#there was nowhere away from the music. it was only one area (a courtyard) with no other rooms and barely any seats. i hate loud noises.

[crystalkitty1220]

mustard.

What am I Iooking at here

[folkloreguk]

Colvers Castle (M)

A/N: This one’s for the bisexual horror-obsessed girls (me)!!! Jk anyone can read this, but I had the best time EVER writing this sdfgh also I was gonna post this around Halloween but I couldn’t wait any longer so here you go!!

genre: mystery / creepy? / smut (optional bias (male) x reader (female))

warnings: a little gore (describing (fake) wounds and costumes), unprotected sex, the reader might be a little risky, mentions of murder / suicide

summary: Two girls go to a Halloween party held at an old castle. What kind of creatures will they encounter, and will they ever be the same afterward?

words: ~5.6 k

“Oh my god!! You look so good!” you whisper-yelled towards your friend who was already sitting on the bench at the bus stop. Her blood red dress sparkled and although her red knee-high boots couldn’t have been too comfortable, they sure made her look incredible. On her head sat a pair of light-up horns and silver chains and chokers adorned her neck. She grinned widely upon laying eyes on you. At first, you had planned on wearing the same outfits, but then you had opted for dressing as polar opposites. Where her horns sat, a fluffy halo seemingly floated above your head. Your dress had a similar cut, but was a simple white, satin material and your necklace had a subtle golden heart pendant just between your collar bones.  

“Where’s your trident?” you asked, taking a seat next to her.

“I figured it’s not too safe to dance with an item that could potentially poke out someone’s eye,” she said. “So I left it at home.”

“Fair enough,” you agreed, laughing. “Are you excited?”

“I’ve been freaking out since I got up this morning,” she said, waving her hands in the air dramatically. “A real castle? This has to be fun!”

The two of you were headed to the hottest Halloween party in your city. Usually, you weren’t the biggest fan of parties. But combined with dressing up and going to an old castle outside of the city, this party sounded like it was going to be the best night of the year.

“Finally, the bus is here,” you pointed out. When you stood in line to get on, you noticed how you and your friend weren’t going to be the only party-goers on the vehicle. But then again, there weren’t many bus lines that would bring you to the castle. You spotted a Michael Jackson boarding the bus a few people away from you, followed by a fake-blood-drenched clown. The sight only amped up your enthusiasm. Costumes had always been one of your favorite parts about Halloween. And judging by the scale of the party, you were going to have a lot to observe today. You squeezed past Dracula onto the seat next to your friend and off you went.

The ride to the castle took a while. You had to first ride through almost your whole city and then take a rather abandoned road through the countryside to the site of the party. But you got busy catching up with your friend who you hadn’t seen in a while and time passed quickly. You were in the middle of discussing which was the scariest film you had ever watched, when your eyes locked on a bright light in the otherwise dark scenery outside.

“We’re almost there!” you exclaimed, diverting your friend’s attention to the castle. You had been going through a forest, so when you suddenly exited the tree maze, the bright lit up stone walls of the castle came as an extra-pleasant surprise to you. Only a few minutes later, the voice on the bus announced the stop ‘Colvers Castle’ and soon you pulled up in front of it.

Weakly, you could remember visiting the castle with your school class when you had been a lot younger. You might had grown up since then, but nonetheless the cold, inured stone walls still impressed you. Hadn’t it been for the violet lights shining onto the side of the ancient building, the gaping gate in the battlement would have looked less than uninviting to you. Your friend squeezed your arm in happiness while you approached the entry. From somewhere, music was carried through the air and made you smile.

“Are we allowed to enter all of the castle?” you asked.

“No way! The well-preserved part and the museum will be closed off, I’m pretty sure the party is mainly focused on the inner courtyard,” your friend explained. “They wouldn’t let rowdy teenagers and drunk crazies riot inside such a precious castle.”

Just as she had finished her sentence, your eyes followed the stones in the walls up to where the purple light couldn’t reach. The turrets rose high, and the night was pitch dark. But you could have almost sworn there was a small light coming from the tiny window at the top of one of the turrets. Maybe some party guests had run off after all? There. This time there was no doubt in your mind. There was a man’s expressionless face in a window, looking out at the arriving guests.

“Hey, look up there!” you tugged your friend’s arm. Her eyes followed your finger, but when you looked at where the face had been, it was gone.

“What’s up there?” she asked. Just for a moment, you searched the rows of windows. Maybe you had accidentally lost it. But no matter where your eyes went, all you saw was darkness inside the castle. You mumbled a ‘nevermind’ to your friend and quickly wiped the thought off your brain. This was a Halloween party, and you were ready for it. Along with the familiar faces from the bus ride, the massive gate swallowed you up into the courtyard of the castle.

It was obvious that the major action of the party was going on here. The all-too well known ‘Thriller’ by Michael Jackson was playing from the speakers and you grinned at the young man dressed as the famous singer, who you had already seen on the bus, for a moment.

Party guests were yelling in excitement and singing along, all whilst dancing in a sea of people right in front of you. The main grass area had been transformed into a dance floor. Immediately, your friend pulled you along and into the crowd. In the blink of an eye, the buzz and energy from everyone around you sprung onto you as well, and before you knew it you were moving along to the music. Whoever had managed to throw this event really had an eye for choosing a great venue. Usually, there was something magical and peaceful about the castle. Tonight, however, dunked in red and purple lights and occupied by hundreds of young souls, it made for the perfect backdrop of a legendary Halloween party.

“Welcome to everyone who just got off the bus to join us!” a voice shouted through the speakers, just before the next song started. Your eyes scanned your surroundings. Quickly you had spotted the DJ stand, where a young woman and a man were providing the guests with music. They were wearing matching zombie makeup and outfits and the crowd cheered at their words, an infectious excitement that caught on to you right away.

Time moved differently on a dance floor. Bodies pushed against you, always keeping you moving along. The beat of the music seeped through your skin and into your muscles, almost as if it was your new energy source. It was hard for you to remember how many songs had played since you had arrived. Had it been fifteen minutes or an hour? You could barely hear over the volume intensity, but then again, you didn’t need to. There was no need to talk to your friend right now, who was moving to the rhythm with her hands in the air, grinning at you.

That’s when a figure in a pirate costume pushed themselves between you and her, apparently having taken a liking in your devil-friend. Lazily, she put her arms on the pirate’s shoulders, inviting him to dance with her. You weren’t upset, though. All you wanted was to have fun, and you wished her the same. A girl in a witch costume replaced your friend, and although you had never met her before, there was something about dancing together that made you feel closer to her than you felt to some people you saw every other day. Her hands were on your waist and you shared a moment with your faces close to each other. It was harmless flirting through gazes without either making another move, drawing a smile on your face.

But as soon as she had appeared, she was moving on to the next person. She granted you another toothy smile, like she didn’t have a care in the world, before turning to a vampire girl. You scanned your immediate proximity to check if your friend was anywhere in sight. When you spun around, you spotted the red fabric her dress was similar to, so you squeezed through a few people to get to her. But as you tapped her shoulder and she turned her head it wasn’t your friend. This girl had fake blood smeared across her cheek and looked nowhere like a devil.

Thinking you might have better luck with observing the crowd from an outward perspective, you wriggled yourself through bodies until you reached the edge of the dance area. To your left was a sign saying ‘game zone’. Intrigued, you entertained yourself for a minute by watching a boy dunk his head under water whilst bobbing for apples in a barrel. As soon as you would find your friend, you were planning on convincing her to take a shot at some games. But for now, you needed something to drink. Although you were outside, your cheeks still felt warm and your throat was a little dry from the cheering.

So you opted to walk the other way, pursuing the direction of the ‘bar’ sign. As soon as you had located a free seat, you strutted towards the chair. The bartenders were all wearing superheroes’ costumes and you admired the decorations, ranging from pumpkin heads and little ghosts to spider webs, they had put up.

“Can I get you anything?” cat woman asked you. She gave you a grin as she remembered your face. She had once gone to the same school as you. You quickly ordered before spinning around to get a good look at the dancing crowd. The bar was up on a slight hill, so you were seated at a higher level than the dancers. But the darkness made it challenging for you to accurately spot faces and combined with the way everyone was moving, you quickly gave up on your plan of finding your friend this way. Maybe if you waited a while, she would show up by the bar herself.

“Here’s your drink,” you heard a voice from behind you. When you turned your head, the bartender was placing a glass in front of the young woman next to you. She was dressed like a princess, but her face looked nothing like a fancy noble woman. Her eyes were blood shot and two single lines of blood ran down her white-powdered cheeks.

“I believe this is yours,” she said, sliding the drink over to you. “I didn’t order anything.”

“Thank you,” you said, checking the liquid. She was right. The bartender must have gotten you mixed up. “I like your hair, it’s beautifully done.”

She smiled at your compliment. Then she pushed your glass a little closer towards you and bent over to your ear. “Be careful of your drink. Men like to take advantage of women.”

“I won’t let it out of my sight, don’t worry,” you thanked her whilst smiling. Her expression had been dead serious, almost making you feel uneasy. But when she saw the way you smiled, her features softened. Her mouth that had tiny red lips drawn onto them curled into a beautiful, but kind of sad smile.

As you both turned to yourselves again, you decided to appreciate your favorite part about Halloween – the costumes – for a while. The classics were present: Vampires, killer clowns, zombies and the latest horror movie villains. A wildly dancing group of teenagers all disguised in robes from the Hogwarts -houses made you chuckle. And as always, there was a fair share of people who were wearing undefinable costumes that mainly consisted of random fake wounds or fake blood on their faces and clothing but didn’t impress you all that much. And lastly, there were the lazy ones, who settled for hiding their face behind a cheap mask, so they at least appeared to have made an effort.

For a moment, you dug for your phone and checked if your friend might have texted you. But there were no notifications. You quickly typed a text “where are u?” and let your phone disappear in your small bag. Whilst waiting if she would reply, you decided to take a trip to the toilets. As you walked there, you made more costume observations. To your left, next to the bar, a stone wall ran all the way around the courtyard. Party guests were using it as a seating accommodation, as it was a nice way to overlook the whole atmosphere. A realistic looking version of the nun from the Conjuring-movies sitting on the wall impressed you quite a bit. Next to her, a couple was seated. You couldn’t quite figure out what their outfits were supposed to portray, but they surely weren’t modern day clothes. You admired the makeup they had put on their necks. It looked as if they had slashed throats.

After you had arrived at the bathrooms and finished your business, you checked your texts one more time – but still nothing came from it. You were sure she was simply having too much fun to check her phone. As you walked down the hallway to the exit back into the courtyard, you spotted a young man standing at the end of it. Behind him was a ‘no entry’ sign, that had been temporarily installed to keep party-goers out of the castle. The young man was wearing a white button up shirt and pants that made him look a little like a Disney prince – had it not been for the fake blood that soaked the fabric on his chest, which made him appear more like Dracula. He smiled at you shyly, before turning and walking further down the closed off hallway.

“I don’t think people are supposed to go there,” you spoke, glad that you didn’t need to raise your voice as much because the music was drowned out by the thick castle walls.

“No one’s here to stop me,” he said, before climbing over the fence. “Will you join me for some fun?”

You didn’t think you’d find your friend any time soon, and if she was going to run off with some random pirate stranger, maybe you should too? The vampire prince sure was handsome. Carefully, you walked closer to the fence.

“I’m sure those doors are locked,” you said, watching as he approached the door at the end of the hallway.

“I wouldn’t be so sure,” he smirked, and next thing you knew he was opening the door that said ‘staff only’ on it. “Care for a free castle tour?”

“How do I know you’re not a creep?” you asked.

“How do I know you’re not a creep?” he replied, laughing. “I’m just bored of having so many people around, alright? If you don’t come with me, I’ll go by myself.”

Your curiosity took over. And maybe he had a charm about him – a sly smirk, a few buttons on his shirt undone or maybe it was his voice that sounded like honey.

“Fine,” you hurried over the fence and squeezed yourself through the opening in the door after him. “Don’t make me regret this.”

“I plan on not letting you forget me,” he said. “But there’ll be no regrets.”

His words were vague, and there was a strange feeling about him, but you simply couldn’t put your finger on it. You looked around. The only light falling into the hallway came from the party outside. This part of the castle seemed to belong to the museum, but the further you followed him through the corridors, the rougher the stone walls seemed.

“You want to see a nice view?” he asked, and of course you did. So, you took the stairs up to a higher level. The rooms here had neither doors nor glass windows and generally didn’t seem to have been restored like the part of the castle that was open to the public.

“Are you real?” he asked.

Your brows furrowed. “Real?”

“A real angel?” he asked. He was walking ahead of you, so you couldn’t check his face for whether he was joking or waiting to attempt a silly pick up line.

“I’m a human being, just like you,” you said.

“You sure do look like an angel,” he said. The sincerity in his voice surprised you. This guy had a strange way of flirting, but you preferred it over the gross sexual remarks other men considered to be flirting.

“Thank you. And what are you tonight?” you asked. You took a look outside into the courtyard. The scene looked breathtaking from above, and this way you could appreciate the immortal beauty of the castle even better.

“I’m the ruler of this house,” he said, smiling. He was coming closer to you now, and you smirked.

“Oh, a prince?” you asked, returning his smile. “If an angel let someone touch her, I think it would have to be a prince.”

“You’re bold,” he said, but he was grinning. “Suddenly I’m glad they are hosting a damn party here on Halloween. So, would you let me touch you?”

“Please,” you said. His eyes were dark and suddenly filled with lust. When his lips first smashed against yours, they felt a little cold, but the moment your tongue swept over his bottom lip and he parted his mouth, his hot tongue met yours. You felt like he had set you on fire in the best way possible. It had been a while since someone had made you so horny in such a short time. Within seconds your hands were in his hair, tugging softly, and his hands wandered from your neck to the front of your dress. Your back arched against his touch eagerly as he squeezed your boobs through your bra.

You didn’t feel in the mood for long foreplay, and luckily it seemed he thought the same. He grabbed your ass, pushing you against him so you would feel his growing bulge. A moan slipped past your lips and you felt like covering your mouth.

“No one hears us here, don’t worry,” he said.

“Sorry, I’ve just never done it in such a…public setting,” you said. Although you doubted anyone else even knew they could enter the castle this easily. Hungrily, you kissed him again and pulled him towards you with such urge that you stumbled backwards a few steps. Your back touched the wall, sending shivers down your spine from the cold of the stone. Teasingly, he lifted the hem of your dress to the top of your thighs, his fingers playing with the suspenders of your garter.

“You like my lingerie?” you asked.

“Hmm…but I think I’ll like what’s underneath more,” he said, fingers ghosting over your center. Impulsively, your eyes closed at even such a tiny touch.

“Then please hurry up,” you urged him, and he chuckled. Swiftly, he pulled aside your underwear and slid one of his fingers between your soaking folds. You sucked in a breath and leaned your head against the wall behind you. On instinct, your hips moved against his hand for more friction. He added another finger, toying with your clit in rapid movements. How did your legs already feel like jelly? You held onto him for support while his free hand pulled you flush against him. When he pushed his digits past your entrance, you hummed in agreement. Expertly, he curled them inside of you, using his thumb on your clit.

“Am I supposed to find angels sexy?” he asked, gaining your attention.  

“Yes,” you replied. “And I hope they give you a boner because I want you to fuck me.”

At the same time, you ran your hands down his sides and to his hips to the visible tent in his pants. He grunted when you palmed him through the material and probably also at your words from a few seconds ago. Finally, he removed his hands from between your legs, but you weren’t upset because you knew there was more to come.

“If you turn around, you can have what you want,” he said. More than willingly, you did as he said. When you turned your head, you watched him unzip his pants just enough so he could pull down his underwear and expose his hard length. You placed your palms flat against the wall and arched your back a little. When he slowly pulled up your dress to rest the silky material around your waist, you whimpered in impatience. He knew what he was doing, and he loved hearing you as you quietly asked him to speed things up. You felt the sudden urge to press your legs together as he pulled down your underwear, just slightly so it stayed around your thighs and wouldn’t fall on the dirty ground.

He hissed a little when he let the tip of his cock run over your center, your wetness covering him. For a few seconds he teased you, drawing out more of your whines. But the teasing only made it feel more rewarding when he eventually entered you. He filled you up all the way, then slowly pulled out almost fully, only to pull your hips against him and quickly thrust into you again. With time, he picked up a steady pace, hips slapping against your ass with every movement. You rested your head against the wall, feeling the rough material against your cheek, but you couldn’t have minded less.

There was something so intimate about hearing someone moan. And it felt especially intimate when it was a person you had just encountered. You realized you hadn’t even bothered asking for his name, but you were confident you would never forget him and the way he felt inside of you. When you’d think back to this, you’d remember his fingers digging into your hips, pulling you against him with ever thrust, and the way your moans mixed with the noise of the party in the background. People were cheering and singing while a famous song was blasting through the speakers, but really all you heard were your own whimpers of pleasure.

The air was cool on your bare skin, giving you goosebumps. Simultaneously, you felt hot all over, every of his touches seemingly leaving a trace of fire wherever he laid his hands on you. Your eyes rolled to the back of your head for a moment when you felt his fingers between your legs.

“I’m so close already,” you said, his new actions only adding to the sensation. He drew random shapes onto your center, clouding your mind with the need to just let go and let your orgasm wash over you. He groaned when you clenched around him, and from the way his thrusts quickened and seemed a lot less controlled, you could tell he was almost there too. His curse words and your moans went well together, and before you knew it you felt him twitch inside of you. His liquid spilled out of your core as he pulled out. He breathed heavily but didn’t stop his touching on your clit.

Your thighs trembled when he rubbed faster, pulling your body close to him. You could feel his breath on the side of your neck, only making you feel dizzier. It could have been the drink from earlier, but you were almost convinced it was him who was making you feel as if you were drunk. Your whimpers sounded longer and more dragged out now, and right before you came, they silenced completely. He didn’t stop while your body arched and shook because of his perfect fingers on you. Tightly, your eyes shut and you clenched your hands to fists. When you felt your knees become especially weak from sensitivity you softly tugged on his wrist, signaling him to stop.

Letting out a sigh of both happiness and exhaustion, you spun around. You blinked at him tiredly and smiled. Your head rested against the wall as you watched him pull his pants back up, so you did the same.

“You were amazing,” you said.

“So were you,” he replied, tilting his head a little when he grinned at you. Meanwhile, you picked your bag off the ground. Just as you did so, you felt a vibration coming from inside. Quickly, you checked your phone. “I’m waiting by the bar”, your friend had finally texted you.

“Do you want to come join me and my friend at the party? I lost her earlier so I should really go and see her now,” you asked the handsome stranger in front of you.

“Oh, no thanks. I’d rather stay here for a while longer,” he declined.

“Alright, whatever you like. Maybe I’ll see you again later?” you said.

“That would be nice,” he smirked. “Do you remember the way out?”

You hummed a yes and said your goodbyes to each other. The empty castle hallways were a lot creepier when you walked them by yourself. You imagined how it must have been back then, walking down this corridor. The light of a candle would have made your shadow dance menacingly on the unwelcoming, cold walls and the sound of your footsteps would have been heard even from far away. But the uneasy atmosphere only lasted until you had reached the familiar door. When you opened it, reality engulfed you again.

Your walk to the bar was hasty, since you hadn’t replied to your friend and you didn’t want her to think you wouldn’t show up. The party was just as energetic as before. You even had the feeling that more people had showed up since you left it a while ago. When you neared the seats, you spotted your friend instantly, this time being sure you weren’t mistaken.

“Where were you?” you asked, slinging your arm around her shoulder and grinning from cheek to cheek.

“I could ask you the same,” she replied, giving you a sly look. “Look at you. Your hair and lipstick’s all messed up.”

You chuckled as she ruffled your hair and put your halo back in place.

“Okay, I’ll go first. I met this guy,” you said. She raised her eyebrows as if she was surprised, but you knew she wasn’t. “We might have sneaked off into the castle.”

“Shut up, no you didn’t!” she almost yelled over the music. “I want every detail tomorrow.”

“Alright, granted. What about you?” you asked. “Was the pirate a good kisser?”

She only laughed and nodded her head yes.

“I saw they had a game area over there,” she pointed out.

“Let’s go, and then you can tell me more about that guy,” you said, pulling her along with you. Happily, you sang along to the song that was playing. You couldn’t wait for the rest of the night. Although neither of you tried your luck in apple bobbing, your precious makeup having been too much work to destroy it this way, you found a bunch of other games to participate in. You made temporary friends with a bunch of drunk girls who were all trying to win the main prize in a game but were simply too intoxicated to knock down some cans with balls. So you and your friend helped them out, to which they seemed to have crowned you their new group members. You danced some more, and time passed way too fast for your liking.

By the time you stepped back onto the bus that would bring you home, it was hard for you to say goodbye to the castle. So, this was Halloween for another year. The party mood hadn’t died down, even on the bus ride home, because it was filled with guests. When you watched the castle become smaller, you noticed the heavy fog that seemed to have appeared from nowhere all of a sudden. It engulfed the ancient building into a cloud of white smoke, the further the bus distanced itself from it. As you entered the woods, the only thing left to be visible were the eerie purple lights shining through the fog.

Tiredness came over you when you finally stepped off the bus at your stop. It was a short walk home and you promised to call your friend first thing in the morning before you said your goodbyes. You could already spot your home when you thought back to the stranger from the castle. He had called himself the ruler of the house. His handsome features and smile were livid in your head, even when you silently entered your room and took off your shoes. As you changed into your sleepwear and got ready for bed, you noticed the forming bruises on your hips, but they only made you grin to yourself.

Yawning, you fell into bed, but not before checking if your friend had texted you. Got home safely, goodnight x, she had sent. You quickly replied to let her know you were at home as well and went to switch off your phone. But then curiosity suddenly came over you. With rapid clicks, you searched for the castle’s museum’s website on the internet. Maybe you could find out who had really lived there, hundreds of years ago.

You clicked the ‘history’ button and began to scan the texts, even though your eyelids felt heavier with each second.

King Walter III and Queen Alice ruled the castle. Their two sons Hugh and Henry and their daughter Beatrice grew up happily in the castle. But starting from year 1568, the lives of the noble family took a drastic downfall. Henry, the younger of the two brothers, had always felt jealousy over his older brother Hugh, who would one day inherit the throne from their father. His greed and envy drove him to great lengths, until one day, Henry took out his anger on his brother directly. He stabbed Hugh in his sleep, in rage so blind that even his father could barely stop him when he fell witness to the dire scene. Distraught and outraged by this event, the older brother was locked away in a tower, threatened to never see another face ever again in punishment for his crime. But the unfortunate events didn’t end there. Princess Beatrice had fallen for a Lord from another kingdom, who took it upon himself to take what she had from her. In their wedding night, he was said to have poisoned her drink. She went to bed and never awoke to see the next day. There is only so much parents can take in one year. So, in utter devastation, the king and the queen made a decision together. After having their favorite red wine and watching their last sunset together, they committed suicide by cutting open their throats and died sad, but together. Prince Henry was said to have been forgotten, locked up in his tower all alone, facing a lonely and slow death on his own. Some say they can still hear the voices of the royal family in the castle halls at night, and if you look close enough, you might find their ghosts haunting the castle to this day. Why don’t you come visit us and find out for yourself?

You shivered and felt a little uneasy at the way the museum was advertising something so horrible. But when you scrolled down the page just a little further, what you saw knocked out the breath from your lungs. It was a picture, an old painting to be exact, of the family. And there he was. The prince was staring at you blankly, and you felt tears well up in your eyes in disbelief. It was the stranger who had taken you into the castle. You thought back to his blood drenched shirt. As if he had been stabbed. You shook your head no when your eyes fell on the rest of the family. You recounted Princess Beatrice from where she had been sitting by the bar next to you, telling you to watch over your drink. You saw the queen and the king, who you had noticed sitting on the stone wall, holding hands, the wounds on their throats having looked almost too realistic to have been fake. And then you remembered your arrival at the castle. You thought back to the face you had definitely seen in the window at the top of one of the towers. This was all just coincidence, right? Your stomach turned in terror. Had someone tried to play a joke? But if so, why had their faces looked so perfectly similar to the family in the painting?

Quickly, you pulled up the social media of the girl, your school friend, who had served you at the bar. ‘Do you remember the girl dressed as a princess with bloody tears who you accidentally gave my drink to? She was sitting next to me at the bar’, you quickly typed and sent.

For at least an hour, you twisted and turned in your bed, going from almost sleeping to nervously checking your phone for a reply. You thought you were going crazy. But sooner or later, you realized she might have had too much to do, cleaning up the party or simply going to sleep herself, and you drifted off to slumber.

When you awoke the next day, the previous night almost felt like it had been a scary dream. But when you checked, your hips were still bruised and you had a new message from the girl who had worked at the bar: As far as I remember, the seat next to you was empty. I gave the drink to you. You were dressed as an angel, right? Why are you asking?

[slutsofren]

Danger Days Chapter 5: Skylines and Turnstiles

summary:  arriving at the University of Eastern Colorado, things start pointing to an unwanted direction

warnings: little allusions to anxiety and awkardness, everybody is finally getting along (kinda), mild sexual tension,  reader is fucking horny

word count: 3,116

read on ao3 here / danger days masterlist

You had been zoning out for about the last hour, only starting to pay attention as you saw the familiar red brick walls of the university. Joel had been droning on and on and on about football and the rules of the game, teaching it to Ellie and she lapped it all up excitedly. If there was one thing you had grown to love about the girl, it was her passion for knowledge, especially of the old world.

As they talked, you recalled your adventures the past month, thanking the stars it was a rather smooth journey to get here. The three of you only encountered one group of hunters that weren’t much trouble and they were rather well stocked on supplies and food, keeping you all fed for a few days longer.

The two horses were doing well too, the long trek didn’t seem to bother them as much as you originally worried. Made the journey much smoother and shorter than you accounted for. When you all left Jackson, it was only October, now it was maybe halfway through November. You were making pretty good time on your schedule. 

“I don’t see a glass building,” Ellie told you, pulling you out of your thoughts.

“We’ll need to get to the center courtyard of the campus. You’ll see it from there, it’ll look like a mirror made of glass.” You raised a hand and pointed through some buildings, vaguely gesturing the way.

You led them into an area of the campus that led to the science center. But Joel stopped you and dismounted, giving Ellie the reins, “Stay, Callus.” After a couple feet of walking away Joel asked her, “What kind of a name is Callus, anyways?”

He goes around, searching the area for either troubles or supplies, grumbling about the name Ellie gave the horse.

“Not my fault you forgot to ask Tommy his name,” Ellie jokes and jerks her thumb at you, “Or that she didn’t know it either.”

“Hey, don’t bring me into this, kiddo. I’m just buddies with my dear Whiskey here,” you pat the neck of the black horse. He gave a little huff beneath your fingers and shook his head, enjoying the attention. “Besides, Cherry is the only one able to tell the difference between all of them.”

Joel gives you a faint smile as he reaches for the bit on Callus, guiding him through a gate into the middle of the campus that you waited by.

After being in such close proximity to each other, the two of you began warming up to the other. Of course, you still chucked snide comments at him, often calling him an old bastard when he’d piss you off or do something snide. He would reply in kind, calling you a brat and threatening you to behave.

Needless to say, that awakened a little fantasy you totally didn’t need of the man, eliciting some rather vivid dreams when you slept. Hinting that maybe you were unfortunately in need of a good orgasm to get it all out of your system once and for all. Being out in the middle of fuck-all nowhere made that kind of difficult.The mental imagery alone kept you up most nights on your watch while you kept an eye out as the two rested. Regardless, Joel had been a gentleman towards you, apparently all that southern charm was genuine but he was still a broody asshole most days, never once hinting he saw you in such a way despite how often you’d catch him staring.

Ellie on the other hand, took to you rather quickly. She would ask you question after question about California, FEDRA, what to expect with the Fireflies at the lab, what you were like before the outbreak. She was intrigued about life pre-cordyceps virus, it was as if it was a fantasy to her.

Well, you admit, you supposed it was. She was born after the virus took hold, she never got to experience the things you and Joel did in the world before.To go to a zoo, a concert, gossip with friends about who likes who in school. The only thing she knew was to keep fighting, surviving, and running. Despite how cheerful and passionate she could be about her comic books or absorbing as much knowledge as she could, you were saddened that she never got the chance to be normal.

As much as you tried to keep some things private during her lengthy questionings, you knew her curiosity was blinding. She meant no harm, likely going to you for these questions seeing as Joel was completely shut off from his past, not that you blame him. You couldn’t imagine what he experienced from what Tommy had told you before.

Ellie looked around on the horse, “So, these places… people would live here and just study? Even though they were all grown up?”

“Yeah, study, party, and find themselves. Figure out what they wanted to do with their lives,” Joel replied. He let go of the leather strap and motioned for you and Ellie to stay where you were as he walked towards what looked to be like a loading dock and began searching.

She repeated Joel’s last sentence about finding themselves, possibly turning over the idea in her mind, after a few moments of silence of both of you watching Joel she turned to you, “Did you ever go to college?”

You shook your head, silently telling her no. “I was too young when shit hit the fan, but I would explore these buildings and take the books that were salvageable. Read them when I had the time. Tried to educate myself however I could.”

“What would you have studied if you went?”

“I don’t know,” you think. Suddenly you remembered some of your favorite books that you had stolen from these very buildings. “I really liked reading the history books that I found here. Maybe I would have done something with that. Or maybe,” you ponder, “maybe I wouldn’t have liked history if not for the whole world fucking ending.”

Ellie considers this for a moment. Then, from the corner of your eye, you watch Joel disappear behind a corner and you turn towards her, “What about you?”

Ellie scrunches her face in thought. “Art. Or maybe music. I like being creative.”

You smiled at the idea, “Ellie Williams: Comedian, Artist, Rock Star.”

Ellie smiles widely and the moment is cut short by Joel announcing somewhere above you. “There was a look-out here,” his voice calls down.

Both of you look up and see Joel leaning over a concrete railing on the second floor. “That’s a good sign,” Ellie says to him, then she looks at you and asks quietly, “Right?”

“I don’t know,” you answer honestly. You furrow your brows and begin to bite on your bottom lip, unsure of what to make of things. It’s unlike them to leave a look-out abandoned. Now that you’re thinking about it, you’re pretty damn positive you’d have come across somebody by now.

You try to get your facial expressions back in check, not wanting to worry Ellie or even Joel by making them feel like something is vastly wrong with how this looks. Before, when you were with the militia group, there were armed guards practically on every roof of this campus. They were always checking in with each other, making sure none of the infected or even hunters penetrated the walls. It wasn’t always secure or even practical, more lives were lost that way but it helped protect the lab.

You’re pulled away from your anxious thoughts as you spot Joel. He takes one last look around then comes down from the loading dock and gets back on the horse he’s sharing with Ellie and looks to you, gesturing his hand out in front of him. “Lead the way.”

You give Whiskey a little kick and he takes off, jumping over a concrete barricade then leading them up some stairs and under some ornate arches and pulling the reins to the left. With a motion of your hand you point to the science building in the distance, “There it is. The one with glass walls.”

Ellie looks over his shoulder and huffs a surprise, “It really does look like a glass mirror.”

Unfortunately there was a locked gate between the group and your destination. “Question is, how are we gonna get through here,” Joel thinks out loud.

After looking around it seems the only way forward is through the crumbling buildings. Joel dismounts from Callus once again and led you both through a broken wall on the left that led to the inside of the old library.

“How many people you think are there? Fireflies, I mean,” Ellie wondered.

“Reckon it takes quite a crew to run that operation,” Joel looks at you.

You nodded at both of them idly, “Yeah, when I was here we had at least a few dozen, maybe more. I kind of kept to myself.” 

“You think there’ll be other people my age,” she asked, not letting her eyes look up towards you.

“I do.”

The three of you approached another locked gate inside the building, essentially cutting off both the library and the rest of the hall you were in from each other. Joel pulled on the handle and it creaked open, Callus and Whiskey both shuffled and whined, making you and Ellie shift on them.

“Woah, woah, woah, what is it boys,” Joel tried to calm down the horses.

Your attention got pulled away when you heard a shriek and Ellie said, “Sounds like runners.”

Joel looked back behind him then forward at you, “Stay together. I’ll go check it out.”

“Joel, no wait,” you try to argue as you dismount but he closes the gate behind him.

“Stay with her,” he tells you. “I don’t want the horses or her runnin’ off again.”

You give him a hard look that he mirrors, neither one of you wants to budge but the look in his brown eyes make you waver, finally caving into his demand. “Stay alive, you stubborn old bastard.”

His lips twitch, hints of a tense smile wishing to creep on his face. He puts his hands up on a calm gesture as he removes his backpack, removing the shotgun from it and pocketing a couple extra rounds as he stands back up. “I’ll be right back,” he says your name softly, his voice deep and rich, “I promise.”

As he walks away, you inhale a deep breath and your heart is beating. You’ve come to hate it when this happens, not that it did much. Whenever the three of you found yourselves in a tight situation with the infected, you each carried on with taking them down. You hated this, hated that he felt the need to do this on his own.

It fuckin’ sucked waiting.

Just as you were working yourself up more, you heard five consecutive shotgun blasts. Then silence. Ellie must have noticed your worry because she announced loud enough for Joel to hear, “Hey, I was thinking… I would’ve wanted to be an astronaut.”

“That a fact,” his voice rang out in the distance, echoing off the library walls.

“Yeah, can you imagine being up there all by yourself? Would’ve been cool. I’m just sayin’.”

You opened up the gate, leading Whiskey inside the library, still simmering with whatever the hell you were feeling. Ellie trotted her horse past you to another gate, this one opening with a panel and leading back outside to the courtyard on the right.

Faintly you could hear presumably Joel starting up a generator three times and then panel next to the gate lit up. You pressed the button, opening it up then went back to Whiskey, jumping up into his saddle.

Joel came back down the steps and grabbed the reins to Callus and his eyes fell on you, “Told you I’d be right back.”

“What about you? What’d you want to be,” Ellie asked him.

Joel looked away, focusing on something in the distance as you all walked out the opened gate. He scratched at his beard and admitted, “Oh… well, when I was a kid I used to want to be a… a singer.”

You raised your eyebrows and gave a small laugh, Ellie did too. “Shut up,” she said jokingly.

“I’m serious.”

“Sing something”

“Ah, no.”

“Come on, I won’t laugh,” she begged.

“I don’t think so.”

You watched as they both bickered over this, Ellie even tried to pull you into the conversation, saying your name, “Come on, tell him we won’t laugh!”

“Maybe he can treat us after a successful creation of the cure,” you compromise. Joel turns to you and ponders.

“We’ll see.”

The three of you make your way down the steps, then turning to the left, continuing your trek to the science center. Ellie gets Joel's attention, “She said she wasn’t sure what she would have done.”

“Is that so?”

You shift your weight on Whiskey, “Yeah. I mean, I like history now but back then? I didn’t really have a plan after graduating high school. I didn’t really click with anything, y’know?”

He absorbs that information and ponders. “Yeah, I get it.”

The silence took over and whatever anxiety you had was lessening yet amplifying the closer you got to the building, still wary of the fact you hadn’t seen any sign of the Fireflies aside from the abandoned look-out. Joel got back up on Callus as you approached the center of the school and together with Whiskey, jumped over another barricade.

The view in front of you was a much larger campus courtyard, with a giant fountain in the center decorated with a statue in the middle of it. Ellie was the first to notice a small group of bright orange monkeys and cooed at them as they chattered and swung around the clearing.

“That was kinda awesome,” she said as they swung away into a nearby building.

You smiled at her reaction and asked, “First time seeing a monkey?”

She nodded and repeated, “First time seeing a monkey!”

Atop the two horses, you all keep looking around searching for a sign of life but finding nothing. Leading you all down another outside corridor. Joel offers, “Maybe these guys like to keep a low profile.”

Ellie, now sounding less energetic, half-heartedly agrees.You bank right, vaguely remembering where to go when she points to a wall to the left. “Hey, look. Fireflies.” When you turned to look, you noticed the old wall tag.

“Yeah, it was to help point the way to the building we were in, in case new recruits got lost or something like that,” you tell her.

You pull into another corridor that is also blocked with a gate. To the right of the wall is a painted sign, saying ‘disconnect generator when not on duty’ in bold white letters.

Together, each of you gets off Whiskey and Callus and attempts to lift the gate to find it won’t work. The damned thing wouldn’t budge. Joel grumbles, “Probably have to find the generator.” He walks to a barricaded doorway to the right and peers around it then kneels. “It’s gotta be through here.”

“Joel, you are not going by yourself again,” you tell him.

He looks over his shoulder at you and cocks an eyebrow at you. The two of you, once again, locked in this damned game. He sizes you up with an intense stare and he already knows he’s won. You groan loudly, “If you die in there, just remember I told you so, old man.”

“Watch Ellie, you damned brat.”

He turns and crawls under the barricade, giving you a bit of a nice show of his ass before entirely disappearing. You roll your eyes to yourself as you turn back around, standing near Ellie and the two horses.

“So,” she starts.

“So?”

“What’s going on between you and Joel?”

It was so unbelievably hard to keep your face in check, to keep your internal screaming from etching your facial expression. “I don’t know what you’re talking about Ellie.”

“You both look like you want to fucking kill the other in their sleep.”

“That’s because I do.” Amongst other things.

You cross your arms in front of you, mindlessly showing your defensiveness on the topic and definitely not trying to tell the obviously fourteen-year-old who has never had the sex talk about how your body is screaming with alarms to get dicked down by the first person you see. Mentally scolding yourself for your predicament. How dare he.

“That’s just Joel,” she says. “He’s always like that.”

“He needs to learn how to work as a team or else we’re all going to end up dead, or worse.”

Gunshots cut the conversation short, the two of you ducking close to the ground, both pulling out weapons. It was difficult to tell where the shots came from because the two of you were still in a tunnel but you whisper-shouted, “Joel!”

Nothing but eerie silence responded to your call, settling in your bones. It took everything you had in you to not bolt and look for the man but both you and Ellie looking around for any sign of him. “Son of a bitch, this is exactly what I was talking about,” you groan frustrated.

Seconds ticked by that dragged into forever-long minutes. You weren’t a nervous person on missions, always trying to stay hyper-focused but truthfully, you don’t know how you’d handle the return journey with just Ellie.

Before you could work the nerve to go search through the maze of dorms, Ellie notices him before you, “Joel! Are you okay? What happened in there?”

“More infected, I’m fine,” he shouts, exiting a door from the far left, as he runs over to where you and Ellie were standing still, waiting for him.

“Here - come open the gate!”

As Joel pulls the generator to the wall to plug it in, Ellie tells him, “Holy shit you’re lucky you came out of there alive. She almost ran in after you.”

Suddenly you felt like you couldn’t breath under your coat as you gave Joel a sheepish look. “I didn’t want to have to explain to Tommy that I got his brother killed, alright? Don’t let it get to your big head, cowboy.”

Joel raised a brow at you then grunted, resuming to kickstart the generator to power the gate. It came alive kind of loudly but you resigned, only to mount your horse again choosing to ignore whatever Joel or Ellie could be thinking.

[sugarmaplewings-fics]

Midnight Ball

Pairing: Todoroki x reader

Warnings: None

Author’s Note:

Day two of Sugar’s Spooky Days/Fall Special

Hehehe I have managed to finish something! Can’t say as much for the Kirishima one, so that might have to be late :(. I should have that one done sometime over the weekend though, so fingers crossed!

I also may or may not have been thinking about Heartless by Marissa Meyer while I wrote that first bit 👀👀 (read it, it’s good, especially if you want to sob your eyeballs out like I did)

I hope you like this one! It was fun for me to write!

☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.

You had insisted on not coming to this party.

You, of course, had said this as if you had a choice. Really, as someone with your status, you should have the power to make decisions for yourself. But nooo, as the only daughter of the Marquess and Marchioness, it was your duty to attend the king’s bi-annual masquerade ball. Bother.

So, here you were, all dressed up with little intention to dance or even have fun. You clung to the sides of the spacious dancefloor, hoping to keep to yourself enough that no one would try to talk to you. It was truly dreadful what some of your fellow nobility could come up with for small talk. Exchanging formalities and remarking on politics, only then to run off into a tangent on whatever subject may have recently captured their trivial attention.

You longed to be elsewhere—in a library perhaps, or in your garden, working on sketches in your notebook. Gracious, come to think of it, maybe sleeping would even be the better option. It was dreadfully late.

The king always insisted on throwing such parties as these so late at night, stretching all the way to early hours of the morning. You’d gotten plenty of rest prior in preparation for this autumn Midnight Ball, but between the lack of meaningful interaction and your desire to be elsewhere, you found yourself capturing yawns in your gloved hand.

Your childhood best friend didn’t seem to have this problem. You could see her now, indigo skirts swishing around her ankles as she danced with some green haired man. You couldn’t quite tell if you had ever seen him before, but he was probably from some foreign kingdom. You’d certainly hear all about him tomorrow.

You began to grow antsy at your position on the west wall. Your heels were beginning to make your ankles ache, and your mask was growing progressively warmer with each breath. A glance towards the banquet table told you that the coast was clear for you to browse the selection of food laid out, but your corset made you think twice. Your handmaiden had done it so dreadfully tight.

Curses. Not to her, she had done nothing wrong. Maybe at your mother, who insisted on lacing it up in this way.

You chewed at your tongue. Maybe a walk in the courtyard would clear your head. It would definitely be cooler and not so bright. If you were lucky, you may even be alone.

Gathering your (F/C) skirts in your fists, you strode to the door to the outside, ducking through small gatherings of people and curtseying to the guards positioned at the exit. You knew you had made the right decision as soon as the night air hit your face, a cool October breeze seeping behind your mask and ruffling the feathers that adorned it. A full moon lit your path as you walked further into the manicured gardens. You’d been around here before, yet you still allowed yourself time to admire the hedges and trees closing off spaces of land. Flowerbeds were artfully placed wherever they could fit, although you could tell that most of their plentiful blooming yield had already gone back within themselves for the frosty winter. What you were truly interested in was a small pond located in the back, hidden behind a few bushes at its side.

The clear pool laid stagnant before you as you knelt down to look into it. The light of the moon bounced off your bejeweled costume mask, causing the water to sparkle even brighter beneath you. A large koi fish took notice of your signal, lazily sliding its stout, tri-colored body towards the surface in hopes that you may have brought it some food.

“I’m sorry, little friend,” you whispered to its expectant gaping mouth, “I don’t have anything for you.”

You watched him for another moment, little splashes made by the fish’s fins breaking the stillness of both the silent night air and the pool’s surface.

“You’ve upset him.”

The sound of an unfamiliar voice made you start. You straightened, brushing off the front of your skirt. Turning, you saw the figure of a man standing a few paces away from you. His build was lean and strong, and a mask of his own glittered in the all-encompassing moonlight. It was difficult to make out any identifying features, but a part of you just knew that he was intangibly handsome.

“Sorry?” you said, trying to compose yourself.

Perfect. This was just what you had been trying to avoid: interaction. Maybe he’d go easy on you and let you leave soon, or maybe he could have something genuinely worthwhile to say.

“That fish,” he clarified. “He’s hungry.”

You pursed your lips together in thought as you stole a glance back at the pond. Your koi friend had retreated back to the depths of his home as soon as you had turned your back. The air hummed with silence once more.

“Is he, though?” you asked. “He probably gets fed just as well as any other creature living on the grounds.”

The mysterious man shrugged. “True, but perhaps that’s the most joy he gets out of life.”

“Oh.” You stood there awkwardly for a second in silence, trying to think of a response. “That’s a little . . . grim.”

“Sorry.” He shifted. “I’ve always felt bad for fish.”

“How so?”

He took a step closer to the pond, bending a bit at the waist in order for him to see into it better. “They have less freedom. Little to do, nowhere to go . . . sometimes they remind me of myself a bit.”

“Oh?”

“I’m not terribly fond of my father.”

You blinked, wondering if he was going anywhere with this.

His eyes finally snapped up to yours. The moon caught their shades perfectly, drawing out hints of color that would normally be lost to their own depths. It struck you suddenly that you had seen these eyes before; one a steely silver while the other was a lovely cerulean that nearly seemed to glow. Where had you previously seen these eyes?

“Sorry,” he apologized again. “I didn’t mean to overstep.” He straightened up to properly face you, his posture rigid and practiced, just as you had seen all the other noblemen do your whole life. “My name is Shouto Todoroki, son of Duke Enji Todoroki,” he said, piercing eyes growing a little glassy at the voicing of his own name. He bowed to you, and around the top of his mask, you took notice of his perfectly split bi-colored hair. “My lady,” he said.

“Shouto?” Yes, that was right. You’d met him a few times as children, playing together while your families held council meetings. It had to have been nearly ten years since you’d seen him last, and to be honest, he’d grown into quite the man.

“Yes?” he answered, uncertain.

“It’s me,” you said, lifting your mask a bit to better show off your eyes and features in the dim light. “(F/N) (L/N).”

You watched as he did a double take; eyes scanning you from top to bottom as he put a name to your person. “(Y/N) . . . wow, it’s been a long time.”

You chuckled, fiddling with the material of your skirt between your fingers. “You’re not saying I’m old, now, are you?”

He snorted, his posture relaxing. “Of course not, my lady.”

You began to chat, settling in beside him as you wandered around the gardens together. It was only now that you realized how much you had missed your old friend, finding it shockingly easy to talk with him. He spoke of his father and how he intended for Shouto to take his place in power when his time came. You noted the bitterness he carried in his voice, vaguely remembering the emergence of the issue from the last time you’d conversed. He listened to your own life updates, interested in your hobbies and what you had to say about life and time. In fact, it nearly felt as if no time had passed at all, and you’d remained close throughout the years.

The light of the castle began to creep upon the path ahead of you, and you noticed that you’d circled the entire perimeter of the gardens. Music from the ballroom floated to your ears, and you recognized the tune. Influenced by your improved mood, you began to hum along to a few of the notes, nodding your head to the light, peppy rhythm.

Shouto took notice of this, eyeing you with a small smile gracing his usually stoic face. He sped up just enough to come up in front of you, causing you to halt in your tracks. He bowed before you again, one hand behind his back with the other outstretched for your own. “If I may, could I have this dance? This is your king’s ball, and I believe that my lady deserves at least one before the night’s end.”

An unexpected heat climbed to your cheeks. Why were you suddenly feeling this way? Your childhood friend had certainly grown into quite the handsome young man, but you couldn’t ever remember thinking of him in this manner. He’d only ever shown kindness and respect towards you, and it was only now beginning to weigh on you how much you liked him. But this weight wasn’t in any way unpleasant, in fact, it made you feel giddier, almost light and intrepid. What could one dance together hurt?

You rested your hand in his, the fabrics of your gloves sliding together as your fingers met. His head turned up so he could once again make eye contact, drawing your offered appendage to his lips. They brushed over your knuckles, feather light, and you found yourself wishing that the silken material could have been removed. How soft were his lips truly?

Shouto walked you a few paces away onto an open area in the grass, the fragrance of greenery and crisp evening air wafting through the space. Every surface was bathed in a fine layer of moonlight, giving the world a dark, silvery glow. Shouto’s skin gleamed pale and resembled porcelain, eyes shining behind the contrasting shadows of his mask.

With your palm in his, he guided you closer to him, his other hand alighting on the small of your back.

“The moon highlights your beauty remarkably so. I’ve never felt this . . . enamored by someone.”

You shivered at his words, the gentle intensity of his gaze boring into you. You began to fall into step with the music wavering in the background. The cheerful rhythm made your heart soar as you glided over the grass with your partner. He led you through some practiced steps, others entirely new. Your skirts swirled around your ankles, adding an extra flare to each of your movements. The sound of the hidden orchestra was distant and thin, and yet there was such a feeling that instilled through you, almost as if the music had seeped all the way to your marrow.

You watched as Shouto’s face began to relax into a little smile, twirling you this way, dipping you over his strong arm, pulling you back into his chest. The whole ordeal took your breath away, and even in the cool night air, your cheeks began to ignite in a palpable warmth of their own. Time slowed, and it was as though you’d been his dance partner for centuries, finding a rhythm and flowing together as one.

That is, until a shooting pain fired through your ankle, causing you to gasp and stumble. Shouto caught and steadied you in his arms before you could fall very far, worry clouding over his face.

“Are you alright?” he asked.

You grimaced, shifting your weight on your feet. “It’s my heels,” you explained. “Sorry. They’re not the most . . . practical.”

“Here,” Shouto said, offering you his arm. “Take them off. You don’t need them out here.”

Your face heated once again as you leaned on his outstretched appendage, fishing around in your skirts until you found your foot. Within moments, you were free, feet bare in their thin tights, discarded shoes unbuckled and placed neatly aside on the grass. The both of you found a stone bench nearby, and you sat side by side to help ease the strain on your feet. While you took this bit of a breather, you remarked to yourself how much taller Shouto was compared to you. The sight of how much he’d grown over the years, mixed with this newfound urge to rest your head against his broad chest . . . .

“Are you feeling better now, my lady?”

(Y/N). Your name was (Y/N). He could have just as easily called you as such, and yet, the formality set your heart aflutter.

“Yes, I believe I am. Actually, I’m feeling much better. This party was so dull until you happened upon me.”

Shouto’s smile returned, the slightest shine appearing on his upturned lips. “I haven’t enjoyed myself this much in a long time either. Thank you for accepting my offer to dance.”

You hummed and flashed him a genuine grin of your own.

He averted his eyes suddenly, a new tension gripping his shoulders. “I know we haven’t talked in years,” he began, “but if you didn’t mind, I would like to get to know you again, (Y/N). Our kingdoms aren’t too distant, and I would like to write to you sometime when I return home.”

Your smile widened. “That sounds lovely. I’d love to keep in touch with you.” You let your hand wander over to his, taking it up in your fingers.

Shouto smiled again at your touch, raising your joined palms to press another kiss to your knuckles. “I look forward to your response,” he said, lips brushing against your gloved fingers as he spoke, eyes locked on yours.

You could still hear the band playing in the ballroom. To the king, the night was still young, and the party would continue for some time longer. Within moments, you were on your feet again with him, twirling your body to the tempo of the strings and winds. With stars serving as your only audience, you danced with your newfound partner until the early hours of the morning under the light of a full hanging moon.

☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.

Taglist: @aahilovetheatre​ @heartpaw12​ @todoroki-waifu​ @basicaegyo​ @iiminibattlehero​ @katsugay​ @nabo39​ @pyrofanatic​ @sendhelpimstupid​ @sokkasangel​ @xoxopam4​

[sheron-c]

XiSang: Awakening

(The Untamed/MDZS, ~2.2k, XiSang post-canon, sometime in the future, and mostly just pining) The solemn stone alleyways of the Unclean Realm seemed deserted as Lan Xichen made his way through one familiar turn followed by another, in search of the one man he wanted to see before his departure.

Huaisang had disappeared from sight over an hour ago, coinciding with the start of the groups of cultivators setting off for a hunt in the areas surrounding Qinghe. With the late afternoon sun shining on the final day of the cultivator conference in the Unclean Realm, and most cultivators enjoying themselves outside of the sect proper, Xichen had only encountered some servants on his way to the gardens. They bowed and let him pass undisturbed.

As he quietly approached the garden entrance in the innermost space of the Nie sect, a tall shadow separated from the nearby stone gray wall. The bearded man uncrossed his arms and bowed a respectful greeting, but his stare at Xichen was direct and questioning his presence here. Xichen instantly placed him as Yan Ming, a man most loyal to the Nie sect, and a leader of the group of disciples who accompanied Huaisang to official events. Xichen tended to think of him as Huaisang's bodyguard, whether or not the role was formal.

Xichen bowed his head in greeting before asking after his query. "Huaisang wasn't with the hunting party. I thought I might find him here."

This garden was secluded and most outsiders would not have been allowed into the private areas. Huaisang however had made a point of mentioning that Xichen was welcome to treat the Unclean Realm as his home during the week's stay. Huaisang had, in fact, looked quite pleased with each new freedom Xichen allowed himself as his guest. And thus compelled by the obvious warm regard shown his way, Xichen had visited the sect's library and browsed the lengthy tomes there, and stopped by the training grounds and observed a portion of the new training regiment conducted by one of the saber-wielding sect elders.

Busy with the duties of the conference host, Huaisang had not accompanied him, but every once in a while Xichen would catch glimpses of him in the periphery, always speaking with this servant or that about arrangements, and yet always having an encouraging nod for Xichen when their paths crossed, spurring him on to be welcome, to feel at ease.

Making sure the event ran smoothly was an obvious goal, but Xichen felt a personal touch in the way he was being treated. No detail was too unimportant. Nothing was out of place in his elegant quarters, adorned with landscape tapestries and his favourite jasmine incense, nor in the meals that were served throughout the day, not in the evening entertainment. Some of the music performed by the entertainers even held common roots with the melodies from Gusu, and Xichen found it very pleasing to the ear. Huaisang had tried very hard to please him.

If Xichen had been a different man, he might have read it as an attempt to get in his good graces after a difficult year. As it was, he saw only the effort to show that Huaisang was capable, and that he still held Xichen in high regard. Not everything was resolved between them since the events of the Guanyin Temple, but they had moved past the worst of it after some tearful conversations. Xichen chose to trust Huaisang's intentions now and made as much clear upon arrival to Qinghe. His good will was subsequently rewarded by being welcomed more as a beloved family member than a visitor from another sect.

Xichen-ge flowed well off Huaisang's lips and Xichen once more smiled to hear it.

Although no cultivator conference ever went down without heated arguing, somehow they had gotten through this turn with decorum. With a little bit of ingenious planning, Huaisang had satisfied even the grumbling old men used to far more opulence than the austere spaces of Qinghe. So when the conference had wound down and the willing cultivators were offered the opportunity to hunt in the areas surrounding Qinghe, it was a perfect finishing stroke to a brilliant week in which Nie Huaisang had shown the cultivation world what he was capable off in the diplomatic sphere.

Now the man himself was nowhere to be found, and Xichen had a hunch he would be hiding from his guests in one place in particular. As a visitor in days long past, Xichen would often hear complains from Mingjue that the young brother had once more escaped to the gardens and his birds. How much of that young boy remained in the man he knew now, Xichen had yet to see.

He waited while Yan Ming assessed his trustworthiness, before allowing him through an alcove into the exquisite lush garden warded of behind the wall. Teeming with a variety of plants, it seemed at first at odds with the restraint of the surrounding grey stone, before the unity and order made itself apparent. The large rectangular space was full of greenery, tall shrubs harmoniously giving way to picturesque rock formations, and several birds adding a chirping melody from overhead in the branches of a tall tea tree in the center that gave shade to the entire garden.

But the scenery wasn't what drew Xichen's eye. In the very middle of the garden was a human-sized wooden swing, suspended from a sturdy branch of the tea tree. In the garden swing, the young leader of the Nie sect lay innocently sleeping. His head lay on one bent elbow and his fan had nearly fallen out of the other slack hand.

Affection seized Xichen's chest so powerfully that for a moment he couldn't move.

Yan Ming made as if to wake his sect leader, but Xichen quickly motioned for him to stay behind, pressing a finger to his own lips to signal silence. The man gave him a dubious look, but their relative positions in the cultivation world were such that he allowed Xichen to do as he liked, in the absence of any threat to Huaisang.

Xichen approached the bench with silent steps, observing the man laying there carefully. Huaisang had indeed worked hard to make this cultivator conference a success, and he'd planned it almost entirely on his own. It was no wonder he found himself without energy after such a draining week. Even when Xichen stood right next to him, Huaisang didn't wake.

Xichen smiled, as an idea came to him. Crouching in front of the swing, he went to take the boots off first. One boot, then the other, he freed Huaisang's feet from the confinement, then very carefully and slowly pulled his legs up to the swing so he could rest more comfortably. Huaisang shifted slightly in his sleep, which had Xichen freeze in his movements, but in the end did not wake up. Xichen then took the wrist of the one hand that had slid down and tucked it in closer to the man's chest.

He admired his own handiwork, studying the other man. Asleep, Huaisang looked younger, though Xichen could never again see him as that carefree boy that used to get in trouble at the Cloud Recesses along with Wei Wuxian. Too much time had come and gone, and they'd both gone through a great deal. Still, as he looked into that familiar face, eyes tracing the elegant features, the sweeping dark lashes and delicate mouth, he couldn't help reaching out with a hand and brushing his hair once, tenderly moving the stray dark strands back from Huaisang's face.

Afterwards, Xichen rose briskly. His heart beat rapidly. He walked back to where Yan Ming observed the scene with an inscrutable look, and motioned for the man to follow. They left the garden courtyard in silence.

"Let him sleep," Xichen requested when they wouldn't be overheard. "There's no need to disturb him. I can wait in the study until Huaisang wakes on his own." Finding the path back would be easy, he had spent plenty of time in Qinghe to know his way around the Unclean Realm. He would of course delay his departure until they had a chance to say their goodbyes. It seemed impossible to leave without speaking with Huaisang at least once more.

After a moment, Yan Ming nodded. "Zewu-jun, do you require anything brought to you?"

"Just a brush with ink, and paper would be good," Xichen said. "I will write some letters."

Before departing the peaceful gardens, he couldn't help one last look back to where Huaisang slept on, in the tree shade. The moment seemed to stretch with delicious languor until he pulled himself away.

***

Nie Huaisang found himself needlessly straightening his hair and clothing one more time as he strode briskly towards the private study where, after asking around, he expected Xichen to be waiting for him.

Falling asleep the way he had was bad enough on its own, let alone when it meant that his most important guest had to wait around. He'd been so tired after the sleepless night that he had simply lay down on the garden swing for a moment to shut his eyes, not even thinking to let the servants know to wake him, and it had turned into several wasted hours. Someone had removed his shoes while he'd been asleep.

His steps slowed as he approached the study. Yan Ming was leaning against one of the columns outside the door, arms crossed, ostensibly guarding the entrance. He nodded to his sect leader when Huaisang indicated with a motion of the head and a raised eyebrow his silent question of whether his guest was inside. The door to the study was open to let the humid summer air circulate, and Huaisang paused on the threshold.

Xichen was sitting at one of the wooden tables, a brush in hand and his attention on the papers before him. Leaning one hand against the door frame, Huaisang studied his profile. His back was straight and the way he inclined his head held the kind of elegance that Huaisang would envy in another man. In Xichen it just made him sigh. The movements of his fan slowed to a halt as he simply observed the man in silence for several drawn out moments, as if to memorize him.

Xichen was writing something, possibly a letter, and his mouth moved a little as he mouthed the occasional word to himself, lost in thought. Huaisang sighed wistfully again, unconscious he was doing it until he heard a quiet snort behind him. His eyes flickered to Yan Ming and found the man watching him, arms crossed and a knowing look on his face. Face growing unexpectedly hot, Huaisang resumed fanning himself, eyes cutting away to Xichen again. Thankfully, the man hadn't heard their near-silent exchange.

Huaisang motioned for Yan Ming to follow him around the corner, and only then spoke low enough not to be overheard. "Can you check with the kitchen, see if there is any of that loose-leaf tea from Gusu left?" He hesitated, adding, "And maybe those biscuits we got as a gift from Lanling the other day? Have those brought as well."

The man nodded and left, and Huaisang appreciated his quiet discretion. Yan Ming may have had things he wanted to say, but he obeyed all the same, which was all Huaisang asked. He thought back to his cherished guest, enjoying a quiet moment in the study. During the conference, Xichen had been a steady voice of reason. He had to be at least as tired as Huaisang felt himself, and he had seemed relaxed and peaceful just then, as he sat writing his letters; it would be a shame to disturb him. By the time Yan Ming returned with a tray of a steaming tea pot and two small tea cups, as well as the biscuits laid out on a plate, Huaisang had thoroughly convinced himself not to intrude on the peaceful atmosphere in the study.

He picked off the second cup and set it aside on the nearby stone railing. It wouldn't be needed. "Bring that to him, please," he nodded towards the rest of the tray.

Yan Ming gave him an odd look. "You won't be taking tea with Zewu-jun?"

Huaisang sighed, and almost startled at what emotion had spurred it, amazed to recognize it within himself. It seemed his foolish heart still held on to such things; he could not deny the longing nature of that sigh. "Best not to disturb him when he is so peaceful, isn't it?"

"I am sure the Lan sect leader would appreciate the company," Yan Ming argued, looking at him with great significance in his expression.

"Oh, just bring him the tea!" Huaisang motioned for him to go with the closed fan. The last thing he needed was his sect members gossiping about Xichen. It would affect his reputation. Huaisang's reputation wasn't anything remarkable these days, but he was ever so conscious of how highly regarded Zewu-jun was, and how he didn't want to jeopardize that among his own men. He turned to leave. "I'll be in my rooms. Bring him only when he asks about me." If he even would.

Yan Ming looked ready to protest, and so Huaisang left before he would get a chance to be convinced otherwise. He'd brought so much trouble to Xichen that leaving him be in a peaceful moment was the least he could do.

If his unrepentant eyes cut away for one final look at Xichen and another wistful sigh betrayed him, nobody had to know.

***************** TBC? To be honest, I did write half of the second part to this, where they actually get to the kissing, but for now, I think this can be read self-contained.

[volleyball-dontknowher]

hi! i saw your recent tsukishima post and was wondering if you could write one similar with yamaguchi except the reader is self conscious about having small boobs? thank you! 😣

I loved writing this!!! It is a little less direct as the Tsukki one but I think it just captures Yamaguchi in a sweet way and it was just cute 

Words: 1.7k 

Warnings: Fluff, insecurities, makeout

Requests are open! 

Scrolling through your social media you couldn’t help but notice one thing. One thing that everyone gorgeous seemed to have, well, everyone but you. It usually didn’t bother you but recently the insecurities have just been plaguing your mind. Why didn’t you look like that? What caused you to have little boobs? You felt like a little boy, it wasn’t fair. You wanted to be someone that people looked twice at in complete awe. You wanted to be the girl that got whispers about how hot she is behind your back. Instead at lunch today your friend told you that you had smaller boobs than some of the boys in your class, then your friend told you that you could shop in the little boy’s section. You were having a bad week and their comments today didn’t help your confidence at all. Both of your friends were tall, gorgeous and had big boobs and round butts that made them popular with all of the boys. You were currently in the bathroom after lunch just taking a moment before going to face your friends again. You weren’t happy about what they said but you couldn’t hide from them forever, they were just joking and you knew it, but it still hurt your heart and you didn’t want to believe it. You pulled yourself together and went back into the classroom. The rest of your day was as dull as usual, and it didn’t help because it left you with time to overthink about their comments. 

The final bell rang and you sighed defeated before putting your notebook into your bag and walking to the door to meet up with your smiling boyfriend. 

“Hey Y/N you look adorable today,” he smiled at you with a look showing that you were the light of his life, because well frankly, you were. “Thanks Yams,” you mumble as you two exit the room.You both walk in silence for a few minutes as you walk down to the courtyard. Yamaguchi had practice in half an hour and you didn’t have anything to do today after school so you were going to go to the library then head home. The two of you sit in the grass of the courtyard to have a couple minutes to yourselves where the only other people nearby were chatting between themselves and no one would pay any attention to the two of you. It was peaceful and you two loved it. 

“Why are you so quiet today?” 

“Hm” “Y/N you usually have a lot more to say, what’s wrong?” “It’s nothing babe,” you give him the best little smile and just continue to lay into the grass with your head in his lap. You give him a little smile and check your watch. “BABE IT’S ALMOST THREE YOU HAVE TO GO GET DRESSED.” The both of you completely lost track of time and you now jumped up to your feet and pulled each other into a quick hug before Yamaguchi ran off.

“Can I come over after practice?” He shouts at you from halfway across the grass.

“Of course you can!” you smile at him, but you aren't sure if he heard you so you also give him a thumbs up. He turns back and smiles back to you before heading to practice. You on the other hand had nowhere pressing to go. 

You ended up going to the library and getting a couple of books and walking through almost all of the aisles in order to avoid going home. You weren’t opposed to going home but more so about the dreaded fact that you would be alone for at least another two hours. You ended up walking around for a while listening to music to drown out all of your thoughts. 

After almost a half an hour of walking you decide to head back towards your house. You begin to walk down a busy street and end up pulling out one earbud in order to keep yourself alert. As you walk you can’t help but feel eyes on you. Not one person in specific but everyone seemed to be looking at you. You pull your other earbud out to make sure that you’re not accidentally listening to music out loud, and you aren’t so you could only imagine that they were looking at your body. You wanted it all to end and you ended up speed walking down the street in order to get yourself to the other end of the street. You were hurrying down the street, and you wanted nothing more than to be away from all of the busy shops.

“Are you a little boy or a little girl?” someone shouts at you from across the street. You had no idea if that was directed towards you and you didn't even care. THis was the third time today that you heard about your looks. The words struck your heart like a dagger and you couldn’t help but feel the entire weight of the world drop on your shoulders. You put your other earbud in and go as quickly as you can to your house. You didn’t want other people to look at you and you also didn’t want to look at yourself. When you got home you dropped your bag by the door, changed your clothes and went straight to your bed. You turned on some stupid show and just mindlessly watched it while wrapped in blankets. You ended up just sitting there mindlessly until you heard a little knock at your door. “Hmmm” you whine while rolling over to face your door. 

The door creaks open and you can’t help but roll back over to avoid looking at anyone. “Y/N…” oh shit, it’s Yamaguchi. 

You roll back over and sit up smiling at him, “Hey babe how was practice?” You roll over and smile at him. 

He rushes to your side and sits on the edge of the bed with a look of worry striking his face. He rubs your hair and gives you the smallest smile trying to show you that he cares, “heyyy look at me.” You can’t help but turn and see the panic in his eyes. “Y/N tell me whats wrong.”

You can’t help but sit up and pull him into a big hug. You wrap your arms around him and tuck your head into his shoulder., he instinctively wraps his arms around you and puts his hand on the back of your head. 

“Heyyyy tell me what’s going on, I’m here to listen, it’s all okay now.” He quiets you and just tries his best to comfort you. “ I just had a bad day and I-I” you start but don’t want to finish. You love Yamaguchi with your whole heart and you don’t want him to have any more stress than he already has. Volleyball is really picking up for him and you don’t want him to be distracted by you. You are sitting in his arms for a couple of minutes just appreciating the warmth of his embrace. 

You give him a big squeeze before sitting up and looking at him, “I had three people today tell me that I look like a little boy and I don’t have any boobs and it just got stuck in my head. Everyone who is gorgeous has boobs and they are skinny and pretty and I just want bigger boobs and just to be gorgeous and I know it’s stupid but I can’t help myself.” You can't look him in the eye when you are done speaking. 

Yamaguchi sat in silence for a few minutes before he even started to speak. “Y/N” he barely croaks out, “I love you for you. You are the prettiest girl I have ever seen and I wouldn’t change a single thing about you. I want you to see how breathtaking you are. You make me the happiest person on earth and I just can’t name a single thing about you that isn’t gorgeous.” he moves to kiss the top of your head and you can’t help but look straight up into his eyes and see that they are filled with so much love and concern that you almost start crying. He is a sweetheart and doesn’t want you to be upset at all. 

“Y/N, if there is only one criteria to make someone beautiful then that’s like saying only an ace can be good at volleyball and that would mean that I am horrible at volleyball.” “But you know that you aren’t bad at volleyb-” 

“Exactly, one thing doesn't make you pretty or not. And if that is what makes you pretty then I don’t like it. You have a beautiful 

You get all blushy at his words and can’t help but give him the sweetest smile, you love him with your entire heart and pull him into a loving little kiss. He gives you a little kiss, puts his hand on your face and deepens the kiss. You move your body closer to him and wrap your legs around him. The two of you keep kissing as his hands start roaming over your body, he runs his hands up to your boobs and gives each one a little squeeze. 

He breaks from the kiss and blushes really bad before leaning down and giving each of your boobs a little kiss and goes back to kissing you. He didn’t have to say anything else, but having his hands resting on your boobs with a little smile on his face is reassuring. You could feel his love for you and how much he cared about you. You could tell the love you had for each other didn’t rely on something as minimal as looks. He thought that you were beautiful in every single way, and you thought the same about him, it was the most reassuring feeling in the world.Over the next few weeks you found that Yamaguchi would spend a little extra time kissing on your boobs and always found ways of making you feel a little extra loved in that area. He wanted you to be confident in yourself but knew that it took time and he was more than willing to wait so that you would see that you were as gorgeous as he knew you were. 

[random-imagines-blog]

Vampire Heart {Marius De Romanus Oneshot}

Requested by: @horselover1994 Wordcount: 2355 Summary: David introduces you to his obsession.

The underground organization known as the Talasmasca was very much a secret - which was perfect, because keeping secrets was one of it’s sole functions. You had been roped into it when you were arrested for breaking into the archives of a little-known library, looking for information on vampires. Why had you been looking, they had asked you, once you were seated in front of the council. “Small girls may have big imaginations, but I know I didn’t imagine what I had seen when I was young,” was what you had answered. The council only had more questions so eventually, you had to tell your story. What had happened when you were young, what you had overseen, what you had experienced - it was a hard story to swallow, but they had been able to confirm the event that you had come across. “Sometimes, I still get those goosebumps when I am walking around at night.” You told them, looking at your hands rather than the people seated at the table. “I know there’s something still out there, and I need the information, the proof.”

“Luckily you found us then,” The man who had introduced himself as David had said, standing up from his chair. The rest of the council nodded in agreement, and then departed from the room to let David explain to you exactly what the Talamasca was. Even with his explanation, it blew your mind that there was a secret society that kept records on creatures such as werewolves, witches, spirits and especially vampires, which was David’s specialty. You listened as he told you a brief story about the one vampire who always seemed to slip through his fingers, who was a bit of an obsession to him. Marius De Romanus. A tour of his office showed off the paintings of one vampire, and you could feel why David was so intrigued. He was absolutely beautiful, and your heart seemed to want to escape your chest and fly off to find him.

“I feel it too, David, what you feel for Marius,” You admitted to him one day. “I - I can’t explain it but there’s something...” You looked at one of the paintings. He had his finger to his lips in this painting, in a perfect pout that made you lick your bottom lip. “Thank you for showing me these.”

“You’re welcome,” David said, his eye twinkling with excitement that someone else shared his infatuation. When you left his office, you were looking over your shoulder once more at the painting that was still on display. One more step and you wouldn’t see it anymore - and now it was gone. That painting was all that you could think about during the tour through the different offices and libraries, and to your own nook. You were new, so an office of your own would have to wait.

-

The library was full of interesting books, but hardly any of them mentioned the vampire Marius. What was strange to you was that you had come here to find some information on the vampire that had attacked your family, but he had disappeared almost entirely from your mind in exchange for the handsome vampire whose portrait you saw for only a moment. “Please, please, anything, just a tidbit,” You said, pushing your hair out of your face as you went through one of the many tomes.

“Don’t work too hard now,” A friendly voice came up from behind you. Entering the library was David, with a conflicted expression on his face. You didn’t appreciate the break but knew that you needed it, so you slid a bookmark into the book and closed it slowly.

“It’s hard not to - so many resources at my disposal,” You said with a grin. “To be honest, it’s hard not to get sidetracked.”

“I understand that,” David said, nodding. He came up behind you and looked at the title of the book that you had been reading. “Interesting, that one. You must remember your purpose however for being here. Other research can wait until you’ve finished.”

“You’re right,” You sighed, admitting defeat. “How are you today, David?”

“Tonight,” He corrected. “I was wondering if you would like to join me at an event tonight. It is rather fancy dress, but I’m sure we can find you something appropriate.”

“I didn’t know the Talamasca had fancy dress parties,” You said, snorting at the idea of the stuffy-looking librarians you had met dressed up in cocktail dresses. David shook his head, an interested smile on his face as he thought of the same thing.

“Not the Talamasca. The Vampire Lestat.”

-

This was a once in a lifetime offer, so of course you took it. The Talamasca had it’s connections to Lestat through the vampire Jessie, who had once been one of the researchers in the secret organization. David had promised to introduce the two of you, as well as Lestat. He was known to be a bit of a drama queen, so you made sure to dress up enough that he would have no issue with you. Velvet and lace, a choker to protect your neck, your hair styled to perfection. And a spritz of perfume to hopefully hide the smell of the human blood pumping through your veins.

“We won’t be the only humans there,” David said when he had come to pick you up, in equally gothic attire. It wasn’t all that odd to see him like this - the man was almost always dressed in black on a day to day basis. But he had worn his good glasses, which made you realize that he was trying to impress someone.

“You think that Marius will be there?” You questioned, stepping outside of your home and locked the door behind you.

“Well, there is always a chance,” David said, blushing as he was caught. “It’s going to be a grand affair, many vampires, many ... interesting ones.”

“Oh no, we’re going to be the most boring ones at the party,” You teased.

The man in glasses laughed as he escorted you to the car that was taking the two of you to the party. “You have no idea how right you are.”

You weren’t used to fancy parties. Sitting in the couch in your pajamas with a big book and Netflix playing in the background was more your speed. Or even having a few friends around with pizza and a good old game of Cards Against Humanity was the most rambunctious you became. So what you walked into was something that you didn’t know how to prepare for.

Everything was dark, which is what you had expected. The only lighting in the whole place were candelabra and a large chandelier with twinkling crystals catching the lights of the candles within, illuminating the area with a dull yellow light. “It’s beautiful,” You said, looking around at everything. There seemed to be a nature theme along the more macabre, like skulls with rose petals scattered around them, vines leading from the inner walls to the outer where a garden glowing with moonlight was adorned with a still pool, showing there was not even a breeze.

“Well, it is designed by Lestat. He’s got interesting taste,” David said, keeping close to you. The seats were made of velvet, and though most were red, some had animal print. The details on the chairs and couch were leather, which you felt with your hands as you sat down to catch your breath. A woman paler than the stars themselves came around with a tray with wineglasses, one of which you accepted after smelling it to be sure it was not blood.

“Right, so where is the mysterious rockstar?” You asked David, sipping on the red wine. You may not know much about wine, definitely not a connoisseur but this tasted delicious. It took a minute to realize that the sounds were the buzz of other conversations, not of David’s voice, and when you looked up at him, you saw him staring intently in another direction. You followed his eye line to see the man from the paintings, standing there in the flesh.

The vampire’s eyes flickered from David’s to yours, and then stayed on you. He had a glass in hand, and he raised it in a toast. Completely hypnotized by seeing this person who has been on your mind for months, you raised your own. David stepped forward, but a small clique of vampires crossed the room between he and Marius. Once their line had departed, Marius was nowhere to be seen, not even a shadow of where he had been. Completely gone.

“Have you met him before?” You asked David, since the both of you continued to stare at the empty space.

“Once. Months ago,” David said back, clearing his throat and finally looked away.

“I think you should introduce us.” You said, without really thinking, then stumbled to explain yourself. “It would be a good excuse to talk to him again, I mean.”

“Why would you need an excuse to talk to me?” A voice came from beside you. It was more accented than you had thought it would be. The short haired vampire that you and David had been staring at appeared by your side, with hardly a breeze to give evidence to his movements.

“Marius,” David breathed. “You’re here.”

“I was invited. Though the music - is not my taste.” The vampire looked straight at you. Quickly, but in a motion that seemed effortless, he took hold of your hand. It surprised you just how cold he was. This is the closest that you have been to a vampire since your horrible encounter as a child. “I am Marius. I do believe David has told you about me.”

“And shown me your portraits.” You said at David’s expense. It was worth it to see him start to turn pink, although it did worry you how many of the guests here turned to look at him when the blood rushed to his face. “I am y/n, pleasure to meet you at last.”

“Appreciate the night with me.” It came out more as an order than a request but you were more than happy to obey. With his hand still holding yours, the two of you left the party and went out to the grand courtyard, where the moon showed it’s full face. It was a perfect night, with not the slightest chill from the wind. Everything seemed so still, that a breath felt like you were desecrating the place. You kept your lips shut, not wanting to ruin anything with the sound of your breathing. It was very obvious that the vampire next to you was not even pretending to inhale or exhale.

“How are you finding our city?” You asked, unable to handle the stillness any longer. Marius may have eternity to stand around and enjoy the nights, but you had a very human schedule.

“It is very showy,” Marius said, surprising you with a smile. His fangs were slightly noticeable, but that was because you were looking for them. He was alive much too long to feel any sort of insecurity, and so when he caught you, he smiled wider, giving you a better view. “Do you want to feel them?”

“Pardon?” You asked, eyes wide. You caught your horror and laughed it off, hoping you didn’t offend. “I’m not the type who wants to live forever.”

“That is not what I meant,” Marius said, raising an eyebrow. “We are able to bite without turning. As a Talasmacan, I would thought you would know that.”

“Is it that obvious that I am ... one of them?” You asked. If you were to answer his offer, you weren’t sure of what you would say. A yes might stumble out, in a move to attempt to please him.

“Yes, and no,” He said, walking in a circle around you, taking you in from every angle. “I know you are because you came with David, but you are not like the rest of them. You do not seem to see me as a study subject, am I wrong?”

“No,” You said, sighing your relief. You did believe that the Talamsca was full of stuffy people who tended to look at the vampires, werewolves and unknowns of this world as beings, not as the humans that they once were. It was an honor to study around them, but not to be one of them. “You are not wrong. But I must ask, why do you taunt David like that? You know that you are-”

“His obsession?” Marius laughed. “I am well aware, he has been following my life for most of his.” He looked up towards the moonlight, which only showed off the beauty of his face. No painter had gotten him just right yet. There was something about his jawline, his smile, his eyes that they could not capture. “I am more interested in you than in David.”

“Why?” You asked, staring at him. “He knows much more about your vampire culture than I do.”

“Culture?” Marius laughed at the word you used. “No, no. It is not about that. You remind me of someone that I knew long ago, in the beginning of my vampire life. Or unlife, I should say. Someone that I had fallen in love with before my heart had completely turned dark.”

“You still have hearts?” You asked, shocked, then blushed at your interruption. “I’m sorry, please, continue.”

“If we did not have hearts, what would the hunters put their stakes through?” Marius asked with a grin, like it was a funny joke. You laughed nervously, hoping you didn’t offend. “You look exactly like them. You smell like them. I was drawn to you. I feel as if...”

“As if what?” You asked, breath caught in your throat.

“As if I may have another chance.”

“Marius-” The way that he looked at you then, under that moonlight, made you stop speaking for a moment. It was like you had forgotten every word that you knew, save for his name. His eyes - they sparkled with such a longing that it took your breath away. But you eventually found it, swallowed, and continued. “You know that I’m not that person, right?” You questioned.

“I know,” Marius smiled. “But that does not mean that I will not love you.”

[zen3to5]

J/H 4-14: Jackie Says Cheese

Following production order, the next few episodes - "Red and Stacey," "Eric's Hot Cousin," "The Third Wheel," and "An Eric Forman Christmas" all remain unchanged in this timeline. I imagine some of you are surprised "The Third Wheel" didn't come in for a rewrite, and I watched it multiple times looking for an opening myself, but nothing jumped out at me. "Jackie Says Cheese," on the other hand...

(This is another one that was only partially re-written. Some re-written scenes are sequential, and some aren't; you'll know those by the *** separating them. Enough material is the same that I think anyone familiar with the episode can recognize the context for all of these. Just to get us all on the same page: imagine the episode playing out as you know it up until the second scene dealing with Thomas...)

FF.Net AO3

***

INT. HUB - DAY   THOMAS continues to make his own mark as the “foreign kid:” he sits at a round table with TWO PRETTY GIRLS. Over at the wall table, FEZ watches with cold disapproval, while KELSO eats. “Long, Long Way from Home” by Foreigner plays on the jukebox.   THOMAS: (laughing) I don’t know. I’ve just always been good-looking.   He and the girls laugh some more.   FEZ: (to Kelso) Look at that foreign bastard. Cracking up the whores.   KELSO: Yup. That is one sexy accent.   FEZ: Hey, if I pretend to say something funny, will you laugh?   KELSO: What would you pretend to say?   Fez snorts and looks back to Thomas.   FEZ: That Thomas is shady. (to Kelso) And have you noticed he never says what country he’s from?   KELSO: (beat) What country are you from?   FEZ: What country are you from?   KELSO: America.   FEZ: Fine, mystery solved.   He scoffs and turns back to stewing.

***   INT. FORMAN BASEMENT – DAY   A quiet afternoon. HYDE reads in his chair, DONNA reads on the couch, and JACKIE paces up and down the room.   Kelso enters through the basement door.   KELSO: Hey.   Jackie immediately crosses to him.   JACKIE: Michael, I’m broke! I had to buy generic hair conditioner. And now, I have split ends.   KELSO: Well, no one is gonna notice that, baby.   HYDE: (to Jackie) Yeah, they’ll all be looking at that monster zit.   Kelso shrugs, nods, and takes a seat on the couch.   JACKIE: (to Hyde) I have to ration my cover-up. (to Kelso) So find a job already!   KELSO: I’m trying, okay? It’s tough out there.   HYDE: Kelso, you’ve been down here in the basement all day, reading the funnies.   KELSO: And the next page over’s the want ads! I’m getting to it!   Jackie glares down at Kelso, who tries not to look guilty.   DONNA: What about that new store at the mall? The Cheese Palace.   HYDE: “Where curd is king?”   DONNA: The very same.   KELSO: Nah. I saw that place. They’re only hiring for cheese maidens to hand out the free samples. Girl maidens. You know, with boobs and stuff.   Donna looks up at Jackie.   DONNA: Hey, you know who’s an actual girl with boobs and stuff?   JACKIE: Oh, Donna, you don’t have to get a job just for me.   DONNA: I was talking about you, pimple-chin.   JACKIE: Oh, no, no, no, no. I am not getting a job. A job is for poor people. I am a rich person who doesn’t have money. Big diff.   Donna and Hyde roll their eyes.   Kelso looks up at Jackie, leans closer.   KELSO: Hey, is that a blackhead?   Jackie recoils at the thought.   JACKIE: NOOOOOO!   CUT TO:   INT. MALL – DAY   On a mildly busy shopping day, Jackie stands in the courtyard, in full cheese maiden attire, with a tray of free samples. She meekly offers it up to passers-by, who all ignore her.   JACKIE: Cheddar? Cheddar? Cheddar?   FADE TO BLACK   COMMERCIAL   BUMPER   MUSIC NOTE: “Working in the Coal Mine” by Lee Dorsey.   INT. MALL – DAY   Right where we left off. Jackie keeps offering her cheese samples to patrons, none of whom seem interested. But for each effort, Jackie has a rhyme.   JACKIE: Try the Swiss. You can’t miss. Try the Cheddar. It’s even better.   Hyde comes around the corner and stops by Jackie. He looks down at the floor.   HYDE: The floor’s real shiny, and I see your heinie.   Jackie groans, hits him in the chest.   HYDE: Hey, the cheese maiden hit me! Cheese guards, seize her!   JACKIE: God, this job is awful! I’m starting to glisten!   HYDE: You mean, sweat?   JACKIE: No. Girls don’t sweat. Sweating is for boys and pigs. Girls glisten.   HYDE: Like a Christmas ham.   Undeterred by Jackie’s glare, he helps himself to some cheese samples.   JACKIE: Where is Michael? The only reason I have this job is so he and I can be together.   HYDE: In the basement, eating Fritos. (Jackie gasps) Yeah, if he sends in 80 empty Frito bags, he gets a remote-control car.   JACKIE: I’m working for our love, and he’s trying to get a toy car?   HYDE: (shrugs) Hey, bright side is, all that “glisten’s” pushed that blackhead out.   Jackie’s hand goes to her chin as Hyde takes some more cheese.   BUMPER   INT. BASEMENT – DAY   As Donna and Kelso watch TV (Kelso with a bag of Fritos), Fez paces up and down the room, muttering to himself.   FEZ: Thomas. Thomas. Thomas!   He stops, leans on the back of Hyde’s chair.   FEZ (cont’d): What I have to do is show everyone that I am cooler than Thomas. You know, I once saw the Fonzie do something on TV that just might do the trick.   CUT TO:   EXT. BEACH – DAY   FANTASY SEQUENCE. The whole gang, plus Thomas and the two girls from earlier, are gathered on a pier. Fez is the Fonz, complete with leather jacket, while everyone else is dressed for the beach.   FEZ: I am now going to jump over a shark on water skis to prove that I’m the coolest foreign exchange student in Point Place.   THOMAS: (scoffs) He’ll never make it.   DONNA: Shut up. He can do it. He’s – the Fez!   The gang all nod in support.   FEZ: Okay. Here I go. Hit it.   And off he goes, to a series of obviously blue-screened shots miming water skiing and stock footage of a great white shark. Fez takes time to break the fourth wall with a smile and a thumbs up.   Back at the pier, the gang cluster together, Donna holding onto ERIC and Jackie surrounded by Hyde and Kelso.   ERIC: He’s crazy, man! He’s crazy!   HYDE: He’s at the ramp!   An even more artificial shot fakes the act of jumping the shark as Fez cries out in triumph. Cut to him climbing back onto the pier and receiving congratulatory cheers, pats, punches, and hugs by the gang and Thomas’s two girls.   JACKIE: You suck, Thomas!   Thomas’s face runs with artificial sitcom tears.   ERIC: Fez, you jumped that shark, and you’re not even wet.   FEZ: That’s ‘cause I’m cool-a-mundo. Ai!   He gives two thumbs up and grins.   CUT TO:   INT. FORMAN BASEMENT – DAY   Back to reality. Fez is grinning here too. He looks down at Donna and Kelso.   FEZ: What do you think?   DONNA: Not only is that the worst idea I’ve ever heard, it was the worst moment in television history.   FEZ: (beat) Yeah, you’re right. I stopped watching after that episode.   KELSO: I kinda liked it.   Donna gives him a long stare; he inches away from her.   FEZ: THOMAS!   And back to pacing he goes.   ***   EXT. ROAD – NIGHT   Kelso’s Samba out on the dark backwoods’ streets. Fez is behind the wheel, Kelso in the passenger’s seat, and Thomas right behind them, an arm on either chair.   THOMAS: How exciting. My first American road trip. I can’t wait to see Lake Dillhole.   Fez, with a small, sly grin, pulls over and puts her in park.   FEZ: Well, the wait is over. We’re here. (to Thomas) Now, hop out, you crazy son of a gun.   Thomas, beaming, jumps out of the van. Kelso takes a careful look around the area.   KELSO: This is the Michigan border.   FEZ: Well, what do you know?   Thomas looks in through the drivers’ side window.   THOMAS: So where is Lake Dillhole?   FEZ: (pointing) Oh, it’s right there, behind the Get Bent Memorial. So, get bent, dill-hole!   He throws the van back into drive and takes off down the road. He and Kelso share a quiet laugh.   KELSO: That was a sweet burn, man.   FEZ: You don’t have to tell me.   KELSO: (beat) I don’t wanna take away from your moment, but we did just leave a high school kid stranded in the middle of nowhere, and his host parents are probably gonna want to look for him. (beat) And the cops.   He and Fez share a look. Fez spins the wheel, and they both lurch as the van turns around.   CUT TO:   INT. MALL – NIGHT   Jackie on the night shift. She continues to fail at drawing in samplers. Donna watches her with a big smile from the rim of a large plant pot, while Hyde stands just off to her side, sneaking cheese samples as she tries to solicit shoppers.   JACKIE: (to patrons) The Gouda’s so good-a. The Havarti’s a party.   Hyde reaches for a sample further down the tray. Jackie slaps his hand away.   JACKIE (cont’d): Quit it! Steven, why do you keep eating all my cheese?   HYDE:  We’re in Wisconsin. (takes a bite) Hey, this Havarti is a party!   He motions for Donna to come over. She joins them and takes a sample herself.   JACKIE: Oh, my God, this is awful! A few minutes ago, I smelled stinky cheese. And it was me!   HYDE: Hey, I stink after work too. Of course, that stink’s got nothing to do with work. And ganja ain’t no Gouda.   Jackie shakes her head, passes him the whole cheese tray and starts to walk away. Hyde and Donna follow.   HYDE (cont’d): Come on, Jackie. This can’t be that bad.   DONNA: Yeah. And you got this job so you could be with Kelso. I mean, doesn’t that make it satisfying?   JACKIE: NO!   Kelso and Fez come around the corner. Kelso smiles at Jackie, but she holds a finger up before he can say a word.   JACKIE (cont’d): Michael, I love you, but I am not cut out for work. I’m cut out for having rich people give me things. I’m sorry, but I can’t do this.   Just as she says this, her MANAGER comes up behind her and presents her with an envelope. He walks back into the store as Jackie opens it up.   JACKIE (cont’d): Oh, my gosh. It’s a check! And that’s my name! Mine!   She shows it off to Hyde, bobbing on her feet. Kelso starts to bob too.   KELSO: (to Jackie) All right, so we can stay together!   JACKIE: Yeah, and I can still be rich!   KELSO: Yeah! You know, we deserve a celebration. Hey, let’s go buy me a remote-control car.   JACKIE: No, Michael. Money doesn’t grow on trees. (gasps) Money doesn’t grow on trees. You know, I think having a job is changing me. Okay, think about it: a whole new me.   HYDE, FEZ, DONNA, & KELSO: (beat) That’d be great.   Jackie pouts at them all, takes back her cheese tray, and heads out into the courtyard.

[keeroo92]

Be My Nightmare Ch7

And Effect

Warnings for gore and emergency situations.

Word count - 2,463

~~~~Previous Chapter~~~~

___________

---Reader---

By the end of the hour-long group session, Kelly managed to make a clumsy outline of an airliner. A small victory, considering the fuss she made.

Who doesn’t like birds? Honestly…

But it wasn’t your place to judge, only to treat. The biases and preconceptions you carried could never be allowed to influence your work, not if you were going to be an effective behavioral psychologist. That was the plan. As long as you didn’t fuck everything up, it might still work out.

You smiled at Kevin as he led V away, the last patient to depart. His canvas featured a gravity-defying youth, panic-stricken and frantic as feathers drifted away from his disintegrating wings. A shadowy figure floated nearby, but the artist didn’t have enough time to add much detail to poor Daedalus. Probably for the best.

A sharp trill pulsed from your pocket. You fished out your cell and glared at the screen; only one person ever called this early.

“Hi, dad.”

Tinny rock music played in the background, laughter and conversation a clear indicator of where he was. Of course.

Here we go again.

“Hi, sweetie! It’s been a long time, how are you?”

Despite the fact no one remained to overhear, you still tensed and scanned the room. “Uh, I’m okay. At work.”

A raucous roar of delight; it must be trivia night. He never missed it. “Can’t you spare a few minutes for your old man?”

You pursed your lips and tilted your head, taking a seat as you surrendered. Once he got a few drinks in, there wasn’t much point saying no. He’d just call back until you answered.

“I guess. I don’t have long, though.”

“You still at the nuthou- oh! Silence of the Lambs!”

Another cheer. He must be doing well today. Where the hell was Peter? “You really shouldn’t call it that. It’s a psychiatric hospital.”

“Right, right, sorry. Any interesting kooks lately?”

You rolled your eyes. No matter how many times he asked, the answer never changed. Not that he’d remember it tomorrow, but it was the principle of the thing! “You know I can’t tell you. It’s illegal.”

The timbre of the music shifted, a new song blaring through the ancient speakers of his favorite haunt. You closed your eyes and pinched the bridge of your nose. Not much longer, he always got distracted after a few minutes. All you needed to do was stay calm and not react when he inevitably said something rude or just plain stupid.

“Awww, you’re no fun! Can’t you find a loophole? You were always so good at that.”

There it is. I can always count on you, dad…

“There’s not really anything to tell, anyway. Even if I could talk about it, it’s pretty boring.”

Deflect, deflect, deflect. Wait him out and let him guide the conversation without letting him steamroll you. Never instigate or react emotionally, that only made him do the same. You could deal with your own feelings later, for now you needed to keep them hidden.

“C’mon, you work with crazy people! How boring can it be?”

You forced a dry chuckle from your throat. “You’d be surpri-“

A harsh chime screamed its fury before you finished speaking. You winced and almost dropped the phone; did you forget about a drill or something?

“Dad, I gotta go! Something’s up!”

You didn’t even try to hear his response. Emergency protocols already flooded your mind, the klaxon instantly sending you into crisis mode. There was no time to lose.

Fuck, fuck, fuck!

The sleeves of your lab coat snapped through the air as you snatched the checklist and jogged to the door. Whatever was happening, the first step was always the same; taking a headcount.

The security gate stood ajar, unmanned as all personnel had far more important tasks than to push a button. Stepping through without so much as a pause threw the situation into sharp focus; this was no drill.

This is really happening.

Beads of adrenaline-fueled sweat broke across your forehead, eyes dilated and darting. The soles of your shoes slapped against the floor, faster and faster with every heartbeat. You took the stairs three at a time yet still it felt too slow. Never had the third floor seemed farther away.

Calm down, Y/N! You can’t afford to let panic control you right now!

By the time you reached the high secure wing, Aaron had most of the orderlies racing into position. Several patients already wore cuffs, obediently staying in a staff member’s line of sight. There was Jacob, under Rob’s watchful eye. Over there, Veronica and a pair of men in staff uniforms stared wide-eyed at the growing crowd. Someone was screaming, almost as loud as the alarm.

It was ordered chaos.

Where’s V?

The artist was nowhere to be seen. Kevin was conspicuously absent as well, maybe he was having trouble wrangling the sly bastard? What if the chaos triggered another episode? How would you get him out?

“Dr. Waras! What the hell happened?”

Kotomi. At least she was where she was supposed to be. Her dark eyes flew from one patient to the next, every limb frozen in sheer terror. At the alarm or the patients, you weren’t sure. Probably both.

“I don’t know yet! Is anyone missing?”

“I- I don’t know! I just got here!” she cried. Useless.

She squeaked as Oliver dashed past her, Ben barely a step behind. All around you, staff danced into position as if performing an intricate ballet. While fear featured heavily among the familiar faces, none but your best friend stood paralyzed by it.

God damnit, Kotomi!

“Get a hold of yourself, Dr. Ishida!” you snapped, glaring at her even as you marked off names on your list. “This isn’t the time to fall apart!”

She was shaking like a leaf, fluid gathering in her eyes at your harsh words. The blaring alarm drowned out the sound of her choked breathing, but the jolting motion of her chest laid it out for all to see. Another figure shoved their way by her and she flinched.

Fucking useless. I’m going to have to do her job, too.

“Fine, just stay out of the way!”

If she responded, you didn’t hear it as you left her behind. You had a job- no, two jobs to do. You didn’t have time to babysit her, she’d have to get through it by herself.

“Aaron! Talk to me!”

The hulking man gave one last command to whomever he was talking to and joined you. Not a hint of fear marked his face and you thanked your lucky stars Malphas had the foresight to hire a veteran for the position. He’d probably seen far worse than this, more than once.

“Right, we’ve got three missing! Kevin, Ken Sinclair and V, Mark and his team are on it! Everyone else accounted for and ready for evac!”

Shit, Ken too? No doubt he’s going to fight tooth and nail, probably thinks the cat made its move.

A full minute, already wasted. Not fast enough. “Keep me posted, I-“

The atrocious screech of the alarm vanished as red emergency lights flicked on. Your heart sank even as your ears rang. Red meant fire.

Where the fuck is V?!

Aaron’s intense grey gaze locked with yours, haunted with the knowledge of what might go wrong in the next few minutes. “We gotta go, now!”

“Right, start evacuating. I’ll try and reach the others.”

He nodded and started barking orders, waving his hands until the horde obeyed his commands. With each face that walked past, another check marked their names on your list. Only two patients remained blank.

Not good.

Malphas was going to eviscerate you.

---V---

He nearly laughed when the insistent wail began. That was faster than he’d imagined, how perfect.

“Shit, we gotta move!” Kevin said.

V rolled his eyes and kept pissing. Nature waited for no man. Besides, how much danger could he possibly be in? Ken couldn’t have done that much damage…

Remember, no detail is insignificant.

“Indeed,” the artist replied, answering both Kevin and Vergil as one.

With a final shake, he finished up just as Kevin’s thick hands gripped his biceps. The artist smirked but allowed the blundering fool to guide him from the bathroom, headed to the stairs and likely back to his quarters. Truly, Ken must’ve barely managed to trigger the alarm.

From the corner of his eye, he spotted motion. He turned to face it and took note; all the security gates stood open. Perhaps this was his chance? He could easily overpower Kevin and run, who knew if he’d get a better chance?

No, better to wait. I cannot afford to fail and I lack the knowledge to ensure success.

Kevin waved him through first, his watery eyes wide and watchful. No, he needed more information before making his move. For now, he’d cooperate and observe. As Vergil said, no detail he saw today was insignificant.

“Go down, we’re evacuating,” Kevin said.

A promising start. Where would they evacuate to, though? The courtyard? The parking lot?

The wail of the siren cut out and the fluorescent lights shifted, crimson security bulbs coming to life every few feet. He smirked; his favorite color.

Well, close enough.

“Shit,” Kevin muttered.

“What? What’s happening?” V asked. Any information the buffoon shared could only serve to aid his future plots.

“I don’t know, but those lights only turn on if there’s actually a fire.”

Oh, well done, Ken! I underestimated you!

He hummed and waited at the door to the first floor. A series of short clicks broke out from a speaker overhead and Kevin frowned. The artist raised an eyebrow and stared at him, a silent question locked in his gaze.

“That means the high secure patients are about to enter the stairwell.”

“And what of the other patients?”

Thick shoulders heaved in a mystified shrug. Unfortunate, it may have been fruitful to meet more of the potential tools…

The security door leading to the intake area stood open, not a soul to be seen as the two men progressed to the front door. It surprised V; where was everyone?

He found his answer mere seconds later as he felt sunlight touch his skin for the first time in weeks. A churning mass of people stood in groups amongst the trees, all color of scrubs mixed together as patients and staff found their proper spots. Voices called out names and he heard sobbing, a few peals of inappropriate laughter mixed in.

“Right, come on,” Kevin ordered, gesturing to the side.

They kept to the edges of the horde, never more than an arm’s length from the bland building. V noted that the first floor windows lacked bars, a weakness he may yet be able to exploit. Already, Ken’s gift bore fruit.

Kevin led him to the barren east parking lot and paused. “This is it.”

The artist hummed and panned his gaze. He hadn’t seen much on his way in, not from the back of the prison transport. Time to gather information. When he ultimately made his escape, he’d need a solid plan to leave the premises.

This had to be the guest parking lot; most of the spaces remained vacant. Towering oaks and firs stood watch on the fringes, a gravel path meandering through their ancient trunks. Through the heavy foliage he caught glimpses of stonework; a wall must wrap around the facility. Somewhere in the distance, the familiar whoosh of a busy roadway announced its presence.

“Here they come,” Kevin commented.

Indeed, a troupe of somewhat recognizable faces approached from the great crowd. There was Kelly, morose as ever. He didn’t see Ken or you, but there was that horrible woman he’d seen you leave with. What a treat it would be to peel her face from her skull and show it to her.

Soon enough.

Yet one face was achingly absent – where were you?

---Reader---

“Ken! Ken, where are you?”

You were running out of time. Unless you were willing to break protocol, you needed to evacuate in the next three minutes and join the others.

Yet you still couldn’t find Ken. Or Kevin.

Or V…

You pursed your lips and shoved the next door open, the last of the mid secure quarters. Nothing.

“Shit.”

Panic tugged at your mind as you turned toward the next door. It didn’t make any sense, none of them had any reason to be in the mid secure gymnasium, but you still needed to check. You were responsible for the entire third floor, every room needed to be cleared before you left.

I wouldn’t have to do this crap if they’d all been where they were supposed to be!

And damn Kotomi, she should’ve taken half the floor herself. Over thirty rooms, and you had a total of eight minutes to check them all. Absurd.

You froze as the gymnasium door creaked open under your palm.

“Ken… what did you do?”

His crumpled form lied on the stretching mats, facing the far wall. A metal bin beside him crackled, flames reaching over the lip. Another body lied near the weight benches, a barbell drenched in blood and brain matter beside it. The head was so crushed you didn’t know who it was, but the blue scrubs gave him away as an orderly. You sagged in relief, even though you still had no idea where V was.

Bile flooded your mouth as you forced yourself closer, avoiding the spattered gristle to take the fire extinguisher. The stench of death hung heavy in the air, feces and urine and that special scent only found in cadavers. You hadn’t smelled it in years, but it was impossible to forget. It was even worse than you remembered when mixed with burning flesh and smoke.

You didn’t spare a glance at Ken as you readied the nozzle and sprayed, white foam shooting out to stifle the fire. An acrid chemical tang tickled your irritated nostrils but you ignored it, keeping your focus where it mattered.

The moment the flames went out, you went to Ken. The orderly was obviously beyond help, but you tried not to think about that. One life might still hang in the balance.

Burns were far from your specialty, but even a child would know his arms were in bad shape. Black and red patches dappled his flesh, bubbles of pus and ichor already forming. Several fingers looked beyond repair, nails melted away and white bone glistening in what remained.

“Oh, no…”

You reached down and searched for a pulse, only daring to breathe once you found the rapid rhythm. He was alive.

For now… but where the hell is V?

~~~~Next Chapter~~~~

[the-gunslock]

Hiver 2 - Gunslock

This is the story of how I got this title months ago, and why I stuck with it.

At the dawn of a new day, Hiver and her two Hunter clanmates, Selene and Reyla, were off to seek their allies in the Tower Courtyard, joking the whole way. They are immortal, but they love to make every second count.

“…Hawthorne went ‘Dead Orbit?’ and I was like–”

“Gunslock.”

They heard someone shout. All of them got confused and tried to find the source of the call. Turns out it was two Hunters who were loitering near the railings, looking at Hiver’s fireteam. They approach them. Selene, although confused, decides whatever they have to do for the day is more important than these two.

“Uhm. Can we help you?” She asks in annoyance, hoping to get it over with soon.

“Yeah, this one Warlock here…she made a name for herself around her fellow Strike fireteams. You, as Hunters, oughta be ashamed of it.” One of the Hunters, an Awoken, replies to them, scratching his chin, voice full of venom.

“What does Gunslock even mean.” Hiver questions flatly.

“It means,” the second one steps up, replying beneath his rusty greenish Prodigal Mask, “that you’re doing a better job at being a Gunslinger than actual Gunslingers.”

Hiver’s hand unconsciously floats over her thigh where her cannon is stored.  “A… Gunslinger… Warlock?”

“Ya think just because you got a Cayde’s fancy Hand Cannon,” He points towards her replica of the Ace of Spades, “and can shoot some heads, it means you can try to step into our turf?” He asks, his body language smug and accusatory. It almost feels like a challenge.

“I’m better than them?” Hiver turns to her friends, puzzled. “…Am I better than you? I know I was revived a bit earlier, but…” Both shrug. Hiver turns back at the Hunter, eyebrow raised.

They trade looks, impatient. The Awoken one transmats on his white Floating Cowl helmet and makes a proposition. “How about a showdown, smartass? Braytech, Mars, one hour. Bring your best cannon.”

Hiver shrugs at this situation. “Sure, I think. Just gotta do our thing here at the Tower.”

The Hunters transmat away, into their ships. The clanmates go get their bounties and soon they’re also on their ships, on their merry way to Mars.

“An actual ‘standoff’. I thought these only existed in fiction.” Trinity, Hiver’s Ghost, comments, bobbing beside her in the ship’s cockpit.

“Something’s not right. They felt crooked to me.” Reyla states, thinking out loud. “These guys are weird. Hiver, be careful.”

Trinity looks at Hiver in worrying. “Do you girls mind watching my back?” The Warlock indulges, arms behind her seat’s headrest.

“Sure. I’ll keep them on the other side of my scope.” Reyla replies, loading her Long Shadow sniper.

“Selene?”

“I’ll do the best I can.” The other Hunter loads a clip into her Jade Rabbit scout rifle. “Joan,” she whispers to her own Ghost. “Patch through to Ana. Send that footage, tell her that this could be dangerous. Just in case.”

They exist Slipspace and quickly enters Mars’ orbit. The three guardians meet in front of the BrayTech Futurescape, right beside Rasputin’s Escalation Protocol pillar. Ana is looking on from inside her headquarters with her optic enhancements.

Hiver, laid back, left hand on her belt and right one near her thigh, is facing the first Guardian, the one with the Prodigal Mask. His stance was alert, almost predatory, and his gauntlets were crude, with metal crooked and bent in all directions; If she didn’t know any better, she would have thought it was just improvised armor. 

However, her miserable Crucible matches made her aware that these bent blades were a piece of Exotic armor – Shards of Galanor. On his leg, a black gun with green lights, one she didn’t immediately recognize.

But she had a hunch. One that gave the duel higher stakes if she was right.

Trinity was out of sight, playing an old, pre-Golden Age song. Intense, instrumental, said to be a theme of a famous movie about duels of old Hunters. Perched in the unused trains to the east, Reyla sat with her sniper at the ready. Peeking from around a corner, Selene was ready to run in at any sign of danger.

The Hunter’s companion was nowhere to be seen. Hiver’s Eye of Another World helmet highlighted an enemy behind her, so she could only assume it was him, and not some stray Hive Acolyte. Escalation Protocol was not active. It seems they went a great length to clear out the showdown area.

The music only got more intense as time went on, and the Hunter spoke.

“You shouldn’t get that close, lady.”

“I’m like ten meters away from you.” Hiver said, her hand begging to draw Ace at any moment.

“No.”

The other Hunter, using his crisp-white Sixth Coyote vest, has managed to quickly close the gap behind the Warlock, putting her in a full Nelson hold.

She can’t move.

He’ll probably break her shoulders or neck. She silently panics for a while, while her clanmates are listening in on the comms, trying to understand just what is going on.

The first Hunter takes some steps towards them and takes his gun, fiddling with it. “Looking for his cannon too, are ya? You do not know what you’re getting into by going after ‘every Hand Cannon that exists.’” He said, nodding at her leg where Ace was holstered. “Think you could convince that foolish rat with his little game at the Tower into turning a blind eye to your ‘collecting’? He prolly did.”

He twirls his bulky gun in his hand before turning it towards the Warlock’s head. It reeks of death.

“But we didn’t. You’re gonna have to get this one eventually. And when you do… you’re sealing the deal of who you really are… Dredgen.”

Trinity sends a sign to Reyla. At the same time she shoots the cannon out of the Hunter’s hand, Hiver unleashes a Thunderstrike out of her hands into her captor, who is staggered and lets her go. She elbows him in the face and notices the Prodigal Hunter leaping into the air, channeling Solar energy to his knives. The white-armored hunter behind her is trying to grab ahold of her again, this time with his knife in hand.

Selene jumps out of cover and manages to shoot his chest with Jade Rabbit and cause him to flinch, giving Hiver the chance to blink forward as the Prodigal Hunter launches his Blade Barrage, mistakenly hitting and killing his ally.

Mirroring Cayde’s performance in the Prison of Elders, Hiver uses her blink momentum to slide under the airborne hunter and shoot him in the chest and throat with Ace, causing him to lose all chance of a smooth landing and crashing near his friend, almost dead.

The Warlock catches her breath and examines the Prodigal’s gun as she walks past. She recognizes its luminescent, arcane smoke. The otherworldly fear that this one gun represented – just now pointed towards her.

Thorn.

It’s back. She didn’t even know.

She holsters Ace and walks up to their bodies. The first Hunter, who wore white armor themed after the Trials of the Nine, laid deceased and his body bled from where the Prodigal Hunter’s knives hit. The other wasn’t dead, but was choking and struggling to breathe.

“Shadow.” She said, her voice full of spite over almost ending all her lives to the hand of two insane, power-hungry vermin.

He coughs. “Yeah… So what?” He tries getting up, but simply doesn’t have the strength. “You think yourself a hero, like… like the Man with the Golden Gun?” He points towards his fallen Thorn. “D’you dare to use the Dark… if it meant you got what you wanted?”

Hiver remained silent. He continues. “You two… are just as foolish. We… we do. It’s… heh– incredible. Addicting. And… there’s…” wheeze “so many more. You think… you can out-shoot us all?”

Having enough of this man, Hiver plants a foot on his chest and puts one of Ace’s bullets through his head. She twirls it and puts it back on her leg. Even though she has that wish to grant herself – she doesn’t dare touch the Shadow’s Thorn. Her connection to the Light feels rotten by even coming near it.

Reyla and Selene are slowly coming to rendezvous, guns still in hand. Ana has contacted the Vanguard and is reporting the situation to them. Trinity pops out of transmat near Hiver’s chest. “You know, they are Guardians too. They can just come back after you if they have Ghosts.”

With that, the squad hears the characteristic summoning of a Golden Gun. They all look back to see the bandits’ Ghosts being destroyed in two fiery explosions, the last one shattering the corrupted cannon on the ground.

Looking around, they spot the source. A meddling Gunslinger, wearing battered, outdated armor. But he stood with pride, and it showed, even though his face was covered by his visor. And, under it, perhaps a layer of satisfaction.

“Warlock. Hunters.” He greeted. His voice was deep, almost guttural. She greeted back with a thankful nod.

“Hello.”

The Hunter eyed the ashen bullet-hole that his Golden Gun left on the ground where Thorn was. He quickly turned to the fireteam, and all he uttered was a slow, very clear “Nice work”.

The Fireteam was ready to leave it at that and go on with their day.

That is until the Gunslinger turned around to leave and, under the swooshing motion of his tattered cloak, the women spotted the glint of a golden hand cannon on his leg.

[keevansixx]

The Future Was Now...

I heard an interesting opinion concerning sub-cultures and why, in today’s age, you almost never see any sub-culture being represented on the streets anymore. When you do spy one of these rare individuals out in the wild, it’s like some rare mythical beast of a thing...fleeting, fierce, and wonderous. 

Welcome to generation V (V as in “Virtual”, and not vain, vibrant, vitriol, vivacious, nor victor) 

The sub-cultures of the past have all died, their digital ghosts haunt the databases like the proverbial zombies of old. Resurrected every so often to wistful nostalgia, and as meme fodder for the youth of today. Gone, are the days of artfully attired denizens of the world... languidly rambling to and fro across the surface of the land, spreading creativity in their wake like massive glaciers carving rivulets in the tapestry of the earth to be witnessed by eyes unseen, and thoughts unbridled. No....those days are long gone and forgotten.

Here I sit, alone in a box of my own design. Shackled to a monitor who’s glow is the only ambient light in the room, I watch the world scroll by in 1′s and 0′s rendered in pixel point perfection into images that my mind perceives as pictures of a world I no longer see, in a land I no longer feel, and a place that only resembles what one would call home. I no longer leave the confines of my prison. No toe crosses the threshold of my room....it’s safe here, and everything I need is in the box....no need to leave, no need to explore, no need to wander anymore. 

I’m told what I should eat...and I do so. I’m told what I should be thinking...and I do so. Anything contrary to the will of the mob is quelled with harsh criticisms, threats, and heavy handed browbeating from the lowest common denominator. “No!...thou shall not think outside the box! Thou shalt follow the thought speak of the masses! Thou shalt not have an original thought or opinion! Those are reserved for the popular chattel that have earned their vanity marks in the digital realm.” I’m to remain a good obedient little digital puppet to the will of the masses. I’m told how I should dress....and I do so. The almighty digital overlords demand acquiescence, obedience, and submission to their cyber-hubris. “No creativity allowed that exceeds that of the common person, lest you offend...lest you shame...lest you make feel....the mighty digital overlords.”

“Sounds like a pretty shitty way to live.”...and you’re right...it is.

It starts on any given day, on any given week, of any given year...

I open the window. the moonlight pours in from a harvest moon I haven't seen since I was a kid, alone in the dark, watching the stars go by. I throw on some shoes that were the huge internet trend a few months ago, everybody just absolutely had to get them to be in the vouge of the moment, and walk to the door. Stepping out side, I hear the chime of the monitor, the chirp chirp of the phone screaming out for my immediate attention “Message! Alert! Come respond NOW!” the annoying braying pings, whistles, chirps, and bells that demand obedience and response. 

I close the door behind me to the sound of stillness...the sonic detritus silenced by wood and glass, and I beheld the night in all it’s splendor...….glorious!

For the first time in a very long while....I have an original thought. 

“What if I'm not the only one..?” “what if, there are others out there like me?” “what if...we found each other?”

Over the many weary months that followed, I slowly weaned myself, bit by agonizing digital bit, from the shackles that bound me to my electronic prison. As each day and night passed, I spent more and more time away. Wandering the empty paths I once trod in my youth. It’s empty now....very few wander anymore outside of those whom make the world turn through service, and the multitude of electronic zombies (E-Zomb’s) faces crammed into phone screens, that move back and forth following their scripted paths of life. Just grunts or the half-hearted handwave to acknowledge that they are still breathing and alive.

I sit alone beneath a large tree in the center of town, watching it all go by...a little notebook open in my lap, where I jot down the most interesting thoughts that pop into my brain from time to time, when I see a purple post-it note pinned to the tree with a thumbtack. On it is an artful picture of an eye wearing a butterfly wing in it’s corner crease, with a small address and time and no designation. I take the note, and put it into my notebook to await evening at the appointed time...curious, but still a little bit cautious.

the sky is a beautiful velvet purple and crimson as the sun sets and I near my destination from the note. I walk along a sidewalk counting the building numbers as I go by, various lamps and street posts begin to ignite into glowing life in the growing dusk. I stop between two buildings, note in my hand, I count the two and note that the number skips one between the two building fronts. I hear old music drifting on the wind between the two storefronts and notice a small painting of an eye with butterfly wings off a ways down the narrow alley between buildings. I step off the well trod sidewalk, and follow the sounds down the alley until I reach a courtyard....like the kind one finds in the special places of New Orleans that aren’t on the tourist maps, nor social media posts.

there are strings of lights everywhere, a few odd pieces of art statues, and wrought iron scattered across the courtyard. sitting on benches are kids in old hippie clothes, goth kids lurking near the stairwells, art kids wearing whatever the hell they stitched together out of a scrap bin and dancing in small groups to whatever was flowing out the speakers surrounding the area. I see street kids, and punk kids, rappers and writers huddled around tables furiously scribbling down lyrics and rhyme. Skaters talking about their latest gnarly shred, plain janes and joes talking about life and oppression....in a word...it was old scenes alive and well and very much kicking in a little courtyard in the middle of nowhere.

I get approached by one of the goth kids and a beautiful hippie girl. They both had smiles on their faces and a welcoming look.

The goth is the first to speak, “hey, new guy....you look a little lost. Anything we can do to help?”

I pull out the purple note and reply tentatively “Not all who wander are lost...”

“and not everyone who do are found....welcome!” beamed the hippie girl.

“well to be honest, it was blind curiosity that led me here, so far....*looking around*....I'm not disappointed.”

The goth dude looks sideways at me, then asks. “so....how long have you been unplugged?”

“About 6 months now, it’s not been easy.”

“Six months? Damn man.....you been alone all this time?”

“Yes....but it gave me time to think, to dream, to see a world I was no longer part of.”

“Wow....that’s deep, Mr. moody.....*eyeroll giggles* welcome to the club!!!” Hippy gal chimes in, “we all found our own ways out of the web in one way or another and sort of found each other by happy accident. You....well, you found one of our calling cards we throw up from time to time for a moot, just to touch bases and stay in touch.”

“Moot???” I reply.

The goth snorts a bit and broodingly says “Moot....a meet-up, soiree, party, get together, picnic, graveyard bash, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.” with profound dramatic hand waving. ”We meet up a few times a month in various locales to hob nob with the other unplugged, and share ideas or show off what’s been happening in our own scenes. Art, music, poetry, crafts...basically, all the best of us with none of the digital chains......everything’s on the table, and nothing is taboo. Within reason, of course *smirks* get too lewd and the community here is good about looking out for one another....fair warning.”

“Point taken. Understood. So, why the notes? Why not advertise on a board or through alts?”

Hippie gal grins, and says “Because, sugar, we’re old school.....analog, no digital...rockin’ the paper tags like the punks of old. Only those who unplug, and really start to notice the world around them will find us....like you. Notes on trees...that’s my contribution, people rarely ever look at the trees these days...too busy online with their faces crammed into their phones to notice. The goth crews tag the cemeteries and dark places, other kids leave clues in whatever scene they happen to be in, and we cross post the messages word of mouth in our own ways when we find out about the different moots going on across the cities. Tonight, it’s here in the garden with my tribe, next time it could be anywhere...you just have to keep your eyes open up for the clues as they place them. When in absolute doubt...always check the library...the dungeon/dragon kids always cross post every event they hear about in the stacks. We’re off grid baby! the ultimate “fuck you!” to the digital world. No chains, no obligations, 0 fucks given....living the life that was taken from us one soul at a time. 

“Ok, so no online presence. check. Moots posted in randoms if I'm paying attention. check. If lost, check the stack for tags. anything else i’m missing?”

“Well, only thing else is snail....”

“Snail?”

“Snail mail....post office. Look, you’re going to meet people here...If you play your cards right, you might even get land addy’s from some of them. you want to stay in touch? Snail, or wait for the next moot to IRL face time. either way, you’re going to have to dust off those ancient writing skills if you want to stay in the loop. You don’t have to commit to anything...this isn’t an obligation, nor requirement, but it’s old common courtesy to reply when someone sends you a snail. Take a chance! you might just be surprised at what you get.”

“ummm, thanks?”

“No problem....and welcome to the revolution.”

I spend the rest of the evening being introduced to the different groups, watching the event as it unfolds. Being exposed to new ideas, and feelings I haven’t felt for a long long time. I get a few land addy’s from various patrons, and give out mine. It’s kind of nice, being here...in the moment. 

the moot winds down, with groups and couples slowly wandering off into the night. I make my way over to a 24hr diner and grab a bite to eat. a few of the attendees are there as well grabbing coffee, or eats, and we continue conversations we had started a few hours earlier. It was a good night.

I make my way home in the early dawn, and for once, in my long life...I feel a sense of profound peace. Like everything, for just one brief moment in the world, is alright. A new glimmer of hope in my mind, and countless dreams just waiting for me to dream. life....is good.

I open the door to my home, the chimes of my digital masters fall on deaf ears for once, and I sleep the peace of the newly freed...

Sometimes, the most profound acts of rebellion involve the most simple of things, like removing oneself from that which binds you....

Welcome to a new sub-culture...may you free yourself from your virtual prisons, break the chains, and take a journey into the unknown. 

this is Generation V.....signing off.....

[asmadison]

Surprise Wedding ~ @EddieCole_ @WyattLDonovan @MandiCole_

Fi: Everything was going smoothly so far. Eddie and I dropped off the dresses and suits at the venue yesterday. He was also able to drop off the cake and some of the food since there was a full kitchen available. Such a time saver. Mandi loved the idea of a spa day, especially since she wasn’t pregnant this time around. She was still getting her makeup done so I was able to sneak out to the ladies’ room and text Eddie about pretend car trouble. He was with Wyatt and Willow. A few minutes later I got a text from him about meeting them for a late lunch. Just like we planned. I returned to the salon to wait for Mandi. If I could just stop from smiling so much this might work. ——————- Eddie: When my phone beeped, I made sure to keep the smile from crossing my face. I told Wyatt that the girls were okay, but that the car wouldn’t start. He asked if Mandi was freaking out and I chuckled, “No, but her phone went dead so Fi sent me a message letting me know. They want to know if we can get the car running or pick them up.” He nodded and went to gather up Willow’s diaper bag and everything. I quickly sent a message back to Fi about lunch and scooped Willow up, waiting for Wyatt to get ready. ____________ Wyatt: I was a little worried that Mandi might be upset, but at least Fi was with her. I just hoped the car trouble was nothing too serious. Once I had Willow’s things in the diaper bag, I returned to Eddie. He was making funny faces at Willow making her laugh. I watched them for a few minutes, thinking about how far we’d come since we first met. “Hey, I’ve got everything. Just let me get Willow’s animal crackers.” He nodded and reached for the diaper bag with his free hand. “I’ll take Willow to the car, ok?” I smiled at my little girl. “Great. Thanks.” ———————- Mandi: I walked back over to join Fi, smiling. “I’m so glad that I agreed to this.” I laughed as I sat down, “I feel like a princess getting my hair, makeup, and nails done. It’s awesome.” I took my phone out to take a few pictures to send to Wyatt later, “Think Wyatt will like it as much as I do?” I normally didn’t feel like taking selfies, but I felt beautiful today, and I wanted to have a picture to remember the feeling.

____________ Fi: “I think you look stunning. He’d be crazy not to love it,” I smiled. She really did look beautiful. I had given the salon a heads up when I made the appointment. They knew to give Mandi the bridal treatment without calling it that. “Oh,  got a text from Eddie. The guys thought we could meet for a late lunch. They wanted to show us off since we had our hair and makeup done. See?” I laughed and showed her the text. “I think it sounds like fun. Shall we?” ———————— Eddie: I had already installed the spare car seat we kept for Willow in my truck before coming over. I clicked her into her seat and played peek-a-boo until Wyatt walked out. “We’re taking your truck?” I nodded, “Hope that’s okay. I figured since I had all my tools loaded up in the truck, it would be easier.” He shrugged and climbed in. Whew, that was close. I climbed behind the wheel and buckled, “Are we ready to go?” Wyatt nodded, and Willow added her opinion. I chuckled and took off. ———————- Wyatt: I wasn’t expecting to go in Eddie’s truck, but he already had Willow in her car seat. I got in and looked back at Willow. She definitely loved her uncle. That made Mandi happy. Me too if I was honest. We had been driving for a few minutes, but it didn’t seem like we were heading towards the area I thought the salon was in. “Eddie, are you sure we’re going the right way?” ______________ Mandi: I grinned and nodded, “I think we shall. Did they say where they wanted to meet?” I wasn’t sure I was hungry, but the chance to extend this fun day and have Wyatt, Willow, and Eddie join Fi and me, I didn’t want to pass it up. I looked over at Fi and grinned, “At least this time we didn’t have to worry about me going into labor.” ______________ Fi: We headed to the car and got in. “I’m not sure. Eddie mentioned it was someplace new he wanted to try. I think he’s looking for new ideas for Skye Bleu Deux.” I took a deep breath as I pulled out of the parking lot and hoped I sounded convincing. “Must be someplace good if he wants you, Wyatt and Willow, to come along, right?” I laughed and gestured to the radio. “Feel free to find some music.” ———————— Eddie: I turned the music lower and smiled over at Wyatt. “Yeah, we should be there in just a few moments.” I glanced in the mirror at Willow and grinned, “She’s growing so fast. Hard to believe she is going to be two soon.” I was hoping talking about Willow would distract Wyatt, not that I minded talking about my niece. She was a pretty cool girl, not that I was biased or anything. -------------------- Wyatt: “Tell me about it,” I grinned. Willow might have been a surprise, but she was the best thing that ever happened to me. Except for Mandi of course. “I swear she’s a mini-teenager some days. Mandi swears she was never like that, but I have a feeling she was.” I laughed and waggled my fingers at my little girl in the back. I was still curious about where we were going, but I figured Eddie knew better than I did. Maybe the girls went to a different salon? --------------------- Mandi: I laughed a little, “I guess so. How does Eddie like working at Skye Bleu Deux? I bet he misses being at Skye Bleu with you and everyone else.” I settled into my seat and smiled, “I know that he really liked working there with everyone.” I was thankful for Skye Bleu, not only did it bring Fi and Eddie together, it also gave me a great friend, and hopefully, if Eddie played his cards right, a sister. ---------------------- Fi: “Eddie enjoys having more responsibilities, and he’s adjusting to supervising other people. Luckily he has a good team. I miss him, but I think it makes our time alone together more….important? Or maybe meaningful? Does that make sense?” I laughed a little. We were pulling up to the venue. “Hmmm...this is the address. Kind of a cool building. I don't see any signs though. Let’s go inside and check to see if they're here.” We got out and walked over to the building. I knew Eddie wasn't there yet. We couldn't have the groom seeing the bride. ________________ Eddie: I couldn’t help but chuckle, “Mandi was...well really she wasn’t that bad. Not with our parents. Me on the other hand? She loved playing tricks on me, though to be fair I did start it. But that was by accident. I was trying to prank a friend of mine that was supposed to be coming to hang out, but he couldn’t make it. He had called to say so and Mandi came upstairs to tell me he had to cancel. I didn’t know. She walked into my room and got a face full of silly string.” I laughed as I remembered her face. “She didn’t tattle, just simply glared at me and told me that the war was on. It went from there.” _______________ Wyatt: I couldn’t help but laugh as I imagined Mandi’s face when she was showered with silly string. “Duly noted. Keep silly string away from Mandi and you. And always knock first,” I said with a grin. Very important in a house full of women. Right?” Eddie nodded as he drove. “I wish I had gotten to know your parents, Eddie. And that they could have met Willow.” Eddie nodded as he parked. I looked around but didn’t see any salon. “Eddie, where are we?” -------------------------- Mandi: I smiled as we walked up to the building, “Eddie has always been one to take on a lot of responsibilities. I think that was the main issue between me and him when we were growing up. He was always trying to take care of everyone, Mom, Dad, me.” I sighed, “I haven’t always been easy on him, but in my defense, I always felt like he was trying to smother me. Even though I know he did mean well. In his own way.” I smiled as we stopped in front of the building, “But I’m glad that we got past that. I know a lot of that was because of you. Thank you.” I looked up at the building, “Are you sure this is the right place? It doesn’t look like they’re open?”

------------------------- Fi: When Mandi said it didn’t look like the venue was open, I couldn’t help but smile to myself and think “Just you wait!” Instead of saying that, however, I pretended to double check my phone. “It’s the right address. I’ll go inside and check.” I opened the door and walked in since Mandi seemed unsure. I called over my shoulder, “This is the right place, Mandi.” I blocked part of the view while I waited for Mandi to come in. I didn't want her to see everything set up in the courtyard quite yet. It was bad enough that I was going to have to explain why it looked like we were in a house or hotel and not a restaurant like she was expecting. --------------------------- Eddie: I did my best not to grin at the look on Wyatt’s face. Instead, I shrugged, “I don’t know. This is where Fi said they were.” I made a big deal of checking my phone once I had the truck in park, “Yeah, this is where she said they were, but I don’t see them.” Fi and I agreed to park on opposite sides of the building, that way Mandi wouldn’t see us, and Wyatt wouldn’t see them until we were ready. “Maybe they’re pulled up on the other side?” --------------------- Wyatt: I was a little worried when Eddie said we were in the right place, but the girls were nowhere to be found. We got out of the truck, and I looked around while Eddie got Willow out. Mandi’s phone was dead according to Eddie, so I decided not to argue or try to call her myself. I reached for Willow, but she shook her head and hugged her uncle’s neck tighter. Today was not my day. “Please let my wife be on the other side of this building,” I thought to myself as we approached the building. ——————— Mandi: I looked around once more outside before heading inside. If this was the place, I hoped their food was better than the looks of this place. I headed inside, “Fi, I’m not sure this is the right place maybe Eddie got the address….” I trailed off as I looked around. “Um, Fi?” ---------------------- Fi: I watched Mandi’s face as she looked around. I loved the weathered walls, the quirky decor and the flowers that were placed all around. It did not take long to figure out that a wedding was going to happen here. “I might have told you a little bit of a lie. The guys are meeting us here, but it isn’t just for a late lunch. Right now please just trust me and come this way.” I lead her up to the bridal room where her gown was hung by the window and everything else was laid out as if it was a magazine photoshoot. “Today’s your wedding day!”

———————— Eddie: I felt bad for making Wyatt worry, but I hoped he would forgive me in the end. We walked around the side of the building and towards the front, I smiled and pointed to Fi’s car, “Look there’s her car, but I don’t see them.” We walked over to the car and looked around. I turned to Wyatt and shrugged, “Maybe they went inside?” I looked at Willow and grinned, “Shall we go see if Mommy and Fi are inside?” She grinned and hugged me tighter, “Off we go.” ———————— Wyatt: I was skeptical, but I followed Eddie since he was carrying my daughter. This was definitely not a salon or anywhere else that Fi and Mandi would be at. The closer we got to it, the more it felt...wrong. Eddie was starting to go inside with Willow, but I hesitated. “Eddie, are you sure about this?” ------------------------ Mandi: I looked from the wedding gown to Fi and back again, “It’s my what?” I was really confused. My wedding day? How was that possible? Wyatt and I still didn’t have a day picked out and had tons of decisions left. Okay, one, where were we going to elope to. “Fi, I’m confused. How is today my wedding day?” --------------------- Fi: I set my bag down and gestured for Mandi to sit down. “Eddie and I felt like you and Wyatt were….overwhelmed with all the decisions involved in a wedding. So we worked on figuring out what was most important to both of you and…” I gestured to the gown. “We pulled it all together. Once we get you dressed, Eddie should have Wyatt and Willow dressed. Staff from the restaurant will be downstairs getting the food ready and the cake out. Eddie made It especially for you. Then Dani, Max, Rex, Beka and a few other of your friends will be waiting in the courtyard for you to make your entrance.” I fought the urge to bite my lip as Mandi stared at her gown but didn’t say a word. —————————- Eddie: I turned to face him, my hands on the knob and nodded, “This is exactly where we are supposed to be.” I smiled, “Come on, you’ll see. The girls are gonna be just fine. They’re probably already in here waiting for us.” I had Willow, I knew if I went in, he’d follow if for no other reason then he wouldn’t want anything to happen to her. I walked in and held the door open, “Are you coming?” ——————— Wyatt: I took a last look around the area. “Yeah, I’m coming.” I grabbed the door and stepped inside. This was no salon. It looked...like a house or a hotel. There were flowers and decorations everywhere. We had walked into some fancy event, but I wasn’t sure what. “Eddie, it looks like we’re intruding. A party or something?” I know Fi’s car was outside, but where was everyone?

---------------------- Mandi: I turned from the dress and looked back at Fi, “You and Eddie did all of this, for us?” When Fi nodded, the tears that threatened to spill when I saw the gorgeous dress, fell freely. I had no words. I walked over and gently touched the dress, “This...this is the one I showed you that day that was my favorite.” I turned and looked at her, tilting my head, “That’s what all that was about that day? Getting the details of my wedding so that you and he could do this?” I was in awe. The dress was perfect, down to the smallest detail. I couldn’t stop looking at it. ------------------------- Fi: I quickly grabbed a tissue. “Don’t you dare cry and ruin that makeup,” I laughed as I dabbed at her eyes. “Willow is a year and a half. It’s about time you two got married. Don’t you think? We really wanted to do this for you.” I reached up and took her gown off the hanger and laid it carefully on the sofa. “Ready to play dress up?” I grinned and gestured to the gown. ————————- Eddie: I grinned as the hostess walked towards us and told us we were right on time. I turned to Wyatt and chuckled at his confused look. “Or something is more accurate, but if we want to be technical, we walked in on your wedding.” I handed him Willow and motioned for him to follow me. “Fi and I wanted to do something special for you and Mandi. We know with taking care of Willow and working that planning a wedding might be overwhelming. So we investigated and pulled everything together. Down to the smallest detail.” I opened the door to the room where his suit and Willow’s dress were waiting. “We took care of all the planning based on what you and Mandi told us you wanted. Fi is with Mandi now helping her get ready. Your suit and Willow’s dress are right here.” ----------------------- Wyatt: I stood there holding my daughter looking at a sweet party dress and an expensive suit not knowing what to say. “Eddie….I….,” I trailed off as Willow squirmed to get down once she saw her dress. As soon as I set her down she ran over to it and hugged it to her chest. “I don't know what to say, Eddie. This is….,” I just nodded and patted his back before crouching down to help Willow put on the dress she clearly fell in love with. Once she was twirling in her new dress and shoes, I stood up, looked at Eddie and grinned. “So, Best Man. You gonna wear that to the wedding or do you have a hidden suit, too?”

----------------------- Mandi: “I don’t know what to say. Thank you both so much. You have no idea what this means to me. To us.” I walked over and took the dress from Fi, gently laying it on the bed. I turned back to her, “Fi, you have no idea the special place you have in my heart, not just because of this. You’re a great friend, and I hope one day you’ll be my sister, too. If that’s what you and Eddie want, but right now, right now I think….” I had to trail off ‘cause I was tearing up again. I wasn’t sure if it was okay or not, but I had to hug her. I threw my arms around her and thanked her again. “But I can only do this under one condition.” I stepped back and smiled at her confused look, “You and Eddie went through all this trouble to make this so special, but it wouldn’t be complete if my whole family wasn’t standing with us. Would you be my Maid of Honor?” --------------------- Fi: Mandi’s hug was unexpected but heartfelt. I returned it with a smile. I certainly never expected her to ask me to be her Maid of Honor. “I...of course,” I laughed. “I’d be happy to do that. I guess Eddie was right and I should have bought a new dress, huh?” I opened the armoire door and took out the simple cocktail dress I had waiting for me. “Let’s get you dressed so we don’t mess up your hair or makeup. Deal?” --------------------- Eddie: I chuckled as I opened the closet and shrugged, “This is all I have. Nothing special just a nice jacket and pants. I couldn’t exactly hang out with you wearing this. You would have known something was up. I wasn’t expecting you to ask me to be a best man.”  It meant a lot to me that Wyatt asked me to be his best man. Considering how things started off between us, I wouldn’t have been surprised if he only tolerated me because of Mandi. “I wasn’t even sure you two would be okay with this. I was worried it might offend you that we stepped in. But I wanted to do something special for both of you. I only wish our parents were here, too. I know it would've meant the world to Mandi.” ---------------- Wyatt: I nodded as we started to get changed. Willow was thankfully sitting on the chair playing with my keys. I think she made herself a little dizzy from all twirling she did. “Mandi always wears or carries that locket we gave her. Your mom is with us. Don’t know if she told you, but we found a picture of you and your dad when you were little. She put it on the other half, but covered it with a picture of Willow so you wouldn't be embarrassed or anything. So as long as she has her locket, your folks are always nearby.” I slipped my jacket on and turned to face Eddie. “Will this work for the groom?”

__________ Mandi: I smiled, “I think you’ll look great. And let’s not tell Eddie he was right. It’ll go to his head.” We both laughed as I walked back over to the dress, “This dress is so perfect. How on earth did you find it? Every place I called when I saw it didn’t have it. It’s one of the reasons I wasn’t sure I could handle wedding planning. It seemed like it was a constant let down as to what I wanted. But you and Eddie, you two pulled it off. It’s so much better than what I had in my head.” I was nervous as I undressed and stepped into my wedding dress. It was amazing. It fit perfectly. I had my back to the mirror after Fi helped me with the back of the dress. “What do you think?”

----------------- Fi: Mandi’s dress fit like a dream. I couldn't answer her at first. “You are absolutely gorgeous, Mandi. As beautiful as any model in a wedding magazine. But I think we're missing something. I’ll be right back.” With a grin, I ducked out to grab her bouquet and let the staff know we were almost ready. I saw the justice of the peace with the guests down below and gave him a quick wave before returning to Mandi. “Every bride needs a bouquet, right?” ________________ Eddie: I nodded. “I think it’ll work perfectly for a groom. Nervous?”  I couldn’t help but smile when Wyatt told me about the locket. “Thank you. I appreciate you telling me. And she’s right. I might be a little embarrassed. Though just knowing that it’s there means a lot considering our history.” It really did mean a lot that Mandi even had the picture in the locket. I took it as a sign that we really were okay and going to stay that way. There was a knock at the door when I opened it, the hostess said they were ready for us. I turned to Wyatt and smiled, “Ready?” ----------------------- Wyatt: Was I ready? I didn’t think Eddie could have asked me a sillier question. “I’ve been ready for a very long time,” I said with a smile. I took my keys back from Willow and picked her up. “Let’s go see your Mommy, Willow. It’s time to get married!” Eddie and I laughed as she clapped. I kissed her cheek and set her down. Taking one of Willow’s hands, I gestured for Eddie to take the other. “Here we go!” ———————- Mandi: I had the biggest grin when Fi brought the bouquet back to me, “Fi, they’re gorgeous!” I started blinking really fast and had to laugh, “You tell me not to cry, but I can’t help it. This all means so much to me. It’s overwhelming, but in the best way possible.” I walked over and took the bouquet that she held out for me. Everything was perfect. Today was perfect. “Is it weird that I’m not nervous? Well, not really?”

--------------------------- Fi: I smiled and bent down to fix her skirt. “I’d like to think that when it’s right….there’s no need to be nervous or scared. Just...content. Crazy, huh?”  I stood back and brushed some dust from my skirt. “Let’s go have a wedding.” I winked at Mandi and opened the door, checking the hallway and looking down on the courtyard below. Flowers, friends, soft music. Everything was ready. I turned back to Mandi and started humming “Here Comes The Bride” as I lead her downstairs and over to her waiting groom.

[egoiistas]

Black Tie

Day 2 of Royai Week Rated: T(?) | Words: 2709

It is the end of line, Colonel.

We’re here on this day. It has taken us 15 years, but we’re here. Your efforts will always be appreciated and recognized as one of the drivers of the new era for Amestris. Effective immediately, you are hereby relieved of your duties as adjutant to the Fuhrer and will be given your own unit, quite like back then. I hope you don’t take this personally, but this is how it was always going to be. We’ve met our goals and now the professional thing to do is to go our separate ways.

Signed, Fuhrer Roy Mustang

P.S. Please come to the inauguration ball. I’d like to see Grumman again and he needs someone to escort him.

Riza felt incensed. Disposable. Discarded. Her knuckles turned white as the executive order she clenched in her fists. She slammed it on her desk, the sound of the impact resonating in her office. She gripped the back of a nearby chair before she lost the feeling in her feet.

She prided herself on her ability to process and mask emotions; at this moment, she felt stunned. She tried reasoning with the unreasonable inner turmoil. She asked herself if she created this illusion; if there was even a  flicker of promise for a definitive future. In truth, they never established the epilogue after their end-game. If they had, it was vague and verbless. But even in the worst scenario, she never imagined she would be tossed to the side - as if her bullets no longer made sense.

An uncharacteristic rapid beat pounded in her chest. She studied the Fuhrer’s order again, expecting a discrepancy. A sign. A joke. A forgery. Her trained eyes didn’t spot a tell; he signed the unmistakable signature she knew by each curve and loop himself. Riza reread it one more time.

The post scriptum felt like a slap on her face and her cheeks flushed from frustration and embarrassment. The paper underneath her hand wrinkled as she balled her fists. She stormed out, focusing on her footsteps instead of the tightness in her throat.

Riza headed to Catalina’s; the balmy spring air wafted freely, almost mockingly, around her. Upon arriving, she sat in Rebecca’s kitchen as the words around her sounded muted. She was only half paying attention, but after so many years of experience, she could predict Rebecca’s rants.

She looked up as she was handed a warm drink, a glint catching her eye as she glanced at Rebecca’s outstretched hand. Riza was unable to tear her eyes away from the wedding ring on her friend’s hand. She remembered that wedding, a sunny day in Southern Amestris. The happiness, vibrant and true, was unparalleled in the time they had been together. She was content now having what she always wanted, married and with Havoc no less.

“Riza!”

Riza glanced up again, startled by Rebecca’s change in volume.

“Are you even listening?” she reprimanded with fists to her hips.

“Yes, of course,” Riza intoned.

Rebecca’s arms crossed in front of her. “Then what did I say?”

She placed the mug back down after a sip. “That he’s a no-good man and never will be. Don’t put myself down, because you’re more than that jerk’s adjutant.”

From the corner of her eye, Becca relaxed. “Oh.” But she still huffed as she sat, placing warm hands over the terse ones still on the mug. “But I also said that you should just quit the military, move away, go explore Aerugo like you said you always wanted to, something!”

She has a point, she mused. Nothing was holding her back. She wasn’t married, and she didn’t have kids. The country wasn’t in danger anymore. She had her own back to watch now.

However, something about leaving everything behind shook her. The more she mulled it over the more she realized it wasn’t so much the fact that he ripped her partner from her. But it was the way he did it and the lack of forewarning that bewildered her.

“All right, fine. Don’t say anything.” She sniped. “I’ll tell you what’s going on with me. You know how Jean’s in the East, right?”

That’s right, Riza remembered, and nodded.

“Well, I wanted you to know that he and I are going to be trying for a baby when he gets back!” she shrieked and grabbed Riza’s arm, shaking it in excitement. Riza looked at her; she wasn’t even pregnant but she was glowing, practically brimming with excitement. “I can’t believe this, Riza. I am going to be on cloud nine.”

Riza understood the appropriate response, it was the inner storm within her that stopped her from expressing as such. She attempted her best by lifting her eyebrows and smiling openly at her, “Rebecca! How exciting.” Her face fell as she looked back to the mug, furrowing her brow as she took another sip. She was bothered by this and she couldn’t understand why. She suddenly felt like she didn’t want to be there anymore.

She looked to the time and acted. “Oh Rebecca! I’m sorry. I just remembered I have to meet grandfather for something. I have to go,” she lied.

Rebecca was understanding  and walked her to the door. “Remember,” she started with a wagging finger, “you’ll be the first to know about the pregnancy and I expect no less than a wonderful baby shower when the time comes.”

Riza smiled. “Of course, Rebecca. You know I’m here for you.” The door opened for her and Rebecca reached out for a hug.

A chuckle sounded in Riza’s ear. “Same, you emotionless dolt,” she said, squeezing her slightly. “Look at you, going through your first breakup.”

Riza snapped away from her hug, eyebrows pointed angrily. “It’s not a breakup.” Rebecca shot her a “Do you see yourself?” look. Her lips thinned. “Bye Becca.”

The Colonel pushed back thoughts of where her life went at 33, nearly 34, and tried to cast off  any feelings of regret. The purpose she dedicated her life to was important and virtuous. She accomplished plenty for the Amestrian military and could do so much more now that she wasn’t tied to the hip.  Her personal feelings were irrelevant in the situation, and she made a point to dust it all under the rug, no matter how much it stung, no matter how much of the countryside girl was still left in her.

Her grandfather heard of what happened. She didn’t question how. She felt like her grandfather was the last person she’d entrust her intimate feelings to. Yet she did and the retired Fuhrer listened with diligence. 

“Men like Mustang are ambitious and goal driven,” he declared and she nodded diligently. ”For him to relieve his most trusted subordinate must mean he has other plans for you. The Fuhrer’s seat couldn’t have been given to a better candidate,” he boasted and Riza didn’t try to hide the drop in her shoulders. When she made no effort to further the line of conversation, he asked her, “What was the issue?”

She shook her head, unable to make reason of it herself.

“If you feel strongly about it, darling, then why don’t you leave the military?”

The statement stunned her for a moment, something she would have never considered. It sounded absurd to her. After 17 years of military service, what else would she do with her life? How could she make a living?

She didn’t realize she had voiced her thoughts out loud, until an elderly hand rested on hers. Her eyes must have betrayed her sadness, not only because she felt it, but because there was a comfort in Grumman’s too. “You wouldn’t have to worry about that,” he said. “I’d take care of you for the days I wasn’t able to.”

Her emotional stability felt as sturdy as a plate on a pole and his proposal suddenly caused earth the shake underneath her feet. It wouldn’t be the first time she took care of her only relative.

He told her, “Think on it, dearest. But in the meantime, I feel springy enough to go to the Inauguration Ball.” The old man tried to jump quickly from his chair and gave a yip of pain, holding his lower back.

Riza dashed toward him to steady him by the arm and his back.

He groaned at his mistake and slowly sat back down. “I still want to go.”

It took place within Central Command. The courtyard was cleverly converted into a grandiose reception area as it took advantage of the cooler temperatures in the evening. On an elevated stage, a 16 piece orchestra played forgettable music.

Her eyes followed the new Fuhrer as he made his lone appearance from where she sat. She clapped slowly and without feeling. He dressed in a dashing suit, tailored to fit his athletic physique. He received comments on the progressive nature of his appearance, wearing a suit and tie in lieu of the expected military uniform. Eloquently, the Flame Alchemist commented on how he’ll have more than enough opportunities to wear the uniform and the crowd soaked it up, his charisma in full swing.

After the dinner, the Fuhrer gathered everyone’s attention. He made a speech of gratitude for their attendance, for their support, and for the ones especially who supported him from the beginning. He listed his friends in the academy and gave a heartwarming address in memoriam to his dear friend, the late Brigadier General Hughes. He personally thanked, by name, the rest of the old Mustang unit and those who helped him rebuild Ishval. “But my most sincere gratitude goes further back than my years in the military, I wouldn’t be who I am today if it wasn’t for her. In my times of darkness, in my times of happiness…”

As she felt herself hold her breath, she kicked herself. She couldn’t help it, especially with emotions running high at such a gratifying statement and she could swear he looked in her direction.

“…Chris Mustang, my foster mother, raising me after the untimely death of my parents.”

She smiled, despite herself. He didn’t name her. Nowhere in his touching speech, or his thanks. She looked towards her grandfather, who was smiling and possibly tearing up from the emotion. She clenched her fist from a fury she couldn’t place. She felt unlike herself. She wasn’t looking for a mention or anything like that. But to be completely ignored, to be tossed aside and overlooked in the same week was more than she could handle.

She tried to speak to Grumman, “Can you be-”

He shushed her and she felt taken aback. He eyes turned to her from the Fuhrer’s speech. “I’m trying to listen.”

She glanced back, trying to do the same. Nails were digging into her palm; it was almost laughable. Riza mentally tried to take a step back to wrangle in the hurricane of emotions. She bit her lip as his speech ended and he received a standing ovation. She clapped despondently and Grumman gingerly placed an arm over her wrist. She looked up at him.

“Is everything okay, my dear?” There was genuine concern, but she forced a smile on him to conceal her irrational behavior.

“Yes, perfect,” she responded.

The orchestra began to play and she swiveled in her chair to place her feet underneath the table cloth. Several gentlemen asked her to dance, probably something to do with her status as the previous Fuhrer’s granddaughter, but she graciously declined their offer, hardly in the mood to sway on the dancefloor.

Another hand appeared next to her arm with a “Care to dance?” She looked up and it was a uniformed officer this time, one she didn’t recognize except as Lieutenant Colonel by the stars on his epaulette. Riza offered a courteous smile and shook her head. “You’re too kind, but no, thank you.”

“I don’t want this dance, the Fuhrer does.”

Her arm fell on the round table and it rattled silverware and glassware alike. “Excuse me?”

“The Fuhrer wants this dance.” The man wriggled the fingers for her to take it, but his face remained stoic as he spoke.

“I’m honored, but I politely decline.”

“I’m under the express instruction to convey this as an order straight from the Fuhrer himself, Colonel.”

Her lips thinned, defeated.

A clever play on his part, she’ll give him that. He must have thought through asking her himself and the ruckus that would cause. This way he avoided looks if she were to decline like she just did. She took the hand and name of the Lieutenant Colonel who escorted her to newly established Fuhrer waiting at the end of the dancefloor.

She tried to control her breathing and outward cues of emotions. Unappreciative child or not, he was still the top of the military she was still enlisted under. His hands were behind his back, watching the other dancers. He turned towards them as they noticed them approaching. He smiled and it only made her stomach coil with subtle frustration.

“Good evening, Colonel.”

“Good evening, Your Excellency,” she responded listlessly, for the first time not saluting unnecessarily. She was off-duty, after all.

“I’m honored you accepted this dance,” he said, extending out his hand as the Lieutenant Colonel handed her to him.

“It was my pleasure, truly.”

He guided her to the dance floor and on cue, the music changed as he entered it. A soft, moderate-tempo waltz began to fill the air.

She felt a hand settle on her waist as he took his hand in hers. They began to move in tandem with the rhythm of the song. She said nothing and decidedly felt nothing, but the ire still bubbled under the contained surface.

“Did you enjoy the speech?” he asked her.

She glared at him as he moved her across the floor. She wasn’t sure if he was mocking her or if it was the machinations in her head. She took the high road. “It was moving. Grandfather might have shed a tear.”

“He was always a sentimental old coot.” She hummed in response, wishing to speak little to him. Unfortunately for her, he spoke again. “Can I take you out to dinner some time?”

Her eyes widened and before she could control herself, she moved the skirt of her long dress to extend over his foot as she mashed the heel into it.

Roy held back a pained groaned and smiled. He knew. “Someone’s angry.”

The statement cracked the surface of her emotional dam, and he kept prodding it. “Did I step on you? My apologies. You know military women aren’t suited for these events.”

“Nonsense, I’ve danced with plenty of military women and they dance just fine.” He twirled her and brought her closer with his hand at the small of her back. “In fact, I’d rate you a good 5 out of 10. Average is never bad.”

She stepped back to create the distance between them, biting the inside of her cheek.

“What do you think?”

“I think the song will end soon. I hope it will end sometime soon.”

He chuckled. “No, of dinner.”

“No.”

“Well, I can’t have a reminder of my rejection walking around; I foresee a transfer to the west.”

She chuckled this time, only bitterly. “That’s disappointing.”

“You didn’t take the bait to leave the military and I can’t promote a Colonel into First Lady. Instead, I’ll ask the lovely Colonel to dinner for now in hopes that I can convince her.”

Her heart felt like it stopped at the same time as the music. It finally clicked. “Everything you did: the transfer orders, the speech, the Lieutenant Colonel?”

He smiled smugly as he let her go. “All part of the plan.”

She mirrored his smile, watching him grab her hand and delicately kiss the back of it. “Plan to get a riot out of me?”

He raised his eyebrows as he came up. “An added perk. There’s a certain charm about you when you’re angry.” He led her off the dancefloor and asked her again.

She kissed his cheek and leaned in closer to his ear, whispering before she left him for her seat. “Try harder, Fuhrer.”

BIGGEST THANKS TO @hawkeyedflame who isn’t around rn, but ripped this apart and made it all the better

[jo-shanevenice18]

A Couple of Easy Ones Around the Town

4-5/05/2018: A couple of days to go and we've done what we wanted, Murano, Burano, Padova. We done plenty last time we were here but just looking around is what's best about this city. We have two days of exploring, go our separate ways and find stuff, whether planned or not.

Planning the day

Friday, we wandered out mid-morning after working out the garbage regime. Shane & Jo their direction, Cecilia hers and the boys theirs. We wanted another Venetian mask but could not remember where the shop that we got the last one was located. Knowing where the palazzo was where we stayed last time was a help and our memories and the shop's relation to it worked out fine.

We headed toward Saint Toma vaporetto stop and found the courtyard of the palazzo. From there it was easy, back along the alley where it met Calle Centani, turn left and there it was just a few metres away.  An interesting aside was that we found a store with nice leather bags. We intended to return later on in the day to buy a handbag for Jo.

Calle Centani, the laneway to our last place

We looked at several masks and the one we liked most was nearly three hundred euro so we kept looking. Several masks resembled the mask that we bought from this shop the last time we were here but we weren't sure just what it looked like except that it was a female mask with musical notation as a theme. Jo got Mitch to send a photo of the mask to her phone and we ended up picking one similar, except male this time. This one cost one hundred and eighty Euros cash. We didn't want to carry it around all day so we gave the dude one hundred, said that we would collect it later and moved on.

Shop full of masks

The next task was to head to Stazione di Venezia Santa Lucia to buy the train tickets to Florence that we would need in a couple of days time, casually taking in the experience of walking the streets, tourists and all. We aimed to find somewhere for a tea and coffee and a snack on the way but came across a little hole in the wall bar on sun bathed Campo dei Tolentini, bounded by the sizable Chiesa di San Nicola da Tolentino with its Corinthian portico at the front and Rio del Tolentini directly opposite. Bacareto de Lele was packed with people queuing onto the fondamenta so something good was happening. People were hanging around eating and drinking where they stood so Shane joined the line to end up getting a couple of small wines and small bread rolls with porchetta. 

Campo dei Tolentini

Standing room only

The wines came to one Euro sixty and the rolls the same. We had an excellent snack for just over three Euro and used the ornate balustrade of the steps leading to Ponte dei Tonentini as a table. Sometimes it’s the small things you experience that stick in your mind.

Enjoying the sunshine

Unlike our last train trip from Florence to Venice where we had to change trains at Bologna and carry all the bags from one platform, down and back upstairs to an adjacent platform, all the time looking for the first class carriages, this one was direct on the Frecciarossa  so Aunty Cecilia wouldn't be a burden given her crook back, difficulty in keeping up and given the limited time available. Business class cost us about fifty seven euro (ninety dollars) each. We were to leave Venice at twelve thirty for a two hour and five minute journey.

Pietro Paleòcapa seated in Giardini Papadopoli, a leafy bit of green space near the station. We sat on a park bench enjoying the solitude and green space until gate crashed by twenty odd seven to ten year old school kids. We knew when we were defeated and gladly gave up our seat for them.

We then decided to catch the vaporetto to Saint Marco stop and walk back, so after purchasing seventy five minute tickets we waited patiently on Pontoon B to take the number two boat. A boat arrived as we hit the pontoon but there was so many people that we missed it. We did however manage to get on the next boat about fifteen minutes later but were packed in like sardines. Quite uncomfortable. No sight seeing on this trip but as people got off at Rialto more room became available. Upon disembarking at San Marco, although we were a part of the problem, we tried to get away from the tourists. There were thousands. We followed the throng through the streets back toward the Rialto Bridge window shopping as we went. 

People queuing to get into Saint Mark's Basilica

A bit of room in the piazza today

When the bridge came into view to our left, we kept on straight ahead, moving away from it. Jo noticed an interesting bar on our right, Bacaro Jazz. We headed in for a drink. This place focused on jazz music and had it on the television non stop. It also had a ceiling totally covered in women's bras. It was quite interesting as was our conversation with other couples in there. One from Brittany who emphasised that Parisiennes were not indicative of people from other areas of France and some Canadians who we agreed to not call Americans if they didn't call us New Zealanders. It was all in jest and good fun.

Interesting ceiling

From there we headed back to the mask shop to complete our purchase as well as an Italian hand bag for Jo, returning our goodies to the apartment before hunting down Cecilia at her favourite haunt, sucking on a few vinos and her vaping stick. Another wine and we were off to freshen up for dinner.

Cecilia's locale

Since this would be our last restaurant dinner in Venice, we headed for a place where we had a good feed last time we were here, Ristorante Due Colonne near Campo San Agostin. The place was painted white this time and a lot brighter. After another enjoyable meal were retired back to the apartment for a failed attempt at Dictionary, another at Celebrity Heads but a successful game of Pass the Pigs before bed. Part of the entertainment was the drunken music session with Thomas blowing in a bottle, Beau popping his cheeks and Jo flicking her wine glass. Meanwhile Cecilia was filming and pissing herself laughing while Shane was standing behind Jo and unbeknownst to her, lowering his daks when in frame.

A good day exploring today. Tomorrow should be good as well.

Saturday was our last day in Venice which would be spent as was yesterday, taking it easy and looking around again. First things first though, the Jets played Victory in the A League Grand Final this morning our time. 7:50pm at home was ten to twelve here. We should have been able to lob on up to a bar and watch it. As luck would have it there was nowhere around that televised the match. What an insult, Italians not being interested in Australian football. The internet was too slow as well so we had to miss out.

Anyway, we just wandered around again, got lost and done our thing. Cecilia, Jo and Shane headed out leaving the boys to their own devices but within a hundred metres, Cecilia had dropped off leaving Jo and Shane remaining. We had only one thing to take care of today, namely another Italian leather bag from the Chinese shop nearby (unfortunately it’s a reality), but from a different tangent. We decided to look at the other side of the canal and end up, if we couldn't find any elsewhere to buy them, at the leather bag shop that was somewhere near the apartment.

With Cecilia doing her own thing we headed towards the market area at Rialto where the aftermath of the morning fish markets was underway. 

Still plenty to choose from at lunch time

Seafood was still in some stalls but many were practically empty. Might reflect the price put on their product. Most stalls however were finished and packing up. The only winners at this stage were the huge gulls hanging around. As big as the Californian ones we experienced around Monterey a few years ago. They were particularly interesting as though very cautious if approached, were sifting through the wrapping and containers for a morsel of leftovers. They needn't have been bothered too much as they were big enough to take a finger off if they wanted. One product that was still plentiful was bags of mussels for a couple of Euro each. We didn't bother but should have taken a couple of bags home for an easy dinner.

They're all winners here

Fish Market price list

Following an interesting look at the Rialto seafood goodies, we jumped on the vaporetto and headed to the Salute stop, just across from San Marco. Disembarking in beautiful sunshine, we were greeted by another minor basilica, this time Santa Maria della Salute. We were now on Fondamenta Salute and Punta della Dogana, the triangular peninsula nestled between the Grand and Giudecca Canals. The location of the contemporary art gallery, also called Punta della Dogana and the Dogana da Mar, one of Venice's old customs buildings, right at the tip. There were plenty of young couples taking it easy around the area giving at a romantic feel.

Santa Maria della Salute

San Marco from Dogana da Mar

Fondamenta Zattere Ai Saloni was the path facing Giudecca, the island across the way. This is where we headed and for the next ten minutes there were bugger all tourists. We weren't sure of the area though and were keen to get back to the Grand Canal, get our bearings and make sure we were going the right way.  More photos of an area that seemed that it may have been an upper class spot saw us back with the tourists. 

Rio de la Fornace. Nice spot

At this time Jo needed to go to the loo so we walked back look for a restaurant as it was also time to eat. Jo's bladder had led us to Al Gondolieri, where we could sit down and have a break, a feed and a wee. Her bladder had also led us to a Michelin Star restaurant where surprisingly, although things were pretty ritzy, like two hundred plus euro bottle of wine, had cheaper options for the plebs, which we took.

The entrée, chosen by Jo was deep fried zucchini flowers with our mains being half serves of a beef dish for Jo and calves' liver for Shane. We also managed to find a twenty seven euro bottle of Pino Grigio (which surprisingly in Italian is Pinot Grigio), relaxed for an hour and can report that the meal was excellent. Something to chew on besides spaghetti or pizza. The half portions were very generous and tasted delicious. The whole meal was good. Half size aside, lunch still cost one hundred and ten euro. 

Excellent feed at Al Gondolieri

We then kept pushing (literally) towards our apartment, navigating the laneways and bridges until we again arrived at our front door, an hour late for our wine tasting at Vineria all'Amarone. Our only two stops on our return leg was a visit to a Leonardo da Vinci exhibition at Chiesa di San Barnaba which held had a display of the contraptions that Leonardo invented, perfected, stole or otherwise and the Chinese Italian shop where we bought a leather bag for overnight trips. One hundred and ninety nine Euro reduced to one sixty six cash for the bag and a lot less for the Homer Simpson Vitruvian Man tee shirt.

Leonardo's contraptions

As we arrived back at the Flamini joint, Cecilia was getting up from her Nanna nap and the boys were just hanging around the apartment. Jo stayed outside, sniffing around a pending wedding, whilst everyone else mustered for the wine tasting. Flowery decorations adorned the stair rails of the adjacent church and a young bloke in wedding garb was hanging around the front. Something was going on.

Love is in the air

Once arrived at Vineria all'Amarone, we chose to sit outside, five tasting glasses each, half a glass in each. Jo took white wines and the rest of us took Italian regional reds. An interesting experience but after tasting all of the reds for a bit under forty Euro, the wines back at the apartment that cost five to six euro a bottle tasted pretty similar. Soon after, every one retired back to have a rest while Shane picked up some pasta and sauces for dinner and stopped at the bottl'o on the way back.

The owner was upset that we didn't take the better (more expensive) option. Amarone wine

When he arrived back at the apartment, he was surprised that the Nannas were out on the balcony sipping on meloncello rather than having their afternoon ritual, the Nanna nap. The church across the road was hosting a big fat Italian wedding and there was plenty of entertainment (and waiting) to be had. Plenty of music and singing was coming from inside where eventually after all the wedding guests had exited the church, out come the bride and groom. Quite an occasion.

Big fat Italian wedding

Family photo

It was at this point that we thought that we would settle in for the night. Our last night in Venice would be a quiet one. Then all hell broke loose around the corner in Campo Silvestro. We went about our business for a while but the commotion got the better of us. The hard surfaces of the square echoed loudly down the narrow laneways, so much so that we headed over for a look at what was going on. The answer was simple, the local bar, Altrove 360⁰ Bar had a band on. Sort of like an Italian Blues Brothers and they were pretty good. The crowd stood around in a large ring, surrounding the entertainment that was perched up against the wall of the bar. We joined a scant crowd, but it wasn't too long before the word (or racket) had got around and the crowd swelled as darkness approached. Back to the A League Final being played in our home town. Our team, Newcastle Jets were robbed by poor refereeing. An early and blatant offside goal by Melbourne Victory was given the all clear by a linesman who obviously wasn't up to the task. The joke and obvious embarrassment to the FFA was that the VAR wasn't working at the time. Television picked it up okay but not the experts. At the music, across from us was some Melbourne Victory supporters in their jerseys. A bit of friendly banter, acknowledgement from the Victory fans that we were robbed and it was back to the entertainment, complete with Cecilia, Jo and Beau getting on the dance moves.

Great entertainment at Altrove 360⁰ Bar

Strange thing. Out of nowhere came a bunch of youngens and started a tug-o-war. They disappeared as quickly as they came.

We spent the rest of the night in the square, enjoying the music and the antics of the muso's.

When in Venice, do what the Venetians do (or the tourists)

Plenty of entertainment, plenty of beer and no packing for our departure tomorrow as we depart for Florence on one of the fast trains.

[chaletnz]

Hand werpen in Antwerpen

It surprised me when my manager said to me “so August is the low season, you’re going to have the first week off and probably not many shifts after that.” Working in an airport hotel though, I understood as we cater mostly to business guests who are taking their holidays in city centres now and not living in airports! But nevertheless I found myself with 9 consecutive days off which was a rarity for me and I knew I needed to go away. Skyscanner yielded no cheap flights however as for everyone else it’s still the middle of summer, and thus I ended up sitting on a bus to Antwerp for the first leg of my road trip! When I arrived three hours later I started myself off with a flat white from Caffenation - a cafe that another specialty coffee/traveler/blogger recommended, and then walked further into the city to visit the Plantin Moretus museum. It’s an old printing works and home that has been turned into a museum and labeled a UNESCO heritage site. Being someone that typically doesn’t love museums this was actually quite interesting and interactive. The rooms of the house were all unique, furnished with tapestries and antique furniture and interconnected through a beautiful inner courtyard. The adjoining printing works was filled with old machinery, stencils and tools on display. After my self guided tour of the museum I had a small lunch of Belgian frietjes at Frietuur No.1 which was made all the more eventful by a couple yelling and fighting with each other in the dining area. They got louder and louder until eventually she slapped him and walked off. I had arranged to meet up with Caitlin, my Belgian friend from Ukutula but unfortunately she was sick and couldn’t come out to play so instead I opted for a free walking tour of the city. We began outside the city hall where I met the guide Jelke and was actually the only participant until she had explained a brief history of Antwerp in 20 minutes and a Canadian couple showed up to join us. We gazed across the square, our eyes meeting the rows of flags mounted on the city hall and the golden tips of the Dutch houses all unevenly lined. The large fountain in the centre was the most interesting addition, built to represent a tale of a young soldier who cut off the head and hand of a giant who ruled the city and charged astronomical tolls. The fountain shows the giant lying dead and headless and the soldier throwing the hand into the Scheldt river (it was all symbolic because the giant used to cut off hands and throw them in the river if the tolls weren’t paid) and this crazy act is supposedly how the city got its name. “Hand werpen” is Dutch for “hand throwing” and sounds a little like Antwerpen which is of course the city’s name in their native Dutch. Next we stood across the road from the fortress (The Stone) which was more like a castle and Jelke told us how there used to be a wall all around the city and then added a little aside about the proper way to drink on the streets without getting into trouble with police (public drinking is allowed everywhere in Belgium except in Antwerp - but just be a tourist and you’ll be let off the hook so you can return to spending your money). We were then taken to an old trading building, the third oldest structure in Antwerp as a matter of fact, and we had to try and guess what they traded because the Dutch thought they were so clever and designed the building to look like the product. It was red brick and white cement which was supposedly a clue. The Canadians and I were baffled so we were put out of our misery and told that the product was bacon… Then it was revealed on the signpost behind us with the street name Vleesstraat, or Meat Street and the answer had been there the whole time! Just around the corner we could see the few remaining pieces of the city walls which have been mostly locked behind a private fence. As we walked on Jelke told us how when the Spanish invaded they forced Catholicism on the residents and told them to put statues of the Mother Mary on their streets so they could have free lighting and most of the statues remain today. On the next street we were shown to a narrow alleyway with a large street art mural painted there. It was themed around the most famous Belgian book “The Lion of Flanders” and I could have had more information to write here but instead of listening fully to Jelke I was watching a guy trying to reverse his very wide van down the very narrow alley with the assistance of a flustered passerby. Jelke then took us to one of her favourite hangouts in Antwerp - the courtyard in front of St Carolus Borremus church and the Henri Conscience specialty library. In front of the library there was a statue and a small fountain that Jelke claimed to have drunkenly swum in at some point. The Canadians and I were allowed to go inside the church for a brief look around and we found it filled with wooden statues and decorated with gold trim. They were surprised to see IKEA chairs inside instead of pews and I felt like I should’ve been too but I guess I’ve seen a lot of European churches like that and I’ve grown desensitized. Jelke changed our route since we had run way over time on the tour and our next stop ended up being the KBC building or as it is sometimes known “Europe’s first skyscraper”. It was built in 1932 and although it’s not all that high I’m sure it was very impressive back in the ‘30s! We followed Jelke through an alleyway shortcut back to the square but we stopped outside some small houses with very small doors and Jelke explained how the shoemakers used to live there but were very poor because they made shoes well so people would only buy one pair in a lifetime. There was only one waterpump for the entire narrow alleyway with three entrances and it’s still there today. The houses were partially destroyed and rebuilt because government of Antwerp didn’t want people to see the poor standards of living. Some say that when the organist plays in the cathedral every month the music can be heard perfectly in the alleyway yet nowhere else in the surrounding area. Our last stop was the cathedral of Our Lady Mary. She only just fits the criteria of being a cathedral because she has two towers but one is very small. Jelke took some photos of us and we were given some vouchers for free beers then went our separate ways. I browsed around a few shops in the area yet completely forgot to get a magnet like I usually do so I don’t have any little fridge momento from Antwerp unfortunately. I walked down the Meir shopping street and went to the Stadsfeestzaal which is a dancing hall converted into a shopping mall but of course it was already closed by the time I arrived there. I walked from there to central station and caught my bus to Luxembourg however it was very delayed and I had rushed there early just to end up sitting and waiting and getting hungry again.

[crunchie-morris]

Hey maybe Jackcrutchie like modern day college au type thing?

Sorry, this one is kinda long! (Alcohol tw)•••Crutchie did not like parties. There were too many people, which made navigating the area with a crutch nearly impossible. It was far too loud, with blasting pop songs he didn't know the words to. But, they were kinda hard to avoid when they happened in your dorm. So, Crutchie just stood in a corner, slowly sipping a drink that he didn't realize was horrendous until he poured it, and now, he was too embarrassed to throw it away. Crutchie grimaced down at his solo cup, wondering how many artificial fruit flavors they thought they could dump in one beverage to cover up the cheap-tasting alcohol.Where was Spot? Where was the door? He felt his heartbeat speed up as he looked around. There was nowhere he could go to breathe, not even his own bed, where some couple he didn't know were making out. The tiny dorm was packed, wall-to-wall. So, Crutchie just took another sip of his drink, which he regretted the second it hit his tongue. Disgusting.His leg ached from standing for so long. His head pounded with it, partly due to the deafening music and partly due to the gross drink.“Screw it,” Crutchie muttered, realizing that his heart was now thumping just as fast as the bass. He squeezed his way through the crowd with repeated “excuse me”s and “pardon”s, until he finally reached the door and stumbled out. As soon as he was in the hall, he sighed and rubbed his leg. “I was not made for parties.”Crutchie made his way downstairs and sat himself down on a bench in the courtyard. He felt nauseous, and his head spun. He wasn’t sure if it was due to that nasty drink or his anxiety. Settling on it being anxiety (and not wanting to waste), Crutchie downed the rest of the cup.He slumped over and sighed. Alone on a Saturday night, figures. He figured the only reason he was invited to the party was because he lived there. At least his heartbeat had slowed down.Buzz.Crutchie took out his phone and felt his already-churning stomach flip.“Jack: U good?”Crutchie blinked, his eyebrows shooting up in surprise. The only time he and Jack had ever texted before was when he lost his dorm key, and Jack had a spare that Spot had given him. (Of course, maybe Crutchie had given up searching for the dorm key a bit too soon because he'd finally found an excuse to talk to Jack, but who needed to get into details?) Now, Crutchie stared at the text before him, waiting for Jack to say it was the wrong number.But, that's not what he said next.“Jack: I saw u leave, just checkin”Crutchie now had three reasons for the nausea. He was about to write back, saying he was fine, when Jack appeared outside with him. “Crutchie!” He sat down on the bench beside him. “Are you okay? I didn't see much of you in there, an’ then, you ran out.”Crutchie felt his cheeks turn pink. “Oh, yeah, I'm okay. I’m just not much of a party person.”“Huh, really?” Jack tilted his head. “You struck me as an extra…extro...” He paused for a moment, his eyebrows furrowing. He stared at the ground with a look of concentration that Crutchie couldn't help but find adorable. Jack gasped. “Extrovert! Found the word, got it.”Crutchie giggled. “I take it you had a little bit to drink tonight?”Jack chuckled, a sound that made Crutchie smile even wider. “Whoops.”Crutchie beamed. “If it makes you feel any better, I'm a total lightweight.” He lifted his now-empty solo cup. “This alone has got me all dizzy.” Jack smirked. “Did ya have one of those weird cocktails? God, those tasted awful.”Crutchie laughed and nodded. “Yes! I thought it'd be rude to throw it out, but that was...something else.”Jack nodded too. “Agreed.”Crutchie let his laughter fade as he kicked the ground with his good foot. “Well, uh, I'll let ya get back to the party.”“Are ya goin’ back?” Jack asked, standing up.Crutchie shook his head. “I think I'm just gonna wait it out down here.”Jack promptly sat back down. “Then, nah, I’d rather be out here with you.”If Crutchie’s cheeks were pink before, they were most certainly red now. “Oh gol-golly, you don't gotta...you don’t have to, uh…”“You really are a lightweight, aren't you?” Jack chuckled.Not about to admit that he was stumbling over his words due to being flustered by this cute boy voluntarily talking to him rather than alcohol, Crutchie laughed back and nodded. “Told ya.”Jack laughed louder, running a hand through his hair. “You are just...cute as a button.”Crutchie blinked, certain that his face was scarlet. “Th-thank you.”Jack nodded, beaming.They sat in silence for a bit longer, but it was comfortable silence. Unlike in the party, Crutchie wasn't feeling judged and stared at. He yawned, feeling satisfied.“You tired?” Jack asked.Crutchie nodded. “But, I ain't gettin’ any sleep ‘til Spot decides his party is over.”“Y’know, Davey’s outta town,” Jack said. “He’s visiting family, which means I got an open bed, if you want?”Crutchie looked over at Jack. “Ah, you don't gotta do that.”“No, I wanna!” Jack insisted. “C’mon, it's fine. Unless, you don't wanna stay at my place, that's cool.”“No, that'd-that would be great,” Crutchie replied with a grin. “Thank you.”Crutchie stood up quickly, and immediately regretted doing so as his vision whirled and tilted. But, he didn’t hit the ground. He looked up to see that Jack had caught him, looking started. “Woah, you wanna bust up your other leg too?”Crutchie shook his head and giggled. “Just tryin’ to get up.”Jack smirked down at him. “Are you falling for me?”Crutchie couldn't begin to imagine how red his face must be at that point. “I-I suppose I am.” He mumbled.Jack snickered, his own face flushed. “Hey, I saw my opportunity an’ I took it.”Jack helped Crutchie stand upright, and made sure he had his crutch. With that, they set off inside, both still grinning.As they stood in the elevator, Jack suddenly broke the amicable silence. “Y’know, I meant it earlier, when I said you’re cute. If I weren't so tipsy right now, I’d be really nervous talkin’ to you.”Crutchie glanced at Jack, blinking. Finally, he giggled and looked down at his feet, stuffing his hands in on his pockets. “I doubt you'd be sayin’ that if you weren't tipsy.”“No, no, it's true,” Jack insisted. “Ask Davey! I been scared to talk to you ever since that day in the fro-yo place! When-when we first met, Spot intra-introduced us, yeah? As soon as we left, Davey said to me, ‘Looks like you've got a crush.’ And I tried to say he was wrong, but Crutch, he was so friggin’ right.”Crutchie bit his lip and shook his head. “I'm gonna ask you in the mornin’, Mr. Kelly.”“I mean it, I mean every word,” Jack assured him.Crutchie smirked. “Sure you do.”•••Jack was pacing.If he remembered the night before correctly, which he hoped he didn't, he most certainly had let it slip that he had a crush on Crutchie. But, he didn't tell Spot, or Race, or anyone else at the party, that'd be too predictable.He told Crutchie himself.Jack cringed each time he replayed the fuzzy memory in his head. “This is why I should never drink in front of cute people.” He berated himself under his breath. This certainly wasn't the first time he’d sloppily flirted while under the influence.“G’morning.”Jack's eyes widened almost comically. He'd recognize that sweet little voice anywhere. He turned around to face Crutchie, who was rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. “Hey there. How are you feeling?”Crutchie shrugged, his bedhead-hair bouncing as he did so. “I got a little headache, nothin’ too bad. How ‘bout you?”Jack resisted the urge to breathe a sigh of relief. He didn't remember, thank goodness. “I'm wonderful.”Crutchie raised a skeptical eyebrow. “Really? You were more tipsy than me.”Jack chuckled awkwardly. “Well, I mean, wonderful, as in, I ain't nauseous or anything. I got a headache, too, and I'm tired.”“Aww, sorry.” Crutchie sat himself down on a barstool and began drumming his fingers on the counter.Just as Jack was about to offer breakfast, Crutchie blurted, “Okay, I gotta know. This is gonna be awkward, I know, and I'll let myself out and never talk to you again after this if you want, but, um, you said you liked me last night, like, like like, and I just gotta know if that's true because I really, really like you.”Jack was suddenly just as dizzy as he’d been the night before. Numbly, he stammered, “Ah, uh, yeah, yeah, you’re really pretty.”Crutchie snickered, looking down self-consciously. “And, you’re 100% sober right now?”Jack put a hand to his forehead, trying not to cringe. “Definitely, or I wouldn't be so embarrassed.”Crutchie felt his grin widen. Sometimes, Crutchie loved parties.