#shout out to matthew seeing a sad little man and immediately wanting to literally go to hell and back for him

[canned-peachs]

I love how Morpheus does his little "I am the King of Dreams, Lord of the nightmare realm..." speech in hell as if just 2 minutes ago he didn't have his authority undermined by a talking bird he just met

[interstellarflare]

How to Save a Life || Matthew Casey

-PART ONE-

Warnings: Swearing, angst.

Summary: Your relationship with Matthew Casey has been rough for the last couple of weeks. Without a moment to yourselves, it is impossible to fix the impending rift growing between you. But after a call goes wrong, you both realise that you need each other just as much as the other in your line of work. 

Author’s Note: I’m not sure how many parts this series will contain. Possibly three? But I am uncertain. If you would like to be tagged just comment below, and I hope you enjoy.

Standing outside the firehouse, you ran a stressed hand through your hair as you tried so hard not to cry. You and Matt had had another argument, again. And this time, the entire firehouse had been witness to the outburst. You knew your relationship with Matt had been strained for a while, but this was your first major fight in the four months you had been together. And it hurt like hell.

You loved him, really, you did. Ever since you transferred to the 51 a year ago, you felt there had been an immediate connection, and it turned out that Matt felt the same. But now, it felt like all that longing, all those fleeting glances in each other’s direction were all amounting to nothing. You tried to keep it together, considering the entire firehouse was still watching. Your heart tugged painfully as you breathed deeply, blinking away the anguished tears that threatened to fall for the third time this week as the sound of footsteps approached. For a brief second, you wanted it to be Matt, coming to apologise for the hurtful words he had said. Then you didn’t, you weren’t in the mood to talk to him right now.

When a gentle but firm hand placed itself on your shoulder, you turned to meet the kind and warm smile of Herrmann. “Hey kid, you okay?’ he asked quietly, searching your tearful eyes for an answer. You broke, all of the built up emotion suddenly becoming too much. You released a broken sob “I...I don’t know what to do anymore, Herrmann” you cried, as he pulled you into his embrace. You had fought so hard for this relationship, and now it was going to come crashing down in a ball of flames. Herrmann’s arms around your form tightened, “You’re gonna be alright kid, everything’s gonna work out...” he whispered quietly, patting your back comfortingly as you began to pull away. With a tearful smile, you nodded slowly, wiping your face free of tears and turning your gaze back to the firehouse. Matt had disappeared, so had Kelly and a majority of the others, but Emily, Stella and Sylvie waited by the entrance, each of them giving a small wave in your direction.

Before you could return the gesture, the firehouse alarm began to blare, bringing you out of your troubled state and back into reality. Herrmann shrugged, motioning with his head for you to follow. “Come on, duty calls...” he spoke glumly, which you couldn’t help but chuckle at. You jogged after him, grabbing your gear before hurrying to Truck 81. When you arrived, Matt stood in your way. Though he stood tall and confidently, you could see right through him. You knew he felt guilty, you did too, the both of you saying things you didn’t mean. “Y/n, I need-” “Now isn’t the time Casey...” you snapped quickly, looking up at him from the corner of your eye. You saw his shoulders tense, stepping back slightly to allow you to climb inside the 81. You never called him Casey, you hadn’t for a long time. It hurt you to say it, but you were mad at him, unbelievably mad, and you wanted Matt to know. You heard him sigh heavily as he climbed in after you, the entire ride filled with incredible tension and awkward silence.

All five stories had gone up in flames by the time you arrived on scene.

A mother, screaming for her daughter who was trapped inside their apartment on the fifth floor, immediately ran up to you. Pleading to you desperately, you wasted no time on entering the building, despite Matt’s protests over the radio. But Chief Boden ordered him to let you go, telling him that you were capable of taking care of the situation yourself. But now, with the woman’s daughter in your arms, trapped on the fifth floor as the floor beneath you creaked and cracked, you started to regret charging in alone.

“L/n, where the hell are you? You need to get the hell out of there, the entire building is coming down!” Chief Boden rasped over the radio, the noise drowning out the rumbling of the flames. You growled, gritting your teeth as you adjusted the girl in your arms to respond. “I’m trapped on the fifth floor. If I move an inch in the wrong direction the entire floor will collapse, taking the girl and me with it!” You yelled in response, before holding the young girl closer to your form, whispering calmly into her ear. A long moment of silence passed as the girl continued to sob into your shoulder. Your stomach backflipped uneasily as the floor beneath creaked, you could feel the floor move beneath you as you tried to stand completely still. Then you heard Boden speak words you never wanted to hear ever again. “Casey is on his way up, just hold on L/n”.

No, not Matt. Literally anyone but him.

If something happened to you, you didn’t want him to be the one to see it. And if something happened to him, you would never be able to live with yourself. Before you could protest over the radio, the door to the staircase opened to reveal Matt, who moved to rush towards you. Your eyes widened “Stop!” You shouted over the roar of the flames, causing Matt to freeze “One wrong move and this entire floor will collapse. Just...just stay there”. Matt nodded his head, holding his hand out towards you and beckoning you to move. “Come on, walk over to me one at a time” he instructed, stepping back into the open doorway and securing one hand to the doorframe, the other still outstretched toward you. You nodded in acknowledgement, gently placing the girl in your arms onto the floor. Carefully kneeling down, your turned her to face you, putting on a brave smile as your eyes met her tear-filled gaze. “Listen to me, you see that man over there?...” You began, motioning to Matt behind you “I want you to walk towards him very slowly, okay? Can you do that for me?”. The girl shook her head “No! No I-” “I’ll be right behind you, I promise...” you interrupted, not liking the way the ceiling above began to contort in awkward cracks and crevices. After what seemed like a long minute, the girl nodded, slowly turning to face Matt with a wary glance.

You watched on anxiously as the little girl tiptoed her way towards the stairs, squeaking in fear as the floor beneath her threatened to give way. When Matt finally pulled her into his embrace, you released a breath you didn’t know you had been holding. The heat was becoming unbearable, the flames licking at the walls. “Okay Y/n, your turn...” Matt called out to you, his eyes never leaving your form. You nodded, releasing a deep and shaky breath before stepping forward. You immediately froze, your heart leaping into your throat as the floor groaned loudly. “Y/n, come on...” You heard Matt plead, his voice breaking slightly as he stepped into the hallway “come on”. Your eyes met for a brief second, sad tears falling from your (eye/colour) hues as the floor beneath you finally gave way.

Time seemed to slow completely, a loud and shocked gasp was all that left your lips as you fell to the fourth floor below. You would always remember the look of pure fear that crossed Matt’s face as you fell, how his voice screamed your name as you crashed onto the third. Pain consumed all of your senses, stars filling your vision by the time you landed on the second floor. The world suddenly faded into darkness, your entire body and mind numb to your surroundings. All you could focus on was the agonising throb in your abdomen, the smoke filling your lungs, the sharp stinging sensation on the side of your forehead, and Matt’s voice over the radio.

“Firefighter down! Second floor hall......”. Everything suddenly faded into a low mumble, the ringing in your ears increasing to the point where it became unbearable. Everything suddenly became too much, the intense heat, the agony, your laboured breathing. As your eyes fluttered closed, you failed to notice the door to the second floor fly open. You failed to noticed the very distressed Captain kneeling by your side........then there was nothing. You could feel nothing as you descended into an endless dark abyss.

[seriestrash]

This Is What You Came For;

Prompt: A one shot based off This Is What You Came For by Calvin Harris and Rihanna sent by anon. 

Summary: It’s Riley’s 21st birthday and after a fight with her long-term boyfriend Lucas, Riley heads to the club in an attempt to forget her troubles. 

Word Count: 1658

○ ○ ○

♫ ♫ ♫  Baby, this is what you came for Lightning strikes every time she moves And everybody's watching her But she's looking at you ♫ ♫ ♫ 

It’s no secret Lucas Friar can be a little jealous when it comes to Riley Matthews, even after dating for almost seven years.

The two high school sweethearts attend colleges two thousand miles apart but they’ve managed to survive the distance. Although they are still together the distance has put a strain on the long term relationship.

Riley is a person you either love or hate and there are very few people in the world that don’t love the quirky brunette. It’s her bubbly and positive nature that has people gravitating towards her and this means Riley is socially thriving in college.

With all the new friends Riley was making there came just as many jealous reactions from Lucas. The Texan isn’t jealous Riley’s making friends he’s just triggered by the all male attention she’s receiving.

Riley doesn’t lie and try and argue that all the attention is platonic because it’s not but she does always argue that she’s only interested in him romantically and she’d never do anything to jeopardise what they have.

It’s also not like Riley doesn’t get jealous because she does. Riley knows her boyfriend is a real hunk and that draws all sorts of female attention. It’s also not like Riley is a stranger to insecurities, she’d look at some of the girls around Lucas and think negatively about herself, but, Riley has grown a great deal since her standoffish approach when she and Lucas first entered their relationship freshman year. Since then Riley has found she believes a lot about the importance of their relationship and how she knows they’re forever.

Now, It’s Rileys 21st birthday and a fight erupts between the couple over another jealous thought on Lucas’ behalf. They go back-and-forth for an hour, it’s mostly just Lucas restating that he doesn’t like one of Riley’s male friends, Ben and Riley telling Lucas she doesn’t appreciate his jealous behaviour.

“Do you hear how ridiculous you sound?” Riley huffs. “We’re just in a study group together.”

“You’re still inviting him tonight!” Lucas folds his arms.

“He’s bringing his girlfriend.” Riley rolls her eyes.

“That doesn’t matter,” Lucas scoffs.

“Yeah you’re exactly right, this doesn’t matter.” Riley glares.

It continues to go back-and-forth until finally Riley reaches her boiling point.

“Lucas, I love you so much but if you think controlling me is a part of love then I’m not sure I can do this much longer.” Riley sighs.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Lucas snaps in a panic.

“It means that I don’t want to be here right now.” Riley huffs.

“Riley, your party..” Lucas is still a little worked up from the fight.

“Go without me.” Riley shrugs, she too is still worked up. “Say hi to Ben and his girlfriend for me.”

“Riley, wait-” but before Lucas could say anything else Riley’s out the door.

Riley calls Maya and gives her strict instructions to meet her. Maya questions why she’s not on her way to the party and Riley shuts her down with a simple text that reads ‘ring power’ yes, those two little words still work after all these years. Then, within the half hour both twenty-one year olds are at a club.

Riley uses her I.D to purchase her first legal drink and she quickly downs it. Maya is uncomfortable in the crowded club and ultimately confused as to why they’re even there in the first place.

“Honey, did you and Lucas have a fight?” Maya shouts over the music.

Riley lifts her index finger to her mouth and shimmies her shoulders to the loud and thumping music. Riley then holds out a hand for Maya and takes a few backwards steps towards he dance floor as she motions for Maya to follow. Reluctantly she does so and the two girls find themselves amongst the sea of dancing bodies.

Riley begins to dance, swaying to the beat of the DJ’s song. Maya stands by tense.

“I hate clubs!” She shouts. The shorter girl has been twenty-one for sometime now and she hasn’t warmed to this scene.

“Come on, Peaches, it’s my birthday!” Riley shouts as she continues to dance. Maya gives in and it takes her a moment but she eventually warms up to the upbeat song.

Despite her fight with Lucas in the back of her mind, Riley is having a great time. She’s really feeling the music as she dances to it, she liked the flashing lights that felt like indoor lightning, she didn’t even seem to mind how hot it was in the middle of all those moving bodies. Riley was certainly enjoying the club a lot more than she previously believed she would.

Maya waves her phone in the air and Riley figures she has to take a call but the brunette doesn’t follow her friend off the dance floor, instead she stays behind to dance on her own.

One, two, three songs pass and Riley’s still dancing on her own, occasionally she’d have to swerve away from some guy perusing her but other than that she was still having a good time. Another song plays and Riley continues to dance, a new guy keeps hassling her to dance even though she keeps turning away from him.

“Don’t be like that!” He shouts after she turns away again.

“I’m just dancing on my own, thanks!” Riley shouts back awkwardly and she turns away again.

“Baby, this is what you came for!” He dances up on her from behind.

Riley spins around with a look of disgust. “No means no creep.” She uses her hand to give him a forceful shove in the chest. If that guy wasn’t enough to spoil her fun the fact that Riley finds Lucas had seen the whole thing certainly flipped her mood again.

Lucas didn’t seem jealous as he approached he seemed furious but not at Riley. She puts her hand out and pushes his chest to stop him going after the guy. “Lucas if you walk away from me right now I’m done!” Even though Riley has to shout over the music you could hear how deflated she sounded.

Immediately Lucas’ tense stance fades and he looks at Riley with sad eyes, she really meant it.

“I miss you.” Lucas shouts over the music but Riley was having trouble hearing.

Lucas holds out his hand and is hopeful Riley will take it, thankfully she does and Lucas leads them off the dance floor and towards a table at the back where they could talk without shouting.

“Did Maya tell you where I was?” Riley asks with a pouty bottom lip.

“I called her.” Lucas says, “Shes heading back to your party, I’m kind of hoping you’ll come back with me.”

“I need to know you trust me.” Riley says seriously, “I need to know that you know I love you.”

“I do.” Lucas nods, “I just miss you, Riley.” Lucas says again only now he’s softly spoken. “I just get jealous of the people that do get to spend time with you and it’s a terrible, horrible quality I have, I know. I just worry that you’ll move on because we’re not together.”

“I get jealous too.” Riley says.

“No.” Lucas shakes his head.

“Yes.” Riley nods. “All the time. You know that Tiffany in your class. She’s a real Missy Bradford.” Riley rolls her eyes.

“You’ve never said anything?” Lucas crinkles his brows.

“You know why?” Riley wears a knowing look. “Because after I’m done pacing around my room like a loon I remember that I love you and you love me and then after I’m done sulking about how the distance sucks I try to think about how we’re not too far off graduation and how we’re going to spend the rest of our lives together once we do.”

“Riley, are you proposing to me?” Lucas jokes.

She rolls her eyes. “Spoiler alert you big dummy,” Riley smiles sweetly even though she just insulted him, “We’re going to get married one day and do married people stuff like have babies and buy a house and then we’re going to grow old together and die at the exact same time like in the notebook.”

Lucas lets out a single chuckle at Riley’s comment. “I’d be okay with that.”

“Good.” Riley says with a smile as she tugs at the bottom oh his shirt. “Do you remember when me and Maya were trying to imagine what our sixteenth birthdays would be like and I was unsure if we’d even be together?”

Lucas frowns, “Yes.”

“I was scared to let you be important to me again.” Riley admits, “But I did and I am so glad that I did. I know we’re more than my sixteenth birthday, I know we’re more than my twenty-first. Have you forgotten that we’re forever?”

“No.” Lucas says quietly. “I just let my insecurities get the better of me.”

“It’s you and me babe,” Riley says as she gets really close to his face but she pulls back instead of kissing him. “Unless you plan on picking fights with every geezer that looks at me too long during bingo.”

“I’ll control my old man temper.” Lucas laughs.

“Good.” Riley smiles. “I’ll pencil you in for a notebook style death then.”

“Okay.” Lucas chuckles again, “How about we go to your party first?”

“I don’t know, bingo does sound kind of fun.” Riley jokes as she gets up.

Lucas wraps an arm around Riley’s shoulder and she loops her arm behind his back. “So you were really jealous of Tiffany?” Lucas questions as they walk out of the club together.

“Yeah, she tagged you in a photo using the purple heart emoji, that’s my thing!” Riley says dramatically, “It took me theee says to get over it!”

More light laughter is shared as they walk together and they both knew they were going to be okay.

○ ○ ○

End Notes: So this was the oldest prompt sitting in my inbox oh man do I suck for taking so long. The sad thing is my original idea for the prompt hasn’t changed from what I posted today!! Shoutout to you anon if you’re still here! :)

I used the verse loosely to write this! hope that’s okay, these song prompts are probably my least favourite only because I try to fit the song too literally and djfh anyway, I hope you enjoyed! I’ll see you all soon for another one shot ;)

Original Prompt;

[rilesandlucas]

Football fails

THERES A FUCKING HOT FRENCH EXCHANGE STUDENT AND HE LOOKS LIKE PEYTON. THAT IS ALL. ALSO I FROM AUSTRALIA AND WE DONT HAVE NFL WE LITERALLY ONLY HAVE AFL WHICH IS DIFFERENT SO HAVE A LOL. Lucas Friar adjusted his helmet as he looked at himself in the locker room mirrors. Tonight was the final against the Bradbury bears, or private school jerks as Lucas liked to call them. Taking one last sip of water Lucas waddled out to meet his other team mates. He immediately caught sight of Zay and ran over to him tapping him on the chest and Zay rolled his eyes and hit his arm were there was no padding. Lucas could see the quite large crowd that had gathered outside from the entrance of the locker room. He always found it kind of weird and surreal that so many people came to watch such 'barbaric' behaviour. Watching such sports has been around since Roman times and it was all a bit weird to Lucas when he thought in depth about it. He felt a hand hit the back of his head and he snapped back into reality looking down at Zay once again. Lucas offered an apologetic smile but Zay just scoffed and directed him to listen to their coach. 'Ok Lucas. You're our quarterback. Bring the patriots home man.' Coach yelled and all his Neanderthal friends started jumping, shouting and hitting each other. Zay saw Lucas uncomfortable and put his hand on his shoulder. 'You'll do great out there man. Plus Riley will be cheering you on and I swear she is magical at making people's dreams come true so that's a good sign.' Zay offered and Lucas let out a small smile at the mention of his girlfriend. 'Have you heard from Riley? I haven't heard from her since she left Greenwich and I mean that's a 2 hour drive and she should be here by now.' He questioned anxiety seeping through his voice. Zay tensed at his words but covered it up not wanting to scare his friend when he didn't know what was happening yet. 'Nah man I haven't yet. But don't stress maybe her phone just ran out of charge. It's nothing.' He pleaded and Lucas relaxed a little. It was probably just a misunderstanding. It didn't make the feeling in his gut go away though. 'Yeah yeah Zay you're probably right. I shouldn't stress. It's probably just a misunderstanding.' He wasn't sure if he was convincing him self or Zay more. The coach yelled and Zay and Lucas stormed off onto the field and got into there positions. While all basic formalities began Lucas took his chance to look around the stands to see if he could see Riley. After a quick skim he noticed Topanga, his parents, Maya, Cory and Farkle and an empty spot beside them. He tried to brush it off as her getting stuck in traffic or maybe having to clean up something at the house or at school but something deep inside of him was telling him, this was worse. The game began and Lucas welcomed the distraction. He despised the smell of dirt and overly well kept grass but add that to sweaty over weight man killers and it's a deadly combination Lucas had had enough of. Thank god this is my last game he thought and went to grab the ball. He passed to a teammate before he felt a strong force hit him and his head slammed against the grass. He groaned as his teammate Ray helped him up while his team was celebrating the touchdown they had just earned. He didn't think he had ever been more thankful for half time in his entire life. He limped slightly off the field hiding from the medics and his coach slightly. Taking a sip from a water bottle he went to look around for Riley again but saw that not only her seat was empty but so was Cory and Topanga's. Suspicious he pretended he was running off his injury and ran toward their stand. Farkle seemed slightly frightened as Lucas ran over, he didn't know what to tell the quarterback. He didn't know what he was allowed to tell the quarterback in all fairness. Lucas stopped and called out to Farkle who was only to rows back from the barrier. Ignoring the loving stares he got from his classmates he watched as Maya hid her slightly puffy eyes from Lucas. 'Ok guys where's Riley. I'm not mad considering I know there's a reasonable excuse but I would like to know where she is and why Maya is crying.' He demanded and everyone shivered a bit at his scary tone. 'Lucas' he heard the familiar gentle tone and turned to his mother who had a sad aura coming from her. 'Riley wishes she was here. She's just a little preoccupied. We will explain later. You have a game to win now. This is what she wanted.' She prattled and Lucas couldn't help but feel like he couldn't breathe when no one was telling him where Riley was. He stood there collecting his breathe and hoping that Riley was just planning a surprise after party for him and it wasn't anything bad. 'Friar.' Someone yelled from across the field and Lucas saw the demanding eyes of his coach and stormed over blinking back his tears. 'Alright ok first half. Friar great playing keep it up. Now I've already spoken to everyone I need to individually so everyone head out there. One-two-three hut.' The boys yelled as they put their hands in the circle and flung them out. Lucas ran to the field and tried as hard as he could to keep his head in the game. 2 touchdowns later Lucas found him self in a play that was next to Zay. They had a few extra minutes to spare considering there was a fight between teams and the umpires were trying to stop the situation. Zay trotted closer to Lucas and clapped him on the back. 'How are you doing with the whole Riley thing.' Zay sulked and Lucas tried to hide his furrowed eyebrows. It was times like these Lucas was thankful he had a gullible friend to trick. 'Yeah ok.' He muttered and he saw Zay sigh heavily before tears welled up in his eyes. 'Yeah car accidents are tough on everyon-' Zay started but Lucas was already faking an injury. 'Car accident- Zay why didn't you tell me I need to go to her.' He yelped as he held his arm in pain and saw the medics running towards him. 'I thought you knew.' Was the last thing Lucas heard a confused Zay say before he was being escorted off the field. the medic tried to sit him down but before they could Lucas pulled out of their grasp. 'Thanks but I know it's serious. I'll drive myself to the hospital.' He bellowed before dropping his helmet and sprinting out of the stadium. He heard a few gasps but nothing was on his mind except Riley. He had never been more thankful for no New York traffic than now as he sped along the streets towards the hospital. After a speedy 5 minute drive he pushed open the doors to the hospital and strided up to reception. 'Hi I'm here to see Riley Matthews. I'm her brother.' He mumbled and the nurse nodded. 'Yep Riley is down the hall take a left and then two doors down.' She directed and Lucas managed a thank you before he ran off down the halls. Pushing open the door he saw a bruised Riley with her arm in cast and a bandage on her forehead. She looked over at him and smiled sadly. 'Lucas you didn't have to be here. How did you even know. You have a football game.' She rambled and Lucas laughed while sitting down on the chair next to her bed. 'Riles you are 100X more important than football. If you're hurt I'm hurt.' 'How did you find out?' She questioned as his lips kissed her temple. 'Zay may have been persuaded a little.' Riley laughed before grabbing her ribs in pain. 'How you feeling.' 'I'll be fine in about a month. Other than this stupid broken arm. It was worth it to save the bunny though.' She joked before her phone pinged and she grabbed it. 'Well look luke you won. With Zay as fill in quarterback.' She beamed and Lucas was confused but delighted. 'Well although unexpected I love that. Yay Zay.' He yelled and Riley replied with a yay Zay. 'Now how about we watch cuddle bunnies.' Lucas offered before lying in her hospital bed with her. Riley put her head on his chest and he wrapped his arms around her. 'Anything for you' she mumbled before drifting Off to sleep.