regrets in sharing with Jungkook, it was also something that you found highly personal and didn’t want advertised, especially to your rowdy group of friends who you loved dearly, but who often did not know when a joke was being taken too far. You had asked Jungkook to keep that personal detail about yourself between the two of you and he had been quick to agree, pressing a sweet kiss to your mouth and promising that your secrets were always safe with him. You had had no reason to doubt him, believing wholeheartedly that he was 100% genuine and would never go back on his word to you. However, that unfortunately all changed one night as the eight of you were all hanging out together as was usual on a Friday evening.

While you and Jungkook were frequently in your own little couple’s world, you never forgot to make time for your best friends as well, not forgetting that if it hadn’t been for them and their incessant meddling, you and Jungkook might never have gotten together. That was why it had almost become ritual for the eight of you to gather together after a long week of work and relax, choosing to watch movies, play games, or simply just eat your weight in junk food.

And this night was no different. You were all gathered on the luxurious couches in their apartment, buried in blankets and snuggled in together. You were pressed firmly into Jungkook’s side, arms wrapped around one another, completely at peace in each other’s presence. Every so often, Jungkook would lean down and press a soft, sweet kiss to your face, alternating between your forehead, cheek, neck, and so on.

“Eh, Y/N?” A voice asked, pulling you out of your Jungkook-bubble.

“Huh?” You questioned, having missed the conversation that had been going on around you entirely. However, you felt like you couldn’t be blamed for your lack of attention. It was all Jungkook’s fault and his perfect, distracting kisses.

“Is that accurate?” Jimin asked, a teasing smirk on his face as he gestured to the movie playing on the screen, which you honestly hadn’t even paid a bit of attention to since it had started. You truthfully weren’t even sure what movie they had chosen. When taking a vote at the beginning of the night, you hadn’t cared too much. You usually spent your movie nights exactly as you were right now, wrapped in Jungkook’s arms and completely distracted and consumed by his presence.

“What?” You asked, looking around the room at the various teasing expressions of your friends, wondering what you had missed. You looked back up at Jungkook’s face to notice that his expression was just as mystified as your own, clearly having been just as wrapped up in you as you were in him.

“Is the movie portraying with accuracy the reality of being a twenty-something year old virgin?” Jin clarified.

Behind you, you felt Jungkook tense up while you merely furrowed your brows in confusion, not yet quite understanding why they were asking you this question; however, as you heard the sharp intake of breath from Jungkook behind you, your mind began to connect the dots, reality setting in as what you had believed to be impossible was actually coming true.

“What?” You whispered, still in a state of shock, your mind trying to catch up to what was going on around you.

“The movie,” Taehyung explained. “Is it accurate? We know Hollywood tends to dramatize these things. I’d never actually met a fully grown adult virgin before to confirm; however. Well, until we met you. I have to say, I was quite surprised though. I didn’t really believe Jungkookie at first when he told us,” Taehyung continued on, clearly not realizing the massive hole that he was currently digging for his friend as you mutely listened on.

“Jungkook told you?” You questioned, still not quite believing it. There was no one that you trusted more in this world than Jungkook. You had never had a reason to doubt his sincerity or trustworthiness, which was why your brain was now having trouble believing what was clearly being spelled out in front of you by your friends and their teasing grins as well as the suspicious silence from the man in question.

Reflexively, you moved away from Jungkook’s embrace, his hands following desperately after you only for you to move further away from him on the couch, silently communicating that being touched by him was the last thing you wanted in this moment.

Namjoon, Yoongi, and Hosoek exchanged glances, quickly realizing what was going on and that this was a piece of information that you had never intended to be shared with the whole group. Quickly, they tried to communicate this to the other members, but with no luck. They were finding too much entertainment in poking fun at you while you just sat there, at a loss for words.

“Hey, that’s enough,” Namjoon finally interceded, no longer able to ignore the look of distress on your face or the utter guilt consuming Jungkook’s own.

Numbly, you finally turned to face your boyfriend, accusation clear in your eyes. He gulped in response, knowing that he was in for it, and rightfully so. However, as you continued to gaze at him, the anger that initially consumed your features was replaced by something so much worse – hurt and betrayal.

“You told them?” You questioned in a broken tone. “After you promised me you understood how personal that was for me to share? That you wouldn’t talk about it with the others?”

The laughter quickly died off as the remaining BTS members realized what was happening, guilt rapidly beginning to form in the pits of their stomachs. They hadn’t realized that this was something you weren’t comfortable with sharing. They had figured that if you had shared that information with Jungkook and he had in turn told them, that it was something you were okay with discussing. They hadn’t meant to hurt your feelings at all. But clearly, the damage had already been done.

“Jagi,” Jungkook began, but then quickly broke off, not having an acceptable answer to your question. He had screwed up, a fact which was made quite clear by the pain in your eyes. Your happiness was one of the most important things in the world to him. He couldn’t stand to see you upset, much less when he knew that he was the cause of your hurt.

“No,” you cried, cutting off whatever useless defense he had been about to muster up. “I can’t believe you, Jungkook. I trusted you. This is exactly the situation I wanted to avoid and you knew that. You expressly told me that you wouldn’t say anything to the other boys, and then what? You go right around and do exactly what you had promised not to. I can’t believe you, Jeon Jungkook.”

“Y/N . . . I – I,” he broke off, completely at a loss, wanting to go over and comfort you, holding you in his arms and gently wiping away the tears that were rapidly forming in your eyes. But he couldn’t do that. Not this time. Not when he was the source of said tears. This was a position he hadn’t found himself in before. You and Jungkook were amazingly compatible. In the months that you two had been dating, you had had very few conflicts and those that you did have were always solved with discussion and an exchange of opinions and feelings. He had never made you cry before and it was a feeling he never wanted to experience again.

“No,” you declared, biting your lip and trying your best to hold in the cries that were trying desperately to leave your body. “I can’t be here anymore.”

Quickly, you stood up, making your way to the doorway and wasting no time in putting your shoes on and grabbing your bag before exiting the apartment, slamming the door with a resounding bang, that clearly communicated you did not want to be followed.

Jungkook was too in shock to even process this as he stared at the doorway you had practically just raced through. The other boys were in much the same predicament, not quite knowing how to respond, not only to your hasty departure, but also to the argument they had just witnessed. As previously mentioned, you and Jungkook never really fought, not in private, and definitely not in public. They were used to you and Jungkook being in perfect sync, the ideal couple, and the perfect counterpart for one another. You completed each other so perfectly that this was a scenario in which they never imagined witnessing, much less being a part of.

“Jungkook…?” Namjoon prompted gently, feeling sorry for the youngest member and the look of despair on his face, completely at a loss with how to process and handle this situation.

“What just happened?” Jimin interrupted. “I didn’t realize that it was a big secret?”

“I hadn’t either,” Hosoek chimed in. “Not until I saw the look on her face.”

“Why’d you tell us that, Jungkook?” Jin questioned, voicing the thoughts of everyone else in the room. “It sounded like she expressly told you not to share that bit of personal information, which I can honestly understand, especially considering that we did exactly what she had been trying to avoid.”

The boys looked down, ashamed at their actions. Yes, they had genuinely believed that this was something you were fine with openly sharing and therefore joking about, but they never should have poked fun at something so personal in the first place. They each resolved in their own minds to apologize to you the next time they saw you, hoping that you weren’t too upset with them.

Taehyung moved over to Jungkook, placing a hand on his shoulder and giving him a slight shake, attempting to rouse him from his bewildered stupor. “Jungkook?”

Jungkook jerked away, coming alive at once and finally tearing his gaze away from the door that you had left through.

After taking a quick glance around the room and the various expressions of concern and guilt on his friends’ faces, he jumped up, grabbing his phone and his keys before rushing out of the room after you, vowing to make this right with you.

***

After about an hour later and having gone to a number of different locations in order to find you, yet coming up empty, Jungkook walked through the entryway of your apartment, desperately praying that he would find you here. He would go insane if he didn’t find you soon and know that you were safe.

“Y/N-ah!” He called, receiving no reply in return.

His heart sank, ready to lose it completely as endless possibilities of what could have happened to you ran through his mind. However, he was able to sink fully into that mindset of despair, he heard a faint sniffle coming from the bedroom. Hurriedly, he stood to his feet, practically sprinting into your bedroom, only to find you curled up into a tiny ball at the center of the bed, surrounded and covered in pillows and blankets. His heart lurched at the sight of you crying and in pain, but at the moment, his relief that you were okay won out over anything else.

“Y/N!” He breathed, rushing to your side and enveloping you completely in his arms, moving the blankets out of the way so he could see your face.

However, he wasn’t expecting for you to push him away. He didn’t think you had ever turned down any sort of physical contact with him. You were usually the one to initiate it, in fact, always grabbing his hand, leaning your head against his chest, snuggling into his side, and so on. You shying away from him threw him off and gave him a feeling that he never again wanted to experience.

“No,” you whined, when he hesitantly reached towards you again. “Please leave,” you begged. “I don’t want you here right now, Jungkook.”

If Jungkook’s heart hadn’t broken before your previous actions, it absolutely shattered at your words to him now.

“Baby, please, I –“he struggled to express, trying and failing to come up with the words that would get you back in his arms, right where you belonged.

“I don’t want to talk, Jungkook,” you cried. “You really hurt me. Maybe you think I’m being dramatic, but this is a really big deal to me. You knew how hard it was for me to open up to you,” you accused, finally pulling the blanket away and revealing your broken form to Jungkook, his heart sinking at the sight of your red, tear-stained cheeks. “You knew exactly how personal that was and how much I wanted it to stay between you and I,” you continued. “You promised that you wouldn’t say anything and then you immediately went back on your word. How much time did it take for you to go running off to tell them? Did you all mock me together?”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Jungkook exclaimed, shocked at where your thoughts were taking you. “Just wait a minute!”

You sniffled, jaw set stubbornly, but making no move to interrupt him surprisingly.

“We did not mock you, I would never do that,” Jungkook began, ignoring your quiet scoff of disbelief at his words. “And I know you have absolutely every right to not believe me,” he noted. “But I truly didn’t mean to break your trust. I did and I do understand how hard it was for you to open up to me and I appreciate and value that trust more than you know. I understand that I betrayed that trust that you had in me, and for that I am deeply sorry. I wish I had a good explanation, but I truly don’t. We were just hanging out one night and it kind of slipped out. I didn’t mean to tell them your private business, but once it was out, I couldn’t take it back, but I knew if I tried to convince them not to say anything that that would make them want to bring it up in front of you all the more. I was hoping that if I played it off that they would assume it was no big deal and never mention it again. Clearly, that was a very stupid plan, and I see that now. I should have been up front and honest with them and with you as well. But Y/N, baby, never doubt that I love you and that I have your back – 100%. I may mess up from time to time, in fact, I know I will,” he corrected. “But that doesn’t mean that I love you any less,” he breathed out, voice and eyes pleading with you to understand, to forgive him.

“I love you so much,” he confessed. “Don’t let my idiocy and insensitivity ruin what we have,” he begged. “I promise I won’t ever betray your trust like that again. Let me show you how much I mean it. Let me make it up to you.”

You simply stared back at him, wide-eyed, not quite expecting such a passionate apology from him.

“Say something,” he pleaded, unable to handle your silence.

“I’m not quite sure what to say,” you admitted, still a little in awe from his words.

“Then say you forgive me,” he requested, hand hesitantly inching forward to grab onto your own, taking it as a positive sign that you hadn’t pulled away from him once again.

You looked down at your intertwined hands, your heart thumping in response to his thumb gently stroking the skin along the back of your hand.

“You really didn’t mean to tell them?” You questioned in a small voice, your anger slowly melting away at both the heartfelt words and the adorable doe-eyes that were begging you for your forgiveness.

“No, baby, I didn’t,” he promised, squeezing your hand. “I would never do that to you intentionally. It was just one of those moments where I wasn’t paying attention to what I was saying and it slipped out. I knew right away that I had messed up, but I didn’t know what to do. I should have come to you right away though and confessed what had happened. We could have avoided this entire situation if I had just been honest with you.”

You nodded, unable to deny that before glancing down at your clasped hands once again. Although you were still upset with him, you couldn’t deny the sincerity in his eyes. You believed him and you believed that he understood the severity of what he had done. You knew that he loved you and would never do anything to intentionally harm you. Your relationship was something that was too precious to the both of you and although you were hurt, you knew that this would be something that you would be able to work through together. Seeing your smaller hand clutched in his larger one, you couldn’t deny that you and Jungkook just fit together. Everything was right when you were with one another.

Jungkook, having must have sensed your anger slowly melting away, prompted you softly. “Do you think you’ll be able to forgive me, jagiya?”

Without replying, you leaned forward to place your lips against his own in a gentle kiss, expressing all that you wanted to without words. And Jungkook, your other half, understood perfectly, returning the sentiment by pouring his own love and sincerity back into the kiss. The two of you continued on in your sweet embrace, allowing all of the hurt and anger to be swept away by each new kiss.

A few moments later, Jungkook gently pulled away, pressing soft kisses to your face, eliciting a sweet giggle from your lips.

Jungkook grinned in return, overjoyed and at perfect peace to be back in harmony with you – his love, his other half, his perfect partner in everything.

“I love you so much, Y/N,” he expressed, eyes gleaming and heart full. You were the only one who could make him feel like this and he wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I love you too, Kookie,” you echoed, once again leaning into him and allowing yourself to be swept away in the sweetness of his embrace, exactly where you belonged.

[batarella]

3 birds 1 stone - BLUE

From a world once so cruel, that never seemed to have granted them the time enough to be together, it’d never built up into anything more perfect.

WORDS: 7785 WARNINGS: Sexual Content

MASTERLIST | 3 BIRDS 1 STONE MASTERLIST | RED | YELLOW

-----

Dick:

It was concerning how at the moment he stepped into the narrow elevator, he wasn’t the least bit surprised at the pile of animal shit at the corner. It wasn’t until the doors closed when he noticed it, or rather his nose did, and he had to clog his nostrils just so he doesn’t pass out on the floor.

“Gar!?” he yelled just as the doors opened. No one was there, save for Raven with a book sitting at the couch. She didn’t glance at him. “Gar, I swear if you took a shit in the elevato-“

“That wasn’t me!”

Gar’s voice came from the kitchen, panting and occupied with something unruly. Then he heard plates falling to the floor, breaking, then there was a whimper. Not one that came from a human.

“Then who was it!?”

His question was soon answered, when a dog, a brown-furred mutt, sprinted out into the living room with a strip of bacon lodged in its teeth. “Gar!”

“I told you!”

Gar came out of the kitchen with a leash that had been ripped. “It wasn’t me!”

“You brought a dog into the tower?!”

“It was hungry!”

The mutt had finished off the bacon and headed straight for Raven’s lap. She gave it a scratch under its ear.

“Not on the couch,” Dick said.

“But Dick-“

“You’re not allowed on the couch either,” he told Gar. The boy murmured something Dick couldn’t hear, and after a second, no longer was he a boy but a green parrot. It squealed against Dick’s ear before it flew to Raven’s book.

“Jesus-“ he rubbed his ear. “I’m not in the mood.”

“SQUAWK-,” the parrot said. “WHAT’S UP WITH YOU?”

Having some coherent answer to that would only cement it as some grueling reminder. Hell, even thinking about it hurts more than the coward’s way out of pretending the past year never even happened. But then again, here he was, back in the Titan’s Tower to escape from the love of his life he could never be with and force himself into this infernal damnation of having forever to get over her. Here. Thousands of miles away. Where he’d only have his thoughts to battle and nothing else.

But all he said was: “Nothing.”

Dick should have told her, at least. Given her that kind of closure instead of his current disappearing act without so much as a note or a text or even a notice memo at the manor’s announcement board, which Alfred insisted with there being eight kids around.

But being away will be good. For her. For him. The first step to moving on. And with that, cutting all ties. Make it hurt less for both of them.

Maybe not all ties. He’ll have to go back to Gotham soon enough. But at least he was trying something. Not like the past five, six, seven years. God, has it really been that long?

She was probably over at Tim’s office, or Jason’s apartment doing whatever. Thinking about it won't do him any good. Doesn’t mean he subconsciously won’t.

It was apparent, and out into full consciousness, when he pulled out his phone and saw her name in five missed calls, with voice messages she’s left behind. A whole lot of minutes of them, too, it seems. She’d called while he was on the plane.

He could listen to them. Hear her voice one last time. Let his mind trail away. God, he was pathetic.

Dick put it up to his ear, his other hand stuffed to his pockets as he went out to the tower’s highest balcony so at least the air wasn’t so stuffy and he wouldn’t choke so much.

He wasn’t even nervous when he heard her speak. “Hey, Dick.”

A plane. A helicopter. Some folks over at the apartment building nearby partying it out. At least he’d have something to look at. He was exhausted, too. It was eight am over at Gotham. Shouldn’t have taken the overnight flight.

“You weren’t at the manor. I tried calling there first. I wanted to see you. Call me when you get this?”

He might. After he listens to the four other messages she’d left behind.

“Hey. I know it’s only been an hour. But please call me.”

Another one.

“Dick, where are you? I hope you didn’t change your phone. or I’ll look stupid leaving all these messages behind, which I’m not about to stop doing. Call me. Please. No one knows where you are but no one’s panicking either. It’s worrying me.”

Next one. From another hour after. He’d been gone a little over ten hours since he left. If Bruce didn’t have a tracker on him, they’d have called the police by now. But he highly doubted Bruce would take the time to announce his little trip to the West Coast to everyone in the house.

“Dick, if this is you ignoring me, you’re doing a hell of a good job at it. Did I do something?”

He heard her huff over the phone. No one else seemed to be around her.

“Please, I just wanna talk. Call me.”

The last one. Sent just four hours ago, which meant she’d been awake at four in the morning.

And, on top of that, the last one was five whole minutes long.

A call to tell her she was dating Tim again? Explaining how there are no hard feelings? Catch a movie sometime? An ass of him to think she’d be that cruel, but he was jetlagged and exhausted and the smell of dog shit still hadn’t left, which could be explained because that mutt had made a home just a few feet away from where he stood.

Dick played the message despite all that. Even if she called to tell him she’s getting married. He’d answer it.

“Dick…”

He could hear the rain, sheets shuffling under her feet.

“I’m sorry…” she said. “I… I probably took too long… I guess, if you’re ignoring me, you still deserve to know. I hope you get this message. I’ll tell you now, I guess. So you won't have to respond if you don’t want to.”

Tears. He could hear her wipe them off her skin.

“I kept you waiting for… I wanna say months but it’s a lot longer than that. Years… God, and I didn’t even see it… I took too long trying to figure this all out for myself, and you just kept waiting for me. No one should be worth waiting for that long.”

He was laughing as if it were one of her god-awful jokes. Funnily enough, it was worth it. Even when it sent him nowhere in the end. All that waiting was worth it. Somehow.

“Which is why I don’t blame you. Because you shouldn’t have taken this long. I thought even if I took another few weeks before I’d have enough courage to finally ask you to be mine, you’d still be there waiting for me. Selfish as it is, but I guess that’s your fault, too. Spoiling me and whatnot. Now my expectations for men are out of hand. Sorry.”

She even fucking laughed all the while he could hear her biting back her sobs. If he were there, he’d hold her by the shoulders and squeeze the fucking sense back into her and tell her yes, I did wait for you, and I’d wait for you for a hundred more years if I had to but I know you love someone else and-

Wait.

Wait.

Wait.

Backtrack.

What the hell did she just say!?

“I mean, I’m…” she continued, completely ignoring his panic. Was there a rewind on this thing??? “The past two days all I did was read your letter. Over and over again, trying to find something I could have missed. I memorized it by now. I’m a wreck. I’m sorry. I know it’s all so complicated, but I can't stop thinking that if the timing had just been good to us the past few years, all this would have been so different.”

Shit, shit, shit, shit, SHIT, is she actually saying she-

“I’m so sorry, Dick…” she sighed. “I kept you waiting. But even if… even if you’re not anymore, I already made up my mind. I’ll be here. It’s my turn to wait for you. As long as it takes. I love yo-“

Something hit the back of his knees.

Which, unfortunately, with him not in some defensive stance, caught him in a rather vulnerable position.

And with that, Dick tumbled off his feet, almost fell off the railing, and failed to catch his phone from slipping right off his hands.

“NO!”

“DOWN BOY-SQUAWK!” Gar the parrot cried and followed the obnoxiously unruly dog running around the terrace. “SORRY, DICK!”

The dog kept running around and almost crashed to his feet twice with it being too fast even for Gar's supposedly swift wings, and if he wasn’t so frozen and horrified, watching his phone descend from almost a hundred stories above ground, he would have grabbed that mutt by the neck.

“GAR, I SWEAR TO GOD-“

“I’m sorry!” He turned back into a human and caught the dog. “It was him!”

“My fucking phone just fell over the railing!”

“Want me to go get it-“

A car alarm. He could hear it even from above. Or Gar did. Because he went to look over and caught sight of his phone breaking a car’s windshield below. He scratched the back of his neck. “Sorry.”

“I have to…” Dick pulled on his scalp. “I have to go call her.”

“Call who?!”

“Give me your phone!”

“I don’t have a phone!”

“Give me Raven’s phone!”

“She talks to people with her mind,” Gar twirled his finger against his temple. “She doesn’t need a phone!”

“Just get- UGH!”

He stormed back into the building. “Where the hell is everyone else!?”

“They’re all out of town!”

“So it’s just you and Raven in here?! Without adult supervision!?”

“Why do you think we got a dog into the building?!”

Said dog stuck his tongue out at him like it was just so awfully adorable.

“Ok, ok, ok, ok, ok.” He can do this. He can calm down. “I have to go back. Or call her at least.”

“You’re going back to Gotham now?!”

She said she’ll wait. But to hell with keeping her waiting. “Yes. I do. I’m going back now. As soon as I can call her and tell her I’m on my way-“

“I wouldn’t do that.”

Raven didn’t even look up from her book, legs up on the couch as seemingly relaxed as if the whole wreck of a home they lived in wasn’t a mess at all.

“Next flight to Gotham’s in an hour.” She levitated an apple to her mouth and took a bite. “And the one after that’s in two days.”

“Two days!?”

“Airline shutdown. Some strike is happening,” she pointed at the TV playing the news. “I’d hurry if I were you.”

“God fucking dammit-“

“Good luck.” Raven took another bite.

Of course. Of course, this would fucking happen.

But, fuck, he didn’t know if he should just leap out the window to keep up now that everything he’s ever wished for had finally come to be. Because, to his own beliefs up in the clouds, he could probably fly with just the flap of his measly arms.

Y/N chose him.

He left for the elevator, just before Gar stopped him for leaving his wallet, then he was sprinting his way back to the airport.

.

You:

“I already made up my mind,” you said to your phone as if there were anyone else on the other line. As if he was there, listening to you. And that in a few seconds, he’d respond.

“I’ll be here. It’s my turn to wait for you. As long as it takes. I love you, Dick.”

Quite haunting how easy it was for those words to just roll off your lips, because as much as you thought all this to be so complicated and difficult, it was the easiest thing you’ve ever had to say.

At four am, alone in your studio with all your lights off and your sheets in an unkempt mess. You stuck your knees so close to your chest, trying to conceal at least some kind of warmth against you. But even with it so easy, it didn’t mean it wasn’t hurting.

“I can't,” you stuck your palm to your forehead. “I know things are so hard between us… and this past year is just…”

You breathed, longer than you’d hoped, just to get enough air into your lungs just so you wouldn’t collapse.

“God, I don’t even know what to tell you anymore. It all just… It feels like it’s too late. Everything went so wrong between us and I can't stop but think maybe it’s the world saying we’re just not meant to be,” you swallowed. “And the scary thing is… I don’t even care.”

The blue rose you painted, staring back at you once so bright, but as the passing days of you still wondering if were brave enough to do this at all, it had dried up and was now blank, patronizing even, that maybe it just wasn’t right, even when you wanted it to be.

“I don’t care if it’s so complicated, I want you…”

On the bed, just by your feet, you locked your eyes onto Dick’s beautiful handwriting, some that had been smudged with the sweat from your hands with the paper now crumpled up after all those months of reading and rereading.

You closed your eyes.

“You sent me an awfully painful, heart-breaking letter,” you said. “This is my awfully painful, heart-breaking reply.”

.

‘I usually just say all this in my head. That’s when I get poetic. Sometimes I write it down. Most of the time, I try to paint them. I think of galaxies and meadows and skies and flowers and all that, metaphors as they are, but I’ll say everything I’ve got. Right now. Because you deserve to know that all those years of you thinking nothing could ever go how you wanted, that it could end being just that.

.

Dick:

“Hey.”

Hands on the counter, the attendant looked startled at the least.

“I need a ticket for the next flight to Gotham.”

“I’m sorry, sir,” she said, after taking a while to look at Dick’s handsome yet frantically uneasy face. “You just missed it-“

“I know, I know, I missed the last one.” The one that left just five minutes ago because of fucking California traffic. “But I need to get on the next one. Please.”

“All flights from San Francisco after the next hour are canceled I’m afraid.”

“Any connecting flights? Anything that leaves before that?”

“Sir, I-” she stretched her fingers. “I’ll look for something.”

His fingers, tapping onto the counter until the tip of his nails started to hurt.

“The best option’s a connecting flight to Denver, then to New York.”

“New York!?”

“Then there’s the railway transits to Gotham. I can book you a ticket for that, too.”

From a seven-hour flight to a seventeen-hour trip with layovers and a crowded train.

But as soon as he heard best option he pulled out his wallet quicker than when they told him his rent was three months overdue and that if he weren’t to pay the doorman that very instant they’d evict him.

He rushed to the first plane, closed his eyes, and prayed she hadn’t said anything in her voice message too important for him to miss out on.

.

‘The universe, or whatever it is out there that has a say in all this, they didn’t make it easy for us at all. If they did, we would have met long before we went too far into this mess. We were friends, sure, and you have no idea how much I value our friendship.

But I guess not even that friendship’s strong enough for us to deny what’s really going on. And that’s why it’s all so hard. I can't even look at you without thinking about kissing you, or holding you, or touching you. I can't hold your hand without wanting to never pull away. I can't even be in the same room with you and not stare, even when you’re just reading a book or talking to someone else. You are… you’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen, and you’re just as beautiful within, which is why it was so easy to love you, and so hard to keep it in.’

.

You:

Morning. Eleven am at that. You slept before the sun was up, at least. But you were up all night.

Nothing. Not a call, not even a text from him.

Everything shattered, and you were still half asleep. The next thing you did, and the next thing to do, was wrap yourself up with the thickest layer of your blanket and hide in the dark, even with it such a lovely day.

Another message wouldn’t be such a good idea if he still hadn’t opened the last five, which seemed highly unlikely with him gone for almost a day now.

A day. It had been a day.

But nothing on GCPD’s notices reported a missing person’s file of an utterly gorgeous, half-Romani hunk of a man in any of their websites. You called the manor, again. Still, there was nothing.

Twelve at noon. All you had for lunch was a bagel from three nights ago. It stuffed you, at least.

You sat at your dining table and stared at your phone.

If there was a moment for so much love to come crashing at once, it would all have been too great for that to be possible.

But the moment you realized it was there at all,

A few weeks ago. Steph’s birthday.

A party at the manor. It wasn’t much. Just a little get together with everyone at the parlor.

Everyone was talking, laughing, and frankly you wished you’d joined them. It looked like fun.

But instead, you were looking out the window, at the gardens white with melted snow and winds strong enough to knock the leaves out the branches. But you couldn’t hear any of that, which made it peaceful. It was the trees that danced, birds instead of planes that hovered over the sky, not a star above but perhaps it was because it was so full of clouds. It looked cold. Cold always looked so beautiful when you were looking out from the warmth of the inside.

Dick walked up to your side, just a reasonable distance away so he wouldn’t touch your shoulder, but close enough that you’d smell the jasmine from his neck.

“You’re just gonna stand out here and watch the glass fog up?”

You remembered laughing, probably at something else he’d said after that.

“It’s pretty when you look hard enough.”

And all the while, he didn’t pull your arm and drag you over at the crowd. He didn’t tell you to join them, to loosen up and have fun or have a drink or in any way stop you from what you were doing.

He just stood there and joined you, instead. Ditched his family. Didn’t even speak much.

He stood there because he wanted to. Because you staring out the window was more interesting to him than a whole crowd of kids doing whatever.

When he balled up his fist, covered it with his sleeve, and wiped the window right in front of you to rid it from the fog so you could see the gardens clearer, you knew you loved him.

Such a small act that was, but it was the finality of everything else that built up to that moment.

Then, you remembered what you told him last night, in a voice message that lasted way too long and sounded far too painful.

.

‘I don’t regret what I had with Tim… but I do regret not saying anything the past four years when I had the chance. You were there. You were there and I could never have had it any other way. When we’re not trying so hard for everything to be alright, everything’s at its best. I’m not even your girlfriend, and already I think about every minute I spend with you and laugh before I’m off to bed. I think about your jokes way too long than they should ever last. And your smile, god your smile, saying that that it’s all I could ever think about wouldn’t do it any justice. You have drawn out the ugliest laugh out of me that never should have come out of any human in existence. And frankly, I’m glad you do. Because just when I thought I could never smile again, you made me the happiest I could ever be.’

.

Dick:

Of all days. Of all times.

His survival rate at that point, rushing through Denver Airport with just a fifteen-minute layover period, with his shoelaces undone, probably wasn’t one he should have relied on. He was starving, but he had the appetite of a mammal in hibernation with the horrible airplane food costing a hundred dollars and everything else taking too long to prepare.

With just thirty seconds to spare, he fell to his too-narrow coach seat, shuffled along so his large ass-damn this cursed asset-would fit through the aisle and breathed just as the air hissed into the cabin after they closed the service door.

Head against the back of the seat, eyes up the ceiling, at the smoke that blew in through that gap outside the overhead locker, he ignored his dried skin, his dry mouth, his feet that were close to standing on a thousand knife tips, his eyes so close to just shutting out, his wallet painfully thin with this whole trip costing the equivalent of a round trip to Shanghai, and his whole body about to collapse. He hasn’t slept in twenty-four hours. It didn’t look like he was ever going to sleep at all.

And he hasn’t even called. God, what was she doing at home? Is she okay? Is she eating okay? Is she worried about him, staring at her phone wondering what she did wrong when she was nothing less of a perfect creation of all the gods that existed, an angel the earth didn’t deserve?

He really, really had to call.

Someone just sat next to him. A child. And next to him was his mother, who just put down her phone from a call.

“Excuse me.” Dick put on his award-winning smile, pretended he wasn’t sweating his balls off or that he was in any way close to psychological death, and hoped he looked the part as well.

“Yes?”

“Is it okay if I, uh, borrow your phone? I have to make a call. It’s sort of an emergency.”

“The plane’s about to take off.”

“It won't take long. I promise.”

He probably didn’t look as charming as he’d hoped. His hair was a mess not even a bird would settle into. The woman looked at him quizzically, up and down, and shrugged. Like it was handed to him on a silver plater, she gave him her phone.

The aircraft was about to take off. He only had so long.

He called Y/N’s number that he didn’t even know he memorized and settled back. It started ringing.

“MOM!”

The kid beside him. He was tugging on his mother’s shirt.

“MOM, I’M BORED.”

“We’re in a plane,-“

“I’M BORED. I WANNA PLAY ROBLOX-“

“Not now, we’re in a plane. Sit down.”

“GIVE ME YOUR PHONE-“

“That man has my phone.”

Fuck.

Y/N, fucking pick up.

“HEY, GIVE ME MY MOM’S PHONE BACK-“

“Kid, I hear ya. But you have to give me this one-“

“GIVE ME THE PHONE-“

That kid, a chubby one not older than six, stood up from his chair and was wild enough to grab Dick’s hand away from holding the phone up his ear. If he weren’t so desperate, he would have let him have it.

But god almighty, he’s never been as desperate as a starving man in a desert.

“Kid. Just one minute.”

“NO, GIVE ME!”

The mother put on a sleeping mask and faced the other way.

“KID-“

“GIVE ME MY PHONE-“

Back and forth, both grabbing onto the phone and the kid having the strength he did not at all expect, they ended up wrestling it out in the cramped-up economy seats until the kid was screaming out his ears.

He’s never looked so ridiculous but jokes on everyone else if they thought he could care less.

“Excuse me.”

An attendant, bags under her eyes and giving both of them, not just the kid, a dirty look.

“I’m sorry, sir, but the other passengers have complained about the noise. I’m gonna have to ask you to take your seat.”

“NO!” the kid screamed.

“DID YOU JUST BITE ME!?” Dick cried out.

“GIVE ME THE PHONE!”

“I NEED TO CALL SOMEONE!”

Dick grabbed the phone off his hands, palm to the kid’s face to stop him from reaching out to his outstretched arm. “Don’t you have some kind of coloring book you can give him?”

The attendant smiled, albeit forcefully, and walked back over to the back of the cabin. The kid did not stop trying to grab it off Dick’s arm.

She gave the kid a bag that probably had books and crayons and whatever stuffed inside. It looked so old. It had to have been in storage for the past ten years.

But as if some miracle heard him, the kid shut up, took the bag, and settled on his seat. Then he was as quiet as a mouse.

Fucking finally.

He held the phone up his ear and closed his eyes, fingers easing the tension on the nerve on his forehead.

“And sir?”

The attendant smiled at him. It didn’t look so much of a smile as it was a death threat.

“I’m gonna have to ask you to turn off your mobile device.”

To say he wanted to squeeze the life out of everyone in the whole aircraft, including himself, wouldn’t cut it.

And he didn’t even have it in him to protest.

“Hello?”

Her voice. At the other end of the line. That word was all there is to it, the only thing he heard.

Dick sighed, closed his eyes, counted to three, then ended the call after just two seconds.

The next thing he heard, for the next three hours, would be the screams of the child at his side, kicking on his seat like a fucking soccer ball.

.

‘That call from a year ago. The one about Kori. Fuck, I don’t even know where to begin. I overreacted. By a mile. Did some stupid shit to make up for that guilt and masked it over as another heartbreak when really, it was me refusing to have to go through all that again. I had to see you with that woman when I was in love with you for three years. Of course, it hurt. But I shouldn’t have an excuse. It was so stupid. Just thinking about it makes me want to break. I’m so sorry about that, Dick. I know we’ve already been over that months ago, but I just want to clear everything while I still can. God, I don’t even know if you’d listen to all this. I’m rambling. I’m sorry. I put all the blame on you when I had my share of mistakes. A whole lot of them. I’m sorry. I love you. And I’m sorry.’

.

You:

Hung up after two seconds. All you heard on the other end of the line was breathing and huffing, and nothing else. Whoever it was, they’ve been calling the past two minutes, just as you stepped out of the shower. And you almost cracked a rib flying from your bathroom to your kitchen table with just a towel around you, hoping to see his name on the screen. But alas, your luck just wasn’t at its peak.

You put your phone down, still with nothing to do, nothing else you could think of doing, than to just wait on that seat, stare at your phone, and hope Dick hadn’t hurt himself going after some goon alone the night before. Still no missing persons report. Nothing from the rest of the team, either.

Maybe just once more. You could call him. It wouldn’t annoy him too much. It had been hours since the last one.

You called, put the phone up your ear.

No ringing. It went straight to voice mail.

You opened your mouth, thinking you had something to say.

But you didn’t have anything to say. Not anymore. Not after you poured your whole heart out on the last one and now your throat was as dry as your palms were sweating.

You put your phone down, facing away from you, then you sank to your arms, burying your crumbling face away even with no one to see you.

.

‘That’s why I hate myself for not caring if this was difficult. Because I know, somehow, that’s it’s all still gonna be worth it. With you. Just thinking about the things we’d do, you’ve been the light of my life, the one person I look for not just because I need it, but because being with you makes so much of my day, every day that I see you. I look for you in crowds. I turn to your face when I want to look at something pleasant. I stare at doors, constantly hoping you’d be the one to walk in. I seek out for your voice, call you even when I know it’s a bother, find the most ridiculous excuses and the most stupid questions just so I’d have a reason to stand close to you, to have you talking to me, wanting all that everyday. I’ve never met anyone like you, Dick. I’ll never get used to you, and there’s no way in hell that I’d ever get tired of you. And maybe that’s the price to pay with all this being so hard. As complicated as it is, the troubles aren’t half the worth of the happiness it comes with.’

.

Two flights, three within the past thirty hours, jet-lagged far beyond a night’s repair, and his stomach in so many knots that even the bag of peanuts from the plane was too much to digest. And it wasn’t from poisoning or hunger or whatever it was. Everything in a whirlwind, one he can't even track.

He got to New York before it was dark, and he wanted to kiss the floor.

But he wasn’t at Gotham yet. This trip wasn’t over.

And if it weren’t for the half a million people crowded over at the airport, he would have been in Gotham right at that second.

Past the crowd, fumbling and running for whatever life he had left that wasn’t a spirit descended into something infinitely better than this, he made it over to the other side of the terminal, with his pits sweating his shirt off and his legs made of cooked chicken drumsticks and dough.

He got to the railway station, over at the attendant behind the counter.

“Excuse me,” he panted, and just like the one at the San Francisco airport, it startled her. Except now, there was no using his charm or his looks when he looked like he crawled out of a swamp.

“To Gotham,” he said.

“Ticket?”

He reached for his wallet, hands shaking so horribly it was worrying if he hadn’t known it came with his mind being as much of a mess as a wrecked ship from the 1800s.

And all the more did they tremble, down to his sorry knees, when he opened every flap there was on his wallet to find every pocket empty.

No.

No. no. no. no. no.

He searched his pockets. His jacket. His pants. His fucking shoes. If he had a hat he’d probably look into that too.

Nothing. Not a stub. A tiny stub that would have easily been blown by so much as a gust from a fan, let alone running a marathon in three airports in a single day.

“I,” he swallowed. “I seemed to have lost my ticket.”

Yeah. He wasn’t getting out of this one. The attendant looked at him and snarled like the annoyance he was.

“All the trains are sold out. And I’m afraid you can't board the train without a ticket.”

“Ma’am, I really, really, have to get to Gotham-“

“I’m afraid you’re gonna have to step out of the line.”

Like every force in the universe was out to get him.

“Do you have a phone? A payphone at least? I really need to call someone-“

“Sir, please step out of the line.”

“Please, ma’am, there has to be some way you can squeeze me into one of those trains-“

The attendant waved at someone behind him.

Two security guards were at his side before he could even turn around.

“Alright, alright, I’m leaving,” he huffed. “You guys don’t happen to have a phone I could use?”

Both guards ignored him, set him aside against a pillar.

And, with the excruciating exhaustion finally crashing into this one blow to the face, he stuck his back against the column, head up to the ceiling, then fell on his ass.

God, what does he even say to her after this?

If he actually gets to talk to her, that is.

“Final call for boarding!”

That light. One, single light. Or two, if he focused his eyes. The headlights from outside the revolving doors, from a bus that just opened its doors. It was a light, because it had GOTHAM in bold letters pasted onto its windshield.

And a line of people stepping inside. Kids and adults, old people alike.

He sat up from the floor, hungry, tired, and in pain.

But this was all going to be worth it. Every minute of this.

He just knew, that one last push, after this tormenting, inferno of a day, would all come to an end he’d dreamed about since he first laid eyes on her that day at the Wayne Manor’s library.

Dick got in line outside the bus, told the conductor he’d pay when they get inside. And after he did, he had just a quarter in his wallet to spare. No one sat beside him. The others were at the back. The one across was fast asleep. He couldn’t call her.

He’ll just have to hope, that whatever worries she had waiting for him to come up, that she’d forgive him enough for all this to end the way he hoped it would.

Three hours on a bus.

Didn’t even sound like it was remotely a long time.

The moment he took his seat, the bus doors hissed closed, and the air so silent, so did everything else calm.

He’s waited so long.

But he just had to wait for another three hours. In a bus. Then he’ll see her.

He closed his eyes.

.

‘I don’t even know why I rambled so much about all this being so complicated.

Because even if I had to walk up to the sky, I know there’s a galaxy waiting for me at the end. You are worth it. You are worth everything. I’ve never been so obsessed with anyone my whole life. You are, with my whole heart, my greatest love. And you are so beautiful that I never want to look at anything else ever again. And I never thought I’d get know beauty the way I do when I talk to you. You are everything I could ever want. And so much more.

And that pain, that hurt we both had to go through after all those years. That pining and waiting, and the heartbreak just because I was too stupid to understand that it didn’t have to be so hard after all, it doesn’t even matter, when at the end, I get to be with you.

I’d go through all that again if it means I can be with you.

You are the man I’ve dreamt about since I could first dream, and I’m lucky enough to have you in my reality. It’s you I want, Dick.

So I’ll wait for you. As long as I have to.

I love you so much.

Please, for the love of God, call me.’

.

You:

That message.

The longer you stared at your phone, the more you wondered if it was the right thing to do at all.

It was four am. You were tired. And worried.

And it was four am now, a whole day after.

Not a single call.

You’ve done it this time. You tripped at the finish line.

You were selfish enough to keep that man waiting for so long hoping he’d keep going, just as he had been for years.

And now, this is what you get.

You have yourself alone, in your apartment, one you haven’t cleaned in a week, and your heart in the same shatters as it often had been.

Your phone rang. You weren’t so excited to pick it up. Rightfully so when you saw it was just Bruce.

“Hello?” you said, your weight against the table’s surface, also surprised that it hadn’t broken.

“Y/N,” Bruce said. “I heard you were looking for Dick.”

“Mhm?”

“Sorry I haven’t called. Anyways, the last location I can point him to was at the Titans Tower in San Francisco.”

Okay.

You’ve had your heart broken before.

But it wasn’t just that that had broken right then.

Everything else, every bone, every bit of flesh there was, it was this numbing buzz you couldn’t even fight.

“What?”

Just then, someone knocked on your door.

And it wasn’t just a knock. They were pounding against the wood.

The ringing in your ears hadn’t even subsided, and you were breathless, muscles stiff. You just let the pounding go on until you heard Bruce hang up on the other line.

Life didn’t even give you so much as a second to process all that, of what he could be doing there, who he was with.

Your walked to the door, and without looking into the eyehole, you unlatched the lock and opened it.

Some glitch there was if all this were nothing but a simulation.

But it was as if the last five minutes-no-the last two days hadn’t happened at all.

Dick never looked like such a mess.

But, nonetheless, the way you stared at him was as if he was as beautiful as he ever was.

Everything that had broken, the moment you looked into his eyes, had fallen right back into place, into an entity far stronger than any quake could knock it out of.

Dick shut the door behind him.

He grabbed your face.

Then he kissed you. Without words. Without letting so much as a speck of time, however it worked now that it’d stopped, pass and waste away.

.

Dick:

Whatever she told him in that message he never got to hear, everything she ever had to say, the instant he felt her kiss him back, it was like every word flew out of her lips. How she wanted him. How she chose him. How in love she was with the mess of a human being he could be. How all the trials they’d been forced to go through, all the misunderstandings and the fights and the long months of this troubling, awkward place they wanted nothing more than to climb out of. He got all that with the way her lips molded so wanting and harsh, pressed so hard against his dried, chapped pair that have never witnessed anything more beautiful and so awfully perfect.

No more time to be wasted.

Not another second.

He had her. He finally had her.

He got the girl.

Not a chance that he wasted so much as another second.

He pushed her against the wall and the gasp that came out of her wasn’t at all out of pain, but at the sheer desire that had sparked at such impact that only knocked her into the same place he’d long settled in. And he could just feel, how much she wanted so badly to speak, to tell him what was raging in her head that was as much of a mess as his. But they’ll talk. Eventually. After.

All he wanted, right then, was to have her. Love her. Love her. To send her off to some paradise that long surpassed oceans and mirages and heavens that stood on clouds, to culminate that seemingly endless torture into a reward so great, that to say it would have been worth it would be so much an understatement. To play every instrument there was and let the song resonate into her body, and make it last for the rest of his life for so long as he could touch her. All that, he was going to give her tonight. Tonight. Right then and there.

Grabbing her legs up to his hips, her hands pinned to the wall above her head, it was too much of a flash for him to rush into this beautiful thing that shouldn’t be rushed at all. But he couldn’t slow down if it meant that he lives. Even if he died right after, he just couldn’t hold back.

He was pushing himself into her and the sounds that he earned out his lips were more than any songbird could cry out. After just having her against that wall, he finally got the sense to take it to the bed. It was dark. Not a light was on. And it was raining outside the one window she had near the bed and just the streetlight outside was enough to make him see her face. Dick placed her on top of his lap, on which she enjoyed herself to her own pace. Her hips were like waves, the ocean that rocked about, and the stain on his pants that she’d left behind was just as wet as so.

At that moment even she didn’t want to wait and talk any longer.

He took off her clothes, lied back.

Then he hoisted her up so the sweetest part of her body was just hovering over his mouth, her strong, beautiful legs, one of skin and the other of metal, on either sides of his head.

.

You:

You were made of gemstones. You were shimmering.

Of diamonds and rubies and emeralds, of the most precious rocks that could be found on every soil on earth.

Everything. That pain. That darkness. All the troubles and hardships, the disputes and every tear you’ve ever had to shed. Gone. Gone when he drew out this wonderful melody of sensations from his sweet, sweet tongue quivering you to every core. You were rocking, shaking, trembling, barely keeping yourself up. Not long after you screamed, and like the skies heard you it screamed back with a thunderous roar.

Then Dick shed his own clothes and moved inside you, rolling your hips with your two bodies now this one, beautiful entity, like you were holding his hand, just as you did right then, as you both ran through the darkness of a cave that has long haunted you, with creatures and bats and ghosts flying about, just to reach the end that was a light so close and so bright, you chased yourselves, chased that very light.

And once you reached it, that blinding, flashing white light that shone with this painful, glorious sting to every bit of your flesh, to say you found that end would be wrong. It wasn’t an end. It was this continuous, tantalizing aroma that would last a lifetime. It was beauty. You felt beauty. And it was in ripples you couldn’t see. A blur you couldn’t comprehend.

You had so much to tell him and ask him about.

But just as that wonderful night showed you, you had the rest of your life to do just that.

.

Epilogue

Dick:

Life could only ever be so cruel.

But life gives its niceties. Sometimes, to the people so used to it that they take it for granted.

But it’s even more so of a nicety when it’s the people who’ve long deserved it.

Not to say he deserved the world, but it was just that he’d gotten. From a world once so cruel, that never seemed to have granted them the time enough to be together, it’d never built up into anything more perfect.

Watching her from his car’s driver seat, from where he had a perfect view of her looking at the wondrous scenes flash by outside the window. It was even more beautiful, more than ever before, now that he could take just a second off his time from the steering wheel just to kiss her.

Just a little over six months together. Never has there been anything so rewarding in his life. A rainbow, ten of them at least, that filled what was once this depressingly grey sky. He always knew it’d be worth the world. But even he surprised himself.

When they parked the car, got out into this wide, orange field, a farmland just outside of Jersey with a valley at the farthest end, the only thing that battled the brightness of her smile was the sun itself.

“It’s beautiful, Dick.”

Her voice, even more so.

He set up her canvas, all her paint, and her brushes. They found a spot on the grass that was clean enough for them both to sit on. She didn’t use her easel. Instead, they both laid on this plaid red and white sheet over the grassy soil, her using her own knees to hold it up. And Dick sat beside her, watching her as the hours ticked. Without looking away, no longer ashamed when she’d catch him.

Just before the last of the sun had set, he pulled out from his pocket a ring, one with a diamond a shape of a white rose on top.

He got it a week after they got together.

Her face, her lips wide open as she realized what came in front of her, then he asked her to be his. Forever.

She said yes, just as the sun fell.

-----

MASTERLIST | 3 BIRDS 1 STONE MASTERLIST | RED | YELLOW

-----

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[spencersstrawberryjello]

Shitty Slasher Film (Spencer Reid + gn!MC - platonic)

Summary: SPOILERS FOR SEASON 8 (and minor season 7 spoilers but I figure if you’ve seen season 8 you’ve probably seen season 7 already lmao) MC and Spencer decide to go see a slasher film, but it takes a turn for the worse when the killer begins to stalk his victim. 

Content: Hurt/Comfort (because literally what else do I write at this point)

Warnings: Descriptions of violence, depressive thoughts, and swearing

MC’s name and pronouns: Neither explicitly mentioned

Word Count: 2285

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

The plan was simple.

We were going to see a new horror movie in the theaters - it seemed similar to a slasher film that Morgan, Garcia, Reid and I had seen like six or seven months ago, so I didn’t think anything of it when we booked the tickets. Morgan and Garcia couldn’t make it tonight, unfortunately, but we still elected to go on our own, thinking it would be a fun little outing. That was, until the film started.

The lights came up on a woman, walking through a back alley alone, at night. Typical. I even glanced over at Spencer and rolled my eyes a bit, and he grinned at the stereotypical horror movie trope.

She died, of course, and for the first half of the movie I genuinely thought it was going to be exactly what we assumed. We were laughing at the ridiculousness of it all, with the stupid special effects and the subpar acting. But everything went off the rails after the first half of the movie.

The killer had revealed his primary target, his endgame, and - much to my horror - he had begun to stalk her.

Scenes of her creating a disguise, moving houses, throwing away her phone, spun a dark web that I didn’t ever want to think about. But I had more pressing things to worry about than my fear at a movie that was literally intended to make you scared.

I glanced over at Spencer, and I could tell that his breathing had picked up. His hands were gripping the arms of the chair, knuckles as white as his face had turned. I put a hand over his, and his attention snapped to me.

“Hey, are you alright?” I asked him. It was a stupid question, and one I already knew the answer to, but it was the first thing I could think to say. He looked like he was weighing his options for a moment before he shook his head.

“Do you want to leave?” I followed. He nodded, eyes wild, and we quickly grabbed our bags and left, just as the stalker had pulled a gun on his victim. Spencer took one last look at the screen, watching with wide eyes as the victim begged for her life. It was like a trainwreck; he couldn’t take his eyes off the movie, and I couldn’t take my eyes off him as the stalker pulled the trigger, and the woman crumpled to the ground. He practically jumped out of his skin when the gunshots fired, and I grabbed his arm to usher him out.

I didn’t realize the full extent of his panic until we made it out of the theater, bursting through the doors into the significantly brighter lights of the hallway. He immediately sat down on the couch near the doors, head in his hands, breathing rapidly.

“Ok, you’ve gotta breathe, Reid. You’ve gotta breathe, alright? In through your nose, out through your mouth, can you do that?” I adjusted my breathing to fit the pattern, and saw that he had started to slow his as well. “Good, ok… we can sit here for as long as you need to, just focus on your breathing.”

He gave me an almost imperceptible nod, continuing to breathe slowly before lifting his head from his hands. His eyes were red, and it was clear he’d been trying to fight off tears.

“Reid, I’m so sorry -”

It was at that moment that he cut me off with a hug, tucking his head in the crook of my neck as I felt his body lightly shake with sobs. After a second I hugged him back, not used to physical affection from him, but not opposed as long as he was ok with it.

“It reminded you too much of Maeve, didn’t it?” I asked, trying to ensure that the story I had in my head was correct. He nodded, his breath coming in short gasps again, and I hugged him a bit tighter. “Reid, I’m so sorry, I never would’ve suggested this movie if I’d known the turn the story was going to take.”

He shook his head, sucking in deep breaths before finally attempting to speak. “No, no, it’s ok, I know that you wouldn’t have done this on purpose. It’s just…”

He trailed off, but I knew what he was trying to say. “I was there that day, Reid. I know how much she meant to you.”

“The girl in the movie kind of looked like her. You know? Same hair, same face shape… when I saw the fear in her eyes, all I could imagine was Maeve, terrified, with a gun to her head. The woman I love - loved. The woman I loved. Scared, and alone.”

“Oh, Reid… you know it’s not your fault, right? You did everything you could to save her.”

“No. No, I didn’t. I should’ve closed my eyes, I should’ve tackled Diane - hell, I should’ve shot that bitch the minute I walked into the room! Instead I stood there. I stood there while the woman I loved died in front of me, and I didn’t do anything to stop it.”

“Spencer.” I put my hands on his shoulders, pulling back from the hug to look into his eyes. “You absolutely cannot blame yourself for this. What happened to Maeve was horrible, but it was not your fault. And you can’t live your life with that on your conscience.”

“Maybe I deserve to.” His voice was soft as he tucked his head back into the crook of my neck, and I put my arms around him, one hand lightly rubbing his back. My heart broke for the man in my arms - my best friend - as he sniffled, a few stray tears still trickling down his face.

“You don’t deserve to live with that kind of guilt, Spencer. Guilt for something you didn’t even do. And I’m so, so sorry that you feel that way. And I’m so sorry about what happened.”

“Sorry doesn’t make it go away,” He argued, his voice muffled by the fabric of my t-shirt, “Sorry doesn’t bring her back.”

I heard his voice hitch when he said it, and I held him a bit tighter. “I know it doesn’t.”

He was silent for a moment before he spoke again, his voice thick with tears begging to be released. “I just wish I could bring her back.”

It was as if saying it broke something in him, and I felt his body shake as he cried again, consumed by grief and guilt unlike anything I could ever imagine. He was usually so closed off about his emotions that having him crying in my arms was a rare occurrence, even after years of friendship. The last time he was like this was after Emily’s… “death,” and even that wasn’t near as intense.

I wasn’t sure how long we sat on that bench, the orange lights of the movie theater hallway creating a strange liminal sensation as I held Spencer, finally releasing the emotions he’d clearly been pushing away since Maeve’s death.

Eventually, he stopped crying, his breathing returning to something close to normal, and he pulled away from me, his eyes red from tears.

“I’m sor -”

“Nope, do not even start to apologize. There’s nothing to apologize for.”

He closed his mouth, contemplating saying something else for a second before nodding, hugging me again.

“Thank you.”

“Of course, Reid. Do you want to go back to my place? We can order a pizza, and watch a movie - something we know this time. If you need to be alone, I understand, but -”

He shook his head. “I’d like that.”

“Good,” I sucked in a deep breath, trying to steady my own breathing after everything that just happened, “Good. Are you ok to walk to the car?”

“Yeah… I’m not sure how talkative I’m going to be tonight though…” He kind of trailed off, clearly drained, but not wanting to be alone.

“I understand; you know there’s no expectations with me, Reid. If you want to just wrap yourself up in a blanket and eat junk food, I get it. I just want to be there, to make sure that you’re ok.”

He gave me a small smile, and I grinned, grabbing his hand to help him off the bench. We made our way out to my car, and I climbed in, starting it before turning on the radio.

Spencer was pretty much silent the entire drive back to my apartment, the noise in the car mostly consisting of the music and my less than stellar singing. When we finally pulled into the complex, we headed upstairs to my place.

“I’m gonna order the food. Do you wanna find something on Netflix you like?” I asked as I unlocked the door. He nodded, and I threw my keys on the kitchen counter, putting in the pizza order on my computer. I saw him grab a blanket from the basket in the living room, wrapping it around his shoulders and plopping down on my couch.

I expected to return to the living room to see whatever movie we were watching cued up on the TV. Instead, I saw Spencer, staring at the wall across from him, remote untouched on the coffee table.

“Hey,” I sat down next to him, gently putting one hand on his shoulder, “Is there anything else you want to talk about?”

He was silent for a moment, and I could see the mental battle he was fighting. Eventually, he spoke, his voice barely above a whisper.

“I’m afraid… I’m afraid that if I allow myself to grieve, if I allow myself to think about what happened, I won’t be able to stop. It’s been almost four months, I thought the pain would be gone by now. But it isn’t, it’s… I just miss her. I miss her so much.”

“I know, Reid. I know.”

He leaned into me, and I didn’t hesitate to wrap my arms around him, the thoughts of pizza and a movie completely abandoned in my mind. Instead, all of my attention was on Spencer as he spoke again.

“On the last case, Rossi talked to me. I told him that I wasn’t sleeping because whenever I did, I would dream of her. Of Maeve. And everytime I saw her, I felt nothing but relief flooding my mind. I told him how she would always ask me to dance, and how I always said no. I never even got to hold her when she was alive, and I was scared that if I gave into the fantasy, I would be lost forever,” He took in a shaky breath before he continued, “And he said I should. He said, ‘just let it happen, Spencer.’ So I did. I danced with her, I held her, and when I woke up, she was all I could think about. The way it felt to wrap my arms around her, the way her head fit perfectly into the crook of my neck while we danced. It took another day before I could think about anything but her, before I could stop wallowing in my grief enough to function. And since that night, I haven’t allowed myself to give into the fantasy again, the fantasy of having her back. I think… I think that if I let it happen again, I won’t be able to come back from it. It’ll just consume me.”

“Spencer…” I trailed off, unsure of what to say. He just shook his head, telling me I didn’t need to say anything as we sat there on my couch in silence. He wasn’t crying, he hadn’t cried since we left the theater. He was just… hollow. Everything that he’d been trying to repress - to compartmentalize - had finally caught up to him, in the form of a shitty slasher movie that we’d gotten cheap tickets to see.

I held him tighter, wishing that I could figure out something to say to comfort him, to take away his pain. But I knew there was nothing I could do. Nothing I could do but just be there.

“Have you ever considered talking to someone? Like, not someone from the team - a professional?” I asked.

“I’ve thought about it. But… we’re experts in human behavior, you know? What’s a therapist going to be able to tell me that I can’t already profile myself?”

“Well, it might be helpful to have a licensed professional to talk to about this stuff. Someone who can actually give you advice on how to handle your emotions. Because as much as I am absolutely here for you no matter what, I’m afraid I’m not great at mental health advice.”

“Yeah… maybe.” He sounded dubious about the idea, and while I wanted to encourage him further, I didn’t want to push him today. So I settled for just gently rubbing his back as he laid in my arms, staring at the wall. Eventually, the doorbell rang, and I got up to get the pizza, bringing it back into the living room and setting it down on the coffee table. By now, he’d sat up, the blanket still pulled around his shoulders, but at least a bit more present.

“Thank you,” He said, for the second time that day. I just smiled at him.

“Of course. I love you, Reid. And I’m always here, whatever you need.”

“I love you too,” He gave me a small smile back before turning his attention to the coffee table, “But I also love food - I’m starving.”

I laughed as I handed him a plate, joining him on the couch as we both dug in.  

[babymetaldoll]

Danger Days - Chapter twelve: "Heaven knows I'm miserable now"

Word count: 7,5K

Summary: Joey has to go touring again, and Matthew is feeling miserable. Lynz is starting to suspect something is wrong with her husband.

Warnings: Smut, penetrative sex. Cursing.

A/N: Hi! quick question: would you do what Lynz did??

Masterlist

Chapter one | Chapter two | Chapter three | Chapter four | Chapter five | Chapter six | Chapter seven | Chapter eight | Chapter nine | Chapter ten | Chapter eleven | Chapter twelve | Chapter thirteen | Chapter fourteen | Chapter fifteen | Chapter sixteen | Chapter seventeen | Chapter eighteen | Chapter nineteen | Chapter twenty | Chapter twenty one | Chapter twenty-two | Chapter twenty-three | Chapter twenty-four |

---

::: Los Angeles, January 28th, 2011 :::

Matthew looked around and smiled. He was pleased to see the new fireplace he had built for their house. Meanwhile, Joey worked on the kitchen’s, painting a wall. They had spent their whole month together working on their future home. They had made the best out of their time together. They even invited her parents for an entire week and introduced them to Matthew’s family. It was all so official and yet, so fun and warm.

Joey never thought she would like those things. And her mother knew it. That’s why she kept telling her how happy she looked with Matthew.

- "I’ve never seen you shine like this"- Mercedes kissed her temple before getting into a plane back to Seattle. Joey could never forget the smile on her face as her mom hugged Matthew and gave him her blessing. It was like he was part of the family already.

But a new leg of the tour was about to start, and Joey had to go. Matthew hated it. He didn’t want her away with Gerard. And Joey hated it too, but she was so happy she had a great job after all that time, and the fact she was good at it made her feel so secure about her skills, in a way she had never felt before. It was like she was finally becoming the Joey she always wanted to be.

Gerard hadn’t appeared that whole month. He had stayed as far from Joey as possible. That meant he had spent most of his time in New York with his wife. Mikey had been around, though. He was always hanging with Joey when Matthew was at work. The drummer had asked him to look for a date, but other than picking random chicks in bars a few times, Mikey wasn’t ready for everything dating or seeing somebody meant. Even rebound sex had been hard for him.

- "Yami, when do you have to go to the airport?"

- "Around midnight"- the girl answered and turned to her boyfriend, face spotted with paint from her work in the kitchen. He walked over and wrapped his arms around her, resting his chin on her shoulder.

- "Why don’t you better stay here with me?"- he pouted, and the girl sighed

- "Akumu, we’ve been through this."

- "I know, but I just…"- he sighed, knowing it was a fight he never stood a chance to win- "Fuck, Yami! I just miss you so much when you are not around."

Gubler whispered, and she kissed his neck softly, taking a deep breath to enjoy his smell. They had been working most of the morning in their house, but Joey didn’t mind the sweat on her boyfriend’s body.

- "You know I miss you too when I’m away, but you are gonna be working. You’ve got a tv show and a movie to make, so you really wouldn’t be home with me much if I were here, would you?"- Joey whispered as Matthew moved and rested his forehead on hers.

- "I know…"

- "So? What if, instead of being sad, we make the best of the few hours we have left?"- the girl bit Matthew’s lower lip and raised an eyebrow, smiling seductively.

- "You mean you wanna do what the moms and the dads do when they are alone?"- he whispered with a funny voice, and Joey closed her eyes laughing.

- "Shit! You had to put it in the less sexy way possible, didn’t you?"

- "So you want it sexy?"- his voice lowered, and her heart raced in her chest as he kissed her neck softly.

- "Yes, Akumu, I want it sexy."

- "And dirty?"- he whispered and bit his lips as he looked at her for a second.

- "Yes, and also loving."

- "You are very demanding, did you know that?"- Gubler smiled, rubbing his lips against hers slowly before kissing her.

- "Yes, I know I am, but you love me being demanding"- a smirk appeared on Joey’s face as she moved her lips from his and stared into his light brown eyes

- "I am doomed, you know I love you too much"- the girl kissed him, wrapping her arms around his neck- "Too bad we don’t have any place to do it here in this empty house, just for the two of us."

Joey chuckled and kissed Matthew again.

- "I guess we are gonna have to make the best of it…"

- "That’s the spirit"- he hugged her and lifted her, her legs wrapped around his waist as he started walking outside the kitchen, kissing her.

- "Now enlighten me, my sweet fiancée… is there any room in our house we haven’t done it yet?"- Gubler asked with a smirk and Joey thought about it quickly.

- "Oh no! Matthew! There isn’t another room to have sex in! We’ve done it in every single one of them already"- she answered in a fake concerned tone of voice.

- "Oh dammit! That means we are gonna have to start repeating spots then!"- Matthew quickly replied and leaned Joey’s body against the wall behind her back- "And as far as I remember, you came real nice right here the other day."

- "I did indeed, Matthew Gray. Thank you for remembering it so clearly."

The couple kept making out and continued talking until it was useless to keep track of any coherent conversation when all they could do was to groan and moan.

If something melted Joey’s heart was the look in Matthew’s eyes every time they had sex. The moment right before thrusting into her, he would look into her eyes and wait for her permission. No matter what. Even when she was acting submissive, she had to nod and allow him to enter. Joey had teased him more than once, saying he was a vampire in sex, ‘cos he couldn’t come inside her house uninvited. The truth was, Matthew cared for her, even when he was spanking her, or calling her a dirty whore, or having her calling him daddy. He wanted her to enjoy being with him too.

- "Matthew?"- Joey whispered as the two of them laid on an old carpet, and he moved slowly over to climb her naked body. He stared at her in adoration and caressed her face softly.

- "What is it, Yami?"

- "I just… love you so much"- the girl managed to whisper as she stared into his eyes, feeling how the tears were about to reach hers.

- "Baby, baby"- he whispered and kissed her several times on her lips, her eyes, her cheeks- "I love you too, I am here, I am yours, you have my heart."

Matthew reached out and landed a hand on the necklace Joey never took off.

- "And you are carrying my heart with you, always"- the girl nodded and kissed him again.

- "You haven’t been apart for this long, ever"- she sighed and made her best to remain calm.

- "I know"- Matthew whispered and kissed her neck a few times- "But we are gonna be ok."

- "Akumu… we won’t be together in two months"- it was like the realization had just hit Joey nine hours before leaving.

- "I know, Yami"- he whispered and moved closer to her, if possible, and wrapped her in his arms completely.

- "Matthew…"

Joey’s tears began to fall, and he started kissing them away as fast as possible. But it was too hard, ‘cos he had started crying too, and the two of them weeping naked on a carpet was too much to handle.

And so they cried. They both knew they had been acting funny and silly to cover the fact they were miserable ‘cos it was an eternal leg of the tour. It started on January 31st in Osaka and ended on March 20th in Finland. They had a week off and then another month traveling the states. It was hell.

How was Joey going to cope with the distance? How was Matthew going to deal with the fear of leaving his girlfriend with Gerard? Neither of them wanted to think of it now, but it seemed there were no more chances to avoid the thoughts either.

Matthew held her face with both hands, running his thumbs carefully on her cheeks, before leaning over and kiss her. It was soft. It was sweet. It was sad and filled with love at the same time. He didn’t want to cry anymore, not at the moment. He was going to have a long night without her to think and overthink everything.

But at that moment, Matthew just wanted to kiss Joey’s lips, her whole body. He wanted to stop the fucking time that kept driving him insane and just be with her, enjoy the last afternoon they had together, making love on their living room’s floor.

Joey sighed and shivered as she felt her fiancé holding onto her skin, like a shipwrecked holding the last piece of wood left of his boat. She couldn’t say a word. She just wrapped her arms and legs around him and looked into his eyes, nodding before she felt him sliding between her thighs. Both of them gasped, but neither of them was able to say a word. They just stared at each other and sighed. He held her close, as close as humanly possible, while waves of pleasure washed over them.

Her lips traveled from his cheeks to his jawbone, tracing kisses all the way, returning to his lips to run her tongue through them sweetly, tasting him in every inch of skin she touched. She needed to engrave that taste, that smell in her, to carry it with her all the time she was going to be apart from him.

It was the third time they had to say goodbye, and by far, this was the worst.

On the first leg of the tour, Joey was nervous about the job and being apart from Gubler for three weeks. But now, she didn’t worry about the job at all. Matthew was everything she had in her mind. She didn’t want to turn into the woman who stopped being herself to be with a man. But Gubler had managed to change so many things in her, not even planning on it. And now she was having second thoughts about her priorities.

- "I’m about…"- the girl whispered, and her boyfriend nodded.

- "Me too…"- neither of them said another word. They just kissed long enough to cover their groans and whimpers, coming at the same time.

Neither of them moved. Matthew was still trying to catch his breath, and Joey couldn’t stop holding him close. She didn’t want to let him go. Never.

- "When you come back, this is gonna be our home"- he whispered sweetly in her ear, and she nodded- "And we are going to fill it with our memories."

He sweetly ran his fingers through her hair and looked into her eyes. She wasn’t able to answer. It was too much to take at the moment, so she just kissed him over and over again.

- "And I am going to fill you up with babies too"- he murmured in her ear, and she chuckled- "And they are gonna run around this house and wake us up early at Christmas morning. And we’ll come here to this very same room and open presents with them. And I will make you breakfast in that kitchen while you play with them and their new gifts…"

Joey bit her lips as tears rolled down her eyes.

- "Yami, you don’t have to go if you don’t want to."

- "I know… but it’s my job, and I want to work… but I don’t wanna be apart from you…"- he nodded and kissed the tip of the nose.

- "Tell you what, after this tour, we can take a few months off from traveling to spend them with your new husband, who is going to take the same amount of time off to be with you, and only with you"- the girl smiled and kissed him.

- "I can’t wait to marry you, Matthew Gray Gubler. Did you know that?"

Frank was crying. This was the saddest goodbye. It was getting harder for him to be far from home now that he had two baby girls. He was slightly rethinking his whole life. He loved music, he loved playing, he loved performing. But he loved his family most, and being apart from them was making everything too difficult.

Was it even worthy?

- "You could come to see us in London"- Frank said as he walked to his wife after packing his bag- "We are gonna have a week off to recover from the Japan jet lag, please come."

It wasn’t much of a request as it was a pleading. And Jamia could feel it.

- "Are you sure?"

- "I don’t wanna be apart from you for two months, I’m gonna miss the babies growing up"- she wrapped her arms around Frank’s neck and kissed his lips.

- "Of course, we can come, honey"- Jamia looked at him and cut him a warm smile, trying to ease his mind- "I am going to miss you too."

- "Thank you"- he rested his forehead on hers and sighed- "This is too much time apart."

- "I know."

- "I don’t wanna go."

- "Don’t be silly, once you start the tour, you are not going to be so sad. You are gonna have fun with your friends, and you are going to facetime us all the time… we’ll be in London together, that’s like in a week or something, so don’t feel sad, don’t cry, please."- Iero nodded and kissed his wife again.

- "After this tour, I’m gonna take you on the best vacations you’ve ever seen"- he said and smiled.

- "Aren’t you going to be sick and tired of traveling all over?"- she asked, frowning as she let him go and helped him finish packing more t-shirts.

- "Maybe, but I could use some all-inclusive time with my wife"- Jamia’s eyes shone.

- "You can’t take it back now"

- "I know"- he grinned and felt her hands on his cheeks, pulling him into a big kiss.

- "So, start the tour quickly so it finishes earlier and we can pick a beach to lie on for two weeks."

Gerard was in hell as he looked at all the bags by the door. Lynz had decided to go along with him on their trip to Japan, and he couldn’t convince her otherwise. Gerard needed to go back touring and be on her own with Joey. But he wasn’t going to be able to. Instead, he was going to keep his distance from her to avoid any suspicion from his wife.

The truth was, Lynz was already suspicious. She wasn’t blind. And just like Matthew, she could see the way her husband drooled every time he landed eyes on Joey, and she hated it. Deeply.

Lynz noticed the drummer wasn’t aware of that fact, but that didn’t mean she didn’t reciprocate her husband’s feelings. Had anything happened between them on tour? She couldn’t tell. Did Mikey know about this? She could ask him, but what if she ended up making a fool out of herself? She was the cool wife… she had never been jealous before. Never.

- "Are you sure you are not overpacking?"- Gerard yelled from the lobby and heard his wife replying from upstairs.

- "That’s all I need for a two weeks trip"- he closed his eyes and sipped his coffee. Two weeks.

- “Fuck”

- "Aren’t you excited?!"- Lynz walked over with one last bag and smiled at her husband- "You and me together in Tokyo, there’s so much we can do!"- he smiled and felt her arms around him and a peck on his lips.

- "Yeah! It’s fantastic!"- she frowned and looked right into his eyes.

- "Now make it seem like you mean it"

-  "What do you mean, baby?"

- "I’ve got the feeling you are not excited about me going with you on tour"

- “Deny! Deny!” Come on, babe! What makes you say so? You are so wrong!"

- "I know you, Gerard. And I know when you lie."

- "No! I am happy you are coming. I am just scared I won’t have so much time to wander around with you, and I don’t want you to get upset with me."

- "No honey, don’t worry"- she smiled and kissed him- "I can always wait for that week off in London, there are so much we can do there too"- he kissed her and looked at the hour.

- "We should get going."

Matthew Gray Gubler was crying as he kissed Joey for the hundredth time. They stood outside the international boarding door, and he sobbed as he wiped off the tears from her cheeks and kissed her over and over again.

Mikey looked from a safe distance while Gerard and his wife had already left, searching for their gate. Only by the look in Gubler’s eyes, Gerard knew the safest thing to do was say hello, goodbye, and hide. He felt how the actor’s glance threw daggers his way the whole time.

- "I love you so much"- Matthew whispered, and she nodded.

- "I swear I love you more."

- "I honestly doubt it"- he rubbed his lips against her and made her smile.

- "I made you cookies last night. I left them in a jar in your kitchen."

- "Marry me"- he quickly replied, and Joey laughed.

- "You already asked me, I said yes… which reminds me, I might need to put the engagement ring with your heart while I play. It hurts my hands playing with rings."

- "That’s cool, as long as you have it with you."

- "Always…"- she looked at him as tears filled her eyes again- "I’m gonna miss your birthday."

- "Yami, I don’t care about my birthday… we are gonna have the rest of our lives to have birthdays together"- but his words didn’t do a thing, ‘cos Joey was now crying like a little kid, making him cry as well.

- "I’m so sorry, Matthew"- she sobbed and sighed- "I should go… my door is gonna open in like half an hour."

- "Go…"- but neither of them moved.

- "I don’t know why I just feel like I’m never gonna see you again."

- "Don’t be silly, you’ll see me in a couple of weeks to prepare our wedding"- those words made Joey smile.

- "I love that idea."

- "See Mrs. Gubler? You are gonna have to see me again, in fact, I’m planning to see each other every day until we are old and grey."

- "Sounds like a nice plan"- Joey kissed him once more and sighed- "I love you, Gubs."

- "Me more."

- "Me most."

- "I packed a few extra Gubler’s shirts in your bag, just to make sure you’ve got enough of me to carry through Europe."

- "Marry me"- she quickly answered, and he chuckled, tears still falling from his eyes.

- "Sorry, I’m already taken"- he smiled and kissed her- "Call me when you land, I don’t care about the hour, just let me know you are safe"- she nodded and wrapped her arms tight around his neck.

- "I will… though I’ll be sixteen hours in the future."

- "That should be fun. Please tell me if humankind has already discovered teleportation in the future, so I can go be with you while I’m on breaks on the set."

- "Deal"- she smiled and sighed- "I’ll FaceTime you so many times you are going to need an extra phone ‘cos yours is going to be battery low forever."

Matthew held Joey’s face with both hands and pulled her into a deep, loving kiss. They just stared when they gasped for breath and smiled.

- "I love you."

- "Me too."

The trip to Osaka was long and awkward. Joey was glad Lynz was coming, ‘cos for once, and after months traveling with the band, she didn’t care about Gerard. The last break made her realize, she wasn’t crushing on him anymore. She was in love with her boyfriend, she was gonna marry him, and the hot guy in tight pants was nothing but a nice view while playing shows.

But Joey felt Gerard’s wife hated her. She wasn’t friendly with her at all, so the drummer decided the best thing to do was to back off and hang on her own most of the trip. Mikey was with her but sleeping pretty much the whole way. The rest of the band had taken a flight from Jersey to Osaka, and they were going to meet at the hotel. Mikey was looking forward to a nice comfortable bed and a warm meal.

- "You have to be kidding me"- the bassist woke up and found Joey next to him, watching Criminal Minds.

- "What? They had it, I just…"

- "You are so lame."

- "Shut up. Wanna help them find the unsub?"

- "No, wanna help me find an air hostess to get us a drink?"

- "It’s nine in the morning!"- Joey frowned, shocked.

- "Not in Osaka, over there is already… one in the morning! Shit, we are late and sober."

- "Shut up, Mikey."

Lynz looked around the plane and found Joey and Mikey laughing a few rows behind them.

- "Everything ok?"- Gerard asked and looked over too. Of course, his brother and the girl he had a crush on were laughing and enjoying their time.

- "Yeah, I just hadn’t heard Mikey so happy in a while."

- "Yeah"- Gerard quickly put on his headphones back on and continued reading. Lynz nodded and looked at him. He was crystal clear.

::: Japan, January 30, 2011 :::

Joey felt she was dead when she reached her bed. With the bit of energy left in her body, she managed to take off her shoes and facetime Matthew. That was everything she could do before falling asleep on the bed, fully dressed and holding the phone in her hand. Until someone knocked on her door.

- "Sushi time!!!"- Mikey yelled and rushed into her room with Frank.

- "What the fuck?"- the girl was lost in time and space.

- "Hey Iceland!"- Frank hugged her tight and spun her around.

- "Jersey… hey…"- she yawned and scratched her eyes, still half asleep- "What time is it?"

- "Late for lunch or early for dinner, your pick"- Mikey was somehow completely energized, and Frank followed.

- "How many coffees have you two had today?"

- "Two green teas"- Frank said and raised his hands.

- "Five coffees!!- Mikey jumped, and Joey chuckled- "Come on! I need to eat my whole weight in sushi!"

- "He tries to do the same every time we are in Japan… it hasn’t worked yet, but once he puked his weight"- Joey laughed at Frank’s story and walked to the bathroom.

- "Ok, kids. Give me a couple of minutes to get ready, I’m kinda hungry, but I think I want some fries."

- "Bummer!"- Mikey yelled and jumped on the girl’s bed- "Hurry up before someone else wakes up ad we have to wait for more people to get ready."

Mikey loved being in Japan. Why? It was the tour life all over again, and he loved it. He wasn’t home. He was with his friends all the time, so he was never on his own, overthinking everything going through his mind. Mikey needed a break from his life, and touring was the perfect way to avoid reality. Besides, he was on the other side of the world. There was no way he could add more distance between him and his ex. That made him feel relieved. It was like she wasn’t real anymore.

Worm was snoring at the back of the van as Frank, Joey, and Mikey toured around the city. They convinced her to stay awake until night to fight the jet lag, so they kept drinking coffee and looking around the city. Joey was on fire. In her whole life, she had imagined she could go to Japan. She couldn’t believe it. Life had turned out pretty well for her after all those years. It was like she deserved to be happy after the miserable days back in the orphanage. Maybe that was karma. And it was time to enjoy the sunny days.

- "I want a kimono for Akumu!"- she yelled and woke Worm up as soon as they saw a kimono store when the van parked.

- "Iceland, there is no way we can go out on our own in Japan"- Mikey warned

- "Why?"

- "‘Cos… Worm?"- the bassist turned to their friend and bodyguard, and he explained.

- "Though people here are completely respectful, sometimes it gets too crowded."

- "Meaning?"- the drummer didn’t get it.

- "There are too many of them"- Joey nodded at Worm’s words and thought about it for a second.

- "I’ll tell you guys what, park the van, I’ll go to that store, buy Matthew a kimono, and run back to the van in less than fifteen minutes"- no one answered- "There is no way on earth people know me here."

- "Joey"- Iero tried to argue, but the girl didn’t let him.

- "Frank"- she simply replied and raised an eyebrow.

- "I’m not gonna let you go alone"- Worm said and moved over- "Come on, Let’s get Doctor Spencer Reid a kimono"- the girl chuckled as the bodyguard gave instructions to the driver to take them to the best kimono store around.

- "Thank you"- Joey answered and smiled at Worm.

- "Why does Gubler like kimonos so much?"- Frank asked, frowning.

- "His grandma brought him one from Japan when he was a kid, and he has kept it his whole life. I think it would be an excellent addition to bring him a new one for his collection."

- "He collects them now?"

- "Yes"- the drummer answered and looked at her phone.

- "Hey, Jamia is coming to London"- Frank announced.

- "Awesome!"- Joey nearly jumped with the news- "I like Jamia."

- "Really?"- Frank sounded surprised.

- "Yeah! She is adorable! And the babies are so cute!!"

- "Well, I’m glad ‘cos she is gonna be there for a whole week. And I’m guessing you are gonna have to help to change diapers."

- "Deal!"- Joey grinned and thought about it- "Maybe I should ask Matthew if he can come along to London too."

- "Jamia would love you even more if you do"- the three of them chuckled at those words - "She was so embarrassing in New Year."

- "Matthew couldn’t believe it when I told him she was crushed on him."

- "She was so obvious! He didn’t notice it?"

- "I don’t know"- Joey thought about it for a second- "Maybe he is used to people acting weird around him… doesn’t it happen to you too?"- the two musicians thought about it, and Worm chuckled.

- "You are the only girl I’ve seen acting human around them in years"- he said, and Joey laughed

- "I get it now."

The idea of Matthew visiting her in London gave Joey a refreshed energy and something to look forward to in her near future. Was he going to say yes? He had a tight schedule, but maybe he could take some time off for her, perhaps a few days. It was a long trip, yes, but… they could be together. That was always good. The girl decided to wait to call him that night and ask him if he was willing to make the trip. She kept her hopes high, though, ‘cos she knew he missed her as well.

- "I’m so sorry, Yami. I can’t make it"- Matthew answered and saw his girlfriend’s eye water up in a second.

- "But why?"

- "I had already thought about it when I saw your schedule, but that’s the week I start rolling the movie, and I can’t just leave."

- "I understand, Akumu"- she mumbled, laid in her bed, dressed in one of his shirts.

- "I’m so sorry, baby"- he whispered and yawned. It was eight in the morning in Los Angeles, and Gubler was getting ready to work.

- "It’s ok… I get it. You have to work too."

- "I swear I’m gonna look for a date to visit you as soon as I can."

- "Thanks."

- "I have to go now, I need to shower"- the girl nodded at his words and smiled as he showed her the jar of cookies she had made him- "I already ate half of them."

- "Enjoy them, Akumu. I’m going to sleep ‘cos I’m dying."

- "Ok, Yami. Talk to you later."

- "Yeah, I’ll call you when I wake up."

- "Love you."

- "Me too."

The call ended, and Joey kept staring at the screen for a few seconds. One day without him and she was already suffering like she hadn’t suffered any of the earlier times. Why?

A knock on the door interrupted her thoughts and made her wonder who would knock at her door at midnight. She had said goodnight to Frank, Ray, and Mikey after dinner.

- "Hey, Gerard"- the girl said, surprised as soon as she found him standing outside her room- "What are you doing here?"

- "I just…"- the singer was nervous. He stared at Joey and didn’t say a word for a few seconds.

- "You just?"- the girl asked and kept waiting for an answer.

- "I just wanted to check on you."

- "Thanks, I was about to go to bed, though I might have had three coffees too many, you? Where’s Lynz?"- it hurt Gerard to see Joey so careless about the fact his wife was there. It was like she was even enjoying it.

- “But why? Doesn’t she want to spend time with me? Didn’t she miss me?” She was tired and decided to take a bath."

- "That’s a good choice"

- "Can I come in?"- Joey opened the door completely and watched Gerard Way walking in.

- "So, how was your break?"- the girl sat on her bed and looked at Gee, who kept walking in circles around the room.

- "It was good. Are you mad at me?"- he simply asked, straight to the point, and turned to the girl, who frowned, confused.

- "No, why?"

- "'Cos you are not talking to me."

- "I’m talking now."

- "Yeah, but… you feel distant"- Joey sighed and stared at the singer thinking her answer with a rational and cold mind, for the very first time since she met him.

- "We have never been real close, Gerard"- and that hurt him- "It’s not like we are best friends."

- "Yeah, but it feels like you don’t want to be near me."

- "I don’t have a reason to be near you,"- and that hurt him again, 'cos it meant she didn’t care.

- “There’s no way she doesn’t care. She just has to be excusing herself cos Lynz is here.”

- "Sorry, that didn’t come out right"- Joey excused herself and shook her head, trying to rearrange her thoughts.

- “Thank God.”- Way nearly sighed.

- "What I meant was we haven’t shared so much, and you have been with your wife since we reached the airport. So… no, I’m not mad at you, we just haven’t had time to talk, or whatever."

Joey was so proud of herself she could have clapped if she was alone. She was talking with Gerard, not feeling nervous or… creaming her undies.

- "I see."

- "But we can hang out tomorrow. My plan is breakfast, practice morning, lunch, practice, soundcheck, show. I guess I’ll see you on the soundcheck, we can hang out, have coffee, you can catch me up with everything you did on your break, did you have fun?"- the girl yawned and kept looking at Gerard with a warm smile. Where did the temptation go? It just vanished.

- "Yes, it was very fun"- he answered and sighed, absolutely disappointed.

- "Great! You can tell me all about it tomorrow. Right now, I need to sleep."

- "Sure, sorry for coming so late."

- "Don’t worry"- Joey stood up and was about to walk him to the door when Gerard wrapped his arms around her. She didn’t know how to react to it, so she just stayed still for a second. He smelled so good. That hadn’t changed. But he didn’t feel like a magnet anymore. It still felt weird to be hugged by him. Like… it was dangerous somehow.

- "Sleep tight, ok?"- Gerard moved slightly apart from her but made sure to stay close enough to feel her perfume around him and kissed her cheek. She nodded and felt her knees shake. He could make her nervous; that was a fact.

Gerard was hot, caring, and he was holding her tight. But it was wrong. It felt wrong. And Joey didn’t want to be under those circumstances again.

- "Ok, goodnight"- she moved away from him quickly, making him feel rejected. Gerard Way, rejected? He tried not to make eye contact with her and walked outside the room. Joey stared at the door to make sure he was gone and scratched her eyes in disbelief.

- “What the fuck was that?”- she asked herself in shock- “Was Gerard hitting on me? That felt weird. It didn’t feel naive…. It wasn’t friendly… his eyes… it felt he was trying to get me naked… what the fuck?”

The girl laid on the bed and stared at the ceiling, trying to analyze what had happened. She couldn’t find any logical reason to explain Gerard’s behavior. He had been awkward since the moment he stepped into the room. Then he had hugged her for no reason, and then he stared at her from the smallest distance possible. He kissed her cheek, so gently, so slowly, like he was kissing her lips. Sure, he was hot, sure, she had been attracted to him before, but that didn’t mean under any circumstances that she was going to cave in and kiss him.

- “Yeah, I’ve had fantasies, like the kind of fantasies I have with Chris Hemsworth… fuck, he is hot.”

The girl made a pause, ‘cos her thoughts started drifting to the actor.

- “But hell no! I’m not making out with Gerard. He is married, I’m going to be married, and I am not interested, thank you very much”.

Japan was a blast. It was a lot of work, and it was wearing because of the insane jet lag, but mostly, it had been amazing. And for Joey was special too, 'cos Mikey hadn’t seemed that happy ever since she first met him.

But talking with Matthew had been hard. Japan was 16 hours ahead of time, and he was either sleeping or working when she could speak. The same for him. The girl couldn’t wait to reach London to be in a more normal time zone. At least there, she was going to be just nine hours ahead of him.

::: London, February 12th, 2011 :::

Joey walked around Frank’s room holding Cherry while Jamia changed Lily’s diaper. Frank was carrying all of the suitcases downstairs to take his wife and babies to the airport. They had spent an amazing week together in London. Even Joey was sad to know Jamia was leaving. She loved the babies and, just as Frank had warned her, she had had to babysit for them a couple of times, with Ray and Mikey, while Frank and his wife had a couple of dates.

- "If you need anything for the wedding, please don’t doubt and call me, or text me, this is my number"- Mrs. Iero smiled at Joey and gave her a little paper.

- "Thank you, Jamia."

- "I don’t know if you have any married friends in Los Angeles or someone with some wedding experience to give you a hand with all the preparations."

- "I don’t, actually"- the girl whispered, blushing- "I don’t have any kind of idea or clue about what I have to do."

- "Oh shit! This is so exciting!"- and Jamia nearly jumped as she stared at the drummer- "Then I’m gonna have to go help you in person “And hang out your hot fiancé!! Maybe I can help him pick up the tuxedo for the ceremony… maybe I can watching changing outfits over and over and over again.”

- "Jamia, Jamia"- Frank stood in front of his wife and waved- "Earth to Jamia!"

- "Sorry! I was… lost in thoughts. I wanna help Joey with the wedding."

- "Don’t worry, Jamia, I don’t wanna be trouble"- Joey smiled awkwardly as Frank took Cherry from her arms and kissed his baby’s chubby cheeks.

- "Don’t be silly. It’s no trouble. I love to help."

- "You love the groom, face it"- Frank joked, making Joey laugh immediately as Jamia hit his arm a couple of times.

- "Shut up!!"

- "It’s ok, Jamia. I’ll call you in case I need any help, so… I’ll call you a lot of times"- Jamia smiled and gave Joey a small hug.

- "Take care."

- "You too! Thank you for hanging out with me."

- "Don’t be silly!"- Jamia chuckled- "I had a great time! Please, if my husband does something stupid, don’t doubt and hit him"- Joey burst out laughing, and Frank chuckled.

- "Jeez, you really trust me."

- "I actually know you, Paco. I’m not guessing here. I’m talking facts"- the woman stuck out her tongue to her husband and looked at Joey again- "And if he tries to get you into more tattoos."

- "He already got me two, but the last one was too painful, so this might be it."

- "I told you, the ribs are the worst, but you wanted your last name there, and it was your birthday gift"- Iero chuckled and messed with Joey’s hair.

Jamia liked knowing Frank was, in fact, a friend to Joey and that she wasn’t a threat to her in any way.

- "Ok, come on, I’ll take you to the airport"- Joey waved, and Frank nodded- "See you later, Bug"- the three of them walked outside the room, and Joey walked to her door.

- "Hey Lynz"- the drummer said, surprised to find her outside her room- "What are you doing here?"

- "I was looking for… Gerard"- she said and frowned, disappointed, or maybe surprised, to find he wasn’t with her.

- "I haven’t seen him. I was with Jamia helping her getting the babies ready for the flight"- Joey smiled and opened the door.

- "Can I talk to you for a second?"- and her stomach jumped at those words immediately.

- "Sure, what is it? Please, come in."

Lynz walked into Joey’s room and sighed, trying to set her speech straight, to don’t fuck it up and look like a psycho killer. That would make everything worse. She had managed to stay calm around her husband, though every day, she was more and more certain Gerard had a crush on Joey.

- "I’m sorry to bother you, I just… needed to know your opinion, as a woman."

- "Tell me… wow, this is weird, no one ever asks my opinion as a woman"- Joey joked and sat Indian style on her bed- "Please, make yourself home."

- "Thanks"- Lynz sat next to her and smiled- "I just needed to know if Gerard has been weird with you or something."

And Joey’s cheek turned red right away.

- "Weird? Weird like what?"- she honestly asked, thinking there was no way Mrs. Way knew her husband was a flirt with Joey. ‘Cos he was.

- "I don’t know… has he tried anything with you?"

- "What? No!"- the drummer widened her eyes in shock- "We don’t even spend time alone"- which was true- "And we are not even that close"- also true- "So there’s no way he could have tried anything with me."

Joey tried to calm herself down a little bit and looked into Lynz’s eyes.

- "Why would you ask me such a thing? Did something happen?"

- "No. I just know him, and I feel he is maybe a little crush on you"- Lynz was honest with Joey, ‘cos she felt she didn’t reciprocate his husband’s feelings. Maybe by talking about it, she could make sure Joey would stay away from the singer.

- "Shit! No!"- Joey quickly answered, still in shock- "Lynz, I swear nothing has happened with Gerard! And there is no way anything could ever happen with Gerard"- and Joey meant every word.

- "Thank you"- Lynz sighed and looked at the woman sitting in front of her- "I don’t mean to be a psychopath weird bitchy wife, I just…"- she made a pause and scratched her head with closed eyes- "Sometimes he spends so much time away… it makes me doubt."

- "Of him?"

- "Of everything, I guess… maybe after what happened with Alicia and Mikey."

- "She cheated, right?"- Mrs. Way nodded at Joey’s question- "She is still your friend"

- "Yes, but it got weird… and it makes me wonder if my relationship with Gerard could ever get to that point of no return"- Lynz was playing the empathy card with Joey- "Have you ever felt like you and Matthew are growing apart while you are away?"

The drummer’s heart stopped at the thought, and her hand unconsciously reached the necklace he had given her.

- "I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to freak you out."

- "Don’t worry, I guess it’s something we are all worried about at some point."

Joey was sincere, sensing maybe Lynz was honest and vulnerable around her. She didn’t really swallow a lot of crap from people, but she knew Gerard had acted strange with her, so maybe his wife was right.

- "But about me, don’t worry. Gerard hasn’t tried anything weird, and I am not looking for anything weird with him either"- Joey cut her a warm smile- "We are not that close. I’ve always felt he is still not sure about having me in the band, so…"

- "Don’t worry, I get it"- Lynz wanted to believe her, ‘cos she seemed sincere- "Anyway, I don’t wanna freak you out, I better go finish packing."

- "You are leaving?"- Joey frowned as the two of them stood up and walked to the door- "Why?"

- "I’ve got to work, and you will be stuck in a bus with the band for the following weeks. I don’t want to be you"- Joey burst out laughing, thinking she was right.

- "Mikey farting, that’s something I don’t miss"- the two women were still laughing when Gerard appeared as soon as Joey opened the door.

- "Gee"- Lynz frowned, and the singer froze, feeling caught.

- "Hey… what are you doing here?"- he asked and looked at his wife, not knowing what to do.

- "I was hanging out with Joey, you?"

- "I wanted to ask Joey if she had seen you. I reached our room, and you weren’t there, and I can’t find the guys either"- his excuse smelled like bullshit, and everybody knew it- "Besides, I wanted to remind you today we are leaving right away after the show, so you should get your bags into the bus soon"- Joey nodded and turned to Lynz.

- “Shit, now she is going to think I was lying to her” Yes, Ray already called me to remind me that, and Mikey said he was coming in a while to help me taking everything downstairs."

-" Great"- Lynz kept looking at her husband, and Joey kept wondering what to do next.

- "I’m gonna get ready for the show then"- the drummer said and turned to the other girl- "I’m sorry we didn’t have more time to hang out."

A part of her was honest. Joey didn’t want Lynz to leave thinking she was trying to steal her husband, ‘cos she wasn’t.

- "Thanks"- Lynz looked at her and cut her a smile, meeting Joey’s apologetic eyes.

- "And I meant it, everything I said… about Mikey"- Gerard frowned right away. What were those two talking about on their own?- "He hasn’t been weird, but if he is, I’m gonna make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid"- the two of them stared at each other, and finally, Lynz nodded.

- "Thanks, I trust you’d do the right thing."

- "What about my brother?"

- "We were just talking about him and Alicia"- Lynz lied and held her husband's hand- "Come on, let’s leave Joey do her things, see you later."

- "Yes! Later!"

The drummer closed the door behind her back and sighed. What the fuck was going on?

**

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[exhausted-dog-mom]

Underwater (2020) Fix It Fanfic

Last year, I was commissioned to write a fix it fic for the horror movie Underwater. I had no idea it was a horror movie until after I agreed to write it, lol. I'm a coward at the best of times and writing this gave me nightmares for months. It's 24k words and almost 55 pages long. I rewrote the whole dang movie, lol. The entire fic is on my Patreon, but here are the first 2k words. 

           Norah followed behind Rodrigo as they picked their way carefully through the debris. Her body shivered uncontrollably, her meager clothing long soaked through by water of questionable quality. The tinny, prerecorded voice of the infographics which once lined the walls echoed in the too tight hallways, skipping as sparks crackled along the broken screens. Great slabs of concrete and torn sheets of metal made their progress slow, their flashlights illuminating little more than water. The hallway they were following to CR-7 was far from a direct route, but it was the only one they were both able to traverse, and Norah knew she wasn’t alone in wanting to stick together—not after closing the bulkheads.

           She dismissed that thought. She didn’t have time to think about that. Not when the path before them suddenly stopped, the way forward cut off by a serious cave in.

           “Can we dig through there?” She asked, watching as Rodrigo crouched down and began moving loose bits of rubble.

           He called back, uncertain but willing to try, and Norah began scanning the area for alternate routes. They didn’t have time to double back and find another way. The Kepler wouldn’t last long and every second they wasted not getting to the pods was another second the entire station deteriorated around them.

           She took a chance and put her weight on a ledge above where Rodrigo was digging, shining her light down a narrow passage that might allow them both through. Maybe.

           “Hey,” she called down to her colleague. “I can fit through there if you can.”

           He came up and looked at her discovery, considering the rough looking tunnel.

           Distantly, Norah heard something. A voice. She had to turn her head to catch it, the hearing in her left ear completely gone, but it was there.

           “Hello?” She called out, hope rising in her throat. “Hello? Can you hear that?” She didn’t wait for Rodrigo’s response, leaving him behind as she clambered over derelict ductwork and dodged sharp edges, shining her flashlight on everything as she searched desperately for any sign of life. “Keep talking, I can hear you!”

           She turned her right ear to the ground, tracing the source of the muffled voice to a pile of concrete slabs, the edges sharp against her hands as she began to pull on them with a strength she didn’t know she had. Rodrigo came up beside her, helping to free whoever was trapped underneath. The first thing she saw as they pulled back a layer of rubble was a stuffed rabbit, the furlike fabric covered in grease and who knew what else. She stared at it, confused, for all of two seconds before joy and recognition filled her with renewed vigor.

           “Paul?” Sure enough, as she took the rabbit from upstretched hands, her friend’s face came into view, his eyes clenched shut against the brightness of Rodrigo’s flashlight. She handed the rabbit to Rodrigo, reaching down into the crevice to get better leverage for lifting Paul’s not insignificant weight. With Rodrigo’s help, she pushed back the final slab, revealing the drill worker in all his bare chested glory, his skin coated in dust and grime. His hand held on to hers tightly and she watched as recognition bloomed in his eyes.

           “Norah?”

           “Hi.” She was as breathless as he was, a shaky laugh passing through chattering teeth.

           Paul smiled up at her, squeezing her hand as he laughed right back. “Oh, you sweet, flat chested elven creature.”

           She couldn’t even be mad at him. She was sure she made quite the sight, in her sports bra and sweats, but it was no better than his.

           She watched her friend breathe harshly for a second, lungs taking full advantage of their renewed capacity now that the weight of the debris was no longer crushing his chest. She knew the instant his brain had reoxygenated, because he turned to Rodrigo, a man he’d probably never interacted with before, like Norah, and asked after his rabbit.

           His concern for his little buddy was endearing, though she knew the stuffed toy couldn’t hold a candle to the real Little Paul, alive and waiting seven miles above them on dry land.

           Getting Paul out of the hole was a process, but they did it, the large man standing before them in nothing but a robe, boxers, and one lucky sock. He cradled the rabbit against his chest like a living animal, his attachment to the thing so much stronger after so long down in the deep.

           Norah lead the way back down the hall, flickering blue lights casting eerie shadows on the walls. “There are pods in CR-7,” she explained over her shoulder, the joy she felt at finding her friend alive tempered by a renewed desperation to get out. “The upper decks are collapsing, so we’ve gotta move fast.”

           She pulled herself up onto the ledge, Rodrigo helping her from below. She caught the tail end of Paul’s whining complaint and she rolled her eyes. Leave it to him to find something to complain about during a life or death situation.

           Paul was much larger than either her or Rodrigo, but, as Norah crawled through the cramped tunnel, she was pretty sure he’d be able to fit. She had little trouble scooting through the dark, her movements sending the light from her flashlight in all sorts of disorienting directions. Everything was grey, with the exception of the odd wire or two, exposed copper stinging her wet skin as she brushed up against it. She turned back to look at her two companions, the men clearly having a harder time than she was.

           “You guys ok?”

           “Yeah,” Rodrigo nodded to her, dust clinging to his dark skin. Behind him, Paul grumbled out an affirming expletive.

           Turning back, she immediately recoiled, flashlight dropping from her grasp and teeth clacking loudly in her skull.

           Closing her eyes against the terrifying sight, she called back to the boys. “There’s-there’s someone up here.” She swallowed thickly. “It’s McClellen.”

           Just like that, the high from unburying Paul was gone, replaced by the grim certainty that his survival was nothing short of a miracle and the odds of finding anyone else alive were incredibly slim.

           How many were left alive? How many more would there be if she had waited just a little longer? How many were dead because of her?

           McClellen had no answers for her, blue eyes locked unseeing on something far in the distance. Norah took a shaky breath, bolstering herself as she began to move past the other woman. Their hands touched as she did, the fading warmth she felt deepening the ever growing pit in her stomach.

           If she’d waited, would McClellen still be alive?

           Would Paul be dead?

           Those questions, like all the others, were tossed aside as she resumed the slow journey forward, eyes locked on the darkness ahead of her. There was no telling what waited out there, just beyond the range of her flashlight, but she didn’t have time to lose herself to what ifs and should haves. There were two men behind her, two living, breathing men, and that was enough. It had to be enough.

           The cramped tunnel let out to an open space—another hallway, by the looks of it—and Norah carefully climbed out and set her feet on the ground. The light here was red, a sign that the emergency systems were working, at least, and she could only hope that the way to the escape pods was open. She led the way, following a mental map of the rig as automated voices rang out overhead. Their flashlights reflected off the tall windows which surrounded the evacuation room, the reinforced glass surprisingly intact compared to the wreckage all around it. Norah stumbled over a rogue pipe, her mind going blank as it struggled to put together what she was seeing.

           “Captain?”

           Sparks flew, the display illuminating Captain Lucien’s back where he sat hunched over inside the closed off rotunda. He made no indication that he’d heard her, his head in his hands as he sat alone in the dark. Norah hit the control panel, but he didn’t react to the obnoxious sound it made in protest. Squinting through the glass, her heart sank as she took in the damage surrounding him, the escape pods they’d all put so much hope in clearly no longer an option.

           “Shit.”

           “Shit?” Paul winced as he came over to stand beside her, looking over her shoulder into the dark. “What’s shit?”

           “The evac pods are gone.” Norah tuned out her friend’s frenzied cursing as she pounded on the glass, calling for her Captain. Could he even hear her through the reinforced windows? They were designed to withstand sudden changes in pressure—likely why they were still intact—but did that mean they also blocked out sound?

           The answer was no, they couldn’t, and Norah deflated with relief when Lucien turned around, face lighting up as he recognized first her then the men behind her.

           “Norah,” he called, his voice muffled but still intelligible through the glass as he rushed over. “You’re alive.” He didn’t sound like he believed it, but she could understand the sentiment. “The door’s jammed.”

           Right. Of course, it was. He probably would have left if it wasn’t. Norah quickly moved over to the control panel, mentally apologizing to the machine for hitting it as she tried to find some way to override the lock. Absently, she recognized the Captain giving orders to Paul and Rodrigo, both men rushing to obey, though Paul complained loudly between hissing breaths.

           “On a scale of one to ten, how bad’s my rig?”

           His attempt at humor fell a little flat and Norah looked up at him incredulously as the doors opened. “Uh,” she looked him up and down in the harsh white lights which conveniently decided to turn back on. His left arm was in a sling, miscellaneous bruises and cuts littered across his face. Shit. “Ten. We’re, um, seventy percent compromised—breathe too hard and we’re in trouble.”

           He didn’t appreciate her candor, turning away from her with a grim expression before turning back around and reaching for her face with his good hand, looking at her damaged ear with a grimace.

           “What happened,” she asked through chattering teeth, the two seconds she’d spent standing still reminding her body of how cold it was. “Was it an earthquake?”

           “I don’t know.” That wasn’t what she wanted to hear. “I’m trying to figure it out.”

           She watched, still somewhat dazed, as he pulled a large red med kit out from seemingly nowhere, using his one hand to its full effectiveness as he rummaged through it.

           “I don’t understand.” Her voice forced its way through her tight throat, swallowing only thickening the knot living there. “Why are you still here? There were pods here, you could have left.”

           He gave her a look she was sure he’d leveled on his child a thousand times before. It certainly made her feel like one. “That’s what Captains do.”

           “Who cares?” She couldn’t stop the words or the incredulity which laced them. “You have a kid. You should have gone up.”

           He froze, expression blank as his mouth opened and closed, eyes shut as he tried to find the words to respond to that. Instead, he urged her to sit down, returning to the med kit as though she hadn’t said anything.

           “You know any one of us would have shoved your ass into a pod—.”

           “Listen to me!”

           Norah shut her mouth, staring wide eyed at her Captain as he kneeled in front of her, mouth tense as he glared up at her. His French accent was thicker in his anger, coloring his words as he gestured wildly with his good arm.

           “Everyone is getting out of here alive.” He said it with such conviction, Norah was almost able to believe him. “You here me? I already sent twenty two up, Smith reported seven dead.”

           Warmth spread in her chest at the news that Smith, at least, was still alive. She hadn’t let herself consider any other possibilities but having her old friend’s survival confirmed relieved a tension she hadn’t realized she was carrying. She gave a stuttering report of the dead she and Rodrigo had found before coming across Paul, and she struggled past telling him about McClellen, nonsensical words spilling from her lips—she lived three floors up, I was brushing my teeth, her hands were still warm, I shut the bulkheads on the entire East Wing so there’s definitely more.

           Captain Lucien, to his credit, remained staunchly focused on cleaning her ear, damp gauze coming away from it bloody. Whatever was wrong with it, it stung when he touched it, the pain a welcome reminder that she was alive, only living people could bleed, and a grim one that so many people weren’t.

[gisachi]

Okay I LOVE YOU TO DEATH ( ´ ∀ `)ノ～ ♡ but I think you already know that. I'm hereby requesting for #2 or #15 for the ShinRan kisses bc omfgahd you the b e s t ❤❤❤

This is for the dearest Tru because guurl your dcmk fandom misses you but I know you’re enjoying yourself over in HQ fandom and that’s great too ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) if you feel like coming back, let this be your ShinRan welcoming gift ok~ 💝😘

2. A small, fleeting kiss - which is immediately followed by a passionate, hungry kiss. 15. A fierce kiss that ends with a bite on the lip, soothing it with a lick. (1,659 words)

.

.

.

Shinichi is a biter. It’s a fact not even he was aware of until Ran pointed it out. She discovered this weird trait of his back in middle school when in the dead silence of their study session, Shinichi unlookingly reached for Ran’s dormant hand and gave a light bite on the side of her palm.

Utterly aghast, Ran gave his head a good whack, questioning where the hell that came from,  only for him to respond with a clueless (and pained) ‘Huh, what did I do?’

Ran believed that Shinichi did know but merely played pretend to avoid her flying fist of death. Yet, it happened more than once, all done randomly and without any hint of hesitancy nor perversity in his end. That was when she started to consider that maybe, Shinichi was indeed blissfully unaware of his habit— of his fondness?— of biting her.

She isn’t going to lie, it’s very weird at first. It isn’t simply some information she can share so casually because even Agasa-hakase would find it hard to believe. Shinichi? Bites? Dogs bite. Not people. Moreso not him. He who cowers like a kitten when he senses the Ran Rage. Not that his bites hurt, but still. Weird.

Though after noting the pattern, Ran concludes that Shinichi mechanically does it only when three conditions are met: when he isn’t stressed, when they are beside each other, and when they are alone. If absorbed in a case, he doesn’t so much as flinch from his chair, sitting upright in a foetal position, and Ran beside him is reduced to an invisible post. But when his mind is free of cases, leisurely reading his mystery novels next to her, the hand grabbing and hand biting occur.

One instance, they were walking home, and although they were beside each other, fingers grazing fingers, Ran sensed his hesitancy to snatch her hand for a usual bite. Side glancing at him, she teased, “So you’re finally becoming conscious of your weird habit?”

“Conscious enough to understand that I must stop myself from doing that in public… give me credit, Ran,” he scoffed.

They weren’t even dating then, but the blush on her face was akin to the blush of a woman receiving a declaration of love from her man. He realized he was weird. And he wanted to be weird, comfortably weird, only around her.

The affectionate bites have continued without issue until high school, even beyond. She’s allowed to call it affectionate, right? Yes, it grew on her, and though it’s questionably odd, the act of imprinting innocent, visible teeth marks somewhere on another’s body is something that does not just happen if both parties aren’t comfortable with it. Letting him bite her is a sign that she returns his affection too.

And then they started dating.

The only thing that’s changed apart from their relationship status is that the biting doesn’t only happen on the hand. Sometimes, he treats her forearm like a roasted chicken leg and Ran tickles him on the rib as punishment. Her arm and shoulder are his favorite body parts to nibble on. Fortunately, teeth marks don’t take long to disappear, unless they blotch which is a different story. That hasn’t happened. Yet.

“You’re doing it again,” Ran complained during another private study session when the nibble on her unsleeved shoulder felt deeper than usual.

“Crap, sorry.” And he soothed with a kiss. Ran blushed.

That was a first.

She moved a tiny inch away from him, formidable pink growing in her cheeks. “Sorry for the bite, or for biting too hard?” she snipped. Shinichi simply laughed.

Pensively, he observed the embedded mark on her skin as she moved, eyebrows scrunching in contemplation. Suddenly his mood shifted.

“Do you think I ought to stop this?” he spoke up.

Ran blinked, a little surprised. “And you’re asking that question now?”

“Better than not asking and making you feel uncomfortable for the rest of your life, yeah.”

“What makes you say I’m uncomfortable?”

“ ‘Cause I never hear you say you’re okay with it?”

Ran blinked a few more times.

“Shinichi, I don’t have to say I’m okay with it for you to know I’m okay with it. You of all people should know that.”

“That’s not it,” Shinichi argued, “it’s precisely because I know you that I need to hear you say it. Your silence can mean a lot of things... I still can’t read you one hundred percent, you know...”

Stopping a growing smile, Ran rolled her eyes and sighed thickly through her mouth. She was so tempted to humor him but he looked so sincere with that sad apologetic face.

“It’s just odd. But I don’t...I don’t hate it,” she answered.

“So you like it?” His face brightened, voice upping mirthfully as he leaned closer. “C’mon! Say it.”

“M-Mah,” flustered, she lifted her nose in the air and looked the other way, “You’re just making fun of me now!”  

He laughed, then kissed her shoulder again. “Fine. I’ll take that answer.”

And so he never stops.

In the most random moments alone together, he'll grab the opportunity to steal a bite. When she’s brushing her hair, when she’s zoning out during a movie, while she takes a call from her mom, or even while she’s cooking. Especially while she’s cooking. He’ll stand behind her and wrap his arms around her waist, making everything more intimate than it already is.

One fine night, he drops by Ran’s after solving yet another case that has earned him another column in the next morning paper. In a very good mood, he bites her shoulder, after he has taken his bath, and Ran is cooking his favorite food for dinner. His lips - not his teeth - linger longer on her skin, longer than how he often soothes her, and Ran notices that the warmth is zipping north, onto the slope of her neck and shoulder, and then on her neck.

Suddenly, the heat that emanates isn’t just from the steam from the pot; it’s in her body, everywhere.

“You smell so nice…” She can hear his relaxed smile as his hands caress her waist, and Ran releases a quivering exhale. She knows he’s saying that more out of admiration than anything else, but his voice is raspy and it makes her knees weak. It doesn’t help that he just finished his bath and his bare chest touches her back, and he smells like her lavender shampoo and soap, and he is very far from stressed, and they’re alone in the apartment.

That fine night, the intimacy in the air feels tantalizingly different from usual.

“Did… Did you already heat the teapot as I told you?” Her question is not at all suggestive, but her tone seems to indicate otherwise.

“Mm,” lazily, he parts her long hair to the other side and nibs on the silky skin of her neck, “seven minutes ‘til it boils.”

And then the following seconds are quiet, body language speaking for itself. Her head craning, breathing short; his relaxing nibbles softer and deeper, hands on her waist playful. His alternating kisses and bites electrify her, and she wants to fuel this spark into something greater, something that will make both of them combust.

So she sets the stove to low heat, and turns around.

On that fine night, she seizes the opportunity to kiss him where she prefers.

Chaste and gentle, but eager all the same. Instances like these are when Shinichi need not ask if she likes what he’s doing because the answer is crystal clear in her eyes.

Still, with a shell-shocked expression, he stares back, unmoving. Heart beating fast and head spinning crazy. That is a first.

The next second, he’s kissing her back.

“Doing it...again,” Ran breathes, breaking their connection every two seconds to let him punctuate each kiss with a tender bite on her lip.

“ ‘M sorry,” he airs, smiling, kissing deep, drinking the moan that trembles out her throat. “Force of habit... Didn’t notice.”

She feels the swirling heat change the color of her cheeks; she’s probably burning red now. “You always don’t,” she chuckles over his lips as her back hits the edge of the kitchen island.

They are no expert at this, but it feels like they’ve been doing this for so long with the way their lips move and glide and dance with each other, already done testing the waters, encouraging for more. As if his skin kisses are but the foreplay leading to this special moment. Soon, she feels herself being lifted from the floor, thighs laid to rest flat on the countertop, his body slotted between her legs. Ran feels her soul leave her body. This intimacy has easily transcended into another level.

In the middle of concentration, Shinichi’s eyes blow wide like dinner plates and he separates, touching the corner of his lower lip.

He tastes iron on his tongue. He looks at his girlfriend, realizing what she’s done. “...Whoa.”

Smiling coyly, Ran leans close, pausing a breath away, before soothing his swollen lip with a soft bite and gentle lick, and Shinichi groans a little. “I think...I see the appeal now.”

Shinichi’s smirk is smug and thrilled, loving his girl’s newest discovery. “And I see why you aren’t stopping me before…” he kisses her again, “Do it more.”

And on that night, more she does. Her first kisses, her first nibbles, her first tongue action she offers while taking all of his in turn. Perhaps she might have taken more, if not for the kettle whistling and dinner boiling out of the pot.

As for his weird biting habit, safe to say it’s best she gets even for the hundred times he’s done before. And apart from his lips, she’s willing to discover where he likes to receive it most and how he likes it given.

That won’t take long. He’s a willing teacher anyway.

.

.

.

[tttinytrash]

Ok fine, I caved again. Originally I said I’d at least attempt to not kidnap @shamedump‘s boys again, but their boys are so sweet (and also have to convenient distinction of not actually wanting to hurt their little reader buddy). Dumpling gave me the green light so with their blessing I’m going ahead with Shy’s final prompt for spoopy hide-and-eat with the Bad Sans Gang using Dumpling’s version of the spooky boyos. I hope I channel their personalities adequately, and I hope you guys enjoy!

Movie night with they guys was always a highlight of your week.

You all met as Archer’s castle on a regular basis to just hang out, piling into one room. Thank goodness this was a whole freaking castle, because your gang was pretty big. Despite the size of the room, the couch really wasn’t big enough for your whole group. As per usual Chain, Mage, Dusty, and Mason were crammed on the couch leaving Deca and you to nest on the floor. The plethora of cushions strewn about made that a non issue, luckily. Crash had made himself a hammock out of his own strings overhead, knitting a scarf absently as the movies served as background noise. This week, the reason the seven of you were sprawled over the couch in the first place was the horror movie marathon going on the TV across the room. 

You turned away as the blood curdling screams shrieked from the speakers, the delightful sounds of the hot blonde being torn apart by the feral werewolf on screen acting as your backing track as you cried “Oh come on! That’s just gratuitous!” You laughed, entertained by the campiness buried in the gore but still refraining from watching until the wet squelches subsided.

“you ok?” Chain asked, looking you over. (You didn’t miss Mage glancing over at you either.)

“I’m good. Having a good time, but so not looking forward to the nightmares tonight.” you respond, flapping a hand as if to waft away the concern.

“scared of horrible monsters coming to get you in the night?” Mason teased, abandoning his spot on the couch to push at your shoulder and attempt to loom.

Despite the blank sockets and black tears, the goof didn’t scare you so you laughed easily. “Not like that, and you know it. Stoppit.” You started to push him off, which made him double down on the game and try to knock you over into the pillow pile. 

Mage broke up the game before it turned into proper rough housing, wrapping one tendril around your waist and another around Mason’s ankle. He yanked you both off the floor, chiding “enough, you two.” 

Mason ended up limply hanging upside down, clearly unabashed and jokingly making grabby hands at you.

To prevent further childishness, Mage dumped you into Chain’s lap and dropped Mason into the thickest portion of the pillow pile.

You giggled when Chain wrapped himself around you, setting his chin on the crown of your head and purring about the newfound proximity.

Deca spun around to look at you, “you get nightmares after scary movies?”

“I mean yeah, but it’s a price I’m willing to pay for a good time.” You shrug, as best you can while wrapped up in Chain’s arms.

“Y-y-you know you’re just about the best guarded human-n in the multiverse, right?” Crashed asked, setting hit knitting aside.

“Yeah, I’m well aware that anyone who wanted to get me would have to go through you guys. My brain is just dumb.” You pat the skeleton wrapped around you as best you could, which in your position was patting the thick ecto on his middle since that’s all you could reach.

His belly reacted to the attention by growling, which you could feel while being pressed into it. You could practically feel the mischief coming off Chain as he said “well, i’m plenty willing to make that more literal if you want.” To emphasize, he licked your head.

You pulled away from the intruding tongue, and Chain let you tumble away from him and back onto the floor, laughing as you squealed about him being gross and trying to fix your hair from the huge cowlick Chain had gifted you.

You noticed Dusty quietly saying something to Mason, which was a pleasant surprise as Dusty usually preferred not to speak much if at all. You asked Mason what was up, curious what made the reserved skeleton speak up.

“he’s asking if i think you being taken in would help with the nightmares. so, would it?”

“Uh... dunno. Never tried it before.” You said truthfully.

“why don’t we try it out, then. but make it a game?” Mage asked, grin quirking predatorily.

“Game?” You asked, curious to see where this went.

“yes. you run, we chase. winner gets to keep you for the night.”

“Hah! Am I player or the prize?”

Mage shrugged, “both.”

You glanced around the room and saw several hopeful gazes and a few curious ones. Crash rolled his eyes and went back to his knitting, but you couldn’t deny the puppy dog eyes you were getting from some of the others.

“Alright, game on.”

-----

Crash made a seat for himself and another for Deca high up in the canopy of the woods by the castle, which would serve as your arena for the game. (Thematically appropriate, plus no one could tumble down unforgiving stone stairs.) Crash and Deca tapped out before the game began, neither of them really wanting a guest your size. The others still seemed gung ho, so they were on the forest floor with you. 

You waved your flashlight around the area, already scoping out routes, as Mage explained that a victory meant catching you, no shortcuts allowed, and stipulations about magic to keep you from getting hurt during the chase. You kinda tuned it out, instead strategizing. Not like you had to worry about limiting spells you couldn’t cast in the first place. 

You got a minute head start, and your heart was pounding as you ran. 60 seconds had gone by in your mental countdown, which meant you were officially being hunted.

You were mildly nervous, but far from afraid. You did try to tamp down on the nervous feeling and instead focus on your excitement about a new game. Hopefully a more positive feeling would be harder for Mage to track. 

You weren’t left alone too terribly long, as Dusty had a habit of popping up randomly, forcing you to run away with him snickering behind you. You quickly caught on that he was just there for jumpscares, which made you laugh. You weren’t totally positive where the others were for now, though. That made you more paranoid.

The first time you actually felt the game was afoot was when Mason suddenly appeared on your right and made a grab for you. You dodged the grab, and darted in the opposite direction. Being chased by Mason, you almost missed the dark chuckle in front of you. Luckily you didn’t, as your quick turn saved you from Mage’s tendril’s snapping out towards you. The realization that the tendrils were significantly harder to dodge than Mason had been made you realize Mason wasn’t actually trying to catch you, instead herding you towards Mage.

The realization that Mason was helping Mage rather than himself wasn’t surprising, but definitely amusing. You had to dodge plenty more of Mason’s divebombs, and Mage quickly caught on that you knew what was going on and actually had to chase after you now as well, rather than waiting for Mason to bring you close enough for a grab. You heard Deca laughing from high above when Mason lunged at you but missed, ending in a face plant. Good to know the two non participants were still entertained. Given this opening, you took off yet again only to be stopped by Dusty springing from a shrub.

It was no effort to get away from him, as per usual. But how did he keep finding you so easily?!

Oh, Delta. It was the freaking flashlight! You realized the bright light was all but a beacon in the dark woods. Mason had given it to you, hadn’t he? Ooh, that cheeky little-!

Fine, you could use their trick against them. You jammed the light in the crook of a tree and took of running, leaving the bulb alight. The laughter from both Mason and Mage meant they’d found your trick, but you were far from your boobytrap and felt a sense of victory.

Your skeleton sightings became fewer now, and your night vision had finally adjusted to the dim light of the moon. But it also heightened the nerves instinctual for humans in the dark. You actually screamed the next time Dusty caught you by surprise, and while you backpedalled you didn’t miss the surprised look on Dusty’s face before you felt two solid somethings wrap around from behind you and lock you in place.

You wriggled with all your might out of a pure fear reaction but stilled when you realized two things. 1) The things holding you were big, thick arms. 2) The plushness of the body you were being held to meant it was Chain.

You looked up, breathy laughter tinging your words as you said “I only saw you once this whole game, but wow did you make it count!”

Deca shortcutted to the ground beside you, while Dusty and Chain chuckled at your outburst.

“figured ambush was the way to go. picked a spot and waited for the right moment, and dusty gave me the perfect window.” Chain explained.

“did you even know he was there, dusty?” Deca asked. 

He shook his head, smiling wide.

Crash seems to have been the one who called Mason and Mage that the game was over, as all three approached in a group.

“well played, chain. and you did pretty well too, human.” Mage said as he approached. 

Once the trio joined, the group was left in a loose ring and you still being held by the large skeleton who’d caught you. Conversation was immediate and comfortable, reliving some of the more lively moments and near misses with glee and laughing over mistakes made. After a bit, the chatter was cut by a rolling growl from Chain’s stomach which served as a reminder as to what victory entailed.

“well, the wager was already set. we’ll go set up the sleeping arrangements and meet you back at the castle. see you later, human.” Mage said, leading the others away and leaving just you and Chain out in the cool night air.

“you ready to get in your sleeping bag?” Chain asked, adjusting his grip on you at last to a more bridal style.

“Hah, yeah. Sounds pretty comfy to me.”

Chain smiled before gently fitting your head into his mouth while you went limp to make the next few moments easier on your host. Chain started swallowing with an easy, steady rhythm and you felt yourself relax in response. This was far from your first time being taken in by one of your skeletal companions so you knew the drill. It was with a happy sigh from Chain that you finished your downward journey and slid into the more open space of his stomach. The magic around you was mildly cool but comfortable, and the softness let you sink in a bit and feel cradled and safe.

Chain’s hand pressed in from outside to steady his newly added weight and you felt the light sway as he began to walk back into the castle. You began to rub at the surrounding walls in a successful attempt to get the monster to purr, and he even started rubbing back at you with your free hand.

He did you the favor of turning his magic transparent for you once you were back in the castle. He knew you preferred being able to see people if conversations were happening, and knowing how these nights went sleep wasn’t on the itinerary just yet despite the bedding being set up and pajamas being on.

Once you host had settled where he’d be sleeping, conversations flowed and jokes were made amongst the group with little difference from before despite your seating arrangements. Eventually, Mason approached and started to lightly pester you through the barrier of magic between you two. Chain seemed more entertained by the banter than bothered, but you hadn’t missed the black puddle that formed on the floor behind Mason.

A tendril emerged, wrapped around Mason’s ribs, and dragged him in. The satisfied look on Mage’s face would have clued anyone in the group in to where the troublemaker had ended up even without seeing him be puddled. Any nonexistent doubts also would have been dashed by Mage’s hand remaining on his belly the rest of the evening.

After a while, sleep was imminent and everyone settled comfortably strewn about Mage’s room. Mage and his internal guest were of course veiled on Mage’s four poster bed while everyone else was on various cots and cushions. Even without the luxury of a king sized mattress you felt exceedingly comfortable.

“doin ok in there?” Chain asked quietly.

“Oh, peachy on my end. How ‘bout you?” You kneaded at the wall the way you knew he liked.

He purred at your attentions, rubbing back as best he could from outside. “just wondering if this nightmare cure will do you any good, but i’m feeling pretty peachy too.”

“I will say, pretty hard to feel vulnerable in here. I’ll let you know come morning.”

“good. night, y/n.”

“Goodnight, big guy.”

You both settled in, and it felt like Chain falling asleep took mere seconds. You smiled fondly at the soft sounds of his slowed breathing and his body working around you.

As you drifted off, you couldn’t help but wonder if the chasing game would be played again at some point. 

...

Maybe next week you could watch the sequel to tonight’s movie.

[still-a-morosexual-help]

OBEY ME! LESSON 55 DETAILED SUMMARY AND DISCUSSION/THEORIES

*I wrote this days after the lesson was first posted and never bothered to go back and edit it so meaning there will be me theorizing about the next lesson as well

*I write a small para for each chapter and I write it immediately after finishing that chapter so there’ll be theorizing about the next chapter too

*I swear more than usual here

*Some of the dialogue is heavily plagiarized and a few is lifted directly from the story, the game is to figure which is which.

*Summaries and Discussions/theories for all the other lessons can be found on this blog under #obey me spoilers or #my theories or #my headcanons

OKAY! So first off the background for this is absolutely gorgeous and shows a real demon. You know the kind you’d imagine an actual demon to look like and everything’s dark (black, grey, brown) there’s a castle on a mountain like area with a narrow suspended pathway leading to it, there are crows flying around and a person in a robe pointing what looks like a lit wand at a snarling attacking demon, there are skulls and what looks like weapons on the ground and my favourite part: a person in a long robe, kneeling on the ground, covering the top of their face with their hands and wailing to the sky. It’s all tailor made to my taste and I love it! There’s one locked lesson.

It’s breakfast time and Asmo & Beel are heading to an all you can eat global sweet sampler, MC questions it and Asmo says you can get desserts from all over the world there and Asmo’s hoping to live stream it. Asmo invites MC but Mammon interjects asking them to come see “cute horsies” with him. “’Horsies.’ He’s so pretentious. Shut up, it’s the fucking horse race. ‘Horsies.’” Says Levi. Levi invites MC to a real life TSL themed escape room (that sounds really fun tbh), Satan invites them to come watch the sci-fi movie they were talking about, in their home theatre. (he’s actually watched it 3 times already but he read online theories about it and now he wants to see if he can catch the basis for those theories in the movie). They all start arguing about it (except Beel who’s just eating) when MC gets a text from Diavolo congratulating them on their 5th star and wishing them luck for the other 2 and inviting them to an amusement park date. Everyone – MC included – is kind of baffled by the one on one date with Diavolo. They ask any of the others if they want to tag along but they all refuse but Beel asks if MC can take Belphie along since he hasn’t really left the house in a while and Beel’s worried. MC texts asking if they can bring Belphie along too and Diavolo says the more the merrier and I just know this is gonna end in disaster like did Belphie ever even resolve all the problems he had with Diavolo back in S1?

Beel drags Asmo along to wake Belphie up because a.) he doesn’t want Asmo to leave to the sweets thing without him b.) they need all the help they can get to wake him up. MC suggests using force and Asmo happily volunteers to grab Belphie, turn him over and drop him on the ground, Beel says they can’t do this to poor Belphie cause Beel’s a sweetheart, and says the most force he’ll allow them to use is by tickling Belphie, which Asmo then does. It doesn’t work so Asmo says if they’re gonna use force they should do something like this right before he screams “ASMO DIIIIIIVE!!!” and jumps on top of Belphie as Beel protests and I love that despite what you’d assume from his aesthetic and despite what Asmo would like you to believe he’s a lot more rough and tumble and violent (I just really love the sweet with hidden edges trope as much as I love the jerk with a gooey centre trope). Belphie says ow and Asmo brightly and sweetly cheers that he woke up as if just seconds ago he hadn’t used a wrestling move on his sleeping baby brother. Beel says that though Belphie’s body is awake his mind isn’t (relatable), Beel fixes Belphie’s bedhead and Asmo complains that Belphie’s a stereotypical spoilt brat youngest child and says that Diavolo obviously would’ve wanted a one on one day with MC. Beel says he knows and it’s another reason he wanted Belphie to go. Asmo agrees saying that after everything if MC chooses their boss over any one of the seven guys MC actually lives with it’d feel wrong. Asmo tells Belphie to keep an eye on them and not let it turn into a “whirlwind romance”, Belphie just asks for his pillow and Asmo’s upset cause he doesn’t feel confident about the plan now. Poor Diavolo being constantly cockblocked

On the way Belphie complains about being forced to do this when his schedule is just as busy but MC says all he does is sleep and he says because naps are important to him and he takes them seriously. He wishes he could go back home and asks why of all the demons he had to be stuck with Diavolo (so guess those issues are still around good to know). MC asks if he still dislikes Diavolo cause of his fondness for humans and Belphie says he’s fully gotten over that whole human genocide phase which is great to have confirmed. They ask why he dislikes Diavolo – lots of reasons. He always thinks he’s right and expects to get his way about anything and everything and never listens to anyone’s opinions. He hadn’t bothered to listen to Belphie back when the exchange program had been proposed and Belphie was against it (and I mean to be fair back then Belphie was 100% okay with killing the entire human race for no reason other than the fact that he blamed them for Lilith’s death when really they had nothing to do with it and it was definitely the angels’ fault. I mean I don’t think I would have listened to him either and he really does have the spoilt youngest kid personality. I think out of all the brother’s Belphie’s the one who has the fondest memories of the Celestial Realm – probably helped by the fact that Lilith was still alive then – which is why he never blamed them for what happened and instead directed all his anger at the humans) Lucifer hadn’t let Belphie plead his case (what case Belphie!? That all humans should die!?) and that Diavolo’s surrounded by demons like Barbatos and Lucifer who shield him from criticism (and yeah I agree that this is true and that it’s a bad thing but Lucifer wasn’t shielding Diavolo from criticism when he refused to let Belphie plead his case, he was protecting Belphie cause if Diavolo found out Belphie wanted to kill humans he would have thrown him in jail like he did back at the end of S1 and MC you dumb fuck can you pls tell all this to Belphie) and that Diavolo doesn’t understand that he’s been saved from criticism and Belphie hates that about him and he shudders at the thought of spending the day with Diavolo. On the way they run into Simeon and tell him where they’re going, he says Luke’s been wanting to go there since he saw a ad for it and MC says they could take Luke along with them but he says Luke’s at a cooking class today but that he’d probably love to hear about it when he gets back. Simeon then takes off saying he has a meeting. Belphie goes to call after Simeon to tell him something and catches a glimpse of the person Simeon was supposed to meet. He’s surprised and says “Is that…” and when MC asks what’s wrong he said he must have just imagined it and that the person Simeon was meeting just looked really familiar and HOLY SHITTTTTTT GUYSSS rfhiefjoSJKWDLDADJSJ was I right are we really gonna get to see angels???? That’s the only explanation, right? It would have had to be Michael or even Raphael and there’s only a few lessons left and this and the next lesson are probably gonna focus on Diavolo and Belphie’s relationship and following the patter MC should get their 6th star next lesson, then the two lessons after that will be their final exam for the 7th star and then the last two lessons will focus on saying goodbye as the brothers go back to the Devildom and all that’s gonna have a lot going on but if they’re teasing the angels being here now could they manage to slip them in or will that be too much? I mean they’ll be introducing a whole new (or two whole new) character(s) and ahhh I’m rambling but pls I need the tension and angst between them and the brothers ok I’m done.

When they get there Belphie complains about how crowded it is and MC tries to look for Diavolo to which Belphie points to a group of fangirls surrounding Diavolo. Diavolo answers them sweetly and one of them says he’s even better looking irl and another shyly asks if he wants to walk around with them. Belphie cuts that short by barging in and asking Diavolo what’s going on, Diavolo happily greets Diavolo and one of the girls realises that Belphie called Diavolo ‘lord’. Diavolo apologises to them and said he’s already made plans with friends (and ugh he’s so sweet I love him just wanna give him a big hug I bet he gives great hugs), the girls are very understanding and sweet about it and they leave. Belphie’s a lil shit and says “Aww, too bad, Lord Diavolo. I’d hate to interrupt just as they were hitting on you…” and Diavolo laughs it off saying it wasn’t like that (and can Diavolo not understand sarcasm or does he just ignore it? Both seem highly likely) Belphie disagrees and says they were clearly hitting on him and Diavolo changes the subject and says he can’t believe Belphie actually came, MC explains why and Diavolo says it’s understandable that Beel was worried after Belphie hadn’t left the house in a week (Me, who hasn’t left the house in almost a year: :’) ) Belphie says he knows Diavolo wanted a date with MC but too bad cause now Belphie’s gonna third wheel them. Diavolo tells Belphie not to be ridiculous and that he’s happy that Belphie came (and the thing is other than a small twinge of disappointment this is probably the truth). Belphie says that it probably won’t be a good idea to go around calling him “Lord” Diavolo given the way the girls reacted, Diavolo says he can just call him by his name since he wouldn’t mind but Belphie says he himself would mind and anyway if Lucifer or Barbatos found out Belphie wasn’t using his proper title they’d kill him. So Belphie suggests a nickname which Diavolo’s really happy about and MC suggests DD (they can also suggest John or Cap’n), Diavolo adores it and asks them to call him it all the time hereafter (I want to give him a hug so badly). Diavolo then happily and with lots of exclamation points goes on to say that it’s time to let their hair down and that Barbatos had made minute to minute schedule for them to follow so that they could enjoy the park to the fullest and Belphie says he wants to go home

Diavolo keeps unsuccessfully trying to get Belphie to wear a themed headband and take a group photo, saying he also wants to wear the headband on a boat ride and the ferris wheel. Diavolo gives MC sad puppy dog eyes (which I’m sure he uses successfully on Lucifer regularly, but that don’t affect Barbatos at all) and MC can’t refuse, asking Belphie if there’s anything that’ll get him to change his mind. He says no but he’s not stopping the others from doing it, Diavolo says since they’re here as a group they all should do it, Belphie snaps saying he doesn’t like how Diavolo’s using MC as a tool to bend Belphie to his will and he says he’s going home. Diavolo tries to stop him but he marches off and Diavolo drags MC off to chase after Belphie. Diavolo grabs Belphie by the arm outside the park and begs for a chance to apologize, Belphie denies it and tries to free his arm. Diavolo refuses to let him go saying he should have listened to and considered Belphie’s opinions now as well as in the past, Belphie’s shocked and MC asks Belphie to just hear Diavolo out. He agrees but tells them not to have any expectations of what this’ll accomplish.

Belphie says he doesn’t want to wear the headband or take pics and that he’s only gonna ride what he wants to, Diavolo agrees with all that. He asks if Belphie will stay with them and Belphie agrees and Diavolo is just so brightly stupidly happy and I can completely understand how he was able to make Lucifer question his entire world view. Diavolo’s so happy he starts waving Belphie’s arm around unconsciously and then asks Belphie what rides he wants to go on as they make their way back inside, Belphie doesn’t answer instead he’s blushing and annoyed and asks Diavolo to let go of his hand. Belphie wants to ride ‘The Twisting Freefall of Death II’, MC & Diavolo would like to not freefall to their death thank you very much. Belphie quotes the ride as being, “the single most terrifying experience in the world where you’ll scream for mercy and receive none” Diavolo says, “Did you say scream for mercy…” Belphie happily agrees. Diavolo turns to his last hope, MC, and asks how they feel about this. I like to imagine that even MC has a line where their lacking self-preservation will kick in. Belphie just smiles saying it won’t actually kill them (this would have been more reassuring coming from someone who didn’t once murder MC but whatever.) They can also ask Diavolo how feels about it. After the ride Belphie’s cackling loudly and gushing about how great it was. He’s especially happy about the look on Diavolo’s face during the ride, saying he’s never seen it before (probably the look of a demon praying to God for mercy). MC can say that Belphie seemed to be having a lot of fun, cheer how the ride was the best or say they thought they were going to die. For the 3rd option Belphie very cheerfully says MC’s alive and ok. Belphie asks Diavolo how it was only to realise Diavolo’s missing. He fell off the ride at its highest peak. He’s dead.

They’ve tried texting Diavolo but he doesn’t read them. Belphie wonders what kind of person actually gets lost in an amusement park unless they’re 5. Then he says “…is that what it is? Is he actually 5 yrs old?” He remembers that mammon got lost in a park once too and says the only thing the two of them have in common is that they’re both basically children, They then run into my favourite character in the entire game – the butcher (is2g this man needs to become a recurring side character) who is here with his wife and daughter. He asks them if the rest of the harem is here too and Belphie lets him know that unfortunately they’re here with a new inductee who got lost. The butcher offers to help and asks for a description. MC says he’s the owner of the corvo hotel chain and the butcher wonders who the fuck are these people in the first place to know someone like that and then because the butcher’s the sweetest person alive he too starts worrying about diavolo, scared that he might have gotten kidnapped. Belphie says “there’s no one in the human world oh shit I mean THE WORLD. THE NORMAL WORLD ALL US HUMANS - BECAUSE WE ALL ARE HUMANS - LIVE IN” the butcher now probably used to how weird this cult is (because they definitely are a satanic cult with their extremely obvious demon names, how weird and unused to normal life they are, 7 of them being obviously infatuated by the eighth one but the butcher’s not gonna bring this up cause with the amount of meat they buy from him he could keep his family afloat for years AND pay for his daughters college tuition) ignores this and says he hasn’t seen Diavolo but advices them to check the information desk and ask them to page Diavolo over the loudspeakers. They thank him and Belphie promises to stop by with Beel later, the butcher says he’ll see him then and tells them to take care (I love this man). Barbatos text MC asking how they’re doing and which itinerary of his they’re following cause yes apparently he made more than one and telling them he trusts them to take care of diavolo (and I can’t believe it took me this long to realise Barbatos is a helicopter parent). MC leaves him on read. Lucifer then texts them saying Satan told him where they’d gone and telling them that since the two of them are with Diavolo he assumes he’s okay but just to clarify make sure nothing happens to Diavolo. MC leaves him on read. Belphie says that Barbatos and Lucifer are way too overprotective. Barbatos and MC then realise how fucked they are if either of them find out that they’ve lost diavolo and so decide to skip the whole loudspeaker thing.

They can decide if they want to check by the lake, the ferris wheel or the last ride they went in. He’s not at the lake and they choose to take a boat across the lake to get to the ferris wheel cause it’s faster than going around it. Belphie actually enjoys the boat ride and asks if the two of them can just enjoy themselves together for a bit instead of looking for Diavolo, MC says “I’m worried about Diavolo also can you not remember how fucked we are if we don’t find him”. Belphie gets jealous that MC seems to care more about Diavolo than him (they’re just been practical! If the roles were reversed they’d have shut Diavolo down to look for you!) and says that even they have a real soft spot for Diavolo (He’s like a giant golden retriever!!).  There’s an announcement over the loudspeaker for MC and ‘Snoozy’ saying that DD’s waiting for them at the info desk. Belphie’s not happy about ‘snoozy’ (understandable)

[themonotonysyndrome]

Emerald Onlooker

Part 2 of the Successors to the Future is here! I, uh, didn’t expect a lot of people liking it, but since I’m still pretty excited about this AU, I want to write as much as I can. 

Thank you again @tri3tri for inspiring us with your Second Wive AU and many, many wonderful Yandere!Malleus content. A little summary about this AU: Yandere!Malleus married and took MC against her will. He turns her into a Queen and they had 2 daughters. However, Yandere!Malleus is pushed to take on a second wife (a Fae woman, Gekkon) to give him a son, a male heir. During the wedding ceremony, MC took the opportunity and escape to NRC with her daughters in tow and Crowley finally did them a solid and send the three of them to MC’s world.

Successors to the Future, summary: Without a court of condescending Faes and Malleus’ oppressive affection, MC and her daughters live happily in the other world. When she left Twisted Wonderland, MC didn’t realise that she was pregnant and thus, she gave birth to a son who grew up as carefree as a bird and just as kind. However, now that her eldest daughter had just turned sixteen and discover her Unique Magic, she was returned to Twisted Wonderland as a first-year student in Diasomnia. Since it’s only a matter of time before Malleus and his court discover her presence at NRC, MC and her children did their best to prepare her for that inevitable day. 

This oneshot is a continuation of that. 

FD/N = First daughter’s name/Renata Draconia (half-human, half dark Fae Princess. Malleus & MC’s eldest child)

SD/N = Second daughter’s name/Sherrie or Cherry Draconia (half-human, half-dark Fae Princess. Malleus & MC’s middle child)

S/S = Son’s name/Lucien Draconia (half-human, half-dark Fae Prince and the heir to the throne. Malleus & MC’s youngest child). 

MC/S = MC’s surname

-

Sherrie enjoy going about her daily lives on her lowest brain capacity most of the time. There’s nothing like just... switching off your brain and ignore all the boring things around you.  

The only thing that gets the gears and cogs in her brain spinning is when she plays video games like Portal or coming up with schemes to get her eldest sister out of trouble. 

When she jokes about only having 2 braincells and that both are constantly on holidays at the same time unless Renata did something stupid, Renata howl with laughter while Lucien just rolled his eyes at his cackling sisters. 

But now that Renata is playing student in Night Raven College, Sherrie is surprised to find herself looking forward to not only help her oldest sister dodged their father’s steps, but also pulling the proverbial rug underneath the Thorn Kingdom. 

Especially Lilia Vanrouge. 

It’s addicting. The unholy glee running within you when your cute puppets finally realised who’s been tugging on their strings all along. 

Humans are easy and oblivious enough for her to practise on. Despite how monotonous school can be, the environment was a good place for Sherrie to learn and play. Everyone has a chip on their shoulder; everyone wants to stand out among the rest. 

So it’s really not that hard to learn who’s the right person to blackmail, who’s desperate enough to do anything to make their crush look at them and how to make the key figures dance on the palm of her hands. 

This year’s prom night was certainly a memory she won’t ever forget. 

And now? Now Sherrie can’t wait to play with the so-called ‘superior’ species - their father’s ancient court and loyal retainers - once she and her sister could establish contact. 

They’ve been working hard on this little project. Everyone in her little family is. Renata is off being a good little student and let the gossips travel on its own, their little brother is doing his best to assured their mother that all would be well and Sherrie?

Sherrie is busy setting up the stage for the climax once Renata usher all the important players to where she wanted them. 

(Mama likes to call her a ‘smart cookie’, always rubbed her head affectionately and said, “You’re a brilliant girl, Cherry. You’re just lazy. I know you can achive anything you want with the proper motivation, just like Floyd-senpai.”.) 

(Their Mama can never know just how far her daughter had use the same skill that she praise to manipulate others.) 

In the middle of the evening - just shy after midnight -  Sherrie heard a water drip somewhere in her bedroom. 

Drip... drip... drip... 

She pushes her chair away from her gaming laptop, game paused and just listen. Her eyes scan the dimly lit bedroom. 

Drip... drip... 

“This better not be the start of a horror movie.” 

It’s coming from... somewhere near her vanity table. Sherrie ignores the clutter of make-ups, perfumes and figurines on the table and waited eagerly. Her leg couldn’t stop bouncing when the surface ripple like water’s surface once. 

The ripple clears and instead of staring at her reflection, her oldest sister stares right back at her. 

“It works!” Renata said incredulously. “I can’t believe the headmaster’s half-assed runes actually works!” 

“The fuck? What happened?” Sherrie reply, a bit taken back. Behind her sister, Sherrie could see a bed, study table and walls and other furnishing that eerily looks similar to the ones back at the castle. 

Renata waved her hand in a dismissive manner. “I had to literally bullied a grown ass man to help me contact you. It took me a week of camping in the library to figured out how, but we managed to come up with runes that allow us to create a link to every mirror in the house.” She explains in an exasperated tone. “I’ll teach you the drawing tomorrow. All you guys need to do is just draw them on any mirror and it’ll send me a signal to find a mirror of my own.” 

“That kinda sounds like a phone call. Like, an interdimensional phone call!” 

“I know right! I already put a compact mirror in my purse so I can call you anytime!” Renata said with a smug grin. She’s clearly proud of her clever little trick. Even with the help of the headmaster. 

Sherrie never doubted that her sister couldn’t find a way to contact them. She’s a prodigy when it comes to magic. 

She might be young, but she could still remember how their tutors gave out praises as if they were candies when it comes to her older sister and her affinity for magic. 

It’s just too bad that their compliments are worthless when they always ended with, “If only the Princess is a full born Fae...” 

“Ok, so, contact established. Now are you still in Phase 1?” Sherrie said, bringing their conversation back to important matters. She made sure to properly and slowly explain their game plan a week before the Ebony Carriage took Renata to Night Raven College. The words are clearly written, highlighted colourfully and important steps are accompanied by cartoon stickers. 

Despite being a prodigy at magic, her sister woefully has short attention span when it comes to playing the long game. Her attention spans burn hot and fast, just like her anger. It also burns out just as quick as it came. 

Renata rolled her eyes, unimpressed. “Yes, yes. I’m still in Phase 1. It’s hard to make friends when everyone is wary of you. Do you know they hung up portraits of past Dorm Leaders and their Vice Dorm Leaders in each dorm? It’s so annoying when everyone stares at me and at father’s portrait whenever I walk into Disomnia!” 

Sherrie hums and made a quick dash to grab her tablet. The one where she wrote down her plans. She swipes the screen to the list of names that their mother had given them. 

“They’re just NPCs, don’t worry about them. What you need to focus on are the students with the surnames that Mama gave us.” Here, Sherrie is tapping on the screen of her tablet to the mirror. “Have you met any of them or did you fucked up the plan already?” 

“Calm your tits, I’ve been following your instructions.” Renata assured her, not the least riled up. “We’re only in the first semester; I only managed to match the names and faces of my dorm mates so far. It’s gonna take me at least a month of snooping around before I could find them.” Renata paused and her eyes suddenly lit up as if she just remembered something. “Oh, but I’ve been farming intel of the Thorn Kingdom using the Lucky Leanan spell every day after curfew. It took some trial and error but I successfully managed to find the castle again!”

Sherrie recalls that one of Renata spells - Lucky Leanan - creates a small fairy made out of pure magic that would do sneak attacks by shooting lightning bolts while Renata fights. It’s small enough to flit behind an opponent’s line of sight and take them off guard. 

Small enough to sneak into the castle without anyone none the wiser. 

So Sherrie nodded. “That’s a good move. You’re safely far away from the castle and you can remotely dispel Leanan if it gets dicey.” 

“Yup! Look at my one braincell go!” Renata cheered. “If I keep this up and give it plenty of water and sunlight, maybe it’ll grow!” 

Sherrie burst out laughing alongside her sister. Her joke took her off guard. Hopefully their laughter didn’t wake up their mother and Lucien. 

Sherrie hiccups and wipe the tears from the corner of her eye. It feels nice to talk to her sister again.  

She misses her disaster of sister already. 

“Anyway, I need to hit the bed soon.” Renata said, breaking her train of thought. “I’ll do my best to gather as much info as I can about the ongoings inside the castle for you. Are there any heads up you want me to look for?” 

Sherrie smiles brightly and reply, “Of course! If you could, be a dear and get everything about father’s... other wife. Everything - right down to the most boring shits.”

“On it.” 

-

That first-year Diasomnia student has been the talk around campus for weeks now. 

Not only is she the only girl in Night Raven College, word on the streets quickly spreads that she’s look too similar to one of the previous Dorm Leader of Diasomnia to not be related. 

Staring at her while she’s busy taking a selfie of the Great Seven statues, he agrees that the similarities are too uncanny. 

Now, why would he sends his own Princess to a villain school without any retainer? 

That, and why under a different surname? 

Something’s not right. 

Renata MC/S brought with her an interesting mystery to Night Raven College. A mystery that caught his interest at the first whiff of her scent. And oh Great Seven, her delectable scent. The first time his nose caught that mouthwatering smell, it had his tail swishing in eager and his head spinning. 

It’s the scent of his favourite flower - blood lily - with a hint of something... otherworldly. He still can’t quite put words into it. 

He wants to unravel her. Understand what makes her tick. 

Uncover what she’s hiding. 

Four days later in History class, Professor Trein gave him - and Renata - their golden ticket. 

“Kingscholar, MC/S - you two will be partners for this assignment. I expect you two have no objection.” 

“It’s fine...” 

“I don’t have a problem with the arrangement, professor.” 

The professor nodded and class is dimiss. Students began making their way out of the room. Except for him... and her. 

Renata steps in front of his desk when they finally have the class all to themselves. He takes a good, long look at her. 

She’s certainly beautiful; a real heartbreaker. But there’s something interesting within her bright green eyes. Something volatile. He wonders what could it really be. 

“Hi there. So you’re Bakari Kingscholar, hmm? Hope we can ace this assignment without any problem.” Renata said with a small smile. Is she trying to be friendly? Because it just looks condescending as hell. 

But that just makes this a lot more fun. 

“Same here. Girl or not, I won’t let it slide if you prove to be a dead weight.” 

His warning clearly took her off guard with the how her smile froze. It was only for a moment though, before she let out a laugh. As if he just told a funny joke. 

“Kitty-cat is flexing his claws, huh?” Renata had the audacity to grin. The other Savanaclaw students would’ve lowered their heads at his tone. “Don’t worry. Do your part and I promise I won’t light your tail on fire.” 

Oh, his old man needs to know about this girl. 

-

You have no idea how much fun it is to write about Malleus and MC’s children! Especially the Princessess. Unfortunately, they’re more like Malleus than they or MC even realise it. Anyway, my main reference for SD/N is none other than... TADA! Fyodor Dostoevsky from BSD!

It’s just that Sherrie is a lot more lazy and rather keep to herself and stay at home. She only goes out of her to way to mess with people because of Renata and her tendecies to get into trouble.  

I’m still thinking on the draft for part 3 so we’ll see how that goes. Also, I was struggling wether to name Leona’s son or not. I think that honoured should go to @tri3tri​! 

[kreepykix]

Peachy (Chapter 2)

a/n: ok ok so i started this forever ago and i already had the whole thing written out but it was crap so i went back and fixed it and decided to post it! i really hope you like it and ill probably post the last chapter in the next few days, enjoy! <3

Chapter 1

For a solid week you managed to avoid Roman successfully. After that day spent with him you just felt off, he’d make eye contact with you and your face would warm, he’d smile and you’d stutter or stare awkwardly. You knew that he was quickly going to realize something was up so you decided avoidance was the best way to go. And it worked, until Roman cornered you in the stairwell at school. He was standing in front of the door, arms crossed, looking pissed as all hell. You were standing at the bottom of the stairs and debated just turning around and leaving but you knew it’d only make things worse so you reluctantly walked up, leaving a few steps between you as you stopped.

“Hey!” You smiled, plastering on a happy façade.  

His expression didn’t change, “What’s up with you?” He pressed, taking a step down towards you, his height was intimidating and you swallowed thickly. It’s just the same old Roman, Y/N, no need to freak out. You thought to yourself weakly. 

“Nothing, I’ve just been busy,” You lied with a reassuring smile that he absolutely didn’t buy but the skepticism still written on his face. 

“Okay Y/N, I’ll just fuck off then.” He turned to go but you knew what he was doing. You’ve known Roman for most of your life and you knew how he reacted when he felt as though he was being pushed away or left out, you’d seen it plenty of times with Olivia. He’d turn defensive, even aggressive sometimes and shut down, creating a divide that you knew was meant to protect him but just hurt and you never wanted to be on the other side of that divide. He meant too much to you.

“Wait!” You grabbed his wrist to stop him and he whipped around to face you, anguish and desperation playing openly on his features.  “I’m sorry, it’s just that I've been feeling a little… strange lately and I took it out on you, I’m sorry, please don’t be mad at me.” You swallowed, searching deep into his eyes for a sign that you were okay. Without a word he pulled you into a bone-crushing hug, he had one arm wrapped around your waist and the other clutching the back of your neck. You wrapped your arms around him and just enjoyed the closeness between you two. No awkwardness or conflicting feelings in this still moment, just plain closeness. Eventually you pulled back and Roman looked down at you, concern racing through this gaze.

“How about I come over to yours after school and we can just hangout and talk, I don’t see enough of you as it is, I don’t want you running off on me.” He said with a reluctant smirk, butterflies fluttered in your stomach as you nodded with a thin-lipped smile. 

“Sounds good,” You agreed, parting ways till after school when he followed you home in his car. You pulled up in the driveway, Romans red Road Coaster pulling up behind you. You’d always loved his car, the warm summer nights spent with the top down and a destination nowhere in mind, just a road that seemed to trail on forever. The radio would blast your favorite songs and you’d sing them along together, that was back when you were a duo, not a trio, and while it was great for Roman to have another friend you longed for the days when it was just the two of you against everyone else. 

You hopped out of your car, the door closing with a slam. You heard Romans door follow with the same and you turned, shooting a smile to the beautiful boy in your driveway. His lips turned up, mirroring your own and you turned, heading for the front door. Roman caught up and wrapped an arm around your shoulders, pressing a quick kiss into your scalp and something inside of you flipped with nerves. You just smiled, pushing it down and continued to walk as if you weren’t questioning every decision you’ve ever made. You pulled open the door, leading Roman in and shutting it behind you. “Hmmmm,” You heard Roman hum and you turned to see what he was up to. He took off up the stairs, running down the hall in a moment of rare immaturity. 

You followed behind, racing up the stairs as fast as you could without tripping, “Roman!” You yelled, “What are you doing?” You raced into your room to see Roman with every blanket you owned piled on and around him, just his face peering out of the mound, a strand of hair had fallen into his face and you melted a bit at the sight. You shook it off and just laughed, kicking off your shoes before you hopped in right next to him, pulling back the blankets to make room for yourself. Roman grinned at your reaction and helped pile the blankets back on. Once you were settled you turned to look at him, a comfortable smile etched on his face. 

He noticed your gaze and turned with a questioning gaze, “You ready to talk?” He asked, nudging you with his elbow.

You sighed, turning your head away, it was easier to not make eye contact. “I guess I’ve just felt… off lately, Peter showing up just changed things and while I love Peter I miss us and I just figured I’d distance myself before you could do it for me.” You sighed, part of it was true but you weren’t ready to dive into the new things you were feeling for him, you didn’t even know how you felt yet, so why bother him with the uncertainty, especially since you know he doesn’t feel the same? You grabbed his hand from under the blanket and pulled it into your lap, the size of his hand completely eclipsing your small ones. You squeezed, turning to glance at him to see his gaze already trained intensely on you. Your cheeks warmed and his thumb started to rub soothing circles on the back of your hand. “I’ve just really missed you.” You murmured softly, leaning your head against his shoulder. A lone tear slid down your cheek without warning and you moved to brush it away but Roman had already seen it. 

He frowned deeply, lines creasing his features and he wrapped his arms tightly around you. “You know I’m not going anywhere right? I’m sorry we haven’t been hanging out as much, I promise I’ll start making time for you. You’re my best friend, don’t ever forget that. I would never leave you.” He whispered the last part and you nodded, sniffling. “How about every Friday from now on will be our day?” You looked up at him with surprised eyes. 

“Really? You’d do that for me?” You asked, suspicion in your gaze. 

He looked surprised, “Of course, there isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for you.” He said and you chuckled in disbelief. 

“Whatever, I’m holding you to that every Friday thing though.” You smirked, rolling your eyes. 

“Hey! Don’t brush me off!  You thought I’d forget about you!” He chuckled, rolling his eyes as if the idea were crazy. 

-

He kept his word. Every Friday for the next six weeks was spent with Roman, he’d pick you up and you’d drive somewhere or go back to his or even just stay at yours, it didn’t matter. Your friendship felt repaired, maybe even better than before and your feelings had mostly gone, mostly. You’d still feel dizzy when he’d catch you off guard with a dazzling grin and still get fluttery when he would kiss you on the cheek. 

Another Friday rolled up on you quickly and you headed towards the front doors of the school to find Roman and ask about the plans for that night. You found him on the front steps of the school, body pressed against some girl as they attempted to swallow each other’s faces whole. 

You don’t know what made your reaction so strong but you ran back inside, swinging the door to the ladies bathroom wide open as you ran to a stall, expelling your lunch into the toilet bowl. You coughed and brought your head back up, eyes watering. Maybe your feelings hadn’t subsided after all. You frowned and grabbed some toilet paper to wipe your mouth off and went to the sink, rinsing your mouth out and splashing some water on your face, looking in the mirror as it dripped down your face. You had to tell him how you felt, it was driving you crazy and you finally felt like you were in a good enough place that he wouldn’t abandon you after you confessed, things would probably just be awkward for a while. You didn’t expect him to feel the same way, you knew he didn’t but you still wanted to out yourself so maybe he would be a little less public about his infatuation with any member of the opposite sex and allow you to get over your budding feelings for him. You were crazy about him and you couldn’t stand seeing him with anyone but you. 

You patted your face dry and headed out of the bathroom and out the front doors yet again though Roman was now on his own. “Hey,” You smiled though your gut was twisting with the thought of telling him how you felt.

He returned the smile easily, looping his arm through yours as you made your way down the stairs together. “Hey, so I was thinking a chill movie night tonight, do you just wanna drive over to mine around seven?” This was the first time he had asked you to drive over but you didn’t mind, you knew he had things he needed to do. 

You nodded, “Sure, sounds good, it’s a full moon tonight, maybe we should watch a horror movie, just to add to the vibes.” You quirked your brow and nudged him in the side playfully with your elbow and he chuckled. 

“Sounds like a plan, see you later ok?” He said and you nodded, parting ways as you went off to your respective cars. 

——

That night you swiped your keys off the kitchen table, said a quick goodbye to your mom and swept out of the house, light on your feet with the prospect of spending the night with Roman. As you neared the Godfrey residence, your nerves started to flare up again. You weren’t sure how he would react to your confession, probably kick you out, but he had to know. He did, you were just trying to reassure yourself at this point. As you passed Peter's house you noticed a familiar red Road Coaster parked in the driveway and you pulled in behind him, figuring you’d just say hi to Peter then you and Roman would take off. As you lifted your hand to knock on the front door of the trailer, you heard what sounded a bit like grunting coming from around the side of the house. Curiosity piqued, you got closer and made out some voices that sounded a suspicious amount like Roman and Lynda. You turned the corner, gasping audibly at what you saw. Peter, hunched over and shaking like a tree on a windy day, his spine cracking and snapping. You watched in shock as his hands formed paws, his skin falling to the forest floor lifelessly as it was replaced with fur. You just stood there, shock encumbering your body, unable to move as you witnessed something that by all means should be impossible. You felt your whole world shift as you finally found your feet. You took a step back, stumbling on a stick you hadn’t noticed before as it broke with a snap. All eyes snapped to you in a moment, Lynda and Romans human ones along with Peters now bright yellow, animalistic ones. You were a deer caught in the headlights, eyes like dinner plates and mouth agape. 

“I…” You trailed off, at a loss for words. Roman rushed towards you but you took a step back, shocking him enough for him to stop, you couldn’t remember a time when you had rejected him. “I don’t understand.” You murmured, eyes glued to Peter as he stared at you, you stared back till he finally turned and bounded off into the shifting night. 

Roman took another step towards you, “I can explain, okay? You just have to promise not to tell anyone.” Your eyes flicked to him, betrayal stinging your eyes in the form of tears. 

“You knew about this?” You crumbled, you didn’t understand anything anymore. “You knew about this and you didn’t think to tell me or include me? You knew I’d been feeling out of place and you still didn’t think that maybe I would like to know that one of my closest friends becomes a fucking canine on full moons?!” Anger flared up in you as Roman opened his mouth to spout off what you knew was some bullshit excuse. You held up your hand, “Don’t, I don’t want to hear it.” Without another word you turned, breaking into a run for your car. You got in as fast as humanly possible and tore out of the driveway like a bat out of hell. Tears streamed avidly down your cheeks as you hastily drove back home, the headlights close behind alerting you that you had a follower. You knew in the back of your head that were definitely in denial. Your brain couldn’t process what you had seen, your breathing grew fast and ragged as you finally pulled up to your house, Roman right behind you. You let out a sob, head leaned against the steering wheel. You weren’t sure which was causing your breakdown, the thought that Peter could turn into a wolf or the fact that your best friend had been lying to you for god knows how long, probably a mix of both. You heard a knock on your window and looked up to see a concerned, desperate Roman, eyebrows raised and panic in his gaze.  You glared as you opened your car door, steeling yourself for the fight to ensue. You brushed off the tears left on your cheeks and flipped your panic into anger. 

“Fuck off Roman.” You shot out as you walked towards your front door. You heard his steps behind you and you whipped around to face him. “Please just fucking go before I say something I can’t take back.” You pushed against his chest in an attempt to get him to go but he stayed planted in front of you. 

“I didn’t want to keep it from you, it's just—“ You cut him off. 

“What? You didn’t trust me? Thought I’d tell someone because I have so many friends?” Sarcasm dripping from your words, your glare deepening. 

“Of course not, I just didn’t want to drag you into it, it’s a whole lot of shit Y/N.” He took a step towards you but you took one back. 

“Don’t, just don’t. I won’t tell anyone but I need some time… to process things and figure out where I go from here… where we go.” You turned and headed to your front door. As you put your hand on the doorknob you turned, seeing Roman still planted in the same place. “I was an idiot to have feelings for you.” You said it softly but you knew he had heard from the way he stiffened. That was as much an answer as you needed before you swept into the house, the front door closing with a soft click. You dragged yourself up to your room, collapsing carefully onto your bed. You laid there, staring at the ceiling. You had expected this night to go so different yet it still had a similar outcome. Although, the ball is in your court now. You just needed some time to let everything sink in, then have a talk with Roman. Your world had been flipped upside down and you deserved time to come to terms with that, plus the fact that though Roman had acted like everything was peachy and perfect he had been keeping a massive secret from you willingly and while a small voice in the back of your head told you you were overreacting a bit, your feelings were hurt. 

You kicked off your shoes and pulled back your covers, crawling into bed and falling into a dreamless sleep. You didn’t bother getting up the next morning, or the morning after that, or even the morning after that. You stayed in bed for 4 days, just thinking. You feigned sickness to your parents and didn’t feel obligated to get up in the morning. You didn’t want to know what was waiting for you out there and clearly no one cared if you dipped off the face of the earth for a while. On that fifth day you finally pulled yourself out of bed, dragging your feet to the shower as you peeled off your musty clothes and steam filled the room. The warm water seemed to wash away the dust that had been clouding your mind and you thought clearly for the first time in 120 hours. You could live with the fact that Peter was a werewolf, you had come to terms with that a while ago. It was Roman you were dreading. He had lied to you and you had outed your feelings. Things weren’t exactly sunny anymore. You were going to have to have a long talk before you could even begin to repair your friendship. God know what he was thinking and how he was going to behave knowing you had feelings for him. 

You turned off the shower and wrang out your hair before stepping out of the shower and wrapping a towel around yourself. You picked out a sweater and jeans, pulling your hair out of your face and applying light makeup before deciding you were presentable to the public. You headed to school, knowing that today would only bring chaos. 

[amindofstone]

Match up, No. 14

Picture

voidsmind asked:

Hi! Could I please get a ship with a male One Piece character? I’m italian, I use she/her pronouns and I’m bi. I have dyed cherry red hair and green eyes. I dress with dark clothes and I use a lot of black makeup. I’m the sweet, caring friend of the group, I’m always there for everyone and I’m good at comforting people. I have a sarcastic humor, I love making others laugh and usually making jokes is the way I overcome problems. I don’t care about what other people think of me, I like to stand up for myself and have fun. I’m super optimistic, I always see the good in everything and I often put other’s needs in front of my own. Sometimes people tell me I’m too kind for my own good but I’m happy to be this way. I love listening to music and dancing around, it helps me relax. My favorite movies are the Horror ones but it’s impossible to scare me. Have a great day!!

a/n:

Hey! How are you doing? I hope you’re doing good. First of all I apologize for making you wait for so so sooooooo long. But I really had no energy to work on my drafts for the match ups. I really was down (do you know what I mean?) and on top of that I was lacking on motivation. Like I felt so bad because of so many things but I am not gonna annoy anyone with my issuses.

The point is that I am really happy and grateful for you request and I really hope you like the little something I came up with. If there is anything that bothers you please tell me. Other than that happy reading my dear lovely requester.

Match up rules can be found HERE.

Warning(s): Maybe grammatical or spelling mistakes since English is my third language and I´m still improving in every aspect (Please have mercy on that.)

!!! Please do not steal my idea or work. Credit me if this is shared or published in any other platform or any other way. Please respect me as the writer and my work. Picture is not mine. Credits to: please tell me when you know who made this beautiful masterpiece so I can give credits and tag them. Found it in google pictures(?). Thank you in advance. !!!

· Well my dear I decided to pair you up with Marco

· Now hear me out. You were on one of your daily strolls around the town with your friends. You were having a great time. Enjoying yourselves and laughing like usual

· It was around seven at night when you and your friends bid farewell to all go back home. When everyone left and you were left alone. Since you didn´t feel like going back home you went for a walk around the beach of your hometown in hope to be able to enjoy some “Me time” under the slowly darkening sky.

· You were doing fine by yourself until you heard someone sniffing and sobbing. Worried about the person that was the source of the cries you slowly made your way to find them.

· Behind a palm there was a blond man, sitting on a hammock. Face hidden behind his hands and shaking from the state he was in.

· Overwhelmed by the sudden situation you stopped in your tracks to pull yourself together and find a good way to approach the man. Slowly you walked up to him with the hope to not scare him without knowing that the man in front of you lost all the people dear to him.

· “Hey. Is everything ok? Do you need anything or are you hurt?”,

· Startled over suddenly hearing someone’s voice he looked up and allowed you a look on his tear stained face and red eyes. With furrowed brows you looked the man in his eyes.

· “I don´t know. I really don´t know I never in my life felt so… so…”, he tried to answer your question but to no avail. His voice broke down and he let his face fall into his hands again.

· Not knowing if you should walk up to him and comfort him or if you should leave him be so he can calm down on his own. But after a few seconds of thinking you decided to sit next to him. “Would you like to talk about it? Sometimes is can help to speak about ones problems out loud.”, you started with the hope to keep him from crying more but he said nothing. So you tried to get him to open up since talking about ones problems can be painful.

· “You know whenever I feel like there is nothing or no one on this planet that is able to understand me and my problems I simply write them down. Or sit in front of my mirror and speak to my reflection until there is nothing left to say. And the conversations with my reflection sometimes end with me laughing over my own miserable jokes. Jokes I make to lighten up my mood. I know that that it´s a weird way to cope with problems but it honestly works for me. Oh there is this one time I did that again and my friends came over without telling me…..”

· Marco did not know when he stopped crying or started to listen to the words that left your lips but there is this one thing he knows. It made him smile a tiny smile and drew his attention from the growing pain in his chest away.

· You kept talking for some time forgetting that you were actually talking to a total stranger. A stranger that was crying and sobbing a short while ago but now was laughing over your jokes you thought weren´t that funny to others. But apparently they were really funny.

· That night you talked and talked. You talked with the blond haired stranger over so many things but also nothing in particular. It was that night you two bond and found out how well you to actually got along.

· That night was the beginning of a amazing friendship between a normal girl and a broken pirate.

· Months passed and you two kept each other up to date over the life and days of each other. You got letters of his passed adventures and the people he used to call family. And he? He got letters of you filled by the jokes you pulled with your friends and the people of your hometown.

· Not knowing that you letters put a smile on his lips you kept writing for him. Not knowing that your words made his days brighter and more bearable you wrote with the hope to be able to see him again.

[ragrottend0ll]

School Crush (Vinira Fanfic)

(In december I posted this little idea and now I decided to started it, hope you enjoy and forgive the misspelling, english isn’t my first lenguage)

Chapter one:

‘‘I like girls’’. Emira started.

‘‘I like girls, too’’. Amity seconded after a few seconds of silence.

‘‘Ok...’‘. Alador responded a little shook. ‘‘I-- Wow, yeah, ok.’’

‘‘Is that all you are gonna say, dad? Really?’’. Asked Emira. She didn’t spend seven years in the closet for just to get an ok.

Alador shruged a little. ‘’Congratulations...?’’

‘‘Fine, that’s better’‘.

The Blight siblings and Alador were hanging out. This was something that have been happening some time ago. At first it started as a sisters’ night, just for Amity and Emira, but then Edric discovered this and was begging, crying and basically annoying his sisters for let him ‘’in’’. 

He finally achived it.

So, every friday night, while their parents were in important meetings or fancy restaurants, the three would reunited in Emiras’s room and just talk. Sometimes they watched a series or practice some makeup. Even tried on clothes from either Edric or Emira. Sometimes they would sing a karaoke or just talk about their day, their friends, Luz, and throw bullshit of their parents.

They didn’t need to worry about the mansion’s staff. They all like them and have never said something bad of them to their parents. Plus, some have sewn up mouths so... Anyway.

What they did not expected was that, one night, their father would return early. 

Alador was honestly tired. He have been awake for three days straight and needed some sleep. Even when his lovely wife, Odalia, told/demanded him to stay awake and attend another important meeting, he denied. Alador was sure that, if he stayed awake for another hour, his body will just collapse.

When he arrive to the mansion, the buttler (he never can remember his name, really) was there and took his coat. Alador didn’t wait more and went upstairs. The Bight manor was splendant, huge and, now that he was walking alone through the corridors full of old portraits in the middle of the night, he would consider it spooky.

The portraits gave him chills in his back. He felt like the eyes of his wife’s ancestors were following him in every step he took. 

‘‘I wouldn’t be surprise’‘, Alador tought. ‘‘They may be haunted for real’’.

‘‘I should probably ask Odalia about it’’.

Alador walked to his bedroom’s door, and when he was about to open it he heard something.

It was a scream. 

‘‘The kids’’. He tought.

Alador ran as fast as his tiredness allow him to the wast wing, where the children’s bedroom were. The screams kept going, ‘’Where is the staff?’’ Alador asked himself mentally. His kids could be diying and non of the guards he hired were even near.

The screams were coming from Emira’s room. But the shouting didn’t sounded like Emira.

He looked at Amity’s and Edric’s doors. They haven’t come out and their doors were closed. Alador was tempted to open the other two door, but decided not to. If his children were being kidnaped, he’ll deal with the kidnapper in Emira’s room first.

Alador took a deep breath and casted a spell, ready to attack if he needed to. He opened the door, fast and hard. What he saw let him speechless.

There was no kidnapper. There was no danger.

But, he really didn’t know what to think about the scene that was display infront of him.

Emira’s room was a disaster. There were snacks in the ground, Alador wonder if Odalia would be mad about it, he answered himself almost inmediatelly with a yes. The room was dark, except for the karaoke that, Alador supposed, one of the twins bought.

Edric was lying in the floor with a microphone in his left hand, while his right hand where finger-brushing his hair. Oh, and he was using Emira’s lastest grom dress and a twelve centimeters tall heels. 

Amity was sitting in the little sofa that Em buy two years ago. Her face had some very excentric makeup, specially her eyes. A wildly combination of pink, glitter and black. With red-sparkled lip gloss. Her triangular earings were replaced with a pair of Emira’s expensive earings that were only used for important meeting or fancy parties. She was wearing her regular pajamas, with the slight difference that, over her pants, she was wearing a puffy skirt. And that her feet were covered with long cowboy boots. 

 Emira was sitting in her bed, face was covered in some kind of skin care treatment. A phosphorescent green skin care treatment. Even with that, she was the most normal looking of the three. All her makeup was in the bed, (probably the responsable of Amity’s face) and her hand was grabbing her scroll, that was recording Edric’s  performance, before he opened the door, at least. The scroll was still recording, by the way. Em didn’t have time to stop it before his father abruptely came in the room.

The Blight siblings were looking at him like deers flashed by a light. Each of them praying in their heads that if they don’t move Alador wouldn’t be able to see them, like some of the animal in the isles.

‘‘You... uhm,... arrived early’‘. Edric stated the obvious, crearly nervous. But, can you blame him? Not everyday your dad found you wearing a dress and using heels . Actually that never really hapened to him. 

The music of the karaoke was still playing. Alador connected the dots and figured out that his son was the responsable of the screams.

‘‘Yes, I did’‘ Alador responded. He never had been a man of words, but in this moment he didn’t know what would be the correct way to react.

Should he scold them for being up at one in the morning making a fuss? Or He should just close the door and pretend that none of it happened?

He was definitely going to ask the servants if this was something that happened often and why they had not reported those... meetings that their children did.

‘‘Mom’s here, too?’‘ Amity asked. Her face now was now also covered with a strong blush of embarasment, that reached even her neck.

‘‘No, she is still in the meetong with the Hogson’s’‘ Alador answered.

‘‘Do you want to talk this now, or would you preffer to wait until the sun comes out?’‘ Alador asked. He wan’t sure if this was the right thing to do, but the words came out of his mouth even before he could think about it. That was something that didn’t happened to him since high school.

The kids glare at eachother and said a ‘’now’’ at the same time. If they waited for the sun, Odalia was probably going to arrive and they didn’t wanted to have that conversation with their mother. 

None conversation, actually.

‘‘Alright’‘ their father said ‘‘Clean your faces and put on presentable clothes’‘ 

And with that he leave the room.

‘‘That could have been worse, right?’’ Edric said. He finally stoped doing the pose with his hand trought his hair.

‘‘Yeah...’’ Emira answered him ‘‘Mom could have catch us’’

‘‘Titan forbid’’ Amity said.

Once they cleaned their faces and put on their pijamas, the three siblings made their way to Alador’s office, who has completely forgot how tired he was.

They were nervous, Edric, specially. And were honestly surprised when the scolding was more about how they broke the curfew than about all the mess they did. 

And after that, things evolved rapidly. The kids felt better in Alador’s pressence than ever before. They trusted their father even more because he didn’t said a thing to Odalia, and even gave the order to the servants to keep those meetings as a secret. 

 Two months later, Alador found himself spending the family-bonding-time, as Edric renamed it, with his children. The bonding-time had to be moved to saturday’s night, because Alador had the obligation to go to the meeting on friday. But the kids weren’t mad at all.

‘‘Dad?’’, Edric called for him. It has been five minutes since Emira and Amity’s comming out and Alador haven’t said anything esle since the congratulations. ‘‘Girls, I think you shouldn't have done it at the same time; now you’ve killed him’’.

‘‘We didn’t!’’ Amity shouted inmediately.

‘‘No, I think we actually did it, Mittens’’ Emira seconded.

‘‘I’m fine’’ Alador said some time later. The twins were disscussing if they should call an ambulance or just leave their dad there. Emira was drafting in her mind all the possible ways to hide Alador’s corpse in the manor, too. You have to be careful, right?

Alador sit up straight in the couch were she was lying. Before his both daughters come out to him some minutes ago, they were all watching a movie. If Alador had to be honest, he wasn’t really paying attention. He was falling asleep. This week has been rough, but for no reasom he would cancel the saturdaynight bonding time™. 

‘‘None of my kids are straight, huh?’’ Alador thought. 

Ok, to be fair, Edric haven’t come out to him (yet), but Alador prectically confirm his son’s orientation when he founded him performing when he discovered that friday sisters’ night. No straight, cis, man would use a dress and heels. Not even walk on them in the propper way Edric managed to do. 

‘‘So, uhm, are you... mad or...?’’ Amity began.

‘‘Oh, no. No!’’ Alador answered, with a little laught that lately the siblings were more used to hear ‘‘I’m actually kind of relive.’’

‘‘Relieve?’‘ Edric asked, genuinely curious.

‘‘Indeed. I don’t have to worry about any potencial boyfriend and the concecuences that would imply-’’

‘‘Shut!’’ Amity and Emira shouted at the same time. ‘‘The school already teach us that. No need to repeated.’’ Emira continued.

‘‘I was talking about a heartbroken, but yes, sexual education is very important too.’’ Alador said. And, tho he seemed serious, he was teasing his daughters.

‘‘So, you are ok with this?’’ 

‘‘Yes, Amity.’’ 

Actually, I’m kind of a pansexual, myself. Alador tought,  but keep shut.

The movie was paused. Probably since some time ago but Alador didn’t notice. He glare at Emira’s wall clock. 12:05, it marked.

It was early, Odalia wouldn’t be back until three in the morning. Anyway he open his scroll to verify that his wife haven’t texted him or something.

There was nothing, as expected. Only Odalia’s last message where she told him that she was going to leave the party at 1:45 and was expecting been home around 3:00 a.m.

‘‘So,’‘ Alador started ‘‘any particular reason to tell me your orientation?’’ 

Yes, it was sweet, but Alador did knew his daughter a little and can almost tell that, at least Emira had something else to say. 

‘‘No, no reason.’’ Amity answered. ‘‘Just to tell you with Em.’’

Alador look at his older daugher, waiting for her answer. 

Yes, they were closer than bever before, but the sad truth was that even if his children did trusted in him, he didn’t think that they trusted him that much. 

It was reasonable, not less hurting, but understandable.

‘‘Well...  You see, er. Ok, so. I actually wanted to tell you because, uhm....’’

Alright, now this was new. Alador never in his life had heard Emira stutter.

All his children were raise to be the embodinment of perfection, as Odalia describe it. The three took classes of everything. From music to etiquette, and diction was not left behind.

Now, Alador was sincerely curious.

‘‘There’s this girl in the school, and well-’’

‘‘Emira has a big crush on her.’’ Edric interrupted.

‘‘But Emira can be around her without being a red mess.’‘

‘‘You are one to talk, huh, Mittens.’’ Emira asked. Her cheeks were already a little blushy.

Amity looked away and Emira continue: ‘’My point is, that, her dad is kinda, a little... short budget. And-’’

‘‘Emira, I love you, but if that girl is using you for your money-’’

‘‘No! She isn’t! Sh doesn’t even know that I liked her’’

‘‘Well that’s debatable’’ Edric said ‘‘It’s really obvious and Viney it’s not as oblivious as Luz, plus-’’

‘‘Who’s Luz?’‘ Alador asked.

‘‘It doesn’t matter right now’’ Emira stated. ‘‘The point is, dad, that she didn’t even tell me his dad was in a little hurry. I was walking towards her and she was talking to her friends about it and I just heard a little. When I told her I could give her some snails she declined and actually was pretty mad about it, until last week, when I apologized. But I really want to do something about it.’’ Em talked fast, but Alador, as the good listener he had always been, didn’t missed anything.

‘‘And how can I help?’’ Alador asked.

‘‘Well, you can make him get a job? Maybe here in the manor or somewhere else. Her dad is in the construction coven, I think he is like, the right hand of the leader.’’ 

Alador hummed. Contruction coven right hand? He was a right hand once, before he was level up to coven leader. And he knew very well the salary of the seconds on board. It was a great amount of snails.

‘‘And before you say something like ‘she’s scamming you’, I want you to know that her family is really big. She has like, twelve siblings, not including her.’’

Alador sigh.

‘‘She really is a good person, dad. And if I can help her, I will.’’

‘‘She’s one of the noblest people we’ve met. There’s no danger’’ Edric said in favor of Emira’s propose. 

Alador looked to Amity, who haven’t said much, and asked her with his eyes for her opinion.

‘‘I don’t hang out with her a lot, but she’s indeed good.’’

‘‘Well, I guess I have no other option, do I?’’

‘‘Thank you, dad!’’ Emira shouted and jump to her dad’s lap to trap him in her arms in a tigh hug.

‘‘I don't promise anything, but I'm going to see what I can do.’‘ Alador responded and hug Emira back. 

He looked at Edric and Amity and with a head movement he invited both of them to join the hug. 

Edric took Amity’s hand and join to it.

Well, Alador thought, I guess I have some work to do now.

[asmo-ds]

(1) i tried to think of a belphie one so here it is, sorry if it kinda bad👉🏻👈🏻 mc has been begging belphie to go to the human realm for xmas tgt but he isn't very sure about it since he did try to kill mc. since mc knows how much he used to love the human realm and humans he probably also loved xmas, they thought he would be excited to go.

How to Love Christmas Again

Belphegor x gn!MC

Word Count: 4295

Genre: Fluff

Summary: As the holiday season rolls around, MC requests to go back home and spend Christmas at their apartment in the human world. Diavolo agrees on the condition they bring a brother to protect them since they have pact marks yet no knowledge of how to use them. Who better to bring then their sleepy boyfriend, Belphegor, even if it means they have to avoid all other humans the whole week!

“Oh right, I almost forgot that was today,” A young Belphegor reaches under his bed to pull out the gift boxes Lucifer had helped him wrap for his twin and the young girl. Beel runs to his own bed bringing out his own gifts for his siblings.

“Did you wrap these yourself, Lilith?” Beel giggles as he observes the horror show of wrapping paper around his gift from her.

“Did you wrap these yourself, Lilith?” Beel giggles as he observes the horror show of wrapping paper around his gift from her.

“Did you wrap these yourself, Lilith?” Beel giggles as he observes the horror show of wrapping paper around his gift from her.

“Did you wrap these yourself, Lilith?” Beel giggles as he observes the horror show of wrapping paper around his gift from her.

“Well… I tried to but had trouble, so I asked Mammon and Leviathan for help - but then Leviathan got wrapped up in tape and it just turned into a mess,” she giggles with a blinding smile. “Anyways open your gifts!”

Belphegor watches as Beel unwraps the gift from their baby sister, revealing a box of freshly baked cookies she had made that morning. Beelzebub gave her a hug thanking her before he moved to watch Belphegor open his gift from Lilith.

He unwrapped the gift and saw a soft pillow covered in the pattern sported by cows. He smiles wide and wraps his arms around her in a tight embrace. 

“I sewed it myself, I hope it is soft enough,” she smiles at him. 

After they opened their gifts from Beel, a new blanket for Belphegor, and a new dress for Lilith, they moved on to Belphegor’s gifts.

“Don’t call me cheesy, okay?” He blushes as they pull out the shiny golden necklaces. Beelzebub held a necklace with a charm shaped like a sun and Lilith’s sporting a star. Belphie reached down his shirt and pulled out the necklace he had gotten for himself, a moon-shaped charm resting on the chain. 

“Belphie these are beautiful!” Lilith exclaims as Belphegor puts it around her neck.

“Think of these as a promise. A promise that we’ll always protect each other.”

The three sat in the circle agreeing and swearing to protect each other no matter the cost.

The Celestial war was the last time he saw those stars. He watched as the necklace flew off of her chest, blood splatter landing on it as the arrow penetrated her wing. He watched as the chain snapped from the force of Lilith’s body flying backward. He watched as he broke his promise to protect her-

-

Belphie sat straight up, breathing heavily as he woke up from the flashback. He stared straight ahead as he tried to refocus his breathing. Despite the darkness of the attic - he could see the outline of a person next to him. He glanced down at MC as he turned on a lamp. He grabbed their face and checked their pulse, letting out a sigh of relief as they stirred, blinking away the sleep from their tired eyes. 

“Belphie? You ok?” MC reaches up to wipe a tear he hadn’t even realized fell from his violet eyes.

He couldn’t respond, his mouth open as nothing but a choked sob came out. MC sat up and pulled him against their chest, rubbing his back soothingly.

“Another nightmare?” they ask, receiving a shaky nod in return. Belphegor looks at the digital clock that rested beside his bed and reads the numbers.

It was 2:03 AM on December 20th.

-

The next morning, MC and Belphie arrived at breakfast. “MC, the human world holiday season has arrived, Diavolo wants you to be prepared to talk to him this morning about how we can incorporate these human world festivities into our home to make you more comfortable during your stay,” Lucifer announces as MC helps him clean the dishes. 

“Actually… I was wondering if perhaps I could go home. Just for a week or so to see family and be in my own home. Christmas is special for me and I don’t really want to spend it in Hell.” 

Lucifer looks surprised at their request and opens his mouth, most likely to protest the idea saying it would be a hazard to send MC out to the human world, but he is interrupted by another voice, one belonging to the demon prince himself.

“Of course you can go home for the holidays! Though it may be riskier for you seeing as you now have pacts with all seven demon brothers yet have no idea how to use them. So I will allow you to go home but you will have to take a brother with you,” Diavolo states, causing Lucifer to turn around in surprise.

“I will go with them Diavolo I am the only one who can be trusted-”

“No Lucifer, this is a special holiday and I want you to allow MC to choose for themselves for once.”

MC’s mind immediately goes to Belphie. They thank Diavolo with a big hug due to their excitement and run up towards the attic in search of their sleepy boyfriend. 

“Belphie! Belphie!” They jump on the pile of blankets that hid his body beneath them.

“What?” He groans.

“Diavolo said I could go home for a week to celebrate Christmas!” They exclaim and he gives them a half-assed smile.

“Cool. Have fun,” He turns over intending to go back to sleep and not wake up until after the season has passed.

“He said I have to take a brother with me though, so I figured, you used to love the human world so why don’t you join me?” They smile sweetly at him.

He tenses and looks at the ground, avoiding their pleading eyes. “I can’t.”

“But why?!” They whine.

“Because… because I don’t want anybody to get hurt.” He turns to look at MC and they see the fear in his eyes, “what if I get angry again? What if I kill an innocent human while we’re there. MC I can’t go, I don’t want to hurt anybody-”

“Well then we’ll just have to stay inside, no big deal,” they shrug as if they hadn’t a care in the world. “I’ll go food shopping the first day so that we can eat, then we’ll hide out in my apartment all week watching Christmas movies and drinking hot cocoa and all that jazz.”

Belphegor looks at them with hope in his eyes as he contemplates whether or not to join them on their journey. 

“You pinky promise we won’t leave the apartment?” He looks at them with a very serious look, and they lean forward, lightly bonking their forehead against his. 

“I swear on my soul.” They state before leaning their head down to kiss him softly.

-

As they prepared to depart for their trip, Lucifer would not stop nagging Belphegor like a mom sending their kid off to summer camp.

“Don’t talk to any humans you don’t know, do you have mittens?! You can’t go without mittens, Belphegor, demons aren’t built for the cold you have to bundle up or else you’ll-” he is interrupted by Belphegor loudly saying his goodbye as he and MC stepped through the portal, landing in front of the apartment building where MC resided. The portal closed behind them and MC grabbed his hand, leading him into their apartment carrying his luggage.

“MC! Long time no see!” the security guard at the front desk smiles widely at them, “you on break from your exchange program in Sweden- or wherever it was you went- for the holidays?” He stands up and walks around the desk to talk more casually to the human.

“George! Yes I’m back, and this is my boyfriend, Belphie, I met him in the exchange program,” MC wraps themselves around Belphegor’s arm as he looks down shyly, afraid to look at any human other than MC.

“Nice to meet ya, Belphie. I’m George, you’ll probably see me a lot since I'm the head of security in this building,” the man reaches his hand out to shake Belphegor’s. Belphie nervously looks at MC who takes the hint and pipes up.

“Sorry about him! He’s Swedish, so he doesn’t really understand, plus he’s a germaphobe so he doesn’t shake hands,” they smile apologetically at the security guard who lowers his hand and gives a nod. 

“Tell him I said to enjoy his stay,” George says before walking off.

“Hey Belphie, George says to-”

“Yea I heard him, stupid,” he pokes MC’s cheek before they lead him to the elevator.

As MC reaches their front door and turns the keys they can see Belphie fidget, clearly nervous that they have yet to enter the privacy of MC’s home. 

MC uses one hand to push the door open and the other to rub their thumb soothingly over the demon’s knuckles. As soon as they shut the door it feels as if a thousand pounds had been lifted from his shoulders and he lets out a sigh.

“Ok, now that we’re here… do you want a tour?” MC chuckles, grabbing their boyfriend’s hand once more, leading him through the apartment and announcing the rooms as if they were a safari guide.

“Over here you see the bedroom. The natural habitat of an MC. The MC sleeps in this room and nearly never leaves it. This room is where things such as the mating season take place,” MC wiggles their eyebrows suggestively before giving an exaggerated wink, causing Belphegor to snort from how hard he was laughing.

“Your home is very cute, MC,” he compliments.

After picking up their room a bit and placing Belphie’s luggage in the bedroom, MC decides to set up their bed as a nest for them to cuddle in. Belphie and MC lay in the makeshift nest watching horribly hallmark Christmas movies and making fun of their plots before they eventually fall asleep, ending their first day in the human realm.

-

“Hey, be careful you three!” The white haired angel yells at three teens who run through a town decorated for Christmas.

“Woah! Belphie look!” Lilith grabs his shoulder and they look over to see a giant tree, all lit up (i know light bulbs probably didn’t exist in the era before Lilith died BUT we’re gonna pretend it do :D ) and covered in ornaments. 

“Oh, I think they’re gonna put the star on top now,” he, Lilith and Beel all push their way to the front of the crowd, ignoring Mammon calling for them to stay close to him.

“It’s so pretty!” Belphie looks at the young woman and his twin, smiling softly as they stare in awe at the shimmer lights as snow falls all around them in small soft flakes they melt on their skin. 

“I wish Lucifer, Asmo, and Leviathan weren’t so busy today-” Lilith frowns. “I know they really just didn’t want to come stand in the cold but… I really think if we could’ve convinced them to come they would have loved this.” Lilith smiles gently and looks back up at the twinkling lights of the star atop the giant pine tree before them, “I hope one day we can all see these lights together.”

“I doubt you’ll be able to get those guys down ‘ere, but ya guys got me!” Mammon catches up to them and smiles.

“Hey Mammon! Can we take a tree from the human world and decorate it at home?!” Lilith asks with a wide smile.

“Well it's a bit late this year, but next Christmas I pinky promise,” He raised his pinky towards her and they locked pinkies, bringing smiles to their faces.

But next Christmas never arrived for Lilith. It was on this trip that she met the human man who she fell for. It was mere months later that he fell ill and they were all cast down from the heavens. Bringing the death of Lilith and the birth of Satan.

-

Belphie slowly blinked as he winced away from the bright sunlight he wasn’t used to. He raised his nose to the air and smelled something good, so he stood and followed the scent to the kitchen. There he found MC in their pajamas, holding a pan with eggs over a plate that already had bacon and toast on it.

“Belphie!” They place down the pan and run to him, jumping onto him as he catches their thighs, wrapping themself around him as he holds them up, tightly embracing their small form and swinging back and forth playfully.

“Someone seems hyper this morning,” he lets go of MC and they climb down with a laugh.

 “I know you were nervous about coming here so I wanted to thank you for joining me with breakfast in bed… so go back to bed and let me surprise you!” Belphie rolls his eyes and climbs back into the bed, moments later MC enters holding the plate he had previously seen them preparing. “Tada! A traditional human world breakfast!”

They eat their breakfast and watch the news, Belphie accidentally laughing at some tragic events due to his demonic nature.

They spend some time decorating with some supplies MC had hidden away in the deepest depths of their closet. They hang a wreath on the inside of the front door and MC pulls out a fake mistletoe, hanging it on a ceiling lamp Belphie was underneath as he strung some lights around the room.

“What’s that thing?” He tilts his head upwards to look at it more closely.

“It’s a human world tradition, wanna try it out?” MC asks innocently.

“Sure why not, what do I have to do-” he’s interrupted by MC pulling his face down to his for a sweet kiss.

“It’s mistletoe, if you and someone else stand under it you have to kiss!” Belphie smiles and gives them one more kiss before looking back down into the box of decorations and spotting a star.

“Oh, this goes on top of the tree, right?” he asks and MC gives a small smile. 

“Yea but I don’t know if I’m going to be able to get a tree up here by myself, so we might have to skip that part-”

“We have to have a tree! That's the best part!” Belphie suddenly bursts out, immediately blushing embarrassed by his sudden enthusiasm. “Lilith used to love the trees.”

“Oh, then I’m sure we can find a way!” MC suddenly whips out their D.D.D, pressing a few buttons before raising it to their ear. “Hey Diavolo! I need a favor-”

-

“Here you two are, have fun decorating,” Diavolo says as they finish screwing a tree he and Lucifer had hauled up to MC’s apartment.

“Honestly, I don’t think you should have called us for this,” Lucifer shakes his head with annoyance.

“Yea you shouldn’t have come to the human world for a Christmas tree, you never could do it for Lilith when she begged-” Belphie scoffs, making Lucifer shoot a glare his way.

“Lucifer and Belphie please behave yourselves, you are representing the Devildom here in MC’s apartment,” Diavolo places a hand on Lucifer’s shoulder.

(from here to the dash mark is a tiny itty bitty bit of Dialuci fluff as a small little bonus)

The three men suddenly hear some snickering as MC looks above Diavolo and Lucifer, causing everyone else to look up in return. They all looked up at the mistletoe that hung above them and MC and Belphie looked at each other with mischief in their eyes.

“Oh yea, Lord Diavolo MC taught me a fun human world tradition, would you two like to give it a try,” Belphie gives an evil smirk.

“Of course, Lucifer you join too!”

As Belphegor explained the tradition Lucifer grew extremely flustered and tried to argue his way out of it, losing in the end as the demon prince was too enthusiastic to participate in human culture and kissed him on the lips with little to no hesitation.

The men left, one beaming with excitement and the other sulking but blushing.

-

MC wrapped the lights around the tree, occasionally tripping over the long tangled wire. Belphie grabbed some tinsel, tossing it around the tree as MC finished the lights.

MC pulled out the normal ornaments first, handing some to Belphie to hang alongside them.

Then they got to the ones with meaning behind them.

“Baby’s first Christmas?” Belphie reads off the ornament shaped like a cradle.

“Oh yea, that’s from my first Christmas! It has my birthstone in there as well, see!”

As they dig through the ornaments and MC tells stories behind them all he can’t help but smile as he gets to know his lover deeper than he had before.

After hours of this, they finish and star at the star that had yet to be placed on top of the tree.

“Do you want put it on, Belphie?” MC smiles up at him.

“Me? Are you sure?”

“Of course this is your first time decorating for Christmas you said so you should get the full experience!” MC hands him the star and he looks at it, a bit nervous before feeling MC’s lips on his cheek, a silent cheer of encouragement.

He climbs the step ladder MC had placed next to the tree and places the star on, plugging it into the wall as it lit up with white lights.

MC runs to turn off the lights so they can see the Christmas light better and Belphie takes a step back, a big smile on his normally sleepy face.

They stand and stare at the tree happily for a few moments before MC excuses themselves to go make dinner. Belphie lays down on the bed and decides to take a power nap while MC cooks. 

-

“Ah, I’m so sorry sir!” Lilith exclaimed as she accidentally bumped into the shoulder of a young man. 

“No worries, having a lady as breath-taking as yourself bump into me must be my Christmas gift,” the man compliments the Angel before introducing himself.

“Lilith!” Belphegor calls after having searched for them for half an hour, he finally spotted them blushing as they chatted with a human man. Her three brothers watched from afar to ensure her safety, but allowed them to hang out together for a few more minutes.

“Lilith, we need to head back home now,” Mammon interrupted the pair, bringing a frown to his baby sister’s face. He walks away to let them say their goodbyes.

“Oh, uh, sir, I would love to see you again sometime, could we perhaps meet here in the center of town in three days time?” She asks with hope in her eyes and rosy cheeks. 

“Of course, I will wait here for you to return.” Belphie overheard their goodbyes and got slight chills, happy that his sister seemed excited, but fearful because he knew that love between Angel and human was something not taken lightly.

When they got home, Belphegor and Beelzebub sat and listened to their sister speak of the man and how they were going to return and see him soon. So every three days, the four of them travelled down to the human world, creating a new tradition. One day Lilith started going by herself, more frequently and sometimes spending days in the human world, staying with her new lover.

Belphegor was so happy to see his sister happy and he thanked Christmas for existing as he knew that if it didn’t she would never have met the person who gave her so much life. But now he couldn’t help but curse the wretched holiday as it caused her to meet the person she would give her life trying to heal.

-

Belphegor woke up the next morning with MC still in bed, sleeping next to him.

He smiled down at the human and thought to himself how hypocritical he was. He had been so mad at Lilith’s lover for her death and claimed loving humans if you were not human was wrong, but here he was staring with pure adoration at a human he was proud to call his.

MC stirred and looked up into sleepy violet eyes before slightly sitting up for a kiss.

They both got ready for the day, brushing their teeth, changing into new clothes and eventually arriving in the kitchen for breakfast.

“Ok, funny story,” MC laughs nervously as they open the cabinets, meeting nothing but air, “we are out of food and I’m going to have to go shopping. So you can either stay here alone or join me. It’s completely up to you.”

Belphegor weighs his options before a small voice in the back of his head tells him to join his significant other in public and protect them from witches or other supernatural creatures that may see the pact marks that adorned their skin.

They unplug the tree to avoid a fire and bundle up to avoid hypothermia. 

MC holds his hand the whole way, soothing any nerves he had. They tried to crack some jokes to make him feel less awkward but they eventually stopped as it didn’t seem to help him. 

As they shopped Belphie’s vice grip on MC’s hand loosened to a casual hold instead of a fearful one. 

“This is actually… kind of nice,” he mumbled as he looked around at the humans shopping, some kids horsing around as their mother tried to reign them in, an old couple slowly making their way down the aisle, a father trying to make his infant laugh at his funny faces.

“See, I told you it wouldn’t be so bad,” MC smiles at him sweetly.

They finished up their shopping and paid for their groceries before leaving. On the way home Belphegor made MC stop so they could look at a snow covered park where parents sat and watched their children and he saw some dogs run after frisbees and snowballs their owners had thrown.

The whole way home Belphie couldn’t stop smiling as he watched humans enjoy their lives despite theirs being so short compared to his own.

Then he saw a young lady bump into a man, apologizing before they struck up a conversation. He saw Lilith and her lover for half a second before blinking and seeing the strangers once more. 

When they arrived home and got settled in, putting away the groceries and getting back into their PJs, they sat in front of the TV, watching some show MC wanted to catch up on while they were home where it aired.

A commercial came on that Belphie had seen the night before. It was a Christmas movie that was apparently a “remake” of a story about some green man in the mountains stealing a holiday. He saw on the screen it was apparently ‘in theaters now’, so he turned to the human beside him.

“Hey MC… do you think maybe we could go see that tonight?” he smiled shyly and MC sat up and gave him a soft kiss.

“Of course! I’m glad to see you finally feel good about going outside.”

“I mean… movie theaters are just dark rooms you sit in watching a giant screen for a bit,” he shrugs, clearly still a bit nervous about being around other humans.

“Ok, it is still a start though!” MC hugs him before going onto their phone and looking for movie times.

-

At the end of the movie MC and Belphie walked out hand in hand, him acting much more natural than when they had first arrived.

They returned to the apartment building and were once again greeted by the security guard, George. 

“MC! MC’s boyfriend! Have a nice date?” he smiles at the pair.

“Yes! We saw a movie!” Belphie tries to put on his best Swedish accent and watches as the security guard looks surprised. 

“Very nice!” George smiles at him, talking very slowly to ensure Belphie could understand him.

Belphie continued to communicate in short and simple sentences in his god awful attempt at an accent. After they left the lobby, MC and Belphie broke into laughter.

“That was awful” MC laughs out, clutching their stomach.

“I only knew how the accent sounded from that show you were watching last night,” he responds, also laughing very hard.

The rest of the night, Belphie and MC make plans for the remainder of their time in the human world. 

The next day they went Ice Skating, Belphie falling over a lot before finally getting the hang of it. Though, by the time he got it, he was exhausted and falling asleep on the ice. MC had to hurry home so he didn’t knock out on the sidewalk.

The day after that was Christmas, and Belphie was grateful he hadn’t had any dreams to upset him the past few days.

He had bought MC a gift before they left the Devildom and MC had left to go get him one yesterday when he fell asleep. They both handed each other gifts and unwrapped them at the same time.

“A blanket that matches my pillow!” Belphie exclaims with a big smile, holding the cow print cloth up to get a better view of it. He wraps it around himself as MC finishes getting the wrapping off of his gift to them.

“Oh wow… Belphie this is beautiful,” they lift the necklace up and place the star shaped charm in their palm.

“I had it custom made,” he pulls his own necklace out from under his shirt, “Beel has one too, the third one, that is shaped like stars too, is on Lilith’s tomb under the house. You came and changed me, MC. I want you to know I don’t see you as Lilith, but you are still a piece of my family, and I promise to protect you forever.”

Belphie was certain he would never see the blood on those stars again, he would protect MC with his life and never let them get hurt by anyone or anything.