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storiesofsvu · 3 years ago

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A Redemption Earned Ch 4

Heather Dunbar x reader Warnings: language, slight mentions of death/issues from heather's past.

It had been just over a month since you had met Heather Dunbar, and you were beginning to wonder what exactly was going on. You hadn’t heard from her or received any kind of paperwork summoning you to a court room, and you were the most surprised when Amber turned back up in your classroom a week ago. She had a new set of foster parents, these ones always accompanied by a children’s services worker, and sometimes a cop, which honestly, you felt like it drew negative attention to everything. You made sure to not treat her any different than normal but keep a bit of a watchful eye on her otherwise, knowing that you were a known and trustworthy adult in her life, there was always a chance of her attempting to reach out to you instead of a new parental figure. You’d tried to ask her caseworker about things, but naturally, they couldn’t say too much, if anything at all, but assured you Amber was already doing leaps and bounds better with her new placement.

The other thing on your mind was that it had been so long since you’d heard from Heather, although you knew just how long court cases could take to get to trial. As long as you were on her potential witness list, even a budding friendship was probably a bad idea if you wanted things to come out on the right side of the case. You had begun to wonder if you’d completely misread the subtext in the room, the small glances and comments between the two of you had you thinking she was interested, but then again, you weren’t even sure if she batted for the same team or not. An ex and kid had been mentioned, and while that was easier with a specific gender of partner, it was still very possible with either.

Today, your mind wasn’t really anywhere as you sat at your desk, the school empty, giving you time to clean and reorganize. You made sure none of the cubbies or kids desks had food waiting to rot in them, dumping the garbage in the larger ones in the hallway and redoing the theme from winter to spring. You took the time to clean out your desk, making sure you had all the appropriate curriculum things when you came across a folder in the bottom drawer, letting out a quiet swear when you flipped it open. It wasn’t labelled, and that was simply because you hadn’t wanted anyone else seeing it, inside, a copy of an art assignment of Amber’s from a few days prior. You knew exactly where Heather’s business card was, pinned to the corkboard in your kitchen, exactly where you didn’t need it right now. Letting out a low sigh you packed up your things and glanced around the room, making sure you’d completed everything on your do to list for the day before locking your classroom door behind you.

The coffee shop wasn’t crowded, but busier than she had expected for just past noon on a Thursday, although, that didn’t bother Heather too much, she was only halfway through a phone call. Attempting to keep her voice muted to not disturb patrons as she filed into the line, though most people seemed to be coming and going, and there was a corner of the café filled with a small group of teenagers. That didn’t make sense to her, but she refocussed on the chattering in her ear, giving her two cents when she could get them in. She glanced around while she wrapped the call, glad to see that the current crowd seemed to be grabbing a drink and leaving or packing up their tables and making their way out. It had been her plan to work here for at least a little bit, a little change or environment from the office for the day. Right as she turned her attention back to the call, she glanced toward the menu board, stepping forward as the customer in front of her did the same, only to falter, stepping back double the space as a rowdy teenager plowed past her. She let out a near scoff, hanging up the phone right as something, or rather someone, crashed into her from the other side.

“I am so sorry!” Your voice broke through her distraction as she nearly whipped around, “I wasn’t paying attention” you gestured to the phone in your hand that you were halfway through reading an email on before you suddenly glanced up at her, your worry fading as your head tilted, “Heather?”

“Y/N…” she greeted, a small smile breaking open on her lips, “shouldn’t you be…” she gestured toward the direction of the school and you laughed, glancing around.

“It’s spring break.” You shrugged, gesturing towards the number of pre teens and teenagers scattered through the shop and Heather let out a huff of a laugh.

“I guess that makes sense.” She got distracted as the barista called for the next order, pausing your conversation to order, barely noticing as you manage to slip up to the till beside her,

“I’ve got hers.” You waved it off, “add on a medium latte please?”

“Are you sure?” Heather hesitated in putting her wallet away and you laughed again, a sound that was nearly music to her ears.

“It’s like three bucks Heather, I think I can afford that, even on my lowly teacher salary.” You teased with a grin as the worker processed your card.

“Thank you.” She smiled softly as the two of you moved off to the side to wait for your orders.

“Course.” You smiled back as you tucked your phone and wallet back into your bag. There was a moment of silence before you both began to speak at the same time, a laugh echoing between you as Heather prayed her cheeks weren’t turning pink before you paused once again, your gaze on your orders being made, leaving her the opportunity to speak.

“I heard Amber was back in class?”

“Yeah.” Your head shot up to catch her gaze, “I uh…I was actually going to call you once I got home from here, one of her art projects seemed… circumstantial? Is that even the right word?”

“Important to the case?” Heather’s voice quieted as you turned to grab the two drinks from the distribution station.

“Could be?” You shrugged as you passed off the mug, Heather thanking you quickly, gesturing for you to follow her to a table. If she had been planning on working already she may as well get your input while you were here. As you settled, you spoke again, “I tried talking to the caseworker, she couldn’t tell me anything, but it’s been a while…”

“They took a plea deal.” Heather let out a hefty sigh, it wasn’t exactly the win she had been hoping for, her first case back, but a successful plea was always better than a loss of a trial, “but whatever you have may help a judge decide on sentencing.”

“Of course.” You dug the page out of your bag, sliding it across the table to her, “we were going over dreams in class, good versus bad versus nightmare and having them do a little art project on it. All things considered; this did raise a flag…. It’s just a photocopy, but I can get you the original if you need?”

“No, no…” Heather tossed you a small smile, “this is…I want to say great, but also the complete opposite at the same time.”

“I get it.” You let out a little sigh into your coffee as she slipped it into her purse, “can I ask how things are going? Like, I know, confidentiality, I get that as a teacher enough, but I just wanna know if Amber’s gonna come out on the other side of this or not?”

You felt the weight hit you as Heather let out a deep sigh, her shoulders nearly drooping as she took a large sip of coffee. Though, to you she was working out what slightly positive thing she could tell you. To her, she was trying to sort her personal experience with working through a major life event from what Amber would be going through.

“It’ll take a lot of work, that’s for sure. But if she’s already back at school, I know she’s set up with a good therapist, and you say she doesn’t seem too traumatized, then I’ve got high hopes.” She spared you a small smile, “I don’t have much experience with family law yet, this is all still relatively new to me. But knowing she won’t have to go through a trial will help beyond measures, those kind of things always retraumatize people, especially the victim.”

“God I can only imagine.” You murmured, distracting yourself with your coffee as you silently thanked whatever higher power had kept you from jury duty your entire life. “What made you want to go into law in the first place?” you asked, raising a gentle brow to Heather, “you said you’re kinda new to family law, what drew you to it? Where’d you start?”

“Ah,” Heather let out a small chuckle as she ducked her gaze, “I knew I wanted to fight for what was right, for the rights of people, for the constitution. I guess I always wanted to actually have a voice, to help those who didn’t really have one gain one, and make the world known on issues that they might not have. I ended up drawn to political law to try and make sure that the people who were running the show weren’t corrupt.” You let out a near snort at that and she chuckled softly, quickly glancing your way, catching the way you had your cheek propped in your hand, elbow on the table as you watched her talk. “Clearly there was only so much I could do on that end.” She paused for a sip of coffee, surprised when you didn’t speak up and she began to wonder if you lived under a fucking rock six years ago, “even then, I fought for what I thought was right. It doesn’t matter how high up the people you’re going up against are, as long as you’re doing the best, I mean….”

She began to trail off, lost on one of her legal and political rambles. It had been so long since she’d been able to go off on one, had someone who would actually listen to her. Even back in the day of her marriage, it was her rambling off to Rob while he worked on some new medical research, or him talking out loud through a surgery or procedure while she nodded, focussed on her own legal argument. Instead, you were intently paying attention, even when your phone pinged, your eyes didn’t move from her face, watching the way it changed as she talked about something she was clearly so passionate about. The small smile on your lips caught her eye and she finally paused a few moments later.

“What?” She questioned, finally taking a sip of her drink and you giggled.

“Nothing. Sorry.” You chuckled again, “maybe it’s because I’m surrounded by seven to nine year old’s on a regular basis for like, ninety eight percent of the time, but…you are fucking brilliant.”

“Oh—I…” she felt her cheeks blush at the statement, ducking her gaze. She’d never been too open with anyone about it, but praise of her IQ and vast knowledge of the law was something that meant far more than any kind of praise over beauty or grace in a heart beat.

“Heather, I mean it!” You let out a small laugh, a wicked smile on your lips as your hand shot across the small table to squeeze at her arm, “like, holy shit. Obviously I knew anyone who was a lawyer would be smart but like, you’re also incredibly passionate about it, it’s amazing. If it wasn’t such dark subject matter I’d say I’d love to come watch you in a courtroom.”

“Ohoho… it is not that entertaining, I can assure you,” Heather laughed, “don’t let TV fool you.” A small chuckle broke through your lips as you took another sip of your coffee, a warm gaze drifting over to the woman across from you, “besides, you’re the one out her molding the brains of our future generations.”

“Oh please!” You barked out a laugh, “as if I’m that important. I mean, do you remember what your kid was like at this age?”

Heather paused, reflecting in on herself, first on how much of her children’s lives at that age she was actually involved in, and then flicked over to you. For a moment she searched your face, the way your eyes softened as you noticed her drinking you in, reminding herself this wasn’t some kind of reporter baiting her about her past, it truly did appear that you knew nothing. You were genuinely making conversation, she was still lost in her thoughts when you spoke again,

“You said he loved SpongeBob, right? Was that just a kid thing? One of my cousins…it stayed with him through everything, now it’s one of his favourites to watch with his kids on the weekends.”

“Jordan…” she let out a light sigh, the name escaping her lips even now still felt like a painful memory, but maybe… this was the proper way to help cope with it, “he adored that stupid sponge.” She laughed this time, pulling one from you as well, “he had the entire playset, pyjamas, just had to meet him every time we went to Universal for vacation.”

“You can meet SpongeBob?” You interjected with a laugh and she smiled at the memory, despite the beating hot Florida sun, it was one of the best highlights of Jordan’s childhood.

“Along with so many more.” She paused for some more coffee, “Becca was obsessed with Wonder Woman, she liked the princesses over at Disney, but none as much as Wonder Woman.”

“Well, with a mom like you, that shouldn’t be that big of a surprise.” You complimented and Heather laughed, “I take it she’s off doing wonderful things now?”

“About to graduate from her master’s degree.” Heather smiled, “I’m incredibly proud of her, I only hope she knows just how much.”

“What did she take?”

“Her main degree was in sociology. I did always hope she’d follow in my footsteps to law school or something political, but we never really did see eye to eye. I’m not actually sure what she ended up in for her masters.”

“Shit happens.” You murmured with a small smile, “what about Jordan?” You glanced up just in time to catch the way Heather’s body tensed, the way her gaze ducked from yours, suddenly very distracted with her coffee.

“He, uh… we lost him…. About six years back.”

“Oh Heather…” hesitantly your hand slid across the table, giving her time to pull away if she needed before you squeezed gently, “I am so sorry.”

“Thank you.” She huffed out a small sigh, doing her best to hold back the emotion at bay, “it was…one of the hardest times of all our lives. It was kind of the breaking point for everything. There was no way our marriage was going to make it through that, even my relationship with Becca was tarnished.”

“Is that why you left?” You questioned softly, your hand barely leaving her arm as she looked up with a curious expression on her face, “you… said you were still getting set up in town on our first meeting. I assumed you’d been gone for a while?”

“Uh, yes.” Heather nodded, “things were pretty distant for a few years there but we’re getting back on track now that I’m back in Washington.” She summoned her best smile that you returned.

“I’m glad.”

There was a brief pause where you instantly started to wonder about Heather’s previous life, there were multiple suspicions you had, and you wondered how much you should trust and how much was just an over the top intuition taking over your brain. On the other hand, you were more than enjoying your time together and getting to know her on a more personal base than before. Heather was nearly as conflicted as you, so far it had been all about her, something that she never would have done in the past. Hell, anyone she had met outside of DC knew absolutely nothing about her son unless they knew it from the media prior to meeting her.

“So, you said you were relatively new in town?” Heather pulled you from your thoughts and you hummed in response, nodding at her question, “Why Washington if you’re not involved in politics?” You laughed.

“I inherited a house from an aunt. It’s a nice place in a good neighbourhood and not far from the school, everything kinda fell into place.” You shrugged, “my parents both passed a few years back and left me basically nothing, I figured why not try out DC for a bit.”

“Where were you before?”

“Japan.” You replied and Heather’s brow furrowed, much to your amusement as you let out a small laugh, “I was teaching English overseas.” You explained, “when I graduated from school, I spent a couple of years TA-ing around, trying to figure out where I wanted to settle. My ex was big on New York, but it’s hard enough to live there as is much less on a teacher’s salary, and I wanted to travel, I mean, there’s so much of the world to see. So, we broke up, I traveled through Europe for a while before a friend sent me a link about teaching overseas, and I simply adored it.”

“How long were you there?” Heather leant forward, both very intrigued in just how much you maybe didn’t know about her, and in your story, the ability and freedom to run off around the globe wherever your heart desired, slightly jealous of your experience.

“Uh…including some of the travel, I think like…ten years?” Your brow furrowed as you ticked the years off on your fingers, “maybe only eight? I know for sure I didn’t vote in the last two federal elections.” You let out a laugh and Heather let out a sigh, if you’d been gone that long, and hadn’t voted, there was a chance you literally didn’t have a clue who she was, “which one of my friends lost her shit at.”

“What’d’you mean by that?” She questioned softly, busying herself with her drink.

“She said the 2016 one was a disaster.” You laughed and Heather internally cringed, trying not to blush, “but like, it ended with us having a queer female VP so I think that it’s pretty cool to have some good representation in the white house for once.” You shrugged, “but honestly I don’t really care about politics, which I know is weird for someone living here…” you laughed. “Are you super into it?” You glanced up at her and she let out a scoff, busying herself in her drink.

“I’ve been trying to distance myself the past few years.”

“What, you against the queer female VP or something?” You teased with a smirk and she quickly tsk’d.

“No, not at all! I’m in full support of that, I’m beyond happy to see it and I know she’s made some great changes over her term, I just….” She struggled for a second and you laughed, grabbing at her arm as you laughed.

“Relax Heather. I’m just teasing.” You smirked before draining your coffee.

“Sometimes I just forget what that’s like.”

“So do I.” you sighed, “unless it comes from eight year old’s and they’re savage.”

“I can only imagine.” She laughed, her attention suddenly pulled when her phone went off, multiple times, nearly buzzing its way off the side of the table. You watched for a moment as she picked it up, scrolling through the notifications before she let out a soft sigh, “I should get going.”

“Well, it was great while it lasted.” You nearly teased with a grin.

“Thank you for the coffee.”

“Next time it’s on you.”

Heather laughed as she stood, then suddenly reached back into her purse, digging around for a moment before she pulled out a pen and a business card she was able to write on the back of.

“You wanted recommendations, Dumplings and Beyond has the best chive pockets, and treasure delight dumplings you’ll ever have. Honestly, their entire menu is to die for, but those, with some shrimp lo mein are without a doubt the absolute best in the city.”

“Oh…” you took the card with a smile on your face, “well, I will remember that.”

“I’ve gotta”—

“Yeah, go.” You waved her off with a smile, “hope to run into you again soon.” You flashed her a more devilish grin this time that you could’ve sworn her cheeks flushed at as she vanished from the coffee shop.

Heather slipped into the back of the SUV easily, giving directions back to her apartment. It was only as she rounded the corner and saw Dumplings and Beyond that she realized she how close she was to somewhere else. And more importantly, how confused she was as to the last few hours of conversation. She knew you were being professional and nice but part of her was praying that you were being more than that, that you were being flirtatious. Your first encounter had certainly been flirtier, but you’d also exposed more of yourselves this time, and unexpectedly.

After redirecting her driver he pulled up in front of the building, and she found the apartment easily, knocking quickly on the door, hoping that someone was home, letting out a breath when the door swung open only a moment later.”

“I need your help.”

______ @ms-calhoun @naturalxselection @yesterdaysgone @hbkpop @giftedchildturns40 @anya-casablanca @svulife-rl @swimmingstudentchaos891 @alexusonfire @jamiethetrans @natasha-danvers @oliviaswifey @mysticfalls01 @cmmndrwidw @bumblebear30 @svushots @yourtaletotell @cerberus-spectre @emskisworld @ex-uallyactive @addictedtodinosaurs @imaginaryoperagloves @multifandomlesbianic @annegilletteslostwh0r3 @bookpillows @drduckthief @whimsicallymad @mmmmokdok @ladysc @momlifebehard @mmemalwa @holycrapraewth @poisonedcrowns @wannabe-fic-reader @when-wolves-howl @dead-of-niight @fighterkimburgess @lannister-slings-and-arrows @borg-queer

#heather dunbar #heather dunbar x reader #house of cards #a redemption earned

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alena-draws · 3 years ago

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Your style has so much fluidity and movement! No boxiness or stiffness whatsoever. How did you learn to do that?

Thank you! I'm glad you think so. :) Hm I mean a big part of that is propably a normal result of training your art skills. On the other hand, if I had to try to pinpoint what could help with this, I'd say it's actually super important to not be afraid of making mistakes in drawings? Of simply giving yourself the freedom to draw people in different poses from imagination, but not trying to make it super perfect and erase and redo all the parts that look off until you are satisfied. If you are not satisfied with the sketch, leave it be and just continue with the next drawing and try to make it better in that sketch.

But also the imagination part did help me a lot. I drew lots and lots of manga pages in my childhood, because I had two own little series that I was working on, and part of drawing manga is that you draw different characters in many different poses. It is helpful to use references, but if you want it to look more dynamic, at one point you will have to distance yourself from the photo, because dynamic and fluidity works with exaggeration and quick confident lines, and you will have difficulty achieving that by trying to copy a pose. Or course it will not always look correct when you only draw out of imagination, but that's totally normal and part of learning. I think it might also be important not to be afraid of perspective! I know it can be super challenging but putting some body parts in the foreground and make them seem bigger than normally, that creates a feeling of 3d for the viewer. And lastly what I would recommend everyone that really wants to have a real boost in their drawing skills, learn anatomy! Since I started thoroughly learning about bones and muscles some months ago, I feel like I have already made more progress in character drawings than I have made over the years before. It might be tedious in the beginning, and it takes time, but once you start to understand how the body moves, how muscles and bones will move through different actions and overall how the body looks from different angles, and when you start to get confident in that knowledge, you can use it to exaggerate special parts of your drawing. Like, really stress out a specific muscle, or twist of the body, and that is super helpful for more dynamic and interesting poses. I strongly recommend to have a look at Glen Keane's character drawings of Tarzan for example, that is true craftsmanship working at its best!

That's all I can think of for now, I hope I was able to give you some insight or maybe advice :) Thank you for the interest!

#asks

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restlesswasteland · 4 years ago

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Miserables Month Day 4: "Pride"

Written for the Miserables Month @themiserablesmonth High School AU. His hands shook as he painted the three little lines across his cheek. Staring himself down in the mirror, it took a few tries to get it right.

Just three stupid lines, Enjolras thought as he leaned back, turning his head to examine it again. That’s all they are. Three lines.

He took a breath. Went to get his keys. Made sure his parents were still out before heading to the garage to grab his bike. He avoided his reflection in the front hall mirror.

The closer he got to town, the more he considered turning back. But he couldn’t. Courfeyrac had begged them to come to Pride with him. Of course, they’d all said yes immediately, but Courf begged anyway. Enjolras had no real intention of not showing up to support his best friend.

He could just wipe the flag off his cheek. No one would have to know.

But he knew he wouldn’t do that either.

Courf had come out three years ago. No one was surprised. No one cared that he was gay, obviously. Jehan and Grantaire had both come out in their own time, as well. Ferre had admitted he was questioning. And each time, no one showed anything but love towards them.

Enjolras had spent many sleepless nights staring at the ceiling, wondering if the same beautiful indifference would be offered to him.

He’d always known, deep down. But he waited. Hoped things would change, maybe. When he hit puberty. But it didn’t. He wasn’t surprised about that, either.

And he was sick of sleepless nights. He was exhausted. He didn’t want to wonder anymore. He was done.

So he drew the stupid flag on his face and went to see his friends.

He was relieved when he finally got downtown. Any more time to think and he might've ended up just steering his bike into a ditch. Instead, he locked it up and went to find his friends outside the coffee shop that they’d picked for the meetup.

When he got there, he didn’t recognize anyone. He checked his phone, and of course he was early. He was always early when he was nervous. Bad habit.

He ordered a black coffee from the barista and went to sit on the bench outside. He watched as people passed him, decorated with flags and pins and so many rainbows. He spotted a girl with a flag like his printed on her shirt. When she passed the coffee shop, he tried to smile at her, but she didn’t notice.

“Why are you smiling like that?” Courf essentially bounced up to him, grinning and covered in glitter. Enjolras turned to him, noted the rainbow flag tied around his neck like a cape. Courf slowed down as Enjolras looked up at him.

“Oh,” Courf said, a look of surprise crossing his face.

Enjolras braced himself.

Courf took the spot next to him on the bench.

“Enj-”

“No, it’s just-” Enjolras didn’t know what he was planning on saying, searching frantically for an excuse. His brain wouldn’t work fast enough, and he sort of felt like he was going to be sick.

“Enj, I love it. Those colors really suit you, you know,” Courf’s grin returned to his face.

“I- uh, yeah?” He asked, his brain trying to catch up with the conversation.

“Yeah, it’s great,” his smile softened. “Breathe, Enj. You look like you’re gonna pass out.”

Enjolras did as he was told. He wasn’t sure how long he’d been holding his breath. Years, maybe.

“Better?”

“A little,” he heard himself saying.

“Hi,” Combeferre said from behind them. Enjolras turned to look up at him.

“Hey,” Courf said, and Enjolras could hear the smile return to his voice.

Combeferre looked studiously at Enjolras for a moment.

“I like your flag,” he said simply, sitting next to him.

“Thanks,” Enjolras said weakly.

“Where’s everyone else?” Ferre asked Courf, already moving onto the next subject.

“Jehan just texted me that they’re headed over. Should be here any minute.”

“Good, I want to make sure we get a spot on Main Street.” Ferre plucked Enjolras’s forgotten coffee from his hand and took a sip.

“I want some,” Courf whined, reaching across Enjolras to grab the cup. He took a sip and pulled a face. “Ew. Black coffee. Shoulda known,” he handed it back to Ferre.

“That’s mine, you know,” Enjolras protested.

“Mhm. You want some?” Ferre asked.

“Not really.”

“That’s what I thought,” he took another smug sip.

“Hey guys!” Jehan called, waving at them as they crossed the street. Courfeyrac returned it enthusiastically.

Enjolras took another breath. It was fine. He had his two best friends next to him. It was going to be fine.

And then Jehan squealed.

“Oh my god, Enj! I love it! I didn’t know,” they were absolutely beaming.

“Nice, welcome to the club,” Cosette offered him a high five, which he tentatively returned. She had the bi flag on her shirt. He hadn’t known that, either.

He offered a small smile to them all.

“Come on, we should get going. Ferre is very concerned about getting a good spot,” Courf teased, standing. He offered Enjolras a hand, and he took it.

Enjolras let his friends chatter wash over him as they made their way towards Main Street. He slowly came back to himself as they walked, his head clearing. It was okay. It was all... okay.

“It looks good on you,” he heard from behind him. He turned to find Grantaire, wearing an understated shirt (by the standards of those around them), just a graphic of three pantone paint chip cards in the colors of the bi flag.

“Thanks,” Enjolras answered.

“Sorta looks like you did it with your eyes closed, though.” He laughed. “I can redo it if you want? I did Jehan’s before we got here, and I told Cosette I would do hers, too.”

“Oh. Uh, sure?” Enjolras was surprised by the offer.

Grantaire pulled a small set of face paint out of his backpack before dropping it at his feet.

“I don’t, uh- I don’t have anything to take it off with,” Enjolras stated eloquently.

“I’ll just paint over it, straighten out the edges. No pun intended,” he half-smiled before stepping into Enjolras’s personal space. Enjolras reflexively closed his eyes. He felt Grantaire steady his hand against his cheek, then the paintbrush.

“It’s the ace flag, right?” Grantaire asked.

“Yeah.”

“Very cool,” Grantaire said. The paintbrush disappeared for a second, and then was back again. Enjolras tried to stay still.

“Done,” Grantaire announced a few moments later, stepping back. Enjolras opened his eyes.

“Thanks,” Enjolras smiled, still bewildered by him. By the entire last hour, really.

“My pleasure,” Grantaire said, packing his bag back up.

“Parade’s starting!” Cosette called back to them.

Enjolras joined the others by the side of the road. As he caught sight of two rainbow-clad baton twirlers at the head of the parade, he smiled to himself.

He knew he was going to sleep well tonight.

#the miserables month #day 4 #pride #les mis #high school au #they're all gay!!#I never headcanon this but it just needed to be written and gives me joy #surprised myself with this one haha #writing//mine

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rons-wheezely · 5 years ago

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Ron || Inseparable

[Requested]

Genre: Fluff

Summary: this dude you don’t know really wants to be your friend??; Ron x reader “...I mean, I guess he’s cute or whatever, so it’s fine.”

----

It all started in charms class. Ron dreaded that class more than anything in the world, spells and incantations were definitely NOT his thing. Today, Professor Flitwick set up a bunch of locks in front of each student. He cleared his throat and said," Today, students, we will be learning blah blah blah.."

Every time Flitwick speaks, it's like jibberish to Ron. He's tried many times to concentrate, but last time he pulled a muscle or something because he had migraines for a whole week. Hermione says it's because his brain was smaller than a pea. What in the bloody hell was a "pea"? Definitely not piss, he hoped. He sucks at this class and it's painfully obvious..

"Ah, everyone play close attention to y/n's incantation and the subtlety of her wand. It's near perfect for a first try."

Ron turns his sights to you, who is now burning a Gryffindor red, as you redo the spell for everyone in the class. There was something beautiful about how you casted the spell, dare I call it magic. Ron Weasely couldn't take his eyes off of you like a star struck fan meeting his favorite quidditch team.

After that, Ron kept spotting you in crowds from class to class. He didn't want to sometimes, but he couldn't help it. He couldn't escape the memory that replayed in his head. The way his heart leaped out of his chest, how his fingers itched to shake yours for the first time and introduce himself. It was like you radiated some type of aura that drew him in. It's an overused description, but there was no other way to describe the way you pulled him in like a sinking black hole. A problem still stood between him and his desires, however.

"I just wish we weren't strangers and that I could ask her out already, but then I'd--" Ron pouted to his friend Harry, who always seemed to get the girls. "You wouldn't understand though, since everyone seems to think you're the 'chosen one'." He mocked the voice of the masses. Everyone loved Harry, after all.

"Why don't you just talk to her?" Harry shovels his lunch into his mouth,"There's nothing stopping you, is there?" Harry says this so nonchalantly as if he's done it several times himself. "Unless you're chicken of course."

Half out of spite and half out of impatience, he wanted to prove that he could be friends with you. He introduced himself to you in the next class he shared, and days after that he'd wave to you when you two made eye contact. He thought it was embarrassing to be so excited to see someone he didn't know well, but it didn't stop his heart from beating faster than it had before.

After a week, Flitwick assigned a new project. "You shall team up with one person of your choosing and begin today's work." Before he was even finished speaking, you could see people making eye contact with their friends across the room. You didn't really have anyone you knew, as per usual, until you suddenly make eye contact with Ron Weasley.

His eyes are sparkling and it's like his whole life has lived up to this moment. He coughs into his elbow as he dusted off his robes when he stood up. Did he remember to brush his teeth this morning? God, he hopes so. He takes a deep breath and walks over to your seat. "Do you, uh, want to be partners?" He shifted under the feel of your gaze,"For the project of course; only if you want to."

Of course, you aren't in the position to say no, being that you've never been asked before, so you agree. However, that was just the beginning of your friendship with Ron. Overtime, it was like you two were always joined at the hip. You two would meet up and walk to class together, eat together, and even get caught up in Harry's adventures together. You never expected to be this close with Ron, or even anyone for that matter.

After school hours, you and Hermione hung out in the courtyard. It was her move in Gobstones when she brought up an interesting question. "I'd never actually think I'd see the day that Ron could be tolerated for more than a week. How do you do it?" She paused and mulled over her words. She spoke up again saying," Do you ever think he's clingy sometimes? It's like you two are conjoined twins or something... I'd say he was in love with you if it wasn't for Lavender Brown."

You hesitated in your response, feeling as though you were revealing too much," ...I mean, I guess he's cute or whatever, so it's fine." you attempt to shrug it off and focus on the game. Hermione's eyes burned holes into your skin as you tried to shake her uneasy stare.

Hermione gasped so loudly, it caught you off guard. Did you say too much? Did you say something wrong??? You shushed her in a panic, looking around at the other students staring at you. She recomposed herself with a deep breath, but she exploded in a flurry of whispered questions.

"So you think he's cute?? As a friend or... as something more? How long have you felt this way? Does anyone else know about this?" Hermione bombarded you with so many questions it was like the room started spinning.

"I wouldn't mind if we were something more," You could see Hermione about to gasp again," BUT I really don't think this is the kind of love story you think it is. He dated Lavender Brown up until two days ago, so he probably doesn't think of me that way, like you said earlier." The more you talked, the more you felt like you were giving away the secret krabby patty formula. Why can't you shut up?? "He probably likes girls like that."

"Or maybe he wanted you to be jealous?" Hermione spoke and won the game in one smooth turn,"Think about it." As you clean up the game pieces, she puts her hand on your shoulder. "I know that when he was dating Lavender, he walked with her to class, right? But don't you normally walk with him?" Hermione strolled the hallways with you. This situation was so stiff the outside air of the courtyard was suffocating you, leaving no room albeit to give in.

"I.. I don't know, Hermione. Maybe we're thinking into it too much?" Your head drifts to the outside scenery of Hogwarts. "Besides, why would he want to date me?"

A couple days later, Ron came back to the old routine of walking with you everywhere as if he'd never left. You wouldn't have even noticed if it weren't for that conversation with Hermione. It itched in the back of your mind like a spider on the back of your neck. You felt like you were reading too far into his jokes, and when he laughed at one of yours, there was a flip in your stomach and blood rushed to your face.

Now, his touches set your skin ablaze. It lingered and danced along the surface of your senses. Every breath of his that reached you was warm, his hands were a little too soft, and you could list a thousand other things that sent your mind running. Does he really like you like that?

"I thought she'd crack by now, Harry." A frustrated Ron brewed in his own bits of misfortune. "What if she's not into me like that?"

Harry looked at him. Harry's eyes glance at the clock before responding," Ron, it's like 11 pm and you're thinking about y/n?"

Ron nodded with a pout on his face.

Harry sighed," Why don't you just tell her?" Before Ron could reply with a flurry of doubts, Harry interjected. "You've literally had a crush on her since like First year, and I haven't seen you make your move. If you're that worried, you could try..." He looked around the dormitory room for a clue. His glasses glinted like an anime character when his eyes settled on a potions book. "You could always make a uh, forgetfulness potion?"

That seemed to satisfy Ron's stress and he laid back down in bed. He predicted that in the next 24 hours, he'll have confessed his feelings and then forced you to take his concoction of a "forgetfulness potion."

"Y/n." Ron had taken you outside the Great Hall during lunch. His palms are so sweaty and cold it could be a slip 'n slide (except he wouldn't know what that was.) You were talking to Harry about the next Quidditch game when he decided to confess. It took some persuading to leave the conversation, but you eventually gave in.

"Yes, Ron?" You prodded his shoulder. His face was pale, and the awkward silence was becoming unbearable. "...Ron? Are you monologuing or something?"

"I... I like you."

"Uhh me too? That's why we're friends." You weren't sure if your mind was playing tricks on you again. He wasn't confessing.. right?

"No I--" He stammered. "I like you. Like a lot. Since first year.." This was it. Any second you would reject him, and then he'd have to whip out his potion and apologize profusely while you guzzle it down.

"Oh." You blinked. Once. Twice. "Really? So this is a confession?"

"Will you go out with me?" He looked into your eyes. He was done for, he knew it. But, the disgust of rejection never came.

"Yeah.. I'd actually like that, Ron." You hugged him with all of your might. If this was a dream, then you hoped you'd never wake up. You were trying so hard not to let your feelings get the best of you, if only you knew he felt the same way. This past month's emotional procrastination was futile, and you can now admit the blooming feeling in your heart.

Ron was stunned. It was only until his robes were getting wet that he looked down. You were crying, but they were tears of joy? He really was prepared for the worst. Once the shock had died down, he embraced you. He never thought this day would come, but when it did, it was the greatest emotion he'd ever had. He kissed your forehead as the rest of your face was buried in his arms. "I love you."

----

-A/N-

Just a heads up, in the future I’d like to write and include other HP characters if y’all don’t mind (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ It’ll be about other HP characters in the same year probably, except for the other Weasleys. Love you guys ♡

p.s. I’m sorry that I took so long on this rip I wrote a whole different ending where you fake date Harry for a hot second, but it got out of hand and I scrapped it lol

#ron weasley #ronald weasley #ron weasley imagine #ron weasley x reader #x reader #hermione granger #harry potter #HP ron weasley #HP imagines #harry potter imagine #hogwarts #hogwarts imagine #hogwarts x reader #fanfic #hp fanfic #ron weasley fanfic #imagine #hp x reader

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out-of-jams · 5 years ago

Text

Airplane Mode | Track 09: IDOL | jhs

Summary: Set in the same universe as Love at First Touch by bagelswrites.

In a world where a bruise marks the first touch of your soulmate, time is the only thing that matters. The marks take hours to appear, sometimes even days if you're really unlucky. Once First Touch is initiated, both parties only have a few weeks to find the other. From then on, the body begins to reject any form of sustenance other than the touch of the other. If one fails to find their soulmate, they starve to death.

So what happens when your soulmate is an internationally famous idol?

And you're just one fan in a sea of many who can't even speak the same language.

Pairing: Hoseok x Fem Character

Word Count: 5.2k

Genre: Fluff. Angst. Idol!au. Smut. Soulmate!au.

Warnings: Explicit language (you already know).

Words written like this are spoken in Korean.

If you would have asked Eunjae two months ago how she thought her life would end up, well, it certainly wouldn’t have been where she was. Sandwiched on a couch between Kim Taehyung and Park Jimin, in a studio inside Big Hit Entertainment.

Her fingers ran through Yeontan’s soft fur absentmindedly from his spot curled on her lap as she kept her eyes on the man in the recording booth. The quiet sounds from the game on Taehyung’s phone was drowned out by the voices of Yoongi and Namjoon from where they sat in front of the recording equipment. Jeon Jungkook, who had shyly introduced himself to Eunjae after she stumbled in with Taehyung and Jimin, was perched on the arm of the couch. The maknae hovered over Taehyung’s shoulder, watching the elder thumb across the screen of his phone.

Jimin, who was sitting on the other side of the couch, was busying himself by scrolling through the BTS Twitter feed. Whenever he’d stumble across a particularly funny video or meme, he’d nudge Eunjae with his elbow and show her. He also wasn’t well versed in the English language, so they’d had to resort to using the same communication methods that she used with Taehyung. He was just as unabashedly friendly as the other half of the ‘95 line pair, which worked well to bypass Eunjae’s initial anxieties about meeting the members.

Kim Seokjin had briefly and politely introduced himself to Eunjae right before he had to leave to fulfill a prior engagement. Or something like that. At least that’s what Namjoon has kindly translated for her. Apparently the elder man had already recorded his part of the song they were mixing. Eunjae had just barely been able to stop herself from gaping at how breathtakingly beautiful Seokjin was up close. In fact, every single one of the members of Bangtan were almost impossible to look at head on. At least if she wanted to prevent herself from gawking.

The sounds of the track starting back up again effectively ripped Eunjae from her thoughts. The energetic, catchy tune flared to life as the room filled with Jungkook’s angelic vocals. Eunjae relaxed further back into the couch, fingers lightly scratching Yeontan behind the ears as she watched Hoseok bob his head along to the beat.

The rapper was taking his turn in the recording booth.

His eyes were focused intently at the phone in his hands with the song lyrics while he patiently waited for his next verse to come up. He’d been in there since Eunjae arrived with the other two boys in tow. Hoseok hadn’t paid attention to her arrival, too absorbed with the microphone in front of him to notice.

It was embarrassingly difficult for Eunjae to tear her eyes away from the man once his voice started to filter in through the studio speakers. Hoseok’s usual friendly, energetic persona became replaced by something much more serious, fervid...intense. His dark eyebrows drew together in concentration, pieces of his hair falling from their pushed back position and into his narrowed eyes. Hoseok’s sun-kissed skin appeared a few shades darker underneath the dimmed lights of the recording booth. As he rolled his neck back slowly to ease his tense muscles, the sharpness of his jaw was prominent even through the glass looking into the booth.

One side of the headphones thrown over his head was pulled off a single ear, and his tongue would flicker out occasionally across the bottom of his plush lips whenever he cut himself off and asked to redo his verses. If there was one thing that Eunjae learned about Hoseok in those minutes, it was that the man was a perfectionist. At least when it came to his art.

A nudge to Eunjae’s side pulled her attention away from the deep rasp of her soulmate’s voice and over to Jimin. She did her best to ignore the knowing smirk that quirked at the corner of his lips as he flipped his phone over to show her some meme that ARMY made of Jungkook. Eunjae tried and failed to cover the snort of laughter that escaped her, luckily not loud enough to draw the attention of the serious looking Yoongi and Namjoon.

All too soon, the music flowing through the room was cut off and Namjoon spun around in his chair to address the room. “Jiminie, you’re up.”

“Sweet.” Jimin slipped his phone in his pocket and stood up just in time for Hoseok to exit the recording booth. As he passed his elder, Jimin playfully patted his back and squeezed in through the partially open door.

Hoseok looked up from his own phone and grinned wide enough for his dimples to pop into existence once he noticed Eunjae sitting on the couch. His quick change from serious and intense almost gave her whiplash, but she gave him her own warm smile in return.

The cushion next to her dipped under his weight as he sat down. “You were good!”

Eunjae tried her hardest to keep her voice hushed so that she didn’t interrupt Jimin’s recording. So she had to lean a little closer to the man at her side in order for him to hear her properly. She actively had to stop herself from reacting to the energy of his close proximity when he reached out a hand to lazily pet Yeontan.

Hoseok’s eyes curved cutely as he beamed at her sincere compliment. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

Whatever response would have came next was interrupted by Jungkook’s sudden loud shout of annoyance. All eyes in the room were on the maknae as he angrily dropped an amused Taehyung’s phone straight onto his elder’s lap. His interruption had Yoongi twisting around in his chair in irritation. The rapper’s lips twisted into a frown as he berated (at least that’s what it sounded like to Eunjae) an abashed looking Jungkook.

“Sorry, hyung.” Jungkook grimaced, cheeks flushing a light shade of pink.

With a roll of his eyes, Yoongi turned back around and restarted the track once again. Namjoon simply shot a look at the maknae before focusing back on the soundboard. Hoseok, trying to hide the amused twitch of his lips, leaned closer to Eunjae in attempt to not invoke Yoongi’s wrath.

“I have...question,” the words rolled off his tongue easily, almost as if it’d been on his mind for a while.

Eunjae quirked an eyebrow in curiosity and lowered her own voice to a whisper to match his. The two boys on her other side had quieted down, both focused on their own phones separately. “What is it?”

“You were...in school?” Hoseok asked, eyes locked with hers.

Not expecting his question, Eunjae blinked in surprise. “Yes.”

“But no more?” There was a pinch between his brows now.

“Right.” She said slowly, not really sure where he was going with the question. But from the frown suddenly gracing his mouth, she didn’t think it was anywhere good.

Hoseok’s tongue darted out to swipe at his bottom lip and he tilted his head to the side with an expression that she couldn’t quite discern. “Why?”

“Why what?”

His slender finger tapped against his jean covered kneecap, ring glinting in the overhead lights. “Why not anymore?”

“Well,” Eunjae’s own fingers glided through a sleeping Yeontan’s fur once again. She wasn’t really sure how to phrase her response. Especially not with the way that he was looking at her now. Was he upset? “I had to.”

“Had to.” Hoseok repeated her words in a tone that bordered on...disappointment? Or was it something else? She wasn’t sure. Eunjae wasn’t versed well enough with his mannerisms to be able to tell.

He leaned back against the couch with pursed lips, gaze stuck firmly on the ceiling. Hoseok was quiet for a moment until he reached out a hand and grabbed one of her own. His fingers squeezed her own as he tilted his head back over to her. “I’m sorry.”

“Wha—for what?” That was the last thing that Eunjae would have expected to come out of his mouth. What did the man have to apologize for?

“You had to..,” he paused, tonguing his cheek as he searched for the right words. “Stop. For me.”

Oh. So that’s what the look of disappointment on his face was for. Not for her, but...for himself? With a frown, Eunjae used her free hand to gently pat the arm closest to her. “It’s not your fault, Hobi. It was my choice.”

Hoseok sent her a disbelieving look. “But--”

“No buts.” Eunjae cut him off with a shake of her head. She didn’t want him to blame himself for whatever crazy reason was going through his head. “Really. Don’t stress.”

He looked at her for a long, quiet moment. The only sound that permeated the silence was Jimin’s ethereal vocals and the cheerful, upbeat track. Hoseok’s eyes searched hers in all seriousness. Either he found what he was looking for or he’d decided to give up the argument for the moment because a tiny sigh left him. He slid a little further down on the couch, legs spreading a tiny bit wider to compensate for his new position in order to rest his head back against the couch.

“Sure?” Hoseok couldn’t help pursing his lips.

“Sure.” Eunjae gave him a reassuring smile, patting his arm once more before withdrawing.

That seemed to be enough to pull him out of whatever thoughts were flowing through his mind. He hummed in thought, leg swishing a little in time with the beat of the track. “Studied what?”

His hand was still holding hers. Either he’d forgotten about it or the man was still hungry. Whichever it was, Eunjae did her best to ignore his warmth in favor of responding to his question. Tuning out the sound of Namjoon dropping his phone face down onto the wood floor with an accompanying groan, she felt her lips twitch at Hoseok’s curiosity.

“Fashion.”

He made a sound of interest in the back of his throat and shifted on the couch once again. Hoseok grinned at her, his eyes creasing in the corners. “Tell me.”

It wasn’t much longer before Jimin emerged from the booth. During his whole time recording and even when he’d switched places with Taehyung, Hoseok had cutely and determinedly asked Eunjae whatever questions sprang to mind. He’d wanted to hear all about her time at NYU, even though Eunjae knew that it couldn’t have been that exciting for him to listen to. Hoseok hadn’t given her any time to fire back any questions at him, which left her slightly pouting when Yoongi called him over to help with whatever it was he heeded.

His spot on the couch barely got any time to cool off before Taehyung plopped himself right into the empty space. His hand snaked out to thread through a still sleeping Yeontan’s fur, the beaded bracelets on his wrist shifting slightly with the movement. Taehyung looked up at a quiet Jungkook and Jimin from underneath his long lashes. His brown eyes shifted from the two of them and back to Eunjae, before he leaned closer to them in order to be heard over the rap line’s conversation.

“Psst!” His not so subtle hiss drew the attention of everyone on the couch to him. “Hungry?”

“Always.” Jungkook patted a hand to his flat stomach, leaning around Jimin to insert himself into the conversation.

“A little.” Jimin responded in English and Eunjae figured that it had something to do with trying to include her in the discussion. She sent him a small, thankful smile at his actions, receiving an adorable eye smile in return.

“Let’s go.” Taehyung’s lips pulled back into his familiar boxy smile. “Get food.”

“Where?” Jungkook answered this time. His initial wall shyness around Eunjae must have been broken down at the prospect of food because he had no trouble voicing his thoughts.

“Tricycle!” Jimin wiggled his eyebrows playfully, looking back and forth between the three of them.

“Tricycle.” Taehyung nodded as if Jimin had just blessed them with some very wise words. “Yes.”

He turned his questioning gaze to Eunjae with a raised brow. “Come. Yes?”

“Uh.” To say that she was a little taken aback would be an understatement. Were they really inviting her, a virtual stranger, along with them like she’d been apart of their friend group for years? With a glance back at Jimin’s friendly brown eyes and Jungkook’s vigorous nodding, Eunjae gave a tiny shrug in answer. “Sure?”

“Hyungs!” Taehyung suddenly stood from the couch, stretching his arms over his head with a tiny yawn. The rap line all turned their attention from where they were replaying the track on a loop to find discrepancies. “Need us?”

Whatever Namjoon responded to the question must have been a negative, because Taehyung shot everyone on the couch a grin of victory. “Food!”

Eunjae only had Taehyung to thank when she found herself stuffed in the backseat of one of Big Hit’s smaller cars with, hand clenched around her seatbelt tightly. Jungkook sat up in the driver’s seat. When he’d gotten his license, Eunjae wasn’t sure. But god, she was starting to have regrets at deciding to tag along due to his crazy ass driving.

The rap line had granted the maknae line permission to go wherever it was that they were taking her. Hoseok had waved her along with a smile when Eunjae had shot him a questioning look, urging her to follow Jimin’s gentle tugging out the door. When the maknae line had gotten so comfortable around her to initiate such casual skinship, she wasn’t sure. But Eunjae reminded herself of the words that Taehyung had spoken to her on the roof a few hours prior.

“Makes us friends. Family.”

So Eunjae stuffed her feelings of apprehension deep down into the recesses of her mind. She was grateful to have been accepted so easily with the members. It seemed like the anxieties that had been plaguing her all day were for nothing.

Turning her attention from the surprisingly darkened streets outside the car window, Eunjae looked over to Jimin who sat on the other side of the backseat. The sunlight had long since faded into night. She must have been in the studio with Bangtan longer than she’d thought for it to be so late already. Taehyung was busy in the front seat thumbing through radio stations. He would settle on one station for about thirty seconds before he made a disapproving noise in the back of his throat and twisted the tuning knob once again. Jungkook was too busy paying rapt attention to the road stretched out in front of them, both hands gripping the steering wheel and eyes narrowed in concentration.

Eunjae played with the face-mask gripped in between her fidgeting fingers before aiming a question at the grey haired man next to her. “Is it really okay I’m here?”

Jimin pulled his eyes up from his phone to shoot her a confused look. His head tilted to the side, the hair hidden beneath his hood falling into his brown eyes. He spoke slowly, tongue tasting the words before he let them leave his mouth. “Why not?”

“Because,” Eunjae began, “of fans? ARMY?”

Taehyung finally paused in his rigorous search for a radio station, hand falling from the knob so he could twist around in his seat. The deep voices of some random talk show filtered through the car’s speakers. “What about ARMY?”

Eunjae’s fidgeting stilled at his bewilderment. Her eyes flickered back and forth between Jimin and Taehyung. “If I’m seen, it’ll be a scandal.”

“Oh.” Jimin’s eyebrows jumped up, hiding beneath the softness of his bangs. “No worry.”

“Don’t worry?” What was that supposed to mean?

Taehyung shot her a confident smile, patting a hand against the thick coat covering his chest. “Trust.”

Well, what could Eunjae really say to that? She bounced her gaze back and forth between the two once more before giving a little shrug and relaxing back against her seat. “Okay. I’ll trust you.”

And she did. Eunjae trusted that they wouldn’t do anything to put her or themselves in any danger. They’d been apart of the K-pop music business for years. Surely they knew how to traverse situations like these in order to not get caught, right?

Eunjae didn’t really have much time to dwell on the thought before Jungkook was pulling the car through a wide back alley and parking off to the side. She didn’t even want to think about the legalities of parking there. Besides, it wasn’t like she would really know anyway seeing as how she didn’t even have her driver’s license.

“Masks on.” Taehyung’s deep voice addressed the car, flapping the cotton of his own face mask around the interior of the car before letting out a giggle at his own dramatics.

The booth the group of them settled into was placed all the way at the back of the small cafe they found themselves in. Whatever area the boys had dragged Eunjae to must have been one that didn’t see a lot of foot traffic since there wasn’t anyone else in the place. Well that, and she saw the boy who worked the cafe counter lock the front door at their entrance.

The shades at the front were drawn down, giving the small cafe a cozy feel. The small tricycle hanging from the center of the ceiling was where Eunjae figured the name came from. A few tables and booths were spaced out, the plush dark seating and wooden tables popping out against the brightly colored walls.

Eunjae wasn’t hungry. Hell, she wasn’t even sure if she could eat food anymore. Not that she’d want to anyway with the off-putting taste. But based on the fact that Hoseok had stopped being able to process food, she figured that the same would go for her.

So there she sat, squished in a small booth between Jimin and Jungkook, fingers playing with the cold glass of water on the table in front of her. For some reason that Eunjae was sure had a scientific explanation, she was able to drink water just fine. Whether or not her body needed it was something that she was unsure about. She didn’t particularly crave it, but the mere fact that she could still drink it without the lingering taste of garbage was comforting.

“Jae-yah.” Jimin’s voice brought all eyes in the booth to him. He leaned forward onto the table, chin propped in his hands. “Question.”

The cheeky grin on his face only spoke of trouble, and Eunjae narrowed her eyes at the man playfully. They’d already asked her for her age on the car ride over. And the 95 liners had cheered at the fact that she was born the same year as them and had taken to adding the friendly honorific to her name.

“Yes, Jiminie?” Eunjae raised a brow at the man.

“You are ARMY?” Jimin’s cheeky grin only grew at her slow nod, lips spread wide to reveal his crooked front tooth.

Jungkook made hummed in interest. He’d been quiet for most of the time. Whether or not that had to do with the fact that he was shy around women, Eunjae wasn’t sure. But the maknae leaned forward at the question with a mischievous smile of his own. He must have known where the question was going based on the look he shared with Jimin.

“Who is,” Jungkook picked up before Jimin could, putting the English skills that Namjoon tutored him in to good use. He ran his tongue between his lips before he continued. “Bias?”

Eunjae huffed a laugh at the expectant look on all of their faces. She shrugged, taking her time to answer the question as she took a slow pull from her glass of water. Not being able to help playing along, she smirked around her straw. “Guess.”

“Me!” Jungkook spoke confidently, leaning back into the booth with his arms crossed over his chest. “Right, noona?”

She had to stop herself from choking on her water at his new nickname for her. Jungkook stared up at her with doe eyes, lips pulled up into a pout. Eunjae almost got whiplash from how quick he’d been to shift from self-assured to adorable bun. Where the hell had his shyness gone?

“No.” Taehyung shook his head, hand propped under his chin as he chewed his lip in thought. “Hoseokie-hyung.”

Jimin nodded at Taehyung’s words. “Hobi-hyung.”

Brow raised at their quick answers, Eunjae opened her mouth to speak, only to be cut off as the cafe worker emerged from the back (what was up with her bad luck with conversations getting interrupted?). The boy approached their booth with a tray full of steaming food, immediately stealing the boy’s attention.

The waiter’s silky chestnut brown hair was parted down the middle, exposing his tan forehead as his bangs framed either side of his soft face. The dark blue apron tied around his waist matched with his white button down shirt and black pants. The boy’s petal plush lips pulled back to reveal perfect white teeth at the enthusiastic shouts of the hungry maknae line.

And it was either her imagination, or Taehyung’s gaze lingered quietly on the waiter’s longer than necessary. But by the way that the boy’s cheeks flushed a pretty pink when Taehyung flashed him a shy smile, Eunjae was sure that it wasn’t just her imagination.

But it wasn’t her business either.

Eunjae did her best to busy herself with her phone while the boys dug into their food like starved men. Her fingers hovered over the latest text thread with Miles, thumbing across the screen. She felt Jimin’s sudden presence leaning over her shoulder, but ignored him as she typed out a reply.

“Boyfriend?” His voice came out somewhat muffled by the food he had stuffed between his cheeks. Jimin’s expression was a cross between curious and something else Eunjae couldn’t identify.

But his question had her letting out a loud laugh. “Hell no. Best friend.”

Jimin paused in his food stuffing, licking the crumbs from the corner of his mouth. “ARMY?”

“Big ARMY.” Eunjae’s lips tilted up in a playful smirk. Miles would absolutely kill her if she embarrassed him in any way, which was exactly why she had to. She’d be a bad friend if she didn’t. “Loves you the most.”

“Me?” Jimin pointed a finger at himself in question, eyes bulging in surprise.

“Mhm. Actually.” Her face lit up with a sudden thought, rapidly pressing a few buttons on the screen of her phone before holding it up for Jimin to see. “Can I?”

Jimin gave a tiny shrug at her question, expression changing into something a little more shy. He eyed the device in her hand for a moment longer before nodding. “Sure.”

The sound of Miles’ sharp screech echoed throughout the empty cafe the second he picked up the FaceTime call. And it was all Eunjae could do to stop herself from crying of laughter at his stunned, starstruck face.

“What the fuck? Oh, shit!”

(8:45pm) J.H.: Home?

Stretched out on her bed underneath the thick comforter, Eunjae paused from where she’d been lazily scrolling through her twitter feed. She’d gotten home from the cafe with the boys about an hour ago. They’d all ended up back at the apartment building instead of back at Big Hit since they were done for the day. Not only that, but apparently Eunjae had to head to the company’s stylist department early the next morning. At least, that’s what Soyeon had shot over in a text. It seemed that Bang Sihyuk hadn’t been joking around when he’d talked to her about the internship.

She hadn’t talked to or seen Hoseok since earlier that day before they’d left the company. They hadn’t been super big into texting each other throughout the day, especially since the man was so busy, so the fact that he was texting her now must have been important.

(8:45pm) Eunjae: Yeah. You?

(8:47pm) J.H.: Just got home.

(8:47pm) J.H.: Hungry?

Hoseok’s question brought Eunjae’s attention to her grumbling stomach. She still wasn’t used to needing someone else in order to survive. Which inadvertently caused her to constantly forget that she couldn’t simply shove food down her throat to sate her hunger. Not only that, but Eunjae wasn’t sure how to go about even telling Hoseok that she needed him. She didn’t want to burden him, or pull him away from his busy schedule just to tend to her needs.

If Eunjae was anything, it was independent. She preferred to do things on her own instead of going to others for help. Which was exactly why she’d let Hoseok take the lead, since the man definitely didn’t have the same qualms as her.

(8:49pm) Eunjae: A little.

(8:49pm) Eunjae: Are you?

(8:51pm) J.H.: I am.

(8:52pm) Eunjae: Want me to come over?

(8:54pm) J.H.: I’ll come to you.

(8:54pm) J.H.: That okay?

(8:55pm) Eunjae: Sure.

(8:57pm) J.H.: Be there in a few.

Either Hoseok had become fluent in English in the last few hours that Eunjae had seen him, or he was using the translator on his phone. Either way, she had maybe five-ten minutes to get her act together. Or however long it took Hoseok to arrive at her door.

Eunjae speedily threw the covers off her body and ran around her bedroom, picking up the clothes haphazardly thrown around. Soyeon had been good on her word and sent someone to drop her new clothes off while she’d been out. But between the exhausting day and jet lag pulling at her dry eyes, Eunjae had been too lazy to put any of them away. Instead, she’d uncaringly pawed through the colorful plastic bags in search of pajamas to take a shower.

Which reminded her to throw on a pair of cotton shorts, since she only tended to wear a shirt and panties to bed. And Eunjae didn’t think that Hoseok would want to see her in all of her half-naked glory. Not that there was much to see anyway, due to the fact that she unfortunately had the body of a twelve year old boy. Rolling her eyes with a huff, Eunjae had just shut the closet door when she heard knocking at the front door.

Her feet padded against the carpeted floor as she approached the front door. It swung open to reveal a tired looking Hoseok. He’d changed from his outfit earlier in the day and into a pair of comfy looking black sweatpants and a plain grey T-shirt. His dark hair was slightly damp from what must have been a recent shower and his skin was cleared of whatever makeup he’d been put in for the day.

Hoseok greeted her with an exhausted smile. “Hey.”

“Hey.” Eunjae stepped to the side to let the man inside. He crossed the threshold, toeing off his shoes as he went. Eunjae still wasn’t used to the Korean culture of wearing slippers indoors, so she had yet to get any. Hiding her wince, she hoped he wouldn’t mind.

“So,” Eunjae closed the door softly, turning to meet Hoseok’s gaze. “Where do you wanna do this?”

His lips twitched in amusement at her question and he shoved his hands into the pockets of his sweats with a shrug. “Doesn’t matter.”

“Um.” She tried to ignore how suddenly strange and intimate the moment felt. It was only Hoseok, for christ’s sake! Not like she hadn’t been practically glued to his side for half of the day. “Do you want to lie down? Or sit?”

The yawn that stretched his jaw intermingled with his response as he reached up to cover his mouth. “Down.”

“Okay. Bed it is.” Eunjae nodded to herself before leading Hoseok down the hall. She tried to cover her sudden nervousness. Sure, it wasn’t like they had anything romantic between them, but the thought of cuddling up on a bed with the man snatched all of her bravado.

As they made it to her bedroom, Eunjae forced down the subconscious feeling prickling at her nerves when she saw the way Hoseok’s eyes took in his surroundings. The room was pretty plain since she had yet to have to opportunity to decorate. It was still only her first official day in the country after all.

“Make yourself at home.” She waved a hand into the room, letting Hoseok step past her. The only light in the room came from a small lamp perched on one of the end tables on either side of the king sized bed. Her comforter was turned down on one side of the bed, the other, far side, was still neatly made.

Hoseok crossed to the untouched side of the bed and sank down on top of the blankets without hesitation. He let out of sigh of what sounded like relief as he stretched his long limbs out on the surface. Opening his eyes, he turned his head to where Eunjae was still standing in the doorway and stifled a laugh into his hand, tired eyes crinkled with amusement.

He waved his other hand at her playfully. “Coming?”

Eunjae did her best to ignore Hoseok’s mirth at her frozen state and forced her feet to move towards the bed. The mattress dipped under her weight as she shuffled underneath the blanket. Something about being hidden underneath the covers settled her nerves a little. With a glance at where Hoseok was wearily rubbing his eyes, Eunjae scooted a little closer.

She didn’t get the chance to suppress a squeak of surprise when his arm came out and pulled her the rest of the way to him. Eunjae’s forehead rested in the dip between his shoulder and chest, the fresh scent of his body wash invading her senses. But that was nothing compared to the feeling of warmth and home that spread through her like wildfire.

Eunjae’s tense muscles relaxed under his touch and she could have sworn she felt his do the same. The fact that the feeling of his comforting heat was starting to become second nature to her was a little scary. Sure, it was definitely not the first time that they’d been pressed up against each other, but that was different from being snuggled straight up to one another like they were.

If Hoseok was at all uncomfortable or discomfited about the situation, he didn’t show it. Instead, he rested his hand gently between her shoulder blades. His warm, hushed breath brushed the crown of her head as he mumbled, “okay?”

Tilting her head up slightly, Eunjae forced herself not to react to how close his face was to hers. Hoseok’s eyes were already closed, lips partially parted. Her voice came out whispered into the silence. “Okay.”

She tried to stay in the land of the conscious. She really did.

But the steady sound of his heart beating beneath her ear lured her into the calm, quiet bliss of sleep.

#bts #bts fic #hoseok #hoseok fic #hoseok fanfic #airplane mode

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yourfaveisyanderematic · 6 years ago

Text

Boiling the Frog

When you leave things up to me, you get Horrible, but I suspect you already knew that :3c

You hated nail polish. The whole process of manicures, in fact, seemed like a frustrating hassle, far too much effort for a result that would only chip in a few days anyway, something that was…girly, in a way you instinctively shied away from. Your friends would admire your hands and complain that leaving them bare was a waste of good genetics, but you were perfectly content to simply regard their nails with vague admiration and leave things at that. When would you ever need to learn, anyway?

“Fuck.” you swore under your breath as your hand trembled, moving the brush in the wrong direction and ruining the coat yet again. Reaching for the rubbing alcohol and undoing everything for the umpteenth time was the last thing you wanted to do—you’d already been at this for over an hour—but entertaining the idea only reminded you of the last time you’d given into the impulse. You saw his face in your mind’s eye, clear as day, the handsome cheekbones and elegantly styled light hair framing cold grey eyes that betrayed no hint of emotion but communicated profound disappointment all the same.

“Even young girls can do this properly, it’s one of the first things they teach each other. How is this so difficult for you?”

The mere memory of hearing him say the words made your heart wobble. You scrubbed at the fresh paint with new fervor, erasing the thought of having to actually hear them again with each stroke. You’d do it right. You could do this right. It was easy.

You’d never paid attention to the routine before, but in only a short time you knew it intimately. You knew how to push your cuticles back (an intimidating process that drew blood the first time you tried it) and to lay a clear base. You knew how long to wait between coats and how to brush them for the best consistency and coverage, and you knew to coat the undersides of your nails with the topcoat to keep them from chipping for longer.

Only a month or two ago, if someone told you you’d learn to do all this for some guy, you would have laughed in their face. You tried not to think about that, just pushed past the fatigue of making such tightly controlled motions for so long and tried again, watching the rainbow flecks of the micro glitter swirl against deep blue in the wake of the brush. It was a good thing you were on the very last nail. There wasn’t much time before you had to go to work, and Kira hated to be kept waiting.

You waved your hand in the air in an effort to get the last coat to dry faster, capping the bottles with your free hand and putting them away. These, too, had a particular order to be in, and you weren’t sloppy enough to forget again. Everything had its place.

Time to go. You took a glance at yourself in the mirror, adjusted your slacks and dress shirt, and made for the door, stepping into the hallway.

“Kira? I’m ready to go,” you called for your boyfriend (it still felt a little weird to think of him as that) and made your way down the stairs. Yoshikage Kira waited for you near the front door, standing between you and your shoes, making a show of adjusting his tie even though his appearance had never been short of what you’d call ‘effortlessly immaculate’. It was enough to make you straighten your shirt again, a little more nervously this time, even though you’d already confirmed you looked professional enough moments ago.

Kira gave you a very obvious once-over as you came to a stop in front of him, finally reaching forward to redo the button at the very top of your shirt. The sensation of his hands, close enough to your neck that you could feel their warmth, was enough to make your breath hitch, but he graciously ignored it.

“That’s all anyone else should be seeing of you. You look very professional.” He raised his hand, a wordless invitation (or an order, something in your head whispered) and you complied, resting your hand in his. He tilted his hand, letting the light catch your fingers from all angles, regarding your work in complete silence. You couldn’t help but hold your breath.

“Very nice.” Your heart fluttered at the words, so simple yet rarely heard from him. “I can see you’ve been improving with practice, I told you this wasn’t hard. Although…” a frown creased his thin features, “I’m not sure about the color. Don’t you think the glitter’s a little childish?”

You felt your heart sink. “But…you said it was fine, when I picked it out.” This was stupid. It was your nails, it should have been fine if you liked it. Ever since your relationship began, however, it became increasingly obvious that Kira was far more sophisticated than you were. You found yourself acting in response, changing how you dressed and even what you cooked, a childish compulsion to please him, to live up to the standards he set for you.

“For work? When you wanted to buy this I assumed it was for a night out or the weekend, so I didn’t raise any objections.” He eyed the clock overhead. “You don’t have any time to change it. Come on; traffic will be terrible.” He stepped aside, letting your hand fall out of his grasp as you stepped into your shoes. Without another word, Kira opened the door and walked you to his car, letting his arm rest around your shoulders in a way that was almost possessive.

But I don’t want to change the color, you thought but didn’t say.

—

“…and that’s how I got Sato to start putting his laundry away!” Suzuki, one of your coworkers, finished her latest spiel about her adventures in childcare, sitting back for your reaction with an expectant grin. You gently nudged her to move her leg, letting you finish filling out the form, and gave a noncommittal hum of acknowledgement. Lunch hour was only ten minutes away but really couldn’t come fast enough.

“Everyone kept telling me ‘oh, once he’s got the habit it’ll be so hard to change’, but once you know the trick it’s actually really easy,” she wound a brunette curl around her finger with a knowing smile. Suzuki was a nice enough coworker, older than you and modern enough to work despite being a mother, but she had a frustrating ability to carry on a conversation almost entirely one-sidedly, and learning to tune her out was almost a prerequisite for your job.

“It’s just boiling the frog. All you need is patience.”

The strangeness of the phrase made you pause, and you watched her grin broaden as you stared up in incomprehension. “‘Boiling the…frog’?”

She clapped her hands, loudly enough to draw looks from others in the office. “Funny saying, right? I picked it up on a trip to America. Basically, instead of trying to do everything all at once, you change things gradually, one at a time, and wait. They get so used to things that they’re doing everything you want, and they don’t even notice the change! Next I’m going to do it with vegetables. You’ll definitely want to do things like that when you’ve got kids of your own!” she gave a knowing wink, despite the fact that you’d never once expressed the slightest interest in children. She opened her mouth to continue some other story about parental wisdom she wanted to pass to you, and you went back to work, hearing her voice muffle into a background drone that was almost musical.

A shadow loomed over you, breaking into your thoughts. The next thing you registered was that Suzuki’s presence had mysteriously vanished from your desk, freeing up a good third of the space.

Kira loomed over you, beautiful even in the fluorescent lights that flattered nobody. His hand came over your own, stilling your pen.

“What are you doing? Lunch has started. Hurry, we’ve only got an hour and I want to have Saint Gentlemen’s.” Normally you would have objected—not even Suzuki would interrupt you in the middle of work, and there were only a couple lines left on the form—but Saint Gentlemen’s was popular, and missing out on lunch would put Kira in a bad mood. You put the pen down and stood up. It felt bold to grab Kira’s arm as the two of you walked out, but he didn’t pull away this time; when you looked up at his face, you realized it must have been because he was distracted, glancing over his shoulder with an unreadable expression.

“What’s wrong?” You waited until the two of you were alone in the elevator to ask. You hated to look like you were gossiping. He took a deep breath.

“It’s nothing, really…I just dislike two-faced people, who smile to your face but laugh at you behind your back. I’m so glad you’re nothing like that.”

You watched the lights on the display slowly count down, itching to press but unsure if you should. “Like…did something happen?”

He looked at you out of the corner of his eye and then reached out, once again holding you close.

“I don’t want to upset you. We’re about to have lunch, I’d hate to ruin the mood.”

Memory flashed. It was Suzuki he’d been staring at.

“Was it Suzuki? Did she say something about you?” The elevator doors opened, and Kira stepped out with you, holding you tight against the crowd flowing out the doors into the warm sunshine.

“Actually, it was about you. She’d been laughing with some friends on her break, while you were still working. ‘They’re so gullible,’” Kira repeated in a high-pitched imitation of your coworker, “‘Did you see their face when I joked that their work was worth the promotion? I trust the part-time hires more!’” His face betrayed no emotion, but you felt your stomach twist as you began to rethink every compliment or comment she ever told you in a new light. Was that really how she felt? Why didn’t she say anything? She—

Kira took your chin in his hand, turning your face to meet his. Something like amusement tugged at the corner of his mouth.

“You’re so easy to rile up. Didn’t I tell you I didn’t want to ruin your mood? Forget about it. You aren’t even friends with her.”

I thought I was, you thought but didn’t say.

—

“You’re lovely to look at, and so intelligent. You’re just so…unpolished. Only with my help can you really shine.”

Those were the words Kira said to you that first night you began dating. You would have laughed, but you could tell by the conviction in his eyes that he was completely serious, so you played along, even if you didn’t have any idea what he was talking about.

As time went on, however, you began to realize just how right he was.

You were careless. Time and time again you’d found yourself locked out of the house or missing your wallet, for Kira to look—with you in hysterics—only to produce the missing item from a pocket you must have forgotten to check. You’d misplace laundry, and Kira would have to buy you new clothes.

You were naive. Suzuki was the first of your silent bullies you learned about, but she wouldn’t be the last; it seemed like everyone at the office was undermining you somehow, and if Kira hadn’t been acting as your silent guardian you’re sure you’d be the office fool still. It had been enough to make you quit your job from the stress, though Kira had been more than gracious enough to keep you at his home to recover in peace.

You were hysterical. Too often you got yourself worked up, imagining that Kira said something hurtful, that he was trying to control you, that he told you this or that or locked you in your room. It was in the moments of clarity that followed, moments that swept you up in shame and embarrassment, that made you realize that you’d imagined it all. The stress of being the hunted at your job, of everyone being against you, was threatening to turn you against the one man truly and unconditionally on your side.

Kira had been so patient. He helped you through it all, tolerating both when you hurled insults at him through the door he you locked to the moments of weakness when you sobbed like a baby into his chest.

“Structure,” was all he would say in those times. “Structure is what will put your mind in order and make you stronger. You’re very close, you just need me to help you a little more.”

He was right. It was only when you knew you were following his lead that you really felt safe, that you could wear that coat or follow that recipe without being sure that you were somehow making a mistake. The agonizing hours that he was gone (“I still have to work to support you, dear,” he said with a smile as you opened the door for him to leave) were almost suffocating. Those rare, rare nights when he was out for longer than normal were the worst, when you genuinely felt that you were going to die.

Even so, it was with numb incomprehension that you watched him crush pills from an orange prescription bottle and tip them into the pot he stirred. He caught your eye and smiled reassuringly, turning the label away from your view.

“To help you sleep tonight,” he offered as explanation, “I have to work late, but I don’t want you to be up all night worrying for me. You’re fine with it, right?”

The idea of being awake and by yourself was awful. The idea of being drugged—unconscious and vulnerable to whoever happened by—was borderline unbearable. No, you felt the word push behind your lips, but you couldn’t make yourself say it. You nodded slowly.

Kira tilted his head, a satisfied smile that made your heart flutter with pleasure. If it made him happy with you, if it made you less unmanageable, maybe it couldn’t be that bad. He gestured to the dinner table, where a small bottle of nail polish waited. You could see your reflection in its pearly pink sheen as you approached.

“A new shade was released at the department store today. I’d love to see it on you; we have enough time before dinner’s ready.”

You looked at the label, some high-end brand you would never buy on your own. Killer Queen.

“It suits you, doesn’t it?”

#yandere jjba #yandere x reader #yandere kira #Kira's a real bastard in this one gotta say #by me

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flowerymoonchild · 6 years ago

Text

Keeping You Safe ~ Part 2

Pairing: Jungkook x reader

Genre: Angst

“...but I promise you I’ll keep you safe”

*mild swearing

Prev- Next

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You were sitting on a swing. How you got there? you couldn’t really remember. All you knew was that it was a nice summer day as you sat in the middle of a park just watching kids play. There was one little girl in particular who drew your attention. She was sitting alone playing in the sandbox, kind of odd as she was wearing a pale pink dress that reached just above her knees with matching socks and shiny white shoes. She was dressed to impress. The image seemed to be familiar to you as moments passed but you couldn’t quite pin point why. Suddenly another child came into view, this one seemed to be quite the opposite of the little girl. It was a boy around the age of 6 (just like the little girl) but instead of wearing a graphic tee like the rest of the boys around he was wearing a black hoodie and a dark set of khaki shorts. You saw him walking towards the girl, but you couldn’t quite get a look at his face seeing as he had his hood on. As he approached the girl you saw him reach into his pocket for something before reaching for what seemed to be one of her pigtails. Ready to stand up and go help the little girl you couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief as you saw the boy only tap on her shoulder instead of pulling her pigtail as you originally thought he would do. As the little girl turned you saw her give the biggest of smiles to the boy behind her, her smile turned even brighter as she saw what was in the boy’s hand. As you squinted you saw that it was a necklace of sorts, you were too far away to get a really good look at it but you could clearly tell that it was gold and shiny, something that you never imagined children their age to possess. After clasping the necklace on the little girl’s neck, you saw them quickly turn to your direction as they seemed to be racing towards the swings. The little boy held onto his hood, but the race seemed to be more important as he finally let go, you knew you would soon get to see his face. The little girl ran as fast as her little legs could let her. You finally saw the boys hood fall off from your peripheral vision and as you turned to get a good look at him… Beep! Beep! Beep! “Ughhhhh” You turned to your alarm as it beeped nonstop. This was the fifth time you had this dream and it always ended the same, you never got to get a clear view of the little boy’s face. Something about this dream seemed familiar, as if it were a distant memory and it just irritated you that you could never finish remembering. You rolled on your bed for a little while before remembering what day it was. You pick up your phone in a haste quickly glancing at the seven missed calls from Mina, your best friend since grade school. “Shit!” You quickly jumped out of bed and got ready for the day, quickly glancing towards the wrapped box on your vanity making sure that everything was put together. How could you forget? Today was Mina’s twenty first birthday and you guys had been planning it for months. As you were trying to put on your pants all while brushing your hair you glanced at your phone seeing it light up with an incoming call. “Hello?” “Y/N where the hell are you? I’m sitting alone at our favorite café where we planned to meet up 25 minutes ago and you’re nowhere to be seen.” “Yes I know, something came up I promise I’ll be there soon” “You better hurry, this shouldn’t be how I spend my birthday” “On my way!” You hung up as you ran to the door after grabbing your purse and Mina’s present. Taking one quick look at your apartment to make sure you weren’t forgetting anything you quickly shut the door before sprinting towards the stairs. To say you made it to the café at the speed of light was an understatement. You had run the fastest in your life, and you were sure you had pushed an elderly woman out of the way in your crazy rush to get to your best friend. Opening the door to the café you quickly spotted your best friend as she sat at your usual corner booth all the way in the back. It was quite a hilarious image. Mina sat with her back towards you right hand over her left wrist quickly glancing between her watch and the window, leg bouncing up and down. Rushing to get to her before another one of her angry calls you couldn’t help but let out a sheepish smile as you sat in front of her. Let’s just say you received one hell of a glare. “I know, I know. I’m so sorry Minnie. I seemed to have set my alarm a little past the time that I was supposed to wake up but I promise I didn’t forget about your birthday. I would never forget your birthday” You gently set her present on the table before glancing back up to her face. Her eyes seemed to have soften a bit and you saw the traces of a smile on her lips which she quickly tried to hide. “I guess you’re forgiven” A smile took over your features before you pushed her present closer towards her. “I knew you couldn’t stay mad at me now here open your present” As you saw her reach towards her present you couldn’t help but quickly glance at the door as you heard the familiar jingle of the bell which signaled the entry of a customer. Your breath seemed to be caught in your throat. There, standing at the doorway was none other than Jungkook. Gone was the black eye and you could only see a little bit of a scar where the cut that you stitched up used to be. He looked fresh and handsome as he stood tall with his head held high wearing a dress shirt and some slacks, you also couldn’t help but notice the bimbo hanging on to his arm as some sort of fashion accessory. “Oh my god Y/N!” Mina’s shriek slowly brought your focus back to her as you realized that she had finally opened up her present. Inside was a limited edition pandora charm which she had been talking about nonstop. Your savings account had shown a negative drop after you bought it but the look on Mina’s face was definitely worth it. “Happy Birthday Mina, you deserve this and so much more” After a quick hug and some conversation, you soon forgot about the handsome devil sitting only a few tables away. Mina soon decided that it was time to move on with the schedule for the day and as you quickly glanced down at your watch you agreed as you told her you needed to use the restroom before leaving. You finished doing your business and washing your hands and you quickly started redoing your ponytail while exiting the bathroom. However, you did not get that far from the exit before you were quickly pulled back and locked into what seemed to be the janitor’s closet. You let out a shriek before a hand covered your mouth and you were soon blinded by unexpected light. “Shh it’s just me” Your eyes only seemed to widen as you processed the fact that it was none other than Jungkook who had pulled you in. “Stalking me now are we princess?” A glare soon took over your features as you remembered exactly what had gone down in your apartment two weeks ago. From his unwelcome visit to his threatening, Jungkook was not on the top list of the people you wanted to run into or even talk to at the moment. “Feisty, aren’t we?” You soon tugged his hand away from your face as you had the sudden urge to tell him off. “Listen here asshole, the one who seems to be doing the stalking here seems to be you. What do you want from me? I thought I made it clear I didn’t want to see you again” “I would watch my words if I were you princess you do not want to get on my bad side today. And if I remember correctly, I thought I made it clear that you and I would continue to see each other until I said so didn’t I? Besides I’m not here to see you today. I’m here to warn you” “Didn’t you already warn me enough your highness?” “I wonder what’s got you so riled up today kitten. But no, I’m not here to warn you to be careful around me. My men have informed me that the last time I visited your apartment some of the rival gang’s members had followed me, again, and they now know who you are. I’m not warning you because I care about you but rather because we have some unfinished business.” He placed something in the palm of your hand before continuing. “Take this lipstick, there’s a small button on the side. Whenever you feel as if you’re in danger just press it twice, my men or I will come to you.” You stood there with wide eyes as you processed this new information. Rival gang, lipstick, danger? Glancing up you noticed Jungkook had already left the closet leaving you alone with this information as three words kept swirling in your mind. What. The. Hell?

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A/N: Kind of a filler but I promise there’s more action in the next chapter. Let me know what you guys think, my inbox is always open!

-Yvie out ｡◕‿-｡

#jungkook angst #keeping you safe #jeon jungkook #jungkook imagines #jungkook imagine #jungkook fluff #jungkook #bts jungkook #bts reaction #bts imagine #bts angst

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the-only-universe-here · 6 years ago

Note

19 and 28

Hey so I’d like you to know that I didn’t actually forget about this ask, I just uhhhhhh. I had to redo these a couple times to get something that I’m actually kind of happy with. So! Here’s some shenanigans with team KRML, under the cut.

19: Blurting out a confession of love

Kasten felt his eyes water unexpectedly as he stared across the couch-pillow-mattress fort they had made for this movie night. It was a time for horror, and right now they had on Darkness Falls. Halloween night had always been his favorite, and since this year they were all required to stay at the academy, they had all determined that it was a good reason to hang out and eat way too much sugar together.

Kasten had Lilac curled against his side, Riley stretched out over the mattress looking more relaxed than he had been in months, and Maru was sprawled over the other couch crunching on popcorn. He wasn't paying attention to what was on the screen - he had already seen this movie a few times with his siblings, and he was far more occupied by the feeling rising in his chest.

He had so many feelings for all the people in the room. They were the people closest to him outside of his own family, the people that he trusted more than anything. Him and Lilac had started their relationship just a few months ago and yet... and yet he loved all of them so much. He had so much love to give, and while he was still so astonishingly happy with Lilac, he was worried that he would struggle to keep his love only to her.

"I love you guys," he blurted unexpectedly, blinking the half-there tears out of his eyes. He glanced towards the screen and determined there wasn't anything too important going on.

Maru just snorted and grinned. "Oh, keep your sappiness to your girlfriend, you idiot." But there was no bite behind her words, and she smiled genuinely at him.

"No, like, I love you guys-"

"Hush, hush!!" Maru suddenly sat up and threw a pillow at him as a scream ripped through the air, making Lilac jump slightly beside him.

He settled down with a tiny smile. He knew the others probably didn't understand - and until he talked it out with Lilac, they likely wouldn't ever.

But he felt for them, and he cared, so much.

28: We literally ran into each other

Maru huffed as she started undoing her tie, instead wrapping it around her hand as she started stalking towards the bastard that had dared to actually lay a hand on Lilac. She was aware of the shy girl watching behind her, shivering slightly as Kasten held onto her.

"I'll give you til the count of three, you miserable, shit-soaked bitch-"

The guy took one look at her and bolted, running through the door with Maru on his heels as she snarled another insult in his direction. No one in the room dared to try to stop her.

Through the hallways of the school she chased him, until he took a sharp corner to get to the stairs, and Maru tried to follow-

Only to slam into Riley, the both of them crashing to the floor in a heap of limbs. Maru was stunned for an instant, her legs sprawled out as she propped herself up on her elbows. Then she scrambled to her face with a frustrated shout.

"Dammit! Riley, why are you here?"

He blinked and drew himself up to his feet. "Sorry. Kasten told me you'd be around here, he wanted me to grab you?"

"Some ASSHOLE tried to grab Lilac! I swear to god, when I catch up to him-"

Riley raised an eyebrow. "Why bother catching up to him?"

"Because! I refuse to let him just do that to her!"

"Then lets start with this: we get Lilac back to our rooms and make sure she's alright. Then later, either later tonight or tomorrow morning, you and Kasten can drag him up to the top of the Tower and scare the shit out of him."

Maru stopped, her breathing still short and choppy with anger, and stared at him for several moments. There was logic in his suggestion, but gods did she want to just beat the crap out of that guy...

Still, she sighed. "Fine. We should just get back to the room for now, Kasten has probably already gotten her there."

Riley gave her a small smirk of pride, of promised chaos later when they could all get back at the creep who dared to mess with their teammate. "Alright. Let's go."

#ask and i will answer #writing stuff #team KRML #Kasten Alene #Lilac Darkdrinker #Riley Wiolet #Marroia Dessir

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heartists · 6 years ago

Text

ursula’s plastic surgery transformation revised and extended.

so a while ago i did a post on the plastic surgery procedures that ursula would get done after she gets out of jail, and how much it would all cost. and then i thought, well, since kylie jenner spent $2 million on HER plastic surgery, isn’t $128,900 a little……underwhelming? can’t the derosiers be so much more extra? and then i remembered i had her undergo a magical transformation as well as a scientific one. and thus, this post was born.

i want to start off by saying by conventional beauty standards, ursula is fairly unattractive. i here, you can see for yourself. she has smallish, beady eyes with her left eye spaced further away from her nose than her right; they are bright in color (pink) but dull in expression. she has a very flat face with a flat nose and a weak chin, and her profile lacks all definition. her hair is thin and stringy--it takes all the hair gel in the world to get it to curl. her lips are thin, her mouth is rather wide, and she has off-white teeth. and i know i drew her eyebrows thick in that picture but tbh i decided to make them thinner--they’re not very defined and almost disappear into her face. in addition, her body is more of an oval/apple shape than the hourglass shape she desires--small breasts, flat v-shaped butt, gains more weight in the midsection. she’s very skinny--thanks to her dieting her BMI is in fact somewhat underweight--but the fat distribution around her middle makes her look heavier than she actually is. ursula’s features improve with makeup, but still, she’s not as attractive as a typical celebrity. she knows this, and it hurts.

all of these things have caused both ursula and her mother great pains. ursula more or less constantly fixates on the fact that she takes after her ugly father and is drastically less attractive than her mother, who is renowned in china and in the west for her beauty and grace. part of why she wants to get plastic surgery so badly is because she wants to be as beautiful as her mother in the eyes of the world, or even one-up her. the other part of why she wants to get surgery is because lila herself has been pushing her toward it: she’s ashamed of having such an ugly daughter, and wants to “fix” her to look better. ursula expected her entire life to be given surgery, but lila wanted to go even further.

enter the world of transformation.

yes, every surgery is a transformation, but i’m talking about magical transformation--the type that one could only dream about in fairytales. surgery can only go so far in terms of changing a person’s features--often the changes are subtle, working around and enhancing what a person already has in order to make them look “better.” but with magical transformation, you can go further. in the real world, a stick-thin woman will never have the figure of nicki minaj even with the best butt augmentation, but with magical transformation in the pokémon world, she absolutely can. in the real world, a dark-skinned person will never be able to bleach their skin fully white, nor can a light-skinned person don a permanent tan, but with magical transformation, this is also entirely possible. on top of that, magical transformation is often known for producing, on average, better results than surgery: it relies on regrowing and reshaping natural features, working entirely with what the body has to offer rather than pesky infection-causing implants. and finally, magical transformation does what no amount of human surgery or other science can: it can also modify the body’s functioning (such as where fat is distributed) so that the results stay the same throughout time. for example, if you want to do some lipo on your waist, magical transformation modifies the fat cells and even the metabolism so the fat will never go back on your stomach.

why isn’t everyone using it? well, the thing with magical transformation is, it’s extremely rare and extremely expensive. there are only a select few people on the planet, vessels of arceus--less than one ten thousandth of one percent of the population--who can learn the techniques required to perform such magical operations. and of those select few, the vast majority refuse to perform cosmetic magical transformations either on moral grounds or because they simply weren’t interested in learning it. of the ~5,000 or so arceus vessels alive today, only sixteen of them worldwide are both able and willing to do cosmetic magical transformations: two in galar, four in america, seven in south korea, and three in china. this scarcity means that they can charge whatever price for their services they want. this further means that, instead of a paltry $128,900, ursula’s family had to fork over $25 million in order to give her the makeover of her and her mother’s dreams.

some of that came out of taxpayer dollars.

on top of the changes that i have listed in this post, the following changes were also made:

fat distribution change so that when she gains weight, most of it goes to the boobs and butt.

tooth whitening.

chin enhancement, to balance out the face.

eyebrow thickening and reshaping.

height adjustment--went from 5′1″ to 5′10″.

eyelash lengthening.

skin tanning.

hair thickening and texture change to make it naturally curly and thicker.

note that any implant changes are instead made by magically inducing the body to grow in those specific places.

ye a h, she got a lot done.

this was supposed to be her fairytale, her perfect moment of transformation that would change her life permanently for the better. but problems dogged the procedure and its aftermath, to the point that most people wouldn’t do them. for one thing, lila wanted a very different result from ursula. ursula agreed to get her face modified in the way that lila had constantly told her she needed to: bigger eyes, a more high-bridged nose, a more defined profile, fuller lips. but lila wanted to give her a more streamlined hourglass figure and wanted to keep her pale, whereas ursula wanted a strong tan, DD boobs and a christina hendricks ass. when ursula protested, lila said that she was the one paying for the transformation, so she could get to change her daughter’s body in any way she pleased. but ursula secretly cut a magical deal with her surgeon that if he disobeyed lila and gave her the body she wanted, he would get half of her earnings from contests, music and modeling for the rest of her life. his greedy ass of course disobeyed, and ursula walked out of that room looking exactly the way she wanted to--and there was nothing her mother could do to stop it.

there was still more trouble to come. instead of obsessively counting calories and whining about how she “had to” restrict her eating to the blandest foods, ursula began to pig out on whatever she wanted to eat--knowing she was magically enchanted to have all the weight go to her boobs and ass. but given that she was enchanted to look like that instead of naturally looking like that, there were…problems. the way the weight distributes on her body is not natural at all, and so when she gains weight it looks unnerving to a trained eye rather than pleasing. in particular, she likes big booty but not big legs, but doesn’t seem to understand that if you have a big booty you will also have the legs to match. so when she gains weight, it makes her ass look even more disproportional to her smaller thighs and especially to her tiny calves. she has thousands more instagram followers now that she’s transformed, but many people have also pointed out that it’s fairly obvious how fake she looks. there are other unnatural aspects to her appearance as well: her eyes are slightly larger than a normal human eye to create that uwu uwu animu look, and even though they now have an alluring sparkle to them that wasn’t there before, they can be unnerving rather than charming. there is an illusion over her nose to make it look impossibly thin. her tan looks a bit like a spray tan. and her eyelashes--they look like she has fake eyelashes on, they’re way longer than a normal human’s eyelashes would ever be. her lips are too big for her to talk with comfortably, so her voice changes for the first several months to something really derpy- and pinched-sounding. oh, and did i forget to mention she started to have health problems when she started eating whatever the fuck she wants? she got prediabetes, which i have also had when i went through the phase when i ate whatever the fuck i wanted. don’t do it, kids. it’s not worth it.

people have put her on blast for promoting an unrealistic body image, because her proportions are literally impossible for a natural human to attain. but in her eyes, the criticism she gets from the outside world pales in comparison to the criticism she has from her mother. lila, who had been banking on the transformation to finally give her the ideal daughter she had always dreamed of, was disappointed by her child yet again. the more ursula flaunts her unnatural face and figure, the more disapproving and distant lila grows from her--speaking to her only to criticize her appearance, heaping hate for it on her even higher than she did before the transformation took place. literally as soon as ursula stepped out of the operating room, lila demanded that he take her back in there and redo according to her specifications, or else she’d sue him--but she couldn’t sue him, because he’d already made an irreversible magical deal with his patient. ursula literally wouldn’t have cared less that so many people thought she was still ugly because in her own eyes she had finally grown beautiful, if not for the fact that her mother--from whom she had unhealthily sought approval all her life--agreed with the people who found her unsightly. gradually losing her mother’s “love” is quite possibly the worst consequence of them all for her mentally………one that will eventually drive her to the most desperate of acts.

#headcanon. || URSULA #abuse*

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aharris00britney · 7 years ago

Photo

ASKS 11

wip pic, complements ;-;, some meshing questions, and other stufffff

Anonymous said: Would you ever consider doing a version of your Sam and Briana hairs with the halo braid but as a pixie cut?

hehe this ask inspired me to make something kind of similar but not a pixie cut SORRY ;n; here is a pic ; this will be the next speed meshing video/hair

@bluupxels said: what's ur opinion on dance the night away (TWICE comeback)?

I don’t hate it but it is in the bottom 2 for my title tracks ranking for them :( (OOH AAH is the bottom lmao ya’ll hear somethin?) The MV was pretty though and I like the side tracks on the album

Anonymous said: post selfies more often ;)

i never take photos of myself edfhvnb here is a pic i took a few nights ago bc i was wearing the same shirt Lucas had on in some pic of him lmao he just had some sweater over it

Anonymous said: Hey, for your meshing videos, are all the hairs yours? and are they WIPS? they all look great!

yeah they’re all my WIP hairs! I just do stuff a lot earlier than they get released and hairs get released through a voting system so it is kind of out of my hands on which/when hairs get released.

Anonymous said: AHH AJSHFL u are so cute hehe u have a pretty face :')

thank you omg ;n; I don’t think I do but ill take the complement XD

Anonymous said: r u gay? ♡

yes

Anonymous said: Not a question, i just want to say that i LOVE your cc hair's they are stunning <3

thank you so much!!! I am glad you like them <3

@garoto-estelar said: u're one of the best mm cc creators!! pls we need more male hair with bangss

I am super bad at doing male hairs @ayoshi-sims can vouch for me on this omg I am just... not able to do any good ones egdfbv I will try something though :P also ur header is gorgeous

Anonymous said: OMG THE SIM IN YOUR LATEST TUTORIAL LOOKS LIKE FANTINE FROM THE STAGE MUSICAL OF LES MISÉRABLES LMAO

had to look this up but omg the hair looks super similar rgfgbrgfdc

Anonymous said: where did you get blender from?

S4S has them linked but : Blender 2.76 (32x) | Blender 2.76 (64x)

Anonymous said: Oh gosh your content is perfect 💖 really love your blog ~alesimmers

thank you!!!! <3

@lrby01 said: your sims are so prettyyy!! whats your secret?

most of the time i get a random off the gallery and use that as a base tbh, duplicate one of my main 3 sims, or use one of @ayoshi-sims

Anonymous said: Hiya! Would the accessories you made in your newest speed meshing video also work w your Paige and Jennie hairs? Since they have the same headband? Thanks!

I think I moved the headband shape some so I’m not entirely sure, I will check before release though.

Anonymous said: WHY U SAY IN JULY WHEN IT JULY

Anonymous said: You are f*cking perfect! love you

thank you ;-; I am no where near being perfect though lmao

Anonymous said: Sorry of you already are going to do this but will you upload that cute hair from your speed meshing video you uploaded? The half up half down one? It's so cute!!! I love your cc 😍😍😍

depends on voting :( currently I don’t think it will be released in August (there are 4 hairs that have more votes then it). Voting ends the 24th though so go vote if u want it :P

Anonymous said: do u watch reacttothek or like other kpop react channels? seems like ur into kpop haha and they’re my fave

I have seen some of the reacttothek videos!!! mainly just when someone I stan releases something new

Anonymous said: omg how ur soo organized 😂

I like neatness ;-;

Anonymous said: Hi, what's your ID? There I can find the sims that you use for every hair? Thank you <3

origin ID is aharris00britney

Anonymous said: I adore your hairs! I have so many of them in my game and it makes me so happy when I see what you have coming up. I was wondering if you have ever considered converting some of the hairs for kids as well as teens and older? I would love some kid hairs from you. Thanks for all that you do! <3

me and @ayoshi-sims are talking about collabing again and if we do then it will have some kids hair conversions :P

Anonymous said: Does the anathema palette you use for ur hairs have one for eyebrows?

I don’t think so :( not many people use the palette but I use the WMS eyebrows and then someone recolored the CC eyebrows I use in the WMS palette too. Links are on my resource page (which i know is broken rn but links still work)

Anonymous said: hi im sorry but are you a boy? ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

yeah! i am a boy lmao :P

Anonymous said: when i go to your resources page none of the pictures work?

I know ;n; all of my photos broke a few weeks ago (including all 140+ of my download page photos) so I had to change the links of the images from imgur to tumblr and it was a huge mess. I’m not happy with my current resource page so I am planning on redoing it eventually.

Anonymous said: Are you wcif friendly? If so where can I find the fruit choker on your last lovely sim. If not no worries. Hoping you’re having a rad day friend ❤️

@ayoshi-sims drew it on, sorry ;-; thank you btw

Anonymous said: how close are you with ayoshi?

we’re engaged, wedding in winter

Anonymous said: let me just say I love the kpop references like the Minnie hair cause kpop is my spirit animal but anyways I love you

yasssss

Anonymous said: f(x)?🧡💛

yeah i went to the funeral, what about it?

Anonymous said: So I just watched your speed mesh video and found myself wondering, what is the purpose of using edge split? I'm currently learning blender and though I've googled for various explanations, I'm unsure of what it achieves in terms of TS4 meshing.

sometimes when you remove doubles from the entire mesh, it makes weird shadows (you can see them in solid mode) that are super dark. Edge splitting gets rid of them without causing a seam to show in the mesh

Anonymous said: Wow, I've never sent an ask to you but I thought I'd just send some love your way! Your an amazing creator and I love that you take your time with each one of your creations. I love your edits and they inspire me to do better with mine! I love that you not only do straight hair but also curly, wavy and braided hair! Your sims are so beautiful and so are you! I always look forward to your cc too! :) Hope you have a great day/night!

thank you so so so much omfg i really appreciate it!!!

Anonymous said: hope this doesn’t sound rude, but why don’t you just release all the hair? I don’t know much about making custom content but it looks to me as if they’re finished, but I could be completely wrong of course. I was basically just wondering why you choose to do it this way if you don’t mind me asking :-)

I am trying to make sure I have enough to release if college gets super busy and releasing 3 a month is enough to have a pretty good amount of 36 hairs a year. Wasn’t a rude question at all btw :P

Anonymous said: OH MY GOD YOU'RE ADORABLE Anonymous said: omg you are literally the hottest thing ive seen all day and its 100 degrees outside *heart eyes motherfucker* Anonymous said: ur cute

i choked at these omg XD thank you

#asks #SOMEONE TRADE ME A SHINY LUGIA IN POKEMON GO OMFG #i found someone who was willing to trade a shiny snorunt for it and i dont have the stardust so she said that she will trade me it in 30 day #so i gave her the snorunt bc like i dont care snorunt is ugly #but i want a shiny lugia now ;n; so if u already befriended me and we have a high level then ummm #gimme

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aliveprofessor · 7 years ago

Text

Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark

rating: M

word count: 11742

archive warnings: Graphic Depictions of Violence

personal warnings: Minor character death, demons, knives. Stay safe and don’t read if you have troubles with these things!

description: Ryan Bergara and Shane Madej - full-time independent ghost hunters. But when they happen upon a small town and unleash like, actual, literal Hell upon it, their lives won't be the only ones changed.

There's more cliches, too. Don't worry about that.

A/N: LISTEN i know this is super super long but let me just thank @lesbiancleophas, @thepossessionofshanemadej, and @crappylittledemon for betaing this!!! without y'all this would pretty much be illegible, thank u for making my dumb brain words entertaining <3

READ IT ON AO3!

You got me running like a spider in a bathtub.

Andrew had not wanted to start his morning with strangers in his town. He watched from the loading dock in the hayloft, Riceball in his arms. The farm was sprawled out behind him, his house just to the left of the barn. An unpaved road stretched on for a few miles before turning into the main road into town. Andrew liked his little vantage point, away from everything, but seeing people turn onto the road that led to their house, and then turn and go back into town, was unsettling.

“I don’t like this, Rice,” he frowned. “I don’t like this at all.”

Eventually, Steven figured out where his recluse of a boyfriend had holed up. He called from the ground outside.

“They’re just strangers, Drew! They don’t bite!”

Andrew pouted, but made his way down the stairs. Steven greeted him with the same sunshine smile that Andrew had fallen in love with, and maybe - don’t tell Steven, though - Andrew fell even more in love than before.

Steven scratched Riceball’s cheeks and cooed to him, and Ragdoll let out a small chirp.

“I love you.”

The words escaped Andrew’s lips before he could stop himself; it was the first time he’d ever said them out loud.

Maybe it was just because he was up so early and he thought them so hard that they exploded out into the brisk air without his permission - but whatever the reason, they were out there.

“ Oh ,” Steven said, beaming. He kissed Andrew hard, Riceball scratching Steven on her way out of Andrew’s embrace. Andrew smiled into the kiss, bringing Steven closer.

“For the record - I love you too,” Steven murmured. “I know how hard that was for you, and I appreciate you in my life so, so much -”

“Just shut up and keep kissing me before I have to talk to the shmucks that showed up today,” Andrew interrupted, and Steven was glad to oblige.

The sound of engines made their inevitable appearance in the driveway, and Steven stilled, hand on Andrew’s chest.

Steven patted him, glancing down at his well-fitted shirt. “Another time,” he said, convincing himself as much as he was Andrew.

A two-door jeep rounded the corner of the winding dirt road that led to the barn, and two men hopped out of the front seats. Another pushed the passenger’s seat forward and unfolded himself from the back.

Steven greeted them, hand outstretched. “How can I be of service to you gentlemen?”

The taller one - and that was an understatement - grinned. “I hear you got ghosts?”

The other man was about Andrew’s height, with black hair and wide eyes. He smacked his companion’s shoulder.

“Shane. We just met them. Chill.”

He turned to Steven. “Sorry about my partner. He’s a bit forward. I’m Ryan, this is Shane. We have a YouTube series where we hunt ghosts. We’ve heard a lot of stories about your barn.”

“Oh, yeah,” Steven sucked in a breath. “... The barn.”

Andrew turned to introduce them to the building - and God, it could not have been creepier if there had been a storm and a clap of lightning and thunder. The wood was starting to rot, vines crawled up the sides of the building and seemed to move on their own, and the shadows inside seemed too dark, too cold. The paint had faded to brown - dusty and dark, and in different spots the paint peeled to reveal the original wood. The whole thing felt so off from the rest of the farm, which was teeming with life. The barn just reeked of death.

It had taken Andrew forever to warm up to the barn, and he was still uneasy in certain spots. It wasn’t like it was falling apart, but it creaked all the time, and doors closed and opened on their own - and sometimes, Andrew heard a voice or saw shadows.

For a while, Steven had been worried about Andrew’s mental health - which, if someone seemed like they might be hallucinating, was fair. But then Steven began to see the same things Andrew did. The worst part was that they weren’t rare occurrences. Almost every other week, there would be a minor incident.

By the time their first six months had been up, they’d sort of gotten used to it.

But only sort of.

“So…” Steven prompted, waiting for Shane or Ryan to finish. “We want to film some; investigate some,” he said, smiling hopefully. “Maybe… stay the night in the barn?”

Steven glanced to Andrew, shrugging. Andrew shook his head. He just met these people - he didn’t want them in his barn.

“Sure!” Steven said, through gritted teeth, shooting Andrew a pointed glare. “Would y’all like something to eat? There’s no activity in the house, but we could show you around and have you over for supper before the sun goes down.”

“That sounds super !” Shane exclaimed, looking incredibly pleased, “Ryan, do you want to get some shots of the barn?” He looked to Andrew, who nodded his ascent; and the pair took off excitedly.

Once they were out of sight, Andrew pulled Steven aside, hissing. “Why would you let them stay in our barn ? I work there!”

“I work there too, sweetheart,” Steven rolled his eyes, “They seem like nice guys. If it makes you feel better, I’ll let you sleep on the couch with your pocket knife.”

Andrew frowned, but didn’t feel like arguing any longer. “Alright. But they only stay the night. I want them gone before noon tomorrow.”

Steven nodded, pecking Andrew on the cheek. “I really do love you. I’m sorry I invited two strangers into our house.”

“That southern hospitality is really starting to get to you,” Andrew chided, thumbs rubbing circles into Steven’s arm. “It’s okay - I’m just a grumpy asshole.”

“But you’re my grumpy asshole, and I love you,” Steven said, the emotion in his eyes melting Andrew from the inside out. Andrew cupped Steven’s face and brought him in for another kiss.

Andrew broke apart and as the sun peaked in the sky, he murmured, “You’re the best thing that ever happened to me.”

But Andrew and Steven had work to do that day - watering the fields and working on their marketing. A surprising amount of their work was done online - creating an appealing website and making it their own, reaching out to farmer’s markets… it was a lot.

At four, the two men - intruders, in Andrew’s mind - showed back up and knocked on the door. “Thank you so much for inviting us in for dinner,” Ryan said, grin wide on his face.

As Steven let them into the house, Andrew finished up a nice little dinner for them - brisket, mac ‘n cheese, bitter greens, and lemonade. It was comfort food, mostly for Andrew’s benefit. He took the mac ‘n cheese out of the oven, setting it on a potholder on the table. Already on the table were the bitter greens and the brisket, which Andrew had roasted about an hour beforehand. He got out four cups and the pitcher of lemonade, and looked upon his masterpiece. It really did feel cathartic to cook like that again - he’d definitely put a bit of effort into how everything was arranged and it showed, and it was nice to have something to be proud of.

Andrew hoped he could have a redo with Ryan and Shane; he’d been particularly standoffish that morning, and he didn’t really know why. He still didn’t feel very at ease , letting two strangers into his barn to spend the night, but usually he could pretend to be hospitable for a bit.

He’d definitely take Steven up on that offer of sleeping on the couch with his knife.

He smiled as the three men walked into the kitchen. Ryan and Shane had wanted to keep their shoes on, but Steven had them take them off. He was very particular about the carpet.

Steven served the food, stranding Andrew out on small talk duty. “So… how did you hear about our farm?”

“I think the previous owners messaged us… a year ago?” Ryan looked to Shane, who nodded, “I dunno, I didn’t realize the owners had been switched. I thought you’d be the Laupers, but obviously -”

“We’re huge flaming homos?” Andrew joked, and Ryan wheezed out a laugh. “Yeah, I figured we don’t really fit the nuclear family aesthetic they left behind. Notice how this house feels like it crawled out of the fifties? So did they. Anyway, as far as I know, they’re retired in some RV park in Florida.”

“Well, I’m glad we can still do the episode,” Shane grinned, “Our viewers can get pretty aggravated if we don’t have the season ready on time”

“Our lateness is kind of a meme, really,” Ryan laughed, sharing a lingering gaze with Shane. Andrew raised an eyebrow at Steven in a silent question. Andrew took off his apron and oven mitts and took his own seat, digging into the food he’d waited so long to eat.

Everyone else seemed to take that as the cue to eat. “This is really fucking good,” Ryan said through a mouthful of bitter greens.

Shane gently smacked his arm. “Don’t talk with your mouth full,” He said, with his mouth full. Ryan swallowed and stuck his tongue out at Shane, leaving Andrew and Steven in hysterics. He could see why their show was popular - they were hilarious to watch, their chemistry was electric and witty and it sucked you right in. They chatted all evening, the sun fading at eight.

“You’re absolutely positive you’re fine with this?” Ryan said hesitantly as Steven led him and Shane to the barn. Steven assured them, and Andrew watched from the porch. He frowned into the distance, a horrible sinking feeling in his stomach.

He shrugged it off, going back inside and doing the dishes, trying to work off his lingering anxiety. By the time he was done with the dishes, his hands were trembling and his heart was racing. He hadn’t felt that bad since… well, he didn’t like to talk about it. Steven found him leaning against the soapy counter, getting his shirt wet, trying to breathe and calm down.

Steven took Andrew’s hands in his own. “It’s gonna be okay, Drew. They’re good people. I made sure all the windows were locked.”

Andrew nodded, throat tight. Steven kissed him gently, prying him off the counter and making him go lie down so he could finish the dishes. Amidst Andrew’s protests, Steven managed to shoo him off. Andrew was grateful for a dark room, really, he was. But the anxiety still lingered in his chest.

He held Steven close that night.

.o0o.

Ryan Steven Bergara had not been expecting to see a gay couple canoodling on the driveway when he pulled into the Laupers’ residence. He’d been up since four that morning, so everything about Steven and Andrew had startled him. The barn had startled him more.

Steven relayed the stories of the barn and, unfortunately, Ryan soaked it all up. He wondered how the Laupers lived there for so long - and Shane rebutted in his usual style.

“Because ghost aren’t real , Ryan,” He rolled his eyes, “And, anyway, old people are crazy.”

“And you’re an asshole,” Ryan nudged Shane harshly with his shoulder, “C’mon, let’s wander for the rest of the day. I’ve heard some pretty wild stories about this town.”

And so, they walked around the rest of the day, vlogging camera in hand, just talking about the town’s odd history.

“So, let me get this straight,” Shane’s brow was furrowed as they sat on a bench after stopping for ice cream, “This town was founded by a serial killer, has allegedly housed Jesse James, has had a ripe history of occultists, and has had an almost record-shattering number of homicides and suicides per capita.”

“Well, I think if there’s any place that’ll get you to concede that ghosts are real, it’s here,” Ryan said, leaning back on the bench. Around them, people played, seemingly unaware of the town’s past. “And, anyway, that barn gave me the heebie jeebies and it was like, nine in the morning when we saw it.”

“I will admit that something about that barn made me anxious,” Shane frowned, “But then again, it does appear to have never been touched since nineteen seventy-nine.”

Ryan rolled his eyes. “Just eat your ice cream, longlegs.”

Ryan turned off the camera, relaxing a bit and biting some of the chocolate shell off his ice cream. Shane, seemingly immune to anything that afflicts human beings, ate his ice cream without regard for his teeth or brain. Ryan was appalled. “I can’t believe you. Where should we get lunch? I’m fuckin’ hungry.”

Shane let out an indecisive noise, eyes darting around main street. “The barbeque place smelled good.”

Ryan nodded, taking a minute to finish his ice cream before walking with Shane to “ Habersburger ”. There was a woman at the register, a lovely looking brunette with a smile that lit up the room. Around the room was a bar, several tables and booths, and a small stage.

“Howdy!” The woman at the register asked. People laughed uproariously from a nearby table. “My name’s Becky, and the giraffe taking orders today is my fiance, Keith. What can I do for you?”

“Table for two, please,” Ryan smiled back to the beam of sunshine that inhabited the town. Becky seated them near a window.

She passed out the menus. “So how long have y’all been together?”

Shane had this weird little smile on his face as Ryan spluttered. “We’re not together - just friends.”

“And you’re not out with anyone else on such a beautiful day?”

What was she trying to prove? Ryan thought as Shane spoke again.

“We’re filming for our show. We’re going ghost hunting at Ilnyckyj’s.”

Becky nodded, seemingly convinced. “Ah. Keith will be right with you darlings.”

Ryan thought the town was doing well for one with such a dismal history. He played footsie for a while with Shane under the table while he scrolled on his phone. Eventually, a tall blond man with another radiant smile showed up at the table.

“Your gorgeous waiter today is Keith,” He introduced himself, “Try not to fall in love.”

Ryan and Shane both were in stitches by the time Keith left, and the food was delicious, too.

“How can such an amazing place exist in such a small town?” Ryan asked, stirring his Sprite, full and happy. A band had gotten up on stage and was playing, sweet bluegrass pouring out the front door.

Of course, Ryan thought the bluegrass music was sweet until he really stopped to listen . Songs about death, of people… killing their husbands. Pleasant.

“What the fuck is wrong with this music?” Ryan whispered to Shane as four men sang in beautiful harmony. The bass player, fiddler, banjo player, and lead vocalist all seemed perfectly at peace singing about a “river of death”.

“I dunno,” Shane said, “I think it’s kinda pretty.”

“Of course you do. Let’s get out of here and sightsee.”

“Goin’ so soon?” Keith pouted, arms overflowing with plates. “Well, at least let me recommend you the Museum Of Angels - it’s about our town’s history. Very cool. Right up your alley, I think.”

And with that, Keith was gone. Ryan shrugged to Shane, who just shrugged back. And they set out on their next endeavor.

The Museum Of Angels - complete with a ghost tour - sat on the outskirts of town. It looked much smaller on the outside than it was in reality, halls full of history set before Ryan.

He and Shane spent hours absorbed in the museum, a time capsule of the murders and plagues and cults and natural disasters of the town.

And sure, Ryan got some good shots in, but nobody could capture the look on Shane’s face when he was truly absorbed in something. Maybe Shane didn’t agree with the ghost part of the museum’s message, but he read every body of text in that museum. Ryan certainly could feel something stirring in his chest - a long-dead crush that seemed to resurrect itself at random. Ryan figured that’s what you get for repressing something that deeply - but little twinges of affection were so much better than hopelessly pining after someone who was almost certainly straight.

Ryan could barely figure himself out, anyway - how could he begin to figure out Shane?

With the bitterness now scratching at his throat, Ryan gathered himself and coughed a bit. “Let’s get going soon, Shane, it’s almost four.”

“We’ve spent three hours here?” Shane asked, still absorbed in some paragraph about a mother who’d drowned her husband and two children, “Wow - that’s - man . Can we come back here sometime?”

“‘Course,” Ryan said, voice almost breaking in trying not to speak too softly to Shane. He wanted so desperately to hold his hand and say I love you because - oh God - he loved Shane.

He loved Shane; he loved his asshole attitude and his freaky long legs and his love of history and his humor and his kindness that was just below the surface. Ryan loved Shane and maybe in the middle of a museum about death wasn’t the ideal place to realize it but it happened and Ryan needed a minute but he couldn’t take it and he couldn’t breathe .

Ryan kept walking. Eventually his heart calmed down and his face returned to normal Tennessee sweatiness instead of furious blushing. Ryan walked with Shane back to their Jeep, all the equipment still in back, and Shane set off to Steven’s again. The wind still whipped Ryan’s hair around and maybe he was enjoying it immensely and maybe he felt a little free when he rode in the Jeep and maybe it was the best fucking feeling in the world and maybe Ryan was starting to realize how close it was to when Shane smiled at him.

The Jeep pulled up to the barn again and Ryan spent the walk to the door pushing his feelings somewhere the sun didn’t shine.

.o0o.

After dinner, Shane and Ryan were to stay the night in the barn. Shane felt his apprehension return. Even after Steven had assured them that the hay loft was perfectly fine - they didn’t even have hay up there - Shane would’ve felt much better sleeping on the ground. As much as he hated to admit it, there was just something that creeped him out about the barn. And usually, he could chalk it up to disgust; there was just something so fitting about the word creep that it stuck in Shane’s brain like glue to paper. It felt like he was being followed. It sucked.

“This place sucks ,” Ryan hissed as soon as they got into the ancient structure, the empty stalls echoing Ryan’s sentiment back to him. Shane saw the camera out of the corner of his eye, but he didn’t reply. Something about Ryan’s statement rang too true.

Shane gritted his metaphorical teeth. “I think you’re imagining things.”

“Oh, just like you always do, gigantor,” Ryan rolled his eyes. “So - can we get past the part where you taunt the demons and get to the part where we try to sleep and I don’t?”

“Why don’t I let you have a minute alone, first?” Shane grinned, “The most of the activity is reportedly from the quarantine stable, where they kept the sick horses. Why don’t you go stand there for a few minutes with your spirit box or whatever?”

“Sounds like a plan,” Ryan nodded, grabbing the spirit box and walking into the quarantine stable. Shane saw him take a deep breath and collect himself, and then he shut the door behind him.

And suddenly, Shane was left alone in the darkness with nothing but his own thoughts. And for some reason, his thoughts never strayed from Ryan.

Ryan , with his gorgeous smile and beautiful laugh and soft hair and - Shane wondered how starry-eyed he could get. He smiled softly as he heard Ryan faintly from the closed door.

Ryan was the bravest person Shane would ever know; he was certain of it. His thoughts were so full of Ryan, Ryan, Ryan , that he barely heard Ryan creep out of the stall.

“All finished,” He said, weary, “I think I heard a few things, but nothing huge.”

Shane nodded. “I guess that makes it my turn.”

Shane walked into the stable and as soon as the door was closed, the room dropped ten degrees. Must be a weird night with the windchill , he thought to himself.

“Hey demons!” Shane called, “De-mons! De-e-e-e-e-mons! Got anything for me tonight, spooky boys? Got anything for an old pal? Remember when I took the Goatman’s bridge? That’s mine now! And this is gonna be my barn, too!”

And that’s when Shane heard it - a chuckle. The low battery light on his camera blinked (he needed new ones when he’d replaced them ten minutes ago?). The chuckle only grew louder when Shane tried the door handle and it didn’t work.

Shane found himself panicking, throwing his body against the door to get it open. As if it were only stuck, it eventually gave way and Shane was thrown from the room, eyes wide and chest heaving.

“Dude, are you okay?” Ryan asked, reaching for Shane in the darkness. Shane brushed him off, closing himself in. His camera died, beeping loudly before shutting off.

“I heard something. It was probably just the wind, though,” Shane shook his head, “Oh well - I need new batteries. We’ll have to check the footage in the morning.”

“I always bring them for demon episodes,” Ryan smiled, handing over a few. Shane exchanged them, grateful when the camera blinked to life. By the time his camera was back online, the feeling of terror had dissipated. Shane could only hope it wouldn’t come back.

“Well, now that we’ve gone over everything, I think it’s time for us to get some sleep,” Ryan said, nodding to Shane. He still wore a look of concern on his face.

Shane shook his head minutely, an I’m fine that only Ryan could pick up on, “If you can call it sleep. You’ll keep me up all night with your panicking.”

Ryan shook his head and laughed. “You asshole. Let’s go upstairs and lay out our sleeping bags.”

And they did just that, without another word, both of them ever so thankful to share breaths with another human instead of the thing that resided in the corner of the room. Neither of them spoke about it, but they laid their sleeping bags far closer than they normally would.

“I’m gonna feel like a real idiot listening to tapes of the wind howling tomorrow,” Shane murmured, trying to coax himself into sleep. He kept telling himself he was close to Ryan for Ryan’s comfort - but really, he just needed to be close to someone, to have something to convince himself that the noises in the night were just Ryan rolling over in his sleeping bag.

.o0o.

Eugene heard of two strange men that had arrived in town - hell, he’d seen their faces that same day. He heard of the same unsuredness that everyone had greeted Andrew and Steven with. Rumors that they were going to stir up ghosts… and, of course, other rumors. And, as per usual, he thought it was utter bullshit.

So he maybe turned on the Southern Charm a little more than he usually would have. “Morning, gentlemen, what can I get for you?”

Eugene ran a diner, a hole-in-the-wall place that made it by sheer force of will. Eugene’s mom and dad had both immigrated from Korea into a tiny town in Tennessee, for what reason Eugene could not fucking place, and they were - as new people often are - greeted with hostility. Eugene had grown up learning all the ways slurs could hurt aside equations. But now that his sisters had left, it was just him: a part of a tiny, insignificant town. Seeing outsiders was rare; seeing outsiders who looked like they’d run a marathon and fought an army on their own was… worrying, to say the least.

The shorter one had ruffled hair and bloodshot eyes, and the other had eye bags the size of a small dog, and they both looked like they hadn’t changed clothes, like a walk of shame but without the fun part. Eugene thought it best not to ask.

“Chocolate chip pancakes,” The taller one requested, and the shorter motioned for the same thing. Eugene smiled and told them their order would be right out, yelling to Quinta. Eugene served them some warm milk too. It was his true belief that there was nothing like warm milk for a heavy soul.

“We didn’t order this,” The shorter said, gesturing to the milk.

Eugene winked. “It’s on the house. You look stressed.”

“Thank you,” The taller said, “You have no idea how rough last night was.”

The shorter nodded. “Seriously, thanks. I’m Ryan, this is Shane, we’re… new, in case you haven’t noticed.”

Eugene grinned. “Not a problem! Nice to meet y’all.”

Eugene went back behind the register and eavesdropped a little.

“Hey, dude, are you okay?” Shane asked, “You probably didn’t get a lot of sleep last night.”

Ryan yawned before he replied, proving Shane’s statement. “Nah, ‘m fine, promise.”

Quinta finished with the pancakes not long after. Eugene looked outside to see a storm beginning to roll in. “Huh - didn’t see that in the forecast.”

Ryan and Shane exchanged a glance, and Eugene thought maybe there was more to them than met the eye.

“These pancakes are so fucking good,” Ryan sighed, way too loudly, “Oh - shit - sorry! Wait - fuck -”

“It’s okay, sweetie,” Quinta said through laughter, “There ain’t nobody here but us.”

“What fucking time is it anyway?” Eugene wondered, mostly to himself. He checked the clock. “What kind of people wait until after nine thirty to eat breakfast?”

Another look was shared between Ryan and Shane. “Hey, dude, we’re sorry, but - uhh...”

“What have you two done?” Eugene asked, feeling a pang of something in his chest. It wasn’t panic, just a… knowing .

Ryan gulped. “I have a feeling it’s a lot worse than we originally thought.”

.o0o.

“Shane - I think we need to get out of here. Soon,” Ryan said as they walked to the Jeep. This time, Shane was in the passenger’s seat, and Ryan was driving.

“But - listen, Ryan,” Shane pleaded, “I still haven’t finished reading what was in the museum. Please , man, just for one more day? I’ll let you take me on the ghost tour too once the weather clears up.”

“Fuck you,” Ryan sighed, nodding. They booked a motel with Shane’s debit card, and Shane grinned when Ryan flopped down onto the bed. Luckily, they weren’t in danger of running out of clothes or money any time soon.

Ryan hoped the rain would stop soon.

.o0o.

Steven felt the cold presence of Andrew somehow taken away from him. It was fucking awful - and it was only ten in the morning. It had been a long time coming - Andrew had been distant for a whole day, ever since Ryan and Shane had stayed the night in the barn. Steven had woken up to an empty bed that morning.

“Babe?” Steven asked after he found him, peering down at his boyfriend curled up on the couch with the cat. Guilt and anger and insecurity were already starting to rise in his chest. He knew he was jumping to conclusions, but he couldn’t help it.

Andrew stared into the distance, something that made Steven incredibly uneasy. “Not in the mood, Steven.”

“Not in the mood for… what?” Steven asked, throat going dry.

Andrew sat up. “I’m not in the mood for you , Steven. Try again some other time.”

Steven felt tears in his eyes. “You can’t just not be in the mood for me, Drew! That’s not how relationships work!”

“It kinda is - and don’t Drew me,” Andrew growled. Riceball, always the coward, had abandoned the couch and run to the bathroom, probably to hide in the sink.

Something strange overcame him, and all the emotions he didn’t know he was bottling up came out at once. “Y’know, sometimes I don’t feel like I even have a boyfriend! Sometimes I feel like I just have a mannequin who sleeps on the couch all day and pets the cat!”

“Yeah, well -” Andrew paused for a minute, “It’s not my fault you chose me! Because you did! You chose to be with me! And you can choose to stop.”

“I don’t know where you’ve been for the past few days,” Steven snapped, “But I think Ryan and Shane took a part of you with them. I miss my Drew.”

“He’s gone, Steven!” Andrew raised his voice, exploding off the couch. “He’s gone - and I’m here.”

And Andrew’s eyes flicked to black.

Steven didn’t know how to process what he saw - but there was a part of his brain that was so, so relieved that Andrew wasn’t Andrew. Once he was done being relieved, though, he was terrified.

“I can hear you thinking,” The demon said, “And I am still some of Andrew. I’m all the parts of him he was afraid to voice before. You know he’s been depressed for years, right? And he never told you. He’d been in all this pain, and you still weren’t trustworthy enough for him to go to.”

The tears made a forceful return to Steven’s eyes. “That’s a lie! I - I know what it’s like to go through that shit and it’s hard to voice to anyone , even people you’re close to, and -”

“And he’s not really in love with you,” The demon hissed, “He pities you, he lusts after you - but he’s never really loved you.”

The color drained from Steven’s face. “He - he -”

“It’s the truth,” The demon stepped closer to Steven, cupping his face far too gently, “Andrew promised himself to me just to be rid of you.”

Steven sobbed, trying to flee the house. He made it to the front door and tried the doorknob. It was locked - or, or kept shut or something. Steven whirled around to see some warped version of Andrew’s face, not quite there. Steven’s chest shuddered and his stomach churned and darkness was encroaching the sides of his vision and God , he was going to pass out.

“I don’t want you gone, I want you with me. Swear yourself to me, darling” The demon purred, “Aw - don’t worry, I can give you a good life in Hell. You’ll be my little pet, pretty thing.” He stroked Steven’s cheek, and Steven pressed himself so hard into the door it hurt.

He thought, coming to his own conclusion in a matter of seconds. He just needed to know one thing. He forced himself to look the demon in the eyes, and he rasped out, “Will Drew be happy?”

“I guarantee it,” the demon nodded. “So? What do you say?”

“I’ll do it,” Steven decided, “Shake on it?”

Without speaking, the demon grabbed Steven’s face and kissed it, and it burned the image of Not-Quite-Andrew’s face into Steven’s brain. He was gasping for air and no matter how much he struggled, the abyss on the edge of his vision sped closer and closer. Everything felt so… final. Like the sound of a bass drum at the end of a song.

As his vision faded and his knees gave out, he thought that death like this was a lot more peaceful than someone going to Hell deserved.

.o0o.

Shane woke up to a knock on the door. Eugene was there, looking outraged. Shane wished they hadn’t decided to stay in town for a few days just to wait for the stupid ghost tour to start up again.

“The demon was your fault, right?” Eugene asked, “This… this is all your fault, right?”

Ryan stirred from his bed, and Shane realized how beat-up Eugene looked. There were cuts littering his knuckles and fingers, and he was in his pajamas and sandals. He looked like he was about half a second away from blowing a fuse.

Shane spoke, awake enough now to regret not putting anything on over his boxers or changing out of his ratty t-shirt. “I’m sorry if anything happened -”

“You’re sorry if anything happened? Someone robbed my fucking diner!” Eugene shouted, “I might have to close!”

“Oh shit,” Ryan said from the other side of the room, stumbling around blindly before finding his glasses and joining Shane at the door, “Dude, I’m so sorry. Are you okay?”

“Unfortunately I’m not dead or healthy enough to tear you both a new one,” He growled, “But you two are fixing this. Now .”

“Well, jeez,” Ryan held his hands up in surrender, “Okay, we’ll fix it.”

Eugene relaxed a bit, letting out a breath. “Thank you.”

Eugene’s phone rang, and he picked it up. He gasped, rushing out of the building, leaving Shane and Ryan to stare at the empty space on the concrete outside of their motel as the rain continued to pour and pour and pour.

Shane turned to Ryan. “I guess this means we need to do some research?”

Ryan nodded, grabbing Shane’s laptop. They closed the door, leaving it unlocked just in case.

Hours later, and there were so many sources giving different information that Ryan didn't know which way was forward any more. Salt and holy water and repentance all seemed to be common threads, though.

Suddenly, Eugene came crashing into their motel room with a stranger, who was covered in a leather jacket, soaking wet, and shivering.

“This is Ned, and he will be staying with you,” Eugene said in a voice that didn’t leave room for negotiation, “He’s momentarily kicked out because of the demon. Deal with it.”

And then Eugene was gone again, and Ned was looking terrified. “I’m - I - I’m sorry -”

“Dude, it’s okay,” Ryan soothed, “Do you want a towel? We’re probably pretty close in size, I can lend you some of my clothes while yours dry.”

Ned nodded, silent. He stayed silent for the rest of the night, sitting in the corner and staring blankly at the wall. Ryan and Shane worked on putting together a viable plan for chasing the demons out of town.

Ned stood up, suddenly, as if he realized where he was. “What’s all this about demons?”

“It’s - uh - kinda my fault,” Shane admitted, “I provoked demons - or, just a demon, I think. It’s my shtick on this show Ryan and I do and I guess this time they were just… real? I dunno, this is all a lot for me.”

“He didn’t believe in ghosts before this,” Ryan said, “And I guess now the evidence is just -”

“This is too much to be a coincidence,” Shane conceded, “And while I was in the barn - I saw stuff, heard stuff, felt stuff. It’s - I guess it’s real this time.”

“I was gonna say compelling, but I guess that works too,” Ryan sang, allowing himself to gloat, and turning back to Ned afterwards, “Anyway, we’re going to chase it out. Do you happen to know a priest?”

.o0o.

Eugene paced. When he was anxious, he paced, and now there was all this supernatural bullshit on top of everything else. Ned was in serious danger, and he could feel that several others were too. He felt like he needed to rescue someone, like something horrible was going to happen.

And he’d had a nightmare. He’d dreamed that he was in Andrew’s barn, staring at a shadow that looked down on him, unblinking and seeing everything in his soul like there was nothing to stop it. But there was something stopping it from attacking - a hand was on his, a comfort amidst the darkness. His chest felt tight, though, like he couldn’t breathe. The thing looked at him, and he felt so deeply afraid that he could feel his heart beating irregularly.

He could see the barn in clear detail, even in the darkness. He could see strands of hay, the railing that marked the beginning of the stairs, the crescent moon outside the loft. The only thing he couldn’t seem to do was move.

The shadow struggled against whatever was holding it back, and seemed to disappear. Eugene could tell, though, that it wasn’t really gone.

So he looked to the hand. It had long fingers and it was a little cold but that was okay because Eugene’s hands were warm. Of course, it didn’t occur to Eugene that, in reality, his hands were always freezing. It made sense in the dream, when Shane’s palm squeezed around his and made him feel like he’d make it through the night.

Eugene woke up and, for a minute, he could’ve sworn he had Steven’s name on the tip of his tongue - but he couldn’t figure out why.

.o0o.

Ryan and Shane approached the barn again, the emptiness of it amplified in the rain. There were noises coming from the house, something that sounded like the howling of wind, but too unearthly, and too vivid for something so far away.

Despite his best efforts, Ryan felt horrible for neglecting to warn Steven and Andrew. He just… hadn’t been able to find them. He couldn’t find their phone numbers, and they hadn’t replied to their emails, and they’d lost the directions to their place until Eugene could give them the directions. Ryan took comfort in the fact that at least he wouldn’t have to say the words “I’m sorry for raising a demon in your barn” any time soon, according to Eugene.

Ryan struggled against the rain, holy water in hand. It felt like a security blanket to have, even though Ryan was still anxious about it not working or becoming too diluted in the rain and even as his shirt was soaked and he grew cold to the bone. Shane stood beside him, clearly just as terrified as he was.

“Remember, don’t let it get to you,” Shane yelled over the booming thunder, “This is only as dangerous as your mind makes it out to be.”

Ryan honestly didn’t know what to expect - there was so much conflicting information that it terrified him to think of what was behind the door. And then he heard Andrew scream out.

Ryan crashed through the door, vial of holy water raised, to find Steven holding a knife to Andrew’s neck. “One more step and your blood won’t be the only blood spilled tonight.”

Steven’s eyes were jet black - but that was an understatement. Steven’s eyes were like negative mass, so empty they beckoned Ryan in a way that felt inevitable.

“Soon,” The demon crowed, “Soon, soon, soon, my brothers and sisters will arrive, and we will make this town so full of sin it rots from the inside out.”

Andrew looked petrified, tear tracks on his face. His chest heaved.

“Get out of my friend!” Ryan cried, rushing the demon and throwing holy water onto it.

And then, silence fell over the room, and everything slowed down. The demon laughed, pushing Andrew aside, letting him crumple to the floor like a ragdoll.

Shane rushed to his side.

“You’re a complete idiot, Ryan Steven Bergara,” The demon’s use of Ryan’s full name sent a horrible chill down his spine. “Did you really believe that old superstition?”

“It’s not - not a superstition,” Ryan’s eyes widened. “And anyway, I’m not afraid of you.”

“You sure seem afraid.” The demon grinned, smile contorted and wide, “Are you afraid of me, Ryan?”

“No!” Ryan said, heart hammering in his chest. Shane and Andrew looked on, completely forgotten.

The demon narrowed its eyes, hand on Ryan’s chest. “Then why don’t you prove it?”

Ryan swung his fist at Steven’s face, connecting solidly with his skull. The noise of Ryan’s knuckles cracking against Steven’s head rang out into the dead silent room. The demon blinked back, brown irises flickering in and out of focus.

“Ow - holy shit!” Steven nearly screamed, gripping his head with his hands and sinking to the floor. His eyes bulged and he trembled.

Ryan dropped to his knees in front of him. “Dude I’m so fucking sorry - are you okay? Holy shit -”

“Shut the fuck up!” Steven cried, pressing into his temples and whimpering. Andrew scrambled over, tackling him in a hug.

“I thought I lost you.”

“I thought I said shut up,” Steven groaned, curling up tightly in his arms. Andrew kissed his hair, pulling him close.

The scene was tense, Shane moving to check Ryan’s knuckles, which had started to throb. Shane’s eyes met Ryan’s and for a moment, the danger had passed. Lightning caused the lights to flicker, and Shane swore, disappointed.

Ryan let Shane hold him, let him rock back and forth on his heels, let the energy heal. He gripped his injured hand in his whole one.

Slowly, Steven uncurled and let out a long breath.

“I love you, baby,” Andrew said quietly, choked up. Ryan’s heart ached, a knife in his chest cavity because he could only imagine what it would be like to be that with Shane. It was a quiet ache, though, background to the panic still residing in his chest.

When Steven had enough of himself back to ask to be alone, Andrew patted Steven’s shoulder. “Thank you. You’re a brave man, Ryan.”

Ryan looked to Andrew, finding the stony face he’d grown accustomed to looking back. “Of course. Thank you.”

Ryan and Shane went back to the motel, leaving Andrew to put Steven back together.

.o0o.

Andrew cupped Steven’s face, kissing him softly. “I really did think I had lost you, baby. I’m so sorry. I tried so hard to fight off the demon, but he -”

“Did you?” Steven asked, blinking up at the ceiling, “Because I heard otherwise.”

Andrew seemed confused. “What do you mean?”

“I mean the demon said you wanted to get rid of me!” Steven raised his voice, wincing as his headache came back, “That you pitied me and - and you didn’t trust me, and -”

Steven sniffled and Andrew wanted to cry. “Steven, I - that’s not true. You know it’s not. I’ve never loved someone like I’ve loved you.”

“The demon said you’d been depressed for a long time and never told me and I -”

“That’s true,” Andrew muttered, “That part’s true. I just - I didn’t want you to worry. I wanted you to think I was being a lazy asshole and not to think I was just too empty to feel anything because -”

“I did something horrible,” Steven realized, looking Andrew in the eye, “I thought the demon was telling the truth and I - I sold my soul to it, I think.”

“For what?”

“For you to be happy.”

.o0o.

Eugene held Ned as he shook. There was something small about his friend that Eugene hadn’t seen since he’d come out.

“I…” Ned whispered, “My mom kicked me out. She told me she didn’t want a sinner in the house, Eugene.”

“I’m sorry,” Eugene stroked Ned’s hair, rage flying through his chest. This wouldn’t have happened if Shane and Ryan had known their place. Something in Eugene told him it could only get worse before it got better, and Eugene was terrified of that feeling - especially since his feelings tended to be incredibly accurate as of late.

Ned looked up to Eugene. “I want Ariel back.”

“She’ll be back soon, and the demon will leave,” Eugene said, as though he were stating the end of a story he knew by heart. He hoped there was some weight to his statement. Ned took a deep breath collapsed onto one of the beds, staring up at the popcorn ceiling like it was full of stars.

Eugene sat at the small table in the corner of Ryan and Shane’s room. They’d given him a key - said it would be a group effort. Eugene just wanted the demon gone so they could go too.

“Wh - why are you two still here?” Shane asked impatiently when he and Ryan got back to the room. Ryan was nursing some sort of wound and, as Eugene noticed Shane was apt to do, Shane was treating it like a minor emergency.

“We’re here until you fix this shit,” Eugene stated, “Quinta’s not here because her brother lives out of the city and she could get out.”

Shane sighed. “Okay, but I need you to move so I can get to the sink.”

Eugene obliged, moving from where he was leaning on the counter. Shane turned on the sink’s light, looking at Ryan’s hand. His knuckles looked bruised and a little swollen.

“What did that brick wall do to you to deserve this?” Eugene joked, and Ryan looked at him with eyes so full of guilt and sadness that Eugene legitimately felt sorry for a minute. For a minute. And then he remembered that Ryan and Shane brought this upon themselves. Shane let Ryan tuck himself up against him as he checked Ryan’s hand, putting an ice pack on it.

Shane didn’t step away, though. He just stood there, letting himself relax against Ryan’s body. “I thought I was going to lose you for a minute there.”

“You thought…” Ryan looked up to him and, God , Eugene thought he was going to have to squish their heads together if they didn’t kiss soon. Shane was looking down at him with fear in his eyes. He really does love him , Eugene thought, glancing between their faces.

They both said, wordlessly, “I love you.”

Then, Ryan stood up on his toes and kissed Shane. Shane moved to cup his face, the kiss sweet and soft, and Eugene kinda wanted to barf. He was never a huge fan of kisses. He was a child of divorce, and all that.

For someone who didn’t have a lot of faith in love, Eugene had a lot of faith in Ryan and Shane. He almost trusted them. Or, he wanted to - they were cute.

Ned looked just as uncomfortable as Eugene felt. Shane turned to them when he realized they were still there, surprised. Eugene raised an eyebrow at him.

“Oh, don’t stop on our account.” Eugene grinned, as Ned wolf-whistled.

“I dunno, it seems like he’s enjoying the free show,” Shane said, nodding to Ned. Ryan, however, didn’t find the situation very funny.

Ned laughed, and Ryan’s face only grew redder as he got more worked up.

“I’m sorry, when you have any ideas on how to get rid of the demon that don’t include punching possessed people in the face, come talk to me,” Ryan narrowed his eyes at Ned. Everyone blinked at him, stunned into silence.

“If I was wrong about the brick wall, who was it?” Asked Eugene, seeming vaguely intrigued by the concept.

Ryan shook his head a bit, leaning into Shane. “Steven.”

“You punched Steven ?” Ned’s mouth fell open, “Dude - that’s like, a capital offense in Andrew’s book. How are you still alive?”

“I dunno,” Ryan laughed, “The fact that about thirty seconds prior he was threatening to kill him might’ve done it.”

“God, you guys really did get close to dying,” Ned said, astonished, “I had no fucking clue.”

“Generally, when people say they’re being attacked by demons, they aren’t kidding,” Shane interjected, “So - Eugene, you got any solutions yet?”

Eugene thought on it a moment. “Actually, I think I do. A while ago, I had a dream. I think I was Ryan - I dunno. I was in a sleeping bag and Shane, you were curled up next to me and I couldn’t move and there was a demon standing right at my feet but I don’t think he could touch me -”

“So… what are you saying?” Shane quirked an eyebrow at him. Ryan looked shocked for a minute, but he took Eugene’s dream in stride incredibly well.

“That maybe, the key is love, or something,” Eugene frowned, “I dunno. Dreams aren’t an exact science. And that sounds like bullshit.”

“I read somewhere that the trick was just to not be afraid of it,” Ryan shrugged, “But I tried that, and wound up punching Steven in the face, and, I mean, it worked, but the gloom ‘n stuff is still here.”

“Were you really unafraid, though?” Eugene asked, his own piercing eyes reflected in Ryan’s startled ones, “You were brave, yes. But bravery and being unafraid… those are two different things.”

Ryan snorted. “I’m not stupid -”

“Ryan,” Eugene said, flatly, “We need to find a way to stop this thing before someone gets hurt - or worse.”

“What if we burned the barn?” Ned suggested, looking to the group. They looked back at him. “It’d be a pretty damn good display of being unafraid, and without a central source, maybe the demon will leave?”

Eugene blinked. “That could work. We’ll need to ask Steven and Andrew, though.”

Ten minutes later and, across town Andrew sighed into his phone.

“If you really think this will work.”

.o0o.

Ned creeped into the barn, feeling the wind raise the hair on his arm. Voices whispered to him, and he felt like running away or simply falling to the ground, clutching at his hair and screaming until they went away. They whispered horrible things about him. It was middle school all over again, when word that he was trans got out and ran wild. It was complete with insecurity, the need to hide his chest, the erratic feeling of paranoia in his lungs and toes as endless voices muttered that he’d never really be a man. It hurt like Hell.

But he pressed on, to the quarantine stable. Armed with gasoline and a bundle of matches, he hoped that the rain wouldn’t wash everything away before the barn burned to the ground.

He knew the others were outside with more fuel, anyway. He started in the quarantine stable, making sure to use a lot of gasoline there. He moved around the corners of the barn and, as he exited, he lit the match and dropped it onto a trail of gasoline.

It felt cathartic, really. Like he was burning all the horrible people he’d come into contact with. Like he was burning the people who’d ignored him after he came out to them, or worse. Like he was burning up his whole past, like he was about to watch it go up in flames. He walked up to the front knowing he was going to enjoy this very, very much.

And walked straight into the door.

He tried the handle - when had he closed the door? - and he banged on it as the flames began to lick up the walls, creeping closer and closer to him. The room grew unbearably hot, Ned’s leather jacket sticking to his skin and hair damp on his face.

“Let me out!” He screamed, “Somebody help!”

The door shook with the force of Ned throwing his body against it. Just as the flames began to burn his leg, the door splintered around the lock and he fell into Eugene’s arms, shaking.

“It’s okay, it’s okay,” Eugene said, softer than Eugene had said anything, ever, “You’re safe now. Are you hurt?”

Ned nodded - he’d been burned and there were splinters in his leg and just above his collar. Eugene spent the night doting after him, picking out the splinters carefully and pressing cool cloths to his burns. Ned was so shaken that it took him awhile after that to even talk, nevermind process the fact that he almost died. Shane and Ryan took one bed, Eugene and Ned took the other. Ned didn’t talk about the fact that Eugene held him close despite the fact that he knew Eugene hated cuddling.

.o0o.

Zach tripped over a rock, papers flying everywhere and heart thumping so loud he thought the whole town could hear. He scrambled back up, ankle feeling like it was malfunctioning. He had too much adrenaline in his system to feel much in the way of pain, but he knew he’d scraped up his legs and palms pretty good, and that he had a very sprained ankle.

But he kept hobbling on, as fast as he could go without falling right over again. He had to get somewhere. He didn’t know where, just - somewhere.

Zach was naturally clumsy at the best of times, so of course he’d tripped over the rock when he was running for his life in the middle of the night. His lungs still burned, even as he slowed to what felt like a brutally meager pace.

Then, someone appeared in front of him. A hooded figure - Zach couldn’t see its face. A switchblade clicked, and Zach put his arms out, pleading on his tongue, preparing for the worst.

.o0o.

Eugene turned on the radio as everyone else looked out at the continuing downpour. By now, there was some minor flooding going on. Ryan kicked the wall.

“Dammit!” He swore, “Fuck!”

“Woah, dude, what’s going on?” Ned asked, eyes wide.

Eugene answered before Ryan could speak. “He’s angry at himself for agreeing to burn the barn, even though he wasn’t the one who suggested it, and it was as good of an idea as anything else.”

“Dude - what the fuck? How did you know that?” Ryan exclaimed.

Eugene shrugged. “I dunno. I’m starting to think I’m psychic. It makes sense - back in Korea my mother was weaned on the teat of the town psychic.”

“Wh -” Ryan wheezed, cutting himself off.

“I’m serious!” Eugene said, “It hasn’t really been a thing until now, but the more I think about it, the more it makes sense!”

Shane and Ryan exchanged another one of their glances , and Eugene glared at them. And that’s when the radio said something that caught their attention.

The woman’s crackly voice was quieter than anybody’s, but the word “murder” caused the room to fall silent.

“-f twenty-seven year old Zach Kornfeld shocks the town. He was found stabbed to death in Wilder Park, at the hands of someone police simply can’t identify. With no witnesses and next to no evidence, there are currently no suspects.”

Ned turned to Eugene. “Bud, I’m sorry -”

But Eugene was just staring at the radio, unblinking, unmoving. Ned looked crestfallen too, to say the least. Ryan was reminded of just how small a town it was - Ned and Eugene probably knew Zach. Ryan felt horribly guilty. It really was his fault.

“Don’t even start blaming yourself,” Shane murmured, hand wrapped around Ryan’s waist. Eugene looked like he was having trouble breathing. He was having a panic attack, Ryan vaguely thought, as he nestled himself into Shane’s side like the guilty, selfish thing he was. Eugene collapsed onto his knees, and still, Ryan watched on as Ned helped him, almost like Ned wasn’t really there, just something blank to guide Eugene away from his terror.

Eugene gasped and swallowed, spitting out, “Everything’s falling apart.”

Ned’s hand stroked Eugene’s back as he looked out to the torrential downpour. “I just wish the demon would get it over with and end us. I just wish he’d stop our suffering once and for all.”

Ryan thought of Steven. For some of them, their suffering wouldn’t stop at all. It felt like years had passed, and they’d only been in town for a few days.

“You’re right,” Shane said, stepping away from Ryan. “Everything is changing. But - okay - maybe there’s a bright side to this?”

“Where?” Eugene asked, so quietly it might as well have not been there, “Where’s the goddamned bright side? My friend is dead , Shane, and my other friend sold his soul and this psychic stuff isn’t nearly as cool as I’d imagined!”

“We don’t know for sure that you’re -”

Eugene lunged at Shane, held back by Ned. “I do! I do, and I know for a fact that if it weren’t for you, or something, Ryan would be fucking dead too! And you would be just as scared as I am!”

“I - I’m sorry, man,” Shane blinked, “I didn’t even believe in this shit a few days ago. I just wanted to come here with Ryan and watch him get scared out of his mind and laugh like we always do - and now - and now I’m responsible for so many horrible things and I -”

Ryan just watched the scene as though he were behind a veil. Like he wasn’t even there. Shane sobbed and Ryan reached out for him but Shane ran out before Ryan could get his hand to his shoulder.

Ryan shook, even if he couldn’t really feel it - as if his whole body was in front of the veil, his hand pressed to his mouth. Eugene was silent beside him, staring at the wall, and Ned looked like he was stuck between helping them or chasing after Shane. He walked to the door, closing it, and turned to face them again. He blinked, and his eyes were pitch black.

.o0o.

Shane made it a few blocks before he stopped on the sidewalk, dropping to his knees. “Please!” He begged, staring up at the abysmal sky, “Please - I know I haven’t believed in you for a long, long time - but I need answers and I don’t have them!”

He screamed up at the sky in the empty night, pleading to someone he didn’t believe in to do something he didn’t believe God could do. His last please, I can’t lose him echoed through Main Street, greeting Shane’s ears just as they’d left them. Meaningless and facetious and just a way for Shane to cast doubt onto someone else. Shane sobbed into his palms, feeling his jacket soak onto his skin.

He felt truly hopeless for once in his life. No answers, and the questions kept piling on and on and on. So he sat there, freezing, in the rain, letting it fall over his face and get in his eyes. If this was a movie, there would be a swell of music as the cameras closed in on Shane’s face, capturing it in the most beautiful light possible.

But it wasn’t beautiful - and it wasn’t loud. It was quiet except for the sounds of Shane’s lamenting and the sheets of rain that just kept coming, and it was ugly, the way Shane’s face crumbled, the way his back hunched, the way he’d acted. Everything about his situation was ugly and quiet and it made Shane want to scream again. But if he did, he still wouldn’t have any answers. And, anyway, nobody would come to check on him.

Shane looked over to find a shop - closed. But it drew Shane’s attention. He supposed it was the gloom or the demon’s influence or whatever, but he was attracted to it like a magnet. He stopped crying and took off his jacket, using it to smash open the glass door. No alarm.

Shane walked in and picked apart the scene. It was a small, hole-in-the-wall place, decorated with nerdy posters and memorabilia. Shane looked at the desk at the front, and started looking for something. He didn’t know quite what. Then, he found it - a tattered book laying on the worn carpet floor. It looked as though it had been dropped.

It had a name and a number written on it. Zach Kornfeld , Shane read, and felt sick to his stomach.

And Shane told himself dead men don’t need books , and he opened it.

Demons are a most foul creature, wretched souls that have been tortured so endlessly that their souls cease to be human, instead consumed by their own pain and suffering.

Shane read along, a few sentences catching his attention. Demons feed on fear and hatred, so lack of either emotion should get rid of them , in pen, by the typed text.

Huh. So Eugene was right.

Another typed note caught his attention as he skimmed the rest of it. If a person sells their soul, and the demon who made the deal with them is destroyed, that person is free from the deal.

Shane had to share this with them - he ran back to the hotel room, a fire in his lungs that was mostly there due to the fact that he was, like, super out of shape. His legs burned and his shoulder hurt for some weird reason and damn , Shane made a mental note to go running more often with Ryan when they got out of this hellhole.

Of course, now that he thought about it, leaving the town felt almost… wrong. Like he was stuck in a fishbowl with nowhere to go, and if he left he’d cease to breathe. He arrived at the door to their room, and pounded on it with his fist.

“Ryan! I don’t have the key - let me in! I know how to kill the demon!” Shane shouted over the wind, which had picked up, almost as if the demon knew Shane knew. But there wasn’t a reply. Shane, panicked, glanced out at the parking lot. Their Jeep was still there, so where was Ryan?

Shane knocked on the door again. “Ryan? Eugene? Ned?”

He stopped and listened and he could feel something wrong in the room. It wasn’t just his paranoia - there was something horrible in there.

Shane grew frantic again, bruising his palm on the door. “Let me in! Get away from Ryan - fuck! - I love him! Let me - let me in!”

The door swung open. Ryan and Eugene were sitting together in the corner, hands bound and mouths gagged with some strange thing that Shane couldn’t place. Oh well , he thought, It’s just weird demon goo, then .

“You love him?” Ned asked, black eyes and silver tongue giving the demon away, “You really, really love him?”

Ryan’s eyes widened, and Eugene shook his head, as if he knew they were doomed.

“I think I do, you demon fuck,” Shane snarled, “And if you touch him -”

“Don’t worry,” The demon said, “I won’t touch a hair on his pretty little head. I’m sure you know by now that love will kill me, oh woe!” The demon pressed a hand to its forehead, pretending to faint. “I’m so scared.”

“You should be, ‘cus I’m not scared of you,” Shane hissed, eyes narrowed, “Why would I be?”

The demon almost seemed taken aback, but it smiled anyway. “You may not be afraid of me - but your crush? Your little infatuation, your little project ? He’s terrified of me. I can touch him - I can hurt him all I want. But if you truly love him - if you don’t want that to happen, you’ll kill Eugene.”

Shane found himself holding a knife, the book safely in the demon’s hands. “Do it - do it, Shane. Prove that you love Ryan, and I’ll be forced to leave.”

Shane glanced between Ryan and Eugene, and back to the knife in his hand. And then, Shane dropped to his knees and set the knife down. He cast Ryan one more pleading look.

“I’m not going to kill Eugene,” Shane said, swallowing and taking a shaky breath before continuing, “Because he doesn’t deserve that. But Ryan doesn’t deserve pain either. Please, if you’re gonna hurt anyone, hurt me. Because I love him too much to see him suffer. Please .”

The demon laughed. It looked between Ryan and Eugene and Shane, and laughed. “You really think I’ll do what you say? You’re pitiful. I’ll hurt him, and you’ll watch, and then… when I’m done with him, I’ll hurt you.”

Shane ignored the demon, trying a new tactic, and turned to Ryan. “Please, baby - I promise it can’t hurt you if you aren’t afraid. Just - just think about me, okay?”

Ryan nodded, and Shane pressed forward into this unfamiliar territory, “Think of me with my arms around you, watching basketball or whatever, and - and think of going out on dates to Knott’s Berry farm and - and just try to stop being afraid. I know you - I know you can do it, okay, baby?”

Shane had never really talked to someone like that, but it did something to Ryan. His shoulders squared up and he had tears in his eyes.

“Okay, I’ve had enough of this,” The demon said, and the knife rose into the air and flew at Ryan. He stared at it as it approached, and Shane thought of Ryan buying him flowers, Ryan going window shopping with him and making fun of the latest fashion trends, Ryan going to cheap haunted houses with him, anything but the sound of Ryan screaming.

And then, he realized Ryan wasn’t screaming. The knife had stopped a few inches from Ryan’s abdomen, and the demon kept flicking its wrist like something would happen. But it just twitched lifelessly, like it was stuck.

Ryan tentatively tried at the bonds on his wrist, which fell apart. He spat out the gag and rushed over to Shane, tackling him in a hug. “It worked - holy shit, holy shit, Shane - it worked!”

Shane kissed Ryan fully. The demon, in a body that was seeming more and more to be Ned’s, blinked.

And then the demon screamed. It was an unearthly sound that pierced Shane’s ears - but somehow, he couldn’t care less. Ryan kissed back, and there was a blinding flash of light. The bonds at Eugene’s wrists fizzled away, but not before leaving the demon’s last mark. Eugene hissed as the imprint of the bonds was burned onto his skin.

After a minute, Eugene spoke. “Do y’all hear that?” He said softly, eyes full of wonder.

“Hear what?” Asked Ryan, still on Shane’s chest. His voice was slightly muffled by Shane’s jacket.

“The rain stopped.”

.o0o.

Steven was still awake. It was six in the morning and he hadn’t slept and somehow, at some point, the rain had stopped. But that meant the demon could be back at any moment to collect him.

“I love you,” Andrew said, like it was the last time he’d ever be able to.

Steven sighed. “I love you too, buddy.”

“You can’t call me buddy, we’re practically married,” Andrew rolled his eyes, “And, hey, listen -” He got serious, “Even if at some point you’re going to be taken away to Hell, or whatever, these years will still have been the best of my life. Even if the demon promised I’d be happy - I can’t really be happy without you.”

“Were you, though?” Steven asked, “You never denied that you’d been depressed.”

“Steven, I - you know I couldn’t help that -”

“Well, you could have asked me for help! Partners are supposed to support each other! And I’m not just here for you when you’re happy!” Steven raised his voice, stomping his foot, and immediately feeling bad about his outburst. “I’m sorry - I’m just scared for you sometimes.”

Andrew looked a little taken aback, and then his eyes softened. “I love you so much. I’ll - I’ll try to tell you next time.”

“Thank you,” Steven breathed, relaxing a bit and kissing Andrew’s cheek. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

.o0o.

Ned looked wary as he waited for his mom at the park. When she arrived, though, he relaxed. She looked as though she had been crying. A lot.

“Ned - honey,” She said, already looking uncomfortably close to tears, “I’m so sorry - I’m so, so sorry - I don’t know what came over me, but I was so terrified -”

Ned’s resolve to be angry at his mom broke and he rushed forward, scooping her up in a hug. “Mom, it’s okay! It’s okay. You were afraid. We all do horrible things when we’re scared.”

Ned’s mom shook her head, “It’s not okay! I was so scared of the Lord’s judgment for my baby that I kicked him out. That’s never okay. You know I’ve been going to that nondenominational church lately, where they focus a lot more on tolerance, and -”

“And I love you for it,” Ned said, squeezing her and letting her go, “You’re doing your best. And I know you didn’t mean it - I think the rain just got to you.”

Ned’s mom nodded, and Eugene noticed they were both crying. Eugene smiled, his own eyes watery.

Eugene knew everything would be okay for Ned. Ariel would be back in town, soon, and Ned’s mom would give him more leftovers more often for a while before everything went back to the way it had always been.

And it was all like it was before, except Eugene and Ned had a few more scars and a few more stories they couldn’t share.

.o0o.

Ryan and Shane left the next weekend. Steven was assured that the demon was obliterated and couldn’t take him to Hell, Ned had reconciled with his mother, Eugene had found the man who’d robbed him and had the money returned (plus some extra for damages).

As Shane packed the filming equipment back up into the jeep, he turned to Ryan. “This feels wrong, right?”

“Yeah.” Ryan nodded, “Like… like we’ve been through so much in this town we belong here now?”

Shane gave a small noise of agreement. “Yeah. Like we’re leaving ourselves behind.”

Shane didn’t think he’d belong there, either, though. Like they didn’t belong anywhere, now.

They stood there for a moment, and Shane climbed into the driver’s side of the Jeep. Ryan took a seat on the passenger’s side. They passed the diner on the way out, and Ryan saw the vigil for Zach taking place in the recently repaired front room. Ryan turned to Shane, who had his aviator sunglasses on and hair windswept. His heart still hurt.

Ryan watched the fields pass them by in a slow, melancholy way. He didn’t feel free any more. Just like he was the same small, trapped thing he’d been when the demon had inhabited Ned’s body back at the motel. He wanted to go to Zach’s vigil so bad, but Shane had promised that they would not be missed. They hadn’t even said goodbye.

“Do you think there’s more demons out there?” Ryan asked as they stopped for gas.

Shane thought a moment, and nodded. “Absolutely.”

“Wanna never get involved with another one again?” Ryan leaned up against Shane, both of them looking out at the fading dusk around them.

Shane paused again. “Absolutely.”

#mod #txt #fic #sb #stan #PLEASE rb

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