#that library has not found any peace from these two freaks

[hejee]

sister…that’s a bit 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓴𝔂

[ohmystaxk]

Goodbye, My Dear Stranger (4)*

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Pairing(s): (Jake Lockley x f!Reader) (Steven Grant x f!Reader) (Marc Spector x f!Reader later on) [Pre-Moon Knight show]

Chapter Character(s): Steven Grant.

Content/Tags: confessions of possible stalking, Reader themselves is a RED FLAG, SMUT +18 (so strap tf up!), dom/sub like dynamics, fingering, oral (m!receiving), cum eating, praise kink, dirty talk, hair pulling, gagging, Reader being a FREAK IN THE STREETS AND IN THE SHEETS.

Word Count: 7.0k (this was a big boy for me!)

Summary: The shop has close temporarily, and without any means of communicating with Jake after what happened between the two of you, you decide to go out and have some fun.

It happened so suddenly. 

You directed him through the hall once the lift stopped at your floor. You unlocked the door to your flat, his hand still on yours. When you stepped in, you found yourself pulling him in after you had closed the door behind him. 

He looked at you, his gaze heavy on your lips before meeting your eyes. You grabbed him by the back of the neck and pulled him in. Your hands found comfort on his hair as your lips met his. His hands flew to squeeze your hips greedily. He pulled away to kiss from your cheek to your jaw, then kissed his way down to your neck as you pushed him against the door. 

A gasp escaped you as you felt his hot breath on your skin, the sensation giving you goosebumps, you arched your back against his hold. You pulled his face towards yours, his eyes half closed as he looked at you in a haze. You closed the distance, kissing him deeply as you pulled on his hair, earning a moan from his lips.

Your hands found his jacket and started pushing it off his shoulders. He quickly got the message, taking it off and letting it drop somewhere on the floor. His hand returned to your hip, the other one gliding under your shirt, his fingers cold against the heat of your skin.

“I can’t believe you’re kissing me.” He spoke against your lips, his breath ghosting over them.

“You best believe it, Steven. Take it off,” The sudden demand caught his attention. He cocked his head to the side, raising an eyebrow at you as his eyes bore into yours. 

“Please take my shirt off.”

When the rays of sunlight slipped through the drapes, you frowned. You let out a groan as you tossed around, trying to return to the peacefulness of sleep. But that was cut short due to the loudness of the busy street below.

“Fucking downtown.” You whined as you started to stretch your limbs.

Lucky for you, there was no need to go to work that day. As a matter of fact, you had the entire week off. Three nights after your kiss with Jake, there were machinery issues at work. The place was closed for the week as they worked on getting that fixed and did some light remodeling on the side.

Thankfully, the short vacation would not affect your salary and you would be receiving your paycheck on time. You were happy to have a breather, you had spent the last couple of days going out and visiting thrift stores, a couple of libraries in search for new books, and having dinner at Deanna’s place. You were having fun hanging out and spending time at your place. Then, there was the thought of what had happened between you and the mysterious man. Your kiss with Jake had surprised you, you didn’t regret it at all, but you weren’t one to be impulsive.

Jake was a very attractive man. Att first, he seemed scaringly cold, but that night at the cafe, then later in his car, he had been charming. The way he smiled and laughed, how easy he went along with things, and god did he make you feel giddy; he had you smiling like a schoolgirl. Jake was different from most of the people you had dated.

You were glad he had been nice to you, and seemed to worry about your safety, on two occasions to be exact. Of course, it was the bare minimum, but nonetheless it was important enough for you to remember. Yet, he had not shown up. Not once since the kiss. You didn’t have his number to let him know you wouldn’t be at the coffee shop, but you knew he would find out if he went looking for you.

Perhaps it was weird for you to start doubting his intentions with you. But you did find it odd for him to not take a quick detour to say hi, or even leave his number with any of your other coworkers during the following days. 

Deanna had mentioned seeing Steven, though. The man had ordered something and asked about you right after, telling Deanna he was sorry for not stopping by to say hello sooner. He then left his number with her that night. That’s what made you doubt Jake. Steven took the time to leave his number, even though the two of you talked once weeks ago; and Jake didn’t, even though you had kissed three days ago.

You sat in bed, removing the bedding away from your body and swinging your legs over the edge. You stood up and made your way to the kitchen, the space was brighter because of the sun shining through one of the open windows by the living room. The same window that faced Steven’s apartment. You had almost forgotten last nigh as you sat by it, a glass of wine in hand. The drink warmed up your body, so you opened the window.

Today seemed like a warm day, the sun was bright, it made you feel energized. You opened the fridge, looking inside for something to prepare. It was then that you heard your phone chime from your bedroom. You paused your search and walked back to get it. You saw the phone laying on the floor, it had probably fallen last night. You picked it up and saw the screen liight up with a notification.

Deanna 🥰: ‘Wanna go downtown and get some drinks later? 🍾

I invited Rose and Martha GIRLS NIGHT!!’

You: ‘I’m down

Just let me know what time 😌’

You replied quickly and turned around to walk back to the kitchen.

After a while, you had finished cooking your breakfast and managed to eat as you scrolled through your phone and watched something on your laptop along the way. After that, you took a shower and got dressed, you had decided to go out by yourself before Deanna confirmed the time of the outing. With your shoulder bag and your phone ready, you stepped out of your apartment.

After a couple of minutes of riding the bus, you found yourself at the steps of the British Museum. You tightened the grip of your shoulder bag and took in a deep breath. Maybe it was a dumb idea, going in and talking to Steven. You didn’t even know if he worked Saturdays. You could still head back and go somewhere else. Yet, there was something Jake had said, and it lingered in the back of your mind.

“I need you to keep me a secret whenever you talk to him again.” He’d said it like he was sure an interaction would occur again at any time. Maybe he was right, you were standing in line to get an entry ticket.

Your phone buzzed again, a quick glance showed a text from Deanna. You wanted to open it, but for some reason you needed to think of an excuse first. Why were you there when you could simply text Steven? Truth was, you wanted to see him. Perhaps it didn’t make sense, but if you were to get to know Jake, you wanted to get to know Steven too. Maybe become the bridge between the two, and help them reconcile in the future.

“How many entries?” The voice of the man at the booth startled you.

Once you got your ticket, you made your way inside the building. The place was busy, children and adults wandered the exhibits, curious eyes stared at displays. You walked around, not feeling brave enough to approach the gift shop just yet. You had looked towards it when walking in, but not seen Steven. So, you continued on your own. 

You had made it to the back part of the Museum, there were less people than at the entrance. There was a bench by the back, the wall behind it contained a painting that almost covered it whole. You sat down and placed your bag next to you. You took your phone out of the bag and the screen lit up.

Deanna 🥰: ‘We’re going out at 21:20

Rose said she can pick u up if u want’

You: ‘Sounds good

can be ready at 20:50’

You replied and then looked at the time, 15:27. You had more than en0ugh time, almost too much, to spare. You sighed, perhaps it was a bad idea coming all the way here to see Steven. 

You ended up putting on your earphones, music played while you walked around and took pictures of the place. Whether it was the rays of sunlight that came from the windows or the details on paintings, anything to pass the time and distract yourself. It was fun really, spending time on your own and getting to focus on what you wanted. You had noticed the things you’d missed when you walked around the first time with Deanna.

“Hello there, stranger.” You put your phone away. You were about to take a picture of a sarcophagus when you heard his voice. 

You turned your head to the left. Steven waved at you with a smile. He furrowed his eyebrows as you blinked a couple of times. “You alright there?”

“Yes, hi.” You nodded at him with a quick smile. “Sorry, you just caught me off guard. Hey Steven, how are you?”

“Don’t apologize. I’m actually the one that’s surprised to see you here.” Steven readjusted the shoulder strap of his bag, you look down at it with a frown. “I’m doing good actually, more so now that I got to see you.”

“Are you heading somewhere?” Steven followed your gaze. A quick laugh escaped him.

“Home to Gus, I just finished up here. Worked the morning shift today actually.” You nodded and bit your lip to prevent you from rolling your eyes at yourself. 

How lucky for you. Steven was tired and wanted to head home. And here you were, trying to catch him at his work place to talk, and you weren’t even able to do just that.

“Who are you here with? Is it your friend from last time?” You shook your head.

“No, I came here by myself this time. I wanted to really explore it, since I didn't get the chance when I was last here.” Steven seemed surprised at the answer you had given him. A smile appeared on his lips.

“Yeah, it’s magnificent, isn’t it?” There was a sparkle in his eyes. You smiled and nodded. “By the way, I saw today that The Green Wall is going to be closed for a few days.”

“Oh, yes. They are doing some remodeling and we are getting the old machines replaced.” 

“Glad to hear it’s nothing more serious.” Steven fidgeted with the strap of his bag once more. His eyes looked into yours, a shade of red on his cheeks caught your attention. “I went yesterday...”

“Deanna told me,” You interrupted him, giving him a smile that seemed to relax his nervous state. “I actually came to talk to you. I’m sorry I left the way I did the other day.”

Steven frowned, shaking his head. “No, I didn’t take it in a bad way. It’s completely fine.”

“Thank you, Steven.” You nodded your head towards the entrance of the Museum, signaling the man to walk with you. “Have you eaten anything?”

“Not really. Have you?” He turned his head to look at you as you walked. You smiled as you faced forward.

“Not really. What do you say Steven, would you like to go and grab a bite?” You offered, turning your head to look at him. His eyes lit up and he nodded with a smile.

“I say I would love to.”

____

Steven had mentioned he was vegan when you asked him if he had any preferences. So, you ended up doing a deep search for places that offered vegan-friendly options. After a couple of minutes you managed to find a well reviewed place that seemed good enough for the two of you. It was three streets away from the Museum and the two of you walked all the way. You mostly talked about some of the exhibitions, discovering Steven’s passion for Egyptology and how he had wanted t0 be a tour guide instead of working at the gift shop. Once you made it to the restaurant, the two of you sat on the terrace to enjoy the nice weather. 

“I still can't believe Donna has not hired you as a tour guide yet. I mean, everything that you have told me so far has made me feel far more engaged than any of my professors ever did.” Steven shook his head, taking a sip of his iced tea.

“You flatter me, really. I do hope I can make it, one day maybe.” Steven looked at the street.

“And it will happen, she’s stupid if it doesn’t. Having you there would be a complete missed opportunity, Steven.” You crossed  your arms on top of the table. “Don’t you think?”

Steven looked back at you, a cheeky smile on his lips as he shook his head at you. “Thank you, really. It’s nice having someone else to talk to.”

“Oh, really? Who’s my competition?”

“Gus, mainly. Then my mum, we don’t talk really, she’s far too busy.” The mention of his mom surprised you.

“What does your mother do?” Steven perked up.

“She’s currently traveling the world. Wherever she goes she always sends me a postcard.” You nodded as he took another sip of his drink.

“And what about your father? Do you have any siblings?” You were glad he had mentioned his mom. It was the opening you needed to get information from Steven relating to Jake.

“My dad? Never met him, my mum raised me as a single mother. She worked hard her whole life. I never felt the need to meet him. And I am an only child, well, at least I think I am.” He answered genuinely and let out a small laugh at his own joke. “What about you?”

“Both of my parents live in the States. They separated recently, but they are on good terms. I have two older siblings.” 

“Must be nice having someone to grow up with, innit?” Steven’s question made you chuckle.

“It sure can be. We are all pretty close in age. Yet, we had our fair share of fights and mischief along the years. I miss them a lot sometimes.” The waiter arrived with your food, placing the plates down in front of you. “Have you ever wanted a sibling?”

“Sometimes, whenever I hear people talking about theirs, I think of what it would be like if I had one.” Steven grabbed his utensils and began picking at his food.

“Well, it might not be too late, you know? Perhaps your father had other children.” You looked at him as he took a bite, shaking his head as he chewed.

“I doubt they would want anything to do with me. Besides, I don’t mind it.” You took a bite then. The two of you shared a silence that was rather comfortable as you ate.

So, Steven didn’t know of his father or any siblings that he might have. Jake had been right about Steven having no clue, but why would his mother just lie about Jake? What could she have gained from not seeing her own child and keeping both of her children away from each other? 

“Can I ask you something?” Steven spoke up, his fork moving his food around. His eyes looked down at the plate, yet he seemed to stare far beyond it.

“Sure, Steven.” You looked at him patiently, taking a sip from your drink.

“That time at the Museum, the first time. Why did you ask me out?” You looked down at your plate. “I am older than you, you know that, right? Why ask a gift shopist out?”

Of course you figured Steven to be older than you, but not old enough to ring alarms to any bystanders that might think you are trying to scam an older man out of his retirement funds. Not like you even would. It actually made you laugh, the thought of Steven thinking he might be far too old for you.

“How old are you?” You crossed your legs under the table, tilting your head to the side as you leaned forward.

“Thirty-eight.” He admitted, his head down as he looked up at you. He looked nervous as he continued toying with his food, you nodded with a smile.

“Well, you're not that much older than me Steven. You almost made me worry for a second there.” Your answer seemed to please him, he laughed nervously as he went for another bite. “Not that I would mind either way.”

His eyes widened and Steven started coughing. You were about to stand up and help him, when he raised his hand, stopping you on your tracks. His face was red, once he stopped coughing.

“Now you’re just having a laugh.” He took a sip and shook his head. You laughed this time.

“Why would I lie?” He tried to speak but you interrupted him, “Like you said, I was the one to ask you out, not just once but twice now. And if I remember correctly, I have your number, I could have called you or sent you a message. But instead I went looking for you.”

“But why?” You expected him to act bashful at your teasing, but instead he was dead serious.

It bothered him, you realized, not knowing your intentions with him. What you wanted from him, because it was clear what his intentions with you were. He wanted to know you, to form a relation with you. Steven seemed like a nice man, more friendly than Jake seemed. It was that same exception that surprised you when you suddenly had asked Steven out. It was true, you didn’t know why you had asked him in the first place.

But you knew why you left that first time. It had been the implication of you knowing where he lived, of seeing him through your window almost every night that scared you, because it would freak him out.

“I can’t tell you, Steven.” You admitted to him. He seemed taken aback at your answer, his eyes widening only slightly and he looked down with a short nod.

“I knew it was too good to be true.” His words made your stomach hurt. You had said those exact words on countless occasions, and now being at the receiving end hurt.

“I can’t tell you because you will think me crazy.” You shook your head. “There is nothing wrong with you, trust me when I say that. I’m the one with fucking red flags, Steven.”

“I hardly doubt that.” Steven scoffed, you grabbed your bag and reached inside.

“Oh I assure you. I do.” You pulled out your wallet, pulling out a bill and setting it on the table.

“It can’t be that bad, just-.”

“We are neighbors, Steven!” You interrupted him, closing your eyes tightly as you spoke. “I live in the apartment across the street from yours, we share a window. I’ve seen you before. I’ve-.” You shook your head once again, standing up before Steven grabbed your arm gently.

You looked at him, his eyebrows tilted upwards with wide eyes.

“You don’t have to do that.” His words surprised you, your body froze in place. 

Your limbs feel heavy, your heart beat fast, you felt your fingertips get cold. And, by the look on Steven, the color had drained from your face. There was nothing in his eyes that told you he was weirded out, that he was concerned with the implication of your words.

“What?” Your voice barely even came out of your mouth, you felt your body running cold as he softened his grasp. Steven was so close, his eyes looked  into yours with nervousness, he swallowed as they flickered between your eyes and your lips. You had almost missed it.

“Telling me that, to what? To make me stop talking to you?” He said your name and you felt a chill run down your spine. He sounded like Jake, the way he said it made your body respond by giving you a flashback of the kiss. “Is that what you want?”

“No.” You said without thinking. You rolled your eyes and looked away. “I am not lying to you Steven.”

Steven let go of your arm, but didn’t back away. He looked down at the floor before glancing back at you.

“Show me.” He said with both of his hands going to his pockets.

“What?” You looked at him with a frown, laughing nervously.

“Show me where I live. Only then I’ll know you are not lying.” You sighed.

You ended up calling a cab for the two of you. You gave the address and Steven didn’t say anything, even when just the street alone should have told him all he needed to know. During the ride the two of you remained silent. Steven looked out the window, while you looked straight ahead, playing with the strap of your bag that was now on your lap. After a couple of minutes the cab came to a stop. Steven offered to pay. 

The two of you stepped out. Across the street was the alley between the two apartment buildings, Steven stood by the side of his, and you on the side of yours. You took in a deep breath, adjusting the strap of your bag.

“Which is mine then?” He placed his hands on his hips, looking up as he squinted because of the sunlight. You rolled your eyes.

“Steven please.” You looked at him. His hair was messy, skin radiant under the sunlight, a shadow of stubble framing his jaw and cheeks.

“Just wanna make sure.” He turned to look at you. His eyes looked like honey under the sun.

You bit your lip and looked away, focusing your eyes on his window.

“Top floor. The windows facing the alleyway. Mine is the one across. Your window gives a view to a desk and part of the kitchen.” You saw Steven nod on your peripheral.

“Yours to the kitchen as well, you have a sofa by the window and you have a little table as well.” You whipped your head to look at him, he was eyeing your apartment from where he stood. “I never really saw you, but you always had a lamp on during the night. That was until you left me at the coffee shop.”

“That’s why I left. Because of what you would think when this happened. I didn’t want this to happen, I swear.” You got closer, standing in front of Steven. His gaze went from above you to just you. His eyes softened.

“I thought it was weird before, finding some sort of comfort in a stranger's light. Now, here I am with said stranger. At least I’m glad you are not somebody's grandmother.” His joke made you laugh, remembering your assumption of Steven before you saw him.

“Are you sure you don’t find this weird? You can tell me the truth and I’ll understand.” But Steven scrunched his nose and tilted his head to the side. 

“Maybe a little, but if I was truly bothered I would already be heading to my flat and locking myself up.” He looked up once more, his eyes shifting towards your place.

“Curious?” You asked, looking up at him. “I can show you if you want.”

“I bet yours is better than mine.” He looked down with a smirk. You shook your head.

“I doubt that. Yours is twice the size of mine. Come one, I’ll show you.” You started walking, Steven following behind immediately.

The two of you walked through the crowd and the stands of food that crowded the alley. You grabbed his hand when he tried moving between a group of people, holding him tightly as you two made it to the steps of the entrance, you typed your code and the door unlocked, the two of you headed inside.

You made it to the elevator, pressing the floor of your flat, Steven standing next to you. You felt him squeeze your hand. Steven cleared his throat, fixing his posture. “I wanted to tell you something, back at the Museum.” He started.

“What is it?” You looked at him, his eyes were soft, looking deep into yours.

“You looked like you belonged there. Art itself.” You felt your face heating up, your heart beating loudly in your chest.

“Now you gotta be toying with me.” It was hard to stop smiling, you felt giddy at his compliment.

“I would never,” He spoke your name one more time softly. “You look so beautiful today, and the way the sunlight kissed your face… I bet even the sunflowers would be jealous.”

You held your breath, Steven held your hand tightly, giving you a gentle squeeze. You had never felt your stomach flutter. Your smile grew and so did his. You felt shy, having never heard a compliment like that before, specially directed at you.

It happened so suddenly. 

You directed him through the hall once the lift stopped at your floor. You unlocked the door to your flat, his hand still on yours. When you stepped in, you found yourself pulling him in after you had closed the door behind him. 

He looked at you, his gaze heavy on your lips before meeting your eyes. You grabbed him by the back of the neck and pulled him in. Your hands found comfort on his hair as your lips met his. His hands flew to squeeze your hips greedily. He pulled away to kiss from your cheek to your jaw, then kissed his way down to your neck as you pushed him against the door. 

A gasp escaped you as you felt his hot breath on your skin, the sensation giving you goosebumps, you arched your back against his hold. You pulled his face towards yours, his eyes half closed as he looked at you in a haze. You closed the distance, kissing him deeply as you pulled on his hair, earning a moan from his lips.

Your hands found his jacket and started pushing it off his shoulders. He quickly got the message, taking it off and letting it drop somewhere on the floor. His hand returned to your hip, the other one gliding under your shirt, his fingers cold against the heat of your skin.

“I can’t believe you’re kissing me.” He spoke against your lips, his breath ghosting over them.

“You best believe it, Steven. Take it off,” The sudden demand caught his attention. He cocked his head to the side, raising an eyebrow at you as his eyes bore into yours.��

“Please take my shirt off.”

“Right now? Are you sure?” He asked. One of his hands going up t0 caress your cheek. His thumb felt rough on your skin.

“I am,” You nodded quickly. “You look so good, please.” You looked at him. His hair was disheveled, his breathing almost as erratic as yours.

“Alright, love. Don’t worry, I got you.” His hand moved away from your cheek and went to the hem of your shirt, pulling it off of you once you quickly threw your arms up. He then fumbled with the buttons on his shirt, trying to take it off on his own.

You kissed him again, helping him undo the lower ones as he worked on the ones on top. Your hands brushed each other as you tried to undo the shirt as quickly as possible. He pulled away, crossing his arms at the hem of the shirt and pulling upwards once enough buttons were undone. 

Steven went to kiss you again. His hands went to your hips first, snaking their way down to your ass and squeezing hard enough to make you gasp against his lips. Your hand flew to his shoulders, in need of something to ground you against the sudden rush of emotions you were experiencing. His skin was warmer than his hands, his muscles felt strong under your grip. It was the sensation of his lips against your neck that made you speak up.

“I want you to fuck me.” Your head was tilted backwards, half-lidded eyes towards the ceiling, your hand went back to his hair for a sense of comfort. “I need you to fuck me, Steven.”

“You sure?” He asked again, his gaze serious. So serious you almost saw Jake on his face. Had your mind not felt cloudy, you would have felt alarmed at the fact. The heat of his body against yours overwhelmed you.

“Yes, please.” Steven kissed you quickly before pulling back, taking your hand and looking around your flat. 

“Where’s your bed?” His gaze fell on the window. The drapes were half drawn and, even from where the two of you stood, you could partly see inside his flat.

“I’ll take you.” You offered, looking at him for any sign that would tell you he wanted out. “Is that okay?”

He looked back at you with a smile and nodded. “You can actually see a lot from here.”

You walked towards your bedroom. Steven closely followed. You opened the door. You walked all the way in and directed Steven to stand in front of the bed. You let go of his hand. It was then that you were finally able to take him in.

Broad strong shoulders, a toned body, and strong arms that were not something you expected from him. It was the baggy clothes he usually wore that gave the opposite effect of his buff frame. You looked him in the eyes and placed your palm on his chest. You lightly pushed him and he fell sitting down on the edge of the bed.

You lean down and kiss him. His hands cradle your face as you lower yourself all the way to your knees, his legs spread out on either side of you. His eyes stayed on yours the whole time. He shudders as you gently run your fingernail down his ribs, going down to the hem of his trousers, finding the button and undoing it. Your other hand pulls the zipper down. Steven gasps when your hand palmed him through his underwear. He rests his forehead against yours as you squeeze him.

“Is that okay?” You ask. Steven nods enthusiastically.

“Mhm, yes.” He responded and you pulled at his trousers, letting him you wanted them off. He quickly helps you, taking them off, as a matter of fact, taking everything off except his boxers.

You kissed him one more time, distracting him as your hand squeezed him again. This time from inside his boxer. He moans into your mouth, your hand beginning to pump him as he holds your face on his hands gently. He opens his eyes, their usual shade of brown almost entirely replaced by black.

“Oh, fuck.” He chokes out. “You’re so soft.”

“I’m soft somewhere else.” You tease him, earning a groan from him as he runs one hand through your hair. The other stays on your cheek, caressing you. 

“Don’t do that to me, fuck, don’t say that, please.” You pulled his boxer down slowly, maintaining eye contact with Steven all the while. He looked beautiful. Lips glossy and swollen as he licked them, his curls messy and puffy. His chest rose and fell, fast and unsteady as he leaned back, his hands behind his frame, planted on the bed to keep him up.

“Wanna see?” You looked down, and goddamn is he hard.

His length twitches on your grasp when you squeeze his thick girth one more time. Steven swallows hard and tries to maintain eye contact with you. He watches you lower your head and kiss his stomach. You kissed your way down to his hip bone and planted a kiss on his right thigh. You looked up at him and waited for him to speak again.

“I don’t deserve you on your knees.” He shudders when you kiss his left thigh.

“I want to, Steven. Will you let me do this for you? I bet that boss of you drove you out of your mind today, didn’t she?” You rose back up to kiss him on the cheek, still pumping him. “I bet you can’t wait to fuck my mouth.”

Steven throws his head back and lets out a deep moan. “You have no idea.” He confesses and you feel yourself getting wetter. “I want to feel you so badly. Please.”

You kissed him on the lips one more time before dropping back to your knees. You lean down and kiss the head. Steven gasps loudly as he looks down at you, a frown is on his face and his mouth hangs open. You open your mouth and lick the underside of his length before slowly taking him in. He twitches inside your mouth. You pump him as you swirl your tongue around his tip.

“Ah, I couldn’t stop thinking of you after the cafe.” He says as his hand comes to brush your hair away from your face. “That night I dreamt of you. I dreamt of you just as you are. Fuck you look so much prettier.”

His breath faltered as you hollowed your cheeks, taking him in even deeper. He tightened his grasp on your hair and thrusted upwards, hitting the back of your throat and making you to gag. You took a deep breath through your nose before pulling away.

“I’m sorry, did I hurt you?” Steven leaned forward, wiping away the tears that formed on your eyes. You shook your head with a quick smile.

“No, it's okay.” You were about to go down again when Steven grabbed your chin, tilting your head upwards.

“If you do that again I won’t last long.” You nodded and stood up.

“There’s condoms on the nightstand.” You pointed with your chin as you unclasped your bra. Steven stood up from the bed and you started undoing the button of your trousers.

You pulled the zipper down and shimmed out of them, your underwear followed. Steven had the condom on when you crawled your way to the pillows on the bed, laying your back flat against them as you kept your knees up.

Steven knelt in front of you, his breathing erratic as his eyes took your image in. You spread your knees apart, revealing yourself to him. Steven eyed you like he had traveled the desert for many nights and had stumbled upon an oasis. He got closer, seating on his heels as he placed your legs on each of his thighs. He brought his hands to caress yours, slowly making his way up your hips, your stomach, your ribs before looking back at you.

“Can I?” He asked as he leaned down, resting his forehead on yours, his nose brushing yours.

“Of course.” You said and he kissed the tip of your nose, his hands going to squeeze your breasts and pulling a moan from your throat.

“I need to feel you. All of you. I need to know this is not a dream.” Steven gives your  cheek a kiss, going down to kiss your neck. You gasp when you feel him bite down on the nook between your shoulder and neck.

“Steven.” You breathe out his name as you feel his right hand glide down your stomach. “Please.”

“Please, what?” Steve whispers, soft and slow against your ear. His hand stops right on your pubic bone, his touch heavy and cold against your skin. You feel your head spin at the sudden change of attitude.

“Please touch me, please.” You bring both of your hands to grasp his arms, pleading in his ear.

“You sound so pretty, love.” His hand continues his path down and your back arches off the mattress when his fingers graze your clit. Your digged nails in his skin as you let out a choked moan. “I wanna hear you more.”

His fingers start circling around your clit. The sensation made you throw your head back and hit the pillows and you started taking in quick breaths. Steven leaned down, his lips placing kisses along your collarbone, then slowly meeting the softness of your breast, biting gently on the skin, and licking the pain away each time. He starts running circles faster, your heart beat spreading up, your walls squeezing on nothing as he takes one of your breasts to his mouth, his tongue twirling around your nipple at the same speed of his fingers. One of your hands finds themselves back on his hair, pulling it as you keep moaning at the overwhelming sensations.

“Am I doing good?” He lets go of your nipple with a wet pop, his eyes look heavy as he meets your eyes, a whine escapes you as you feel his fingers leave you. 

“Steven, you are doing so good-” You pull his hair as you gasp, two of his fingers go inside you.

The movement is so sudden you squeeze them in further. It’s then Steven curls them and you moan, you can barely breath once he starts to pump his fingers in and out. Steven nuzzles your cheek with his nose and places a gentle kiss.

“You are so wet. Can you hear that? Sounds lovely, innit?” He pulls his fingers out of you, whining at the loss, you turn your head to look at him. But you are received with a rather welcome view. Steven with his fingers on his mouth as he savors the taste of you on his tongue. “I’ll taste you next time, I promise.”

You bring his face towards you, pulling him into a kiss, your tongue licking his lips  and it’s then he opens his mouth, your tongue snaking in, tasting yourself as you do.

You pulled away, breathless. “Please, Steven.” He kisses you, a sheepish smile on his face as he leaned over you.

“I got you love, I got you.”

You bring your legs to his sides, Steven holds himself with his left hand, while he grabs his length on his right, the tip gracing you clit, making you jolt. He looks at you as you feel him pushing in, your mouth opens as you gasp at the small sting. Your body shudders as you feel Steven gripping your hip as your hands have decided to tightly grip the sheets under you.

“Oh fuck.” He chokes out, his head hanging down, his curls falling on your forehead. “You're so warm.” He keeps pushing in, your wetness making the job easy for the both of you.

After a couple of minutes, you brush Steven’s hair away, making him look at you. When he does, you can help but smile at him, Steven looks blissful, skin radiating, color seeming to return to his pale skin. You nod at him and he nods back, his hips starting to move and you gasp as his length starts filling you in, the drag feeling intoxicating. 

You feel all the air leave your lungs when he begins a fast pace, his thighs hitting the back of yours roughly as he kisses your neck, you hold on to his arms for dear life as he thrusts deeper, the head of his length gracing your sweet spot, your eyes rolling to the back of your head.

“You’re clamping down on my cock, so fucking amazing, dove.” He starts speeding up, your legs press on his lower back, making him go deeper. 

“Steven, I think I’m gonna cum.” You slurred your words as you felt him nod next to your face. 

“I know, I know, I can feel you.” He moans as your walls contract. “I’m also getting close.”

Steven then starts rubbing your clit at the same time he thrusts into you, your back arches and you dig your nails on his back. “Ah, fuck, please, Steven.”

“You feel so good, you can do it, I know you can.” Steven whispers into your ear as he gasps. You feel him twitch inside you, his thrusts feeling erratic and out of pace. He starts rubbing faster and you feel you might black out.

You cum, your eyes shut and it feels like your head is spinning, you see white spots behind your eyelids. You take in a quick breath as you feel Steven slowing down, his head hanging next to yours, he whines breathlessly, as his fingers rub circles on your hip. He leaned down, slightly putting some of his weight on you, but nothing you couldn’t handle and he kissed your jaw.

“You okay? Was that good?” His voice sounds raw. You nod with a silly smile, your eyes feel heavy.

“Never better.” Your response makes him laugh, hiding his face on your neck, slowly pulling out and the two of you moan from the sensitivity. 

After a couple minutes, he stands up and walks away. You find he went looking for your bathroom as you hear the tap running, not too long after he returns with a wet cloth.

He kneels by your side, passing the cloth on your face and neck to get rid of the sweat that had been covering your skin. He moves down and cleans you, a whine escapes you and you thank him. Steven throws the cloth on the floor and he falls on his side next to you, his eyes heavy as well as yours, he even had that stupid little smile you knew you were mirroring. You open your arms at him and the man takes the invitation, pulling you on his arm and cuddling you. He pulls one of the covers closer and lets it drape over your bodies.

“You should sleep.” Steven says, placing his chin on top of your head.

“I will if you do.” You offer and feel him nod.

“I think I just might, you took everything out of me.” You laughed.

“Means we had a good time then. Rest well, stranger.”

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[writing-wh0re]

Can we get some George Weasley x Y/N but Y/N caught Fred with Angelina (while Y/N and Fred were dating)

All writings will be #writing-wh0re-requests.

George Weasley x Reader - Fred Weasley x Reader (mentioned/past)

Words: 1,970.

Warnings: Fluff, Angst, Hints Of Cheating(?).

A/n: I hope you enjoy this! I did and didn't make it Fred cheating but you'll have to read it to find out how I did that. Love you all, stay safe and hydrated xo

| | |

Fred had been distant from you for a while now, almost everyday you’d wonder what had caused this distance between you. A Lot of the time you wondered if it was your age gap or if you were too involved in your studies to have time with him. You missed what you had before dating, your years of friendship slowly disappearing. You decided enough was enough and you would ask him what was going on, at least asking would give you a straight answer, one that would hopefully help you sleep at night.

You knocked on his dorm door, waiting patiently for the shuffling feet to reach the doorway.

“Y/n, uh, Fred isn’t here.” George smiled weakly at you before moving from the doorway to let you pass.

“Oh, do you know where he might be?”

“He could be studying, I know that he and Angelina have a joint project coming up.” Angelina, the gorgeous girl that made Fred’s eyes light up. George sits down on his bed, opposite to Fred’s as you cautiously walk over, sitting in front of him.

“George, can I ask you something?”

George simply nods in response as you let out a deep sigh.

“Fred, he’s been distant lately and I can’t help but think it's me, has he said anything to you?” I feel the nerves set in, knowing the twins share everything with each other, I twiddle my thumbs not wanting to look up at George and know the answer before he says it out loud.

George sighs deeply before speaking, “I have noticed him being distant towards you, honestly I think he’s a bit of a twat to be doing that to you, why do you think it’s your fault?”

I open and close my mouth, trying to find the words as my thoughts run wild as well as my emotions, unsure of which one will break free first.

“I can’t help but think it's our age gap, plus I know I’m more involved in my studies and find it hard to squeeze in time for dates or anything of the sort. Plus my parents are strict and don’t even know about him yet, I don’t want them to freak out about me dating a family friend.” I can feel myself blabbing on and on, unsure of when to stop, trying to talk to cover my nervousness. “I know it's over but I don’t think he wants to hurt me.”

George places his hand on my knee, rubbing small circles on my skin with his thumb.

“It’s not your fault, Fred should have tried more.” I roll my eyes at George, tuting slightly.

“A relationship goes both ways, I should have found time for him and told my parents, it has been three months after all.”

“You’re right Y/n, but if I was him, I would sit with you while you studied, bring the date to you.” George sits beside me, tilting my chin up to him finally making eye contact with each other. “Who cares if you parents are strict, it should make the relationship a bit more exciting.” I chuckle at George, pulling away from his hand.

“More exciting?”

“Yeah, the whole sneaking around, taking their daughters innocence.” I feel my breath hitch at the way George says the word innocence, a hint of lust behind his words. I shake the thought from my head, knowing that my longtime small, tiny, crush on George is trying to piece together emotions that aren’t there, ones that aren’t shared.

“Ah, well maybe you should talk to Fred and see if he agrees with you. Prove me wrong in believing this is all over.”

George’s face drops slightly before nodding.

“Let’s go find him then.”

I follow behind George, walking the corridors side by side.

“Do you love him?”

“What?” I stop in my tracks causing George to stop as well, turning to look at me.

“Do you love him? Or was this just because of how close your friendship was? I mean you’ve been a family friend since you were born.”

I frown at George’s questions, having to rack my brain for the answer. Although for the past few months I have been asking myself these exact questions, is it just comfortable and familiar? Did we owe it to ourselves to try?

“Of course I love Fred, I mean, yeah I love him.” I mentally slap myself for sounding unconvincing, more so trying to convince myself. I do love Fred, I have so much love for him, just like I do for all of the Weasley family. George hums in response, kicking the ground slightly before scoffing.

“Romantically Y/n, do you love him, or is it just comfortable?” George boxes me against the wall, his eyes wandering mine for an answer, one I’m not sure I can say out loud, one I’m too afraid to admit.

My heartbeat picks up, my breathing ragged as I stutter out my words. “I-uh, I’m-, lets just find Fred.” I watch George flick his eyes from mine to my lips, I quickly duck under George’s arm, walking a little faster than usual away from the interaction, turning into the library and hoping to find Fred.

I look around the room, feeling George’s presence behind me. I look over my shoulder slightly, confirming with myself that it is George.

“Can you see him?”

I look around the main foyer, before walking to the left, looking down the hallway.

“He’s not here, let's go.” George says hurriedly, grabbing my forearm.

“George stop, I haven’t looked down here yet.” I pull my arm from his grip earning a groan from George, he quickly rushes in front of me, obstructing my view. I chuckle softly, looking up at the tall ginger.

“He’s behind you, isn't he.” George doesn’t say anything, I lick my lips before letting out a deep, almost defeated sigh. “Enjoying his time with Angelina?” I look past George’s body, seeing Fred laughing with Angelina, brushing hair out of her face before kissing her. I feel a pang of sadness mixed with guilt hit my heart, before smiling at my longtime friend. Feeling guilty for ‘keeping’ him from her.

“Fred’s happy with her, George.”

George stays in front of me, his hand softly rubbing up and down my arm. Angelina breaks away from the kiss, before her eyes land on me, causing me to go wide eyed. I quickly duck behind George’s body, knowing he isn’t hiding me very well.

“She saw me.”

“C’mon, we won’t do this here.” George grabs my hand, lacing our fingers together before guiding me out of the room. My heart swells, butterflies erupting inside of me as I glance down at our hands.

George. It’s always been George.

I mindlessly follow beside George, smiling as we end up at the astronomy tower.

“You two really are identical.”

George chuckles at me before sitting down near the railing.

“Yeah, Fred and I both enjoy the view up here.”

I nod in agreement, looking at the view, the breeze flowing through my hair, deciding to lay down on my back.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Of course you can George.”

“You don’t seem upset.”

I stay quiet for a few seconds, before looking over at him.

“It’s weird, I know I should be sad, we were together for three months but nothing really changed from when we were friends.” George nods, before laying down beside me. “We just gave ourselves a title and kissed a few times.” I chuckle at how weird it was to kiss Fred at first, almost as if it was a taboo act. “When you asked me if I love him, I do, but not romantically, kissing him felt odd.” I confess causing George to raise an eyebrow at me. “Don’t tell him I said that.”

“Odd how?”

“Like I was kissing my friend, which I was but it just didn’t feel romantic.”

“Hmm” George hums in response before he can ask me any more questions, rushed footsteps pull us out of our conversation.

“Y/n.” My heartbeat picks up at the sound of his voice.

“Freddie.” I smile, tilting my head and looking up at him from the ground.

“Fred.” George says sternly, a protectiveness hidden behind his voice, I shake the oncoming thought not wanting to spiral in this moment. Fred walks over to me, before laying down beside me.

“I’m not upset with you, I’m happy for you.”

“I-, what?” Fred stutters, causing me to chuckle.

“I have been your best friend for years, I know the look you give someone when you’re completely mad about them and Angelina is a lucky lady.” I grab Fred’s hand squeezing it reassuringly as a deep breath falls from his lips.

“I’m so sorry Y/n, I should have tried more but I don’t know, I was trying to get myself to believe something was between us, but kissing you felt like kissing my friend.”

George chuckles beside me, causing Fred to sit up and look at his twin.

“What’s amusing you about this?”

“Y/n just said the same thing about you, kissing was odd and there was nothing romantic about it.” I slap George’s chest causing Fred to chuckle.

“Guess we tried, it won’t be awkward now will it?” I shake my head before kissing Fred on the cheek.

“We were definitely more friends than partners in these three months, plus I think we saw less of each other while ‘dating’.” I put air quotes around the word dating as Fred sighs in relief.

“Weird how we had to ‘date’ to figure out who we both truly wanted.”

“Wait, what?” I ask, a nervousness falling over me.

Fred stands from laying down as I rest on my elbows.

“I may give Angelina a look but I know who you look at and they feel the same.” Fred winks before turning to walk out of the tower. “Don’t blow it George!”

I facepalm at Fred’s words, knowing he can read me like a book. I turn to George, opening my mouth to try and do some damage control with Fred’s words so I don’t lose George as a friend. However before I can speak my peace, George cups my face pulling our lips together. My heartbeat picks up, my body falling hot as a tingle rushes over my skin. I place my hand on his forearm, his thumb brushing small circles on my face as our lips move in sync.

This, this is what kissing should be.

George pulls away from my lips, a small smile dancing across my face as our eyes lock together, his forehead resting against mine.

“It will break my heart if you say that is how kissing Fred felt.”

I chuckle at George’s response, quickly kissing him again causing him to smile into the kiss.

“It’s always been you George.” I whisper my confession as the younger twin hums, kissing my forehead.

“It's always been you too Y/n, don’t you remember the fight Fred and I had when you started dating?” I shake my head softly as George licks his lips. “It shocked me that you were getting together, everyday I wished it was me instead but I slowly noticed the way you would look at me compared to him. I just knew.”

I blush at George’s confession before mentally scolding myself for not being subtle.

“Did you mean what you said in your dorm? Bringing dates to me, sneaking around with my parents and taking my innocence?”

George smirks, licking his lips as he makes me look into his eyes.

“Every word.” My breath hitches, butterflies fluttering around inside of me as I close the gap between us.

My mind falls clear, no doubt, second guessing or worry wandering through me. Finally content. Finally with George.

| | |

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Add yourself!

[1magine-engine]

Obey Me: MC is Hiding Something

When MC first awakens in the council room no one thinks much of them. They’re sitting there shivering like a dog left out in the rain and refuses to meet anyone’s eyes.

Lucifer starts to wonder what in devil’s name made you a good candidate for this exchange program. You barely had enough courage to answer when Lord Diavolo welcomed you so graciously, much less look dignified in any way.

Something odd he does observe though is, despite your silence and obvious terror, you seemed to accept the concepts of a Devildom and of RAD and him and his brother very easily or maybe you were just nodding along insipidly.

Mammon’s opinion of you is even lower. He already hated the idea of having to watch and make sure some stupid human didn’t get themselves killed on their first week. Damn it! That wasn’t his job! They can’t even carry a conversation, always just staring and watching everybody.

The human doesnt seem to have any kind of motivations or idea as to what they wanna do. Lucifer will never know if he leaves you alone at school for a while considering you’ve found your friends group with the other exchange students. And at home he sees no problem with letting you go off for just an hour or two. All you really do is walk around and examine the rooms and grounds. Maybe you’re an architecture freak or something.

Leviathan barely pays you any mind when you arrive, not like he ever has the chance to, being that he never leaves his room outside of going to class. But during breakfast he does notice how interested you seemed in the game console he’s playing on. And for a moment he wonders if you’re a gamer or an otaku too

but no, ugh you’re just some normie. You watch Asmo obsess over his compact mirror and Satan over whatever book he’s holding just the same. And you’re conversation is shit like Mammon said. Listless and lacking enthusiasm. But he doesnt stop you when you watch over his shoulder when he plays.

Satan doesn’t have a problem with you. That said, he doesn’t particularly like you. But he can respect how much time you seem to spend in the library, and how many books you borrow about the devildom and kinds of demons. It made sense, you wanted to know the kind of creatures you were surrounded by.

he does wonder though, why one day you seem to be borrowing a lot of Solomon’s books and Solomon’s time as well. But then again, that makes sense too, you were both human after all. Maybe you would stop flinching and get even a little more comortable with someone your race around. When one of his tomes disappear, he interrogates Mammon because of course, it’s Mammon.

Asmo likes your style. It’s not particularly glamorous or eye-catching but it matches your aesthetic. He especially admired your choices in acessories. The amulet you’re always wearing is so pretty and he swears sometimes it almost glows. And your rings were peak Devildom fashion, sharp, edgy iron designs. But he especially adored the silver spike earring you wore.

He was both delighted and smug that he was the first one to get a little closer to you. But of course, how could you resist! You even complimented the perfume he was wearing and asked where he got it. And he directed you to his favorite oils and essences shop that supplied products and ingredients from every realm. And while applying some to your wrist he catches a glimpse of a tattoo peeking out from under your sleeve but you pull your hand away, bashful. Oh, he’ll get you to show him someday. Heehee.

Beel is curious how a human can eat so much. He’s been told human athletes apparently eat a lot to maintain muscle mass and strength and the like but looking at you, you didn’t seem the type to do anything strenuous. Except he does notice that when a demon bumps you in the hall, you’re not hurt or thrown off despite the size difference. And when you’re purposely knocked into by someone else, your reaction is fast, pivoting out of the way and behind the demon and you almost look like...

Nah. You weren’t going to attack him, you began to cower and apologize again and again until Mammon had to drag you way before it got any more embarrassing. The next time you pique his interest is at the gym in the house. You always make sure to go at a time when there isn’t anyone else and he happened to go after you. But it couldn’t have been you that just used that machine. Were you really capable of lifting that much?

Luke and Simeon are sympathetic, Simeon understands the discomfort and the adjustment and answers any questions you have about the brothers and how not to piss them off or placate them if ever you did make them angry. He answers your questions about RAD and the program but does wonder. Wherever did you get an angel relic like the one hanging from your ear?

Luke says you shouldn’t be afraid of those no good demons, if anything happens you can run to Purgatory Hall and they’ll help. He promises. He likes your company and starts up baking with you, teaching dishes and pastries. He tells you a lot about Michael and lets slip things about Lucifer and the brothers back when they were still angels. You don’t push him on the subjects but you do seem pretty interested.

it all came together, very easily. First the lights, Leviathan’s screams echo in the halls as he laments not having saved soon enough. Asmodeus’ whining about losing such good selfie lighting came next and both come out into the hall, yelling for their older brother. “Lucifer!”

If not for that, Lucifer probably wouldn’t have noticed, having been locked up in his firelit office since dinner was over. Heaving a sigh he gets up. All of the yelling told him the lights were out so how could he have expected the brilliant flash of white that burned his eyes when he opened his door. He stumbles, leaning on the door frame for support as footfalls race down the hall.

He growls, feeling his wings and horns materialize but something isn’t right. His vision doesn’t return and his skin starts to burn. In the air he catches the faintest scent of something he hasn’t smelled in a long time. Holy oil.

When the little light in the fridge fades, Beel thinks he may have fucked up. But then it turns out the whole house is out so it must just be some prank. He keeps eating, uncaring whether or not he identifies what it is he’s shoveling into his mouth. Then he smells it.

once upon a time he’d caught Luke with some kind of cookies from the celestial realm. And they were some of the best cookies he’d ever had in his existence. He could never forget that smell, so when it wafts through the air coming from the main hall, he follows. Drool begins to gather beneath his tongue.

He misses the sharp, metallic scent drifting beneath it.

Satan’s vexation spikes when his reading light goes out and his peace and quiet is distrubed by his idiot brothers. Mammon probably tried to turn the power off in Levi’s room to get him out so he can sneak in and steal his stuff again. But then Asmo starts yelling, and one cry from Lucifer rattles his bones.

It’s enough to get him on his feet. But what draws a gasp from him is the flash of lightning that gives him his sight for a moment. White lightning, an impossibility in the devildom’s ever red tinged sky. He goes to the window, knocking a stack of tomes over and unlatches it. But it doesn’t budge. Using the light on his D.D.D. he tries again but it just won’t open.

Outside Satan’s door heavy footsteps, thump along in a slow rhythm. Satan races to the door and Beel is there trudging along the carpet like a zombie, his nose perched in the air.

“Beel?! What the-? What are you doing?”

“Hey what’s the big idea!? Where are you guys!? Who’s doing that weird singing?!”

Mammon calls out into the mansions, just as confused as everyone else. Satan’s brows furrow; he didn’t cause this, then. He’s about to answer but Mammon yelps, and a resounding thwack has Satan grab Beel, and race towards the sound, almost stumbling over each other’s feet in the dark. They’re only guide is the ocassional flash of white and the sound of chanting growing louder as they grow near.

It is still pitch black but years of experience and spatial awareness tells him they’re in the foyer. Satan ventures out, almost tripping over something on the ground; it’s Mammon. He lays at the top of the steps, passed out. Satan is about to shake him awake when Leviathan and Asmo come out of a hall holding up Lucifer between them. Another flash. Lucifer’s demon form flickers in and out, smoke rising from his blistering skin. Satan freezes and Beel picks up Mammon in his arms.

“Satan! What the hell is going on!?” Levi calls out into the dark over the spell.

The chanting stops. So does the lightning and they’re plunged into complete darkness. They hear the sound of plastic and a baggie hits Beelzebub square in the chest, landing on Mammon’s stomach. “Cookies?”

He smells that first but then they recognise the other scent prominent in the air as blood.

Human blood.

“Wait, where’s MC?!” Asmo’s voice comes from the black. “Are they trapped somewhere?”

Someone laughs.

“Oh, you don’t need to worry about that.”

Lightning flashes again, bathing the foyer in glaring white. It’s only for a moment but their eyes are quick enough. It becomes clear where the stench of blood was coming from. “After all, I’m not trapped in here with you...”

Your eyes seem to glow, vacant of whatever fear or trepidation you’ve deceived them with for weeks. In your hand is the earring Asmo admired so much, the silver tip dripping red. At your side, your palm is sliced open, already clotting as you’ve used all you needed for the seal activating the devil’s trap around the entire house. Your sleeves are pushed up to the elbows the sigils and signs inked into your skin tasting air again after so long. As you place your hand on the seal they come alight. Your lips curl over your teeth.

“You’re trapped in here....with me.”

Solomon knows a demon slayer when he sees one. And he tells you right off the bat whatever you’re planning it isn’t a good idea. You’re outnumbered and overpowered by them.

but then he sees otherworldly magic light up the skies and decides maybe it’s a good time to visit the House of Lamentations.

Part 2

[oneisallallisone]

All I Know, All I Know Greedling x Reader fic Chapter 1

In a land ruled by alchemy, there are some who would call you a sorcerer. You intend to understand what this means. Along your journey you end up getting mixed up with two strange brothers, a military conspiracy, a potentially world-ending event, and the avarice of something more than human.

I wanted to see more Greedling x reader stories in the tag. This one’s going to be a SLOW burn, but we’ll get there. I have plans. 

Read on AO3

_______________________________________________________________________

All I Know, All I Know

Chapter 1: Koldun

There are ancient legends: tales that tell of a city disappearing within a single night, stones that hold the power of god, of immortality itself, just to name a few. Myths such as these have been passed down through generations by word of mouth, pen to paper, and are woven into the fabric of everything that fascinates humankind. 

There is no name for the legend that you are, however. 

Alchemy is the science of understanding, reconstructing, and deconstructing matter. Alkahestry is the art of reading the Dragon’s Pulse, of sensing the flow of energy within yourself and the world around you, and then manipulating it. Both rely on a give and a take. A desire, an exchange, and a result. But you, with your will and your breath and the force that plays at your fingertips, are something else entirely. 

No, there is no name in Amestris for you. But there is an ancient Drachman word for what you might be. A word so old and feared that it is uttered in barely a whisper. “Koldun,” they call you. “Sorcerer.” It is the only word that seems to fit what you are, and the way it is spoken is just as cold as the air that bites your ears and the tip of your nose. Drachman winters are harsh. The resentment of Drachman people who don’t understand your nature is harsher.

But enough about the cold. Now you found yourself in the warmer weather of the south, regretting the bearskin cloak you have draped around your shoulders. It might not be fit for a sunny day in Central City, but its weight provides a calming sense of familiarity. A small piece of home that was actually yours to keep. 

The journey to Amestris hadn’t been hard, but it had been long. The mountain pass was no longer safe to use, as both Drachman and Amestrian soldiers were posted nearby at all hours of the day. The peace was holding out, for now, although it seemed like things could take a turn for the worse at any moment. So instead of taking the mountain pass, you traveled the road through the forest with a group of merchants who were on their way to Aerugo. They needed to pass through Amestris first. You’d parted ways with them in Central, and they wished you luck despite not knowing the full details of your mission.

How could you have told them, though? They would have left you for dead with nothing but the snow as a blanket for your final rest had you told them what you were. Koldun. The word still didn’t feel right in your mind, but it was the only lead you had to cling to.

So there you were, walking through the streets of Central in your too-hot bearskin cloak and worn leather boots, trying to find the greatest wellspring of information the West had to offer in order to gain some insight into the nature of your existence.

Only when you got to the First Branch of the National Central Library, you found a pile of rubble instead.

“What?” you gasped, barely audible. “No, no!”

You ran up what was left of the charred stairs and into the wreckage. 

All around you were mountains of debris and ash. Wooden shelves reduced to nothing, charred husks of books no longer readable and scattered about. You stumbled around every turn, through every crumbling passage that looked once like it might have been a hallway, searching the skeleton of each room for anything that might look like a single page intact, but there was nothing. It was a ruin. You sank to your knees. 

“Dammit!”

An involuntary surge of your power shook the room with your cry—violet waves that knocked loose a few pieces of stone that had not yet fallen. You buried your head in your hands and willed yourself not to sob. There had to be another place to find answers about your abilities. There had to be. You couldn’t have come all this way for nothing. 

You were muttering this softly to yourself when another voice interrupted you. 

“Um, hello?” 

You turned sharply to an unexpected sight. A boy with blonde hair and a long red jacket, and…a massive armored fellow? The voice from before, coming from the blonde boy, spoke again. “Are you alright?” 

You quickly rubbed your dampening eyes. “Yes. Yes, I’m just fine.” 

“We heard a crash,” the armored fellow said in a voice that sounded far more childish than you expected. “Are you sure you’re not injured?”

“Yeah, yeah I was just…throwing some things around. I’m fine. Just frustrated.” 

“Did you happen to see who did this?” the blonde boy asked.

You shook your head. “No.” 

He narrowed his eyes a little then. “How do we know you didn’t do this?” 

“What?” you hissed. “Look, when I got here the place was already a wreck. I didn’t see who or what did this. I swear.” 

For a moment it looked as if the boy was going to continue interrogating you, but then his eyes softened. He dropped his shoulders. “Alright, Al.” He turned to the suit of armor. “I guess we’re going to have to figure something else out.” 

There was a clanking as the suit of armor, Al, hung his head. “I guess so.” 

“Wait,” you said just as the boys were turning to leave. “Do you know if there’s anywhere else in the city that would store knowledge similar to what was in this branch?” 

The blonde boy crossed his arms. “What kind of information are you looking for?” 

You hesitated for a moment. How were you supposed to explain your predicament to these strangers? “Well…I’m looking for any sort of historical records or myths of people with beyond-human abilities.” 

“So you mean like alchemists?”

“Honestly, not quite,” you said hesitantly. “But that wouldn’t be a bad place to start.”  

The blonde boy huffed. “Well believe me, when it comes to people with ‘beyond-human abilities,’ alchemists are the only thing you’re going to find. Alchemy isn’t anything supernatural, but it’s the closest thing humans will ever have to augmented abilities.” 

“You sound very sure of yourself.” 

“Yup. Anything else is just made up.” 

The corners of your mouth twitched. Was it pride? Was it spite? The only thing you knew is that you wanted to wipe this guy’s smug smirk right off his face, and you could already feel the power surging to your fingertips. 

You hadn’t even called upon it. It knew you. 

Raising your hand, you allowed your energy to manifest at your fingertips. Small flickers of purple danced across your skin as you curled and flexed your fingers. It was like passing a coin between your knuckles. 

The blonde boy’s mouth flew open, first in shock, then as if he was going to say something, and then settled into shock again. The armored fellow next to him startled. 

“Brother…” the metallic voice rang. 

“How…how are you doing that?” the blonde asked you. 

“They didn’t perform a transmutation or anything!” the armored boy said, partially to his brother but mostly to himself, it seemed.  

“I’ve never seen alchemy like that,” the blonde started, “Not even Teacher’s is like that. Seriously, how are you doing that?” 

“I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours,” you responded.

“What?” 

You pointed at the suit of armor. “What’s his story? I haven’t been in this country for long, but I know that citizens casually going around in full armor isn’t the standard.” 

The metal boy shifted uncomfortably. “Oh, I, well…uh…” 

A resolute look fell onto the blonde boy’s face. He placed a hand on the armored torso of his companion. “Al, it’s okay. We can think of this as just another equivalent exchange, information for information. And besides,” he lowered his voice, “Whatever their power is, it’s not something we’ve seen before. We’d be idiots not to learn more about it. Maybe they can help us.” 

You raised an eyebrow, but neither of the boys saw it. 

The armored fellow raised his head to catch your gaze again. “Please just don’t freak out.” He brought his hands up to his helmet and pulled. There was nothing underneath. 

At first you thought that the boy inside the armor must have been too short to stand within it. But then you took a few steps closer and realized there was no boy in the armor at all.

“Oh,” you said. “Well that’s not something you see every day.” 

“And neither are you,” the blonde said. “We told you ours, now you tell us yours.” 

You frowned. “Unfortunately there’s not much to tell. It’s why I came here, actually. I’m trying to learn more about the nature of my abilities, because they are definitely not…what you call alchemy.” 

“Well, where do you come from?” he asked. “Maybe it has a different name in your country?” 

You shook your head. “Alchemy exists in my country. It is something that is taught. I, however, was not taught any of this.” You lowered your gaze to the floor, preparing to say the words that you had only said to so few. “I am from Drachma. The only word they have for me is Koldun. It translates to sorcerer.” 

[oceanlix]

Sweetheart

Pairing: Yunho x female reader

Genre: Fluff

Word count: 1520

Maybe it was something about the faint moonlight shining down into the backyard, or the way Yunho looked so peaceful at that moment. But before you knew it, you had pulled out your phone and snapped a picture of your best friend, setting it as your lock screen.

So maybe your "little" crush was getting a bit out of control...it's not like Yunho would ever find out anyway.

"Y/N!"

You looked towards the direction that you thought your best friend's voice was coming from, raising an eyebrow. It was mostly unlike Yunho to be this loud, which must mean-

His large body flew to your side, bouncing you slightly off of the couch. Yep, he was definitely more than a little tipsy, judging by the way his eyes shined as he smiled at you. Or maybe that was just your big fat crush talking, who was to say for sure?

"What do you want?" you pretended to be annoyed, though you felt like a celebrity when he set down the drinks he was carrying and his arm slid around your shoulders.

"I missed your arms around me, so I came to cuddle," he whined, pulling you halfway into his lap so he could wrap his other arm around you as well. You heard your roommate snickering from the other couch, though you weren't sure she had any room to talk with Yeosang's arm around her own waist.

He rocked you from side to side in a tight embrace for a few moments, before he seemed to remember the second reason he'd come over and let go of you. "I also brought you a drink." He sounded so proud of himself as he grabbed the cup and held it out to you, cheeks flushed an adorable pink. Your heart melted even further as you took it from him. "It's a Moscow Mule, just how you like it."

You quickly took a few sips to hide your heart eyes, thanking everything that Yunho was an easily distracted drunk. He'd already started looking around the room for Mingi, wondering where his "brother" was currently at. You shot your roommate a glare, who was still giggling at you, and set the cup down again.

"Come on, I think we should get out of the crowd," you urged, tugging on Yunho's sleeve. His eyes found yours again, though they were a little unfocused. "Let's go out on the back porch."

He didn't argue, just stood up and followed you through the living room, then the kitchen. When you stepped outside, the cool night air felt extremely refreshing on your overheated skin. You looked up at Yunho and saw that he seemed more relaxed as well, his eyes slipping closed as he leaned against the porch railing.

Maybe it was something about the faint moonlight shining down into the backyard, or the way Yunho looked so peaceful at that moment. But before you knew it, you had pulled out your phone and snapped a picture of your best friend, setting it as your lock screen.

So maybe your "little" crush was getting a bit out of control...it's not like Yunho would ever find out anyway.

----

“I brought matcha!”

You looked up from your marketing textbook, seeing Yunho approaching your table in the library.

“You are a lifesaver, Mr. Jeong,” you groaned, making grabby hands at the Starbucks cup he was holding. “Has anyone ever told you that before?”

“Maybe once or twice,” he replied, laughing. He sat down across from you, reaching into his own backpack to pull out his engineering textbook. You watched him out of the corner of your eye, taking sips of your drink and glancing down at your textbook every few seconds so as not to make it too obvious.

His hair looked extra fluffy today, you noted. It was cute how his nose scrunched up whenever he was concentrating particularly hard on the text. You didn’t even notice that you had propped your chin on your hand and were full-on staring until he looked up, his chocolate eyes meeting yours suddenly.

“Take a picture, it’ll last longer,” he teased, not an ounce of surprise evident as he winked at you playfully. Had he noticed you staring even before that point? Your heart thumped erratically in your chest and you rushed to take another sip of your drink, only to see that it was empty. Yunho was already looking back down at his textbook when you dared to peek at him again, but there was a smirk still on his lips.

Of course, your phone started to ring right at that moment. A quick glance at the screen told you that you needed to yell at your roommate later for interrupting your study time, but what you forgot to account for was the fact that your lock screen was still that photo you’d taken of Yunho at the party last week. It hadn’t even registered in your brain until Yunho let out a little gasp, drawing your attention.

“Am I your lock screen?” he asked, tilting his head adorably to the side. You immediately began to panic, pulling your phone off the desk and slamming your textbook closed.

“I forgot, I need to go meet Y/R/N right away! We can hang out later, text me!” You were haphazardly throwing your studying supplies into your backpack, desperate to get out of this situation as fast as humanly possible. It was embarrassing enough that his flirting had knocked you this far off your rocker, but now he’d seen the one thing you really couldn’t explain as something platonic. You had almost made a clean getaway when you felt his large hand wrap around your wrist, effectively stopping you from going anywhere as he anchored you to the table.

“Hey, hey,” he called softly, like you were a horse and he was afraid he was going to spook you. “Why are you rushing off?”

You sighed, wishing a hole would open up in the library floor that you could just fall through instead of having this conversation. “You weren’t...you weren’t supposed to see that.”

Yunho’s eyebrows knitted together in confusion for a moment, before realization hit. “Oh, the lock screen? Y/N, you don’t have to worry. I’m not freaked out or anything, I was just wondering when you took the picture because I don’t remember that!”

A wave of relief washed over you, so immediate that your knees buckled a little. Before you knew it, Yunho had stopped you from falling...by catching you in his lap.

“Whoa, are you feeling okay? You’re not usually this clumsy,” he laughed, pressing the back of his hand to your forehead. You looked away from his gaze, thoroughly embarrassed at how this entire conversation was going. This was not how you envisioned the day going, and it seemed to just be getting worse and worse the longer you stayed in his proximity.

“Y/N…” he trailed off, his hand coming up to cup your cheek. Gently, he tilted your head until you were looking right into his eyes. “I may be reading this entirely wrong, but...do you...like me?”

You could’ve passed for a cartoon with the way your eyes widened in that moment. Well...it’s not like you were great at hiding it. The longer you considered it, the more sense it made that he’d seen right through you. Even if boys were naturally unobservant about these things most of the time, you were always a little more obvious than you thought yourself to be. Or at least, that’s what your roommate was always telling you.

But now that the cat was out of the bag, you didn’t really know what to do other than open and close your mouth like a fish. Should you come clean and risk facing the awkward but gentle rejection you were sure Yunho would give you? Or should you try and flat out deny it? That didn’t seem like a viable option, as much as you wished it was. Yunho was unlikely to let you get away with that, as nice a guy as he was.

As you considered all of this, you suddenly remembered that you were still effectively sitting in his lap, his hand wrapped around your wrist and your faces extremely close together. There was no way you could get away with lying in this situation...you might as well face the music and whatever consequences were to follow.

“I...sorta like you. Well, not sorta, more like a lot. A whole lot...maybe way too much. Oh, but I’m not obsessed! It’s not weird, just a normal amount-”

You kept rambling, until you physically couldn’t anymore because Jeong Yunho’s lips were on yours. Your mind blanked out, eyes sliding closed as he softly and slowly kissed you over and over. As stupid as it sounded, everything else fell away in that moment, leaving only the two of you. His grip on your wrist was still gentle, but kept you anchored. When you finally parted for air, your eyes fluttered open to find him staring right back at you, cheeks flushed a light pink.

“Was that okay?” he asked, sounding incredibly nervous. You could only smile, finding his hand and interlocking your fingers with his.

“So, you might have guessed that I’ve had a big fat crush on you,” you started, laughing. “I don’t think I was very subtle.”

“Absolutely not,” Yunho giggled, leaning forward to kiss you again.

[spencerreidshortstories]

The Team Found Out About You

Description: The team finds out about the girl Spencer has been spending time with.  There is slight teasing from Morgan, but that’s the be expected, really.

Rating: Teen

Warnings: None really, just light-hearted teasing amongst friends.

Spencer's team didn't find out about her until he'd known her for three months. He was a pretty private person, and he hadn't planned on telling them yet, but the team had all made plans to go out on a Friday night after work since they didn't have a case. The thing was that he already had plans and since he never had plans, they all wanted to know what was going on.

What was going on was he was in the middle of Star Trek and he wasn't watching it alone.

"Pretty Boy has himself a girlfriend," Derek said, grinning, teasing like he always did. It didn't really bother Spencer anymore. He knew Derek would never tease him with a harmful intent behind it.

"No, I –"

"Oh, who is it?" Penelope broke in. "Do we know her?"

"No. We met at the library, and she's not my girlfriend. I haven't known her that long."

"But you've invited her into your apartment?"

"Well, yes, to watch Star Trek."

Spencer knew what they were talking about, though. He had a thing with his personal space. He didn't let just anybody into it. For him to let her in his apartment meant that he felt some kind of attachment to her.

He regretted telling them her name, though, because Garcia literally pulled up her personal history and a background check, which Spencer was not okay with even if he was curious. He could just ask her and she wouldn't mind telling him. She was an open book.

"You sure you don't want to know?"

Derek and Spencer had followed Garcia to her tech room and she'd gotten done in less than five minutes. There obviously hadn't been much to find, which was good. That meant there weren't any skeletons in the closet.

"As long as there's nothing bad, I don't need to know."

"Well, there's no criminal record. Not even a speeding ticket."

"She's a very safe driver."

"You've let her drive you around?"

"Sometimes . . ."

He began to fidget. This was why he didn't let people in on his business. They always had questions and they wouldn't leave him alone about it. It really wasn't a big deal. Okay, it kind of was, but still . . .

"What's she like?" Derek asked.

"She's . . . I don't know – our first conversation was about books. She was having trouble reaching a book on the top shelf because she wasn't tall enough, so I got it for her, and she had a basket of books she was checking out and – "

"A whole basket?"

"She likes to read," he said and shrugged. "We talked for a while and we went out for coffee that weekend. She didn't treat me like a freak when she found out how many I have or how many Bachelor Degrees I have."

Neither Derek nor Garcia said anything about the freak thing, because some people did have an adverse reaction when they found out how smart Reid was.

"Does she know what you do?"

"Yeah. We – we try to hang out when I have time off. Or when she does. She stays pretty busy. She has two jobs."

"She runs a youth center and works at a Jr. High as a guidance counselor," Garcia supplied for Derek.

"She calls it her baby," Spencer said. "Anyway, we just – we just get along. We can talk about anything and she doesn't mind when I don't know when to stop talking, so that works, and she's smart –"

"She was one of the highest scorers for her college entrance exam. Top five percent," Garcia said, looking at one of the computer screens. "She took five, sometimes six, classes at a time, and still kept an A average in most of her classes."

Okay, so Spencer hadn't known that part, but he didn't need to know every little detail of her life. They were just friends.

"That's – stop. I'm good not knowing. I didn't need to know that to know she's intelligent. She can keep up with my train of thought, so –"

"That's a miracle right there, Boy Genius."

Spencer grinned and shook his head. "It's great. She's letting me explain the science behind Star Trek as we watch it."

"That's – that's commitment right there. When can we meet her? Why don't you invite her out tonight?"

"How about I don't? I don't know how she'd feel about me just springing this on her last minute." Then, "I'll ask her how she feels about it and maybe we can do it next time. Just . . . don't embarrass her."

"Is she easily embarrassed?" Garcia asked. And then, "You know, I can't find this girl on social media at all. What's up with that? There's her professional email for the school and that's it."

Spencer remembered she'd told him one time that she hated technology. She could type on the computer and that was about as far as her knowledge went. The kids at the youth center had had to show her the different apps on her phone and how they worked.

"She's not great with technology."

Garcia seemed offended, and Spencer shrugged. He wasn't great with technology either.

"To answer your question . . . she's not easily embarrassed, exactly, but she does blush a lot." When Derek's eyebrows shot up Spencer was quick to say, "Shut up, and you're not allowed to tease her if she decides she wants to meet you guys."

"We would never make her uncomfortable, Reid," Derek said, serious now.

"I know that, but you tease people. It's part of who you are. Just . . . wait for her to get to know you first, so she knows you don't mean anything by it. It's how you show affection."

As if Derek had to prove Spencer was right, he said, "Have you kissed her yet?"

"What? No!" And then, "She's not my girlfriend!"

He decided now was the time to leave. He felt like he was in a bad teen movie – not that he'd seen many of those – and he was confused as to why he hadn't extricated himself from the tech cave sooner.

As he was walking back to his desk, he wondered how long it would take for the rest of the team to find out about her. There was no way Morgan and Garcia were going to keep their mouths shut about it.

As it turned out, Garcia was the one to spill the beans and everyone knew by the time they went out that night. None of the others made as much of a fuss about it and Spencer was grateful. They all seemed interested in meeting her though.

When he asked why, Derek said, "Because she's gotta be special if she caught your interest, Pretty Boy."

"Yeah, we have to meet her now," JJ said. "From what you've said, she sounds amazing."

He didn't say it, but he did think she was amazing. She was kind and bright, and had nothing to do with his job. She brought him a kind of peace that he hadn't known for a long time, since before he'd started working.

He loved his job and he couldn't imagine doing anything else, but that didn't mean the cases didn't bother him or stay with him, sometimes keep him up at night or bring him nightmares when he did sleep. He didn't have to think about murder or rape or kidnapping when he was with her because she wasn't part of the team. She was something far from them, set apart from his job. That was one of the reasons he hadn't thought to introduce her to his friends. He didn't want to mar his friendship with her by maybe bringing that part into it.

He would, however, ask how she felt about meeting his team members. He had said he would, and he didn't like lying. He hoped it didn't change anything between them. He still wanted her as his TV show buddy. As she had said when they'd had coffee, it wasn't fun binging a show on your own.

[daydreamreality]

Thinking about actor availability, and how that affects my perception of Jess and how strongly I feel about shipping Literati.

Really thought this would only be a few paragraphs going over the points where Jess could have disappeared never to be seen again, but it turned into a freaking essay so LONG POST warning if you decide to click ahead. 

If the last we saw of Jess was hanging up the phone in the season 3 finale: "Well, it was fun ride while it lasted. That's about how I thought this would end." Still have a lot empathy for this kid and wish him well, but you screwed with Rory's heart like I knew would happen. Was that intentional? No. But he was so immature, out of control with his emotions, zero communication skills, not trusting in others...the list of reasons why he wasn't ready for a serious relationship, even if the feelings were serious, goes on. There was no way Rory wasn't going to end up as collateral damage in his personal breakdown that I could feel was going to happen. And this is the thought I had as a teenager with no dating experience watching this show for the first time. Did I want to date him? Hell no! I could see that trainwreck from a mile away. Rory was naïve to put her heart in his trust but that's part of her good qualities - she's sees the best in people and champions for them. I could go on a tangent about why exactly Jess was such an important character to me when I first watched the show (and probably why he stuck around unconsciously until I decided on a whim to rewatch GG in lockdown) but...I don't know, maybe some other time.

In the context of the entire show, I would look back at the relationship as my favorite one to watch of Rory's in the series (The build-up! The connection! Their deep belief in and respect for each other! The angst!) and Jess being a really fun character to root for (and yell at) but endgame? It was a short lived but important relationship. It’s fun to think about what ifs and how circumstances could have changed to make it work, but we can move on.

The ill-fated spin-off: I have no idea what this show would have been about except focusing on Jess and Jimmy and I’m not about to theorize. I still like Jess at this point so it would probably make me like him more since we’re getting a deeper dive into his character, but in regard to shipping him with Rory, this opinion would not change unless he all of sudden showed some great maturity. But I doubt this show would have even gotten a whole season so that probably wouldn’t happen. And then he’s living in California…this is too much, moving on.

If the last we see of Jess is in season 4: About the same feeling as above. Life, as expected, has not been treating Jess well. At all. His jadedness and hostility is at an all-time high when he shows up to get his car. Do I see the reasons informing his behavior and have empathy (once again, for a KID)? Yes, but he's also being a jerk. "The years don't seem to have hardened you." Well this year sure has!

I love the "I love you" scene but too little too late, buddy. That's probably why I love it, it's all a bit hopeless. Just keep shoveling the angst at me. I do like fics where this scene is reimagined with Rory running after him to give him a piece of her mind or Jess finding some other words to say (I really feel like he had more to say there but got overwhelmed), and coming to a tentative reconciliation: exchanging numbers, "don't fall off the face of the earth," but getting back together? No. You hurt her and you're feeling the consequences. Rory is not obligated or responsible to reciprocate those feelings, nor is she in a place to do that right now. 

But season 4 does cement that Luke and Jess's relationship is one of my favorites in the entire show. There's probably a whole other post in me regarding that so I'll keep it brief. Because of his respect for Luke, Jess makes tentative steps towards maturing in interpersonal relationships. He shows some vulnerability and honesty with a veil of sarcasm and awkwardness because, well, it's JESS.

But then of course this all goes to hell when applied to Rory. Sometimes I like to think how this dorm scene would have gone down if Rory stepped back for a second and went, "Hold on. You're not making any sense, chill out," and they could have talked a bit and had a similar reconciliation like I said above because I really think that’s all he was going for - to talk to her, apologize, and make an attempt at reciprocation like he did with Luke. But getting back together here? Canonically, he hasn't made enough progress. He set aside his personal feelings to be in his mother's wedding and used the knowledge from the self-help book to apologize to Luke, but I don't think the book's message has sunk in all the way yet and he’s still got a massive chip on his shoulder preventing him from making a good life for himself. Getting rejected by Rory here is an important moment and I really like it. It's fun to think about the AU if Rory had said yes (hello road trip!), but it's very in-character for her to not be able to handle Jess's crisis and just shouting "NO, make it stop." This is one of my proudest of Rory moments: Protect your heart girl, he ain't ready. The seeds have been planted that Jess will continue to grow and I wish him well on his journey. Endgame material? Nah. Goodbye forever, take care my friend...

Even though this scene doesn't feel like closure at all, I really thought this was the end of Jess Mariano. So imagine my surprise when -

SEASON 6: HE'S BACK. Coming out of the shadows, [literally] it's Jess Marianoooo *air horns* *confetti* *jazz hands* *Jess rolls his eyes at the fanfare*

Alright, that's out of my system. But for real that's what my mind did at this point. For context, the way I watched this show for the first time was getting the DVDs from the library while a couple of seasons were still on the air; when a new season was available to borrow, I would rewatch all the seasons up to the current point so my memories and favorite parts of the show are seasons 1-4. Because I was not bingeing the show all the way through, seeing Jess here seemingly so different didn’t feel out of place. A shock, yes! A happy surprise. But nothing about him seemed OOC. A year had gone by, we’d seen some signs of maturity in him, and getting rejected by Rory was a big kick in the ass for him to start making bigger changes in his life. I really cannot emphasize how satisfying and sensical his positive character development felt to me. 

The slight maturity we see in season 4 in its full potential. Jess is still Jess: guarded, self-deprecating, and a bit prickly but he shows a sense of calm and feeling more comfortable in his skin. This is really satisfying to see as someone who always "knew" there was a kind and capable heart underneath the exterior just like Rory did, and that tough guy, must protect myself at all costs posturing has melted away. But that side of him isn't gone, it's not like the writing did a complete 180 on his character. I love this. He's just...more at peace with himself but he's not a different person, and he's found something to direct his focus and intellect on. He's made his peace with Luke, and now he has something of worth to show Rory to try to mend that hurt as well.

Yes, it would have been nice to see how and why he decided to write a book and work in publishing but this course of events is not out of left field, nor is Jess enough of a main character at this point for scenes like this to be necessary to the show unless they were tied to Luke and showing another side of him. Jess has shown in the past that he has a good work ethic if he feels it is worth it. The problem wasn't him being lazy, just poor decision making and focusing on RIGHT NOW, "I need to get out of Stars Hollow and live my life," and not considering the consequences of his actions. Which as an immature kid whose life had told him he can only depend on himself...not out of the ordinary. The dude’s life passion is literature and has probably read every book he can get his hands on, it’s not crazy that he had his own story in him. 

Here is where Literati becomes endgame material for me. Prior to the revival it was always my feeling that post-series they would reconnect while Rory was on the campaign or afterwards. It would be low drama (except for Lorelai criticism), slowly gaining trust in each other again, and eventually starting a committed relationship within a year or two of being friends with sexual tension (lol). They made their adolescent mistakes, hurt each other, but learned from it and started over on infinitely better footing.

The match just makes sense to me at this point for many reasons; I don't feel like I need to list them all out because you can go to any pro-Literati post and I'll probably agree with the majority of the points. The biggest issue they had was timing: “Right heart, wrong time.” I like especially how they even out each other's more extreme personality traits. For example, Rory learning from Jess to consider her own feelings instead of sacrificing herself for others, and Jess considering others before himself all the time. Or professionally, I can see Jess encouraging her to step away from her ultra-organized, “everything has to be just so” ways when it benefits her to seize an opportunity right now, don’t worry about the details, you got this. Maybe Jess has another book in him, but his self-deprecation and disorganization prevent him from getting it done but Rory helps him be more objective and focused. There’s this…synergistic energy I feel with the two of them: they’re great by themselves, but form something better together.

Judging from Rory's reactions towards him in this season, I don't think it's OOC for her to have romantic feelings for him again. She's extremely proud of his accomplishments and not unhappy to see him (not holding a grudge). They fall back into their comfortable dynamic even if it makes them both a bit nervous. Now some could argue that this means that Rory only wants to be friends with him but...when have Jess and Rory ever been just friends? If "Another Year in the Life" comes out (I've got serious doubts but would love to be proved wrong) and Rory rejects him or he's not even a part of it, fine! But I just don't see anything in canon that says explicitly she'll never feel romantic towards him again.

Now the kiss...there's a lot of ways to read that scene. Do I think Jess was in the right to assume "everything is fixed" as a go ahead? No. But that's part of why he is such an engaging character: he's impulsive and acts in accordance to his feelings, and yes, this gets himself and others in trouble. 

Do I think Rory purposefully went to the open house to "use" Jess to get back at Logan? No. I think she genuinely wanted to support him, and Logan being out of town meant she wouldn't have to explain why it was important for her to go. I see the kiss paralleling the one in 2x22 but instead of Rory not being able to hold her feelings in any longer, Jess initiates. The way I see it is she was unaware she still had lingering feelings towards him (not out of nowhere, I mean their relationship has "unfinished business" written all over it) and that scared the crap out of her, just like at the end of season 2. So she runs away to the "safe space" that is being with Logan. Because she's in love with Logan, she has a sense of obligation towards him, and Rory has shown many times that she does not react well to change and highly emotional situations.

Is this scene a deal breaker for a future relationship between them? I don't think so. Jess says that he isn't sorry she came, which I take as "I'll never be sorry to see you no matter the context." Yes, this hurt him and made him pretty mad, but I don't think he's holding a grudge against her for this; even in the moment he's more concerned that someone cheated on her and her safety getting to her car. He sets a boundary that he doesn't deserve his feelings to be pushed around like this and Rory agrees. Not that I condone this sort of tit-for-tat hurting of each other (which I don't think Rory was going for in the first place) but it's almost like...that cycle is now broken. The whole scene is so open ended, it doesn't feel like a "good bye forever" to Jess.

"But Rory is so in love with Logan!" I don't know about you, but that "I'm in love with him despite all the bad he's done..." sounds so defeated and sad. It's almost like she's resigned herself to being in love with Logan. The first time I watched this, I thought this was foreshadowing that the relationship was on its last legs. To keep them together, Logan almost dies so Rory will bury her hurt out of guilt for holding a grudge against him. She is completely entitled to feeling hurt by Logan's actions, and I hate that she feels like she has to do this. But it happened, moving on.

"But Rory is a cheater!" When I think about Rory's characteristics, "cheater" doesn't make the list. She feels entitled to the men that she's loved and this isn’t super great behavior, but I don't view her as inherently unfaithful or okay with cheating. I give her leeway on the season 2 Jess kiss because she was a teenager with a lot of conflicting emotions and everything around her was pushing her to stay with Dean. The season 4 Dean debacle...she was still very young and naïve. I put most of the blame on Dean for manipulating her; I say most because if Rory really wanted to be with him, she should have been more sure of the status of his marriage, but I repeat: he manipulated her and she was very young and naïve. I dare to say she has been conditioned to view Dean as nothing but safe and trustworthy so why wouldn't she believe him... Season 4 was all about her being out of sorts when away from the Stars Hollow bubble and trying to reclaim some normalcy. Narratively, I see why this makes sense and I don't think the intention was to say “Rory is okay with cheating,” but to show very explicitly that Rory isn't perfect. This show goes to extremes, at this point I kind of just accept it and don't jump to "this person/character is terrible!" Certain characteristics and behaviors I have less patience for (mild) or will make me lose all respect for a character (extreme - honestly very few GG characters fall into this category for me); you may feel differently and that's fine. When other plot points in this series are much more bizarre and OOC, while this turn of events makes me uncomfortable and angry, at least it makes sense to me.

The 6x18 kiss I've already said that I don't think Rory had premeditated intent to cheat on Logan judging from the fact that Jess initiated it; yes, she went with it nor was it a complete surprise, I get this. The "I couldn't even cheat on him..." line I think is an outburst of guilt and regret, not her saying she had a plan in mind. Maybe I'm being too soft on her, I don't know...she did stay there late but maybe she just got lost in the book while waiting to say bye. We've seen her not know how to deal with conflicting emotions and change to her status quo, and attempt to distract herself when life isn't panning out the way she wants and not think about the consequences in the moment, so I don't find this scene OOC or intentionally cruel. The revival...I don’t think I can even go there right now because it would just be me screaming incoherently about how much I hate "full circle" and how bizarre the entire thing was. Maybe something of value would eventually come out with a lot of editing. XD

This isn’t to say I’m 100% on Rory’s side all the time. Pretty much every character in this show has at some point made me smile, made me laugh (generally with them, but some characters it’s more like at), made me want to give them a hug, made me roll my eyes, and made me want to throw something at them. That’s why I love it so much! Even if the drama is turned up to 1000, I still get the sense that these characters are human. My favs end up on my “will protect at all costs” and “shit” lists throughout the series, no one is immune. Except Lane. She really is the best person in this entire show. #JusticeForLaneKim

If ASP had written season 7: (Remember there being some sort of theme to this post? Only two episodes in s6, but Jess sure does make an impact.) I bet Jess would show up at some point. MV is loyal to the creators and not the show, if it was important for Jess to be there I’m sure his shooting schedule would have been accounted for. Storyline would have been similar to the revival because AYITL is ASPs season she didn’t get to do without considering how time passing affects the characters (I’M STILL SALTY) except Rory is at Yale and I think the book was a new idea. Shipping as endgame doesn’t change, and I bet there wouldn’t be a nice little Literati ending because we’ve got to end it the same way, right? I don't even need them to be together at the end because Rory has greater plans to focus on, but just a moment! One moment is all I asked for... I don’t know if this makes me mad because I felt like the narrative had been pushing us along this path for so long even if actual "endgame" was going to be offscreen or if I kind of like just having it in my imagination. Little bit of column A, little bit of column B. In any case, it could have been cool to see Jess present for the birth of his half-sister and giving Luke some support. 

Like I said, I'm not touching AYITL right now. The whole starting point of this was, "huh, if MV never came back to the show, how would I feel about Jess and Literati?" And he was in it so it doesn't really fit into this even though we've gone on a meandering journey as pieces of discourse that have never sat right with me but didn't quite know how to express that disagreement until now popped in my mind. So there you go. If you’ve made it to end, claps to you, what a champ.

At the end of the day, Literati is the ship that makes me feel the most things, it's kind of just a gut thing. This really isn't any sort of argument just an outpouring of love for the show and these characters. I don't know how well that's communicated, but hey, I try. I’ve got a lot of nostalgia for the pairing and I always viewed Jess as being Rory’s, and only Rory’s, choice.

[bitchapalooza]

More hetalia highschool AU, 🌟magic team🌟 edition :)

Under the cut bc it is long ❤️

Vladimir is that one kid obsessed with Twilight but only for the vampires; it was his first ever exposure to vampires thanks to his dad thinking Twilight was an appropriate book for a 11 year old. Team Edward going strong for five years, he'd proudly declare like it actually mattered. He tries his best to dress goth at school even though his uniform gets in the way. Fake ear piercings(his parents won't let him pierce them yet), over the top makeup, he's dyed the top half of his shoes black because his parents were concerned about his obsession with black and wouldn't buy him the black tennies he wanted— "mom look, these are marked down for back to school! Can I pleeeease get them???" "....may I know why the black ones specifically?" "They match the ever nothingness of my soul." "Yep! The white ones it is then!" "Mooooooooooom!"— Vladimir has been dubbed the cringy vampire kid of course.

Lukas is into pretty much anything concerning cryptids and magical creatures because they can't be proven to be fake or real, which intrigues him. He carries a book about mushrooms at all times and info dumps on pretty much anyone about identifying poisonous mushrooms and which mushrooms are safe to eat. His backpack is covered in buttons and pins to show off his interests. He keeps an amethyst in the front pocket of his backpack, reason unknown other than to just randomly pull it out and let Mikkel look at it. He's that kid that always wears his hoodie no matter the season, he never takes it off. Under his hoodie is always a crude worded t-shirt that the school would not approve of, much less his parents. He's relatively quiet and because he's quiet he's considered a weird kid.

Arthur can't decide if punk is his style or if goth is. Either way, his way of self expression at school in addition to the uniform is horrible. Checkered black/red shoes his grandma got him with his older brother's hand me down worn out greying socks—"can I PLEASE just have my own clothes???" "we have perfectly good clothes for you in the garage! I can fix them up to fit you better and everything!" "but I want cool NEW clothes!" "those are cool clothes and as far as the other kids know, they're also new. Now get your transformer backpack and get to the car. I put a new patch on it last night so that should hold it for the rest of the year."— Old Pierce the veil shirt, with holes chewed into the collar from his older brother Dillan, peeking out from under his white polo. A black and red choker to match his black and red slowly tearing apart too big flannel on top of a black pull over. A deep blue beanie, the hoodie of his pull over almost constantly on top when outside the school. He dyes a part of his hair a different color every month. He spikes his hair using too much gel and is convinced he looks good. He talks too much about bands and always gets Vlad and Lukas going on and on about fictional creatures he does not FULLY believe in himself. He does, however, believe in magic and loves Harry Potter, more specifically the Weaselys, to bits.

Natalya is a sophomore, a year behind the boys, and she just kinda pushed her way into the friend group until they eventually accepted her into it. They were the only three she knew who liked occult related topics. She's on the baseball team because she wanted an excuse to hit things with another thing and NOT get detention because of it. She wears the khaki uniform skirt and takes full advantage over being able to wear any kind of tights underneath; skull pattern, plain black, blood splatter pattern, fire pattern. Anything that makes her feel like a badass. She's always talking about antiques and forging weapons, more specifically knives. She has a whole collection of fidget toys but her favorite is this pea pod keychain her father gave her. She's always talking about how she'd like to be a medical examiner and to just prove that she's serious, she'll bring up a picture of a human model and point out the difference between a self inflicted fatal wound and a homicide. She puts up a charade of being able to see and talk to ghosts to freak out Alfred, her extended friend first met through Tolys.

They collectively believe they're cool and that other people know this. They're genuinely blind to the obvious snickers sent their way, being called losers and nerds. They're really knowm for like really pathetic things like; Natalya is Ivan's, tallest and most intimidating member of the wrestling team, weird younger sister by a year. Lukas is just the weird quiet kid that reads by the courtyard garden during lunch. Vladimir is not only the vampire goth kid but the kid who's parents believe the teachers are giving his son low grades on purpose and will yell at them for it. And Arthur is just. He's another Kirkland, immediately assumed to be a massive trouble maker because of his now graduated brother Alistair and one grade above him brother Dillan. Everyone loved his eldest brother Darick and sometimes compare him to Darick.

Compared to what others THINK they do, such as witch craft for some odd reason, the four of them do pretty typical teen activities. Like hang out at the mall. Do their honework together. Play video games and D&D when they have the chance. The boys do have sleepovers still as they have since meeting each other in middle school, Nat not really being a fan of sleeping where she doesn't live but comfortable enough to go to their houses and just chill for the day. They have become friends because of their related interests but thats not what they're ALL ABOUT.

Fun facts/stories about these losers I thought about while bored as fuck:

• Lukas, in his freshman year, went on a nature hike field trip with his lit class after reading Into The Wild. And he brought his mushroom book of course. They walked around, looking at the sights, talked about the book. Lukas just stops at one point, falling behind the class. He picks up a mushroom, goes to the teacher and is like "You see this? Its not poisonous." And straight up fucking eats it without warning. The teacher called an ambulance even though Lukas kept telling him he was fine and that that mushroom was 100% okay to eat raw, but for sure better off cooked. Lukas calmly shows the paramedics his book and they're like "yeah that actually was safe to eat, we don't need the book to confirm that, but um. Please don't ever pick something off the ground and eat it again. Just. Please don't do that, son." .....he did it again before leaving to go back to school but this time he didn't tell anyone.

• In elementary school, Natalya brought in a model of the human brain she asked her dad to borrow. He had to say yes because she was his only child genuinely interested, not bored of, his medical profession and he found it very cute and honoring. So she's at show and tell, its her turn right, and she silently goes up to the front of the class and pulls out the model brain. Teacher tries to step in because, hey, these are 6 year olds—AND WHY DOES THIS 6 YEAR OLD HAVE A PLASTIC BRAIN??? But Nat just shooshes her. In surprised shock, the teacher is just quiet as Nat begins to explain parts of the brain and their function— which was all wrong actually. She knew the words and everything but she didn't get the locations right. She sounded confident and smart and she was telling this to a bunch of 6 year olds so they believed her of course. End of the school day, her dad is having a hilarious conference with his youngest's teacher about the brain incident.

• Vladimir loves reading. He's loved it since he began to learn how, even if his dyslexia gives him grief along the way. So since he loves to read he'll always get excited and read ahead in class or in the public library reading club. One summer, the reading club was reading The Giver and it was getting really good. Vlad was loving the story, so much so that Vlad began to read ahead in his own time when he really wasn't supposed to be, the club was reading it together out loud and discussing it. Now he's read enough and worked hard enough to figure out how to help himself focus better and understand each word and sentence without having to reread it all multiple times over or get stuck. But sometimes the meaning and context to what he's reading doesn't ALWAYS process with the words as he's too focused on reading the words right and it passes right over his head. So Vlad is reading ahead and he's getting to the part where The Giver has given Jonas the memory of the sled again. And Vlad just sits there after reading that paragraph. He rereads it. And rereads it again. And then he leaves his book on his bed, goes to the the hall closet and takes out the ironing board. He grabs a plastic container to use as an ill attempt of a helmet and he just. Rockets down the staircase and hits the wall. He screams and cries and his parents rush in from the livingroom. When asked what happened he just says "I wanted to understand the sled scene better! Now I do and I feel really bad for Jonas!" He just couldn't quite grasp WHY the sled accident hurt, never had a broken bone nor sled afterall, and needed to find out. And that's how Vlad got his first broken arm at the age of 12.

• When Alfred and Matthew moved in with Arthur's family, Arthur didn't like it. He was a moody young teen but he was also just tired of the full house. His cousins were loud and nosey. He had to share a room with his four older brothers already and now with Matthew while Kathleen and Alfred got a room to themselves. Arthur thought this was so unfair. So his solution was to run away. He was 13, he needed a place to have some peace and quiet for once. So he texts Francis and Lukas, the only two of his friends living in his neighnorhood. Francis is not on board with helping him run away at first but then Lukas brings literally all his camping gear for Arthur's use and then Francis is on board because he had the feeling Arthur was going to get himself killed somehow. So as the elder one of the group he accompanied Arthur and Lukas out to the short stretch of woods behind the last street of their neighborhood, intending to go to the big clearing before hitting the roads leading to the airport and whatever else buildings. They're out there setting everything up together and they're done by like 4 pm. They sit down and talk, munch on oreos and other snacks Arthur deemed as essential survival foods. Then Francis looks at his cell and remarks "wow its already 6! Ah, Lukas, we should get home. Afterall, neither of us ran away so we still have supper to eat. Come on Lukas, let's go before our parents come looking for us." They exchange goodbyes, Francis trying his best to hide his cocky smirk. So Lukas and Francis start walking off, Arthur crawls into the tent and eats half a cookie before frowning and feeling too alone. He didn't expect to feel alone because all he wanted was to BE ALONE. Before he knows it, he's running out of the tent yelling after his friends to stop and wait up. "Oh whats wrong, Arthur? I thought you wanted to run away." "I— I forgot I hadn't fed my rabbit is all! I'll run away tomorrow! I'm not... Feeling lonely if.. If that's what you think...." Arthur did not run away the next day. Buuuuuut the three plus Vlad made a tree house together in the Kirkland backyard that they still use today!

[nickelkeep]

Text Me in the Morning

Pairing: Dean/Cas Rating: Teen and Up Word Count: 2.7K Warnings: none! Written For: Storytime! On Ao3

Dean stirred under the blanket. Something was wrong. He reached out to the other side of the bed, grumbling as he found it lacking a person. He reluctantly opened his eyes and looked at the empty spot. "Cas?" Dean lifted his head and looked around the room, slowly sitting up to get a better look at his bedroom. "Sunshine?"

He rubbed at his eyes, letting them readjust. He looked down at Cas' side of the bed and found a note lying on his pillow.

Dean- I'm needed in Heaven. I shouldn't be more than a day or two. I'll see you soon. -Cas

Dean frowned. He had hoped for the sake of whatever angel summoned Cas, that the issue was crucial. It had been weeks since Cas and Dean had started sharing a bed. That had moved to sharing soft touches. And one fateful night after a bad nightmare, the dam between them had finally broken.

Now that he had finally gotten used to it, waking up without Cas next to him felt almost like the bad dream that brought them together.

Dean climbed out of bed and grabbed his robe. If it was going to be a miserable morning, the least he could do was get his coffee fix and try and make the best of it.

Sam was standing at the counter as he entered the kitchen, throwing impossibly green things into the blender. He stopped when Dean started the coffee machine and looked over, a smirk on his face. "Morning, Dean."

"Nothing good about waking up ass-crack of dawn early. You're a freak of nature." Dean watched the wince on Sam's face. "Sorry. Just need my caffeine."

"And it has nothing to do with Cas leaving this morning?" Sam turned on the blender to keep Dean from answering. He pulsed it several times, stopping long enough for Dean to start to answer before turning it back on again. "Sorry about that. Just needed to make sure this is all mixed." He grabbed a cup and poured the puke green mixture into it before taking a sip. "So, Cas left this morning?"

"Why are you asking questions you already know the answer to, Bitch?" The coffee finished percolating, and Dean poured himself a mug. "Something about angel business."

Sam chugged some of his drink. "Interesting. And how would you know that, Jerk? Cause you were still asleep when he left. He walked out with me when I went on my run."

"Your point?"

"We ran into each other as he exited your room." Sam smiled smugly into his cup.

"He left a note on my bed," Dean responded quickly.

"You're so full of shit. Cas left in a pair of your pajama bottoms." Sam set the cup down and poured the rest of the blender's contents into it. "It's also not the first morning I saw him snuck out. I'm sure it's not going to be the last time, is it?"

Dean glared at Sam. "Get to your point."

"So you and Cas... Are you together?" Sam grabbed one of his cardboard granola bars before crossing to the table and sitting down. "No judgment if you are."

"Uh... It's complicated." Dean scratched the back of his neck. "I uh, had a really bad nightmare. He overheard it and woke my ass up." Dean watched Sam carefully. "He offered to keep an eye me, to help me fall back to sleep.” He looked away, hoping that he wasn’t blushing. “It was the best I ever slept. Cas noticed and offered to spend more nights with me. He figured I’d be in better condition that way."

Sam sat at the table quietly, waiting for Dean to continue.

"It moved on from there. Now we occasionally blow off some steam." Dean took a moment to watch several expressions run across his brother’s face. Excitement. Joy. Confusion. And now Classic Bitch Face #127. "What?"

"Just blowing off steam?" Sam glared at Dean. "So, you haven't been honest with him, or you haven't been honest with yourself?"

"Excuse me?" Dean set his mug on the table and crossed his arms, staring at Sam.

"It means that you're in love with Cas, and won't admit. Figures my brother is a coward."

Dean jabbed his finger in Sam's direction. "You... You don't know what you're talking about." He turned and started to storm off, stopping only to backtrack and grab his coffee, before retreating to his room.

...

Sam sat quietly in the peace of the library. Between texting with Eileen, researching a possible hunt, and maybe playing an occasional game on his phone, the morning’s events ended up pushed to the back of his mind. As he finished sending off a response to Eileen, Dean came barging into the library.

"Sam. Did you say something?" Dean slammed his hands on the table in front of him. "What the hell did you do?"

"Me? What are you talking about? I've been in here since,” He picked up his phone and looked at the time. “Since breakfast." Sam rested his chin on his hands. "Is Cas back?"

"YOU DID CALL HIM!"

"First and foremost, Dean. Cas went to do Angel stuff. He can't get phone calls in Heaven, so why would I even attempt to call him?" Sam paused and tilted his head. "Second, I'm not going to pester him about your insecurities."

"Then what the hell is this?" Dean pulled out his phone and slammed it down on the table, flinching slightly and picking it back up to check the screen. "I don't understand this."

Sam held up a finger before pointing at the chair that sat across from him. He stood up as Dean took the seat and crossed over to another table. Sam picked up two glasses and a decanter of whiskey before returning to his own chair. Popping the lid off, he poured a glass for Dean and one for himself. "What's wrong?"

"Cas uh... Cas, well..." Dean picked up his phone and unlocked it before sliding it across the table to Sam. "I am warning you. From brother to brother. Don't scroll up."

"Yeah, I'll take that to heart." Sam picked up the phone and read the screen that Dean had presented him.

[Dean, 9:31 AM]: I forgot how big my bed is.

[Cas, 10:00 AM]: Why is that?

[Dean, 10:01 AM]: I haven't woken up alone in a few weeks now. [Dean, 10:03 AM]: It wasn't nice waking up without you.

[Cas, 10:15 AM]: I'm sorry to have made things uncomfortable for you.

[Dean, 10:17 AM]: Cas, Buddy. That's not what I meant. [Dean, 10:25 AM]: Seriously, dude. I mean, I like what we have going on. [Dean, 10:35 AM]: Cas?

[Cas, 10:37 AM]: You might enjoy what we have, but I'm afraid I don't. [Cas, 10:39 AM]: It's getting hard for me to maintain this casual relationship.

Sam looked up from the phone and smiled at his brother. "You're upset over this?" He reread the conversation and took a screenshot, texting it to himself. "There is nothing to be upset over here. This is a good thing!" Sam picked up his phone and sent the screenshot to Eileen, adding on, "Dean thinks Cas wants to leave."

"He doesn't want to keep the relationship, Sam. Cas says it right there." Dean pointed at his phone.

"What I see is you complaining that he let you sleep in so he could go do angel stuff, and then him saying that he wants more." Sam's phone went off, and he checked the text message from Eileen. She replied that she had come to the same conclusion. "Dude, even Eileen, who doesn't have the context I have..." He turned his phone so Dean could read it.

"You sent her a picture of my text with Cas?" Dean tossed back the rest of his whiskey and poured himself another. "What the actual hell?"

"Dean! I needed you to know that you're reading it wrong. And Eileen also sees what I see." Sam stopped and rubbed his temples with his thumbs. "Do you honestly think that Cas would want to stop what you two are doing completely?"

Dean nodded. "He's probably figured out that I'm not good for him. He's an angel for fuck's sake. They're not even supposed to... whatever it is he and I had."

"Are you kidding me?" Sam downed his own whiskey and leaned back in his chair. "I mean, he looks away when you look at him, and you look away when he looks at you, but let me tell you about the way you two stare at each other."

"Shut up."

Sam shook his head. "Not this time. I have literal proof on my phone, from yours, that Cas cares about you. You're the one that's not reading it correctly."

"I can read what's on my phone, Sam." Dean slides his phone up and down the screen. "Maintaining what we have is hard for him."

"Because he wants more!" Sam dragged his hand down his face. "I know you can't see what a good guy you are under the self-doubt that Dad piled on top of you, but Cas does. If anyone knows you better than me, it's Cas. He rebuilt you from the ground up. He knows you inside and out, heart, body, and soul."

Dean shook his head. "I still think you're wrong." He slid his phone into his pocket and finished off the second glass of whiskey. "Any milk runs nearby?"

"No. I'm still researching this one, but it might be one that's our kinda thing." Sam looked down at his notes, disappointed but understanding Dean's need to drop the conversation. "So, get this. A few abductions following a pattern, the bodies show up, but the locals aren't releasing any details. Probably thinking it's a serial killer and not wanting to spawn a copycat." He looked back up. "Dean?"

"Huh?" He looked up from his phone. "Cat Serial Killer. I'm listening."

"No, you're not." Sam set his pen down. "You’re distracted, afraid that you're going to lose Cas when he clearly wants more." Sam pointed at Dean, trying to make his voice as stern as possible. "Call him. Or I will."

"You wouldn't dare." Dean jabbed his finger at Sam before standing up and storming out of the library.

Sam picked his own phone up. "Bet me."

…

Dean flipped through Netflix on his laptop. Sam didn't want to get involved in his love life. He wouldn't do anything. Right? Dean slammed the lid of his computer shut and set it on the nightstand. He let out a huff of frustration and rolled over onto his stomach, burying his face in his pillows. Dean groaned, his frustration muffled by the softness surrounding his head.

"Hello, Dean."

"What?" Dean shot up, quickly scrambling to his knees and turning towards the foot of his bed. "Cas?"

"You were expecting somebody else?" Cas looked at the door. "I hadn't heard from you since your last text message. I was concerned.”

"You were waiting for one?" Dean grabbed his phone and looked over his texts. "The last one you sent was over five hours ago."

Cas nodded. "And it is still sitting, unanswered."

"Sorry, Cas." Dean looked up from his phone. "I just... I didn't realize you didn't like what we have. I thought maybe..."

"Maybe what?" Cas took off his trenchcoat and jacket, laying them on the back of a chair, as he crossed to the bed and sat down on his side. He bent over and untied his shoes, kicking them off to the corner of the room. "Dean?"

"I uh..." Dean shook his head. "You're getting undressed?"

"I'm getting comfortable. I made a point of getting done early so you wouldn't have to sleep alone." Cas repositioned himself on the bed, resting his back against the headboard. He patted the spot next to him. "Come talk to me?"

Dean crawled up the bed and sat next to Cas, mimicking his position.

"I know that my return is surprising you, especially considering that I said I would be gone for a day or two. But it seems like something else has caught you off guard.”

"Your text." Dean held up his phone again. "You said that you couldn't maintain our relationship. I thought you were ending this between us."

Cas chuckled. "I know Sam said you misunderstood, but I wasn't expecting this level of self-doubt."

"That fucker did call you!" Dean ran his hand down his face.

"And with good reason, it appears." Cas took Dean's hand and held it tightly. "Dean, do you know how much you mean to me?"

"Honestly? I'm not entirely sure at the moment." Dean holds up his hand. "I know we're friends, and I know that you care about me. I just don't know how much. It felt like I was disposable earlier."

"That was never my intent, Dean. I meant that I can't continue this as a casual relationship." Cas tugged on Dean's hand and pulled him into his arms. "I meant that I need you to know that I love you. That I don't want to be just a fling that hides in the bedroom, waiting until we know the hallway is clear."

Dean raises an eyebrow in confusion. "You talked to Sam this morning too."

"That may have been the case, yes." Cas ran his fingers through Dean's hair. "He wasn't exactly surprised to see me walk out of your room, and he may have cornered me."

"Goddammit, Sam," Dean grumbled quietly under his breath. "I'm sorry, you shouldn't feel pressured–"

"Dean." Cas placed a finger over Dean's lips, effectively stopping him from talking. "Sam merely asked why I was in your room. Then when I said I was leaving a note, he pointed out that I obviously forgot that I was wearing your pajama pants."

"He mentioned the same thing to me. And about walking outside together as he went for his walk." Dean leaned into Cas. "What did you tell him?"

Cas smiled, a rare show of affection from the angel, and Dean felt his face flush with warmth. "I told him what I just told you. I love you."

"Really?" Dean felt his jaw drop a second time. "You're not going to break up with me?

"I wouldn't dream of it." Cas pulled Dean closer, claiming his lips as he pulled Dean into his lap.

…

The next morning, Sam stopped in front of Dean's door. He knew that he might have crossed a line, pushing Dean to confessions and admissions he may not have been ready to share. Sam adjusted the tray he carried, careful to make sure the coffee or cereal spilled out of their respectful vessels. He knocked on the door, waiting to hear Dean yell at him or shuffle across the room. Hell, Sam half expected the sound of a boot hitting the door, followed by profanities.

After waiting a moment with no sound, Sam knocked again, a little louder. "Dean?"

He waited a few more minutes, slightly perturbed that there was no sound coming from the other side of the door. Sam tried the doorknob and was surprised to find the door unlocked. He turned it and pushed the door open as quietly as possible. As he entered the room, Sam nearly dropped the tray, scrambling to rebalance it.

In the bed, Dean looked like he was fast asleep. It was - without a doubt - the most peaceful sleep he had ever seen his brother enjoy.

Yet it was Cas, cuddling Dean, holding him tightly, that surprised Sam the most. He had thought that Dean would have found a way to sabotage himself, to chase Cas away. Sam walked in quietly and set the tray down on Dean's table. As he started towards the door, a voice behind him startled him.

"Here to say I told you so?" Dean yawned out, burrowing deeper into the blanket.

"Wouldn't dream of it, Dean." Sam pointed to Cas. "I'm just glad you listened to me and didn't push him away like I thought you would."

Dean waved his hand, shooing Sam out of the room. "I hear you loud and clear." He paused. "Thanks, Bitch."

Sam chuckled, exiting the room. "You're welcome, Jerk."

[bellakitse]

So I have been letting the current state of the world and my personal life get in the way of my writing, something that is very much therapy for my depression. In an effort to get out of my funk, and be able to write my longer fics, I have decided to do Flash Fiction Friday. 

Every Friday I will strive to post a quick fic.

This first one is dedicated to my two best friends, my support system, and truly the great loves of my life. @insidious-intent​ (who made this beautiful gif above) and @beka1820​ (who holds my hand through every story I write) I don’t know what I would do without you two in my life. Love you darlings.

So here we go, the first Stef’s Flash Fiction Friday.

All the Reasons

In the three years TK Strand has been dating Carlos Reyes, there are many things he’s come to adore about the man he loves more than he ever thought possible. He loves that Carlos is a ridiculously cheery morning person, where TK will hit the snooze button at least four times before he has to groan out of bed; Carlos gets up at least ten minutes before his alarm, whistling as he heads for the bathroom. If he didn’t love him so much, TK would smother him with his pillow for this.

He’s endlessly amused that Carlos likes to listen to Latin Trap music while he cooks, shaking his ass better than any stripper as he stirs sauces or chops up veggies.

TK appreciates that while horror movies freak him out, Carlos will still watch them just because TK enjoys them. He holds Carlos close as he hides his face in the crook of his neck as a thank you for putting up with his hobby.

He all but melts when it’s time for them to go to bed. For how big Carlos is, he insists on being the little spoon when they sleep. Carlos will arrange them to his liking until TK is practically on top of him, covering his body with his own. Only then will Carlos fall into a peaceful sleep, a soft smile adorning his face as he dreams.

TK loves that Carlos isn’t just his boyfriend, the man he loves, or his soulmate, though he’s certainly proven to be all those things. He’s also TK’s best friend. The one person besides his father that he can be at his worst with. When he’s all but broken from the memories of past mistakes. When temptation rears its ugly head, and his hand itches to reach for a bottle – beer, or worse yet, pills. It’s Carlos that is there, never judging, always ready to hold him as he cries and rages over an addiction that will never completely go away. It’s Carlos that dries his tears and tells him how proud he is of him. It’s Carlos that promises him he can overcome his shortcomings and that no matter what, he’ll be there standing next to him as TK fights his demons.

He loves how gentle and kind Carlos is, not just with him but also with his family, friends, and TK’s own father. He still remembers when, early in their dating, with his dad still in treatment how Carlos took it upon himself to care for both of them. Making hearty soups for Owen when he realized that both the Strand men weren’t fans of the kitchen, and he would make Owen shakes meant to help with detox from the chemo. More than once, TK found Carlos in their kitchen cooking and keeping his dad company until he arrived, not wanting his dad to be alone as the treatment took a harder toll on the man.

Most of all, he loves that he’s never once doubted that Carlos loves him just as fiercely as he loves him. He’s an all or nothing kind of guy; he knew from the moment they first kissed that if he opened his heart to Carlos, he would hand it over to the young cop completely. It’s why he resisted so hard at the beginning of their relationship to let it grow. Once he stopped fighting the gravitational pull that is Carlos Reyes’ entire being, loving him became as vital as breathing for TK. To be loved back by Carlos is a blessing he is thankful for every day.

“You’re a million miles away.”

TK startles out of his thoughts; he looks up from the couch to see Carlos leave their kitchen with a plate in his hand. He smiles as Carlos sits down next to him, kissing him on the cheek when he’s settled before he offers him a spoonful of the flan he’s been working on.

“Mmm,” TK moans at the rich flavor that fills his mouth. “It’s delicious.”

“I added coconut this time,” Carlos informs him, chuckling when he opens his mouth for another bite.

TK smiles around the mouthful, pleased by the treat Carlos is feeding him.

“So, what were you thinking about?” Carlos asks as he takes a bite for himself. “You seemed deep in thought.”

“I was thinking about all the reasons I love you,” he answers honestly, his heart tripping over itself at how Carlos’ expression softens in that way that is just for him.

“Are there a lot of reasons?” he asks, teasing in that loving way of his.

“I could fill a library with books on all the reasons I love you, sweetheart,” he tells him; the smile he gets in return is brighter and warmer than the Texan sun. “I want to be with you forever.”

“Really?” Carlos whispers, his voice filled with so much love for TK, it instantly makes him come to a decision. The reaction to it is so intense, it amazes him it’s taken him this long to realize. He gives it voice before doubt has a chance to seep through.

“We should get married,” he says, his conviction growing with each word. He’s never been more sure about anything in his life.

Carlos looks at him, brown eyes blown wide, the thankfully empty dish in his hand going slack. He continues to stare at TK for a moment, not seeming to realize that his silence is making TK’s heart skyrocket. Then, he gets up without saying a word, leaving TK behind as he heads for their bedroom.

TK blinks rapidly, not sure what’s just happened. His throat feels like it’s closing, and his blood roars in his ears, but he doesn’t have a chance to have a breakdown before Carlos comes back into the living room, breathing hard as he clutches something in his hand.

“Are you serious?” he asks in a rush. “Did you mean what you just said? Do you want to get married?”

TK looks at Carlos, taking in the tense of his shoulders, he looks like a spring ready to go off, but his eyes, his beautiful brown eyes that TK loves oh so much, look so full of hope and anticipation, TK forgets that his heart started to break just moments ago and nods.

Carlos exhales, his whole body going soft as he comes back to sit down next to TK.

“I bought it six months ago,” he says as he opens his hand to reveal a simple white band with a trio of diamonds encrusted in the middle. Carlos smiles as it makes TK gasp. “I have been trying to figure out the perfect way to ask. Leave it to you to beat me to the punch,” he says, tenderly amused.

“I didn’t do it perfectly,” he whispers now with regret as he looks at the beautiful ring in Carlos’ hand. “I just blurted it out, and I don’t even have a ring.”

Carlos shakes his head at him. “Baby, the fact that you feel the same way, that you want to marry me too, that makes it perfect,” he answers with a gentle smile as he wipes at the tears that have now slipped down TK’s cheeks. “Can I put it on you?” he asks, chuckling when TK nods rapidly in agreement.

He isn’t done slipping it on TK’s finger before TK pulls him into a hard kiss. They’re laughing and crying by the time they come up for air. He presses his forehead against Carlos’, taking in that beautiful smile of his. “I’m going to tell you every day all the reasons I love you.”

“How long is that going to take?” Carlos asks teasingly, his smile deepening as he brushes his lips against TK’s once more.

TK smiles back, his heart so full it feels like it will burst. “Only the rest of our lives.”

[violetnotez]

HC: Telekenesis Quirk! Reader

Anonymous:  You're such a good writer lmao can't relate. But Deku and Todoroki with a s/o who has a telekenesis quirk that gets harder to control the less she concentrates? Like she'll zone out and suddenly there's books stuck the the ceiling XD idk it just sounded cute to me

Ahhh thank you ya made ma heart feel all squishy :) And this is SO AdOrAbLeEeeeeeeE (PS- I havent written for Todoroki for a while so forgive me if my writing for him is a little rusty!)

(P.S.S)- I broke up the parts front Fluff and Angst for each boy because I felt this request could do well for both genres

(RULES | MASTERLIST| REQUESTS OPEN!!! :))

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

DEKU

Fluff:

Izuku thinks your quirk is SO FREAKING COOOOOOOL

He obviously made a journal about your quirk, because you’re his girlfriend, OF COURSE he’s going to study your powers!!!

The journal first started out as just another addition to his superhero notes

He has little notes from when you two train about fighting styles would best suit you and techniques to help you control your quirk, since when you get distracted or daze off, your quirk will sometimes activate by itself

The journal was very sophisticated and platonic, really…. until it became a journal of just YOU

It's chock full of little things he loves about you, like how your laugh sounds like wind chimes that make his spine tingle in the most delicate way ever, or the way your hair smells so lovely like fruit it makes him go crazy every time he smells it

May or may not have went to the shampoo aisle of the grocery store smelling every bottle to see if its one you use

It's also full of little moments between you two that he never wants to forget

One of the most adorable things he has witnessed when your quirk took over (and, of course, wrote down-this boi has written EVERYTHING) was when you had laid your head in Izuku’s lap during a Dekusquad outing to the park

Everyone spent the whole day studying and occasionally running around like children, playing childish games, until everyone had sat down to eat and the tiredness began to set in

You were currently in a peaceful food coma, letting Midoriya play with your hair as the sun began to set, turning the sky into a beautiful mixture of oranges, pinks, and indigos

While the rest of his friends were busy playing a game of UNO, he took the time to admire how beautiful you were: your skin was tan and rosy from the sunset, your lashes thick, your lips a pretty shade of pink and slightly parted… he blushed, wondering how he had gotten so lucky to have you

Unknowing to Midoriya, you were beginning to daze off from his touch- whenever he played with your hair you were instantly calmed and, 9 times out of 10, would fall asleep

You sighed contently, allowing the softness of sleep to drape you, until….

“Y/n….y/nnn..wake up princess,” you heard your boyfriend’s sweet voice, muffled by the thickness of sleep you were still in. But something was wrong- he sounded almost ...desperate? Scared?

Your eyes shot open, a terrifying realization hitting you- you were levitating yourself.

You, of course, had done this before while sleeping, but there was always a roof over your head. Yeah, you would hit your head and it would hurt, but at least you weren’t flying into the open sky.

You gasped loudly in shock, feeling yourself drop rapidly to the ground

Izuku instantly reacted, using a tiny bit of One for All (like .00000001% of it) to make him rapidly sprint to catch you from your fall

You grasped Izuku’s shirt, feeling the soft skin and toned muscles that always made you feel safe, trying to make your heart stop pounding from the slight scare

Izuku looked down at you, blushing slightly from how quickly he reacted and how cute you looked cuddled up against him

“Are you alright?” he asked, worry laced in his tone

“Of course I am,” you replied, your voice still groggy from sleep, “you’re here.”

Angst:

*Warning: mentions of blood

You woke up, your hair matted to one side with dirt and- blood?- your head hurt, your ears ringing, the arm you landed on felt so sore you didnt even want to look down at the damage 

You looked around, your vision fuzzy at the sides, trying to process what was going on- you could hear cries, screams, the crackling of fire- “that’s right” you thought, “Im fighting villians”

You then heard a voice that made your blood run cold

“I wont let you hurt her anymore!” Deku screamed, making you look desperately to find him- there he was, badly tattered and limping, holding one side of his suit, where red and purple was staining his skin, the mint green sleeve of his suit ripped away

The powerful villian laughed a cruel chuckle, advancing on poor Deku’s broken stance 

“You think your little whines are going to stop me, kid? Your lucky your little girlfriend is pretty, or would have killed her by now. But a pretty little thing like that could be of use to me.”

He smiled a disgusting grin, his perverted thoughts making Deku instantly furious

“No, you won't touch her! I WONT LET YOU !” he screamed, his quirk creating a ball of green energy erupt around his body as he charged at the gigantic villain now running at him.

You stared desperately at the exchange, the whole time wondering how Izuku was even still standing while the villain looked untouched

Seeing your boyfriend charge him- you couldn't take it- you were terrified and angry and scared for his life, knowing he couldn't keep this up- he'd killed himself

“NOOOOOOOO!” you screamed with all your might, not realizing you were making the rubble around you float violently, giant pieces of fallen building flying into the sky, heading to the thing that was causing your pain- this villian who had the audacity to hurt your boyfriend

The villain tried to block the rubble from hitting him, with no luck- it overtook him, instantly burying him in a pile of rubble

Deku stared at the now silent villain, turning slowly to see you, battered and bloody, before you fell to the ground from over use of your quirk

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

TODOROKI

Fluff:

Todoroki first began to have feelings for you very early on- he found you to be the most beautiful girl he had ever seen with a heart made of gold.

 Whenever you two talked, he felt like you treated him like a person, not the “Son-of- Endeavor”, or “The-Boy-Who-Got-In-With-Reccomendations”- you truly talked to him to get to know him for who he was

It was refreshing and irritating at the same time- he was scared of any love and affection after what his father did to his poor mother, even though he desperately needed it

After months of containing his love for you, he realized-slowly- that you liked him back

You two were both in the library, completely alone

You of course didn't think Todokroki had feelings for you, as you did for him- you had accepted that you had a pitiful one-way admiration

With Todoroki’s presence merely a few feet away, you couldn't concentrate on your studies, but you couldnt bring yourself to leave

All you wanted to do was stare at the perfect separation of red and white in his hair, the scar that felt so mesmerizing and so him, that strong jawline that always made you feel weak in the knees….

Todoroki felt the tips of hair begin to lift slightly, as if a soft breeze was carrying him up. He watched as his book began to mysteriously lift in the air, the uncanny feeling of being watched making him turn sharply to look at you, an unreadable expression on his face

Todoroki’s piercing, mismatched eyes made you break from your daze, realizing you had been staring- and had used your quirk by accident

His book slammed back onto the table, his hair flopping back to his body, tickling his skin

He watched as you instantly looked down, fidgeting to get your books together hastily together, your cheeks a bright cherry red

He thought it was pretty cute, to see you so flustered 

Just as you were practically pacing out of the library to escape the embarrassing situation, Todoroki stopped in front of you, forcing you to stop as well

“I know you were staring at me.” he said matter-of-factly, making your whole face red

Why did he find that so irresistibly cute?

“I-I-I-uh-” you stuttered, having know idea what to say

You instinctively reached up to brush your hair behind your ear, but-

Todoroki grabbed your hand, his hand warm and calloused

“Would you like to accompany me... on a date tomorrow night?”He swallowed, a twinge of nervousness visible on his calm face

You stared, dumbfounded at the mysterious boy in front of you, not knowing really how things turned so well for you

“I-uh-yes!” you smiled, “I’d love to.”

Angst:

You watched helplessly as the whole forest erupted in flames, the orange tendrils lciking up the sides of the trees, dangerously close to your reddened face

“What was going?” you thought desperately “How did I get here?” Everything was destroyed, every object turning to ash before you...you had to get out...but where was Todoroki?

You began running, flying through the charred leaves as the flames crackled around you

You didn't know where you were going, until you were met with a clearing, the once healthy grass now nothing but dirt and ash that was attacking your airways

A fierce battle was going on, it definitely being the source of the flames- both attackers were fire wielders, going at each other mercilessly- but one of the attackers was different-he was using ice as well

“Todoroki!” you tried to yell, unable to use your throat- it was like someone was choking you, making you unable to talk

You tried to move, to grab your boyfriend and escape, but- you couldn't move. None of your body parts working properly.

You stood there paralyzed, helpless to the situation, unable to move as you watched your boyfriend fight his father, Endeavor, no mercy being evident on either side

Panic flooded your system, only able to watch as the battle began to go in Endeavor's favor, your lover getting hurt more and more and more...

Todoroki rolled over, reaching out his hand to find the warmth of your body, confused to find that you weren’t beside him

He had at first groggily thought you had gotten up to go to get some water, only to look up and be shocked out of his sleepiness

You were floating a foot above the place you were sleeping, your body in the shape of a “T”

Your arms were limply spread out, away from your body, as your head lolled back as if someone was pulling the strands of your hair 

“Y/n!” he gasped, quickly pulling you back to the bed 

You face was contorted in such a look of pain, Todoroki then began to realize you must be having a nightmare

He began to shake you awake gingerly, calling you by your name and his pet names he had for you

You finally woke up, gasping loudly as if you had been drowning in water

You looked around, panting, not recognizing where you were at first, finally realizing you were in the strong arms of your boyfriend

“How did you-what happened-I” you asked confused, grasping his face between your hands and just relishing the feeling of his skin, his scar, his hair, terrified this was a dream and your nightmare was real

“You were having a nightmare,” Todoroki stated, placing a hand above the one you had on his cheek, “but youre okay, I got you now. Youre safe.”

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

Requests open!!!!

[aziraphales-library]

Hey!!! I’m kinda new, and I’d like to know if you can recommend me some good GO fics? My only request it’s that they should mostly be Teen Up or Gen s fics... and maybe some good AUs (I’m in love with those)

Okay, here we go!! I went a little all out on this post because it’s more about personal preference, but I still stand by it :D

An Angel who did not so much Fall In Love as Settle Into It Gradually by TheLadyZephyr - 7.5k - Rated T

Crowley was standing in the middle of the room, hands in his pockets, looking a little lost. Aziraphale eyed the distance between them. Five steps. Five steps, and six thousand years, and a battlefield spanning an eternity.

The story of the little moments over the millennia that shape an angel’s regard for a demon, and the way he slowly, with great reluctance but inevitable surety, falls in love.

I simply adore this fic. It’s one of those fics that follows them through the ages and its just done so well. I don’t even know what else to say, just that you should go read it, and the fanart is also gorgeous!

Something So Magic by apliddell - 3.9k - Rated G

Crowley gets stuck in his serpent form, and Aziraphale tries his best to help.

This fic is simple, yet adorable, and I cannot get enough of it. 

How Much To Give, How Much To Take by thechemicalgirl - 3k - Rated G

“It’s like…’ he paused, trying to calm down. ‘It’s like after I came back from Heaven and we switched our bodies back, something has happened. I can’t use my power anymore, not even to start the Bentley.”

Crowley loses his demonic abilities and Aziraphale tries to help him cope with it, but things get much more complicated than that.

Angsty, but also soft, and just a great execution of a favourite premise.

In Peace I Will Both Lie Down and Sleep by fizzybiscuits - 5.6k - Rated G

Aziraphale starts having nightmares. For some reason, he doesn’t talk to Crowley about this right away.

Title is from Psalms 4:8. “In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.”

This fic just has everything. It’s a stellar example of an established relationship fic and is cavity-inducingly fluffy.

Be All My Sins Remembered by CloversDreams - 43.4k - Rated T

“The trial,” Beelzebub continued loudly, “will consist of seven tests.”

“Seven…” Aziraphale muttered under his breath. He had a bad feeling about this and it showed. He twiddled his thumbs nervously as he waited for more details.

Crowley scrunched his face and shook his head. “Oh you don’t mean–”

“Correct. The Sins have been charged with the task,” Beelzebub interjected.

“Crap.” Crowley groaned. He slapped his hands onto his face and dragged them downward slowly. This was just what they didn’t need.

Gabriel nodded. He had a rather unpleasant grin on his face as he said, “Don’t know much about them, myself, but they can be a pretty gnarly group of high-class demons from what I’ve heard. On par with the archangels back home. Wouldn’t want to… what’s that delightful human phrase? Oh, right. Wouldn’t want to cock this up.”

Listen, in my opinion, this fic is massively underrated. I unintentionally binged it all in one go because it was so gripping. The angst in some chapters had me practically screaming, and the whole idea is a brilliant take on the seven deadly sins. The pining is magnificent, and I live for the Husbands drama. 

Let Sleeping Snakes Lie by Blue_Sparkle - 2.6k - Rated G

Aziraphale confesses his love for Crowley when he can contain it no longer. Oh, not to the demon himself of course. To a sleeping snake.

Another fic featuring Snake!Crowley, this one is magnificently soft, and I adore the scene in Stardust it’s inspired by. Just can’t stop coming back to read, 10/10 recommend!

Serpent of Eden, Original Tempter by noodlefrog - 33.4k - Rated T

During Crowley’s trial, the agents of Hell present evidence that the demon has been fraternizing with the enemy. Careful to protect Crowley’s pride (and his own concealed feelings), Aziraphale turns on the saunter and leans into his friend’s reputation as a tempter to spin their relationship into something that looks more demonic than lunch dates and feeding the ducks.

This fic combines Pining, Misunderstandings, and a fantastic ‘what if?’ for the execution scenes, and I am here for it. The Original Characters are written fantastically well, and I loved the bonus chapter!

What They Say About Assumptions by DragonGirl - 7.9k - Rated T

While it’s true that God bestowed upon the angels the divine power to sense love of all kinds, that does not mean they were given the ability to sense exactly who or what that love is directed at. A minor design flaw that hasn’t been much of an issue. Until now.

Or:

Aziraphale has known that Crowley loved someone since the beginning. He’s also spent most of that time believing that someone was a demon.

Aziraphale’s obliviousness in this fic was so ridiculous it felt plausible. It was hilarious but also heartwarming, and has one of my fave love confessions. It was angsty as hell in the best way, and I just implore that you read it!

Futile Devices by ticketybye - 3.2k - Rated G

Crowley pretends to sleep. Aziraphale talks.

Just adorable. Cavity inducing fluff and love confessions are my favourite things and god does this deliver on that.

Foolish Principality by seashadows and WikdSushi - 6.6k - Rated M

Upon moving into a South Downs cottage, Crowley gets left alone while Aziraphale rushes to help the new proprietors of his bookshop. Thanks to a miracle gone wrong, Crowley discovers Aziraphale's greatest material secret, and a few things neither of them could ever fully face.

Is rated M but in my opinion there’s nothing too bad in here, though you should judge for yourself. The poetry is beautiful, horrifying masterpieces, and it is honestly fantastically funny and sweet.

——

Y’all know by now that I adore anything by Arinia, but this fic is one of my faves:

Just This Once by Arinia - 2.7k - Rated T

An idea came, slowly at first, before filling up his heart, setting every nerve alight. It might be another decade, another century even, before he saw Crowley again. No one had come to rescue him from Above. No one had chastised Crowley for wasting a miracle from Below. Perhaps, just this once…

The streets of Paris are soaked with blood, and Aziraphale realizes just how much he owes Crowley for saving his life.

It’s freaking adorable, the kissing is fantastic, and I have a secret love of the French Revolution that made me love the fic all the more. Read it, I beg you.

——

As for AUs, I don’t read loads, but I do have some faves!

Neighborly Affection by Thestarlitrose - 4.6k - Rated T - Human AU

Anthony J Crowley was four years old the first time he met the tiny Ezra A Fell; he wasn’t impressed.

He was forty-six when he found him again in a bookshop in Soho.

The Childhood Friends, Flower Shop, Christmas, Friends to Lovers fic nobody asked for in the middle of October.

This fic is a complete tangle of tropes, and it’s also incredibly sweet. Perfect for the fast approaching holiday season!

a book elegantly bound by AwkwardPotatoChild - 6.5k - Rated G - Library AU

Two idiots. One book series.

or alternatively, Aziraphale and Crowley are united over their common love of books and the scheming of one Miss Anathema Device

This fic manages to be both very funny and incredibly endearing at the same time. The book names were hilarious, and I adored Anathema’s matchmaking.

A Jaunt Or Two by sonicsora - 3.1k - Rated T - Human AU

They meet by happenstance twice over, only to end up quite woven into one anothers lives. It’s all quite accidental, but sticks.

Crowley realizes a bit belated he’s quite attached to this man who freely uses the word jaunt and wears cream-colored suits.

This fic is just adorable. It’s sweet, fluffy, and exactly my kind of thing. Also Gabriel’s a dick in the comedic way, which is fun to see.

Restoration by arealshitwizard (gaiusgallus) - 2.6k - Rated G - Human AU

Ok I had this idea in my head and it wouldn’t go away so here is Aziraphale as a painting restorer and Crowley as a flash stock broker… There’s just one chapter sorry for my sins

This is a really unique fic (I know I keep saying that, but it’s true!), and featured such fun interpretations of their characters!

——-

I’m aware that 90% of this list is very specific to my preferences, and that it got a little out of hand, but I hope y’all enjoy the recs anyway! XD

Does the blog have any favourites they’d like to share?

~ Mod B

[archived-gtronpa-account]

Sizeshifter Shu sizeshifter Shu!

Aaaa I'm just a sucker for emotional sizeshifters those anxious babies are just neat, so here

Summary: The killing game, the mastermind, the death of Rantaro Amami... All those events seem to make poor Shuichi's emotions go awry. Kaede notices his emotional distress, but is surprised to see the... extreme effect of that on his body.

Word count: 2133

___

Keade reached out and held Shuichi's hand.

"Kaede...?" His hand was cold, shaky; she squeezed it tighter, holding onto it like a lifeline.

"I wish there was a piano here, I would play you a song to cheer you up! For you... Oh, maybe 'Clair de Lune by Debussy! It's a soothing song that calms your heart, like the moon's reflection on water..."

She noticed Shuichi's shy, avoidant gaze look away from her eyes and linger on her hand. She swallowed back the tightness in her throat.

"You noticed, huh? Yeah, I'm shaking too... But if be a mess if you weren't here," she has to be strong for everyone, for Shuichi, for herself, "I would've been so lost without you. I'm glad you're with me, Shuichi," with him by her side to ground her and give her confidence and courage, she knew she could take on the mastermind, end the killing game, and get out with all of her friends.

"Please, be more confident. I believe in you, so you should definitely believe in yourself!"

She felt his hand shift and slide away from hers. She glanced down at it, but it hadn't moved away; if anything, it had shrunk down and balled up in a fist, so she readjusted her grip to hold on the small, shaky hand.

"Okay, I'll try..." The detective lifted his chin up and looked at Kaede right in the eyes, maybe for the first time since she had met him, "I don't know if I can, but I'll try..."

He reached a hand out to lift his cap up, but it slid back down over his eyes. She chuckled at the cute, fun sight. But the fun of it wore off when he kept struggling to pull his cap back up; it seemed a bit too big for his head, even though it had looked like a pretty tight fit moments ago.

"Uhm..." He looked away, slightly nervous, and slid his hand away from hers. She tried to grab it to calm him down, but paused when she saw it.

Maybe he was a bit scrawny for a boy, but his hand was definitely not that small.

"Shuichi...?" She looked back up, confused and worried. Her mouth fell agape when she looked at his cap-hidden face.

Kaede was sure she was not taller than Shuichi.

"Sh-Shuichi!"

Somehow, that seemed to snap him out of a trance. His eyes darted in her direction from under the loosely hanging cap, filled with worry and something akin to fear. He bolted upright up and took a few, stumbling steps back.

Kaede, still somewhat lost, stood up slowly from her seat, afraid any abrupt movement might scare him like a frightened kitten.

He shrunk down under her gaze, but his cap seemed to fit; and besides the fearful aura around him, he seemed just fine.

She stood at her full height, and somehow, Shuichi looked tall again, even taller than her. She'd always had the impression he was a bit of a short boy. Was he always that tall?

A music blarred in the classroom, pounding against the walls as if the room was a drum.

Kaede yelped and turned to look at the monitor. It displayed a weird movie with pawns being killed.

"Ah, Kaede!" She shot a glance at Shuichi, whom held up the receiver that had gone off.

"It's buzzing- somebody moved the bookcase!" She exclaimed. Her heart pounded against her ribcage to the beat of the insufferable music.

"L-Let's go see it!" Shuichi fled out of the room.

"Ah- wait for me!"

Kaede didn't think further of the spooky height change at that moment, deciding it was either a trick of the light from the setting sun, or the boy's strange position on his seat.

She thought of it again after the body discovery announcement.

She stood behind Shuichi, staring in horror at the cold body on the ground. Rantaro Amami lay dead on the library's floor.

In her frightened state, she almost didn't notice the change in Shuichi. But it was hard not to notice that when he stepped back and bumped into her, he was a good foot taller than her.

"Shuichi...?" She reached a hand up- well over her head, and placed it on his shoulder. He jumped at the touch and turned around to see her, but his eyes widened in horror when he found himself having to look down to meet the girl's eyes.

Kaede wasn't fast enough to speak. Shuichi had already bolted out of the room.

"Hey- wait!" She ignored the other students' confused gazes and rushed out of the room after the detective.

The boy had hidden in a nearby classroom. By the time Kaede reached it, she was wheezing and panting. The perk of being so tall was to be a fast runner, she supposed. But Shuichi had certainly not been a foot taller than her earlier that day; and even as she chased him in the hallways, she could have sworn he had grown even taller.

She gulped at the thought. Shuichi Saihara, the shy and anxious detective boy, was growing taller in his fear and panic.

Kaede pushed her own fear aside and grabbed the classroom's door handle. No matter how tall and no matter how short, no matter how scary and no matter how confusing, Shuichi was still her friend. Poor guy seemed even more terrified than her. So, even if she was afraid and apprehensive of what lay behind the door, she decided that she definitely had to be by his side, just like he had been by her side.

She pushed the door open and confidently stepped in.

"Shuichi...?" She called out. The last golden sunrays shone through the windows, casting a dim light inside the room.

It was easy to spot Shuichi, curled up in the corner of the room with his head almost touching the ceiling.

Kaede, in gentle movements, closed the door behind her and stepped towards the unusually large boy.

He lifted his head up in her direction and shied away as she approached. His back was pressed so hard against the wall she feared it might crack and crumble under that force.

"Shuichi? Calm down, it's just me," she tried to give her best reassuring smile and hoped it didn't turn out to be a grimace.

"K-Kaede, please... go away," in contrast to his size, his voice was so small and weak she barely caught the words.

She took a few steps closer to him, until she was standing to his side. The ground shook under her feet, and she realized it was because the giant boy was shivering.

"Come on, it's alright Shuichi, you don't have to be scared of me," she reached a hand out and patted his arm, unsure what other reassurence she could provide.

Kaede had to crane her neck up to meet his gaze. His eyes darted between her and the door, either wishing she would leave him alone or wishing he was still small enough to go through that door.

"Shuichi, calm down. I know you're scared right now, but all of us are. We have to stay strong in these times, and you don't have to be alone! I'll always be by your side, no matter what," some of the tension left her body. Had it been anyone else, Kaede wouldn't have been so calm and confident, but that was Shuichi; her friend, whom she trusted with her life and knew would never hurt anyone, whom she could rely on to end the killing game and protect everyone.

"So you're... You're not afraid- of me?" He breathed out, in a voice lower than a whisper, he looked down at her, then averted his gaze to look down at his lap.

His hand rested on the floor a couple feet away from Kaede. She knelt down next to it, and with some strength, lifted it up in her arms to her chest in an improvised hug. "Of course not, silly! You're the most reliable and trustworthy person in this entire school. Even if you were taller than this entire building I'd still trust you with my life," she rubbed the back of his hand, and chuckled "What were you even thinking?"

There was no answer. Silence stretched between them as long as the shadows on the ground; it wasn't a tense silence however, it was a calm, peaceful quiet where no words needed to be told to understand each other.

The pianist felt the cold, shaky hand fall limp in her arms, unmoving aside from the large fingers delicately brushing against her torso in small movements.

Kaede felt the hand slide off her grip and grow smaller and smaller at a steady pace. She kept her gaze down, afraid that if she looked up she would embarrass the boy and ruin the moment.

A few minutes passed, before Shuichi ended up on his knees besides Kaede, back at a somewhat reasonable height, maybe a bit short though.

"Kaede, thank you..." He looked away. The girl noticed the pink dusting his cheeks and something of a small smile under his cap.

Right, his cap. It was hanging off his head again like a big funny hat.

Shuichi was still getting shorter by the second. Kaede freaked out, thinking he still wasn't feeling alright. But he reached out and grasped her hand in two small, steady ones. He seemed fine, rather serene. She supposed serenity made him feel shorter somehow. So that was why he always seemed reclusive and reluctant to show his feelings. It was still weird to understand the emotional whole size-changes thing, but the pianist was gladly willing to try if it was for a close friend.

"I'm so glad I didn't drive you away even though I'm a freak, I'm so glad you're not scared, I'm so glad you're still here with me..." He vented, still keeping his gaze low and timid. Kaede brought a hand out and placed on his back for comfort. Her breath hitched in her throat at the sight; her hand practically engulfed his back, and his own hands could barely hold two of her fingers. He was so small, even smaller than a baby, maybe as small as a kitten. A black little kitten hidden under a huge cap.

After a while in the silence, Shuichi finally regained his full composure, got up at his full height of maybe a foot or so, and looked up at Kaede, sheepish. The girl watched as he stepped away from her and his body stretched out as he grew again to five feet seven. He was so fast about it that her head was spinning by the time he reached his usual height.

"Ah, geez! I really can't get used to your size-shifting thingy, it's always catching me off guard!" She chuckled nervously.

"A-Ah, sorry... It's a bit hard to control when I'm so emotional. This is embarrassing... Sorry," he stammered out, unsure how to justify his sudden outburst. It was hard to explain such embarrassing situation, "I-It's kind of like... wearing a shoe that's one size too small, once you take it off it feels so liberating that it's hard to put back on, kind of... It feels a bit tight to stay at a normal height all the time, especially after a slip-up... But now," he brought a hand to his chest and sighed deeply, "Now I'm alright, so... Thank you, Kaede," he offered a hand to help her stand back up. She held onto it tightly, thankful she could do that much after that hectic little episode.

"So, you'll... keep my secret?" He mumbled out, timid gaze looking away from her.

"Well, of course! if you're feeling good right now then I'm glad! But, Shuichi, it's okay to be emotional when you're in a stressful situation, so you shouldn't hold yourself back. No one here will judge you or think you're a freak or weak or whatever! And if they do, I'll punch them square in the face!" She shouted in a courageous voice and pumped a fist up in the air, earning a chuckle. "You should open up to the others. But if you want me to stay silent, then I'll take your secret to my grave!"

And she did.

____

The next morning, Shuichi left his cap on his bedside table, left his room and went to the cafeteria where everyone was gathered. Everyone but two of the sixteen students.

All gazes were on him as he came in, head free from the obscuring cap. He stood upright and took a deep breath, already feeling the tingling sensation in his limbs. He could do it.

"G-Guys... I have something to tell you."

____

Hnng ok this is my peak, anything after this and the last Keebs one will be trash in comparison cuz,,, I put more thought into this one than usual ! The rest will be messy lil drabbles. I don't otp saede but hot damn aren't they a good couple.

[deejadabbles]

The House of Anubis (Atem x Reader Halloween Special)

Part Two: The Shadows

One //// Two //// Three (coming soon) ///

Summary: The house was large, a manor, really. Imposing, yet striking more aw with every turn of a corner. You had never thought you’d be dragged back into the family business, but your brother needed you, and so too did his latest project. It stood alone among the trees, yet, you never felt alone when inside. Hairs prickle on the back of the neck, shivers run down spines, and hands fidget with every unoccupied moment. And the thing- or rather, person, who simultaneously eases and worsens these feelings? Atem, a man who was just as mercurial as the house itself, all smirks and light comments one moment, then lingering stares and strange musings the next. So the real question remains, will you uncover the secrets both the man and the manor are harboring?(A Halloween mini-series inspired by the show ‘The Haunting of Hill House’ and the movie 'The Frighteners’. The Reader x Atem themes are, admittedly, light as this mostly focuses on a spooky haunted house story, but the romantic undertones are there. Gender-neutral reader.)

A.N. HAHA look at me, actually getting this chapter done just in time to end Halloween on a good note! I can't believe I did it, but I'm proud of myself. We still have a chapter (maybe even two depending on how the ending goes) until we get to the end of the miniseries, but I hope this is creepy enough to spice up your Halloween! I also hope everyone had a good holiday in general, whether you stayed in watching movies, dressed up with a friend/loved one, or actually managed to get some treats! Also @ohyema and @itachified figured I’d tag you so you wouldn’t miss this <3

Happy Halloween!

You swiped at your forehead yet again, clearing off more sweat gathering there. Why exactly had you picked the last hot day of the season to do this?

Oh well, at least it was done now, you told yourself as you leaned back, stretching your muscles and looking over the work. It was only a temporary ramp, laid over the crumbling front steps, but it would serve its use: helping your brother get inside so you could both be in the house even before he was recovered. Just because he couldn’t lift anything didn’t mean he couldn’t help.

After weight testing the ramp to your satisfaction, you tucked the few tools you dug out for the job back into your belt. However, before heading into the house, you took a moment of respite, wandering over to the small wicker table that would likely need to be repaired or thrown out. You were surprised and lucky to find that the local gas station actually sold your favorite drink and took a long swig of it after sitting down in the equally disheveled wicker chair. With a long exhale you scanned the grounds around you, the forest, the forgotten flower beds that would need cleaned up as a bonus selling point, the weedy grass in between.

Despite the unkempt appearance, it was still peaceful. More peaceful than you felt inside the house anyway. Though, admittedly, the isolation that you disliked inside the manor persisted out here in some ways. Cars rarely passed on the road, not that you could see it from the house, the woods walling the grounds made an effective barrier, almost letting you wonder if there was anything beyond them at all. But there was, and out here you could tell that. Birds sang, squirrels and other critters nested in the trees, and there were houses somewhere in the distance. It was easy to shake aside any foreboding or negative musings out here.

Allowing yourself a few minutes more, you closed your eyes and took in the smell of the approaching autumn. It would only get chillier from here, but today the breeze felt nice and you only made yourself get up from the seat when you found yourself edging dangerously close to a nap.

With a sigh you grabbed your drink and headed inside, annoyingly aware of the work that still needed to be done today. You had left the doors open but shut them tight behind you since you would be occupied inside for the rest of your would-be work shift. The music you were playing from the boombox was louder now of course, but you didn’t bother turning the volume down since your next project was in the library.

As usual, you passed through the conservatory to get there and hoped that the room would wash a calming mood over you. The garden-like room was quickly becoming your favorite in the whole house. Perhaps it was how open the room was, easing the trapped effect big and old manors tended to have when you were alone in them. Or maybe it was just the peaceful sound of nature on the other side of the glass walls doing their job.

Either way, passing through the conservatory and even lingering there a moment didn’t help you. The moment you shut the door to the study behind you something seemed to tighten around your whole body, making you quite aware of the deeper breaths you had been taking since resuming the renovations.

You felt stupid for it, knew that your unease was the same unease you felt in any other large home. Having no one else around just made the wide and vast rooms feel more...void-like. Knowing that there was room beyond room around you just...empty, devoid of anything but chairs and paintings and figurines atop mantels; that you were the only living thing moving from room to room-

You shook your head, wanting to slap yourself. It wasn’t a new feeling, and you told yourself you should have gotten over it by now, this weird uneasiness of voids and empty spaces. Of being completely alone.

Of course, your next task surely wouldn’t help your discomfort.

It was only your second day of actually working on the house, but you told yourself you couldn’t put this next task off for the third day or the day after that. Surely the worst part would be cleaning up the blood, which you had done on the last visit. Surely climbing up that ladder and patching up that window wouldn’t be terrible.

So why did you find yourself standing at the bottom of the ladder, staring up at the cracked pane for nearly five whole minutes?

You swallowed down the lump in your throat, honestly, there was nothing to be scared of, it’s not like the ladder caused your brother’s heart attack. Forcing yourself to take a deep breath, you reached out, fingers closing around the metal step.

Something crawled up your spine.

Something so tangible your body jerked, but you knew nothing was behind you. No, no it was just cold. But why was it so intense? You shivered next, still paused in your act of climbing the ladder- why was it so cold all of the sudden. You forced yourself to look up, eyes crawling up the ladder toward the window, images of what might meet your gaze playing in your mind.

But there was nothing, just the cracked pane and the sunlight seeping in through the stained glass. Still, you were finding it hard to breathe even as you tried to ease the breaths out in a calming manner. You had just fought off another shiver, when something gave a shout somewhere behind you.

A gasp almost escaped as you wheeled towards the door that led to the study. Someone had called your name. Your heart was thundering in your ears now, breaths getting caught in your lungs. Another beat, your breath holding as you simply stared towards the door and the call from the other side. Then, the voice said something else.

And your lungs released their chokehold on you. It was just Atem. Or at least you thought you recognized that sultry baritone. Seriously why the hell were you so damn jumpy?

With a ragged sigh, you all but stormed towards the study, passed the room, and stepped out into the conservatory. Atem stood there, by the glass door that led out to the grounds, looking cautious as he peered into the home. He flashed you that small smile when he spotted you.

“I thought I would ask permission before entering this time, since I startled you so badly during our first meeting.”

You actually found yourself snorting at that, “Thanks, but you can always use the doorbell you know.”

“It’s broken. Has been for years.”

“Of course it has,” you sighed, actually vaguely remembering the note to fix it being way down at the bottom of your brother’s to-do list. Then, after realizing that he was still waiting for permission to enter (what was he, a vampire?) you waved for Atem to follow you. “Come on, you can help steady the ladder while I patch the window.”

He complied wordlessly, and as you slipped into the study, you remembered how you wanted to scold him about shutting doors properly. Just as you started to look over your shoulder though, you heard the soft click of a latch behind him. Satisfied, you just gave an approving nod without even turning as you both entered the library.

Perhaps it was still your own lingering apprehension, but you were acutely aware of the way Atem seemed to stiffen as you approached the spot. His eyes drifted up the wall beyond the ladder, as if he was taking stock of every inch of it, waiting for it to do something. Maybe brother was right, maybe Atem was a bit traumatized from finding him mid-heart attack. No one could blame the man, heck, just the knowledge that it happened here was freaking you out. Enough to make you a jumpy cat at every cold breeze and knock, at that.

“You okay?” the question was out before you even realized you wanted to ask it, but it felt right.

Atem’s eyes flicked away from the wall to gaze at you from their corners, “I will be. Just...promise me you’ll be careful.”

You gave a shrug, hoping to lighten the mood, “Come on, not like this spot in the house is a heart attack inducer or something, I’ll be fine.”

To further lighten, you stepped towards the ladder, facing your own hesitation head-on as you prepared to climb.

“That’s not what I meant, not exactly.”

Atem’s voice was low, and it almost seemed to tickle your ear despite the fact that he hadn’t moved closer. When you looked over your shoulder his gaze was steady, boring into you with something too gentle to be intensity, but too binding to be soft.

“Just be careful while you’re in this house,” he continued and you couldn’t break his gaze even if you wanted to. “This place...it has a bad habit of collecting accidents. Just...please be careful.”

Your throat was dry, so dry you didn’t bother trying for a verbal response. Instead, you just nodded after a moment, and something in your chest seemed to release when another smile lifted Atem’s lips at the agreement.

Despite how odd that moment might have been, you still took comfort in Atem’s presence as you turned back to the ladder and began climbing with care. Some part of you still expected something to happen with each step you took, but you were able to push the paranoia to the back of your mind.

After the hurdle of the climb was over, the actual patch job didn’t take more than a couple minutes, just gluing the cracks so they didn’t spread further and taping up plastic. The pane was a simple square, easily replaceable much to your relief. You were just about to climb back down when something else caught your eye.

Oh, you almost forgot about the odd tears you had seen on your first visit, but up here they were almost at eye level. Seeing them up close was even more odd. There were two tears in the wallpaper in the small space between the window and the bookshelves. They weren’t warped or bubbled enough to be moisture or water damage, besides that there weren’t any other signs of that on the walls. You ran your fingers over the tears, feeling the rough texture of the thick paper. The edges weren’t clean, they were frayed, stressed, like something had swelled underneath until the paper burst. Again your mind went to water damage, but you had never seen it do something quite like this, and surely it would have bubbled up further down the wall.

“Is everything alright?” Atem called from below, snapping you out of your baffled wondering.

You shook your head, “Uh, yeah, just trying to figure out what caused these marks. Always have to watch stuff like this, houses will give you signs of problems if they can.” Another motto your parents had left with you and your brother, though you supposed it was true in a way, you always had to look closer at these things, in case they were symptoms of a worse issue.

But, since you couldn’t find anything wrong besides the cosmetic damage, you opted to leave that for further investigation on another day. Besides, you were still a bit eager to get down.

You climbed back to the ground with ease and found Atem waiting patiently with his hands tucked in his pockets. It was only then that you took real notice of the man’s clothes: a plain black turtle-neck, and dark blue pants that weren’t as casual as jeans, but not dressy either, honestly you weren’t sure what kind of pants they were. He looked cozy in them at least, which, despite the heat of today, would be useful as fall continued.

“So, what’s next?” Atem asked with polite curiosity.

“I’m heading upstairs now, there’s a support beam in the attic I need to check on and a leak in a sink that should be taken care of before it gets worse.” You hefted a bag of tools over your shoulder.

He followed beside you as you headed towards the library door that led to the entry hall and the main staircase. At least the architect of this place had the common sense to make most rooms accessible from most parts of the house. You had been in several from the victorian era that were like mazes to get through, that had rooms you could only open after jogging through four other rooms.

The second floor of the house wasn’t as grand as the first in terms of decor or originality. In fact, most of the rooms were rather standard for a place built in the 20s, though still emulating the victorian style. The third floor wasn’t much either, though it had a nice loft above a den-like area that could definitely be the envy of any kid’s room. Heck, even you caught yourself daydreaming about how you would have decorated the space as a kid. Most of the third-floor rooms were cramped compared to the rest of the house, ceilings angled as the roofs neared their peak, spaces narrowing as the craftsman style made the rooms more haphazard than the first and even second floor.

The only access to the attic was via the second set of stairs in the house, the narrow servant’s stairs near the back. It was even more cramped up here, despite the fact that there was literally nothing but cobwebs, dust piles. and some minor debris from the house chipping and flaking away with age. Anyone on the tall end of the spectrum would have to crouch the whole time they were up here or risk banging their heads into the rafters and ceiling frames. You noted that Atem was short enough to avoid that problem altogether, though that wild hair of his was likely collecting some cobwebs.

He was rather quiet, another note made as you shuffled your way across the attic.

“I replaced this support beam the other day,” you started, if only to have some form of conversation, “it was the next pressing thing on the to-do list, but it’s been a while since I’ve done a repair that important so I want to keep checking on it.”

“You did such a thing by yourself? Isn’t that dangerous?” Atem asked, and though you couldn’t see his face as he walked behind you, you were sure his eyes were a bit narrowed in a silent scolding. “I never thought work like this should be done alone, yet you and your brother seemed determined to do so.”

You flashed him a rather flippant scowl over your shoulder, “We’re not stupid, yes, we do prefer to do things with minimal help, mostly because of cost, but we do hire other people when we need to.” You had reached the beam in question, and inspected it carefully as you continued, “There’s this kid- well, teenager, in town he had already agreed to help when it was needed, so he helped me with this.”

Atem apparently didn’t feel the need to reply and you took another minute to look your work over in silence. Then, satisfied, you looked back at your companion. He didn’t seem to be quite there, mentally speaking, he was gazing at nothing in particular and only blinked himself back into the moment once you gave a gentle call of his name.

“Sorry, I was just thinking. Well, at least you have help when you need it, I can’t imagine how upset he would be if you got injured while having over his project.”

You snorted at the thought, though you supposed your brother would be beside himself if you got hurt. Big brothers were always expected to be protectors, but that went double for yours. He had taken the role as your guardian very seriously after your parents were gone.

“Never mind him,” your tone was light again, still trying for that easy air, “ I’ll be beyond pissed if I have to join him in physical therapy.”

Moving on, you ducted past the beam, and Atem jerked out of your way as you headed towards the stairs.

“So, Atem, I really don’t know anything about you yet, mind if I ask some stereotypical questions?”

He made a small scuff of a laugh, “I don’t mind, ask away.”

“What do you do for a living?”

“I’m a historian. You made a joke the other day about me being an Egyptologist, I’m not, I simply know quite a bit about history in general.”

“So you, what, mostly do stuff online? There can’t be much call for a historian out here in the middle of nowhere.”

“I manage. You could say that I don’t need much to get by, and live a rather quiet life.”

As you two came to the door that opened to the stairwell, you took a moment to look back at Atem. He hadn’t really answered the question, though you supposed it wasn’t much of your business if he didn’t want to. Hell, for all you knew he wrote historical erotica and was too embarrassed to admit it. You had to hide your smirk at the thought as you turned to march down the stairs.

“Are you married? Seeing anyone in this teeny little town?” you asked next, though you were worried the loud creaking of the steps under your feet would drown out his answer.

“No, I don’t tend to get out enough to date. And you?”

If you hadn’t asked the single or taken question first, you’d be tempted to tease the way his voice went up a notch when he asked you. “Nope. Been single for over a year now, but that’s okay, he was an ass you made me seriously reconsider my dating priorities.”

“I see...”

You thought you heard Atem take a breath, ready to say something else, but a noise from your phone interrupted him.

“Right on time,” you said, taking a quick glance at the screen, then, seeing Atem's curiosity you waved the screen displaying your brother’s name and message, “He’s giving me a one-hour warning before his therapy is up so I know when to head that way. Should give me just enough time to fix that pipe.”

You notice a slight fall in Atem’s expression, “I did not realize you would be leaving so soon, I suppose I should have visited earlier.”

Though you weren’t sure why, something akin to guilt started itching at your chest, especially since he was seeming to avoid your gaze now, opting to look at the hallway walls instead.

“Well, if you’re free tomorrow, both of us will be here all day,” you suggested, even as you turned into the master suite. “Now that I put that ramp in, we can spend most of our free time here. Besides, I know big bro will be happy to see you, he’s pretty certain that he traumatized you last time you saw him.”

You were happy to hear Atem chuckle at the words. “You can assure him that it takes more than that to shake me, at least now that I know he’s alright.” Right when you reached the bathroom door, Atem stepped slightly in your way, making you halt. “I will be sure to visit you both tomorrow, until then, have a good day,” he ended the parting words with your name and a nod of his head, though his eyes lingered on you, trailing over your face for a long moment before he stepped back.

“You too…” the words lingered after him and his rather abrupt goodbye as he headed out of the room, only giving you a smirk over his shoulder as he went.

He had done that during your first meeting as well, suddenly taking his leave as if his time here had always been pressed. Then again the man had a life of his own, work or errands likely calling his attention.

Shaking it off as the man just being ‘a bit odd’ as your brother had said, you went ahead and stepped into the bath to wrap up the day’s chores. As you crouched near the sink and dug out the needed tools, you tried to listen for the front door, but there was only a soft thud somewhere in the distance. That made sense though, sound rarely traveled well through homes like this.

Much like the window patch, this was an easy fix, just replacing the gasket that had worn down in the past years, and you had bought the part in the city earlier that day. You hummed to yourself as you worked and barely more than ten minutes later you were done. You noticed a knot forming in your shoulder from the awkward position, and tried to stretch it out as you reached up to turn the faucet on. After letting it run for a bit you were sure the leak was fixed and climbed to your feet. Stretching again, you took in the bathroom’s design, hating how much it would cost to repair everything else in here.

Alexander Hawkins had apparently wanted to feel like the royalty he snatched treasures from, because his master bath was reminiscent of a pharaoh’s bathhouse- or at least what you imagined one looked like. Turquoise mosaics made up the sink, backsplash, and countertops, the walls were painted with a pattern resembling flower bundles, and decorative pillars flanked the bathtub. To top it all off the tub itself was large, with two steps leading up to it, golden faucets, and depictions of Isis and lotus flowers on the sides.

The problem was that time had not been kind to the delicate materials, and numerous cracks littered the tiles and mosaics making up the room. If big brother wanted to keep the design intact, it would cost. Still, the bathtub was in working order, and it was only the outside tiles that needed replaced, that was a plus.

Oh, the thought of a shower was inciting. your shirt was sticking to your back and you felt dirty from the sweat you had collected while working outside. You were going out to eat again tonight, and the thought of going out like this really did not appeal. The tub was clean, showing that your brother had probably used it several times after getting dirty himself. And besides all that, you did have a towel and spare shirt in your backpack downstairs.

You checked the time on your phone. If you hurried, you could get just clean enough and still only pick your brother up only a few minutes late. You at least had the decency to shoot him an “I’ll be late” text as you bolted for the stairs. You snatched your backpack up and headed back up the stairs in record time.

It was only when you reentered the master bedroom that the eerie emptiness of the house started to creep back upon you. It wasn’t so bad with Atem around, having another person made the whole house feel more...alive. But you forced the uneasiness to the back of your mind as you slipped the sticky clothing off, you only had to deal with it for a few more minutes, you could handle that.

The tub didn’t have a curtain, relying on the sheer size of the tub to catch all the falling water, so you just stepped in and turned the golden faucet on, instantly singing as the water hit your bare skin. You reveled in the rain-like droplets, closing your eyes and simply letting it wash over you. You let yourself have this for a while, long enough for steam to build up and cloud the mirror over the sink and then some. But, unfortunately, you couldn’t relax for long, time wasn’t on your side after all.

So with a final rinse, you turned the knob and let the water roll down your skin down the drain, before stepping out. You had to be wary of the time floors, now slick with the condensation of your hot water. After thoroughly patting yourself down with the towel, you walked to the vanity where your new shirt and the rest of your clothes lay.

Your fingers had just touched the fabric when something cold ran up your arms

You froze, just like in the library, something intense and unknowing wracked your senses. It made the hairs on the back of your next stand up, your skin shiver and crawl. Before you could even think as to why, your eyes were darting up to the foggy mirror- and your heart nearly stopped in your chest.

Something had clawed at the glass.

No- no. You took a step back, shaking your head as you clamped your eyes shut. Don’t be stupid, nothing had clawed at the glass! You took a calming breath before opening your eyes and looking at the streaks closer. You were thoroughly scolding yourself now, they were just finger marks, likely having been there for years since the glass hadn’t been cleaned in all that time.

Of course, that’s why they were, there was even a spot that looked like a palm below the streaks. It was the same as drawing on a mirror with water then blowing hot breath on it, it was bound to leave marks. Still, the fact that you were so jumpy was off-putting in of itself, why did this place have that effect on you.

“Christ, what’s wrong with me?” you snapped to yourself. Then, in an irritated move, you swiped your hand across the mirror to clean off the rest of the steam-made fog before snatching up your clothes.

Crack!

Something flashed just above your hand and you reared back with a cry just as a shard of glass shattered on the turquoise sink! You nearly slipped on the tile in your frantic move, but just managed to catch yourself on the counter. Heartbeats were thundering in your ears again as your eyes snapped back up to the mirror.

There, right across the middle in a jagged slash, the glass had cracked, leaving the top half to fall free and nearly impale your hand. You let out another curse under your breath, only then realizing that your breaths were coming out in something just short of frantic heaves. With another step back, slower this time, you closed your eyes, keeping your hand clamped over your heart as you calmed your breathing.

Your sense came back with every breath and once they were under control, you forced your mind to start thinking rationally again. Just like the ‘claw’ marks, the breaking had to have a logical cause. The glass was old, yes, that was it. It was just used to years of the temperature only changing slowly over the seasons. Your hot shower, the drastic temperature change, must have stressed it, and your irritated rubbing was the last straw. That had to be it. You told yourself as much even as you opened your eyes and looked at your jagged reflection.

“Just being jumpy,” you assured yourself in a whisper, the half-face in the mirror staring back at you just like any normal broken mirror would.

Still, once you tore your gaze away from it, you were practically tripping as you yanked your clothes back on, and didn’t look back as you sprinted out the door.

One of the only spots in the village of Hartstown was a mom and pop diner that had specials labeled things like “kettle-me hungry soup” and “sandwich supper surprise”, but the restaurant was decent enough despite its nonsensical wordplay on the menu. Though you had ordered something safer than a surprise sandwich stuffed with lord knew what, you were still picking at your plate with a disinterest that had little to do with the meal.

The scene of that glass shard falling kept replying in your mind, not only that, but your reaction to that and practically everything before it. Maybe it was just the AC unit near your booth, but you thought you even felt a phantom of the shivers that had crawled up your spine during those uneasy moments.

“So, as you might have guessed, I’ve definitely decided to head to LA and dance naked in front of Scarlet Johansson!” your brother proclaimed from the seat across from you, which promptly caused you to blink back into the moment.

“Wait-” you shook your head and finally looked back up at him, “what the heck are you going on about?”

With the good-grace of a toddler, he rolled his eyes at you, “Finally I get your attention, I’ve been rambling nonsense for the past two minutes!”

“Sorry,” your voice sounded more defeated, more tired than you meant it too, and you tried to give him an apologetic smile to strengthen the word.

At that, his brows actually drew together a bit, his eyes gaining a more serious look, “Are you okay?” he asked, tone low, gently nudging, “You’ve been off ever since you picked me up, you’re starting to worry me.”

You opened your mouth, intending to brush his worry off with a ‘yeah’ or ‘of course’, but the words didn’t come. Instead, you finally set your fork down and said, “I don’t know. I… can I ask you something, even if it sounds stupid or silly?”

“I think I got desensitized to silly questions that time you asked me why dragons aren’t real when you were four.” He was grinning now, obviously trying for an easy air, but it only lasted a second before he dropped the silly smile and leaned in. “Come on, you know you can tell me whatever. What’s wrong?”

“Have you...since you’ve been working on this house, have you noticed being more...uneasy, or jumpier? Like does the place make you unsettled at all?”

His brows were furrowed again as he thought the question over. He took his time, maybe looking over all the days spent there, or maybe just trying to figure out the best answer that wouldn’t upset you. “Well, not really. I don’t feel more jumpy necessarily, but… okay, this may sound stupid but, I actually started having these weird dreams about the house. I don’t remember my dreams a lot of the time but these were like...super intense. But I just figured I was stressing over getting the renovations done.”

He thought for a moment again, actually biting his lip before continuing.

“Actually, now that I think about it, I had the weird dreams not long before the heart attack. Maybe they were signs of my health taking a big drop, you know stress or whatever?” His eyes, which had been staring unfocused at the pine colored table, now snapped back up to you. “Why do you ask? Been getting weird vibes from the manor or something?”

Suddenly feeling more embarrassed than before, you picked up your fork again, only to resume batting your food around. “I’ve just been acting kinda jumpy and nervous when I’m in the house, that’s all.”

“Weird, that’s not like you,” concern and even a little interest was apparent in his voice, “heck whenever mom and dad moved us to a new project you were never afraid or skittish of exploring the old places. And I can’t remember how many times I woke up in the dead of night and had to drag you back to bed.”

“I know, it’s why I’m weirded out by the way I’ve felt while in the manor. Doesn’t make sense...” He didn’t say anything at first, and when the silence persisted for a few beats longer, you took a deep breath and put on your biggest smile for him. “Eh, doesn’t matter now, I’m sure it’ll get better now that you’ll keep me company while I work.”

He stared back at you for a bit, eyes narrowing some to show just how unconvinced he was. Still, he let it drop and gave a shrug. “Yup, thanks for putting in that ramp, I think making myself useful will help my recovering go by faster.” Then, obviously deciding to let you move on from the topic, he snatched up the dessert menu tucked between the salt and pepper shakers. “Anyway, if you aren’t going to finish your food, we have to get something in your stomach. You want some cake or ice cream?”

The next day began a repair project sure to be a lengthy one. After talking it over you and your brother decided that working on the grand staircase should be the next task and you were dreading the days upon days it would take to get everything he wanted regarding the staircase done. Well, at least you had help.

“Bring your end to the right just a tad, Max,” you said, making a slight motion with your hand so he wasn’t in doubt on if you meant your right or his. “That’s it, perfect!”

The son of the local hardware store owner was impressing you more and more as the day ticked on. He was a surprisingly capable and had good intuition on what needed to be done as you two worked together. Heck, when he helped you install that replacement beam you hardly had to coach him at all.

“Yes yes, you’re both doing an amazing job! Looks great!” your brother called from his lounged position in the entry hall.

Seeing as how you and Max were crouched in the cupboard space under the stairs, he had made camp on the other side of the opened door with a cup of coffee and some cookies Max’s mom had baked for the three of you. He had also made a habit of gloating for the past fifteen minutes. After screwing brackets to the planks you and Max cut to size, there wasn’t much work for your brother to do, something that he was all too willing to make comments on.

“Oh shut it, before I kick you in your bad leg,” you grumbled as you twisted to the side to screw in the wooden brace you and Max were holding under the step.

“That, kiddo, is sibling abuse and I will not have it from my servants,” he replied, doing a terrible impersonation of an English Lord.

He jumped in his chair when you kicked a stray L bracket at your foot through the door and towards him, promptly causing Max to stifle a snort.

After that “attack” he managed to remain silent as you and Max continued to work, at least for a while. Sometime later there was a knock on the front door, one that echoed so cacophonously, that poor Max gave a start, knocking his head into the underside of the stairs. Your brother called for whoever it was to come in, and the door creaked open with a groan.

“Atem!” he called to the visitor, and though you couldn’t see from your spot in the cupboard, you heard Atem give a warm hello in return.

“I see you’re doing well, I’m glad,” Atem went on and you could just see his figure as he stopped beside your brother’s seat.

“Yup, just have to get these limbs healed up,” he wiggled his cast-coated arm and leg, “after that I’ll be back on the job. And I hear you’ve met the kiddo,” he waved his good hand towards the cupboard, causing Atem to lean down a bit and peer through the door, “and the kid in the back is Max.”

“I have a name too, jackass,” you scolded, before drilling in another screw. He had always made a bad habit of introducing you with the nickname.

“The stairs needed to be repaired?” Atem stepped closer to look over your work with curiosity, though he didn’t enter the space for fear of getting in your way.

“Not dire ones, no, but we noticed some weak points in the wood and figured adding some braces to the steps would be a good call.” You turned to repeat the drilling process on Max’s side, but just managed to catch a glimpse of Atem’s face falling into a slight frown.

“This looks like it will take a while,” Atem muttered and you looked over your shoulder to find his eyes wandering up the many steps.

“It will, especially since the second flights will be harder to get to,” you waved a bit to indicate how the stairs split into two and turned opposite each other halfway up, indeed dreading the chore, “But I think it’ll be worth it, it pays to assure buyers that their grand lavish staircase won’t collapse on them.”

“You’re not going to work into the night, are you?”

At the question, you again looked over your shoulder, almost giving him a raised brow, “Uh, probably not, Max here has school in the morning and we actually like to have a thing called dinner. We’ll be here for a few hours though.”

Atem nodded after a pause of consideration, “Good, it wouldn’t be wise to work so late.”

That comment struck you as odd too, but you brushed it off and turned back to your work. There was silence behind you for a bit, but another glance at Atem showed that he was looking the stairway over with careful consideration. Then, as you and Max moved on to attaching the next plank, your brother decided to distract Atem by waving him back over. Judging by the low tones, you figured he was thanking Atem for saving him that day. Your suspicions were confirmed when Atem simply smiled at him and assured that he was happy he started stopping by the house so often.

You started to tune out the conversation a bit as they chattered, working to get the next brace up before the shake in Max’s arms started to get worse. Once that was done you gave the kid a sympathetic smile.

“Ready for a break?”

He nodded, obviously grateful you had noticed his need for one, poor kid must have wanted to avoid looking like a whiner. When you two stepped out of the cupboard you saw your brother chatting Atem’s ear off and, though he looked attentive to the conversation, you couldn’t help noticing that Atem was looking more worn than the previous time’s you’d seen him.

After tossing one of the homemade cookies to Max and biting into one yourself, you held the plate out to Atem, “Cookie? They’re fresh and super yummy.” You wiggle the plate to further entice him, earning a smirk in reply, despite that he seemed even more haggard now that you were looking at him up close.

“Thank you, but I’ll have to pass,” he actually took a step back then- and you almost dropped the plate when he stumbled a bit, your instinct to jump forward to help him taking over. He held up his hand the moment he straightened, a silent assurance that he was fine to pair with his thankful smile. “I’m actually feeling a bit under the weather all of the sudden,” he looked to each of you in turn, his eyes holding an apology, “I should be going, the last thing I want is to make anyone else ill.”

You took a step towards him even as he stepped back again, the man was practically worsening before your eyes! “I can walk you home, if you want, make sure you get there okay.”

“No, that’s alright,” his smile had fallen now, though you could tell he was still trying to put on a grateful air.

“Need medicine from town or anything? We can go pick some up for you,” your brother offered next, leaning forward in his chair and watching Atem just as carefully as you.

Again Atem shook his head, “I’ll be fine, but thank you.” He gave a look towards the sitting room, one that was a bit anxious. “Do you mind if I use the kitchen door?”

“Uh- yeah, yeah sure,” your brother insisted, waving Atem in that direction, “feel better soon, dude.”

Atem didn’t say any more to that, just nodded his head in thanks and ducked into the sitting room. You tried to listen to his footsteps as he retreated through the house, but rugs must have muffled his feet. At least you didn’t hear him collapse on the ground.

You and your brother exchanged a look and a shrug, before Max chimed in with, “That dude was weird.”

Again, your brother shrugged, “Wonder what made him feel sick all of the sudden,” his eyes flickered down to the cookies, “I mean, the cookies aren’t that bad.”

“I don’t know,” you signed, then set the plate back down on the end table beside him, “Sucks too, I think he was looking forward to seeing you again.”

“Well, at least we won’t stop coming around any time soon.”

You nodded at that, and the conversation seemed to move on as your brother asked Max to go refill his coffee cup. You quickly offered to do it instead, your mind still occupied with Atem’s odd demeanor and wanting to check on something. It wasn’t until you were turning towards the kitchen that you realized the path Atem had taken was an odd one, as there was a door beside the main stairs that led almost directly to the kitchens. He really must have been out of his head with his sudden illness.

That made you more concerned though and you found yourself double-checking the route he had taken to the kitchen just to make sure he hadn’t fallen on his way out. He hadn’t, but you still scanned the grounds through the kitchen windows as you poured your brother’s coffee, just to make sure. You didn’t see anything resembling a body out there either, thank goodness.

Despite having that assurance, however, you found yourself unable to shake him from your mind, even as you went back to work.

Several days passed, two of them spent at the manor, and not a word was heard from your repeat visitor. The previous day you were there, before you began the day’s work, you had even taken a walk in the forest bordering the manor to see if you could find his house and check on him. The search yielded nothing, and you had to tamp down the worry you felt for the rest of the day.

Honestly, the concern you felt for him was a little surprising, you barely knew the man but couldn’t seem to get him far from your mind. If it wasn’t mulling over how...mysterious he was, it was something else like this.

Now it was the third workday at the manor later, and you were hoping he’d show up today. If he just had a cold or felt bad from the changing seasons, surely he would be better by now. Even aside from your aforementioned worry, you felt his absence particularly bad today, as it was the first time all week that you were alone in the house again.

The stairs were all reinforced now, and today your brother had opted to stay at your shared airbnb seeing as how he couldn’t help much with your project today. You wanted to get all the work needed on the staircase done now, and that included sanding down every step and revarnishing them. It was a necessary task to recapture the manor’s original sparkle, but you didn’t relish how much time it would take.

At least the loudness of the sanding belt gave some form of distraction, you hardly ever had time to think about how empty the house was over the noise. No, instead you found yourself constantly looking over your shoulder and taking periodic breaks to check if the house really was empty. You were sure you were just expecting to find Atem leaning against the banister, waiting until you took notice of him before saying anything.

But no, time ticked away and no matter how many times you checked, Atem was nowhere to be found. You worked anyway and took a break to go get some food and check on your brother before going back to finish the job. You were thankful that the house had plenty of lighting because you noted the setting sun as you parked your car in the driveway again. Though you did want to groan at having to be here so late, you were determined to get it done.

There was still plenty of sunlight as you unlocked the front door, but even still, when you opened it you felt the urge to shiver.

Memories of the broken mirror in the bathroom came back to you and gave you pause, the door only half-open. You stood there on the stoop, staring at nothing and only able to register the shiver and those memories. This was ridiculous, the mirror was just a mirror, and nothing strange had happened in the manor that you couldn’t explain away.

Taking a calming breath, you pushed the door the rest of the way open. A vision of someone or something standing on the other side flashed in your mind, but you released a hard huff of air when nothing but the large entry hall greeted you.

You still fumbled a bit frantically for the light switch on the wall beside you, even as the day’s dying light filtered in through the window at the top of the stairs. Again you scolded yourself, rubbing a hand over your face as you all but slammed the door behind you and told yourself to stop being paranoid.

After that, you wasted no time in getting back to work, determined to get the varnishing done so it could dry overnight. This work was quieter than the sanding, but you played your favorite playlist on the boombox to keep distracted. The light outside the window slowly faded until only the lights on the chandelier lit your way, but you didn’t mind. The trees surrounding the house might be particularly foreboding at night, but in here you could easily put such things out of your mind.

At one point you found your eyes closing of their own accord and only snapped them open when your hand felt wet, a result of touching the still wet varnishing in your sleepy stupor. Thankfully two steps after that incident you were finally gloriously done!

With a stretch and a yawn, you took real notice of just how exhausted you were, though little else could be expected after considering how many hours you had worked. Just as you were hating the idea of the drive back to town through the pitch-black roads, your phone rang.

“Hey, how's it going, close to done yet?” big brother asked after you answered.

“Just finished, actually-” a yawn broke the words, causing him to chuckle on the other end.

“Sounds like a good thing too, you sure you’re okay to drive back? Those country roads can be dangerous at night.”

You almost shrugged before remembering that he couldn’t see it through the phone, “I mean, I don’t have much of a choice, not like I want to crash in one of the dust-filled mattresses upstairs.”

“Well, there’s one bed there suitable for human slumber,” he said with a hum, “I cleaned the mattress in the master suite and put spare blankets and pillows in the closet, in case there was ever a night like this and I just needed to crash.”

The sheer magnitude of your exhaustion showed in your cry of relief at the words, “I think I’ll do that, then, because I’m so tired, I could probably curl up on the stairs if I didn’t have a way home.”

“Go for it! Catch some sleep and I’ll see you in the morning, k?”

“Okay, goodnight.”

A tired brand of excitement took over at the promise of immediate sleep, so much so that you almost jumped on the still wet steps before remembering that you would have to take the servant's stairs. That wasn’t a far walk though, and just a couple of turns after the stairs you were in the master suite. Indeed there were blankets and pillows tucked away in the closet and you dug them out greedily before throwing them on the bed. You didn’t bother undressing, considering you didn’t have PJs anyway, and just crawled under the chilly covers, tucked in, and closed your eyes.

Warm took over soon, and with your music still playing downstairs, you were able to drift off rather quickly.

The night ticked on, your sleeping form peaceful from exhaustion even after your playlist came to an end and silence filled the halls. Silence, all except the old grandfather clock ticking in the entry hall. Nothing stirred in the lounge or the kitchen. Nothing shifted in the conservatory besides the crickets resting on the weeds outside the window.

Nothing within the halls of the House of Anubis moved. That is, until the shadows came.

Moonlight had bathed your sleeping form for over an hour, but once the moon crept higher and disappeared above the window, shadows slowly filled the room. You slept on peacefully, even as something scraped behind the walls- claws dragging, searching. Something whispered, something growled as it dragged itself closer to new flesh; a new victim.

The shadows were its paths and something shifted beneath the thick wallpaper of the master’s room. Its claws scraped just enough to make you stir for a moment, but it wasn’t enough to wake you, even as the wall above your headboard started breathing. A hiss, and the walls looked more like cloth as something that vaguely resembled a hand moved under it, and down closer to your peaceful form.

In slow, almost labored movements the hand- the boney claw tried to reach out, straining against the wall like rubber, desperate to reach you- desperate to tear and squeeze the life out! It growled again a beast fighting to grab hold of its meal-

Then it reared back and hissed as even darker shadows grabbed hold of it.

There, in the far corner of the room, something shifted in the dark, sharp eyes glowing as the darker shadows chained the creature, yanking it back from you even as it snapped and hissed and spat. Atem stepped out of the shadows then, hands tucked in his pockets as he glared at the thing hovering above you.

“You can’t have this one, I won’t allow it!” he said in a voice low and cold.

With nothing but a thought, more shadows crept into the room, spiraling out from his own shadow like tendrils until they wrapped around the creature. It fought even though it was no use, it was still too weak to stand up to him and Atem knew it. Soon enough with a snarling whine, it retreated, back to the dark hidden pit it came from, leaving Atem victorious.

He closed his eyes, their glowing irises fading as the shadows settled, blending into the natural shapes on the walls as if they were never there to begin with. He sighed as he opened his eyes again, gaze landing on your form. It wasn’t surprising that you didn’t wake, even if you did you’d find an empty room. Still, Atem almost wished you had, almost wished you had seen the creature hovering over you so you would finally have the damn good instincts to stay away from this place at night!

He bit back the bitter thoughts, he couldn’t blame you, not really, and he should just be thankful that you and your brother hadn’t decided to live in the house while restoring it. Even still, his worry simmered in his chest, causing him to step across the room until he was by the bedside. You looked so calm, tranquil, even...vulnerable.

He hadn’t realized he was reaching out to touch your cheek until his fingers were hovering just a hair away from your soft skin. He let it linger there for a bit, on the verge of touch, until he closed his fist and pulled it back with a shake of his head. He was such a fool sometimes. Even after all this heartache, he still found it hard not to get attached, not to cling to every positive force that he encountered.

Even still and even considering the fact that the creature wouldn’t dare return that night, Atem settled down in the armchair beside the bed, and watched over you until sunlight creped over the windowsill and filled the room.

[samdeancass]

Kick Ass

Requested by: Anonymous

Pairing: Sam x reader

Genre: Fluff

Characters: Sam, Dean, Y/N

Description: Sam and Dean need help on a hard case. Another hunter tells them to find Y/N, which they do but at a photoshoot. The brothers question whether they’ve found the right person until they go on the hunt, turns out Y/N is badass!

“Dean, we really need help on this. We won’t be able to do this by ourselves, the pack is too big.” Sam leaned back in his chair, rubbing his hands over his face. He knew his brother despised working with other hunters, he didn’t know if they could be trusted. 

“Really? Couldn’t we just take the kid with us, he’d be able to smite them to oblivion with just a flick of his finger.” Dean walked into the library with his mouth full of pie and sat down in front of his brother. 

“Dean, you know we can’t. He’s lost his soul, we don’t know how he’ll react if we take him out into the field. We have to call for backup.” Dean threw his head back and groaned. 

“Alright. But they best not get in my way.” He pointed an accusing finger at Sam, who held up his hands in surrender. 

“I’ll call Garth and see if he can lead us to anybody who can help.” Sam stood up from the table and walked away from the table to have the conversation without Dean butting in every 2 seconds. Dean placed his plate of pie on the table and turned the laptop towards him, continuing the research.

After a few minutes, Sam had found that there was a hunter nearby who specialized in hunting werewolves. He walked into the library to tell Dean and found him dropping bits of pie onto his laptop. “Dude! Seriously! You’re 41 and you still eat like a toddler!” He picked up the laptop and began to shake it, crumbs falling off and onto the floor. “You’re cleaning that up.” Dean looked up at Sam with a deadpan look on his face. “Yeah, no.” Dean opened his mouth to argue back when Sam cut him off.

“Alright, enough Dean. Garth pointed me towards a hunter who lives not too far from here. If we get going now, we can make it before dark.” Sam walked away and started to gather up his gear, leaving Dean pouting a little. “But, my pie.” He looked down sadly at the piece of pie that was still left on the plate. “Until we meet again, gorgeous.” He got up from the table and went to gather up his gear to.

A little over 2 hours later, Sam and Dean rolled up to a large building. “Dude, I think Garth gave us the wrong directions again. Surely, this hunter can’t live here. What’s their name anyway? I can’t work with anybody who has a weird name, freaks me out.” Dean shivered and Sam rolled his eyes. “Her name’s Y/N and she’s supposed to be the best werewolf hunter around.” The brothers scouted the building once more before getting out of the Impala and walking inside the building. 

All they could see around them were cameras and flashing lights. They looked around to find any sign that there was a hunter around but they couldn’t see any. No flannel, no guns, nada. Dean noticed a young woman in the middle of the room posing for a photo shoot and nudged Sam. “Dude, do you think that’s her?” Sam shook his head in response. “Surely not. She doesn’t look like a hunter.” 

Sam was transfixed with you. He couldn’t take his eyes off you. From your legs, to your body, to your hair. Every part of your body had him drooling. He hadn’t even noticed Dean talking until he nudged him. “Earth to Sammy. Hello!” Sam shook his head. “What?!” Dean began to laugh. “You’ve got the hots for her, haven’t you?” Sam smacked the back of Deans head and began to walk over towards the woman.

Between the flashing lights, you could see two tall figures in the background. Garth had called you earlier and said that some hunters needed help with some werewolves. When you seen one of the figures walk towards you, you told the cameramen to stop and began to walk towards him.

“Hey. Is there anybody around here called Y/N? We need to talk to her.” You looked up at the incredibly tall man that was standing in front of you. His hair shaped around his face in a way that had you weak at the knees. His body on the other hand, was a different story. 

“You’ve found her.” You smiled up at the mysterious man who looked taken aback. “Wow, Ok. I just never expected a model to moonlight as a hunter.” You began to laugh. “Well, a girl has to make her money someway and this is the best way I could think of. Now what did you need to talk to me about?”

You and Sam began to talk about the case the brothers were hunting whilst Dean stood back and watched his brother. A small smirk crept up onto his face. He hadn’t seen his brother like this with a girl since Jessica and it was lovely to see how at peace he was. Sam and you walked over to Dean, who still had a small smile on his face. 

“Your ready, Dean? Or are you gonna keep smiling like a complete idiot?” You and Sam laughed in unison, whilst Deans’ expression turned into a frown. “You’re an idiot.” 

The three of you walked over to the Impala and got inside. “So, Y/N. How does a model like yourself get into the life of a hunter. Surely, it gets a little hard for you to explain your injuries to those people. Unless your too girly to actually hunt properly.” Dean began to laugh which earned him an elbow in the ribs from Sam.

“I’m not even going to dignify that with an answer, Dean. I’ll show you just how girly I am when we find those werewolves and then you will eat your words.” You gave him a sarcastic smile and moved your head to look out of the window. Dean laughed in response. “I like this one, Sammy. She’s got spunk.” “Just shut up and drive, Dean.” 

After a few hours drive, you had arrived at where the pack was hiding out which was, surprise surprise, an abandoned hut in a forest. “Alright, Sammy, you go in through the back, me and Y/N will go through the front. She’ll need protection.” Dean wiggled his eyebrows, indicating he wanted to get a rise out of you, which was working. “Excuse me! I don’t need protection from anybody. I’ll go in through the back, thank you.” You grabbed your gun out of the trunk of the car and walked around to the back of the building.  Dean laughed at your reaction and Sam shook his head in disapproval. “C’mon, idiot.” Sam strutted off towards the entrance of the building and Dean followed. 

You had your head up against the door of the building, listening for movement. From what you could tell, there were about 6 werewolves in there which meant that the three of you had to take on 2 each. You burst through the door at the same time as the brothers and began to shoot. Your first shot took down one wolf but your second shot missed. You ducked out of the way before the wolf could injure you and punched them square in the face. The brothers had both taken down the 4 werewolves that were on them and were currently standing in awe at what they were seeing. 

You had the werewolf up against the wall and ducked down to get the silver knife from the pocket of your jeans. The wolf began to snap and snarl at you which made the brothers inch towards you a little more, ready to jump in if something went wrong.

“Listen you little bitch. The last thing you will see as I slice threw your throat will be the smile on my face. This is what happens when you chomp down on innocent people.” You sliced the blade through the wolfs neck and the body fell to the floor, completely lifeless. You wiped the blood off your blade and turned to the brothers, who had their mouths open in shock. “What? Have you never seen a model hunt before?” You walked straight past them and into the backseat of the Impala, a smug smile on your face. 

“Sammy, if you don’t make a move on her, I will. She is badass! She truly did prove me wrong.” Dean strolled off to the front of the Impala and took his seat. Sam smiled to himself and walked off after his brother. He knew he had to keep you around, somehow.

Tags: @akshi8278