#the only thing I'd want is everything unlocked to play whatever you want whenever you want

[vexatiousidler]

Another reason to use the official PTCG client

This is the deck they're giving out for 100% free (aka signing up for an account and looking at the battle pass once, no purchase, no grinding, just log in once) and it's a really fucking solid starter for a Charizard ex deck, especially since they just give you 2(!!!!!!!!!!!) of them PLUS a PokeGo Charizard

Not to mention the swath of staple supporters and trainers, it's an extremely good start for one of the strongest new decks from this set

[rainplaysswtor]

SWTOR: New Player Combat/Survival Tips

If you're familiar with SWTOR, these are things you probably know backward and forward. Think back, though: when you first downloaded and started playing, were they all so obvious - particularly if you didn't play similar games/MMOs before? Here are ten things I wish I'd known when I started playing SWTOR. If you're a newbie, hopefully they will help you too. 1. Take a picture of your abilities bar. 

There are several bugs in various areas that will inadvertently unlock your abilities bar, sending your carefully arranged abilities scattering in all directions. You may accidentally unlock the bar yourself, or forget to lock it again after adjusting something. 

Take a photo of your characters' abilty bars. Use the screenshot function in the game. Use CTRL+Print Screen on a PC. Take a photo of the screen with your phone. Whatever works. That way, if a character's abilities go floating, you will have a reference guide to put everything back in its proper place. 

2. Kill the healers first. 

In a lot of fights, there will be medics or other NPCs who heal their colleagues as you're fighting. Needless to say this can complicate your fights. 

Sometimes the medics really will have nameplates that say 'medic.' Other times they won't. You have to learn to pick them out of the crowd. They usually hang toward the back of the mob, as opposed to the other NPCs who will charge at you. They are also often weaker and don't have gold or silver tags. You may spot them fiddling with a scanner device in their hand or casting Force healing toward whoever you're fighting. Look at what your own healer companions do, and learn to recognize it - and then take out the healers first. 

3. Learn what your interrupts are. 

Every character is given at least one 'interrupt.' This is an ability that, as the name would suggest, can interrupt a cast or an action being taken by an enemy NPC. If you use this skill, you stop the enemy from doing whatever it is trying to do to you. 

How do you find out what your interrupt skill is? Click P. Now click on the first entry, and scroll down the list to browse your abilities. Click the second and do the same. If you mouse over each ability, you will get a text box that tells you what they do. 

Every class and advanced class has their own interrupt(s), and the icons often have different meanings with different classes - so do read the descriptions.

Once you have found your interrupt, make sure it's on your ability bar. How? Unlock your ability bar with the small padlock on the left. Put your cursor over the skill you want (you can only do this with abilities that are NOT marked as "passive"). Put the skill on the ability bar. Lock it by clicking the padlock again. 

I tend to keep my interrupts and stun breakers on the far right side of the bar so I always know where they are immediately. 

4. Learn what your stun breakers/cleanses are. 

Every character also has at least one 'stun breaker.' This is an ability that will break a hold that an enemy NPC has on you or cleanse a negative effect they've given you. you want to know what this is and have it on your abilities bar ready to go. 

How do you find your stun breaker (s)? See above. 

5. Learn what your stuns are. 

As the name would suggest, these are skills that momentarily stun or incapacitate an enemy so they stop fighting you. If you're having trouble in a fight, stunning them for a second can help you take a breather. 

Find them and put them on your ability bar by following the instructions above. 

6. Know if your character has heals, and what they are. 

Some advanced classes, notably Marauders, really don't have any good ways to heal themselves in battle. Others, like Sage and Mercenaries, have a lot of heals for themselves and others. Find them. Add them to your abilities bar. 

For the characters that have a lot of heals, like Sorcerers, Scoundrels and Operatives, I find that it helps to keep them all in one place - in my case, on the left hand abilities side bar. 

7. Use your Heroic Moment. 

Heroic Moment is a special set of abilities you can call upon. You can get eight of them in total. They are awarded when you finish each class story for the first time. They include an orbital strike, a kick, Force lightning, and more. You will also be slowly healed for the entire two minutes the Heroic Moment is active. The abilities will appear in a special bar above your regular abilities bar - use them as you will. 

If you're having trouble in a fight or fighting a boss, do not feel shy about calling on your Heroic Moment. You can only use it once every five minutes. If you have a boss fight coming up, don't feel bad about hanging back for a moment to let it cool down. 

8. Repair your gear whenever you can. 

Your weapons and other gear get damaged as you fight. As it wears down, it's less effective at both offense and defense, and your fights will become more difficult and longer. Repair it whenever you can. You will know if you need to repair your gear if the "repair all" button is lit up when you are interacting with a vendor. Invest in the Legacy repair perks, which allow you to summon a field repair droid. Buy the Legacy perk which places a repair droid on your ship. As you are out and about, remember just about any vendor can repair your gear, not just the ones marked as medical droids.

8. Make friends with at least one companion. 

Your companions can be set to heal, tank or go on the offense (damage). The higher your influence is, the more effective they will be at any role. IMHO it's really worth it to work on getting at least one favored companion to influence level 50. Or as high as you can. 

You can raise your companions' influence by giving them gifts they like, getting approval (or even disapproval) from them in conversations and cut scene choices, and sending them on crew skills missions. There are two Legacy perks - Legacy of Altruism and Legacy of Persuasion - that will raise the amount of influence you get from conversations and gifts. IMHO they are worth buying. 

8. a. Use Presence stims

Let's say you have a required companion for some content - something that annoyingly happens more and more. Let's say your influence with that companion is low. Buy a Command/Presence stim from the nearest medical droid. They're usually pink. These stims raise your presence level so your companion(s) will temporarily be more effective. 

9. Get some datacrons

Datacrons are little magical cubes that you can find here and there on SWTOR's many planets, moons, and even the Fleets. Each datacron will permanently bump up your Mastery, Endurance or Presence stats slightly for all your characters and give you some XP and a lore entry, and those things are always helpful.

If you've read the guides for the datacrons you might be intimidated. It's true that some of them are so hard to get that you may spend hours trying. When I started playing SWTOR I didn't even try to get the datacrons because I was intimidated.

However, some of them are so easy to get that you literally just walk up to them. No jumping, no grouping up, no fancy tricks. Thus even if you do not have the desire to go on an ambitious datacron hunt, do try to get the ones that you can stroll over to or access easily.

10. Change your camera angle. 

If you look at videos of SWTOR gameplay you will notice that people play from a variety of angles. Some are close to their characters, some are not. Different fights and area of the game may call for different angles. Play around and figure out what works best for you. Sometimes the right camera angle can help you see something that's making a fight tough and show you how to resolve it. 

[toomanyfandoms02]

Evidence // Spencer Reid x Reader

HEY guess who's back. I'm SO SO SO sorry for the delay. I've been having the most SERIOUS case of writers block and I'm finally pulling myself out of it YAYYYY. So here ya go.

Not a request, but I couldn't resist this prompt!

Summary - Spencer and Reader get locked in the evidence room.

Prompt - “What on earth happened in here?"

Word count - 2.9k

Spencer and I often stayed after together to finish up work. We didn't like to have to wake up so early to make touch ups. So here we were, sitting on the floor in the back of the evidence room. We were sat behind tall filing cabinets, a dim lamp lit beside us.

We were working a case in Arizona involving 3 girls. It was running relatively smooth, the problem was that the police station that we were placed at was in the middle of nowhere. And that was proven by the signal warning on my phone.

*unable to send message.*

Good thing it wasn't anything important.

There were multiple pages sprawled out in front of us, we looked between them all.

"I don't think we will have to stay too long after today." I commented. "It looks like we are working pretty fast this time around."

"I guess we're getting the hang of this " Spencer laughed, writing something down.

*click*

I craned my neck around the cabinets, wondering if someone was coming in the door. Seeing no one, I turned back to him, shrugging my shoulders.

We continued for another hour (and 28 minutes by Spencer's count). I stacked the papers together, shutting them in a folder and tucking it under my arm. I stood from my previous position, stretching my back.

"That's enough sitting on a concrete floor for me." I complained, hunching over and dragging myself to the door. This earned a laugh from Spencer. I reached for the knob, eager to get to the hotel and sleep.

But the knob only jiggled.

And jiggled.

And didn't budge.

"Uh. I think, I think the door is locked." I whispered, turning to Spencer slowly.

"No way." He stated, lightly pushing me out of the way. I listened as he jiggled it, desperately trying to turn the door knob. His head was placed against the glass, hands framing his eyes while he looked out the small doors window. "The lights are all off out there. I think they are on night patrol."

"Well this is thrilling." I laughed, slumping onto the floor. I pulled my phone from my pocket, holding it in the air and attempting to call Emily. The call started, my excitement being crushed by a warning on my phone.

*Your call cannot go through at the moment, we are unable to find a signal.*

Well fine then.

"Do you know how to pick a lock?" He asked.

"If there was anyone that knows how to pick a lock, I thought it would be you."

"Why?" His posture looked stiff and offended.

"You know everything." I deadpanned offering a dumb look. He rolled his eyes at this and sat down across from me. "Do you think we'll die in here?" I asked nonchalantly. Spencer squinted his eyes at me.

"Well statistically, no." And that's all he said.

"Is that all you got?"

"I'm too tired to ramble." He groaned. His head was leaned back on a cabinet. "But I will say that on average night patrols and at around 3:30 to 4 am. So we have quite a few hours to kill." The clock on the wall read 11:17. Yeah, we had some time to kill.

"Alright, we aren't just gonna sit here. We are gonna play games, I can't stand to sit in silence." Spencer sat up slightly, flashing me a confused look.

"Like what?"

"We are going to start with would you rather. I'll start." My head started sorting through all of the would you rather questions I had been asked that I loved and found the perfect one for this genius.

"Would you rather lose the ability to read or the ability to speak." I watched as he opened his mouth to answer then closed it, thinking again. I thought this would be a pretty obvious answer for him.

"I think I would lose the ability to speak. I could do nearly everything the same. I would just have to write my findings down." He sat in thought for a moment. "Would you rather have unlimited international first class tickets or never have to pay for food at restaurants?" I was thoroughly surprised by the question.

"That's a good one! I definitely want to travel, but I do eat a lot... First class tickets. I want to see ancient ruins, can't walk to them." I laughed. We played this game for around 10 more minutes before getting extremely bored of it.

"Alright enough of this." I groaned, coming up with a new idea. "We are gonna play two truths and a lie. Pretty straight forward, I'll start and you try to guess which one is a lie." Spencer nodded and waited. "I broke my leg while falling from a tree when I was 9, I've had a crush on someone on the team, and I once ate nerds candy for a whole week when I was 7 and had to get my stomache pumped." The last one had his eyebrows furrowing. I remained still and emotionless so he couldn't read me as well.

"I completely believe that you ate candy for a week and had to get medical attention as a result." He pointed out oh so graciously. "And you're a total klutz too, so it wouldn't surprise me if you broke your leg. Plus I think I'd know if you ever liked someone on the team. Final answer you've never had a crush on anyone on the team." He looked so smug in the moment, this just got me more pumped to wipe that smile from his face.

"Nope." As expected, his face immediately fell.

"Who did you like!" Spencer's arms were flailing in exasperation.

"I don't have to tell you that." I chuckled. "Now you go." My foot kicked his lightly, egging him on. He gave a glare and moved on reluctantly.

"I'm afraid of the dark, the only reason I drink coffee is because I had a crush on a girl who liked it, and I drank 11 cups of coffee one day and was up for 39 hours straight."

"You definitely drink coffee because you like it and not because of a girl, lie." There was no question about it, that would be a dumb reason to drink something.

"Actually that is why I drink coffee."

Huh?

"The lie is that I was up for 39 hours straight, I was only up for 35."

"Christ Spence!" I shook my head in disapproval. "Tell me about the girl." I could see his cheeks flush in the slightest. ~~Silently wishing that I could make him feel like that~~

"Her name was Josephine and she lived on my street. She and I would play chess together in the park whenever I wasn't studying, and she would bring a cup of coffee every day. Eventually, in my own way to impress her, I started bringing coffee too. And she liked that, but of course we drifted apart because of how fast my life was moving. It's unfortunate." He was staring down at his hands now. "You and her are very similar. I think that's why we've gotten so... close." That comment got me very curious.

"How were we alike? If you don't mind me asking."

"She was kind and funny, never let anyone down. And she was intelligent. Not only in personality either, you have the same color hair and eyes. I bet you guys would have gotten along really well." I could see him making his thinking face, I assume he was looking into past memories.

"That's so sweet." I kicked his foot with a smile, bringing him back to reality. "So, last round until we are playing the dreaded truth or dare ooooOooOooOooo." Spencer laughed and rolled his eyes. "I use to have a cat named Piglet because of how obsessed with Winnie the Pooh I was, my first boyfriends name was Spencer, and I play guitar."

"There is absolutely no way your first boyfriends name was Spencer, it's the 828th most popular name. That would be nearly impossible or a crazy coincidence." His hand gestured were out of this world at this point, completely flabbergasted that I would even try to tell him such a *lie*.

"Wrong again pretty boy, that's true. His name was Spencer Allen Sallow. The only reason I remember his middle name is because I remember his initials being 'SAS'. Are you ready for truth or dare?"

"I guess." He mocked annoyance and threw his head back.

"Ok, truth or dare?"

"Truth."

"If you could make one wish, right this second, what would it be?" He stared at me intently for a moment, as if he was looking for the answer in me. He then lightly shook his head, it was so small, but hard to miss considering we were practically having a staring contest.

"I would wish for the door to be unlocked so I could sleep at the hotel." His head nodded.

"Boring, I choose dare." I was now sitting much closer to him, waiting for whatever that beautiful brain could come up with. Spencer looked to the papers on the floor and then back at me, an evil smirk forming on his lips.

"Do a snow angel in our paperwork." My shoulders slumped.

"What if I rip something!" I wouldn't usually whine like this but *geez* I did not want to redo all this.

"Just be careful then." I looked at him with a pleading look. "Oh so you're *boring*." That's what got me.

"**Fine!**" I slowly lowered myself onto the papers, flattening out and looking up to Spencer, he was hovering over me slightly in a criss-crossed position with that evil smirk. His hands gestured me on.

I laid my arms and legs and and moved them, hearing the paper scrape against the floor and giggling. I had to admit, it was fun. And if having fun with Spencer meant I had to redo a few papers.

Then so be it.

I sat up after Spencer told me I'm done through fits of laughter, holding his stomache and nearly toppled flat on the floor. I looked around happily to see most papers were only crinkled, not ripped. I'll just have to flatten them out tomorrow.

"Okay asshat, truth or dare." He tapped his chin, looking daring for once.

"Dare." Perfect.

"Serenade me." I crossed my arms over my chest as I watched his face fall.

"With just my voice?"

"Oh no no, I have an instrument, the bag I carry with us on cases is like a never ending bag." I reached into the giant bag and pulled out a ukelele case, but not an *ordinary* uke case, a *mini* uke case. "Can you play ukelele?" I pulled it from the case, handing it over to him.

"No, but I may be able to pick it up."

"So you will actually serenade me!?" I got my hands ready to clap.

"Sure, why not." I clapped infinitely fast, watching him pluck at the strings a bit and lean back into the cabinets. Then he started on a beat, one that I recognized.

"Put your head on my shoulder, hold me in your arms, baby. Squeeze me oh so tight. Show me that you love me too." I listened to him through the whole song, knowing full well that as soon as he was strumming that ukelele I was already done for.

"How did I do?" He strummed the last chord and look up at me with a smile.

Oh how I wanted to tell him that he serenaded me to the sun and back.

"That was amazing! You learned that om the spot?"

"Yeah, like piano. It's basically just math and note remembrance." He shrugged, setting it back in my case. "Truth or dare."

"Truth."

"What's the first thing on your bucket list and your biggest secret?"

"You can't ask two questions, that's cheating!" I laughed.

"You technically never specified that so, answer."

This little shit.

"Fine. The first thing on my bucket list has been the same since I was an 8th grader, which is to fall in love. And I know that's cliche but I'm sticking to it." I didn't want to tell him my biggest secret. Truth be told I had a pretty normal life, so my biggest secret was my attraction to him. After telling my mom about it she told me workplace romances were dangerous and wrong, so I tried so hard to get over it. But it's not going away, it's doing anything but that.

"Come on y/n, I'm not going to judge you for your secret."

Yeah uh huh, sure.

"It's embarrassing, and I would prefer not to tell you in a locked room so I can immediately escape after I tell you. So can I just tell you when the door gets unlocked?"

"It can't be that bad."

"It is."

"Please Y/n!"

"I like you!" His mouth shut quickly, tilting his head like a confused puppy. Now that I had given out my biggest secret, I felt a little... powerful. I crossed my arms firmly over my chest, maintaining eye contact, my heart pounding out of my chest. He wanted the truth and he got it, I hope he's happy to be stuck with me in this room for another hour and a half.

"Really?" Was all he could say.

"No. I just said that I could have awkward tension swirling around the room for the next hour, I love doing that." I replied in the most monotone voice I could muster. A very faint smile was appearing on Spencer's face, making me a little nervous. He quirked one eyebrow.

"Are you sure it's not sexual tension?"

What?

My eyebrows raised at the question. Was he... flirting with me? I didn't know he knew how to do that, let alone so *well*. He began speaking again.

"Truth or dare?"

"It's my turn to ask you."

"Truth. Or. Dare." Who knew Mr. Sweatervest could seem so intimidating.

"Dare."

"I dare you to act on your biggest secret." Is this some weird way to make me kiss him, because it's working. If we aren't on the same page, this is about to get Mega embarrassing, but I don't think this could get any weirder. I crawled forward, placing myself on his lap and staring into his eyes. I've never seen him smile so big.

"Are you sure about this?"

"Actually no, this is awful you should really stop." He deadpanned, lightly placing his hands on my hips.

"One, since when do you use sarcasm. And two, I hate you." I giggled, pulling his face to mine. One of his hands fled to my cheek, rubbing his thumb across it. He pressed further into the kiss, all while pulling me impossibly closer.

Is this real?

I pulled one hand away from his face, putting it on the skin of my thigh and pinching myself.

"Ouch shit!"

And apperantly I don't know my own strength.

"Are you okay?" Spencer's face was a wave of concern, scanning over my face quickly to make sure he didn't do something wrong.

"Yeah I was just, pinching myself to make sure this was real." I lifted my hand to his shoulder, resting it there.

"Why? Is this like a lot of your dreams?" He winking obviously at me as I slapped his chest.

"Please stop." I whined, pulling myself off of his lap. "I'm very tired and we still have an hour left, are you up for a cat nap?" I pulled a blanket from my bag. "We can use this as a pillow, it's already pretty hot in here."

"Definitely." I made it into a pillow, giving him enough room. He slung his arm around me, burying his head in the crook of my neck. "Thank you for telling me. And for the record, I wouldn't want to be locked in a room with anyone else." And with many papers scattered messily around us, we fell asleep.

-

I shot up, hearing voices I knew all too well.

"What the hell is happening, since when it pretty boy a playboy."

"Finally! Now y/n can stop silently pining and telling me about it."

"I knew those two had chemistry."

I blinked slowly, trying to release the sleep from my eyes. Spencer's sleepy arm was still wrapped around my waist, unmoving. Once my eyes adjusted I was met with the staring eyes of Derek, Garcia and Emily. Then there was Hotch, just entering the room.

“What on earth happened in here?"

"We got locked in here and played some innocent party games." I explained gesturing to the messy papers. "Spencer dared me to make a snow angel in our files." I smiled sheepishly. Spencer was now stirring awake, sitting up and looking at our teammates. Derek held out his hand for a fist bump and Spencer highfived it weakly.

"Told you you would rope her in." He chuckled. I rolled my eyes at the comment and stood up.

"Let's finish up this case. We've only had 1 hour of sleep and I want this day to be over with already. Save the comments for when I'm asleep on the jet." And with that we were off.

But let's not ignore that Spencer and I's hands were clasped beneath every table we sat at that day, it's not to be ignored.

And I won't be forgetting that day any time soon.

[imagines-by-a-typical-fangirl]

The Perfect Bad Boy (Pt. 07 of 18)

Pairing: Billy Hargrove X Reader

Word count: 2.9K

Summary: Working as a lifeguard in the Hawkins Community Pool, you try to fit in after moving from New York. Things were going pretty well when you notice you've been under someone's stare. Billy Hargrove, Hawkins' bad boy, has been staring at you since day one. You never intended to have anything to do with him, judging by the reputation he has. But Billy won't leave you alone, determined to show you his feelings are different this time...

As if your heart flooding you with confusing feelings wasn't enough, there are weird, strange animals lurking in the woods... But those have to be just part of the wild live of the woods surrounding Hawkins... Right?

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{Stranger Things Masterlist}

×

Nothing Else Matters

Another big decision.

Why is this day filled with the need to make big decisions?

“Why do you need to know that?” You mumble, a shiver rolling down your spine when you feel his lips brushing on your ear.

“Because I don't want you to break my little heart, princess.”

Damn it. “Billy, stop calling me that,” you beg, fixing your hair around your neck so it'll be a barrier between you and Billy. The damn nickname makes your stomach burn, and it has an effect on your head...

“Aren't you going to answer me?” You sigh when he messes with your hair, pulling it to the side and exposing your neck to him again.

“Pay attention to the movie.” Muttering, you feel as his lips brush on the soft skin of your neck.

“Just because you're the one asking.” He says, and you feel your body involuntary sinking into his embrace.

Billy is silent for the rest of the movie, thankfully, but his arm feels like iron, keeping you close.

The night falls and you make a pause on what will be a movie night when the pizza gets here. You made everyone chip in since you weren't planning on buying pizza for another six people. It's almost ten when everyone leaves, and you ask Billy to take you home. It was a good day, and you're happy you got to see Billy's house. And about all the rest.

As he drives, you smell the scent of his cologne on you, and you smile to yourself. “So... Did you enjoy it?”

“What?”

“Spending the day with me?” He stops by your place, and you step out of the car biting your lip. You wait for Billy to walk around the car before you start making the way over to the front door.

“I did.” You don't want to cover that up. You want Billy to know you like being around him. “I had fun. With you and the kids.” As you speak, you hear a low laugh coming from inside. “What's that?”

Gesturing for him to stay quiet, you unlock the front door, noticing how the lights are off, and the colorful ones coming from the TV. Slowly, you peak at the living room, smiling to see Diane is with someone, hugging, watching something on the TV. You don't want to ruin it, so you go back to the front door.

“My aunt is with someone. I need you to wait for me here, ok?”

He looks a little confused. “Yes, but why?”

“Just wait. Quietly.” You storm back inside when he nods, tiptoeing upstairs.

You know they can hear the footsteps down there, so you have to move fast. You grab your toothbrush and some clothes, throwing them on the first bag you find before running back down. “(Y/N)?” You hear her calling me when you reach the bottom of the stairs.

“I'm just going out again,” you say, running to the front door.

“Hey, hey!” She comes running, meeting you when you open the door. “You can... You can stay. Robert is just... Where are you going? It's late.”

It's so cute to see her like that, blushing. “Aunt, I'll...” Think fast. “I'll sleep at Billy's.” You gesture at him, standing behind you. He waves at Diane.

“Are you sure?”

“Yup. Now get back there!” You whisper-yell, stepping backwards, and closing the door. “Uhm...” You finally turn to face Billy, who's still pretty confused. “Sorry, I... Just take me to Monica's, I'll sleep there.”

“You told your aunt you'd sleep at my place. So that's where you'll be.” He raises an eyebrow, gesturing for you to head back to his car.

“Billy, I–”

“You'll sleep in Max's room. So chill.” He gives you that smirk again, and you roll your eyes.

You're soon back at his place, and he tells you to make yourself at home, so you take a shower in his bathroom. You brought leggings to sleep in, but you forgot to take a shirt. Sighing, you put the one you were wearing before, leaving the bathroom, finding Billy seated on his bed.

This is way too intimate. You're in his bedroom, showering on his bathroom, drying yourself with his towels... You weren't ready for this... But it's about to get more weird.

“Billy.” He looks up at you. “Do you... Do you have any shirts I can wear? I forgot to grab one... Or maybe see if Max has anything?” C'mon, you know you shouldn't do this, but the very thought of wearing one of Billy's shirts is just too strong.

There's a smile on his lips as he searches on his wardrobe. He hands you a dark red shirt, and you go back into the bathroom just to change. When you come out again, you feel Billy's intense stare. This is craziness. You shouldn't be here.

“You look beautiful.” He says, coming to stand before you. “Max has one of those mattresses she uses for camping. It's lied on the floor for you and you should take a blanket. The nights can get a little cold even in summer.”

“Yeah, I noticed...” You move away, to the door. You don't want to sleep, not yet. “Are you going to sleep now? Or we could watch some TV...” Biting your lip, you watch as he starts moving towards you, so you go to the living room, sitting on the couch.

Billy turns the TV on, in some random talk show, and turns the lights off. “Do you mind?” You shake your head no and he comes to sit by your side. “Why did you storm out of your house like that?”

“It's kind of a long story.”

“Tell me everything about it.”

“Uhm... Diane is more of a mother to me than my real mother, Laura. I have a very complicated relationship with my parents since forever so...” You use the light coming from the TV to analyze his face, to see if you're boring him already. But Billy seems to be curious, intense eyes focused on you. “Her husband died years ago and she has never been in a relationship after that. Diane... When she loves, she loves deeply and I remember how happy she was. I want her to be that happy again. She has always been there for me since I can remember. She's my anchor when things fall apart. She's the reason why I'm here, you know. When I started looking for a place to move to, she told me about Hawkins. Being born and raised here, she only moved to Indianapolis because her husband lived there. My plan is to live with her there during the week, when the classes are back, and come here for the weekend.”

“You really plan to live here?”

“Yes... You?” You move your body towards him, pulling one of your legs up, folding in under you. Billy looks so handsome, even in the dim light. You're distracted for a bit when Max comes from her room and goes to the kitchen.

“I'm... Reconsidering.” He smiles.

“Why?” Because of you? No, it can't be. Billy would never take this big of a decision because of you.

“What's the matter between you and your parents?”

Of course he won't answer. “They're both lawyers, as is my brother, so they wanted me to follow up. But since I can remember I knew I didn't want to do that... So it was always a nightmare.” Putting some of the hair behind your ear, you take a deep breath. “I had to study like crazy to keep my grades next to perfect because whenever I got a B it was like the end of the world. And the talk about my career was constant since I got into elementary school. There was yelling, cursing...” Talking about it makes you feel like a kid again, when you were too young to be forced to talk about University. “Maybe I should've played along to avoid the arguing, but I always wanted to stand my ground. And to them, to both of them, there was no other option, I had to become a lawyer and as I grew old, the humiliation started. You're not part of the family. You're nothing like your brother, he cares about us. We should've given you away, to a mediocre family so you could fit in. Why can't you be like your brother? You're a failure.”

“It got so much worse when I got into New York University...” You continue, looking down at your hands. “They told me I'd never do it. That Biomedicine is way too complicated and, let's face it, if I was smart enough, I'd pick Law. So in the end, I wasn't coursing Law because I'm dumb. And my brother is such an asshole. He feels so proud that our parents love and basically worship him as the perfect child... I just...”

“Hey...” Billy lifts your face, his index finger on your chin. “You're not dumb. You're very brave for standing up for yourself like that.”

“So that's why I'm here.” Breathing out, you move closer to him because you suddenly feel so comfortable here... Like you can trust him, completely. “I wanted somewhere new, to have a fresh start and this place is just perfect. It's so beautiful... I can actually picture having kids here and raising them running around the town like the kids I see.”

His fingers start moving, rubbing your cheek with his thumb. “I'm sorry you had to go through that in your life. I... My father was an asshole too. He... Hit me. Made my life a nightmare.” Billy's face changes, as the memories hit him like a train. “I'm only here because of Max's mother. Susan divorced Neil and bought this house so Max would have a place to live since she didn't want to leave Hawkins. And when she doesn't want to do something, nothing in the world changes her mind.” You feel relieved when a small smile comes to his lips. “That's why I'm still here. To look after Max and because the University of Indianapolis was the only one that accepted me.”

“Well, nothing matters now, right? We're both here now... Not paying attention to whatever is going on there.” You gesture at the TV.

“Nothing outside these walls matters.” He pulls you close and you move, your foreheads touching.

“Billy, please...” You beg, because you don't think you can hold back if he kisses you. You know you'll surrender. “Not yet... If... If you like me, please... Don't kiss me...”

You're scared. Scared he'll be mad at you, that he'll get tired and push you away.

But when you open your eyes, you see a smile on his lips. “I won't kiss you until you want me to.”

“Thanks,” you whisper, wrapping your arms around his neck, pulling him close. Your heart starts beating even faster, if it's even possible, when you feel his strong arms embracing you. You never hugged Billy, and honestly, you have no idea how you could not have done it before. It feels right. So damn right.

You want him. You were careful with your heart, but he did it. He's making you fall for him.

When you pull away, he's smiling. Not the sassy smirk, but a true, bright smile. As if he just found a treasure, something valuable. “Let's stay here for a while...” He says. “Your aunt is cuddling with that Robert guy, we should do the same.”

Biting your lip, you sigh. You don't want to go to sleep now. You rather be with Billy for a while longer. “Alright.”

“Come here.” You lay your head on his chest, as you move to watch TV. You're not really paying attention, listening to his heartbeat.

• • •

A loud noise wakes you up. With a low groan, you pull the light sheet over your head to protect your eyes from the sun coming through the window. A soft, fresh scent makes you smile. You know this scent, it's familiar, comforting. “Watch out, Max!” Billy's low voice reaches you and you open your eyes, removing the sheet and realizing you're not home. That this is Billy's scent and this is Billy's bed. So you get up abruptly, looking around for a while, a hand on your forehead, before going to the kitchen, where you find him and his sister.

“Hey, I...” You gesture at where you came from. “Was that your bed?”

“Yes, princess. But don't worry, I slept on the couch.” He comes to stand before you, too close, handing you a mug with coffee.

“I will leave you guys alone,” Max mutters, leaving the kitchen.

“Thanks,” you tell Billy, taking a sip. “Sorry to take your bed.”

“Apology not accepted.” He gestures at the table. “Let's have breakfast. I made you toasts.”

“I like the toasts.” You sit beside him, trying not to be too happy about the fact that you're still here, having breakfast with Billy.

You chat a little, laugh a little, and accidentally spill your coffee on the table, which gets you a funny comment about him making you nervous. Of course he makes you nervous, how could he not? Hella good looking guy, calling you ‘princess’ and treating you with such attention, unlike anyone else before... Of course you're nervous.

You take your time showering, and you put his shirt on your bag, hoping he won't notice. Then you wait for him as he showers, watching TV, seated on the bench press.

“(Y/N). You know what time is it?”

“No. But we should get going.” Shrugging your shoulders, you stand up.

“We're late.”

“How late?”

“Late as in the pool is opening right now.” He says as if it's nothing.

“We gotta get going then.” It's unbelievable how he doesn't seem bothered by it, so you take his hand, pulling him out. “We still have to stop by my place to get the swimsuit, Billy. Let's go!”

He seems amused by your desperation, so you roll your eyes. You can barely talk to your aunt, since you're in a rush, just grabbing the uniform and heading back to the car.

It's so hot already. “Billy, can you stop by that store? I need something to drink.”

“Weren't you desperate to get to your job?” He smirks, giving you a glance.

“We're already late anyway. It'll only take a second.” When he stops the car you jump out, being in and out of the store in record time.

“Damn, you're fast.”

“Drive, Billy.” Rolling your eyes, you open the can, taking a sip.

Two minutes later he's parking on the reserved place for the lifeguards. You see as the heads turn at the sight of his car. Girls smiling, gossiping, telling her friends to check out who just got here. Taking a deep breath, you step out of the car, trying really hard not to notice how people stare. You haven't had time to consider what would mean showing up here with Billy. You should be used to having eyes on you since you're still the new girl, but this is for a whole different reason now. You're around Billy for quite a while now, and people are starting to count, to notice he still didn't ditch you.

Taking another sip of the soda, you wait for Billy to join you before start walking towards the entrance.

“Give me a sip.” He asks, taking your mind away from all the glances you're getting.

“Let's get inside. I'll get you a glass.”

“Why?”

“Uhm... Because I'm drinking straight from the can... With my mouth. I just thought...” Shrugging your shoulders, you watch as he takes the can from your hand, stopping by the entrance. You guess you're not worried that you're late anymore. You're already here anyway.

“Wait. Let's rewind a little.” Billy looks down at you, apparently ignoring how people linger around, walking slower when they're close, trying to overhear something. He doesn't seem to care. “You went to my place–”

“Keep your voice down, Billy. Please.” You warn him, and he seems to take this as a chance to step closer. So you back up, but your back hits the way. Why does he do that? Why does he pretends you're alone when you're surrounded by people?

“You went to my place, showered on my bathroom, used my soap, slept on my bed...” He squints his eyes a little, taking a deep breath. “And you're using my cologne.”

Damn it. You were supposed to keep a distance today because you put some of his cologne when he was showering. “Busted,” you mumble, feeling your cheeks burning.

“And... Considering the fact that I want to kiss you, why would I have any problems with drinking from your can?” When he's done speaking, he takes long sips from the soda.

“Why do I feel like you enjoy taking every chance you have to tease me?” You whisper, crossing your arms in an attempt to create some distance between your bodies.

“Because I can't stay away from you.” He hands you the can back. “And I know you don't want to stay away from me either, so yes, I'll take every chance I'll get to show you I want something different this time. I would never allow any girls to my place, much less introduce them to Max. That's like a point of no return because if I push you away, I'll never hear the end of it.”

Your eyes are fixed on his, and as much as you try, you can't look away. “Let's get in, please. People are staring.”

“Let them stare, I couldn't care less.” Billy bends down a little, closing the final distance between you and placing a kiss on your cheek. “I meant what I said last night. I won't kiss you until you ask me to.” That said, he steps back, gesturing for you to move.

Taking a deep breath, you enter the pool, drinking what's left of the soda. You make your way straight to the locker room, changing and applying the sunblock before shoving everything in your locker.

“Hey.” You're about to go out when someone calls. Turning on your heels, you see that girl Jennifer with her friend. “(Y/N), right?”

“Yes. Do you need anything?”

“No. We're just curious.” They come closer, arms crossed. “We couldn't help but notice Billy is still hanging out with you and we need to know what you're doing so right.” The girl says, and Jennifer nods.

“What do you mean?”

“C'mon, we're not stiffs. What's your trick?” Jennifer flashes you a dirty smile, and you can't wait to get the hell out of here. “What do you do that he likes so much?”

“Nothing. I don't do anything.” You simply say, shrugging your shoulders.

“Nothing? Like... How the hell–”

“Yup. Nothing.” Waving at them, you decide not to let them say anything else, leaving the locker. Billy comes out of the boy's locker at the same time you do, a curious expression on his face. “Did you... Did you hear that?”

“Couldn't help it.” He admits. “Are you ok?”

As you nod, the girls come out, walking away. “Don't worry about me. I can deal with some mean girls if I have to. And they're just jealous that it's my turn with you.” That's how they speak of it. Every girl has her turn with Billy, and when it's over, they have no choice but to back off and watch as he picks someone else.

“Yeah. But it's the last swift.” He steps closer, a hand caressing your cheek. “You're the last one.”

“Don't say stuff like that, Billy.”

“Alright, alright.” Monica's voice startles you, and you bite your lip because you're just a little mad she broke the moment. “You two are late and I've been the only one watching three pools. Get to your posts.”

Billy rolls his eyes, winking at you as he walks away.

“Mind to tell me what happened? I saw him kissing you.” Monica speaks low as you make your way to the chairs.

“On the cheek, Mon.”

“I don't care, I know something is going on.”

Yeah, there's a lot going on. “We need to talk, Mon. I'm losing my damn mind.” You say with a smile.

“You're falling for him, aren't you?”

“I really think so.”

×

@chloe-skywalker @dpaccione @tilesandtokens @dreamin-of-dacre @funeral-7

[wastelandcth]

love somebody - cth

this is based on three anon requests I got in the past week so I hope you guys enjoy! used this video and this song as inspo! 

anon: could i request an angsty fic with cal? i’ve been watching that live performance of ghost of you where he’s in that gucci shirt and supposedly crying during the song, maybe before the show he and his gf get into a fight over facetime cuz she’s back home in LA and he says smth he doesn’t mean & he tries to take it back but she hangs up so during the song he gets emotional thinking they’re gonna breakup but after the concert he checks his phone and sees an i love you text and they’re gonna be okay

anon: i loooooved your angst piece !!! could you write another one omg it tore my heartstrings but have a happy ending bc i can’t take that much heartbreak maybe another fight a breakdown whatever idk i just loved ur piece

anon: Okay yay!🥰 I'd really love if you could do love somebody-lauv with calum(obviously, we're all hoes) 🥰 if it can be like he's the one hurting her, even better lmao

Calum's hand were shaking when he walked onto the stage. He wasn't nervous about the show, the large crowds didn't bother him anymore. He hadn't been nervous for a show in years, no, his hands were shaking because he didn't know what he would be walking off stage too. He didn't know if she'd still be there after the show. His mind was busy running over endless scenarios as the show started, the only reminder that he was on stage as he went on autopilot was the vibrations of the drums on his feet. Even during his speech before he sang Amnesia, his mind felt like it was miles away in Los Angeles with her. 

It had been a stupid fight, something that had just snapped and before he knew it, he was spewing meaningless insults at her. She wanted more from him and he knew he was capable of giving her everything she wanted and more. Hell, Calum would give her the moon if it was possible. But he always did this, he pushed people away whenever they got to close to him. So he snapped, he reminded her that she was the one who had hesitated with their relationship in the first place, that she was the one to blame for the distance that was currently between them. By the time he realized the words that had left him, she had already hung up their facetime call. He tried calling her back, but before she could answer, which Calum hoped she would've, he was being dragged towards the stage to start the show. 

Calum had met her after one of their Friends of Friends shows. She had been hanging out by the bar talking to one of her friends which had finished performing a while ago, both of them laughing and chatting over the loud music playing around them. She had introduced herself and had complimented his leather jacket, giving him props for being able to wear it inside the stuffy club and still look so good. If Calum hadn't been so busy the rest of the night, hosting and playing the band, he might've caught the way she kept stealing glances at him throughout the show. And if she hadn't been so busy nursing the strong drink her friend had gotten her, she would've realized that Calum had been searching for her in the crowd until the club was empty and he was walking out onto the empty streets. He didn't expect himself to end up at the food truck a few blocks away, but it was funny how fate worked because the second he saw her standing in line their eyes met. They exchanged numbers that night and a few weeks later Calum stood at her doorstep, asking her to take the next step and be something more than just friends.

She had been hesitant, telling him that it was something she would have to think about. She had her heart broken many times before and she wasn't sure getting into a relationship with Calum was something she could handle. He had respected her decision, telling her to take her time to think about them and that if she just wanted to be friends, Calum was more than happy to oblige. A few days later, she had shown up at his doorstep in the middle of the night, his hair was messy from sleep and his tired eyes widened as she pulled him into a kiss under the moon. Calum swore it was the best kiss he'd ever had, it made him feel like he was on cloud nine, and every time they kissed afterward, he still felt the same. 

Standing on stage in front of thousands of people had always been something that brought Calum joy, it was the dream and he was living it out every night. But tonight was different, tonight Calum looked out onto the crowd and he couldn't help the heaviness in his heart. He missed her and he had a feeling that he had ruined a good thing over nothing. Maybe it was too good to be true, maybe the fact that he was finally happy and in love with someone was too good for the universe to believe in so he had to open his big mouth and ruin it. He was going to get home from tour next week and be met with an empty house and he'd sleep in an empty bed. 

Panic set into his heart as he thought about her leaving. His hands started to shake again, his mind no longer on autopilot as he heard Luke talking about Ghost of You. His mind was suddenly aware of all the people watching him. He stepped closer to the mic as his solo neared. He'd never had a hard time connected with the songs they sang every night. He'd helped write them, so it wasn't hard for him to relate to them. But tonight, Calum's throat felt tight as he sang out the words. He was on stage living his dream and all he wanted to know was if she was at home with tears running down her cheeks as she packed a bag to leave him. It was hard for him or anyone else to ignore the tears that ran down his cheeks as he sang or how his voice cracked when he sang out his feelings on stage 'too dumb to know things like love'. Even as he closed his eyes and leaned his head back, listening to Luke play the final notes on the piano, Calum couldn't help but let out a shaky breath and step off the stage to take a quick breather. He was grateful that the guys didn't mention him stepping off, even more, grateful when they stalled the crowd so he could control his tears. 

The rest of the concert was a blur to him, his body-switching back onto autopilot and before he knew it, he was playing along to the last song of the night. He was anxious to get off of the stage, to run back to the dressing room and check his phone, to try and stop whatever doomed relationship he'd caused. So as the lights turned out on stage, he ran off the second the tech had his bass in his hands. Sweat was running down his body as he entered the room, his eyes landing on his Duke phone case, he wasn't sure if he was even prepared to open his phone, to start a conversation he wasn't sure he could have over the phone. He also didn't know if he was prepared to see her face with tears running down her cheeks. But he also couldn't wait to talk to her, to apologize for being an idiot and pushing her away. Calum picked up the phone and chills ran down his body. Her name had popped up, a missed call, and a few text messages from her. With a shaky finger, Calum unlocked his phone and clicked on the message, a small laugh leaving his body as his nerves left him. It was a simple message, but it flooded him with relief and Calum didn't realize his body was so tense until he leaned against the counter and rubbed his face. I love you. All he wanted was to love her, to cherish her, and make her the happiest she could be. It's all she ever made Calum feel and he wanted to do everything to make her feel the same. Rereading the text message from her, Calum took a deep breath and clicked her number, waiting for her to answer so he could say the words he had been thinking on stage all night. 

"I hurt you and I'm sorry. But all I want is to love you." 

[the-fiction-witch]

Sick P2

REAL LIFE

COUPLE TBS X READER

RATING SWEET + FLIRTY

"Who says I'm not your girlfriend?" I laughed hugging the poor honey bear "after all I do visit you everyday, I take care of you when your sick, I sit and chat with you while your naked and I'm going with you to the Halloween dance after all"

"You are!" He yelled excitedly

"Yes… I thought we cleared this up yesterday?" I asked 

"You said maybe yesterday, so… you'll go with me?" 

"Provided your well enough to go by then, yes"

"And, you'll be my girlfriend?"

"If you like" I shrug 

"Ohh y/n, I'd kiss you… if you weren't all the way over there and I wasn't naked" 

"You finish up and get dressed I'm going to lay in your bed" I smiled giving the top of his head a kiss and going out to the bedroom getting comfy on his bed, soon enough he came out too gotten dressed I to his grey sweatpants and a nirvana shirt 

"Hi…" he smiled 

"Hi" I smiled back still hugging the bottle 

"Are you still mad at me?" He laughs coming to sit beside me in his bed putting the covers over our legs as we sat against the wall 

"Maybe" 

"I didn't mean to kill the honeybear y/n, maybe if I still feel better we can pop out tomorrow and get another honeybear"

"Okay" I sighed 

"Come on" he says "you're not having it in my bed y/n, I am not having a bed full of honey… you want ants? Because that's a one way ticket to ants, hand it over"

I sighed and gave it to him and he put it on his side table "you wanna hug me instead?" He asks 

So I smiled and wrapped my arms around his skinny chest nuzzling into his neck. I don't think I had ever seen him smile so much he wrapped his arms around me too kissing the top of my head as we got cosy together.

The dance was fun or at least what I remember of it, we didn't dance much as people were usually doing things we didn't understand but whenever we did I felt so cosy and loved in his arms like he would have held me forever. Till we began walking back to his house, his jacket in his hand gently over his shoulder, my dress half in my arms where I didn't really want it going across the pavement hand in hand mostly to keep me up as by now my feet were almost bleeding from the pain of these dam shoes. The sun long set the moon high in the sky, the children who were out trick or treating long since gone home, the jack-o'-lanterns candles flickering still in the darkness but they were beginning to go out, the orange leaves dusting the trees and the pavement. 

"You uhh… you look beautiful tonight y/n" 

"I don't look beautiful all the time?" I giggled

"Well of course you do- you know what I mean y/n" 

"Thanks Thomas, you look handsome" I smiled kissing his cheek but he held my hand stopping so I could go any further stating at me a little 

"Y/n… can I kiss you? Like properly kiss you?" He asks nervously

"Aww, sure Thomas" I smiled he blushed a little holding my hand gently squeezing my hand as he moved forward and gently kissed my lips, his lips were soft and smooth clearly he had licked across them before he asked he tasted a little like mint and like tea the taste on his lips still of the drinks from the dance, being so close I could smell his usual scent, his normal shampoo and such but much stronger then usual, I could even smell he had aftershave a rather rare thing but sweet all the same till I pulled away 

"Whoa… your uhh your a good kisser" he blushed 

"Thanks, your not to bad either Thomas" I laughed "come on" I smiled tugging his hand heading down towards his house as his parents where away tonight he unlocked the door and locked it behind us so I giggled trying to pull him up the stairs even if the rug in the hallway made me trip up with my shoes and sent us both tumbling to the ground giggling like children, with Thomas' on top of me.

"Uuuhhh sorry…" he said turning bright red about to get off me but I giggled and pulled him closer kissing him again he happily kissed back gently moaning into the kiss and as he did I felt something pressing against my leg so I pulled away 

"Thomas?' I smirked 

"What?" He asks confused why I pulled away as he was really enjoying himself 

"What's that poking me?" I giggled

"Uuuuuuuuuuhhhhh… nothing" he blushed moving away from me as quickly as he could I went to get up but I couldn't it hurt too much "y/n I think you twisted your ankle" he says and without another word he picked me up like a princess and carried me up to his room gently placing me on his bed and giving my ankles little kisses while he attempted to sweetly remove my shoes "what the? How the hell?... Why is this buckle so small? Who invented these! May I burn these tomorrow?" He asks as he got one off 

"No I like these shoes" I complained

"But you almost broke your ankle? And they look like they've been crushing your feet all night"

"A little, there heels they do that" I explain

"You poor thing, come on let's get cosy" he says getting my other shoe off so I smiled giving him a Kiss and carefully getting my dress off I know he was trying not to look as he got into bed but found it impossible or he wasn't trying very hard not to look till I smiled getting into bed sitting in his lap "y/n what are you doing?' he asks in shock

"I thought after such a nice night we could… play around a little"

"You mean it!"

"Of course I do"

"Well y/n, I've never...done any of that before, at least not with someone else, I uhh I would like to so long as you want to?"

"I do," I giggled, "Where's your condom's thomas?" I whispered kissing up his neck 

"Uuuhh… I uhh I don't have any" he says "I'm sorry I didn't know we would be doing this, and I had some but I got them out the free bowl in the boys toilets and they were all out of date last I checked" he explained "do you have any?"

"No…" I said 

"I'm sorry y/n, maybe I can go out Tomorrow and get some?" He suggested

"We can go without… just once" I giggled kissing him and starting to work on getting the shirt he wore to bed off 

"Ummm are you sure?" He asks between kisses 

"Don't you want to have sex with me?"

"Of course I do… I just wanna make sure you're sure about not being protected and all"

"I'm sure, come on tommy '' I giggled pulling him on top of me…

I was horribly ill. I assume Thomas gave me his flu, I was sick, my stomach felt like hell, everything just felt terrible.

"Hey Sicky" Thomas laughs at my bedroom door as he was all better now and visiting me everyday till I'm better

"Shut up" I whine 

"How are you feeling?" He asks coming to sit with me on my bed 

"Like hell" I sighed 

"I still think it's weird, you keep being sick and you don't even have a temperature, I was only sick a couple of times the rest I was just a snuffly mess" he explained as he checked my head he sat for a while giving me kisses and cuddles sometimes giving me soup and medicines to make me better till he spoke up and made me jump "y/n… have you had a period?" He asks 

"That's a very personal question" I replied holding my plush closer 

"I am your boyfriend, am I not allowed to ask about your monthly bleeding?" He asks 

"I haven't, last one was start of last month" I admit 

"Okay…" he says a little nervously "y/n… I think your sick-" he began

"Wow, your a genius" I laughed 

"I think you're sick y/n, but not the sort of sick I was… I think your a different kind of sick" he says and I sat up a little confused 

"What do you mean?" I asked and he wouldn't look at me as he dug thought his bag and put something on the bed between us pushing it gently towards me I glanced and saw it was a pregnancy test still in the box "you think I'm-" I began

"I don't know, but… we did go without the night if the dance, and since then you've been getting sick, I honestly don't know y/n but for a ten minute test to put our kids at ease… that's got to be worth it" he explained 

"Okay" I nodded as it had been a thought at the back of my mind too, I took the test out the box and we glanced at the instructions I too the test to the bathroom and did what I had to, I came back and saw him sat reading over the little instructions 

"So?" He asks 

"I don't know yet, it's still working" I explain sitting with him and putting it on my table so we wouldn't stare at it 

"Y/n… whatever it says, I'll take care of you, till you're all better," he says, caressing my stomach and kissing my cheek.

[ghoulboyboos]

Hey dude! Big fan of your work here. If you are taking prompts, I'd like to suggest a Beetlejuice AU where Shane and Ryan are a loveable ghost couple (bonus points if they adopt a neglected goth kid in the end). Thank you in advance💕 Spooky season, hell yeah🎃👻💀

This one took a lot longer than I anticipated! I apologize for making it kind of cheesy and feelsy instead of creepy but I figured that Ryan would be too scared and Shane too soft to summon fucking Beetlejuice on someone’s butt. ;D Hope you enjoy!

Meenasquints up the outer wall of the house. It looks vaguely Victorianwith the brick walls, pointed slate roofs and a porch that is reallymore of a gazebo. Gothic Revival left its mark,she thinks as her parents and the movers take the trips to and fro toget everything inside. There is a large iron fence surrounding thehouse, but the bars are wide enough to not make it feel like aprison. She looks at the house again, taking in the small tower – Ithink the term is “turret”?- just left of the middle. Maybe if she got there first she couldclaim it as her room.

Thestairs look new, but the sixth one stillcreaksloudly. Something to keep in mind if she wanted to sneak out sometime. Usually Meena didn’t give her parents much trouble. Theyweren’t terrible,they were just busy all the time and boring as dust. Her dad was ininsurance and still in the mindset that he had to protect her fromher first boyfriend. Yeah good luck with that, Dad.Meanwhile, Meena’s mother tried her best to turn her into a“respectable young woman” which didn’t really work out,considering she nearly screamed when Meena showed up with a black andpurple undercut and refused to go back to her natural chocolatebrown.

Shewas much happier alone and alone she would be once the tower washers. Turret. Whatever.

-

About a week after moving in, she notices something strange. Wheneverher parents are out, things seem to be moving on their own. She hasyet to catch it, but she is sure that someone is moving stuff around.

Herparents’ bedroom is one of the spaces. The house had been nearlycompletely empty when Meena moved here with her parents, but a coupleof objects seem to have been forgotten by the original owners. On thewall, right above where a bed must have been for many, many years,was a wooden frame with a butterflybehind glass. It was a real one, very pretty in brightshades of blue. His mother considered it tasteless and put it in adrawer. When the butterfly somehow ended up onthe wall again, Meena didn’t think much of it until her motherasked her not to put that horrendous thing back up and that it wasn’ta funny prank. Meena didn’t say anything, just nodded and rolledher eyes as always. But she had grown curious. She took the butterflyfrom the drawer and hid it under her bed, making sure that herparents didn’t see her take it away. The next day, sometime in the afternoon whileher dad was busy in his office and her mom was shopping, Meenachecked under her bed.The butterfly was gone. She rushed down the stairs to the secondfloor and peeked into her parents’ bedroom. The encased butterflyhung above the bed as if it had always been there.

Meena chuckled and carefully took it down to tuck it under her arm.

“I’ll get you a new space. Otherwise my mom is going to throw youout.” She whispered to the frame, even though the butterfly waslong dead and couldn’t hear her.

She drove a nail into the wall of her little room and hung thebutterfly over her desk. Her mom was horrified but allowed it whileher dad only shook her head when his wife told him.

The butterfly stayed put after that.

-

When Meena had opened the door to the room that would be hers for thefirst time, an old guitar had been sitting against the support beamin the middle of the room. Meena didn’t know how to play guitar,but she had brushed her fingertips over the strings anyway. Up here,the acoustics were nice. The tone of the instrument had echoed alittle in her still empty room. She had put it behind the door whenshe made the room her own, not wanting to knock it over.

A few days after, Meena stirred from her sleep in the middle of thenight because she could swear she could hear music. Just a couple ofsoft chords and something else, maybe a voice humming a song shedidn’t know. When she opened her eyes, the room was empty andquiet. The guitar rested innocently in its original place against thesupport beam.

She screwed her eyes shut and counted to ten before pinching herselfin the arm. It hurt. She wasn’t dreaming. Meena opened one eye andglanced over. The guitar still sat against the beam in the middle ofher room.

Meena pulled the blanket over her head. Creepy.

-

Shefinds out aboutthe source of the strange moving objects one night when she can’tsleep. The new school rubsher the wrong way, because the kids thinkshe isweird and creepy – which isexactly what she isgoing for but there was no reason for them to be rude about it –and Meena liesawake thinking about what to do if the teacher reprimandsher for her hair againwhen she hearsthe shuffling of footsteps outside. At first she thinksher mother isgoing to check in on her, but then she hearsmuffled voices. Two male voices. She frowns.None of them sound like her dad. Issomeone breaking in? How did they not trigger the alarm downstairs?The only window up here isin her room and she definitely would have noticed someone creepingin.

She freezes when the door to her room suddenly unlocks. The click isincredibly loud in the quiet of the night and her eyes are wide whenthe door slowly but surely swings open, creaking only a little bit.Her breath stops when she sees two shapes move in, slightly hard tomake out in the bit of moonlight that’s falling in through thewindow.

“I think these people are alright, Shane. We should just leave andlet them have their lives.”

“You know we can’t leave. We tried.”

Meenastrains her eyes. She can make out the man that was addressed asShane. He is really, really tall and it’s kind of freaky to seesomeone that tall in herlittle space. He is slim,too. Lanky, Meenathinks. The moonlight falls on his face and her worries aboutburglars are calmed while the other, slowly growing worry in the backof her mind is confirmed:

Ghosts.

Theman called Shane looks younger than Meena’s parents, maybe in hisearly thirties and from what she can tell, he looks kind of pale. Abig head full of fuzzy hair and kindof hard to see, a plaidflannel shirt and jeans. There are onlyhints of color to him, thered of the shirt and the blue of his jeans washed out like he’s aphotograph left in the sun for too long. He’s a little bit seethrough and in the moonlight there is a silver glint to his outline.The other person steps closer. He’s about a head shorter than Shaneand maybe a few years younger. His hair is dark and his skin, despitethe ghostly pallor, is darker, more bronze. He’s clad in a t-shirtand a zipped up jacket, the mustard color of the jacket as washed outas the red of Shane’s flannel. He is wearing jeans as well and apair of sneakers that Meena expects are the kind of shoes that thepopular jocks at school would wear. The shorter guy seems to be asporty guy, but she doesn’t get a jock vibe from him. Neither ofthe men seems to notice her.

“I know we can’t leave. But we could… you know, stay back. Letthem have the space.”

“Ryan…”Shane looksat the other man with a look that Meena sometimes sees her mom giveher dad when he’s overworking himself. Caring but exhausted.Loving, but witha hint of innerpain. She glances over at “Ryan”, who seems to deflate.

“I know, Shane. I don’t want to leave this place either…” Hiseyes are locked on something and Meena follows his gaze to the guitarthat sits in the middle of the room. She looks back and watches asShane curls an arm around Ryan’s neck and presses a kiss to histemple.

Suddenly,she feels like she’s intruding on a private moment, which isridiculous because this is her room.So, Meena sits up and turns on her bedside lamp.

Ryan screams.

The scream echoes in the octagonal room. It’s how Meena finds outthat her parents can’t hear these two at all, because the volume ofRyan’s scream causes the glass in the windows to vibrate and herdad wakes up at the slightest of sounds.

Everything stays quiet downstairs. Up in her room, however, Shane ishowling with laughter while Meena and Ryan stare at each other. Ifshe’s honest, she is a little afraid. Who wouldn’t be? But seeingRyan that frightened just because she turned on her light helps alittle. Shane’s laughter does, too. Finally, Ryan gathers himselfand slaps the other man against the arm. Meena can see them connectand hears the smack, even though they look like they are not quitethere.

“Will you stop laughing? You’re making me look like an idiot!”

“You managed to do that yourself, man, that’s not my fault!”

“Hey!” Meena interrupts, because she hates being ignored.Somewhere downstairs, her father snores really loud and she holds herbreath for a moment. He can clearly still hear her. Not adream, then. But there are no further noises so she looks at the twomen again, who have stopped arguing and are staring at her.

“Wait…” Shane blinks, staring at Meena. He takes a step to theside and stops when she turns her head to follow his movement.

“You can see us?” Ryan’s voice is quiet and he still soundsweirdly scared. Meena looks at him and nods and the two look at eachother.

“Holy crap.” Ryan whispers and Shane reaches out to take hishand. Meena can see how hard Ryan is squeezing it.

“Uh…” She blinks. “Who are you? I mean… I gathered yournames-”

“We kind of… caught yours as well.” Ryan says quickly. “Throughyour parents. We’re around here a lot, you see. Sorry.”

“It’s fine.” Meena sits up more and pulls her cold feet underher to sit on them. “I kind of spied on you, you kind of spied onme. Seems like we’re even.”

Shane chuckles and Ryan breaks out into a surprised grin. Theyexchange a glance and Ryan wheezes.

Meena catches Shane murmuring “I like her.” before he squares hisshoulders and holds out a hand towards her.

“Hello, Meena. I’m Shane. Sorry for invading your bedroom but yousee, it used to be our shared office and we’re still kind ofattached to it.”

Meena reaches out and takes Shane’s hand. Or rather, she tries tobut her hand just passes through. A tingle brushes through her skin,as if her hand had fallen asleep for a second.

“Oh. Well. I could have seen that coming.” Shane laughs, clearlyembarrassed as he rubs his nose. Ryan behind him is shaking his head.

“I keep telling you things about ghosts but you never listen tome.”

Shane turns his head and crosses his arms.

“You still didn’t give me a single good explanation why we’restill here, Ryan. We don’t have any regrets or unfinished business,right?”

Ryan bites his bottom lip and nods. Meena clears her throat, stillfeeling like she’s intruding and both men start and look at her.

“Sorry.” Ryan says, deflating. “We’re not used to… otherpeople anymore.”

Meena looks from one to the other.

“How long…”

“I don’t know.” Shane sighs and sits down on the floor, foldinghis limbs into a cross-legged position. “Time is passing…weirdly. I don’t remember dates. Not years, at least. Sometimes Ithink we’re asleep-”

“Not asleep.” Ryan interrupts. But he sits down next to Shane.“More like… gone. For a while. We completely missed you guysmoving in. For a while, we thought you were the ghosts.” Heexchanges a slight smile with Shane and Meena bites her bottom lip.

Shane smiles slightly.

“I didn’t want to believe I was actually a ghost… you know, Inever believed in this stuff when I was alive. And I might havegotten… a little angry when we noticed you guys. It wasn’tanything personal. I just felt like our home was being invaded.”

Meena remembers the fuse blowing when the movers put up the diningroom lamp. She remembers the loud crash upstairs nobody couldexplain. The cold breezes her mother would complain about…

“I don’t know much about ghosts.” She finally says. “Butmaybe you still feel like you belong here because you two are soyoung…?”

Both seem surprised, but then smile. Ryan shakes his head slightly ashe’s smiling, as if remembering something fondly and Shane’s eyesseem to glint in the moonlight.

“Oh no, don’t worry about us.” Shane chuckles. “We’re not…we didn’t die like this. We lived here together for a long time.Actually…” He frowns, glancing over at Ryan. “I think we wereclose to our Gold Anniversary when I passed.”

“We were.” Ryan’s voice is softer and the smile is slowlyslipping from his face. Shane reaches out and takes his hand again,their fingers entwining.

“You were married?” Meena asks. She looks at their hands,expecting to see wedding bands, but there is nothing.

“Yeah.” Ryan rolls his eyes but he looks affectionate. “He beatme to the proposal, I remember.”

Shane shrugs, smirking.

“Not my problem if you fret so much about it. You postponed it onetime too many and missed your chance.”

“I still did propose to you.” Ryan’s sidelong glance is softerthan it seems at first. “The right way.”

“You cried when I proposed to you, babe. You loved Disney.”

“Shut up.”

Meena giggles. They were so different from how her parentsinteracted. Teasing, joking, but clearly affectionate. Her parentswere quiet and their conversations and movements practiced andrepeated to death. It was strange, but these two seemed much morealive than her parents.

Ryan smiles at her.

“I’m sorry if we creeped you out. And… sorry for screaming. Iused to be terrified of ghosts my whole life and it’s a hard habitto break.”

Shane giggles a bit, but he shuts up when Ryan shoots him a glare.

“It’s alright.” Meena says. She has pulled her duvet aroundherself to keep warm and glances over to the guitar.

“I heard one of you play…”

Ryan flushes and Shane starts to grin widely.

“That was the one and only Bergara Guitara!” He is laughing whenRyan pushes at him. “No but really, he kept it to himself but hedid play beautifully.”

“Shut up.”

“I mean it. You would play for me sometimes and it was alwaysbeautiful.”

Ryan huffs.

“I kept it to myself. I liked to play to relax, you know.”

Meena nods.

“What about the butterfly from downstairs?”

Ryan groans and rolls his eyes.

“That’s Shane’s stupid thing.” He shakes his head when Shanegrumbles “It’s not stupid” and holds up a hand to stop him. “Itwas a gift he got forever ago. The room your parents turned intotheir bedroom was ours long ago and he had to win a long, gruelingtrivia game against me to be allowed to put it there where itcontinued to creep me out for decades. So yeah, he’s used to itbeing there and wanted it to stay there.”

“I like it here, too.” Shane says, smiling. “This was our…workshop. I liked being here.”

Ryan snorts.

“That makes us sound like we were artists. We weren’t. We madeYoutube videos about conspiracy theories and haunted houses andstrange history.” He’s smiling, despite his dry tone and Shanegrins widely, spreading out his hands as he turns to Meena.

“It was amazing. We were friends long before we got together andjust butting heads on all of that stuff was so great. Sometimes wewould talk for hours on end about all kinds of stupid stuff and thenonly stop because we were starving.”

Meena laughs and Ryan seems to mellow a bit.

“Maybe that’s why we can’t leave. We’re really attached tothis place… And we found out that we can only touch the things weowned in our time… There isn’t much left of it, though.”

Meena nods and looks over at the wall where the butterfly is mounted.

“I’m sorry you’re stuck here.” She whispers. “But I’mglad I have someone to talk to, now.”

Both men pause at that and exchange glances.

“Your parents seem… busy.” Ryan says diplomatically. “Theywill probably be right back caring for you after the first stress ofthe move is over.”

Meena shakes her head.

“They are always like that. It’s fine. I’m comfortable withbeing left alone.” She swallows. “Most of the time.”

“You know,” Shane begins softly. “We’re not able to leavethis place… and it’s been a long, long time since we had avisitor. A real one to talk to. I think it could be nice if we…hung out sometimes.”

“Really?” Meena sits up a bit. Ryan nods.

“Sure. We could tell you some history about the house. There are alot of great things that happened here. If you want, that is.”

“Deal.”

Meena holds out her hand before she realizes that shaking Ryan’shand will be as impossible as shaking Shane’s.

Shane saves the situation by giving her finger guns and a wink,causing his husband to roll his eyes and do the same. Meena gigglesand points her fingers at them, adding a little click sound as shewinks back.

Thus, a pact was made.

-

Meena starts to look forward to coming home after school, now. Herparents are usually not in, but Ryan and Shane will hang out in herlittle attic space, usually talking about some theory or another.Sometimes Meena will catch them talking about their situation and howto solve it. On rare occasion, she catches them talk about her. Fromwhat she can gather, they are worried about her. Not in the fussy,annoying way her mom is or in the distracted, serious fashion her dad“tries”.

Shane and Ryan ask how school has been, what subjects are herfavorite. They catch on when she’s upset about the other kids.Shane talks her through re-dying her hair, revealing that he had alifelong friend who loved to die her curls purple or turquoise.

Somehow, having Shane lazily float over the empty bathtub while shewashes the rest of the dye out is reassuring.

“Looks pretty rockin’” Shane says, waggling his eyebrows andMeena is sure that “rockin” was already out of fashion when Shanewas young, but she still appreciates it.

-

Ryan teaches her how to play the guitar.

Shane is usually banned from their sessions because he can’t stoptalking about Ryan playing the guitar and while it’s always sweet,Meena is sure he does most of it to tease the other man.

It’s strange, having Ryan’s fingers pass through hers to connectwith the frets and strings, pressing down to show Meena where to puther fingers. Still, she adores the sessions, because she is actuallystarting to like playing and because the glances her friends shootthe instrument when they think Meena isn’t looking become lesspained.

Somehow, the guitar is starting to become hers. She can’t quiteexplain it. Ryan is still teaching her and encouraging her topractice, but he doesn’t have to lead her hands anymore. She isstarting to remember the chords, or looks them up online. One night,she catches Ryan brushing his fingers across the strings.

There is no sound.

-

She gets in an argument with her mom. A bunch of kids chased afterher after school, yelling about her having bats in her hair and ratsin her clothes. She slams the door.

Her mother is home, which is a rare occasion and she is not pleasedat Meena slamming the door.

“You know, darling, I just think that if you got dressed a littlemore… appropriate, the other kids would find you a bit moreapproachable.” Is all she says when Meena tells her.

It’s one of the rare occasions when Meena looses her cool.

“Mom! I’m being treated like shit because I’m being myselfand all you got to say to me to help is telling me not to be me?Spoiler alert: You’re not helping.”

She runs up the stairs, ignoring her mother call after her as sheruns up both flights and slams the door behind her, sliding downagainst it.

“Leave me alone!” She shouts when she hears shuffling steps,burying her face in her arms.

“Hey kid…” She can hear Shane’s slightly drawling voice andfeels a tingle against her shoulder. “Come on, want to talk aboutit?”

-

Shane talks to her a lot. About a lot of strange subjects.

Meena loves his stories. Shane had delved a lot into history when hewas still alive and he collected some of the weirdest, funniest andunbelievable tales on the way. Meena is glad that her parents areaway on the afternoon when Shane tells her stories about Anne Bonnie,because it ends with the three of them racing around the oldworkshop, shouting things in overblown pirate impressions andlaughing way too loud.

She starts reading more, borrowing books from the schools library andignoring the other kids who call her a “weird gothy nerd”.Instead, Meena chats with the librarian and runs into a group of kidsthat meet after school to play Dungeons & Dragons in the libraryafter school. She originally doesn’t want to get into it, but theillustration of the tiefling warlock is too cool to pass up andsuddenly she’s knee deep in lore and holds a pencil smearedcharacter sheet.

When she tells her ghost friends about it, Shane is laughing outloud. Meena learns that Shane would host D&D games for years,playing with his friends. Ryan never quite got into it, but he wascomfortable sitting by and listening to the insane antics of hishusband and their friends.

Ryan tells her about the basketball games he would play with hisfriends. Meena never really cared for sports, much to Ryan’schagrin, but she does find some of the pictures from the charitygames Ryan played at.

Both men become very quiet when they see Ryan pose with some of hisold friends, grinning brightly with the gleam of the post-game flushon his cheeks.

Meena cheers them up with stories of her own D&D game and becauseRyan can’t really teach her how to dribble without Meena drivingher father insane, she buys a small hoop from her allowance, puttingit over the trashcan. She’s getting better at tossing her crumpledpages of writing and doodling that don’t please her through thehoop. Ryan is keeping track of her points.

-

“What kind of butterfly is it?” She asks one evening when she’ssitting over her Biology homework.

Shane looks up from her book. He’s perched on her desk, watchingher like a hawk so she will get her stuff done before dinner. Theyhave begun to watch over her homework and eating habits and whileit’s kind of annoying, Meena has to admit that it’s better thanbeing shouted at to bring home better grades because she couldembarrass her dad at the PTA meeting otherwise.

“I actually don’t know.” Shane admits, looking at it. “Inever bothered to check.”

Ryan chuckles in the back, leaning against the support beam in theroom while he watches both of them.

“He only had the terrible thing to annoy me anyway.” He quips.Shane sticks out his tongue at him.

While they were arguing, Meena has executed her best Google-fu.

“Morpho peleides!” She calls out, probably butchering the Latin.“Also called the emperor.”

“Huh.” Shane mutters, looking at the butterfly. “An emperor.Like Napoleon himself.”

“Guy also wore blue.” Ryan adds, only to get startled whenShane’s head whips around to him.

“So you do listen to me when I talk about history.”

Ryan seems annoyed for a moment, scoffing.

“Of course I do. Even if I don’t care about what you’re sayingyou’re… a good narrator.”

“Awh.” Shane starts to grin and Ryan rolls his eyes. “Likewise,babe.”

“Gross.” Ryan says and Meena starts to giggle.

Later that night, Shane tries to straighten the frame of thebutterfly hanging on the wall. His fingers pass through the glass.Meena looks away when Shane pauses to frown at his fingertips.

-

They all know what is coming. Things have been changing.

Meena doesn’t always come home after school. She has friends tohang with outside of the library and D&D.

Shane’s little advice about being yourself with confidence that hegave Meena once in a while has helped at least a bit and the otherkids have decided to give Meena a wide berth instead of honing downon her. Ryan was delighted to see pictures of Meena playing Lacrosse.She will never get into basketball, but she has to admit there is funin playing team games with others. People who actually want herthere.

She had a talk with her parents. Surprisingly, her mother had beenharder to get to come around, but they had long, evening talks. Itdidn’t change everything. But it helped. They let her wearwhat she wants and buy her the books she wants for Christmas. Whenshe talks about the girl she’s crushing on, there are no weirdglances exchanged between her parents. In fact, her father stops herin the kitchen when they walk into each other one afternoon.

“I might not… be an expert on this kind of thing. But… I’mglad you get to be who you are, now.” His face is honest, even ifMeena is sure he’s uncomfortable. They share a hug. It’s a start.

Her mother helps her re-dye her hair the next time. She commentsabout how she used to have blue streaks in her hair when she was ateen. She laughs when Meena suggests they could buy some dye for her.

-

They are fading. Meena hates it but she doesn’t know how to stopit. Ryan and Shane, however, seem mostly happy with it.

“Don’t worry about us.” Shane pets her hair and even thoughMeena can’t really feel it, it helps to soothe her. “We got thesehuge, long lives behind us. We have to move on at some point.”

“Yeah.” Ryan is sitting on her other side. “Also… Shane hatesbeing a ghost. I just know it. Because it proves I’m right.”

Shane makes a mocking face at him but laughs.

“I was wrong about ghosts. I wonder if I was wrong about theafterlife as well. And… you know, this is your home now. Not oursanymore.”

Ryan smiles at him and shakes his head a bit.

“You know.” He turns to Meena. “When we were still upset aboutnew people living here, another ghost gave us a slip of paper…contacts for a “Bio Exorcist”. A poltergeist to drive you allout.”

Shane puts an arm around Ryan and smiles at Meena.

“Ryan was against it from the start. He never was big on conjuringanything.”

Ryan takes his free hand and rubs his thumb over the back.

“Shane was tempted, but he’s a good guy.” He elbows Shane inthe side when his husband waggles his eyebrows at him. “He thoughtit was too harsh and there were other ways.”

-

Meena wakes up and instantly knows they are gone.

She sits up, slowly, eyes still closed and hoping to see them whenshe opens them.

Ryan and Shane are gone.

She takes the time to curl up in bed for a while and cry over theloss of her two friends. It seems silly, since to everyone else Shaneand Ryan didn’t exist, weren’t more than some strange imaginaryfriends, but Meena misses them anyway. She knows they had to goeventually, but it still hurts.

That afternoon, she packs some things and takes a trip to the localcemetery. It takes some time to find them, but eventually, she isstanding in front of a double grave with a wide stone.

Shane Alexander and Ryan Steven Bergara-Madej. She runs her fingersover the engraving and looks at the dates. They grew old, very old.Ryan outlived Shane by two years, which meant that both lived intotheir late eighties. Meena can’t help it. She giggles a little. Thetwo of them didn’t sound like old men at all. The line under theirdates makes her tilt her head in confusion. She isn’t sure what“Apple Taters” are, but apparently the two of them loved that.

There are fresh flowers on the graves and she remembers them talkingabout their adopted kids, about how Ryan had always been a father andhow they eventually moved but still visited on the weekend.

Meena takes the guitar from her back. She has her own by now andshe’s getting good. This was Ryan’s anyway and she thinks it’stime to hand it back.

Carefully, she leans the instrument against Ryan’s side of thestone, making sure it doesn’t fall over. Next, she pulls themounted butterfly from her bag and puts it under Shane’s name. Thelight catches on it and causes the blue wings to shimmer.

“Thank you. Both of you.” She puts a hand on the stone, smilingdown at it.

“I think I cracked it. You two were still stuck there because Ineeded to figure some stuff out. Sorry for taking so long getting myshit in line.”

She chuckles and takes a step back, looking over the grave one moretime before turning and leaving. Meena has only taking a couple ofsteps before she thinks about something.

“Oh right. If you guys want to come to my Halloween party and hauntsome of my friends and I, that is absolutely cool. You’re invited.”

She turns and gives the graves double finger pistols and a wink. Sheclicks her tongue when she winks.

“Smell ya later.”