#this is one of the first things i noticed about the way willie dresses

[reidrum]

all yours if you want me | s.r

pairing: spencer reid x bau!fem!reader

a/n: i think i really like this but if i proofread it one more time im gonna hate it so im just putting it out now lol. this is the full version of the sneak peak i posted last week woohoo ! also this is my first time writing smut so im sorry if it sucks but i hope y'all like it <3

summary: bau's got their first day off in weeks, and you're heading straight to the club to have some fun, you just didn't expect your coworker/crush to also be there while you're trying to forget him.

cw: 18+ minors pls dni, smut, p in v (dont be silly wrap ur willy), munch!spence, lowkey softdom!spence, suggestive dancing in public spaces, minor insecure reader, reader is afab and wears a dress and heels

wc: 4.6k

pls let me know if i forgot anything and let me know your thoughts pleaseee xx

it was the first friday night off you and any of the team members of the bau had in a long time, and you all were determined to spend it well. jj and hotch immediately went home to their families, penelope and emily decided they were going home to get some well needed rest, rossi went to a cigar club, not really sure what derek and spencer ended up doing, but you knew what you were doing tonight.

you’d had a long standing invitation from one of your college friends for a club night, and at first you’d decline because you’d get swept away on a case, and because you were hopelessly pining after your hot nerdy coworker dr. spencer reid.

spencer was smart in many ways, three PhDs, countless published papers, not to mention that eidetic memory of his. there was one thing that spencer was just fucking dumb at, and it was your shameless flirting at him.

like it annoyed you how clueless he was. you’d bring him coffee in the mornings with hearts drawn on it, fall asleep on his shoulder on the jet rides back, even complimenting his outfit or looks which made him flustered, but still nothing. your harbored crush seemed to stay just that, a crush. and while you’d hope he would get the hint he just hasn’t.

so you pull out your phone to text your friend. 

“barry’s at 9?”

“oh my god FINALLY. i’m there i'll pick you up at 8:30.”

you grin to yourself, this was good. you needed to get out and unwind for once.

you drive home quickly to hop in the shower before your friend comes to get you. throwing on a silk slip dress as your outfit of choice, you slipped your heels on and met your friend in the car.

walking into the club, you’re met with the thumping bass of the music playing and the staunch smell of alcohol, sweat, and sex.

it made you think about the last time you got laid, which was a really long time ago. and honestly you wanted to sleep with spencer so bad you hadn’t been making advances elsewhere. but that was going to change tonight, you were determined to have good slutty fun, and hopefully get laid.

your friend grabbed your hand and beelined to the bar, ordering two tequila shots each. once you downed them you moved to the dance floor and started preying for a target. as you’re scanning the room, you notice a familiar looking mop of brown hair standing next to bald headed man. a combo you knew all too well.

-

derek morgan was a player. and before he’s a player, he’s a damn good friend. which was his reasoning for dragging spencer out of his apartment to come out to the club and have fun.

“but i can have fun at home by myself morgan.”

“kid, you need to let loose once in a while. you are young, i’m just helping you take advantage of it.”

-

so now spencer’s at the club (a sentence he still struggles to believe) wearing trousers and navy button down shirt to which morgan had popped the top buttons open because ‘it gives the ladies a sneak peek’. he just rolled his eyes and went with it. he’s nursing a shirley temple at the bar, perusing the environment when he comes across a pair of eyes he knows like the back of his hand.

when you recognize the amber eyes you couldn’t believe your luck. of course, on the one night you’d decided to explore other options he shows up in the least expected place for him to be. so much for getting over him, you think. shyly raising your hand to wave, spencer returns the gesture. morgan takes note, “who are you waving t- oh, pretty girl is here huh pretty boy?” he nudges him.

a blush raises on his face. spencer thought you were attractive, like really attractive. you were a great addition to the bau and he admired your work ethic a lot, the day you walked into the bullpen wearing a fitted pantsuit had his own pants growing real tight. he still remembers when you introduced yourself and he couldn’t even get up without exposing himself. you thankfully didn’t think it was weird, and spencer was relieved when it was finally time to go home. he’d be lying if he said he didn’t have nights where he wished you were the one finishing him off and not his rough hands. he didn’t think you’d like someone like him, and took all of your ‘advances’ as morgan calls them, as acts of kindness.

morgan laughs as he watches spencer’s iq deteriorate to below 50 staring at you, “do you what you gotta do man. but you better be going home with someone tonight okay?”

spencer nods and nurses his drink a bit and looks back to morgan to realize he’s already off dancing with some girls in the corner. damn.

after your distanced encounter with spencer, you decide it’s time to move on and have some fun on your own. you couldn’t be hung up on him anymore, at least not tonight. tonight was for bad decisions.

good thing bad decision walked up to you asking to dance, whatshisname leads you to the dance floor and puts his hands on your hips, swaying to the beats of t-pain and pitbull.

you didn’t know, but spencer was watching every move you made. he watched you get led to the dance floor, the way he placed his hands right on your ass and squeezed, and how he turned you around so you were dancing on his front with your back. he gripped his glass so tight the bartender had to tell him he’d have to pay if it breaks.

he gets it, you’re attractive. this is the kind of thing that happens to people who look like you. who wouldn’t want you? but then he watched it happen a second time. and a third. and a fourth and fifth, till he just stopped counting at nine for his sanity.

spencer was not used to the green monster taking over him, but oh god was he fucking seething with jealousy.

you realized spencer was watching you by whatshisname number five. he hadn’t moved from his spot and he was constantly staring in your direction. deciding to do a little experiment, you played up your dancing a lot more, acting more flirtatious, dragging the guy’s hands further down, and letting out open mouthed moans that you knew spencer couldn’t hear but could definitely see. you watched as his jaw shifted and his knuckles turned white as you danced with each guy, realizing the growing effect that you now had on him.

by whatshisname number nine, you casted your hook. making sure to face spencer and meet his eyes, you watched as they darkened when he realized you were looking right at him. spencer might’ve brushed it off as a coincidence, but then you winked at him. and he realized what you were doing—you were taunting him, and fuck was it working for him. the bulge in his pants grew uncomfortable that he had to stand up to not draw so much attention to it under the bar lights. 

you watched him stand up and adjust himself and you threw your line. when he looked back up at you, you made a come here motion with your index finger and a bite of your lip. spencer’s eyes darkened impossibly more, he paid for his tab and strode over to you.

sinker.

he pulled you from the man behind you, who muttered a ‘what the fuck’ and moved away. spencer pulled you flush to his chest and with a low voice in the crest of your ear he whispered, “what do you think you’re doing?”

“i don’t think i know what you’re talking about dr. reid, could you explain it to me?”

spencer tightens his hold on you and ghosts over your ear once more, “this is a dangerous game you’re playing, sweetheart.”

“a game you joined the second you walked over here.”

he looked at you with a mischievous glint in his eyes, and matched the small smirk on your lips. game on.

the song changed to something with a more sultry beat, and you used the opportunity to wrap your arms around his neck and let his hands guide your hips to the music. while he wasn’t much of a dancer, he could definitely keep a beat. it didn’t prove to be so difficult when your chest was pushing up on his own that he was just waiting for them to spill out. he realized he could feel your hardened nipples through your slip, the nubs rubbing friction through the fabric of their clothes. he moaned internally while he gripped your hips to pull you even closer. it was clear spencer seemed to be getting comfortable with moving your body and holding you close, but you couldn’t let that happen.

before the second chorus you turn around in his arms so your back is pressed up against his front, and you start dancing on him.

spencer’s taken by surprise, something you felt when his hands faltered the confident rhythm it kept up, and while he watched you dance just like this with all those guys it’s like his mind is blank now.

you recognize the song playing, collide by justine skye & tyga, and use the sultry beat to your advantage. you move your ass hard on his front, feeling his length pressed between your cheeks. you gesture for him to lean his head down and he lets out a low groan as you whisper in his ear, “all that for me?”.

a primal instinct starts to take over spencer’s being, and he grips your hips to meet his rutting from behind. spencer was desperate for any friction that could soothe the growing ache in his pants. you grinned as you felt take what he needed from you. it was quickly wiped off your face when you felt his hands inching dangerously close to where you really wanted him.  you place your hands on his with surprise and look at him, “what are you doing?”

“i don’t think i know what you’re talking about, sweetheart,” he threw back at you, “but if there’s something you’d like me to do, i’m all ears.” spencer grazes his fingers under the hem of your dress, toying with the lace band of your panties and slipping his fingers below it to stroke your inner thighs.

fuck. he turned it on you so fast it almost gave you whiplash. the provocative dancing was something you could handle, hell everyone on that dance floor was doing the same thing as you both. what you weren’t sure you could handle was him about to touch you in a public space. but, your body betrayed you as it turned you on to another plane. you look up at him with lust filled eyes and let out a breathy moan of his name. spencer collapses internally and stands his ground, “if you want something, beg me.”

spencer thinks he’s won the upper hand, and he’s feeling so smug behind you. he still thinks he has the upper hand until you reach down and place his middle and index finger in your mouth, circling your tongue around the digits.

“touch me.” you moan out, releasing his fingers.

spencer is dumbfounded how he’s the one about to burst out his pants when he made you beg for him. it should make him feel embarrassed at how close he was, but he couldn’t find it in him to care. not when you in his arms pleading him to do something. you sounded so pretty, and who was he to deny a pretty thing like you?

his fingers continue their journey down, outlining the lace trim resting on your thighs. he hooks his fingers on the fabric to pull it aside and slips into you, going at an aching pace to gather the wetness and groaning out, “jesus, you’re so wet, was this all for me? you needed my attention that bad, baby?”

you whimper and grip his hand even tighter because you’re not sure if your legs are holding out any longer. it’s all so overwhelming—having his hands down your panties in the middle of the dance floor, the lewdity of the noises in your ear, the hard length pressing desperately on your ass. this is all you’ve ever wanted from him, to want you. and now it’s happening, and your brain can’t fire the neurons fast enough to process the moment. instead your body responded with your skin heating up with anticipation, heart beating out as much adrenaline to keep up. the daze is getting foggier by the second as he trails his fingers up and down your slit, spreading the wetness and circling your clit on the way up. and you think you’re about to get accustomed to the pace he’s set, when he delves between your folds and you moan out loud so abruptly that the nearby patrons looked around wondering where it came from.

you can feel spencer’s shit eating grin behind you as he moves his head down to leave love bites on your neck. if he can feel your bluff dissipating, he’s not saying anything. his fingers set a painfully slow rhythm, and you grind down trying to get any more friction to reach your peak. he’s hitting you in all the right spots that make you see the stars and beyond, leaning your head back on his chest as you barrel towards your climax. you feel yourself mere seconds away from reaching, and spencer suddenly pulls his fingers out, making you whine out in protest, “wh- what are you doing?”

spencer grabs your wrist and starts dragging you through the sweaty bodies surrounding you, tightening his grip with a small smirk as he passes a few of the guys you were dancing with earlier. suckers.

he pushes the doors open with a force and while the cool air is attempting to return your body to homeostasis, the anticipation of where he’s going overtakes you, “spence, where are we going wh-“ you cut off your sentence with a gasp as he handles you flush to the door of his car. then it’s just silence for a few moments. no loud bass or weird dudes, just the two of you. the only sound that can be heard are your breaths competing for prominence. you look up at him and focus on the details of his face illuminated by the moonlight, trying to read his expression. his honeyed eyes have fully darkened to a lustful hickory, and suddenly you felt like a gazelle being preyed on by a lion.

he reaches into his pocket and unlocks the car with a soft beep. it’s the focused eyes on you that drive you to open the door, but it’s the subtle silent nod of his head towards the car that makes you move inside waiting for him to join you. he climbs in after you, shutting the door and locking it.

spencer moves to the middle seat and allows his legs to spread open, he taps his thighs and faintly says, “come here.”

you shuffle closer and swing your legs over him, your dress rising up a little as you fully sit on his clothed crotch. and now you realize the corporeality of the moment. it’s like, really real now. all this time pining after the boy genius with no luck and now he’s got you in the backseat of his car and your panties crooked, waiting for you to move. the bravado you wore and so tightly held onto for a majority of the night comes crashing down like a shattered vase, and you’re not sure if you have any more in you to salvage the pieces. you may be a profiler, but try as you might you are not a mind reader, yet you so desperately want to know what he’s thinking. is it too much to ask what this means? will it overwhelm him to say you’ve dreamt about this moment for many nights, and how those dreams went on till the early morning when he’d stay and brush your hair back with a temple kiss. the whispers of sweet nothings sticking to you like honey as you got ready for the day. are these questions you even want to know the answer to?

you may not be a mind reader, but he is dr. spencer reid, who noticed your demeanor change after too long of a silence.

“hey,” he holds your chin delicately to your eyes, “it’s okay if you want to stop, i’m sorry for tak-“

it’s your turn to cut him off, “no! no i, i still want this, i just,” you falter.

“just what, baby?” he coos softly.

it makes tears well up in your eyes, you hope he can’t see them, “i’ve just wanted this for so long, and it’s probably embarrassing that i’m admitting this now of all times, but i don’t know if i can handle this meaning more to me than it does to you.” you confess quietly.

spencer listens to your admission and gingerly resecures his arm behind you, a position he thinks is starting to become second nature. he rubs soft shapes into the small of your back, “what makes you think that?”

“because i basically threw myself at you tonight, and it seems to be the first time you noticed me.” you say halfheartedly. 

“you think i don’t notice you?” he whispers, leaning in to leave soft kisses in the crook of your neck. spencer is dumbfounded, confused at how you reached such a conclusion. but as a man of science, he feels there’s only one way to prove himself. he breathes your name out, “can i show you how much i notice you? please?”

you nod, at least you could commit this moment to memory if it was all you’d have left of him. he presses his lips to yours for the first time that night, your breath faltering as he becomes more feverous with his attacks. slotting his tongue with yours, your hands move up to his silky hair to take purchase in. he lets out a groan as he pulls back from you, “i need to taste you.”

he guides your body to lean back on the center console, the only way his tall figure would be able to accommodate this position. your legs are still split on either side of his legs, using your hands to prop yourself up to watch his movements. he hooks his fingers on the sides of your panties and slowly slides them down, moaning at the way your slick causes resistance as he pulls them off your legs. wrapping his arms under your thighs to lift you up to face level, he places small kisses on your inner thighs as he makes his way to your core. he places a final kiss on your center before licking a long stripe up to your clit. moaning out wantonly, he continues his ministrations and kitten licks all over you, circling back up to your clit after each round.

“spence..” you whine out. he moves his focus to your clit, circling and sucking till you’re squirming in his arms so much has to grip your thighs. your hands are fussing through his hair, gripping and pulling to find something to ground you. spencer then slips his fingers into your core for the second time tonight, and you lose it.

he’s pumping his fingers in and out, that all you can hear is the squelching noises of your cunt. adding another one, you’re unable to stay still anymore, as if you were before.

“oh my fuck, spencer. i’m gonna cu-, cum. please don’t stop, don’t stop, don’t stop.” you moan out filthy.

spencer unlatches his mouth for a moment, “come for me, baby.”

your orgasm crashes down on you like a wave breaking on the shore. it’s all consuming, leaving you shaking and breathless and he lifts his head from between your legs and you see his chin glistening with you in the moonlight. the sight itself is so pornographic, you can’t help but shuffle back onto his lap to crash your lips back to his, tasting yourself on his tongue. he tangles his hands in your hair as you move yours between you both, unzipping his trousers to palm him through his boxers.

he breakily moans in your ear as you slowly pull back the band to take him out. the sight takes you by surprise, you knew he was big, you felt it on your ass while you were dancing. but seeing how it compared to your hand had you bulging your eyes.

“you’re so big,” you whisper. how the hell was that fitting inside of you?

spencer the mind reader places his hand on top of yours as you lazily stroke him, “we’ll go slow, don’t worry.” he can’t help but feel his ego inflate to the skies, he can’t remember the last time he had someone look intimidated by him.

nodding faintly, you gather the spit in your mouth and let it fall between you both to land on the flushed pink tip. you spread it up and down his length, setting a slow pace that had him moaning expletives in your ear.

“oh-, ohhh, fuck baby. you’re so good at that holy shit,” he says trying to hold himself together. you give him a few more pumps before lifting your hips up to guide him inside you. you move his tip to your entrance, rubbing it teasingly before spencer places his hands on your sides to stabilize you, and slowly sink you down onto him.

the second his tip pushes past your folds, you both moan out in harmony. placing your hands on his shoulders you leverage yourself to sink down further inch by inch, until your core is flush with the base of his thighs.

spencer is a man of many words, maybe too many. but right now the only word he can remember is your name as he watched you take his length whole inch by inch slowly losing any restraint he had left. the pressure his cock had inside of you was heavenly. you’d never felt so full, and you could tell he was trying so hard to stay still as you adjusted above him.

when you bottom out spencer throws his head back against the seat, “oh that’s it, good girl,” you clenched around him. “you okay?”

you nod in response, ignoring the way the term of endearment sent flutters to your heart, and attempt an experimental rock of your hips, causing spencer’s head to whip up and meet your lust blown eyes with his own. he adjusts his hands on the sides of your thighs and starts helping you move up and down on his length, setting a brutally slow pace.

you rest your head and moan into the crook of his neck as he continues his movements, “spencer, please, more, i can take it.”

he still can’t believe what’s happening right now, all those days he spent thinking about you in the bullpen, at home, everywhere really, and here you were begging on top of him to fuck you good.

“you still think i don’t notice you?” he says into your ear, “i have dreamt about what you’d look like bouncing on my cock, and you are blowing any idea i had out of the water.”

you whimper as he continues, “and when i’m not thinking about ruining you, i am in awe at how you walk through life. you bring so much joy everywhere you go, it’s a blessing to be able to experience you.” he says through shaky breaths.

the praise goes straight to core, with some traveling to your heart again, and you’re not sure how much longer you can hold on before you unravel physically and emotionally.

his hands are guiding you up and down at a harder pace now, “so,” thrust. “you still think,” thrust, “i don’t notice you?” he thrusts into you once more and holds you down, making sure you’re looking directly at him, “it was never an option to brush past you, you are everything to me. i didn’t know how to show that without overwhelming you. i’m sorry.”

tears well up in your eyes again, spencer notices this time and presses a small kiss on your forehead. all your senses feel like they’re in overdrive, unable to comprehend anything right now. your skin feels like it’s on fire as he rolls your hips faster to meet his ruts.

“spence, i- i’m so close.” you whine desperately. 

he slips his hand between you both to rub your clit, “i know baby, i’ve got you. let go for me.”

his words were enough to break the dam, your second climax of the night hurling towards you. the white hot feeling overtook your whole body, shaking and clenching above him. your grip on him was threateningly vicious, probably leaving deep crescent marks in the nape of his shoulders. you wish the euphoria would last forever if it meant having spencer like this. as you came down from your high, the two of you were still moving together, slowly rocking your hips to meet each other. once you were grounded again, you pushed through the sensitivity in your core to rise up on his length, just barely leaving the tip in before you slid back down fast and hard, now focusing on spencer reaching his peak.

“oh jesus, fuck.” spencer moaned out brokenly.

“come on spence you can do it,” you taunted as you clenched down, “come inside me, make a mess of me please.” a rush of confidence flowed through as you whispered into his ear, and spencer held your hips to help you bounce faster on him.

spencer let out a loud groan as you felt the hot spurts coat your insides, he was leaving matching crescent marks on the sides of your hips as the ones on his shoulders, making sure all of him was left in you. feeling him soften inside, you remained on his lap with him sheathed in you. you both are breathing heavily, leaning back to hopefully give you both some relief from the sex filled air. looking around the car you realize that all the windows are fogged up and let out a tiny giggle.

“what’s so funny?” he looks up at you slightly amused and very out of breath.

“no it’s just, the windows are such a dead giveaway for what we just did in here.” 

“eh, i don’t really care what people think.”

“gasp, dr. reid wants to let the world know he has car sex with random girls?”

he leans in to bite your neck playfully, “random? did nothing i said during all that register for you?”

you yelp and attempt to play dumb, “actually i don’t remember a word, you might have to jog my memory. maybe even recreate the circumstances to help with cementing it. i read about situational memorization where certain scenarios are easily remembered when there’s a big event to anchor it to.”

he swears he could’ve melted on the spot at you explaining a concept you’d read about to him, “careful sweetheart, calling it a big event might inflate my ego a little too high.”

“i mean, i can tell it worked,” you tease as you feel him harden inside of you again, “so tell me genius, how many times does a scenario have to happen for me to remember the information?”

“i guess we’ll have to find out, don’t we?”

[thalialunacy]

[for the @calaisreno May Prompt-a-palooza; cw for bodily functions]

(1) (2) (3) (4) 5: awkward (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11) (12) (13) (14) (15) (16) (17) (18) (19) (20) (21) (22) (23) (24) (25) (26) (27) (28) (29) (30) (31)

Sharing a home with someone, regardless of square footage or relationship, involves an unavoidable amount of intimate physical knowledge. As an army mate of John's had once said eloquently, 'Well, I know what your shit smells like, don't I?'

Those things, John is prepared for. Has got used to, even, in his once-and-future living arrangement. He's a doctor, a combat veteran, and a widowed father. He's not exactly squeamish.

And he can personally attest, on several levels, to the fact that Sherlock is not a machine. You can't share a bathroom and not learn a few things about a person.

But… it's like some switch got turned on after their 'moment' in the stairwell.

(Because no, they had not marched back upstairs and worked things out per Mrs Hudson's request. As will shock no one, they had instead gone on their stubborn ways, and are ploughing through their daily lives willy-nilly as long as they can.)

(Which is not very long.)

Things keep happening.

- John, sitting guilelessly at the table, makes to stand just as Sherlock is walking by, and ends up with his nose essentially in the armpit of Sherlock's dressing gown. Which Sherlock is still wearing. After sleeping several hours in it and old pyjamas.

- John, Rosie in his lap, snorts awake to find himself-- well, both him and his daughter-- slumped into Sherlock on the sofa, credits scrolling on the television screen while Sherlock scrolls through his phone. And, unfortunately, both John and his daughter have managed to leave sleep-warm saliva on Sherlock's person, in two round spots on his breathtakingly expensive shirt. Sherlock, who must have noticed, seems unconcerned. John wonders briefly if he's woken up in an alternate dimension, then realises they'd been watching Doctor Who and it must have seeped into his psyche.

- John, now one hundred percent accustomed to wiping his toddler's nose, is so focused on his laptop screen when he hears a sneeze that he doesn't think (at all) before pulling out a tissue and reaching over to the face of the sneezer. That it's Sherlock is only a fact he recognises a split second too late.

- John, brain uncaffeinated, yawns while reaching across Sherlock to grab something off the table, and realises with a start that it's 6am and neither of them have cleaned their teeth. He stares at the mouth so close to his, at the man whose breath is bitter, yes, but somehow not unagreeable, then jerks away gracelessly. 'I'll just--' He points his thumb over his shoulder at the loo, and escapes, face flaming.

- And finally: John, going quietly mad when Rosie gets her first real, frightening fever. His training doesn't stand a chance of overriding his lizard brain, so he spends three days ignoring absolutely all personal hygiene and never leaving his daughter's side. When it finally breaks, when John feels like he can breathe again, he notices Sherlock is there, too, beside him, quietly watching her sleep restfully for the first time in what feels like long, dusty years. And he suddenly realises he must smell like -- well, like a locker room and a crowded pub rolled around in the dirt then pissed off a skunk, probably. And Sherlock is standing next to him as if he smells like roses. This, unexpectedly, makes John's stomach broil under a surge of affection, and he feels his eyes stinging for one horrifying, sleep-deprived moment.

Soon, after so many of these things, he can't help wondering if God or whomever is taking the piss. If fate is having a good old go at John H Watson by giving him the closest, most fulfilling relationship he's ever had-- and making it with the one person who can knock him flat on his arse and keep him there.

He's tempted, more than once, to give the sky two fingers. But he has yet to get around to doing it. He's too busy, for once, actually living.

[❤️]

[cherry1sblog]

PAIRING:Lee heeseung x fem!reader

GENRES:smut,fluff,bullying,alcohol,party,unprotected sex (rember to wrap your Willy so the out come won’t be silly🌝)

WARNINGS there is bullying in this heeseung is basically a dick to y/n and nothing in this story is real!!! This is fan fiction and the way I write about heeseung is not the way I portray him as he’s a person himself this is simply for entertainment only !!

SUMMARY:heeseung had always bullied you through your 3 years of Highschool but never let anyone touch you other then him and if he found out someone did that was the end of it you were basically marked as his toy that’s until the summer of your junior year you had enough you were done with him always making fun of you and you hated the fact that after all he did I to you you still adored him and liked him but it dosent matter cause you wanted to leave your senior year with a banger so you were no longer your nerdy self still smart asf obvi but appearance wise different you got contacts new clothes thank god you guys didn’t have a dress code and most importantly you spent all summer learning how to do your makeup……

(Word count :………)

//FIRST DAY OF SENIOR YEAR\\

You woke up that day at 4 in the morning all tho school didn’t start till 7:40 you had 3 hours to get ready for you first last day of senior year you showers blow dried your hair styled it put in your contacts and lastly did you makeup you were ready to go feeling a bit scared slightly pulling your skirt up more revealing more of your thighs but you didn’t care you were going to do this no matter what and no one can stop you not even Lee heeseung

Walking into school heads turning new faces old faces appearing but everyone seemed to stair at you looking some took out there phones and took photos asking if they knew who you were that upset you a little you went to this school for 3 years and people only saw yourself really only when you became “pretty” but still u were now super nervous now but your rember your main target Lee heeseung you clutched your purse and went straight to your classroom people Turing around seeing who entered you sat in a random seat next to a girl you’ve never seen she seemed super bubbly she was quiet a talker to “hello!!”you were shocked by her sudden loudness “oh…sorry…that must’ve been to loud “she lowers her voice you giggled “it’s okay why do you seem so excited tho”she turend to you with a big smile “well it’s my last year of Highschool and I get to meet new people so I’m really exited I Gusse “you just nodded an okay “oh I’m chu btw!” Ofc a cute girl with a cute name made sense “I’m y/n” you smiled at her “I’m guessing that this isn’t your first year “”nope I’ve gon sense freshman year here so I can tell you a lot about here if u want “she smiled brightly and hugged you you’ve never had a freind before so this was all knew “tysm!! Oh sorry is hugging now your thing”she looked at you but you didn’t know if the only freind you were sorta making would leave you if she found out but you trusted her “ah sorry I’m just not really used to having freinds or talking to people “she looked at you confused “your littlest drop dead gorgeous and no one can take there eyes off you” you giggled awkwardly “okay I’ll tell you I a secret up until my junior year I was a big nerd and I wanted a change so here’s the knew and improved me “you smiled happily until ofc someone had to walk in and ruin your fun lee heeseung

Your smile went down and chu noticed “what’s wrong y/n”he heard her say your name and wiped his head that way looking confused cause he didn’t notice you until chu said your name again “y/nnn can you hear me are you okay “ you let out a little cough rember not to break “yeah I’m okay sorry “and just as you were minding your busses heeseung came up to you “wow I really can believe it they park y/n dosent look like a nerd anymore “u just rolled your eyes at him “what do you want lee I’m not playing games with you anymore “he came close to your ear “just cause you changed dosent mean you aren’t my toy still isn’t that right doll”you didn’t know what to say he always caught your tongue “now go get me some snacks from the lunch room I’m hungry “he put 20 dollars on the desk expecting you to pick it up and run over there like always “no”you looked up at him and stood up took the money and threw it at him chu also seemingly upset “you know what heeseung if you want a stupid snack go get it your damn self “he seemed shocked a your response but started to smirk “right I’m sorry I wouldn’t want you running in that skirt you might wanna pull it down “chu getting ready to defend you but you didn’t need her to cause this is what you prepared for all summer “no I think it’s fine actually it’s ment to be like this but if you done being a dick you can go “everyone in the class stunned now not at the fact that you just told off they lee heeseung but at the fact that your the girl who used to do everyone’s homework that you were heeseung toy but just cause your not a nerd anymore dosent mean your not still off limits

//lunch time\\

By lunch time you already had 9 boys come to ask you for your insta and 12 girls ask what different makeup products you use or what you skin care was but those were the good things there were people saying you had gotten plastic surgery you did certain things just to get the money for your stuff people even said there was no way you were lee heeseungs little toy and if you wondering why they call you Lee heeseungs toy it’s cause he could pick at every part of you body and you did what he wanted he could slap you pull your hair push you and you still always did what he wanted you to do but he had made it every clear that you were only his to fuck with and no one eleses

You had saten down with chu to eat lunch her happily taking a bite of food made you happy you finally had a friend well let’s say a couple freinds you had met this boy really shy but nice named soobin and another boy who was more outgoing beomgyu they were also new and just transferred so your guises group was prefect but anyways you all were sitting down and enjoyed your food you were happy for once out of your Highschool life you finally had people you could go to the mall with have sleepovers go to party’s with but ofc like always you were knocked out of you thoughts by yet again heeseung he had just pushed a kid to the floor for getting him the wrong dumplings him jake and sunghoon walking away from the boy they had just scared heeseung walked passed you but Sunghoon said something and walked back to where you were “hey y/n” you looked up seeing as Sunghoon and Jake never really participated in heeseungs stupidness but they did have there fare share of “fun “with it “hey sunghoon”you said coldly”huh “he stuck his tongue threw his cheek “it really is you then HOWD you get so much hotter over summer I mean you were a cute girl but now your really js something eles “as he was about to start going closer heeseung pushed him away not to hard but just enough to make him stumble “what the hell do you think your doing “ “not like your ever gonna do anything plus she wouldn’t dare you even if you wanted we all know she’s your toy but she can speak for herself “ you saw heeseung clenching his fist but it made you angry how he thought he could control you “I told you everyone knows y/n is off limits “ “off limits to bully I’m not bullying her I’m simpling asking if she wants to go out sometime “ as heeseung was about to open his mouth you answerd “y-yes “they both looked stunned beomgyu soobin and chu having there mouths open wide “I would like to go out with you sometime “ “doll chose very wisely here “ “you don’t get to control me heeseung I’m done with your bull shit you can’t just walk all over me agian “ heeseung Just loooked at you with an expression you couldn’t understand “you heard her anyways y/n uh I’ll pick you up Saturday and 4:30 “you nodded your head smiling heesung had stormed off at that point.

//the next day\\

“Y/NN THERE YOU ARE “chu comes rushing to you sitting pulling out the chair and sitting in it she seemed to exited “yk chu sometimes I wonder if you on something “she just laughs “we’re not talking about that rn LOOK THO” she hands you her phone and it was a party ofc the boys were having as a welcome back to school like they did every year but you had never gone but this year you were definitely going no matter what even if you had to sneak out “holy shit the back to school party “”yeah it’s gonna be at jakes house tonight so we better go shopping after school “you both looked at eachother cause obviously you guys had no idea what to wear to a back to school party

//at the mall\\

“Ughhhhh y/n we’ve been to three dress shops already and you’ve liked non of them “she said dragging her feet with bags in her hands “look chu my dress it has to be different then something I would normally wear if I was the old me remember we’re gonna go out with a banger and If I were you I would go return the dress cause this dress shop is they best”as soon as you guys step into the dress shop chus mouth drops and gose to pick up a dress “Y/N YOU WERE SO RIGHT OMG “ you start to look for dresses to seeing witch one you like it came down to three dresses a white one simple and short but cute a blue one the had sparkles and a slimy black one with a diamond straps as soon as you came out in the blue one chu loved it it fit your body perfectly glitter on is and everything you would be shining with the lights they would have and you knew this was gonna be the one you got some simple black heels to for the dress witch you loved as you guys were leaving the store ofc you had to see heeseung and 6 of his guy freinds you were fucked “yooo hold up “Jake stops you and everyone is looking at you and chu”see what I tell you heeseung it was her and uh what’s your name”he looks at chu confused “o-oh I’m chu”he looked at her up and down “cute” your a bit nervous cause everyone still had there eyes on you normally you would just hide away but no you weren’t going to go down “my god can you fucking pervs look at something eles “heeseung grabed your had and took you into a hallway where others weren’t at “h-HEY let go of me “he released your arm and put u up agains the wall making you a bit flustered “doll see your starting to piss me off just cause you where this stupid shit only makes you look like a slut and you going out with Sunghoon lemme just tell you this if you wake up the next day and he’s gone don’t ever expect to hear from him again and this big mouth of yours needs to learn how to shut the fuck up “he let you go as you feel to the floor being in this position triggered something and you remembered

-flash back-

The three girls you were so afraid of had gotten done beating you leaving you on the rooftop heeseung had come out of the corner he was watching everything happen in coming up to you you looked up at him and your eyes got watery he grabed your face and looked at you “don’t cry it only makes you look pathetic”and he let go of your face and walked away later that day you found a bandage on you desk but didn’t know who put it there

-end of flash back-

“OMG Y/n”chu ran up to you finding you on the floor holding your chest “are you okay what happend did he hurt you are you crying “”I’m im fine chu ty “she helped you up and you guys left the mall you didn’t have time to cry and be sad you were going to this party no matter what like you said

//arriving at party\\

Soobin had picked you guys up all four of you guys going to the party as u guys got off people do what they do gossiping like there’s no tmrw anyways you walk thru the door being greeted by Sunoo even tho he was friends with the boys he wasn’t a complete jack ass “omg so glad you guys could make it” hugging u and chu and giving the boys a side hug “well um if u guys want drinks there in the kitchen and yeah pretty much just enjoy but go greet the boys if u want “ u guys nodded beomgyu chu and soobin going to say hi to there friends as you went alone to go get a drink “hey you guys want a drink “they all nodded saying a beer was good u walked into the kitchen seeing people make out drinking laughing and partying as this was your first party you didn’t imagine it to be exactly like the tv Highschool shows but hey you couldn’t complain walking up to the alcohol section seeing jay and sunghoon he waved at you as u came up to him “damn y/n you look amazing “Sunghoon said “thank you I didn’t exactly know if this was a good fit but now that I know you like it I’m guessing it was “sunghoon and jay scanning you from top to bottom “so uh y/n you want a drink “jay had asked “yeah just give me four beers “he nodded sunghoon pulling you by your waist and bending down to your ear a little “hey I just wanted to make sure you were okay yk after what happened”you felt an Aw because he actually cared you wispers back into his ear “yeah I’m fine I wasn’t gonne let him get to me “he smirked looking at you and gave u a kiss witch you were not prepared for but ofc someone was watching you the entire time and pushed him off you “what the fuck sunghoon”you could tell heeseung was mad but why what reasons did he have to be upset “oh hey heeseung”sunghoon smirked at him like as if he knew he wasn’t supposed to be doing what he just did “don’t fucking hey heeseung me what the fuck do you think your doing “ “I mean I thought it was pretty clear I was kissing her “hey you guys cmon don’t fight “jay stood beetween the boys “yeah cmon heeseung don’t sweat it we’re just having some fun “ those words hurt you you thought sunghoon liked you or were you really just there for his entertainment now?

You put your head down a bit upset and you saw heeseung smirking “what’s wrong doll I told you aren’t I right “ you were annoyed at heeseung at the fact he was right again but you felt embarrassed “shut the fuck up heeseung “ “dont be mad doll you guys were just having fun right “ in that moment it clicked to sunghoon the way he had said it and he felt bad “wait y/n that’s not how I mean it” u we’re gonna take this as your opportunity to get back at heeseung “you smiled at Sunghoon going up to him whispering in his ear leaving heeseung and jay curious “don’t worry I know we’re having fun but heeseung just ruined it so can you take me where we can have fun” you left sunghoon speechless the girl who always had to run errands for his bsf and who would always get picked on was now so bold and a bit flustered “u-uh yeah sure “ he grabed your arm guiding you to what you assumed was jakes guest room but as you looked back you could see a very annoyed heeseung

//15 min after entering the room\\

As you and sunghoon were making out his shirt already off and your dress guliding up to your hips sunghoon s hands placed on your thighs massaging them you were nervous but just as he was about to go under you stopped him “hoon wait um it’s my first time so I’m kinda scared”he just smiled at you “hey we don’t have to do it if you don’t want we can take things slow” maybe heeseung was wrong maybe he really did like you and you were gonna shove it in his face that you and his bsf were gonna be together “well do u js wanna watch a movie and cuddle” by this time you were ready to sleep so u agreed “yeah but um do you know if Jake has any clothes to borrow or I could js sleep in this I don’t wanna bother” he got you and went to a drawer in the room “scince we stay at jakes a lot we basically all have are own room heres my shirt “ he throws you a plain white tee but no pants so you look confused at him a bit “oh did you want like shorts or somthing sorry” he was about to go back but you stopped him “no like this is fine I actually prefer to sleep like this “ he just nodded and he went to change into something more comfortable but you didn’t expect him to come back with no shirt so you gasped seeing his pretty toned body “what?” He asks you just blush and shake your head as he smirks the rest of the night was fun but you fell asleep that night not thinking anything of it

//the next morning \\

Your eyes fluttered as you heard a knock on the door and seeing Jake come in the room made you panic and in that moment you wanted to die sunghoon still sleep until “YO WHAT THE FUCK SUNGHOON” and in that moment sunghoon woke up “nah dude I feel so betrayed you promised to help me clean but instead you got to fuck y/n “ and cause ofc everyone had heard jake yell Niki sunoo and heeseung came to the room and your eyes met heeseungs and you could see clearly he was upset “ Jake we didn’t fuck she just slept over “ “yk that’s hard to BELIEVE when she’s wearing your shirt and you have no shirt “ Jake had a point but it was the truth you guys really had not done anything “actually it wouldn’t be hard to believe sense y/n s a slut” you got up from the bed and threw the pillow at heeseung “you know heeseung just cause your a fucking whore dosent mean I am and I just borrowed his clothes you idiot so fuck off “ scince you had no shorts and just a shirt the boys just looked at you niki and sunoo deciding it was better to leave but heeseung was about to say something but sunghoon had cut him off “ hyung can you please just let this go “ and with that sunghoon just closed the door on them and locked it and in that moment you both realized you had school “ughhh we have school “ “we can always skip “ you quickly refused never once missing a day not wanting to hurt your perfect attendance “ cmon y/n don’t be such a nerd or are you still the old y/n?” You knew he was only saying that to persuade you but it did work “ I mean n-no I just um wouldn’t know what we would do “ sunghoon just shook his head at you “ we could just chill go to the mall do anything are you really that boring ?” Offended at his hitting him on his bicep “let’s just chill then “

//after schoo\\

After school normally the boys would all go to jakes house tk study play games shit like that witch they all did thinking that y/n would be gone by then but they were very wrong when they see y/n and sunghoon on the couch asleep “holy shit heeseung hyung is not gonna be happy” jungwon picked you up and ran with you on his back you being confused when jungwon locked his door and threw you on the bed “WHAT TH-“ jungwon covers your mouth muffling your yelling until you stoped “shut the fuck up unless you want to make heeseung hyung and sunghoon hyung hate eachother more right now “ honestly you couldn’t give a fuck less and if this made heeseung miserable then you had every reason not to care “ why should I care on fact I actually don’t mind going back ou-“ jungwon grabed your hand pinning you on the wall wtf is it with everyone pinning you on the wall “ look I know heeseung hyung did fucked up shit and I know it’s fucked up we didn’t do anything but we all grow from our mistakes and plus now your like hot so please just shut the fuck up and well stay in here”.

———————————————————————————-

Okay well I’m im just gonna leave this here I feel like I had y’all eating for too long I honestly thought I would be done with this by now but I went on a family vacation recently so I had no time but I’ll try to make the next part as quick as possible ty all sm for being patient

[lifeofpriya]

Lakeside Love - William Nylander

[gif credit goes to @ghiessa]

shout out to @jackhues for helping me with this fic 🫶🏼

summary: why did Willy plan a trip to Stockholm so suddenly...?

You wake up to the sound of your phone vibrating on the nightstand next to you. Glancing over, you see a text from William, your boyfriend. Your heart skips a beat as you read his message: "Pack your bags, baby. I've got a surprise for you." A smile spreads across your face, and you quickly get out of bed, eager to see what William has planned for you.

As you step out of the shower and begin to get dressed, you can't help but think back to when William first mentioned the idea of going on a trip together. It was during one of his drunk ramblings after a game, and you had accidentally overheard him talking about it to his teammates. You knew then that he was planning something special for you, but you never imagined it would be this soon.

You make your way downstairs to find William pacing back and forth in the living room. He spins around when he hears you enter the room, a nervous smile on his face. "Hey, baby," he says, his voice shaking slightly. "Are you ready?"

You nod, your heart racing with anticipation. "Where are we going?" you ask, trying to contain your excitement.

William grins and reaches into his pocket, pulling out an envelope. He hands it to you, and you open it to find two plane tickets, one for you and one for him. Your eyes widen as you read the destination: Stockholm, Sweden.

"Stockholm? But why there?" you ask, confused.

William smiles and pulls you close, his hands warm on your shoulders. "I have a surprise for you, remember?" he says, his voice low and full of promise. "You'll see when we get there."

You let out a soft laugh, your heart still racing with anticipation. "Okay, mystery man," you say, teasing him. "Let's go."

William grins and grabs his wallet, pulling out some cash. "I'll have a car pick us up in an hour," he says, stuffing the bills back into his wallet. "Pack everything you need, and don't forget your passport."

You nod, feeling a mix of excitement and nervousness bubbling up inside you. This is really happening. You're going to Sweden with William. As you gather your things, you can't help but wonder what kind of surprise he has planned for you. Is it something romantic? Adventurous? Or maybe something completely unexpected?

You pack quickly, throwing clothes and toiletries into your suitcase. You slip on a comfortable pair of jeans and a cozy sweater, not knowing what the weather will be like in Stockholm. You grab your passport from your desk drawer and tuck it into your bag, feeling a sense of anticipation wash over you.

An hour later, a sleek silver car pulls up to your house. William helps you with your luggage, his hands strong and reassuring. You climb into the car, feeling a rush of excitement as you pull away from your home and head towards the airport.

\\\

The journey passes in a blur of nervous energy and anticipation. You can't help but feel a sense of adventure as you step off the plane in Stockholm, the cool autumn air hitting your face. William holds your hand tightly as you make your way through the bustling airport, past the colorful murals and the familiar Swedish flags.

As you step outside, a luxurious black town car pulls up to the curb, its tinted windows hiding whatever lies in store for you. You climb inside, feeling a mix of excitement and nervousness as the car pulls away from the airport.

The ride is long and winding, taking you through the picturesque Swedish countryside. You can't help but notice the changing leaves and the crisp autumn air, starkly contrasting the warm, humid summers back home.

After what feels like hours, the car pulls up to a quaint little cabin nestled in the woods. Your heart skips a beat as you step out of the car, taking in the breathtaking view of the lake, glistening in the sunlight.

"Welcome to our little slice of heaven," William says, pulling you into a warm embrace. "I hope you like it here."

As you step inside the cabin, you're immediately struck by its rustic charm. The wooden floors creak beneath your feet, and the scent of pine and freshly baked bread fills the air. The living room is cozy, with a roaring fireplace and plush leather couches, while the kitchen is bright and inviting, with a large wooden table that can seat eight.

"This place is amazing," you breathe, turning to face William. "I can't believe you planned all of this."

He smiles, taking your hand in his. "I wanted to do something special for you," he says softly. "Something we'll always remember."

You look around the cabin, taking in the cozy atmosphere. "I think we'll remember this for sure," you say, leaning against your boyfriend.

William leads you to the bedroom, which is warm and inviting, with a large, comfortable bed and a window that overlooks the lake. He helps you unpack your clothes, hanging them neatly in the closet.

As you both settle into the room, William takes your hand and leads you to the window. He points out to the lake, where a small boat awaits you. "I have a surprise for you tonight," he says, his eyes twinkling with excitement. "We're going on a romantic boat ride around the lake."

You can't help but feel your heart skip a beat at his words. This trip has already been so memorable, and you can't wait to see what else William has in store for you. "That sounds wonderful," you breathe, leaning into him.

\\\

As the sun begins to set over the lake, you and William make their way down to the small boat waiting for them. The air is cool against your skin, and the gentle lapping of the water against the shore is soothing. William helps you into the boat, and you both sit down, feeling the rocking of the water beneath you.

The sky is painted with shades of pink and orange, reflecting on the calm surface of the water. You lean back against William, feeling the warmth of his body against yours. He takes your hand in his, and you feel a sense of peace wash over you.

As the sun dips below the horizon, the night sky comes alive with stars. You can see the reflection of the stars on the water, and it feels like you're floating in a sea of twinkling lights. William leans in closer, his lips brushing against your ear.

"I've been thinking," he whispers, his warm breath sending shivers down your spine. "I want to make this trip even more special for you."

You lean closer, your heart racing with anticipation. "How?" you breathe.

William smiles, his eyes twinkling in the moonlight. "I've been planning this for a long time," he says softly. "You're the love of my life, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

You feel your heart skip a beat as you realize where this is going. Your hands tremble as you look into William's eyes, filled with love and excitement.

"William," you breathe, your voice barely audible over the gentle lapping of the water. "Are you…?"

He nods, his eyes never leaving yours. "I am," he says, his voice trembling with emotion. "I want to ask you something important, something that's been on my mind for a very long time."

You feel a lump forming in your throat as you realize what's about to happen. This is it. The moment you've been waiting for. The moment you'll share the rest of your life with the love of your life.

You look into William's eyes, and you see the same love and excitement that you feel mirrored back at you. He reaches into his pocket, pulling out a small box. You can't help but notice the engagement ring inside, sparkling in the moonlight.

"William," you breathe, your voice trembling. "Are you serious?"

He nods, his eyes shining with love and nerves. "I've never been more serious about anything in my life," he says, his voice barely above a whisper. "Will you marry me?"

Tears well up in your eyes as you look into his face, the love of your life asking you to spend the rest of your life with him. You take the ring from the box and slip it onto your finger, feeling the weight of it as a symbol of the promise you're about to make. "Yes," you breathe, leaning into him. "Yes, I'll marry you."

William's face breaks into a smile, his eyes shining with relief and joy as he slipped the engagement ring onto your ring finger. He pulls you close, his arms wrapped around you, and you can feel the warmth of his body against yours. You lean back against the boat, looking out at the stars reflected in the water, and you know that this is where you're meant to be.

As you both sit in silence, taking in the beauty of the night, you can't help but think about the journey that brought you here. The late-night talks, the long-distance phone calls, the early morning flights. You remember the first time you met, how you both felt a spark that neither of you could ignore. You think about the countless hours you've spent together, laughing, crying, and learning about each other. You feel grateful for every moment, every memory, every emotion that has brought you to this point.

William breaks the silence, his voice soft and tender. "I love you," he says, his eyes never leaving yours. "I've loved you for so long, and I can't imagine spending the rest of my life with anyone else."

You look into his eyes, feeling the same love and devotion that he feels for you. "I love you too," you whisper, your fingers intertwining with his. "I can't wait to spend the rest of our lives together."

As the boat gently rocks on the water, you lean in for a kiss, feeling the warmth of his lips against yours. You can feel the love and excitement that fills your heart, and you know that this moment will stay with you forever.

William breaks the kiss, his eyes searching yours. "So, what do you think? Is this everything you imagined?"

You laugh softly, pressing your forehead against his. "More than I ever could have imagined," you whisper, feeling a surge of emotion. "Thank you for this, William. For everything."

He smiles, his eyes filled with warmth. "You're welcome, baby. It's been an adventure, hasn't it?"

You nod, your heart filled with joy and gratitude. "It has," you whisper, taking in the beauty of the lake around you. "I'll always remember this moment, this trip, with you."

William leans in, his eyes shining with happiness. "Me too," he says softly. "This is just the beginning of our adventure together."

As the boat slowly glides across the water, you feel a sense of peace wash over you. You look out at the stars, their twinkling lights mirrored in the water. You feel grateful for this moment, for the love you share, and for the adventures that lie ahead.

[inawearyworld]

music makers/dreamers of dreams: a fiytwtb addition

a study of wren's relationship with music at two pivotal points, and music's relationship to the world of wonka as a whole

2023!wonka x oc (though lbr there is also a SIZABLE dose of fickelgruber), ~1.9k

alrighty SO. i was thinking more about this dang movie (as you can probably see by the rest of this blog) and all those thoughts came here. i am a big ole motherfreakin nerd for music and shakespeare and many other things, and therefore so is wren.

also this takes place in the universe of the original screenplay (in which pure imagination is first sung by noodle as she teaches willy to read). my take on that song here in general is more like the original in the 70s movie; there’s just Somethin About It Man.

alrighty, enjoy, like comment reblog etc, love yall <3

fic masterlist

“We are the Music Makers, and We are the Dreamers of Dreams”, being a Prologue and Epilogue to “the Chronicles of the Songbird”, regarding the Songs in question and their Bird, one Wren Matterson.

Two Years and Eight Months Prior to Chapter One

This had been a very odd evening.

Wren had been put up in a luxury hotel for the amount of time she’d agreed to stay in the city, which had taken quite a bit of getting used to. Coming back to her room after a day of work voicing advertisements, she had noticed a crisply thrice-folded paper slipped under her door, held together with an emerald wax seal.

Yes, that was where the oddness had started.

She’d torn the seal, read the note conveyed by a cursive hand so elaborate it nearly caused a headache, and crinkled her brow.

She’d opened the door to her room’s closet, faced with the sight of a dress, stole, and gloves of deep green velvet that she soon learned were impossibly well-tailored.

She’d followed the address of the note, becoming even more confused when it led her to the city’s cathedral, but presented it to the bishop as instructed. He had looked her up and down and ushered her into what turned out to be an elevator.

She’d continued through the corridors, growing more and more curious and undeniably uneasy, greeted by a woman with tired eyes whom she wished she could have truly talked to. Any attempt at conversation that Wren made, though, was interrupted by whispers that came from the other side of the heavy door-

“The two of you must stay mostly in shadow, she won’t agree if she recognizes you and knows of our arrangement too early.”

“Are-are you sure of her, then, Felix, if she’s too-”

“Oh, do shut up, Gerald, she’ll certainly come around by the time we’ve-besides, you know you owe me one-”

“Gentlemen, please. Let’s just focus on the…ahem…altered choreography.”

“You can’t be in the center all the time, Arthur, it so happens that for this particular-”

“Fine, fine. Miss Bonbon, lights at the ready?”

And then the guard had cleared her throat, the whispers had ceased, and Wren went inside, asking if this summoning was for some sort of rerecording session.

And that was how she had gotten to this point, whatever point this was.

The evening’s oddness now found her the focal point of a whirling tango, a display so dizzying she barely knew which way was up. It was a teenaged fever-dream fantasy come to life, colored lights flooding and hands on her waist and trembling twixt-verse vamps and velvet and tweed and silk.

It was a too-sweet overwhelm of something, but at least it was something at all.

The lighting was such that she couldn’t tell exactly where she was, but she realized that, in that moment, she didn’t care. There was a taste of dark mint chocolate in the air, and she became aware that at some point a massive necklace of dewdrop emeralds had been clasped around her neck by a deft, grazing touch and was now dappling her collarbone as she was twirled, dipped, tossed, thrown.

Most inescapable of all was Felix Fickelgruber’s voice in her ear, accompanied by tight harmonies that came from seemingly nowhere, promising her every speck of security and influence that she’d been in need of her whole life. Any question or dissent from Wren was smoothly dismissed in rhyme, and even when she could get a few words in, they somehow always came out in rhythm.

It was almost as if her innate tendency to musicianship overruled any resistance.

It was almost as if he’d known that would be the case.

The realization was alarming and delicious all at once, and with the current sensation of melodies pronounced against her neck, she was inclined to focus on the latter.

The music from nowhere started to build, shifting from the driving tango into a blasting Broadway finale. Clear-toned horns, stunningly blaring lights, this sauntering silhouette with his sea-of-chocolate eyes calling her by a new name-it was too much, one quiet thought piped up, something’s being hidden.

“You’ll be living so high, don’t refuse my-”

Then the lights dimmed further and all else seemed to disappear, save for Felix and the sound of one solo violin.

“-question it took all this to confess.”

The violin threw in a chromatic accent, adding to her held-back and long-delayed swoon, and she realized the next line was hers.

“Don’t know if I should play it…”

“Darling, won’t you say it?”

Then his hand was lifting her face, and there was silence for the first time in what felt like ages.

She was backed up against a wall, not only in metaphor.

There was only one syllable left in the stanza, and only one possible rhyme.

“Yes.”

She let out a breath, which was soon caught up into his own as violins swooped into a sickeningly soaring final beat.

A Few Minutes Following Chapter Five

The librarian that had been the first in this city to give Wren a kind smile all that time ago was standing on her steps, hugging her daughter, who looked as if she was finally breathing for the first time in her fourteen years.

Without question, this was the most beautiful thing that the other woman had ever witnessed.

Something close to the same was probably true, too, for the man who stood beside her.

“If you want to view paradise, simply look at them and view it.”

He’d sung to Noodle to encourage her as they approached the library, a lilting melody that he was currently continuing-to himself now, and with tears in his voice.

“Somebody to hold onto; it’s all we really need.”

They both knew Noodle would stay in touch with them, they knew they were more than happy for her, but they were still touched with tears. Wren had her own bond with the girl, but she knew Willy would miss her the most out of everyone, so she took his arm, and they leaned on each other.

“Nothing else to it.”

He was probably thinking of his own mom, too.

And she was thinking of hers.

They’d finally been able to write back and forth again; Wren had read over and over the two years’ worth of her family’s letters, remembering all the time she’d spent worrying and wondering aloud to Felix why she’d never gotten a letter from them. He’d always flicked her words away, assured her they must have simply been busy, that the mail these days was spotty; his voice was always sweet and smooth on those days, and she’d allowed it to comfort her when she thought nothing else could.

Never again.

She’d written pages of apologies and explanations to her mom, pouring every ounce of love into that paper, and receiving the reply felt like a world-heavy weight off of her shoulders.

It was the same feeling that she knew her friend was feeling now, that her new love had felt in spirit just minutes ago.

They held each other, certain and close within the shared tinge of loneliness.

“So goes a good deed in a weary world.”

They turned to see the Oompa-Loompa just down the path, looking between them, his eyebrows going up a bit when his gaze found Wren.

“Oh, I’m terribly sorry, Mr. Wonka,” he said half-sarcastically, “it seems I’ve misquoted in the presence of your aficionado of the Bard. ‘So shines a good deed in a naughty-’”

“It’s fine,” she laughed. “Portia’s…not exactly the most admirable of characters to need to quote correctly, anyway.”

“Quite right.”

“And I do like ‘weary’,” Willy mused. “It’s not what’s written, but it…”

“Just feels better,” Wren agreed, and Willy smiled at her before turning back to the Oompa-Loompa.

“I was wondering if I’d see you again.”

One negotiation later, the three were walking across an old bridge to a castle of ruin that nearly took Wren’s breath away. There was history in these old stones, so much life, so much room to dream.

“It’s beautiful, Willy.”

“Just wait,” he said with a grin.

“It was sweet, by the way, what you sang to Noodle. How did you find that melody?”

“It was hers, actually. Seems the idea of imagination can…”

He trailed off when the church bells tolled in a way that Wren had never heard them ring before.

High B flat, low A, low B flat.

High B flat, low A, low B flat.

High B flat, low A, low B flat.

Over the ostinato, she started to hum Noodle’s melody, and Willy stopped in his tracks, looking straight at her.

“What?” Wren said.

“...It fits.”

“Yeah, perfectly,” she smiled.

“Keep going,” Willy said, getting that sort of shimmer in his eye that usually came when he’d thought up some sort of wonderful new idea. “You’re the only person I’ve known who sees beauty in an old ruined castle-not only what it could be, but even just what it is. So”-overwashed with thoughts, he took her hands and kissed them, the dreamer in his element, and she laughed, and the Oompa-Loompa rolled his eyes, and Willy grinned, leading them into the castle-“so, Wren, my dear Wren-tell me what you hear.”

She closed her eyes for a moment and let it come. The possibility of the place, the fulfillment of the past few weeks, the melancholy and wonder, the magic that had entered her life.

“Start with a minor chord on the second,” she said softly, slowly. “Repeat your first few notes, let it fall into the five, then-then it goes to that major seventh.”

She swooned into the unexpected chord, then realized that, as she was murmuring each suggestion, it was blooming into full orchestral realization behind the chocolatier’s voice. At the same time, the castle’s courtyard was starting to take shape; the crumbling walls returned to their speckled glory, a beautiful domed ceiling of glass appeared from nowhere, and colorful ingredient pipes started to snake around each corner. Willy’s eyes widened with wonderstruck joy as his creation came to life, and he and Wren looked at each other with equal and mirrored pride.

For his part, the Oompa Loompa started to seem the slightest bit impressed, which the couple took as a win, smiling in awe as they danced into the space.

“We’ll begin with a spin, traveling-”

“One, two, diminished flat three…”

“-in the world of my creation!”

He was the taste and the sight, she was the sound and the sense.

“What we’ll see…”

“Two-five…”

“…will defy…”

The dance came to a pause, and he turned to her, eyes shimmering with anticipatory trust.

The answer came to her as a miracle would.

Your wheel mixes its chocolate, my song mixes its mode. Subvert their expectations, my love, just like you always have.

“Major three,” she said breathlessly, and-

“Explanation.”

The chord ricocheted through the space, and something like a sigh of a laugh escaped them both. Then the bridge came, soaring and swooping with a much truer hope than anything she’d ever heard before.

Wren Matterson had always loved music-it had been once her lifeline, then her work, then the thing that had held her in place. But now, it didn’t have a betraying hold on her, no-now it was hers, born of inspiration from those she loved, coursing through her skin with a warmth unlike anything she’d ever felt.

Perhaps there wasn’t exactly nothing to it, but they had indeed changed quite a bit of the world, and she had the feeling that they’d only just begun.

“There is no life I know to compare with pure imagination. Living there, you’ll be free if you truly wish to be.”

[onlygenxhere]

For the @jatpfebfanfest my secret giftee is @daintyduck99

So it was a no brainer that I needed to write a Reggie-centric story. It’s a little softer than I’d originally thought it would be and fairly cannon-ish. Hope you like it!

A day in the life of a ghost bassist

The alarm on the phone Ray gave him just last week went off under Reggie’s pillow and he pulled it out to silence it quickly before it could wake the others up.

He rolled over on his back and rubbed his eyes waking up quickly. The need to sleep was new since Julie’s magical hug made them all solid to her and visible to others if she was touching them.

Ray had been just as cool as he’d hoped he’d be when she’d told him about them and welcomed them into their home, or at least the studio, without too much hesitation.

He looked to his left and was only a little surprised to not see Luke there. He was pretty sure he knew where he’d eventually crashed.

Luke was probably the only one that wasn’t a fan of needing to sleep again. He hadn’t been much of a fan of sleeping when he was alive so it wasn’t surprising.

Reggie got up, got dressed and put the sofa bed back together so they could use it as a sofa this afternoon.

Poofing into the kitchen he started the coffee like he did every morning now. He could have some if he wanted but he mostly just liked the smell.  Once that was going, he moved to the other side of the kitchen and started to empty the dishwasher having noticed Ray must have run it before he went to bed last night.

He was just finishing up when he heard footsteps coming down the stairs.

“Good morning Reggie,” Ray said through a yawn as he came in the room. “How are you this morning?”

“Good morning Ray.” He sang as Ray went to the coffee maker and poured himself a cup.

He watched as Ray added a little sugar and a lot of cream before taking a long sip. “I could get used to this.” He chuckled and turned to smile in his general direction.

“Happy to help,” Reggie sang.

And he was, happy, so happy to help. He didn’t have any money, none of them did but he’d found ways of helping out that everyone seemed to really appreciate.

Especially Ray.

Reggie thought they owed him just as much as they owed Julie for letting them live here for free. Not to mention how he looked out for them all like they were part of the family.

He watched as Ray pulled a notepad off a pile of mail and slid it over toward where Reggie was near the dishwasher along with a pen. “Would you mind working on a grocery list while I start pancakes?”

He quickly wrote ‘no problem’ on the page he’d been doing math with Carlos on last night before flipping to a clean sheet and writing grocery list at the top.

Reggie moved around the room checking what they needed and adding to the list as Ray got out the pancake mix and started working on the batter.

“Are you boys eating today?” Ray asked as he poured the first pancake on the griddle.

They ate now.

Drinking juice and soda had come first but they started experimenting with food shortly after that. But much like sleep they didn’t need to eat as much as they did when they were alive.

Ray had ordered pizza for dinner last night and they had all had several slices, so he wasn’t feeling particularly hungry this morning and he doubted Alex was either.

But Luke might be hungry.

Out of the three of them, well the four of them counting Willie sometimes, Luke was sleeping and eating more than the rest of them.

He looked up at the ceiling guessing that’s where Luke had probably fallen asleep. He fell asleep in Julie’s room writing music more often than not the past couple of weeks.

He wrote quickly on a blank page. ‘Make a few more for Luke just in case’ and showed it to Ray. He chuckled and looked up at the ceiling shaking his head. Apparently, he knew where Luke most likely was too.

That was another cool thing about Ray. He trusted them as much as he trusted Julie as long as they kept being honest with him. Reggie would do anything to keep that trust. It was something he’d never had with an adult before.

“You’re probably right.” He turned to add a little more pancake mix to the bowl. “If you’re done with the list, you should probably go wake up Julie and Carlos for school… and Luke if he’s eating.”

“On it…” He sang and poofed upstairs to just outside Julie’s door and knocked softly.

He counted to thirty and knocked again. This time he heard some rustling before a very sleepy Julie opened the door.

“Morning Reggie,” She rasped before turning to go flop back on her bed face down.

“Your dad is making pancakes.” Reggie giggled at her dramatics and followed her inside noticing Luke still sleeping over in the pillow pile by the window. His guitar was lying across his chest like he’d fallen asleep in the middle of playing.

He lay back on the bed beside her. “What time did you fall asleep?”

“About one I think.” She turned her head to look at him through a curtain of hair.

Reggie brushed her curls back from her face and she smiled at him before glancing over at the still sleeping Luke. “Why is he so hard to say no to?”

“Don’t ask me.” He laughed. “I’ve never been able to tell him no either.”

They both turned to look at a drooling Luke fondly.

“Do you think he’s ok?” Julie whispered. Reggie turned back to see her looking at him worriedly. “He’s sleeping and eating so much more than you and Alex and it’s worrying me.”

“I think it’s you.” He tucked another wayward curl behind her ear. “He spends more time with you than we do.”

Julie hummed and scooted over to lay her head on his shoulder. ”Maybe you should hang out with us more so we can test out your theory. Maybe, it’s a good thing.”

“I think it’s a good thing Julie.” He sighed and wrapped his arms around her, hugging her to his chest. “I hope so any way and I’d love to spend more time with you.”

“Me too,” A raspy voice said from the floor.

“Go back to sleep,” Julie and Reggie said in unison.

“Can’t,” Luke said laying his guitar on the floor, stretching and groaning loudly. “I smell pancakes.”

Both he and Julie took deep breaths too and he could definitely smell the cooking pancakes now. Ray probably had a nice stack ready.

He sighed and started to get up. “Better go get Carlos.”

Julie whined at the loss of her pillow as he pulled away, making him laugh. There was nothing more he’d like to do than cuddle with Julie a little while longer but she had school and he would not be the reason she was late.

“You gotta get ready anyway.” He laughed. “You know if you don’t get moving Carlos is going to beat you to the bathroom.”

“Ugh, stop with your logic.” She groaned. “I’m going.”

Reggie straightened up Julie’s bed for her as she gathered her things and headed toward the bathroom.

He picked a blanket up off the end of the bed and turned to Luke who was still sitting there watching him. “You need to go help Ray so Julie can have her room to get dressed.”

Luke grinned at him. “Yes boss.”

Reggie rolled his eyes. “Julie’s the boss.”

“Maybe I need two bosses.” Luke smirked.

Reggie threw the blanket over his head so Luke couldn’t see the blush he could feel creeping up his neck to his cheeks.

He wasn’t going to think too much about that right now he had things to do.

He heard Luke poof out without another word, hopefully to go help Ray, as he headed down the hall to Carlos’ room and knocked.

“Is that you Reggie?”

He gave another knock for ‘Yes’ just before Carlos opened the door with his phone pointed at him already talking.

“Say hello to my ghost friend all you ghost toasters out there!”

Reggie chuckled as Carlos paned up and down his blanket clad body which he was sure looked like it was floating in midair.

“Give us a wave ghost boy.”

Reggie held the blanket in his hand and waved but kept quiet.

He and Carlos had a deal, that’s why he’d showed up at his door in the blanket. He’d do ghost things on camera for Carlos’ me-tube channel but only if Carlos got ready for school on time and kept up his grades. 

“That’s it for today ghost toasters.” Carlos grinned at Reggie from behind the phone and he did a little shimmy for the camera, “Until next time!”

Carlos put the phone down and laughed. “That was awesome!”

“Your dad made pancakes.” Reggie sang after he pulled the blanket off his head.

“I can smell them!” Carlos took a deep breath and then ran through him and down the stairs.

“Hey!” Reggie yelled and shivered. He really wasn’t a fan of people walking through him. It was cool at first but now it just felt weird.

He could feel how hungry Carlos was and it was making him feel a little hungry too. Even if there weren’t any pancakes left there was always Pop tarts or cereal if he still felt hungry when he was done with his last official task of the morning.

Reggie poofed back into the studio and called quietly up to the loft. “Alex, are you awake? Julie and Carlos are leaving for school soon.”

He could have poofed directly in the loft but he’d interrupted Alex and Willie once and once had been enough for all of them.

Speaking of Willie, it was his head and not Alex’s that popped over the railing. “He’s still sleeping Reg.”

“Did you sleep any?” Reggie asked quietly.

Willie beamed down at him. “I did!” He whispered loudly, “A couple hours at least.

Reggie nodded. Willie had been hanging out with them more and more in the last couple of weeks and whatever was going on with him and the guys seemed to be affecting him too.

He really hoped it was a good thing.

“You should come to practice this afternoon.” Reggie grinned up at him.

He nodded. “I will.” Then he gestured back toward where Alex must be still sleeping and Reggie waved him away. He was so happy for Alex and they all really liked Willie.

Reggie checked Alex, and Willie, off his mental to do list and poofed back into the kitchen to see how things were going there.

Carlos must have inhaled his breakfast because there was a dirty plate in the sink and no Carlos at the table.

Julie and Luke were both still eating and talking quietly while Ray was cooking up the last of the batter.

“Reggie’s back dad,” Julie said smiling over at him.

“Oh, good,” Ray smiled in his general direction. “There’re a few extra pancakes if you want some.”

His stomach growled. Guess he was hungry.

“Thank you.” He sang as he fixed himself a plate and sat down at the table with Luke and Julie. Both of them were pretty much done but were still discussing practice this afternoon and what gigs they had coming up this weekend. Luke was taking notes in his ever present notebook.

Reggie ate quietly as they talked, just soaking in the them of it all.  Both Julie and Luke had said they wanted him around more and he was going to take them up on it even though a lot of the time it felt like he was intruding. They obviously had more than friendly feelings for each other but as far as he knew they hadn’t acted on them. Sometimes it felt like they were waiting for something…  

Ray interrupted the quiet conversation as he ate his own breakfast leaning on the island to remind Julie she needed to finish up and get ready to go in the next ten minutes. Then he put his plate in the sink and hurried up the stairs to get ready to go himself.

“Hey why don’t you go with Jules today Reg,” Luke said getting up and taking his and Julie’s plates to the sink.

He looked at Julie, who nodded as she got up to pack her school bag.

“Yeah, I’ll stay and clean up for a change.” Luke winked at him. “Ray already likes you more than me.”

“That sounds good to me too.” Julie grabbed her lunch from the fridge and gave Luke a pat on the shoulder as she passed. “Reg can help me study for my history test today.”

“Sure!” Reggie bounced up to go add his plate to the sink. He loved helping Julie study. It was the same stuff he’d learned when he was in high school. There were a lot of new things to learn after twenty-five years but what they taught in tenth grade history hadn’t seemed to change much.

“Yeah,” Luke laughed. “I’d rather do the dishes.”

“I know you would.” Julie giggled as Ray came back down the stairs with Carlos following close behind.

“Who would what?” Carlos asked, heading to the fridge to grab his lunch.

“Luke would rather do the dishes than help me study for my history test.”

“Me too,” Carlos groaned. “I hate history.”

“Honestly it wasn’t my favorite subject in school either,” Ray said as he poured himself a travel mug of coffee and Carlos finished packing his bag. “But it’s still something you should know.”

“Tell Carlos if he knows enough stuff, he could be on Jeopardy one day,” Reggie said giving Julie a wink. 

Julie laughed and relayed Reggie’s comment.

“Now that’s a good reason to study.” Carlos grinned before dashing out the door. “Shotgun!”

“Whatever works,” Ray shook his head and laughed. “Thanks Reggie.”

“Bye Luke,” Julie said as she picked up her bag.

Reggie gently took it out of her hands and put it over his own shoulder. “I got it.”

“Bye Jules, have a good day.” Luke waved a soapy hand at them. “Hurry back Reg I wanna show you and Alex what Julie and I came up with last night.”

“I will,” Reggie grinned back at him as they headed out the door, “Can’t wait to hear it.” Luke seemed to always have new music or lyrics to show them nearly every morning and Reggie didn’t think he’d ever get tired of hearing about it.

He hurried to the van and slid in beside Julie shutting the door behind him.

They got right to work going over Julie history notes as Ray and Carlos chatted in the front seat about Carlos’ baseball game coming up this weekend. Reggie was halfway listening to them as he quizzed Julie.

Ray was such a good dad offering to take Carlos to the park after school and pitch to him so he could practice hitting.

Reggie couldn’t remember his dad ever offering to do well… anything for him… ever.

Oh, yeah, he did offer to give him a reason to cry if he got upset but he was pretty sure that didn’t count.  

“You ok Reg?” Julie laid her hand on his arm.

“Sure,” he grinned.

“It’s just you asked me that question already.”

“Oh,” he looked down at the notebook in his hands. “Sorry, sorry, I got it…”

“Hey,” she squeezed his arm. “You know you can talk to me about anything right?”

He bit his lip and nodded glancing at the back of Ray’s head to see if he’d heard Julie but he was pulling into the drop off lane to let Carlos out, so he was probably distracted.

She leaned closer and whispered. “You’re wishing you could talk to my dad more aren’t you?”

He nodded and cut his eyes back to her feeling a little guilty. Julie was great, the guys were great and he loved them all but sometimes he just wished…

“You could write him a letter?” She shrugged. “I know it’s not the same as a conversation but it would be private and knowing my dad he’d definitely write you back.”

Ray pulled to a stop in front of the middle school and they all wished Carlos a good day as he practically fell out of the van to go catch up with his friends. It gave Reggie a moment to think about Julie’s idea.

He wasn’t exactly sure what he wanted to say to Ray so maybe writing it out would help him figure out why he wanted to talk to him so much anyway.

“That’s a good idea,” he said quietly as Ray pulled back out onto the street and headed for the high school next door.

Julie grinned at him before digging around in her bag and pulling out a notebook. She pulled out a few pages and then handed it to him. “Here, this will get you started till I can get some more.” She chuckled. “I needed to get you and Alex notebooks to write music in anyway.” She bumped her shoulder against his. “Luke and I aren’t the only writers in the band.”

“Thank you Julie.” He felt himself blush. She was so amazing. He loved her as much as he loved Luke and Alex… some days maybe even a little bit more than that, like right now.

She grinned at him before pulling out a folder to put the ripped-out pages in. Reorganizing her book bag quickly as Ray pulled into the drop off lane at the high school.

“Ready for your test mija?” Ray looked at them, well Julie since he couldn’t see Reggie, in the rearview mirror.

She nodded and laughed. “With a tutor like Reggie I’m sure I’ll ace it.” She bumped his shoulder again and gave him a wink as her dad came to a stop in front of the high school.

“See you both later,” she said as she got out of the van. “Love you!”

Reggie felt a funny feeling in his chest as he watched Julie walk away. Kinda like the jolts that had almost killed them but not quite as murdery.

“You still here Reggie?” Ray asked as he pulled back into traffic.

He poofed into the passenger seat and knocked on the dash alerting Ray to his new location.

“I just wanted you to know how much I appreciate all your help.” Ray glanced over in his general direction and smiled. “I know I joked this morning that I could get used to all this help but… it wasn’t really a joke.”

It was quiet for a moment so he gave a little knock on the dash to let Ray know he was still listening.

“Thanks.” He laughed. “It’s been hard with Rose gone and I thought…” he glanced toward him again. “I thought adding you all to the family would be hard.” He shook his head, “That it would be more than I could handle but…” He shook his head again. “Each one of you boys have been a blessing to this family, especially you Reggie.”

He wanted to say thank you but he couldn’t clear his throat enough to sing the words he was so choked up at what Ray had said. It meant so much that Ray appreciated his help.

He reached in the backseat and grabbed the notebook Julie had left him and a pen that was tucked between the seats.

He scribbled a large THANK YOU on the first blank page he got to and held it up for Ray to see while he was stopped at a light.

“You are very welcome, Reggie.” Ray chuckled as he reached for the radio switching it over to another station. “This is the channel Luke and I always listen to on the way back home.” Ray glanced toward him again as the light turned green. “He was very offended to know this is considered an oldies station.”

The end of Better Man by Pearl Jam reverberated through the vans speakers and Reggie grinned. It was so hard to believe this song was considered old now. It had come out less than a year before they died. They had all loved Pearl Jam and Green Day and Nirvana and so many other bands that hadn’t made it to the twenty-first century.

He watched as Ray tapped his fingers on the steering wheel keeping time to the beat.

It was even weirder to think if he’d lived he’d be way closer to Ray’s age than Julie’s.

Better man ended and the piano cords of another familiar song started to ring through the van.

“Come on Reggie,” Ray laughed and turned the radio up. “Rose always used to say Journey would be disappointed if we didn’t sing along.”

He stared at Ray as he started to sing.

Just a small time girl Living in a lonely world

He grinned and immediately joined in, knowing all the words by heart.

She took the midnight train going anywhere…

Ray wasn’t the best singer but he wasn’t terrible and the louder he sang the better he was.

Strangers, waiting Up and down the boulevard Their shadows searchin’ in the night

Reggie sang along with him, harmonizing when he could. Because that was always fun to figure out.

Some will win, some will lose Some are born to sing the blues

He remembered singing this song with his mom when he was a kid. Before she stopped singing, before she only yelled.

Streetlight, people Living just to find emotion Hiding somewhere in the night

Ray was grinning wider than he thought he’d ever seen him. Singing loud and off key, glancing at him every once in a while as they headed back to the house hitting green lights the whole way and Reggie felt this wave of happiness fill him up. When that famous chorus finally hit, he really let go, singing loud and proud and just so glad to be right here, right now, in the world.

Don’t stop believing Hold on to the feeling Streetlights, people oooohhhhhh!

Ray pulled back in the driveway just as the song finished and turned the car off. He was looking at him like he could actually see him.

Then he watched as Ray reached across the center console and laid his hand on his arm. 

It was warm and solid and not fazing through him… Reggie gasped, “Ray!?”

Ray was smiling so wide his cheeks must have hurt. “Guess we just needed to believe.”

Reggie laughed as the tears started to run down his face and Ray pulled him into a tight hug.

He never could have imagined when he woke up this morning and went through his usual routine of helping out it would end with him finally getting to hug Ray like he’d wanted to for so long now.

Maybe Julie wasn’t the only Molina with magic and even more miracles were waiting for them if they just believed. 

[invisibleraven]

Imagine your OTP where Person A works in retail and Person B keeps coming into the shop and asks for help with the most ridiculous things. + if Person A loses it one day and confronts Person B about their motive feels like Willex to me, please and thank you.

Willie pressed himself up on his toes and down again, as if that would relieve the pressure of his uncomfortable dress shoes. He wished he could just wear his beat up kicks, but that wouldn't mesh well with the image Caleb wanted to convey with his store.

And since Willie worked there as a way to earn a bit of cash and avoid having to work at the club, he had to deal with the shoes. At least he didn't have to cut his hair and got to choose his shirt and tie.

The other bonus was that he had direct view of the nerd store across the hall in the mall where his jib at the suit store was.

Now Willie did appreciate the odd nerdy thing, but his main focus in that store was just under six foot, had golden blond hair, and an affinity for pink.

Willie had tried every way to talk to Alex in hopes that he would manifest the courage to ask him out.

The first time he had just gone over to introduce himself, welcome them to the mall, and ask if they wanted to hear the gossip about the other stores there. The next time was to ask if he could use their microwave in return for letting them use the private bathroom attached to his work.

But those interactions would only get him so far.

The next time he went over, holding up two ties, and asked Aled which one he should wear. Totally noticing on how his eyes were glued to the line of his throat and top of his chest exposed where he hadn't buttoned up his shirt. Points for him, and he loved how Alex stuttered through choosing the goldenrod coloured tie.

The next time he went over asking Alex for a good started Pokemon since he had just started playing the game. Unfortunately, Alex directed him towards Reggie for that since he was hopeless at video games, and Reggie could talk your ear off about anything. But it did get Willie interested in catching a Bidoof, if only because the name made him giggle.

After that it was a game of finding out exactly what Alex's area of interest and nerdiness lay. So every time they were working the same shift, Willie would come over and ask about something different.

"What class would you recommend for a beginning D&D player?"

"What's the conversion rate of sheep to wood in Catan?"

"What's the best version of Monopoly?"

"Do you guys have any idea how Magic the Gathering works?"

On and on, but every time, Alex would direct him to one of the other guys working though he did always smile and blush whenever he looked at Willie-and usually convinced him to add to his sock collection at least once a week, all while throwing his own employee discount on it for him.

Then one day, Willie moseyed into the store on his break, veering right towards Alex. "So did you get a cavalcade of Funko pops based on the new anime adaptation yet?"

Alex whirled around, glaring at him. "What is your deal?"

"What?"

"Every day, or almost, you come in here, and it's always something inane or weird or I dunno... do you get some sick joy of making fun of the nerds or something?" Alex exploded.

"No!" Willie exclaimed. "I'm a nerd! Or well, kind of one, given the love of cartoons from my childhood and obsessive sock buying."

"Then why do you keep coming over here and asking me about all this other stuff?" alex asked, shoulders still stiff as he looked at Willie.

"Because I like you dummy!" Willie said with a laugh. "I've been looking for any excuse to come talk to you in hopes you might engage in conversation with me and then maybe we could go out sometime."

"Oh... oh!" Alex replied. "I like you too!"

"Then how about we get an Orange Julius and you can tell what nerdy stuff you are into?" Willie asked, offering his arm.

"Through in a soft pretzel and it's a date," Alex replied, looping their arms together.

It turned out that Alex wasn't much of a nerd, but Reggie needed staff, Alex needed money, and he did like dancing games and Trivial Pursuit.

"Sounds like a fun idea for our next date," Willie said with a grin.

"Only if you're in the mood to get your butt whipped," Alex teased back.

"Oh it's like that is it?" Willie stated. "Challenge accepted."

Alex beamed, but then looked at his watch and scowled. "My break is almost up."

"Well then let me bring you back and on the way I can catch you up on the latest happenings with th jewellery store guys."

"Man, fuck those guys," Alex said as they walked back hand in hand to their hallway.

"I know right?"

From then on, Willie didn't have to find excuses to come talk to Alex any more. But he did come by with gossip, kisses, and a choice of tie. Because there was nothing better than making his boyfriend blush-even more than a discount on funky socks.

[nerdyvocals]

@look-at-those-niceass-rocks and I finished our watch (their first, my... eighth???) of Julie and the Phantoms the other day (*cough* over a week ago *cough*), and like the previous two times, we had some unhinged things to say about it. This one's a bit shorter as we only had episodes 8 and 9 left, but if you enjoy our dumbassery, rest assured, we'll be watching the Descendants franchise next!

Honorable mention: us spending the first 20 minutes of our call trying to find the first two posts because the blog search engine simply Does Not Work.

Captions: [Whimsical music plays] Me: Whimsical music GAYS, OHHHHHHH

*Flashback of the Hotdog Incident (tm)* Bee: Street meat street meat street meat Me: Are you saying "straight meat"??? Bee: NO!

Ray Molina : *is very engaged with his son's ghost dip theory* Bee: The Bandit Heeler energy on this man

Julie: *outside the Patterson's house* Me: Do you have tissues?? Bee: Uhhh, yeah, next to me? Me: Good Bee: Oh boy

*cue lots of sniffling over Unsaid Emily*

Bee: You can tell their prefrontal lobes stopped developing at 17 Me: Yeah, I guess that happens when you die? Brain stops growing?? Bee: hehehe brain machine broke

Julie: What the heck??? Me: Let Julie say fuck! Bee: Of all the characters, Julie should get to say fuck

Me: Finale time! Any predictions? Bee: Oh god, I don't think I could outdo the pink ladies one, uhhh

Bee then spends the next minute and a half being a prophet (in a sense): 1. Alex is going to get a very dramatic on-screen kiss with Seth Clearwater because otherwise I will be Upset 2. In the same way they become Real-or like. Where people can see them-when they play, they will find a way to be corporeal where they can touch each other 3. I think there should be a dance fight with-oh, fuck, what's his name? Evil ghost man?? With his Ghost Cocaine???

Alex and Willie: *emotional hug* Me: WAIT PAUSE. *zooms in on Alex's hand* I think I have that ring. Bee: Riveting.

The boys: *trying to get the PATD opener gig* Promoter: *freaking out* Assistant: *unbothered* Me: A lesbian and an incel are trapped in an office together. Bee: The incel is going to get eaten. Me: And not in the way he wants!

Julie: *having a cry in the alley* Me: I wonder how much they had to pay to keep that Subway sign in the background.

Julie: *takes dahlia from the street vendor* Bee: Truffula tree lookin-ass flower.

Bee: Also I didn't want to ruin that beautiful moment, but all I could think of was "mom come pick me up I'm scared."

Me: this poor tech guy is Going Through It (tm)

Carrie: Been here before Trevor: *Bombastic side eye* Bee: HA that look said, "Damn, I really forgot to parent this girl"

Nick: *Jamming* Us: GO FEDORA KID!!!

Me @ Trevor: That man is going to pass out

Me, as the Boys are appearing: See, I've always wondered what was going on in the ghost club side of this scene, cause look, their costumes are missing pieces! Alex's shirt is open, Reggie's jacket is just gone! Bee: Oh yeah Me: Like it's probably just a storytelling choice to show they're where they want to be via clothes, 'cause this is more in line with how they dress normally, but it does make me wonder what we're missing. Like is there a fight? Luke: *appearing* Me: See his sleeves got ripped off! How and why? Bee: They did that for us. You, specifically Me: *cackling*

Julie and Luke: *crying, about to hug* Me, noticing that Luke's pants Fit Very Well: Not the most important thing happening here, but uh, dat ass tho

After rewinding the scene a bit because it didn't hit Bee in the moment that They Were Hugging Bee: I was so caught up in the euphoria of a good butt that for a moment, I lived in a world where they weren't ghosts

Julie + Phantoms: We played the Orpheum! Me: Saved by the power of friendship! Bee: And this man's ass!

Me: So yeah, that was Julie and the Phantoms, how ya feeling? Bee: Great! This definitely won't change my brain chemistry forever

Next up, Descendants!

[dollarbin]

Dollar Bin #39:

Willie Nelson & Roger Miller's Old Friends

Willie Nelson put out records in the early 80's with the same feverish regularity with which I pass gas. Every few minutes he'd rip off another album, which raises all kinds of red flags about their quality. Did anyone sniff this stuff before it wafted out of him or did he just saturate the radio waves with flatulence, transforming his discography into something akin to the 6am environment under my bedsheet?

This record from 82 looked especially unpromising in the Dollar Bin last week, even for that era. But I bought it anyway; I'm a sucker for Willie and for Roger Miller too. Even so, before I drop the needle for the first time, let's count the concerns:

It's a Buddy Record. Nelson had a lot of buddies in the 80's, all of them fairly washed up 60's country artists who were only too happy to team up for a single afternoon and record an entire album with Steam Train Willie in the hopes of reviving their careers. Indeed, there are so many Willie Buddy Records that I wouldn't be surprised if he recorded one with My Buddy, the 80's doll sensation. Maybe that's Willie singing the theme song!

My famous brother surely craved one of these creepy toys as a child. I'll bet he's cuddling with one as we speak...

But back to why this album looks suspect:

Old Friends does not even merit its own page on Wikipedia. Everything merits a page on Wikipedia. My farts surely have individualized entrees. Speaking of which, it's time to squeeze off another one... No one in my family even noticed!

The record's sales merited no place on any chart of any kind. Nelson made a chart topping record, which I own and have never listened to, with Ray Price in this era; I have no idea who Ray Price even is.

Ever since his outstanding mid-60's run of records Roger Miller had done nothing whatsoever of musical consequence, except, of course, perform as a cartoon chicken.

And just look at the cover. Do the Grammys give out an award for Best Costuming? If so, this record would not win. Nelson is dressed in a New Balance workout tank top and sneakers; what, were his Reebok duds in the wash? Or maybe he had an athletic contract with New Balance! The Willie Nelson workout craze: get high and record yet another album in double time. And what's with Miller saluting us through his backside? Was he copying Willie and tooting out the musical fruit? In case you just can't get enough of the image, Nelson and Miller offer up its gassy reverse on the rear:

But the biggest reason to doubt the merits of this record is the direction Nelson took in terms of his arrangements in the 80's. We're talking drum pads, choirs, hand claps and schmaltz. The Red Headed Stranger made way for Cheese Farts and Danger.

For example, Willie's version of the summer camp classic City of New Orleans should be a thing of easy, spacious beauty. All the track needs is for Mickie Raphael to play a little sweet harmonica here and there, Nelson's sister Bobbie to add a whiskey saloon's tinkling keys and Willie, strumming on his legendary six string and singing his quavering heart out.

But far too often we don't get what we want from One-Eyed Willie in the 80's. Instead we get what sounds like the soundtrack for a Dan Quayle campaign spot:

Yuck.

And so it was a huge relief just now when I actually dropped the needle on this thing. The opening title track, penned, like almost everything else on the record, by Miller himself, sounds downright lovely. We've got real drums, tasty lead acoustic, Miller still sounds like his fantastic self and Willie sounds like he's got the right workout in mind.

Not everything is right. Things get weird on the second verse when a third amigo shows up to sing - this time, good grief, it's Ray Price (!) instead of Martin Short - and then a phallic saxophone and unnecessary choir shoulder their way in nonsensically. But I like what I hear on this opening track - if this is what Willie's farts smell like I'd like to spend some quality in his water closet.

The second track, Husbands and Wives, is one of Miller's greatest songs and the headlining two amigos cover it nicely without fuss. We've got welcome strings instead of the flaccid saxophone and the honky-tonk piano sounds great.

The rest of this record is more of the same. No note is surprising, Willie sings Miller's songs with care and devotion (though there is no sign of him needing to don athletic gear for the labors involved at any point), Miller sneaks in a few moments of his signature vocal gymnastics, and no one involved audibly breaks wind; rather they cut some actual cheese, lay out some actual crackers and spend a highly enjoyable afternoon together recording an album no one but me will ever listen to again. It's great!

[legolasghosty]

Hii! Could you do canon magical!Julie Juke angst with a happy ending? Please?

Hello!!! Sorry for the delay! I shall do my best!

Julie's magic was getting stronger.

Sure, Luke figured he was a bit more sensitive to the magnetic force that was Julie Molina than most, but he wasn't the only one to notice. Julie seeing ghosts wasn't new, though no one had realized that until just over a year ago, when Luke and his bandmates crashed into her life. But apparently she'd been seeing them for her whole life and simply never realized they were dead.

It made sense, at least the way Alex put it. Ghosts looked like they had when they were alive. There were plenty of strangely dressed people who hung out around Los Angeles, dead or alive. So unless she'd seen a ghost actively passing through a lifer or something, it wasn't surprising that she hadn't realized there were spirits of the dead lurking the streets. Luke still didn't fully get it, but it made sense.

Julie was magical, Luke had known that since the first day he'd known her. He couldn't seem to stay away from her, as if he were a moth and she was the last candle on earth. No matter what he did, he couldn't resist her. Not that he wanted to of course. Reggie and Alex had different ways of describing how Julie's magnetism felt to them, but it was equally strong. The four of them were connected by some unseen force that stemmed from the core of Julie Molina.

But it seemed that this attraction wasn't just for them anymore.

With Caleb gone, there were a lot more ghosts out wandering the streets of Hollywood these days. And many of them seemed to sense Julie, eyes finding her in crowds of lifers when the four of them, sometimes with Flynn or Willie as well, went downtown for a show or shopping. They'd all noticed it, Julie and Alex before the rest of them, but originally chalked it up to their defeat of the ghost magician who had trapped so many souls for decades.

But it continued, even as time distanced them from those horrible memories. Willie commented that some of the ghosts watching Julie weren't ones he'd ever seen at the HGC. And while most of the time the spirits didn't approach, weird things started happening.

A pair of ghosts passed Julie and Luke on the street, and a group of lifers walking past laughed at an overheard snatch of the spirits' conversation. An old friend of Willie's from the HGC had a much easier time lifting a pile of records when Julie entered the music shop behind the rest of her friends, his hands staying solid beneath them. Ray captured more orbs than usual during an outdoor photo shoot when Julie came to give him his lunch.

Julie's magic was getting stronger. It was giving other ghosts around her a stronger connection to the living world. Like she'd done from the beginning with Luke, Reggie, and Alex. And they were all getting used to it, but Luke... Okay, he wasn't too proud to say it.

Luke was jealous.

Because what he and Julie had, their connection, onstage and off, was special. What the band had was special. Julie brought them together, gave them a second and then a third chance at life. The music they made was awesome, and greatness was only a breath away, just waiting for Julie to finish school so they could start talking properly with managers.

But if other ghosts suddenly were feeling this connection with Julie... would they try to take her away from him? Would she want to go?

So yeah, Luke was jealous of the other spirits and the energy they received from Julie Molina, whether it was intentional or not.

But it was a secret.

"What'cha working on?" the angel in question asked, startling him out of his thoughts as she hopped over the couch to plop down next to him.

"Nothing," Luke said quickly, slamming his journal shut over the lyrics that had been forming under his pen.

Lines about losing a lover, a dream sucked away by others.

"Oh now I'm interested," Julie teased, grinning and shifting closer. "Tell me!"

"It's nothing," Luke insisted, holding the book away from her. "Just some random stuff, it's not anything good."

"Well let's see if we can't make something of it," Julie retorted, reaching for it, still with that smile on her face that made Luke's heart beat a little faster.

Luke leaned a bit too far, laughing, falling onto his side on the couch. Julie clambered on top of him, grabbing at the journal in his hands. Luke couldn't help but let her have it, not when she was giggling like that and her hair was falling loose in his face and her fingers were brushing over his arms in her attempts to get it.

"Hah, now was that so hard?" she joked, clambering off of him and flipping the journal open.

"Yeah," Luke responded, sitting up and giving the book a worried glance. He didn't want to freak her out.

Julie just hummed in response, her eyes flicking back and forth over the lines scrawled out in his terrible handwriting. She didn't speak for a full minute. Luke wanted to take it back, so she didn't see his jealousy, his fear of losing her. But there was no going back now.

Finally, Julie spoke. "Is this about me?"

Luke nodded. "Yeah, it is."

"Why?" she asked softly. "Why like this?"

"Because it's the truth," Luke sighed. "I know, it's dumb. I just..." He paused, finally looking up to meet her eyes. "You're a star, Julie. And for a while, it was just us, and you were our star, my star. But now..."

"Now I still am," Julie murmured, reaching out to rest her hand on his leg. "I'm not going anywhere, you know that."

"Why not?" Luke cried, suddenly unable to hold back. "You could work with any ghost, anywhere, you know you could! Why us? Why me?"

"Because you're you, Luke!" Julie exclaimed, grabbing his hand. "I don't want to make music with anyone else. No music is worth making, if we're not making it with you, that's what you said to me."

"Yeah, but-"

"No buts, Luke," Julie cut him off. "I know this whole ghost thing is weird, believe me, it scares me too, but I want to make music with you."

Luke pulled her into a hug as tears started to escape from her eyes. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders, holding on tight.

"And what if I don't just want to make music with you?" Luke questioned softly.

Julie chuckled, the sound coming out muffled by Luke's shoulder. "I think I'd want that too."

Luke couldn't help the giddy smile that spread over his face, even despite the confusion that was their lives. Afterlives. Whatever. "So, this whole other ghosts thing has been bothering you too?" he asked after a minute.

"Yeah," she admitted. "I don't know what's going on."

"We'll figure it out," Luke promised, daring to press a feather-light kiss to the top of her curls. "Together."

Julie pulled back just enough to smile up at him. "I'm going to hold you to that," she murmured, just before she leaned up to brush her lips against his.

And maybe they didn't talk much about other ghosts that afternoon. Luke was pretty sure they were both okay with that.

[hel-phoenyx]

Willy and Lan Yue belong to @noa-de-cajou !

_________

"Pssst, Emerens-"

He's standing next to me, so awkward in his costume that's not supposed to be worn by seven years old children. We had to be very slick to not be noticed by mom or his dad, because they don't like us playing together ; it is why he stills speaks on a low tone, even now.

I turn my head towards him, still amazed at how similar we look. He's my cousin, but we share so much physical traits people sometimes mistook him as my brother. Mum and uncle hate it.

"yea ?"

"I saw Elvira getting out of her room and I have Carlijn's suitcase. Let's go dress up."

He asks me to dress up a lot. We both like this game. Elvira's dresses suit him, better than they suit me, and we have fun going through mom's makeup palette. Once I did his nails, and I never saw a bigger smile on his face since.

So of course I'm gonna say yes.

Who am I to say no to a smile?

***

"So this is not a phase ?"

We are sitting on my hospital bed. Elvira and Carlijn brought them in complete illegality to see me, and I know from the countless missed calls I am still hearing from my sister's brand new phone that it is gonna be nasty when they all get back, but I feel the selfish inclination to still be happy. I see so few people during my recovery.

They are looking at me, anxious, while I am telling them about all the people I talk to in the geriatric pole of the hospital. Gay people, trans people, and so many other words I wasn't aware of.

When I talked about some of my favorite stories, the ones of the girls that are boys that are neither and that are happy, they told me they were feeling this way too, and weren't sure if it was normal. So I could tell them of the people who discovered that is was.

I shrugged.

"I don't know. Maybe. I'm not in your head. i'm just telling you there are people like that."

"... I thought I was the only one, that it wasn't normal to... Not feel that your body is your body. Or that it was, but not like this. It's complicated..."

"Yeah, I didn't get it at first, either. You want me to introduce you ? Mr Hunchausen is adorable, I'm sure he would be happy to talk to you too."

A tiny smile grew on their lips.

"Yes, please."

***

"My name is Willelmien, by the way."

We met for Christmas, like every year. I'm back from Saint-Cyr, feeling the weight of the first year without Thibault, and seeing my cousin is probably one of the biggest if not the only joy of those holidays.

Her hair is a bit longer, as long as someone who appears as a boy could wear without nasty looks. It looks nice on her. I want to let mine grow too, but mom never agreed. She says it's unprofessional.

Hearing that made me smile.

"New name ? It's cute."

"Thank you, thank you. Also, look at this !"

She shows me her hand, hidden under a winter glove she didn't bother to remove before now. Under it is fingers laced with a beautiful ring, adorned with a splendid green nail polish. It matches our eyes.

"Wow ! It looks so cool!"

"I bought it myself, she said, brimming with pride. I saved all my Christmas money for this, but it was worth it. Mom and dad can't see it, tho. Please just pretend I'm cold if they ask."

Fair enough. Mother and father wouldn't like that either. I remember the time they caught me in the bathroom holding mother's lipstick. I will never forget father's stern lecture about how boys don't play with makeup. I can undernstand why she didn't want to be a boy anymore. Can girls be more left alone about that?

This is not only at home, though. Saint-Cyr is worse. We can't hug, we can't kiss, we can't laugh. And I miss my friends so dearly.

I really hope she won't live the same thing.

***

I landed in the hospital again. This time for an entirely different reason.

Everything hurts. I prefered when it was nothing.

This time I can't roam around free, or talk to people, or listen to stories. I can only read in my corner, too much in pain to pick up a pen again, and too unstable for visits. At least that's what they said.

The doctor still comes by sometimes, tells me he found a good edition company for my book, that they promised to read it in behalf of their good relations to the hospital.

I miss them so much.

But as much as I want to see her, I hope for nothing more than the fact she isn't in that hospital.

***

How many years has it been ?

I grew up so much since our times together. We weren't older that twelve when I said my goodbyes, and years later when I finally landed in France, I expected it to be forever.

And yet, after "van Heel, Emerens" the list calls for "van Heel, Willelmien" and there she is in the gymnasium, taller and leaner and so much happier than last time we saw each other. She heard my name and my Ultimate too, and she is searching in the room, too far away for me to see her face but yes not enough to miss the frenzy in her movements.

Finally, our eyes meet. And on her face appears the biggest smile I have ever seen.

Mine is probably the same.

***

Hope's Peak is both an enter towards future and a jump back in the past. I indulged in both during the past week, meeting new people, making new friends, and making up for lost time with my most beloved, my Sharon that, too, grew up so, so much.

And now I am with Willy talking about what has been, and she laughs when I mention my first attemps to play an electric guitar, funny enough for me to land my first time with a girl. People already know us as "the siblings of the school". I do nothing to correct them.

We sit on that bench near the sakura trees. After my exposition of pride about my books and my musical talent, all the art I let myself thrive in after all those years, she boasts about her skills in make-up, care and all the things that earn a woman the title of socio-esthetician.

"And grandma promised to pay for all my hormone replacement therapy," she says with that huge, sunny smile. "She doesn't understand a lot about transidentity, but she is so much better than the other old fucks. Living at her place really was an upgrade, you have no idea!"

She does not talk about how she landed at her maternal grandparents, as I do not talk about Saint-Cyr. I know that she knows, and she knows that I know. There is no need to open up old wounds. I hide mine too well under bands, and her under makeup.

"Old money paying for transness, best revenge ever, right ?"

I wink while saying that, and she laughs.

"Oh, fuck yes. Sadly that's not the van Heels', that would have been a huge slap in dad's face. But, eh, good enough. Still, can't depend on them for everything. I'm out of the will for sure now, and soon enough I'll have to earn my own shit..."

"Need some help in the meantime?"

A fist come hitting me right in the shoulder, his strenght countered by a hearty laugh.

"Oh come on, I do not need another trust fund! Don't worry about me, I'll manage. But I appreciate it, though. One of those days, when I'll be broke, old and unable to work, I'll aim for your bank account, pinky promise!"

That's the kind of promise I do not want to see broken.

***

"Say, Willy, how do you feel about having a girlfriend ?"

My dearest cousin sighs dramatically for the third time this day.

"Oh, please don't ask me! I'm DESPERATE for a relationship, and I can't spend my life in nightclubs like you do, I'll never get to your level of hoeing!"

"Woooooow. Ru-u-u-u-de!"

"Oh don't be sad, Rapunzel, no one can whore around as well as you do. But back to the matter at hand, why do you bring that on the table?"

I smile, albeit mischeviously.

"I want apologies or I'm not telling~~~~"

Acting like a little shit does earn you good things sometimes, but right now my only victory is Willy pulling on my hair. Not quite a victory per say, but hey, I'm laughing, and she is too.

"Oh come on, I know you take that as a compliment!"

"I do, but the condition still stands, Willelmien~"

"Fine, fine, I'm sorry, you little bitch. Now tell me, you made me curious."

"Good enough."

I stop on my tracks, noticing the silhouette of a splendid young girl, sat on a bench with her laptop. She taps on her keyboard completely ignoring the sunlight, only stopping in her tracks to put back a strand of blue hair behind her ear. Her clothing, not quite fit for january, show off a lot of her stomach, probably the source of protection against the cold. And the looks of countless starstruck ladies, including, I noticed earlier, my very own cousin.

"I have this friend that complained about not finding a girlfriend earlier in the week, and I happen to know a very single girl that could be very interested and is right in front of me..."

Willy burst into laughing.

"You wanna set me up a date ?"

"Not quite, not my job to do all the talking, my dear. But I was considering putting you two in a situation where you could talk, and maybe it would lead to something more... Well, not that something more," I add when noticing Willy's wink. "She's asexual and from what I know, sex is absolutely out of the question."

"Oh, I don't care, I want a girlfriend, not a hookup. Well, I hope she isn't fully exclusive, though. I can bear just fine, but van Heels and sexuality, you know..."

"Oh, I know too well. But she may be your ideal girl, because she's polyamorous as hell. So? Interested?"

I know her well enough to recognise that gleam in her eyes.

"Of course I am. Never thought my cousin would find me a date, the wonder of the world... Sure we're gonna hit it off ?"

I let out a laugh.

"I am never wrong in that kind of things."

And as always, I was right.

Because seeing Willy's smitten smile the morning after, holding Nako's phone number written on a beautiful note in one hand, is enough to lighten my whole week.

***

On the other side of the phone I hear a gasp in astonishment.

"You're coming over at the mansion for Christmas?"

"Elvira asked me, I grunted, trying to hide my frustration. I would have said no, but she already asked the old fuckers, so now I guess I'm expected. Never thought this would happen again, and yet..."

Silence takes place one second or two. Before Willy sighs in the mic, static ringing in my ears.

"I guess that's a good opportunity to convince her to get out of here. She missed you, you know. You may be able to make her realise this is not an environment suit for neither of us."

"That's what I thought. And afterwards, I'll go right to Louna's anyway. Her father is bedridden because of an injury and she wanted to be there all holidays, so I'll spend more time in the family-in-law than those other old bitches..."

Not that I ever wanted to see either of those old bitches ever again. The birth givers, the second roles, Leonard still being a rat and Carlijn probably searching for the best way to annoy her parents without paying attention to us.

At least I'll meet Annelies. From what I've been hearing, she's around six and very much not neurotypical. She'll need someone to gift her dinosaurs until she gets tired of that specific interest, because I'm sure as hell no one with money except Willy would try to listen to her.

And maybe I'll have the occasion to talk to Mareva.

Maybe.

My silence must be revealing, since the phone is not enough to mask Willy's worry.

"Hey, man. If you wanna talk about it, you can. And I promise I'll do what I'm able to for you to spend at least an okay Christmas. I know all the ways to sneak out from that rotten house."

"Don't get yourself in trouble because of me, tho..."

"I'll get in trouble for my very nature, Emerens. Let's get in trouble together."

Somehow, that is the most reassuring thing I have ever heard about that godsdamned Christmas.

***

"What the actual FUCK ?!"

I grit my teeth. Willy's reaction is exactly the reason I left her out of this, including the whole family trauma and a big ass lack of time. But I had to warn her at some point why we got a completely trauma Elvira staying at Lan Yue's, and also probably why I think they're gonna fuck in the next days or months depending on the situation and I'm not happy about it.

"Yeah. Father went too far this time. i thought he was a goddamn doormat, and yet..."

"This is not going too far, Emerens, this is goddamn illegal. Please tell me you're taking them to court."

"Oh, I will. But not now. I'm giving her, and us, time to recover. We need that. All of us."

Willy clenches her jaw, and sits down next to me, anger still plaguing her face. She is angry after my fuckers of parents, I know that, but that look in her eyes tell me she's also angry at me, and looking back, she has every reason to.

Still, there is no animosity in her attitude when she throws her arm around my shoulders.

"Fuck. This is insane."

"It is. Sorry for keeping you out."

"I am not happy about it, but I understand. This is high-level rich people fuckery. Nobody would involve someone on their own volition in there, even family."

"Especially family."

A sigh escapes my lips, and I let myself lean against her. I won't lie and say I do not need the contact. That was an awful week for me. Productive. But awful.

We got Elvira out of here with enough grounds to get her at least a restraining order against them, or at the very least a serious dent in their reputation. She won't ever return there, and I have one less reason to spend Christmas at the van Heels'. I finally managed to put words on what happened back at Saint-Cyr to another person than Senri and my therapist, and that person is my sisters' crush and one of my best mates.

Still, I feel like I've been dragged to the bottom of a garbage dump. Probably look like it, too.

Luckily for me, Willy does not push further. In place, she smiles, before poking my nose with her long-nailed finger in a classic Willy tease.

"And now Vivi stays at Lan Yuyu's flat? Lucky her."

I roll my eyes so hard I swear I saw the back of my very filthy brain.

"Oh please don't remind me, I am tired of being the overprotective little brother. I've just been so anxious all this time when I heard about their crush on her."

"Why anxious ? We are talking about LAN FUCKING YUE!"

"I know! Imagine if it was anyone else, my heart wouldn't handle..."

"Pitt-bull that you are, Rapunzel. I know she just got out of a very abusive environment, but she'll be fine."

"Yeah, we can only hope."

Because I want to see her fine. I want to see her happy. And Lan Yue can make her happy, I know that, I trusted him with my secrets and I would trust him with my life. I can trust him with my sisters.

I just don't want to lose her again.

Neither of them.

***

The call in the middle of the night took me by surprise, but when I see Willy's name of the screen, I have no choice but to respond. We do not leave family astray. At least, a specific part of family.

Sharon is sleeping next to me. So my first reflex is to rush to the bathroom, the most silently I can, before answering the call.

"Hey, Willy, are you okay-"

I'm cut short by incoherent stammering. Oh, for that nonexistent god's sake, I think she's hyperventilating... Is she having a panic attack ? why is her voice so far from the mic of the phone ? Jesus fuck, if only she wasn't currently in Amsterdam visiting her grandparents, I would have tried to reach her asap, I can't leave her like this...

I hate feeling powerless but in that situation, I can only try and take control of the conversation so she's grounded to something. Jesus Christ.

"Willy, I'm not going anywhere, take a deep breath. There. focus on my voice, okay? Whatever happened, I'll listen, I promise, but i won't be able to help if I don't understand you."

"Emerens-"

She takes a big breath. Her voice gets a little steadier, but I can still hear the anguish.

"I have a half-sister."

Whatever words I had in stock just end up stuck in my throat.

All I can do is hear Willy tell me about how her world ended crumbling.

***

A half-sister. Of course that was expected to happen. Mother noticed, Mareva noticed, of course I noticed my uncle was not as faithful as he appeared to be. It got worse after the old fucks moved to retirement home, when he just stopped caring about gaining something from being good.

I'd never have imagined it was bad to the point he didn't even take precautions.

She's called Rosaline. Pretty name. History student, around Justen's age. The daughter of a maid of their house, probably very young if I judge by the pictures. I wager she was about twenty when that motherfucker knocked her up.

When she reached out to Willy, it was to connect. But also because she heard about the family feud and wanted to drag her asshole father to the mud. So we're gathering proof for the most nasty divorce ever. With maximum consequences for my bitch ass cheater of an uncle.

And now I'm with Willy to meet her because she wanted nobody else around. Maybe because it's not my first trial against a van Heel, I know the drill. Or maybe just because she needed support. Who knows.

"This feels so weird," grunted Willy rubbing her hands against one another. "I'm meeting a sister I never even heard about months ago, and we're doing that to fuck up my parents marriage."

"No offense, but Diederik fucked his own marriage, not us. By fucking other people in his wife's back."

"None taken, and you're absolutely right, that ass had it coming. But it's still weird."

I let out an ironic laugh.

"Think about it that way, Willy, he fucked to much, and now he's gonna get fucked. Karma always comes to bite you in the ass. You can't fuck without being fucked. The eternal cycle of fuck..."

"Says the bottom."

"Bitch I'm a switch?! And I certainly don't want you to find out!"

"Oh, ew, please, no! There is enough incest in this bloodline already!"

We burst out laughing, and that is enough to forget even for one moment the situation we're in.

Family stick out for each other, huh. I didn't think that would happen again in my lifetime, and here I am, happy to be of the same blood of someone.

[daintyduck99]

Oooh kiss prompts! Kissing as a dare for Sweet Tarts please!

If looks could kill, they'd be dead as dogs.

It's all coming from the girl, too. At a glance, she's just another primadonna soc girl, but she holds herself in a way that promises there's a bite behind her bark.

She's—interesting.

Her eyes keep cutting between Reggie, Luke, and Willie, sharp as knives. She won't take any licorice from Willie, lips pursed in disapproval as her—friend? brother? It's hard to tell, they're both gleaming and blond and have that whole haughty, snobbish soc thing going on.

But he takes the candy from Willie like a shy horse hoping for sugar, shedding more of his haughty armor, blue eyes bright as their fingers curl together for far longer than necessary and Willie laughs low in his throat, easily answering his truth question.

Willie's not fucking with him, either. He tells him about how he ran away from his creepy foster dad and his club.

The girl—Cherry, maybe? She'd snarled their names so quickly, but it would suit her. Her mouth is a blood red gash, and it only twists more severely as she scoffs.

She doesn't speak, stayed by a pleading glance from the boy, but her eyes flash to Reggie’s, snaring him, still with her damn lip curled. He rips his gaze away, fiddling with his candy as his heart hammers.

She could wound him with that mouth, he's sure of it.

So why are they sitting here playing this stupid game, giving a couple of golden soc siblings a ton of ammunition?

Reggie ought to have more faith in Willie, probably. He's gotten them out of more scrapes than Luke can get them into, and Willie could charm the pants off of damn near anyone, including the blonde girl's brother. Unlike her, he's unsprawled more and more ever since Willie aimed that first easy smile at him and shook out his hair.

Hell, that's why they're sitting here with their asses parked to the lip of the fountain, sharing candy and playing this dumb game instead of trying to knock one another into the freezing water.

Or worse.

Luke rips off a bite of licorice. He savors the stuff now since Julie hates it when he smokes, but she loves the black licorice they sell at the counter of her mother's diner. It stains his obnoxious grin an inky black, and he aims it right at Reggie.

Which, honestly, is probably for the best.

"Alright, Reg. Truth or dare?"

He hastily swallows his licorice.

"Isn't it Willie's turn to ask?"

"He asked me." Luke's grin grows in a way that can only mean trouble. "Don't tell me you didn't notice when I took my shirt off. I was all slow and sensual about it for you and everything. Where's your head been? Have you replaced me, baby?"

"Oh—" Reggie shoves at Luke's —yes, his bare arm. Reggie's face is aflame. "Fuck off, or I'll tell Julie that you were messing with my heart and she'll kick your ass."

Luke shrugs. His eyes dance with mischief as he takes another bite of licorice.

"Who doesn't want a woman who could kick their ass?"

Reggie scowls. "Nice try, but I never picked truth. I'll go with dare."

Luke must've decided that he's needled Reggie enough, because he gives him a pretty tame dare. That doesn't mean that anyone else is safe, though, and when the game makes it back to Luke, he picks her.

Carrie, she says. C-A-R-R-I-E. Not Cherry.

Luke bares his teeth in an unabashedly filthy, cheeky licorice grin, and says—

"You think you're too good for our candy? I dare you to kiss Reggie. He's the sweetest thing around, and you'll change your tune soon enough. If not, you'll at least be putting your money where your mouth is."

What. The fuck. What's he doing?!

Reggie grips the edge of the fountain.

Sure, she's beautiful, and fiery, and maybe there was some truth to what Luke had said about women who can kick your ass and maybe he can't stop staring at her prim-petal-thorn-pricked mouth—

"It sounds like you want to kiss him," Carrie shoots back, tossing her golden curls dismissively. She ought to be cold in that dress, but the fury that tinges the tops of her ears red must be keeping her warm. "I'd rather kiss a dog. It'd be cleaner."

Luke tsks, shaking his head.

He's very good at pissing people off. She bristles even more as he continues.

"For the record, I already have. He'd probably ruin you on all of those boring, proper prince charming types with their chaste little post-date pecks. But if you're scared and you want to keep living in your drab little cookie-cutter world—"

She growls, springing up and striding over to Reggie with all the grace of a lioness.

She fists the front of his shirt and hauls him free of the fountain and right into a kiss. Their mouths meld with scorching intensity, harsh and deep and she's definitely getting lipstick all over his face.

Fuck, but it's good. He can't help but melt into it, clutching her waist, and she makes a needy noise low in her throat, snaring his bottom lip between her teeth. He buries an equally embarrassing sound in her mouth, and when she releases him, chest heaving, wild-eyed and face smeared like a starving thing, he dives back in to kiss her again. She claws at his back and runs her tongue over his teeth and he'd let her wound him a dozen times over.

A low whistle reminds them that they have an audience, and when they whirl on their friends, they're all watching them with similarly amused expressions.

The golden boy—Alex—starts to speak, but he doesn't get any further than "okay" before Carrie growls again.

"Oh, shut up! Yes, you were right. At least I've actually kissed the greaseball I like."

Willie swoops in before Alex can curl in on himself, offering to fix that, and Luke looks like the cat that got the canary, smirking at everyone as he munches on his last piece of licorice. Reggie clears his throat, turning back to Carrie.

"I don't put just anything in my hair, you know. I splurge for the good shit. And I love to shower, along with the occasional bath. Most greasers aren't actually, like—greasy. I'm not a burger."

Her lips twitch with the hint of a smile. She still looks disheveled, and he aches to kiss her again, to press her into the backseat of his car before it finally gives up the ghost, to mess her up more. She gives him a real smile, then, one with a glimmer of teeth, as if she knows. They're also stained with lipstick, and it's sort of driving him crazy.

"I could go for a burger. Maybe a milkshake. I'm in the mood for something sweet, after all."

As it turns out, her death glare is great for killing any judgemental stares, though she does level Reggie with the latter when he stirs their milkshake with some licorice.

She still keeps kissing him, though.

[toongrrl-blog]

My Own Style Analysis: Ben’s Dream

This was originally posted on Reddit.

*Warning: The following picture may be NSFW, you have been warned*

“I am Fire and Air” Cleopatra, as imagined by Willy Shakespeare

Ever since I saw this scene, I have been thinking about any possible references that were made here. This is by no mean's an organized think piece and I feel pretty okay about this, I was shocked to see the overt sexuality in this scene (and hoped no one was coerced into performing) but I always felt that Maitreyi had the talent and looks to play a 21st Century twist on the classic Film Noir Femme Fatale and felt vindicated here. In fact my mind went to different places which shall be covered here.

Lighting: First thing we notice is the purple lighting used in the scene, both to set the tone for Ben's lust and love for Devi and to enhance both Maitreyi's and Jaren's physical appeal. In fact, aside from being a color that stands for status and heroism, purple is one of Dr. David Rosenau's color-coded pyramid of intimacy (which also incorporates colors which were so darn persistent in the show and used in the final scene of the series); purple symbolizes touch and passion, the former that Ben was yearning from Devi at that moment and the passion that they mutually held for each other in a way that matches the damned wildfires in our Golden State and in their academic competition. It is also noted that the both of them hated it when Ben wasn't talking to Devi, in a scene where they were both in outfits picking up on each other's greens (bonding intimacy) after he rescued her from getting groped by a Fabio reject and when she showed up high at her house and ruined an apple shaped cake. The dark purplish lighting also helps to accentuate Maitreyi's dark skin and the metallics on her lingerie and makeup which add to another part of her fantasy mystique.

Madame X: In the late 19th Century, John Singer Sargent painted a very scandalous portrait of a red-haired socialite named Virginie Gautreau, an American ex-pat and wife of a respectable French banker. This was a woman with a sense of confidence who knew she was beautiful and owned her sexuality, both no-no's in the 20th Century Western World (actually given how society loves to humble a woman with high self-esteem or bravado, have things changed?) and in a time when women were expected to cover themselves up with layers of fabric and decor, she was wearing a simple curve-hugging dress in black that contrast with her very fair skin with metallic straps and instead of looking demure, she looked proud, this scandalized Parisian society and practically ruined Sargent's career and Gautreau's reputation, it wasn't until later that this flop became iconic, inspiring Rita Hayworth's dress in Gilda, the gold-chain Chanel dress, the allure that later LBDs now possess, and dresses worn by Christina Hendricks in Mad Men Season 4 episode "Waldorf Stories" and Post heiress/Mr. Sheffield's cold ass mom Dina Merrill and even Maitreyi herself in real life.

Makeup: Complementing the metallics of the lingerie are Devi's makeup, which is inspired by the very contemporary Euphoria and I argue, the intro to the 1980s James Bond film A View to a Kill with the models in bathed in a dark light to better accentuate the neon colored makeup, nail polish, hair, and weapons that would glow in the dark. Another thing to note is that while Devi's lip gloss enhances the natural pink in them, her eye makeup and manicure are bolder and match her nose ring; this is likely a call back to how the 2020 COVID-19 Pandemic impacted makeup trends in sales, with lipstick taking a dip along with economics (a reversal of a trend that was first noted in the Great Depression) while eye makeup sales soared as people found ways to experiment with different colors and designs while keeping safe with masks. Her look is likely even a shout out to Alexa Demie's Euphoria character Maddy Perez, who like Devi and Maitreyi, is a young WOC and Hollywood newcomer flawlessly portraying a complex, flawed, and charismatic young woman who isn't afraid to go ham. The big thing is that Ben is (thankfully) not Nate Jacobs: both being privileged white boys who've internalized the Patriarchy, but while Ben is obnoxious and hiding his vulnerability and abandonment issues with bravado and only achieved some semblance of popularity through is background and connection to others in the Hot Pocket, Nate however has his toxic traits enabled or even encouraged by his parents and is positively horrifying in his treatment of Jules and Maddy and is the BMOC. But rest assured no one is getting almost strangled after tossing a pot of chili after being slut-shamed.

Flame: Sex has always been symbolized by elements (old films used beaches and other forms of water to imply acts of sex and passion) and fire was used as a metaphor for sexual desire in songs like "Hot Blooded" and "Somethings Burning"; flame is also used to illustrate a fiery temperament, Ben is well aware Devi is a hothead like her father's hero John McEnroe (the fact that the elder white Boomer male and a teenage South Asian girl are validated for their short fuse is amazing) and contrasts with his doting yet cool parents and she also often dresses in warm colors that highlight her looks and her personality. In fact many iconic female characters have been depicted with fiery tempers or strong personalities (think Joan Holloway, any character played by Joan Crawford and Bette Davis and Maureen O'Hara, Trudy Proud, Betty and Veronica). This not only played to male audiences but also to female ones in more misogynistic times....

Femme Fatales: As an interviewee in Jackie Stacey's Star Gazing noted "I liked seeing strong, capable, and independent types of female characters, mostly because I wish to be like them" and she, along with many female spectators of films in the 40s and 50s, are in awe of femme fatale's and the career women of the era's films own confidence, intelligence, beauty, and wardrobe. In fact the Femme Fatale comes from a long tradition of men using women as scapegoats for shit hitting the fan and society fearing what would happen if women started to own their intelligence and sexuality (yeah why wouldn't a group that's been long subjugated, abused, and exploited burn down the village?); Devi is no stranger to the feminine being pathologized (blamed for Paxton's accident in Season 2, her grief and temporary disability was mocked, been gaslit by Des...yeah no wonder I channel Lucille Bluth when Devi "damages" something), but wait Toongrrl1990 what about her Unfuckable Nerds moniker? One of the forms of gaslighting patriarchal society has done to women is to liken their worth to their appearance and even when they are pretty, is to gaslight them into thinking they aren't enough: think of how much money the diet industry has made post World War One to now, think of male authors finding ways to insist a woman is "pretty but not beautiful" or say "a model she was far from" or even look at what P.J. O'Rourke says about Bimbos. I grew up in the era where Bridget Jones was considered fat at a size 6 and where people said Bill Clinton (who looked like a basic Boomer Dad to me as a kiddo) could have had "hotter" women (even the one that was a pageant winner wasn't enough or even the freakishly gorgeous and Dorian Gray-esque Monica Lewinsky wasn't enough), in fact go read about Golden Era Hollywood stars and you can see many of the iconic beauties were labeled some form of "unfuckable" (Sophia Loren, Bette Davis, Maureen O'Hara, Grace Kelly, Judy Garland, Meryl Streep). Bosley Croeger, a critic, even critiques Rita Hayworth in Gilda as five and a dime in playing her worldly and street-wise characters.

Devi even lives up to the iconic image of the Femme Fatale's aesthetic: having long wavy hair that bounces and matches her lively nature, her shapely legs that get plenty of focus in Devi's costumes, her quotable "snatched waist, slim thicc queen" figure, quick wit and intellect, and inclination to take risks. As with Madame X, Devi deviates in a major way from the image of the FF, as she is South Asian while the other two female archetypes have been traditionally depicted by white and white-passing women. Devi's image in the scene is a double-edged sword: is it empowering to South Asian girls and WOC and AFABs or is it exploitative as Maitreyi is a young adult and WOC have been historically sexualized? Can girl just express her sexuality because she is feeling herself?

The Femme Fatale is also depicted as being manipulative and intelligent, enough to lead some poor shlubs to their ruin; this is called back to Devi saying "I am so much better at school than you" in the dream and managing to take Ben's shirt off without him noticing her doing so. But as discussed in u/Professionalish00 brilliant post, Devi is a Hot Mess and this new archetype is somewhat of a victory and evolution from the Femme Fatale, who sighs with relief that complex and sexual women aren't pathologized like she was. Now we can see her own vulnerabilities and see she's just a woman, trying to survive.

Elizabeth Taylor: To quote Tom and Lorenzo, the late cinematic icon and AIDs activist Liz Taylor was a strong woman who had a rich yet messy life, "but she was never the victim that Marilyn [Monroe] was. She took charge of her life and owned her mistakes, but never stopped pursuing the perfect love, demonstrating a sexual aggression that few women of the period would have been comfortable showing". Also as noted by M.E. Lord in The Accidental Feminist, Elizabeth Taylor was a funny gal with a great appetite for living and like Devi, was something of a man eater (Debbie Reynolds noted that Liz stayed friends with many of her exes) and the opposite of a doormat (except in the film Ash Wednesday and Season 2 after Paxton's accident, which was the point). Like Liz's character Martha in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Devi possesses an aggression that is still looked down on in women but otherwise tolerated in men (see my notes on McEnroe), encourages Paxton and Kamala to buck the system a la Leslie Benedict in Giant, dealt with having her physical and mental health used as a cudgel against her  like Cathy in Suddenly, Last Summer (minus the threat of a big ass ice pick), I would even argue that Liz playing Gloria in Butterfield 8 struck a blow for young women expressing their sexuality (I also love the image in my head of Gloria teaching Devi how to better utilize her hot headedness, especially with lipstick and stilettos) and Devi deep down encourages the best for her loved ones, a passion I saw with Liz Taylor's activism.

Put the blame on Devi...oops Mame: Alas the night ended with Ben showing up high as a kite at Devi's house, driven by his love and lust for Devi, only to ruin her grandmother's cake and implode Devi and Margot (another complex and charismatic woman) efforts to get their parents together. A misogynist would blame Devi for it, in case you think I am off my rocker, watch Shiny, Happy People on Prime or Fundie Fridays on the Duggars and IBLP, remember what Helen of Troy was blamed for or listen to several episodes of You're Wrong About. I would have liked to see Ben really apologize for the UN and all the other shit, but perhaps getting locked listening to Paris Paloma's "Labour" would help (ooof my cramps right now, dang medical science for not finding a way to diagnose menstrual pain without surgery).

So please read this and give me your thoughts, or I'll cry lol.

[3wisellamas]

Deltarune Halloween Prompts Day 28: Something's in the dumpster, and it's not Spamton...

---

In their haste to join the dark princes in their Halloween festivities, Kris and Susie had accidentally left a couple of things behind at the dumpster behind the bakery. Or, had left the knife and pair of mismatched tinted glasses behind on purpose, giving the two the night off. It was difficult to tell which.

Reforming himself, Jevil giggled and stretched, jumping around just to hear the bells on his hat ring.

"CAN YOU [pipe down for a minute young man]? I'VE GOT A [Extra-Strength] P1L3 OF [migraine]" Quickly, Spamton reformed himself as well before he got stepped on, clutching his head and glaring as he saw his old "friend." "AND IT'S GOT YOUR [username and password] ON IT."

"SORRY, SORRY, IT LOOKS LIKE WE'RE STUCK TOGETHER FOR THE LONG HAUL, PUPPET BOY!" He looked around at the town, finally able to take it in with his eyes rather than from the lizard Lighter's belt, as opposed to Spamton who'd had a much better view from atop the goat boy's head.

"IT'S NOT QUITE [Tropical getaway] YOU KNOW."

"IT'S EVEN BETTER! ALL THESE PEOPLE, OUT AND ABOUT, PLAYING THEIR GAMES, GAMES! WHAT A FUN LITTLE PRISON THEY'VE MADE!"

"EVERYWHERE S [PAIN AND SEIZURE] WITH YOU [Good buddy]," Spamton groaned, finally noticing the dumpster nearby, a little touch of home in that big unfamiliar Dark World. "NOW IF YOU' [Excuuuuuse me, Princess!], I GOT A [hot date] WITH [Destiny]."

"LOOKS LIKE WHERE YOU BELONG, UEE HEE HEE!"

"[Fuck you] CLOWN." But before Spamton could approach a gentle rustling caught his attention, at first from some trash settling but then from something more, that made him jump, right into Jevil's waiting arms. Looking up at that toothy yellow smile he yelped, slapping it away. "I DON'T NEED YOUR [pity]!!!"

"PITY, PITY, YOU SAY? WHAT IF IT WAS INSTEAD..." Jevil dropped him unceremoniously, skipping towards the mystery dumpster creature while Spamton relocated his glasses. Summoning a swarm of spades, he knocked it over, pulling out bags to reveal...a Maus nest, and a bunch of web crawlers. "HEE HEE! A FAMILY REUNION?"

Jevil didn't know how right he was, as Spamton gasped, holding out his hand to one of the digital insects. "[Willy Daze here for Toxi-Clean!!]??! IS IT REALLY [You]??"

"WHAT."

Snatching the computer bug before it could scuttle away, Spamton nuzzled it with his cheek, getting a nasty sting for it but recovering quickly. He held it out to Jevil, who stared, thoroughly confused. "YOU SHOULD [Meet-and-Greet] MY REAL [my BFF]!!"

Jevil stared for a few moments, smiled, and then chomped down on Spamton's hand.

"OW YOU YOU YOU!!" He pulled his hand back, clutching it in pain, and growled. "NOW [Spit it out]!"

Jevil did so, expertly hitting Spamton in the face with the dead bug, which he wiped off in disgust as the clown just laughed wickedly.

"NOW THAT'S GOING [a step too far] MISTER [Six-piece Chicken McNobody]! [Why I oughta] BRING THIS UP TO YOUR MANAGER!"

"MANAGER? MANAGER? LIKE THE HER OVER THERE?" He pointed to Tasque Manager, making her way down the street dressed as a lion tamer with all her lion-maned Tasques in tow, and laughed even harder.

The trick-or-treaters were still out in full swing, and two more interrupted them, a tall CD player excitedly skating around in monster makeup and bolts glued to their neck, followed closely by a speaker in full werewolf getup, who held out his bag to Jevil and Spamton, apparently mistaking them for part of the crowd. "Trick or treat, guys!"

"TRICK OR...?" Spamton just looked at the robots, confused, wondering where he'd seen them before, but without missing a beat Jevil picked up the dead bug off the ground and stuffed it into Sweet's candy bag, getting an uncomfortable look for it as K_K preemptively hid their own bag behind their back.

"Um...thanks?" They ran into the bakery instead for better treats, while Jevil's laughter hit a fever pitch, the clown even rolling over onto his side on the ground, wiping tears from his eyes.

"AS MUCH FUN AS THIS HAS BEEN, I THINK IT'S TIME I FOLD. HALLOWEEN FOR ME WAS NEVER SO NICE, EVEN WITH THE CHANCE TO TRICK ONCE OR TWICE." He climbed into the dumpster, tossing out more trash to make room. "HAVE FUN IN YOUR CAGE, CAGE, CLIPPED-WING PUPPET, I'M OUTTA HERE!"

Still steaming over getting his hand bit and his best friend murdered and given to some trick-or-treater as candy, Spamton tried to follow him, drag him back out and keep him from escaping, but he was a little too late. The clown had already left the circus, no longer responding to his touch or his shouting, lost in his own mind, "FREE" in his own words, to the reality around him if nothing else. Sighing, Spamton just let him stay in his dumpster, heading out into town to see what else he could find.

He snatched the last of Jigsaw Joe's candy bars without so much as a "Trick-or-treat," and then, glancing up the street, finally saw another familiar face, or rather, beak. Swatch was at that moment handing out the last of their macarons and returning to the cafe, which seemed oddly active for a late Halloween night. "SO, [Easel]'S GOT A LITTLE [swingin' shindig] OF HIS OWN GOING."

Against Spamton's better judgement, he stepped through the door after the Swatchling, hoping to at least get a few laughs out of the old bird throwing him out on his ass yet again. But, to his shock, it wasn't just Swatch in attendance -- a whole crowd of Addison partygoers suddenly turned to watch him, astonished looks visible even behind their masks.

A memory surfaced, of the Halloween parties of his youth, of all his family and friends and colleagues and customers all packed into the Cyber Grill, and the invitations he'd received even long after he stopped coming. He hadn't gotten one recently, certainly not this year, much less had the chance to RSVP.

"UH...SORRY [Invitation not found] SO I'LL JUST BE GOING NOW," he sheepishly called out, but a couple of Addisons, one pink and one yellow, stood, gripping his hands to stop him.

"Spamton, it's fine! You're always invited to our parties!" With that, the crowd cheered, even a few younger Addison's who'd never met Spamton and had no clue what was happening. He smiled, as his brothers made space for him at their table, and ordered him a glass of battery acid from a reluctant, but begrudgingly cordial, Swatch.

[meatmechapilot]

AU August 2022 Day 2 - Artist's Muse

Portrait of an Omega

Summary: Lord Willy Tybur commissions artist Levi to paint a portrait of his wife, Eren.  The artist and the subject fall in love.

Chapter One

Levi Ackerman, a renowned portrait painter arrived at the home of his latest client.  He's been commissioned to paint Lord Tybur's new wife.  Levi's the go to portrait painter for the powerful and wealthy, as such, he's become quite wealthy himself.  Lord Tybur's manor is clear in the countryside and far from the city, where he resides.  Normally, he did not like taking commissions that would force him to travel too far, but Tybur's new wife was rumored to be a renowned beauty, the most desirable omega in the country.  Levi was intrigued about the famous omega, so he agreed to take on this job.

The Tybur estate was huge and there were many servants.  Levi's carriage stopped at the gate, and he was ushered into the main estate by half a dozen servants, helping him to take his art supplies inside.  The butler greeted him at the estate's door, and he was brought to the study to meet the lord of the manor.

"Ah, Master Ackerman, so good to see you."  Lord Tybur greeted him.  "I must introduce you to my wife, your subject for the next few weeks."

Levi's eyes went to the figure seated on a chair and his breath stopped.  The omega before him was the most exquisite creature he'd ever seen.  The first thing he noticed about the omega was his eyes, they are the loveliest shade of blue green, like a warm tropical sea that Levi could drown in.  His hair is a rich, chestnut brown that's done in an elaborate updo held together with bejeweled hairpins and a comb.  Lady Tybur's clothes is similarly rich as his hair ornaments, the dress he's wearing is made of the finest silks and perfectly tailored to his body, accentuating his lovely figure.  For a wild moment, Levi was thinking about challenging Tybur to a duel for his wife.

Tybur, blissfully unaware of Levi's increasing covetous thoughts, introduced his wife as Eren.  Levi committed the name to memory and noted to himself to get a few extra portraits of the omega for personal use.  During the introductions, Eren's eyes met Levi's from across the room.  Levi felt a shiver of excitement run down his spine.  The way the omega didn't immediately lower his eyes filled Levi with hope, maybe the interest isn't so one-sided.

---

The next week saw Levi move his studio into Lord Tybur's manor.  It was Eren's idea, he implored his husband that the artist shouldn't spend so much time traveling and that the lord should give the artist room and board until the painting's finished, so that the master can concentrate on his craft and not worry about mundane things.  Servants should also not disturb the painting sessions unless directly summoned.  Lord Tybur immediately agreed, used to giving only the best things to his wife.

Levi was grateful that he was able to have a substantial amount of alone time with Eren, in the interest of not disturbing the artist at work.  He can drool over the omega without any servants sticking their noses where they don't belong.  

Eren has some ideas about what his portrait should be like and made his opinions known the first time he sat down for the portrait.  Levi had never been so productive in his life.  In addition to making progress on Eren's portrait, the omega provided inspiration for many ideas, and he filled three sketch books in less than a month.

It's getting harder and harder to simply look at Eren every day and not touch the omega.  Each night, Levi's plagued with dreams, each more erotic than the next.  Each morning, Levi wakes up disappointed that Eren wasn't his.  Levi discovered that Eren was not the typical demure omega wife of a Lord.  The omega was very opinioned and outspoken and also very exacting with it comes to his portrait; the painter unable to proceed until everything was perfect to the last detail.  

Levi was glad for this because it would mean that work on the portrait is slow going, and he has a chance to be alone with Eren for longer.  Frequently, they would be lost in conversation, the portrait forgotten.  It took two weeks for Levi to realize that Eren's pickiness was a delaying tactic, and that the omega was also trying to keep the painter on site for as long as possible.  After this realization, the conversation between them became bolder and less appropriate, revealing forbidden desires.

"What would you do to me if I'm your omega?"  Eren asked one day.  Lord Tybur was away on a business trip to the capital and the time was ripe to act upon their feelings.  They've been dancing around each other for a month, since the painter moved into the manor so he could devote all his time to paint the portrait.

"I would certainly not go on business trips and leave my omega alone with a strange alpha."  Levi replied, attempting to concentrate on his work, but failing, for the anticipation was too great.  Eren was already scantily clad in loose robes instead the buttoned up, conservative fashion of the day.  They decided that the portrait should be that of a fantasy setting.  The omega now started to take his clothes off, until only a see-through shift was left, leaving very little to the imagination.

Levi, who's already hard, took off his own clothes in record time.  He stalked toward the omega and finally put his hands on him.  Levi carried Eren toward the bed at a corner of the room, it was moved into the room as a possible prop, now it will find use for something else.  Levi gently laid Eren down into the bed and pulled off his shift so that the omega's body is finally bared to him.  Levi lowered his head until their lips met, finally consummating their attraction.

The artist's canvas lies forgotten in the great room, as the erotic sounds of lovemaking filled the room.  The alpha head is buried between the omega's legs, his tongue lapping up the omega's slick.  The omega sobbed as he's driven to distraction by the alpha's tongue, and soon was overtaking by pleasure, coming on the alpha's tongue alone.

Levi quickly positioned himself on top of Eren, and lined his cock up with the omega's cunt.  Their eyes locked, and when Eren indicated he's ready, Levi pushed himself inside, bottoming out with a groan.  The omega felt heavenly and judging by Eren's moans, the sentiment is reciprocated.  When Eren gave the indication to move, Levi started pounding into the heavenly heat.  Levi's been fantasizing about this moment ever since he's laid eyes on Eren, and he's going to savor every moment of this.  Eren apparently had a different idea and he pushed Levi into a sitting position so he could climb on his lap and rode his cock.   This new position allowed Levi access to the omega's chest, to which he took shameless advantage.  He started teasing Eren's nipples, laving his tongue and lightly nipping with his teeth.  This drew a lustful moan from the omega, and he stopped his movements.  Levi then flipped Eren on his hands and knees in no time, he's thrusting into the omega's tight cunt again.  This time, Eren moved his hips back to meet Levi's thrusts.  Soon, Eren came with a wail, squirting slick all over Levi's cock.  Levi's movements were erratic, he too was close.  

Levi's knot formed as he came inside Eren, locking them together.  As he flooded the omega's insides with his seed, an immense sense of satisfaction filled the alpha.  He collapsed on Eren's back, his nose on the omega's scent gland.  With tremendous will power, Levi refrained from biting the omega's neck.  Instead, after his knot went down, he got dressed and helped Eren into his robes.

Chapter Two

[invisibleraven]

53 and Carrie and anyone?

Carrie is beaming as the applause rings out, trying not to show how her lungs are working overtime to regain a normal breathing pattern, how her heart is thundering in her chest matching the beat of the clapping. Instead she waves, smiles, bows and runs off the stage, collapsing into the chair provided, chugging down her water as the girls follow behind her.

She takes the compliments thrown her way, nodding at each thumbs up and smile, trying to ensure the smile doesn't slip off her face, not until she's in her dressing room, washing off her mask of make up. Carefully putting the pink wig on the stand, stripping off the sequins and glitter. Her persona of the Pink Candi-armour of old in bedazzled glory-it keeps her safe, but it's a heavy burden to bear every evening.

She feels fake and hollow every time she dons it-like she has to be this bright glittery thing to be noticed when all she wants, all she's ever wanted, is to be loved as Carrie Wilson. It weighs heavy on her as she heads home to her big, empty condo.

She takes her time in the shower, letting the warm water soothe her aching muscles, slowly coming back to herself as the suds run down the drain. Pulls her hair into a wet and messy bun, slings on her comfiest sweats and the oversized pink sweater that she stole from Alex ages ago. He's yet to ask for it back, but then again, they haven't talked in years, so she doubts he ever will.

She misses her friend.

Alex who was thrilled to dance and sing with Dirty Candi back in high school. Who could out snark her almost any day but also gave her the best hugs. Who encouraged her to go after her dreams, no matter what people would say about her using her dad's name to make it.

But then she became a superstar and Alex went off to college to become an art history major. They tried to keep in touch, but...

She still wonders what he's doing right now, every so often. Wonders if he's teaching somewhere, if he and Willie made it the long run and have a house with 2.5 kids running around it. Wonders if he still sees Luke and Reggie on the regular, or if they lost touch as well.

She pulls out her phone, and opens Facebook. Her account is long dormant, hidden from the fans. She clicks on Alex's name.

There he is. Happy and smiling, looking a little older, a little more mature. He's got his arm slung around Willie, and there's a small redheaded girl standing by them, her smile rivalling theirs, even with her missing front teeth.

She scrolls through his feed, seeing him post stupid memes, sarcasm at current events, and pictures of his family. She learns the girl is named Isla, that she's four, and apparently a spitfire with Alex's wit and Willie's perchance for chaos from the few videos. She's watching one of Isla skateboarding for the first time, and her finger slips, liking the video.

Carrie swears, tries to unclick the button to no avail, the damage is done. Worse yet, it looks like Alex is online, because her messenger opens up with a message from him.

Alex: Carrie?

Carrie: Hi Lexie

Alex: Wow, long time

Carrie: Yeah... I was feeling nostalgic. Missed you. See you've done okay for yourself.

Alex: No complaints. And you... you're a superstar! I see your face on billboards, on buses. My little girl, Isla loves you.

Carrie: That's so sweet. You'll have to send me your address, I can send her some autographed merch

Alex: She'd love that.

There's a beat, and Carrie wonders if that's it. If this is just a story Alex can tell, how he can recall to Isla that he knew her when she was a nobody. Then the little dots appear, disappear, and finally a new message appears.

Alex: So, why the nostalgia?

Carrie: I still have your sweater. Made me feel... I dunno, like my life was missing something.

Alex: You worked so hard and it shows Care, what could you be lacking?

Carrie: Someone to share it with? A friend who knows me and not the whole get up I wear onstage? Something... something real.

Her FaceTime notification rings then, and Carrie sees it's Alex calling. She opens the call and grins at seeing Alex. His blond hair flopping down his forehead, those blue eyes shining at her. "Well you still look like Carrie to me," he says.

"And you look like a dad," she replies, nodding to his shirt covered in tiny handprints of paint and flour.

He chuckles at that. "Yeah, we made Play Doh, it's surprisingly messy." His smile slips a little. "Talk to me princess."

Carrie sighs, settling further into her couch. Tells him about her life, how hollow it all feels, how her dreams catapulted her to stardom but didn't make her happy. Alex talks about his life in turn, his frustrating students, but how happy his domestic life is.

Tells her about how Luke married some girl named Julie and is a guitar player in some band or another. "They have two kids, twin girls named Harmony and Melody," Alex says and they share a nose scrunch at that. "I know, I know."

"That boy is obsessed," Carrie sighs. "What about Reggie?"

Alex's face falls at that. "Reg... Reggie passed last year Carrie."

"W-what?" Carrie stutters. She and Reggie had never been close, but she liked him well enough. He always had a bad joke or a warm smile for her. Always offered to share his snacks or his math notes. He'd been one of the good guys, and Carrie had always thought him rather cute.

Alex's face is grim now. "Yeah, he..." Alex shakes his head for a moment. "It was bad. He never told us how sick he was, and then he was in the hospital, and then he was gone days later. I'm sorry."

"No, I'm sorry," she whispers. "I know how close you two were."

"Yeah," Alex says with a sniffle. "Willie and I... we're in the process of getting Isla a little brother right now. Due any day. We're gonna name him Reggie."

"Reginald Mercer does have a ring to it," Carrie says, wiping away a tear.

"Shotton," Alex says. "The kids took Willie's last name. Fuck carrying on the Mercer legacy."

"Doesn't your sister have a kid?"

"Patrick took Jade's last name, so did Olivia," Alex replies. "I offered to take Willie's, but where he grew up in foster care... he said he wanted me to keep the one thing my parents gave me." He lets out a small yawn then. "Sorry Carrie, been a long day and Isla likes to wake us at dawn."

"That's okay, hit the sack. It-it was nice to catch up," Carrie says, waving him off.

"Feel free to call or message me any time," Alex says. "Maybe don't leave it years this time though?"

"Fuck you," Carrie replies, but her smile betrays her. She offers Alex one last goodbye, and then sinks back into the cushions.

She feels lighter, heavier, and more like herself than she has in ages. So much so that she pulls out a notebook, scribbling down a song about a girl breaking free.

Then another about kind green eyes gone too soon, and hopes that wherever Reggie's spirit is, he's still smiling.