#the fact my aunt just showed me a trailer and I couldn’t make out a single thing from it but we watched a vlog from someone

[thasorns-moved]

Turkey made a adaption of Strangers from Hell??!! HELL YES count me in!!

[pitubea1910]

Happy to oblige

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Reader

Featuring: Avengers + Harry Styles (random, I know)

Word count: 7k

Warnings: some swearing

Tags: -

Request: -

Notes: it’s been ages but I’m finally posting something again! Hope you like it :)

Masterlist

You were in love with your best friend and he had no idea. Cliché, right? Yes, you couldn’t deny it, but it was still frustrating and heartbreaking at the same time.  

You and Bucky were inseparable since you two met. It turned out that you were the only person -besides Steve- who could keep him calm and, as a matter of a fact, he helped you get over the loss of your family during a terrorist attack that you couldn’t prevent. 

After that day, he showed up at your room every day to check on you. He never forced you to do anything you didn’t want to. If you wanted to spend the day in bed, he could crawl in with you. If you wanted to cry, he could be your shoulder; if you wanted to scream, he would listen; if you needed to punch someone, he would be your adversary. It didn’t matter what you needed: he would give it to you. 

It was kind of impossible not to fall for him, even if it was only one-sided. You had never told him how you felt, so you didn’t really know how he felt about you. However, Steve and Nat kept on insisting that he loved you back. You never believed them. It was easier that way. And, eventually, you got used to those feelings, they became a part of you and you learned to live with them while having him as a friend. 

“You seriously aren’t going to tell him”, Natasha said when she watched you hug Bucky goodbye. He was leaving with Steve and Sam for a meeting with Tony and wouldn’t be back until later that night. 

“How many times do we have to talk about it?” You said, stealing a few popcorns from her bowl. 

“As many times as it takes you to tell him you love him”, she replied. 

“Well, get comfortable then. I’m not telling him”, you shrugged. 

“You are the most stubborn person I have ever met”, she sighed. “He loves you too! You could be living your perfect love story, having mind blowing sex every day and yet, you chose-”

“Friendship, Nat”, you interrupted her. “I chose friendship. Also, you don’t know if he loves me”, you added.

“Of course I do”, she said. “He told Steve.”

You were about to throw a popcorn in your mouth but stopped mid-way. You looked at her, not sure you had truly heard what she had just said. 

“Excuse me?” You asked. 

“Yeah”, she shrugged with a small smile. You narrowed your eyes at her. 

Natasha was a great friend, but she was also really good at deceiving and you knew she would do anything in order to get you two together. Even lying about this. 

“Don’t give me that look!” She said. “I promise I’m not lying. He told Steve at Clint’s birthday party. You were flirting with that guy from the bio team-”

“He was the one flirting with me!”

“Whatever. Bucky was drunk and got jealous, so he spilled the beans to Steve and I happened to be close enough to listen to him”, she shrugged. 

“Clint’s party was weeks ago! Why didn’t you tell me?” You frowned. 

“I thought he would tell you, to be honest. I never thought he would be so slow”, she said with a roll of her eyes. “Too much for a super soldier, huh? Take down terrorists, put himself in the middle of a battlefield, but sharing his feelings it’s too much.”

“Natasha, this is not funny”, you warned her. “If you’re lying…”

“I’m not!” She exclaimed. “Anyway, it’s not like you can say anything. If you did, you would have to admit that I told you and they would know I had been eavesdropping and I would look like a major gossip.”

“And your reputation is way more important than your friend’s happiness?” You asked. 

“Five minutes ago you were refusing to come clean, so don’t try and make me feel bad”, she said. 

You looked at her for a few seconds before grabbing another handful of popcorn and getting out of the living room. Was she saying the truth or was everything a trap to make you confess your feelings to Bucky? Her story seemed too real to be a lie, and you remembered Bucky’s strange behaviour during Clint’s party. Back then, you thought he was just drunk, but maybe he was really jealous. 

You had to find out the truth without exposing Nat. Although you had no idea how to do it.

That night, you came back downstairs after spending the afternoon in your room trying to come up with a way of discovering if Bucky truly had feelings for you. You didn’t have a proper plan, but you had a few ideas. What you didn’t expect was that it would be Tony the one to give you the perfect plan without even knowing it.

“Is everyone back?” You asked Natasha, who was still on the couch, now reading a magazine. 

“Yeah, they came back a while ago. Steve is making dinner”, she said. 

“Oh God”, you mumbled. “Are you ordering pizza, then?”

“Yeah, I have the order ready on my phone. Check it out in case you want to add anything”, she said. 

You took a seat next to Nat and took her phone, doing as she had said. To be honest, Steve was one of the best people you had ever met, but he was a complete disaster in the kitchen. He knew it, but he kept on trying. And failing. So it was always good to have a backup plan whenever he decided to make dinner. 

“And Bucky is talking to Tony, by the way”, Natasha commented. You glanced at her but made no comment. 

“Bullshit, Stark. I’m not doing it!” You heard an angry Bucky saying. 

When you looked up from Nat’s phone, you saw him coming up from Tony’s lab, with a smirking Tony closely following. You sighed and looked at Nat, who just shook her head. It was common knowledge that Tony enjoyed messing with Bucky, so you barely paid attention to their little quarrels anymore. 

“C’mon, it’s not a bit of a deal. We will all do it”, Tony said. This time, you were curious.

“Do what?” You asked from your spot on the couch. 

“We have been invited to a premiere”, Tony shrugged. 

“That’s cool!” You smiled. 

“What?” Bucky frowned. 

“What’s wrong about a premiere?” Natasha asked. 

“Interviews”, you finally said with a chuckle. “It’s impossible for us to make an appearance in such a public event and not get interviewed. And someone here”, you looked at Bucky, “hates cameras, mics and interviews.”

“Plus, it’s not even for a good movie”, Bucky mumbled. 

“Dunkirk premiere in London”, Tony shrugged. “Nolan called and invited us.”

“You’re friends with Christopher Nolan?” You asked shocked. 

“Oh please. I’m his daughter’s godfather”, Tony said. 

“Well, I’m in”, you immediately said. 

“Of course you are”, Steve said coming out of the kitchen. “Harry Styles is on that movie so he’ll be at the premiere”, he winked. 

“I never mentioned him”, you smiled widely. 

“Who’s that?” Bucky frowned. 

“Oh boy…” Natasha said in a whisper. 

“(Y/N)’s celebrity crush”, Steve quickly said. “Nat, can you please order pizza? I burned the chicken.”

“On its way”, Natasha said taking her phone and placing the order. 

“So, you’re in?” Tony asked. 

“Of course!” You said with a huge smile. “I mean… the trailer looks amazing and I love London.”

“Yeah…, London”, Natasha mumbled. 

You smiled to yourself but decided not to say anything else, especially since you felt Bucky staring at you which made you feel nervous and, for the first time, you allowed yourself to think that Natasha had told you the truth.

During the following days, there were still several fights about the premiere. Most of them between Bucky and someone else. For some reason, he still refused to go, which was stupid. Eventually, it just became exhausting to keep on listening to same excuses over and over again 

“Bucky, no one is forcing you to come, for god’s sake!” You finally said the night before you all were travelling to London.

You were having dinner all together, as usual, and Bucky was complaining to Steve about how he didn’t like being in public, cameras, dressing up and all that ‘Hollywood shit’. You had had enough of him by now and you just wanted to have a nice dinner. Yet, everyone was surprised to hear you snap at him.

“Excuse me?” He asked frowned.

“You’ve been complaining for the whole fucking week, like a child who’s been forced to go to his great aunt’s birthday”, you said, everyone looking at you. “We are all excited about this trip, about having a distraction, about not being superheroes for just one. Fucking. Day. So if you don’t want to come just because someone might want to interview you, if you think it is so annoying, so shallow, just stay here!”

No one said a word after you finished talking, not even Bucky who usually had a reply for everything. You huffed and looked at your plate, just to find out that you had lost your appetite. Throwing one last glare at Bucky, you excused yourself and got up from the table, claiming you still had so clothes to pack.

You didn’t understand what had got into Bucky. Yeah, you knew he wasn’t comfortable around cameras, that he didn’t like being in the spotlight, but he never complained so much about it, so you didn’t get what was so annoying about this particular situation. Whatever it was, it was getting on your nerves. But no one was going to spoil this experience. Not even your stupid, whinny, alleged best friend.

“Hey…”

A while later, when you had finally finished packing, there was a knock on your door and Nat’s head popped in.

“Can I come in?” She asked and you nodded, sitting up on your bed and putting your phone down. “You okay? That was quite unexpected down there.”

“Yeah, I’m okay, don’t worry”, you shrugged. “I just got tired of his whinning.”

“Still, you had never snapped like that before”, she said, taking a seat on your bed.

“Yes, I have”, you laughed.

“Not at him”, she pointed out.

You opened your mouth to reply, but maybe she was right, so you just shrugged and looked down.

“I don’t know, it just annoyed me”, you finally said. “I’m so excited about this trip, going to London, the premiere, everything, and it felt like he was kind of ruining it with all his complaining. I don’t even know why he’s acting like that.”

“I think I may know”, Nat said with a small smile.

“Enlighten me, please”, you sighed.

“He’s jealous”, she simply said. You raised an eyebrow, not knowing what she was talking about. “The day after Tony told us about the premiere, I found Bucky doing some research on Harry Styles.”

“What?” You asked even more confused.

“Steve mentioned him, remember? That he will be at the premiere and that you have a crush on him”, she explained.

“So what? I have a crush on half of Hollywood”, you laughed. That was true. You were such a fangirl.

“Yeah, but you haven’t met half of Hollywood”, she shrugged.

“Nat, that doesn’t make any sense”, you said. “Why would he be jealous of someone I haven’t even met and someone I don’t even know if I will meet.”

“Oh, you will meet him”, Nat nodded. “I’ll make sure of that, don’t worry.” You laughed but said nothing, since you knew she could really make that happen. “And he’s jealous because he is in love with you. I already told you. 

“Okay, I’m not having that conversation again”, you said. “I’m going to sleep, we have an early morning and a long flight tomorrow. So goodnight.”

“Are you kicking me out?” She asked, acting offended.

“Yes, Black Widow. Get out of my room and close the door on your way out”, you said, kicking her back gently.

“You know I’m the only one standing between you and a marriage with Harry Styles, right?” She said getting up from your bed.

“Yeah, you and a billion of other girls. Go!”

Next day you and Steve were the first ones to be ready and were already waiting by the mini van that would take you to the airport, where Tony’s private jet was waiting for you. As usual, everyone else was running late, which was extremely annoying to Steve. It was annoying for you too, but you had got used to it.

“They are waiting for us. We were supposed to be at the plane 10 minutes ago”, he said.

“We could just go and leave them here”, you shrugged. “That would teach them something.”

“As tempting as that sounds…” Steve said, making you laugh.

Finally, you heard people coming down the stairs, so you took your things from the floor, glad that you would be on your way. Wanda and Natasha were the first ones to show up, apologising over and over again and coming up with lame excuses that you had heard a million times before. To your surprise, Bucky was just behind them.

You hadn’t talked to him since last night, when you snapped at him, but you had seriously thought that he would stay behind, sulking. And yet, there he was, carrying a travel bag over his shoulder and looking as he had to go to war again.

“Where’s the rest?” Steve asked.

“Tony was just talking on the phone with the pilot, telling him we would be there in 30 minutes.” Steve huffed, obviously annoyed. “I know”, Natasha chuckled.

“Clint and Bruce called last night”, Wanda said. “They can’t make it. Clint’s wife has the flu and Bruce can’t leave the lab right now. They’re working on some healing serum.”

“Oh and Thor will meet us there”, Natasha added. “He sent a message and said he will be using the Bifrost. Parker has homework and we couldn’t contact anyone else.”

“Good”, Steve nodded.

“I’m going to the groceries store down the street to get some snacks. See you in a moment”, Wanda said.

“I’m coming with you”, Steve said. “I’m sick of waiting.”

“Me too! I want to get some magazines”, Natasha said.

You asked Steve to get you some of your favourite candy and soda. Although you knew you would have plenty on the plane, it was a long flight. The three of them left, leaving you and Bucky alone and in silence.

“So you decided to come?” You finally asked.

“I’ve never been to a premiere before, so”, he shrugged. “A new experience I guess”, he added.

“You could’ve started with that instead of whining about it for the whole week”, you said.

“Sorry about that”, he sighed. “I didn’t want to ruin it for anyone. I was being a jerk.”

“You think?” You said with irony and looked at him. He actually looked sorry, so you sighed and smiled a little. “I’m glad you’re coming.”

Bucky’s face lit up with a smile, obviously glad that you weren’t mad at him anymore. It was one of the few things he couldn’t stand: the thought of not having you in his life. For the first time in a few days, he came close to you and pulled you in for a hug, kissing your head in the process.

Everyone knew that Bucky wasn’t the hugging type, but you had always been the exception. He loved having you in his arms, cuddling with you, hugging you. It made him feel safe, home, and he had been through hell the last few days without your contact.

“Okay, I’m ready!” Tony said rushing downstairs. “The pilot said we have a really small window of time if we want to leave before noon. Where’s everyone?”

“They went to get some snacks. They said they would be waiting in the van”, you explained.

“Perfect, let’s go then. You can go back to your cuddling on the plane. You can even have a private room”, he said rushing into the elevator.

You rolled your eyes, but followed him anyway. You were used to his comments, even if they still made blush every single time.

***

Lights, cameras, excitement, screams, noise. Those were the words to describe the moment you got out of the car at Leicester Square. The place was completely packed, surrounded by screaming fans, reporters, photographers or just curious people who happen to go by the Square on that fine summer afternoon.

The red carpet followed all the way from where the cars were arriving, to the doors of the Odeon theatre, creating a path where you could see the actors, producers and anyone who had been invited coming up and down, saying their hellos to those they knew or stopping for photos and interviews. It was exciting.

Since you had been the first one to get into the car, you were the last one to get out of it and stand next to Wanda and Natasha. Steve, Bucky, Tony and Thor came in the following car. However, at the sight of you, there was a raise in the volume of the screams. It looked like your presence was a complete surprise for everyone.

“Should we go on?” You asked.

“Let’s wait for the rest”, Natasha said, smiling at some girls screaming her name.

You were aware of people knowing who you were, you knew you were on the news many times and you had seen some fan accounts about yourself. But you had never been exposed like this and you had to say that the energy was exhilarating.

“Get ready for the screams”, Wanda said when the guys’ car pull over behind you 

You three took a step aside, so they could come out comfortably and waited. The reaction when Steve first came out of the car was out of this world. You could literally feel the ground beneath your feet shaking a little bit. And it only escalated when Thor, Bucky and, finally, Tony followed the Captain.

“Wow”, Steve said coming closer to you with a small smile.

“I know”, you chuckled looking around before focusing on Bucky, who was a bit stiff but looked at handsome as ever.

Since you had been running late, you hadn’t had the time to see him before leaving but he was… hot. He was wearing a pair of black trousers, a black open blazer revealing a white shirt that fit him perfectly. He had let Tony’s stylist to get his hair ready, giving it a ‘just woke up’ look that really suited him.

“Hey there”, you said coming closer to him. He looked down at you and gave you a forced smile. “You okay?”

“I’ve been better”, he admitted. “But I’ll be okay.”

“Call my name if you need me”, you said, squeezing his hand gently before turning around.

“(Y/N)!” You heard him calling. You turned around, confused. “I need you”, he said with a small childish smile.

“Idiot”, you said with a small smile. “I think you can make it through the carpet without me”, you winked.

Bucky looked at you walking away, holding onto Wanda’s arm as you stopped for your first interview. He couldn’t help smiling as he took in how good you looked. You were wearing a long white jumpsuit that hugged your body perfectly and brought out the tan that you had got over the days of summer you had spent at the beach just last week. Its back was open, which –for Bucky- made you look even better.

Above all, you were happy and it was obvious. You couldn’t stop smiling, laughing, charming everyone, especially Bucky.

“You’re drooling, soldier”, Thor said, taking Bucky out of his trance.

“What?” He asked.

“She looks stunning indeed”, Thor nodded. “I would make a move before anyone else does.”

The God of Thunder patted his back and was on his way. Maybe he was right. But he wouldn’t even know what to say if he gathered the courage to talk to you. For the time being, all he could do was move along the carpet and hope this all was over soon.

It wasn’t like you were the biggest fan of interviews, but you were good at them. You knew how to avoid personal questions and how not to give much information about anything. You were charming, polite and kind with everyone, laughing at their jokes and making your own. Summing up: you knew how to make people love you.

“Thank you for your time, enjoy the movie!” The reporter from The Guardian said.

“Thank you, have a nice evening”, you said back and turned around to talk to Wanda, but she was busy talking to some guy you had never seen.

“You’re a natural”, Natasha said, walking up to you when she finished taking some photos.

“Tony gave me some tips”, you shrugged. “I just did the opposite of what he told me.”

Natasha laughed out loud, but before she had the time to say anything, the screaming grew even louder. You both looked at the beginning of the carpet, where a black Mercedes had just stopped and a black haired boy had come out. He was talking to a really big guy so he wasn’t facing your way, but you knew who he was immediately.

“Pinch me”, you mumbled to Natasha.

“What?” She asked confused and looked at you. “Oh…”

Harry Styles had just turned around and was walking towards the carpet, followed by who probably was his bodyguard. You had been a One Direction fan for years and had had a crush on this person since the beginning. You had even been to some of their concerts –both in the band and as a solo artist-, but you had never had him so close before.

“Are you blushing?” Natasha laughed when she looked at you.

“What? No, I’m not!” You said, placing your hands on your cheeks. “Am I?”

“Either that or you used too much blush”, she said with a smile.

“Shut up”, you said. “Let’s just keep going before we look like idiots.”

“We?”

“Can you just be a bit more supportive?” You said. Just then, Wanda was back with you.

“Now I know why you have a crush on him”, she said with a smile. “He’s hot.”

“Shut up! Both of you”, you said and walked away from them before they continued teasing you.

For the next half hour of the premiere you were completely unfocused. So much that you decided to talk with as less reporters as possible, convinced that you would look like a fool if you did. Every few minutes, the volume of the screaming would go up, meaning that some other actor of the movie had made an appearance. You truly thought you would faint when you saw Cillian Murphy and Tom Hardy together.

“Enjoying yourself?” Steve asked when he caught you alone after you were taking some photos.

“Pretty much, yeah”, you nodded. “You?”

“Yeah”, he said looking around. “We don’t get to do this often, so it’s a nice change.”

“(Y/N), Captain! Can we please get some photos?” A reporter said.

“Duty calls” you said with a smile as Steve placed a hand around your waist, to pose for the cameras.

“Finally, I find you!”

You turned around and suddenly felt your hands all sweaty when you saw Natasha coming up to you, followed by Wanda and –of course- Harry. You glared at her, having no idea what she was doing.

“There’s someone here who wants to meet you”, your alleged friend said with a huge smile.

“Hello there”, Harry said with a charming smile.

You had heard his voice and his accents on videos before but you swore it was even deeper than ever before. You took a deep breath and looked briefly at your friends, who slowly stepped away with small smirks on their faces.

“Hi”, you said, a smile appearing on your lips. “Really nice to meet you.”

“Likewise”, he said. “I didn’t know you were coming.”

“Turns out that Nolan is friends with Tony Stark so…”, you shrugged.

“Well, I’ve been wanting to meet you for ages, so I’m glad he invited you all”, the singer said.

“You wanted to meet me? Why?” You laughed.

“You’re kidding me?” He smiled. “You’re an Avenger!”

You laughed a little and nodded to yourself. You guessed he had a point. You had been crushing on him for ages, but you had never thought of the possibility of him actually knowing who you were. And now that he was right there, in front of you, admitting to be your fan, you had no idea what to do.

Just like Bucky.

He had been watching the whole interaction from afar and he could feel his blood on fire. The only reason Bucky had decided to join the trip, was that he needed to see this guy. Your celebrity crush who you were laughing with. He clenched his fists and looked at all the cameras pointing at you two. Of course. You looked great together. You were both young, good looking, obviously charming. He had been around long enough to know that the public would pair you up immediately.

“You shouldn’t stare”, Steve said, coming to his side.

“I’m not”, Bucky mumbled.

“If it was possible, there would be a hole on that guy’s face”, Steve laughed. “They’re just talking. Calm down.”

“I’m calmed”, Bucky said. Steve sighed and placed a hand on his shoulder. “What?”

“Do you realise that you have no right to be like this, don’t you?”

“Why not? Am I supposed to be okay with a British good looking guy just… charming her away from me?”

“No”, Steve replied. “But you have never told her how you feel, so she’s free to do whatever she wants.”

“You’re the one who never shuts up about her feelings for me”, Bucky said.

“So? You’ve never made a move, do you really expect her to wait forever?” Steve asked. “They’re just talking though”, he added with a shrug before walking away.

“Yeah… just talking”, Bucky sighed.

As much as he hated to admit it, Steve was right. Bucky couldn’t claim you anything. You didn’t even know how he felt about you, how he wanted more than just a friendship, how your smile would make his heart skip a beat and how not being able to kiss you was physically painful. And he hated himself for taking him so long to realise it. What if you were ready to move on? 

“C’mon, this is your debut movie and you’ve worked with Cillian Murphy and Tom Hardy! Those are goals”, you said with a smile.

“You literally save lives for a living”, Harry replied and, to be honest, there was nothing you could say about that.

“I guess we’re both pretty awesome”, you said, making him laugh.

Just then, a man with a clipboard approached Harry from behind and said something in his ear. Harry nodded and looked at you.

“I have to go. They’re going to introduce the cast and everything”, he explained.

“Of course! Go”, you said with a nod.

“Talk to you later? We’ll have an after party, you should all come”, he said. You smiled and nodded. “Perfect. Here…” he gave you his phone. “Put your number in and I’ll text you.”

Without actually believing what was happening, you did as he told you and gave his phone back. He winked and left quickly towards the end of the carpet, where a stage had been set.

“Enjoying yourself?” You turned around to find Bucky behind you.

“Absolutely”, you smiled widely. “Although I’m freaking out.”

“Yeah, I saw you talking to that guy you like”, he said, looking at Harry who had just got to the stage.

There was something about his tone that you didn’t like. It was like he was accusing you of something, which you didn’t appreciate. He had no right to do so.

“If you have something to say, just say it”, you said crossing your arms over your chest.

“It just looks like you’re getting plenty of attention, that’s all”, he shrugged casually. Although you knew him well enough to know there was nothing casual about how he was behaving.

“Not from the only one that would matter”, you said and turned around without giving him a chance to think about what you had said.

Bucky kept his eyes on you while you walked away, trying to understand what you had just said and what it meant. Were you talking about him? Was he the one who mattered or was his mind playing games? He had no idea. All he knew was that you were upset with him and he knew he had been acting like a jerk for quite some time now.

Maybe Steve was right. Maybe you were tired of waiting. Maybe you were moving on.

***

Bucky’s attitude really pushed your buttons so much that you decided to keep your distance during the rest of the evening. He had been a total jerk since the moment Tony told you all about the premiere. You thought that the change of scenario would change his mind and he would relax. Obviously, you had been wrong.

The movie was everything you expected and more. It kept you on edge the whole time. The whole crew had done an outstanding job. It was definitely one of the best movies you had watched lately. And the whole situation of being one of the first people to watch it, only made it more special.

Before you could suggest going to the after party that Harry had mentioned –and already texted you about it-, Nolan himself invited you. So the moment the movie finished, you went on your way. It wasn’t far from Leicester Square, but it was still safer to go in the cars so no one would know where you were going and could have some privacy.

“So? Did you like it?”

Just when you walked into the party, Harry approached you, taking you by surprise.

“I loved it!” You said smiling widely. “And you were amazing”, you added.

“Thank you”, he nodded. “I’m proud of it, to be honest.”

“You really should be”, you said, biting your lip a little. 

“Can I buy you a drink?” He asked, pointing at the bar at the end of the place.

“Please!”

Bucky observed the two of you walking towards the bar. He sighed and walked down the few steps that were next to the door. He was feeling more and more like an idiot since you walked away from him at the premiere, and he was still thinking about what you had said.

“You okay?” Natasha asked, showing up with a drink in her hand and another one for him.

“Thanks”, he said, taking the glass from her. “I’m okay, just…”, he sighed and pointed at you and Harry, who were talking and laughing at the bar.

“Oh…” Natasha smirked and looked at Bucky. “She’s having fun, don’t you think?”

“Why did you introduce them?” Bucky asked, turning away from the bar, so he could get that image out of his mind.

“She wanted to meet him but would have never introduced herself”, she said. “I just helped a little.”

“Thanks for nothing, then”, Bucky said.

“If you like her, go and tell her”, she said. “But don’t expect her to wait around forever when you have never made a move to let her know how you feel.”

“And how does she feel? Am I supposed to just jump into the swimming pool without knowing if there’s water?” Bucky asked.

“If you still don’t know that the pool is overflowing, then you’re even blinder than I thought you were”, Natasha said.

Bucky sighed and ran a hand over his head. Why did it have to be so complicated?

“What would you do?” He finally asked. As much as he hated asking for advice, he was completely lost.

“Me? I would go across the room and kiss her”, she simply said. “But given she’s busy talking to someone and also mad at you, I wouldn’t advice it.”

“Then?”

“I would talk to her and tell her how I feel”, she said. “Not as dramatic as a surprise kiss, but still honest and useful.”

Bucky sighed and turned slightly to look at you two again. When he didn’t see you, he started looking around like crazy. Where were you?

***

“I really was starving”, you said as you and Harry walked down the street with a burger each.

“Why didn’t you eat anything before the premiere?” He asked before taking a bite from his burger.

“It was the cinema. I thought we would get popcorns, to be honest”, you admitted, making him laugh so hard he almost choked. “Don’t laugh!” You said, although you were laughing as well.

“You’re adorable”, he said, making you blush a little.

“Are you sure you don’t want to go indoors?” You asked once again. You didn’t want him to be on every page tomorrow, especially because of you.

“Don’t worry about it”, he said. “I’m having a good time.”

“Me too”, you admitted. Then, you felt your phone vibrating into your purse. “Give me a second.”

Harry took your burger so you could get your phone out. It surprised you to see Bucky’s name on the screen. Your first impulse was to pick it up, but then you remembered that you were still mad at him and decided to decline the call. You turned your phone off, shoved it back into your purse and took your burger back from Harry.

“Everything okay?” He asked concerned.

“It was Bucky just being annoying”, you said.

“I kind of saw how he kept on looking at you”, he said. You looked at him surprised.

“What do you mean?” You asked.

“Let’s say he has a really deathly glare”, he said with a chuckle. “If looks could kill, I would be ten feet under by now.”

“What? No”, you laughed.

“Trust me, I know what I saw”, Harry said. “He likes you.”

You frowned but said nothing about it. It was one thing having Natasha telling you about Bucky’s feelings. But if even Harry, a person who had zero contact with any of you, who knew nothing of you or Bucky, had seen that… then maybe Natasha never lied and Bucky did have feelings for you.

That thought would have filled you with joy at any other moment. But thinking about it now, it only made you angry and frustrated. Why did he have to be such an idiot if he had feelings for you? Why couldn’t he just make a move? Or where you supposed to just take a leap of faith?

“Sorry. I said too much”, Harry said after a moments of silence.

“No, no”, you quickly said. “Everything’s okay. It’s just…” you sighed.

“Do you have feelings for him?” He asked. You laughed bitterly. “What?”

“I can’t believe I’m having this conversation with you. My celebrity crush since I was 17”, you said. This time, Harry laughed quietly.

“Don’t worry”, he said. “I knew you were out of my league since I saw you and now I understand why.”

“Me? Out of your league?” You asked shocked and he nodded.

“There’s no competition if you already love someone else, don’t you think?” He asked with a smile.

“Am I that obvious?” You said defeated.

“I’m observant”, he shrugged. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“I just don’t get him”, you said. “We’ve been best friends for ages and I’ve loved him all along without saying anything. I got used to idea of just being his friend and the second I mention someone else, someone who I hadn’t even met yet, and he starts acting like a total jerk. If he have feelings for me, why doesn’t he just say so?”

“Sadly, sometimes we have to see those we love walk away in order to know how much we care”, Harry said. “I think you should talk to him.”

“And say what? That I know he has feelings for me because my crush suspects it?” You asked sarcastically.

“Well… that’s an option”, he said, making you laugh. “But I would just be honest and tell him how I feel.”

You sighed but didn’t reply. You couldn’t believe you were having this conversation with Harry Styles, the guy you had admired most in your entire life, the guy you had fantasied about meeting a thousand times. And there he was, giving you romantic advice on how to talk to your best friend. Life was nuts.

***

Bucky was going nuts. The moment he had walked around the party twice, not finding you anywhere, he had stepped outside to call you. And he got sent to voicemail. Over and over again. You didn’t just hang up on him, you had also turned your phone off. He was fuming.

Without saying a word to anyone, he took a taxi and went back to the hotel where you were staying. At some point, you had to come back, and he would be waiting for you just at your door. While he waited, he tried to call you at least five times without any success, he was filling your voicemail with nonsense but he didn’t care.

“I swear it, (Y/N), if you don’t pick up the damn phone”, he said on the phone, “I will-“

“You will what?” Your voice said behind him.

He turned around to find you standing there, as beautiful as ever, with the card of your room in your hand, and looking at him with a deadly look in your eyes.

“Where have you been? Where did you go?” He asked, putting his phone down and ignoring your question.

“Last time I checked, you’re not my father, so I don’t have to explain myself to you”, you said, walking to your door.

“You were with him, right? That British singer”, he said while you opened the door.

“So what if I was?” You asked walking in. You considered slamming the door shut, but you knew him well enough to know that he had no problem breaking in, so you just left the door open for him.

“You just met him”, he said, walking in behind you and closing the door.

“What does that even mean?” You asked, throwing the purse on your bed and turning to face him. “Yes, I left with him to have dinner, so what?”

“Something could have happened”, he said with a shrug.

“Something like what? He could have kissed me?” You asked. You could see him flinching at the word. “What’s the problem, James?”

Bucky narrowed his eyes. You would only call him James when you were really mad at him.

“Did he? Kiss you?” He asked.

“What if he had?” You asked.

“Did he?”

You looked at him in the eye, feeling yourself getting angrier by the second. All you wanted was to scream in his face how much you loved him, that he was the only one you wanted to kiss, that you had spent the whole fucking night thinking about him and talking about him to someone else. Instead, you shook your head and sat down on your bed to take off your heels. Your feet were killing you.

“You haven’t replied”, he said.

“Neither have you”, you said.

“I asked first”, he shrugged. Without even thinking about it, you threw one of your shoes at him. “Hey! What’s your problem?”

“What’s my problem?” You asked getting up, now barefoot. “What’s your problem? Why can’t you just be clear? Just say what the fuck you’re thinking instead of being a jerk!”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about”, he said, looking away from you. Narrowing your eyes, you took a step closer.

“Do you love me?” You finally asked.

“You know I do”, he said, his heart beating faster.

“Don’t bullshit me, James. You know what I mean”, you said. “Are you in love with me?”

Bucky took a deep breath and closed his eyes, not answering your question. The words were burning in his throat, and yet he couldn’t say them out loud.

“Fucking hell, Bucky!” You almost yelled, pushing him away. “Can’t you even talk? Just say no, for fuck’s sake! I can take it, you know? It’s not that hard to be honest for once in your fucking life. If you’re not in love in with me, if you don’t love me, just leave me be! Stop being an asshole and let me kiss and like whoever I want!”

“I can’t”, he said.

“You can’t what? Stop being an asshole? I noticed, thank you”, you said.

“I can’t just leave you be!” He exclaimed, looking at you. “Because it kills me, okay? I’d rather go through a thousand battles and getting a billion injuries, traumas and brainwashes before seeing you with someone else, okay?”

You looked at each other in the loudest silence you had ever experienced.

“You…” he sighed. “You are everything to me, don’t you see? I’ve been miserable for the whole week and the only way I know how to handle it is being an asshole. And maybe I’m late, maybe I should’ve spoken sooner, maybe I should’ve gone across the room and kiss you in front of everyone, but I am here now and I’m saying it now.” He placed his hands on your cheeks. “I love you, (Y/N). I am in love with you. Hopelessly. I love you so much it drives me crazy. You drive me crazy.”

“And you have to be a jerk to show it? Couldn’t you just kiss me and get it over with?” You mumbled, looking into his blue eyes with tears in your eyes.

“You were kind of busy all night”, he said. “I’m a jerk, but I’m a polite jerk.”

You laughed a little and moved your hands to his chest, wondering if what he was saying was real and if it was just another one of your dreams.

“You could kiss me now”, you shrugged.

Bucky smiled a little and you bit your lip when he leaned over slightly, taking in your whole face before closing his eyes. Immediately, you felt his lips on yours and your mouth opened to receive him as he pulled you closer. The whole world around you disappeared and all you could feel and smell was Bucky. Nothing else mattered.

“I’m sorry it took me so long”, he whispered when you pulled away.

“You’re forgiven”, you smiled a little and rubbed his cheek. “By the way… he didn’t kiss me”, you said.

“Really?” He asked, sounding really surprised.

“Yeah”, you laughed. “We were just talking about you, to be honest”, you admitted.

“Wow…you really missed the chance of making out with your crush for me…” he teased. “You must really love me, huh?”

“Shut up”, you smiled, pulling him in for another kiss. And, for once, Bucky was happy to oblige.

[jiminthestreets-bonesinthesheets]

I Loved Him... Once - CH 2

Title: I Loved Him… Once

Author: jiminthestreets-bonesinthesheets

Fandom: Criminal Minds

Pairing: Heid (Aaron Hotchner x Spencer Reid)

Rating: This ones General but eventually as the series goes it will be Explicit

Tags: canon typical violence and gore, eventual smut as the series goes, angst, fluff, pining., its gunna be a slow burn guys.

Summary: A series following the team as they solve crimes and take down the bad guys.

     In Part one of this series, we follow the team as they take down a serial killer that has taken a piece of one of their own. And through it all, Spencer and Hotch come to a few conclusions and realizations of their own.

AO3 Link

Masterlist

*** My works are not to be posted on any sites without my permission! But comments and reblogs are love! <3 Please and thanks!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter two

     "Mommy, Mommy! Are you watching me?!"

     "I see you, Honey! That's very good!"

     "Watch again!"

     JJ smiled as she sat in the folding lawn chair, the legs slowly sinking down into the soft sand, a smile gracing her face as she watched her son swimming in the lake. A hand came from her side to rest over hers on the arm of her chair, entwining their fingers together, and she turned to smile over at her husband. 

     "I can't believe we've actually had five full vacation days without an emergency call in."

     "Me neither," Will smiled back as he brought her hand up to his mouth to kiss it, "it's nice to have some family time, no work, no cases, just you, me, and Henry."

     She hummed her agreement, then added, "We'll have to send your Aunt some flowers when we get back, thank her for letting us use the trailer this week."

     "Yeah, she'll like that."

     They sat in comfortable silence, watching Henry splash around, blissfully happy to just be together and free of the burdens of their heavy jobs. 

     The sun was starting to set, the air around them beginning to chill, so JJ turned over and pressed a quick kiss to Will's lips before standing and calling out, "Henry, come on out now!"

     "Ok!" 

     He ran out of the water towards his mom who was waiting to wrap him up tight in his favourite Captain America towel. She lifted him and held him close, pecking his cold wet cheek with a smack making him giggle. "What do you say we change into our pjs while Daddy starts a fire, and then we make smores!"

     "Yeah!" The boy shouted, throwing his arms in the air. 

     JJ laughed as he just missed smacking her in the face, and Will joined them after packing up the chairs and Henry's water Toys. He walked with his hand on the small of JJ's back as they headed back to the trailer, Henry extremely excited about smores. 

~~~~~~~~~~~

     Day six of Spencer's lecture series and he had finally made it to the lecture he was most anticipating. ‘Synthetic Metals: A Novel Role For Organic Polymers’ presented by Dr. Alan G. MacDiarmid, and he honestly hadn't known himself to ever be more excited then he was right now. 

     He arrived at the venue early, was the first person in line to enter the auditorium, and found himself a seat front and center. It wasn't long before the doctor was standing at the podium, instantly diving deep into the bones of the lecture, and Spencer couldn't believe he was finally here. Dr. MacDiarmid was enthralling. He captivated the attention of everyone in the auditorium, including spencer. And even though the topic of the lecture was something Spencer had been very interested in learning more about, and nothing against the amazing Dr. Macdiarmid, but about halfway through the lecture Spencer found his mind beginning to wander to other things.

     It was about the thirty minute mark of the lecture, and the doctor was talking about what he and his team had been working on over the past few years regarding the emerging potential technological applications of synthetic metals, beginning with the topic of spun polyaniline fibers and their applications to the future of nanotechnologies, when Spencer really found his concentration moving on to other things. Suddenly he was brought back to his brief conversation with Aaron in the bullpen before he left. His eidetic memory replaying the entire scene perfectly, right down to every twitch and shift in Aaron’s face, and every slight change in his demeanor while they spoke. Even the falter in his words before wishing him a good night before leaving the bureau. It wasn't like his steadfast boss to hesitate like that, his words and movements were always so sure, so he couldn't help it if he wondered if there was maybe something more behind the awkward exchange between him and Aaron.

     And in relation to those thoughts, he was also reminded of his conversations with Emily and Derek earlier that night. Were they right? Was he too uptight? Should he take their advice and have some fun for once, relax? Let his brain shut off and as Derek had so gracefully put it, take advantage of their time off to enjoy ‘a little sand, a little sun, and a whole lotta’ fun’? Maybe it would be good for him to spend a day doing something that didn't involve endlessly shoving knowledge down his throat, just doing nothing. And on that note he wondered if maybe… maybe Aaron would like to spend a day doing nothing with him…

     Suddenly, in an instant Spencer was on his feet, standing stock still in the middle of the auditorium. Dr. MacDiarmid stopped mid-sentence, staring at Spencer with concern along with the rest of the guests in their seats. When he didn't move or make a sound for a good few minutes, the doctor slowly moved from behind the podium to approach Spencer with caution asking, “Sir, are you alright? Do you need anything?”

     Spencer turned towards the doctor but didn't look at him. His eyes remained fixed on the floor in front of him, almost as if they were searching for the answer to his unasked question. His brows furrowed as his brain continued rapidly searching through every memory of him and Aaron, every encounter, every conversation, every look between them, and suddenly… he was pretty sure he had found his answer. A moment of pure enlightenment.

     “Son…” The doctor took a few more steps closer, placing a gentle hand on Spencer's shoulder, “Son, are you alright?”

     “I…” He finally looked up from the ground, his thoughtful expression turning to one of elation, of contentment, a smile slowly creeping across his face as he answered, “I have to go.”

     “I… Son?” The doctor called after him, but Spencer was already gone. He slung his book bag over his shoulder as he took the stairs out of the auditorium three at a time and burst out the doors. 

~~~~~~~~~~~

     Aaron was just about at the end of his patience. He had spent the first two days of his vacation on the phone with Haley fighting to get time with Jack while he was off, and now on day two he was at the point of practically begging. 

     “Haley, please. I have fourteen days off but who knows how many days I'll actually get before I have to go back for a case,” he sighed into the phone, running a heavy hand down his face as he plopped down on the couch, “all I’m asking for is a few days with my son. You have him full time while I'm working, the least you could do is give me a few days.”

     “He's supposed to be spending the weekend with my parents, Aaron,” she sniped back at him, not a care to the fact that Aaron hadn't seen Jack in over a month.

     “He sees your parents all the time, he saw them two weeks ago. You can reschedule the visit with your parents for any time, but I never know how much time I have before getting called away. I would appreciate a few days here and there when I ask for it, without having to go through this every time.”

     Silence fell over their call for a moment before he heard Haley sigh and knew he had won his case. “Fine,” she huffed, clearly annoyed, “I'll drop him off in an hour, call me in a few days when you want me to come get him.”

     “Thank-you, I'll be ready for him.”

     Without a good-bye or even another word, she hung up the phone. 

~~~~~~~~~~~

     Not two hours later there was a light knock at his door and Aaron jumped off the couch, running to open it.

     “Daddy!” 

     “Hey, buddy!” 

     Jack ran through the door and jumped into Aaron’s arms, sinking his entire body into hugging his dad as tightly as he could. And Aaron gave as good as he got, squishing his son with a smile. 

     Haley walked in behind Jack, watching them, then making eye contact with Aaron over Jack's shoulder. “Call me when he's ready to come home.”

     Aaron nodded, then gave Jack a pat on the back before lowering him to the floor and saying, “Go say bye to Mommy, Jack.”

     He ran over to capture Haley in much the same way as he had hugged Aaron, whispered a goodbye and placed a kiss on her cheek. “Good-bye, my sweet boy, have fun with your Daddy, call me every night before bed, okay.”

     “Okay, Mommy.”

     “Alright,” she said, placing one last kiss to the top of his head before standing and heading for the door, “I'll see you in a few days.”

     She closed the door behind her and Jack immediately ran back over to hug Aaron, who willingly lifted him in his arms again. “I missed you, Daddy.”

     “I missed you too, buddy, I always miss you when you're not here.”

     “I know.”

     Hotch chuckled, then walked Jack over to the kitchen table and placed him in a chair before sitting across from him. He pushed the plate of snacks he’d put together before Jack got there, grabbing one of the small sandwiches for himself, before asking, “So, Jack, what do you want to do while you're here?”

     He made a show of thinking about it while he picked at the sandwich he had taken from the plate, then answered, “Can we go to the park?”

     “Of course, whatever you want.”

     Jack nodded, taking a bite then said, “I was supposed to go to grandma and grandpas house this weekend.”

     “I know, I'm sorry you couldn't visit them, buddy. I just don't know how much time off work I’ll have, or when I will be able to see you next.”

     “It's okay, I'm glad I didn't have to go.”

     Hotch couldn't help but smile a bit, “Why's that?”

     Jack shrugged, “They never take me to the park. They just tell me to play in the backyard, but that's no fun, there's no slides in the backyard.”

     He laughed, Jack was never one to hide his feelings and he loved that about his son. “Well, I promise I will take you to the park everyday while you're here with me, and you can go down the slide as much as you want.” Jack smiled at that, clearly pleased. “Is there anything else you want to do?”

     He made his adorable little thinking face again, but this time came up with nothing. Obviously trips to the park was the only expectation Jack had for this visit with his dad. So Aaron made a suggestion, “How about we go to the movies tonight? And we can get take out for dinner.”

     “Can it be McDonalds?!” 

     He was so excited he nearly jumped over the table, his mom never let him have McDonalds. “Sure, why don't you go get a sweater and we’ll head out now.”

     “Yay!” 

     It took Jack all of two minutes to run to his room, grab a sweater from the closet, and was ready and waiting at the door before Aaron had even grabbed his shoes.

~~~~~~~~~~~

     Four days, he had gotten four full days off with Jack without any interruption and it was great. Jack was all smiles, loving every minute of being with Aaron and he was much the same, enjoying every second he could get with his son. They did go to the movies their first night together, and got McDonalds for dinner as promised. Aaron knew Haley never let Jack have things like fast food, pop, or candy, so he always made sure Jack got his fill when he stayed with him. 

     Over their time together, Aaron had also taken him to the local science center, where Jack was all too happy to learn about space in the astronomy section. They also visited the aquarium, Jack's favourites were the sharks and Aaron had to admit they were pretty awesome, the art gallery, and not to mention daily visits to the local park by Aaron’s apartment. Which is where they found themselves now on their fourth day together, walking across the soccer field to get to the large playground. 

     Jack wiggled excitedly in Aaron’s arms as he walked them over, scanning the playground and desperately trying to get free when he saw his friend on the swings. “Daddy, Markus is here!”

     Aaron put him on the ground and Jack was speeding off in an instant. “Stay where I can see you!”

     He didn't answer before making it over to sit on the swing beside Markus, but Aaron wasn't worried, Jack knew well enough to stay exactly where his dad could keep a close eye on him. And seeing as how Jack was having a good time playing with his friends, Aaron found himself a bench close by and sat to watch. He waved to a few of the other parents sitting and doing the same as him, but was perfectly happy to just sit by himself and enjoy the peace and quiet while Jack played happily.

~~~~~~~~~~~

     It was getting late, they still had dinner to make and the promise of a movie in their pj’s on the couch. He wondered if Spencer might like to join them. Wondered if maybe he should take Rossi's advice and call him, see if dinner and a movie with him and Jack was something Spencer might like to do with them. And after a few minutes of thinking about it, imagining the three of them on the couch together, tucked under the blankets with Spencer in a pair of borrowed pjs from Aaron, he decided he was going to call. When he got back home with Jack, before they ate he would do it, he would take the leap and make the call to Spencer.

     The other parents were starting to round up their kids as well, and Aaron was just about to call Jack over to start heading home, when his phone rang in his pocket. 

     He pulled it out with the all too familiar pang in his heart that came everytime he was in this position. On vacation, with Jack, and his phone rang. And everytime he has this moment where he thinks to himself maybe it's fine, maybe it's not work, but everytime he is always thoroughly disappointed. This time is no exception.

     He sighed, looking at the caller ID on his screen before answering, “Hotchner.”

     “Aaron, I need you and your team to come in.”

     “Erin, we’re supposed to be on a two week mandatory holiday,” he tried his best not to convey his anger through the phone, but he was sure he did not succeed. His team deserved this, needed this, and now he was going to have to break the bad news and ruin everything they had planned. 

     “I am aware of that, Agent Hotchner,” her no nonsense tone coming through, “but the other teams are all out in the field, and the California Police Department needs help now. You're all I've got, I have no other choice.”

     “Can’t one of the other teams finish up their current case, or split up their team to at least start working the case in California?”

     “I need you in the field, Aaron,” she was putting her foot down now and Aaron knew that was it, there was no fight here, “when can you get everyone back?”

     He waited a beat to answer, allowing himself a second to absorb the guilt he was feeling, then answered, “We have a few members of the team out of the country right now, I can probably get everyone back and in the office tomorrow afternoon if I start making calls and arranging flights now, evening at the latest, and we will leave for California right away.”

     “Great, I will see you all tomorrow.”

     And with that she hung up, not even giving Aaron the chance to say anything more that might refute her orders. And god, he wished he could. He wished with everything he had that he could tell her no, that he could let his team have the vacations they deserved. The time to relax, to spend with friends, with family, doing what they wanted for their full allotted two weeks. But he knew deep down he couldn't, and he also knew that despite how angry he knew his team would be, they would never blame him for their vacations being cut short. They would always drop everything they were doing, no matter how much it hurt them to do so, because there were always people out there who needed their help, and they would always be there to help them. That's one of the reasons they were the best team the Bureau had, and one of the reasons he was endlessly proud of them.

     With one last hard sigh he ran a hand down his face and called Jack over. He scooped him up and started making his way back to the car, strapping Jack in with the promise of still watching a movie of Jack's choice together after dinner. 

     After they ate and Aaron explained to Jack that he would have to go back to his moms the next morning, he settled Jack on the couch with popcorn and some blankets to scroll through their movie selection. 

     “Alright, you find a good movie for us to watch, and I'll be right back. Daddy just has to make some calls for work tomorrow.”

     “Okay, I'll find a good one.”

     Aaron nodded, but turned back to Jack with a last minute thought on his mind. “I'm sorry we have to cut the visit short, Jack, but I have to go in to work tomorrow, people need my help, you understand that right?”

     Jack nodded, eyes fixed on the tv while he answered, “It's okay, Daddy, I know you have to catch the bad guy. I can come back when you're done work and we can watch more movies.”

     Aaron smiled, so proud of his kid. “You sure can, buddy. Now you pick something good and I'll be right back.”

     He ducked into the kitchen holding his phone in his hand and just staring down at it for a moment. He took a second to compose himself back into boss mode, then dialed the number that had already been pulled up, wishing with all his might that this was not the call he was having to make to Spencer right now.

~~~~~~~~~~~

     Spencer burst through the door to his apartment like a man on fire. He tossed his shoulder bag aside, pulled out his phone, and looked at the time. It was a little after five, Aaron was probably at home right now, maybe eating dinner or watching tv, and more then likely with jack. So, it was now or never. One brief moment of bravery was all he needed, he could do this. He faced criminal masterminds every day, he could gather up the courage to send one text to Aaron asking him to have dinner… maybe.

     He quickly typed up a message, kind of a mess of his thoughts all forced out in one big push. But thankfully he read it before sending it, ‘Hi, I was just wondering how your vacation is going? I hope it's going well. I'm assuming you have some time with Jack these two weeks, maybe you'd both like to join me for a walk in the park, or even dinner and a movie night? I was thinking we could have some fun together since I believe we are the only two remaining in town.” 

     His thumb hovered over the send button, but he stopped himself, erased it and tried again. ‘Hello, Aaron. I hope your vacation is going well. Mine has been adequate so far. But before our departure from the BAU, Emily and Derek informed me that I could use some fun in my life. I hadn't been aware that I was lacking in the area, but perhaps you would like to join me for some fun before we return to work?’

     Again he erased it before he could bring himself to send the message, and he tried three more times after that, each one a failed attempt at asking Aaron out. And that's what he realized he was doing here, he was asking his boss on a date. It wasn't exactly something that Spencer had ever done before, always being the awkward, quiet guy who was far too shy to ever make the first move, but he found himself this time saying why not? Why not take the first leap? But every message he typed out sounded wrong, or awkward, or too formal, or not formal enough. 

     He stopped himself then, taking a deep calming breath before closing the text window and pulling up Aaron's phone number. Maybe it would be better to just call him, that way he couldn't overthink this as much as he was right now. He'd be forced to just jump right in.

     “Yeah, let's just call him. That's… that's the best option, right.” 

     He nodded to himself, psyched himself up a little bit, and was about to press the call button when his phone started ringing in his hands. The caller ID coming up as none other than Aaron Hotchner, the very man he was just about to call. His heart gave a little flutter at the idea that Aaron was calling him, maybe even for the same reason he was going to be calling him for. Maybe Aaron wanted this as much as he did, and he just hadn't seen it. The thought sent a jolt of electricity through him as he answered.

     “Hotch, hey, I was just about to call you-”

     “I'm sorry, Reid,” he stopped him short, “but whatever it was you had planned this week, is there any way you can cancel or rearrange? We need everyone back in the office no later than tomorrow evening.”

     “I…” He sighed, trying not to let his disappointment flow through the call. So he cleared his throat and tried to answer professionally. “Yeah, yeah, sure I can be there.”

     “Good, can you meet us at the office tomorrow evening, everyone should be back by then?”

     “Absolutely.”

     “Thanks, Reid, and I'm sorry to have to cut your vacation short.”

     “No problem, I will see you tomorrow.” They both hung up and it took all of Spencer's strength not to slam his phone down on the counter. “It's not like I had any fun plans anyways.”

~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N: Next chapter we will be getting into more of the case and more Spencer and Hotch moments XD

Let me know what y’all think <3

[obxlife]

Perceptions (Rafe x Reader)

A/N: This is like my third Rafe request and I have another one on the way and can I just say that I love writing about Rafe? Don’t get me wrong, he’s probably the most challenging character to write for, but, God, I love it. Also, this was for sure the hardest work I have ever done. Like almost every single character in this request is way more complicated than I’m used to, but I’m really glad I wrote it. I think this may not be my best work, but at least I tried, right?

Pairing: Rafe x Reader

Request: Hi! Could I request a Rafe x Reader where maybe the reader is Barry's younger sister but she is the complete opposite of him: she's basically a soft, innocent sunflower, and wants away from the life her brother lives. Somehow her and Rafe meet and he becomes totally smitten with her? Something with angst and fluff maybe?

Summary: You hated the fact that people would judge you because of your older brother. People would constantly assume you were a drug dealer, an A-class bitch, and a low life. Nobody ever tried to get to know what you were really like: sweet and innocent (for the most part). So when Rafe comes around one time when Barry is not home, you get mad at him for having the wrong perception of you.

Warnings: Mentions of drug use and drug dealing

PERCEPTIONS

No matter how hard you tried your brother seemed to have the uncanny ability to ruin your life in every way possible. 

Admittedly, your life wasn’t very good, to begin with. 

For starters, when you were two and Barry was four, your father beat your mom up so bad she had to go to the hospital for twenty-three weeks. The day she was supposed to come back she never showed up at the door of your dingy house. Both you and Barry cried that night. 

Two years later, your dad was arrested under charges of child abuse (the bruises on both your’s and Barry’s bodies were enough evidence of that), and you and your sibling were left under the care of your aunt. 

However, Aunt Jess was just as much as a mess as your parents had been. Sure, life with her was a bit better than with your father because there were no beatings, but there never seemed to be food on the table or warmth in the winter. 

When Barry reached middle school he began to change. It seemed as if the sweet version of himself that you had grown up with was being hidden inside a dark room only for a meaner version to take over. This began to happen around the same time Aunt Jess’s boyfriend, Adam, came into the picture. 

You and Barry were not stupid children. You knew Aunt Jess kept Adam around because he had a knack for getting a hold on drugs. You also knew that Aunt Jess was using him as a form of “protection”, as she knew no one on the Cut would ever dare raise a finger in his direction. 

What you never noticed was how Adam was pushing his job onto Barry. 

You never knew what had happened to your brother, and he never wanted to talk about whatever was going on inside his brain. So, in three short months, your relationship fell apart. It was soon after that Barry began to completely ruin your life. 

See, unlike him, you had made friends that were actually a good influence and had a good family life. They lived in houses that weren’t perched upon wheels like yours was, and they had fridges that were always packed with food. They had clothes that shined and smelled nice, and their skin always seemed clean. 

But Barry had to come in and scare them off by being the complete worst. 

“Did you know Y/N and I are poor?” he would begin. “We’re only friends with you so we can steal all of your stuff!”

The tone he would use would imply that he was trying to be sweet, but you knew he just wanted you to suffer along with him. He wanted you to have no friends and feel no love just like him. 

The thing with Barry was that the rest of the kids in his grade knew he had been trying and dealing drugs. They had seen Adam hand it to him in the morning so that Barry could sell it to the older boys that went to the high school that was just down the road from his own school. The kids that were in Barry’s grade wanted nothing to do with a drug dealer. 

So Barry took out his anger on your relationships. He made every single one of your friends turn their back on you. For the first time in your life, you wanted to not be related to your brother. 

But that was impossible and you knew it. So, you tried to be as different as him in every single way possible. You would refuse the drugs handed to you by Adam, you would not talk with curse words, and you would be gentle. You would be sweet towards your teachers, you would try to ace all of your classes, and you would show compassion towards others. But, try as you might, this did not change people’s perceptions about you. 

Five lonely years later, Aun Jess died. Overdosed. Adam didn’t care. He didn't even prepare a funeral. He just took you and Barry and kept Aunt Jess’s house to himself. He began pushing the entire business onto Barry, telling him that he would soon be the one to take over.

“It’s gotta be you, kid. You’re doin’ amazin’ with it right now. Those boys you sell the drugs to? They got good money.”

Barry would just stare at Adam and laugh. “It’s what you taught me.”

“Yeah,” Adam would say. “Those Kooks got good money on them.”

As they would smoke a few cigarettes you would try to concentrate on your homework. 

“Get ready, kid,” Adam called out to Barry. You were pretty sure he didn't know Barry’s name. Or your’s. “I’m heading out soon and I’m leaving you kids with some good shit to stay afloat for a while.”

Barry could only stare back at Adam. “What do you mean?”

Adam sighed. Your pencil wasn’t moving on your paper. He was leaving? While Barry was still a minor?

“Don’ worry about me, kid. I just feel guilty if I leave you nothin’.”

“When?” was the only thing you asked. The men turned towards you in surprise. You hadn’t spoken to either of them for a couple weeks now, as you tried to avoid as much interaction as possible with either of them. 

“I don’ know yet. As soon as I feel like it.”

It was a month before Barry turned eighteen that Adam felt like it. Leaving. 

The broken-down trailer that had once belonged to Aunt Jess now belonged to you. And you made sure to change things once Adam was gone. 

“This is my room,” you made clear to Barry one August morning. Yous stood on the doorway of what used to be Adam’s room. “None of your buddies can come in here, okay?”

“What do you mean? I thought I was making the rules in this house. I want that room!” he screamed. 

“Well, you ain’t getting it. I don’t want one single gram of whatever drug you’re dealing right now in here, and if one of your junkie friends ever comes in here, I’m screaming bloody murder.”

You shut the door in his face. After that day, you didn’t come out of your room for a week. You had been crying for days on end, wishing that somehow Barry would go back to being the sweet boy he had once been. 

That was the problem. No matter how much you wanted Barry out of your life, you still loved and cared for him. No matter what fucked up things he did, you still wanted to know he was safe. And no matter how much you didn't want to, you would cry for the boy he had once been. 

It had been two years since Adam had left when things seemed to change a little for the better. It had been an ordinary summer day. You had just graduated high school (with zero friends and zero colleges to go to because Barry had stolen your college money about four months ago) and you were tired of being cooped up in your room. You had gone outside and into the open air because Barry and his friends had finally left somewhere. You were just walking around the porch, trying to put things back where they belonged when you heard a bike. 

“Oh, no,” you muttered thinking Barry was back. However, when you turned around, you saw a Kook taking off his helmet. 

Huh, you thought. Didn’t Barry stop selling to the rich because they had tried to rat him out to the cops?

The Kook approached the porch where you were standing on, waiting for him to talk. He didn’t seem to notice you yet, as he tried to look into the windows of the trailer. 

“Um, hi?” you said gaining his attention. 

Startled, the boy turned around. You hadn’t expected him to be so... hot. His hair was gelled back and his green eyes stared at you before going back to the window of the trailer. He was tall - a lot taller than you (but you were Barry’s sister so that meant you were not that tall at all). Lastly, you noticed his muscles pressing against the cloth of his shirt. 

Turning back towards you, the boy did a double-take and said, “Hey.”

The boy had sworn he had never met perfection, but you were pretty goddamn close. He really just felt entranced by you for a couple of seconds, and couldn’t help but feel like you were a gift in this world. He shook his head. Stop getting distracted, he thought. You’re only here for the coke.

He moved towards the other window of the trailer and peeked inside. 

“May I help you with something?”

The boy shook his head before speaking, “I - I don’t think so. I’m looking for Barry. You know where he is?”

He seemed to be avoiding eye contact with you.

“No.”

You decided that this was probably one of Barry’s junkie friends that just so happened to also be a Kook. You wanted nothing to do with him. 

You began to clean once again before the boy spoke again. “Do you know when he will be back?”

“Not really.”

“Oh.”

The boy continued to stare at you. He thought that you might be Barry’s sister. He had mentioned you once or twice when selling drugs.

“Hey, aren’t you Barry’s sister?”

You froze. You didn’t know Barry had been talking about you to his customers. 

“Yes.”

The boy smiled. She’s hot and she sells? “Cool. So can you, like, sell me something?”

You’re anger spiked up. You hated it when people assumed you sold drugs just because your brother did. You hated how people just assumed things about you because of your brother. 

“I don’t sell,” you muttered trying to reach for the doorso you could go back inside to your trailer house. The boy stopped you before you could continue. 

The boy would never admit to it, but he didn't want to see you go so soon.

“C’mon,” he pleaded, “I won’t tell Barry anything.”

Now you were truly mad. However, you just sighed. 

“Look, just because Barry sells drugs does not mean that I sell them too.”

The boy stared at you in disbelief. So she doesn’t sell? Huh. “Aren’t these things supposed to run in the family?”

You nearly choked on your own spit. “Um, I’m sorry. What?”

The boy shrugged, thinking that maybe that was the wrong thing to say. “Isn’t that how it works?”

You shook your head violently. “No. No, it’s not.”

You tried to reach the door again, but the boy stopped you. Again.

“Okay, fine. Don’t sell me any drugs. Just tell Barry Rafe was here.”

With that, the boy left. Rafe? What a strange name, you thought. 

Rafe, on the other hand, was smitten by you. He couldn’t believe he had really made that much of a fool of himself. That was why he had decided to truly leave. 

The next time he came around he was surprised you opened the door. His breath caught in his throat and he coughed, trying to breathe again. 

“Oh. It’s you.”

“Yeah.”

Turning around, you called out for Barry. 

When your brother appriached the door, you left to go back to your room.

“What’s up, Country Club?” Barry belted out, wrapping a hand around Rafe’s shoulder. He was still thinking about you. “You here for that good stuff?”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“You got my money?”

“About that...”

Barry shook his head. “No money, no drugs, Country Club. You know how it is.”

From your window, you stared at your brother and the blond boy. Why hadn’t he left your mind since the last time he was here?

You couldn’t hear the words exchanged between your brother and Rafe, but you could tell they seemed to be arguing. However, Rafe managed to convince Barry of whatever he was trying to convince him of. After that, he left. 

But that was not the end of Rafe. You began to see him a lot. Heading towards your house, or when you were out in town. It seemed as if you two just continued to bump into each other. It was through these many bumps that you began to form a relationship of friendship, though both you and Rafe truly felt more than that. 

You had fallen for him about two months after meeting him. It wasn’t as if he did something specific to make you fall for him. You just simply did. 

It was almost the same way for him. There was not one thing in particular that made you latch onto his heart, but he still gave it to you. 

There was only one thing that bothered you about him, and it was the fact that he was using drugs. It wasn't a topic either of you talked about or tried to talk about around the other, but it was safe to say that if he wasn’t doing drugs, you would have never met. 

Despite this, you were sure you could help him. You just knew, from what he had told you about his life, that if you showed him how much you loved him he would manage to work his way away from coke. 

You truly believed this, because, in fact, you had no clue as to how bad Rafe really was. It wasn’t until weeks later that you realized that Rafe might have been too far down the road for saving. 

He had shown up at your door desperate for Barry. He was acting in a frantic manner, as if something had shocked him or made him want to calm down with the help of coke.

He had barged right through you into your house, shoving drawers open and turning the already messy trailer even messier. 

“Rafe!” you yelled. “What is going on?”

“I - I just know there has to be some. There has to.”

“What?”

“Maybe here? No, no. In the drawer? Where... where...”

The blond continued to mutter as his hands shook. “I need - I need some right now.”

You stared at him in shock. “Need what?”

He was becoming more and more frantic with every second that passed. “I need it. I need some.”

You couldn’t do anything. What was wrong with him?

“Coke... coke,” he muttered. “Where - hidden. Yes, yes.”

“There isn’t any,” you said after gaining enough courage to speak. “He took it all with him. Said it was the last of his deliveries for a while.”

Rafe shook his head. “N - No. No. There has t - to be some here...”

“Rafe,” you whispered. 

“I need some!” he suddenly exploded. Grabbing things and throwing them around, breaking the plates that were on your counter. “I fucking need some!”

“Rafe,” you whimpered. You were scared. What else was he going to throw around? How much time was going to pass until an object eventually hit you?

“No! Stop! I need some! I can’t fucking think without it!”

“What are you talking about?”

He stomped towards you, “Where is it?” He grabbed onto your face. “Tell me! I need it!”

He pushed you down onto the couch, as you whimpered from the pain in your cheeks. “I don’t know,” you sobbed. 

Rafe was panicking. His breath had shortened as he pressed a hand against his chest. “I - I can’t...”

He sounded so winded. He suddenly dropped and curled up into a ball. His breathing was erratic and was not going back to normal. Swallowing your fear you shifted towards him. Your palm paused before touching his back, afraid he might hurt you. You finally decided to press it against the boy's cotton shirt. 

As soon as your hand touched his back a sob escaped past his lips. “I just can’t do it.”

You rubbed your hand up and down in a circular motion. Your other hand came around to his hair, shuffling your fingers through it in what you hoped was a relaxing motion.

“Do - do you want to talk about it?”

Rafe shook his head and sobbed. However, he did begin to speak about it. “Barry cut me off. And I just have been so fucking��lost without it.”

You sighed, mad at yourself for not having noticed this. 

“And - and now, my dad - he kicked me out.”

not knowing how to comfort him, you pressed your lips to his hairline. “You’re okay. You’ll be okay.”

At this, Rafe shrugged you off. “Don’t say that. Nothing is okay. I - I can’t get my shit together and I’m falling apart -”

Rafe was cut off by your hug. A short time later he hugged you back, and you felt a tear fall down your cheek. You just wanted Rafe to be okay. 

He continued to sob for a long time. You just held him, letting the shirt you were wearing become drenched in tears. You had no clue what to say to make him feel better so you only remained quiet. 

When his sobs turned into sniffles, you pulled him back a bit. You wiped the tears from his eyes. “I’m sorry.”

You frowned. “For what, Rafe?”

He sighed. “Scaring you and throwing things around.”

You smiled softly, but the smile didn’t quite reach your eyes. “It’s okay.”

“No,” Rafe shook his head, “it’s not. It’s not okay that the one thing that calms me down other than you is coke.”

You had stopped listening halfway through his sentence. “Do you mean that?” 

“What?” About coke?”

You laughed at his awful attempt at a joke. “No. About me.”

“Oh,” he replied, dumbfoundedly. “Uh, yeah.”

You smiled and hugged him once again. “I’m going to say this really fast, but I really like you.”

Rafe tensed in your arms. “Tell me you’re not joking.”

You smiled against his shoulder. “I’m not.”

Rafe pulled back with a smile on his face but it fell. “No. No, no, no. You can't like me.”

“What?” you asked, offended. 

“I’m terrible. And you - you’re perfect. And sweet. And kind. And so unlike me or Barry or anyone else. And you’re special.”

“So?”

“So, Y/N, I ruin every single good thing in my life. And I don’t want to ruin you.”

You stilled. Was that really the reason? Your heart soared at the same time it clenched in pain. 

“Well,” you began, “you don’t get to determine what I do and don’t deserve.”

“Y/N -”

“No,” you held your hand out. “Let me finish.”

“Okay.”

“Trust me when I say this, Rafe,” you tried to say without breaking into tears. “But you are so much more than you think you are. You are also kind. And sweet. And special. And I want to be with you.”

Rafe smiled once again before looking down at the ground. “I want to be with you...”

He paused, almost as if for dramatic effect. “But I want to be better for you.”

You nodded your head, but you didn’t fully understand. He could tell because of the confused look in your eyes. 

“I don’t want you to be with me yet because I want you to be with a better version of myself. I want to be better for you.”

At this, you smiled once again and threw your arms around him. You sighed happily and whispered in his ear, “I’ll wait for however long it takes.”

Rafe wrapped his arms around your waist once again for that day. 

“I’m so happy my first perception of you was wrong,” he muttered. 

“Me too,” was all you could say. 

[jawritter]

Cramps...

Request:  Hi you sweet thing! You write really amazing! Congrats on 200 followers. I wanted to make a Jensen request. Tumblr ask is too small so this ask will be in 2 parta😂 This is kinda based on my experiences. Can you make a Jensen x reader where one day reader doesn’t go on set because her periods have come. Jensen being her friend gets worried and goes to her house. When he goes he finds out that she has been vomiting. Her stomachache, body pain is too much for her to even move. So Jensen Takes her to her room. Takes care of her the entire day (tries to cheer up her mood coz too many mood swings, like movies or other stuff, you add yours here). When in the evening the pain increases a lot so he takes her to ER. It’s a normal thing but reader has to take an injection for the pain. Reader panics because she’s afraid, so Jensen stays with her the entire time. He takes her home and makes dinner. And stays the night, cuddling her even if she was on periods. don’t know if I made sense there but really reading your Jensen stories, I was tempted to read more your work! I know it’s a weird request involving periods and all. Not sure if everyone is comfortable talking about that so, Sorry for that🥺 it’s okay if you say no😅

Word Count: 2666

Pairing: Jensen Ackles x Reader, Jensen x Misha.

Warnings: Period related talk, sick reader, language, fluff, Jensen being an adorable sweetheart, that’s about all.

A/N: As always all mistakes are mine! Feedback is golden! Please do not copy my work!! I hope you guys enjoy this one! I’m not a fan of the title, but my mind was just blank and that’s the best I could come up with after staring at the computer for 30 minutes lol. So go easy on me…

Want More? Check out my masterlist!!

***MASTERLIST***

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Your POV:

Ever had one of those days that when you went to bed the night before, you just knew tomorrow was just gonna be a bitch? Well, last night when you finally get in from set you just new. Shooting in between pouring rain and in freezing temperatures with Jensen and Jared, you didn't get home until somewhere around three in the morning. Your back was killing you, you were slightly nauseous, and you couldn’t sleep. You knew what was coming, and you knew it was going to be a bad one, so you prayed for mercy from mother nature to whomever was listening, and popped a few tylenol before trying to get some sleep. You had an early call in the morning, and you knew the makeup girls would kill you if you walked into the studio looking like an extra on the walking dead…

You don’t know what time you fell asleep that night, but some time in the middle of the night, you woke up with an excruciating pain in your stomach and lower back. Getting up with a groan you stumble to the bathroom to see that your Aunt Flow had decided it was time for your monthly visit. 

“Great! Just freaking beautiful!” you yell at no one, silently hating the fact that you didn’t have a roommate to help you while you were living in Vancouver filming. 

You get into the shower, and turn the water on just as hot as you could handle it, letting it beat down on your aching lower back, relaxing your muscles a little bit while you could. Then when the water started to get cold you cleaned yourself up, and got out to change your ruined bed sheets before you got ready to go to set.

You had just thrown them in the washer when the nausea hit you like a wave and you barely made it to the bathroom before emptying your contents of your stomach. Great, it was going to be one of those. The pain that had ebbed away from the shower was starting to come back with a vengeance, and you knew that you wouldn’t be able to make it in to set today.

Picking up your phone you texted Richard the news, still sitting down on the bathroom floor by the toilet. It was going to be a long five to seven days, and it was just getting started..

Jensen’s POV:

It was still cold out as Jensen made his way from the makeup trailer to set, but at least the rain had stopped and the sun was out. That did seem to help some, but the wind was still a bitter cold, too cold for a Texan’s liking, no matter how long he’d been in Vancouver filming he never got used to the cold. 

Rounding the corner to the main part of the bunker set where they were going to be filming today, he noticed immediately things hand changed up, and no one had bothered to tell him. Misha and Alex stood in full costume, looking over their scripts, and Jared was talking to a cameraguy in full Sam gear. This wasn’t right, It was supposed to be just Y/N and his coverage today? Why had they changed everything up? 

Walking up to Misha and Alex he didn’t even both really with a greeting. He was to annoyed that things had changed yet again, and more than a little concerned as to why Y/N wasn’t here on set. Normally she was here about thirty minutes early to run her lines before they filmed their coverage with him?

“Why are you guys here? It’s supposed to be just Y/N and my coverage today?” he asked, coming face to face with Misha. Misha just shrugged. 

“Y/N text and said she was sick and couldn’t come in to work today, so they decided just to film everything that she’s not in and then do her coverage Monday.”

“Sick? What do you mean she’s sick? Did she say what’s wrong with her? Is she okay?”

Misha looked at Jensen like he’d grown a second head. The sudden concern making him furrow his brows as he looked at Jensen, who was obviously flustered over the fact that Y/N was sick. 

“I don’t know, she didn’t text me, I just know what I was told. She was well enough to text so I’m sure she’s just fine. Why Jens? What’s the issue? You’re off the hook for the whole day I think. Go home and go back to bed. You guys were really late filming last night and Y/N is probably just tired. Take a page from her book and go home. Take a break for once.”

Jensne took a deep breath, pinching the bridge of his nose between his index finger and thumb, trying to pinch away the impending tension headache. 

He had been harboring feelings for Y/N for months. Well, ever since the first time he’d laid eyes on her really. He knew her better than she’d probably known herself.

He knew how she took her coffee in the mornings. The way she chewed on her lower lip when she was stressed, or couldn’t remember her lines. The way she shifted her weight on her feet when she had almost had enough of his and Jared’s shit when they were messing with her. 

He knew that she always took a shower before work because in the mornings when they were getting ready to go to set that’s when her shampoo smelled the strongest to him, and he loved every minute of it.

He knew what she prefered for lunch everyday at the food tent before she even got there, and most of the time he had her plate already made and ready for her. 

He knew when she was trying to hide the fact that something was bothering her by the tone in her voice. He knew EVERYTHING about her, and he knew that she didn’t just call in sick to work. Hell, the girl came to work with the damn flu. Sickness didn’t usually stop her.

He couldn’t help but feeling a pit in his stomach that screamed there was something horribly wrong, and he had to go and check on her, and he didn’t care how sick she was, he wouldn’t rest until she felt better. No matter what was wrong, he’d be there. 

Your’s POV:

This was one of the worst periods you had ever had in your life, the pain was almost unbearable. The cramps felt like they were going to rip you apart from the inside out, you couldn’t stop vomiting, and the slightest movement on your part as far as getting off the bathroom floor did nothing but cause more cramping, and more nausea. So you dozed on and off between spurts of pain with your head leaned against the tub, silently wishing you could at least get a pillow. 

You thought you heard someone knocking on your door, but you figured it was just some idiot trying to sell something, so you just ignore it in your sleepy daze. That is until you smelled the distinct smell that was Jensen’s cologne. You'd have known it anywhere, even if you were clinically dead. 

Opening your eyes you saw Jensen sink down to the bathroom floor next to you, slipping the hair away from your face that had fallen out of the half assed attempt at a messy bun you’d done getting out of the shower. 

“Goodness Sweetheart, you look like you feel terrible,” he said, his deep rumble soft, and his eyes concerned. You should have known he’d be worried when you called into work, but you didn’t think he’d actually show up at your apartment just  to check on you. If you were being honest it made your heart swell just a little that he cared that much.

“Yea, be glad you were born a man, Jay,” you tell him, trying to set up but a wave of nausea crashed into you from the movement, and you leaned over the toilet drying heaving, your arm trying to grip your stomach against the assaultingcramps, feeling more than a little embarrassed that Jensen had to witness this. 

“Let me take you to the hospital Y/N,” he said, his warm hand rubbing up and down your back in soothing circles. You shook your head as you leaned back more slowly this time. 

“No Jay, it’s not use, this is totally normal for me. There’s really nothing they can do for me. It will pass.” 

Jensen narrowed his eyes at you. His adorable eye crinkles showing. If you weren't so sick you probably would have smiled at the concern he showed on his face. 

“They can give you something for pain and nausea...” 

Throwing up your hand to stop him before he got himself to work up.

“That means shots Jay, and you know how I feel about needles.”

Standing to his feet he walked out of the room for a moment, and you thought that maybe you’d pissed him off and he was leaving, but he returned before you had time to worry too much, minus his jacket. Bending down he scooped you up carefully into his strong arms and held you tight to his chest as he carried you through your apartment. 

Laying you down on the bed that had been turned down, he carefully pulled the covers over you tucking you in. 

“Well, you’re stuck with me then until you feel like yourself again,” Jensen said, moving over to the other side of the bed, and crawling in on top of the cover next to you, grabbing the remote to your TV on the way.

“Friends marathon?” he asked you, as he pulled you into his side, letting you lay your head on his shoulder and snuggle against him. “I heard you and one of the PA’s talking about it yesterday,” he said with a shy smile when you looked up at him a little amused. 

“Jensen, you don’t want to watch friends we don’t have too,” you told him, poking him in the ribs playfully and enjoying the way he deep chuck vibrated through his whole body.

“Hey, I like Friends. Joey’s my boy ” he said as he settled next to you, turning Friends on before laying his large hand over your lower stomach. The warmth from his hand soothing the assaulting cramps a little and you melted into him. 

“This okay?” he asked you, watching closely for any sign that he was making you uncomfortable.

“No, this is perfect. You're amazing, Jay. You’re gonna make an amazing husband some day,” you tell him, your eyelids getting heavier be the second, finally relaxing just enough to doze off as you felt his lips graze your hair. 

The two of you lay there most of the day watching Friends and cuddling. You couldn’t believe what a sweetheart Jensen was being to you, most men seemed to be grossed out by periods, but Jensen didn’t seem bothered at all. 

The only problem was that the cramps and nausea were getting worse. You’d thrown up two more times, and the pain in your stomach was enough to make you want to cry.

The worse your symptoms got, the more worried Jensen got. Finally pleading with you until you’d agreed to let him bring you to the ER. That’s where you found yourself now, laying curled on an uncomfortable ER bed, with Jensen holding your hand and running his fingers through your hair. 

“I’m sure they can give you something to make you feel better, Sweetheart,” he said. You could tell he was anxious about the amount of pain you were in, even though you’d told him repeatedly that this was normal for you. 

A few minutes later the doctor came in and confirmed what you’d said. It was completely normal, possibly a little overly hormonal induced period system for some women. Pain and nausea were just part of it, but he did say that he wanted to give you a shot to help with the pain and nausea. At which point you started to cry like a little six year old as soon as the doctor walked out of the room to get the charge nurse to give you the shot, and he did your release paperwork.

Jensen squeezed his large frame in the bed next to yours, wrapping his arms around you and pulling you into his chest, letting your cry into his shirt. He lay there shushing you, running his hands through your hair again and repeatedly kissing your forehead, which thanks to your hormones made you even more emotional and more weepy. 

“It’s gonna be okay, Sweetheart. Just a little shot, you probably won’t even really feel it, then we can go home and you won’t be in pain anymore. We can cuddle, I’ll make dinner for the two of us, and we can finish our Friends marathon. Or whatever you want to watch. It’s almost over.”

“I hate needles, Jay,” you mumble against him getting more and more upset be the second.

“Hey, hey, pretty girl, I’m right here holding you, it’s gonna be okay. Just hold on to me as tight as you can.” You can hear the nurse behind you, getting everything ready. You hid your face more into his shirt and his arms wrapped around you tighter.

“Okay sweetheart, just a little stick and you can go home,” the nurse said, cleaning the spot with an alcohol pad over that she was going to put the shot. You were shaking, and you felt Jensen lift your head up to look at him, his green eyes that had really no color name searched yours. 

It worked. He officially distracted you with just a look. Jensen was always able to do that. 

“Okay Hun, your finished! You can go as soon as you sign these papers,” she said, and you looked at her completely shocked that she had already done it.

“See, as long as you’re with me, nothing can hurt you,” Jensen said, kissing the top of your head for what seemed like the thousandth time, making your heart flutter in your chest. 

———————————————————-

Less than an hour later you seemed to actually be feeling better and were even walking around on your own. The doctor had given you something for pain and nausea to do you through the rest of your cycle, that much you were thankful for.

“Okay baby girl, you go get in the bed, and get yourself comfortable, I’m going to start on fixing us something to eat,” Jensen said, refusing to let you into the kitchen.

“Jensen, you don’t have to do all that, we can just order takeout.” 

Jensen laughed at you. “Baby, I’m not going to make you eat takeout, you've been sick all day and you need a home-cooked meal. You settle your little self in that room let me take care of you.”

You kissed him on the check and you could have sworn you saw him blush. 

You did as you were told, getting into bed and waiting for Jensen to come in with his meal, reading through some of your emails and things while you waited. When he entered the room he had a tray of food piled high with all your favorites. You sat there with your mouth hanging open. 

“Jay! OMG!! Please tell me some of that’s yours,” you tell him, looking at the feast he’d brought you.

“Hell yeah some of it’s mine,” he said with a wink as you started to dig in, and he made himself comfortable doing the same.

——————————–

Waking up the next morning you felt Jensen’s arm wrapped protectively around you. Rolling over so as to not wake him up you looked at his perfect sleeping figure. He’d stayed all night with you, holding you, making sure you were comfortable, not letting you do anything for yourself and waiting on your hand and foot, treating you like a queen. 

Running your hand through his soft hair lightly Jensen hummed in his sleep at you. You took in his beautiful features. His strong jaw, perfect dusting of freckles over his nose and cheeks. The man was gorgeous.

All your life you’d searched and hoped for someone like him to stumble into it, and you never realized what was right there in front of you. Watching Jensen sleep next to you this morning though, after all he’d done for you yesterday, you decided maybe there was such a thing as happy endings after all, and maybe, just maybe, yours was laying right here next to you.

————————————————————————————————–

Tag List: @deanwanddamons​​ @imabitch4jensen​​ @rvgrsbrns​​ @bi-danvers0​​ @onethirstyunicorn​​ @i-love-superhero​​ @akshi8278​ @alanegaming​

[oliviastan17]

Just a dream (1/7)

Summary: You are the prop manager working on the set of FATWS and that means you are in charge of putting the Winter Soldier arm on Sebastian Stan. Feelings develop (for one of you) and the pair’s mutual friend Chris Evans steps in to be a wingman.

Warnings: 18+, language, fluff, smut, drinking

Length: 3.5k (ish)

A/N: So this was a dream and I dream in stories…like they pick up again where they left off every couple of days (it’s weird I know). I already had dream #2 but I’m probably not going to post it unless someone asks for it. Also I have never written anything before so be nice…or don’t…whatever. Feel free to reblog. DO NOT POST TO ANY OTHER WEBSITE! And thank you @sinner-as-saint for helping me!

Even outside the trailer you could hear the laughter. One you recognized.

Knock knock knock.

Sebastian answered the door.

“Hey, I need to get you in your arm,” you said.

The words took no more than 3 seconds to say but he was immediately fascinated with you.

“No fucking way! Y/n?!”

You watched Chris as he walked out of Sebastian’s trailer and down the stairs to give you a hug.

“Oh God, what are you doing here? Are you just following me around now?” you responded.

“Ha ha,” he said sarcastically wrapping you up in a hug. “Just came to see some friends. I’m working across the lot. How have you been?” he asked crossing his arms.

“I was great and then you showed up,” you said smiling casually while holding a winter soldier arm in your hands.

“Seb, Y/n here is the best prop manager there is. I mean her personality is kinda “meh” but she’s great at her job!” he said laughing as he dodged your kick

“Evans, go away or I will very happily show your friend here those pictures I only told you I deleted.”

He threw his arms up. “Okay, I’m gonna go find Mackie. Watch out for this one,” he said pointing at you to Sebastian. “She’s nothing but trouble.”

“God, he’s like that annoying brother you can’t get away from,” you said laughing. “Arm please,” you said shaking a bottle of lube.

“Best part of the day,” Sebastian sarcastically said.

He took his jacket off, pulled his arm out of the sleeve of his shirt and held it out while you poured lube from his elbow down to his fingers and began to spread it around to cover his entire muscular forearm. His eyes were immediately drawn to the diamond ring you wore on your left ring finger. Damn, she’s taken.

You didn’t see when Chris turned around and started walking back towards you. Your back was to him and he took the opportunity.

He snuck up behind you and screamed “Y/N!”

Your scream made several crew members turn their heads.

“I fucking hate you so much,” you said as he laughed hysterically.

“I forgot to ask you…I’m producing this project coming up and we need a prop manager and I think you would be perfect for…”

“No!” you cut him off. “I am never working with you again. Ever!”

“Sounds great! I’ll call you! Thanks Y/n!” he said as he walked away ignoring your rejection. You didn’t really mean it anyway.

“I swear I’m going to release those photos,” you said to Sebastian. “And you better warn me if you see him coming back over here.”

“I will, I promise. What kind of photo’s are they?”

“Let’s just say he may or may not have passed out after a wrap party and I may or may not have taken some compromising pictures.” Your smile almost took the breath out of him.

“Okay, you have to show me now…”

 “I’m going to keep holding them over his head for now. Especially if he’s going to keep hanging out over here.”

Your walkie talkie made a beep and an assistant radioed asking which gun they were using for Falcon today.

With the metal arm successfully in place you wiped her hands on a towel and took the walkie out of your back pocket and radioed that you would be there in a minute.

“Okay, how’s that feel? You can move and everything?”

“Yeah it feels great,” Sebastian said while wiggling his hand around.

The walkie went off again and you excused yourself to go deal with your next task. As he watched you walk away he mumbled to himself, “God I’m in trouble.”

 *****************************************************************************************

He had never enjoyed going to work so much. He always liked going to work but not as much as he did now. Going meant he got to see you. You fascinated him. You were funny, a tad mysterious and absolutely gorgeous.

Over the past few months he had grown to like you even more and he wasn’t sure how that was possible. But for the last week he couldn’t help but notice you weren’t your normal happy self…and your ring was missing. It was an cruel symbol staring him in the face every time you were handing him some prop for a scene or putting the arm on which, lucky for him, was every day this week.

“What happened to your ring?” he asked as you were pouring the KY on his arm.

“Oh…um… I tend to take off jewelry given to me when the person that gave it to me cheats.” You took a deep breath and avoided making eye contact.

“I’m sorry.”

That was all he could think to say. He could tell you didn’t want to talk about it so he didn’t press anymore.

Your walkie beeped-“Y/n, I can’t find the phones we need for today. Or the knives. Or the shield.”

With an annoyed expression on your face you looked down at your hands which were covered in lube and you had (of course) forgotten the towel. Your walkie was in the normal place, in your back pocket.

“Can you help me out?” you asked turning around signaling you wanted him to take the walkie out of your pocket. He did and held the button down so you could speak.

“I was just in the prop room 5 minutes ago and laid everything out. It’s all there. Look harder,” you said as you rolled your eyes and continued to help Sebastian into the arm.

A minute later there’s another beep- “Y/n I still can’t find ‘em.”

“You’ve gotta fucking be kidding me,” you said under your breath.

Nodding at Sebastian to push the button on the walkie you replied “Yeah, ok I’ll be right there.”

You were finished putting the arm on but still had no towel to wipe your hands. You turned around again to have Sebastian put the walkie back in your pocket. He did so being careful not to take advantage of the situation even though he very much wanted to. As you walked away he felt his chest ache. Who the fuck would cheat on you? He also felt a little guilty for being so happy that you were now single.

*******************************************************************************************

 It was maybe a month later when he finally started to notice you were getting back to smiling, laughing, and generally being the woman he was first so attracted to. Filming was on a break for a week for Thanksgiving and he was missing going to work. In fact, he was counting down the days until everyone was back on set. Deciding distraction was the way to go he went out to get a start on Christmas shopping. Wandering aimlessly through a store he stopped dead in his tracks when he heard your voice and looked up.

You were walking towards him with bags in one hand and the hand of a small child in your other. Running your fingers through your hair you stopped to look at some toys sitting on the end of the aisle and he could hear you asking the child to choose between 2 toys.

“Which one should we get for Noah?”

She pointed at one after some thought and then went to grab the other one.

“This one is for me.”

“Hmmm…Well maybe Santa will bring that one for you for Christmas. But we’re not getting it today.”

She didn’t like that answer and proceeded to argue with you and eventually started to fake cry and throw a fit.

Squatting down to be on her level you calmly said “Hey you need to calm down. Do I need to call Santa and tell him you’re not behaving?” She shook her head no and then found a ball to play with.

“That’s what I thought,” you said with a laugh. As you stood up you saw Sebastian walking towards you with that ridiculously handsome smile.

 “I didn’t know you had a little girl.”

“She’s my niece.”

He nodded in understanding.

“Harper, this is my friend Sebastian. Can you say hi?” you said to the three year old now hugging your leg.

Sebastian knelt down. “It’s nice to meet you Harper,” he said as he held his hand out for a handshake. She shook her head no and hid behind your legs.

“How about a high five?” he asked. She shook her head no again.

“What about knuckles?” you suggested and Harper smiled and extended her fist to pound into his.

Sebastian and you talked about nothing in particular for 5 minutes while Harper continued to play with the ball she was still holding and then (of course) decided to start acting up again.

“Oh man, where’s my phone to call Santa?” you said while you looked through your purse and pulled out your phone.  Harper once again settled down and got distracted by pushing buttons on a different toy.

“Wow that works really well,” Sebastian said with a laugh.

“Yeah except for the time I was talking to “Santa” and she ripped the phone away from my ear and realized there was no one there.”

“Well we can’t have that.” He grabbed the phone out of your hand. “I’m putting my number in your phone so when you call “Santa” that won’t happen again.”

“Oh you don’t have…”

“Done.” He handed the phone back to her with his signature grin.

Before you could argue with him more you felt someone tug on your sweater.

“Auntie I have to go potty.”

“Alright let’s go. Say goodbye to Sebastian.”

Harper shyly waved goodbye.

“Bye Harper. Make sure to tell your Aunt you want to talk to Santa later. I’m sure he’s just waiting for your call to hear about your day.”

 Later that night….

“So it’s getting kinda late and Santa hasn’t heard from you (sad face emoji)”

You looked through your texts and saw that he had texted himself from your phone. Sneaky.

“Well she doesn’t live with me and I thought it might be a little weird to have my brother call you lol”

“OK I guess that would be a little strange. Are you planning on stopping by James’ tonight?”

“I wasn’t planning on it.”

“Could I change your mind on that?”

“I don’t know. Give it your best shot.”

He took a picture of himself pouting and sent it.

“Please?”

“I’m not convinced…”

He took a more dramatic crying photo and sent it.

“What about now?”

“Nope. Gonna have to try harder.”

He had someone take a photo of him with his head in his hands. Chris was sitting next to him pointing at Sebastian while making the gesture of a tear falling down his cheek. You laughed at the picture.

“I guess I could use a drink…” 

You could hear Mackie’s booming laughter as you walked into the bar. He and Sebastian were playing darts and arguing about the rules while others were playing pool. It was a dive bar, low key and relaxed environment. Just the kind you liked.

“Anthony enough with the thighs! What do your thighs have to do with you sucking at darts?” Sebastian yelled.

Anthony laughed and saw you walking towards them.

“Hey, Y/n come watch me teach Seb a lesson!” he said as he threw the dart at the target and completely missed.

“I’m gonna get a drink first Hawkeye,” you laughed.

Sebastian watched you as you walked away. After ordering you leaned against the bar resting your elbow on it. You were laughing at something someone said as you reached for your drink when Chris spotted you. He snuck up on you while your back was turned and grabbed your shoulders.

“Y/N!”

“Oh my god!” you yelled while you brought your hand up to your racing heart. “Why are you always doing that?”

“You’re just too easy to scare. I can’t help it. I’m sorry!”

“No, you’re not!”

“Yeah, I know I’m an asshole,” he said laughing. “But you know who’s not an asshole? Sebastian.”

He saw the genuine confusion on your face. “I think he’s into you so I’m just here to put in a good word for him.”

He sensed your hesitation. “Look, he really wanted you here tonight and he hasn’t stopped looking for you since you said you were coming. I know you just got out of your last relationship…and I told you I never liked that guy…but I just want you to know that Seb’s one of the good guys okay? Just keep an open mind.”

You nodded and took a deep breath.

“Now, let’s get you drunk,” he said as he handed you a shot which you downed and chased with a beer. After one more shot courtesy of Chris and a refilled beer you began to feel the effects before you had even finished walking over to the tables the rest of the crew were at by the dart boards.

Sebastian gave you hug as you walked up. “So am I always going to need Chris here to help me convince you to come out?”

“Actually you had me convinced with the first photo. I was just curious to see what else you would come up with,” you laughed.

“I like a challenge,“ he said with a mischievous grin.

The night was full of laughter, stolen looks, and many, many drinks thanks to a drinking game you and Sebastian created.

“Take a shot every time Chris laughs and grabs his chest,” you whispered to Sebastian.

He laughed. “We’re going to get alcohol poisoning.”

Five shots into the night Chris had figured out what the two of you were doing so the game was called off. It was a little before 2 am and by that point most members of the group had either left or started to arrange for rides home.

When your Uber was less than 5 minutes away Sebastian walked outside with you to wait for both of your rides. It was cold outside and you stood with your arms crossed, shifting your weight and taking small steps to try and warm up.

“Come here,” Sebastian said as he put his arms around you in a hug.

“You smell like whiskey and ceder wood,” you said laughing. 

“Is that a good thing?” he laughed.

“Yes, you smell good.”

You lifted your head up and made eye contact, your faces only inches apart. You both starred into each other’s eyes for a good 10 seconds before your phone chimed and you broke the stare grabbing your phone to check where the car was.

“Ugh! Dumb ass is nowhere near here. He’s just driving in a circle 2 blocks away.”

Sebastian’s Uber pulled up right then and he opened the door.

“We can share mine.”

You got in the car on the passenger side as he held the door and scooted over to the driver’s side to make room for him. After giving the driver your address you relaxed in your seat leaning your head back on the headrest. 

“Ah I needed this so much tonight.”

“I think the words you are looking for are ‘thank you Seb for getting me to come out tonight.’”

“Thank you Seb.” As you said the words the most breath taking smile took over his face. Why it took Chris saying what he said to open your eyes to the absolute beauty sitting next to you, you’ll never understand.

The rest of the ride is filled with flirts and teasing.

"Well this is me. Thanks for the ride. I’ll see you later,” you said as you gave him a hug.

“Not if I see you first.” He dropped his head and brought his hand up to rub his forehead as he realized what he said was completely cheesy.

“Very smooth.” Laughing you stepped out of the car and Sebastian watched you walk up to your door. He couldn’t believe someone as stunning, kind, and incredible as you existed. 

As the Uber drove away he was lost in his thoughts. You made him nervous and he said that stupid “not if I see you first” line. What was he thinking?

He only lived about 15 minutes from you but he felt like the ride only lasted 30 seconds. Time flew when he thought about you. When he arrived at his house he opened the door to get out of the car when a light caught his eye. It was a cell phone left on the seat. It was your cell phone.

“Turn around,” he told the driver with a smile on his face. Thank God someone decided to text you at the exact right time.

The driver pulled up to the house and Sebastian walked up to your front door and rang the doorbell. He told himself to actually be smooth this time.

You answered the door in pajamas (black leggings and an off the shoulder red sweatshirt). Hair up in a messy bun and makeup off you were still the most beautiful person he had ever seen.

“Hey, what’s up?”

“You forgot something,” he said holding up your phone.

“Oh my god, thank you,” you said as you let out a sigh of relief. “I thought I left it at the bar or something.”

“I forgot something too.” He walked towards you until his lips were less than an inch from your face. His hand cupped the back of your neck while the other wrapped around your waist with his eyes never leaving yours. He waited for any sign of rejection and when you gave none he pressed his lips to yours. It was soft at first and you wrapped your arms around his neck. As he deepened the kiss you pushed the door shut and the two of you walked further into your house while your lips never left each other.

He had you pinned against the wall kissing your neck while his grip around your waist tightened. Picking you up so that your legs wrapped around his waist he carried you to the bedroom where he sat down on the bed as you straddled his thighs. You smiled against his lips and he broke the kiss to stare at you while tucking a few stray hairs behind your ear.

You pulled his face closer to yours and kissed him while taking off his jacket. He removed his shirt and then slipped his hands up and under your shirt to remove it. As his hands caressed your back you began to move your hips to grind on him. He let out a soft moan as he grabbed you to place your back on the bed and climbed on top of you.

He kissed you with unbelievable passion as his hands felt every inch of you they could. He slipped his hand down the front of your leggings just as he slipped his tongue into your mouth. You moaned as he rubbed your clit. Your back arched as he kissed his way down from your neck to your breasts to your stomach. He watched you bite your lip as he peeled your pants off and licked his lips before crashing them back onto yours. He had his fingers curling while pumping in and out of you while his mouth moved perfectly with yours. Sebastian was somehow able to touch you in every single right spot at the right time and soon he felt your walls clamp down on his fingers while you moaned in release.

Watching him take his pants off and bite his lip was the sexiest thing you had ever seen. No words were needed. He somehow knew what you wanted and performed expertly. He moved in and out of you at the perfect rhythm. It did not take long for you to come completely undone as he brought you to a shaking orgasm. Watching you completely lose control made him come soon after.

As you both laid there recovering he brought his right hand up in the air with his palm facing you. You slapped it with the palm of your left hand and you both laughed at the after sex high five. It was something that would be repeated 2 other times that night.

Next Part

[fairyqueenofthedragons]

The Magic Begins

Fablekingdom chapter 2

As I'm following canon set up of chapters, it starts with set up still. I am trying to show a slightly different dynamic between the siblings, while keeping the spirit of it. There will be bigger changes later on, but obviously the beginning is hard to change majorly, especially just arriving lol.

(Find Chapter One with a server of “Fk ch 1)

Hope you enjoy the chapter :D

Come chat with me on discord: https://discord.gg/8Vc6w9JWxv

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

Kendra had been sitting in the car for hours.

She and Seth had done just about everything they could think of to handle the boredom, but she’d finished her two books, they’d played a dozen rounds of tic-tac-toe, and he’d moved onto trying to beat her at chopsticks (that game with your fingers). Seth had had a few comics, but he’d gone through them faster then she had her books. Even his handheld video game couldn’t hold his attention anymore.

“I thought you said that Grandpa Sorenson lived in Connecticut, not India,” Seth grumbled.

Mom sighed, having listened to Seth’s complaints for the last hour, “It won’t be much longer. Enjoy the scenery.”

She’d said that the last six times.

“It’s boring! I’m hungry, can we stop for food?”

Kendra was on Seth’s side here; the scenery was boring.

Mom pulled up the grocery bag full of snacks, “How about some Peanut butter and crackers instead?”

Seth shot Kendra a pained look but reached for the crackers regardless.

“Ooh, I want some Almond Roca,” Dad said without taking his eyes from the road.

He’s still managed to keep to his New Year’s resolution of keeping Almond Roca on hand at all times.

“Do you want anything Kendra?”

“No, I’m fine.”

Kendra turned her gaze outside as Seth munched on his snack. When was this drive going to be over? At least Grandfathers house can’t be as boring as this drive.

Honestly, Kendra wasn’t happy they were being sent off to stay with their grandparents just because of some cruise. She wished her family would just let them come with… or maybe just her, Seth might be too young (and too annoying).

They would be gone for seventeen days! Kendra couldn’t believe they’d just leave them like this.

They’re getting it for free, them and all the aunts and uncles on her mom’s side. They didn’t win a contest or anything to get it, they got the cruise because Kendra’s grandparents had asphyxiated.

Grandma and Grandpa Larsen had been visiting relatives in South Carolina. Unfortunately, the trailer they lived in had some gas leak and they’d all died in their sleep. The grandparents had specified a long time ago that when they died all their kids and spouses were to use an allocated sum of money to go on a Scandinavian cruise.

Grandchildren were not invited.

“We’re almost there kids!” Kendra’s dad said cheerfully.

“Yay,” Seth grumbled. “Then you guys can abandon us for your fancy cruise.”

“Won’t you get bored stuck on a boat for seventeen days?” Kendra asked hopefully.

Dad caught her eye in the rearview mirror. “The food is supposed to be incredible, top reviews. Snails, fish eggs, the works. It’s gonna be great.”

Mom wacked his arm.

“We’re not all that excited about the trip kids,” Mom said sadly. “I doubt your grandparents envisioned an accidental death when they made the request. The cruise is to honor their memory more than for fun.”

“What kind of death did they plan then?” Seth muttered.

Kendra couldn’t help but agree, who planned their death?

The ship stops in ports as you go,” Dad said, deliberately redirecting the conversation. “You get to disembark for part of the time.”

“Are you at least going to get us something?” Kendra asked. “If you’re just going to leave us at your parent’s house.”

“Of course we will dear,” Mom reassured. “We’ll get you some chocolates, maybe some books, maybe there will be cool jewelry!”

“I want a sword,” Seth said. “A sharp one.”

“I think it’s great for you kids that you get to stay with my parents,” Dad added. “I mean, they never invite anyone to stay with them. It’s definitely better than some cruise.”

Kendra shared a look with Seth, their parents were full of it.

“They’re hermits,” Seth argued. “We barely know them!”

“They’re my parents,” Dad said. “I survived, you’ll have fun.”

The car passed through a small town, only a few buildings lined the road, many seeming old a run down. There didn’t appear to be anything more interesting than a small library at the corner.

“It’s very exciting,” Dad continued. “Like I said, they never invite anyone. You’ll have a blast.”

Kendra tried hard not to roll her eyes. She knew for a fact that they hadn’t been invited. Kendra had overheard their mom when she approached Grandpa Sorenson about letting the kids stay with him at the funeral.

The funeral itself hadn’t been fun at all, it was creepy seeing her grandparents all dressed up fancy with lots of makeup. It didn’t look like them at all.

Those grandparents, the Larsen’s, they were the ones that they’d known. They’d come to lots of holidays and done many long visits with Kendra’s family. But Kendra couldn’t remember seeing the Sorenson’s much since Seth had started second grade.

Grandma and Grandpa Sorenson had inherited an estate in Connecticut around the time her parents were married. All the stories she’d heard were fantastical, filled with fairies and demons and witches. They were obviously fake, it made her think the place was something very boring.

Honestly, everyone was shocked when grandpa Sorenson had shown up at the funeral. It’d been more than eighteen months since either grandparent had visited anywhere.

He’d apologized that Grandma Ruth hadn’t been able to come, she’d fallen ill, but it really was the norm for only one to show up.

But at the end Kendra had overheard Mom talking to Grandpa Sorenson, cajoling him into watching her and Seth. She’d been heading to the bathroom but paused when she’d overheard them at the corner.

“Why can’t they stay with Marci?”

“Normally they would, but Marci is coming on the cruise.”

Kendra had risked a peek and seen Grandpa Sorenson standing across from her mom.

“Where are Marci’s kids going?”

“To her in-laws.”

“What about a baby-sitter?”

Grandpa had seemed almost pleading then, his expression tight.

“Two and a half weeks is a long time for a sitter. You’ve mentioned before something about having them over…”

“Yes, I do recall… But does it have to be late June? What about July?”

“The cruise is on a time frame. What’s the difference?”

He’d rubbed his face with a sigh.

“Things are extra busy then… I don’t know, Marla. I’m not that good with kids. Is there no where else they could go?”

“I’m sorry Stan,” Mom said, sounding on the verge of tears. “I know things are busy for you, and I don’t want to go on this cruise. You did so good with them when they were younger, I know you don’t see them often but… This cruise was important to my parents, so I want to go for them. If you can’t take care of the kids we can stay behind-“

“No,” Grandpa Sorenson interrupted with a sigh. “It’s fine. I’m sure we can find some place to lock them up.”

So, no, Grandpa Sorenson did not invite them.

Seth finished his crackers and pulled his game back out, flipping through the cartridges.

“Which game should I play?”

Kendra leaned over, “The fashion one.”

He rolled his eyes, “That one is just for character design.”

“Then make an elf.”

“I don’t want to!”

“You asked which you should do.”

“Nevermind, your suggestion is dumb.”

Seth ended up picking a fighting game and started it up.

Kendra got bored of watching quickly and turned to look out the windows. The trees were large and dark, little light slipping through the branches.

She jolted when they turned onto a gravel driveway.

“Look at that sign,” Seth said.

She followed his finger to see signs hanging on the side of the road.

Private Property

No Trespassing

Trespassers Will Be Persecuted

Please respect our privacy

“What are all these signs?” Kendra muttered.

“Oh, you know Grandpa Sorenson,” her dad said cheerfully. “Such a sense of humor.”

“I think they’re funny,” Seth declared. “Can we get some for our house?”

Kendra frowned at them as the car continued up the long driveway, no house anywhere in sight.

There were more signs as they went.

Beware of the Dog

We do not call 911

Beware of .12 Gauge

No Public Access at any Time

Owner Shoots

Kendra leaned back. This seems so… pleasant.

“I like that one,” Seth said pointing at the Owner Shoots sign.

Kendra shook her head as they finally reached the end of the driveway. Before them was a wrought-iron fence topped with fleurs-de-lis. Open in their path was a large double gate. She peered around but couldn’t see the end of the fence through the trees.

Even after passing through the gates there was still no sign of the house through the trees, until suddenly the trees cut off.

A large house came into view suddenly. It wasn’t quite a mansion, but was definitely larger than most houses Kendra had seen.

It was constructed out of dark wood and stone, old looking but solid and in good shape. The grounds around it were much more impressive though. There was a massive flower garden blooming in front of the house, with manicured hedges and a fish pond. It seemed to wrap around the side of the house too. Kendra wondered what flowers there were, and if there was a vegetable garden as well.

Further back Kendra could see a massive barn, at least five stories tall and topped with a large weather vane that she couldn’t quite make out but seemed shaped like an animal, but not a rooster.

“Oh, it’s lovely,” Mom said. “I wish we were all staying.”

Kendra blinked, “You’ve never been here?”

“No,” Mom said sadly. “Your father came here a few times before we were married.”

Dad nodded, “Yeah. There are some wild stories about this place, haha, I’ve told you a few of them.”

Seth yawned, “Yeah, like the evil witch in a shack.”

“Or the demon in the chapel.”

“Aren’t there trolls over one hill?”

Their dad laughed, “Yeah, my dad used to tell some wild stories. You should hear the ones Aunt Sophie would tell sometimes. She swears she met satyrs one time.”

The two shared an exasperated look.

“Anyways, you’ll have a blast. We never stayed long, but it was always entertaining. Worst comes to worst you can just hang out in the pool.”

Kendra rolled her eyes. Honestly, they were too old to believe all those fairy tales.

The car pulled to a stop just outside the garage as the front door open.

Grandpa Sorenson stepped out, followed by a tall, lanky man and a thin, older woman. Mom, Dad, Seth, and Kendra hopped out of the car.

The older woman was unfamiliar to Kendra, and so was the man. The woman had white hair streaked with black strands, and yet her face seemed ageless, her age impossible to place. Her skin was a tawny olive tone that appeared completely flawless, her black hair was pin-straight and framed her face.

The man had messy brown hair to go with matching brown eyes that studied them intently. He came over to the van, helping Dad open the back and begin removing suitcases.

“Just place the things inside,” Grandpa told Dad. “Dale will take them up to the bedroom.”

“Where’s Mom?” Dad asked looking around.

“She’s visiting your Aunt Edna.”

Dad looked surprised. “In Missouri?”

“Edna’s dying,” Grandpa said grimly.

Kendra had barely heard of Aunt Edna, and never met her, so she wasn’t that affected by it. Dad seemed upset thought.

She shifted awkwardly, studying the house to distract herself from their conversation.

The windows were cool, with bubbly glass. And there were bird nests under the eaves. She also noticed a lot of butterflies fluttering around.

Mom suddenly drew their attention and Seth and her scrambled to gather their things from the car and shove it all in their backpacks to bring in.

“I’ll grab the pillows if you grab the blankets?” Seth offered.

“Sure,” Kendra agreed, reaching for the blanket Seth had brought for napping on the car ride while he snagged her pillow.

Seth also snagged his ‘emergency kit’, a cereal box filled with odds and ends he thought would come in handy.

The two hurried after their parents, reaching them at the front door.

“Oh, there you are,” Mom said. “Got everything?”

“Yeah,” Seth huffed. “Except a ticket to go on the cruise.”

Mom sighed, ruffling Seth’s hair. “We’ll miss you too.”

He groaned, swiping at her hand as she turned to Kendra.

“Watch out for your brother, and both of you stay out of trouble, okay?”

Kendra nodded, “We’ll do our best.”

“So who’s this?” Dad was asking Grandpa.

“This is Lena, our housekeeper,” Grandpa said. “She helps around the house while Dale helps me tend to the grounds.”

“Nice to meet you,” Dad said.

“A pleasure,” Lena agreed with a soft accent. Kendra couldn’t quite place it, yet it reminded her of the ocean.

Lena opened the door, beckoning them inside.

“Oh, the home is beautiful,” Mom said. “I wish we had time for a tour.”

“Maybe when you get back,” Grandpa offered.

Kendra looked around. The house really was beautiful.

The glossy wood floors shone in the light and a low table in the entry hall held a beautifully painted ceramic vase with wilting flowers placed in it. There was a tall, brass coatrack off to one side beside a black bench with a high, carved back. It looked old and very interesting.

“Thank you again for letting the kids stay with you,” Dad said. “I don’t know what we would’ve done without you.”

Grandpa nodded, looking a bit awkward.

“It’s our pleasure.”

“I wish we could visit some,” Dad said. “But we’re on a really tight schedule.”

Grandpa pat his shoulder, “I understand, another time. Don’t let us keep you from your trip.”

“Thanks, Dad.”

Dad turned to Kendra and Seth, ruffling Seth’s hair.

“Have fun kids, we’ll be back before you know it.”

“Be good,” Mom said, hugging Kendra then Seth. “Do whatever Grandpa Sorenson tells you.”

Kendra sniffed, tears welling up. She swallowed hard and nodded, “Have a fun cruise.”

“Bring us back souvenirs,” Seth reminded.

Mom laughed, “The best ones.”

“We love you kids,” Dad said as he headed to the door.

Mom hugged them both one last time then went after him.

Kendra hurried after them, watching as they climbed into the SUV and start it up. Dad honked the horn as he pulled out, turning around and driving away. Kendra watched until the SUV vanished into the trees.

She tried not to think that her parents were probably relieved to be off without Seth and her. They were probably delighted for the vacation, not caring that they’d abandoned their two kids alone in a pretty, but creepy home with a grandparent they barely know.

Seth was poking around the entrance room, poking at one of the cabinets and picking up one of the intricate pieces of a decorative chess set.

Grandpa stood awkwardly, watching Seth and wincing when Seth put down a piece too hard.

“Leave the chess pieces alone,” Kendra told Seth. “They look expensive and breakable.”

“It’s fine,” Grandpa said, looking relieved when Seth put them down. He cleared his throat, “Shall I show you to your room?”

“Okay,” Seth said. “When’s lunch?”

Grandpa coughed, “It’s a bit past lunch but we can make you a snack to hold you till dinner.”

Seth nodded eagerly, “I’m starving.”

Kendra followed silently as Grandpa went up the stairs and down a carpeted hall to the foot of a narrow wooden staircase leading up to a white door.

“We don’t often have guests, especially children,” Grandpa explained. “I think you’ll be the most comfortable in the attic.”

Kendra was expecting something dark and musty, like the attic back home, but when he opened the door she saw it was actually very nice.

It was set up like a cheerful playroom. Spacious, clean, and bright, the long room had two beds at the far end, one wall covered in bookshelves and a couple of dressers, and the other held two wardrobes and some toy chests. There was a unicorn rocking horse sitting to the side, and a full dollhouse in one corner with a small piano in the other. Sitting beside of one of the dressers was a hen in a cage.

Seth went straight for the chicken. “Cool!” He poked a finger through the slender bars, trying to pet the soft looking feathers.

“Be careful, Seth,” Kendra warned. “Be gentle.”

“He’ll be fine,” Grandpa soothed. “Goldilocks is more a house pet than a barnyard hen. Your grandmother usually takes care of her, but since she’s gone I thought you kids might enjoy taking care of her for now. You’ll need to feed her, clean her cage, and collect her eggs.”

Seth looked delighted, “She lays eggs?”

“An egg or two a day if you keep her well fed,” Grandpa confirmed, motioning to a white plastic bucket full of kernels. “One scoop in the morning and in the evening should be good. I’ll show you how to change the lining of her cage in a few days. Make sure she has plenty of water and a tiny bowl of milk each morning.”

“Milk?”

He smiled mysteriously, “That’s the secret behind the eggs.”

“Can we take her out?” Seth asked, now stroking her feathers.

“Be gentle,” Grandpa said. “And put her back after.”

“Is it okay for us to play with the toys?” Kendra asked, studying the dollhouse. “Some of these look expensive.”

“Toys should be played with,” Grandpa said. “Just try to take care of them and that will be enough.”

“Awesome,” Seth said, going over to the piano and banging on the keys.

Kendra blinked, the notes sounded different than a piano. She couldn’t quite place what was off.

“While you stay here, this room is your space,” Grandpa said. “Within reason of course. I won’t pick up this space, nor bother you about it, as long as you treat the rest of the house with respect.”

“Alright,” Kendra agreed.

“Sounds good,” Seth nodded.

“I also have some unfortunate news. We’re in the height of tick season, have you heard of Lyme disease?”

Seth shook his head, but Kendra considered for a moment.

“I think so, but I can’t remember what it is.”

“It was originally discovered in the town of Lyme, Connecticut, not too far from here. You can catch it from tick bites, and during tick season the woods here are full of ticks.”

“What’s it do?” Seth asked.

“It starts out as a rash,” Grandpa said. “But it leads to arthritis, paralysis, and heart failure. And on top of that, ticks in general are bad to have. If you try to pull them off the heads detach, makes them hard to remove.”

“Gross,” Kendra muttered.

Grandpa nodded, “They’re very small and hard to see, at least until they fill up on blood, then they get as large as grapes.”

“Wow,” Seth said. “Can’t you just use bug spray?”

Grandpa nodded, “That can help, but isn’t a guarantee. The point is, you kids aren’t allowed to go into the woods. Stay on the lawn, play in the pool, explore the gardens, but stay away from the woods. I won’t be taking you to the hospital for Lyme disease.”

They both nodded.

“Good. As long as you follow that rule it’ll be fine. Break it and I’ll have to take away your outdoor privileges for your own safety.”

Seth winced, “Right, got it.”

“We understand,” Kendra assured him.

Grandpa nodded again, looking satisfied.

“One last thing,” he continued. “You’ll also need to stay out of the barn. There’s a lot of old tools and ladders and rusty pieces of farm equipment. I don’t want to risk you getting injured or getting tetanus.”

“Okay,” Seth agreed easily.

“Sounds reasonable,” Kendra said.

“Is there a TV?” Seth asked, poking at a canvas on an easel by one of the toy chests.

“No TV, or radio. We don’t get good reception out here, and it’s very expensive to run lines out.”

“When’s dinner?”

“In a few hours, Lena will be bringing up a snack for you soon. On that note, if you need anything, go to Lena. I’m very busy handling the upkeep of the property, so Lena will help with whatever you need.” He motioned to a purple cord hanging against the wall near one of the beds. “Tug the cord if you need her.”

“Alright, will we eat in one of the dining rooms?”

Grandpa nodded, “When I’m able to join you yes. On the days I’m too busy, like today, you can eat in here, in the kitchen, or anywhere else in the house. As long as you keep everything relatively clean you’re free to eat where you’re comfortable.”

“Wow,” said Seth. “Mom and Dad never let us eat in our rooms!”

Grandpa’s lips twitched, “Well, if it seems you can’t clean up after yourselves I may put a limit on it. But for now, you’re free to eat where you please.”

“Awesome,” Seth muttered.

Kendra’s smiled, that did sound nice.

“Now then, I need to go and complete my chores. I’ll likely not see you again till tomorrow.” He turned to leave but paused, pulling out a tiny key ring from his coat pocket. “Each of these keys fit something in this room. See if you can figure out what each unlocks.”

Kendra accepted the keyring curiously and Grandpa headed out, shutting the door gently behind him.

Seth had opened a toy chest now and was examining the contents. The toys were old-fashioned but in excellent condition. Soldiers, dolls, puzzles, stuffed animals, wooden blocks, some blocks shaped like logs, and others.

Kendra went to the window, a telescope put before it. She tried to peer through the eyepiece but couldn’t get it to focus right no matter how much she adjusted the knobs.

Pulling away she studied the window, realizing they were made of bubbly glass like the front of the house.

She unfastened the latch, pushing the window open. Even without the telescope she could see far into the forest. She moved the telescope closer and peered through it. After a moment of adjusted the knobs she could see even the leaves of the trees in clear detail.

“Oh, let me see,” Seth said, peering over her shoulder.

“Give me a bit, I just started looking.”

“But I wanna see.”

“Go play with the toys some,” Kendra huffed. “I’ll let you look after I’m done.”

“But sharing is caring,” Seth insisted.

“I said you could look, let me use it first though. I was using it already.”

Seth squinted, “What are you even looking at?”

“The trees.”

“Boring, let me see. I’ll look at something more interesting.”

Kendra rolled her eyes but stepped away, not wanting to deal with his whining.

“Fine but let me close the window. I don’t want bugs to come in.”

“Sure, whatever,” Seth studied the telescope as she closed the window and went off to study the dressers.

They were carved elegantly with fairies and unicorns and fiery birds.

She ran her fingers over the intricate patterns, she wished she had something like this at home.

She shook her head, going to look at the wardrobes, it reminded her of the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. She wondered if she stepped in would she find a mystical land on the other side.

“This stupid thing won’t even focus,” Seth complained.

Kendra smiled.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to reblog and leave a review, they feed my soul.

What did you think of the room? What changes do you think their foreknowledge will bring? What things did you dislike from the original series that you'd like changed?

lmk if you’d like to be tagged.

[geeky-marie]

Hello! I was wondering if you could write Beetlejuice being oblivious to the nice things that reader is doing for him and when he realizes that the nice things that he thought was for someone else or for you he's just crying and sniffling as he's pampered?

Beetlejuice Musical 

Beetlejuice Fluff

A/N : Whoa, it’s pretty much longer that I think. I wasn’t sure if you wanted a romance or just Beetlejuice being pampered. So I kind of do both, letting the door open for maybe more. I hope you will like it and you will not be shy to ask me more if yes. Thank you for the request !

—-

You were living with the Deetz and the ghost couple that are the Maitland for almost a year now. It was at first a thing of only a month, just the time of getting back on your feet after your ex boyfriend had kicked you out of his life,and of the apartment, without a real notice. You still couldn’t believe your luck when your aunt Delia proposed that you take your things and come live with her, her husband and his daughter.

Of course, the ghost part, at first, had been the real shock. Even if the Maitland was in reality the most heartwarming persons you ever meet, they were undoubtedly dead. And then, not without a certain precaution they introduce you to Beetlejuice. Who’s, for some reason, through it was a good idea to scare you almost to death as a welcome. 

At the memory of this moment of your life, a laugh escapes your lips. It sure took you some extra time to be comfortable around the ghost with the most, but now, you two share the same space without screams of terror. 

With time, you started to appreciate the man and try to take a little bit more care of him than the others. Nothing really major. Staying a little bit more late at night with him to keep him company, never forgetting to buy his favorite chocolate, watch the really bad movie he enjoys so much and more recently read for him. Beetlejuice didn’t seem to notice the special effort, having been raised without such kindness, but you didn’t really care. Having a happy BJ was the most important things.   

“ Beej, Delia, Lydia,Charles, Adam, Barb, I’m at home !” You proclaim, you heavy bag hitting the floor.

From all over the house, the greeting echoed on the wall, making you smile a little more. You truly couldn’t dream of a better place to be.

“ Hey babe, welcome back.” The amplified voice of Beetlejuice calls, his body coming from a total opposite direction. It was one of your favorite tricks and he perfectly knew it “ Are you ready for the return of the zombie ? This movie looks so fun. Delia had almost fainted when I showed her the trailer, Charlie boy doesn’t want to watch it either and Lydia has boring stuff to do. So take a coffee or maybe cocaine if you want to try and come with me “ 

Removing your boots, you grab your bag biting your lips.

“ Well, actually Beej I have something really important to do tonight. Maybe tomorrow ? “ You propose, feeling bad about letting him down for the third time this week. 

And the expression on his face, add to the purple at the tips of his hair, wasn’t helping you feeling better. 

“ Oh, that’s that thing you prepare with Barbara and Adam again ? “ He asks, the purple invading a little bit more of his hair. “ I guess I will go watch some zombies by myself then” The ghost finish, returning into the living room without looking at you.                 

“ It’s almost finished Beetlejuice, I swear” You couldn’t stop yourself from replying.  

A pretty rude and plain “ I don’t care” coming for the couch answers you. At the tone of his voice, you were pretty sure his hair was now a messy mix of purple and red.  

Ascending to the attic, your weighty bag in your hands, you finally put it down and start to discharge the many books you had borrowed. Active around the room, Barbara and Adam looked at you with an excited smile. 

—

The moon was high in the sky when you finally were able to leave the attic. Downstairs, the characteristic sound of every zombie movie was playing, letting you know that Beetlejuice was still in the living room.

Followed by Adam and Barbara, you enter the room, your precious package under your arms. Still angry and lonely, the demon still watches you invade his space, some pale lock of green hair betrayed the fact that he was glad to see you. 

“ I have finished my project “ You inform him, sitting at his side on the couch.

“ Good to know, Adam and Barbara should be happy with that thing you have done to them doll “ He dully reply, a note of jealous in is words.

“ It wasn’t for Adam and Barbabra, they just helped me with it” You confess, putting the black and white striped blanket on his knee. 

Opening the cover, you could see the surprise rose slowly on the face of BJ.

“ You made this to me ? Why ? “ The man asked, his hair changing for a warm pink. 

“ Yes, so we will be cozy when we watch movies. And with Adam and Barbara we made this.” Putting a little player with headphones into his hand, you softly smile. “ We had recorded us reading some books we think you would like. So, you will not have to wait after me all the time to hear a story and it will occupy you when everyone sleeps.” 

Beetlejuice seems to freeze for a moment, his gaze focuses on you. Then, slowly, like a sudden rain in summer, tears fill his eyes, running freely on his cheeks, surprising you. The blanket still his hands, he grabs you in a bear hug, crying and sniffing a little bit more in the crock of your neck. Letting you go only when you notice him, by gentle tap on his back, that he was squeezing you too hard. 

“ You really did this to me ? “ He still asks you, uncertain, trying to wipe the tears on his face.

“ Yes BJ, only for you. “ You answer “ Now what do you think if we watch one of these movies you were talking about me.”

It took you some minutes to find a comfortable position. But, for the second time that night, the demon surprised you, leading you in a cozy embrace, his arm resting on your waist, his fingers lazily making a calming circle on your stomach. 

“ hey, babe ? ”

“ Yes Beetlejuice ?” 

“ Thank you so much…“  

@beetlejuicecansteponme @beetlebitchywitch @beejywords @sofabearr

[hpdabbles]

That’s not my name Sir.

Harry James Potter is the storybook hero who comes to life for the majority of the wizarding world. He defeated the leader of a terrorist group that had been raging war against their country at age one and a few months. 

Avenging his parents' death while also making it possible to finally let the war end in one single casting. He then went on to live in a disclosure location but a few of his adventures were leaked to the press. 

Some of the favorites of these adventures for young witches and wizards were the boy’s knack for finding trouble and fixing it no matter where he went. He had been rumored to stoping a werewolf pack form attacking a muggle city, then had been spotted riding on the back of unicorns who lead him to a group of missing children a week later. 

Harry Potter the series, was a collection of the boy's heroic exploits, each broken down in a couple of books for the magical world’s pleasure and delight. Everyone knew that the stories were all gathered from mouths of eye-witnesses and the publishing company placed a warning label indicating some of the details to be inaccurate but they were small things like “Harry Potter was wearing a blue scarf, not a red one when he fist fought a vampire from harming a young muggle girl”.

Then there were the research and magical academic journals inspired by the young Potter. The sight of his unknown spell which finally vanquished You-Know-Who, had left such a heavy leftover traces of advance magic all originating from Harry Potter crib that it opens entire new theories and possible a field or two. The higher education side of the magical world flocked to the areas Harry Potter was said to be spotted and each time, indicated to the boy’s large and powerful magic. No one really knew what the readings and test results from these areas could be used for, but any untaped energy bursts could make any academic egghead woozy in gleeful joy.

Overall, there are sixty books that reference one Harry James Potter and that is quite the number of books for a community so small as theirs. It can be well said that everyone and anyone who is someone with magic,  had heard of the name Harry Potter. Even across the waters and into other countries this is true due  to the book series being translated

No one really knew where Harry Potter lived but they had tracking spells that informed everyone he was at least in Britain land and seemed to be relatively safely following the laws. These spells and charms let the public know their hero was nearby and able to help should the need arise again.

This is why one stress Ministry of Magic intern is very worried about informing his boss of the latest dreadful news. His coworkers had already been using him to summon coffee and quill through the tedious of forms, meaning they saw no reason why he couldn’t be the office sacrificial lamb. 

He has practically been acting like one for the past three months. 

“Excuse me..um Head Auror sir?” 

“What is it now?”

“Um..well I just been sent to inform you that we...ugh..misplaced Harry Potter. In fact, a recent study of the charms...indicate that Potter has been missing for..um five days now. But he’s not dead.”

“...what do you mean?”

The intern shift, holding his clipboard in front of him as if though it would shield him from the sitting man. “We misplaced Harry Potter sir. No one can find him or the trace indicating he’s...um where he should be. His name hasn’t appeared on the desased list, which um, means, his magic is still active. Since he has no wand we are aware of...this means the boy isn’t dead... Sir.”

“I heard you the first time, Horn, I want to know how someone can misplace a seven-year-old child!”

The intern looks like he’s going to break down sobbing. “I don’t know sir. I just work in intel. I’m new.”

“For the love of Merlin-! Moody get in here! I’m assigning you to a missing child case and you better find this child!”

Five days before this poor intern is spent shaking in place and taking notes while the field Aurors gove over every detail of one of the biggest celebrities' disappearance, something was happening. 

 That something was in a perfectly normal muggle house where a perfectly normal family thank you very much, and a perfectly normal boy is rob his Aunt and uncle for any money they have while they sleep and is slipped out into the night hoping to make it to the train station before the performers left.

This young boy saw on the telly a show of teens who ran away from home to join the circus and the boy is determined to do the same. It’s his luck that he somehow finds all of the circus train door open. He climbs in, wishes that no one finds him until they cross the country line, and with a soft pop in his ears, his wish comes true.

He is effectively gone off the grid, both in the ones he’s aware of and the ones he is not.

This boy is ever so happy that if he wishes hard enough the knives he throws never miss a mark upon the performers discovering him because it means he can help in one of the shows and can be useful.

The circus crew aren’t as open to the idea. They make a fuss about sending him back but there are no records of who he is nor any missing person reports with his description. It honestly seems as if he just appeared from thin air.

When asked what his name is, the boy of seven years realizes that they may use his name to find his aunt or uncle and being sent back there after he stole from them, could be a death sentence if he ever heard one.

That’s why, when faced by the ringleader, the boy with messy dark hair, bright green eyes, and a lightning scar, opens his mouth to say his name. He thinks of the flowers and herbs he had to plant this summer stringing them together in a hopeful convincing matter.  “I’m Basil Irises and I want to be a knife thrower.”

It takes ten days of no one claiming the young child but eventfully, the circus does add a new assistant to their act. Basil, is happily adopted by everyone in the circus collectively though the ringleader is more or less his legal guardian and he travels with them for the following years happy as a clam.

A knife-throwing clam with aunts who trapeze above his head and an uncle who makes lions jump throw hoops. And many more family members who do something else extraordinary. A few of them even teach him a few tricks. 

He learns his maths from a strong man. He learns to read and write from three of the clowns. Science from the man who is shot out the canon. He learns French from one of his trapeze aunts. 

Never once does he think of Harry Potter again. 

Not until the Ringleader named Rig but whose family spitefully calls Squib realizes that Basil has received a letter from a certain school inviting him to attend at the age of eleven. He refuses to hear any protest Basil has on the matter.

“This a chance for a better life! A chance I never got,” Rig says fighting back some tears that has Basil freezing in place. If there is one person Basil can’t stand to hurt it’s Old Man Rig. He’s like a grandfather to him.  “You are going, young man”

Basil Irises sends his acceptance letter to Hogwarts that same day bitter about being sent to a boarding school but happy to spend the night in Old Man Rig’s trailer talking about the world he is now apart of. 

The wishing he had been doing since he was seven is magic and he is about to go to a school filled with other children just like him. Rig promises to have him brought to the circus every summer no matter where they are traveling at the time. This mollifies Basil. 

His letter is read by an older woman around Rig’s age, who marks down another muggle-born has accepted but seeing as the boy’s adopted guardian is a Squib knows that she is not needed to go and explain what magic is to him. She turns her sadden eyes to the pile of letters addressed to Harry Potter but none of the owls have been able to find, flying back confused as they can not find a boy with that name.

She closes her eyes, sends a mental apology to two of her former students who are now buried and gone, wishing she could bring their son home.

[birdycurtains]

What about Tony being an old school horror director who feels like he’s about to be upstaged by Peter, a new horror director - think Blumhouse - and Tony, never having met him, both hates and fears him, until he bumps into him at a movie theater and hit it off until Peter introduces himself -des

this inspired me beyond belief, i have no idea why. i don’t think this was the direction you intended, but once i started i couldn’t stop haha. - birdy

He Calls Him Anthony

wordcount: 2,357

Friday nights were sacred. They were nights centered around going to see old movies at the IFC, and there was never to be a schedule conflict. Because that was one of the three nights he was awarded for seeing his daughter a week. 

And he would die before he didn’t take Morgan to see a truly good movie every Friday night. 

This night was Sunset Boulevard, he did always enjoy a good Wilder film, as did Morgan. Her twelve year-old self had mastered the art of the Norma Desmond gaze.

But here was Peter Fucking Parker, waltzing out of a showing down the hall. 

Morgan blearily leant into her dad's side as he attempted to speedily walk out of Parker’s field of vision.

It wasn’t that he hated Peter Parker, well maybe he did just a little. 

He was once that fresh face on the scene, basking in the limelight, being the true face of modern horror. 

But now his takes weren’t exactly fresh, and what the younger audiences were looking for. They wanted a twisted gore, with just this side of odd comic relief, that Parker had perfected while Pepper was serving Tony divorce papers.

So maybe he was envious, maybe he was just tired of everytime he attended a premier, or so much as breathed in the direction of the media, he was hounded with questions of what exactly did he think about Peter Parker?

In the beginning, he didn’t care or think much. But as trailer after trailer was put out, the movies being produced at a rapid rate while maintaining or increasing their following, even Morgan was asking her father if they could rent this, or if they could go to the cinema to see that.

And maybe he caved once, and with a hoodie, and sunglasses, a hat. For good measure of course. He went and saw one. With Morgan, because she insisted, and who was he to deprive her. 

It was good. And he resented Peter Parker for the same craft he held a torch for.

So here was Peter Parker, coming out of Casablanca. And making a bee-line towards him. 

“Mr Stark! Mr. Stark! Mr. Stark?”

God damn it. 

Tony willed his body to face the younger man. Morgan follows in suit, her eyes widening in realization, and proceeding to prod her elbow directly into her father’s side.

“Mr. Parker, well, nice to see you.” 

Tony could play nice, put on his ‘customer service’ voice, and act chummy with Peter Parker.

Although, the in-person Parker didn’t exactly match what he imagined.

This one wore thread-bare jeans, and converse that had seen better days, three years ago. 

He didn’t match the one he had seen plastered over last month's vanity fair, the pictures that had circulated his time-line a little more than his liking. 

They ran in the same circles, it wasn’t like he was actively looking for him.

“Gosh, Mr. Stark, it’s an honor to meet you really. Please, call me Peter.”

He was like a chihuahua that took a five-hour-energy-shot. 

His handshake was firm, and he slipped his glasses back up his nose as he collected himself. 

“I’m sorry for bothering you, but I thought I had seen you here before, I come here all the time y’know, every time they have a Rocky Horror showing, I’ve got tickets.” 

It was easy to catch that he was a New York native, unlike Tony himself. His Queens drawl interweaving between vowels and catching on to his r’s. It was rather cute, and personable. 

Did he just- Tony called him cute. Christ.

“My daughter and I like the classics.” He put simply smoothing down Morgan’s unruly strands. 

“Yeah, me too. I’m usually knee deep in everything going on right now, that to just enjoy the good ol’ stuff-”

He gave a dramatic sigh of pleasure, Tony felt his ears turn red.

 “That’s everything man. You would know of course. God, of course you know-  I mean”

The younger man cut himself short as he realized he was gripping Tony’s shoulder, his face and neck flushing red.

“I’m sorry- I’m probably taking up your family time. But, we should totally get together. Like talk shop or whatever?”

Peter flashed him the brightest smile, he swore the dim hallway was a little brighter.

“Yeah.”

The man was gone with a friendly wave as he jogged back to a small group of people, probably his friends, towards the exit.

Tony looked down at the ground and focused on his hand that hung limply by his side. On it was a chicken scratch phone number. 

Peter had written down his phone number. On Tony’s hand. 

And he hadn’t even noticed.

~

A few days later, Tony decides to grow a pair. He types the number into his phone, makes an individual contact for a Mr. Peter Parker.

He never thought this day would come. And he’s not sure the exact connotation behind that thought.

Does he call? Does he text?

In all honesty it has been a minute since he attempted friendship, or even communication outside of his usual social circle. 

Things had never been like this when he and Rhodey had initially become friends. Even the rest of his band of misfits had just happened naturally, never really taking this much preamble communication.

He texts.

~

They decide to meet at a small cafe around the NYU campus. Peter had said the place was quiet and usually uncrowded, one of his favorites.

Going against his gut, he trusts Peter and agrees.

Now here he is, looking presentable for the public eye, it’s a Monday. He’s just dropped off Morgan at school, and here he is. At another school.

“Anthony!”

He winces just the slightest, and is met with the vision that is Peter Parker at eight a.m. on a Monday morning. For someone so heavily criticized and praised in the public-eye, appearances must be everything on some level for the man. He doesn’t exactly aim to disappoint.

He looks so effortlessly cozy, dolled up in his black turtleneck and rust orange suede jacket, and those same glasses from the week prior perched against his brow bone. His hair looks soft, and his eyes are warm.

“Mr. Parker.”

That’s good. Set some boundaries, before you directly tell him he looks soft.

“I told you.” Peter sighs wistfully, wrapping his hands around a deep mug of hot chocolate? 

He looks up again with the same kindness and warmth.

 “Call me Peter.”

~

He invited him to dinner.

He doesn’t exactly know how it happened. It was somewhere between talking about how Peter had wound up picking up where his uncle left off, and how working as a barista in the cafe they were sitting in was Peter’s favorite job during college.

He could imagine a littler Peter, running around behind the counter making drinks and warming up scones. His open textbook to the left of the register, just like he described.

It made a fluttering in his chest somewhere, to know a personal and small detail of the Peter Parker. 

Not in a, I’m a huge fan of the Peter Parker.

But, in a, this kind young man, I am having the privilege of getting to know, kind of way.

The point is he invited him to dinner, at this high-end steak house he’s familiar with. A reservation for eight. 

It’s eight forty-five, and he’s on his second glass of red wine, Peter’s on his third.

Things are comfortably warm, they’re talking about Tony’s first movie, and how much of a shitshow it was, but the critics loved it.

The steak is amazing, they order dessert.

And he doesn’t budge or comment when Peter hooks his foot around his own. He only smiles softly, and watches Peter’s curious eyes watch as he brings a piece of poached pear to his mouth.

He hails Peter a cab at the end of the night, and Peter thanks him for dinner.

He calls him Anthony, once again.

~

Peter calls him this time.

It’s in the late hours of the night, and Tony, never really one for sleeping through the night anyway, has a lapful of script he’s reviewing, making sure it fits his artistic vision and what-not.

His voice is rough around the edges, a haze of sleep almost.

Tony wonders what it sounds like in person. If he were in bed next to him, or with him. Maybe with a lapful of Peter Parker, and not dialogue bleeding into his iris’.

He invites Tony over for Thursday night.

Peter knows the custodial schedule. That should mean something right?

He texts him an address later in the day. It’s in the Upper East Side, not too far from him, it’s in a cozy neighborhood of brownstones. 

Very Peter Parker.

~

Tony, will never understand Rocky Horror.

Peter had invited him when he arrived a little late, just five minutes, but he could see the worry drip off his shoulders as he greeted him at the door.

His home was a beautiful thing, filled to the brim with the most eclectic vintage interior, but it somehow matched.

He had learned from their meeting at the cafe, that Peter’s aunt owned a store that specialized in all things vintage and antique. It hadn’t surprised him to see it rubbed off on him.

In the downstairs parlor, it was decorated with dozens of Peter’s movie posters. Some were beta’s that Peter and an artist had worked on together. Peter flushed when he caught him staring. 

Tony would never get used to the fact that this Peter Parker was shy and not open about his work in his personal life, he liked to keep things very separate. 

He watched him put together a heaping bowl of kettle corn and followed him up a winding staircase, Peter remarked it was his favorite thing about the house.

He told him they were watching Rocky Horror Picture Show. 

Tony had never seen it in his entire life, he knew the cult following it had, but he couldn’t piece together that this is something Peter loved so much, but was so different from the direction he took with his work. 

He only smiled and agreed and saddled up with Peter on the pink floral couch. 

They’d never done this before, but it felt so familiar, like they had been through this scenario a dozen times, and it was just natural to lean into each other and fumble for the sugary popcorn between them.

It was around the scene when Frank N Furter was doing the backstroke with the rest of the cast in the swimming pool, that Tony realized their closeness.

How he had his arm wrapped around Peter, and Peter had just melted into his side.

The younger man must’ve felt the pressure of Tony’s gaze burning into the side of his face, since he turned his head to face him. 

It was all very cliche in this sense. 

A romantic scene directed and scripted and cast.

Except the love interests were him and Peter.

Peter kissed him first. That’s all he can clearly recall, the seconds prior being a blur of ‘is this actually happening’ to ‘it’s actually happening, do something’.

Finally the cognitive gears in his brain rekindle their function, and his lips are moving against Peter’s. He’s so warm and soft, he tastes like cinnamon sugar. 

Peter’s hands are grounding against his chest, holding him to reality, in any other case he would’ve drifted off somewhere because he has to be dreaming.

But this is real. And Peter’s real.

And, oh no. 

Tony gently pulls away from Peter’s grasp, and takes a breath. And Peter’s got this smile on his face like he won the grand prize at a carnival game.

“Peter- I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done that. This is not going to happen.”

The smile falls faster on Peter’s face than the pit in his stomach.

There’s something hurt and cold in his eyes. The warmth is gone, and the guilt gnaws at Tony as he flees the Parker residence. 

~

It’s been two weeks since the Rocky Horror incident. 

Peter’s texted, and called. He believes he’s got Anthony all figured out. 

To be truthful he does. 

He had called Anthony out on his behavior six days ago, and hasn’t sent another message since.

Peter left a voicemail stating that Anthony wasn’t going to let himself enjoy something without finding an excuse for why he can’t. Peter wants this, and Anthony wants this, then that is all that matters. He is going to be filming at this location for the next two weeks, he can make his peace by showing up or not.

Tony stared at the message for ten minutes before Morgan told him to go get Peter.

She knew.

She always knows.

~

When Tony saw Peter again he was rushing past people ushering him to stop.

But Tony was on a mission, he felt like one of his main characters in the final leg of the movie, finally making it out alive, and this was the final call, where he would live to the credits, or the antagonist would leave no survivors. 

Peter was beautiful.

Even if he did look like Prom Queen Carrie at the moment. 

His hands and clothes were covered in fake blood, helping arrange the set to a T.

When Peter looked up at him, he knew he would make it to the credits.

His boy ran at him and swallowed him in his warmth. 

It was a pining, longing, and apologetic kiss, with bloody hands cradling Tony’s face.

“You’re dumb, and you hurt my feelings Anthony.” Peter whispered as he pulled away. 

“I’m sorry.” He replies, his eyes watery, insecurity wrung out like a rag, he wanted Peter and Peter wanted him. He chanted it a million times into the crook of Peter’s neck, just holding him. 

Peter pulled away and held him by his shoulders “It’s okay Anthony.”

He smiled that big beautiful warm smile of his, and pushed him away.

“Now. Get off my set. I’ll see you at nine, bring Morgan, they’re playing Psycho tonight.”

[that-shamrock-vibe]

Movie Review: Frozen II (Spoilers)

Spoiler Warning: I am posting this review a couple of days after it first airs in the U.K, so if you haven’t yet seen the movie, and I strongly recommend you do, then don’t read on until you have.

LGBT Representation:

Alright so I’ll get into character analyses shortly but first of all I just want to talk about the LGBT representation in this movie, because my takeaway from it in this movie is completely different to what seems to be everyone else’s takeaway from it. LGBT representation is very important to me particularly in an all-age property so I wanted to spotlight it.

Now the main issue I see is that people are still insisting that the LGBT representation is that of Elsa being a member of the LGBT community. This is something that emerged after the first movie with Elsa being one of few “Disney Princesses” (despite the fact she is a Queen and neither she nor Anna are official members of said brand) not to have a love interest in the first movie or even this movie, outwardly.

Yes, while no one is openly depicted as an LGBT character in this movie, good old Disney, Elsa is still being shown in that LGBT light to some fans because of two or three character traits.

Firstly there’s the theory that her not feeling like she belongs in Arendelle is because she is, sorry for this, the only gay in the village and not knowing how to handle it. Secondly there’s her new outfit which she acquires at the start of the third act in the movie which is white with rainbow accents...fans believe this is a clear nod to the rainbow flag but to be fair it could just simply be to represent the Aurora Borealis aka the Northern Lights.

Thirdly, despite the first teaser trailer giving fans the completely wrong idea about Elsa’s potential love interest in this movie, who turned about to be a young version of her mother, Elsa does get close with new very minor girl Honeymaren. There is no evidence that either Honeymaren is an LGBT character but people have suggested that their cosy chats border on the flirtatious.

However, I personally do not think the LGBT representation is on Elsa or Honeymaren. I think the LGBT representation in this movie is in fact Honeymaren’s brother Ryder voiced by Jason Ritter. I swear he flirts with Kristoff at least three times in this movie for the brief time he is in it.

Of course all of this is just speculation, but the theory of Elsa, Honeymaren and/or Ryder being potential members of the LGBT community is a major plus both for Disney and for this movie.

Characters:

Elsa:

It can’t be not true that Elsa is the best character not only in this movie but also this franchise as a whole. Not only is she the first real instance of the combination between Disney Princess and Superhero, but also there is no denying the journey and the transformation Elsa goes on from care free child to fearful teenager to in-control young woman.

This character development alone is not only relatable and representative for many if not all young girls coming of age, but also she is both stylish, humble and flawed in a realistic sense...as realistic as someone with ice powers can be I mean.

Now by flaws, I am mainly referring to her inept ability at ruling Arendelle, three times now she has effectively abdicated her throne either for her own reasoning or to actually protect the kingdom, I am more annoyed with Anna for these decisions which I’ll get into when talking about her, but it was quite clear from the first movie alone that Elsa never wanted to be queen. She runs away when her powers are discovered by the people, she then goes off to find out the mystery of her past, she finally abdicates completely and makes Anna queen so she can go off and live in the Enchanted Forest amongst the Northuldra people while not exactly joining them.

Having said that, she absolutely does the right thing by her because, not only is it important to both understand and be completely comfortable with yourself, but also this was where she was always meant to be.

Elsa’s fashion in this movie steps up from the first movie not only in colour but also in style. Gone are those heavy, coverall gowns and now we have light, bright and flowing gowns. Also leggings, Elsa is really only the second “Disney Princess” to wear leggings after Jasmine and it is really good to see someone in that “Disney Princess” role be versatile in fashion.

My favourite three outfits of Elsa’s are her vivid pink nightgown, her travelling outfit and her last outfit when she embraces her role as the fifth spirit. Something about Elsa with her hair down and flowing that really added another layer of power to that transformation “Show Yourself” scene.

Her powers are also plused here, the lady gets a freekin’ water horse which she could freeze to ride on water! Seeing Elsa riding her new steed across the water to stop the tidal wave from flooding Arendelle is the most fiercely stunning sequence I have seen in any movie animated or live-action.

Also her crystal manifestation, which emulated the elemental runes, bursting out from her like an outcry after she sings about wanting to know what it all means and then having them all fall to the ground effectively like hail. I thought her creating the ice palace in the first movie couldn’t be topped but her powers are kicked up here.

She even has a sort of attack move with her powers as she was shown to briefly create an ice snowflake to combat the water spirit who later becomes her steed. 

When she finally finds Ahtohallan and discovers she is the fifth element and starts seeing all those memories of her past and singing “Show Yourself” with her mother, just watching her literally walk through memory lane with all those frozen versions of her memories and reacting different to different ones, like with the Duke of Wesselton where she laughed and Hans who she instantly crumbled and even her singing “Let It Go” which she reacted awkwardly to, all of this was just splender and made me particularly well up.

Then you have her discovering the truth of the past where her grandfather was revealed to have villainous tendencies, I’m not going to say he’s an outright villain but he did kill the Northundra leader and start the war which hid the Enchanted Forest from the world, the fact she literally went to far down and froze to death just like the opening song foreshadowed was also very emotional.

But on that note of finding out there is that darkness in her family, it did remind me a lot of the Once Upon a Time Frozen arc when they introduced the Snow Queen Ingrid as Elsa and Anna’s aunt who had the same powers as Elsa and who was villainous for being misunderstood. They could have copped out and done a similar story but the fact it was routed into Elsa and Anna’s own history in terms of their family was a nice touch.

However, it did give me possibly my favourite line of the movie which is “Fear is the true enemy” in retaliation to hearing her grandfather say that magic is evil. This line can be true of any type of prejudice, I’m thinking of Homophobia but it can also be racism and even sexism, that for an animated Disney movie rated U to accomplish this level of thought is outstanding.

Idina Menzel may not be the most emotive actress but I love her, and what she may lack in her speech she more than makes up for in her singing. Also the fact that Elsa has such emotive facial expressions and the animation and character designs here are so fluid, that it makes Elsa almost seem like a real person.

Olaf:

Josh Gad as Olaf was definitely something I’ve been looking forward to revisiting especially after Olaf’s Frozen Adventure received a very icy reception. I didn’t really care for it, much like any of the Frozen shorts that have come but I’m really happy with him here.

I really liked the idea of exploring Olaf being a child because, I think with this movie taking place a couple years after the first one, Olaf is really only a toddler, so he acts like a toddler.

The fact Olaf sees the world in such innocence and beauty really resonates with little kids watching this movie and hopefully allows them to get out of it what Olaf gets out of it which is not understanding the world as a child but having to grow up and face reality.

I wasn’t crazy about his song, again like the first movie I feel it wasn’t as grand as the rest of the songs but I did like the message behind it of things not making sense to Olaf now but will make sense when he grows up.

By far the funniest moments of this movie are when Olaf reenacts the events of the first movie for the people trapped in the Enchanted Forest and also at the very end after the credits when he reenacts the events of this movie for Marshmallow and the Snowgies. I just loved again that child-like interpretation and bluntness of events. “Anna and Elsa separated but it’s okay because at least they still have their parents! Their parents are dead!” My screening could not stop laughing at that point.

Speaking of death, there is death in this movie, both what you see and what is open to interpretation. Elsa effectively dies as she is frozen solid much like how Anna is in the first movie, but Olaf’s death came as a consequence of Elsa’s death due to him being enchanted by Elsa. Possibly because this whole thing takes place after the “Show Yourself” scene and Elsa finally being true to who she is and of course because Olaf is the innocent dying, it really made me sad.

I was thrilled he came back, of course I knew he was going to come back. However, I did hear that early scripts had him staying dead but I don’t think that would have gone down very well with audiences and particularly merchandising because after Anna and Elsa merch I know Olaf is up there, although I think he may have competition after this movie...we’ll get to Bruni.

Also in keeping with the idea of Olaf being a child, I found it fascinating that he was experiencing new emotions in this movie such as anger, without actually getting angry he just felt it and didn’t know how to handle it. A little bit like with Groot in the MCU, I do hope we maybe see Olaf age or mature and experience the emotions that everyone experiences growing up. I know snow can’t really age in that way but it would be very interesting to see.

Speaking of the properties of snow, I also found the concept of water having memory interesting. It does play into the Disney/Fantastical element of the almost absurd but in a sense you want it to be true, like Aladdin’s flying carpet or even how woodland animals can help clean.

I’m not so certain about the cop-out of no longer giving Olaf his own flurry, yes they explained it as rather than it being a cloud simply being a kind of coat which was beautiful to see lit-up and everything, but it just seemed like the animators not wanting to animate a snow cloud constantly, even using the excuse that it only appears in hot weather was proven false because it was sunny numerous times in this movie and nothing appeared.

Olaf is still one of my favourite characters both in this movie and in Disney in general, I think he’s fun, I love his innocence and a lot of that is down to Josh Gad’s vocal performance. I can no longer think of Josh Gad without thinking of Olaf but in a way that’s not a bad thing.

Anna:

There was a massive opportunity missed from this movie which was not spotlighting the fact that Anna almost had PTSD from the events of the first movie. She wanted the status quo to remain how it was in the moment at the start of the movie and was desperate to keep her loved ones safe.

I don’t particularly know what purpose Anna served in this movie outside of living in denial of everything going on. Yes it is a noble deed to want to keep your loved ones safe, however, Anna should have known that not only Elsa discovering her origins but also the two sisters finding out about their mother’s history was not only important but I feel necessary. Finding out what happened to their parents, why they went off, even how they met. 

But instead we have Anna constantly wanting to be the mother of the group and look after everyone, except for Kristoff. I will talk about Kristoff in his section but seriously these two went from being the ideal couple in the first movie to “Why the heck are you to together?” in this movie.

All of this is why what made her hitting rock bottom after both Elsa and Olaf had “died” so important and her realising that and building herself back up. Again, like Olaf, I didn’t really like her song but I appreciated the meaning behind it.

It was from this point that Anna showed true signs of not only being a leader but also actual competency. I mean once again both Elsa and Anna abandon Arendelle, yes Anna has done it twice in the hopes of saving it which is noble, but she goes from leaving a man she just met and got engaged to in charge without knowing him for more than five minutes, to leaving Rock Trolls in charge. Yes Grand Pabbie is at least responsible for an entire tribe but seriously?

However, after she realises what has to be done to right the wrongs of the past, her selfless decision to destroy the dam and flood Arendelle to free the Enchanted Forest was impressive because obviously the kingdom can be rebuilt and the people were safe in the Rock Troll Valley.

Now of course, everything turned out fine because Anna unknowingly revived Elsa by getting the dam broken down and she stopped the tidal wave from destroying Arendelle, but Anna didn’t know that when she decided to do it and she still chose to it, and made the old Arendelle guard listen to her.

This is how she proved herself as queen, so that when Elsa made her queen so she herself could go and live in the Enchanted Forest, she earned it. She’s queen, she has Kristoff as a fiancé and obviously she and Elsa will keep a strong bond between Arendelle and the Enchanted Forest.

Kristen Bell is Kristen Bell, you know she was born for this type of role and this type of world. Having said that, again she was almost pushed to the background or was making me want to push her to the background because of her constant complaining. But she was still very good and the main core four cast continue to be a big selling point for this franchise.

Kristoff:

I find it ironic that the title of this franchise is Frozen and that he is an ice seller because they effectively fridged Kristoff in this movie.

Kristoff’s role in this movie is pretty much the one-note version of Bernard’s from The Rescuers Down Under, in that his story throughout this movie was trying to propose to Anna and yet constantly failing. Now granted, he goes to greater extravagance to do so than the mouse did but it takes them both the length of their movies to simply learn it’s now how you say it it’s just saying it.

On that note, I felt no chemistry between Anna and Kristoff in this movie. They both think the other one abandoned them part way through this movie and Anna particularly doesn’t really seem to care.

As I said before, when Kristoff and Ryder had their scenes together, I felt more chemistry between them than I did from Kristoff for Anna. Also Kristoff and Ryder are more suited. They both love reindeer, they both talk for their reindeer, and also I got the sense that maybe Ryder actually liked Kristoff in that way, as he seemed upset that Kristoff didn’t ride off with him.

Kristoff did give me one of the best moments of the movie though which was his song in the form of an 80s/90 pop balled video. It was one of the most bizarre choices this movie could have made, but considering you have Jonathan Groff and didn’t let him do what Jonathan Groff is known for doing in the first movie it more than makes up for that.

Once again I don’t feel like he contributed much to the actual story and genuinely felt like he could have been cut and nothing would change, but it is good having a male presence in this movie who is human so I give him credit for that.

Northundra:

I really enjoyed this tribe, the native-american qualities they had really helped separate them from the citizens of Arendelle. Both Native-American and Australian Aborigines I feel were portrayed rather well in the tribe.

Yelena, Ryder and Honeymaren were really the only three spotlighted in the tribe and I felt that is all they really needed.

However, we also know from this movie that Elsa and Anna’s mother, Queen Iduna, was Northundra...which kind of makes sense as a child because she has some colouring, but as an adult she’s Caucasian...and Anna and Elsa are clearly Caucasian.

I mean it’s slightly obvious the Northundra weren’t on the cards in the first movie, however simply having Iduna being of that race would have made more sense.

Speaking of the first movie. The Northundra here have a chant they perform when Elsa and Anna realise they have Northundra heritage, but this sounds like the same chant from the opening of the first movie which leads into “Frozen Heart”. So maybe they were foreshadowed?

Spirits:

Alright so I didn’t know how much there was to talk about the four spirits that seemingly guard the Enchanted Forest and whom Elsa awakened and apparently made angry towards the start of this movie so I thought I would talk about them collectively here in the order they appear in Elsa’s vision during “Into the Unknown”.

Fire:

Two things I love about the fire spirit, the first is that it’s fire form is this very vibrant pink colour and I’m always a fan of fire having different colours, I prefer green but pink works well here I guess.

The second thing I love about it is Bruni, who is the actual fire spirit and I don’t think named ever in this movie by name. However, I have loved Bruni since his one main shot in the trailer, I love how cute he is, I love the fact he’s another reptilian being a salamander, after Pascal from Tangled being a chameleon.

Also, Bruni may have about as much screen time here as Pua the pig from Moana but he is just one of Elsa’s new animal sidekicks and unlike most of the Disney Princesses, this queen has two magical creatures as animal sidekicks. I think the only princess in that category is Mulan with Mushu.

As I mentioned before with Olaf’s merch, I do feel that Bruni is a potential competitor for beating him in merch sales. I think Olaf, Sven and Bruni all have plush toy qualities, but Bruni has that added cuteness and he’s new.

Water:

Elsa’s other magical animal sidekick is the water spirit known as The Nøkk, who is a mythological Scandinavian water spirit in the shape of a horse...with a waterfall mane.

Not only is this a cool pet anyway the fact Elsa can freeze and ride it is just epic. Who wouldn’t want a water spirit horse. 

Earth:

Alright so I can’t remember when the Earth Giants first appear, whether or not they emerge during the earthquake that took over Arendelle or if they appeared in the Enchanted Forest but I did enjoy them.

I don’t exactly know when Elsa tamed them, it did seem that if anyone did Anna did by getting the dam broken.

Air:

I enjoyed Gail, I thought giving what is essentially a tornado that turns into a light breeze a name also gives it character.

But once again, while Elsa broke free of the tornado, Olaf was the one who named it and as such wasn’t he the one to tame it?

I did like how Gail became the messenger for the two kingdoms also.

Songs:

Alright so like always, I’ll be talking about these songs in order of my favourites.

Into the Unknown:

While not as groundbreaking as “Let It Go” but it is powerful, moving and delivered beautifully by both Idina Menzel and AURORA who is credited as “The Voice” that do that “Ah-Ah-Ah-Ah” sound that I want as an alarm tone.

I loved how Idina managed to match AURORA and almost harmonise with it, I love the message of being scared of the unknown but pushing yourself into it, the presentation of the performance was beautiful particularly when she went into that black space with the production going on around her.

It’s my favourite song in the movie and everything about it was just brilliant.

I do also enjoy the Panic! At the Disco version that plays over the end credits, it’s definitely a better pop version of a movie song to Demi Lovato’s version and I feel has a better mainstream future than it too.

Show Yourself:

This song made me emotional, and not many songs do that. I feel maybe it was the build-up to Elsa finally discovering who she was meant to be, the duet with her mother, or the fact she had that walk through her history in ice sculptures, but something welled up inside me and I love it.

The song is about realising who you are and being true to who you are. It’s something I feel anyone can relate to and the fact it’s in a duet with her deceased mother is just the icing, pardon the pun.

Also, this is where Elsa gets her new look, starting off with her taking her hair down and then her updated ice-blue dress transforming into her final white dress with rainbow accents.

Idina Menzel once again dominates with her vocals here but also Evan Rachel Wood matches her quite well.

Lost in the Woods:

I loved Jonathan Groff’s singing in Glee, from “Highway to Hell” and “Bohemian Rhapsody” to “Rolling in the Deep” he had such a range vocally that, despite hating the character, I loved him singing.

This is why it was criminal that the only “singing” Kristoff did in the first Frozen was that “Reindeer are better than people” lullaby song which made a comeback here at the start of this song and made me almost give up on Kristoff completely.

However, when you get passed that and Sven actually singing, you have a rather good song in the style of an 80s/90s pop ballad music video. Instantly I thought of “Everything I Do” by Bryan Adams and, despite not liking that particular song, I loved this and the arrangement of the performance.

Having Kristoff lean up against a tree as a wide shot while having his full face fade in to the side of him was so cheesy, so cringy and yet so good. I couldn’t help but enjoy it.

The Next Right Thing:

Now again, I didn’t particularly enjoy this song but I did enjoy and appreciate the message behind it.

When Anna is at her lowest edge having lost Elsa, Olaf and potentially Kristoff...again she doesn’t really give him a second thought at this point, she remembers advice that both her mother gave her and that Sterling K. Brown’s character enforced and builds up the strength to get herself out of the cave.

It’s a song about reaching rock bottom and figuring out where to go from there, it’s something I can definitely relate to and I am sure others can to, whether or not that’s in school, college/university, work or personal lives.

Kristen Bell is a good singer but for some reason something didn’t click here for me.

When I Am Older:

I love Olaf and thought his song was a very nice and fun sidetrack to the movie, however in terms of it being memorable...”In Summer” was a lot better and had the funny beats of irony to it.

As I said when talking about his character, the song did help define Olaf’s story through the movie of being young and immature.

Also the funny beats to this song of ending it in complete denial of “This is fine” before being crushed by a boulder were great.

Some Things Never Change:

This was possibly the most cringe-worthy few minutes of the entire movie. This happens right near the start originally between Anna and Olaf before become an ensemble piece.

Again, I understand the message behind the song of how people don’t like change but it just came out of nowhere and had no real tie-in to the rest of the movie other than Anna’s unrealised story arc of wanting things to remain how they are.

All Is Found:

As a lullaby this was an okay song, however I don’t think it did much to progress the story despite being the start of the movie. “Frozen Heart” had more of a beginning quality to it rather than this.

Overall I rate the movie a 9.5/10, it’s a near perfect movie but there is still room for improvement as always. I loved the characters, the songs, the animation. It all just felt very Disney.

So that’s my review of Frozen II, what did you guys think? Post your comments and check out more Movie Reviews as well as other posts.

[miraculoussugarcube]

A Sweet Review & Analysis of “Felix”

So, wow! Wasn’t that episode a ride? I feel like it went by so fast, like 20 minutes was actually like 5 seconds. Then at the end, I was like “it’s over already??” 

So, all spoilers under the cut. Lets talk about “Felix”! 

     Okay, so right off the bat this episode decided to crush my heart and soul. I was going to watch it on my phone on the way to lunch, but then I heard Adrien sing that song and I knew I wasn’t going to survive watching it in public. I like that Adrien looks more at peace than melancholy while looking at his mother’s statue. And the fact that he tells Gabriel that he’s willing to accept Nathalie as part of their family really shows how he’s willing to move on. I can’t imagine what it must be like to lose a mother, and I’m very proud of Adrien for not taking his pain and dealing with it in an unhealthy way, like Gabriel did. We see the contrast between them right at the start of the episode, Adrien is willing to accept that his mother is gone, but Gabriel is still clinging onto the hope that he can bring her back. There’s also the fact that Adrien doesn’t know where his mother really is, but as we’ve seen in “Cat Blanc”, he still doesn’t side with his father even if he did find out. 

     Then Felix arrives. I had a feeling while watching the trailer that the woman in the doorway was going to be his aunt, and I’m intrigued to see that my theory was correct. It definitely explains why Adrien and Felix look so alike, if their mothers are twins. I didn’t really have any set expectations for Felix, because I was never really fond of his character when I learned about the original Felix that Thomas Astruc created as Cat Noir. But he makes a really compelling villain, after all there’s no character other than Lila who willingly sought out Hawk Moth. I expect we’ll be seeing him again in the future, this episode seems to set him up as a recurring character. I don’t think his apology at the end was genuine, so I wonder what vendetta Felix has against Adrien, since it doesn’t seem to be just jealousy, or just the fact that Adrien couldn’t make it to his uncle’s funeral. And Adrien seems overly willing to appease his cousin, even after Plagg told him he was looking through his things and putting cheese under his pillow. Though he could just be feeling overly guilty that he couldn’t make it to the funeral, but that wasn’t really his fault. 

   I’m also really intrigued to see what’s up with these “twin rings”. The name implies that maybe one of them was supposed to belong to Emilie’s twin sister, and perhaps that’s why she wanted them back so much. There’s clearly some kind of lore behind these rings, and it probably ties to the reason that Felix was so curious about them, enough for him to steal it for his mother. What could they be? They’re probably not miraculous, but something about them strikes me as magical in some way. I’m also wondering if it’s meaningful in some way that Adrien and Felix lost a parent the same year. The fact that Emilie’s sister assumed that Gabriel had both rings makes me think that Gabriel might’ve told them that she died, or they would think that the ring disappeared with her. I really can’t wait to learn more, this episode brought a lot of interesting things to think about. 

    Marinette was wonderful this episode, I adore her. Her love confession to Adrien was so sweet, and it’s so nice to see her finally go through with it. Everyone else’s messages were also so heart warming, even Chloe came through for Adrien. Of course, something always has to go wrong. All of this makes me wonder how it’s all really going to go. The confession, the identity reveal, it’s probably going to be pretty epic. Luka’s conversation with Marinette in this episode did make the finale feel a lot more well rounded. Now we know that Luka has talked to Marinette about Adrien before the finale, we just didn’t get to see it until now. 

   I really like how Marinette knows instantly that Adrien couldn’t possibly be behaving that way. After all, it was so out of character for Adrien that it’s unfortunate that Alya, Rose, and Juleka believed it at all. That music change when Felix tries to kiss her though, it gave me chills. The scene was so uncomfortable to watch. He absolutely deserved to be punched in the face for that. I think it’s a really important lesson, no means no and if someone doesn’t respect that you have every right to defend yourself. 

That’s it! The last episode that needed to air this season, and now we must all wait for season 4 with bated breath. Overall, this episode was great, we got a lot more information here that they can really expand on in the next season. I think season 3 has been the best season so far. I only started watching this show in mid-August this, and I didn’t expect to get in so deep, but here I am with a blog and all! I may do a post with my favorite episodes of season 3 soon, and possibly the other seasons too. Just for fun! 

Thanks for reading, 

Sugarcube

[melissawyatt]

I’m going to say it: I didn’t like Little Women 2019

If you loved it, I’m thrilled for you and I’m going to ask you to just move along and not read this if me talking about why I may have actually hated it is going to upset you. And yeah, yeah, I know I’m in a very small minority here. Okay? Okay. Let’s go. Let’s start here, with this New Yorker review by Richard Brody. I read a ton of reviews of this film (which is how I know how alone I am in this) and this one was so interesting to me, and not just because it was one of the few pieces critical of the film, even though Brody largely approves in the end. 

One of the interesting things about this review is how it defines the theme of the film:

"[Gerwig’s] version of “Little Women” is about a free-spirited young woman whose ambitions threaten to detach her from her financially struggling family, and who discovers that her intellectual self-fulfillment and emotional development are inseparable from her devotion to her family."

None of the other reviews I’ve read talk about the theme in these terms. They mention sisterhood, yes, which is different than family and fits better into a feminist narrative, which is the starting point for most other reviews. I read a lot of those reviews before seeing the movie and maybe because of that, I was expecting the film to be more of a loose adaptation tailored to more modern sensibilities of a 21st century audience and was surprised to find it that it didn’t step very far from the source material in feminist terms, not when you really looked at it. I was expecting something more radical. Maybe that’s my own fault. Anyway...

So reading Brody’s review after seeing the film cast it in a different light, but I'm still not sold that it was any more effective. Because the feminism thing is still there and viewed in a theme of family, it sits even more oddly on the story, like a veneer that doesn't cover the underlying base wood and so the two things fight each other. Or no, they ignore each other and the two concepts never connect. You get a scene of Jo wailing about women having minds and then a scene with Amy talking about marriage being an economic transaction and then Jo abandoning everything to run home and care for a dying sister, which doesn’t tie the two themes together or actually support either. Because what she abandoned was work that wasn't artistically fulfilling anyway, so where was the battle between art and family? It was an idea floating out there close enough for Brody to pick up on it but it was never employed to actually connect the pieces of the movie.

And in the end, it is the very devotion to family that leads Jo to her "true art." So again, there's a fight between what the director wants to say (if that is what she wants to say) and how it doesn't really fit over the base she wants to laminate it over. 

This is interesting too, this take down of Saoirse Ronan's performance in Brody’s review: "[Jo,] famous for her anger, for her “temper,” comes off as unduly moderate, both inwardly and outwardly—not in conflict with herself, not repressing that rage, but merely claiming one that’s hardly in danger of bursting forth."

I didn't love Ronan as Jo but I think this is really harsh and, in fact, for me this is a better description of the entire film. Unduly moderate sums it up beautifully. If Ronan's Jo couldn't break out, it's because of the stricture of the film itself.

(We’re about to talk of Bhaer, and as a side note, this drives me insane: "Friedrich Bhaer, a German philosopher played by the French actor Louis Garrel..." It’s 2019/20 and we're still patronizing American audiences by believing they'll accept any European playing any other European because we're too stupid to know any better. But this American found Louis Garrel so Gallic, so very not German, it was terribly distracting.)

Anyway, I wonder if this is one of those stories where people have their own versions of it and can't help but bring that to a viewing of every adaptation because look at what Brody says here about Bhaer: "[Bhaer] provides the hinge that brings the two parts of [Jo’s] drive together. As in the novel, the philosopher looks with dismay at the lurid romances that Jo writes and sells. In Gerwig’s movie, he encourages her to write from life, to write her experiences realistically and sincerely."

But no he doesn't! Not in this version. He does in the book and in every other version, but here all he does is tell Jo that her stories aren't good because they're badly written. Yeah, the topics aren't great but he mostly talks about the writing and how even Shakespeare brought poetry to works he wrote for the hoi polloi. 

In the book, he doesn't frame it that way. He thinks her writing is good but her choice of sensational topics is beneath her (even though it's the thing that's making her money.) And in the book--and all the other adaptations--it is he who urges her to the old "write what you know" crap. 

But in this version, we can't have a man tell Jo what to do, so Gerwig gives that to Beth. In the book, Jo stays in New York and tries to do what Bhaer suggested but fails, returns to Concord, and it’s her mother and father who urge her to write without really telling her what to write, after Beth dies. But in this version, Jo returns to Concord in defeat, it's Beth who gets her to write again by asking her to write stories like she did when they were kids, blah blah. And then Beth dies and Jo finds solace in those stories, puts them together in a book and sends them off to the publisher with the most ridiculous query letter ever written in the history of publishing.

So anyway, this all goes back to the supposed theme of art vs the demands of family because in Gerwig’s version even moreso than the book, it was family that gave Jo's art what it needed. So....what's the problem? If "the demands of family are at war with art" is the message you wanted to send, Little Women was maybe not the best vehicle for it, not if you are not going to hew farther away from the source.

And then this: “The spectre that hangs over Jo’s literary ambition is bohemianism—the rejection of the settled domestic life and its morality in favor of being independent and unmoored, freethinking, and, above all, poor. “

Again, that doesn't square with the feminist themes and all of the talk about marriage being an economic contract because Jo marrying or not marrying Bhaer still ends up with no huge economic impact because for all of the things it changes or dispenses with, this version holds onto Jo inheriting Aunt March's mansion. So now that Jo is a successful novelist and property holder, choosing to marry Bhaer or not is really free of negative practical considerations for Jo and so WHY NOW IS IT A PROBLEM??? He loves her. He supports her work. He's hot. She has a nice house and some dough, so the spectre of Bohemian penury is banished. It's pretty damned ideal and there is no struggle here! 

This is where it feels like the movie trips over a kind of entry-level feminism. "Jo/Katniss/Any Female Lead doesn't need a man!" Okay, yes, that's already established. But...can she want one? They can be nice to have around. 

In the middle of the movie, Jo has that cri de coeur that's in all the trailers, where she wails about how "Women have minds and they have souls as well as hearts, etc." But then she finishes up, sobbing into her hands "But I'm so lonely!" And that's how the "Katniss doesn't need a man!" conundrum tangles women up. I searched that "Women have minds!" quote on twitter and there are hundreds of tweets of women quoting it and saying "I felt that in my gut!" 

And yet here is this movie that does that, that stabs women in the gut with that speech, and then instead of showing Jo figuring out how to live happily as a woman alone, it provides her with everything she needs to be an independent artist woman with a mind AND have her cake and eat it too with hottie sweetheart Bhaer (who is much more of a hot sweetheart here than in the book) and then just lets it dangle there, like bait on the hook, daring you to want it by literally telling you that you are a traitor to the cause if you do. That wasn't brilliant. It's either mean-spirited or cowardly. I'm not sure which.

I have lots of other quibbles (Mr. March being reduced to a feckless buffoon, the sop to acknowledging racism and then swiftly moving on, nobody’s clothes fitting properly, the hair, dear God, the hair) but it’s that ending with it’s sneering little trap set for the audience that made me feel this film was not a radical rethinking of a classic but the finding of a different kind of moral within it, which came across as moralizing all the same.

[peachydyoung]

freakshow | m.l (m)

— 🗣A/N 🗣 ➙ this was proofread and edited at 4:00 AM so if there are missed shit excuse it.

— genre ➙  freakshow!au + gang!au + smut + angst

— words ➙  15K rip i hate fics this long 

— member ➙  mark lee  in honor of him turning 19 and dying his hair black

— warnings ➙  graphic smut, dirty talk, softdom!mark + sub!reader, oral, fingering + Unprotected sex | strong language

There isn’t much in your college town, but when the mysterious and notorious, “Ten’s Traveling Carnival,” comes on their annual visit, you’re somehow roped into going. But amidst the freak show acts, you see something odd... something unlawful. You never expected you would be trying to bust a criminal organization coverup, but you never thought you would fall smitten with the star magician either. 

↳ 01 completed

— ⚠️ DISCLAIMER⚠️ ➙  This is a work of fiction, nothing I write in here has happened. So I’m a little nervous about doing this fic, Mark is younger and I don’t know how people will react, my intention is not to offend anyone. Each fic will have their own set of warnings, look at them and evaluate if they are for you. My intention is not to offend, or trigger anybody, I am here to entertain you and exercise my passion as a writer.

October 9th, 3rd day since Carnival arrival, 18 days until departure

What would it be like with Lisa? You imagined what it would be like to with her instead of him. But that's all you could do. Because Instead of being at home eating takeout and watching tv, you were at a Carnival with Johnny.

And you sat in your seat miserably,  head slumped on Johnny’s shoulder and eyes glued to the terrible freak show acts. Conjoined twins, knife throwers, fire eaters, the typical.

When you were younger, you used to love coming. It was your aunt who took you whenever you pleased. But now? Now it was astonishingly tiresome to watch, and a waste of your valuable time.

“Why?” You murmured to Johnny, checking the time on your phone as he clawed the bucket of popcorn. “Why did you have to bring me along?” But Johnny was too wrapped up in the show to give you the time of day. And instead of answering you, his eyes followed the bearded lady as she walked from the spotlight.

And just as she left, a frail boy scurried onto the stage. You recognized as Ten, the young carnival owner who had inherited the business once his father passed away. But that was all the information he ever disclosed. Ten's Traveling Carnival was the talk of the town, going from country to country, state to state, but the urban legends and mysteries were endless.

With a glimpse of excitement, he grabbed the microphone in his hands, his eyes scanning the crowd as he drunk in the applause.  “And now!” His voice rung into the microphone, “I give you the Marvelous Mark!”

The audience exploded. This one man caused infectious grins to spill onto everyone’s faces, cheering and hollering you could only ask why. There was nothing special about this place.

College was fun, it was your dad who had always reminded you to take hold of that time, but you never expected yourself to do something so stupid. Like, for example, watch a freak show when you could be at a party.

But college life was different. You went wherever it took you.

“But may I ask, ” the bright tent lights dimmed as if for a dramatic effect. The boy was attractive no doubt, yet there was something malicious about his actions, something a little less than innocent. "Please turn off all cell phones until the end of this show, or I ensure you, there will be consequences.”

A scoff left your lips as you looked down at your lit iPhone. What were they going to do? They can’t check your phone. Or maybe... it was part of the act.

But when Ten disappeared, and the curtains opened, the magician wasn’t there.

You chuckled, rolling your eyes at the people who searched around aimlessly for any sign of that boy. Perhaps he got cold feet, hid from the crowd because he got nervous. A sense of amusement flooded your senses.  

And suddenly, before you got to giddy, a boy appeared. Dressed in a black t-shirt and black jeans he sauntered to the front of the stage with a bright smile on his face. There was no doubt he was an attractive boy, you were starting to think that they were all attractive. With black hair and brown eyes, you could see the appeal in his appearance. He was handsome.

And your mind immediately wandered to that, it was always what your mind wandered too. Attractive boys, attractive girls, cute dogs, cute cats, it was natural to classify people by looks. He was handsome, undoubtedly.

“I’m Mark.” His dark eyes glinted in the dim lighting of the tent, but he had a flirtatious smile, scoping out and locking eyes with each girl in the crowd. And despite feeling a scoff well up in your throat, you couldn’t help but lean forward, something about this boy intrigued you. “And if you would be so kind,” He glanced around the crowd, finally pointing at one man. “You. Could you please hand me a dollar bill.”

It was only after you saw the man and a dollar bill over that you recognized it was the other person you came here with. He was talking to your friend, Sehun, who had gone with his girlfriend but sat in the front row.

When Sehun handed him the dollar bill, there was no doubt Mark was just as generic like every magician out there.  Nothing different. But instead of dismissing his act, you decided to watch.

“Now,” He started, “I’m Mark. I’m not a magician, I’m a wizard.” A snort left your lips in the ostensibly silent room. You had guessed he was targeted at a younger audience, just by the way he talked.

Slowly glancing down at your phone, you pressed the camera icon, planting your phone in front of your lips and letting a video play. “And with this match, I’ll light...”  he trailed off, striking the match against his skin, and slowly bringing the fire to the dollar bill, “...this dollar bill on fire.” And everyone watched as the dollars flame grew.

And with a surprise, Mark’s hand closed on the growing flame. The crowd gasping at the man who had burned himself.

But out of his hand came a dove, the dollar went, the fire is gone, and the match gone.

Cheers erupted over the impressive, yet nonproprietary trick, catching your interest but being too proud to admit that you actually were quite interested.

“And from this dove, I birth two.” Bringing the dove in his hand, closing it until it was out of sight, two doves appeared. And then he plucked a feather from the poor dove, releasing it after he had done so.

“And from this feather, I birth a…” And with the snap of his finger, a hundred dollar bill appeared. Mark handed it to Sehun with a friendly smile.

And then he moved on, showing other tricks, but soon your interest was gone again, and you couldn’t help but slump on Johnny’s shoulder, for what felt like the hundredth time.

“Y/N, get off of me,” Johnny said, panic-laced in his usual soft voice. His reached deep into his sweatshirt, unsettled by something that just happened. “I can’t find my fucking wallet.”

You instantly got off of him, your eyebrows furrow with concern.

“Did you drop it or something?” He nodded, his head alarmed at his recent finding. “I mean it only had cash and my driver’s license, but I need my fucking driver’s license Y/N!” You nodded, bringing your phone down and looking around the area in which you sat as if that would help.

And with a sigh you looked up, glancing at the exit of the tent. What the fuck?

A small boy, perhaps sixteen, had walked behind a mother. A baby slung in her arm and a child in front of her, she and her children watched in awe of the boy in front of her. But what she didn’t notice was the stealthy hands digging into her pocket, taking from her some cash and wallet. And you noticed it happen again. But this time with someone different.

The magician was little more than a highly effective, in fact, Mark knew exactly what he was doing. The looks he exchanged with those three boys, and the way they were so stealthy proved only one thing. He would entertain the crowd, and get his friends to pickpocket innocent people while he did the same. And you finally realized why he invited the most attractive and wealthy looking people on stage. He would take the precious things in their wallet, while those three boys went around doing the same. Nobody was witnesses to the crime, nobody except you and your phone.

“Johnny,” You grabbed his arm, eyes fixed on the attractive boy behind that man, relieving him of his phone and wallet, his stealthy hands taking them from his back pocket. “Johnny,” you pulled on his arm once more, getting his attention the second time. “I think you were pickpocketed.”

Johnny jeered at you, snatching his arm away from your fingertips as you watched that man exit the tent swiftly, each movement using such grace.

“Not everything is like your stupid mystery books, stop fucking around and help me find it.”  

You rolled your eyes at Johnny and crossed your arms in frustration. But you did, this wasn't a mystery book. You just watched some fucking guy steal from someone else.

And then suddenly, Mark was gone, and the show was over. Ten crossed the stage almost instantly, a wicked smile on his face as he gazed at the crowd.

You had wondered what it would take to make him give the stuff back, you could start with talking to Ten, but you weren't so sure.  “If you would like to see more of our Freaks, then you would do well to ask around back, we have trailers. But the Marvelous Mark and the knife eater  will not be seeing anyone.”

Of course.

Don’t let anyone meet the thief.

But it didn’t matter to you. Even if the night was getting later and later, you needed to at least confront that boy about the bullshit he pulled. You couldn't go home knowing helpless people were stolen from.

Johnny sighed next to you as the crowd began to filter out of the tent. “Can you just wait around, let me look around and shit. I just need fifteen minutes tops. Meet me at my car by 11:00.”

“You’re not gonna find it, Johnny,” you said, and he knew that.

And maybe you would get back his license. After all, they did probably have it. Scratching your chin and looking at the exit of the tent. You had to see Ten, you had to find Mark, and you had to check your phone for what you caught on video.  There was a multitude of things crossing your mind, but you at least wanted to help Johnny.

“It’s worth a shot,” he shrugged, looking around the area more thoroughly as you slowly walked towards the exit.

Your bullshit is over, Marvelous Mark.

The names of the performers were neatly designed on their trailers, but Mark’s was hidden. No name, no act, nothing. You had assumed it was because of his popularity, especially girls. You had counted, you had looked at all names, and narrowed it down to three trailers that were lined at the very far end of the carnival. You ended up picking the earl grey colored trailer.

Your major in college was simple, forensic science, it was because you wanted to help you that you did it. The need for helping people always staying with you. And your loyalty to the law prominent in everything you did. It was what made you, you. Your kind heart and nurturing character.

Walking closer to those three trailers, you weren’t surprised when one opened, a black-haired boy with black clothes jumping out, a lit cigarette in between his lips as his eyes raked your body.

You had seen guys like this, except they went to your college, not a carnival sideshow act. A satisfied smirk crossed his face. It seemed way too rehearsed, maybe he was used to the attention, perhaps he had done this so many times before, other intentions in mind.

“How can I help you, sweetheart?” You drunk in his appearance.

Finding the words to answer him, you opened your mouth, only to speak a few moments after.

“You—I—Can I ask you a couple questions?” There was a rush of nervousness as you began to spoke. Bad scenarios playing in your head.

He chuckled, taking the cigarette that hung loosely in his lips and holding it between his two fingers.

“I don’t have time for questions,” he mused, his voice hanging thick in the air around you. “But if I must ask,” he trailed off, taking a puff of his cigarette before throwing it on the dirt ground. “Policy states no videos, and you were very clearly taking a video. Can I ask you to delete it?”

No. You can’t ask that. He didn’t have any right to be making you feel like you did something wrong. You did nothing. If anything it was you and your friends that were stolen from.

“I could say the same about you,” You scoffed, catching the boys attention with your brash behavior. He shifted on his feet, leaning on the trailer, an entertained look crossing his features. “Pickpocketing your audience? You’re not very slick.” There was a look of surprise on his face, but it was written off as soon as it appeared. He was good at concealing his emotions.

“Yes, which is why I’m telling you to give me your phone dear.” He had no remorse if anything it looked as if he was proud of himself. That deceiving people he promised a fun night to was exciting and exhilarating to him. “Or you’ll have many other problems to worry—”

With a surge of passion, you blurted out your feelings, cutting him off.

“How could you? Do you know how much people come here with the intent—”

“It’s all the finance of being a freak,” he snickered, reaching in his back pocket to take out another cigarette. And although he did act tough, did horrible things, he didn’t seem like the kind of boy to smoke. He didn't look like the type to steal either, but looks can be deceiving. He looked gentle, a bit childish, naïve even, but here he was.

“That’s the finance of being a lawless asshole with no fucking life ahead of them but some stupid fucking freakshow. If you don’t compensate for the things you stole from those people, then I’ll post your video, and nobody will ever come to your stupid ‘Ten’s Traveling Carnival’ bullshit.” There was no emotion in his face, no care for what he did, it was as if he didn’t think you were serious.

Pushing himself off the trailer, he smiled, not an endearing one. Something you would see in a fucked up scary movie. “Firstly Sweetheart,” With a firm grab of your hand, yanking your forward, and his hand steadily on your hips pushing you into his trailer. “I don’t like being threatened. Especially by a broke college student like yourself.”

It was unbelievable. It was terrible. How could he steal from a bunch of innocent people and still scare you enough to not release that video? He knew you for 2 minutes, and yet he had more power over you that was first anticipated. And that was definitely not okay.

“So why don’t you get out of here, and if I see you again matter’s will be worse.”

You weren’t going to turn away so quickly. This was the first carnival in years that piqued your interest, and you were not going to back down from this fight. This was a battle worth fighting.

“For you or for me?" His grip on your hip did nothing but tighten as he heard those words leave your mouth.

“Come back, and we’ll see.”

October 10th, 4th day since Carnival arrival, 17 days until departure

He knew you would be back, with the stuff that he pulled last night it was inevitable for you not to. Foolishly enough, when you were halfway back home, you had gotten no texts, felt no buzzes, heard no dings. And so when you swiftly reached for your back pocket, you were surprised to discover your phone was gone. And oddly enough, you knew who had taken it.

If the Carnival was some big operation to steal from people, what did they do in the offseason? And if it was so bad, why would Mark want you to come back? That just made no sense.  Mark had briefly touched on the fact they were dangerous, but what could possibly be so dangerous?

It was dark enough that in some areas of the Carnival ground it looked like a black abyss. But some stalls and booths vibrated colorful lights under the moonless night. You kept your head down, an old prepaid phone slipping under the strap of your bra, and car keys clipped to your jean ring by a keychain.

Most people wandered from stall to stall, eating the food, playing the games, interacting with attractions. You understood how many people worshipped Ten’s Traveling Carnival, but you also realized how ominous it felt there. Especially being alone in the dark, lit, dirt grounds.

Until finally, you reached the striped tent. You could hear Ten’s voice hang in the air like it did the night before. The ticket booth was lit as well, there stood a man, Jaehyun (or so his name tag said). He took the tickets with a cheap phony smile and only ever showing emotion when a pretty girl walked by.

Hesitantly, you walked up to him. There was an iniquitous gleam in his eyes and creepy smile descending over his face. You looked down instantly, kicking the dirt with your feet, taking out the small red ticket and handing it to him.

“Are you sure Madam?” He asked, his voice unusually dubious. “This show’s almost over,” he motioned to the tent, “and I think I saw you yesterday. There are other, much better shows to attend than this one. You do only have one ticket, Madam.”

You cocked your head to the side giving the attractive boy a puzzling look. He had to of known what was going, there was no way they could do this type of thing and not have everyone aware. And even so, you didn't find it professional for him to be saying that to you.

“Thanks for the concern, but I like this show—”

“I insist, miss, I insist.” You could only help but think Mark told his friends about your little encounter, or maybe… they were watching. You had an odd feeling of being watched on these campgrounds, and it creeped you out.

At the moment, time stopped, the air came to stillness, and yet everything around you grew louder. The lights became brighter, then your heartbeat was quicker now. And everything told you to leave, including him, but you didn’t. With a deep breath and the slowing of your shallow breathing, you gathered up the courage to talk.

“I said— Let. Me. In.”

With a chuckle, he threw his arms up in defensive, ripping the side of the ticket off and handing it to you, keeping the rest. But with a slow pace, he handed you your red ticket, not only were they stealing, they were profiting off of it. And it was smart, they were terrible but intelligent.  

“Enjoy… Miss,” He opened the tent flap and let you go under. It was a different dimension in there. The music, the screams, the mood.

“Thanks,” You mumbled, stalking towards the back of the crowd. And watching as the same stupid bearded lady grew her bear a few inches in front of the crowd in seconds, Wendy, they called her. Who would look pretty if she didn’t have a few feet of facial hair? Stuffing your hands into the pocket of your jeans you waited, glancing around the tent for the same three boys you saw before.

One had black hair, short, about 5’7, cute too. He would walk around towards the front of the rows. The second boy was tall, sandy blonde hair and almond-shaped eyes. He was quick on his feet, stayed towards the back. And there was the last one. He was a young boy, had to be at least sixteen, tall and blonde. He stayed towards the middle, where you and Johnny sat.

In the same outfit, Ten sauntered onto the stage, his presence doing nothing but irk you. Narrowing your eyes at him, he delivered the same words he did yesterday.

“And now!” Using the same soft, kid like voice to announce Mark, he spoke. “I give you,” his eyes locked with yours, “the Marvelous Mark!”

There was nothing special about this place. It was based on lies, the cheers were lies, the fun, the intent. But the crowd was still louder than last night. This was created with malice, to steal, to rape, to kill, and other horrific crimes, and you finally realized that all the stories you were told had been true.

That the drunken ghost stories about this place weren't a lie. Maybe it was you getting ahead of yourself, but you couldn’t help it.

“But may I ask…” His voice got low, the familiar dim of the bright lights befalling. “Please turn off all cell phones until the end of this show, or I ensure you, there will be consequences.”

It was so well rehearsed, so well planned out just like organized crime. You were in awe at what lengths these boys went to, to secure their shitshow.

But an all too familiar feeling washed over your body, and yet again, more people were watching you. Some had amused faces, and others looked as if they wanted to kill you, while Ten, he looked just to look over at you.

The curtains opened just as Ten left. This time Mark was eager, he didn’t hide from the crowd he strutted to the front excited, scanning the crowd for any familiar faces. Scanning the crowd for you.

But you weren’t an easy find, not at all, you came dressed in black. But luckily, just as he looked your way, the tall brute stood in your way. Standing there for a couple moments before moving. And unfortunately, his eyes were still locked on you, as if he knew.

“I’m Mark!” He said to the crowd, silence falling over the audience, his eyes pinned to yours. Instead of looking at other places, his eyes remained on you, a smirk appearing on his thin lips. “And I’m not a magician… I’m much, much more, folks.”

The familiar hatred for carnival shows welled up in your chest as you watched him carry on. His friend's eyes tightly locked on you, and the boy’s smiles motivated.

“So,” He began, walking around the stage, glancing at other people in the crowd. “May someone please hand me a dollar?” And he went through the motions, but it wasn’t a dove that appeared in his hands, it was a rose gold iPhone, your iPhone. His eyes darted to your face, a mirthful, more sinister smirk appearing on his lips.  The crowd oohed and ahhed at his magic trick.

Gaping at the boy, you were overcome with anger. Your hands balled into fists as you viewed him, a chuckle parting his lips as he looked down.

“I’m sorry,” He apologized to the crowd, “this was supposed to be,” He snapped his fingers, “a dove.”

And then there was a dove.

And it only got worse from there. It was as if they had no conscious. You were sure they knew you. By the way, they exchanged looks you had known the whole time that Mark found strength in numbers.

And each magic trick he seemed to have one of your belongings, or even worse, Johnny’s. And it wasn’t until you saw them pickpocketing that you felt even angrier.

With your arms crossed, the boys took valuables from other people, and all you could do was stand shocked at their behavior. And you would have said something if it wasn’t for that tall boy who stood next to you, giving more than evil looking glances your way. At least he hid them behind friendly smiles.

And it was all so fast, that you hadn't even realized it ended.

“If you would like to see more of our Freaks, than you would do well to ask around back, we have trailers. But the Marvelous Mark and Knife eater will not be seeing anyone.” And then he caught your eyes. An evil glint in his eyes as he stared at you. “Marvelous Mark, will not see anyone for any reasons.” Who was going to stop you?

And before you could find out, you bolted from the tent, scared that Mark’s friends would watch you, maybe even keep you within the shelter.

Startled by your abrupt exit, Jaehyun jumped. “Madam?” He asked as you stumbled in the direction of those grey trailers. You looked back only once, a cold feeling erupting over your stomach. Your hands felt cold, everything felt cold. And you felt… scared.

“Yes?” You were able to take hold of your voice, despite how you felt.

“Exit’s that way,” he pointed, this time a genuine smile on his face, one that was pleading for you to leave.

“I don’t plan on leaving,” You glanced at his name tag. “Jaehyun… ” His face was washed over in concern, maybe you did look a little unsettled.

“Madam? Are you well?” You were certainly well. Maybe a little angry, but you needed your stuff back, you couldn’t afford to get new ones. But with no reply, you walked off towards the trailer.

Kicking the dirt road from under your feet. Every moment you spent got scarier and scarier.

The lights were melting into the night, like mixed watercolors, intertwining with the stands and people. What was this place? Were the stories real? Were they killers? Theifs? Or were they worse?

There was a feeling of dread as you walked closer to his home. At the very least he owed you your stuff, at the very least. But you guessed that he didn’t really care, by the looks of his jet black hair, cigarettes, and sparkly eyes smirk, he would be one of the notorious boys at your college. But alas. He didn’t go to college, he worked at a carnival.

And slowly you looked out beyond that, glancing at all the vans. Walking closer you stopped right in front of the door, but there was no telling when he could be back.

With curiosity, you reached out for the handle. You knew it was locked. Nevertheless, it was worth a shot. You remembered doing things like this,  sneaking back into your friend's house, into your home when you had a night of fun. But that was in high school, not college, and not now. It wasn’t moral.

“And just what you do you think you’re doing?” Pulling away from the trailer you turned around. He looked the same, this time his black jeans were ripped, and his black shirt was a dirty, with specks of lint coating it.

He stepped closer, a signature smile on his face that you’ve gotten to know so well in only two days. You were flustered, staring at his handsome form, but the only thing you could get out was four words.

“I need my stuff,” You backed away from him. With a smile still on his face, he laughed. And maybe you shouldn’t have been acting so timid, you should have been the one mad, but in a place where you had nobody with you, it was a bad idea to do anything rash.

“Sweetheart, I can’t give you your phone.” His presence was that of a fly, pesky, annoying, and buzzing in your ear. “You know that.”

“And why not? That’s stealing.”

“And?” Playing games with you was a bad idea. You weren’t here to conversate, you weren’t to laugh, you were here for your stuff. “You know… I really misjudged you. I didn’t think you would come back.”

“You have all my things,” You stepped back. “My credit cards, my student ID, everything. I need my phone, and I won’t leave until I get it back.”

Without a response, he moved towards his trailer and took out a set of keys. He glanced back at you once, a small smile falling on his face. Jamming the small silver key into the door and opening it up, glancing back at you, before climbing the stairs.

“Are you coming?” He called from inside. And it wasn’t your first reaction to go in after him, but you did anyway. Trailing behind him as you entered the small trailer.

It was quaint. A homey trailer that suited the boy. It was minimalistic, but the endless cabinets and boxes probably hid all the things he had stolen from other people.

You sat down unsure of yourself, watching as he silently dropped a tea kettle on the stove filled with water and turned the gas on.

It was as if he wanted to play with you, to play house, to play hostage, whatever sick game he wanted.

“So uh… do you live alone?” But you instantly regretted it.  Wrong thing to say. But you asked about it anyway. He seemed to think the same way, except he was more skeptical. He turned around, leaning on the counter as he glanced at you, a snicker leaving his lips.

“Yeah, since I’m the main act. Other people usually have two to four to a trailer.” You nodded, drumming your hands on the table awkwardly as you wished for the small talk to end. You were here for your things, not to drink tea and eat biscuits. Y/N! Get up! But you didn’t listen, you knew you should of, but something intrigued you. And that had been happening a lot. Curiosity getting the best of you. There was a deep yearning for adventure, a deep longing for learning new things. And you wanted to know him, regardless of how deep down that thought was, it was still there, hidden under miles and miles of anger.

But you needed to be responsible, and you knew to march into a place that wasn't safe was far from it.

“I need my things, Mark,”  you said for almost the third time. He leaned forward, pushing himself off the counter and towards the table.

“I know sweetheart. But I haven’t had fun like this in a long time.” He fell back into the chair across from you, biting his small lip, and glancing at you only once. “It’s not every day a freak can see a pretty girl.”

“You’re not a freak,” You deadpanned, watching as his first converted to amusement with every word you said. “You’re a lousy sideshow magician. And rather pathetic.”

“For someone desperate for her things, you’re awfully rude.” Using your name only made you upset, seeing that he had access to all your personal information, and if he found out your phone passcode (although you wouldn’t put it past him to even hack it), there would be even more of an exposition for information.

“A freak is a  person, animal, or plant with an unusual physical abnormality,” He said, leaning in as if the conversation was getting anything but annoying. He seemed genuinely excited, and it was creeping you out.

You crossed your arms, leaning back in the rickety chair and narrowing your eyes at him. “I’m surprised, is that a Textbook definition? Cause you’re not a freak, you’re a petty thief.”

“Never did that textbook definition state it has to be an abnormality commonly seen. Sometimes it’s hidden by clothing,” he shrugged, leaning back slowly, a smirk forming on his face as he watched your reaction.

Was he talking about his—?

“I could show you sometime.” He exuded a sense of hilarity, knowing that his teasing was somehow getting to you.

“Um... no thanks.”

“But that’s no fun,” he pouted, pushing himself from the chair and towards the steaming kettle. Ease him into the idea, you thought. Maybe if you got him to sympathize with you, perhaps if he saw you as a typical college girl things would change, you just needed to be smart.

If your face wouldn't give you away.

But of course, this was a young boy, you shouldn’t have expected anything less than this. “Oh c’mon Y/N! It was a little funny.”

“No, not really, I’d rather have a normal conversation.”

He shrugged deadly, looking at you to go on, his boyish ways showing a little more.

“How long have you been doing this?” You blurted out, not as casual as you would have liked. But nonetheless, the question interested him. Something about it seemed to catch his attention. Letting the tea seep into the boiled water he turned around, being the in same position he was a minutes before.

“What an interesting question?” He said, letting a grin claim his features. But he got serious quick. “I started training at ten, started performing at seventeen, I’m nineteen now.”

So he was young, much younger than you expected; nonetheless, you didn’t know what to expect from him. But one thing did confuse you.

“Why would it take so long to master tricks. You’re a magician, not a doctor.” His familiar chuckle left his lips as he turned back around to watch the tea. It was odd to you how this boy had been training since ten, it just didn’t make sense. He had school, not this. Finally, a sincere, genuine smile flashed through his face, one that showed off his small teeth and thin lips.

“Think of it as a family business. There’s a lot of secrets to learn.” You had always liked secrets, you liked knowing things you shouldn’t. That being said, you had a loud mouth. Especially when it came to people you didn’t know. A curiosity welled up in your stomach as you stared at his body.

“And what’s the secret?” he picked up two white mugs, bringing it over to the table, his mannerism being… polite.

“It wouldn’t be a secret if I told… especially if I told a girl like you.” You cocked your head to the side, his comment proving to only interest you further.

“And what would that mean? And on the topic… don’t you get bored of being in a carnival? You are young, so why do this then be out at parties and college?”

“It means, one, Chittaphon—Ten, he tells me to stay away from people like you. Too curious for your own good. Always trying to stick your nose into things it doesn't belong. Always trying to interfere. And two, because I chose this life, and my father chose this life. I can still have my fun if that’s what you’re wondering. We have vacation and days off Y/N.”

With his long explanation, you took the appropriate time to think it over. Naturally, it was that the first time ever properly talking, and you wanted to analyze everything you possibly could. But you had realized just as you were analyzing him, he was analyzing you, and he was better at it.

Sitting back down on the chair, he took a long sip of his tea. But when you tried, it was boiling hot. But instead of drinking it, you let it warm your cold hands as you wrapped them around the glass.

“Than why invite me here? It’s very counterintuitive, don’t you think?” He flashed you a toothless smile. Setting the cup back down on the table.

“All the things Chittaphon lectures us about, are the very things that make us feel alive. There’s something intoxicating about it—about breaking the rules, the rules you’ve known your whole life. And you’re everything the rules keep me from.”  He was smart, a very bright kid. It’s a shame he didn’t utilize it and go to college, he would have done well.

“That’s insightful… do you want to tell me anything else?  Maybe about your family.” He tilted his head, you could see him thinking, perhaps long and hard about Chittaphon's rules. Maybe even harder on if your intentions were true, which they weren’t. But there was a moment when your curiosity was genuine, and the conversation wasn’t for the sake of your stuff.

“I was born in Canada and moved to South Korea when I was eight. My dad had a job opportunity. He was trying to move this Carnival to the states. So I went along,” He began, taking one chaste sip of his tea as if he was getting ready for a story. “This is the family business. My mom wanted college, but dad wanted the business.”

Odd. Why would he move a Carnival to the states? Didn’t make much sense to you. But the Traveling part at least alluded to it being international. But at the moment you decided against mentioning it

“Do you speak Korean?”

“Depends,” he smiled, leaning in again a smirk on his lips. “Will it turn you on?”

You couldn’t help but softly giggle. Despite him being an asshole, he was charming, insanely, so it was most likely why Mark got away with his bullshit.

“Most certainly not,” You said back, finally being able to take a sip of the tea. It was fruity, something you would expect from him. “But,” You quickly started, “is your family business stealing? I just don't understand.”

“Secrets, Sweetheart,” He singsonged. “Those are secrets.”

You nodded slowly, finding his life more interesting.

“Did you do schooling in your teen years?”

“You’re awfully curious.”

“You live an interesting life.”

“You look pretty trying to get information from me,” he said, taking the mug from you. “You’re not getting your stuff tonight sweetheart. Try again later.”

And maybe, you thought, he wasn’t giving it to you tonight, cause he wanted you to come back. You were sure if you asked, he would agree, he wasn’t one to lie. He was candid, you liked that.

“I figured,” You said, standing up quickly and looking down at him.  “But can I still have it back.” And suddenly you realize you’d just given away what you had been doing.

“I’m not feeling nice right now. Try again later Sweetheart.” And without arguing, you pushed your way through his disgusting trailer and left. Being sure to slam the door on the way out. “Don’t worry, you have seventeen more days to change my mind.”

October 12th, 6th day since Carnival arrival, 14 days until departure

It had been a lousy night. Notwithstanding you wanted your stuff, something about Mark and the Carnival fascinated you more than it should. The deeper you thought about what he told you, the more it didn’t make sense, and the more you knew there were things hidden.

Then the more you wanted to find out.

Of course, when you got home that night, you made a beeline for your room, trying to ignore Lisa and her lingering questions.

Johnny had found his license mysteriously, claiming it was on the top of his dresser the whole time. But that just didn’t make any sense. Strange things were happening.

There was a smile on your face as a happy mood settled over your body. The air smells of the sweet candy apples and cotton candy. Young children rushed around, going from game to game, ride to ride, tent to tent. Regardless of the thievery, you at least had respect for the fun it gave children. It was the day to vacation from reality, the day when peculiar freaks walked the grounds on an old October night.

“You were late,” A cold voice came from behind you. With a slow reaction, you cautiously turned around, your eyes grazing the man's body. He was familiar, yet you couldn’t put your finger on who he was.

“Excuse me?” You asked, a silence falling over the fairgrounds. It was the type of silence that fell before you were stabbed in the back before something terrible happened. Grey clouds hung thick in the black sky, as the full moon glowed a tint of red. Something didn’t feel right.

“Mark—You weren’t there. You were late.” For his show? What did this man mean? You can’t talk to someone in code and expect them to understand.

“For his show?” You had wondered why someone would be so mad that you missed a show that happened nearly every day.

“Yes, Ma’am.” You shrugged at his answer, gently raking your fingers through your hair. His voice was timid, but his presence was anything but.

“I’m sure he won’t mind.” With a gentle, yet deceiving smile, he stuck out his hand, beckoning you to shake his hand. But all you did was look at it, wondering if it was a smart move.

“I’m Ten.” You nodded, your memory flooding back to the mention Mark gave him, and both nights he announced the freaks onto the stage. Instantly you shook his hand.  “Where do you work?” He asked, his head cocking to the side, his eyes narrowing at you. “Mark told me a library.”

“I’m a college student, but I work part-time as a waitress.” Dumbass. Mark didn’t even speak to Ten about you, why would he bring the place you worked, let alone a library. Nevertheless,  he nodded, his eyes twinkling with curiosity as you spoke to him.

“So why have you decided to come fives days in a row to the same show, to see the same person.” You cocked your head to the side at the odd expression. You had remembered what Mark said, and with that in mind, you certainly did not trust him. And with the way his cold voice spoke to you, it was more evident than ever now.

“Nothing. I don’t see why what I do is your business.”

“Cause what you’re doing concerns, Mark.”

Fair enough, but that didn’t change the fact he had terrible social skills and was a little less than kind to you. Kicking the dirt under your feet, you tried at all costs to avoid his stare, until…

A firm, but gentle breeze tousled your hair and pinked your cheeks. And with the wind slowly picking up, Ten’s unsettling stare, and the autumn leaves in the air, you were saved.

You had thought the voice was merely the wind, but it wasn’t, it was Mark

“Chittaphon… What are you…? ” And with a lift of your head, Mark realized it was you he was talking too. A soft and mumbled, “oh,” Left his lips as he saw you, a shocked expression on his face, the only time you had ever seen him such a brash display of his feelings.

With a faked, prepossessing smile, he turned to Mark, bowing to him as he mumbled something in a foreign language.

“You two have fun tonight,” he glanced at you, letting Mark push past him and to your side. And with a gust of wind, you were propelled forward into walking.

And with a long sigh, the constant flickering of different colored lights, and the cold breeze, he turned towards you.

“I’m sorry about that, I didn’t know he would find out,” he said, pushing his hands into his pockets and easing up on his pace. “I got a little too excited and told Jeno, my friend.” A soft smile illuminated your face, at his comment.

“Excited about what?” And slowly a smirk appeared, more of a soft smile, but the fragments of his familiar smirk still prominent.

In the days you were able to talk to Mark, you had found out quite a bit of thing. There were things about this family, and things about him, although those things were picked up, not told. Like his sweet sense of humor, something almost innocent about it. And the way whenever he let himself laugh, he would bite his lip to stop, trying to show you he was, perhaps, cool.

You were only yards away from his small trailer when he began to elaborate. The same children and families noisily running around the loud fairgrounds.

“Your feeble attempts on getting these back,” he lifted his hand up, your phone resting gently in his grasp. But with a snap of his fingers, they were gone, and a laugh falling from his lips as he saw your reaction.

He had a cute laugh.

“How are they feeble if you’re laughing and smiling. Seems like I’m pretty successful.” And slowly his mood changed, scoffing at your remark and making it to his home.

“When will you learn to keep your mouth shut, you always ruin a happy mood.” And then he had his moments. The annoyingly teenagerish moments that made you want to stab him with a tea kettle (if that was even possible).

“I’m going to college, and you’re working at a Carnival.” And without another word, he was opening the door to his trailer and pulling you in.

“You’re right sweetheart since you’re so smart, tell me something only a college student would know.” Flocking to the familiar chair you sat last time, you fell back into the chair and observed him further. His movements were so boyish, and not at all how he portrayed himself.

“I know what hard work is—”

“And, just when I thought I would get a good answer,” He spoke, facing his old refrigerator, and picking out only a couple things. “I still have your stuff,” He pointed out “Now—What do you major in? we've seen each other three times, and I don't even know.”

“Forensic science, you know, crime scene evidence, DNA, all that stuff.” He nodded, leaning on the counter and narrowing his eyes.

“Explains your close affiliation with the law… can I ask why?” And it wasn’t a hard question, you knew exactly what you wanted to be in this field.

“If someone is killed, I want to help put that killer away. And If someone is wrongfully accused, I want to help set them free. Forensic science is the core piece of evidence in cases.” He cocked his head to the side, a thought written on his face.

“So you catch killers?”

“Well, yes, most of the time, I could do other things, but usually that.” He moved towards the chair across from you, sitting down and turning towards you.

“So you don’t have anything to do with drugs, heists, shootouts, embezzling... “ You were confused by his question, it seemed obvious to what you did.

“You may never know when you may be needed in this field,” You said a little too excited. “You never know when you’ll need the type of science.”  But with a clever smirk, he turned towards you, a mischievous glint to understand.

“Help me understand Y/N, please,” You leaned back, the old chair creaking under your weight. With a raise of your eyebrow, you expected. You knew he understood, and you would even take it as far to say he knew when you told him, but still, you obliged.

“Create a scenario.”

With a smile, he started. “So let’s say my girlfriend and me…” He watched your expression, seeing that he got none from you. “I’m a visual learner, act it out for me.”

Unsure of yourself, you slowly got up, standing in place.

“Let’s say,” He began again. “She meets me where I sit.” You meet him where he sits, standing in front of him.

And you were suddenly hyper-aware of how close you two were. Suddenly hyper aware how desperate you were to get your stuff back.

And slowly his finger runs up the back of your thighs, his eyes meeting yours as he continued up your leg, squeezing on the skin to only disturb you.

And with slowed breathing, you exhaled, a little too deeply, enough for him to hear.

“And let’s say, her hand is in my hair,” He waited patiently for you act out what he wanted, gently raking your fingers through his hair, just as he slowly scratched the back on your thighs.

His hair was soft, softer than you would have expected from someone like, so brazen and impudent.

“I have her clothe fibers on my fingernails, she has my DNA under hers… but let’s say… hypothetically of course, that someone suddenly comes in and shoots her, how would you prove that I didn't shoot her.”

You heartbeat picked up at the question as you thought. What could you do? You could start by touching, taking your hands off of him. And so you instantly pulled back.

“It depends on a factor of things. If anyone saw this person shoot her or flee the scene or if anyone had wanted her dead. If the boyfriend ever owned a gun that matched the bullet. And if there a serial number on the bullet. All I could do was inspect the bullet wound. The entrance and exit, and in the angle in which it entered. If your story aligned, you would have a good case.”

You stepped back, his fingers leaving your thighs, a tingling sensation from where he once touched you.

But you had seemed uncomfortable, though you weren't. Not under his touch.

“You’re smart,” He said, watching as you sat back down. “I would do well to have you around.”

“And what’s that supposed to mean?” He scoffed at the question that felt stupid for him and laughed.

“It’s with a brain like yours, It would help me in my—”

“In your unlawful acts.”

“Precisely.”

You tipped your head to the side, thinking over what he was telling you.

"Why would I do that?"

He was strangely forthcoming with information.  Perhaps he was overly trusting, or he had an idea up his sleeve. He didn’t seem stupid, but he didn’t seem particularly logical.

You sat up, folding your arms and intently staring. “Why do you share so much with me? Aren’t you afraid I’ll tell someone.”

“No. Because you’re either scared, seduced or too interested in stopping.”

Which, the interested part was true, but it couldn’t be that he couldn’t actually believe that. So instead of accepting your answer, you constricted your eyes, letting him know you didn't believe it, and he opened up a little deeper. “It also gets pretty lonely if I'm honest. I know everyone here, so having someone new to talk too is cool.”

“So you’ve never spoken to a girl before? You’ve never done anything normal? You’re just a freak.”

“No. I still have sex, I still talk to girls, I do everything… Just in different ways… You could even say I do more.”

“So… Mark… What else do you want to know?”

The grey hue of the cloudy sky did nothing but put Mark in a lousy mood. And with the rain coming down in heavy droplets, it hurt to even come outside. But today was perfect. According to Chittaphon, that is.

With the thin material of his windbreaker. He did what he was told, and transferred the boxes into their trailers, or decoy trailers.

There was nobody at the Carnival surprisingly, it had been raining so hard that he didn’t doubt the reason why. So instead of playing the cover, Ten sent everyone to work.

“How’s your girl?” A voice called from behind him, the pounds of wet mud cracking as his two friends ran beside him.  It wasn’t likely that people asked about Mark’s private affairs, but it seemed that this was a special occasion.

Mark chuckled silently, turning to Jaehyun and patting him on the back.

“She’s not my girl,” He said, continuing to walk away.

“This would be the fourth day she’s seen you, so have you fucked or… ?” Lucas had always been candid and used his candor carelessly.

There's something about you that made him feel a little more normal, but not in an annoying way. He had thought your energy uniquely fit his, each the perfect complement of the other. And he liked how smart you were, how you so readily told him about your family.

“I don’t think she likes me in that way,” He dismissed, continuing to walk with a head down. But Mark didn’t care, he just wanted you. Even if you're saying yes only for your things, he still wanted you.

And maybe so. Perhaps at first, he thought there could be a twinge of attraction from you. He quickly realized you were doing it to get your stuff back and that there was no desire to have him whatsoever. Sadly for him, it was putting him in a bad mood

“How can she not like you? She keeps coming back,” Lucas points out, folding his arms as he pulled his drenched sweatshirt hoodie over his head.

And he thought that too, the night he touched you. The night you allowed him to run his finger up your thighs. But somehow he might have been too clouded by lust to see that you didn’t want him.

“She’s coming back for her stuff, not because she likes me or wants to have sex with me.”

“She looks excited when I let her into the shows,” Jaehyun pointed out, trying hard to avoid the muddy parts of the ground. “So maybe she finds pleasure in coming, and not just for her things. That’s an excuse for her to come.”

But Mark still had trouble believing it, and he had a hard time grappling with the fact that he let himself grow fond of you. That wasn’t like him. Usually, he would meet a girl, fuck, and then travel again. Occasionally stopping to do pickups and smuggles.

“She’s smart,” He turned to them, earning a snicker and head shakes. “No,” he said. “She’s smart. Forensic Science is her major, and she wants to study forensic pathology. And her family's like mine, she has friends, she’s cool, people like her.”

Jaehyun’s eyes widened at the mention of your major, turning to Mark with a cautious frown.

“You shouldn’t let Chittaphon know that he’ll do anything to keep her away. You know how this works.” Of course, he knew. They weren’t just a carnival, they were dangerous, sometimes Mark forgot how dangerous he was. Maybe it was his age.

“But I like—”

“Mark— you can't.”

“I know.”

With a crash of thunder, they all started running for cover.

October 14th, 8th day since Carnival arrival, 12 days until departure

“You’re leaving soon,” You said, making sure to avoid the muddy areas until you could successfully get to his ugly trailer.

“You gonna miss me, Sweetheart?”

It would be hard to miss someone you just met, but fortunately for him, yes, you would. You had talked to him, and surprisingly you were able to be honest with him, like your personal therapist. A handsome therapist.

And suddenly it wasn’t becoming all about your things, it was becoming more about this boy. Who had been forced into this life, who wanted to go to college, which was normal like you?

“If I say yes, what would you do?”

He chuckled, grabbing your hand as a mob of kids pushed past you two and towards one of the freak show tents as it started to rain.

“I could think of a few things, sweetheart.” A suggestive smile stretched on his lips as he pushed you in front of him. And with a hand on the small of your back, he led you closer to his trailer. You knew this wasn’t going to be a typical visit. And if you were honest, you wouldn’t be closed off to it.

“Where are you traveling too next?” You asked softly, letting him cut in front of you and pull out his key.

You had finally realized what was so interesting about him. He was so ordinary, but his situation wasn’t. And even with this average side, he was still mysterious, there was still secrets he had yet to reveal. Maybe it was his stealing, or perhaps it was his black hair. Whatever it was, it pulled you in.

“The state over,” He deadpanned, pushing the door open and allowing you to escape the rain first.

The only thing that left your mouth was a mumbled oh before he flopped down on his bed and left you to sit awkwardly at the little table towards.

“That’s cool,” You offered, He moaned as one of his bones cracked, surely meaning he had done something before your meeting. Looking up irreverently he made a face as if you were stupid.

“Aren’t you coming over?” To his bed? No of course not, that would be inappropriate. Did you ask yourself unsuitable for who? It wasn’t against the law to lay next to him, it wasn’t anything of the sort, it was just… you knew you shouldn’t think of.

“No, I’d rather stay here,” You laughed awkwardly, an eye on his lithe body as he let his head fall back down. But he didn’t care, he never really cared.

“Come over here, Y/N,” And usually you would object, but this time, you didn’t want to.

When you were younger, or perhaps a freshman. When you liked someone you were just like a school girl, looking at shallow things with shallow ideas. But this? This was an infatuation. His voice, his thin pressed lips, black hair, was all you could think about sometimes.

But paired with his looks, there was a yearning to be normal. And you wanted that. You wanted to fix him in some sort of fucked up way, but you wanted him to break you. To ruin your life as you knew it. You found solace that he couldn’t be linked to all your friends, that way even if it ended badly, it would save you humiliation.

Your appetite, your friend life, it all dwindled. But him, no.

“Y/N,” He called again, pulling you from your thoughts. And on cue, like he wanted, you slowly got up, shifting uncomfortably in your sweatshirt as you neared his small bed. It was only a few steps away, you could practically make tea from his bed if you wanted.  

You could see yourself making breakfast from his bed, but it would only be after you stayed the night.

“Yes?” You stood over him, analyzing the facial expression that crossed his face. But he stared back, possibly doing the same thing.

“Sit down Sweetheart.” And so you sat, face forward as he stared at the side your face, the stare so intent that you swore it was burning through your skin. You could only hope that you wouldn’t look back. “When I go away? And you get your stuff…” he trailed off, his question not yet being asked. “What would you have learned from this?”

The question had a joking manner to it, but you could tell it was serious, he really did want to know.

“I would have learned about you,” you shrugged, turning towards him and smiling softly. And he giggled a boyish one.

“What did you learn?” he asked with a smile, his eyes meeting yours. “What’s your favorite thing that you learned, you’ve seen me for six days, I’m interested.”

Had it been that long, did you really start to like him only after six days? It amazed you, he amazed you. But out of all the things he shared, there was one thing that made you smile. His kidlike ways did nothing but amuse you more than it should of.

“The fact that you want to be a rapper.” You couldn’t help but wear a big dopey grin as you said that, soft giggles leaving your lips.

“Okay but I don’t see how that funny,” He chuckled at you, a smile crossing his face as he saw you. Mark couldn’t help but feel a little more powerful with you around.

“You can’t rap, Mark,” You side eyed him knowingly. But of course, you had never heard him rap before so you wouldn’t know. “Do you want to give me a sample of The Marvelous Mark, rapper, and magician.” He glanced up at you, a swell of confidence running through his body.

“And UGH it’s long ass ride—”

And that all you needed to rile in a fit of laughter, maybe you didn’t give him a big chance, but he could have started with a better verse than “Long ass ride.”

“Hey!” He cried. “I couldn’t even finish! And why were you laughing so loud, you’re gonna wake up the whole damn neighborhood!”

And somehow over the past three days, you found yourself joking with the boy, being more and more like a friend than an enemy, and like you had known so many times before. This wasn’t just about your stuff. It was about him.

“Long ass ride? Do you like me? Or are you being suggestive just for the fun of it? Cause I don’t know.”

He turned towards you, a slight bit of shock apparent in his appearance as he glanced over at you, he was trying to see if you were serious, and maybe you were, maybe you weren’t, you were trying to figure that out for yourself.

“Does this answer your question?”

“Hmm?” You asked, turning your head toward him.

And you didn’t expect it, at least not that brashly. But when you looked, his willowy body began to relax, his hand palming himself through his jeans as he gazed at you.

“Does this answer your question, sweetheart?”

His comment wasn't out of character, and his actions weren’t either. But you were too surprised to realize what was actually going on. At that moment, your mind could no longer formulate any more thoughts, and it was all on overdrive.  And with a soft groan, he grabbed your hand, glancing into your eyes retrospectively.

“Go on,” he said, voice soft and tense.

Unsure of your actions, you let your learned muscle memory. You watched his face, listened to his groans. If this ever happened, you never would expect it to happen so calmly, maybe it would happen amidst a fight or tragic situation, but no. Not this.

“Fuck Y/N—“

He looked up at you, sitting up suddenly, pushing your hand harder onto his clothed member. You wilted under Mark's stare. His serene brown eyes seemed to only appear larger and brighter as he stared more. In the gap between his eyes and yours, a battle was fought. But when he placed his soft hand on your jaw, it was him who won.

His lips moved with urgency, as soon as you kissed back, he grabbed your face with both his hands, pushing you back on his soft bed. Your hands took fistfuls of his long hair, all the pent up frustration and tension had come out. His hands gripped your waist, pushing you down into his mattress. He panted after breaking away from your lips. His lips finding your neck within seconds. Nipping at the exposed skin quickly, as he took that moment to mark you.

And he knew what he was doing, just as you thought he might have been inexperienced, he surprised you.

You liked guys full of surprises.

He bit down on your neck softly, kissing the marks over. Taking your supple surface in between his teeth, he decorated your skin. A whispered moan escaped you and his lips curved into a smirk.

“Mark! What the fuck?”

You looked back at him, this time a little hurt that he would do anything like that.

One minute you’re making out, and the next he’s grabbing you and pushing you up. He looked down puzzled, pondering over his actions.

“You should have never done that.”

“I didn’t do anything! You’re the one who made the first move.” You balled your hands into fists tightly, trying to contain the anger that pumped through you. With teeth gritted and knuckles white, you glared at him. Your look burning through him faster than anything Mark had felt before. Your face was red with suppressed rage, from your stuff being stolen, from him embarrassing you, from him making you care. “Why the hell would you make me care, to just push me away!?”

But instead of answering, he pulled your stuff from his jacket and roughly handed them to you. A look of shock crossed your face. Was it all going to end? Just like that. And of course you knew when you got home, you would be relieved, but you also knew the next day you would feel empty. Like all the feelings didn’t matter. And you never found yourself to be someone who wanted sex, but this time you did.

“Just take your shit and leave.”

In awe, you scooped up your things. Mark’s face contorted into a confused glare as he looked at you. 

“I don’t understand—”

“Just go.”

The raining didn’t stop that night. It didn’t stop at all. Instead, the Thunder got worse, and Mark was beginning to become more and more restlessness. The thick blackened clouds were dragged down by the heavy ran that assaulted the roof of his trailer. And if that didn’t make matters worse, the fact that he lost you was also pretty devastating to him.

What were you doing on the other side? Was it raining for you too? The rain seemed to match his mood. Disasterious.

The sound of emptiness was disrupted by the loud boom of thunder. But nobody paid it mind but Mark.

“He’s sad about his girlfriend,” Jaehyun said, looking over at Doyoung and snickering. “She won’t be coming back here anymore.” If it weren’t for Jaehyun, Mark wouldn’t have pushed you away. He wouldn’t be able to offer you anything, and if he could possibly get out of this operation, it could start a lot of trouble with Chittaphon.

“C’mon Mark,” Doyoung raised his bottle, “you fuck any girl that walks by, there isn’t anything different.” But to Mark, he found someone that listened to him talk, and laughed at his jokes, and to be totally real, there wasn’t a lot of people who did that. “How would you even keep a stable girlfriend? Isn’t she married to the law? Wait until she finds out were the whole crimina—”

“I get it Doyoung,” Mark hushed, his Korean flowing freely from his tongue. “But I intend to have kids. I intend to get married. And me choosing her, I chose with intentionality.”

With his final lines, Jisung snorted from Mark’s bed. The Fortnite on his phone drowning out his voice.

“You act like she’s yours to choose. She’s her own person.” 

Doyoung looked as if he had enough of Mark’s antics, glancing at his watch only once before eyeing the door.

“Maybe it’s for the best then,” Jaehyun offered, trying to console his younger friend. But Mark didn’t feel as if it was for the better, he felt as if this would hurt him in the end. The one that got away. “It’s not like you were gonna marry her and live on the hills. It’ll all pass in time.”

It wasn’t likely that you and Mark would ever end up together, but you weren’t talking about the future,  Mark was talking about right now. You needed each other right now.

“I never wanted this life,” Mark softly mumbled to his friends, causing them to stare wide-eyed at the drunk boy.

“It’s the cigs and alcohol talking,” Jisung blurted out, his face still stuffed in a phone as he played on his games.

“I don’t think you guys understand. I’ve realized shit—heavy shit, and it wasn’t until I realized how little I know about, life, ourselves, and the world that I finally perceived it… I wanted to go to college guys, now look what I’m doing.”

And with a laugh, Doyoung looked up at him.

“Mark, you like hurting people, you like stealing from people, you like lugging around those boxes, and it’s because you love money, you love being in danger. In the summer what do we do? We go all over the place, we do as many drugs as we want, and you love it. If you go to college what would you do? You’re not going to marry that dumb girl, you aren’t smart enough for college, and you don’t know what you’re asking for.”

The sad part was that he was right. He did like doing all those things, and he didn’t honestly know what he was asking for, all he knew what that he wanted. And maybe in college, he wouldn’t be able to survive without it.

“You’re just bored, I’m sure Chittaphon would think of something to do, more heists to plan, more drugs to sell, he could even change the whole operative cover up. He cares about you a lot Mark, don’t take what you have for granted.”

Mark liked it there, he liked hurting people, he liked firing guns and the thrill of almost being caught by the police, he loved it all.

And maybe that was enough to give up on you.

Maybe it was the way he sent you away, or perhaps it was the way he didn’t. Regardless, you found yourself wanting to come back and see what actually happened. It had been three days since you last saw him, and you still couldn’t pinpoint the reason why you wanted to see him so bad. It was unlike any other feeling you felt.

You hadn't told Lisa yet, you hadn’t told Johnny, all you did was go to class in the morning and sulk the rest of the day. Indisputably, you wanted to go back, but consciously, you knew it was a bad idea. And it all stemmed from Ten.

The rain didn’t stop either, so getting into your car, you weren’t surprised by the thick clouds of grey. Even if the Carnival was having a day off like the schedule said, you were still going to go, despite the rain coming down in waves.

Despite the car ride feeling tedious and long, the rain calms you. The sound, and the aesthetic of it washing down the windows. But you were going there to say your goodbye, and find out only why he pushed you away, nothing more.

Meanwhile, Mark, he took advantage of his day off and had decided to stay in and escape the rain, calling his parents, watching TV. He asked to be left alone.  And nobody dared to walk outside that day, not even Ten, they all stayed inside, their electric heaters being the only thing to warm them.

With the sinking of your car into the muddy ground, you decided to park somewhere where the long willow trees cast over the parking space, leaving them untouched.  

And through the rain, you could vaguely see the carnival, and beyond the entrance, you could see the top of the red and white tents. There we no colorful lights, there was nothing there indicating that it was an in-use Carnival, and if anything, it made it look… creepy.

But instead of waiting around, you started the cold, wet trek towards the empty Carnival.

The air smelt of fresh pine and rain, and as you took your first steps into the entrance, you were careful to make sure nobody saw you. If they did, they would think it’s one of them.

With your black hoodie pulled over your hair. You could see the trailers, this time all their lights open signaling people were inside and most likely resting on this rainy day. And you could see Mark's; in the farthest area.  

But even then, there was a jump in your step and adrenaline pumping through your veins as you desired to get closer and closer to Mark.

Pointedly, you weren't sure how he was going to react, but you knew he would at least let you in.

Standing in front of the familiar home, you raised your hand, pounding on the door three times. It took some time, but you heard shuffling, and that could only mean he was getting up.

It wasn’t the reaction you were hoping for, with his eyes widening comically and all he did was stare at you. He roughly ran his fingers through his hair and sighed. Pushing the door wider for you and walking away, he welcomed you into his home.  

Awkwardly, you stepped in, watching as he stood in front of his bed, arms crossed and eyes on everything but you.

And with a sigh, he began.

“I told you, it isn’t a good idea for you to be here,” He began, and he’d become distant, and only over three days he had been this way, it baffled you.

“You told me you didn’t want this life,” You mirrored his actions, crossing your arms just as he was doing.

“I lied, and never actually cared for you or cared for the life you had.” You didn’t know why, but it was as if he was pushing you away when you were the thing he wanted. He did it, so you knew he was lying. He wanted you to know he was lying.

Mark had realized why Chittaphon didn’t like people like you, and it was because you asked questions, you made others ask questions, and you knew what to say and how to say it. And with the words you had spoken to him, Mark was no longer a magician, he was Mark.

He wasn’t Chittaphon's puppet, he was Mark.

“You can’t force people into having feelings, and you can’t deny when they have them.” Mark stopped, glancing at you once, before averting his gaze onto his bed.

"I have a job to do," he pointed down, "I made a commitment to this place."

"What about you? What have you made for yourself?"

And there you were again, instilling the only thing Mark wanted to stay away from. Doubt.

“I’ll do you a favor just this once,” His voice grew early low, his fingers delicately pulling over his sweatshirt. But the words confused you, cooking your head in incertitude.

Walking closer to you, his chest touched yours, pushing himself on to you.

With his hands snaking around your waist, you felt him.

He took your phone from your pocket, his chest brush against yours as he gazed down at your face.

“I'll take this one last time.”

Mark himself didn’t know why or what he was doing. But seeing you come here, you arrive in a soaking wet sweatshirt confirmed one thing for him. And it was changed, and that maybe Doyoung and Chittaphon were wrong. He wasn’t meant to be here, and it was you who made him realize it.

"You know what to do, sweetheart."

Within a split second his lips were on yours. You had only kissed him once before, but the two of you were so simplistic. Lust was the fuel for every part of your body.

He grabbed your waist roughly, setting phone set down on his kitchen counter as he pulled you closer to him. He pulled your bottom lip between his teeth and tugged. Your hands dangling around his neck as you both stepped back together.

And even harder, he pushed your waist into the counter, his hands running up and down the sides of your waist as you continued to kiss, slipping his tongue in at the opportune moment.

The pattern of the rain created a calm feeling in his room, letting you fall deeper into the moment.

“You came back,” he mumbled against your lips, placing chaste kisses there as he grabbed your ass.

“I couldn’t stay away,” you admitted breathlessly. And that's the truth, you couldn't stay away. Somehow you started out with hatred, to an unfamiliar, irreplaceable bond.

His hands ran up your thighs as he pulled you onto the small counter, his body fitting perfectly in between your legs. Kissing your lips gently. His hands wandered up the insides of your jean clas thighs. His gentle touch was nothing you could expect from him. Letting out a soft moan, Mark’s thin lips quirked up into a natural smirk, moving his hands to the hem of your sweatshirt, he peeled it off roughly, throwing the wet material down on his table.

A white t-shirt was all that was left, discovering you had gone braless, the amusement in his eyes twinkled with the utmost excitement. He pulled your t-shirt off immediately, but oddly enough his gaze wasn’t on your breasts, he just pulled you into his chest and continued a heated kiss.

You were bare in front of him, doing something you never thought you would do when you first met him. He grabbed your bare waist, his hands smooth against your supple skin. His hands traveled up to knead your breasts gently, a moan falling from your lips as the sensation rippled through your body. With kisses still heated, he managed to mumble something onto your lips.

“Out of all the people… I get you,” His eyes hooded as he soft kisses traveled down your neck, nipping at the skin and retracing his steps like he did days before. “I got lucky.” You ultimately didn’t know how you and Mark would end up. If you stayed in touch, date, or never see each other again, but regardless you couldn’t let him leave without doing this.

“Didn’t we both” you mumbled before dipping he dipped his head into your chest, encasing one of the hardening nubs with his lips. Sucking on one nipple, he toyed with the other one, softly pulling and circling it. And your hands grabbed a fistful of his hair in pleasure, moans dripping in lust falling from your lips.

“Mark… hurry… please” You whimpered, a desperate tone in your voice.

“Let me savor this,” His mumbled. And there was something about the comment that gave you a sinking feeling. He had to savor this moment, there was a finality about it. Like he wouldn’t see you again.

But with one more kiss to your lips, he pulled you from the counter and pushed you towards his bed, letting your head dip down on his pillow gently as he hovered over your body, his breathing light and feathery.

Every inch of your body craved him, and as he pushed you down on the bed, your excitement rose. Unzipping your jeans slowly, he pulled the rough material down your legs, leaving you virtually naked in front of him, his eyes roaming every inch of your body.

Stealthily, he found the moment to take off his shirt, coming back down and hooking his slender fingers underneath your thong. Your stomach filled with anticipation once you saw the dreamlike smile crossed his face.

Gripping onto your thighs, he tugged your legs over his shoulder his knees. A long sigh left your lips as if this was everything you wanted.

“Can I?” He looked up, waiting for your blessing before he did anything else, his eyes sparkling with elation as he glanced at you with nothing but lust in his eyes. His breath washed against your core, as he pulled your legs open wider. It worked him up so much, for a moment he forgot that he even asked for your consent.

“Yes… please.” You bit your lip as you felt his tongue lick a clean stripe up your folds, swirling it around your swollen clit in small circles.

“Mark!” You gasped, your finger delicately massaging his scalp as you pushed him closer into you.

He hummed against your core, pressing his tongue against your most sensitive area. You had thought he was merely a beginner… a virgin for lack of better words, but he was not. Certainly not.

And wrapping his mouth around your clit, he sucked, stretched the skin gently with his fingers to get a better angle of the area. He had you moaning terribly loud within minutes of starting.  He continued to suck, your walls squeezing around nothing as you reached higher. But you weren’t quite there yet, and though you could feel the tingling throughout your whole body, a white-hot sensation taking over your stomach, you needed more.  It had been so long since someone touched you like this before, and you were taking advantage.

And without warning, Mark effortlessly slipped his digits inside you, pumping as he sucked on your core, curling them upwards to rub against the sweetest spot. With the sensation of his mouth and fingers, you could feel yourself losing control, gripping his hair tight enough for it to hurt, moaning so someone else could hear. And you loved it, you loved every single thing he did.

“I’m getting closer,” You said gently, not being able to trust your own voice under the circumstances. Your legs grew limp in his grasp, and your body was reacting to his, shaking untroubled as you reached the urgency.

But still, he said nothing, he only sped up gripping your leg tighter, sucking on you harder, his fingers pumping within you tougher. Your whole body felt on fire, as you dripped over his bed and onto his fingers, Mark continuing until you saw stars.

And without more wait, you felt yourself pulse around him, and an uncontrollable throbbing feeling comes over you. And within seconds, you felt relief as you came onto him. Your rollercoaster finally coming back down. Your wetness leaking onto his palm and chin, until he used his tongue to lap it up. He removed his fingers from you, gently sucking on his own fingers and tasting what he wanted. You.

Never had you been more turned on. Maybe it was the mix of forbidden romance, the fact he cared little for the law, and you did, or the way you clicked, whatever it was, you just wanted him to fuck you hard.

“Mark,” you grabbed at his hair, “I want it hard tonight.”

And with a little chuckle, he nodded, his eyes first widening at your oddly executed request.

“You’ll regret asking,” A sinister voice sounded from the boy as he pulled down his sweatpants, his member hard inside his boxers.

And just like you did for him nights before, he reached down, palming himself through his thin boxers, before tugging them down and revealing his thick length. And looking down at your writhing figure, he let himself glide his hands over himself, stroking his length in his hands. Moving closer,  his tup brushed against you and feeling the sensation, you let out a shaky sigh.

“You’re dancing with the devil,” he mumbled, realizing that what he was doing was harmful to you and him, dangerous if Chittaphon ever found out.  But looking at you, he couldn’t resist.

“Which one of us is the devil?” You whispered slyly, a response burning on his tongue as he heard you say that.

Me! I am! He wanted to say. But right now he wasn’t so sure himself. He wasn't sure which one of you were the devil. But maybe— just maybe, it was the both of you.

Any rational thought disappeared when he entered you slowly, pushing his hips forward. You gasped, he fits you perfectly, he was thick, and it was pleasurable, it was perfect. “Mark,” You whined. You whine an ugly, lustful whine, throwing your arms around his neck and letting your head hit his shoulder.

“Sweetheart, can I move, or is it too much?” There was a joking tone in his voice as you whimpered, a soft nod coming from as you breathed.

He snaked his arms around your back and held you tightly as you mirrored his actions. You had asked for rough, but his thrusts were painfully slow, each one slower from the last, stretching you out. And then soon, he was pushing himself farther into you, using an invisible strength and speed you never knew he could carry within him. Your body bounced with his movements, and before long you adjusted to accommodate his thick cock.

He let out shaky moans as he held you, his face falling on the bend of your neck, sucking harshly on the skin as he took the pleasure you gave him. And with hot, heavy, and hard thrusts, he left you breathless, unable to catch up with his movements.

You felt full, a feeling you had never quite gotten before with sex. The overwhelming wave of pleasure continued to wash over you, hit after hit, after hit. You felt your walls pulse against him, this time with strength. The sensation of Mark fucking you was undeniably pleasurable, but knowing what you did about him, it felt like more than that.

He kissed you hungrily, capturing your quivering lips in a kiss, an aggressive, hostile kiss. His dull fingernails dug into your skin, it felt possessive, as if he was marking you, though he didn’t even know he could turn around for you. You swallowed your moans, and focused on his fingernails and his cock, disappearing inside of you with every thrust he took.

“Look at me!” Mark rasped, his voice coming in horse croaks as he spoke to you. “Y/N, look at me!” He demanded again, “look at me!” And finally, you locked eyes with the boy, his brown eyes filled with pleasure still gave a forlorn gaze. He moaned against your lips, keeping a tight grip on your waist as he did. “I don’t want this to end,” He whispered, his eyes pleading you to say something reassuring, but you didn’t know what. But he still continued to pleasure.

“Mark just keep going, I’m gonna cum,” You whimpered.

Hearing those words were an odd reassurance, sure he didn’t get what he wanted, but he got this. The sight of your face when he pounded mercilessly into your sweat body, hair moist from the rain, and your legs sticking to his skin like duct tape.

He had fucked you hard, your walls throbbing, your lips red and swollen, your hair a mess, and your waist bruised. But he didn’t stop, he lasted long, and he gave you enough pleasure to last lifetimes. A tingling feeling starting in your toes and working their way up to your head until your whole body was enveloped in pleasure.  

“What’s it gonna take to make you cum.” He muttered, frustrated that you hadn’t cum sooner like he expected.  His heavy breaths gave away that he was close.

You cant get a coherent sentence as he pressed the pad of his thumb against your clit, rubbing harsh, slow circles against the bundle of nerves that sat there.

And still fucking you, he rubbed his small thumb against you, his black hair falling into his face as you heard his heavy grunts, applying pressure onto you.

You moaned so loud, you thought possibly the person overheard. You felt the knot in your stomach grow tighter and tighter, unbearably tight and painful that you needed a release. And all at once, with every last piece of energy you had left, you came onto mark, spilling onto his bed and all over his pale pelvis, feeling him release right after you.

He fucked you through your orgasm, the thrusts becoming more and more sloppy as he released. Jerking his hips into you, his moans were just as loud as yours. The rain still pounding down on the ground and created loud terrible sounds.

He regained himself, his body flopping down next to yours, securely pulling his blankets over both your hot and sweaty body, the cool air helping to cool both of you down.

And laying there, he wanted to go with you.

He wanted everything you had to offer. He wanted college life, he wanted something real and normal, and he wanted love. But most importantly he knew himself well.

For in the morning, he would send you away and wish to never see you again.

[ekkorn]

hi there, just saw in the tags that you didn‘t like endgame. would you like to expand on that? i am curious to know other people‘s perspective. personally, i liked it. it has flaws, yes, but to me it was enjoyable. if you don‘t feel like answering, that is fine :) have a great day!

oh wow. you really wanna know? okay, but on your own head be it. :o

i’m just joking, i’ll go easy, or at least give you the digest (a vicious lie) version. if you want to see the full extent of my derision and vitriol, you can go to @lowkeysebastianstan, which is the blog where i’ve tried to limit this too. but to give you the not at all short and not so sweet of it, here goes. (endgame spoilers obviously).

the first thing that really set me off was the ending, more precisely, what steve did. it made absolutely no sense whatsoever, and hit me closer to home than most of my followers here since bucky and steve are my fave characters, and the only ship i really have. now, i never thought stucky would become canon, not even a little, i didn’t even hope for it. sure, the representation would’ve been awesome, but there’s no way marvel could’ve done it justice, so it was just as well it was never gonna happen. what i hadn’t prepared for was to what extreme extent they were terrified of the ship and the effect it would have if they were to let it be even a hint that could be interpreted as some emotional connection between them, for 3 films they’re built bucky up as the most important character in steve’s life, he’s risked his own life to save him, he basically eradicated hydra during wwii fueled by grief for him, he was prepared to die for him in tws, he fought his friends and gave up everything for him in cacw, and then he just? leaves? to be with a woman who died of old age and natural causes after a long fulfilling life with another man and family of her own. who specifically told him to fucking move on in tws? yeah, sure. and do not get me wrong, i adore sam wilson, after bucky, and the real steve rogers, he is by far my fave in the cap verse (saving a few spots for my bp and cm peeps in the mcu, but we’ll get to them), and he is the superior choice to pick up the mantle, no doubt about it. (okay, a little doubt, they teased sebastian with that shield for 8 years, they based bucky on the brubaker storyline where he becomes cap, and so i do feel a little torn bc no matter how happy he must be for his friend, and him and mackie are good friends, he must be a little disappointed? but who knows, maybe they’ll do something with that in the series, which would be stupid af bc that would negate the positive leap in representation, and mackie deserves it too, so who the fuck knows, i’ll probably not be around to keep track anyways, and can you tell im rambling), but for steve’s last words to be to sam? while bucky stands and watch in the background? like??? i could go on in (more excruciating) detail, but that was why i linked the blog, there might be a point or two about this on there.

but that was just the start. all through the movie i felt disconnected and uneasy, they made some really weird choices, but i don’t think it was until nat took the plunge that i knew i had an absolute dud on my hands. 

the mcu has done a lot of things right, but their treatment of women is NOT one of them. and oh boy did they go out with a bang. first is the obvious implication, he got to live bc he had “more to live for”, and she didn’t have a family, and ye gods we know she can’t have kids, so why should she live? 

(see, if the bw movie wasn’t in the books, i’d completely get it, if it was to give scarjo her life back, and she wanted nat to be good and dead, sure. actually, when i first watched it, that’s what i thought tbh, that the bw movie was cancelled, so. but it’s not, so she will return. and since that the case it’s just fucked up that they yeeted her off the roster. and sure, some of the bw movie was always gonna be set in the past, but tbh? i don’t see much point in prequels for dead characters, you know that whatever happens won’t affect the outcome for the character at all, and i usually find them completely void of meaning. that might just be me though). and of course the fact that she died the same way gamora went didn’t help. (gamora’s death was maybe the single worst thing in aiw, she was fridged, not for the advancement of one man, but for two (thanos and quill) and it.just.shouldn’t.have.worked.thanos.cannot.love! again, mcu and women? not a good match.) 

then of course, it comes back to steve and how much he doesn’t give a crap about the people close to him in the present, we never see him care or grieve for anyone but peggy, and he could barely spare two tears for nat before it was all business again. and the rest of the team? i think clint cared a little, and banner threw a chair, but that was it. no memorial, not burial, no nothing, it was like she never existed, and she died saving the world just as much as tony, he couldn’t have done jack shit without the soul stone. 

and speaking of women, shuri and okoye? before the trailer dropped i was sure shuri was in this, that we’d get to see her lead in her brother’s stead. i actually did a short lament on this already, here.

carol was terribly underused, after all the oompf about her being there she was barely a blip. but the haircut was fantastic, and the best part of the movie was when she returned at the end.

then there’s nebula and gamora (again). at first i was actually quite pleased that they sort of found a loophole to bring gamora back, but then i thought about it (yes, sometimes i get seduced by the flashy colours too) and yeah. sure. a gamora is there, but she’s void of all the things that makes her interesting and all her development is just gone, everything “our” gamora achieved and experienced is gone, three films worth of arc is worthless. so what then is the point of getting “her” back? i don’t care about this person, i don’t know her. are we gonna see quill just harass her the next film, bc you know, she’s been with him, so why shouldn’t he expect her to just do that now? tbh i wouldn’t be surprised, but now that gunn is back maybe he can save it? not that i’ll be around to keep track though.

then nebula. nvm that time paradox, that’s a whole other fuckfest i’ll get back to, but we had to get to see her get killed too, didn’t we. by her sister, the only person in the world she loves. fucking fantastic, i cannot control my enthusiasm. 

and no, cool as it was, the a-force surrounding parker is not enough to bring this home. it was a cool sight though. (see? i can see the good.)

then of course it’s peggy. a woman he knew for a few months back during the war. (sure they knew each other longer, but i’d say, even if you’re very generous, they can’t have spent more than a couple of months in each other’s company, and they kissed once). who they stripped of all character development and autonomy so that steve could go back and get his “damce”. everything she achieved, every good thing that happened to her, her husband, her family, her advancement in shield, all gone. bc steve must have his happy ending, no matter that she told him to move the fuck on in tws, who cares. 

and then there’s sharon. yeah, they forgot about her, didn’t they. i mean, i was never really on board with that, the whole aunt/niece thing was a bit too weird for me, and this was way before i shipped stucky, but that doesn’t matter. bc they did that, they had them kiss within days after peggy’s death (oooh, look how he cared for peggy), making it clear that this was the beginning of something. (also marvel and several of the actors treated emily like crap, oh yeah, i remember, doesn’t help either.) 

(gods i said this would be short, didn’t i? imagine if i could’ve spent all the words i’ve spent ranting about endgame on my latest chapter? good grief.)

then there’s their so called lgbt representation. 30 seconds of a character that had a total of 60 sconds of screentime in tws lamenting his dead lover? well. i. they wanted credit for that. i just.

then there’s thor. they negated every ounce of development he had in ragnarok, this also goes for aiw, wasn’t happy about that, and made him completely ooc, he just spends his time drinking ab\nd playing fortnite of all things? bold of them to assume that will still be a thing in 5 years, but also? thor? THOR? neglecting his people? his friends? the world? thor? then they of course made him fat, haha, so they could add fat-shaming to the list while they make light and fun of his drinking problems, his grief and his ptsd. awesome. the funniest. 

then there’s clint. that they just randomly made a killer? just, like a straight up murderer? okay then. and still nat deserved to die. excellent.

then there’s banner. okay, i don’t think they fucked him up as bad as the others, but it’s still strange he would risk his intelligence to become hulk full time, but you do you.  

rocket and rhodey were the best things about this damn disaster, just putting it out there.

then there’s tony. i mean, we knew he was the main protagonist, and im not objecting that, (even if i think it’s really strange he’d be born in 1970) but idk. that was strange’s plan? all that for that? and pepper just went, eh what the hell, just die, i can raise this kid you wanted. (i know, i know, she’s her mom, she cares), but it was just so flat. and idk. i mean, rdj wanted his life back, just as evans, but i’d want to see that switched, that tony get to retire and steve sacrifice himself to save the world. tony could still be the deciding factor in strange’s plan even if steve delivered the coup de grace. at least he cared enough to show an emotion™when peter came back, which was more than steve bothered with. jfc they fucked up steve.

then there’s the time travel. okay, a few things about the 2012 thing. they put him in the elevator, and then, instead of having him just kick the crap out of the agents, they reference hydra!cap? the biggest shitstorm in the comics in the last two decades? like what the actual fuck? then of course there’s the americas ass thing, which, again, that’s steve, cares about his ass but not his friends! (but at least 2012 steve cares about bucky, maybe he’ll save him a couple of years early, back to the future steve will just live out his life knowing bucky is getting tortured somewhere in siberia, good times.) oh! and i guess they have their loophole to get loki back too, great, they’ll probably just forget that he’s not in the main timeline, bc who cares. 

and the fun just keeps coming with the time travel. oh they tried with some crap explanation that no one can make sense of, but here’s the kicker. they can’t either, they don’t even want to try, they don’t even agree with each other. 

+ +

how did they know to meet up in wakanda or wherever, the dustees? did strange send a memo? not just the ppl in the soul realm or wherever they were, but all the others too, like valkyrie and hope. time and place just magically popped into their heads? and what happened when they all came back? or some came back, bc obviously a shit ton of ppl died at the dusting, like the pilot of a 747 gone? plane goes down and such, ppl really dead. and where do they reappear? where they disappeared? aka those passengers that got dusted comes back mid flight? fun! and what about the ones that moved on in their absence? what happens to the ones that come back when their wives and husbands are remarried, when there’s no place for them in their old lives. did all of peter’s classmates get dusted, or did the rest of the class graduate without him, i must assume that all of those in s:ffh did, otherwise some would be in college by now, yeah?

and that’s another reason their watertight time travel is leaky af, there’s no way to get the logistics to work. the only option as such would have been to go back to 2018 and fix it, to reset time, bc otherwise there are just too many holes, it’s just not possible. but they can’t do that bc then they’ll undo all the things that happen in the future that the characters don’t want to lose, like tony’s kid. 

oh, i know, it’s a superhero movie, but im strange like that, i expect a modicum of internal logic in all my movies, the bitch that i am. 

okay, im gonna leave it there, ive run out of steam, and i want to gif a set. there’s a few things more, but i think you’ve gotten the gist, that i’m not a fan of this movie and a short (lol, so sorry, nothing is ever digest with me, i should’ve warned you) list of reasons why. honestly this is the first time i’ve really don’t a more general account, ive pretty much stuck to steve and that crapshute, there’s a lot of other blogs that concentrate on the other characters, i’d list a few, but i don’t have it in me rn, pop me a msg if you’re interested, also if you’re interested in some real meta, this rambling rant isn’t something that people should be exposed to honestly. 

avengers: endgame was a shit movie and no amount of “he’s worthy” and “avengers assemble” is going to fix that, BUT if you enjoyed it, i don’t think less of you, obviously everyone is different, and i envy the hell out of you, i sorely wish i could’ve liked it too. the russos directed what is by far the best movie in the mcu imo, tws, and they had us all fooled, even if we probably should’ve seen it coming after iron man 4: civil war.

hope you’re having a spectacular day, sorry you had to read this if you did, and and thank you for making mine better, i really had a rant in me needing out. (you’d think i’d run out of hate for this by now, but nah.)

thank you for the ask :) 

[thetaoofbetty]

so I know a lot happened in the finale but I'm wondering, who gets custody of the twins now? Polly is god knows where along with Alice, and Penelope is on the run. Betty is technically their godmother but they surly won't give custody to a high school senior, so Cheryl's out to. That only leaves Nana Rose, is that old woman supposed to take care of two babies on her own? Side note: maybe they'll give them to Charles.

Hello beautiful! 

Uh, I mean, we are talking about a show where they forgot Cheryl was a year older than the rest of them and Veronica needs a legal guardian but can own businesses (and open loans, which, please, no one even wanted me to open my mouth at 17, much less give me large sums of money to pay back with interest) so imma have to go with, It’s Riverdale. 

It’s also a show that said Fred couldn’t foster Jug but then ignored the fact that he was living in the trailer all alone. So. I mean. You know. Betty is also their aunt but still a minor, Charles would be their uncle but him having them would be doubtful. I’m guessing staying with Cheryl and Nana Rose is their best option? At least the Blossom’s have enough cash to pay for help with the twins instead of handing them over to a bunch of high schoolers or strangers? I don’t know. 

I’m not sure Riverdale wants us to think that hard about their plot holes tbh. It’s why FP was magically aged to 50 for their most likely not thoroughly thought out decision to bring in Charles even though he was in high school in the 90′s. 

I, personally, think they should spend less time trying to be dark (literally dark at times, this bitch can’t see shit more often than not) and edgy and trying to shock us with plot and just tell a consistent story where we’re not more confused than entertained because the details never actually add up which takes away from the story they’re trying to tell. 

Anyways, what I’m saying is, this shit don’t make no sense, what can I say?