#probably a halloween themed banner is next

[laughroditee]

COD Fanfic Collab Feeler Post (Poll at bottom)

Hello, my lovelies! I am thinking about hosting a fic event built around the idea of "exquisite corpse," where everyone writes a little bit, but no one knows what anyone else is writing until the very end, and the result is a finished piece of bizarre fiction.

🚨SOME GROUND RULES🚨 (I may add more if more come up. Yes, I am a hag.)

There will be a central theme to unify everyone's pieces, though the end result will still be weird AF, like a glitch in the Matrix. There may also be a tone as well, but I'm still deciding on that.

In total, this would be a month-long event, with a maximum number of participants equal to the number of days in that month. So if we do October (which is what I hope to do, but we'll see), a maximum of 31 participants. For November: 30. You get the picture. If the event does not gain enough participants to max out, whoever has joined by the cutoff will just go again, and we'll cycle through until the end.

This would run a bit like a baton relay since each person's contribution builds on the previous installment. For example, I'll start the fic as number one (because it's my event), then send the last sentence to number two. Number two sends their last sentence to number three, and so on. Due to this, TIMING IS SO IMPORTANT! We want to be able to get through everyone's posts in a timely manner since we're not all writing at the same time; we're doing it in a chain.

For that reason, WRITING would take place the month before, and each writer would schedule their post for their assigned day at noon during the event month. So, if we really are going to be doing a Halloween fic, then writing would take place in September, with each post being scheduled for the writer's assigned day in October.

If this is a thing that will happen, I will be making everyone a shitty event banner to place at the top of their post with the event and their entry number so people know this is a chain of fics, and appropriate links to the beginning, previous entry, and next entry should be included in your post to support your fellow creators and help readers navigate the bullshit of this thing we're building together. (I understand that some links won't be able to be added until the posts are public.)

A common event tag should also be used but I haven't decided what it is yet. Probably "#cod exquisite corpse" to keep it simple.

Everyone gets a word count CAP of 500 words. So LESS THAN 500 words is ideal! If you go over 500, those extra words will be cut off, and whatever is left in that truncated sentence is what will get sent to the next person to finish and build on as their prompt (so be kind to the person after you and don't go over).

Smut is okay (tag your post with appropriate warnings - I will say no CNC or non-con for this, sorry), but I will challenge everyone to use gender-neutral!Reader and/or canon x canon to keep everyone on the same page and to let as many people have a good time here. If that doesn't sound like a good time to you, you don't have to participate. If you need tips on writing gender-neutral smut, please leave a comment, and I'm sure our lovely community can give some tips.

Please also watch for POC-inclusive writing, as not every skin tone blushes, not everyone wants/can have fingers running through their hair, etc. Again, if you need help with this, there have been MANY posts floating around in the community if you've missed them. You can also leave a comment, and we'll see if we can get some tips together.

Please be inclusive about body size, in both height and weight, so that our tall and fat Readers can get some love too. As such, there will be no size difference kinks for this event. I realize that making a "perfectly neutral Reader" may be challenging (and "perfect" is a loaded term), but I know it's doable, as I've seen people do it. If you don't want to do that, no one is forcing you to participate.

No killing characters since that's a major continuity issue lol. 💀 There will already be enough continuity issues with people fucking every other chapter with zero further mention of it, but that's beside the point.

And finally, keep it light, keep it fun, AND BE KIND. Fandom is supposed to be silly-funny, so let's get along and make our dolls kiss everyone.

I realize this is a lot, and honestly, this event may not pan out. It may be a lot more like herding cats than anything else. I'm just making this post to preemptively determine how much interest there is before I go making event banners and stuff and wasting my time.

So finally...

[scarisd3ad]

Promptober day 18 - going to a pumpkin patch

Pairing - Steve harrington x reader

Warnings - none

Promptober ‘23 masterlist

Main masterlist

Taglist

"c'mon Steve you're being so slowly!" I cry out as I sprint across the street towards the small little pumpkin patch event the had been set up in our local park. Steve on the sidewalk locking up our car while I'm already on the other side of the street. I wait in front of the banner that had been set up 'Hawkin's pumpkin patch '88'. "Alright, alright m'comin' honey" he mutters as he stuffs the keys in his pocket. when he's in front of me he grabs my hand and then we're walking in. "hi welcome" a little blonde girl who looked maybe 15 years old with a stack of pamphlet in her hands. she looks Steve up and down before grinning up at him "here you go sir" she says as she hands him one. Steve looks at both sides of the paper before smiling up at her "thank you" when we're far enough away he mutters "sir? do I look that old?" I laugh as I shake my head "No stevie" he was only about 22 years old but looked probably years older to the girl.

I drag Steve towards the area where all the pumpkins are. most of them are large orange pumpkins, but there are some small, and some white. I kneel down in front of each one picking them up and examining them before looking up at Steve "you think this will look good?" I ask as I slowly toss the pumpkin between my hands. "Dunno do think it'll look good?" I shrug as I let out an annoyed sigh and place the pumpkins back down on the hay covered grass. a cold breeze blows making a shiver travel up my spine. "let's keep looking" I mumble.

I search the assortment of pumpkins at least 3 times before Steve forces me to pick one because the sun was about to set. we walk up to the cashier. "I don't think it's right" I mumble, it was a little lopsided and not fully round. it had a little dent in the side and looked kind of stupid. "It's charming" he whispers as I set the pumpkin on the small table. "Did you find everything okay?" the lady asks, I let out a sigh but nod anyways. Steve hands some money to the cashier and then we're heading home.

when we get home, we decorate the pumpkin with some paint and a little hat and eyes that you can stick into the pumpkin because we weren't able to put jack-o-lanterns out in the apartment's hallway. the lopsided pumpkin ends up sitting outside our door next our Halloween themed doormat. it might have not been perfect, and it might have been a bit lopsided, but it was charming and perfect for us.

@leonkennedylefthand @maexyn @truecobblepot @mfnqueen1 @zoey5252 @nezukos-number1fan @bxbyyyjocelyn @dr3amyk1ng

[fizzingwizard]

first the good news:

went back to that new store I found and bought 1) some blocks that spell Halloween, 2) an autumn-themed embroidered place mat, and 3) a ceramic pumpkin house!! you're meant to put a candle in it but I'm gonna put my Little My figurine <3 I want to make an autumn and Moomins display this year. All of it cost me less than 1000yen, and there were lots of other cute things too, so I'll probably go back. I couldn't buy any mushroom- or ghost-themed things this time and I really want some. Also this will motivate me to finally clean up that one corner of my apartment which has been taken over by cardboard boxes.

now work-related bitching (looong rant)

It's amazing how fast I can go from feeling more or less okay to super duper stressed

We're on a prep/PD week (among other things). Usually, we use this week to clean our classrooms, prepare class decor and activities for the new term, have event meetings, and do the bulk of the prop- and artwork for our sports festival next month. This is because when we have the kids at the school, there is no space anywhere to spread out and work, or let things dry, etc. We have to paint big banners as well as our own T-shirts.

However, this year, the T-shirts and banners didn't come in on time. I don't know if they are late or we were late ordering them. We might get the T-shirts tomorrow, but it seems unlikely we'll see the banners for a while. Which is really annoying because the banners are big and really need to be painted without kids around. My classroom in particular has kids in it literally all day. We do both naptime and morning/afternoon supervision in, and occasionally snack. On the days we don't do snack in my room, I still can't use my classroom to paint the banner, because I will 100% definitely be on snack duty. (That whole understaffing thing you know.) So yeah, as I've whined about before, I never ever ever have my classroom to myself, so doing things like cleaning it properly and decorating it is made infinitely more difficult.

So I'm already backed up with that - two more things I'll have to figure out a way to do sometime in September. I also couldn't do a lot in my classroom because the leaders used it aaaall day for meetings today. I spent the time decorating the hallway instead. If anyone comes at me for making decorations instead of organizing my classroom, I'll explode. I can't fix up a classroom if I'm not allowed inside it.

What's truly pissing me off, though, is I did as much work as I thought I had to do before I started decorating - I made posters and emails I needed to do, I had meetings about the two events I'm currently leading, and I prepped four crafts including going to the store and using up our budget. I don't like to be behind. When I have something to do, I try to get it done as quickly as possible, one because I might forget about it otherwise (out of sight, out of mind), and two because I hate having things looming over me as more work piles up as it definitely will.

But then we have this meeting and my coworker, who is a sports festival leader, is like here are the due dates for sports festival stuff. And one of the due dates is... tomorrow?? I said since when and I think she said that she told us at the "meeting earlier this week." I say I think she said so because it makes no sense to me, as we didn't have such a meeting, so I'm wondering if she meant a different meeting we had two or three weeks ago, when we did in fact discuss some roles and dates. However, when I talked to other coworkers who were at the meeting, they also were unsure when she had told us the dates or what meeting she was talking about.

But like I said, we did at some point talk about what needed to be done. Maybe we did or didn't hear confirmed dates, but it's stuff we do every year, so we knew it was coming. (I mean half the staff are brand spanking new so they know absolutely nothing... which probably contributed to the misunderstanding... but anyway) So then I was like, if that's the case, how did I mess up? Because I don't usually forget this stuff, if something is my responsibility it gets done sooner rather than later so I don't have to think about it anymore. So looking into it, I think there is some confusion (or at least I'm confused) about the way things are being handled this year. Generally we all take charge of our own class's workload for the festival. But this year there was a sign up sheet for who wanted what role. It was never formally announced who got it, so there's just like five people all signed up to write the script x'D and only two to make the programs etc. Also, to me, if someone signs up to make the script, for example, that means they are going to put the scripts that each class writes for their own class together - not write the script for all the classes. That's an enormous amount of work for one person, not to mention classroom teachers usually want to write our own class script. But I'm wondering if I misunderstood, because after I freaked out after the meeting and did a lot of that sort of work to meet the deadline of tomorrow, another coteacher who is also a sports festival leader came to me and said "That bit is my job, you don't have to worry about it." But 1) how can it be just her job when both me and our third coworker need to talk it over together before she can finalize it and we haven't done that? and 2) if it is individual teacher's job, how come when I checked the progress today, no one had done anything?? The deadline chosen by the leaders is tomorrow, and even the leaders hadn't done anything yet...?

Also there is a heavy reliance on Google Chat for sharing information, but rather than organize it all in a specific chat just for the festival, it's all randomly tangled in our usual group chat, which makes finding things and keeping up with things even harder (I already don't find Google Chat conducive to organization and hate it being used as a replacement for in person meetings because we don't have time for them).

Anyway so I was incredibly confused because it's not like any of this is hard - it's at worst time-consuming, WHICH IS WHY I TRY TO DO IT AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. So I just sat down after the meeting and fucking did it. And apparently people thought I was angry? I don't know that for sure, but both of my coworkers apologized to me, and I was like it's nothing to do with you, it's just me being stressed. I hope they know it was stress and not anger. I did tell them flat out but they laughed, and sometimes I just feel like such an alien. I seemed to be the only one remotely keyed up that the DEADLINE IS TOMORROW and nothing is done. Even though other people were like "Oh no, I didn't know either! That's really soon! How will we get it done?" they then continued on without any sense of urgency. To be fair, I know it's a somewhat arbitrary date. But am I the only one who's ever been chewed out for this stuff before? My first year here, there was so much pressure all the time. Now it's like there's none, which would be great if it didn't mean everyone having to hustle at the last minute - or certain teachers doing the brunt of the work while others just completely?? ignore?? the fact that it's their duty as well. It's like I'm not sure if this is flexibility or just total indifference. Like am I just that rigid or it is not at all bizarre to find out you have multiple things due tomorrow, act shocked, and then just... not do them anyway...? :/

To top all THAT off. We had ANOTHER meeting after the sports festival meeting, in which we had to talk about an event which won't happen until DECEMBER. We have four or five events before that one. It is a big event, and we only get one month to plan for it, which is way too little time, in fact it's pretty stupid how little time we're given to work it all out, BUT ANYWAY. So they tell us "This year, to make things easier on your teachers, we're giving you more work!" X'D I kid you not. They introduced a brand new framework for the event and said it's to make our lives easier. Spoiler alert: it doesn't. It's basically busy work for teachers that we have to pretend is about the students. IMO, it's really just using the teachers and students as advertisements for the school, TO SHOW TO PARENTS WHO ALREADY SEND THEIR KIDS TO THE SCHOOL. Of course, I'm pro keeping parents in touch with what their kids are doing and learning. I love showing them photos and slideshows about the kids' progress. That's not the issue. The issue is that the framework they've given us iS nOt AgE aProPRIaTE fOR tODdlErs!!! They just slapped us with the same framework they use for the kindergarteners and said "Oh don't worry, we know your kids aren't really capable of doing this yet, just you know do it in a loose way." Reading between the lines, IMO what they are saying is we don't actually have to do anything because the kids can't, we just have to make it look like we kinda sorta made an effort at it anyway. And they think this is easy, because it's vague! But surprise! Being vague makes it HARDER! Anyone can just say "I don't get how this fits the framework" and they'll be RIGHT because it DOESN'T because what you're asking us to do is NOT POSSIBLE FOR TODDLERS. I did ask how this was possible, and was given an example that, while fine, did not actually fit the framework. So all in all, it's probably not something I need to worry about... though it might be... though it probably isn't...? It's just some extra work for me :D for no particular reason! :D :D

Oh and also also. The leader telling us about this change was like, "You all learned some about this new framework over the last couple of years. What did your schools do to implement it?" with this big shit-eating grin because he knows we did NADA. Not our fault! We didn't even know we had to do something! It was up to the leaders, our severely overworked leaders, who did try to implement something but were too busy to keep it going. And from talking to other campuses, their experience is similar. So this is all just company blah-blah-blah "look at us we're so cutting edge and progressive, while understaffing our schools and overworking and underpaying our teachers" BS.

I might've handled it all better if I hadn't just had a full day of meetings about the sports festival, the assembly I'm running in two weeks, the Halloween party I'm also running, and the upcoming classroom observations. Add on the winter event and its new framework and I was just so fucking done. All of my coworkers seemed totally fine! I'm the only one who is stressed! I literally can't with this job. They pile heaps on you and then make it as impossible as they can for you to plan and organize things neatly. I never really thought of myself as a particularly organized person before I started working here, but APPARENTLY I am - or at least I'm a person who needs to be organized to feel not stressed. I always think about the worst case scenario, not to catastrophize, but to plan for every eventuality. That's all. I'm not trying to rain on anyone's parade. But we shouldn't leave things to the last minute. We shouldn't not follow up with things and then be like "deadline's tomorrow didn't you know?" and then look at the people who are concerned about that like they've suddenly grown an extra head. Also we should be able to ask questions about changes that we don't understand. I get it, I'm not the bubbly vivacious type, I try to modulate my tone but I suppose I do sound argumentative sometimes, when really what I mean is just to express that I'm confused. I wasn't questioning the framework just to be a little bitch about it. I genuinely don't get it. And I think the reason is because I'm not supposed to get it, it genuinely is stupid, and we're all just meant to go along with it because The Company Hath Decreed And Y'all Don't Get Any Say. I hate hate hate that shit at work. I understand what it is and why it happens perfectly well, I just can't hide how fucking stupid I think it is. Maybe everyone else does too but they can hide it. Or maybe they really do think it's good. I mean it isn't bad, lol. It's just a lot of nothing. Me questioning it is treated like "We're talking about kids learning values. Are you against kids learning values??" and obviously NO! of course I'm not! I'm not questioning teaching them values, I'm questioning how tf we're going to make actual babies demonstrate them to parents in a way that isn't obviously just the teacher taking manipulative pictures 9_9 I'm sorry but my kids learn by biting each other and then talking about why so-and-so it crying (hint: it's because you bit him!) I doubt parents want pictures of that. lol. It's just not genuine and it's got such a slimy "school brochure" kind of vibe, ugh.

[azuregold]

Eeeeeeeeee~!

I have been waiting for this card for so long. ;u;

He took 7 multis to come, which is the highest I’ve had to go since my full-pity curse was broken, but his timing wasn’t too bad, really, since I can still do a multi on each of the other banners when they come back (and hopefully get their SRs). I think I’m going to try for Riddle at pity, even though I don’t have any SSRs for Rook yet. Heartslabyul’s costumes have grown on me a lot, and if I can get Trey in one multi and Riddle at pity, I’ll have all five, which pleases me.

I got plenty of Leona, of course, and also got a Dorm Riddle spook, uncapping him to 90. (Today was a fiery day in the gacha, apparently.) I’ve been wanting more uncaps for him, so I’m happy. Kiiinda wish it’d been Dorm Leona, Rook, or Vil, or one of the other Halloween SSRs instead, but still good for sure.

Silver is one of those characters that should have been an instant favorite for me. Pretty, mysterious background, cool and somewhat deadpan, likes animals, has a voice actor I like a lot, etc. For whatever reason, though, he hasn’t quite clicked with me yet. I’m hoping that will change with chapter 7, because I do want him to be a favorite. I like him, and he’s definitely growing on me, he just hasn’t lit a spark the way Jamil, Deuce, and my other favorites have. Yet.

But as soon as I saw this card I knew I had to have it. It’s just so beautiful—probably one of my favorite cards in the game. I love the theme and his outfit and the art so so much. And I won’t deny that this being a great card gameplay-wise made me want him even more, but I would still want him regardless, just because of how pretty he is. (And because if Silver does become a favorite later, I’d be kicking myself for skipping this card.)

Now to wait and see what they’re going to give us next month… A completely out of season Al’ab Nariya? The first part of chapter 6? Something completely different? I’m both excited and a little scared to find out.

[lightningbug-lane]

I’d love another Genealogy banner after this one. I was thinking maybe characters like Julius, Ishtar, Quan, Ares, Nanna, and Altena.

I don’t think they’ve ever released two banners for the same game right after the other, but it would be cool to see more of the second gen for Genealogy and I’m always up for Ares tbh

[personasintro]

sucker (m.) | pjm

❥𝒔𝒚𝒏𝒐𝒑𝒔𝒊𝒔; You wish you'd pay more attention to Jimin. Like, how his eyes kept changing color. How cold his skin was, too unrealistically to be natural. Or one second, he flashed you with his sharp canines and the next one he didn't have any. How much he craved for you, but not the way you thought he was.

❥𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒓𝒆: smut, angst, vampire au, horror au (?), vampire!jimin x human!reader, supernatural au

❥𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔: explicit language, smut; slight biting, oral sex [man receiving], fingering, penetration, unprotected & rough sex, slight dom!jimin, death & mentions of death, blood, mentions of alcohol

❥𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒅 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒕: 10.9k+ 

𝒂/𝒏: I got this story idea after halloween and this is the first time I've written a vampire au, so I really hope you'll like it, this is something new for me but was so much fun to write!! banner by @dee-ehn​ (thank you luv, you did an amazing job!!)

𝒎.𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒕  | © 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒐 (𝒏𝒐 𝒓𝒆𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒕𝒔 𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒔𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒅)

Frat parties aren’t usually Jimin’s go-to place but considering the sudden circumstances, he had to agree and couldn't say no to his friend who had chosen the most overcrowded party. In other cases, Jimin would’ve chosen somewhere less crowded but enough to blend with his surroundings. Although, Taehyung deserves a few points for thinking this out considering today’s theme is Halloween. There’s no need to hide anything, especially their appearance that still doesn’t seem as weird as people dressed as pumpkin and other weird costumes. Just as a young male passes by, obviously dressed as Dracula while wearing a cheap cape, his friend snorts under his breath but Jimin can hear him perfectly.

“Horrendous,” Taehyung comments, scoffing at the guy that’s too preoccupied with a girl clinging to his side dressed as something both of them can’t recognize. “Let’s go, I’m hungry.” he grins, licking his bottom lip before they make their way into the huge house full of drunk people.

It’ll be hard to find someone sober or not drunk enough, Jimin thinks while his eyes scan the entire room.

“Jimin-ah,” Taehyung slaps his hands over Jimin’s shoulders while he clutches them but his friend barely reacts, already used to Taehyung's rough hands and strength. “Try to have fun.”

Jimin rolls his eyes, still looking around to map out the whole room almost as if he’s waiting for something to happen. He knows nothing will, none of these people are ready for tonight and are completely clueless. Sometimes, he wonders how it’d feel like to just let loose and drink alcohol like every other person here. Loud rap music boosts against the walls, barely good enough music to dance to, but it seems nobody cares about that and dance no matter how ridiculous they look. A group of young girls pass by them, one in particular eyeing Taehyung as she winks at him, giving him a hint that even she doesn’t know about.

“Well, that’s my cue,” Taehyung grins, slapping Jimin’s shoulder with enthusiasm from receiving attention even though he barely came in. “Two hours?” he asks, slowly backing away from Jimin’s figure who responds with a short but firm nod.

Sighing, with Taehyung no longer in sight, he forces his legs to move through the crowd which is just bunch of drunk college students. It’s hard to blend, especially if he’s the only one sober out of everyone. He walks through the house, not particularly knowing where he’s going since he has no idea where he is. This is his first time here — probably last too. They never come back, not even once. They always just move on and plan things together, with Taehyung. Somehow, his legs lead him to a kitchen, less preoccupied room with an exception since there are still some people sucking their mouths off. Jimin’s nose scrunches in a slight disgust at the smell of alcohol, knowing that it’s just the picky side of him.

Taehyung had been in charge of tonight’s plans, it makes sense this plan sucks. Jimin doesn’t like it here but it’ll have to do. His sharp eyes dance across the room, nose softly sniffling as a sweet scent fills it and then he sees something. Something that looks much more interesting than anything he could’ve seen here so far.

You.

In other scenarios, you’d probably spend your Friday night differently than in a frat house full of people you don’t know. That wouldn’t even be such a bad thing, if your friend didn’t bail on you because her ex wanted to talk. You’re not mad, you’re just annoyed that you’ve been standing here for the past fifteen minutes watching couples make out, while third guy tried flirt with you. May you add, completely wasted where you could smell the alcohol on their breath. That’s enough to make you not interested and disgusted at the same time. When another guy dressed like Joker tries to talk to you, you ignore him and tell him to fuck off. You’re not rude, not all the time. But it’s only natural of you to act this way, especially when you let them know you’re not interested and they still keep trying. It’s like it pushes them to be even more eager to try to win you over. Well, you’re not some trophy and drunk enough to do that.

The guy gives you an ugly frown, visibly displeased by your choice of words but luckily he leaves you alone and your heart slowly calms down. You don’t know what drunk men are capable of, but you get the idea. You need to be careful either way. Not drinking any drink from strangers and not provoke anyone who's drunk, even if it’s standing up for yourself. Those are the rules you need to keep reminding yourself, especially in this place where alcohol clouds most people's judgement and mind. 

Ah fuck, tonight is supposed to be fun.

“Playing hard to get?”

Your head whips at the soft voice, completely contrasting with the awful music and people’s chattering drunken nonsense. Mouth opening in a mere shock, you’re met with a guy you’ve never seen before which isn’t that weird since you barely know anyone here. But you’d surely remember him, if you ever met him. It’s safe to say, he’s probably the hottest guy you’ve ever seen and looked your way. His blond hair is parted in the middle, swiped back as this particular hairstyle shows his sharp jaw but soft features. One of the most eye catching features are those thick lips, looking juicy and soft, like two pillows and the most delicious desert. And you can’t fucking believe you’re gushing over some stranger but you’re surely not done yet. His eyes are sharp and there’s a weird glint in them, maybe it's because of the orangey–red shade they hold. Black leather jacket hugs his frame along with, what seems like a casual white shirt underneath, and a great fit black jeans. You wonder what kind of mask he’s wearing, but then he grins at you and shows you his white teeth. Two sharp fangs poke his bottom lip, making you almost jump in surprise but you sigh in relief.

He seems to know you were just checking him out, judging by the slight smirk he’s trying to hide while he makes his way over to you.

“Just not interested.” you reply, deciding it’s better to find your own voice rather than to gawk at this sex god.

“I don’t blame you,” he speaks, your eyes flickering to his. There’s something that makes your heart skip a beat, maybe it’s his alluring eyes that seems to know everything. As if he could tell you’re mentally screaming at his hotness. “Young guys can be... very persistent and act upon their hormones.”

You snort, placing a hand over your mouth as you start giggling at his choice of words. “You can say it. They’re just horny and looking for sex.”

He smiles, tracing a tongue over his lower lip as his steps come to a halt just a few inches before you. He looks even more heartbreaking from up close. The lightning is shitty but there’s not an inch of flaw on his soft glass skin, he looks slightly more on the pale side, but that has to be the make up. At least he hadn’t overdid it like you’ve seen some other guys. And those eyes... what kind of lenses are they?

“You’re right, they can be like that.” he agrees, still sporting that secretive smirk adorning both his eyes and lips.

You snicker, causing his brow to raise in a mere confusion. “So, what? You’re not one of them?”

There’s no way such a handsome guy wouldn’t use his charms to get the best out of it. He said it himself, young guys are horny just like most girls. It’s not like you judge him for it, he can do whatever he wants as long as he’s respectful to others and doesn’t cross any boundaries.

“I’m certainly not,” he says, voice lacking of that sweet yet mysterious tone he used before. There’s something that flickers behind his eyes but it’s gone before you can dwell what it really was. “I didn’t come here to have sex.”

You’re surprised by his bluntness, not expecting him being so blunt all of a sudden, especially about that sex part since he basically ran his way around the topic of guys being horny and wanting to have sex. But you like it, even though you can’t bring yourself to grin like you want to, not when he’s staring at you with gaze darkening.

“Why did you come here for then?” you ask quietly, eyes searching for any kind of emotion or something that could give you a better glimpse inside of his mind.

There’s something about him. He’s mysterious, hiding something and you’re sure it’s just a part of his personality. Either way, it makes him even hotter and you’d drop onto your knees for this man. But there’s your dignity in the way and somehow, you’re glad about that. You’re not one to have a meaningless one night stand. Not that he’d probably want or care to have one with you.

It’s getting awkward, the silence between you two as he complements about his answer causing you to play with the hem of your stupid dress that aren’t even yours. But then something clicks inside of him and he smiles.

“To have fun.”

“Good luck with that.” you murmur, sarcasm lacing in your tone because you can’t believe Yeri just went after her ex leaving you ‘socializing’ (as she called it) with total strangers. Drunk strangers.

You don’t expect the hot stranger to hear you, your voice muffled by the loud music mainly, but he does when a deep chuckle erupts past his lips.

“Why’s that?”

“If you didn’t come here to have sex or get drunk, I don’t think you’ll have fun. Look at everyone.” you chuckle, arms motioning around you to prove your point.

He doesn’t, his eyes stay solely on you but you’re too busy being sarcastic and still bitter about this party to properly register that.

Jimin isn’t stupid. He knows how these parties work. Where’s alcohol, there’s a big urge to have sex and it proves to be right when everyone’s kissing or dancing which mainly leads to the sex itself.

“I take it you’re not here willingly.” he speaks up, eyes dropping towards your mouth where a fake blood is smeared in the corner of your lips.

It’s supposed to add a little bit of horror detail to your look, but you’re far from that.

“Debatable. My friend had decided to invite me at the last minute and now she ditched me because of her ex. Honestly, the guy is a total prick, I don’t know why she keeps running after him.” you explain, scoffing as you cross your arms over your chest.

Jimin reacts with a low chuckle, slowly licking his bottom lip before he takes a deep breath. It’s interesting to watch him, there’s something about him that you can’t quite put your finger on.

You wouldn’t tell Yeri’s business to just some stranger, or anyone, but maybe it’s those two shots of soju that let your mouth on the loose. He doesn’t know her anyway and you’re too annoyed to care, even though you do feel a pang of guilt.

“What are you doing here? Besides, to have fun here. Did you come here alone?”

Great, Y/N. Now you sound noisy making it sound like you’re asking if he has a girlfriend. Did you come here alone is a totally straightforward question, a very bad pickup line usually guys use. You’ve no idea why you just asked that. However, Jimin doesn’t seem to mind and even though, his lips quirk in a sly smirk and you act like you haven’t noticed, he shakes his head to give you an answer.

“My friend was particularly interested in this party.”

He doesn’t lie, it’s true. Taehyung did persuade Jimin to come to this one.

“Oh, so you were dragged into this like me,” you chuckle.

He isn’t, but he stays quiet.

“I wish she’d tell me sooner than four hours before the party had started. I wasn’t prepared, I didn’t even get to shop for my Halloween look and ended up with Yeri’s costume from last year. God knows what these dresses have been through.”

The incredibly handsome stranger laughs, like truly laughs and it’s the most beautiful sound ever. It makes you grin without even noticing.

“I do think you make a perfect mixture of spooky and ravishing nurse.”

Yeah, Yeri’s costume last year was a nurse but you put your own thought into it and put some fake blood in the corner of your lips and the top of your cheekbone. There’s some of it on your collarbone and arm just to make it more ‘scary’ but it’s just a huge fail. The dress is short, luckily not dangerously short for you to feel uncomfortable in them. You’re not even sure if this is a Halloween costume. Yeri looks like the type of girl to like foreplay, maybe she used it with her ex. Oh fuck, you can’t think about that.

His compliment completely blows all your thoughts out, your heart picking a pace as for the first time, your facade slowly falls down and you blush. Did he just called you hot?

“Thanks,” you grin, “Although, I think this costume is shitty it’s still better than being dressed as Harley.”

“Harley?” he asks, cocking his head to the side.

You stare at him, watching his confused gaze before something flickers in his eyes and he just stares at you.

Well, not everyone had seen Suicide Squad.

“From the movie? Suicide Squad? Harley and Joker? They’re this lunatic couple and everyone’s been wearing their costumes for the past... three years, is it? I don’t even know but it’s so cliché. I think I saw four Jokers on my way to the bathroom. Don’t get me started on Harley.” you roll your eyes, leaning yourself against the kitchen counter that’s behind you.

The two of you just stand in silence for a couple of seconds, and you almost think it’s awkward even though there’s not an awkward atmosphere and you’re just standing in a comfortable silence.

“So, vampire, huh?” you fill the silence after a moment, catching his attention as he watches you with a serious look. “Not to be an asshole, but that’s an overused costume as well.” you add, wondering if you’re getting too comfortable with this stranger.

But he’s probably the most normal and sober guy you stumbled upon, even if he’s the one who approached you. There’s something odd about him, but that’s just because he’s not like one of those drunk assholes trying to get you into one of the rooms upstairs. He’s not rude, disrespectful and drunk and that’s all that matters for you to feel comfortable talking to him.

His features relax and he lets out a breathy chuckle, showing his fangs. “Their costumes don’t do the justice.” he comments, eyes watching one of the guy passing by who’s got vampire costume which makes you snort. 

Overused, like you said.

“They do look cheap,” you comment, giggling. “Isn’t it uncomfortable to talk with those?”

He looks at you with confusion, mouth opening in realization when you point at your teeth to explain.

“No.”

It comes out short, surprisingly deep and serious and for a moment, it looks like he wants to say something else but decides not to when he closes his mouth.

“You look believeable, though.”

“I do, don’t I?” he chuckles, and your body relaxes when all the seriousness is gone.

“Your skin is pale, not covered in that awful white color and your eyes... wow, those lenses look beautiful. It must’ve been an expensive costume.” you tell him, head leaning towards him as you study his eyes.

They’re almost deep red. Weren’t they more orange before? The lightening is shitty and honestly, you’re too busy inspecting the beauty and uniqueness of his eyes.

He looks stunned, and it looks like he stopped breathing for a moment when you lean closer to him to study his eyes and face. He closes his mouth, not letting you see the fangs hiding underneath those plump lips and even though they’re slightly poking, you can’t see much. He’s dressed normally, not wearing some awful costume. He’s done the minimum with his costume but he can easily win as the vampire of this party. It’s not too much, decent enough to make people stop and praise his costume if they had the chance to be face to face with him.

“I’m Jimin.” he decides to say instead, not even showing his gratitude from your compliment but you ignore it.

It was more of a loud thought anyway. You’re distracted again, this time by his name.

Jimin.

Fuck, even his name is beautiful.

“Y/N,” you tell him, giving him a smile which you hide by taking a sip of your drink.

He watches you, eyes scanning your lips before they move down to your throat as you gulp. You’re too focused watching people dance to notice the way he licks his lips and gulps.

“So, are you studying here?”

His eyes shoot up, your voice catching his attention once again before he thinks through your question. It’s weird how long he’s taking to actually answer, it’s quite simple question that's got a simple answer.

“No,”

That’s it? Just no?

He must’ve noticed the faint frown that settles on your face before he gives you a little quirk of his lips, those plump lips stretching to a handsome smile that once again gets all your attention.

“Are you?”

“Huh?” you blurt out, embarrassed how quick that flew out of your mouth.

You’re even more embarrassed, your cheeks slowly tinting into a red color when he chuckles lowly under his breath, completely aware of your lack of attention because all of it was focused on his goddamn smirk.

“Are you studying here?” he asks, not hiding that amused smirk that slowly settles into a soft smile that encourages you to answer.

“Yeah,” you smile, “psychology.”

“Are you a future psychologist?” he asks, a glint of teasing in his tone but there’s a curiosity lacing on his soft pale features.

How did he guess that?

“Maybe?” you chuckle, poking your inner cheek with a tongue. “I thought that’s what I want to be in the future, growing up it used to be my dream.” you tell him honestly.

You’ve no idea why you’re so honest and talkative with a complete stranger. Even though you haven’t exposed anything too personal about yourself, it feels very simple to talk to Jimin. He holds this calm aura around him that makes you want to tell him your deepest secrets without you feeling guilty about it the next morning.

“Used to? It’s not anymore?” he asks, cocking his head innocently but you know he’s not stupid and knows what your words meant very well.

For some reason, it seems like he really wants to talk to you and urges you to talk more. He seems interested in you. Not seeing you as a snack and walking vagina, but maybe just someone he wants to talk with because he’s been dragged into this party just like you have. That’s one thing you’ve in common.

“Do you really wanna hear my heartbreaking life story?” you tease him, chuckling when the corner of his lips quirk up once again as he gives you a final nod.

“I’m quite intrigued.” he simply says, your heart skipping a beat for some reason and almost as if he could hear it, he lifts his eyebrow in a provocative and cocky manner.

“Will you tell me yours?” you ask in return, cocking your brow at him which makes him smile.

“Depends on how interesting yours will be.” he says, your lips set into a straight line before you purse them and give him a long sigh.

“It’s nothing drastic. I just feel like it’s not what I wanna do anymore, the worst thing of it all is that I’ve no idea what I wanna do in the first place. But it’d be a good job for me, something I need. It pays well and maybe, it’ll be more fun than I think it is right now. All I can think about is my dad and just the fact that I need to keep going. Life sucks, right?” you chuckle, trying to ease the sudden serious and saddened tone you had.

Jimin is not a person who gets bluffed easily but he acts like he hadn’t noticed anything.

“Your dad?” he asks, slowly watching your reaction as if he’s waiting for you to tell him some drastic news about your father.

“It’s just me and my dad. He’s got a huge loan for the next couple of years and I’m trying to help him, but the part-time jobs just aren’t enough. When I finish college, I’ll be able to find a better job and help him with that. He deserves it and that’s what keeps me going, y’know? I need to pay him back for taking care of me. But it’s okay, I just can’t wait until there’s no loan over our heads. I came to the conclusion that life can be happy and fun, even if there are things that suck.” you explain, noticing how interested he seems to be with your words, sinking all of the information you just gave him.

Despite how sad you seemed to be talking about your family, Jimin notices that you’re staying positive no matter what exactly happened in your life and what you haven’t told him. And that you’ve a goal, purpose you want to fill and probably a bigger heart that you're letting show to others. Maybe he’s wrong, it doesn’t have to be this way. He doesn’t know you. But it’s not right to think that it’s only you. Every person in this house, or even in the entire world, has something they want to accomplish. Dreams, goals and all of that. Maybe some of them don’t know it yet, they’re lost but that’s what life is for. To let them figure it out. 

“That’s very nice of you.” he says, surprising you how serious and soft he sounds at the same time.

“But what about you? What is your life story?” you ask, wanting to change the topic because your life being discussed when you’ve had a few shots isn’t a good idea. Few more and you’d be probably bawling your eyes out just because you get emotional easily, especially if alcohol is involved.

“It doesn’t matter,” he chuckles, “It’s not interesting anyway.”

You don’t hide the disappointment that settles on your face, causing your lips to pout which makes him scrunch his nose cutely. What a shame, you really wanted to get to know him more. It’s like he’s putting distance between you two, keeping a safe distance but still wanting to be in your presence. He’s confusing you.

“But I told you mine.” you pout, mumbling under your breath like a child that just lost a game.

It’s comical, how you’re dressed in a sexy nurse costume and pouting just because you’re dissapointed. For the first time since being here, he feels unsure and actually stops for a second as you see his eyes dance between yours.

“My parents are dead. And I wish I could’ve made them proud like you’re making your dad.” he says, completely serious as you gape at him with an open mouth.

Is he serious? You don’t know him, his reactions are mysterious and despite him talking about his dead parents, he looks too serious and doesn’t show any sadness.

“I-I’m s--“

“Don’t,” he stops you, voice rough as he coughs and tries to mask his all of a sudden unfriendly tone.

It makes you speechless and actually bad for pressuring him into telling you more. Although, you’re not sure if that can be called pressuring.

“It’s been a long time since they’re not here. I’ve had time to process it.” he explains, hand brushing through his golden locks while you watch them bounce right back into its place.

You don’t ask how long they’re dead, or anything about them because it’s not your place to be curious about that. If you knew sooner about them not being alive, you wouldn’t even show him how disappointed you were of not hearing his shortened version of life story.

All you can give him is a slight nod, awkwardly glancing at your heels that, of course are borrowed from Yeri. Remembering that there's still almost a full bottle of soju that you snatched for yourself behind you, you turn around and pour yourself a shot as you glance at Jimin. He's staring at you, attentively paying attention to your face, as you give him a crooked smile.

“You want some?” 

“No.” he answers, causing you to shrug as you drink the shot in one go, weirded out by the expression he gives you. It almost looks like he's glaring at you for drinking and it makes you give him a dumbfounded look.

“Aren't you thirsty?” you ask, his jaw clenching before he allows himself to relax and a low chuckle comes out of his mouth. 

“You've no idea,” he grins, taking a step closer to you as he hovers over you, cornering you while your lower back digs into the kitchen counter. 

Your eyes are big, staring at him in a complete shock by his sudden move but you can't move away. Your whole body is frozen, staring into his red eyes that stare right back into yours as if he's looking for something in them. His own hands lean against the kitchen counter right beside your waist, almost touching you while your heart trembles with excitement. And then when you think it can't get worse, he actually leans his face closer to yours as he takes a sniff of you. He hums at your scent, your cheeks flaring both in embarrassment and praise, mentally clapping yourself on the shoulder for choosing that expensive Yves Saint Laurent perfume you got from Yeri last Christmas. You've always saved it for special occasions, and even though you don't think of this party as anything special, you're glad you've listened to your own guts and used it. Let's just ignore the fact that you used it because you were counting on sweating, knowing the strong perfume will make you smell amazing either way. 

He pulls slightly back, your noses almost touching as you can smell his own cologne, mixed with something that smells like mint. You don't even blink, not allowing yourself to budge as he gives you a tiny smirk. 

“I'm particularly thirsty for something else.” he tells you silently, his voice getting a few octaves deeper but yet sounding calm and soft.

Your breath gets caught in your throat, the huge lump there almost uncomfortable, as you stare at him with still the same shock. Gulping, you blink a few times as you wonder what the hell just happened. 

You should be mad because after all, he lied to you. He told you he's not here for sex, yet he implied something erotic and suggestive with a simple sentence that rolled off his tongue so easily and elegantly, but that's not the worst part. The worst part – that you're not proud of – is that you like it and you can feel yourself pressing your thighs together. This had never happened before. No guy could made your body hot without even touching you, and you wouldn't be so thirsty too for someone you only know by their first name. 

“I thought you didn't come here for sex.” you manage to speak up, successfully without stuttering or sounding too nervous, although confusion and the slightest tremble in your voice is audible even to you. 

“I didn't,” he confirms, nodding but not moving an inch from you. Without taking your eyes off him, you slowly blink as you watch him lick his lips. “But you look irresistible to my eyes.” he says simply, slowly reaching for the strand of your hair as he twirls it around his index finger. 

He's not touching you fully, and unfortunately you can't quite feel his touch through your hair because even now, he delicately touches your hair like you're a fragile doll that may break.

“Then, why don't you do something?” you surprise yourself, not believing something like that just left your mouth. You would never say something like this to a stranger, no matter how handsome and freaking hot he is. But this is Jimin, it seems like everything is different with him. 

And he laughs. He actually laughs like you've just told him a funny joke, and all you can do is stare at him like he just lost his mind. Is he just playing with you? Was he testing you? Before your crazy thoughts and theories could swarm your already confused mind, something else catches your attention that makes a prominent frown adorn your features. This doesn't get unnoticed by Jimin, his laughter dying down as he realizes where your eyes and attention are focused onto. 

There are no longer any fangs poking out of his mouth, and you watch something flicker behind those red orbs that seem to glow in the gloomy lightning.

“What do you want me to do?” he asks, ignoring your look of confusion and curiosity that still lingers in your eyes that don't look away from his mouth just yet. 

“Where are your--”

“Took them off,” he cuts you off, letting go of your hair. “Now, be a good girl and answer my question.” he hums, inching closer to you as you hold your breath. 

“What do you want to do?” you ask instead, getting a breathy chuckle from him. You're not sure whether it's because of your question or because you purposely avoided answering his. 

“You wouldn't wanna know,” he chuckles, eyes dropping down to your lips that are already nibbling on your bottom lip. “It'll bleed if you keep bitting on it.” he comments, licking his own. 

“What, are you scared of blood?” you joke, releasing your mouth that seemed to get his attention, before the mention of blood causes him to snap those red eyes to yours. 

“Not in the slightest,” he smirks, for whatever reason but it shoots butterflies straight to your stomach. “Are you?” he cocks his head to the side, reminding you of a snake that eyes its prey. Or some predator that has some fun with its prey before they kill it. 

Fuck, you shouldn't have watched that horror movie Yeri suggested yesterday. 

“Of what? Blood or you?” you find the courage to ask, raising a brow at him as you eye his from up and down. 

He smirks, cocking his brow at you. “You tell me. Are you scared of me?”

Maybe you should be. No one has ever approached you, talked to you or given you this kind of attention before. This is a completely new territory that you're tiptoeing around, and it does give you some kind of thrill. Maybe it's because your life is boring and Jimin summons a new temptation that you've never felt before. There could be hundreds of reasons why you feel this way or what you should feel instead, but you can't bother yourself to think about it any longer. Because instead of feeling any fear towards the new stranger that has angelic features and voice, and with some kind of darkness that he's hiding, you feel yourself getting more interested and temped. In this case, he's like a forbidden fruit for you. 

“No,” you reply confidently, head held high as you grin. “Should I be?” 

This constant teasing and the lack of touch just sets a flame of temptation inside you that slowly drives you insane. 

“Maybe,” he says, tips of his fingers reaching for your dress as he plays with the hem of it, fingers dancing dangerously at the top of your breasts. “You're the one who's gripping the kitchen counter for your dear life.” he teases, your eyes shooting to your hands that in fact, are gripping the corner so tightly that they turn white. 

Embarrassingly, you let it go as you cross your hands over the chest to make yourself appear more confident, trying to mask the way your heart thumps loudly against your chest.

“That doesn't mean I'm scared.” you tell him, indirectly suggesting that there may be another reason why you appear to be so tense. 

Judging by the tiny and already known smirk that slowly stretches across those beautiful and thick lips, Jimin confirms that he knew way before you even said it out loud. No matter how many times you seem to outrun him, he's always two steps ahead of you, having a prepared answer. 

“What it could mean, then?” he asks lowly, feigning an incomprehensibility that this time – you see and are prepared for.

“Many things.” you gulp, breath hitching when the tip of his finger slightly touches your skin. It's short-lived and almost unrecognizable, but it still makes you shiver over the fact he's so close touching the top of your breasts. 

In other scenarios, you wouldn't let anyone this near to you, nor someone almost touching your breasts that are covered in a costume dress.

“Care to share, my love?”

The new petname shoots excitement straight to your body, your cheeks flaring pink as you look away from him for a moment. You know he's aware of your reaction and how that little petname affected you, but you remain confident as you stare right back at him. 

“I think you get the idea.”

In no way in hell, you'd ever tell him how much you wish to be fucked by him. Those sinful thoughts have to stay in your head, and even if you're not saying them loud like he wants you to, you know he's smart enough to get the idea. 

“Tell me.” he presses, fingers playing with the top buttons of your costume that you can't unfortunately feel that much, except the tiny pressure he puts on them by playing with it. 

“Jimin...” you whine, causing him to grin cheekily at you. For a moment, it looks like he lost that dark and mysterious aura. “Why won't you kiss me?”

You're done playing this game, your patience is slowly dying as you wish to feel his lips against yours. Even just for a second.

“Because you never asked me to,” he answers simply, surprising you by his diplomatic answer that sounds nothing but truthful. 

“If I ask you to,” Oh fuck, this is embarrassing. He's doing this purposely, he wants you to make the first move. You feel like his goal is to make you desperate for him, which he didn't have to do for long. You don't get it. 

“Will you kiss me?” you ask quietly, eyes searching his once again. 

“Mhm,” he confirms. “If that's what you want.” 

First of all, you're surprised that he's more interested in your own interest and consent, instead to taking the first chance of your attention and weakness for himself. And there's a chance that you were wrong. Maybe he hadn't been doing this to push you to make the first move, or to enjoy how you're squirming underneath his hovering figure. All he wanted this whole time has been your consent. Second of all, it makes him fucking attractive for doing so and no matter what the real reason is, you're willing to risk it all for this man. 

“Jimin,” you tell him, voice strained and raspy. “Kiss me.”

For all you know, he could be playing with you this whole time and he doesn't have to be interested in you. Again, Jimin proves you that you're wrong and manages to surprise you all over again when in seconds, he pulls you closer to him and presses your lips together. Jimin seeks your lips hungrily, surprising you how rough and fast he is as if he was controlling himself this whole time. His hand is holding your head from the back for support, while the other one grabs your hip and squeezes it. Gasping, you shiver at the feeling of his tongue dancing across your bottom lip before he envelopes your mouth again. Your tongues move together, your own hands gripping his biceps that are hidden beneath his leather jacket. Jimin has a boosted energy, barely allowing you to breathe between the hungered kisses he's showering you with, and when you start desperately trying to catch your breath, you're forced to press against his chest firmly. It's hard, much harder than you've imagined and it takes an extra strength to actually make him budge, which primarily is the soft whimper that you let out against his mouth. He moves away, almost jumping away from you as he stares at you all frozen. 

He watches your chest move quickly, trying to catch the oxygen that your lungs are craving for. You put your own hand over your chest, chuckling when you feel your heart beating fast and hard. 

A group of drunk people stumble inside the kitchen, catching your attention as they laugh loudly, unable to walk properly as they're reaching for other bottles that are placed on the kitchen island. You weren't here alone this whole time, there are still a couple of people making out or talking, probably searching for somewhere more peaceful than the living room where the most people are. Considering this fact that someone might've seen you sucking off each other's faces, it doesn't bother you and it's probably mainly the fact they probably hadn't even noticed. 

The sudden drop of soju bottle that breaks instantly and stains the floor snaps you out of your thoughts, your gaze shifting to the drunk girl who starts giggling over the fact she's too drunk and clumsy to the point she just dropped a bottle. Now, there's soju smell lingering in the air and staining the floor with shards of glass laying there.

Turning to Jimin, you catch the sudden scrunch of his nose at the smell of alcohol which makes you giggle, even though you find it not so pleasing either. Taking a few steps towards him, you grab him by his wrist and drag him deeper into the house. Surprisingly, he allows you to drag him as he stares at the back of your head until you stop and push the door open. You're quick to turn the lock, making sure there's no one disturbing you as he finally notices where you brought him. The bathroom is decorated in deep blue, the same gloomy lightning that comes from the round mirror and creates a much more dark and intimate atmosphere. Standing in the safe distance, he watches you turn around to him and lean against the small counter where the sink is. 

His eyes turn dark, the red color almost unrecognizable as he keeps staring at you without making any move. Throwing out your insecurity, because this in fact is your first bold move that you've made on someone, you don't let it disturb you from your plan. Your palms sprawled against the bathroom counter, ass digging into the edge of it, you straighten yourself and cross your exposed legs. 

“Are you gonna just stand there and stare at me?” you ask, one hand flicking your hair over your shoulder which catches most of Jimin's attention and his eyes get big. The exposure of your nakedness, the vein that pokes beneath your beautiful and warm skin makes him react instantly. 

You yelp when he's suddenly in front of you, using the lack of your attention and the second of you closing your eyes to blink, he's gripping your face before he attacks your lips with his own, kissing you hungrily that he did the first time. Only this time, you're ready for the strength and intensity of his kisses, awaiting for his tongue that darts out into your mouth. You grip his jacket, trying to take it off but it's impossible with him holding you so close. Tugging onto the leather material, he gets your message and strips it off, tossing it carelessly onto the dirty floor. Your palms spread over his chest, feeling his hardened muscles that are surprisingly too hard. In an instant, you're turned around, hands gripping the sink as you feel Jimin's hands on your thighs, slowly disappearing underneath the skirt of your dress. You shiver, his hands cold against your heated skin as you look back at him as much as your current position allows you to.

Unfortunately, you get only a brief glance at Jimin who turns you around rather aggressively. From this position, you can barely see him in the reflection of the mirror but as he looks up, you're met with his red eyes that stare at you back. 

“What do you want?” he asks lowly, hands slowly caressing your ass cheeks that aren't covered by your panties, his nails grazing over the soft flesh. 

Thank God, you chose to wear sexy underwear – the only sexy underwear you own.

“You,” you breathe out, telling him the obvious answer that he probably just wanted to hear. “You.. Jimin.”

You hear his low hum before your panties are pushed aside and dress hiked up, enough to let his fingers replace the lacy material. As soon as the tip of his cold fingers meet your heat that's coated with your slickness, your breath hitches. He starts rubbing the area, making sure he does the same thing to your clit before he pushes two fingers in. You gasp, not expecting him to enter you all of a sudden, especially with two fingers that stretch you deliciously. It slightly burns, but your arousal that's used as a lube helps a lot and it makes it easier for him to get in. 

Jimin's surprised by your tightness, wondering when was the last time someone touched you while his red eyes flicker to your reflection to check your reaction. He's a monster, he shouldn't care if he's being too rough with you but for some reason he's curious to see how you react to his touch. A cocky smirk flickers on his lips when he sees your eyes closed and mouth open in delight. 

“You like that?” he whispers, mouth hovering over your ear as he takes another sniff of you. Do you really smell that good?

He presses his thumb against your clit, circling it when he feels you clenching around and that's why he adds another finger. You gasp, mumbling something incorrect to both your and his ears. Again, he just smirks at your lack of response and how fucked out you already seem to be. He barely had to do anything. 

Pulling your hips to him, he makes you arch for him with your ass pursed up almost dangerously close to his crotch. 

Fucking you with his fingers, he has no mercy on you and your loud pleas of slowing down. He doesn't know you, but it feels like he reads all the signs your body gives him and with you clenching around his three fingers, being a mess that barely stands on her own feet, he knows you're close. The pleasure gets too much, his palms slapping against your clit as he keeps fucking you is nothing you are prepared for. The orgasm and the chase after it gets too intense, no longer in your hands and with you being able to control it, you're cumming around his fingers, sucking them right in. He slows down, but still keeps a sloppy pace that fucks you through it. Your whole body burns with tingles of post-orgasm and if it weren't for your hands desperately clutching onto the sink, and Jimin's body behind you caging you in, you'd probably fall like a potato sack.

He pulls out his fingers, sounds of slurping leaving his mouth as he cleans them. Unfortunately for you, you've missed that devilish sight of him doing it. You pry your eyes open, slowly straightening yourself as you turn around to check the devil himself.

Just as expected, he's smirking at you, proudly staring at your flushed cheeks and the quick rise of your chest. You surprise him, clutching his shirt between your fingers before you pull him closer and connect your lips together. He lets you kiss him, hands wrapping around his neck and finally feeling up his skin more properly. You're surprised how cold he is, yet no hint of goosebumps cover his skin.

“You're so cold,” you comment, rubbing your hands over his forearms trying to warm him up.

Glancing back at him, you're surprised by the dumbfounded look he gives you before his mouth quirks up. “You wanna warm me up?” he asks, cocking his brow at you as your mouth salivates, your hands completely stopping.

“Yeah,” you answer, no idea why the fuck would you even answer that when you should just put yourself to action. The little act makes him chuckle, leaning closer to you as you hear him gulp.

You think he's about to kiss you, his lips close to the crook of your neck and you tilt your head to the side, to give him a better room for that. However, you're surprised when his mouth never makes an actual contact with your neck. You slightly tilt back, staring at his frozen state as you see his throat bob. 

“Jimin?” you ask, growing worried when he seems to be acting weird all of a sudden. “Are you okay?”

Your voice is muffled to his ears, he barely hears you as all he can focus is the way your blood pulses in your veins and the soft heartbeat of your heart. But you don't know that, all you can see is Jimin standing there gulping and not moving at all. It's until your hand makes contact with his cheek, your warm palm ready to envelop it but before you can even properly touch his skin, he's gripping your wrist at an extreme speed. You stare at him, almost jumping back from the sudden movement. 

“You scared me,” you chuckle, trying to ease the tension as he takes a step back. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” he answers nonchalantly, staring at you with those red eyes. “Now be a good girl and suck my cock.”

Your eyes almost bulge out of their sockets, surprised by the sudden change in his behavior and tone. He starts unbuckling his belt, your mouth salivating at the thought you're about to see his cock. It's been awhile since you gave a proper blowjob and although, you're not quite satisfied with your skills of giving one in the first place, you just can't wait to taste him. 

If Yeri could see you right now, she'd never believe that it's the same best friend that has always been opposed to one night stands.

Dropping onto your knees, your face is facing his growing bulge as you look up at him for permission. He chuckles, licking his bottom lip as he nods his head at you, silently telling you to get to it already. You put his jeans down, not entirely just enough to expose his casual black boxer briefs, as they stay wrapped around his mid-thighs. His boxer briefs are next, your fingers too eager to see him rather than to tease and play with him. Something tells you that Jimin is not the type to enjoy teasing. His erection spreads free, finally out of the material of his tight jeans, and it slaps against his clothed stomach that's hidden beneath the white shirt. 

You wish there was a better lightning and for a second, you contemplate whether to turn the main light on, just to fully appreciate his erected length. No matter what the lightning is, you notice how thick he is and a few veins that poke underneath the thin skin. From the light patch of hair to the red tip that's leaking with a little bit of pre-cum makes your mouth salivate like never before, and you make sure you gulp all of it before you can embarrass yourself. Not wasting any time, your hand curls around the base as you give him a testing squeeze which surprisingly, makes him barely react and when you glance up at him, he stares at you with dark eyes. 

Little do you know he needs your touch, he needs to distract himself from the thirst and hunger, and that dark voice inside his head that tells him to do something completely different, rather than have you on your knees and ready to take him.

As if you could hear his thoughts – which you can't and he knows that – he almost sighs in relief when you wrap your pretty red lips around his tip. It doesn't matter that your lipstick is completely smeared from Jimin's lips and his furious kisses. Sucking on it, you let the angry red tip glisten with your saliva before you start pumping him. Through hooded eyes, Jimin watches you licking a strip up his cock as you go back to sucking him off while pumping his hardened length, this time harder and quicker. Jimin's low grunts that occasionally leave his mouth encourages you to take him deeper, the tip of his cock almost hitting the back of your throat. Your eyes burn with tears but you blink them away, curling your tongue around the head of Jimin's cock. His hand grabs the back of your head, clutching your hair in his fist as he starts moving his hips. It hurts a little, he's putting too much pressure and strength into grabbing your hair and the roots that burn your skull. But with your own arousal between your legs, slowly dripping down your thighs and the undying lust that you feel towards Jimin, you've no time to complain. It adds another pinch of pleasure, a pleasure that makes you moan around his length and almost gag when he thrusts into your mouth. Surprisingly, you look up and you find him checking your reaction.

Your warm hand around his cock and even warmer mouth that's wrapped around him feels surprisingly nicer than he thought it'd be. He takes his time to notice your reddened cheeks that he can see even from up, and with the dim lightning his red eyes catch the line of saliva that's drooling out of your mouth. And he growls, he actually growls and pulls you from his cock in seconds, before he's pulling you up and if it weren't for his strong hold, you'd surely stumble how quick he got you up. He backs you into the bathroom counter, to your previous position before he fingered you, but this time you're face to face. Your ass is digging into the edge of the counter, although you don't seem to care. You're too focused staring at Jimin that clenches his jaw, suddenly bumping into you as he starts kissing you. Whimpering into his mouth, you're surprised when he easily lifts you up and gets you seated on the bathroom counter. However your yelp is muffled by his mouth, his hands pulling you close to the edge, dangerously close that you're clutching onto him, scared of a possible fall. But Jimin got you, his body is caging you and creates a barrier between you and the floor. 

Jimin's hand wrapped around his erected cock looks sinful, like nothing you've ever seen before, at least no one made it look so effortlessly hot. Your body almost trembles with the anticipation of feeling him inside of you, and you know it's coming because he starts pumping himself. Not even aware that you stretch your legs to give him a better space, plus giving him a view of the mess between your legs. He pulls you closer, nudging your thighs apart even more before his other hand moves your ruined panties more to the side. He gets a better view of your pulsating heat that's waiting just for him.

“What about a condom?” 

He stops, eyes flickering to yours as he stares at you with unreadable recognition. It's enough that you're about to have sex with some stranger, even though it's very hot and irresistible stranger, but you don't know him after all. Are you ready to risk it for him? The rational you mentally praises you for remembering such important detail before it could've been too late. 

“Don't have one,” he says through teeth, almost seeming to be annoyed that you stopped him.

Maybe you should grow offended or annoyed yourself by his reaction, but for some reason you don't. You just stare and wait for him to say something else. 

“You don't trust me?” There it is – the smirk comes back and makes an appearance on his thick lips again. 

“I don't know you.” you point out, cocking a brow at him.

“Yet, you're here sprawled for me ready to be fucked,” he chuckles lowly, your expression dropping as your eyes grow big. “I don't know you either, that's why we need to trust each other.” he says, but still doesn't move to do anything else. 

Your mind is screaming at you, telling you over and over again how a bad idea this is and that you'll regret it. There's no actual threat of disease of a potential pregnancy (even though, you've been taking birth control since your teenage years) but you don't know that. He can't exactly tell you without having to explain something that he doesn't even want to or has to explain.

“Hm? What's it gonna be?” he purrs, his hand cupping your jaw as he starts caressing your cheek with his thumb. “Are we gonna trust each other?”

In a way, you're aware he's coaxing you into agreeing and using your temptation by using his low and tempting tone, but you don't find yourself calling him out for it. You're speechless, not able to move your mouth and find your own voice, even though you're not sure what your answer is going to be. But then he's pulling away, taking your silence as an answer which kind of surprises you because you thought he really is coaxing you into agreeing. Before he can fully pull away, you wrap your legs around his frame and cage him. 

He opens his mouth staring at you as you can feel his hardened length touching the exposed skin of your thigh. 

“Fuck me, Jimin.” you tell him, meeting him in the middle as you both crash your lips together.

The kiss is heated, even more than ever before and you shiver when you feel his tip against your heat. He looks at you, checking one more time as you give him a nod before you crash your lips together again.

He needs you as his distraction but he's not an asshole to take you without your consent, or trying to control you.

With that, he pushes past your folds and enters you. You gasp, pressing your face into his shoulder as you bite onto him gently. He doesn't budge, not surprised by the feeling of your teeth dangerously poking him through the fabric of his shirt. He's pushing in, bottoming out before he's already pulling out just to thrust back in. Jimin has no patience, already getting to work as he starts fucking you. With each thrust, it gets easier to move inside of you as your cum and arousal helps him. You're surprised how good you're taking him, even though your walls do burn with the sudden penetration and the new feeling of his thick cock. Even the pace is going too fast, the top of his thighs slapping against the back of yours while his balls make contact with your ass. The bathroom is filled with sinful sounds of skin on skin slapping, and it coaxes you to clench around him repeatedly. You can't keep up with the animalistic and rustless pace he set, whimpering and moaning his name all over again with an occasional curse falling out of your lips. Jimin grunts are no longer silenced ones, although he seems to be controlling his voice much more.

“Fuck,” you moan, head tilting back as your hands are doing a poor job at trying to hold you in place. 

Jimin's hands are around your thighs, making sure your legs stay apart as he keeps fucking into you. You can feel sweat slowly dripping down your neck, even your ass getting sweaty from the contact of the bathroom counter.

“I'm--fuck, I'm close.” you gasp, clutching the edge even harder and before you can say something else, you're already cumming around him. “Ohhh, fuck, Jimin.” you moan out through your orgasm, his pace not slowing down even after you're done and gritting your teeth at the overstimulation.

His head falls into the crook of your neck, lips almost making contact with your skin as he starts shaking and grunting. You think he's close, that it's only a natural reaction of approaching orgasm and you're completely thrown back when he suddenly pulls away completely. His cock is out of you in a record time and as you blink, he's in the middle of the bathroom standing with his jeans and boxer briefs wrapped around his mid-thighs, along with still hardened cock that's coated with your cum. If the situation weren't so weird all of a sudden, you'd probably focus on the sight in front of you much more. 

You watch Jimin's features twist in an almost painful expression, his nose scrunching as his whole body shakes. It's nothing too drastic but just enough to notice by the way he's shivering and trying to control himself. He gulps a couple of times as well, seeming like he's in a pain. You've no idea what has just happened and you just stand there completely clueless, eyes big and mouth agape. 

“Are you okay?” you ask softly, wondering what the hell is wrong with him. 

You hop off the counter, ignoring how sensitive you're between your legs and how hard it feels like to be standing on your feet all of a sudden.

“Don't,” he warns you, voice raising as he outstretches his arm to keep you from coming closer. “Don't come any closer.” he says lowly, head held high as you can't see his face.

“What, why? What happened?” you ask worriedly, your eyes filled with worry and confusion at the same time. 

When you're about to take another step towards him, it's like he can sense it before you can even more your feet, his head snaps to you and he growls at you. 

“Fucking stay away.” he warns you again, almost yelling at you as you jump in fear.

The last thing he sees is your scared eyes before he focuses his gaze to the floor again. He can feel the veins starting to cracking up on his skin, showing what he really craves for. He can't let you see. With your heartbeat being the loudest melody in the room and your smell filling it too, he can't promise not to do something he doesn't want to. That was the whole purpose of tonight, the whole purpose of approaching you and talking to you. He has no idea what's happening to him and why can't he listen to what his mind is telling him to do. He's controlling himself and he knows if he stays any longer, you're not going to make it without any harm. 

And that's why he focuses his attention on something else, desperately listening to people slurring drunken nonsense and the loud music before something else catches his attention. It's not too much, just the only thing that helps with not focusing on your smell entirely. It's something no one else can hear, the whimpers and slurping sounds that could only mean one thing. 

You notice how he zones out, your hands pulling your dress down to have at least some kind of modesty as you eye the stranger in front of you. 

“J--”

His eyes snap to yours as he turns around. “You need to leave.”

“I-- what?” you blurt out, seeing him tucking himself back into the jeans. You ignore the feeling of disappointment that clouds your mind for a whole second, before you're back to confusingly staring at him. 

“I don't know wha--”

Taking two long steps, he's right in front of you before he grips your face tightly into his hands. You whimper at the strength staring into his dark orbs that shine like never before. 

“Get your friend and leave. You've to leave, right now.” 

The firmness in his voice doesn't go unnoticed by you, however it gets somewhere in the back of your mind as you stare at Jimin with big eyes. Painfully for you, he lets you go as he starts backing away from you but there's nothing you can do. You can't bring yourself to move, nor rush after him when he flicks the lock open and walks out of the bathroom. You stand there, your mind suddenly snapping into action as the only thing you can think about is getting Yeri. 

When Jimin makes it through the crowd, successfully hiding and blending with his surroundings, he stops and makes sure he has a great view of you walking out of the bathroom. He's watching you from the safe distance, seeing you trying to find your friend that seems to be nowhere in sight. When desperation is evident on your face since you've checked every room downstairs and you still can't find her, your legs lead you upstairs. He wishes he'd tell you to go alone, the longer you're staying... no, he doesn't care. 

His mind drifts away to the moment in the bathroom, where his long canines started growing and all he could think about was sinking them to your delicious neck.

He can hear your faint heartbeat but he doesn't allow himself to get closer, not even if you're already upstairs opening every door of each room to find your friend. And when he sees Taehyung with a satisfied grin and blood dripping down his chin nearing him, it makes Jimin think only one thing. None of these people are aware of the liquid dripping down his friend's chin, thinking that it's just another fake blood even if Jimin can smell the metal scent from miles away.

You're growing annoyed when the third room you open, there's still no sight of Yeri but some drunk couples having sex or smoking weed. You scrunch your nose in disgust, wondering if these people don't know what locks are. As you're nearing another room, you just hope there are no naked people and any possible butts that you'll be seeing before you take the doorknob into your hands. 

But nothing could ever prepare you for the sight behind that door. 

The room is dark, the street lights create at least some kind of lightning but you still decide to turn up the lights. It happens in seconds. The first thing you recognize is the costume, the same one she proudly showed you this morning saying she'll be the hottest Black Widow. You stare at the horrific sight of the face of your friend which is almost unrecognizable. Her lifeless body is laying on a bed, blood trickling down her neck and staining beige sheets underneath her. Your piercing scream rings in your ears but you can't stop screaming from the horror sight in front of you. 

Jimin hears your screams, his eyes shifting towards the house as he starts the engine. 

“You killed her?” he asks, voice low as he starts the engine. 

“Y'know how I get,” Taehyung chuckles, wiping the remains of blood from his chin and mouth. “I was hungry.” 

Jimin grips the steering wheel tightly, stealing a last glance at the house and the party that slowly turns into chaos. That's why they never come back. They can't and he should've known his longtime friend would get one of his moods. Taehyung is crazy, much more dangerous than Jimin because he gets so into his own needs. 

“You didn't have to kill her.” Jimin points out, leaving the driveway while the house keeps getting further and further.

“I didn't have to, you're right. But I did,” he sighs pleasingly, patting his stomach as he makes himself comfortable in the passenger seat. “And she tasted fucking great.”

Jimin's jaw flexes, slowly growing irritated by his friend's decision to end someone's life again. He should've gotten used to it by now, but he can't never really process it. It's even weirder now that he knows that someone wasn't just someone. It was your best friend. 

And that night, almost everyone who attended that party had some regrets. And you've got many of them. 

You wish you'd pay more attention to Jimin. 

Like, how his eyes kept changing color. How cold his skin was, too unrealistically to be natural. Or one second, he flashed you with his sharp canines and the next one he didn't have any. How much he craved for you, but not the way you thought he was.

If you just paid attention, maybe your friend would be still alive. And maybe you'd be in her place and would never make it out alive, if it weren't for the stranger with red dark orbs that hunts you every night.

[axoxtxhxh]

First Date with the Vets - Hange

Big shoutout to @chaotic-nick​ for making this lovely banner for me!

Overall Summary: I had this idea to do a first date with the vets and what it would be like. I am including Erwin, Levi, Miche, and Hange in this list. Each date will be different, but all of them will be set in modern au.

Check out Miche��s story here, Erwin’s story here, Levi’s story here

Pairing: Hange x Masc!Reader

Content: All fluff

Word Count: ~ 5,300

Summary: Reader is getting ready to close up his shop for the night and start his Friday night when just before it’s time to close, a familiar face walks in the shop. Will this change his plans for the night?

A/N: Here I am again, writing for a masculine reader. I hope I did okay :) I am also still trying to get better at writing Hange and because of that, I may make mistakes with they/them pronouns and other non-gender specific things. Please let me know how I can fix it if I’ve made a mistake. Thank you!

Also, I wasn’t planning to post this today, but you know what? I don’t care. Happy Pride Month! 🏳️‍🌈

The clock on the wall continued to tick as slowly as it had been the last hour, each time you checked it, you swore it slowed down even more. You nibbled on your thumb nail again, tapping your fingers on the counter as you looked out the front window. It was one of those nights that felt cold, rainy and wet. The ground was wet, but it wasn’t actually raining. There were no umbrellas necessary, but you could still feel that rainy day mood.

The weather meant most people were either inside or at a café, trying to pull as much of the cozy feeling that they could. Not the best night to be at a bookstore. Especially an old bookstore without a café. You definitely mentioned this to your boss, but no such luck. It would have been a nice addition.

Normally Friday nights were quite busy and normally you loved being there. This Friday was a bit different. For once you had plans to go out and these were plans you were actually looking forward to.

Your friend had called you up last week saying she had tickets to an art show just down the street from where you work. It’s not that you were a huge fan of art, but you really liked the idea of being able to be out without having to get looks from people because you were alone.

It was the whole reason you loved living in the city. There were so many things you were able to do by yourself, but still have people around you. The was basically a dream for you being an introvert. Plus, it’s not that there was an issue finding someone to hang out with, you just preferred doing things alone. At least, you had yet to find someone you were interested in spending time with.

You checked the clock again. Twenty minutes left. You sighed and brought your thumbnail to your mouth again. It looked like the rain was actually picking up. More umbrellas were popping open and you watched the droplets of water roll down the front window. The rain wasn’t going to slow you down though. If anything, it meant there might be less people interested in an art showing and you could have the place to yourself.

You continued watching the rain droplets rolling down the window, periodically checking the time, until you recognized a familiar Starry Night umbrella. The walk of the person holding the umbrella was even more familiar.

It was maybe four months ago that Hange Zoe first walked into the bookstore. You were working that day, standing in the exact same spot. They had never come in the bookstore before, you were very sure of that because had they come in, you would have remembered them. Still, the second they stepped foot inside, it was as if they knew the place, as if it were their bookstore and not your boss’s.

At the time, you didn’t realize that anytime Hange came in, they would be searching for the most random and hard-to-find book in existence, but after about a month of that happening, you quickly realized that when they walked in, you would be having to place an order for them. You were pretty sure that’s what brought them into your bookstore in the first place since you ran a specialty bookstore. Still, Hange found a way to get you searching for books you had never even heard of.

The first book they wanted was a very old and very specific ethics textbook. You had no idea what they needed that for, but you knew you didn’t carry it in the store. They waited by the spinning display of sunglasses while you filled out the form. Yes, your boss decided to sell cheap sunglasses in the front as well as those keychain nametags, but couldn’t find a reason to open a café.

Your eyes kept taking glances at Hange while they tried on the most ridiculous glasses meant for the children that came in. You laughed to yourself as you finished filling out the form and called your boss over to sign the order form.

“What is it?” He asked, carrying a stack of books that you knew he was going to have you stocking later on.

“She’s looking for this book.” You pointed to the order form.

“It’s actually ‘they’.” Hange spoke so nonchalantly that you weren’t actually sure if they were speaking to you or to themselves in the star sunglasses they’d put on.

“Pardon?”

“I use they/them pronouns.” Hange gave a wide grin, peaking around the spinning display.

“Oh, I’m sorry.” You had hoped your face wasn’t showing how uncomfortable you were feeling. You hated making mistakes like that. You hoped that they weren’t annoyed with you for that mistake. Based on the smile they had on their face, they weren’t bothered at all.

“No problem.” Hange was still smiling and there was something so contagious about the way they smiled. Something about the open-mouthed grin that made it seem like they were constantly half a step away from giggling that always got you to smile back.

“They are looking for this book.” You looked back down at the order form, still smiling. “I need your signature to order it.”

Your boss took the form and signed it, handing it back to you and you couldn’t help but stand there watching Hange trying on another ridiculous pair of sunglasses. This time, it was a Halloween themed pair with one square lens and one circle. It really was the stupidest addition to the bookstore, but that day was the first time you were happy that it was there. You laughed to yourself as you watched them try to realign the glasses in a spot they didn’t fit in.

“Mx. Zoe.” Hange looked up and skipped over to you.

“I will place the order today and for most books, they come in after a couple days, but since yours is quite specific, it may take a week or two.” You explained everything to them and gave them their receipt. “Please make sure you bring your receipt in when you come to pick it up.”

You watched their attention move from you to the receipt to the card on the table. They slowly reached up and picked up the card, reading the text and flipping it over.

“You guys repair old books?” Their eyes moved up to you and you nodded.

“It’s another one of our specialties.”

“I have a couple old books I’ve been scared to read because of how fragile they were when I bought them.” They put the card in their bag.

“There are some limits to what we’re able to fix, but if you bring them in, I can take a look.” You smiled widely, hoping to see them smile once more before they left.

“I’ll see you tomorrow then.” They flashed a wide smile and that time you actually did laugh. A laugh which you covered up with a cough and scratched your head, pretending to tend to something on your computer. You watched Hange walk out and realized you had something to look forward to.

The next day Hange came in with a crate of books. You smiled at the cuteness of the little huff they gave after setting the books on the counter in front of you. Your smile quickly dropped as you saw the books they had.

“Where did you get these?” Your eyes were wide. Most were books that you would never be able to get your hands on, order form or not.

“Lots of different places,” they explained as you reached your hands in to pull out the first book.

“Do you collect these?” You couldn’t take your eyes away from the books. They were in pretty bad shape, but the fact that they owned these was amazing.

“Some of them are books I’ve been wanting to read. Others I’ve read online and really wanted to own the original.” You could feel the smile on their face, but found it so hard to look away from the original binding.

“These are amazing.” You smiled, finally looking at them. They were just as excited as you and their smile widened even further.

“This one’s my favorite.” Hange reached in the crate and pulled out a severely crumbling textbook. “Vicki is in back shape.”

“You named your book Vicki?”

“It’s a Victorian era medical textbook detailing surgery of the time. What would you name it?” Hange explained.

“I wasn’t questioning the name choice, but the fact that you—never mind.” You chuckled to yourself. “Vicki is a great name.”

“Thanks, Fuzzy.”

“Fuzzy?” “Your beard. It looks like it’s coming in nicely.”

“Thanks.” You rubbed your two-day old stubble, a little embarrassed that someone noticed you forgot to shave and a lot embarrassed that Hange seemed to like it. Maybe embarrassed was the wrong word. Hange never lingered though and just after complimenting you, they moved on to the next thing that caught their attention. In this case it was the receipt you handed them and they started signing.

“I imagine this will take some time to get through.”

“For this amount, it will probably take at least two weeks,” you started, “We are closed on Mondays which is when we get the book repairs done.”

“Like a vets office.” Hange smiled and gave you the signed receipt. “Spaying and neutering on Wednesdays.”

“Like a vets office.” You nodded, laughing to yourself at the connections they always made.

“I’ll see you around, Fuzzy.” They waved good-bye and walked out.

From that day, you always looked forward to any exchange you were able to have with Hange. It was always a good day when they came into the shop and each time they came in, they would stay longer and longer chatting with you about new books that came into the store or new books that they acquired. You often wondered what their apartment looked like considering how many books they talked about.

Seeing their smile as they walked into the bookstore on that rainy Friday night made you really happy that there was still twenty minutes before closing. Hange stepped inside and shook the extra water off their umbrella before bringing it inside. They threw the hood of their raincoat back and smiled.

“Heya, Fuzzy.”

“Hey, Hange. You here to check the status of that book you ordered?” You leaned over the counter and smiled at them.

“That, I am.” They took off their raincoat and you watched them fail at hanging it up a couple times before finally getting it to stay on the coat rack. “Please tell me you have some good news for me.”

“I do have some good news.” You watched their face light up in a huge smile. “It’s not about your book though. Apparently, it’s not supposed to rain all weekend.”

“I see what you did there.” They pointed their first finger at you and narrowed their eyes, quickly breaking it with a laugh. “Good thing I don’t get disappointed easily.”

“One of my favorite things about you.” Hange’s excitement for books always seemed to remind you of your own.

“Got anything good coming in?” They hopped up to sit on the counter next to where you were leaning, something the boss hated them doing. Hange always did it anyway and you found it incredibly endearing.

“Not this week.” You stood up straight, turning yourself to lean against the counter. “Most if it is stuff you already have.”

“Aw shucks.” They took the inventory chart from you to take a look. Another thing the boss didn’t like, but you found adorable. You watched the way their glasses slipped down their nose as they scanned over the list. “Not bad. You guys are actually starting to become a specialty store.”

You laughed loudly at their comment. Since the beginning, Hange was always criticizing the lack of textbooks that were offered in the store. Your boss liked to focus on rare fiction, but Hange loved non-fiction more than anything. Textbooks on ethics, medicine, dinosaurs, you name it. It was always the first complaint out of their mouth when they checked the inventory.

“I don’t think anyone’s collection will come close to yours.” You watched as Hange smiled shyly. It didn’t take you long to realize that no matter how much you tried to compliment how they looked, they never noticed it as a compliment. That is until one day you commended their commitment to building a library in their spare bedroom and the blush that reached their cheeks that day was on your mind for weeks. You always tried to find ways to flatter them through their achievements after that.

“Such is the life of a crazy professor.” They lifted their hands, palms up, in an expressive display and you laughed. “Any plans tonight?”

“I have this art show I got invited to.” You shrugged it off, not sure if Hange liked art so you didn’t want to seem too interested. “I uh… I’ve never really been into art, but this one seemed good.”

“That sounds like fun.” You watched them kick their feet lightly forward and there was a small voice in your head that told you to invite them to the show. You didn’t want them to feel obligated, but this was a chance to bring your work friendship to possibly something more. For all Hange knew, you lived in this bookstore.

You both heard a noise outside and watched as a little kid tripped on the sidewalk. His mom picked him up and kept walking.

“I hope he’s okay,” Hange whispered. You were pretty sure your window to ask them to the art show closed. It would be weird if you asked them about it now. You sighed.

“What about your plans?”

“Just going home. Maybe watch a documentary.” They’re just going home. Dang it. It would have been perfect for you to ask them. You tried not to beat yourself up over it and instead enjoy the short time you got with them before you would have to leave.

You were both laughing and joking as you normally did when they walked into the shop that you completely forgot to keep track of the time. You caught a glimpse of their watch and saw that the bookstore should have closed thirty minutes ago.

“Oh!” You jumped up. “I have to close up.”

“Oh man, sorry.” Hange jumped off the counter. “Here I am, just talking away.”

You moved to the back counter and flicked off all the lights and shut down the computer systems. Hange moved up front and you met them by the door as they put their raincoat back on and opened their umbrella. You locked up and turned to them.

“Well, enjoy your art showing, Fuzzy.”

“Thanks.” You smiled, not feeling as excited to go now that you didn’t ask Hange to join. “Enjoy your documentary.”

They nodded and turned around and you watched them walk through the crowd of people. You were going to turn around and start walking to the showing, but you couldn’t get yourself to move. You should have asked them. What a wasted opportunity. You sighed again before your feet started moving forward, not in the direction of the showing, but in the direction of Hange. When you realized what you were doing, you started running.

“Hange!” You called after them and ran even faster to catch up. They turned around at their name and looked at you, confusion crossing their face. “Do you… maybe want to come with me? I’m pretty sure I can bring a guest.”

The realization that you just asked them to hang out with you outside of your bookstore hit you quickly and your cheeks started heating up, your hand instinctively moving to the back of your head and you laughed at yourself. A smile also grew on Hange’s lips.

“I think I’d like to.” They nodded, putting their arm out for you. You closed your umbrella and took their arm with one hand and held their umbrella with the other. You reached for your phone to message Fenmore quickly.

[Fen, is there any way you can add a plus one for me at the art show? I’m bringing someone :) ]

[You have a date!!!]

[It’s not really a date.]

[At least I don’t think it is.]

[I don’t know 😩]

[It seems like a date! You both are in]

[Good luck!]

You stuffed your phone back in your pocket and turned to Hange and started walking to the art gallery. It wasn’t far, just a couple blocks away from the bookstore, but you couldn’t stop thinking that this was possibly a date and it made you so nervous which made the couple blocks feel like miles. When you did finally get to the door, you breathed a sigh of relief and walked inside.

“I think there’s a couple artists at this showing,” you said, reaching for a pamphlet. “I don’t really know much about many of them.”

“Me neither.” They smiled at you. “I may love studying, but art wasn’t really on the top of my list.”

You started with the first art piece in the pamphlet, standing in front of it and waiting. You tried to look around and see what everyone else was doing. This plan of getting to spend more time with Hange was becoming a fail because you had no idea about art. You didn’t want to say anything weird if they were liking it, but you really didn’t think you could just silently look at all these pieces. Honestly, some of them were weird.

“This one’s nice.” You turned to them and smiled.

“Yes, very nice.” They smiled.

“What’s it called?” You leaned forward to look at the information card. “Abandoning All Hope… ah.”

“Lovely.” Hange nodded and you swallowed hard. This was bad. This was really bad. You both moved to the next one, the artwork looking a little happier.

“This one looks bright.” You turned back to Hange and they read the title card.

“It’s called Basking in Sadness.”

“Jesus.” You rubbed your temples and closed your eyes.

“According to the description,” They started, “the artist was sick as a child and often had to stay inside. So when he would see sunny days and be stuck inside, he felt sad.”

“I suppose that makes it a bit better.” You scratched your head. “Still sad.”

You both continued and hoped that the art would get better at making conversation naturally flow between you both. It was weird how well you conversed in the bookstore, but now you were really struggling with what to say. You walked up and the next piece looked like a murder scene.

“Gosh, I really have no idea what any of this means.” You finally admitted. “Sorry, I’m really not as big into this kind of art.”

“Oh good!” Hange laughed. “I’ve had no idea of anything since we walked in.”

You look quickly to them and smiled.

“I thought the bench out front was part of the exhibit until I saw someone sit on it.” You both laughed and a man walked up to you with a tray and glasses of champagne. You turned to Hange and they nodded, grabbing a glass.

“Well, to having no idea what we’re doing here.” You held up your glass and Hange clinked it and you both drank quickly.

After the first glass of champagne hit, you started feeling a lot more comfortable. The artwork still made no sense to either of you, but you were having fun. When the man came back around a short while later, you grabbed another glass and another glass and another glass. Before you knew it, you and Hange were five glasses in and finally the art was starting to make sense to you.

“Wait, wait, this one. Do this one.” Hange stood next to the artwork giggling and you rubbed your chin.

“Hmm, it’s definitely about a mother.” You had no right to be as confident as you were when Hange looked at the title card, turning back to you with a surprised look on their face.

“A Mother’s Touch. How did you do that?” They couldn’t believe it. You grabbed Hange’s arm and pulled them next to you, pointing at the picture.

“You see all those swirls look like arms. Like a hug.”

“I do not see that at all.” They laughed. “Do the next one!”

You stood in front of the painting and thought about it, but your eyes kept drifting over to Hange. They weren’t looking at you which only made it harder to focus on the painting. If they could see you, then you’d have a reason to look away, but their eyes were glued to the artwork and yours were glued to them.

“There’s no way you’re going to get this one.” They leaned back up from looking at the title card and faced you and you quickly looked back at the painting. “No way at all.”

“Something with a snake.”

“How!?” They put their palm on their forehead and smiled. “Snake’s Path. How did you know?”

“Come on.” You laughed. “Let’s go to the next one.

“Wait, I’m getting more champagne.” They started moving towards the bar. “The one they’re passing out now is cheap. I want the good stuff.”

“Make sure you bring me a glass.”

“I’m bringing the whole bottle, Fuzzy.” You laughed and went to look at the next artwork while you waited. It was a short wait and you felt a tap on your shoulder.

“Excuse me, sir?” You turned to see a man standing behind you.

“Yes?”

“Is that your date?” The man pointed to Hange and you looked over his shoulder to see them at the bar. You started thinking about them being your date and it made you smile this time, your nerves from earlier completely calmed with alcohol. Hange was still at the bar and you watched them debating with the bartender. It really reminded you of how great they are. Hange never got scared of confrontation like you did.

“Yep.” You smiled proudly. “That’s them.”

“I’d like to let you know that she is causing quite the—”

“They. Their pronoun is they.” You corrected.

“Well they are trying to steal alcohol from the bar. We’re going to have to ask you both to leave.”

It took everything you had no to burst out laughing on the spot, but you managed to hold it in enough to make it to Hange and you both walked outside. Once outside, you both started laughing hysterically, holding your belly as you tried to catch your breath. It was nice outside now. The rain had stopped and it left the air fresh and cool which felt great against your heated cheeks. You both stopped laughing and looked at each other.

“It’s a nice night.” Hange smiled.

“Yeah. Thanks for coming with me.” You smiled back, taking a deep breath.

“Anytime, Fuzzy.”

You didn’t want to say good night. You weren’t ready to leave yet. There really wasn’t anything else to do though. It was probably nearing eleven at that point and you weren’t sure if Hange had things to do in the morning. But you still didn’t want to say good night just yet.

“Do you want to go to the bookstore?” You asked without thinking. “We got a new shipment you might like.”

Hange smiled, a strange look in their eyes as they looked at you.

“You liar.”

“What?”

“I saw the shipment earlier,” they explained, “You showed it to me and told me I wouldn’t like any of it.”

“Oh, right.” You looked down, laughing at your ridiculous attempt to spend more time with them.

“But I would still like to go to the bookstore with you.” You looked at them quickly.

“You would?” You couldn’t hold back your surprised face at that.

“Lead the way, Fuzzy!” Hange linked arms with you and you both walked back the couple blocks to the bookstore. This time, the walk was a lot faster.

You unlocked the door and were about to step inside when you realized that Hange wasn’t with you anymore. It made no sense considering they linked their arm with yours. You leaned around the corner, looking for them, but they weren’t there. It was possible that they changed their mind, but they didn’t know how to tell you and just went home. That didn’t really seem like them though.

“Fuzzy!” You turned around and saw Hange running over to you with a bottle of convenience store wine and you both laughed.

“After you.” You gestured them inside and started looking for some cups. You only had a couple small dixie cups, but they worked well enough. Hange poured a glass for each of you and you tapped your cups together, spilling wine on the floor.

“So how many years before I get to walk into your bookstore?” They asked. At first you misunderstood, thinking they were talking about the bookstore you both were in.

“Ah.” You smiled. “I think it’s a while before that.”

Your dream of owning your own bookstore came up in conversation with Hange more often than you ever thought it would ever. They genuinely seemed interested in it and seemed to be your biggest cheerleader when it came to opening it. Normally when people would ask you about it, you felt rushed and like you were behind. Almost as if they were saying ‘you still haven’t opened it yet?’ but not with Hange. Never with Hange. They made it seem like you were right on track and your dream would be here sooner than you thought.

You looked over at them and smiled. It was amazing how pretty they were. You definitely noticed it the first time they walked into the bookstore last summer, but you wondered if you were the only one to see it. There’s no way. There was no way that someone as intelligent and funny and kind and so beautiful didn’t constantly get asked out. You must just be lucky enough to catch them on a free day.

“You know what Fuzzy?” You looked over at them as they spoke, their eyes still looking down at the empty cup of wine. “I’m glad you asked me to the art showing.”

They giggled a little to themselves, possibly remembering what a hot mess it was inside the gallery. Or perhaps building the courage to say what looked to be sitting on the edge of their mind.

“I don’t get asked to do much these days. Not since moving to the city.” Hange hiccupped and you tried to understand how that was possible. “But I’m having a lot of fun. Thank you.”

You weren’t really sure what to do. You really couldn’t believe it. You managed to smile when they looked up at you.

“It’s my pleasure.” You stared at them, maybe a bit too long, but you couldn’t look away. Hange’s eyes were lidded, tired from all the alcohol you both had. But seeing their drunken smile and hearing their small hiccups had your heart beating quickly. They reached forward and put their hand on yours and you looked down at it. “Oh! I wanted to show you something.”

You jumped up from the ground and helped pull Hange up with you. You walked towards the backroom and halfway there realized you were holding Hange’s hand as you pulled them behind you. It was so soft and so warm and you were thankful for the alcohol letting you do things that you normally would second guess at every moment.

“It’s up there.” You dropped their hand and did your best to reach the top shelf, barely touching the bottom of the books you wanted. “Maybe if you try.”

“We’re the same size.” They laughed.

“Oh right.” You were both laughing and they handed you a shoe and you grabbed it, trying to shimmy the books down. “Wait, whose shoe is this?”

When you turned to look at them they were smiling and you looked down at their feet and couldn’t hold back your laughter at their feet missing a shoe.

“Here, climb on my shoulders.”

“Great idea.” They hopped up and reached for the books. This time they were able to grab them and slowly pull them from the shelf.

Your balance was surprisingly good considering how intoxicated you were. You were looking up and focusing on making sure Hange got the right books. As soon as you saw them grab it, they handed them down to you, one-by-one, and you set them on the table next to you.

“Last one!” Hange placed the book in your hands and you set it down. They threw their hands up out of excitement and you finally lost your balance as they moved back and forth. “Oh!”

Hange started to fall backwards and you quickly bent forward, giving them a way to hop down as you grabbed them before they fell. You managed to catch your balance and Hange fell into your arms and you both fell backwards onto the floor, Hange on top of you.

Their face was so close to yours and you reached up to fix their glasses, smiling at them. You couldn’t help but notice how warm they were, how soft their body felt up against yours, how much prettier they were up close and how badly you wanted to kiss them.

“Hange.” You took a breath, not sure if you were going to be able to do it. “I’m going to kis—”

Before you could finish your sentence, Hange bent down quickly, pushing their lips against yours. At first your eyes widened from the sudden movement, but then when you realized what was happening, you slowly closed them, your arms moving around their back and up to their face.

You rotated your head a bit, trying to get a better angle so your noses weren’t smashed against each other and your tongue slipped out to brush against their lips. Hange opened their mouth and brought their hands to your hair, their long fingers delicately moving along your scalp and you sighed into their mouth. The butterflies in your stomach were going crazy and you couldn’t believe how good it felt.

Hange slipped their tongue into your mouth and you moved your hand to their hair. You had always noticed how silky and shiny their hair was, but feeling it in your hands was a whole different story. You rolled yourself over so you laid on top of them and Hange let out a gasp, pulling back so they could laugh at the sudden movement.

They really were so completely dazzling and you watched them, smiling yourself, until they stopped laughing and looked at you.

“You’re beautiful.” You brushed a hair out of their eye and smiled. “I suppose a stepladder would have been safer.”

“It wouldn’t have been as fun.” They wrapped their arms around you and pressed their lips against yours.

[af1899]

FINALLY! (FEH calendar for Oct/2021)

(Thread on Twitter)

Sure took 'em long enough.

Anyway, here are my thoughts and plans I have in case you're curious, I also point out some things and throw in a few guesses.

Banners

Those are the things I often look forward to the most, deciding where and when I want to pull. So...

For starters {Rein} skills are now getting a banner, this is likely going to be a great banner as it'll have three people each with juicy fodder, the skills in this family have helped several fliers to stand on their own ground and even serving as support with smart play-and-position.

But... [Iceberg] and... [Ignis] themed banners too? I've glanced through the list of regular pool units and it doesn't look like there's going to be much actually good fodder or units with recent benefits for the latter, but the former looks somewhat better to probably pull on with potential candidates such as Say'ri, Fallen Male Morgan and some others; with that said though, Brave Hector is indisputably the best candidate the [Ignis] banner can get and would perhaps make it kind of interesting to pull on.

The next of the {Double Special Heroes} is coming up in two days and I keep forgetting those exist... they're more of a "clickbait" to get you into summoning with allegedly superior rates, but without having multiple targets in mind for such banners, it's best to let them pass by and pull for the seasonal you want once they rerun, I can't count how many times I've read people having tough luck in these and I've even experienced it myself when Soiree Nephenee got her rerun in one of those. Each time I pull beyond the free summon in those, I'm reminded why those banners are more a nightmare than worth the trouble so I just free pull on the most interesting color then save.

Speaking of it though, I've checked the last two ones (here and here) and my prediction is that we'll be getting these units:

Red:

New Year Kaden

Valentine's Henriette

Blue:

Spring Minerva

Young Tana (more likely than Young Lyon who's the semi-demote of his debut banner)

Green:

Valentine's Gustav

Spring Inigo

Colorless:

Harmonized Myrrh+Nah

Young L'Arachel

I've been doing some researching in Gamepedia, looking for the next seasonals to make it onto those banners and haven't rerun in those, I think I'll nail it but I mean let's wait until the 13th to find out. 👀

And with that aside, all that's left to look forward to is the rerun with Marianne & Co. along with the associated [Forging Bonds], the Legendary Hero and the New/Special Heroes... oh and the Halloween seasonals from past years coming back! I've been actually looking forward to those, here's a quick masterlist for each banner:

[Trick or Defeat!]: the 2017 one, comes back the 11/2nd and offers Nowi (red), Henry (green) and Jakob with Sakura (both sharing colorless).

[The Land's Bounty]: the 2018 one, comes back the 10/28th and offers Myrrh (red), Niles (blue), Kagero (green) and Mia (colorless).

[A Monstrous Harvest]: the 2019 one, comes back the 10/26th and offers Duo Hector+Lilina (red, and our first Duo Hero! It's been two years already), Ilyana (blue), L'Arachel (green) and Dozla (colorless). For some reason it's... again... called [Treat Fiends], it seems it was like that last year and if there's any reason to change it, I don't think there's any need to begin it... dumb move here, this should be named [A Monstrous Harvest] as it always was, that new name is misleading as there's much less info you can find if you try looking it up.

[Dragons Harvest]: the 2020 one, comes back the 10/20th one and offers: Dheginsea (red), Harmonic Young Tiki with Ninian (blue), Fallen Female Robin (green) and Xane (colorless, the semi-demote).

And... the one I look forward to comes right on the same day the Legendary Hero will be revealed (4 hours before said seasonal banner is up), and it's quite convenient since I can decide whether to pull or not. I might pull anyway but at the present, not feeling much like it as before because of the free merge on Halloween Kagero I'm aiming to get, and I could rack up some more [Orbs] for other banners, I'd be happy to get Halloween Ilyana and Harmonic Young Tiki with Ninian, they're so precious but they're both in different banners and currently I don't feel like I need anyone else, so I might sit outta all of them.

The events and whatever else

...I never look forward to [Grand Conquests], it's a chore to complete and not as rewarding as most other events, but it helps newer players the most with [Hero Feathers] and a few [Orbs] I guess.

Caellach and Veld will also rerun this month, and gosh it's been nine long months waiting for Veld, eh? Might build the guy someday because I really appreciate the Jugdral sub-series and its top-notch cast Imo, but I've been busy with other projects so I haven't had anything to spare him, however, I've kept all the free copies I've gotten... Caellach's gonna be fodder, that's for sure.

[Hall of Forms] is also coming up some time after the New Heroes, but in the datamine we'll know our next Forma, which should be from Radiant Dawn, I'm quite curious for who will be there, even though I'm unable to purchase Forma.

[Lost Lore] a.k.a semi-AFK newbie resource farm is also going to make its way again early November.

And Annette is getting a [Bound Hero Battle] with Mercedes (this means those two are getting a banner too, along with a third unit yet to be known) later this month... no idea who could be the third unit on the associated banner since I never finished Three Houses, but I'll just throw in Dimitri as a wild guess, that's it.

Other than that, just the usual stuff and all that, not really much of interest... [Limited Hero Battles] will appear again in less than three hours but I haven't found any info about them... datamined or not, guess we'll wait and see.

Ending

That's it! If you've read the post until here, thanks so much! And here's hoping anything has helped you, feel free to share whatever you think could be useful to someone else, just be sure to credit me when you do.

See you in another post and take care!

[bewitching-elizabeth-olsen]

Press: A Thorough Breakdown of All the Marvel Easter Eggs on WandaVision

POPSUGAR: WandaVision has finally arrived, and it’s chock-full of hidden goodies for Marvel fans to devour! While the series is built upon a mystery that we’ll be spending a reported nine episodes trying to figure out, the smallest details in each episode provide clues on where the show is heading. From supermarket banners to foreboding commercials, viewers have an abundance of references and callbacks to classic comic lore and pivotal MCU moments. Are they setting the stage for a big reveal at the end, or are they just fun details included for fans to enjoy? While we try to figure it all out, scroll through to see what we’ve gathered! And check back every week for an episode-by-episode breakdown as WandaVision progresses.

WandaVision Episode 7 Easter Eggs

The episode opens the morning after Wanda has expanded the border of the Hex, finding the Avenger hiding from the world under her comforter. The comforter in question has a hexagon pattern, which is both a nod to the overall theme of the show as well as a metaphor for how Wanda is literally hiding away under a hex.

Billy and Tommy run into the room to reveal that their video game console has been messing up. Everything in the house is glitching, trying to transform back to earlier versions of themselves.

Billy also tells his mother that his head hurts and things are “noisy.” Since the twin inherited his mother’s ability to read minds, it seems he’s able to hear the thoughts of everyone in the bubble (and near it on the outside, since he was able to hear his father when he was dying). It’s a sign that Billy’s powers are growing, which means we could see the little boy reach his Wiccan potential before the end of the season.

Wanda wanders into the kitchen as the news drones on in the background. The news station is called W.N.D.A. or Wanda. The newscaster makes pointed comments, noting that there’s “not a thing weighing heavily on your conscience,” and that they “hope your little ghosts arrived home safe last night. It’s always such a treat to see those creepy kiddos out and about once a year.” The comments refer to Wanda’s building guilt at her actions in the previous episode and the rare appearance of children during the Halloween episode.

As Wanda makes her breakfast of “Sugar Snaps,” a nod to the big Snap of the universe, her milk carton reverts from its modern design to the old school glass bottle and back. The carton has a missing person’s ad on the back with a picture of a little boy on the back. This could be a reference to the oft-mentioned absence of children of Westview, and what could have happened to them.

Wanda and the twins “break the fourth wall” frequently to talk to the camera in the same vein as Modern Family.

This week’s theme song sounds similar to The Office’s, which also usings talking head segments like Modern Family. The opening credits are similar to the show Happy Endings and allude to the show’s focus on Wanda, even attributing the creation of WandaVision to her with the title image. Vision is notably completely absent from the opening credits, but there’s a clue that someone else is watching in a message that reads, “I know what u are doing Wanda.”

Agnes stops by to take the boys off of Wanda’s hands, which the exhausted mother is exceedingly grateful for. The twins are visibly uncomfortable with the idea, with Tommy asking Wanda if they have to and Billy telling his mother that someone has to stay to take care of her. It seems like they can sense that something is off with their “kindly” neighbor.

Wanda sends them off with Agnes, but once they’re gone, her magic goes incredibly haywire. All the furniture begins glitching again, with the stork from the painting in episode three making a reappearance. “I don’t understand what’s happening,” Wanda laments during a talking head segment. “Why it’s all falling apart and why I can’t fix it.” The off-screen interviewer responds, “Do you think maybe it’s what you deserve?” which visibly unnerves Wanda, who notes that they aren’t supposed to speak. It’s another sign that Wanda does not have as much control as she’s been led to believe.

Cue the sixth commercial, and it’s even more pointed than any of the others have been. It’s an ad for the antidepressant Nexus, for “when the world doesn’t revolve around you. Or does it?” The drug allows people to anchor themselves to the reality of their choice with side effects that include “feeling your feelings, confronting your truth, seizing your destiny, and possibly more depression.” Whew, the pointed commentary is even making me sweat. Nexus is a nod to two things: Wanda’s crippling inability to deal with the trauma she’s been through and her depression that’s pushed her into the creation of Westview, and two Marvel comics concepts. The first is the Nexus of All Realities is a kind of gateway point between dimensions from which all universes in the multiverse can be accessed. (Remember, Wanda’s next reported appearance is in Multiverse of Madness.) The second concept is the existence of Nexus beings, people who have powers that can alter reality, probability, and the Universal Time Stream. Guess which two Westview residents are considered Nexus beings? That’s right, Wanda and Vision! The commercial can either be just a cheeky nod to the couple’s seemingly infinite power or an allusion to the bigger picture that WandaVision is leading to.

While Darcy and Vision are attempting to make their way to the house, the doctor gives the synthezoid a brief rundown of his origin story, explaining how he died twice in an attempt to save the world. Vision points out that it seems like someone is trying to keep him from getting home, which spurs him to fly off, leaving Darcy behind in the blocked truck.

Billy and Tommy are watching Yo Gabba Gabba in Agnes’s lowkey creepy home. (It tickles me that Yo Gabba Gabba is more canon in the MCU than the X-Men or Fantastic Four right now.) While Billy pets Agnes’s bunny Señor Scratchy, he notes that he likes being around the older woman because he’s unable to hear any of her thoughts. “You’re quiet inside,” he says, an allusion to the idea that Agnes can hide her thoughts from him because she has magic.

Back outside the Hex, after the super-rover isn’t able to penetrate the field, Monica decides to run through it again. As she struggles through the barrier and we watch her, a montage of dialogue from Captain Marvel plays. The voices of Maria, Nick Fury, and Carol play over Monica getting through, and as Captain Marvel says “when they were handing out little kids, your mom got the toughest one,” Monica she pushes through to the other side. She lands in the stereotypical three-point-stance of all Marvel heroes, and her eyes glow, showing that she can see energy. We just witnessed the rise of Photon, folks! (Or Spectrum or Pulsar.)

Monica confronts Wanda in her home, and as their fight spills onto the lawn, the residents of Westview watch from their own homes. The delivery man is wearing a “Presto Delivery” uniform, a reference to the magic words said by magicians before they pull a magic trick.

In the first blatant show of Agnes’s ulterior motives, the older woman stops the fight when she realizes Monica is getting through to Wanda and pulls the young mother into her home. But when Wanda gets there, she notices the green bug and rabbit in the living room and the lack of her sons’ presence. When she asks Agnes where the boys are, she’s told to head to the basement, where the big showdown occurs. The scene hints at the eventual disappearance of Billy and Tommy.

Wanda notices a book on an altar, which could be the Darkhold, also known as The Book of Sins, The Shiatra Book Of The Damned. Originally a collection of papers known as the Chthon Scrolls, the book contains all the spells and ideas of the evil Elder God known as Chthon. The book is a conduit for Chthon’s power and can open a doorway from Earth to Chthon’s dimension. If that book is in Agnes’s basement, it stands to logic that she may be working with the evil god. The Darkhold emits an orange glow, which is a distinctly different color than the purple of Agatha’s magic.

Speaking of magic, Agnes finally reveals herself as the witch we’ve known her to be. Although the show tells us that “it’s been Agatha all along,” it still doesn’t ring completely true. There’s definitely more at work than just Agatha’s magic.

In the mid-credits sequence, Monica is caught snooping in Agnes’s backyard by Pietro. Her eyes seem to glow purple, the same color that signals Agatha’s magic. Does this mean she’s now under the witch’s spell?

  WandaVision Episode 6 Easter Eggs

The opening credits for episode six seem to be a tribute to Malcolm in the Middle, which ran for seven seasons between 2000 and 2006.

The entire Wanda and Vision family wear their comic book character costumes for Halloween.

There’s another reference to Thanos’s snap as Director Tyler Hayward talks about dealing with the repercussions of all the people “who left.”

The terrifying Yo-Magic commercial seems to foreshadow Vision’s future. Even though Wanda was seemingly able to bring Vision back to life, it looks like he won’t stay alive for long as it’s implied that he can’t exist outside of the Hex later in the episode.

Blink and you’ll miss the fun Disney movie Easter egg on Westview’s movie theater. The sign outside the theater shows a double feature of The Incredibles and The Parent Trap. Connecting right to Wanda’s family, The Incredibles is about a family of superheroes, while The Parent Trap is about a pair of long-lost twins reuniting.

Wanda’s changing accent has been brought up countless times by fans, and in episode six, Pietro makes a slight reference to it when Wanda asks, “What happened to your accent?” to which he quips, “What happened to yours?”

There is another reference that Agnes is actually Agatha Harkness as she is spotted wearing a witch costume on Halloween.

It appears that Vision has no memories pre-Westview, as a conscious Agnes tells him he’s one of the Avengers, and he has no clue what she’s talking about.

The episode further hints at Monica’s powers as Darcy confirms that the Hex rewrote her cells on a molecular level.

A few interactions between Pietro and Wanda have fans wondering if he might actually be Mephisto in disguise. Not only is he fully aware about Wanda creating Westview, but he makes several references to the devil and hell throughout the episode.

  WandaVision Episode 5 Easter Eggs

Wanda and Vision’s brand new house, suitable for a family of four, is reminiscent of homes in ’80s sitcoms such as Full House and Growing Pains.

When Agnes comes in to offer her babysitting help, she refers to herself as “Auntie Agnes,” which is eerily close to her comic counterpart’s nickname, Auntie Agatha.

An uncomfortable break in conversation leads Agnes to ask Wanda if she wants her to “take it from the top.” Though Wanda appears confused for a moment, she readily smoothes the conversation and carries on. Vision is visibly perturbed, though Wanda attempts to redirect his attention. It seems like the facade is fading all around.

To the surprise of their parents, Tommy and Billy age up five years while the two argue over Agnes’s break in character.

This episode’s opening sequence shows Wanda and Vision growing up, which we know didn’t happen in real life for the synthezoid. The theme song sounds very similar to those from Family Ties and Growing Pains, and consists of lyrics noting that “we’re just making it up as we go along.” Sounds pretty close to how things are going with Wanda and Vision!

When Wanda’s scans come back, they’re inconclusive and show up blank. Considering Monica gains her powers due to bombardment by extradimensional energies in the comics, it’s entirely possible that the blast from Wanda back in episode three, coupled with passing through the forcefield around Westview twice, have given her those abilities. We could be seeing the rise of Photon!

While Jimmy Woo is explaining Wanda’s backstory to the agents of S.W.O.R.D., Director Hayward asks if she’s ever used a “funny nickname” like the other Avengers. She hasn’t, in fact, she’s never been referred to as Scarlet Witch in the MCU ever. Since her powers are different from her comic book counterpart, there’s never been a reason for anyone to call her a witch.

That never-before-seen post credits scene from Infinity War has officially made its debut. Director Hayward reveals footage of Wanda entering S.W.O.R.D. headquarters to steal Vision’s disassembled body. The video harks back to a moment in the comics where Vision was kidnapped and taken apart — but still very much alive. Much like that Vision, the one in Westview has his memory wiped and doesn’t remember anything before he woke up in his new world. So, the question is whether Vision is actually alive or not. Wanda’s hallucination from episode four might suggest he’s a walking corpse, but there’s more to the story.

Jimmy mentions that Wanda’s stealing of Vision’s body violates the Sokovia Accords, which haven’t been mentioned since Captain America: Civil War. Unfunnily enough, the Accords were a direct response to the mission gone wrong in Lagos where Wanda lost control of her powers and caused the death of many civilians.

Darcy mentions that Vision is playing “Father Knows Best in Surburbia,” referencing the ’50s sitcom.

Tommy and Billy find a dog that, with the help of Auntie Agnes, they name Sparky. The Vision family has a dog with that exact name in the King and Walta comics, but he’s green. Sadly, he meets a similar fate as his live-action counterpart.

Wanda blatantly uses her powers in front of Agnes, who has seemingly handled the magic around her with ease. It’s almost as if she’s used to magic.

Darcy calls the Westview anomaly the “hex” because of its hexagonal shape. Although the magic has been taken out of the phrase, Wanda’s powers are known as hexes in the comics.

Jimmy, Monica, and Darcy try to understand how Wanda can revive Vision and control the Hex, which takes much more power than she’s ever displayed before. Monica notes that Wanda has always been powerful, being the only Avenger who was close to taking down Thanos singlehandedly, which Jimmy interjects to note that Captain Marvel could as well. Both are empowered by Infinity Stones, with Carol’s Kree biology giving her a power boost.

When Jimmy brings up Captain Marvel, Monica is visibly uncomfortable and changes the subject back to Wanda. What happened there?

Vision’s office mates learn about the sweet glory that is dial-up internet! But when he and Norm open their first bit of electronic mail, it’s a transmission picked up from S.W.O.R.D. talking about the Maximoff anomaly.

Vision breaks through Norm’s conditioning, revealing that he’s under the control of a woman (alluding to it being Wanda). He directly references his family, a conversation that Jimmy mentioned in his notes in the last episode.

The twins have aged themselves up to 10 by this point and are seemingly completely aware that Wanda has control over certain aspects of life, like time. They point out that it was Saturday when they woke up, but Wanda says it’s now Monday. She apparently changed the day to send Vision to work. Is their awareness because they also have magic or because she doesn’t control them?

Monica sends an ’80s drone into Westview after working out that Wanda’s Hex is rewriting reality to suit each era occurring in the bubble, and the drone would need no era-appropriate change. Though she attempts to speak with Wanda through the drone, Director Hayward commands agents to fire a missile at Wanda instead — directly ignoring that Monica said she doesn’t see Wanda as a danger. The action results in Wanda leaving the Hex and confronting the S.W.O.R.D. agents outside. She’s wearing the suit we last saw her wearing in Infinity War and Endgame and has her accent back, although it’s much thicker than it’s been since Ultron.

Episode five’s commercial is more pointed than any of them have been. Lagos brand paper towels directly reference the city in which Wanda accidentally killed several people in Civil War by blowing up a building. Thus, the Sokovia Accords were born.

While Wanda and the twins are searching for a missing Sparky — with no one calling out the fact that Wanda disappeared for some time — the mailman tells the boys that their mom “won’t let him get far.” It seems almost like a dig at how no one can leave Westview, like the doctor mentioned during episode three.

When Agnes reveals that Sparky died after eating too many azalea bush leaves, the boys ask their mother to reverse his death. Agnes seems particularly surprised by the idea of Wanda having that ability despite having seen other displays of her power and watching the twins age up rapidly twice. Wanda tells the twins that they can’t reverse death as there are still rules to things, which almost seems hypocritical considering her circumstances. Is she trying to say that she hasn’t revived Vision? Or is she simply trying to keep her boys from expecting too much from her?

Later that night, Vision reveals that he unearthed Norm’s repressed memories and demands to know what’s going on. He tells Wanda that she can’t control him, which she cooly responds asking him, “Can’t I?” Although the credits start rolling, their argument continues as Vision unleashes his frustration with not knowing his past and his confusion over their circumstances. Wanda tells him that she doesn’t control everything, saying, “I don’t even know how all of this started.” Vision believes it began subconsciously, but chastises Wanda for letting it get that far. Wanda reiterates that she isn’t controlling everything, which gives weight to the theory that there’s someone else behind the scenes. But who could it be if Wanda isn’t the “she” that Norm was referring to?

Mid-argument, the Vision family doorbell rings, which Wanda states she didn’t do. I’m inclined to believe her because when she opens the door, she is genuinely shocked speechless. At the door is her “brother” Pietro, now sporting the face of Evan Peters. Darcy asks the question we were all thinking as the episode closes, “She recast Pietro!?”

  WandaVision Episode 4 Easter Eggs

This episode opens with the heartbreaking reveal that Monica Rambeau was one of the people lost to the Snapture from Infinity War. She returns from Endgame’s Reverse-Snap in a hospital where she had been awaiting news after her mother Maria’s surgery.

As Monica is waking up, we hear familiar voices echoing in her head. It’s Captain Marvel calling her by her childhood nickname, Lieutenant Trouble.

As Monica weaves through the chaos of people reappearing in the hospital post-Reverse-Snap, she finally locates someone who recognizes her. Although Maria survived the surgery five years ago, she died from cancer three years ago in real time, having not been blipped with her daughter.

We finally have some information on S.W.O.R.D.! The acronym stands for Sentient Weapon Observation Response Division, rather than the meaning in Marvel comics, which is Sentient World. It sounds a little more ominous, right?

Maria’s badass legacy continues well past her friendship with Captain Marvel; according to S.WO.R.D.’s acting director, Tyler Hayward, Maria helped build the agency during its inception. She was the acting director until her death.

Tim gives Monica a mission to help out the FBI in the town of WestView, NJ, where something super freaky is going on with a missing person’s case. This confirms that WestView is, indeed, a very real place.

Welcome back, Jimmy Woo! Monica’s FBI contact is none other than Scott Lang’s parole officer and semifriend, Agent Jimmy Woo.

Jimmy reveals that a person in witness protection has somehow dropped off the map in a town that no longer seems to exist where no one recalls anyone who lived there. In an attempt to figure out what’s going on, Monica sends in a S.W.O.R.D. drone that vanishes inside the forcefield. It’s revealed to have transformed into the retro-style helicopter that Wanda picks up in episode two! We can only assume that since it’s an item from the outside world, it gained color when it entered Wanda’s reality to show that it doesn’t belong.

Darcy Lewis is back! Now a doctor in astrophysics, Darcy is called to help figure out what’s gone wrong with WestView. She’s the one who figured out a signal for the broadcast and is the owner of the hand we saw watching Wanda and Vision in episode one.

The mysterious beekeeper from episode two is revealed to be S.W.O.R.D.’s Agent Franklin, who journeyed through Westview’s sewers to investigate. His hazmat suit became a beekeeper’s uniform, and the cable around his waist becomes a jump rope as he travels through the tunnels.

Darcy explains that the sitcom that’s become Wanda and Vision’s life is literally being broadcast through the signals that S.W.O.R.D.’s viewing, with an audience and everything. There’s no explanation for how this is happening, but Darcy and company watched those first three episodes just like we did, credits and all.

Darcy also points out that Vision is supposed to be dead-dead, which leaves his presence in WestView still unexplained.

While Darcy and Jimmy can identity a majority of the neighbors we’ve met in WestView to their real-life counterparts, Dottie and Agnes are the only ones who are missing real information.

It’s revealed that Agent Woo was the voice behind the radio disruption, just as we suspected! But while we can see Wanda and Dottie’s reaction to the call, Darcy’s broadcast didn’t show the same thing. She explains that someone is “censoring” the visuals they’re receiving, which means someone knows they’re watching.

Back in the sitcom WestView, we see that Monica’s slip-up resulted in Wanda blasting her through the house and the energy field. It’s the first time we physically see Wanda using her powers again, so she still has them. But the lapse in her facade has consequences — when Vision returns from his talk with Agnes and Herb outside, Wanda hallucinates him as she last saw him in Infinity War, a corpse with his head crushed in.

It’s important to note that Vision seems to become more aware of the strangeness of their world with each episode. It makes sense because no matter how human he may seem, he’s still a synthezoid who has always been able to see beyond the superficial. It harks back to his “birth” in Age of Ultron. He’s omnipotent and always learning.

When Monica lands back in the real world, all she says is, “It’s all Wanda.” That seemingly serves as an answer to what’s going on in WestView, but it’s not a whole answer. Wanda seems just as confused and unaware as everyone else, but she is willing to stay in her “perfect” world. The question is, who put Wanda in the position to have her perfect world?

  WandaVision Episode 3 Easter Eggs

Much like the comics, Wanda magically becomes pregnant! But this time around, things are progressing much more quickly, and her doctor isn’t Dr. Strange.

The first of the episode’s weird glitches happens with Wanda and Vision’s neighbor Herb, who is attempting to saw through the brick fence separating the two houses instead of trimming his hedges. When Vision points out that his aim has gone a bit askew, Herb’s detached reaction is a bit creepy. He thanks Vision but keeps sawing through the wall! And unlike the previous weird behavior, there’s nothing that triggers the moment, especially not from Vision or Wanda.

Wanda and Vision contemplate what to name their baby boy, with Vision suggesting Billy and Wanda throwing out Tommy. (The argument becomes moot when they have twins!) These are the names of the pair’s sons in the comic, who later become members of the Young Avengers. In the show, Wanda chooses her name because it’s “all-American,” which is also a fair indicator of why her perfect reality is framed around sitcoms. Vision cites William Shakespeare as his inspiration and uses a quote from As You Like It that seems pretty on the nose. “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players” seems like a pointed reference to the fact that WandaVision is, in fact, all a show.

Wanda decorates the nursery using Simser brand paint, which is most likely a nod to Jeremy Simser, a storyboard artist for Marvel Studios and WandaVision.

The second glitch appears when Wanda says the residents of WestView always seem “on the verge of discovering our secret.” Vision has a moment of sobering clarity where he notes that something is wrong in WestView, citing the incidents with Mr. and Mrs. Hart and their neighbor Herb. A second after his says this, reality glitches and the scene starts over with Vision seemingly worry-free. The last time this happened with the beekeeper, it was clear Wanda was the culprit in turning back time, but in this case, she doesn’t seem to do anything to force the change. This suggests someone else is pulling the strings.

Wanda mentions that their child could be human or “synthezoid,” a term that originates in the comics. Although fans like to joke that Vision is an android, he’s technically a synthetic human. He’s not made of metal or machinery — in the comics, his body is composed of the bioengineering tech of Dr. Helen Cho, while in the MCU, he’s made of organic tissue mixed with vibranium and “powered” by the Mind Stone.

Vision jokes that Billy will be just like his mom, which is funny because, in the comics, Billy has magical abilities similar to Wanda’s powers. Tommy ends up having superspeed abilities like his uncle, Pietro.

It’s time for the third commercial! Much like the previous episode’s watch promotion, this break references Hydra — though a tad more directly. It’s all about Hydra Soak, and the message is decidedly more pointed than we’ve had before. “Escape to a world all your own, where your problems float away,” the announcer says. “When you want to get away, but you don’t want to go anywhere: Hydra Soak.” Marvel: Agents of Shield fans will recall that Hydra Soak HAS been mentioned on the show. During the series’s Framework arc, Phil Coulson claims that Hydra is brainwashing people using soap, so he makes his own. Is the commercial another sign that Hydra is behind the mystery of WestView? Is it a warning that no one in the town will be able to get away? And what’s that about finding the goddess within?

The actors in this ad are the same ones as the previous ones, Victoria Blade and Ithamar Enriquez. Their recurring presence might mean they have some significance in Wanda’s life. Maybe they’re her parents?

In what feels like an ominous follow-up to the Hydra Soak commercial, the doctor reveals that he and his wife won’t be taking their trip away after all. “Small towns, you know, so hard to escape,” he mutters, pointedly. I think we’re starting to get the hint, folks! Wanda mentions she is a twin and that her brother was named Pietro. It’s been a hot minute since anyone has talked about MCU’s Quicksilver — he made his debut back in Age of Ultron, the same film in which he was shot and killed.

When Geraldine lets it slip that she knows about Pietro’s death at the hands of Ultron, Wanda interrogates her and discovers her necklace bears a familiar symbol — it’s that damn S.W.O.R.D. logo, and Wanda is apparently not a fan.

In another sign that something is UP, Agnes and Herb seem to warn Vision about Geraldine. They note that she’s “brand new” to town with no family and start to say that “she came here because we’re all —” before they’re cut off. It’s worth noting that the two figures that may be MCU versions of formidable Marvel characters are the ones who seem to understand that strange things are going on in WestView. If Agnes and Herb are the MCU’s Agatha Harkness and High Evolutionary, they would definitely be the ones in the know. But why would they try to warn Vision about Geraldine if WestView is a trap?

Agnes is wearing her infamous brooch as a necklace that could be referencing an MCU supervillain mentioned before. The necklace has three figures close together, with the center figure holding what looks like a giant scythe. Is it another clue that the Grim Reaper is on his way?

Wanda literally throws Geraldine out of town — though she tells Vision that she had to run home — and Geraldine passes through what seems like a magical forcefield. While fans have been assuming WestView is a fake town, this shows us that physically, it’s a very real place. But it’s currently bubbled off with a barrier that Wanda can apparently allow people in and out of. And the song that plays as Geraldine finds herself outside the barrier? “Daydream Believer” by The Monkees. It seems pretty appropriate for a situation that feels like a surreal dream.

When Geraldine lands on the outskirts of real WestView, she’s instantly swarmed by cars and agents all bearing the S.W.O.R.D. logo. Since we know Teyonah Parris is playing the adult Monica Rambeau, it’s safe to assume Geraldine was an alias she used to go undercover in WestView. Combined with the mystery agent watching the show within the show from episode one, we can conclude that Wanda and Vision are being closely observed by S.W.O.R.D. for some reason. But they clearly aren’t the ones in control, since Monica is so easily forced out. What will they do next?

While the opening credits of this episode are a reference to The Brady Bunch, it’s the end credits that give us another clue about the big bad coming our way. Just like the previous episodes, Wanda and Vision are framed in a hexagon as the end credits roll. The symbol is so important because it’s the preferred shape of the creators at Advanced Idea Mechanics, or AIM, who are last seen in Iron Man 3. Remember the beekeeper suits that resemble AIM agents’ clothing? It seems like the evil organization might be making a comeback.

  WandaVision Episode 2 Easter Eggs

The opening credits for this episode aren’t just an adorable homage to Bewitched but a whole bevy of Marvel Easter eggs! The illustration of the moon happens to be surrounded by six stars, and we can’t help but be reminded of the Infinity Gauntlet.

When Vision phases through the floor, there’s a dark shape that looks exactly like the helmet worn by Marvel supervillain Grim Reaper hidden in the space. In the comics, he’s the brother of Wonder Man, whose brainwaves were used in Vision’s creation.

When Wanda goes to the supermarket in the opening, three references hang above the aisle! Bova Milk refers to Bova, the humanoid cow who raised Wanda and Pietro on Mount Wundagore. Auntie A’s kitty litter is a witchy reference to Auntie Agatha or Agatha Harkness, whom we’ve discussed before, and her cat-like familiar named Ebony. And Wonder Mints is most definitely a cheeky reference to Wonder Man, aka Simon Williams, the superhero who Vision’s brainwaves are based on in the comics!

When animated Wanda and Vision settle on their couch, the small figure on their side table is a statue of the Whizzer. Featured in 1982’s Vision and the Scarlet Witch, the Whizzer thought he was Wanda’s father but later discovers he was wrong. Whizzer and his wife were offered the chance to adopt Wanda and Pietro when they were kids on the mythical Mount Wundagore, but they declined.

When Wanda hears a crash outside the house, she heads out to the front, where she finds a colorful toy helicopter in an otherwise black-and-white world. Not only does the red-and-yellow helicopter have the number 57 stamped on it, but it also bears the S.W.O.R.D symbol! The number is likely in reference to Vision’s first appearance in Avengers #57, while the symbol hints to the presence of S.W.O.R.D outside Wanda’s perfect world.

The creepy, cult-like refrain spoken by the fundraiser organizers of it all being “for the children” seems to be a reference to Wanda’s involvement in the comic event The Children’s Crusade. The story follows her son, Billy, who’s trying to gain control over his reality-warping abilities by looking for a missing Wanda.

Well, here’s another blast from the angsty past! The Strücker timepiece is a very obvious callback to Hydra and Baron von Strücker. The watch bears the unmistakable octopus skull symbol of Hydra, and Strücker is the Hydra leader who recruited Pietro and Wanda for the experimentation that gave them powers. He was later killed by Ultron in his prison cell. Does anyone else hear that ticking noise? Remember good ol’ Herb? In the comics, a character named Herbert is also the High Evolutionary who runs Mount Wundagore, the very same safe haven where Bova delivered the Maximoff twins. Time will tell if the super-scientist is the same character, but it can’t be a coincidence.

Wanda and Vision’s magic show has two gems that we’ve noticed! First thing, the literal Mind Stone happens to be the design on the doors of the Cabinet of Mystery that plays a huge part in their act. Second, Wanda and Vision use the names Illusion and Glamour for their actor, which are also the names of the magicians that Vision goes to see in an issue of The Vision and the Scarlet Witch.

Though we all enjoy a good jam, The Beach Boys’ “Help Me, Rhonda” gets interrupted by someone asking, “Who’s doing this to you, Wanda?” And doesn’t that voice sound an awful lot like Randall Park’s Jimmy Woo?

While it may seem weird that Wanda shows her pregnancy in an instant, it’s in line with what goes on in the comics. Wanda uses magic to help her have children, which checks out since her husband is a synthezoid.

Oooh, that mysterious beekeeper! Not only does their presence lead to the reveal that Wanda has some control over the reality they’re in, but it also sets off some alarm bells. Even though the beekeeper’s suit bears the S.W.O.R.D logo on the back, the costume is reminiscent of the yellow costumes worn by A.I.M., a military science organization founded by Baron von Strücker. Could this be a sign that Wanda is being watched by more than one organization? And is this a hint that Hydra is back!? (Obviously, it is.)

  WandaVision Episode 1 Easter Eggs

When Wanda accidentally smashes a plate into Vision’s head, he jokes about his wife and her “flying saucers,” and she comments back about his “indestructible head.” Considering that Vision died after having the Mind Stone ripped from his head, it’s a dark joke to kick off the series.

Vision’s work tie has a visual reference to his comic-book alter ego! In Tom King and Gabriel Hernandez Walta’s Vision, whenever the character dresses as a human, he wears a tie clip that emulates the diamond pattern on his chest.

Vision’s boss, Mr. Hart, is likely named after comic creator Steve Englehart, who created 1985’s The Vision and the Scarlet Witch with Richard Howell, a miniseries that heavily influenced WandaVision. It’s been heavily implied that Kathryn Hahn’s Agnes is the MCU’s Agatha Harkness, a witch who helped train Wanda’s magic back in the ’70s and ’80s.

When Wanda magically saves dinner, the bottle of wine she pours from is Maison du Mépris, which translates to house of contempt or scorn. As fans have pointed out since the trailer drop, this seems like a reference to the House of M comics storyline in which Wanda bends reality into a new world ruled by her family.

The Stark commercial break refers to two things: Avengers icon Tony Stark and his part in Wanda’s dark past. As Wanda and her twin brother, Pietro, explain in Avengers: Age of Ultron, their parents were killed by an explosive Stark Industries device, leaving the twins trapped under rubble. The Maximoffs were trapped by a Stark Industries shell for two days, expecting it to detonate before they get rescued. Even though Wanda eventually fights beside Tony in the future, there’s still some trauma from that experience and her brother’s death. If it weren’t for the Starks, Wanda could have been a completely different person.

The episode closes with a mysterious observer watching the “show” and taking notes on a pad with the logo of S.W.O.R.D. on the cover. For those who don’t know, S.W.O.R.D stands for Sentient World Observation and Response Department and is a subdivision of S.H.I.E.L.D. It’s a counterterrorism and intelligence agency that deals with extraterrestrial threats to world security. Expect to see them around more.

  Press: A Thorough Breakdown of All the Marvel Easter Eggs on WandaVision was originally published on Elizabeth Olsen Source • Your source for everything Elizabeth Olsen

[cyberdva]

house of cards- j.jk

Summary: A vacation by the shore with a break from constant labor was all a young couple could dream of and when that time finally presented itself it was exactly what they pounced for. A tiny community on the edge of a coastline caught the attention of a young idol and his hidden lover, yet the all but homey atmosphere chipped away at an alarming rate past their arrival. Small happenings caught the eye of the sharp-witted woman, more and more occurrences kept shoving chilling encounters her way. Something was brewing and with the faith of next to no one it was in her hands to keep the life of her dearest at bay along with the force of a menacing spirit having ties to hundreds of myths, it might just be too late. Was it time for a final goodbye?

Warnings: Horror Themes, Sexual References and Romantic Scenarios, Violence, and Cursing  (Perfect Just For Your Halloween) 

Word Count: 4.7k

BTS Masterlist

Main Masterlist

“A house made of cards, and us, inside

Even though the end is visible

Even if it’s going to collapse soon. 

A house made of cards, we’re like idiots

Even if it’s a vain dream, stay like this a little more…”

-

A frisk zephyr of overlooking, pristine Autumn air plunged a heavy set attack through the leaves of helpless trees. Tiny bumps formed by the hundreds along the skin of an unsuspecting idol. His mind was still set in the summer season, time was nothing but a concept to the young adult’s mind. Hours spent training and rehearsing can do that to a person. Life was hard enough trying to shield your personal life away from the public, Jungkook always thought of it like putting his memories in a small box, they never saw the light of day again. His inner frustrations boiled inside of him. He already missed out on so many important journeys in a common life. Even now at age twenty-three  he still has to beg for a break, on his knees if he has to.

“I’m telling you. Nothing’s going to go wrong. Can you please trust me for once.” His voice laced with anticipation, a weekend away from everything, from all the hell pushing its way through the cracks of its gates, felt like a dream. Which was the problem, “like a dream.” Jungkook wanted more than anything to ditch his constant rehearsals and run away with his endearing better half. If it weren’t for the constant bickering of the elders in his group the plan would’ve been set in stone. 

“Fine,” Jungkook sprung back in his girlfriend’s direction and threw his bulky arms over her shoulder, “Just this once, I don’t want Joonie to get mad at you.”

“Yeah, yeah…”

Finally the day came, it was a risky trip, especially with the newest comeback just around the corner. Really, a miracle. In retrospect, it wasn’t the most organized plan, but the small house the couple rented was only a mere hour away. More like thirty minutes away since Jungkook was driving. Y/N would constantly poke fun with him for his reckless behavior behind the wheel, not like she was complaining. It took a good half hour just to reach the highway, the area was lined up with houses, one by one space filled the gaps and the scene trickled out.

Up and down, up and down, the two of them bobbed up and down continuously. You would think for such a mainstream road it would be in much better condition, A wave of uneasiness fell over  Y/N, her eyes crinkled while still trying to keep her composure. Her mind shifted between thoughts of car sickness or a longing of home. Up, up, up they went, the evergreen landscape quickly morphed into blue waves. Jungkook gave a quick glance her way, then again. His brows furrowed, but his eyes stayed on the road. 

“Baby? Are you doing okay? You’re not pregnant or anything, right?” Even with the joking manner his voice gave a shaky form. He cleared his throat, unsure how to continue.

"Nope, I'm ok." she hissed. This road was too crazy, the car too crazy, the whole scenario far from a nice day off. “And no I’m not pregnant yet. Relax a little bit. I just haven’t been feeling great these past few days.” She trailed off. Y/N knew it sounded silly, but as if just admitting it made it real and added a big weight on her chest.” A huff of air spilt from her mouth in a laugh. With hands gripping the edge of the window, things felt easier. Still, a small lump of anxiousness stayed embedded in the back of her mind. Something just felt wrong. There was nothing to pinpoint exactly what. 

“You’re probably just hungry or car sick,” he said. “I’m sure you’ll get over it.”

“I hope so,” Y/N replied. The tiny bit of his smile twitched in the corner of his lips. “Maybe I just left something back at the house. No big deal, no big deal.” She attentively reassured herself.

"Are you sure?" Jungkook squeaked. "We can pull over. I don’t want you to be in any pain."

"Don't worry." Y/N muttered while she chewed on her nail, it was a bad habit. She couldn’t help doing it. Relief washed over her contemplation just imaging how her old friends tried to force her out of it. Soon sorrow after, it had been forever since they last talked. “Nonsense.” A voice reasoned back, Y/N dropped reminiscing on the past quickly. She looked out the window and her mouth grew dry. So much water, she thought. All those farms way back when and none in sight. 

Small airplanes gilded with banners, advertisements for local businesses, or even insurance, it must be ironic if one of those crashes. The place looked menacing. The road became shorter and turns filled their place, looks like their next stop was to fill up the tank. Y/N could see the townsfolk, not all congregated. They speckled out every few yards or so. The vehicle stopped abruptly and Jungkook hopped out without a word. Once the cut door swung open the soft song dancing across the air went dark. Silent. The wooden and glass buildings still standing, the old-timers sitting at the gas pumps, the store shelves still full, the strangers walking. They're all strangers out here, but they've all lived here since more people have come and gone. Weathered, even at their age.  She looked to her boyfriend, her eyes widening. What if that were him? What if they both died there? Or anywhere like this, it better not come to that. She meant no offense, but these people seemed off. It could just be the way they look, but even their movements felt robotic. They were already strangers here, not like they were really going to fit in. Having the small break made Y/N’s nerves settle, the car door slammed shut and back onto the freeway it was.

Blue blurs formed again and music, louder this time, picked back up. Manufactured cool air blew onto Y/N’s face, her fingers clasped the opening shut. The feeling could be described as far from pleasurable. The small knacks in the road kept coming, the build up was painful. A glitchy GPS voice crackled on and off. 

“Dammit, I thought I fixed this.” Jungkook whacked his head against his seat. The poor man spent hours trying to mend the apparent virus filled app, Y/N grabbed the device and replaced it with hers. No bother in trying to mend it now. There was only around five minutes left until they arrived, elation flared through their veins. 

“This is it.” Gravel crunched beneath the tires, leaving a path of marks down the long driveway. Trees cascaded down the trail, sunlight shined down past the windshield, lighting up the various screens underneath. The silhouette of the house loomed down beyond the small white garage which was accompanied by a lean basketball net attached by the top. It was homely, clearly meant for a larger family. It gave more space for random objects trying to fit that “beach theme.” Y/N swung her backpack over her right shoulder with a loud thud, Jungkook snagged his wallet from the cup holder and plopped a dark bucket hat over his head. Even with the odd setting, he couldn’t be noticed by an unsuspecting fan, it definitely wouldn’t end.

“Found the keys under the mat, you can head in.” The door was painted and off brand white, a chiseled glass pane was positioned in the center. It creaked open to reveal a balmy ambience, the kitchen laid straight ahead. A warm brown color pallet coincided with a lemon motley. A beam formed on Y/N’s face. This place lightened the foul spirit from before. The parlor was across the way, a giant TV cascaded over the wall with a slim couch behind. It was cute, except for the off setting décor. There comes a point when too many seashells overload a room. Next to that mess was a long corridor which probably led to the bedrooms, maybe even the bathroom and suddenly Y/N caught wind of a sound, like footsteps. Walking just right in front of her, right down that same hallway. Instinctively, she followed. Her hand shook with small pints of fear. More assorted paintings graced the wall, she didn’t bother stopping to poke fun. The creaking moved faster, so did she. The end of the pathway was nearing, the energy darted to the left, a children’s room. Y/N’s heart beat with fury, her mind was screaming at her to stop, far too late. A whisper swirled past her ears, it was at a nearly unintelligible decibel. The bed was perfectly made, a doorway led to the posh yard out back, and a mirror clung to the wall. No child would really want to stay here, too antiquated. Again, the murmurs returned, this time more of them and they were much louder.

“Bring her back. Bring her back.”

“What in the goddamn fu-” The glass door slammed itself shut, there was no wind, no person. Small cracks forced their way through the corners of the frame. Y/N’s eyes were stunned open, a hand covering her dropped jaw. There is no way she saw that, this has to be a joke.

A hand grabbed her shoulder, shivers ran up her arms with an ache. Her head zipped around with an instinct, her palm smashing into whatever was behind her. A mistake, Jungkook toppled down, grasping his eye. A single tear slipped down the red shot iris. His nose crinkled in distress.

“Baby!” She rushed over to him, “Are you okay? You scared the absolute shit out of me!” Her fingers pressed up against the sensitive skin which relived the man of a groan. 

He brushed her off, “It’s okay, don’t worry.” He pulled her into a quick hug and placed a kiss on her forehead. She was trying best to ignore whatever the hell just happened. “Babe,” he groaned, “It’s so good to see you again.” His body slumped onto the spare bed. Children weren’t an “issue” yet, so the room lost its charming use. In all honesty, it didn’t look really safe to begin with. Open outlets, high ledges, who knows what could happen here. Jungkook grabbed Y/N out of her thoughts, literally, and plucked the air right out of her. Soft lips powdering small kisses across the woman’s face much to her delight. A pang of red heat rose to her cheeks. It was hard to notice, but a wave of satisfaction tore through the face of the maknae. 

“You see me all the time Koo, what do you mean?’ The space radiated passion. This is all Jungkook could have ever asked for. Of course, the circumstances weren’t all the best, but still it was perfect to him. His hands roamed their way across her torso as the kiss deepened. A gasp exploded from Y/N’s mouth with her boyfriend’s lips grazing the crook of her neck.

“Koo.” Her words trembled with conflict, ”Jungkook.” His attention cracking back to actuality, hair dilated with static and all, a faint mark of his tenderness was left by a circular imprint. His smile beamed with devious pride, slowly growing bigger. 

A hand intercepted his ardor. "There’s still stuff in the car. We have to bring it in, before the sunsets please.” A slick eyeroll was the only response mustered up. 

“You’re no fun…” Jungkook slumped to the ground from the edge of the bed into a crumpled pile on the floor. His posture curved and a small pout was sent in Y/N’s direction, down to the small flick of his outer lip. Only she could barely escape his enticing puppy dog eyes. A continuous click sprouted from the disturbed blinds behind their heads, the pressure was obvious. Neither one of them made the first move, it had been so long, too long. They sensed something else though, again no one could put their finger on it.

Amusement was drawn from the other despite the odd mood, ”You’re such a child!” Y/N giggled, which got Jungkook going. He propped himself right back up with full energy bouncing off the yellow-chipped walls.

“We can do whatever you want after we get our bags, scouts honor.” Y/N delicately placed one hand on her chest, the other up on the air. Her boyfriend had absolutely no clue on what she was talking about, but still went along with the spiel best as he could. A dazed nod came from him and his slim finger grasped the ends of his hair, running them through the roots. He slid a small elastic over it all, forming a tiny bun in the back of his head. Jungkook knew it drew his girlfriend wild, that’s why he does these sorts of things. Out of the room he went, Y/N stood silently in her same place, trying to listen for something. Her mind on high alert kept driving her insane. Her only hope, maybe some Advil, was still locked in the car. Her head never moved its spot, furthering the booming discomfort she felt, staring at the large door. It wasn’t right, or it was just her imagination once more. Too soon to determine according to her. The jingling of the car keys signaled the end of her inner battle, louder and louder they went. A small crack emitted from her ankles while slipping her shoes on, accompanied by a groan. It’d been forever since the two of them went out, being locked away in your house while the days stripped away can do that to a person. Hell, it has happened! Jungkook’s hand graced her back ever so slightly, sending the woman into brief hysteria. 

“Screw you!” Y/N jabbed at the chest of her boyfriend playfully.

Jungkook dogged her blows and stuck out his tongue, “Hey! You’re being the jumpy one today!”

Instead of going all the way round the lot, the couple opted for passing through the shady back door, much to Y/N distaste.

“It’s just a door, sweetheart.” Jungkook cooed. He found the situation comical, not knowing the full story of what happened. He grabbed the handle to the exit and it slid back with haste, they were quite careful as to not rupture it even more. The landlord didn’t seem like a pleasant person from their experiences. It felt like opening a greenhouse while stepping outdoors. Even with winter approaching, the atmosphere clung to their frames likes a spider entangled in pesticide. The grass beamed an unnatural green giving it some otherworldly look. Along with the various brightly colored lawn décor, it looked god awful. 

There was a light mist floating above them, blending in with the ash sky. It was truly a freak of nature photo opt, the weather changed more promptly than usual. 

“Maybe we should buy another house like this, huh?” The boyfriend wasn’t just yet done with his rampage of witty one liners, most of which making no sense.

“I never striked you as the suburban family type of man.” Y/N patted his back.

“Dear god no, my standards aren’t that low. Imagine the neighbors.” Now that’s the real horror show. The car was already unlocked, rapidly the trunk was swung open. Just two suitcases and a medium sized bag was left. 

Parading back in didn’t take much time. Next door was the main bedroom, it was nearly identical to the other. Jungkook wheeled his belongings into a folding closet, grabbing the TV remote in the process. Finally, he could rest. Y/N did the same, afterwards she made her way towards the washroom, in hopes of placing a bag filled with various items for hygiene inside. The events that occurred minutes ago had already been mangled aside. 

A mortified shriek came from the very same room Y/N had just stumbled into. Jungkook’s head snapped right up, quickly running down the narrow hallway pictured with corny beach puns and postcards he busted the door right open. The very bags his paramour had just lugged in clatter to the cheap wooden flooring in an instant. With one hand covering her mouth, the other shakily pointed to the wall across the way.

An assortment of hundred legged creatures made their way around the right side of the room, some on the floor, even on the ceiling. Stares of horror were the only response, at least thirty of the innocents were visible.

“Dear god,” Jungkook didn’t like bugs, even more than Y/N. His nerves sprung shot and slowly made his way out of the doorway. The inamorata looked for any spray or object to hurdle their way. The only option was to scavenge through whatever chemicals that could be found in the cabinets. Her shoes slid across the floor with an edge while trying to compose herself. Her boyfriend was scared shitless and the least she could do was calm his nerves. After grabbing handfuls of bottles back she went, but Jungkook was already in her place. 

“Y/N.. you saw that right? You saw the bugs?” His voice trembled.

“What is happening… are we going insane?”

So much continued to happen, proceeding the weird visions Jungkook and Y/N sat outside, watching the stars form. A small dinner was prepared, outdoors of course, the weather refused to make amends and discomfort was high. 

“You know, it’s getting pretty late,” Jungkook smoothed his hands around his lover’s waist. “We should go back inside and try to get some rest. We’re going to be okay.” He got up and extended his arm out as an offer to cling to. No exchange of words provided. Tiredness washed over the two, there was no point in arguing. Walking back into the shady house found only hours ago could be considered the worst choice made, but carelessness was the new fad. Both doors were locked upon entry. The house was warmer than before, Y/N stripped into a cooler outfit, Jungkook removed his lighter shirt and as soon as they hit the bed they were out like a light.

Y/N shot straight up in the air, breathing heavily. Her head whipped around to the clock, 2:24 am. Her other half was still passed out, but he wasn’t the only other person watching them. A large, black figure stood right outside the same glass door. It looked inhuman, what seemed to be seven feet tall, a bony structure giving it the posture of a lazy school boy and it was looking right at her.

Violently shaking the man she whispered, “Someone’s outside Jungkook. Please tell me we aren’t going to die.” He awoke at an instant trying to grasp what was going on around him. Anxiety mixed with shock filled his mind. He held her back down to his chest seeking to go unnoticed.  

“We aren’t going to die. I love you so much princess, please trust me.” Empty promises, he didn’t know what was going to happen. Hope was the only option he had. Hope was the only thing that could save him. He was going to stay up as long as he could until his body gave in. They ran past the doors, the creature created haunting moans while pushing at the crystalware. He showed Y/N into the small supply closet. Sobs racked out of Y/N body, Jungkook’s tears plopped past the roots of her hair. He kept gripping harder onto her, trying to get as close as possible to her core.

“Honey, we have to stay very quiet so nobody gets to us. Okay?” He whispered.

“I know. We don’t want to get in trouble. I’ll go first.” Y/N said, quietly breathing heavily.

“Okay, you know I’ll never let anyone hurt you.” His angelic voice replied, “I’ll go get a knife. Stay right here.” Objections spewed from her mouth, but he didn’t listen.  

The distinct sound of glass shattering filled the vicinity. Then silence. The walls felt like they were closing in on them, the girl knew this might be it. She couldn’t even say goodbye since her boyfriend clamped her mouth shut with his vast palm. It was for the best, surely her head would’ve been on a platter from her cries being found.

“JK?” Y/N called out for him with a longing for his response, “Jungkook? Please come out, I think we’re okay!” So much desperation in her sore croaks. He had to be out there she knew he was.

Her hand flew up in defense as she took a deep blow to her stomach, toppling over the metal coffee table. The ringing became worse, old coffee from yesterday morning mixed with the liquid flowing from fresh, small cuts. Her arms flew up in retaliation, but Y/N’s instincts weren’t as sharp as the knife on the kitchen counter once held by the goner searching for protection. 

There wasn’t any screaming, no struggle or pain. All she could hear was the soft singing of him, they were forever young. He was gone. His smell engulfed her senses, memories, all gone. Y/N would see him soon

“A house made of cards, and us, inside

Even though the end is visible

Even if it’s going to collapse soon

A house made of cards, we’re like idiots

Even if it’s a vain dream, stay like this a little more…”

They sang, they mocked. Her mind was numb with the figure of god-knows-who hovered over her limp physique. Little to her knowledge, Jungkook’s phone laid in the grasp of their left hand with the tantalizing feeling to take a photo to capture this moment. All for nothing.

It was over, they should’ve just stayed home.

Moral of the story: always listen to RM.

cyberdva. 2020

[dustofbrokenheart]

The Lost Boys: Exhale

Dwayne x Reader

Word Count: 3,384

Summary: My attempt at a sad, spooky fic featuring Dwayne, key word being attempt. I hope I was able to do him justice. Partially inspired by Stephen King’s writings. 

Ocean waves lapped at the sandy shore, coaxing you to try and open your eyes. Despite knowing you needed to get up, you struggled to keep your lids from fluttering closed again. They felt heavy, like they were caked with cement.

You cleared your throat and tried again.

When you finally managed it, you propped yourself up and took in your surroundings. The moon was full and luminous, sitting high in the sky. A few bits of shadowy cloud drifted by in tangled clusters.

Obviously, it was late into the night but you had no clue what the actual time was which made you nervous.

How long had you been passed out here?

There wasn’t anyone around you at the moment, the next closest bonfire was a small spec in the distance, but that didn’t mean it had been that you had been alone the whole time.

You checked yourself and didn’t feel any injuries, nor were your clothes ripped, so you breathed easier knowing that you likely had not been assaulted. However, you did discover that you were missing our wallet. You cursed and got up on shaky legs, brushing the sand off of you.

So, it was nighttime, you weren’t sure how you got the beach, and your wallet was missing… great.

Crossing your arms, you walked towards the sounds and lights that beckoned to you from a ways down from the part of the beach you found yourself at. As you got closer you saw a set of stairs that led up to a bunch of shops and rides.

The Santa Carla Boardwalk sign was lit up nice and bright. Everything on the boardwalk, shop and ride alike, was decked out in spooky-themed décor.

You spied a large banner that read, “Halloween Monster Bash / OPEN LATE / Sat. Oct. 30th” and a lightbulb went off in your head.

That explained how you probably ended up passed out on the beach—you probably partied too hard for the bash and wandered off after you had had too much to drink. Not a bright move on your part, but plausible.

You promised to try and be on your best behavior for the foreseeable future. Given that it was a Saturday night, and a Halloween promotion at that, the boardwalk was teeming with people who kept bumping into you. Honestly, you wouldn’t be surprised if you had some bruises tomorrow.

You ended up by the carrousel, which had a much calmer surrounding crowd compared to the other areas, and sat down on a metal bench, watching the lights on the ride as it made its slow revolutions.

Suddenly, a group of long-haired boys muscled their way onto the carousel. One in particular caught your attention and you couldn’t take your eyes off of his leather jacket. A big, yellow cat with bared fangs and claws was stitched on the side of it.  

The cat, and by extension the boy wearing it, was rugged, yet sleek, dangerous, yet beautiful.

He must have sensed your focus on him because his head snapped in your direction, his soulful eyes making your throat itch and close up. With no other reaction besides the eye contact, he left his group, gliding to the edge of the moving ride and smoothly stepped off.

He sat quietly next to you on the other side of the bench, neither of you willing to speak up. It turned into a battle of wills to see who would break first. After an extended period of silence, he gave in and accepted his defeat with a snort.

“What’s your name?”

Nervous, your hand crept to your neck and his intense stare followed the movement. “Y/N,” you answered. “Who are you?”

“I’m Dwayne.”

“I like your jacket, Dwayne. The stich work is stellar.”

His lips curled upwards into a slow, easy smile. “I haven’t seen you around here before.”

You opened your mouth and froze when you suddenly remembered. “I’m meeting a friend. His motorcycle broke down and I told him I would give him a lift home.”

“Hmm. So where is he?”

“I’m not sure. I-I was on the beach for a while,” you admitted more than a little embarrassed. “He probably thinks I’ve forgotten about him—I hope he hasn’t left yet.”

“Let’s take a walk. I’m sure we can find him together.” He stood up and offered his hand to you.

You were conflicted. On one hand, you had just promised yourself to make smarter decisions; on the other, there was something about this boy that drew you in. He gave you another small smile that sealed the deal.

You placed your hand in his and he led you around the boardwalk, the picture of a perfect gentleman. If gentlemen wandered around in public with their toned chests and abdomens exposed.

Dwayne and you kept your eyes peeled for your friend, but he also persuaded you to stop at a few booths along the way and brought you some food to try. You took a bite of the soft pretzel he handed you. You chewed thoughtfully before giving your review.

“It’s okay. The flavors aren’t out of this world though.”

“Not possible,” he said stealing the pretzel back. “This is the best snack this place has to offer.”

He pressed the back of his hand to your forehead. “You’re not feverish, so I guess that rules out being sick. But you do feel chilled.”

Dwayne stared you down, his eyes looked like they were searching for something. You weren’t sure if he found what he was looking for. The two of you slowed down and you leaned against a wooden rail near the entrance to the boardwalk. As much as you wished your friend would turn up or that you could continue walking with Dwayne, you recognized that it was incredibly late and decided to call it a night.

He also seemed reluctant to let you go. “Will you be back tomorrow?” he murmured. “You can keep me company for Halloween.”

You nodded enthusiastically, glad that he had enjoyed your company as much as you enjoyed his. The two of you made plans to meet back at the carousel again the following night. Halloween night. He stroked your wrist and bided you good-night.

You turned on your heel, feeling the energy within you pulsing as you walked away.

  _______________

The next night, you found yourself sitting on the same metal bench near the carousel. This time you felt more grounded and much less flustered. You jokingly thought to yourself that you must be channeling strength from Halloween.

Dwayne joined you on the bench a while later, this time coming without his friends entirely.

“Hi,” you said lamely when he looked at you. “Would you rather sit or walk?”

He chose to walk and you were eager to see where he would take you this time. He shouldered his way through the throngs of people and you followed closely behind, gripping his jacket tightly. The crowds thinned out significantly as you walked down to the beach, the noise further drowned out by the ocean.

Dry sand crunched under your shoes as he moved further away from public view. Eventually, Dwayne came to a stop by a low burning fire which he stoked back to life.

You looked around in surprise. “Hey, this is where I was last night. What a crazy coincidence!”

His dark eyes peered at you from where he sat opposite of you on the other side of the bonfire. But he didn’t comment. Instead, he asked you questions.

“Did you ever get ahold of your friend?”

“No,” you admitted, feeling uncomfortable. “He probably hates me right now. Something was wrong with the bike engine, which is why he needed the ride.”

“That’s cool that he rides.”

“His bike is pretty cool. The body is dark red, and he has wheel covers on it, plus there’s an antenna on the back end.”

Again, he didn’t say anything. He just stared. The mood turned uncomfortable once more, so you tried changing topics to bring back the fun you had the previous night.

“I’m actually passing thru Santa Carla on my way to L. A. More specifically, Englewood. To pursue my dream,” you revealed, splaying your fingers in a jazz hand fashion. That seemed to perk his interest and his lips twitched slightly.

You drew up your legs and rested your chin on the tops of your knees. A happy tingle started in your chest and ran down the rest of your body as you remembered back to another time in your life. Back when you were a small child and made a friend.

You told Dwayne the story of how your grandmother used to be involved with one of the local food pantry groups in your home city. And how you often used to tag along with her when she volunteered because your parents worked a lot. One day you were sitting under the tables and bored out of your mind, you started to doodle on the filed floor. You were not expecting another kid to join you and you jumped when they introduced themselves.

You guys were around the same age and started to seek each other out whenever you went with your grandma while she volunteered. Soon, you were even hanging out when you weren’t at the food pantry.

“People used to freak out when they saw us together in public. It was so stupid,” you ranted. “It wasn’t their fault they were on the streets. Most homeless are in that position for reasons beyond their control. I never judged my friend for doing what they had to do to survive—”  

Next thing you knew, you were knocked backwards onto the ground, your head taking a particularly hard hit.

In a miraculously fast move, Dwayne had launched himself across the fire to tackle you. It happened so fast, you hadn’t been able to track him. He moved like a menacing shape, striking with the accuracy and speed of a viper.

Your body locked up from where you were pinned and you gasped for air.

Dwayne crouched above you, his knees dug into your thighs to keep your legs spread apart and his claws gripped into your wrists like a vice. He had taken you by surprise and made sure you were completely immobile and unable to fight back. But that wasn’t even the most terrifying part.

The once smooth planes of his face had changed into raised, sharp angles along his brow and cheeks. His hair hung down over you, like a black curtain, so you had no choice but to look at him. Light from the nearby fire casted shadows where it filtered through the strands of hair, making him appear even more menacing.

He leaned down and clicked his fangs right in your face.

Your heart, which had been hammering like a freight train, stopped beating entirely. The jarring stillness within you made you think that you were having a heart attack.

“Quit playing games, Y/N,” he said darkly, his lip curled up in a snarl.

You were so frightened that you couldn’t respond even when he shook you.

“You’ve been toying with me for two nights now, just give it up. We both know you are not what you claim to be.”

You tried to articulate your shock but you couldn’t must a single sound. He growled gutturally and time slowed down. Was this how you were going to die?

A blinding pain ripped through your head, robbing you of all your senses as everything turned white.

  _______________

You hummed and bopped your head to the song that was playing on the radio in your aging car. The sun had set some time ago, so you read the green road sign with help from your headlights.

Santa Carla, ten miles.                

That should be a good place to spend the night to spend the night. According to the map you were consulting, Santa Carla seemed like a decently sized city that should have your choice of motels to pick from.

You entered city limits and as you turned a corner you noticed a motorcycle parked on the shoulder of the road. A boy with dark hair sat crouched next to it. Debating with yourself, you ended up slowing down and rolling your window.

“Hi,” you called from the driver’s seat. “Do you need any help?”

He turned and you instantly saw how attractive he was. He stood, wiping his hands on a rag that was tucked into his pocket.

“Something’s wrong with the engine. I don’t want to drive it, in case it gets worse.”

No stranger to car troubles, you felt empathetic.

“Get in. I can take you home, or to a mechanic, if there’s a garage still open.”

He accepted the offer and settled into the passenger’s side. You apologized for not having room to bring the bike with and he reassured you that his friends would take care of it. He asked you to take him home, but first he directed you towards a place called the boardwalk so he could buy you dinner as a thank-you.

Your empty stomach couldn’t refuse food.

When you got out of the car you noticed his jacket for the first time. “Stellar stitching,” you complimented.

He ordered tacos to-go from one of the food stands. “Come on, I know a better spot on the beach where we can eat in peace.”

The spot was isolated, which made you pause with doubt, but the food smelled delicious and Dwayne had been nothing but nice, so you ignored the little warning bell.

Having good food after being a car for most of the day was satisfying and you moaned when you took the first bite of taco. To fill in the silence you explained to him that you were moving down to L.A.

“Just passing through?” he questioned.

“Just passing through.”

You told him about the job offer that had convinced you to leave home and how excited you were to work with the homeless women youth there. “Most of them are in that position for reasons beyond their control. I never judge them for doing what they have to do to survive.”

Dwayne looked at you with surprise. “You mean that?” He sounded almost conflicted.

You assured him that you most certainly did.

The next hour or so passed quickly, you chatting away with Dwayne jumping in here and there. Despite not being talkative, he did a good job putting you at ease even though you barely knew one another. When you yawned while in the middle of a story and realized you needed to sleep.

You told Dwayne it was time to get him home so you could sort out your motel situation. He turned away from you and grew even more quiet. He didn’t move nor make a single sound which worried you.

“Dwayne?”

Then he whispered, “I’m sorry, Y/N.”

He turned around and his face looked monstrous with his protruding forehead and blazing eyes that swirled with red and yellow. You covered your mouth.

He flew at you, pinning you into the sand. You fought your best to dislodge him, screaming shrilly, but it would have made no difference had you not fought at all. You were no match for his inhuman strength.

He wrenched your chin back, his hands clawing into your face to expose your neck. By that point you had defensive wounds all over and one of your forearms had brittlely snapped.

Dwayne reared back, his fangs on full display. The last thing you saw as the beautiful boy with the cool jacket tore into your throat was the wide expanse of black sky dotted with twinkling stars overhead.

  _______________

You came back to the present with a terrible moan rattling from your lips. You were still supine on your back, but Dwayne was no longer on top of you. He sat a few feet away with his face still in its vampiric state, somberness radiating from him.

Numbly, you reached for your neck and felt wet, mangled flesh under your fingers. And you knew that if you looked down you would see your blood-soaked shirt and your crippled arm. You dragged yourself into an upright position which was a shaky process as one of your arms did not match the other.

“You did this to me,” you whispered. Dwayne nodded once.

“What—” your voice cracked so you tried again. “What am I?”

“Something was different about you from the start. You didn’t have a pulse, your skin was cold,” he said matter of factly. “But I wasn’t sure exactly until you started talking about your job.”

“What am I” you said more strongly.

“We met for the first time in February…”

“Am I like you?” you asked.

He shook is his slowly denial. You tiled your head upwards and took in the sky, moon, and stars. There was only one other option, the option that was the hardest to admit out loud.

“I’m dead, then.”

“You’re the only person I’ve killed that’s ever come back,” he said unsurely.

Now that you remembered everything, and your ghostly status was brought to light, other things started making sense too. How your sense of taste was dulled at the boardwalk and you weren’t sure where you slept last night, if you slept at all.

It seemed that your earlier joke about drawing strength from All Hallows Eve was too far off from the truth.

“You’re the friend I was looking for. Was your bike even really broken back then?” Trails of thick blood leaked from your open wound.

He couldn’t bring himself to meet your gaze which was all the answer you needed. “It’s a con I use to lure in meals sometimes,” he finally sighed.

“I never made it to L.A. either… Oh, Dwayne. There was so much I wanted to do.”

You started choking up and he inched forward awkwardly, which you allowed.

“It won’t change things, but it wasn’t personal. I needed to feed and you were the first one I found.”

His candid confession unleashed your tears (looks like ghosts were still able to cry) and the moaning returned. He eased you into his lap and hugged you. His hands rubbed up and down your back in an attempt to soothe you.

You accepted that you were dead and you didn’t hate Dwayne for what he had done. That didn’t mean you didn’t mourn what you lost. You cried miserably for a long time before the tears ran their course and dried up.

What a mess you must have looked like with your swollen eyes and fatal wounds, your hair likely littered with sand. That got you thinking: how come you didn’t look like this until now? Hmm. Maybe you had could control our appearance. Or you had to remember the truth first.

And another thing, “What happened to my stuff?”

“We scrapped the car for metal and parts. We kept the cash and trashed the rest.”

That was a little annoying. “Donate next time you need to get rid of belongings. I’m sure there’s a lot of people who could use it.”

“Noted,” he promised.

“How much time do you think I have left?” That was an unpleasant realization, especially since you weren’t sure where you would go next.

He gently lifted up the arm that was broken. You gulped. Your fingers were flaking off into bright blue pieces, drifting in the air before fizzling out. You were slowly disappearing.

It started in your hands and creeped up your arms and legs. Dwayne watched it happened alongside you. You weren’t in any pain, but you were glad that he was there with you.

“I’m scared,” you admitted. “Will you hug me as I go?”

He tucked your head into his chest, his hug comforting. Soon your limbs had completely gone and all that remained was your center. A final release of energy that felt like the final exhale let you know that this was it.

“I forgive you, Dwayne,” you said softly. You smiled and closed your eyes in anticipation.

Dwayne watched as the last of you floated off and dissolved into the night air. 

“Good night, Y/N,” he murmured.

I hope that I was able to make Dwayne threatening, but compassionate, like I was aiming for. The Umbrella Academy gif is what I had in mind with the scene at the end. I’m actually a little nervous to post this, so thanks to anyone who takes the time to read!

[wheresfury]

Y/N and the Giant Pumpkin

~Pairings: Carol Danvers/fem!reader

~Warnings: language and fluff (maybe a little suggestive somewhere)

~Word count: 785

~Summary: Just a typical day at Hogwarts with your girlfriend Carol and your best friend, Natasha.

~Authors note: It’s unholy week day 1!! I was inspired to write some special one shots for the week of Halloween. Some are a tad scary, fluffy and mostly smutty (first two days are pg 👀)  All under or around 2k words. Shout out to @fun-sized-widow-bites for vamping up my banner into a dope flashing gif 😘 Day 1- Harry Potter themed! Hope y’all enjoy! 

~Other works on my Masterlist. (I will make a Masterlist for this special week once it is completed.)

---------- ︽✵︽----------

You were on your way to potions when you turn a corner and run right into a giant pumpkin.

“What the fuck?!” Your nose is throbbing as you hear laughter come from behind the beast. Carol makes her way around the pumpkin in her Gryffindor robes.

“Babe, you should’ve seen your face!” You huff as you straighten your own robes.

“What are you doing, Carol? Why is there a giant pumpkin here?” She gives you a quick kiss on the cheek before leaning against the giant eye sore.

“Well tonight is date night, Y/N. It is also only a week away from the hauntingly beautiful day known as Halloween. So I thought we could make the biggest jack o lantern then make it float around and scare first years.” You roll your eyes at her ridiculous prank idea.

“You know, I think you just want to see me in almost nothing.” Carol raises an eyebrow at the idea.

“What exactly do you mean by almost nothing?” You blush slightly at the suggestive tone.

“Well I wouldn’t want to wear much otherwise it would be ruined by pumpkin guts. So I’ll probably just wear my bathing suit.” Carol stands up straight and wraps her arms around your waist. You wrap yours around her neck as her lips find yours in a kiss. You were about to deepen the kiss when you feel a splash of cold water hit you in the face. You pull away from the kiss with a yelp. You look to your right and find the culprit with her wand out.

“Natasha!” The Slytherin girl smirks at your now wet self, putting her wand away.

“Hey there, love birds. We’re going to be late to Snape's class. Let’s go, come on. Hands off, Danvers.” Carol reluctantly pulls away from you and glares at Natasha.

“You’re such a cock block, Nat.” You blush profusely as Natasha laughs hysterically.

“As if you were about to get laid! Y/N has class, she would never miss a class just to hook up.” You look away as Carol snickers.

“You don’t know her very well, Nat. My baby’s got some adventure in her.” Natasha looks at you with wide eyes.

“You’re my nerdy best friend! What the hell, Y/N?! You will tell me everything later.” She chuckles as she pinches your red cheeks. You slap her hands away and grab Carol’s hand.

“Come on, Tasha. We’re going to be late. Oh are you free tonight?” Natasha falls into step next to you as you make your way to class.

“I mean, yeah. Wanda’s on a trip to Hogsmeade for the weekend. What’s up?” Carol chuckles and squeezes your hand.

“Wanna gut and carve up a pumpkin?” You see Natasha’s eyes light up at the idea.

“You’re scaring me, Tasha.” She hums and pokes your cheek.

“Does this have to do with that big pumpkin you were about to scar forever with your PDA?” You laugh as Carol rolls her eyes.

“That pumpkin would have been blessed, Romanoff.” Natasha smirks back at Carol and pulls out her wand.

“Silencio.” Once the spell was muttered Carol’s mouth closed right up, preventing her from speaking. She immediately drops your hand and dives to tackle Natasha. They wrestle around for awhile before Natasha decides to reverse the spell. You chuckle and roll your eyes at their antics.

“Natasha, you bitch! You know casting spells on other students are against the rules!” Natasha laughs loudly as Carol’s neck vein pops out. You bite your lip and grab Carol’s arm pulling her towards you before she can jump Nat again.

“Come on, baby. We’re going to be late. You can spill pumpkin guts all over her later, okay?” Natasha stops her laughter to glare at you.

“You better not even think about doing that, Danvers.” Carol smirks and slings her arm around your neck.

“I would never, Romanoff.” You begin walking again making Carol move with you. Natasha shakes her head and mumbled to herself before running to catch up with you two. You smile as Carol kisses your cheek.

“I cannot wait to see her face when she’s covered in pumpkin guts. Thanks for the idea, baby.”

“Anytime, love.” You three barely make it to class on time. As you’re sitting down you can feel Snape’s glare on you making you shiver in slight fear. Your seat is right next to Carol’s and you quickly open your textbook, ready for anything.

“Today we will be learning how to brew a potion to make objects explode. Open your books to page 394.” You hear Carol snicker at the lesson and you giggle along knowing Natasha is in for quite the evening.

---------- ︽✵︽----------

Carol taglist: @fun-sized-widow-bites

Forever taglist: @cheethos, @domromanoff, @stuckys-whore , @marilynroselleprentiss , @captainwonderwidow , @kello-unknown , @lildoughnut0 , @kdragonwrestling

[rkivepacks]

TITLE: red nails Inspired by:  let’s dress up and go for a ride (taekook) Pairing: Jeon Jungkook x Reader Rating: R18+ Genre: fluff, smut Word Count: 4,249 Trigger Warning/s & Additional tags: Soft Dom Jungkook, Dom Reader, Jungkook has a thing for nail polish, Cockwarming,  Cross-posted on: AO3/dtgloss

NOTES: ∟ banner by @rkivepacks​ ∟ request banner here ∟ request prompt/send commission here

∟ unbeta-ed ∟ inspired by my previous work let’s dress up and go for a ride (taekook). this is a mxr version + revamped with additional smut scenes ∟  first jungkook x reader fic pls be nice

Two weeks before halloween found you and Jungkook arguing over lunch in your shared apartment that fits just right for the two of you. you both loved parties, especially themed ones. Jeongguk loves dressing up for them, and you love taking the costumes off of him.

Currently, however, ten minutes before you are almost tempted to pull up a whole powerpoint presentation of how the two of you can synchronize your halloween costumes, you go into a full debate about it.

“I can be Ariana Grande from the God is a Woman music video.” you attempt to propose, setting down your milk on the table, gesturing with your hands in the air, animatedly outlining the costume you had in mind

“And what would I be?” Jeongguk replies, almost exasperated. So far you have made failed attempts for your costumes because ‘we need to be a pairing’. “I’m not fucking dressing up as his boyfriend.” Jungkook adds, almost fearful and disgusted at your proposition.

“Even better. you can be the earth. I can ride you and finger you.” you beam as if what you just said was appropriate costumes for a halloween party.

Granted, no one judges costumes at halloween parties, free reign, and freedom and all, but Jeongguk knows Namjoon would mind if the two of you entered his party with you in his Ariana Grande-glory on top of Jeongguk, ‘fingering’ him. Jeongguk also could not quite picture it in his head how they are going to pull the stunt up.

“Hoseok would close the door in our face when he sees us with that absurd costume and after seeing us doing that.” Jeongguk deadpans. He is almost sure Hoseok would not even dare open the door in the first place.

“Ah I know!” Jeongguk lights up, catching your attention. Interest piqued, you give attention to the suggestion that is about to come. “How about we come as Hyuna and E Dawn?” He grins.

“Cute. But I think Yoongi, Jimin and Hoseok will already go as Triple H. Nice try honey bun sugar plum pumpy yumpy yumpkin.” you shot the idea down. Truthfully, in you’s defense, their other friends already made dibs on the group as their pegs for the halloween party.

“Damn.” Jeongguk pouts.

you two finished lunch with a failed attempt at finalizing their halloween costumes. you have already left for his late afternoon classes and Jeongguk is left at home, being blessed with a free cut from his only class for the day. you grumble how some (read: Jeongguk) does not deserve free classes and halloween costumes.

While you endured your classes, Jeongguk did not fail to entertain you with silly and some serious suggestions for your halloween costumes, often paired with photos (for emphasis, he said). You shoot them down saying ‘Namjoon would hate you’ or a blatant ‘boring’.

The messages slowed down but you have been receiving glimpses from Jeongguk’s uneventful afternoon. The only time Jeongguk has ever stood up from his area on the sofa was to pee (and that was almost forced and done as a moral obligation because he is a human being with responsibilities that include taking care of his health) and fetch food from the cupboard.

Jeongguk has been sending you messages throughout the movie he’s watching such as:

Wanna go as Iron Man and Jarvis? Wanna go as Wanda so you can use your mind power and make me do things? Oooh baby we can go as Trump and America so you can fuck me up.

The next day, with your halloween plans still undecided, passed by and it’s almost night and you have yet to come back from your shift at the music store inside the campus.Jungkook knows for sure that cursed shift ended almost two hours ago and you missing from their little apartment only means that you are currently in the middle of doing something that requires NOT having Jeongguk’s input and must be done WITHOUT Jeongguk’s knowledge. Jeongguk has been typing his rapid text messages to you when you keyed in and let yourself in through your apartment, bag and a paper bag on your right hand. You had this sheepish smile and glint in your eyes plastered that tells Jeongguk something is definitely up. He just contemplates if it has something to do with their ongoing halloween costumes agenda. He also hopes it does not affect his costume.

“Neulbin asked me to do an extra hour because he had an emergency and then I dropped by the pharmacy.” you share, putting away your bag and set the paper bag under their coffee table.

“I did not say anything.” Jeongguk snorted.

“you were going to.” you chide.

“What’s that?” Jeongguk asks, pointing at the paper bag.

“Something I need.”

Jeongguk drops the topic as you obviously will not let him see a glimpse of the item and proceeds to bring two bowls of katsudon to the living room for your dinner.

A week before the halloween party, the two of you are still undecided and uncoordinated in your halloween costumes. Even your friends had to butt in and contribute to the discussion, and Seokjin even said something about reusing old costumes and, forbid him for even spewing it out, just come as you are.

Jeongguk comes home three days before the party to a different scenario. The apartment was eerily quiet, save for the air conditioning and low humming from somewhere in the room. He knew you were supposed to be home from morning classes earlier than him. True to his suspicion, you have been abnormally quiet and focused on the task at hand, literally and figuratively.

you were sat on the sofa, one leg propped on the coffee table which supports your hand, as you focus on painting your left hand a deep red. Jeongguk watches as you move to be more careful as your right hand has already been painted the same red color and the air condition and atmosphere of the apartment has already been laced with the strong scent of the nail lacquer.

Jeongguk sets his stuff on the side quietly as not to disturb the trance which you have been put into. your eyelashes flutter when you blinks away the tiredness and the stiffness from when you have been sitting on that damn sofa for two hours now to paint your nails.

“Busy?” Jeongguk mumbles as he leaned towards you from his position on the arm of the sofa.

“Mhm.” you mumble. Jeongguk figures he won’t be given much attention from his lover so he proceeds to the kitchen. He also failed to get a proper response from you when asked what you wants for dinner, only getting faint responses.

Jungkook was sitting beside him on the sofa with his laptop resting on the coffee table when you finally gave him his undivided attention. “Are you done now?” Jeongguk asks.

“Yes. But it’s still wet so I can’t touch anything or it will mess up.” you pout, your hands splayed on your lap, the red paint obviously wet with how it glimmers under the light. Jeongguk notices how your dewy skin contrasts with the red nail polish, the color pleasing for the eyes. For him. you notice the way Jungkook stares at your hand, or your thighs bare with the shorts you always wear at home. Jeongguk has always had the habit of zoning off, staring at something as his mind reels with thoughts.

you start scooting closer to Jeongguk, watching how the younger is still zoned off but now has his eyes planted on his laptop screen, at the photos he’s currently editing. You carefully plant his hand on Jeongguk’s arms, careful of your clothes or movements to not to mess up your newly painted nails. You knew Jeongguk is off his daze and is now just blatantly /trying/ to ignore your teasing hand and gaze from his peripheral view.

you drop your hand that was on Jeongguk’s arm on his thighs instead, running it up and down slowly, still careful, to gently and expose a bit of the younger’s skin from the shorts he’s wearing.

“Baby, entertain me. I’m bored and I can’t do anything.” you pout, rubbing your cheeks on Jeongguk’s shoulders as if to resemble a cat.

“What do you want to watch?” Jeongguk asks, his voice sounding restrained and still taking glances at your hand on his thighs, dangerously close to his inner thighs and his crotch.

“I don’t want to watch anything.” you reply. Jeongguk risks a glance at you, knowing what you’re is implying. He leans back on the sofa, stretching his back and neck to stop it from being stiff. He stares at you before kissing you on your cheek, then your lips before staring at the hand on his thighs. The two of you do not mention the slight bulge in Jungkook’s shorts and probably of the fact that you’re not doing any better.

After a few seconds Jungkook stands up, pulling you with him. The younger leads the way to the bedroom and you had this glint in your eyes. The younger was cautious with your still wet painted nails when he carried you once you reached the bed, wrapping your thighs around his waist before he kneels on the bed, inching towards the headboard. He gently lays you down and you almost forgot to stop your hand from touching your comfy duvet and pillows and ended up messing up your painted nails.

Jeongguk’s eyes and lips were gentle as he looked at you and kissed your lips a few times and your neck but his hands were quite rough when he starts inching up your shirt, exposing your stomach, to where he travels down to plant more kisses, catching your skin there in between his teeth. He starts moving south and eventually pulls the band of your shorts to expose more skin and your prominent hip bones that have always been at the receiving end of bruises from Jeongguk’s lips.

Jeongguk keeps his eyes on you, seeing you still trying not to mess up your painted nails and be pliant for Jungkook. When you sneak your hands to your stomach which is dangerously close to clutching Jungkook’s hair, he warns you, “you don’t get to touch me.” He warns before completely pulling off you shorts and boxers off of you.

You struggle to keep your hands on his side, planted outwards to keep it untouched. Jungkook flutters kisses across your hips, down to your thighs and inside each of them. He guides your thighs to open for him and position himself in the middle, granting better access for him.

“Shirt off please, baby.” you whisper. Jungkook plants a kiss on your skin near your core before kneeling up to take his shirt off. you catch a whip of the faint perfume too soft mixed with Jungkook’s natural scent. He leans back down, this time getting nearer to your crotch before kissing down your core. you curse as your fingers twitch and almost mess up the duvet.

Jungkook continues to mouth at your core, from where you are ticklish on your hip bones down to your hole and uses his hand to smother your thighs and grip it when you start twitching and moving. He takes you little by little, hearing you release gasps and whimpers above him, hands struggle to stay still. you already look spent as your hand almost has a mind of its own, slightly raised in the air but trying and almost failing to keep it away from Jungkook. In the end you end up touching the back of Jungkook’s shoulders almost too softly that Jungkook almost missed noticing it being there.

“Please, just here.” You whispers, running your hand that was almost painted dry on the younger’s shoulder blades.

Too soon you reached your climax, coming down Jungkook’s mouth, and the younger was quick to lap up what you give him. You struggle with your whole body not to grip Jungkook’s hair and push him down, and your feet stretch on Jungkook’s bare lower back, resulting on your toes tucking in inside the waistband of the younger’s shorts, your feet touching the soft skin on Jungkook’s ass.

Jungkook starts moving up, leaving a trail of kisses up your body in his wake and you keep your foot on the waistband of the younger’s shorts and hold it there. Jungkook grasps your plan and lets you take his shorts for him as he makes his way up your body, tucking his head on your neck.

You faintly push at the younger’s shoulders, shifting and pushing him back down on the mattress, switching positions. You start going down on Jungkook, kissing the younger earnestly, who has now been undressed completely, his shorts and boxers kicked off minutes ago.

“I’ll take care of you.” You whispers to the younger before taking his length in your hand.

you knew the younger had this picture in his mind ever since you painted your nails red and had Jungkook’s hands on your thighs a while ago. “Look baby.” You call the younger’s attention when Jungkook closed his eyes and sighed at the feeling and having your attention on his aching crotch. Jungkook flutters his eyes open and looks down on your hand tight on his length, moving up and down.

He watches your red painted nails glisten under the light wrapped around him, mixed with the feeling of being touched. you move in between his thighs and starts leaning down, supporting your body with his elbows.

“Watch baby.” You hum to Jungkook before collecting the precome on the tip of his length with a finger that’s newly painted and catching it on his tongue as you lap on the precome. Jungkook curses and he hears a faint chuckle from you that he’s sure he made up if he did not feel your chest shake a bit before you take him back in your mouth completely.

you made sure that the younger has a sight of your hand wrapped around him still and your mouth working the head. Jungkook comes deep in your throat, as you keep on taking everything he gives.

It’s only when Jungkook woke up again at eleven in the evening that he realized he fell asleep naked, courtesy of the duvet covering your naked bodies. He also realized you did not have your daily discussion of your halloween costumes.

“Alas! The two have decided!” Seokjin screams when he caught sight of Jungkook and you nearing the area where your group of friends is situated.

The two of you ended up wearing a Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy costume that Jeongguk had to restrain himself when he saw you wearing fishnet stockings and short shorts. The night went by with the rest of your friends in your half messed up costumes including the two of you, and occasional gropings from each other, with you whispering promises to him for when you get home later in the ass crack of dawn.

As promised, Jungkook ended up undressing you in the living room of your apartment but leaving on the fishnet stockings and platform boots for when he fucked you four rounds into the next Saturday, with a special request to see his red painted nails. Jungkook pulls away from you, panting from your heavy make out session. You notice him contemplating as he shifts on his position in front of you. “Are you too tired?” You asked him, your hands caressing the length of his hair. “Was just thinking babe.” He whispers in your ear. “Wanna make you paint your nails again, maybe black? Turns me on that you can’t use your hands or else you’ll mess up your pretty nails. But I don’t think I can wait while you paint them so pretty.” He mumbles into the skin of your neck, his breath tickling you. Your hands continue to roam down to his neck, then his piercings that he didn’t take off. “Wait here.” You move to sit up to the side of the bed, having to straddle one of his thighs as you stand up, foregoing a top and decidedly, you walk out of the room with your arms covering your bare chest. Jungkook thinks his cock twitched at the thought of you walking around the apartment naked. You come back to Jungkook with a clear nail polish on your hand, smirking at him. Before settling back down to the bed, you quickly grab the red stilettos you threw on the far corner of the room, and you quickly stumble out of your boots and fitting the heels on you. “You spoil me.” He tells you. He stayed seated on where you left him, outstretched arms behind him to support his upper half as he leaned back. You eye his toned body on your bed and can’t resist to pad closer to him, making sure the heels don’t ruin the sheets on your way. Once you reach him, you absentmindedly drop the nail polish beside you and gently pushes him down till he’s completely laid back down on the bed. He was sat closer to the headboard, so he adjusts his position, his bulge touching your core when his hips raise from the bed from the movement. He blindly grabs the pack of condoms he probably prepared while you were preoccupied with the nail polish and handed them to you. You take it from his hand and he makes a sound as you throw it behind you, forgotten and soon to be untouched. “I love your sexy brain so much.” He gently grabs your hair, pulling you down to him and slots our lips together. From his action, your hips raises from where you’re straddling him, and your back is arched, showing off your wide hips and thick thighs better. You’re strung out from all the foreplay and dragging out. You support yourself on one hand and the other roams down to Jungkook’s body, palming his member that lays completely hard and curled up on his stomach, down to your own crotch and you wince at your own sensitivity. “I like it when you take charge.” He grins at you, groping your ass. “I am always in charge.” You huff, sitting up and you rub the head of his cock on your entrance, before sinking down to it. “I missed this.” He sighs as you settle with your hips on his. “We fucked yesterday.” You inwardly curses, almost forgetting your plan with all the comments Jungkook has been dropping. “Now stay pretty for them baby, I’ll just do something real quick.” You find a comfortable position and reach for the nail polish you dropped a while ago. “Oh fuck.” Jungkook groans upon realizing what your plan is. His hand stays on your hips, then down to your thighs, rubbing them. “This won’t take long compared to colored nail polish, don’t worry.” You hush him. He remains in his position, and he didn’t think far on what he could do while you’re busy with your preparations. Without much thinking, his hand absent mindedly roams up your stomach and gropes your chest, startling you and you jerk around him. He hisses at the sensation as you slightly tighten around his length. “Good?” You ask him but your focus is still on your nails. You’re almost done but you act as if it would take longer. “Fucking good baby.” He groans. “Faster.” You ignore him. “Please.” “Just a little bit more, babe.” You mumble. You cap the nail polish, reaching over to the bedside drawer to get it out of the way before examining your own nails. Jungkook huffs, completely aware you’re purposely prolonging it. “Wanna see?” You ask him, smirking, gesturing to your hand. He rolls his eyes but he takes them, gently examining your hand although he only needs to see your nails. “Pretty.” He mumbles on your hand, softly massaging them but avoiding the drying polish. He kisses your palm then your fingers. You let your free hand move from his face, your finger trailing down his nose and his lips. “Does the smell of nail polish turn you on or…” You chuckle at him. “No, babe. I love seeing your pretty fingers all colored nicely.” You stretch on your position, slightly moving Jungkook’s length inside you. “Can we take a picture?” You ask, eyes wide. Jungkook can never say no to you, so he moves to grab your polaroid from one of the drawers. You used to take photos and even videos of your intimate moments with your phones, but Jungkook fears someone going through them and seeing you in those photos. You’re surprised when he goes home one day with the polaroid and even more at the reason why he made the purchase. Since then you’ve had quite the collection of mature photos. Jungkook takes two photos of you. In one of them; you were looking behind the camera— you look at Jungkook as your hands covered your chest. The photo is modest and it keeps your chest from being seen. The other, however, is daring. He snaps the photo as you remove your arms from your chest, supporting yourself on his stomach which makes you push your breasts together.

Jungkook sets the polaroid down, clearing his throat. “I’m about to fall asleep.” He pouts. “That’s too bad, I’m about to fuck you.” You grin down at him, proving your words to be true as you give him pleasure when you move your hips.

Jungkook moans deeply that it resonates around the room. He takes control of your hips, not letting you rest back down as he moves you to his own accord, your knees planted on each side of his hips. He penetrates deeper as he pairs your movement with his own, pushing him deeper into you.

You cup his head and kisses him softly, going from soft pecks to gentle bites on his lips as he takes charge of fucking you.

Jungkook goes slow, dragging the pace and alternates them with fast paced movements before slowing down, making sure to plunge deeper into you.

“I-i’m close.” You whisper.

“Fuck me. You fuck me so good.” He tells you.

You gasp, moving instead to mouth on his right cheek, keening as he drives you up until you’re almost sure you’d snap, but he drags slow, calming his pace just before you hit your climax. You decided to take charge, fixing yourself on your knees before riding him properly, your bottom lip drags across his cheek as you forego kissing. He lets you move on your own until you finally drive the both of you over your climax. You continue dragging your pace, until you drive yourself to oversensitivity.

“Fuck, baby.” He groans as you tighten around him.

You pull him out, hissing at the way your sensitive thighs become in touch with his half hard cock. You stay on your knees, crawling backwards until your head is keening at his stomach, closer to his hips. You kiss the area where you know he’d be ticklish, then you press light kisses to the head of his dick, twitching at your ministrations— doing so with Jungkook piercing his eyes at you while you focus at the task at hand.

You slowly position yourself beside him, your front to the bed and letting the cold air touch your bare back.

You reach the bedside lamp to turn it off, and right as you clicked the little button, Jungkook moves to his side to face you, hand on your hips.

“Baby, are we done?” He whispers to you. He caresses your ass, occasionally squeezing them and pulling your cheeks apart.

“I don’t know, are you?” You ask as you felt his hand slowly creep its way into your core, his finger gliding easily through your folds, combined with the wetness pooling down there from your previous activity.

“I still have to clean you, my princess.” He chuckles. Perhaps his way of cleaning only includes his hand that is currently collecting the wetness on your folds. However, instead of ‘cleaning’ them, you feel him use the pads of his fingers to spread the wetness more, before using two fingers to spread your folds and repeating his actions.

“I love you so much. My feisty, little angel.” He whispers to you.

You think you’re on the brink of sleep that you won’t even come for the second time. His touch turns you on but you have been exhausted that you could fall asleep.

“I think I’m asleep.” You tell him.

“You’re still talking to me so you’re not asleep. But come here.” He turns you around so you’re facing him, putting your leg to wrap around his waist and your arm around him. His hands act like they’re connected to your ass, and you tell him as such.

“They’re like my babies. My stress balls. Can’t sleep without them.”

“You’re lucky I love you.” You kiss him but you had your eyes closed so whatever you aimed at you probably will miss his lips. Luckily he was aware of your action and took it upon himself to slot your lips together.

“Want to sleep like this?” He asks you.

“Hm. Keep on touching me.” You hum against him and he nods slightly, keeping his fingers down your core, softly massaging your folds, lulling the both of you to sleep.

[lovelylogans]

odds are

LORELAI: Oh, come on. This will be fun. LUKE: No way, not happening. LORELAI: But this is our first Halloween together as a full-blown, committed, soon-to-be-married couple. We need to start our own traditions. LUKE: Tell you what. I'll build you the chair, help with the test tubes, and then I'm done. LORELAI: But you would be so scary with smoke coming out of your nose. I really want to see that. LUKE: Well, we're gonna be together the rest of our lives, so odds are you will.

-gilmore girls, twenty-one is the loneliest number

part of the wyliwf verse | read my other fics | coffee?

warnings: dogs, costumes, bittersweet nostalgia, homesickness, loneliness mentions, deceit

pairings: moxiety, logince

words: 4,748

notes: HAPPY HALLOWEEN! we’ve hit the last prompt for 13 days of halloween prompts over at @sanderssidescelebrations​! today’s prompt is costume party! this takes place about two years later after the events of cohabit and about nine months after the events of cocoa—so it’s logan and roman’s freshman year of college and don’t worry the whole Relationship Development and like, Other Developments that get dropped pretty soon in the story will be subject to a oneshot(s) or potentially multichap sideshire files, don’t worry boo i gotchu you can find the various foods mentioned throughout the story here.

seven days

patton has been well aware that halloween is virgil’s favorite holiday. it’s not even their first halloween since they’ve been together or lived together—but virgil’s really stepping it up this year.

“pat.”

patton makes a grumbling kind of noise—patton’s close to drifting off to sleep, which virgil knows, and virgil also knows not to really expect a lot of conversation from patton when he’s near sleep, either waking up or falling asleep—and squints. the only light on in the room is virgil’s phone.

“pat, we forgot to get a costume for cocoa,” virgil says.

patton mumbles something that’s supposed to be “we have a week,” but it comes out garbled. somehow, virgil understands it—it’s probably the almost-nineteen years of knowing him.

“i don’t even have an idea,” virgil says.

“can we figure this out in the morning?” patton mumbles. 

“it’s cocoa’s first halloween.”

“cocoa doesn’t seem to care much right now.”

cocoa is, indeed, flopped out at their feet, snoozing happily away. patton’s kind of jealous.

“but—i don’t have an idea,” virgil says, and patton sighs, adjusting as much as he can without kicking their dog, and ends up flopping most of his body on top of virgil’s torso, pillowing his head on virgil’s shoulder. this also, conveniently, brings virgil’s phone out of his sight.

“sleep now.”

“patton—“

“sleep now,” he repeats in a kind of growl. 

there’s a hesitation. then, the light clicks off, and there’s the sound of virgil’s phone being settled on his bedside table. patton almost smiles, and readjusts, getting comfy.

“...so, like, do you think we should dress her more cute or more scary?” virgil asks tentatively.

patton lets out a huff that’s the closest thing to a snort he can get, when he’s this close to dropping off. “definitely cute,” he mumbles.

“okay,” virgil says. there’s another long pause, and patton’s about to slip off into sleep, before—

“is it too on-the-nose if we dress her up like a cup of cocoa?”

“darling,” patton says, “i love you, and i will super definitely listen to your rambling as you try to narrow down your costume ideas, because that is what fiancés slash almost-husbands should do, but if you do not let me get to sleep there might just be a halloween-themed murder.”

there’s a pause.

“so no to the cup of cocoa idea, then,” virgil says, and patton laughs, pressing a kiss to virgil’s shoulder before he nuzzles against his chest.

“so if we’re thinking cute, then we’ve got a lot of options since she’s pretty ambiguous about clothes, she likes the jacket we put on her when it’s cold out, so that’s not a limit,” virgil muses, and patton falls asleep to the gentle lull of his voice as he talks about dog costume ideas.

...

six days

logan really shouldn’t still be doing this, by now. he’s been at college for nearly three months, now. it only took twenty-one days to form a habit, and it seemed the twenty-one days had snuck up on him, and now—

“hi, dad.”

“hey, kiddo,” his dad says, and logan leans against the wall of his lecture hall, closing his eyes tight. “how’s your day going so far?”

“mostly good,” logan fibs. “i just got done with my history course, so i’m done with classes for the week.”

his dad makes a sound of celebration, and logan smiles, just a little, avoiding the gazes of the anonymous sea of people flooding forth from the lecture hall.

“but i’m going to the library soon,” logan adds, and his dad lets out a familiar sigh.

“well, as long as you’re not overworking yourself,” his dad says.

logan hums, because if he says something about how he’s going to be plotting out an essay that’s due right before thanksgiving break his dad will tell him to take a break and that he can take a weekend to relax, but he absolutely cannot do that. instead, he says, “what plans do you have for the weekend?”

“oh, not much, really,” patton says. “hang around the diner, take cocoa for some really long walks before it gets too cold, try to talk virgil out of turning the front yard into a graveyard for the trick-or-treaters, you know, the usual.”

“trying to talk virgil out of what,” logan says. 

“halloween,” patton says, by way of explanation, and logan makes a noise of understanding.

it’s virgil’s absolute favorite holiday—logan remembers thinking, as a kid, that whenever virgil started getting excited about halloween, it meant his birthday was coming soon—and logan attempts to forcefully quell what absolutely was not disappointment at his first halloween approach away from sideshire. the setup’s half the fun.

“you still don’t know what you’re dressing up as?”

“nope,” his dad says cheerfully. “he insists that all of it’s gonna be a surprise, so—”

“you don’t even have the slightest idea?” logan pushes.

“well, i’m no you,” his dad points out, and laughs when logan sighs.

“are you doing anything fun, this weekend?” his dad asks, and logan ignores the little squirming guilty feeling in his stomach, the same way he always feels when his dad asks the question, and when he answers.

“i think i might go out to dinner with some people on my dorm floor,” logan says vaguely, thinking of the meal that he’ll pack away from the dining hall and eat alone in his room, “or see a movie,” he’ll be making flashcards and quizzing himself over and over and over again, “we haven’t decided yet.”

“oh, that’s great!” his dad says, sounding pleased. “let me know if you see a movie, if it’s good or not, yeah?”

“yeah,” logan says, making a mental note to look up movie reviews in case his dad asks, in their call tomorrow. “how’s work been?”

he leans against the wall, listening to his dad prattle cheerfully on, and he sinks further and further back into the shadows, relishing the autumn chill, the news of home, and the slightest balm that his dad’s voice offers against the gnawing presence of homesickness and loneliness that’s been in his chest since he was left alone in his dorm room for the first time.

...

five days

“hello?”

“hey! hey hey hey hey hey hey. hey.”

“hello. are you drunk?”

“i’m at a halloween party, and i’ve had a couple drinks.”

“mhm.”

“not many! just a couple.”

“of course.”

“a man drunk-dials you one time...”

“it’s been three times, but i’ll allow a pass, since your memory recall is clearly impaired.”

“were you sleeping?”

“no, just reading.”

“s’late. you should be sleeping.”

“roman, why would you have called if you thought i was sleeping?”

“get your logic out of here, i love you and i wanted to check in.”

“ah, okay. have you hit—what was the phrase?”

“...i might be in rambly drunk territory.”

“what a shock.”

“hey.”

“it’s true!”

“seriously, though, what are you doing up? usually you’re all about the whole... getting eight hours of sleep thing. or at least you always tell me to get eight hours of sleep.”

“i have an essay—“

“it’s the weekend.”

“that does not change the fact i have an essay, roman. in fact, it indicates the nearness of the due date. besides, i’m working ahead so i can better focus when we’re both home next week—”

“ugh, fine, fine. i’m sure i’ll remember this when i can more coherently bring a point together to tell you why taking at least one day off a week is better for your mental health and general productivity, but—“

“roman, was there a point to this call?”

“i love you and i wanted to hear your voice.”

“...you’re pouting.”

“am not.”

“are too.”

“am not!”

“are too.”

“am—“

“i’m cutting it off now, or we’ll keep going in circles until the sun rises.”

“fiiiiiine.”

“....are too.”

“hey!”

...

four days

"okay,” virgil says, checking the list that he’s taken off the wall as patton pushes the cart behind him, with the squeak-squeak-squeak of a wheel that needs to be oiled.

usually, when he and patton go grocery shopping, they go to taylor doose’s shop in town, but since they need to get decorations and bags of candy and a ton of other stuff, they’ve driven a little closer to the city so they can go to a bigger grocery store that’s got everything they’ll need.

squeak-squeak-squeak, and virgil glances up at the listings hanging from the ceiling.

“so this is food, and i guess over there might be decorations?”

“mhm,” patton says, squeak-squeak-squeak.

“we’ve gotten candy,” patton had snuck at least three extra bags into the cart and virgil pretended not to see, “we’ve gotten streamers, we got banners, i was thinking about getting some spare fabric in case my idea for cocoa’s costume doesn’t pan out and i have to go to my back-up plan, and we still need to get—”

the squeaking’s stopped. virgil turns back, curious, and sees patton stopped in his path and staring at—

oh.

virgil plods back a few steps, so he’s hovering near patton’s shoulder. patton doesn’t seem to notice, though, as he’s staring at the racks of superhero costumes—from onesies for babies to about the size logan was, when he was seven or so.

“sweetheart,” virgil says, soft and gentle, and patton jumps just a little.

“sorry!” he says, and shakes himself, reaching out a finger as if to brush it against a baby onesie, but thinking better of it, hand curling back toward him. “sorry, sorry, just—i wondered if...”

“yeah?” virgil asks.

“i was just thinking about,” patton says, and swallows. “logan, y’know. when he was this tiny.”

virgil had figured. over the past few months, he’s found patton lost in thought and staring at any number of things—the jam shelf in doose’s grocery, whenever he sees rudy out and about in town, the telescope logan had gotten for his sixteenth birthday that he’d had to reluctantly leave behind since there wouldn’t be enough space for it in his dorm room, any time he passes the press—and it’s just...

it twists at virgil’s heart, every time it happens, a bittersweetness that surges unexpectedly to the surface for him, too—making jam tarts three times a week is an exercise in making sure he doesn’t cry at work, which feels stupid, they’re just tarts, but every time he rolls out dough he thinks of all the times logan had helped him with it, the smiles he’d get whenever virgil snuck him one, and it—

it’s just. hard. kids grow up, and that’s natural, and good, but...

but, well. it didn’t stop the nostalgia.

“do you think he would have been a big superhero fan?” he asks, soft. “if they were as big a market then as they are now.”

patton swallows, leans his head against virgil’s shoulder, just for a moment. “the science ones,” he says softly. “he’d like—he’d like the science ones.”

virgil smiles a little, feeling that familiar lump in his throat. “the reporters, too. he’d have the alliteration thing going, too—lois lane logan. and roman would be superman.”

patton lets out a laugh that’s really closer to a sob, and virgil wants to wrap him up in a long, lingering hug, virgil’s general shyness about public displays of affection be damned, but before he can do that, patton turns. he’s smiling at virgil, just a little, but it’s fake around the edges.

“sorry,” patton says, and swallows. virgil nudges him, just a little.

“he’ll be home soon,” virgil reminds him, soft and quiet.

“i know,” patton murmurs, and a slightly rueful smile twists his lips. “i know, i know. it’s just—”

“i know,” virgil murmurs, and allows himself to lean over and press a chaste kiss to patton’s cheek. “it’s okay to miss him.”

it’s been a common refrain.

“i know.”

that’s been common, too.

“i miss him too,” virgil admits, quiet, and patton squeezes tightly at his wrist, before he takes a deep breath and forcefully turns away from anything resembling a baby clothes section.

“okay,” patton says, and maybe he’s forcing himself to sound a bit brighter and perkier than usual. “what else do we need to get?”

virgil lets it slide, and if he maybe hangs back so that he can hold patton’s hand as they walk through the store—well, patton’s clinging to him tightly enough that it’s clear that he needs it, too.

...

three days

"i’d had no idea you were so fascinated by halloween,” logan comments, from where he’s holding up the banner as dee affixes the other side.

“you think my spooky bitch aesthetic wouldn’t be all over this?” dee says, voice studiously bland.

“well, you were never ‘all over it’ at chilton.”

“you wore those uniforms for three years,” dee says pointedly. “and you know how strict they were with dress code.”

“true,” logan acknowledges, and steps back when dee comes to attach the other edge of the CREEPIN IT REAL banner to the wall. “are you sure you don’t want to come to sideshire?”

“i’d have to visit my parents,” dee says, with an eye-roll. “i have an invite to get wine-drunk with some poetry majors—“

“i thought it was whiskey-drunk with pre-meds?”

“—so i’m afraid i’m booked, and cannot upstage your little boy-toy with my clearly superior costume.”

“it’s roman,” logan says. “you know it’s roman. you got drunk and spilled a lot of your life story with roman, even if it directly conflicts with the varying life stories you’ve told me. you can no longer pretend that you are not on a first-name basis with him.”

“of course, sanders,” dee says, and logan rolls his eyes, before he draws his hand back from the pile of decor.

“um,” he says, and then winces, because dee can detect any sense of uncertainty in anyone’s tone, like a shark smelling blood. 

“what?” dee says, glancing at him.

“would you,” logan says, and his mouth twists, since he knows he can’t pass this off as anything but sentimental. “would you be willing to keep the fake spider webbing to your room?”

dee narrows his eyes at him. “you’re not afraid of spiders.”

“no,” logan agrees, and hands it over, conscientious of the lack of spider webbing in his halloweens all his life—because his dad’s afraid of spiders, and virgil has always catered to him. “but i’d prefer you kept it to your room anyway.”

...

two days

"all right, what’ll it be?” virgil asks, leaning a hip against the counter and readying his pen to write down patton’s order.

“thiiiiiiis whole section,” patton says, outlining the special insert of halloween-themed foods with his pointer finger. “oh, and a hot cocoa/coffee, too.”

“patton.”

“c’mon, pleeaaase?” patton pleads, batting his eyelashes at virgil. “i’ve barely tried any of them, and you only do it once a year—”

“you won’t be able to eat all that,” virgil starts.

“sample sizes, then,” patton says. “little bits of everything.”

virgil pauses.

“you can control my portions, that way,” patton points out. “and i’ll be taste-testing everything, and i won’t be wasting food. win-win.”

virgil hesitates, tapping the pen. “bigger serving of the butternut squash risotto, so you’ll have an actual meal, a side of vegetables of my choice that you’ll eat, and only one cup of caffeinated hot cocoa/coffee, it’s already late in the day.”

patton beams at him, handing him back the menu. “you’re the best.”

“yeah, yeah,” virgil mutters, and patton blows him a kiss, just for extra measure.

virgil rolls his eyes, trying to act like he’s not grinning like a lovestruck idiot, and retreats back into the kitchen to stick the ticket into the deck.

“i really should make a halloween sampler platter next year,” virgil muses aloud, and taps the idea into his phone for later, so he remembers it, before he starts readying patton’s dinner—caramel apple slices, cheesy spiders, monster pizza bites, mummy jalepeño poppers, spooky spinach dip in a bread bowl cauldron, a saucy spider, ghost toast. he adds on a couple decorated cookies that he’ll default are part of the menu, if patton teases him about it.

and, when patton makes the same happy noises that he always does whenever he eats anything that virgil makes him, well. if he’s smiling to himself as he clears out the coffee filters, then it’s no one’s business but his.

...

one day

“i got it,” virgil says triumphantly.

“got what?” patton says absently, taking out the various kinds of candy they’d bought earlier in the week to put into various bowls.

“cocoa’s costume,” virgil says. “i got it.”

“yeah?” patton says, glancing up at him and grinning. “can i see?”

“nope,” virgil says, and drops a kiss to the top of his head, before he drops into the opposite chair at the kitchen table. “but it is very cute, and it ties in with ours.”

“which i’m also not supposed to know about,” patton says.

“exactly,” virgil says, and he frowns at the bags of candy. “are we mixing or sorting or...?”

“stuff with nuts in red, stuff that’s allergen-safe in blue,” patton says, gesturing to the bowls. 

“got it,” virgil says, tugging a bag full of fun-size skittles toward him. 

cocoa, loyally, takes up her regular seat under the dining table, where she begs for scraps, and patton laughs, reaching down to pet her, tousling her fur and sending her ears flopping.

“no, cocoa, honey,” patton says, smiling, “no candy for you.”

cocoa, however, lives in eternal hope, so she sets her chin on his thigh and lets out a little sigh.

patton does sneakily pop a fun-size snickers into his mouth, though, because he’s an adult and he can eat candy if he wants. 

and a milky way. and a three musketeers. and a reese’s. and—

“it’s cute you think i don’t notice you doing that,” virgil says, not looking up from where he’s opening another bag of candy, and patton smiles at him, only a little guilty, as he tosses a handful of m&ms into his mouth.

“aw, babe,” patton teases, “you think i’m cute?”

virgil looks up at him, fond and jokingly exasperated all at once. “we’re literally engaged.”

“yeah, but,” patton says, and grins wider. “you think i’m cu-ute.”

virgil huffs, before he leans over the table, standing, to press a kiss to patton’s lips, and patton can’t stop smiling for long enough to let him do it properly.

virgil doesn’t seem to mind all that much.

...

halloween

"okay,” virgil says, and hands over a vast bunch of black fabric. patton accepts it with eager hands.

“my costume?”

“your costume,” virgil confirms. “i figured i’d do some makeup too, as we’re waiting for trick-or-treaters, if that’s cool with you.”

patton makes a distracted sound of agreement as he unfolds it—he can’t quite unparse what it is right now, but it’s virgil-made in both idea and fabric-wise, so he’s sure he’ll love it.

“okay,” patton says, and presses a kiss to his cheek. “i’ll change and take the first shift of babies trick-or-treating while you and cocoa get everything ready for the party, yeah?”

“yeah,” virgil says, looking pleased, and patton ducks into the bathroom, untangling the fabric.

it’s a black shirt, a black jacket, black pants—they all have feathery-looking accents, subtle and yet so clear, and patton tilts his head at it, trying to figure it out. it’s some kind of bird, definitely, but—

patton shrugs, and tugs it on, before he stares at himself in the mirror—it’s a bit low-cut, front-wise, but there’s threads criss-crossing in the front to seal it up, so he does. there’s a long, duster-type coat that patton really likes and might wear regularly, too, since the feather stuff is maybe subtle enough to pass off in the middle of the regular season. 

“do you have a shoe preference?” patton hollers through the bathroom door.

“black ones!” virgil calls back. 

“is this a sneak method to make me look goth?” he calls, and he can hear virgil’s snort through the door. 

“just for today,” he calls.

“am i a crow?”

“raven, actually, but there’s a specific one, you’ll realize it soon enough,” virgil says, and patton opens the door to see virgil gathering up his own swaths of dark fabric in his arms, cocoa sitting politely at his feet. patton does a little spin to show off.

virgil smiles, and presses a kiss to the top of his head. “you look great.”

“thanks,” patton says, and flaps his arms, and the duster makes it look like wings. “i really like this coat.”

virgil’s smile turns a bit more pleased. “thanks.”

“okay,” patton decides, and makes some last-minute adjustments, making sure his costume sits on him right, and virgil reaches out to correct his collar. “i’ll go out on the porch, just come on out when you and cocoa are ready, yeah?”

he presses a kiss to virgil’s lips, and the last thing he sees is virgil ducking down to cocoa’s level, unearthing a dress-looking thing.

he tries to brainstorm what it is, even as he gives out generous handfuls of candy to the tiny, toddling members of sideshire—mostly toddler-aged kids, at this time, so they don’t have to stay up late—exclaiming over mermaids and superheroes and princesses and witches and ghosts and video game characters, winking at them when he slips them extra.

when their parents ask after him, what exactly he is, he simply shrugs, beaming, before sending the kids on to the next house.

the sun’s just dipped below the horizon when he hears the door open, and the familiar click-click-click of cocoa’s nails on hardwood, then on the porch.

patton whistles lowly, and pats his lap, craning his neck to see her.

she does, indeed, look very cute. patton had been right—it had been a dress, with a kind of vest, maybe, and a tiara nestled amongst the fake flowers on her head that’s already knocked askew.

“you look so cute, baby girl!” patton gushes, getting onto his knees, all the better to pet cocoa without dislodging her costume and to adjust her tiara—it’s ringing a bell in his head, what exactly she is, but he can’t quite put his finger on it.

that is, until—

“the princess shall indeed grow in grace and beauty, beloved by all who know her,” virgil’s voice rumbles, and patton looks up and immediately feels his mouth go dry. “but, before the sun sets on her sixteenth birthday, she shall prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel and die. or, uh. prick her paw, i guess.”

patton makes a noise that kind of sounds like guh?

virgil is... wow. he’s dressed in sweeping black robes that make him look taller and slimmer than he already is, imposing, somehow, absolutely towering over everything in sight. the robes have a v neck and a pointed, sharp collar that brings attention to the horns emerging from his head. his cheekbones are absolutely chiseled, his lips ruby red, his skin pale and smooth and flawless, his hair—what peeked forth from the horns, anyway—dark and lush and just begging for patton to run his fingers through it.

there’s only peeks of skin—his hands, his neck, a bit of his chest, his face, of course—but he looks so...

patton tries to swallow as he rises to his feet, mouth slightly agape.

virgil’s lips—so red, so full—quirk, and he adjusts his robes, looking self-conscious. “it doesn’t look that bad, does it?” he asks cautiously.

patton reaches up, and scratches lightly through the thin, delicate hairs at the nape of virgil’s neck. he shivers.

and then patton tugs virgil down to his level, and tries his best to kiss him absolutely silly. he threads his fingers through whatever bits of virgil’s hair he can grab, tugging him close, the other closing possessively over virgil’s hip and he just pulls him in, as hot and close and tight as he possibly can, and virgil’s lips part under his and he tastes like snuck chocolate and caramel and nougat, and he bites at virgil’s lip, almost half-hoping it’ll taste like what the color reminds him of—candy-coated apples.

when patton manages to let go of him, once he’s at least a little satisfied his emotions on virgil’s costumes have been almost-adequately conveyed, he leans back to see virgil’s slightly-smeared lip gloss that sends a thrill up patton’s spine.

“oh,” virgil says breathlessly.

“yeah,” patton says, grinning, “oh.”

somehow, they manage to haul out the two rocking chairs and sit out on the porch for the express purpose of ease of access for trick-or-treaters without patton getting distracted, though he does, for most of the rest of the time they wait for the ebb and flow of floods of kids, keep a hand on virgil’s knee, occasionally squeezing virgil’s thigh.

virgil flushes, just a bit, behind his makeup. he ends up fixing up his lips, and making sure that there aren’t any remnants on patton’s face that give away what they’d been doing, lest any of the children ask why maleficent had been kissing her raven, diaval, as they looked up from petting sleeping beauty.

and, as the promised time inches closer and closer, patton can’t stop himself from fidgeting, and virgil snickers.

“excited?” he teases.

“don’t pretend you haven’t planned out all of logan’s favorite meals for the weekend,” patton says, unable to stop his own smile at the thought—since logan’s birthday is on sunday, he’s come home early with one of the default absences that his lecture professor on friday’s given him, and roman’s coming home, too, so the kids will be around and they might have a big dinner with isadora (and probably one with his parents) but he’ll be able to spend time with his son. 

their daily phone calls are great, true, but he’s missed just hanging out with logan—their companionable silences, seeing his son furrow his brow with interest when he reads a book or an article, the meaningful, wordless quirks of his brow or twists of his lips that patton’s spent eighteen-almost-nineteen years deciphering—so he’s just. he’s really excited.

when the first guests come—emile and remy, dressed up as steven and connie—patton welcomes them perhaps a bit too eagerly as cocoa barks, tail wagging wildly, and patton tries to correct her tiara again. 

he throws himself into hosting as virgil handles the last of the trick-or-treaters that’ll be face-to-face—he makes sure their spooky cauldrons of punch are full, that the platters of themed snacks that virgil had spent most of the day preparing (and mostly preventing patton from eating) are out from the fridge and ferried about the room, and that everyone is having a good time, that he greets everyone and exclaims over their costumes, before—

cocoa starts barking excitedly from the porch, and patton grins, setting down the platter on the nearest available surface and dashing for the door, half-hanging off the ledge in order to see virgil letting logan out of a hug, and tugging roman into an awkward, one-armed kind of thing.

“kiddo!” patton says eagerly, and wraps his arms tightly around logan’s shoulders. logan tolerates it with something less than his usual stiffness—he hugs him back, and patton draws back to grin at him.

“happy halloween.”

“happy halloween,” logan repeats, and patton takes a look at him. he’s wearing a suit, and a dapper hat, and he’s holding a candy cigarette between his fingers, the box with the rest of them tucked away in his breast pocket.

“who—?”

“walter burns, from his girl friday.”

patton snorts, just a bit, because of course logan stuck so stubbornly to his interests for a halloween costume, before he looks for roman—who has matched with logan, as hildy johnson, because last year they’d dressed up as two prince charmings and it’s logan’s year to pick—and hooks him into a hug, too.

“i tried convincing him to do black-and-white makeup, but he wouldn’t go for it,” roman says.

“we were already running late,” logan begins, and they barely pause in their bickering to pet cocoa—patton’s given up in keeping her tiara and flowers straight on her head—before they disappear inside, and patton turns to virgil, grinning.

“happy halloween,” virgil says, and leans down to kiss him on the cheek, and patton beams up at him.

“happy halloween.”

(patton doesn’t wash off the bright red lip print on his cheek until he’s getting ready for bed that night.)

[bleach-your-panties]

My bad, for Armin Arlert letters are W, X, and Y. For Shoto Todoroki the letters are C, G, and L. 👻😈

Armin Arlert: W - Werewolf: Yellow eyes, fangs as long as your arm, and fur all over. Which side are they on and why? You and Armin were sitting in your living room doing your homework when he suddenly stopped, put down his pencil, and looked over at you. Feeling his gaze, you turned to meet pensive cerulean hues. Raising an eyebrow in concern, you asked, "Everything alright, Armin?" "Werewolves are superior for multiple reasons. Their strength and abilities are unmatched because they literally gain all of the abilities of a wolf. The gray wolf is one of nature's apex predators and-" You stopped him by putting a hand on his arm, a warm smile covering your face. "Okay, I get it; you win, werewolves are superior, my little human dictionary." You leaned in and gave him a peck on the cheek. "I, um. Sorry about that." His cheeks took on a rosy appearance. You giggled.

X - X-Ray: What's Halloween without a little naughty fun? It's a day where you can be anything or anyone that you want to be. So, what's under that costume? ;) "That was the most lit Halloween party that I've ever been to." You laughed as Armin closed the door to your house behind himself. "It was pretty fun. I'm glad you enjoyed yourself." He walked up behind you and wrapped his arms around your shoulders, then kissed your cheek. Giggling, you turned around and wrapped your arms around Armin's neck. "You were a star out on the dance floor." His cheeks turned a little pink and he let out a small laugh. "All thanks to you. You're a great teacher." It was your turn to blush now. You put down little broom that came with your witch costume down on the coffee table. "Um, my parents will be out until morning. Some Halloween gala at their job or something. Do you want to to...spend the night?" You asked cautiously, not knowing how the blond boy would respond. "Sure, I'd love to. I'll take the guest room. The library your parents have installed in there is-" You cut him off by grabbing him by the ruffled white shirt of his pirate costume and planting a deep, suggestive kiss on his lips. Immediately, he knew what your plans for the night included. Armin picked you up and you wrapped your legs around his waist. "Your room?" You shook your head. "I was thinking of something...more...spontaneous.” Your black and purple corset hit the hallway closet floor after Armin nimbly undid its multiple laces. Next, your black tutu hit the ground, followed by your purple lace panties. " Tell me why we're in the closet again, (y/n)-chan?" He asked between nibbling on your neck. "I felt like we needed to up our spontaneity." You reached into his skull-and-crossbones-covered boxers and massaged him, receiving a moan in return. "Right. Spontaneity." Y - Y. O. L. O - It's Halloween night, and you only live once. So release your inhibitions and do something wild! They won't judge, they promise. In fact, they'll probably be right there along for the ride. "I don't think this is a good idea, (y/n)-chan..." Armin said hesitantly as he followed after you, carrying an entire 6-pack of double-rolled toilet paper with him. "You're right, Armin. It's not a good idea, it's a great idea." You laughed maniacally as the two of you approached the first victim's house. Yes, you had concocted the diabolic plan to TP some of the houses in your neighborhood and you were dragging innocent, wide-eyed Armin along with you. "The first house on our list is Mrs. O'Reilly. She's always hated me and her stupid cats are always bothering Peanut." Peanut is your loving, adorable Chow Chow. He's very playful, loving, and gets along with most other animals. Except for those demon cats from hell. "So this is a revenge run?" Armin asked, stopping in front of the house with you. It was currently 7:00 pm in the evening, and he'd much rather be at home reading or something else productive since it was a school night. "Sure, whatever you want to call it. Now, we have to be quick so nobody sees us and so the old bag doesn't wake up." You took two rolls of the toilet paper and threw each one at the roof where they caught on the storm gutters and rolled down, giving the front porch a nice ghost, pumpkin, and bat-printed banner. "Haha, yes! Pass me some more toilet paper, Armin!" The hesitant blond looked around, trying to make sure that no one was watching him participate in criminal activity. As soon as you'd decorated the house with the other four rolls of toilet paper, a light in the house flicked on. "Oh shit! Run, Armin!" You dropped the empty toilet paper rolls and grabbed his hand, pulling him down the street towards your house. Nothing else could be heard except for the thumping of your Converse-covered feet down the pavement and your laughter. Oh, and Mrs. O'Reilly's threats of calling the police. Shoto Todoroki: C - Costume: What costume would they pick to wear? Are you guys going for a couples' theme? *Pics included* "Okay, so you're definitely going with this one, right?" You asked Shoto, referring to the costume you currently were holding up for him to look at. Shoto looked at you with a deadpan expression. "No." "Oh come on! This one is perfect for you!" He shook his head. "No, it's perfect for me to look like an idiot in and for you to laugh at me in." You thought about it. "True. Very true. Okay, so what about this one then?" Shoto groaned. "(y/n)..." Almost doubling over in laughter, you waved your hand in surrender. "Alright, alright. I'll be serious. Look, I have an idea." Halloween Night Your costumes:

Mina approached the two of you outside of your house as you and Shoto were preparing to head to Momo's house for a huge Halloween shindig. "Oh my God, I LOVE you guys' costumes. That's really creative!" She squealed. You beamed. "Thanks, they were my idea. Want some gum?" G - Graveyard: So you decide to spend the night in a graveyard because you think it'd be fun. Right.. How did your night turn out? Shoto usually had sense enough to not follow along with most of your silly ideas and antics, but for some reason he'd decided to go along with your idea to spend the night sleeping in the city cemetery. Also, Bakugo calling him a pussy and betting half the class $20 that he wouldn't do it was also a motivator. Nighttime: You'd come prepared with a tent, sleeping bags, snacks, your laptop and a portable charger so you guys could make the most of your little escapade. "Let's watch a scary movie!" You suggested, popping open a bag of nacho cheese Doritos while Shoto opened a bottle of juice and took a sip. "Fine, but don't even think about crawling into my sleeping bag when you get scared, (y/n)." A ghost of a smile covered his face briefly. "Psh, me, scared? You've got to be joking-" A rustling sound outside your tent made you pause. "D-did you hear that, Shoto?" "Hmm, hear what? Pass the chips, please." "T-there's something out there...what if it's a ghost or a...zombie..." You whispered the last part. "If it is, tell them that it was your idea to come and disturb them." He said, taking the bag of chips from you. Rolling your eyes, you sat down on top of your sleeping bag. "That's not funny Shoto, I-AHH!" You jumped and screamed when you saw two big shadows outside of your tent. "ZOMBIES!" You screamed, unzipping the tent as fast as you could and preparing to run for your life. "Oh my God! I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die, I'm gonna-" You stopped when you heard laughter behind you. Shoto had slumped to the tent floor on his back, an elbow covering his eyes as he struggled to breathe. "Good way to wimp out, (l/n)." Bakugo cackled, along with Eijiro, who were crawling into the tent. "You guys are assholes!" You steamed as they continued laughing at you. L - Lantern: Take a walk on a lantern-lit path late at night or maybe make homemade ones with a pumpkin and candle. However you decide to do it, do it together. Shoto sat with you at your kitchen table, the two of you carving the insides out of your pumpkins so you could make lanterns with them. "I've never seen anyone do this before." He commented, dumping some more pumpkin guts into the silver pan you two were using. "Yea, I know right. I saw this on Pinterest." You finished up with yours, so you went to the sink to wash your hands. Shoto finished soon after you. You had carved a heart with the two of your names in it on the front of yours and he had carved a flaming heart with your hero name inside of it on the front of his. You snuck a peak at his pumpkin, smirking. "So does that mean that I set your heart on fire?" Returning the smirk, he shrugged. "Something like that." That made you blush and giggle. "I'm going to go grab the candles from my room." He nodded as you headed for the stairs. When you returned, you placed a candle in each of your pumpkins. "Okay, I need the lighter." Rummaging around in the kitchen junk drawer, you came across some mini light bulbs, a bottle opener, and some stamps, but no lighter. "Dammit.." You mumbled to yourself, slamming the drawer shut. "What's wrong?" Shoto asked, noticing the distressed look on your face. "I don't know where the lighter is..." You looked at him, getting an idea. "No, (y/n). The dollar store is right around the corner, we could-" "But why go all the way to the dollar store when you're right here, Toki-kun~" "I thought I told you not to call me that..." His cheeks tinted the least little bit of red. "Pleaseeeeeeee..." Later: "Our lanterns look really nice, don't you think, Toki-kun?" "Mhm..." The two of you sat outside on the porch swing in your charred school uniforms while the firefighters put out the fire in your kitchen. "Yea, my parents do not need to know about this." Shoto nodded, agreeing.

[kellanved-ammanas]

Matching Chapter Three: Party

Made up from various things found in one of Spy’s disguise chests – the one that didn’t contain clothing from the enemy team – it was the perfect costume. The fancy mask with a decorative border that looked a like a dragon breathing fire would cover all of his face and most of his head, the high brimmed embroidered hat would cover the rest. Gloves were a given and full body jacket had fancy buttons to keep it closed and cool shoulder things. Other than the mask, which was predominantly white, it was various shades of red, the primary shade being dark and mysterious looking.

“See? I told you Spy probably had stuff like this in his closet,” Scout said. They’d scrounged up a similar costume for him too. At Pyro’s request he’d even gone with one of the two other complete face masks they’d found; it had a snake on it. “He goes to balls and carnivals and all sorts of fancy events all the time. And he’s too much of rich snob to ever borrow anything he needs for those kinds of events so he buys stuff, wears it once, and then throws in into his closet. It’ll be a bit big on us but who cares?”

“We have to ask him again first though, right?” Pyro had only been sort of paying attention to their conversation but he had heard that part. … As well as the uncomfortable exchange that had come before it.

“Yeah, but I’m sure he’ll be fine with it as long as we promise not to damage or stain it. And he’ll probably make you promise not to play with fire while wearing it because he doesn’t trust anybody ever not even me, his own son. Though, I guess he does kind of have a valid reason for that, I may have accidentally gotten a bit careless and broken or destroyed a few of his things in the past. But I’ve learned my lesson, I’m trustworthy now… right? Do you think I’m trustworthy?”

“Yes!” Pyro trusted him more than he’d ever trusted anyone before.

“Good! But uh… anyway, yeah, he’s probably going to want you to promise to not play with fire around his stuff. You can of course break that promise if you need to so…”

“It’s fine,” Pyro interrupted. “I don’t mind making that promise.” It’d be for the best. He’d started wearing the fireproof suit all the time – before he’d grown the illogical need for the protections it gave him from other things, like people’s eyes – so he’d stop burning himself every time he got careless when playing with fire. Which naturally only made him more careless, meaning there was a high chance he’d hurt himself and possibly other people if he played with fire while not in his suit. “I can go one night without fire.” Once upon a time that would’ve been difficult but he had friends now and Scout so it would be okay.

Scout gave him a surprised look that morphed into a proud smile. “All right, that’s cool then.”

 -

Just as Scout had predicted, Spy okayed their borrowing what they’d picked out after extracting promises not to stain it, burn it, or ruin it in any other conceivable fashion and to hold each other accountable for keeping those promises or they’d pay the worth of the costume in cash to Spy. Which was a lot of money. According to him anyway; it was just clothes, nice clothes sure but still just clothes. But regardless, they were all easy promises to make and keep. Which left them with nothing more to do than wait for Halloween.

Finally, the big day came. Warmth flooded Pyro’s chest as he looked at himself in the mirror in Scout’s room. The jacket and pants underneath were a bit baggy on him but not too bad. He looked fancy and cool, like someone who belonged in medieval times at a royal ball. And it was comfortable – compared to his fireproof suit anyway – soft and not heavy, while also covering his whole body. Maybe… there were other things he could wear that would have the same affect so he didn’t have to wear his suit all the time. … That was a thought to file away for later consideration.

“You look great,” Scout said, stepping into the mirror’s frame next to him. “We look great.” The clothes were a bit baggier on him but he didn’t seem to mind. “We look we could be going to one of those… mask party things with the weird name, you know the ones I mean. We look like we’re going to one of those together.”

“We do!” Pyro hugged him. “I like it.” And they were both completely covered and hidden. It was nice that Scout was doing that for him.

Scout chuckled, hugging him back. “Me too.”

“We’re going to be the coolest dudes a the party,” Scout said as they stepped back from each other a few seconds later. “Everyone’s going to be jealous.”

“Let’s go.” Pyro was excited to see what the others would think of their costumes, Spy should be the only one who knew what they were doing.

Holding Scout’s hand, Pyro led the way out and down the hall to the common room. They’d been in here a few hours ago, helping put up all the decorations: a Happy Halloween banner, some orange and black ribbons, fake cobwebs in the corners, a few fake spiders within them, and a whole skeleton that was donated by Medic - meaning it might be real – that hung from the ceiling. There was a table dedicated to Halloween themed snacks next the drink table, most of them alcoholic. Separate from them, on the other side of the room, was the table meant for games.

They arrived second after Spy who was always either the first one to arrive at a team event or the last one. His costume was fancy as always, made up of an extra fancy suit with a pretty pattern and a feathered mask covering the upper half of his face, underneath which was his usual ski mask.

Pyro skipped right up to him, bringing Scout along too. “Thank you again for letting us borrow stuff,” he said.

“Oh, Pyro?” Spy sounded almost taken aback. “I have never heard you speak without your gas mask on before. Your voice is… not what I expected.”

“Oh yeah, uh I didn’t even think of that,” Scout said. “Your voice is like easier to understand now. That okay? You don’t have to speak much if you’d rather…”

“It’s fine,” Pyro interrupted. Actually, it was more than fine, it was great. Being hard to understand was how he preferred it sometimes but he wasn’t in that kind of mood right now. He was with his friends, he wanted them to understand him. “I like it actually!”

“Well uh… okay, cool.”

“Yes,” Spy agreed. “You are very welcome by the way. Just remember no fire or anything else that might cause damage to my stuff.”

“Got it.” Pyro gave him a thumbs up. He was too excited to need fire right now anyway.

Miss Pauling was the next to show up. She was dressed as a witch. Pyro skipped right up to her to say, “Hello,” and wave with his free hand.

“Oh uh… who are you?” she asked. Was his voice really that changed by the gas mask?

“It’s Pyro,” Scout answered for him. “He doesn’t have to wear his gas mask because we found these super cool party masks instead as part of our super cool costumes. And we match, isn’t that awesome? We’ve got the best costumes this year for sure. If there was a competition we’d be all over first place.”

“Yes, I suppose they do look cool. But Pyro,” she looked at him again with a fond smile, “it’s nice to hear your voice unmuffled for once. I don’t think I ever have before. I… actually didn’t think you’d be okay with that kind of thing.”

“No, I like it.” It was wonderful to be understood without having to enunciate. “You guys are my friends so I don’t mind.” One day he wanted to show all his friends his face too but… he wasn’t quite ready for that yet.

It wasn’t long before everyone else started filing in. Pyro went up to each and every one of them as they entered to greet them. The realization that he could be understood easily through the party mask was too exciting to pass up the opportunity to make sure all his friends knew what his voice actually sounded like. Before this only Scout had known. They were all pleasantly surprised by it too, even Soldier who didn’t normally seem to care about that kind of thing.

And it meant he could participate in Miss Pauling’s Halloween DnD campaign this year without the usual hassle that came with being hard to understand. It also meant he could drink. Getting a straw up underneath the party mask without revealing anything was much easier than with the gas mask. Drinking alcoholic beverages through a straw was a bit weird but who cared? It was fun and he’d never gotten to actually drink with Scout or the rest of the team before.

 -

“Hey Py,” Scout slurred as he sagged into Pyro’s side. “I ever tell you that I looove you?”

Pyro leaned his head against Scout’s. He felt heavy and even while sitting at the drink table, dizzy.  He’d fall over for sure if he tried to stand. He nodded. “Love you too. Lots. More than fire.” He reached into pocket for his lighter, he had to show Scout how pretty it was. But... it wasn’t there. With not words to describe that disappointment, he let out a whining sound instead.

“I think you two have had enough to drink,” Demo cut in as he pulled the punch bowl across the table towards himself.

“No,” Scout said, hugging Pyro’s arm now. “We’re fine, we can keep going.”

“Yes, fine,” Pyro agreed, trying to give Demo a thumbs up but the world rocking as much as it was made it hard. It made him feel sick.

“Nah, that’s like the fourth time in the last half hour, you’ve checked your pocket for you lighter Pyro. Thankfully you don’t got it or we’d all be dead by now and thankfully Scout’s clinging to you like a barnacle or you’d’ve gotten up and gone looking for it until you found it and again we’d all be dead by fire. It’s making me nervous. And I feel like, I should probably cut you off before you do something you’re going to regret in the morning. I’ve already gotten an accidental peek of your part of your face because of how careless you’re being with adjusting your mask for the straw.”

That… was bad but Pyro couldn’t exactly remember why right now. He used his free hand to reach for his lighter again before being reminded it still wasn’t there. If Scout wasn’t leaning into him and holding onto his arm, he would’ve gotten up go looking for it even if it meant falling over a few times. Fire was good for burning away things he didn’t like.

“So,” Demo continued before rising his voice, “Spy get your ass over here and help your son and future son-in-law get off to bed before they drink themselves into a coma.”

“Wait, what?” Scout said, stiffening a bit. “Did you just suggest…” he trialed off. “Eh… I guess I ain’t against that idea.”

Pyro wasn’t sure what they were talking about, nor did he really care. He wanted a refill of his drink but… it was empty and Demo had pulled the punch bowl all the way to his side of the table. How was Pyro supposed to get to it over there without standing up? And his lighter still wasn’t in his pocket; he wanted to set something on fire, damnit.

“I should be cutting you off too.” Spy had snuck up behind them. It wasn’t the enemy Spy though so it was okay.

“Nah, I got a liver made of steel.” Demo took another large drink, finishing off what was in his cup. He slammed it down on the table before standing up, only swaying a little bit considering how much he’d had to drink, more than Pyro and Scout had had for sure. “But help me get these two off to bed before something bad happens. They’re making me nervous, ‘specially Pyro.”

“Very well then. Scout, Pyro, it is way past midnight and almost everyone else has headed off to bed so it is time for you to do so as well.”

“Nah, I don’t think…” Scout began before cutting off with surprise as Pyro stood up, bringing him up with him.

Right away the sway of the world increased tenfold. They would’ve both toppled over if Spy hadn’t caught them and steadied. Pyro closed his eyes and clung onto Scout, fighting the urge to vomit. He’d promise not to ruin his costume. Thankfully the urge passed after a few seconds.

“Let’s go,” Demo said, standing on one side of Pyro and Scout now. Spy was on the other. Together, they guided Pyro Scout out of the common and down the hall to Scout’s room, not letting them fall over or stray. Spy even unlocked it for them and guided them in and onto the bed.

“I will be expecting my clothing returned to me tomorrow, whenever you finally wake up and have worked through your hangovers enough to be at least halfway functional. Have a good night.” Spy backed out of the room, pulling the door shut behind him. There was small click as it locked.

“Good night,” Pyro said with a little wave even though he was already gone.

Scout huffed before starting to undress, throwing everything onto the floor. Pyro followed suit. Normally he’d want to hang it up but… couldn’t right now. He felt a bit better once he was down to just a pair of boxers, the cool air on his bare skin had a slight sobering effect.

Scout flopped over onto his back with a contented sigh. Pyro lay down too, making sure to cuddle up close to him, not bothering with the blanket bunch down by their feet.

“Fun night,” Scout said with a yawn, snuggling into Pyro.

“Yes, best Halloween ever, thanks.”

“Yeah, it was, huh? Best ever, knew it would be. Love you, good…” he trailed off as he fell asleep.

“Love you too,” Pyro replied before letting himself drift off too.

Previous