#robins egg blue walls

[toyastales]

I adore the bohemian flair in this hallway.

Great use of color and pattern.

[planetbabel]

Master Bath Bathroom in Atlanta

Large trendy master beige tile wood-look tile floor, beige floor and double-sink bathroom photo with shaker cabinets, white cabinets, quartz countertops, blue walls, an undermount sink, a hinged shower door, white countertops and a built-in vanity

[bandartogelonline666]

Mudroom - Beach Style Entry Example of a medium-sized beach-style mudroom with travertine floors and blue walls.

[los-angeles-county-limousine]

Kids Room Toddler

Kids' room: medium-sized coastal kids' room idea with multicolored walls and a brown floor that is gender-neutral for both sexes.

[nihilminus]

Midcentury Bedroom - Bedroom

[jonahryans]

San Francisco Bathroom Example of a classic powder room design with soapstone countertops and an undermount sink

[punkr0ckkid]

Bedroom Master

[silkscream]

CHAPTER 2: HEAVEN CANNOT WAIT FOREVER

ੈ✩ gojo satoru x reader, geto suguru x reader

He feels you shake. Earth-shattering, the feeling of you. Like you’re breaking the sky for him. It roots something deep inside him that wasn’t there before. Something blooming between violence and gauzy ecstasy. It knots his stomach until he breaks, too.

ੈ✩ chapter cw/tags: smut (18+ mdni), virginity loss, protected sex (yay!!), fingering, satoru is annoying

ੈ✩ wc: 4.4k

ੈ✩ a/n: SMUT TIMEEEEE! one of my fav chapters just because it's so sweet. title is from the first taste by fiona apple. i'd love feedback <3 if you just comment about updates i will summon mahoraga on you.

playlist ✸ read on ao3 ✸ series masterlist

July, 2008

In front of you, the Gojo estate sprawls out. It's oversized and sukiya-style, adorned with gardens full of hanashobu. When you were younger and more naive, you daydreamed that your wedding ceremony would happen in such a place. The idea makes you feel silly now.

You now find the gargantuan display of wealth a bit repulsive, despite growing up here. 

The emerging summer heat makes the back of your knees feel sticky already. You had opted for a simple shirt dress, light and linen, and robin’s egg blue, thinking Satoru would like the color. 

God, this was stupid. He wouldn’t be paying attention to the color of your dress — he’d be much more concerned with what’s underneath. The thought makes your stomach flip, birds and wasps flurrying in your diaphragm. The kiss you’d shared hadn’t left your mind for days. You wonder if it was the same for him.

You're surprised that he's there to greet you himself. Otherwise, you would've let yourself in. He smiles at you, looking unfairly handsome in a black t-shirt and sweatpants. He’s not wearing his sunglasses. 

“Look who decided to show up.”

You hum in greeting, brushing past him to move toward the stairs.

“Eager, are we?” he teases. “You didn’t even get me flowers.”

“You have a whole garden of them outside.”

“They’re much prettier when you arrange them, Twigs.” 

He cocks his head to the side, eyes lingering on an ikebana sitting on the foyer table. You had arranged it last week. You sigh, immediately regretting your decision until he pushes you lightly on the small of your back. His cologne is sharp under your nose. Has he always smelled this good? 

It didn’t occur to you that Satoru would ever wear cologne. He’d always smelled like plain soap, white musk. Boyish sweat after he’d play in the courtyard with you.

You follow him up the long staircase and into his bedroom. It’s plain as it always was — neutral colors and traditional paintings on the walls, courtesy of his mother. The only difference is that a king-sized bed replaces the tatami mat he’d preferred as a child.

You try not to look at him, instead, inspecting the bookshelves. You'd read half of his stack by the time you were twelve. Since then, it seemed that Satoru didn't continue an interest in reading the same way you had. 

There’s a small photo peeking out of a book — you recognize the top of your head. As you pull it out, you see the two of you grinning in front of a lake. You are eight years old, freshly toothless, and your pigtails are unruly.

“I miss your braids, you know,” Satoru murmurs. He laughs when you jump a bit at the realization of his presence. The coolness of his palm settles on the nape of your neck. You used to tease him about that — how he’d stalk the hallways like a cat and catch you off guard. You thought he’d ought to wear a bell. 

“You just liked tugging on them to piss me off.”

“You’re cute when you’re pissed off,” he shrugs. 

You wonder if he can hear the echoing brag of your heart. You can’t blame the heat for how you feel, with his house being the perfect temperature of all times. He’s so casual in his T-shirt compared to you. You’re briefly self-conscious about whether your dress is tacky or garish. Too feminine with its floral pattern. You hadn’t worn the thing in years.

As if he’s read your mind, he calls your name and tells you that he thinks you look pretty today. He beckons you into his lap again.

This time, you sit next to him, too anxious to touch yet. He smiles at you again, cat-like, but sweet. Not teasing in his usual manner. 

“You can kiss me, you know.”

“I— I know,” you frown. “I don’t need your permission.”

“Then what are you waiting for, Twigs?”

You close your eyes, pausing in front of his face as you notice his breathing get uneven. A subtle push forward makes you stop against a wall.

“You did not just use your Infinity—”

“Sorry,” Satoru laughs. “Still a little mad that you lied about your technique to me.”

You look at him with wide eyes, bottom lip trembling. Something between shame and self-effacement.

“I’m messing with you. Promise. I didn’t mean anything by it.”

Despite that, there was never really any hiding from him. Even though you aren’t as close as you used to be, Satoru is somehow still intuitive to how you feel. It’s why he touches your jaw and curls a lock of your hair in between his fingers. He knows his gentle touch would make a shiver run down your spine.

He kisses you, finally. The way your mouth immediately parts to welcome him makes his stomach stir, a spark to ignite a fire. It’s curious and soft, and when he hears you mumble please when he pulls away, he succumbs completely. 

His hand settles on your waist, then your thigh. The crux behind your knee. He doesn’t want to move too quickly despite his desperate desire. Your sweet sounds are making him boil over. It’s all so delicate, hanging on by the thinnest thread, and he doesn’t want to scare you away like a timid animal.

You melt into him, grasping the front of his t-shirt with enough eagerness to surprise him. It occurred to you that you liked surprising him this way. You enjoyed getting him flustered. As you feel his warm palms smoothing the flesh of your thighs, the skirt of your dress is already bunched up.

The sound of him groaning in your mouth is addictive. Even more so when it’s your name between his lips.

“Satoru,” you whisper.

“Yes?”

“I–I want–”

Want you to eat me. Want to stay in your lap.

“Gone speechless already?” he teases, brushing your nose with his despite your glare. “You don’t have to be all shy with me.”

You’d imagined being in his lap like this before, warm and fervid. Dream-like. But it’s more real than anything else, especially when you can feel his hardness underneath you.

“We don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do.” 

Satoru’s voice is strained, raspy. There’s an unsung hymn inside of you somewhere, some cruel and divine power deep within that wants to tear him apart. Hearing him like this makes your pulse quicken.

“I want to,” you whisper. His eyes widen, snowy lashes flickering in surprise as if he wasn’t the one to invite you over. As if he wasn’t the one who had beckoned you into his lap and kissed you first. He’d argue that you’d tempted him if he had the strength to tease you again.

You have the urge to hide inside of him, consume him. There’s a question in the flicker of your eyes when you touch his inner thigh. Your eyes are wide. 

Satoru makes a sharp inhale. He’s nervous – more nervous than he’s ever been in this kind of situation. It isn’t like he does this often despite his reputation. With you, it’s something entirely unprecedented. 

“Kiss me again,” he says. You do. For a bit, you let the feeling of him wash over you, and then you try something new. Your teeth are at his neck. The nip of your incisors against his throat makes him groan, the sound inciting something wild in you.

“Do you want me to touch you?”

You nod. 

He doesn’t undress you, not yet. He merely snakes an arm in between your thighs, gasping at the wetness that’s gathered at your core. Fuck.

“You can lean into me,” he rasps into your hair. “Make yourself feel good.”

You mewl – a helpless sound. A small rock of your hips grants you friction against his hand, but it’s not enough. 

“You’re teasing me,” you whine.

“But you like it, don’t you?” 

He smiles. Devilish again, like his usual self. He knows you’re a bit repressed, like him, but in a way that’s reserved. He wants to see you come undone, enjoys the begging tone of your moans too much.

Satoru skims his fingers along your thigh, wetting the skin with your slick. He pulls your underwear to the side to find your clit. The pressure of his fingers against it makes you shiver.

Your eyes close as you sigh. You can’t look at him – can’t remind yourself that he can see your face like this, falling apart in small breaths. The coil in your stomach aches.

“Tell me how it feels.” His voice is low, his breath tickling just beneath your ear. 

“Good,” you reply, breathless. “Feels really good.”

He wants to ask for permission, but he can’t help it. The sight of your mouth parting in pleasure is so much. He wants to see how your face contorts when he touches you in different places. You have always been his favorite toy, haven’t you?

Without warning, he pushes an index finger into you, stifling a groan at your reaction. 

“Want more? How do you like it?”

“I don’t– I don’t know?”

“You don’t touch yourself, Twigs?”

“Satoru, just– oh.”

You’re so wet around him. So tight. His cock throbs at the idea of being inside you. 

“Another one?”

“Mhm.”

“Open your eyes. Want you to look at me.”

Your lashes flutter as you gasp into his mouth. He looks at you intently, mesmerized. Your hips jerk, grinding into his lap when he uses his thumb to circle your clit again, this time in a steady rhythm with two fingers inside your cunt.

Satoru exhales into your mouth, his jaw slack and moaning softly as if he’s being stimulated as much as you are. In a way, he is, from the friction of you in his lap. He thinks he might just cum in his pants from watching you. He’s never been this pent-up before.

You finish with a quiet gasp, clutching Satoru’s shoulders as you bury your face into his neck. When you pull back, he’s wonderstruck, eager to kiss your cheeks and your jaw and the space above your collarbone. His fingers, still wet with your slick, enter his mouth. He curses softly. You flush at the sight of his lips all dewy with the taste of you.

“Can I take this off?” He pulls at the hem of your dress. The sound of his voice shakes you back to Earth.

You nod, helping him slip the fabric off of your body.

It’s almost as terrible as it is tantalizing to be so vulnerable in front of him. Bare enough for him to make his mark on you, claiming you forever. You suppose he had done that long ago without you realizing.

“You’re so beautiful like this,” he coos. He soothes a palm over your waist.

“Naked, you mean?”

Satoru laughs. Eyes hazy, summer blue. “Yes. But you’ve always been beautiful.”

You want to retaliate with something, ease your nerves with a joke, but the tenderness of his voice renders you speechless.

“Your turn,” you breathe, tugging at his sleeve. 

When he rids himself of his shirt and sweatpants, you notice he’s as pale as moonlight. Smooth porcelain and filled-out muscle. Rigid. What happened to the lanky boy that used to pull on your braids?

“Got a staring problem?” he goads.

“Shut up.”

“Maybe if you lay back for me.”

You swallow. You listen to him. He looks at you, your hair fanning out on his pillow, your body bare and ripe for the taking. Satoru sits in front of you and coaxes your legs apart to kiss your knees, the back of your thighs. You mewl when he bites, nipping at you the same way you’d done to his neck.

“Look at you. So fucking pretty. Wanna eat you out.”

You have half a mind to say thank you, but the moment passes. You’re too fixated on the way his eyes trail down your body. How the brevity of his words makes you feel flayed alive. 

When he kisses you a little too close to your core, you whine in protest and pull at his hair in a fit. He looks up at you, feigning dejection.

“I’m sorry, baby. What is it that you want, hm?”

Baby. Baby.

“Come kiss me.”

And he does, but it’s more violent this time. He doesn’t hold back on showing you how much he wants you, how badly he’s obsessed with you after seeing you fall apart so sweetly for him. The supercut of it will reel in his head long after this. He’s sure of it.

Satoru laves his tongue over the places on your neck that he’s bitten, and descends to your chest until he hooks his teeth around your nipple. He groans at the sound of your moan. His hands are still roaming, palms gripping the taut flesh of your thighs as he grinds lightly into your body enough for you to feel his hardness. 

He wants to give you more, so he teases the swollen nub of your clit again with his fingertips and is delighted to feel that you’re even wetter than before – if that was even possible.

“Satoru!”

“Yes?”

Your breathing is so irregular that you can’t put your desire into words. Not without it tainting you with shame, at least. You plead with big eyes, but Satoru wants to tease you a little more. You wonder if it’s in his nature to be so cruel.

“Use your words, Twigs. What is it? You want me to fuck you?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, okay,” he chuckles, kissing your temple. “You want a condom?”

You close your eyes, nodding, trying to savor the way he makes you feel and not the terrifying vulnerability that rots in the pit of your stomach. It’s all too much, much more than you had dreamt out, but you’re here now. You know there’s no going back. You know that when you open your eyes to see his soaking in so much light, looking at you with adoration, you wouldn’t want to go back anyway.

He’s quick to prod your entrance again. You nod slightly to permit him, clutching him like a lifeline. 

“Let me know if it hurts too much, okay?”

“Okay.”

He kisses you hard, consuming you as a distraction as the head of him enters you little by little. You’re wet enough to not feel any resistance. When he’s pushed to the hilt of you, he moans against your mouth. He drinks up your exhale, trying not to consider it a painful one as he runs his fingers through your hair lovingly.

It’s a strange pain. Something of an ache in the core of you, twisting at your insides in a way that also feels like crushing ripe fruit. A delicate sensation as much as it is rough. Satoru is gentle in his movements, brushing your hair out of your face. He looks at you with utmost admiration. 

“Is that— is that good?” you whisper.

“I should be asking you that, shouldn’t I?” he says. You feel the rumble of his laugh against your chest. “Does it hurt?”

“Only a little. But it—it feels nice.”

He slides his cock back to thrust into you again, slowly. It’s almost languid, lazy the way he slips back into you like the two of you have just woken up from a dream. 

Satoru wants to be intentional with how he fucks you. Even within these past minutes, he’s convinced he’s gotten your reactions down to memory. He’ll be able to touch you in all the right ways the next time you fall into his bed. But if he’s intentional, if he fucks you the way he truly wants to, he’s worried it’ll be too much. Everything he feels for you is too much at the moment.

“Relax for me.” His voice is smooth as butter. Your reaction is a hot knife. You notice that for the first time in a long time, in front of you, his face is blushing pink. It makes your walls tighten around him.

He rolls his hips against yours. It’s ecstasy—the feeling of you encapsulating him in lust, in softness. The drawn-out whine that tumbles out of your mouth makes it all worthwhile as Satoru thrusts with the smallest bit of intention. Softly, lovingly. After a bit, his length begins to make you feel full without all the pain. Skin kissing skin. Insides fluttering.

You don’t notice the tears pricking the corners of your eyes. The pain subsides, but the pleasure stokes the fire in your stomach until it devours you completely. 

He hitches your right leg higher, ankle past his shoulder. He feels so fucking reckless, but he’ll satiate you the way you deserve—sweet and painless and passionate. The way your bottom lip trembles is making it so fucking difficult for him to stay gentle, though.

He moans your name and it reminds you of yourself. Of your body, of inhabiting it and being consumed by your best friend who is not your best friend. And you love him, you realize, but it’s a worthless feat to think about it too much during your first time. You can at least play pretend while Satoru is inside of you, as he looks at you like he’s the one in love with you.

He bites at your neck as he ruts into you a little faster. He’s so deep that you think you might go brainless—dizzied with pleasure, overflowing with thrill.

“So fucking tight,” Satoru groans. He pushes up his body now, settles himself on his knees as he holds your thighs firmly. “Look at you. My pretty girl.”

“Satoru—” you whine, feeling too exposed, too bare with him hovering over you like this—“Oh, my god—”

You’re pushed over the edge when he thumbs at your clit again, your cunt tightening around him at the feeling. You look beautiful like this. Tears of an angel. It distracts him a bit, how pretty you look, until he realizes the power he holds over you. Knowing that he’s taking.

“Too rough, baby?” he coos, leaning over to kiss your cheeks, licking up your salty tears. 

“Don’t stop,” you gasp. “S’good. Feels good.”

He’s pushed against you again, head buried into your neck. He pulls at your hair gently, angling your face to look at him. Noses touching. Mouths sharing air.

“Gonna cum,” you whine into a kiss. He groans at your admission, pulling you taut against him as he adjusts you both to your sides. He lifts your leg over his, rolling his hips harder, and the angle makes you cry out.

He feels you shake. Earth-shattering, the feeling of you. Like you’re breaking the sky for him. It roots something deep inside him that wasn’t there before. Something blooming between violence and gauzy ecstasy. It knots his stomach until he breaks, too.

“Fuck,” he curses. His eyes are wide open, mooning at your face as you cum, and he can feel his release burying inside you to the hilt. 

Even after you’re both spent, he’s greedy, still hard inside of you as he continues. Lazy movements, half in tandem with your ragged breaths. He grins at you then, breathless at your blurry gaze. Kisses you sweetly like a shared promise.

The comfortable silence falls between you as you swap kisses. You hum against his lips, caressing his jaw. Your eyes blink at the sight of rain outside his bedroom window. A light drizzle despite the orange sunlight.

“Hm,” Satoru purrs. “We brought the rain.”

“What, with an orgasm?”

“I’m pretty sure you had more than one.”

“You’re so obnoxious,” you mutter. 

“And still inside you,” he grins. 

He pulls out when you make a grumbled sound, contrasting the melody of his laugh. He has half the mind to take a picture of you like this, sprawled in his bed like a painting. He’d keep the image of it in his wallet if he could. 

Instead, he goes to the bathroom to bring you a warm, wet rag and cleans you up. He’s able to catch his breath as he rubs his hands over your bare thighs. You’re changed, glowing, yet your face is so familiar. The same one he’s been fond of for years. The shift inside him aches.

Satoru isn’t sure what to do. Usually, he’s inebriated at this point, and the sex closes with a heavy, dreamless sleep after midnight. The sun shower outside has calmed down, barely there, and afternoon sunlight floods the room. He’s more awake than ever with your presence. He’s surprised you haven’t gotten up to get dressed or made some excuse about leaving. He realizes he doesn’t want you to.

It feels normal when he falls into bed with you after just touching your skin, slips into a sweet afternoon nap. Hours later, you make him dinner. He makes you cum again.

September, 2008

You don’t understand Satoru’s affinity for sugar. You would think he had an addictive personality the way he consumed sweets – you’re surprised he isn’t addicted to something worse, like cigarettes. 

Lately, he’s been complaining about craving something sweet before he fucks you. He licks his lips as you share the same mango-flavored popsicle in the courtyard of his estate. Juice dribbling down your chin. It doesn’t take him long to get you knee-deep in the grass. He teases you, tells you your pussy is sweeter. The sweetest.

Other times, you have quiet nights. He watches movies with you in your room and has sex with you before you sleep. Over a few months, Satoru gets accustomed to how you sound when he touches you until he knows you inside out. Expert in the map of your body. Of the pillow-soft places he can tease to make you cum hard.

But he doesn’t take you out after. Or before. It’s always a rendezvous, the rest of the world dead to the both of you as you consume each other. A paradise restricted to a bed. He gets you so dizzy that it doesn’t bother you. He kisses you sweetly on his way out to see his friends. He kisses you sweetly before he’s quick to slip out your door or send you out on his own.

It’s perfect for him. You’re perfect — you feel it. 

Satoru likes that you’re so pliable. He can say anything he wants to you and you’ll take it.  You’ll even moan for it.

Sometimes he can be mean, sometimes he has tears rolling down your face, but he always kisses them away. He likes that you let him cum in your mouth. 

He especially likes that you’re good company outside of the sex. You’re the only mind that gets him besides Suguru. It’s why he likes spending time with you when everyone else is busy. Even if he’s practicing his techniques and you’re splayed on the grass, reading a book. 

It’s what you’re doing now. He’s convinced you’re trying to tempt him today. At the moment you’re wearing the pleated skirt from your school uniform, despite it being summer break. The July heat made it unbearable to wear pants. It was laundry day, too, but Satoru insisted on having you come over.

“Come play with me, Twigs,” he calls after you. You look like a dream in your little tank and little skirt. Bare legs with imprints of grass patterns.

“I’m reading.”

“Just because you have a healing technique doesn’t mean that you can’t practice combat.”

“Shoko doesn’t,” you scoff.

“Shoko is going to cheat her way through med school. C’mere, I’m lonely,” Satoru whines. 

You’re not as good at fighting as you were when you were children, able to at least wrestle with Satoru and have equal footing. Even then, you didn’t have enough cursed energy to fight like a true sorcerer like Satoru. 

But you are getting the hang of it, bleeding cursed energy that flickered a gauzy aura around you. Satoru wonders if it’s just his six eyes that make you look so beautiful in front of him. So soft. 

He ends up pushing his weight on you by the end, anyway. He revels in the way you groan, annoyed at him for pinning you down. He knows what’s on your mind from the way you lift your hips for him almost involuntarily. It’s how he has you melt in his grasp, skirt hiked over your stomach as he bullies his cock into you. You’d been asking for it since you looked at him, your teasing eyes peeking from above your book.

He finishes on the small of your back like he always does. Licks over the hickey under your collarbone, too.

You ground him. At least as much as Suguru does, but differently. He’s clear-headed after he cums, laying with you skin to skin. It reminds him that he’s human rather than a god-like prodigy. He keeps you like a pet, never wanting to let you leave him, insisting on stroking through your hair like you’re a cat. 

“This has to be some form of kidnapping,” you mutter, one afternoon in his bed. He’d kept you for at least 36 hours, this time. You would never hear the end of it from your mother.

“I can always go to your house.”

“I wonder if this is codependent,” you say. You scrunch your nose as he nuzzles his to yours.

“Nah,” Satoru hums lazily. 

“You don’t think so, Satoru?”

“There’s a time limit for me to hang out with my best friend?”

His quip makes your heart pang. You ignore it. 

He’ll release you when he feels like it. He knows well enough that you’d rather stay in his bed all day, anyway. He’s too wrapped up in you to think about how it may be cruel.

You stay long enough that your staycation with Satoru bleeds into his usual weekend plans. This includes a movie night with Suguru, so you join.

Satoru picks something raunchy, of course. Something horrific and exploitative in a way that draws attention from its taboo. A cinematic car wreck that has your head spinning. 

He whispers in your ear, teasing you, calling you baby whenever Suguru goes to the bathroom. He has his hand on your thigh, fingertips under the blanket, and close enough to your core to make you dripping wet. 

And then, as the movie progresses, you tuck your body towards Suguru, who shares your distaste for such violence. Even if it’s fictional. As Satoru watches his worlds collide and sees the way Suguru’s fox eyes light up at your banter, something odd flickers inside him. 

When the new semester starts in the fall, he doesn’t look at you as he walks past you.

[heliads]

ok so… i’m totally obsessing over Newt from TMR rn but i’m not sure if u still write for him🤧 but if u do i was thinking maybe something like during bonfire night the reader has had too many special drinks from Gally, accidentally confesses to Newt and lists everything she loves about him and then Newt gets all flustered and stuff (he’s so cute omg) but the reader is too drunk to go back to their own hammock so then Newt carries reader to their hammock but ends up sharing a hammock and then the reader doesn’t remember anything the next morning and then i’ll let u decide the rest😭

gally's special brew as a plot device >> it will always be famous to me

masterlist

In roughly thirty seconds, you’re going to reach a milestone you never thought possible. You’ve been waiting for this for a while now, counting down the days and hours and minutes like you were going to find yourself anywhere other than right here when your self-imposed timer went off. All you’ve got to remember the date is a memory, but given the fact that you only recall so many of those, it was easier to place than one would expect.

An alarm goes off across the Glade, ear-piercing klaxons rattling off of the high stone walls surrounding you. The rest of the boys around you start to amble towards the source of the noise, the Box newly arrived from who knows where, but you stay put for the time being, just breathing in the moment.

One blond boy next to you, your closest friend and favorite person here, nudges you in the leg with his foot. You’re both sitting in the unruly grass, ignoring the press of the green strands against your arms and calves. You have a habit of always wanting to keep him within reach.

“Why aren’t you racing towards the Box?” He asks.

You tilt your head to the side, staring up at the sky. Robin’s egg blue dappled with clouds, it’s the only pocket of space outside the Walls that you’ll likely ever know. “Today marks one year since I showed up here for the first time.”

Newt whistles through his teeth. “Shoot, already? Feels like time has flown. I swore you came up just last month.”

“No, I’ve been keeping count. Twelve months and I’m still here.”

Newt winces. He made a promise to you at the very start that he would get you out in six months, then, when that deadline came and went, he lengthened it to a year. The oath was only sworn because you were nervous about this place when you were still a Greenie and unused to the idea of living and dying here in endless repetition. You’re no happier about that fact now, but you are more used to it, at least.

“Well,” he starts off, “maybe you’re still here, yeah, but Minho and the other Runners are getting closer to finding a way out, I swear. Minho says they’re this close to having mapped the whole thing, then we’ll have an escape route for certain. Just give it another year. You won’t even notice the time passing, I promise.”

It’s kind of Newt to try to distract you again, even though you both know by this point that it’s useless. Minho is getting closer to traveling every pathway of the Maze, yes, but what Newt isn’t mentioning is how little the Keeper of the Runners actually is to finding something useful. Whenever you ask Minho what he’s learned about how to get out of here, he only ever comes up with a blank slate.

Still, harping on that doesn’t exactly make for a good time, so you’ll let yourself play along with Newt’s idea of your inevitable escape from this place for now. He’s losing hope even faster than you, even if he doesn’t tell anyone. It would be good to keep up the pretense.

You eye his leg, the one with the limp, and nod. “Yeah, next year for sure.”

Newt sits in silence for a moment or two longer, then stands up carefully, offering a hand to you. “Come on, then. We’ve got a Greenie to stare at and stuff to unpack from the Box, no time for musing. Besides, we’ve all got to get ready for the bonfire later tonight.”

You accept his offer of help, and when you’re on your feet once more, your smile is back. “I forgot about the bonfire! Oh, that’ll make everything better. Always does.”

Newt grins. “You’re just saying that because it’s the one time a month Alby will let all of us get proper wasted and skip work for the afternoon.”

“Of course I am,” you laugh, “I want to have fun! Is that such a terrible thing?”

Newt slings an arm around your shoulders, pulling you closer to his side as the two of you walk lopsidedly over to the Box opening. The other Gladers have already crowded around the opening, but there’s enough space for the two of you to peer in at the befuddled newcomer inside if you squeeze past a few Track-Hoes.

“No,” he murmurs later, once you’ve almost forgotten what you were talking about, “I don’t think it is.”

Damn right. You’ve looked forward to each Bonfire Night of your full year here with just as much excitement as everyone else. The soaring flames, the delighted shrieks and shouts of your friends, plus Gally’s special brew, everything about the celebration is a joy to behold. You can watch Gally kick the asses of people who should have known better to challenge him, or observe the Greenie as he tries to figure out his name.

Or, better yet, you can sit in a circle of your friends and tell jokes that get progressively worse as the lot of you get progressively more tipsy and tired. The night wears on, the stars burn themselves out above you just trying to catch a glimpse of your magnificently roaring fire, and all is well, as much as it can be around here.

At some point, you look up and you’re sitting alone with Newt towards the outskirts of the gathering. You don’t remember quite when that happened, but you’ve refilled your glass enough times that the memory loss sort of makes sense. Does anything here, though? No, not at all. Not ever.

Newt’s grinning over at you, saying something that you have to focus extra hard to hear. “Are you lucid again?”

“Not entirely,” you beam up at him, “Have I had a lot to drink tonight?”

Newt grimaces. “Probably more than you should have. You’ll be regretting it tomorrow, I can promise you that. Sorry for not cutting you off earlier.”

You shake your head a little too wildly and have to pause for a moment to blink the stars out of your eyes before continuing. “No, that’s not your fault. You don’t have to watch out for me all the time.”

Something almost like hurt plays upon Newt’s features, mixing with the warm glow of the firelight, and it makes you rush to say something so he stops looking so unhappy. “Only if you don’t want to watch out for me, that is. I like having you around. Makes me feel better.”

“Really?” Newt asks, amused.

“Really,” you confirm happily. “You’re my favorite person here by far. Minho teases me about that a lot, actually. He says I should soldier up and just tell you that, but he can’t bully me anymore, because I’m talking about it right now, aren’t I? He’s right, though, I do like you. Oh– I was thinking, Newt, and– and I think I’m okay, staying in the Glade forever, if I’ve got you here with me. You’re the best thing about this place.”

You hadn’t meant to ramble on like that, but the words came easily enough from your throat, and Newt seemed like he really wanted to hear what you were saying, so you went ahead and let him. 

Newt sits for a few minutes in stunned silence before clearing his throat a little too loudly. “Um. Well, I think you should get to bed. Like, now. I think you’re drunk.”

“No,” you protest, “well, I am drunk, yeah, but I’m not just saying that because I’m drunk. I mean it, Newt. I really do.”

Newt’s expression softens. “I know you did, sweetheart. Let’s go to bed anyway, though. I think some rest would be good for you.”

“Alright,” you decide. 

Newt stands up. You try to start walking back with him, but your feet refuse to cooperate on the uneven ground and you end up tripping more than you should. Eventually, Newt laughs quietly and picks you up, easily carrying you back to your hammock. He tries to set you down but you’re seized by the overwhelming panic that he’ll leave you here alone and you complain vehemently.

He’s still in a good temper, though (is it not wonderful to be needed?) and instead shifts so he’s lying down in his hammock instead, you on his stomach. You whisper goodnight to him and he says goodnight back, then a beat and a half later, did you really mean what you said? About me, that is? About how you–

You can’t really pick up what he’s saying, though. He was right about you needing rest, because the gentle swaying of the hammock and the soft beat of his heart under your head is just enough to send you off to sleep. Darkness pulls you under in an instant, and you’re rocked away to the tune of the crickets chirping somewhere in the distance and Newt still mumbling questions against the top of your head.

You can sense your hangover looming like dark clouds on the horizon, signaling a true storm of a day about to wreck you for good, but for now it’s just in the distance, not quite yours, not yet. The terrible feeling is warded off by an odd sense of calm and quiet. It’s warm now, warm and comfortable in your hammock, which is strange. Usually, you wake up cold on mornings in the Glade, but not today. It makes you want to snuggle down further, push off consciousness just a little longer.

Then your hand connects with something that isn’t one of your few allotted threadbare blankets or the knots of your hammock, something soft, like skin. A hand, one that isn’t yours. Your eyes fly open and– well, you don’t remember this, but you’re not exactly going to complain.

Newt is lying next to you, still asleep. You are curled up beside him, must have fallen asleep with your head on his chest. One of his hands is just touching yours, the other is cupping the back of your head to pull you closer to him.

Immediately your brain splits into two warring factions. One half wants to run away quickly, figure out what happened and why you’re here. This isn’t what you’re supposed to be doing, you know. Shuck, Alby would have a fit if he saw the two of you like this. Probably enough to throw you in the Slammer for a couple of hours.

The other part of yourself wants to stay here forever, to close your eyes and make Newt wake up first and handle it. You haven’t felt peace like this in a while. It’s just the two of you, soft and sweet and mostly folded over in sleep. Why should you disturb this? Disturb him? He’ll just be unhappy if you wake him and force him to realize that you’re here. Probably. Unless he’s the one who let you sleep in his hammock, which is more likely and far more terrifying.

Your issue is solved when Newt shifts slightly, rocking the hammock, and wakes up at last. You quickly shut your eyes and feign sleep, but judging by the movement of his chest as he laughs, you were caught in the act.

“I know you’re awake, Y/N.” He says.

You reluctantly open your eyes. “Maybe. By any chance, do you know why I’m here and not in my own hammock?”

You might just be kidding yourself, but you swear something almost like disappointment crosses Newt’s face. “You were pretty drunk last night,” he says at last, “I wanted to make sure you were alright.”

It’s a decent explanation, but that doesn’t explain why he’s looking at you like he really, really wants you to remember something about the events of the most recent Bonfire Night. “What did I do last night?” You ask slowly.

Newt shakes his head. “You didn’t do anything, trust me.”

“Then what did I say? You’re looking at me like you’re going crazy.”

Newt furrows his brows in a moment of indignation. “What? I’m not– I’m not looking at you like that. Anyway, you might have said a thing or two. Maybe.”

You stare at him in disbelief. “Newt, if you keep withholding information from me, I’m going to rock the hammock so much you fall on the ground. What happened?”

He has the audacity to laugh at your threat, as if you weren’t completely serious about it. “Alright, alright. You might have told me that you liked me.”

Your sense of terror, which had faded briefly after Newt woke up, is back in full force. “I did what?”

“You told me you liked me,” Newt repeats, “and I thought– well, you were drunk, so I thought you didn’t mean it, but–”

“I did mean it,” you whisper.

Newt’s eyes are wide when you dare to risk a glance back up at him. “Oh.”

That’s a bad oh. Has to be. You move to get up and try to run away before he can look at you like that anymore, but Newt tightens his grip around your waist, forcing you to lie back down. “Wait, wait. Don’t go. I like you too.”

Now it’s your turn to be surprised. “You do?”

“Yeah,” he says, smiling, “Have for a while. Minho teases me about that too, by the way. No wonder he seems so frustrated about it, he has to listen to both of us moping around even though we both like each other.”

You laugh. “That would be annoying, yes. He has to be happy now, though, we finally told each other about it.”

“That we did,” Newt says, and you can feel the upturned crescent of his lips as he presses a kiss to your forehead.

Maybe you spent a whole year in the Glade without ever seeing rescue. Maybe another year will pass without anything, or maybe five, or ten. Maybe you’ll never leave at all. Still, you’ve got your reasons to be happy after all. They start with him.

maze runner tag list: @rogueanschel, @ellobruv, @retvenkos, @neewtmas, @mayfieldss, @hiya-itsamber, @gods-fools-heroes, @hope92100, @w1shes43, @23victoria, @ilovexavierthrope, @fadedver

[acapelladitty]

Jonathan Crane/Reader - Hysteria 📋 (Kinktober #6)

Summary - A commission from the absolute delight that is @glorified-monster who asked for a medical exam from the good Doctor Crane as he diagnoses you with hysteria and 'cures' it in his own special way 💦

Having finished explaining your symptoms, your fingers pluck at the scalloped hem of your skirt as the fabric hangs delicately just below your knee. The chair you occupy sits across from the object of your focus, Dr Jonathan Crane, as you attend another session with the good doctor, hoping to find some release from the torments which are afflicting you.

“Hysteria.” Tapping the edge of his leather chair with a thin finger, Crane observes you from behind wire-rimmed glasses which flash as they catch the dimmed light above. “I believe you are suffering from hysteria, based on the symptoms you have described.”

“What’s that?” You ask, thoughts racing as something heated shifts in the atmosphere of the room.

“Hysteria.” Crane explained, raising one of his legs to cross the other as his fingers move to steeple below his sharp chin. “A psychological response to sexual repression, one which can manifest as a series of physical and mental ailments. Common for women of a certain,” he pauses, “disposition.”

“Is there a cure?”

A predatory look slips into his features as he leans forward and the intensity of it sparks a flush of arousal which makes your teeth press against your lower lip.

“Well first, the repression at play must be established. What is your deepest sexual fantasy? The one which you would deny if accused.”

His voice has deepened ever so slightly, the southern accent curling around the question like a serpent just waiting to constrict and choke its prey.

“I-I’m not sure that will hel-”

“I’m a medically trained professional.” Crane huffs out a low breath. “I can guarantee discretion.”

The myriad of qualifications which cover the wall behind his chair hold a sudden interest and your gaze pans across the official-looking documents as shame washes through your chest, heating you from the inside out as a sweat breaks across your spine.

You mumble your answer, heat flaring in your cheeks as your eyes remain tactfully glued to the wall just past him.

“Louder, child.” He drawls out, something teasing toying at the simple words. “Your evasive responses make the answer clear but for the sake of progress you must announce it fully.”

“I want my doctor to touch me.” You blurt out, meeting his gaze with a nervous expression as the confession spills free. “I want him to run his hands under my skirt and make me feel good.”

Crane moves so quickly that it forces a squeak of surprise from your throat as he towers over your seated frame. Your back presses against the leather seat as you gaze up at him, the scent of cologne – woody and masculine – washing over your senses as he leans in closer, looking every inch the cat who caught a very anxious canary.

“Doctor Crane, what are you doing?” You ask, the question little more than a whisper.

“Administering your cure. It’s an easy fix. Particularly for a wanton little thing who I bet is already as wet as a whore from sharing her filthy fantasies with her patient doctor.”

Your breath hitches at the open vulgarity, thighs pressing together tightly as the dampness between your legs grows more pronounced. A shudder runs across your skin as he drops to one knee by your side, his face now on level with your own as his intense gaze pins you into place. His eyes are beautiful, a robins-egg blue which have haunted your thoughts as your hands moved frantically between your legs. Even with the limitless power of fantasy, somehow this is still more erotic.

“Remove your hands from your skirt and place them on the armrests.”

A heated demand which brooks no disobedience and one which you follow with a muted whimper, dropping the hem of the skirt and wrapping your fingers along the edges of the leather arms.

“Spread your legs.”

Your knees part, legs visibly trembling as a bead of sweat rolls down your back, catching at the base of your shirt. His expression is stoic, the only hint to his own arousal being the hint of fire which flashes through his icy gaze and the definite bulge which juts free of his darkened slacks.

A pathetic keen slips free of your lips as his finger disappears beneath your skirt to run along the fabric of your cotton panties; his movements following the concealed slit there as he trails his finger up slowly and feels out the undeniable dampness. It’s hot and teasing, the movement forcing a fresh whimper as his fingers brushes by your clit before pulling away.

“You’re even more ready that I could have anticipated.” Crane comments, his words disengaged yet somehow mocking as he lays his large palm flat against your slit, applying a torturous pressure to the desperate skin there. “Perfectly responsive and in need of swift treatment.”

“Please, Doctor Crane- just touch me. Please?” Hearing your own words, you’re so turned on that you don’t even care how pathetic you sound. “Right there. Please!”

Taking pity, two of his fingers push past the fabric of your panties and bury themselves in your cunt; the sudden, sharp pleasure drawing a low yelp from your lips as your right hand jerks from the armrest to cover your mouth. The sudden fullness is intense, his wonderfully long fingers meeting absolutely no resistance as the wet warmth swallows him with ease, greedily clenching around his digits to pull him in deeper.

“I can feel that, little rabbit.” Giving an experimental crook of his fingers, the pads brush along that soft spot in your walls which makes you see stars and you groan out your approval. “I can feel you trying to take it all, begging for more like a whore. A whore who spread her legs for her doctor just because he told her to.”

“Yes. Y-yes.” You agree, grinding your cunt into his palm as he continues to pump his fingers in and out, an obscene noise accompanying the methodical movements. “The doctor knows best.”

He chuckles at that, a high and dry noise which is accompanied by his thumb joining the fray as it brushes soft circles around your aroused clit. Your entire body alighting with pleasure, his fingers stroking along your sensitive inner walls paired with the soft manipulations of your clit have your moans growing in rapid intensity as the heat of orgasm builds in your core; your hands gripping the arm rests so tightly that the leather creaks beneath them.

“Do not hold back on your orgasm.” Crane instructs and his accented words have lowered once again as he focuses on the erotic task at hand. “It will help to alleviate you of your pains.”

It’s all the instruction you need and the hot tension which burns within your lower stomach snaps in an instant as he flicks his thumb across your clit. Vision darkening as your eyes slam shut, every nerve in your body bursts to life as one as you clamp your cunt around his fingers and come. His fingers don’t stop moving and the sloppy sound of his shifting digits grows even more pronounced as your mess coats his hand, your nails digging into the leather of the chair as they fight to gain purchase against the intense pleasure which is curling your toes and tightening your throat.

All too soon, his fingers pull free of your twitching cunt and you watch through watery eyes as he wipes off his release-stained digits on the off-white handkerchief which sits in the breast pocket of his brown suit as he stands fully. Panting, you allow him to grip your chin between his thumb and forefinger – his fingers shockingly warm – as he tilts your head up at him and you don’t miss the almost amused expression which now plays at the edges of his features.

“You take your medicine well. Perhaps we should see about setting up a recurring appointment to ensure that each of your symptoms are taken care of.” Crane muses, twisting your head slightly to admire the high flush which faintly stains your skin. “Today was merely a taster session of the recommended remedy but I feel that you would benefit from a more intense administration.”

Still reclined in his chair – the mess between your legs hot, sticky and uncomfortable in the most delicious way – you cannot deny the spark of interest which alights in your features at the potential of future treatments in the dextrous hands of the good doctor.

[prettyprettypaci2]

Therapy - Part 1

"So...I see you've had some more changes at home."

Reflexively, you pull your eyes away from the wall you've been staring at for the last 15 minutes and meet the gaze of Miss Heather. For a split-second, you even feel the urge to speak, but running your tongue along the rubber nipple of the pacifier in your mouth reminds you that Quiet Time isn't over yet.

That's how every therapy session has begun since your step-mom started sending you here. Miss Heather says that when they arrive for all-day counseling sessions, patients are often bursting with disorganized thoughts: rants and imagined fights and jumbled lists of wants and needs. You were one of these tricky patients for her, talking a mile a minute about how your cruel step-sisters had tricked your step-mom into thinking you were wetting your bed.

So now every session starts with Quiet Time. Miss Heather sets a timer on the TV screen for 30 minutes and you just...wait. Once in a while she makes an observation or poses a question, but you're not meant to respond: just listen and think. When you struggled with this, that's when the pacifier was introduced. Gigantic with a baby-pink shield that bobs ridiculously when you swallow, it ensures that Quiet Time lives up to its name.

You go back to staring at the robin-egg blue of the office wall. What had she said, "changes at home?" If there were a Pulitzer Prize for understatement, Miss Heather would be a laureate a hundred times over. You shift uncomfortably, grimacing at the soft squeak your patent leather shoes make against the hardwood. This is the first time your step-mom forced you to go to therapy in one of your new outfits: a frothy little gingham dress with opaque white stockings and ridiculous pink ribbons fastened to your hair. You feel your face flush as you imagine how you must have looked, mincing into the office on 4-inch heels and sitting gingerly on the couch.

Always careful movements like that. You're not sure why you put in so much effort: Miss Heather knows about the diapers. Every night and now every day, your hips are bound in the bunny-soft padding of a thick, disposable diaper. They crinkle when you walk, they crinkle when you eat, and they seem to crinkle when you don't move a single muscle at all. But still, you try not to crinkle so much with Miss Heather. She may be the last person in the world who thinks of you as anything more than a diaper dumping loser.

Or is she? As if reading your mind, Miss Heather speaks again: "Did you have any accidents since our last session?"

You can practically feel the blood rushing to your face and turning it scarlet. She KNOWS you don't have accidents! Not real ones! You've told her a hundred times. Your step-sisters Lauren and Olivia had faked all those accidents by splashing liquid on you or your bedsheets when your step-mom wasn't looking! The only reason you use your diapers is because you're not allowed to take them off! "They're too expensive to waste," your step-mom would say. And with all the bottles Lauren and Olivia forced you to drink when they pinned you down, you could never hold it long enough to have a dry diaper at changing time.

You make a facial expression at Miss Heather that shows you're angry and that you want to talk. The TV screen shows there are still 8 minutes left on the Quiet Time clock, and you chew your bobbing pacifier furiously. She continues to look in your direction, her expression unchanged.

A minute passes and you're still feeling tense; your bobbing pacifier settles into a rhythm as you count down the seconds to when you can make your feelings known. Tick. Suck. Tick. Suck. Tick. Suck.

"You're so pretty today with those ribbons in your hair. Do you feel pretty when you're dressed like that?"

That's it. The pacifier shoots out of your mouth like a projectile as you spit it across the room. It clatters across the hardwood. You rise from the couch and stamp your foot, the block heel of your patent leather shoe clacking comically.

"Are you kidding me right now?! I look ridiculous!" You yell. You're practically trembling. You're an adult who just refused to keep sucking on a pacifier: a perfectly reasonable reaction in any other context, but there's an icky feeling in your stomach like you just did something very bad.

Miss Heather's expression remains unchanged. For a few agonizing moments, you simply stare at each other across the room. Then, slowly, she rises to her feet, saunters across the room in her tight jeans and converse, and retrieves your pacifier from the ground. With non-chalance, she walks back over to you, and you're practically hyperventilating as she slides the rubber nipple between your lips again. Your cheeks bulge as you reflexively swallow, suckling for air. Suddenly your moment of rebellion feels so stupid, so futile. So immature.

Miss Heather slides back into her chair and gestures for you to sit. You obey, more hyper-aware than ever of the giant crinkling diaper under your butt.

Without a word, Miss Heather reaches over to her smartphone and taps at it a few times. With a blip, the timer on the TV screen changes from 06:37 to 60:00. She's reset the clock to a full hour.

That's not the change that bothered you, though. In big block letters at the top of the TV, you see that Miss Heather renamed the timer. Your therapy sessions no longer begin with your Quiet Time. They begin with your...

Binky Thinkies.

Tick. Suck. Tick. Suck. Tick. Suck. Tick. Suck. Tick. Suck. Tick. Suck. Tick. Suck. Tick. Suck. Tick. Suck. Tick. Suck. Tick. Suck. Tick. Suck.

💕 Part 2 💕

[chernabogs]

Hi Ames 👀🫶

First, giving you smooches as congrats for your 100 follower milestone :3💖

I saw your prompt list and I was like ANGST POTENTIAL with all the prompt lines, but I picked some out with a more fluff mood in mind~

May I please request a Leona Kingscholar x gn!reader fluff read where there’s a storm on Sage Island and Leona’s been helping reader with their homework at Ramshackle but he can’t go back to his dorm bc of the storm

So he has to stay in Ramshackle over night with reader ehehehe

Here are the prompt lines I picked out:

- “The storm’s getting worse”

- “You look better in my clothes than I do”

- “You snore in your sleep. It’s adorable”

- “Sorry to put you through that. I guess I owe you one now”

Take ur time and if you can’t do mine, no worries :)

TYYYYY <3 <3 I love some good Leona content... I wrote him once but I'm ready to go again LKNAJF

Lights Out

Inc: Leona x Reader (GN), Ruggie (briefly) Warning: None! Not really romantic, but like... semi vibes. Sneaky vibes. If you squint you see them. WC: 2.6k Summary: An agreement to help you study leads to an unexpected situation when the weather turns sour

The weather had been kind for the entire week, and so Leona should have assumed by default that it was all a ruse. He had agreed (under some pressure from both your dire expression and Ruggies repetitive pestering) to assist you with your ancient curse’s homework—which really means he’s going to sit there and watch you while only offering a few scraps of information. He can’t make it too easy for you, no? 

The sky had been cloud free—as blue as a robin's egg, with the softest of breezes dancing across campus as the early spring began to wake from her slumber. He had spent a good portion of the day dealing with his classes and dozing in between after having sent you a brief reassurance that he’d still come in the evening. It was beautiful—glorious, even—until 6 o’clock hit. 

Then, like hell from above, a mass of storm clouds rolled in out of nowhere. The school alert system cited it as an unprecedented phenomenon, and as Leona glares out the window at the torrential downpour beyond, he wonders just how much of it is the fault of Diasomnia’s House warden. It feels like even the slightest of moods sends the man bringing down hail and fury with little regard. His tail twitches in irritation as he lets out another low sigh. 

“What’s the curse that turned that emperor into an animal again?” Your voice causes him to glance at your reflection in the window. He can see that you’re still hunched over the ancient curse’s textbook, your brow set in a furrow as your pen taps steadily against the kitchen table’s surface. “He had to go through a whole life-lesson thing to undo it…”

“He undid it with a counter-poison.” Leona hums as another flash of lightning splits across the sky, briefly brightening the room you’re both in before dying down once more. “He coulda stayed the same and still be able to change back.”

“That defeats the purpose, no?” He hears you setting your pen down and leaning back in your chair as he continues to alternate his gaze between you and the storm above. “If there was a purpose to begin with…” 

“The purpose was his death.” He turns away from the window and finally sinks back down in the seat across from you, his eyes closing and his head tilting back. “His advisor wanted him dead, so she figured cursing him would be a way to do it. Curses like that have been around since magic was still taboo.” 

“Yikes.” Your eloquent reply causes him to scoff as he listens to the sounds of the rain hitting Ramshackle's walls. Despite renovations being done, the acoustics of your dorm are still off-kilter, making him constantly pick up sounds that he shouldn’t be able to hear. 

The scratching of your pen accompanies the rainstorm, and then soon stops as he hears you shuffling around. “... the storm’s getting worse.” 

At that, he does open his eyes again, looking to the window with a frown. It’s pitch black outside, but he can see the relentless onslaught of rain against the windows glass. He pulls out his phone and turns it on; there are two missed messages from Ruggie, a slew of them from the group he has with the other House-wardens—he admits he is curious how many others are questioning Draconia—, and then one from his brother that he deliberately swipes away. 

“Seems like it won’t be letting up tonight.” Leona’s frown deepens as he reads Ruggie's messages. It’s a system that will be hovering over the entire island until mid-morning tomorrow. All students are being advised to shelter in place until it passes. “Shit…” 

“What?” You look up at him, your eyebrows raised. He sets his phone back down and fixes you with an unimpressed look. 

“The school put out a shelter in place notice until the storm ends—no students to leave the place that they’re at right now.” At those words, the lights in the room flicker for a moment before going out entirely, leaving the both of you sitting in complete darkness. 

Leona can still see fine, and he watches (with some amusement) how your eyes go wide in surprise and your breath catches in your throat. 

“Did something hit a line?” You’re quick to rise and peer out the window. Most of the dorms rely on magic to power their electric devices, such as with Ignihyde, but Ramshackle is old enough to still run on original lines. His lips twist into a frown as he remains seated while you gawk out the window in interest. 

“If it did, then there’s no use stressin’. It’ll be restored whenever someone gets around to it—after the storm.”

He personally doesn’t mind sitting in the dark. Granted, Ramshackle still is an ominous dorm to be in—with its ghost infestation and such—but there’s also a sense of peace present that can very easily let him drift off to a nap. If he needs to be on lock down in this place, he doubt’s it’ll bother him too much. 

That is if you let him sleep in the first place.

“I mean I guess we can just light some candles and stick it out?” You look back at him as another flash of lightning breaks across the sky, illuminating your form only briefly. He can still see your eyes are wide in surprise, and your breath is quick—either from the shock of the lights going out, or a fear of the storm toiling outside. 

He checks his phone again and notes that you’ve been going at it for nearly four hours now. He’s never had to pull an all-nighter for a test—lessons come easily to him without effort, after all—and a part of him wonders if that’s what your intent is. If so, he certainly won’t be staying up alongside you. 

“You do that. I’m gonna stake out that couch over there.” He scoffs as he undoes his vest. It won’t be the most comfortable to sleep in uniform, but it’s not like he packed an overnight bag in preparation for your study session. He finishes unbuttoning the vest and stands, stretching upwards for a moment before letting out another sigh. “Try not to drive yourself nuts shoving all this information in there.” 

“Grims lucky he went to Heartslabyul tonight…” you mumble. He watches as you go to the nearby closet to pull out some candles before he maneuvers himself around to lie back on the foyer couch. He can hear you bumping into tables and chairs as you navigate in the darkness before finally the faint, flickering glow of a candle being lit tells him you’ve survived in one piece. His eyes close and he lets himself fall into a state of comfort as he listens to the sounds of papers turning and pens scratching. 

…

But he can’t fall asleep. 

This is both inconvenient and unusual for him. It becomes apparent that, with the power getting knocked out, the furnace in Ramshackle has also broken down, leaving the dorm to gradually become colder and colder with each passing moment. He opens one eye to glare at the ceiling above as he can feel goosebumps rising on his arm. 

“D’you have a spare blanket or something?” He finally asks, sitting up to peer at you from over the edge of the couch. You glance his way, your face bathed in candlelight, before you hum. 

“Mmm, not one that doesn’t smell like mold, no…” you reply slowly. Leona’s expression sours at your comment as you set your pen down and stand up. “One second... I think I have something that might work.” 

As you pick up a candle and vanish to the upper floors of the dorm, he lies back on the couch to stare at the ceiling above. The remaining candles cast odd shadows about the room, and the slow ticking of a nearby grandfather clock proves to be both soothing and anxiety-inducing as the seconds pass by. His tail twitches once more as he listens to the sounds of creaking footsteps coming back down to the foyer. 

“Here.” He feels something soft hit his stomach and he grabs it by reflex. It’s a black hoodie—almost his size. “I won it at one of the school festivals. I don’t wear it often, so it’s clean.” 

Leona stares at it for a long moment. The front has an image of the NRC mascot drawn in a cartoon form while holding the set of keys he often sees on the headmaster’s hip. It feels like something he’d expect Idia to keep stashed in a closet, not you. 

Still, it’s something warm, and with some small grumbles of protest, he pulls it on and tightens the drawstrings. He’s sitting upright on the couch and glaring at the wall when he hears you chuckle to his right. One sharp glance, and he can see you watching him with a cheeky grin from the table, your ancient curses homework still strewn about. 

“You know, you look better in that than I do. All that’s needed is some holes for your ears in the hood, and then you’re golden.” 

“Keep talking.” He threatens in a deadpanned tone, earning a laugh from you as you look back to your homework. You know that he’ll never actually do anything to you—after all, by getting him to agree to come to your dorm in the first place, you already know you’ve won him over to some extent. 

He watches you from over the edge of the couch for a moment longer. The furrow in your brow, the way you tap the pen against your paper in a rhythm, the way you occasionally bite your lip while in thought. He seriously wonders why he agreed to come and help you in the first place. It isn’t like he enjoys school, and he’s certainly never considered helping someone with their schoolwork before. He wants to say it was solely Ruggie’s off-handed comments and deliberate looks, but he can’t shake the image of your distressed expression out of his mind when you asked him. 

Pity. It’s definitely out of pity that he’s shown up tonight. Ruggie just added fuel to the fire, that’s all.

But still, he can’t shake the sense of unease that stirs in his chest as he watches you for a moment longer before lying back down, his hand coming to rest on his abdomen as he did. The hoodie smells vaguely of you, and it does little to alleviate this feeling. He watches the shadows dance across the ceiling and listens to the sound of you working for a moment longer before he finally finds his eyes closing once more. 

It takes him a while, but eventually he falls into the shadows of an uneasy slumber. 

—---

When he opens his eyes, he’s greeted to the sound of a dove cooing. At first his mind doesn’t register where he is, and he feels a sharp sense of adrenaline rushing when he doesn’t see the familiar ceiling of his dorm room above him. Then the memories of last night come back—the power going out, the candles, your off-handed comment about him wearing your clothes—and he feels himself relaxing once more. 

“You snore in your sleep, you know.” 

Leona’s attention snaps to where you sit in the chair across from him. You’re nursing a hot cup of something in your hands as you watch him with a tired smirk. You pulled an all-nighter—he can tell by the slight bloodshot tint in your eyes. “Don’t worry. It’s kind of adorable.” 

“Adorable?” His brow furrows as he sits up, stretching forward and looking towards the nearest window. The sky above is a splash of pink and orange with the coming dawn. He can see the very same dove that he heard sitting on the windowsill, peering in with its beady eyes at the oddly domestic image of you both. “Don’t go annoying me with those kinds of comments so early in the morning.” 

“Sorry. I’ll be sure to reserve my next compliment for the afternoon.” Another cheeky little grin plays on your lips, and he tries to ignore how the sight of it makes that uneasy feeling return. He averts his gaze once more as he shifts to rise from the couch. He’s still wearing your hoodie. 

It feels nice. 

“Did you sleep at all last night?” After he composes himself and becomes fully aware of reality again, he glances at you once more. You sigh and lower your mug with a frown.

“I mean, somewhat? I dozed off at the table a few times, but I was working on getting through four units of text before the afternoon class.” 

“And did you?” He asks, raising an eyebrow. “Get through the four units, I mean.” 

“Three. Best I can do.” You chuckle in turn. 

“Which unit did you miss?” 

Your expression becomes one of thought before your eyes light up again. “I couldn’t get to the unit about impacts of curses on modern law. I tried to start it, but as soon as the court transcripts started popping up, my mind just completely tapped out. Legalese is not my strong suit.” 

Leona chuckles slightly at that. He doubts legalese is anyone’s strong suit, save for Azul, who uses it in contracts, or Riddle, who just uses it in general. “And your test for this is…?” 

“This afternoon.” You sigh. “I’ll just take the loss. I’m sure Ace, Deuce, and Grim will be sinking with me, at least.” 

He ruminates on your words for a moment. There’s no denying that you worked your ass off to try and learn as much about ancient curses as possible. He saw the three notebooks of notes that you were skimming through, and the fact that you’re sitting here looking dead on the couch makes that small spark of something start up again. 

Pity. It’s pity, he tells himself. 

“You look pathetic.” He grumbles as he stretches his back. “Tell you what. Lemme get back to Savanaclaw, now that the freak storm is done, and I’ll loan you my notes for that unit. Loan.” 

He emphasizes the last word with a pointed look. Despite how hard you’ve worked so far, he can’t make it too easy for you, no? Your eyes widen again in that comically surprised expression. 

“Oh, you don’t have to—” you begin, but he silences your words with another sharp glance. A small, grateful look then replaces the one of surprise as you sink back into the seat. “... sorry to put you through that, then. I guess I owe you one now.” 

“Well, I’m not gonna hold it over you like some people might.” He sighs. “But I’ll be keeping this sweater for now. I’m not looking to freeze to death before I reach the mirror chamber from here.” 

You nod quickly. “Yeah! Please. Just give it back whenever. Or don’t, you know. I don’t mind.” 

Your words falter awkwardly, and he can’t keep his lips from curling upwards a bit in amusement. “Right. Meet me back at the mirror chamber in thirty, then—and don’t make me wait, herbivore. I have things to do today.” 

Things being spelldrive practice—but he has a feeling you already know that. You grant him a sunny smile, which makes his chest ache once more, before offering a grateful wave. “Sure! Thanks again, Leona.” 

He ignores the way you saying his name gets to him as he shrugs dismissively before moving to the front door. “Don’t mention it. Seriously.” 

[gffa]

Sometimes I get defensive about those house decor posts I see going around where people say that the neutral colors/black & white sleek look is "soulless" and they want to bite, kill, rend, and destroy for getting rid of the color in their homes. Setting aside that people should be allowed to do whatever they want in their own homes, let me tell you what "color" means to me: Everything in my life was a different color. Every room had every color crammed into it. Which sounds like, oh, that must have been a pretty rainbow effect! It wasn't, none of these colors were meant to go together, it's a hot pink plastic shoebox set on top of a dark brown folding table holding three wildly different shades of brown hand towels, some cornflower blue notebooks, and orange pens. It's burnt orange shag carpeting in the living room and hallway, with slate blue chairs, and a white tv tray loaded up with bright yellow pill and cornflower blue bottles and pale wood bookshelf next to dark brown folding table next to pine-colored dresser next to medium dark wood nightstand, all of those that fake material with the sticker made to look like wood, not actual wood. It's lime green countertops and dark beige flooring with one faded yellow wall, one off-white wall, and one faded mint green wall. It's a pine wood mimicking kitchen table with gold trim that's a sticker not actual wood, combined with one black rolling chair, one maroon and oak chair (not actual wood), and one gray upholstered chair. It's a robin's egg blue frayed blanket tossed over the red-and-black walker in the corner, which is also loaded up with the dark green and dark blue exercise bands. It's white and beige pieces of paper plopped everywhere. And all of these colors are faded so they're not really even pretty on their own, it's just a mishmash everywhere. All of this together in one house and that's just a fraction of it, it's a constant clashing of colors and, if there was a foot of space against the wall available, it had another dresser, nightstand, or bookshelf shoved into it. I look at some of these colorful homes that people love and I think they're beautiful and I get so much joy out of people in their homes loving their surroundings! But I will never be able to live in that kind of color for myself again without being heartsore about it. I've gone for a neutral palette now that I'm making the design decisions, I'm choosing white walls (admittedly with a little bit of a blue undertone that you only notice when it's picking up other things' colors), black trim, and gray/white/black/brown reclaimed wood flooring. I picked out a gray/white/black comforter to throw over the bed with a black headboard and black + gray pillows. I'm getting some subtle green accents to put in the room, the guest room has been going with a pale yellow theme (to accent the black/white/gray/grown colors), I'm not eschewing color all together, but those bright, overwhelming colors are not what makes my soul sing. Neutral colors are not a soulless choice on my part, it's the first time in my life that I feel like it's finally clean, that I can breathe properly. You could scrub down a room with seafoam and forest green colors and have it so clean you could lick the walls and I would still have to go outside and take a moment to gather myself together if I had to live in it, because for me "color" means messy and I've had an entire lifetime of mess. I love when people put bright orange or bright green on their walls, that rocks and I will come over and genuinely tell you how beautiful it is, because I understand that it makes your soul sing. But understand that, in turn, having sleek, subtle colors makes my soul sing in a way that's just as genuine.

[radioactiveparker]

It's A Date - Robin Buckley X Reader

Summary: Robin works up the courage to ask you out

Warnings: None

Word count: 2.3K

A/N - This is the first thing I've ever written, please let me know if you liked it xxx

-----

Your tired eyes battled against sleep as you unwillingly forced them open to seize the bothersome beeping of your alarm clock; it was a regrettable companion that shook you by the shoulders at each light of daybreak. The soft white-gold light of the morning kissed the walls of your bedroom, dressing them up in pretty pastels. These were the very four walls that had become a cocoon for the years you required their sanctuary. Birds tweeted their sweet love songs to the rising sun as an invitation for the new day. The deep hues of their feathery plumes glimmered in the light as they soared against the expansive canvas of sky as it flourished into dawn.

With a reluctant groan, you threw your duvet from your cozied figure, the motion bringing a gust swirling around you. The brisk breeze from the autumn air infiltrated every warm cell of your body, triggering goose bumps to crawl along your flesh. You cursed yourself for not putting on longer bottoms for bed last night. It was a harsh awakening when your bare feet pressed against the cold wooden floor, feeling as though you were walking along a frozen lake. You were almost surprised the soles of your feet didn't instantly freeze to it. As quickly as you could, you tottered out and into the bathroom, desperate for a hot shower before school.

The searing water came over you as pleasant as warm summer rain, soothing the bitterness from your bones. You felt as contented as a parched flower, each petal swelling and blooming with warmth and hydration after a harsh drought. You washed quickly and dressed up with many layers to keep yourself warm from the biting weather. The pieces were casual, yet flattering. It was the type of casual that was not casual at all, having spent more time than necessary carefully co-ordinating each item for you to feel your best. 

Upon leaving the bathroom, the warm, buttery smell of breakfast meandered it's way to your nose and led you down the stairs. There was a huge array of breakfast items upon the table, the same as there was every day, but you wouldn't have it any other way. Soft pancakes and berries with sticky maple syrup threaded upon the top. It remained your favourite breakfast, despite eating them almost everyday. Caramel-brown toast decorated with perfect slices of avocado for your mother, and fluffy scrambled eggs piled high on a bread bun for your father. You quickly joined them at the table and began stuffing your face. The amber syrup relaxed on your taste buds, coating them in waves of sweetness. The spectrum of reds and blue berries cascading down as pockets of natural sugar were so inviting you wanted to take your time to enjoy them. But time was running short as 8 o'clock was drawing nearer.

The brassy honk of a car startled you as you shoved your last bite into your mouth. With a quick kiss on the cheek, you said goodbye to your parents, before grabbing your coat and school bag. You stepped out of the house, breathing in the gold and scarlet as the wind blew a cold note, the beginning of winter's first serenade. The faint smell of the previous night's rain emitting from the wet foliage brought the fresh fragrance of a new season. It was a brilliant day. Despite the cold, the sun was still blazing bright in the clear sky, causing the frosted dew to glitter like a swarm of fireflies. Pulling your coat tighter to your shivering form, you rushed towards the BMW parked on the edge of your driveway.

"Good Morning." You greeted, sliding across the soft leather of the passenger seat, thankful to be out of the cold.

There was the cushioned slam of the car door as you shut it, and a whiff of the citrus car freshener mixed with the woody smell of aftershave.

"And how are you my little love muffin." Steve smirked, pulling into the street and starting towards the school.

You released a groan of annoyance at the nickname. Ever since you told him that you had a secret crush on someone, he had done nothing but tease you.

You and Steve had known each other since you were little, having lived directly across the street from him for the first ten years of your life, before your mother started to complain that your house was too big for just the three of you. So your mother decided to downgrade to a house on Cherry Oak, which wasn't too far away, but it made spending time together more difficult. There were no more secret notes to show through the window when you should be in bed, or attaching two tin cans with a string to try and talk to each other. The two of you had managed to persuade your parents to get you bikes for your 11th birthdays to see each other more frequently. Even after all this time you still went to school together and hung out everyday, which you were grateful for. You always felt bad that Steve had to drive past the school to pick you up just to drive all the way back, but he always insisted that he didn't mind.

"Please, would you stop calling me that."

"Not until you tell me who it is you have a crush on." He beamed.

Heat rushed to your cheeks. There was no way you could tell him you have a crush on one of his friends: Robin Buckley. You had met Robin when Steve began working at Scoops Ahoy. When you had first met, you were insanely jealous that Steve had been spending time with someone else. There was a residing fear deep in your gut, that he would find someone else to be friends with. Someone better than you, that he would want to spend more time with, and then he would eventually forget about you. But that's not what happened at all. You first thought her attitude towards Steve was very arrogant and inferiorating. You had no idea how he was friends with her. There was a part of you that was almost grateful she acted that way, and maybe it would put Steve off. It never did. But the longer you all spent together, the more endearing it became. Any doubt that you had about her had been crushed to nothing. It was as though someone had suddenly turned on the light and you could finally see her in all her glory. Everything about her was gold and shining, and you were itching to have her. Despite her behaviour towards Steve, Robin had always been sweet to you, and so you offered sweetness in return. All at once you began to crave it, so badly that it almost hurt. You were beginning to realise now why they called it a crush. When you were with her it was like your lungs were compressed, your stomach twisted and your heart would beat so hard your feared with would become distorted. There was the self inflicted pain of false scenarios and imagined responses that would never come to reality because you were too scared that they would push her away if you tried any of them. But the hurting was worth it when you still got to see Robin at the end of the day.

"Steve, you have your entire life to be a jerk, why don't you take the day off."

He jestingly placed a hand over his 'hurt' heart. "Wow, never have I been more insulted in my life."

"Well, you clearly haven't been listening to Robin."

"Speaking of the devil..." Steve trailed off, turning into the school parking lot.

Robin was hunched comfortably on the red-clay brick wall in front of Steve's parking spot. She held a worn book in her hand, one that looked to be several hundred pages long, and her backpack lay open on the ground just below her feet. You couldn't help but melt at how beautiful she looked today. She was simply dressed in jeans and a plain t-shirt, layered underneath a chequered button down, of which she left the first few buttons open. She wore all of this under a thick coat that just made you want to give her a big, warm cuddle. It was an effortless outfit, but she looked absolutely gorgeous in your eyes. She reached a hand up to tuck a stray strand of dirty blonde hair behind her ear and out of her face. It was make-up free, showing off all of her freckles. With her undisturbed vision, she noticed Steve's car approaching. Robin visibly straightened with a grin on her face as she jumped from the wall and shoved the book into her bag.

The car slowly rolled to a stop and you hopped out, slinging your bag over your shoulder. Robin mimicked your actions, before prancing up to you. She greeted you warmly and gave you a quick hug. Your skin burned under her touch, even through your many layers, as you regrettably let her go. She smelled good, you noticed.

"what's up dingus?" Robin teased Steve, who slammed his car door a little harder than he should have.

He sighed. "Good morning to you too, Robin."

She stretched out a hand to ruffle his perfect looking hair. "Hey, watch it!"

Pushing her away with a groan, he dropped to look into the side mirror of his car and began raking his fingers through his hair. Although you have teased him for it, Steve did have exceptional hair. Soft waves of rich mahogany woven with strands of deep auburn, often styled so flawlessly it made you question if it was real or not. Anyone would be jealous of hair like that, you included. You watched Robin as she pushed forward towards the school, letting out a contagious cackle that had you smiling widely. It was a sound so sweet and joyous. As joyous as a prayer, deep and soulful. It was truly a blessing to hear. If someone told you that gods and goddesses didn't exist, you wouldn't believe them: you were staring right at one.

Steve jogged towards the two of you. "You are like a hurricane in human form." He turned to you. "Does it look alright?"

"You look fine, Steve." You rolled your eyes. "I hope you worry about your grades as much as you worry about your hair."

"My grades are fine, don't sweat it."

"Whatever you say, just don't come crying to us when you don't graduate and have to stay behind another year."

"You might end up finally having something in common with Eddie 'The Freak' Munson." Robin jumped in.

"What do you mean, Robin? They already do." Steve turned to you perplexed. "Have you seen Eddie's curly locks?"

You placed the back of your hand to your forehead and pretended to faint into Robin's arms. She caught you with her forearms under your armpits, almost dropping you as she laughed. You could feel her breath on your ear and you almost fainted for real.

"Steve 'The Hair' Harrington has got some competition." She laughed again.

"I honestly can't stand you two sometimes." He rolled his eyes with a smile, before forcing himself ahead. "I'll see you guys at lunch."

The two of you continued to snicker as you watched him stride towards his locker, hilariously walking past Eddie Munson along the way. Only when it was just the two of you did you realise that Robin still had her arm around you. Your body went numb with tingles as you stood yourself up properly. The sudden self awareness made you stiff and silent. Despite your movements, Robin still laced one arm through yours, something you didn't realise was a courageous move on her part. Your heart was thumping so wildly in your chest, you were scared she was going to hear it over the raucous in the school hallway. With your brain going into overdrive, you focused hard on not tripping or walking into anyone as she guided you towards her locker. Not that you didn't already know where it was.

You noticed her hesitance to unhook her arm from yours and the redness growing on her cheeks. She avoided your eyes as she moved her arm to unlock her locker. You stood against the lockers with sweaty palms, a bit closer than you probably should have been, but you wanted to feel her touch again. You watch her eyes dart about the inside of her locker, looking through it rather than searching inside it, and twitching her plump lips like she was psyching herself up for something.

"So I was wondering if you wanted to go to the movies with me after school to watch this new Back to the Future movie? I asked Steve yesterday but he turned me down because he's going on a date with Emmy Mcneill, which by the way, I told him was a really bad idea because she is already dating Scot Davids." She finally looked at you with wide eyes. "Not that I thought of you as a second option, it was just that we had already planned to go to the movies together at some point,--"

"Robin." You tried to interrupt.

"but we didn't know when or,--"

"Robin."

"what movies were going to be playing and--"

"Robin!"

"Yeah?" Her eyes met yours.

"I would love to go to the movies with you."

You would be surprised if your ribcage wasn't bruised by how violently your heart was hammering against it. There was more than just butterflies in your stomach, there was an entire zoo running rampage in your gut. This was the day you had been waiting for for what felt like forever. You were always too scared to make the first move, but you and Robin were finally going to be spending time together alone and without Steve.

"Cool. Great, it's a date." Her eyes went wide again. "Not that it's a date date, not unless you want it to be, but I meant it like 'it's a date!', like 'it's a plan!" or it's some sort of engagement. Not an engagement! We're not getting engaged, God knows I'm way to young to get married yet--"

"Robin," you hold her hands in yours and she looks at you hopefully, "it's a date."

[toyybox]

Spiderwebs #29: Conscience

Masterlist

content: immortal whumpee, captivity, stabbing

• —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

When his eyes fluttered open, Heather was right there. 

She was right on top of him. In her hand, she held a knife.

He was too stunned to even scream. But he really, really wanted to! Because why the fuck was she there? Oh God. He was so close to her. She was so close to him. His pulse went machine-gun fast. He could smell the orange blossom soap on her skin, the conditioner in her hair, the faint coffee scent of her sweater. He thought, for a moment, that he was dreaming, but this was too vivid to be a nightmare.

He swallowed. His throat was raw, arid and scratchy. He wanted to beg but he couldn't even bring himself to move. His limbs felt like they were wrapped in cellophane.

She pressed the knife lightly against his shirt. The point of the blade twisted against fabric.

His breathing slowed, the longer he stared at it. He was not in any danger, he realized, not any worse danger than before. If she was going to kill him, he didn’t mind dying again.

Well, then, this was a walk in the park! This was a slice of pie. Skittles and beer and vanilla ice cream. Life was going great. He was out of the basement. Everything was going to be okay.

He could even see sunshine! The curtains no longer covered the window. From his left, light spilled over the window ledge with reckless grace. The living room was much less dim and dreary. He could even see the blue sky, a merry robin-egg shade stretching over the snow. Jackie could get drunk on that sight.

She narrowed her eyes, as if just noticing he was awake. “You're quiet.”

He shook his head and left it at that. He felt much better, compared to last night. Sleeping in the basement was hard. He would wake up in bursts and starts, easily startled by a noise he’d imagined or a spider darting across the wall. This was his first deep rest in a while.

“I was checking if you were asleep,” she said.

Jackie nodded distantly, already thinking of other things.

Just then, the doorbell chimed. She cleared her throat and stood up, off the sofa, and walked around the corner. The door opened. He didn’t get up. Back then, he would have taken this opportunity for escape with eager arms, but escape was a distant pipe dream now. He was so much older, so much more exhausted. Shameful, to give in so easily, but…

Outside the window, a cardinal flitted across the snow. He closed his eyes and put his head back down. The sofa was so comfortable. Shameful, this docile sort of life, but he was happy.

The front door was not far from the living room. Jackie could hear the faint murmur of conversation. Nobody he knew, nobody he could recognize.

It was brief. Only a couple of words were exchanged, then the door was shut again.

There was the dull crunch of footsteps in the snow, and the lock clicked into place. He heard more footsteps, echoing against the wood floors. Outside, a bird tittered its song, piecing together a hesitant melody. Branches crackled in the cold.  

He heard a heavier thump, closer to him. Jackie started upright. There was a white box at the foot of the sofa. Kind of like the boxes bakeries used for cakes. It was heavy, judging from the sound, but not too big. Only about five inches tall, five inches wide. There was no label on it, no shipping company, not even an address.

Heather hadn’t put the knife down. Did the visitor notice? Did they not care? Her stare was boring holes into him. She stepped closer, until they were no more than a rat’s-tail apart, and he did nothing.

Before he could even register what had happened, he flinched. There was a blur of movement. A sharp motion. The ache in his chest flared up to a burst, and he clutched the wound on instinct. A spurt of blood dripped down the knife and across the curve of her hand. She had stabbed him. He could hear his pulse get weaker, feel its sad convulsions in his throat.

“A—ah. Shit.” He would never get used to the pain of dying, no matter how often it happened. He pressed a shaky hand to the knife’s handle. “Good morning t—to you too.”

Heather made a slight, small choking sound. Her hair hung down like torn rags around her face, brushing the edges of his jaw. She staggered, then… put her head down on his shoulder. Tears wetted his shirt. Their cold, salty sting bled through the fabric to his skin.

“Oh.” He cringed. This was not his idea of a good morning.

“Jesus…” She shuddered against the crook of his neck, against his chest.

“Yeah. It happens. Do you want a hug? Or… what’s in the box?”

"Morphine.”

Not all her drugs were homemade, then. “Do you want some morphine too?”

“Yes.” She sniffed. “Yes to both, please.”

He didn’t know how to administer morphine, or how to reach them with Heather leaning on his shoulder, so he settled for the hug. Around her waist, around the thick maroon fabric of her sweater.

He patted her back, a rhythmic motion below her shoulder blades. “There, there. It’s okay. Why are you sad?”

“I—“ Her voice hitched. “I stabbed you.”

“I’m fine. I’m immortal, remember? I’ll be okay.”

“It’s not that, it’s—I don’t know why I’m being so cruel to you, Jackie. I don’t know! I wish you would—” Another hitch. “But it’s not your fault. You didn’t do anything wrong. You’re just scared.”

“Yeah…” He glanced down at the knife. His slow-dripping blood had an odd viscosity to it, and it was so dark that it nearly shone black. The blade was embedded so deep in him that it was barely visible, rimmed by the slightest glint of light. It was one of those kitchen knives. They usually came in a set. Three silver circles dotted the handle.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t even want to keep you here. I was going to kill you. But I don’t—what was I supposed to do? I didn’t mean it. I didn’t want to hurt you.”

“I forgive you.”

“No, you don’t,” she snapped. “You’re saying whatever you think will make me happy. You hate me. You should hate me.”

Such a picky girl. Take the forgiveness and leave, or else say nothing, because there was nothing he could say back. If he kept acting cute, she would hurt him regardless, and if he started spitting insults at her, she would probably bash his head into the wall. But it wasn’t his opinion she was searching for—no, he was a prop for her guilty conscience, and he’d have to play along.

“I love you, Heather.” He pressed up against the side of her face. “Don’t go.”

“You…” She let go of the knife. This shifting caused his wound to sting anew, but he made an effort not to wince. “You don’t love me. I hurt you.”

“I don’t care. Just… don’t leave me alone again. Please. It was horrible. I don’t want to go back.”

“I won’t.”

A prop, a perfect prop, never complaining or talking back. A doll, a sweet and shallow toy. Maybe that was what she wanted. Jackie probably couldn’t do that for her, but he could try.

The doorbell rang again.

She sat up straight almost instantly, tearing away from him. He felt a dizzy ache clog up his throat, as her heat left his skin. She scrambled off the sofa, conjured up yet another tissue. After impatiently rubbing at her eyes, she threw it on the coffee table. Off and around the corner she went.

There was a shrill sound—it was the door swinging open. “Good morning, ma’am.”

“Hello, officer.”

Officer. 

Jackie froze like a deer. 

He clutched the knife still stuck between his ribs until his knuckles felt sore. If he screamed now—no, Heather would lock him alone again, and she’d kill the witnesses, whatever it took to silence him. He stared at the crumpled tissue instead. A torn, crushed, fragile thing. So immaterial in the glaring sunlight.

“Hello.” The voice was rough but reedy, husky but not deep. “I wanted to ask a few questions—“

“Questions?” Heather’s voice was calm, even confident. “Ask away, officer. Is something wrong?”

“There’s been a disappearance in this neighbourhood.” Jackie’s heart pounded like snares in a metal crusher. “Have you heard anything about Matthew Markham?”

Oh. Of course. The dead body. The unlucky guy who had annoyed Heather. Of course nobody was looking for Jackie. He swallowed the sinking feeling in his gut and continued to listen.

“No, I haven’t heard anything. My apologies.”

“That’s alright. We've been searching the area, you know how it goes. Would you mind if we talked inside your home?” There was a tiny creak—Jackie imagined him leaning forward, trying to push through the doorway.

“Do you have a warrant, officer?”

There was a curt, painfully obvious pause. “I'll return in two weeks or so. I appreciate your help.”

“Okay, officer. I hope you can find Matthew.”

“Thank you, ma’am.” 

The door closed. He wasn’t a dirty cop, then. Not some pig. What luck. Jackie wanted to kick the guy. If only he were a brute! The law was fair, but it was not always kind. If only he’d barged in, shoved Heather aside, and taken Jackie home…

Home? What home? The apartment was gone. Repossessed, returned to the landlords, rendered to dust and white-wash wood. This was his home now.

“Jackie!” Heather ran back into the room. All that confident composure had crumbled away. Panic warbled in her voice. “Fuck! What should I do?”

He sat up straighter. “Why are you asking me?”

“Who the fuck else should I ask? Matthew?” She began to pace beside the table, back and forth, tracing her steps over and over. She ran a tensed hand through her hair. “Shit, shit, this is bad.” She paused her pacing to glance at him. “Don’t just stare at me. You have a plan, right?”

“Not really. Sorry."

This was not the answer she wanted, but she finally stopped running laps across the living room. Instead, she stood against the wall opposite him, looking more haggard than ever. Jackie seriously doubted that this mysterious cop with a missing warrant could rescue him. If Heather thought he was in danger of being discovered, she wouldn’t simply give up and let him go. She’d stuff him in a closet, or hide him in her trunk, or lock him up somewhere equally uncomfortable. It was in his best interests to nudge her towards a plan that didn’t involve being shoved into small spaces.

“Heather. Do you trust me?”

She laughed without mirth, her head bent down, her ruffled hair falling over her eyes.

“Okay,” he said. “I get it. It doesn’t matter. More importantly—you have a lot of money, right? You’ve got a rich daddy who up and died or something. That’s why you can afford this house and all those drugs and still never go to work. That’s how you got all those nice chiffon scarves. Am I wrong?”

“You’re… uh, you’re right. I live off a trust fund. How did you know?”

He shrugged. “Lucky guess.” Nobody who earned their own living had time to play with pharmaceutical drugs. ”Listen, if you’ve got the money, we could just leave. Go to Hawaii, maybe.”

“Leave… how? We can’t drive to Hawaii. Can’t take a plane, either. I don’t have your passport, it would look suspicious. Perhaps we could go to…”

“Kentucky?”

“No. I was thinking of somewhere temporary, like…”

“A hotel?”

“A hotel!” She clapped her hands together. “You sly devil. That’s perfect. They won’t suspect a thing.”

Sly devil. That was a new one. Sounded coy. Very suave. Better nickname than subject, anyhow. “When are we leaving, then?”

“I’d say… three days to pack, then we can leave right away.”

And he hoped, crossed his heart and hoped, that this would not backfire. Just one nice thing. Just one streak of luck. Lord knew he needed a break. He just needed this to go right. Just one good day.

“By the way,” she said, gesturing to his chest, “you’ve got a little something…” 

“Oh, yeah. Thanks.” He wrenched the knife from his heart. His blood soaked the front of his shirt and smudged on his hands. For a minute, he could not feel his pulse—how odd. He did not have a heartbeat at all.

Heather took the knife from his hands. Although she hesitated, as if she wanted to speak, she left the room quietly.

· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

Taglist:

@theelvishcowgirl

@lthrboy

@whumpy-wyrms

@yassifiedinformation

@creppersfunpalooza

[loserdiaz]

seven sentence sunday

tagged by the lovelies @spotsandsocks and @alyxmastershipper

from the therapy fic <3

On a Thursday afternoon, on a day off, Buck and Eddie face a building painted in a soft pastel yellow with a handcrafted sign atop the roof. It reads 'AVERY PRESSMAN. RELATIONSHIP HEALING GURU.' "Seriously, Eddie? You wanna come here? To a— relationship healing guru?" Buck eyes him warily. "You? Eddie Diaz?" Eddie rolls his eyes and huffs out a not-quite-laugh. "Frank said she's the best in the city, alright?" "Alright." Buck relents, putting his hands up as in a gesture of surrender. "Let's do this, then." When they step into the building, Eddie can definitely say this is not what he had been expecting for a couple's therapy office. The walls are a bright robin’s-egg blue, a chandelier of purple feathers hangs from the ceiling, so long it almost reaches the floor. A bubble machine sends sprays of floating orbs throughout the room, and soft music is played as background noise, some kind of combination of xylophones and harps. "Well, this is certainly… colorful." Buck says, the corners of his lips twitching as if he's trying to hold off a smile but his eyes are glinting with amusement. Warmth in the center of Eddie's chest catches him off guard and he finds himself wondering when was the last time he saw that expression on Buck's face, genuine and with no underlying traces of sadness, wishfulness, bitterness or pain. He can't really remember. Eddie looks around and… yeah. Definitely colorful. "Shut up." He mutters to Buck, digging his elbow against the man's ribs but not quite hard enough to actually hurt him. “I don’t know,” Buck says quietly after a few seconds. “Maybe there’s a method to the madness. In a place like this . . . how could anything we say be embarrassing?” With a frown, Eddie opens his mouth to ask what Buck could possibly be embarrassed about, but a door on the other side of the room bursts open. The woman has a long maroon skirt that falls in a cascade and almost touches the floor, her feet are… naked and she has a gray top. She's the embodiment of what you would think when someone mentions the word hippie, Eddie thinks, and he makes a mental note to call Frank later and ask what the hell?

tagging (no pressure): @lostinabuddiehaze @monsterrae1 @buddierights @elvensorceress @the-likesofus @hippolotamus @bekkachaos @swiftiebuckleys @lesbianmaygrant @bigfootsmom @prettyboybuckley @rogerzsteven @fatedbuck @messyhairdiaz @loveyourownsmiilee and anyone else who wants to do it!