#wazowskiofthemikevariety

[accendimi]

Knuckle Down {Greenies}

Sarina had a lot of things on her plate. A lot of things she didn’t want to deal with. She had been staying at Mike’s for too long she was going to need new roommate. Not that she would admit that. But it was helpful to know Mike was sleeping a few doors down from her. 

Just like it was helpful every morning to wake up and head to the gym, work the bags until her knuckles bleed. Then she found herself back at Mike’s to make breakfast with bandaged hands. Sometimes she hid it, sometimes she figured he wouldn’t come down. This was one of those mornings where she sat at the table bandaging up her hands while the pan heated up for pancakes. 

Nothing different, nothing shameful for her to hide. She still had a faint scar from the handcuffs on her wrists and a blister from where she had burned herself. Those she tried to hide though. Through bracelets or anything of the sort.

Which meant when Mike made his way into the kitchen Sarina adjusted her bracelets and moved back to cleaning her knuckles.

“Pans warming up and the batter’s in the bowl.”

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[amoderngorgon]

It was only a kiss  | Green Gorgon

Celia: I kissed him.

Celia: He kissed me.

Celia: I wonder if I'm a masochist of some kind. I don't think that he cares for me.

Celia: This is a bad thing isn't it?

[causeimmroogieboogie]

Close Enounters || Mikie

It hadn't taken long for Oogie's curiosity to get the best of him. It was a risky game, of course, meeting with a Demonologist to find out if he was good enough to work out that he was talking to one. But there was something smugly satisfying in the thought of squeezing out every drop of knowledge the man had, to see if it was right. And doing it without getting caught.

If he didn't get caught.

Though as much as he loved human beings for a lot of things, he still saw them as prey, as lesser beasts. So he hardly imagined any single one of them could work him out without a power that could connect their world to his. And with the charm that sorceress had made him, even that sense could be blurred.

So, perhaps he’d take it off half way through, just for the fun of it.

Gambling. A quiet laugh escaped him. Hell, he was starting to sound like a human.

He rapped gently at the door to the man's office and smiled when it opened. "Mike Wazowski, is it? Oswald Marks. I was wondering if you had a moment, I'd like to pick your brains about something… Of course, if you're busy I can come back later. I was just passing and thought I'd give it a stab."

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[alittleweirdd]

Euphoria || Mike and Star

Everything had been a dream.

That very thought left Star feeling more hopeless than she had previously been. This alternate reality, or whatever you wanted to call it, was her shining hope that maybe she wasn’t a failure after all. Though her fears with how her mother views her was amplified. That was a reality she wanted to keep far away from her heart. Everything in that so-called dream had brought everything to the forefront of her mind. Her heart aching with the memory of seeing herself in the mirror and again at hearing her pretend mother’s word. But that wasn’t what hurt the most. 

In that dream she was a Champion. She was special. She was something. Now what was she? Yes, she had Mewni and her best friend and Tom. But did she really? Star had willingly given Mewni up and she hadn’t spoken to anyone other than Tom in the months since she had been there. Hell, even then it was going on day sixty-seven of not hearing from Tom. Even though she had left him at least seventeen messages. It had become increasingly clear that he didn’t want anything to do with Star anymore and the realization of that hurt almost more.

Star decided that since the whole town had the same dream and was recovering from it that she would head to her favorite place. The nearby park. So, she laid with her back pressed to the damp grass. Her long, blonde hair fanned out around her like a halo. Blue eyes watching the clouds as they passed over her. Star thought about everything that had happened in that dream. How she had nearly died. How she had faced not only her heart’s desire but her worst fear. But most importantly... How she had made a friend.

She closed her eyes against the light of the sky. Her mind racing back to how it had felt to have a friend. Mike had been there for her through it all. And she had been just the same. He had seen her cry more times than she cared to admit. But now it was all lost. All gone. Left to that of a distant memory that replayed in her mind like a broken record. Until she decided to look for proof. Star shot bolt upright. Her legs carrying her to the nearest phone book. Who even used these anymore? Until she found his name listed. Mike Wazowski. There he was.

Furiously, she flipped open her phone and began to dial the number in the book. Holding it to her ear and waiting impatiently as it rang. Once. Twice. Three times. There was an answer and Star’s eyes slamming shut as she struggled to keep her emotions--her hope--in check. There was still a chance that he didn’t want to be her friend anymore and all she would be left with was the distant memory of a dream that had given her more than she had in the waking world.

“Is--Is this Mike?” she said, trying so desperately for her voice not to betray her, “This is Star.”

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[enthusiasticclouds-sally]

Inquiring For A Friend || Sweet Monsters

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Sally had decided to make a stop at Pride U to visit Mike. She had waited until the last number of students dwindled down before stepping into the now empty classroom and finding Mike placing his things away. 

She had stopped by to see how he was doing and to make sure he had gotten all the sleep he needed since the last time she had dropped by. 

The redhead knew his house hasn’t received any more ghostly visits. Her friends from the other side had kept her aware of that fact. Since she has aided in moving Daniel along, Sally has become more aware of the ghost inhabitants of Swynlake. They were making themselves more audible and visible to her.

It’s been a bit of a ride. 

Sally smiled and waved at her friend. “I was told that I’d be able to find you here.” 

Which, she found sort of funny since the last time, Mike had been waiting to find her in the library and now here she was. 

“I wanted to see how you’ve been doing. Although, I’ve been guessing good since you got nominated Prom King.” 

She teased a little. She wasn’t sure of who won, or how that whole night had gone. She never went to those sorts of things. They just... they weren’t things that she belonged in. She would be more of an outcast than anything else. 

[thedipster]

R is for Revolutionizing the Field of Demonology || Mipper

Most of Dipper’s mind the past few weeks had been fixated on Cave.

Yes, okay there was a big part that was fixated on the fact that one of his best and closest friends was in jail, but when he wasn’t thinking about Merida, he was focused on the data that he and Professor Wazowski had collected from the Lyons Cave.

Because there was a lot of it. Because there was so much of it. Because the equipment they were using was very old. Because it was taking a long time to retrieve the analog data and convert it to digital and Dipper had to sit by the radar and process the pings and beeps and manually input them – the TV shows and movies that sold demonology as a glamorous, dangerous study couldn’t be more wrong! Well, okay they did get this data after running for their lives in a cave, so maybe the shows weren’t wrong, but they always did leave out the data input part.

Finally, finally, the last line of data was about to be processed. Dipper and Professor Wazowski stood over the computer in the sole demonology lab in the building, a rather small room that had a few humming and outdated machines and a tiny window way above them that let in a single stream of daylight that illuminated some dust.

Dipper held his breath.

The machine beeped. It beeped again. It was still processing the data. Slowly. 

“Oh man, as long as we have a steady stream of Delta particles at the exact time, we are good to go,” he said. “I mean it’d be super good if we got some other waves and stuff, but I’ll just take the Delta.”

Even though they’d seen a demon already, it was real hard to actually prove to the academics that they had. People made excuses. It was just a creature. Perhaps a dragon or a drake or chimera. Besides – how could the demon live in the cave for so long without a host?

(Which was why Dipper had his fingers cross for excessive Omega waves as well – that would indicate high interdimensional activity and prove the long-standing theory that some strong demons could live without hosts provided there was a surcharge of energy).

“This thing is so loud,” he said, after a moment of silence, as the computer beeped loudly. “How old is it?”

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[gothedistance-herc]

♥ 14 likes

strongmanherc: @ mikewazowskee ‘s class today got me like ... #inagoodway

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[mrsrcbinscn]

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I made!!! Some Mike gifs for you for Secret Santa bby!

[accendimi]

Kiss! Kiss! Fall In Love! {Greenies}

Sometimes it was a good thing Mike was Sarina’s friend. In this case on this day it was the fact he was a professor and Sarina needed some knowledge on demons.

This meant the girl was traveling to his school to get what she needed. Clicks of her heels behind her as she let boys look over her body, making note of who would be an interesting find later on.

But right now, she was on a mission. A mission which was turning out a lot easier than expected when she spotted the boy she wanted in the middle of the courtyard.

“Mikey!” Sarina called out her voice taking on that sweet tone. “I was looking for you.”

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[accendimi]

Kill The Boredom {Greenies}

Sarina had a gig coming up, well she had a couple gigs coming up. One in town she was waiting to see what would happen with it but she also had one coming up in a couple days out of town.

And it was good, she liked doing things and being busy. Which she wasn’t right now. She didn’t have work till later. It was only like 3 o’clock or something she couldn’t drink... well she shouldn’t and she didn’t feel like scoring anything right now.

Which left her bored.

And she did have a friend that she could bother so of course Sarina had pushed her way through PrideU find Professor Wazowski’s office just as a student walked out and Sarina grinned feeling their eyes on him. The thigh high boots and skirt gave her legs for days and she knew people wanted her.

Instead she just shut Mike’s door and stalked up to his desk before laying on his desk dramatically.

“Entertain me. I”m bored and I’m betting you’re bored with all these papers.”

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[accendimi]

Forget The Night {Greenies}

It took about a day for Sarina to realize the shitty dream was one of those shitty dreams that apparently Swynlake shared with one another. After a quick fuck session to get 1912 version of herself out of her head and then she got drunk and realized what it meant that it was a shared dream.

Mike saw her at her most vulnerable.

Mike saw her cry.

Mike saw her weak.

And Sarina hated every second of that because that’s not who she was anymore. He had let his insecurities fuck them both over and in her drunken state it pissed her off. How dare he doubt her. How dare he not realize even back then she was the best he would get. 

All those thoughts left her knocking on his door until he opened it and she strolled in. He could have guests and she wouldn’t care.

“You say anything about anything about us in whatever that dream was and I will never talk to you again.” At least she wasn’t drunk enough to actually threaten him though she was ready to do that too.

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[amoderngorgon]

Hypothetical Cursework | Green Gorgon

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After the zombies had attacked, Celia had been...a disaster. A disaster that apparently could do okay in a zombie apocalypse setting. But the whole thing? It was unnerving. Absolutely unnerving. She hadn’t had any desire for her curse to be used like it was. It shouldn’t even be something to use. At least not from what she had seen.

Yet she had been forced to use it. There hadn’t been another option.

It terrified her. It absolutely terrified Celia. And the fact that other people had seen that she could do it? Well it just pushed her forward to trying to find a solution to the problem sooner. The first person she really thought of was the guy she had likely almost turned to stone when she had gotten startled: Mike Wazowski.

While he wasn’t an expert in curses or any of that, he did work on demons. She figured that he could have read something on curses in the process. At least maybe he would be a good person to talk to about it. With that in mind, she left the secondary with all her books in tow, swinging herself onto her bicycle and wheeling her way over to the university.

Not being familiar with the campus, it took her a short while to locate the man’s office. Once she did, however, she locked her bike up and made her way down to the place. Celia knocked a few times before stepping into the space, worrying at her lip. “Hi...Mike? Do you have some time to spare?”

[accendimi]

We Were The Champions {Greenies}

Alternatively Titled:  What The Fuck is a Pukwudgie??

The second time Sarina and Mike wake up after dreaming about being in love with one another. This time however Sarina is bumming at his house since the demon sold off her home.

Triggers: None

Takes place after the Harry Potter Dream.

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SARINA 

Waking up from a Swynlake dream was always interesting. The time her and Mike died she had shot up gasping for air ripping at her clothes to get that breath of fresh air. 

Waking up from the dream about being wizards sarina sat up looking at her hands confused. She could remember all these different spells. She felt vulnerable. She felt like she was splayed open for the world to see.

Looking around the room for a moment Sarina imagined she was home from school. In an unfamiliar room. One she barely spent time in except for holidays from Ilvermorny. But then she remembered she was not 17. She couldn't practice magic and while she wasn't in a room familiar to her it was because she technically didn't have a home and she was couch hopping between Djali and Mike. 

Sarina was a capable woman who really deserved more sleep after a dream like that. At least until she could tell Mike was awake too and damage control was probably needed. So still in her so still in her sleeping shorts and a shirt she stole from either Mike or Djali. Maybe even Desoto she yawned and made her way to Mike's room.

"How much are you freaking out?" Sarina questioned gently as she leaned against his door frame.

MIKE 

Waking up from a dream that wasn’t exactly, what?, normal was not new for Mike Wazowski. He was used to it. His brain worked in mysterious ways to make sure that some nights he woke up with a racing heart and sweat coating his skin. Other nights he woke up with a jolt, with something on the tip of his tongue, but nothing to show for it besides the adrenaline still kicking through his system. The last time he had been a participant in a town wide dream he hadn’t known it because a dream about dying in one of the world’s most known disasters? Not that far fetched for him. 

So this time it was no different. He bolted up in his bed, one hand clutching at his chest as if to keep his heart from leaping out of it, and looked around the room. Then he had to look around again because he went to fast the first time so nothing really registered, but that time around he understood that he was okay. He was in his own bedroom, in his own body. His very old, very 28, almost 29, year old body. 

He stood up then, stumbling as his sheet stayed twisted around his ankle so he had to kick it off before he got carpet burn from falling face first onto the floor. And then he began to pace as his sleep addled mind woke up. Mike yelled at the sound of Sarina’s voice cutting through his thoughts, about her actually, and whirled around to find her standing at his door. 

Mike made a face as he made dismissive little sounds with his mouth. He moved his hands self consciously, carding through his hair, trying to rest by his side, nope that wasn’t going to work, what now, okay they were just going to be crossed over his middle. “What? Me? Freaking-? I’m not freaking out! ...why would I be freaking out?” 

And then he stopped, two dots connecting. “Oh. Oh god was this...was this like the whole Titanic town wide shared dream thing again?” 

SARINA 

Sarina wasn’t surprised when Mike yelled out, she barely flinched even as she lay her head against the door frame looking like she was almost ready to curl into that and fall asleep then and there. She just had to let Mike work through whatever freakout he was working through.

Eventually, he always got there.

“I suspect so. Normally I don’t dream about everyone in town.” Sarina mumbled pushing off the door frame and walking into his room dropping herself onto his bed and grabbing a pillow to curl into.

Unlike the last time with the titanic dream, Mike had seen her vulnerable over and over. And while she hated that she had cried in front of him and well was apparently falling for him. She wasn’t going to be mean and get herself kicked out. Djali’s was too far at this time of the day.

“So still freaking out?” Sarina mumbled into his pillow.

MIKE 

He let out a breath, because somehow the dream having been a town wide thing comforted. It probably had something to do with it not being his brain that had concocted that whole elaborate world and that he hadn’t been the only one exposed to it. Then it settled in that, 1. Sarina had been there, too. and 2. if she had been there then- 

“Oh god,” he whined, covering his face with both of his hands. He scrubbed them over his skin, pulling down until they only covered his mouth. Mike looked at her with apologetic eyes and took a half step backwards. 

Side note, had he not been so caught up with the whole he had pined for her for years and then she kissed him and then they went to that dance together and it was looking like the set up for a happily ever after thing, then he would have been caught up in the fact that she was in his bed room. On his bed. That would probably come later. 

“I am so sorry,” Mike said, ducking his head in shame and embarrassment. “I was such a little shit, oh my god.”   

SARINA 

Sarina closed her eyes and really she kind of ignored how much he was freaking out. To her this wasn’t a big deal she was learning that Swynlake was weird and it wasn’t worth putting her energy into worrying about it. She was however starting to wonder why it kept putting her and Mike together.

He couldn’t handle her. Not that she wanted to be handled.

“Why are you apologizing? Because you were funny? I dunno it didn’t bother me.”  Sarina stated yawning again looking up at him trying to figure out how he was going to react to all of this. He could just take a breath and sit down.

MIKE 

“Funny,” he scoffed. He looked up at her, face scrunched up in confusion and slight distaste. Not for her, but for himself. His idiotic, 17 year old self who really fit the portrayal of boys will be boys when people laughed off a kid bullying another just because he didn’t know how to express his feelings properly. 

Feelings. Christ. He’d had feelings for her. Bright and consuming feelings that had all been exposed within the time frame of the dream. Then again she had returned them, been the first on to act on them but…but he wasn’t going to dwell on that. Because unlike this dream, and the one before, there was no amount of magic that could possibly make her fall for him. This was the real world, after all.

“I’m apologizing because I acted like an idiot, and for…” he hesitated, unable to speak the words aloud. Instead he clapped his hands together and wiggled them a little, hoping she would understand, “…you know.” 

SARINA

Sarina rolled her eyes at the face he made before closing her eyes and burrowing her head further into the pillow. 

Whatever Mike was apologizing for didnt bother her. She hadnt minded any of his teenager-ness. Just like she hoped he hadn't minded her dramatics. 

"I dont think I do know." Sarina stated simply though she could imagine he was getting at maybe whatever they were in this dream. 

"We acted like teenagers in the dream because we were teenagers. I cried. When I thought you rejected me and you were just as awkward as you normally are. I wouldn't say there's anything to apologize for."

MIKE 

He sighed, exasperated, because he knew that she knew what he was meant, and he went to call her out on it, his hands still pressed together and wiggling. Then he forgot that completely after she said, You were just as awkward as you normally are.

Mike groaned again in embarrassment, a warm blush working a path up from his neck to his face. Well wasn’t that just great! So even though he had been more than a decade younger in the dream he had still acted the same way. Still awkward, still stupid. Great. That’s was absolutely fantastic to be hearing from a friend who had been on the verge of something more than that in a dream. Mike decided he wanted to crawl back under his blankets and sleep for the rest of eternity, thanks. 

“Either way, I’m sorry about me. And for...crossing any boundaries,” he winced, unable to look at her as his thoughts drifted towards the latter half of their relationship within the dream. That would hopefully pass soon. It was too new right now, everything having been freshly seared into his brain from having just woken up. 

SARINA

Sarina pushed herself into a sitting position pointing at his bed right in front of her. “Sit Wazowski.” Apparently that wasn’t a habit that she had been able to wipe away just yet but to be honest Sarina quite liked it. It might have seemed impersonal but in that dream it was her own personal nickname for him.

When he had finally settled at least somewhat on the bed Sarina looked at him straight on. “No boundaries were crossed. In the dream I wanted to kiss you as much as dream you wanted to kiss me.” But she made sure to make sure she stated it was dream him. She had done a few things without his consent when she was possessed and there was no way for her to ever make up for that.

“Look we’re good right? If we’re good then there’s no reason to freak out or worry about that.”

MIKE 

Sarina told him to sit. He hesitated, feeling too jittery to be able to do so, but the tone of her voice had him crawling back onto the mattress to settle down criss-cross on the corner. His fingers wrapped into the bottom of his pajama pants, twisting the fabric, picking at the string, just to give them something to do and to have something for his eyes to focus on that wasn’t her. 

If he picked his head up and looked at her then he would see that they were both sitting on his bed. Together. In his room. Mike glanced around, surveying the place. It wasn’t messy, thank goodness, he’d been too paranoid at the thought of her staying over to allow anywhere in his house to be messy. Even in here, where he thought she would never wind up. God, that sounded weird, anywaysanyways.

It also didn’t help his state to hear her say everything so casually. Although, he didn’t know why he expected anything more. Why would it have meant anything to her? Why would it have to make things weird? It was just a dream, and in the real world woman like her did not fall for idiots like him. 

“Okay,” he said quietly. Mike dared to look up at her and there she was. Sarina. Just Sarina. One corner of his mouth pull upwards in a lopsided smile. “If you’re good then I’m good.” A beat. “Or, I will be, anyways. After all that fades quietly into the dark recesses of my mind.” 

SARINA

When Mike finally looked up at her Sarina offered him a smile her eyes looking at his stupid lopsided one. He looked like he was slowly relaxing and that was important to her. Reaching out Sarina was going to take his hand away from where he was fidgeting but honestly she still didn’t feel like she could touch him. She didn’t have any right.

Letting out a sigh Sarina set her hand back into her lap. “I’m still waiting for the whole demon mess to fade into the dark recesses of people’s minds. I’ll take that first before forgetting Harry Potter.” Sarina admitted softly.

MIKE 

That made his stomach tighten, all thoughts about himself and his own insecurities have been successfully tossed aside, for now. Everything in him turned his focus on to her, onto the idea of trying to provide some sort of comfort to her and her experience with a Demon having taken over her body and done all sorts of wild shit. Selling her house, talking to her friends, pretending to be her while planning on getting out of dodge. .

“God, I’m so sorry,” he said, scrubbing a hand at his jaw, the roughness of his unshaven cheek brushing at the skin of his fingers. “Here I am complaining about something in some stupid dream when you had that whole...” 

He sighed, shaking his head, not wanting to finish the sentence for fear of saying the wrong thing. Mike, being who he was, having studied what he did, sitting in a room surrounded with books on the very subject, didn’t know if what would come out of his mouth would be the right thing as her friend as opposed to the Demonologist. 

“But, you have to remember that wasn’t you,” he tried anyways, as silence felt heavier to him than his lack of tact. “That was the Demon. You can’t hold yourself responsible for actions that you didn’t even have control over.” 

SARINA

Sarina shook her head smiling up at him, “I didn’t say it to get any pity or have you switch topics. You’re more than allowed to complain.” Sarina stated inching closer to Mike before flopping down beside him her head just brushing against his leg, looking up to the ceiling Sarina glanced over at him. She wanted him to join her but she didn’t know how to ask right now. 

“I don’t see anything wrong with Harry Potter dream if I’m being honest.” Sarina explained tilting her head toward him she hadn’t minded kissing him if she was honest. Harry Potter after all was easier to focus on and not all the different thing Jelly had done while she was in her body. The people she had slept with. The people who had seen her. There was a lot of things wrong with her demon experience.

MIKE 

It was then that the fog of sleep had officially lifted, the contact having startled him into full clarity. Thinking she wanted to lay down and not have the guy who had been a total tool within the dream they had just woken up from, he scooted himself back to give her more room. 

Mike turned his head, taking a point to look at his book case rather than her. Because she was in his bed, where he had just been sleeping. The sheets were probably still warm and, fuck, he was being weird. He was going to make this weird because that’s what he did, he was incapable of letting things sit, untouched. 

Fortunately, Sarina spoke before he could open his big, stupid mouth to say something about it. About the shirt he only just noticed that she was wearing that looked familiar or the way she seemed perfectly comfortable laying on his bed, just like she seems to fit in his space like-

“Well I’m glad you enjoyed watching from the sidelines because I’m pretty sure I’m never going to get the smell of burnt hair out of my mind for the next few days,” he said before he could finish his former thoughts. “But, I guess you’re right. You didn’t die this time.”

SARINA

Sarina sighed pulling back herself because she could only imagine it was because of what she had done and said previously. Even if he said it was the demon and not her, Sarina didn’t remember everything she could easily have hurt him more than what she remembered. So she didn’t fight him pulling away and instead just stayed laying down in bed. 

“No I didn’t die this time. I suspect the longer I stay here the more likely I am to die in another dream though. So it’s just a matter of time.” Sarina mumbled cracking her neck before just looking up at the ceiling. 

“Does it help if I say your hair doesn’t look burned or smell burned in real life?”

MIKE 

He froze at the sound of her bones cracking, frowning deeply when he realized it had been her neck. With a shiver he shook that off, not knowing why people did that but not wanting to comment on it because the conversation was still on other, more important things. 

Mike didn’t know how to take that, because the Demon had been wanting to leave Swynlake. It’s why Sarina didn’t have a place of her own, they had sold off that big glorious house of hers. He had assumed she had wanted to stay, but maybe the dreams and the possession had her thinking about leaving, too. 

“Yes,” he sighed, patting a hand to his hair, knowing it probably looked a mess. That was fine, it just matched the rest of him. “But- but if there is another one of these things, I hope you don’t. 1 out of the 2 so far is enough.” 

Especially if he was also there, like he had been, he didn’t think he could handle another one. Which was selfish, considering, but he couldn’t help but think it anyways. 

SARINA 

Sarina smiled at that tilting her head to look up at him, it was a nice thought. Not wanting her to die again, preferably she didn’t want to die she liked living quite a lot. “I hope I don’t either. But I like being a realistic.” Sarina stated simply moving her hand to nudge Mike’s leg. “Don’t let it get you down. As long as it’s a dream I’ll be here after to annoy you again and again.” She teased trying to get him to smile at some rate. This conversation was way too serious and Sarina boiled that down to her being too tired to joke and mess around. “Even when I eventually get another place I’ll still be around to mess with you.”

She just needed to find a decent listing and she wasn’t going to waste money back in something in the Woods. She wanted something fancy enough in Southern Isles.

MIKE

She achieved her goal, because upon hearing that she still wanted to stick around, even if it was to annoy him, settled the worry that had been rattled loose. Mike had never had friends, not like this, not to the extent where they would stay over at his house or liked being in his company.

Because of that, he had also never lost a friend. And he didn’t know what that would do to him. There had been the threat when he had realized she had been possessed, during the exorcism, and that had felt heavy, like if it dropped everything would be crushed as a result. Lost in the rubble.

“Realistic,” he scoffed. “That’s the word you’re going to go with when you’re talking about dreams that have either, 1. put you in one of the worst disaster scenarios to ever happen in human history or 2. made you 17 again in a school where you were something called a Pukwudgie?”

SARINA 

Sarina laughed brightly at that sitting up so she could face him.”Yes what the fuck is a Pukwudgie? Like at least the other names kind of make sense. A horned serpent. A snake with a horn that can poison you.” Not that, that’s what it was but that was the thought that was in her mind when she thought about it.

“I’m just saying, I’ve done my research about this place and some crazy shit happens. Plus I like to think I can handle dying in one of those again.” Pausing for a second Sarina chewed on her lip. “Rather it be me then you guys.” 

MIKE

He smiled wider at the sound of her laugh, eyes focused on her face as she sat up, caught up in the warm feeling radiating from his chest from having been able to make her happy. If even for a brief moment. Mike nodded, making a face at the asperity of it all. And to think, for six years in that dream world he had been so dedicated to that name, had even gone as far as to enter his name into a deadly tournament partially out of the pride for that name.

When he had been thinking of moving to the town he had thought he had done some thorough research as well. But the only strange phenomena he had been able to really understand was what had happened when Mr. Pines, or well Mr. Pines’ previous instructor, had let loose a stage 5 Demon on the town. Other than that he couldn’t find anything besides people complaining about parking, but he was from California and didn’t have a car, sadly, so he didn’t think it would be such a problem.

Now, with a small zombie apocalypse that had left him in some room for a whole weekend alone, a dream about a historic disaster, and a dream about Harry Potter that had made him relive his teenage years, under his belt he didn’t know how much worse it could get from there.

“Don’t say that,” he said quickly, almost cutting her off as she finished. “I mean- I do appreciate the sentiment behind it, because wow, but I don’t think that’s the way to go either. No one should be dying in those things, the end, thank you. Plus! You are way too badass to die, the only reason you even did in the last one was because of me.”  

SARINA 

Sarina paused basically mid-sentence when Mike has interrupted her. She didn’t blame him in any regard, since when was dying a decent idea. It was something people liked to avoid. But Sarina liked to protect people and she didn’t like owing people. And yes while Sarina knew she didn’t owe Mike or Djali anything she wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for them so she would do anything to save them.

She would do nearly anything to protect the people she cared about. 

And she wasn’t ashamed about that which meant when she looked at Mike it was a soft smile that reached her eyes. Leaning over she placed her hand on his knee giving it a squeeze.

“I am too badass to die which means if I can stop you guys from dying then I won’t die myself.” Sarina stated simply not pulling back. “And Mike. I don’t regret anything I did in that dream. My freak out after, I’m assuming would lead you to assume I did. I don’t regret it. If I survived and you hadn’t….” Sarina trailed off. “In a dream or not, I will protect the people I care about.”

MIKE

His eyes shot downwards when she made contact with his knee. It was direct, with purpose, like she had meant to do it. A jolt went through him because he was sitting there in his pajamas, ie. shorts and a t-shirt, so she was touching his exposed skin and they were sitting on his bed after a dream where he had been pining after her for years.  He went to pull away, but he couldn’t work up the courage. Even now some part of him was screaming in the back of his mind, in this black space that he was only pushing back because Sarina was there, like a barrier, having stopped him before he could fall too far into it after waking up.

Then she squeezed and Mike was burning underneath it, and it was killing him, welling in him. All that blackness and everything was going to break over him like an ocean current. Pull him down so he couldn’t get back to the surface. Only he knew he wasn’t, and that she wasn’t using her magic, because he was looking right at it. Then, slowly, he managed to pick his head back up to meet her eyes and the smile that was waiting for him.

He was frozen for a long time, and Sarina was looking at him, but he couldn’t get the words to jump off of his tongue. They were tangled and twisted, wrapped so tightly in fear of knowing that if he let them go he would never get them back. And Sarina was looking at him.

He realized why, when she said that, why he liked being with her so much, why he could be in those dreams with her and wake up and see her and stop from falling. Why he still felt like he could go to the university and not feel like someone with a gun was going to show up every minute he was there. Why he could go to a deep dark cave with a Demon in it.

Because he felt safe. Safe like he never felt anywhere else.

“And I’m-?” he asked, gesturing at himself with frantic hands. “Are you sure?” 

SARINA 

Sarina was patient as thoughts flew through Mike’s mind. She could see it, she just wished she could read it. Maybe then she could know how to help. But as it was she could just give him time to work through the whirlwind of his mind.

And it was cute.

Honestly with her hand on his knee there was a part of her that wanted to lean forward. To set her hand on his cheek and kiss those thoughts away. She could remember what it was like to kiss him and while she seemed calm outside the more she thought about kissing him the more her heart raced.

But she couldn’t think like that. It wouldn’t be fair to him.

So she just nodded at his question. She cared about him. She always would. “I’m 100% sure Mike. Hell I’m sleeping in your house. Not only do I care about you. I trust you.” And in Sarina speak that was big.

MIKE

That stunned Mike, mostly because he hadn’t expected such a confession that sat in the air between them. He blinked, trying to get a grip around it but it was awkward, cumbersome, and he couldn’t keep it between his hands.

He broke then probably because he smiled, and let out a breath and leaned forwards to meet his hand that pinched the bridge of his nose when he felt the familiar sting of tears trying to get passed, making him squeeze his eyes shut briefly. He let out a little, “argh.” in annoyance with himself for embarrassing himself this much more in front of her. Mike sniffed, using the back of his hand to swipe under his nose, and then peered up at her.

“I know this probably doesn’t mean as much since I’m- well. I’m just some guy, but-” he glanced down, eyes catching on her hand again. Slowly, he reached forwards to place his own over hers, allowing it to ground him so he could get out the rest.

“But, the feeling is mutual. If you’re ever in trouble, or need anything, all you ever have to do is ask. I promise. Even if it’s something way above me, or whatever, I’ll be there. And it’s not because I don’t think you can take care of yourself, because I know you, it’s…” he shrugged, “All I’m saying is, you don’t have to do it alone.” 

SARINA 

Sarina let out a small laugh when he smiled, she didn’t mind that he was smiling. It just made the whole thing a lot lighter which was fine with her. This whole thing was too serious and charged with emotions. She would just say the feeling of wanting to kiss him came from that and only that.

It would fade over time.

And he was not allow to speak bad about himself so the ‘some guy’ comment made her reach up (with her free hand) to flick him in the forehead. “Did I not just get done telling you that you’re one of the people I care about. I think that makes you not just some guy.” Sarina corrected.

“But thank you.” Sarina nodded. “It’s nice having people on my side as well.” She didn’t think she would have that again after her parents were killed. After her brothers were useless and required her to save them over and over. She didn’t think she could rely on people and actually have it turn out well.

MIKE

“Hey!” he protested when she flicked him, leaning back. Mike looked at her, mouth fallen open in mock offense. He settled back as she thanked him, smiling again instead.

This was weird. But a good kind of weird. He didn’t know if there was a word that meant the opposite of loneliness, but he did know that whatever that feeling was, this was it. There was no obligation, no feeling that they had to be saying any of this, but they were. It was all out of want and that meant more to him than she could possible imagine. Someone wanting to talk to him as if it wasn’t a pain or something to endure.  

This was what he had had craved and chased after with a desperation ever since he was a kid, before he knew what Demons even were. And now he had it and he could give it in return. The trick was going to be trying to hold onto it.

“I meant some guy, as in I’m just a guy. As in I don’t have anything else to offer but what you see.” Which, to him, wasn’t a lot. “You’ve got your magic and cool super hero experience and clothing with concealed knives and me? I mean...all I’ve got are the cheat codes to The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and shitty jokes.” 

SARINA

Sarina shook her head her hand still on his leg considering she hadnt pulled away and honestly she didnt really want to pull back either.

"Just a guy that was the one who figured out I was possessed by a demon and was the one that helped plan my rescue." Sarina stated giving him a look that dared him to disagree with her. He was much more than some guy.

"Just because my magic let's me do big things doesnt mean that small things arent good. Sometimes cheat codes for zelda thing are just what is required. Plus it's not like I can do this by myself. Different skill sets are needed."

MIKE 

Yeah. Right. Him, a so called Demonologist, hadn’t even realized his friend was possessed by the very thing he studies until someone else pointed out that they were acting weird. Had it not been for Djali that day, of what Mike liked to call The Hallway Incident™️, there was no telling what could have happened. 

Instead of this he could have been all alone in his room still thinking she hated him while the Demon was off gallivanting with her body in another part of the world. Or worse. 

And yet she wasn’t focusing on that. He eyed her, unsure as to why, when all his faults were right there to take digs at. But the look on her face told him he didn’t want to enter that argument, and it was too early, and she was being nice when she didn’t have to be. It wasn’t like he was fishing for compliments, despite how warm her words made his chest feel. He figured it was best not to push this for now.

“I doubt anyone still needs cheat codes for that game, it’s all about Breath of the Wild these days,” he sighed, his tone lighter as he hid away the insecurities as he had learned to do over the years. “But, yeah...I guess we do make a pretty good team.” 

SARINA

Yeah…. Sarina didnt know that game either. She knew of zelda that was popular enough but unless Breath of the Wild was another title of it she had no way of really figuring out what it was. Maybe she would have to Google it later. 

Instead Sarina pulled her hand back and collapsed back onto his bed patting the spot beside her. Hopefully he would lay down. 

"Good to hear it. I expect the same answer if it ever comes up again. Now I dont know about you but after one of these dream things I never feel quite so rested so I'm thinking I'm gonna crash again and you're more than welcomed to join." Sarina offered as if you know she wasnt in his bed and his house.

MIKE

He was smiling, feeling good and relieved that she had decided to keep him around rather than drop him after what had happened. And if she was going to act like it was nothing, like everything he had said and done, including the yelling and the whole having a crush on her for years, had been nothing but a weird side effect of living in this little town, then so was he. No way was he about to let something like that ruin this.

Outwardly anyways. Inside he was going to have to with what the hell that was supposed to mean. Everyone always said that dreams were the result of one’s brain trying to figure something out. Or maybe it had been nothing. Just the result of magic doing what magic did. Still, he would have to come to terms with that.

Mike watched as she leaned back on the bed. Where he had just been sleeping. Asking him to join, basically. And he almost did, he opened his mouth to make a crack about her making herself feel right at home, huh?, but stopped himself, mortified at his own thought process.

He needed to get out of there.  

“Uh, no!” he blurted out, making more indistinct sounds as he stumbled off the bed and looked around the room, clumsily gathering his stack of books he had on the night stand under his arm. “I- well, when I’m up, I’m up. And I have work I need to get done. New semester, you know …I’ll just-“

He pointed at the door, making a b-line for it with some more pep in his step. Mike stopped at the door, hesitating as he stood there, then finally decided to turn to look at her, “Stay as long as you need. I can have something for you to eat when you get back up.” 

SARINA

Sarina dropped her head and let out a small laugh as Mike stammered away. Should she have expected anything different. Not really. Had she hoped for something different. Yeah.

"One day you'll have to get used to someone in your bed." Sarina teased though the comment was more directed at the pillow as she pulled it toward her so she could cuddle into it.

"You're cute but dont fret about me. If anything I'll just walk over to blue oven." She wasn't going to ask him to put himself out more for her. Or at least she would try not to make him do so.

MIKE

The blush that had climbed from his neck to his face felt more like the result of a sunburn on his skin, radiating heat that was close to being painful. He averted his eyes, allowing them to take interest in the books he was carrying with him. 

Mike nodded, furrowing his brow at the spine of the book, feeling terribly stupid for having just asked that. Or anything, really. She made him feel stupid and he hated that feeling. He had to get out of there before he said something else that might jeopardize their little heart to heart just now. That moment had been good. Great, even. It would be a shame if his big mouth up and ruined it. 

“Okay,” he said in a soft voice, dropping a hand onto the door handle as he pulled it behind him as he backed out into the hallway. “Well, if you need me, you know where to find me.” 

He cast her one last smile and shut the door. He took a breath, about faced, and continued on his way to the kitchen to bury his head in research instead of thinking about Sarina Go sleeping in his bed. 

[accendimi]

Stay With Me { Greenies + Djali }

Sometimes a couple boys need to save an old Superhero.

Triggers: None.

Set Early August, Prior to the big Harry Potter Event 

@wazowskiofthemikevariety

SARINA

 It was two days before Jelly was going to leave town. She had two more days to play with everyone in Swynlake and leave with a full belly before terrorizing a whole other group of people in London. At this point Sarina’s voice was a quiet hum in her head. Barely there. She had fought for a long time but there was always a point that humans gave up. It was something that Jelly had learned over a couple of hosts.

 Now she was just learning how stupid and stubborn this Mike human was. Perhaps she should have gone after him. He would have been easy to compel. Even if Jelly didn’t like being in men’s bodies. And since she wouldn’t bother controlling him she was up for one more night of messing with him.

 After all, he was the stupid one to invite her over, even though time and time again she had been able to feed off emotions around him. And that continued to be her plan when she knocked on the door. Short shorts. Crop top. Thigh-high boots she was ready to seduce him.

 And when he opened the door Jelly smirked. “I see you came to your senses.” Jelly said as she pushed her way in.

 MIKE

Mike was freaking the fuck out, almost vibrating with anxiety. About Sarina. About Djali. About the potential demon he was letting into his house. Hadn’t he just gotten rid of a ghost? He was barely keeping his hands on the back of the chair he was using to help him stand in his kitchen, jumping from one spot to another and then back again.  

So, nothing new. 

This time though he had a reason to be so fidgety and to feel like he was going to drop to the floor any minute since his blood was racing around and around and around, making his legs unstable and wobbly. His phone was on the table in front of him, screen facing upwards so when it lit up he would know about it. It was always the lead up to these kinds of things, not that Mike had ever tried to prove his friend was being possessed and then lead them into a trap in order to perform an exorcism before,  but it held the same energy as waiting for test results from a doctor. Waiting was the worst part, allowing his mind to think too much and begin to melt away into something that couldn’t be brought back.

Then there was a knock on the door, startling him. Shit, they were here. Mike glanced around the kitchen before heading off to go answer it. Everything was set up, and he knew because he couldn’t have sent the text asking for “Sarina,” to come over without having triple checked everything was ready to go. 

Now the only thing that he had to do was not blow their cover. He could do this, he could do this, he could do this- Mike pulled open the door before the creeping doubt could keep him from doing so.

“Hey!” he said, a bit too high and a bit too loud. 

Nope. Wait, he had to play this cool. Flirt. He could flirt. He had read several articles on it, watched movies and tv where people flirted all the time. He cleared his throat, “You look really nice! Did you cut the shirt yourself or buy it like that?”  

SARINA

Jelly looked over Mike with a smirk. Her eyebrows didn’t raise in amusement the same way Sarina’s would have. She wasn’t amused. She was just entertained to see what she could get out of him. And as far as she was aware she was not going to get caught, now or in the two days in which she was going to leave the town.

“Nice? I look Nice? I look amazing, sexy, gorgeous, great at minimum.” Jelly corrected pushing herself into his place looking around. She could pull at Sarina’s memories but she was ready to start being herself. 

“What did you need from me this wonderful day?”

MIKE

“Well,” he said, because he was going to ignore his blunders in favor of getting her further into the house.  Just had to keep trudging through the mud here, otherwise he would stand still for too long and start to sink under.

He started walking, heading to the left. Out of the mud and out of her range of reach before she could corner him. Crowd him up against a wall like she had at the University like some kind of game of cat and mouse. Only this time he had to be a mouse with the smarts of Jerry to her Tom in order to goad her into the first trap.

It was a simple one. He had drawn the sigil that had been proven to trap demons of lower levels inside of it. The edged would act like an invisible barrier, keeping her within the confines of the drawn lines. It had taken some paint, a bit of help from a local sorcerer, and a new carpet to cover it up, but overall simple. Anyone could DIY it as long as they were as vigilant to get the sigil just right like himself.

“I don’t know, what exactly is it that you’re offering?”  Mike asked, attempting to make match her level of playfulness. He had wandered into the living room, stopping on the carpet to turn back. Mike raised his eyebrows in question, his exterior attempting not to give away the way his heart had started to make his chest ache from beating so violently in his chest. 

SARINA

The boy slipped away before Jelly could sink her claws into him and she narrowed her eyes at him. He was different and she barely knew him. He had stuttered the last time. He couldn’t have handled her even if he wanted to but that’s why he was fun. He was like a little mouse running around her trap.

And she didn’t like chasing. 

Staying by the door to the living room Jelly looked him over, not hiding her eyes as they trailed him from toe to head. Taking note of the things that she actually did like. 

He could be fun if she held his hand through it. Which made her nose turn at the idea.

“Well you can have all of me. I like being on top so you wouldn’t have to do much but listen to me when I talk and worship me.”

MIKE

Jesus tap dancing Christ, Mike almost choked on his own spit.

And, look, okay, Mike was a guy who had only experienced romance in the smallest forms. Most of the time it was through media or from hearing about his siblings’ love lives. The only time he had ever even gone on a date it hadn’t actually been a date, just a miscommunication, and now here he was being talked to so straight forwards he didn’t know what the fuck to do with that. Especially when it was coming out of the mouth of one of his best friends.

Not that Sarina had never made those comments, had asked him about his dating life, but this was beyond that. And nothing was going to become of it because Sarina, the real Sarina, didn’t see him in that light. Which was completely fine, she had taste, you know. It just made him feel like a slim ball, taking advantage of her when she wasn’t even in her talking here.

He needed to focus, they hadn’t moved and in order to prove his theory he was going to need them to come closer. He could have a crisis about his pathetic lack of experience later. Like when Sarina was out of danger and this demon was gone.

“Right,” he said slowly, unable to hide the hot flush of his skin. Mike smiled, shrugging, “Well, I can do that, easy. I’m very good at listening.” 

SARINA

Jelly grinned. She had him right in her hands didn’t she? One kiss and he was wrapped around her fingers. She could call him over, beckon him with one finger and put him on his knees. The grin on her lips was almost predatory. 

“I bet you are. After all something for sure has gotten into you.” Jelly stated taking that step forward. Beyond confident that she hadn’t been caught, that no one could know what she was, that she wasn’t worried.

But then she caught a brief thought from Sarina.

That something was wrong, That Mike would never agree this easily. He wouldn’t put himself out there like this. For a moment Sarina had hope and Jelly crushed the feeling with just a thought. But she did take notice. If Sarina had noticed something then there was something worth noticing.

So Jelly moved to step back. Only she couldn’t. Spinning around Jelly placed her hand on the made barrier. 

“What did you do Mike?” Jelly asked spinning around to him all amusement gone as she raised an eyebrow at him.

MIKE

For as confident as Mike felt about saying that Sarina was being possessed he had also just been hoping that he was wrong.  That she had just hit some kind of roof and had decided to be a total jerk. Sure, it would have hurt like a limb getting cut off to know that he hadn’t been a good enough friend to her to have been worthy of keeping the title through the personality change, but this was so much worse.

He watched on as she came forwards, anticipation clawing at him to break. Mike kept his eyes firmly on her, staying in character as she got closer and closer until she stepped onto the carpet. 

“What’s up?” he asked, innocent, when she stopped. Because if he was wrong, if this was just Sarina, then he was going to have to continue to keep up this act. He would somehow have to brush her off, call Djali out here to apologize and then curl up under a blanket and sleep for a year. Or five. Case closed, moving on.

Then Sarina stepped back in her hesitation and her hand touched the air, knocking against something he couldn’t see.

He was definitely going to throw up.

It seemed like an eternity passed before Sarina- no, not Sarina, totally not-Sarina asked, What did you do, Mike? and turned to face him.

Mike did not panic. He wasn’t sure how he didn’t panic considering the fact that he almost had a psychological breakdown from a kiss and that was nothing, absolutely fucking nothing, compared to this. 

Compared to Sarina being possessed by an actual demon. And that he had only just noticed.

He jumped back, out of the sigil’s circle, feeling a weird surge of confidence. He had been right! And he had trapped a demon! Now they just needed to get them out of her.

“Is Sarina still in there?” he asked, voice wavering, momentarily blinded by a spike of anger and worry for his friend who, for all he knew, could have been reduced to nothing but a single string of thought due to his fucking ignorance.

SARINA

So Jelly had been too confident. She had played too close to fire and she was going to get burned.

The demon expert human could actually tell she was a demon. But that didn’t mean that Jelly was worried. Humans were nothing but insignificant bugs that she could crush under her boot and Mike would learn that. Not only did Jelly have her own demon powers, but she also had Sarina’s. And Sarina liked to play with heat. All she had to do was light up and the boy in front of her would-be literal toast.

Sarina didn’t like that thought though.

Still Jelly stalked forward until she ran into the other side of the circle. “At least you were smart enough to not let me get my hands on you.” Jelly spoke her voice taking on a sweeter tone. She would compel him if she needed to.  “Sarina’s the reason I knew how to manipulate you. How to pull at all your little heartstrings.” Jelly taunted. “Now sweet sweet boy.” That sultry tone came onto her voice again ready to command him.

“-Don’t listen to her. Literally-” Sarina called out strain in her voice as Jelly grimaced lighting her hands with that familiar green energy. 

“Let’s ignore that yes?”

MIKE

Mike’s teeth chattered when he closed his mouth. He curled his fingers in against the palms of his hands because they wouldn’t stop shaking.  He flinched when the Demon began to move towards him, stumbling until the backs of his shins hit the fireplace. Despite knowing that they couldn’t get out, that they were stuck in there until they could get this exorcism show on the road, his brain still had to react to someone coming up on him with a look of complete hatred in their eyes.

Normally Mike could take the mean comments; they went as far as skin deep. They were small lacerations to the surface because he was used to them by now. 28 years in and he could roll with the punches and insults. They weren’t new or innovative. He knew, from years of reading about encounters and hearing people’s stories about their conversations with demons, that this was all for the defense. They were just trying to manipulate him since they couldn’t touch him physically. 

But it was working.

He could feel the heat from the start of tears forming in his eyes and the biting pain of heartache behind his ribs. Of course they had. It wasn’t like he knew how to be discreet. He felt too much and too loudly and desperately wished he didn’t. But that didn’t change anything. 

They were right, he had been so stupid, so fucking blind. How had it taken him this long to see it? They had played him for months. How was he supposed to help Sarina if it had taken him, the so called “Demonologist,” this long to have figured out what was going on?

His knees started to buckle, and he was going to collapse to the floor, caught in a loop of self-doubt, until Sarina broke through.  

The bottom of his stomach dropped out and he felt like he could just as easily throw up as he could hold it back. He swallowed hard against the flood of saliva in his mouth. She was in there! She was in there and she was alive and she was so much smarter than him it was a wonder how she put up with him.

“Yes! Ignoring. Good. Okay.” He clapped his hands over his ears, “Don’t worry! You’re going to be okay! I promise.” 

SARINA

Jelly just laughed. The boy could not listen all he wanted and Sarina could fight all that she wanted. She was getting out of this. With energy that melted things in her hand all she needed to do was knock Mike out. Find the circle burn that and she would be out. It was easy.

“Pathetic. Truly pathetic. When I leave this town I will crush her and you’ll never hear her again. Not that you’re going to live past this.” Lifting her hand Jelly threw an energy blast at Mike. A little wide but it wasn’t her magic so she re-aimed.

DJALI

Okay, so, on the list of weird things Djali had done, hiding in the bathroom while his demon-possessed friend hit on some dork of a guy really hard was definitely up there. Sarina’d entered at first, and just hearing her voice, it was hard to think that this was a good idea. Djali felt like a fraud, getting in the way of… Whatever this was without even knowing whether or nor Mike’s guess was the right one. 

But it had to be--that’s what Djali’d told himself. It made sense, and nothing felt right, and so it had to be true.

Because Djali didn’t know what he’d do if it wasn’t. He didn’t know where he’d have to stand, how to feel. It felt like he’d been driving down a gravel road since that other day. Uncertain, and slippery. 

And now he was in a bathroom. Golf club wrapped between white knuckles as he pressed his ear up to the door, where everything sounded like it was being said through a cardboard tube, gradually growing longer and longer, until at some point Djlai could barely hear anything at all. All he could be certain of was that a conversation was being had. 

Then came the blast. 

There was no mistaking that one. 

It smelled like burnt hair and protest carnage, and Djali used the noise from the fallout to quickly open the door, unnoticed, and patter down the hallway. He had half a nerve to stop before he could be seen, wait with his back to the wall like this was some great heist, but the circumstances didn’t allow. 

The buzz in the air was that of a re-load, and so Djali sprang into action. 

He bounded across the living room in long strides, the club poised and ready to strike, and brought it across, connecting with Sarina’s head just above the temple. 

SARINA

Sarina had stopped fighting awhile ago, at least until now, when someone she cared about was in trouble. He was one of a couple people here that Sarina actually cared about and she didn’t want Jelly to hurt him. She would rather Jelly walk away, take her body and her mind and leave Swynlake than hurt either one of the boys she cared about deeply.

So even as Jelly re-aimed her hand Sarina fought their hands shaking as they fought to retain control.

All their focus was on their hand and their magic and the girl in her head. If not Jelly would have been able to tell someone was sneaking up on her. As it was they didn’t.

As it was that golf club made contact.

As it was Sarina and Jelly felt the sting of a club to the head knocking them down and out collapsing to the ground.

Well wasn’t that a pathetic end.

MIKE 

When just his hands couldn’t drown out the sound of her voice, because that shit never really worked as well as everyone made it out to, he started to hum some nonsense just loud enough to not be able to hear her. Them. Looking at them, using Sarina’s mouth to talk while the only thing he could hear was his terrible rendition of Mr. Brightside it looked kind of like when the wrong Dub was placed over a movie.  

It also didn’t help him to notice that Sarina’s powers had sparked. They shot, catching to the left of him, hitting his fire place and making the paint of the brick sizzle. He yelped, falling back on his ass, hands reaching out to break his fall. 

Mike looked back up, eyes wide, only to watch as Djali came running in and wacked Sarina upside the head with the golf club. 

Silence filled the room after the thunk her body made when it landed down on the carpet. 

Slowly Mike stood up, glancing from the Demon to Djali and back again.

“Holy shit,” he said airly. Mike swallowed, “Thanks, man.” 

He took a step forwards, eyes looking over the Demon. A lot of things went through his mind in that moment that pertained to work, to the possibilities that could present itself, the answers he could get to so many questions should he just be allowed to ask them! 

But none of that mattered. 

“Alright, we better move before they wake up. Can you get the handcuffs on her? Er, them?” he said, snapping into action. Time was not on their side here. He frowned down at Sarina, tilting his head. “How do think we should pick her up? I get her legs and you get her under the arms? Or-?” 

DJALI

Djali was confident in his aim--the only thing he couldn’t be sure of was his strength. Sarina was tough to begin with, and then who knew what this demon might’ve done to her physical form, so really there was no telling whether or not this would do anything at all, or if they’d just have an even angrier demon on their hands. 

Sarina (because Djali refused to refer to her as anything else) fell to the ground.

Immediate regret--and then a feeling of success. Okay. Alright. The plan hadn’t suddenly fallen apart, that was good, that was ideal. Right? Right. 

“No problem.” Djali replied, letting the golf club fall from his hands. It clattered to the ground alongside Sarina’s crumpled body. Not a moment later did he turn to fetch the handcuffs from where they’d been stashed in a drawer not far away. See--the idea was not to have them in plain sight, not just for fear of suspicion, but also due to Mike’s potential incompetence. 

What a change in the plan it would have been if Djali had snuck out of the bathroom to find his partner handcuffed to the couch, huh? 

Not good. 

Slipping around Mike, Djali crouched down next to Sarina, propping her up so that he could arrange her hands in the cuffs behind her back. 

“Sorry.” He mumbled. “You can give me shit for this when you’re back.” 

And she would, as long as he reminded himself of the end goal, this was--fine. 

“No--no--you just stand back. I have got her.” Djali insisted, shooing Mike away. Like he trusted Mike to do any actual heavy lifting. He slid a hand under her knees, and secured the one already behind her back to scoop her up into his arms. Her head lolled onto his shoulder. 

Sorry. 

“Where do you need her?”

MIKE

He didn’t take the time to feel offended at being shot down to help move her, he just did as he was told, bringing a thumb to his mouth to bite at the nail as he watched Djali hoist her into his arms. Mike couldn’t help but to stare. She just looked so different. Vulnerable. It was disconcerting. He didn’t like it, he just wanted her to wake up, go back to being Sarina.

Which could happen if he got his shit together and got this show on the road.

“Right, sorry, uh- let’s get her through here,” he said, flicking his head towards the entryway to the kitchen. Mike led Djali out to the garage that was, sadly, pretty empty. He didn’t own a car, though he would like to. Or a motorbike. He didn’t even own a regular bike. The space had remained empty for the first few months he had moved into the house, but then, as he started to accumulate more things, it now held a few boxes for storage and the lawn mower.

As of today, it had a lot more than that.

Opening the door, just to the left was a small table sitting right up against the wall with all the supplies lined up, ready to use, in ritual order. Near the opposing wall was the same symbol he had etched onto the floor of his living room. Only this one wasn’t covered up by a carpet and was a tad smaller in size. In fact, it was only a tad smaller than the inflatable kiddie pool that was sitting beside the garage door to the driveway. He had left it there earlier, the hose only having reached so far inside to fill it up.

Mike jogged over to the pool, and carefully pulled it over to cover the sigil so as not to spill any of the water as he did. He made sure it was positioned juuust right before letting go and looking up at Djali.

“Lay her down in here,” he said, then motioned to the metal rack that was drilled into the wall. He figured the previous owners had used it for gardening tools or a bike. “And- I don’t know, you think we keep her handcuffs as is, or put them around that?” 

DJALI

Djali did as instructed, carefully lowering Sarina down into the cold, cold water of the kiddie pool. Again--sorry. 

He stepped out of the sigil as soon as possible, shaking his head as Mike as he found himself standing side-by-side.

“She will blast rack right off of wall if given chance, at least in water her initial energy blasts will be dampened.” Not for long, mind you, but hopefully for long enough for them to get this whole thing done. Time was ticking. The stakes were high. Djali already had nervous sweat pooling on his brow.  

“Let’s just--does she have to be awake for us to start or can we get this show on road?” 

MIKE 

“No,” he replied, turning away from the sight of his friend sitting in a kiddie pool, handcuffed. 

What the fuck even was his life anymore?

“But I have no doubts that they’ll wake up through it. It’s not going to be…pleasant,” Mike said and then winced, thinking about all the videos he’d seen. All the exorcisms he had read about, listened to through taped recordings. “We’re basically evicting the Demon out of her, and since they’ve been in there for a while, it won’t be easy, either.” 

He piled several candles that he sitting on the table into his arms, and then walked back over to Djali, indicating for him to take them. “Start setting these around the pool. Preferably out of splash zone range.” 

DJALI

He took an armful of candles from Mike, relieving him of his seemingly endless supply. Whether or not Mike just had all of them lying or around, or  if he’d needed to go out and buy fifteen-some candles was unclear to Djali. The details hadn’t ever been hashed out--and who really knew what a demonologist might keep in their house. That’s what Mike was, a demonologist. Sarina’s squatter had picked the worst possible person to worry.

Besides Djali himself, of course, who placed candles down with the ferocity of the world’ most competitive cup stacker. Time of the essence, high stakes, a friend to save. 

And it wouldn’t be easy. Djali kept reminding himself of that. 

“How long will it take, do you think? Is this going to be late-night endeavour? Should I order pizza?” He glanced up, read the room, set down another candle. “I kid.” 

MIKE

As Djali worked Mike went back over to the table to grab the lighter, because he was too paranoid and shaky to use matches. He followed behind, setting the wicks aflame until the circle was complete. Not paying attention to the eerie glow the fire put over their friend or the walls of his garage, he trotted back over to exchange the lighter for the rest of their supplies.

Despite the situation, Mike laughed. It wasn’t loud or boisterous, just a huff of amused air. It’s what he used to do with Winston and Grace, try to crack a joke at the height of tension in order to break it up before it could get too thick and choke everyone in the room. 

“It depends,” he said, making his way to stand beside Djali. He offered him a bottle of Holy Water, brought to you by the local church. “If we can get Sarina to fight back as I’m saying the incantation, it’ll make the process go faster. So, when the Demon wakes up, and it will wake up, make sure to encourage her. And use the Holy Water. I know it’ll seem like you’re hurting her, but that’s just the Demon in her, okay? Just…don’t listen to anything they say. They’ll probably try anything to stay but you just have to remember that getting them out will be better in the long run than anything that happens during the exorcism.” 

He opened the book he had tucked under his arm to the page he had marked, sticky notes riddling the pages from where he had slaved over trying to translate. Since Sarina was Italian, he knew it was a safe bet to get the exorcism ritual in her first language. He took a slow breath and then cleared his throat, straightening his spine to stand as tall as he possibly could.

“Chiamo l'araldo delle emozioni. Chiamo colui che è qui senza permesso,” he started, glancing up at Sarina as he forced himself to concentrate on what he was saying despite his broken attempt to speak it. He had practiced, sure, but it wasn’t as if he was fluent. He blinked, bringing the book closer to keep himself from looking up any more. He needed to mean these words, not just be reciting them off a page. For once his overwhelming emotions could be of some use, the want for Sarina to come back, for this Demon to let her go, the need for his friend to make it out of this and the desire to help her were all present, washing over him like waves trying to pull him out to sea. Only this time, he let them.

“Rimuovo il tuo potere e la forza sugli innocenti. Vi esorcizzo, riportando pace e tranquillità al corpo da cui avete rubato. Lasciate questo corpo e tornate a quello della vostra forma originale. Lascia questo aereo e torna a quello da cui sei originario. Non sei voluto qui. Non appartieni a questo posto. Non hai il permesso di restare. Rinuncio a te, demone delle emozioni, come tuo avversario. Lascia subito questo corpo.”

SARINA

There was a ponding in Jelly’s mind when she started to wake up the freezing water, the warmth from the candles registered and Jelly yanked herself into a sitting position or at least she tried to as she yanked on her hands and slipped in the damn kiddie pool she was put in.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” She screamed attempting to light up her hands but it steamed the water and burned at the plastic melting it to the ground from the heat. Burning her hands as the water bubbled.

“Shut up shut up shut up!” She screamed looking at Mike and that damn book. “I knew I should have just off’ed you the moment I saw your scrawny little ass.” Jelly spat out kicking at the damn kiddie pool’s edge water splashing up and over, soaking the ground.

Turning wild eyes onto the man with horns Sarina grinned. “You’re not getting her back. You get rid of me you get rid of her.”

DJALI

Djali felt… Surprisingly calm for the gravity of the scene in front of him. 

He’d thought maybe this would be different. In the rush of a crowd, you could find a common breath. Chanting, in and out, running, in and out, cheering, in and out. Djali could lose himself in a crowd faster than anyone else he knew and re-emerge in four hours time, having felt like not even five minutes had passed. That’s why he was always the last one in the square. 

The candles flickered, in and out, the water bottle crumpled in his hand, in and out, Mike chanted, in and out, Sarina blinked her eyes open, in and out and in and out and in. He raised the bottle over his head puncturing the cap with the tip of his horn. Holy water leaked down onto his head, and immediately he veered it around, squeezing the bottle to direct the spray at his friend. 

Sorry. 

“You have clearly never met Sarina if you think that is true. You cannot kick her out of home. I know she is in there.” 

MIKE

He clutched onto the book at the sound of Sarina’s voice, continuing the incantation, if only a little louder over her choice insults.

Scrawny ass? Was he really that-?

Not the point, Wazowski, so not the point.  

When he had finished, he didn’t look at Sarina or Djali, couldn’t hear what words were passing between them as he moved back over to the table where the rest of his supplies were. He placed the book down, open faced, and moved with such precision he almost felt like he was on autopilot. Having studied exorcisms ever since he had gotten himself a library card it was like this had just been sitting inside of him, waiting to be executed.

The book had told him that his ritual in particular would need some kind of powerful goblet or chalice. But he knew that was bullshit, learning time and time again that Italian priests liked to gussie up their rituals in textbooks to look like they were above the rest, making everyone think they needed someone with a title to perform something like this. Mike knew that any container could be used, so he picked up the red solo cup he had put out here earlier.

He had thought Sarina might have been amused by the symbolism. Or she would never let him live it down. 

Mike poured the salt into the cup, because contrary to what the television shows that didn’t do thorough research, salt did nothing to contain so much as it was used to cleanse. It was followed by oil, stolen from the department, sorry PrideU, and then, as the book had asked, an object that held positive emotion.

He picked up his choice carefully. It had been the gift his grandmother had gotten for him when he had graduated from High School, a plate. It was ceramic and drawn on, she had painted it and gotten it glazed herself, and he had carried around with him from the dorms, from one apartment to the next, and it had made the journey across the Atlantic. It was small, too small to eat a meal off of, it had always been what he put his keys on when he walked into his place of residence.

It was one of his most valued possessions. It held fond memories of her, that she had cared about him enough to make him something so personal, it had meant the world to him. It provided a piece of home when he was so far away.

But he needed Sarina. 

He snapped it in half between his hands, letting the two halves fall into the cup. As soon as they touched the water he read from the book, “Chiamo l'araldo delle emozioni, prendete questa offerta e tornate al vostro aereo. Lasciate questo corpo. Non siete i benvenuti qui. Aprire il portale e tornare indietro. Lasciate questo corpo.”

He repeated the last sentence over and over again, the need to continue chanting the words preventing him from swallowing. The flames on the candles whipped in a wind Mike couldn’t feel. His eyes were focused on the cup, waiting, waiting, until it began to boil, froth forming over the top until it spilled over. Mike didn’t hesitate in picking it up, carrying it over to the kiddie pool and pouring the contents over her. The two halves of the plate were nowhere to be seen, having turned to dust in the reaction. 

SARINA

Jelly screamed at the two boys, loud and piercing scream. The holy water that touched the girl’s body seared and burned at her skin. The water continued to bubble and Sarina’s own powers burned at the clothing on her back licking at her skin as her powers gained more traction as the water warmed and splashed out of the pool. The cuffs heated up creating burns on her wrists as the heated metal rested against her skin.

She kicked at the stupid kiddie pool aiming to eventually lunge at either man. 

“You’re not the one in her head. She won’t be back.” Jelly threatened. “I heard everything she thinks. I know everything about her. Did you know how quickly she gave up? Do you know how lonely she is? Do you know how much she wished it was her dead? Do you know how she used you both to get whatever she needed? Do you know how little she actually cares for you?” Jelly taunted. “She hates you both. Djali you’re a pathetic loser who does nothing but get into people’s business who don’t want you there. Mike is just an annoyance who can’t do anything right.”

Even as the water made her feel weaker and weaker Jelly twisted herself onto her knees. They better have a good story because she was about to torture them in the best ways a demon knew how to. 

The flames rose with her blowing in the wind. Djali was the first threat and the easiest one to get to. Once that damn holy water wasn’t spraying on her any longer she planned to spin on Mike and get her hand around his throat. (She hadn’t gotten out of the cuffs yet but she would).

As the solo cup of liquid poured over her Jelly screamed again her body shuddering as the liquid seeped into her skin, into her soul. It burned her and barely seared the skin. Sarina’s green flames sputtered and died down as Jelly started to convulse falling back into the pool shuddered as black shadows seeped out of Sarina’s skin twisting into it’s own form gravity pulling her toward the ground. 

Glowing yellow eyes appearing for a moment though the form wavered. As it was Jelly wasn’t a high level demon she couldn’t stay in her own form here for long. Not without a host and neither any of the bodies around her were suitable hosts. 

And slowly her soul was dragged further and further down. The Gates of the Underworld were so close and the ambassador of hell…. It wasn’t something Jelly could fight as her own soul was ripped from the garage they were in. The flames ripped away with her leaving a ringing silence and Sarina’s body laying there in the charred kiddie pool.

Her breathing was heavy but her eyes were closed and there was no movement from her either.

MIKE

The Demon was forced out into their true form and Mike could not do anything but watch in fascination, terror, relief, he didn’t know what exactly but it had his feet rooted to his spot beside the pool. He was staring at them, trying to commit what he was seeing to memory while also erasing it to allow himself to sleep at night. Yellow eyes stared at him and then they were gone and he was too busy thinking about what actually mattered.   

“Sarina,” he said, and he had to say it again because his voice was raw with it. Raw like it was all he’d ever said.  He didn’t know how hot the water was, the green light from her magic having flickered out finally, but it didn’t matter, he was just moving, because if he stopped then he would collapse onto the unforgiving concrete floor.

It was crazy, he had no idea if she would wake up and try to attack him, if the water would burn his skin, if the Demon had somehow put on an elaborate show for him to believe they had fled but were waiting on him to get closer now that he thought they were in the clear. He stepped over the edge of the pool, his sneakers and pants getting soaked.

He said it again. The name, and he splashed water everywhere as he sunk down to his knees. Sarina was on her side and she wasn’t moving and Mike pulled her onto her back, struggling to get air into his chest that felt too tight to let in anything at all. His fingers curled against the curve of her neck, sliding his hand into her hair as he pressed his other hand to her cheek.  God, she wasn’t moving, and Mike was beginning to realize how much he depended on Sarina to move. To breathe.

Fuck. Breathing, was she breathing?

“Please, Sarina, please,” he pleaded, “I can’t-“

Mike placed two shaky fingers under her jaw to find her pulse but his was so fucking loud, overpowering anything else and he can’t be sure. He leaned forward until her breath brushed his cheek, allowing him to pull back and look over her face. There was still no answer and he was suffocating on the silence. All at once, the pool, the water, the garage, was too uncomfortable for Sarina to be lying in. And Mike was overwhelmed with the idea of Sarina Go lying in a kiddie pool in his garage and that’s probably because in that moment before he had exorcised the Demon he had been picturing her in some kind of facility, trapped there forever with a Demon inside of her, and, fuck, he was going to vomit.

He scrambled, getting the key to the handcuffs from his pocket and he knew it was a stupid move but he did it anyways. The metal burnt him when he first touched it, making him flinch back with a curse. He went back to it, movements jerky and quick to unlock the cuffs from around her wrists. Tossing them to the side he shoved a hand under her knees, lifting her with only a small slip on the slick bottom of the pool, and he didn’t know where he was going until he was inside the spare bedroom just down the hall from the door leading to the garage, setting her on the bed.

There was an ache when Sarina fell away from his chest, but it was brief and so fucking stupid, so he dismissed it as best he could. He stood there, hovering, waiting to apologize for letting this happen to her, for not noticing sooner. Waiting, waiting, waiting. 

SARINA

When Sarina came to it was sudden and violent. She felt like she was drowning. Gasping when her eyes popped open Sarina flung forward slamming into Mike. The girl barely registered the pain, well she registered it but the fact was that she felt it and the sensation of it alone sent Sarina into tears.

Her hands flung out grabbing Mike’s shirt pulling him closer to her as she gasped for air holding onto him as tightly as she had the energy for. 

Sarina basically wailed out his name as she struggled to breathe her hands shaking against his chest.

Every sound at the moment felt louder than before. Each touch, each bit of sunlight that touched her skin felt like it was burning her. She hadn’t felt anything since that thing took over her body. She was just a thought. She wasn’t anything.

And here she was everything again.

It was both everything she needed and too much.

“Don’t let go- please.” She begged.

MIKE

Sarina woke up and color seeped back into the world.

She slammed into him so hard that the only way that he could respond was to wrap his and around her waist and hold her there.  She said his name like it was painful to get out. He could feel the way her hands trembled, the sound of her harsh intake of breath almost enough to get him started on hyperventilating, too, because fuck. Fuck, what was he supposed to do here?

He couldn’t freak out because Sarina, and he knew this had to be Sarina since she wasn’t trying to kill him, had just had a Demon forced out of her body kicking and screaming.  And he couldn’t be the one to fall apart because this was his fault. Sarina was in pain and it was his fault.

Belatedly he realized, as she clung to him with her fingers curled into the fabric of his shirt, that she was trying to drown out the pain with touch.  It cut through him like a knife, making him go rigid. He had no idea where to touch, where to keep from making it worse.

She gave him permission not long after and he couldn’t keep himself from it, tugging her to him, squeezing around her shoulders. Mike was careful, delicate, and she fit against him in ways that were both familiar and foreign that he couldn’t stop to think about it. He sighed, lips brushing against her hair, and she smelled like sweat and hose water and his stupid dust coated garage. It was terrible, but it was all he had.

“I got you,” he said, and pressed his lips into her hair and said it again, “I got you. I-I’m sorry, Sarina, I’m so sorry.”  

SARINA

Tears were streaming down Sarina's cheeks and soaking Mike's shirt but the girl couldnt find it in herself to care about a little detail like that. Instead her focus was on the fact she could feel Mike holding onto her. She could feel his touch.

Everywhere he touched she could feel it. 

She could feel the burns on her wrists and the ache in her shoulders.

Hiccuping when the tears started to slow down Sarina shook her head though she didnt move from where she was. She needed something to prove that she was real. She needed Mike's touch. 

He was warm. He was soft. He was everything she had been craving in the hellhole of her mind that last however long it was. And Sarina didnt know what to do with that information now that she had to.

"Is it over? Is she gone?" Sarina instead mumbled out not letting Mike pull away even if he would try.

MIKE

He brought his other arm up, the one that wasn’t like a bar across the width of Sarina’s shoulders, to cup the back of her head and stroke her hair. Because that was a thing he did now, like it came natural to him to know what he needed to do to for her. 

Is it over? she asked and it ruined him to hear her voice like that, like it was charged up with drops of rain. He left his lips where they were and it only vaguely occurred to him that he was sort of kissing her head but his vision had started to blur because he didn’t know what to do with this, with all the sounds and touches, and all he is are exposed lines that were pressed so tightly into her that he couldn’t hide them even if he tried. If she couldn’t see them then she could feel them, all the jagged edges and broken parts that he had been keeping inside.

“I’m sorry. God, I’m so sorry.”

And he couldn’t let go because touching her, feeling the warmth, to know she was okay, it was the only thing allowing him to keep it all together. The only thing keeping him from becoming scattered shards of glass across the floor. Sarina felt so good against his chest, solid and breathing and there, and Mike let himself believe that she was going to be fine. That he wasn’t going to lose his grip on Sarina ever again.

“Yeah. Yeah, they’re gone,” he said under the strain in his voice.  Mike allowed the moment to breathe a little while longer before he couldn’t handle it anymore. “What can I do? Tell me what to do. Tell me how to help. Anything. Please.”  

SARINA

Sarina didn’t recognize the apologies that were slipping through Mike’s lips like prayers to whatever higher force was between them. She couldn’t recognize that anything warranted an apology.  Especially from Mike of all people.

Only the words that she had asked for reached her lips and Sarina held onto those as her own little mantra. It was gone. After all that time it was gone and Sarina was herself again. She didn’t quite feel like herself though. 

Sarina felt empty and she didn’t know what she could use to fill that space. Was it someone’s else touch? Was it the drugs that drove the demon mad that would fill that ripped space in her chest.

Would that make her whole again?

If it was anyone else holding her Sarina would have reached up desperately to prove or disprove one of those options at the very least. Bringing their lips to hers, them on top of her and let them have their way with her. Sarina wouldn’t even play at wanting to be in control. She wanted someone to take it and just force her to feel.

This was Mike though and the pressure of his arms would have to be enough. In the haze of her mind she knew if he pulled away that space would rip further apart. Destroying her then and there.

“Stay with me.” Sarina instead murmured her words muffled from his shirt. “Just stay with me and don’t let me go.” She needed this pressure. She need the pleasure of him holding her along with the pain of waking up in a body that had fought as hard as possible to keep the demon.

Sarina needed him.

MIKE

He had known that she was a person who gave more touches than most. Pats to his chest, hugging him when he was having a mental breakdown, flipping him onto the concrete of her high class neighborhood. This, he realized with a jolt, was different and how they didn’t really touch like this ever since that dream. Deep down he knew, with no doubt, that she would be saying the same thing to anyone else and that he just happened to be the one there to hear it.

It was penance for having not noticed sooner. For having waited so long to do something for her. And he knew that when the pain stopped, when she came back to herself, that things would go right back to normal. When he wasn’t the one to be here, like this, for her. He knew this wasn’t the time or the place, but he let himself have it, just for a second, because Sarina needed it.

“I can do that,” his voice cracked. “Okay, yeah, I-I can do that.”

Careful of everything he was doing, Mike moved his hand from her hair to place it around her thigh and lower her back onto the bed. Even though there was this voice inside his head warning him against it, he followed in after her. Placing a knee on the mattress until he could lay down beside her, pulling her back into his chest so tightly that the line between them blurred.

And they were both still wet, Sarina more so than him, from the pool. The denim of his jeans stuck to his skin, his shoes and socks still soaking and on his feet that will be uncomfortable for hours. She probably felt the same way, and maybe when the initial shock of this thing passed he would get her a towel and a change of clothes, offer up his shower, but she hadn’t asked for any of that. She had asked for him, and he wasn’t going to fail her again so soon. 

SARINA

Sarina moved without question with Mike. She let him move her however he saw fit. Her full trust was with him. He could use or abuse it and Sarina would let him.

She didn't care. It was bad and she knew it that she was willing to just fall so completely into someone but she didnt care. 

Let her just be. Let her feel the pain. Let her feel.

Maybe then she would trust that she was actually alive.

But right now she was exhausted and she needed Mike. Curled into the bed she could feel that fuzziness in her head even if she didnt want to sleep. She wanted to be awake.

"Thank you for saving me." Sarina instead murmured forcing herself to stay awake.

MIKE

He had never felt so much shame in his life until that moment, didn’t think it possible, wrapped around Sarina while she thanked him, fucking thanked him for doing something that should have happened weeks ago, hell, that shouldn’t have had to happen at all had he been half the Demonologist he wanted to be.

It felt like someone had stabbed him in the chest, and he squeezed his eyes shut to curl his fingers in a little tighter around the fabric of her shirt. The pain rushing through him like water from a broken sprinkler.

“Don’t say that.” It was his fault, but he didn’t want to make it a thing. She wasn’t in her right of mind for him to, so instead he just said, “Thanks for coming back to me.” 

SARINA

Sarina was fighting the sleep that threatened her. In the safety of Mike's arms though it wasnt something she could fight long.

Even as the words left her lips to thank him she was drifting. Her grip loosening as he thanked her. Words lost on her hazy mind.

"Dont leave." She instead begged. Her words slurred as she drifted into an uneasy sleep.

[accendimi]

Stay For A Moment {Greenies}

Sarina had felt like shit the moment Mike had left. She hadn’t been able to defuse the situation and now she wasn’t sure she could. Mike just got into his head too much sometimes and while Sarina loved him she currently felt like she was out of control.

She couldn’t even stay in her room. Sarina had to get out and get some fresh air and it felt good for a moment even if the pressure still clutched at her heart. She would just have to try to make the best of it in the morning.

Closing her eyes Sarina took in the quiet and the sound of the ship breaking the calm water. 

Then there was a shudder as metal creaked and Sarina jumped up looking at the iceberg across the ship. Shit. 

Picking up the edges of her dress Sarina jumped down the stairs. She didn’t know what that meant but she didn’t have a good feeling and right now she wanted to get back to Mike.

Ducking through the halls Sarina spotted his head. “Mike!” Sarina called out catching up with him before he could run again. “Stay for a second please.”

@wazowskiofthemikevariety

[thedipster]

Birds of a Feather || Mipper

The problem that happened after your former advisor ended up using you to seal a demonic deal and open up a rift between dimensions and launch the whole town into mass chaos was that at the end of the day, it left you without an advisor for your proposed thesis project. Nevermind the residual trauma and the interdimensional disasters – Dipper’s education was at stake!

He’d given himself a few months to get back into the swing of things, but in the back of his head he kept thinking about how he was putting it off. But he needed to do it. There was no excuse. He just needed to narrow down the professors…

The problem was that all of the demonology professors were, well, really traditional. That’s why he’d gone with Professor Thatch in the first place. He was (well, had been, Dipper guessed) an anthropology professor and therefore his research aligned with a lot of Dipper’s cross disciplinary interests. But the rest of the department was…old-fashioned. Especially in the wake of the whole disaster.

But there was someone new. Mike Wazowski.

Dipper knew the name. He kept up with the demonology world. Granted, he wasn’t as prestigious as someone like Professor Thatch when it came to academia – but when it came to demonology…well, he had his own reputation.

He knew Professor Wazowski would probably know who he was too. Because…yeah, Dipper had his own reputation,

Dipper showed up promptly as office hours began, feeling a little nervous.

“Hello!” he said, knocking on the side of the door. “I’m Dipper Pines – I, uh, sent you an email earlier? That came out as a question, sorry. It wasn’t a question. I did send you an email. Uh. Yeah – it’s about student research?”

Everything was coming out as a question. He took a deep breath.

“Nice to meet you – sorry, should’ve led with that!”

@wazowskiofthemikevariety