#.. which was creepier cause he knew her as a girl

[tskumoyuuma]

every day I am thankful for kyle maclachlan for not letting the cooper audrey relationship become romantic

[cloveroctobers]

RIO/MANNY x black! Reader | October Prompts!

A/N: andddd we’re back! Back at it again with some spooky content for you. We love writing for Rio/Manny so I thought why not? Also threw another handsome man into the mix…so we’ll see how this works out! Shall we?

Prompt: #2. “Trust no one tonight.” + #4. “The house is not haunted.”

Synopsis: Rio/Manny warns you to be careful tonight and suddenly the house feels a lot bigger and creepier without him there. So you invite over a new friend you made to mainly keep you company but to show them that your mind is not playing tricks on you.

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“Trust no one tonight,” Manny’s voice tells you as you’re standing in the kitchen, hand deep into a chip bag.

Instantly a frown appeared on your face, “and what do you mean by that, Manny?”

It was mostly silent on his side of the line until you heard the acceleration of his engine before he basically ignored you, “where’s my girl?”

“You’re talking to her.”

Manny chuckled on the other line, “oh so you love me again?”

You scowled putting the phone on speaker and tossing it onto the island. It’s been five months since you brought up the idea of separation but not a divorce. Manny was your husband of eight years but the danger of his lifestyle started to become unsettling to you. Of course you were loyal, he could never say you weren’t but having him brush off the fact that he was almost burned alive scared you. He had to come clean to his Mayan Charter, that he was part of something much bigger than they knew.

Which brought on higher demands and not seeing him at all. The two of you shared a four year old and if you had to raise her yourself, you would. You preferred not to but Manny made that hard and he didn’t like you questioning him. He just expected you to, “trust the process.” He would do anything for the both of you, the two of you were his entire world and he was involved in a lifestyle that could hand him his death sentence any day. He was down for the cause and providing for his family was his number one goal.

“I never stopped loving you,” you sighed, “don’t get on my nerves Manny. What’s up?”

Manny answered, “ez’s supply got burned to a crisp so he came to myself and Mick to make a trip over the border. Let’s just say, shit went left over there and you know I don’t flee from much.”

This was true and frustrating. You didn’t need to know every detail of your man’s business but just the basics. Things like this? You needed to know. When Manny provided vague sentences and started questioning about your daughter’s whereabouts and whenever he mentioned those fucking Reyes brothers—you had questions.

Manny knew how to be strategic so if anything took a turn, he was quick on his feet to handle it. That you knew. The secret was out that Manny had his own connections and could supply what was needed. Miguel Galindo was hiding in the shadows so someone had to take over but that was not how Manny originally wanted to play it. So you left the raised ranch in Santo padre to a mid-century home out in Palm Springs, away from everyone and almost everything.

“Which is why I’m asking, where’s Maeve?”

“She’s with her aunt and uncle for the weekend remember?” You replied, “they wanted to take her and the twins to the theme park with those tickets you gave them for their birthday.”

Your younger siblings were roommates in a shared town home out in San Diego and often took Maeve to spend time with your brother’s kids. You had plans to enroll Maeve into a private school next year but would strongly consider homeschooling if Manny’s profession got significantly worse.

“Mmm, I’ll get mick on that.”

Widening your eyes you said, “damn, that bad huh?”

“Yeah, kinda. Don’t worry about it too much, mama.” Manny answered, “I’m on my way back but I don’t recommend leaving the house once nightfall comes through. Shut everything down the minute the sunsets you hear me?”

Puffing out a breath you scowled, “what if I had plans now that Maeve is with my sibs?”

“That’s cancelled, I thought that was obvious.” He chuckled.

Your eyes were rolling. It’s not like you did have plans exactly this weekend, it was supposed to be a chill one but the fact of the matter is: you could have had plans and things often have to be rearranged due to Manny’s surroundings.

“Mama?” He pressed.

“Yes. I know. Operation lockdown by 6pm until otherwise stated.”

“Trust no one.”

You repeated, “And trust no one.”

“Aight.”

Just like that you were off the phone with a long sigh and a childish stomp of your feet. Everything from this point on was a routine: checking the time, checking the fridge for leftovers, putting some tunes on by voice command, and ran your bath water as you stripped, sitting in your bra and panties while you scrolled Twitter.

A gush of warm-like air brushed against your kitchen, almost as if someone was breathing right behind you as you sat on your bed. You whipped around, eyes scanning the ceiling in search of the placement of the vent. Yes the central heat turned on minutes after you got off the phone with Manny. That was the reason why you decided to take a bath, turning it up slightly just to keep it warm while you bathed.

Most of the vents in the bedrooms were only on the floor and not the ceiling. Rubbing at the spot, you pushed off the bed to quickly enter the bathroom with a lock of the door. Settling into the bubble bath, you plucked the flute glass off the wooden tray and enjoyed your personal time to yourself. The worry of tonight went to the back of your mind as you dozed off for some time.

A quick yank by the tips of your exposed feet had you underwater. The gasping for air made you choke, hands gripping the sides of the tub while you felt pressure on your chest, holding you down. This couldn’t be a simple mistake of dozing off? Not when it felt like something cold and solid was keeping you in place between your breasts?!

Your lungs were burning for air until you were able to feel in control of your body again. Popping out of the water, you choked lounging onto the side of the tub, cheek and ankle resting along the cool edge. Coughing you quickly wiped the bubbles off your face, glancing down at your toes to see your big toe nail appeared to be bleeding along with a dark purple ring circling your ankle.

Once you gained the strength to pull yourself out onto the tile floor you fought to gain your breath back. A towel was eventually wrapped tightly around your body, water drained, gauze secured around your toe; with your phone pressed against your ear.

Manny now had ten missed calls.

Cautiously you found some clothes to throw on, leg bouncing as you sat on your bed. You locked yourself in the bathroom but didn’t feel safe there and now you were back in the bedroom and you didn’t a hundred percent feel safe there either.

That’s when you felt it again. Warm breath against the back of your neck followed by a sinister whisper, “Malachi.”

If you ever seen Tom and Jerry? You were Tom shooting up from your bed after that. Fumbling with the door knob, you did not look behind you as you hobbled down the hallway ordering your phone to call someone else instead.

Twenty minutes later you flung the front door open, revealing a new friend you made three months ago downtown named: Max Parish. The buzz haired man stared down at you as your eyes held complete fear in them.

“What’re you still doing in the house?” Max huffed as he took in the sight of you, barely dressed.

“I can’t exactly leave.”

Max sucked his teeth now stepping into the house, “Manny would just have to understand the circumstances especially if you said someone’s in the house.”

“I’m better off taking my chances here than whatever he’s got himself messed up in out there.” You argued.

Max eyed the house. This was his first time being over at your new upgrade and it didn’t feel like something you’d pick really. In your mind, you always felt like you were being watched here. It never felt like home, not like Detroit.

“The hell am I doing?” Max muttered to himself, “go wait in the car.”

“Excuse me?”

“I’m gonna scope the house out.” He raised his jacket, showing his piece tucked in his waist band, “make sure they get the message.”

Given Manny’s lifestyle outside of his family, of course he kept a gun in the house just in case. The sight of the gun attached to Max’s body wasn’t foreign to you yet you still found yourself taking a sharp inhale. You knew how to fire a gun and had a solid hand but unfortunately you did not have the pleasure of liking them. It made you uncomfortable to know that there was one in this house especially when Maeve was around. You were waiting any second for the feds to come searching the house, (you just had to think of the worse if it ever happened, something manny got on you about) although manny didn’t have anything to hide here.

“It’s not—it’s not a person.” You mumbled out as Max started moving.

He stopped in his tracks, “you said—

“I know what I said,” you exasperated, “there’s something in this house, Max.”

A small smile played on Max’s lips then, “something?” He echoed, “like what?”

“The fucking devil! I don’t know! All i know is, one minute I’m minding my black ass business and the next, I’m being drowned in the tub and someone’s screaming in my got damn ear.” You explained to Max who rubbed at his beard.

His laugh was full of disbelief as he shook his head. “I thought you said it was something not someone.” He teased.

“I’m not making this shit up! I’m really freaked out and I would handle it myself but you’re the closest thing I got when manny’s not answering his phone!” You attempted to pace in the entry way and that’s when Max took in your full appearance.

He missed the bandage around your foot and your coils were dripping down your oversized tee. The friendship between you and Max was not instant, you met at a cafe—which sure was cliché but you payed for his drink just for him to chase you and scold you about it on your way to your cosmetology course—which so happened to be in the same building as Max’s cooking course.

It was war from that point because there maybe some things that made you uncomfortable but you did not take well to someone talking to you crazy. Being yelled at was a trigger for you and you didn’t need some 6’5 man yelling at you for being kind. Max ended up apologizing to you the week after at the next class meeting, telling you that he was simply having a bad day since it was the anniversary of his fiancée’s passing. Again that had nothing to do with you, he acknowledged that and soon ended up buying your beverage every Thursday before class.

Somehow you built a friendship around that. When either of you called the other, most of the time you were jumping to each other’s aide but not without some shit talking first on the side.

“Wait,” Max ran a hand over his buzzed head, “you said manny wasn’t picking up his phone?”

“Yeah.”

“And did you talk to him before that?”

“Yes. He told me…not to trust anyone.” Your eyes were wide, “Oh my god, get out!” You ordered.

Max raised his brows as you began shoving him backwards but he barely budged. He gripped your hands trying to get you to calm down, figuring whatever manny put into your head before these events probably increased your paranoia. From what max learned about your relationship with manny, he personally didn’t care much for him although he’s never met him, Max just felt like Manny didn’t have his priorities straight when it came to you or his child.

He kept that to himself though.

Once Max got a hold of your face, he turned your head to the side by your jaw, catching the red liquid that slid out the side of your ear.

Okay…that was concerning.

“Whatever you’re thinking had nothing to do with me. I promise,” Max gently spoke, “but could it be manny playing a trick on you?”

“No.” You shook your head, “why would he do that?”

“I don’t know.” Max lifted his shoulders, eyes glancing around this Brady bunch ass house, “you tell me.”

“He’s coming back from Mexico tonight…i assume with the Yuma and Santo Padre charter. I don’t know who stayed back but he knows I don’t care to have them around me—even if it’s for his idea of protection. The only one I trust is Mick and Manny said he was sending him off to Maeve…but why isn’t he answering his phone?” You thought out-loud.

Max hummed as he let go of your face, surveying the house once more. It was quiet, much like you would expect a home in the desert with a Mountain View to be. Perhaps it was a figment of your imagination after Manny caused you to be on alert? Majority of the time you were a homebody, if you weren’t with your daughter you’d invite a friend or two over but most of the time you were alone and without your husband.

“Maybe…”

Your eyes were in slits as you peered at your friend.

“The house is not haunted.” Max stated, “your husband set your anxiety off…if he’s not lurking in the basement or something.”

Crossing your arms you still felt upset, “I don’t think we have a basement and I didn’t do this to myself.”

Max was no therapist and it’s not like he thought you needed one or anything! It’s just it’s always a possibility when you have a lot going on in your life right? He didn’t want to say anything to make you feel worse so he inhaled.

“Okay then, shut the door. Let me check for you.” Max instructed as you swallowed the lump in your throat, first checking the time on your phone and slamming the door shut.

The man lifted a brow as you walked by him to the hallway. Slowly he followed you to see you reaching for the side of what appeared to be a abstract painting, which slid to the side at your touch. Max was in awe as the wall proceeded with the same movement, revealing a panel behind it. Your fingers flew over the monitor, punching in some numbers before you pulled the switch into a downwards position.

‘Lockdown activated.’ Flashed in bright text before the clinging of metal followed.

Max’s head turned towards the front, noticing the windows becoming dark followed by the front door clinking with more locks.

“This manny’s work too?”

“Anything for his family.” You were quiet now as you went into the kitchen before calling out, “audio off.”

Which cut off some The Mamas and The Papa’s song he was sure his red headed aunt listened to when she was growing up. Max didn’t pick up on the music playing until he realized how dejected you appeared.

“Anything for his family? Yet he’s not answering your calls? Eh, I don’t know. Something doesn’t feel right here.”

“Max,” you started pinching the space in between your brows, “the first thing I would want him to do is go to our daughter. If I’m in trouble, I’d figure it out.”

“He’s got you trained then.” Max sarcastically said, “yet I’m here and he’s not.”

Glared you hissed, “maybe I want the spirits to get your ass first just to give me enough time to get out here, did you ever think about that?”

“So a set up is it?” Max was smug, “you just put us in lockdown which means no one in and no one out. Sounds like you just killed us both dont you think?”

“I’m…really starting to hate men who’s names start with the letter ‘m.’”

“Aw, thank you, babe.” Max placed his hand on his chest mockingly while you fanned your hand at him.

Leaning against the island, you rocked back and forth slightly looking around. “You really don’t think this place is haunted?”

“I’ve seen a lot in my life but there’s only one way to find out.” Max declared, “I’ll check the place out now…since I don’t really have a choice now that you locked me in here with you. Thanks for the option by the way.”

“Oh, You’re welcome sweetie.” You gave a small smile.

Max scoffed with a shake of his head, “don’t go anywhere. I’ll be right back.”

“And if you don’t?”

“Well…it was fun while it lasted.”

“Max!”

“I’m kidding! Just relax, finish your merlot…better yet, don’t.” Max had his eyes elsewhere as he slowly began to creep around the house and out of your sight.

Once max was gone you stared at the bottle, gripping it, taking a sip before you shoved it into the fridge with a sigh.

The house still didn’t feel as comforting even with max being here with you. Not only did it not feel like home but it always felt eerie, too long and separate from what a house should be. You didn’t get a say when Manny just uplifted you and Maeve to this house. Marriage was supposed to be about a partnership yet most of the time you felt like it was you on your own.

Everything felt like it was always on his terms and in a sense it made you think of “Rio” more than anything. Christopher changed his name and his image once he decided California would be your next move. You didn’t mind the move much since that meant being closer to your siblings…however there was a contrast to this ordeal; not just in the exterior of your relationship but also what should have felt like the inside of a home was anything but.

He was supposed to be that.

Which is why you brought up separation. To test Manny, to see if he rather work on this marriage or continue diving into his job. You were understanding for years! His life was constantly on the line and you were stuck always watching from the sidelines. He could never leave this life, it’s been this way since he was a teenager. Since you learned about his previous relationship, the one that mattered, before you.

You gotta go where you wanna go

Do what you wanna do

With whoever you wanna do it with

The distortion of the previous track began to play throughout the house, making you sit up straight at the bar stool.

“The hell? Audio off.” You called out just for the track to continue on with its chopped and screwed version.

Babe, you gotta go where you wanna go

Do what you wanna do

With whoever you wanna do it with

“Isla?” Max called out to you, making you snap your head to look at Max being led into the kitchen by a gun.

Hoping off the chair you winced at the pressure and gripped the island for support, “Manny?! What’re you doing?”

“I thought I made it pretty clear not to trust nobody tonight, mama.” Manny’s smooth voice was leveled as he looked at you, “Just to my surprise, you have some dude who prolly goes to Coachella to sniff coke off some girl’s asscrack, up in our house.”

Max gave the 6’1 man the side eye, “that’s very specific and judgmental of you.”

“I advise you to stop trying to talk to me before I split your shit forward.”

Max widened his eyes at you, wondering when you were going to step in. He could definitely say he personally wasn’t a fan of your husband after this.

“Okay none of that!” You yelled over the music.

Manny glanced around and it was his voice this time to say, “audio off.”

Which shut the music completely off.

Now ain’t that some shit?

“Manny…you better start talking.”

Manny grinned at you but it was anything but sweet. He nodded his head at you, “you want to start making demands when I’m just trying to have your best interest at heart tonight? What about mine? Who the fuck is this?”

“Max is my friend.” You blinked, “are you seriously threatening his life in front of me now to prove what exactly? Never mind that, let’s discuss why you didn’t answer your damn phone when I needed you huh?!”

Manny licked his lips, “I got caught up, my phone was acting up the second I got back in town like I knew it would. I got here as fast as I could…so mind telling me what’s going on?”

“That sounds like bullshit, honestly.” Max commented just for Manny to take the butt of the gun and jam it at the back of Max’s skull.

You yelped as Max dropped to his knees, groaning as he did so. Your eyes were wide as Manny smirked to himself, surveying the larger man on his kitchen floor.

“I don’t think I asked for your opinion, Coachella.”

Shaking your head you stepped forward to check on your friend but the look Manny sent you made you pause. “Max, you okay?” You asked, eyes still set on your husband who crossed his arms.

Max continued groaning, “I’ve dealt with worse. Just give me a second.”

“Ooo,” Manny nodded his head impressed, “Coachella’s got bravery which is the only explanation I can think of to why you’re entertaining him behind my back.”

Scoffing you looked away in incredulity and held up your hands. “First I thought it was me losing my sanity here but I’m convinced it’s your stupid ass!”

“Want to run that by me again, mama?” Manny stepped over Max who now laid on his back, staring up at the ceiling, dazed.

You also stepped to Manny, making your heated eyes meet his. Toe to toe you said, “I didn’t fucking stutter. Separation does not mean I suddenly went screwing other men, making you sleep in the other room does not mean I’m screwing other men. I wouldn’t do that to us. let me make this clear and final to you, I’m not screwing Max. I’m allowed to have male friends.”

“I don’t have female friends because I respect this marriage too much. I expect you to do the same…I know how jealous it makes you to see me with another so I don’t.” Manny shrugged his shoulders as if he was doing you a damn favor.

“Jealous?! Uh, no.” You pointed at him almost laughing in his face, “you don’t get to stand here and insult me. You certainly do and the difference is I trust you! I trust you to put them in their place if they ever take it there.”

“I have colleagues that are women, doesn’t exactly make them my friends.” Manny informed you, slits in his eyes while you just closed your own with a slow shake of your head.

Manny even went as far to curl a finger around one of your damp coils. He studied your face while you tried to get your thoughts together. He loved when you said your peace because that let him know you had a mind of your own, even if it pissed him off a good percentage of the time. It wasn’t about who was right or wrong, it was about who had the last word and who stood by it.

Take that how you will.

“Guys,” Max had been moaning for quite some time, almost missable as you pressed your forehead against Manny’s chin.

“What’s going on in the pretty head of yours, Hm? What happened?” Manny lightly caressed the back of your neck, squeezing and massaging the tension there.

That’s when your eyes met his again, “you need to be honest and tell me what else you’re hiding?”

He frowned.

“GUYS!” Max yelled just as his own body was lifted into the air by his feet and flung over their heads into the hallway.

Both you and Manny watched in horror as the man’s body left a dent in the wall before he fell into unconsciousness. The lights began to automatically flicker on and off along with the music playing again. Protectively Manny gripped your shoulders bringing you into his frame, pointing the glock into the air—not seeing anything to shoot at.

“We have to get to the basement.” Manny suggested.

“What? We have a basement?”

“It’s the safest for us.” He spun you by the hips, hand slipping down your arm to tighten his hand against yours and leading you through the house.

“Max,” you whispered, “we can’t just leave him.”

“Yes we can,” Manny almost smacked his lips, “as long as he’s out, she won’t get him.”

“She?!”

“C’mon, Isla.” Manny pulled on your arm as he led you towards the bedrooms, “or do you want her playing tennis with your body like she did max?”

Well that wasn’t funny. At least not now.

Cautiously you decided to look over your shoulder, seeing Max’s limb peeking out from behind the wall. And what did you do that for? You saw her dressed as if she was from a different decade standing over Max’s body. A gray hand pressed onto the side of the wall, long sickly fingers and black sharp nails. Her face appeared around the wall, peeking right at you, what could have been a beautiful face turned horrid.

Her jaw was down too low, eyes also black with no pupil as she screamed at you before she began floating towards you. The evoked a scream out of you but as soon as it left your lips you felt Manny yank on your arm once more, followed by him shoving you up behind a door, hand clasped over your mouth.

“Sssh,” he coached you, eyes drifting from your frightened stare as he looked at the door listening to what sounded like the clicking of heels.

“Malachi,” the woman in white called.

Which made you clench your eyes shut just as Manny carefully locked the door to your daughter’s bedroom. Keeping a finger to his lips, he guided you away from the door, taking slow steps back to the spacious closet. Sliding the barn door closed behind you, Manny went to the old diaper changing station that stood in the center of the closet. His hands went underneath it, pressing on something that slid the clothes on the rack out of the way.

With the gun he trailed it along the wall, making a symbol. Something you saw once at his grandmother’s house back in Detroit, a family crescent that was also tattooed somewhere on his back. The wall began to move, revealing a large safe. Manny tucked the gun into his waist band and quickly latched onto the handles, twisting and turning before it popped open.

He didn’t look back at you, holding his hand out and expecting you to grab it. You held your head back, staring up at the ceiling, making a silent prayer as your fingers found your husband’s. He led the way, stepping over and into the safe and helping you in as you did so. He closed the safe behind you, locking it with a scanner that went over his right eye.

You waited as he led the way, lights turning on at each step. The tunnel was cold, and illuminated in brown lighting as he led the way to the unknown.

Finding yourself sitting on a cozy tan couch in what appeared to be a control room, you sat as Manny brought you some warm apple cider in a mug you were looking for since you left Detroit. You hated warm apple cider and yet Manny came with a scooper dropping a few ice cubes into your mug. A small smile played on your lips as you stirred the beverage with a spoon before placing it on a side table near you.

“Might as well get comfortable down here, we’ll be here at least until dawn.” Manny mentioned, crouched over a control system that suddenly lit up, showing screens of the house.

He then picked up a walkie and connected it, “Mick? Maeve and Isla’s family good?”

“They’re fine.” Mick responded after some time, “they’re all having dinner.”

Your stomach rumbled at the thought. You were really looking forward to the leftover oxtail rasta pasta in the fridge. However your body was saying you were hungry but your mind was elsewhere.

“What about yall?” Mick asked.

Manny glanced over at you resting your head back on the couch, arms folded.

“We’re good…” Manny started, “first time actually seeing her tonight.”

“Shit.”

“Word. I’ll talk to you in a bit, brother.”

“Alright.”

Manny pulled his lips into his mouth, dropping his head a bit as he realized he had some explaining to do. Standing up he made his way over to you, plopping down so that your thighs were brushing.

“C’mere.” Manny attempted to scoop a arm across your shoulders.

You shoved him away by the chest, “no, fuck that. Start talking.”

Manny exhaled through his nostrils, tightening his jaw before he rubbed his hands against his pants, going to rest his elbows against his knees.

“You’re not going to like what I’m about to say.”

You were silent but did not falter your gaze from the side of Manny’s face.

“This house is one of the only houses in the states that belonged to my family for centuries.” Manny started, “Nick was the one to get it remodeled but I outbid him on purchasing it. Which pissed him off in the end.” He was smirking making you want to slap it right off his gorgeous face.

So you opted for shoving his knee.

He cleared his throat, “I knew we would need a place to stay once it got out to the charter that I wasn’t one hundred percent who I said I was. It was perfect at the time, secluded and away from everybody. I’m shocked homeboy even managed to get here…you know once you get to this area things start to malfunction. There’s a reason for that.”

You held your breath.

“It’s her doing.” Manny continued, “my great great great—however many great aunt who keeps calling for someone named Malachi? Which is her son, lived and died here many years ago. It was brutal.”

Your crossed legs on the floor began to wiggle now, finger pressed to your temple. Manny picked up on this, reaching for your injured foot to rest across his lap as he sighed.

“This was only supposed to be a temporary spot! A month or two tops and we would be out of here, move somewhere else or build a place someplace else. It didn’t register that it’s the anniversary of what happened to them here.” Manny told you while you glared at him.

There was so much he was still leaving out.

“You must have had so much on your mind that you also forgot to mention to your wife that you wanted to move her and your four year old to the land of the damned?” You hissed.

Manny took your words with a grain of salt, “I didn’t know things would go this far. No one told me she would be a vengeful spirit. Like I said, it was only supposed to be a couple of weeks.”

“How did she die? What happened to her and the baby, Malachi?”

“…they accused her of being a undercover witch after she decided to leave the convent back in Mexico. She had miraculously became pregnant before with a boy she decided to name Malachi, most of the sisters tried to help her and convince her to stay believing it was a blessing instead but the head nun shunned her due to the actions she did not commit. So she crossed the border, found a home, this home, gave birth, and settled. What started out as a new chapter soon found a bitter end.” Manny caressed your ankle which actually began to throb again.

Manny sniffed, “the head nun went around convincing others that my aunt was a witch…she was a real hater even after my aunt left. A religious cult that the head nun was cool with—thats ironic right? Located my aunt and stole the four month old baby boy and drowned him in the creek up the road.”

You felt nauseous at this. A hand going up to cover your mouth as you had to calm yourself down. It made better sense now, upsetting nonetheless but at least you were finally getting the basis of this house.

“I almost drowned earlier,” you said with shaky breath.

Manny sat up.

“That’s why I called you multiple times before I reached out to max. It was her, your aunt. She did that to me.” Your eyes stared down at your foot, “she’s looking for her baby.”

“Which they never found, only his blanket…the investigators only found her body hanging and badly burned.” Manny’s voice was low as he realized, “I’m so sorry, mama.”

And you knew he was.

Another thought occurred to you, “Is Maeve going to be safe?”

“As long as she’s nowhere near this house. I made sure Mick understood that.” Manny replied with a curt nod.

Some tension seemed to release from your body at this news. Manny brought your legs up to his lips, placing a kiss at the purplish bruise on your ankle. His hands then slipped up your thigh to rest there while he now tried to pull you into his lap.

This time you allowed it but you were still aggravated. There was already so much going on in your lives and now you just learned about a (rightfully) vengeful family member that you didn’t really want to meet.

“You should have told me,” you said as Manny locked his lands around your waist, “then I wouldn’t have gotten max involved.”

“fuck him though. Forget about Chef Boyardee,” Manny said from over your head making you jerk your head back, “spending all this time with my girl, my wife. I just hope you didn’t bring him around my daughter.”

“What did you say?”

“Which part?” Manny cleared his throat, sitting his body up straight with you still in his lap.

You gripped his face turning it to look right at you. And manny did but not without a side eye radiating from his long lashes.

“How did you know he’s in the culinary business?”

“I told you I got eyes everywhere,” manny boldly notified.

“Manny you got three seconds to stop playing with me before I call Malachi my damn self.” You warned.

Manny held his hands out with a quirk of his thick brows, “oh excellent idea, mama. I’ve been ready to empty out the clip again, it’s been a few hours actually and since I was being generous and didn’t do that to max thanks to my friendliness with his aunt Melissa? I dare you.”

“You are deranged!” You yelled, “how are you friendly with his aunt Melissa?”

“You wanted Maeve in private school and I want her in public school. Did some digging on Max to find that the woman who raised him, his aunt on his deceased father’s side is a school teacher. Fascinating isn’t it?” Manny told you.

Getting off his lap you should have known. This was the man you married, the man who always had a plan. You were starting to wonder did you meet Max out of pure coincidence or was this all part of whatever game Manny was playing?

“…Does max work for you?”

“Nah,” Manny smirked, “you did that all on your own, sweetheart. but…he can if he wants to get that restaurant started.”

“Is that entity even real? Is anything real with you?”

Manny frowned as you felt like you wanted to start bawling. This was all becoming too much for you to handle and you’ve been holding on for so long.

“Hey now,” Manny crouched beside you as you held your face away from him, “of course it is. I don’t play with the dead…I usually dispose of ‘em—

“Oh fuck you!” You yelled getting to you feet, almost forgetting your injured toe as you crumpled to the carpet in front of the man you married, “this isn’t a joke anymore! This is my life and I’m not going to continue with you fucking it up!”

Cradling your foot, your toe began to bleed through the gauze. Breathing air through your teeth your eyes burned with tears as Manny moved around the room for the first aid kit. He sat on the edge of the couch, gripping your ankle to cater to your wound and you let him.

Laying back on the carpet, you bit down on your lip as tears slid down your cheeks with your arms folded.

“I did too much this time, huh?” Manny asked.

Huffing you nodded your head, “yeah…and I think I’m really done.”

He was just about to place a kiss on your ankle but your words stopped him.

“Whatchu say?”

Swallowing you looked up at him saying, “I want out. I want a divorce, Rio.”

The way you said his nickname with such venom on your tongue did not sit right with him. At all so he was on you then, catching you off guard as your breath got caught in your lungs. He was hovering over you now, hands on either side of the face as he peered down at you with those dark eyes.

“Are you threatening me right now, isla? At a time like this?” He trailed his nose along your cheek, making you turn your head away from him as he spoke into your ear, “you and I both know you’re not going nowhere. We love each other too much and we took vows to each other which means something in my book. I’ll be damned if I let this ruin us.”

He still didn’t get it.

“We’ll talk about it later.” Manny pulled away from you, rubbing at his mouth as the ceiling above you rattled, “we got bigger problems right now.”

His eyes were at the monitor as he helped you up.

“W-what now?” You cleared your throat.

Manny could see Max starting to wake up on one of the monitors, which was not a good thing—for him. Moving closer, Manny stared hard at each screen with you standing behind him in utter confusion.

He lifted his head in that moment, tilting it to the side as he placed a finger to his lips. He suddenly moved away from you, staring out into the hallway as the sound of creaking followed.

“Man—

“We gotta go, now!”

“Go where?! I thought here was safe.”

“We gotta go lower, mama. Right now! There’s a elevator in the back of the room. We better get on that or else.” Manny ordered, quickly moving around as he snatched up the walkie and moved over to the wall to send the weapon station down below.

“Or else, what?!”

He came back to you as your heart began to race. Manny pecked your lips, gripping the sides of your neck, “that bitch is gonna flood this area up. She’ll drown us and contrary to your belief, I care about your well-being a ton, even if you don’t think I go about it right. Your ass is mine and I’m forever yours so unless you want to see a reenactment of the titanic…we gotta get the hell up outta here, you understand?”

“Isla?” Manny quizzed.

You held his stare before you slipped your hands in his again. This time Manny allowed you to lead the way to the gated elevator, his gaze elsewhere as water ran down the opposite hallway. It was your turn to yank the lanky man beside you, hands sliding the gate shut after him. Manny was mashing on the buttons, the old elevator suddenly dropping as waves of water began to flood the room you were just in.

Some water splashed into the elevator, the amount was like someone flicking water at you in the pool. Your eyes closed, thinking this was the end but found yourselves descending just in time, to someplace else with a man you thought you knew. 

⍣ ೋ ⍣ ೋ ⍣ ೋ ⍣ ೋ ⍣ ೋ ⍣ ೋ ⍣ ೋ ⍣

Continue along with my fall anthology prompts here

[zalrb]

the summer i turned pretty 1x05 review -- if i can't have conrad there's always jere

Belly, I'm sure they gave you a schedule. You knew there was going to be dancing.

Also details like Belly is seemingly fine with Nicole stepping in to be her dance partner during rehearsal but she should feel if not guilty then at least awkward around her so she almost kissed Conrad.

This is why Taylor says that you're self-absorbed and don't care about anyone else, Belly.

Also, it's wild to me that your best friend will have that conversation with you and then you proceed to make a woman's funeral about yourself. Where is the self-reflection?

Like you were all "omg what am I going to text Conrad, what emoji should I put with my text" and you're just ... dancing with Nicole?

And anons want to ask why we hate Belly when we've liked messy teens before? SERENA HAD MORE SHAME. SERENA. And Serena had moments, man, where it was just like, I don't know why you're mad at Blair, you slept with her boyfriend.

"Does Jere take anything seriously?" "Yeah, food and flirting" SOUND JEALOUS, STEVEN

Every time Jeremiah is supposed to be extroverted and fun-loving and charming, I'm just like

Conrad, you MUST know that Nicole would be where Belly is since she was a deb and you took her to the deb ball last summer.

I also like the blatant advertisement for Alexa.

You two are terrible. NICOLE IS RIGHT THERE.

Then Conrad texting Belly and Belly grinning with Nicole right there?

"You think I was just a petty fuck." "You're hotter than he is." She's not wrong. All of these pretty Black women/women of colour (and girls) and these basic to ugly white men (and boys) on TV. It needs to be stopped.

"If Shayla called you right now" -- jealous boyfriends.

Nicole is the one who's being played hot and cold.

Jeremiah telling her to bring him to a Frank Ocean concert knowing that he likes Belly is not fair to her, like in terms of the drama that would cause with Conrad and Belly, I don't care because they're both being terrible but Nicole does not deserve this.

"I mean we grew up together so I always thought of her as this little kid but now ... she's not." a) that sounds way creepier than intended like some Jacob and Renesmee shit b) they honestly should've done more to indicate that he's really seeing her now. Like I obviously know he's supposed to because of all the dialogue around how she's pretty now from everyone else and "omg Belly you look SO hot" in a simple, cutesy floral tank top but I mean if it's going to be Annie and Jeff then be Annie and Jeff.

Of course Annie and Jeff actually had tension

At least be Josh and Cher

COME ON, MAN.

"I'm bummed but I'll be fine" because Belly is terrible.

Cam does not deserve the lyrics to this song he was nothing but NICE to Belly if anything this song should be playing with Cam walking away.

I just find it super lazy to rely on portraying the munchies to show how high they're supposed to be.

Is Jere supposed to be Puck or something?

Lol when your mom puts you in the friendzone with your crush.

"Well I'm sure you got a perfect score" *laughs* oh we're doing racism in this episode. And it was actually done well. Just not when it's antiblackness which isn't surprising

"How come no one ever wants to play with me?" she booped you on the nose bro.

ok finally. something that is ACTUALLY hot and cold. "i'm not waiting for you anymore" does he know she'd been waiting for him?

Also not waiting for him shouldn't then mean making out with Jere.

"What happened to the boy I loved since I was ten" well Belly either he always knew you liked him and ignored it because he didn't see you the same way even when he was idk nicer I guess or he was clueless that you liked him but either way you never had his affection before this.

Also I like how in season 2 Jere was all I USED TO LOOK UP TO YOU EVERYONE ALWAYS THOUGHT YOU WERE BETTER THAN ME IN EVERYTHING and there is literally nothing to suggest any of those dynamics this season.

I can't fuck things up with Belly and treat her like shit but you know who I can do that to? Nicole.

Well if I can't get attention from one brother then I can from the other. "Susannah said when I was born she knew I was destined for one of her boys. I always thought it'd be Conrad" but Jere's the one in front of me so. You didn't think about him at ALL Belly.

It's funny actually watching the pool kiss because it's actually quite short and tame.

[darkdevasofdestruction]

Can You Get Enough Of Me? - Michael Myers x Reader

"It's a nice day today, huh?" Y/N smiled up at the sky as she went back and forth in the swing. "Will you push me, Mickey?" "Sure." he shrugged as he got off his own swing and went behind her, pushing her the best he could. "Look, Mickey, I'm flying! Whooooo!" the little girl giggled without a care in the world, as Michael watched her long, beautiful hair going everywhere. "Okay, okay, I wanna swing too!" but before the girl could take her time and stop swinging, a bunch of older boys came by and roughly grabbed the chains holding the swing, which in turn, made the girl fall off and get hurt. "Y/N!" Michael gasped as he ran to her side, helping her up, and seeing the blood seeping from one of her legs and arm. "Aww, Myers's got a giiirlfriend! Look at them, gonna fuck? Girl, don'tcha know, Myers's a faggot?" the gang hollered maliciously, and Y/N could only frown, despite the tears of pain from her injuries, and clinging on Michael for support, she got up and yelled at the boys. "Leave Michael alone, jerks! You're rude!" but instead of trying to fight them off, or go in a brawl, she grabbed her friend's arm and dragged him away from there, knowing that if he were to get in trouble again, he'd get some bad detention, and that's the last thing she'd want. Besides...Two kids couldn't possibly fight those guys. "Why didn't you let me fight them?! I could've taken them on!" the blond boy glared at his friend, who only rolled her eyes and sighed at his childishness. "No, you couldn't. Besides, if the teachers find out you got in trouble again, who knows what will happen? Come on, let's go to the fountain, I have to wipe off the blood." Y/N muttered, going on ahead to sit on the rocks by the fountain and took out her handkerchief from her little bag, dipping it in the water and carefully wiping away the red liquid streaming down her limbs, hissing from the pain here and there, but otherwise, staying completely silent. "I'm sorry..." the girl suddenly heard the blond boy mutter, barely audible. "Huh? What do you have to be sorry about, Mickey?" as her eyes widened from the shock, she leaned forward, raising his chin up with her finger. "...I couldn't protect you. I suck. I'm as bad as that fuckass says I am..." he sighed, gently pulling away her hand and looking away from her. "Look at what they did to you. Could've been much worse. And yet, you stood up for me, while I did nothing. I'm a horrible friend." his voice was pitiful, and it was obvious he hated his lack of strength. "First of all, you aren't just my friend. You're my BEST friend. Okay? And nothing in this world will change that. Got it? Okay. Second of all, we're still little and weak. That's how kids are. Trying to fight those guys is like trying to fight the forces of nature...You...You can't fight a hurricane, you know? And...Violence isn't the answer. I mean...Look at our parents. There's nothing good coming out of that...But someday! Someday we'll get older and stronger, and nobody will bully us anymore! It just...It takes a while...I guess." she threw her arms around him, hugging him tightly, trying to comfort him. "That's shit! They'll see, they'll ALL pay for it! Nobody will dare be fuckers with us anymore! And when I grow up, I will make sure everyone is nice to you." he was so revolted, but his anger gradually dissipated as he felt her warmth. "Please don't speak like that. Calm down, Mickey. Things are okay now. At least we have each other, and we will always have each other, don't forget that, okay?" she leaned her head on his shoulder, closing her eyes for a while, only to hear an aggressive male voice booming through the park which made the girl yelp and tremble in fear. "GET AWAY FROM THAT FREAK, Y/N! GET HERE RIGHT NOW!" her father yelled at her and she could only whimper silently, trying to stop herself from hyperventilating. "B-But daddy, Michael is not bad...! H-He tried to protect me from those mean boys from the playground!" she spoke meekly, slowly walking in front of her father, her head hung in fear, only for the man to burry his hand in

her hair, pulling on it roughly, making the girl yelp in pain. "Don't talk back to me, you stupid little bitch! You have no right to go against what I say while you're under MY roof, got it? Home, now." Michael couldn't even retaliate in any way, knowing that if he were to cause trouble for her, she would get in even more trouble, and that's the last thing he'd want...But why did it have to be her...?

He can take it, alright...But her...That's just not acceptable. She is small, and weak, and frail, and innocent...And there is nobody who can protect her.

Nobody but him...

----

"Michael, Michael, are we going trick or treating today?" Y/N asked, skipping around him in her cutesy witch costume, while he was a boring clown. "I guess." he shrugged, pulling down his clown mask. "Come on, it's Halloween, Mickey! You love Halloween! It's your favourite holiday! And we get free candy! It's gonna be fuuun~!" she bumped him with her body, making him stumble a bit, before looking at her and groaning. "Fine, fine, we're going. I just have to tell my mum." he grabbed her wrist and dragged her to his house, but on the way, she stopped him. "Hey, how about we trick or treat all the houses on the way to yours? I mean, there's nothing bad in that, right? We're just going home! It's not even considered a detour!" Y/N grinned widely, her beautiful eyes sparkling with excitement. "...Okay, let's do that." as he said that, Michael took out his candy bag from his schoolbag and taking her hand, they went to all house from both sides of the street. "Trick or Treat!" they both exclaimed as the first grandma opened the door with a loving look on her face. "Ahh, my, my, how cute you two are! And what do we have here...A very adorable, magical witch! And...A funny clown! How lovely!" the woman clapped her hands together to her chest, admiring the two kids. "Ma'am, he's not just a clown, he is my jester! Isn't he so cute?" she threw her arms around his neck, slamming his face to hers as she grinned even wider, making the woman laugh at them. "Yees, yes, I understand! Here, darlings, you're so adorable, take all of these. Hope to see you two, cuties, next year as well! Have fun!" the grandma patted both their heads before going back to her home. "Wiiicked! Look how much candy we've got! My fave holiday is Christmas, but honestly, Halloween is a very close runner up! Our teeth will literally rot after this!" the girl giggled as she inspected each variety of candy in her bag, "I love it 'cause I can spare people." Michael shrugged simply, but he also munched on some candy corn. "Would you scare me, Mickey?" Y/N turned her face to his, her eyes widening with a glimmering, innocent curiosity. "...No. I wouldn't. But you're the only one, okay?! Everyone else, I'd scare!" he tried to sound scary and dangerous, but it only made the little girl giggle and kiss his cheek. "You're my hero! My handsome knight in shining armour, Mickey! Thank you for protecting me. You're the best." help his soul, he wasn't used to people saying good things about him... "...But I'm ugly...That's why I wear a mask so often..." he muttered, looking down at the ground. "No! That's so not true! You're very pretty, okay? I love your face! And you have the most gorgeous eyes in the world! And...And...And your hair is so lovely, I'm jealous! Please don't say bad things about yourself, Mickey, it makes me very upset." she pouted, hugging him tightly, and it was pretty clear neither of them wanted to let go. "You won't leave me, would you, Y/N?" Michael's low voice came out barely above a whisper, but it was the only time he ever allowed himself to show any kind of weakness or vulnerability. "Never. Some day, we will be together forever, okay?" she ruffled his hair playfully, which made his face flush softly. "Hey, actually...Here you go. This is yours now. This way, if you're ever lonely, you'll remember I'm always thinking of you, okay?" Y/N grinned sweetly at him as she took off her flower-charmed necklace and put in on him, hiding it under his costume, so nobody else could see it. "Mum gave this to me on my birthday, before she died. It means the world for me, and so do you. So...Don't forget that, okay? I hope you'd smile more, you have a very pretty smile." as she said that, she squished his chipmunk cheeks.

The boy said nothing - What was he supposed to do, anyway? He was overwhelmed entirely by the only person who makes him feel...Good? But he had to go home, and he already knew that home was hell, and by the time he went there, he knew he wouldn't actually be going trick or treating, as promised...And he'd have to let Y/N down again.

Stupid family.

With a very disappointed voice, he went outside of the house and told the girl that he can't go trick or treating with her, but instead of yelling or disappointment, she just smiled and hugged him.

"It's alright! There's always next year! And besides, we already kinda went trick or treating, right? Sweet dreams, Mickey! Take care!" she waved at him cheerfully and skipped back home.

But little did she know that would be the last Halloween they'd spend together, for that night, a massacre happened at his home, and deep down, Y/N knew.

She just...Knew.

It was Michael who created that blood bath. He couldn't take all that abuse anymore, and Y/N understood that well enough...And she hated herself for thinking this, but she knew she was selfish...

If Michael didn't kill his family, they'd still have been able to hang out daily, and laugh together, lick each other's wounds, and go trick or treating on Halloween...

But she had to be happy with visiting him at Smith's Grove institute weekly with his mum, and they'd chat, and talk, and try to get him out of the shell that he hid himself into...

And he wouldn't stop hiding his face behind his masks, every week, a new one, a new one, and a new one, each time, weirder and creepier and grotesque.

No matter what his mother told him, and no matter what Y/N told him...Michael didn't listen, and the more time he spent there, the less he spoke...Until he hasn't said a word to Y/N in at least two weeks. It made the poor girl tear up, fearing that he hated her, but at least he'd shake his head and clutch his shirt where the gifted necklace would be.

And she would understand.

His mother was confused, and the Dr. was confused as well, but Y/N wasn't, and she'd smile at him and wouldn't explain what happened. It was their little secret, and nobody would be able to be made aware of.

And then...After many weeks of visiting, Michael stuck again and killed a nurse, which led to his mother committing suicide, and since she had nobody to go with to visit him, the last thing she could do was send in letters weekly, hoping they will be given to him, but she had no way of knowing, since nobody wanted to tell her anything, and no reply came by.

Until she gave up writing, thinking that Michael actually hated her, and decided to go on with her life, and her father made her move away to another state to get better education.

15 years passed, and the now 27 year old Y/N was a University graduate who worked hard and was able to get her old home in Haddonfield...To think she'd finally be able to go there again, she never would have thought that.

But here she was, having found a nice, well-paying job, and she was pretty happy, albeit nostalgic, being again back...Home. By the time she returned, she had already learnt how to play the guitar too, so every Friday night, she'd sit on her porch and play a song, softly singing along, hoping not to disturb anyone.

"I was made for lovin' you baby, you were made for loving me..." she hummed, singing the song by Kiss as she looked up at the starry night with no care in the world.

It was a simple life, but it was good and peaceful - And she had quite a lot of money to do with as she pleases - What else could ask for?

"BREAKING NEWS! A psychiatric patient from Smith's Grove escaped just last night and -..." but Y/N didn't bother hearing the rest of it, because...Because... "Michael...!" she gasped, covering her mouth with both her hands from the shock, tears threatening to fall and she goes outside, looking around, left and right, down the street, hoping to see a glimpse of the blond boy she once held so dear to her heart.

And what a coincidence, tomorrow night was Halloween...Did he do it on purpose? Did he even remember the days they spent together? Or how special Halloween was for him? Did he still have that silly necklace with him? Did he ever read her letters?

So many questions that she was pretty sure she'll never get an answer to, and that thought alone killed her.

The next day, she dressed in her Kiss loose Tshirt, remembering how that was Michael's favourite band, and somewhere in her heart, she hoped to see him again, even just by a little bit. Even a glimpse at his beautiful blue eyes would be enough.

But she knew she was dreaming...

She went to work as usual, but she was so busy that she didn't realise she ended up overstaying and overworking herself until she left the place and realised it was already dark outside, and there were barely any children trick or treating - But hey, there still were a few - And Y/N couldn't help but smile and remember the cute witch and her loyal jester.

The good times...

As she hummed carefree and looked up at the starry sky, but then she heard a crack, and looking back...Nothing? Hmm...Suspicious... She continued walking, but the ominous feeling in the back of her head continued, and so, she took out her pocket mirror and noticed a man somewhere in the back, walking towards her. A colleague from work, she recognised him, yes, she remembers him. He was kicked out from the job because of his inappropriate behaviour...And him following her now truly was no good news.

Analysing the situation, she realised she was close enough to home to make a break for it, so taking a deep breath, she sprinted the hell out of there...But...things didn't go as expected.

Before she could even reach her home, for she was pushed to the ground and straddled, his hands immediately finding their way around her neck, trying to immobilise her, to stop her from struggling and let him have his way with her.

But Y/N was a fighter, and she didn't want to allow the bullying she experienced as a child to take over her adult life, but she also didn't have the body strength to go against this guy, no matter how much she tried to struggle.

However...Before she knew it, the man stopped - Almost as if he froze - And she was splattered with liquid. It was blood. The man above her was stabbed in the chest, then in the head continuously, before his body was snatched and tossed away like a ragdoll.

Great - Y/N thought - From one criminal to another, with a whimper, she tried to get up and run away, but the man was too fast for her, and he picked her up with a weird ease, getting her inside her own house and letting her fall down on her couch.

The man saw fear in her eyes, and she was whimpering, her head hung as she tried to make herself as small as possible - As if she wasn't already so small, especially compared to him - It was pissing him off, as he remembered her jackass father abusing her. He would never hurt her! He promised her he'd always protect her, so why is she so scared of him...?!

"E-Excuse me...Uhm...Mister...A-Are you...Maybe...Uhmm...Are you Michael...?" she stuttered in such a meek voice that it grated his brain. This isn't right, Y/N was cheerful and happy. This...This wasn't right... The man got a hand underneath the neck of his blouse, only to reveal the old flower necklace from long ago. "Michael...! It really is you...Michael...I can't believe it! Oh my God...You grew up so much, this is insane!" as if a switch turned inside her, the girl jumped on her couch and threw herself on the incredibly tall man, not caring whether he liked it or not.

He was her Michael, and she missed him.

"You still don't talk, do you? Well...At least take off this mask of yours. I told you, I hate it when you hide yourself from me. I want to see your beautiful face." she chuckled, pulling Michael down with her on the couch, as he stood with his hands mid-way in the air, rather awkwardly, before finally pulling up his old mask and threading with it with his hands that were laying on his lap. "There we go, as beautiful as ever." she chuckled softly as she parted his long, dirty blond hair and letting it fall down his back, so his face could properly be seen. "Oh my God, you even have a stubble. I can't believe it. Well, we are all grown up after all, aren't we? Seems like almost yesterday when we'd go trick or treating...On this very day." she kept talking of the nostalgic things from so long ago, so much that it made Michael grunt in amusement, but his face didn't sketch any emotion. It really upset Y/N, it felt like talking to a wall. "Well, at least I'm happy that you remember me. I didn't think you did. I kinda thought you hated me too, I didn't know if you got any of my letters either. Uhm...I don't really know what to say. It's weird talking to myself like that. But I'm happy to see you again." she continued speaking before stopping altogether and fidgeting awkwardly on her spot next to him, as he didn't even move, or bother saying a single word.

They stood like that for a while, until Michael suddenly started moving, and revealed a bunch of unopened letters - All from her.

"You have all of them...!" Y/N gasped in shock, taking the letters and examining all of them one by one. "Why didn't you open them?" but instead of an answer, he shook his head. "Did you...Not have them...Until recently?" Y/N tried to guess, and the answer came in the form of a nod. "That stupid doctor! How dare he?! ...You must have felt so lonely stuck there...With your mum shooting herself, I couldn't go there anymore, so I sent you letters weekly...The doctor promised to give them to you...Urgh, what a jerk. And I thought you hated me and that's why you didn't want to reply to them...But you just got them. How annoying." Y/N groaned, realising the truth of what happened, and she let the letters fall down on the coffee table.

After some more silence between the two, Michael pointed towards her shirt, and she smiled, nodding and taking her guitar before leaning on his side. "Yeah, I know it's your favourite band. I never forgot that." she chuckled, and as she started playing the same song she knew so well - And she felt a strong arm sneaking around her waist, pulling her closer to his body. It surprised her a bit, but she felt so safe and warm in his embrace.

"I was made for lovin' you baby, you were made for lovin' me. And I can't get enough of you, baby..." she sang in the same sweet, crystalline, soft voice that he loved so much, and missed over the many years they've been separated.

"...Can you get enough of me?"

[princessofprocrastination]

Not The Same (GeorgeNotFound)

summary : you put out a song, but it attracted the wrong type of crowd and caused too many misunderstandings.

trigger warnings : threats (including death and doxing), panic attacks, taking of meds. 

"you're THOSE type of fans, huh?" you read the comments on your newest song release.

and that was the start of your downfall.

-

you and your dad really enjoyed singing. at any opportunity you two got, you would be doing a duet.

whether that would be at at a close relative's wedding or your at home karaoke set up, you two knew how to entertain people.

though singing was your passion, you ended up being too busy with school and trying to graduate with a diploma to even think about singing again.

but you swore to make a career of your singing after high school. you just loved it too much.

but then, you didn't go to college for music, which pretty much shocked your parents and your friends since they knew your only passion in life was singing.

but you took a different direction. you still wanted to sing and you were trying your hardest to find a way to make that your career.

someday, anyway. but you needed to have a plan to fall back into in case anything goes wrong.

you were a realist, after all.

so off to college you went.

you spent long hours studying for tests after tests, sat through hours of lectures, did endless amounts of projects.

in the end, it was all worth the wait and fatigue. you graduated top of your class.

you went off to be an intern, clocked in more hours before you could fully go into the next phase of your life.

and after those long hours, you finally made the decision (with the support of your parents) to take a gap year.

but before anyone panics. your gap year was not all fun in games where you took to rest and lay in bed all day.

you took the gap year to see if the music industry fits you. to see if you even had the chance to succeed.

and if it did, you could finally have your dream job. but even if it didn't you were not going to be upset if you needed to fall back onto your backup plan.

in the duration of the gap year, you took voice lessons, and poetry classes for song writing.

and with whatever you have learnt, you took that into writing songs that you felt really relate to your life experiences.

so you spend at least a couple months writing multiple songs.

after almost 2 years, you finally came out with your first song. and it definitely got recognition. more than you thought you'd get, if you were being completely honest.

and that was what pushed you to sit your ass back on your desk to write more, and go into your makeshift studio and make the words into songs.

your parents were ecstatic to hear that you were finally doing the things you loved. and you knew you'd never get this far if it weren't for your family's support.

and so your music journey began.

it was going well for years. you were finally happy doing the one thing you enjoyed doing.

and you definitely think you were good at it. seeing and hearing the positive feedbacks from your family, friends and listeners. 

you felt good. 

but you lost that feeling when you came out with a new single, called ‘fan of you’. 

you spent a while working hard on that song and you felt relieved when it was finally released. it was like a weight was lifted off your shoulders. 

and you weren’t sure how one thing led to another, if you were being honest. at first, you received good feedback for your new songs. you even gained new listeners and your spotify rank rised. 

but then it didn’t anymore. 

your twitter flooded with mentions and your instagram full of tagged pictures and dms by accounts you’ve never heard of. 

but you noticed a similarity with all of the spam. a guy name george. georgenotfound for short.

you being you, you looked into it. and that was when all of the information hit you. and all you had to look up was your name on twitter, and there it was, the longest thread of tweets you have ever seen in your life. 

you took time to read it all, trying to make sure you didn’t miss anything crucial. 

there must be an understanding. you didn’t know this guy name george. you’ve seen his face on pinterest once a while when you scrolled, yes. but you never looked into him. 

this amazing person took their time to gather every bit of information there was about the scandal, which you were grateful for, or else you’d be scouring the internet for hours. 

to summarise what you read, there was this artist by the name of tia jade who came out with a song a few months prior to yours called ‘just a fan.’ 

it was a good song, some say, and you could agree. it was professionally written and produced. but many fans of george found out that the song was about him. 

not just about him, but about her falling in love with him, when she has never met him. and when his fans started to really listen and analyse the song, it got creepier. 

basically, the song was about a fan falling in love with a celebrity/content creator and that they want to know them beyond their persona online. 

but tia had apologised a little after the song came out, saying that she made that song based on a fan liking a content creator, and not about her falling for george. 

but when you read enough of the issue, it definitely did seem like she was making that song to tell her story about falling for george. but she obviously needed an excuse to cover it up. 

hence the apology. 

and then you read about how they analysed your song, too.

they compared your song to tia’s and found it to have similar stories. stories about how a normal girl is falling in love with the man by the name of george, who had millions of followers on all social medias. 

and if you admitted it to yourself, your song did seem to come out that way. especially if your mentality had been there. clearly your song could have been interpreted in many different ways. 

you scrolled to the very bottom of the thread where there was a video of the man himself, george. he was addressing the issue. 

“i don’t know how this happened twice. i thought once was weird enough, but.” he paused, focusing on building something on his screen. 

“having heard of a song being about me again now makes my skin crawl.” he finished. it was short but enough to make his fans understand where he was coming from. 

you scrolled further to see the replies of the thread. you wanted to know what were people saying about it. 

and you definitely regretted your decision to do that. 

threats everywhere. death threats, threats of beating you up, threats of doxing you. god the negative comments were drowned by the one’s that genuinely thought nothing wrong of your song. 

you called you mom. this was the time you needed her advice. you needed to be told what to do. you didn’t want to accidentally trigger people. 

you and her were on the phone for hours. she listened to you cried to her. she heard the painful sobs that came out of your mouth whenever you reminded yourself of what people were calling you on the internet. 

she heard you cry silently on call when you saw your address and phone number being leaked on twitter. 

but even through all of that, you joked around with your mom. “well, this was a hell of a way to be trending.” 

you did what she told you to do. get a new phone number, stay in a hotel for a couple days while you try to settle the raging crowd of georgenotfound fans down. 

in the span of a couple weeks, you got yourself a new number, a new house and a new car. you weren’t taking any chances. 

you told no one besides your mom of the new changes, just to be safe. 

and no, the threats did not cease. at all. these people did not have a life, constantly up in your dms, telling you to jump off a cliff or them hoping that a robber stabs you and leaves you dying. 

you took your time trying to figure out a way to talk to george. or a way to speak out about this. 

you didn’t want to write a half-assed notes app paragraph apologising when- first of all, you had nothing to apologise for and second, you had too much to say to fit it all in a notes app. 

lucky for you, you didn’t need to start your own channel or make a sit down video on your own. 

your recording label had brought up the idea of a documented series about you and how you became a singer about a year ago, and only started filming and posting the episodes a couple months prior on youtube. 

so you took the series to your advantage. you pitched in the idea to your manager, to which she agreed to immediately, knowing that it was best you talked about it now. 

this was how it played out on the perspective of viewers who watched that episode. 

“bless you.” your producer says after you paused your singing in the mic as you stopped to sneeze. 

you gave him a smile and a thumbs up from inside the booth. 

the camera cuts to another clip. 

the cameraman pans as they captured movers coming in and out of your old house, picking up your heavy furniture and boxes into large trucks to move into the new place.

 it cuts again. this time it shows you scrolling on your phone with a focused face while your manager types something vigorously on her computer. 

the camera tries to focus on your phone, and sees that you were on twitter, reading a lot of tweets under your name. 

you exited the app and slide it away, going into youtube next, reading the comments on your song ‘fan of you’. 

you scrolled far, clicking on some of the comments, trying to read the replies to certain comments you saw. 

the camera cuts into a black screen. which then cuts again into a new scene, where you sat on your new kitchen counter talking to your mother, who sat on the chair in front of you. 

your hair was up in a ponytail. a messy one. you were wearing sweatpants and a hoodie that seemed far too big on you, and your feet covered with fluffy socks.

you were nodding to whatever she was saying to you. it was clear your mind was elsewhere as your eyes were unfocused. 

the scene cuts again. 

you were seen on the couch, your legs were tucked into your arms and your head down, body shaking. it was obvious you were crying. 

you were alone, your mother no where to be seen. 

that was the first time the camera caught you crying. 

the scene cuts as you were going to get up from the couch. 

now, you were in the kitchen again, opening the refrigerator to take a water bottle, then walking to your room upstairs. 

the camera follows behind you slowly into your room. 

it hadn’t been the cleanest. there were a couple shirts on the floor, your bed undone, cups on your side table, your laptop open on your desk. 

you were seen opening a drawer, taking out a small white bottle. you unscrewed the bottle and took out 2 pills, popping them in your mouth, drinking water straight away after that to swallow. 

the scene cuts again. 

this time, you were seated on the couch in the studio, the atmosphere dark and quiet. 

your hair was more kept this time, being help up in a clip. 

you were wearing straight jeans and a slightly oversized sweatshirt. you looked more refreshed this time. but it was obvious you hadn’t slept in a while because of your eyes.

your eyes that usually held a lot of happiness and joy turned dull. 

“it’s been a while since i’ve spoken to a camera.” you offered a small smile. your song ‘just a fan’ was playing in the background of the clip. 

the scene cuts again. 

“when i released that song, i was genuinely proud of the work i had done.” you paused for a while. besides the song playing in the background, it was silent. 

“but i guess the joy didn’t last very long.” the scene cuts there. 

it transitioned to a collage of what people were saying about you. it showed clips of people talking about it on youtube. they even showed george talking about it. 

and it cuts again. 

it showed a different clip this time. a clip of your ex boyfriend and you at the beach on a picnic, that was taken by a close friend of yours. 

this was when you were still in college. 

it showed all the fun memories you two made while you were still together. 

it showed a video of him studying in the library, flipping through his papers and scrolling through his laptop. it was clear he was hard at work, not noticing you filming him. 

but then the scene cuts again. and the music turned somber. 

your ex boyfriend’s grave. 

it was the day you were visiting him. you sat down next to his stone, a blanket under you. 

you were just staring at his stone, not moving. 

and it cuts again. 

“he was one of the most driven person i have ever met.” you told the camera. 

“he knew when to be serious and when to have fun.” you looked down in your hands and played with your rings. 

“all he ever talked about was becoming a surgeon. he worked hard in his intern years and continued being passionate through his residency.” you spoke up. 

“people had only nice things to say about him. the only bad thing they would say about him is that he can be pretty uptight sometimes, especially when he was stressed about something.” you laughed a little. 

“i was a huge fan of him, even when we just saw each other in the hallways. he’s just amazing. i’ve always wanted to be just like him.”

“i wanted to write a song about him but i didn’t the song to be sad.” you said. 

“and that was when the song ‘fan of you’ was created. 

the scene cuts there and goes into another. 

you were in the recording booth again, this time, you were singing into the mic. 

the camera pans to your producer and manager dancing and bobbing their heads to the beat. 

the scene cuts, officially ending it with a black screen with ‘the end’ in a fancy white font. 

you busied yourself with writing new songs as your name got trended again on twitter. 

and george has never felt worse about himself ever in his entire life. 

-

he watched the episode as soon as dream sent it to him. 

“you’re an asshole, george.” dream sends to him, along with the link of the video on youtube. 

as the video ends, he decides to read the comments, wondering what it was like down there. 

it was the worse mistake he had ever made in a while. 

but he knew he deserved it. he did assumed it was about him, just like the last song made with a drawing of his glasses as their cover photo on spotify. 

this time, there was genuinely no reason to think that this song was about him, or anyone with a following whatsoever. he just believed what his chat told him. 

sure, there were some familiarity of the character in your song and him, but the world did have 7.6 billion people living on it. 

“so, here i am apologising.” george says to his camera, live. his tone was very sincere and apologetic. 

“this shouldn’t have gotten this far. they shouldn’t have gotten threats at all, let alone death threats. they shouldn’t have woken up to the world knowing where they live and what their phone number is.” 

“and if you’re watching. i sincerely apologise. i clearly was full of myself.” george finishes. ending the live with a small wave. 

and were you watching? hell yes. 

and that was the day the two of you followed each other on instagram. 

he used your songs as his intros of his live, (with your permission, of course.) you showed in your documentary that you were watching whenever he was live or watching his youtube videos. 

and that was the start to a beautiful relationship. 

you sat on the chair, going live. you waved as people started joining. it went from hundreds, to thousands in seconds. 

as you were talking and clicking on your keyboard and mouse, playing a game, you felt arms around your shoulders. 

you smiled, yet continued playing. 

“why are you live on my account?” he laughs. 

you disconnected the headphones so that he could hear what you were hearing. 

“george, you’re being replaced.” dream said on discord. 

george smiles, giving you a kiss on the top of your head. “that was well deserved.” 

[glitxhwayventeen]

Lonely Together

Jihoon: Chapter 4 (Waves)

Characters: Jihoon x female reader

Genre/Warnings: multi-member au (different scenarios), werewolf au, fantasy, fluff, suggestive content, mentions of marking, angst (kinda maybe sort of?). Any others will be put as warnings when future chapters are thought up/written. Please let me know if I missed anything!

Author’s Note: So I’m trying to not make every story super depressing. At least for now. So I took a shot at some average fluff for Jihoon’s chapter. Let me know what you think! It’s a bit short, but I’ll edit it some more to juice it up when I have the free time.

Please remember that all of these chapters and the content within them are a work of fiction! They’re just for fun/entertainment!

Bold= Dialogue Italics= Thoughts

☁️

Lonely Together Masterlist

Chapter 4: Waves

You were still getting used to everything, which no one could blame you for. You weren’t used to being around humans let alone lovey happy couples all the time. It was all… disorienting to you. You understood why the rest of the pack acted the way they did with their mates, in a way you also felt some primal need to be the same with Jihoon. But it was just… quite a big adjustment for you.

It wasn’t bad by any means! You knew you’d get the hang of most of it eventually. But there were some things you weren’t sure you’d ever get used to. Like the constant PDA of the couples around you. You didn’t understand the need to be that close to someone all the time or need to be that handsy. You always wondered if maybe Jihoon wanted to be like that, but you never really had the courage to ask in case you wouldn’t like his answer.

You also knew you’d never really like the fact that the pack seemed to refer to you more as a mate than as a wolf. You grew up being a wolf above all else, you considered yourself a wolf first. Now, you were Jihoon’s mate. Just one of the girls. You ate with them, you hung out with them, and you were treated like them even though you were just as strong if not more so than most of the males. Soonyoung didn’t get treated that way even though he was technically Seungcheol’s mate. It seemed unfair. That thought seemed to leave a bitter metallic taste in your mouth, but you just dealt with it because that’s just how it was now.

And you knew you’d NEVER understand the need to give your partner sweet little gooey nicknames. I mean, who the hell decided it was an adorable idea to start calling the person they fuck baby? How the hell was that SUPPOSED to be cute? It was creepy to you. You could tell it visibly bothered Jihoon that you hadn’t called him anything other than his given name, but you just couldn’t bring yourself to call him by anything else. Every cutesy petname you could think of just felt… wrong to you. Sweetheart? Shit didn’t make sense. Hearts were NOT sweet. Sugar? He wasn’t composed of glucose or fructose so that wasn’t right. Prince? He wasn’t royalty, well, at least not that neither of you knew of. Daddy? Even creepier than baby. So you just opted to leave it at Jihoon.

As for you and Jihoon, you’d been doing alright. You were still rather shy around each other, but you were definitely more obvious in your affection with each other. For instance, at breakfast you always seemed to find yourself scooting your chair as close to his as you could manage. And he always made sure you were within his sight. You weren’t sure why. Where could you have possibly gone when you were stuck with a bunch of wolves? But it did make the chambers of your heart constrict extra whenever you noticed him trying to look for you. You had to admit, It was kinda cute.

There was still one problem. You two hadn’t… consummated your bond yet. You were still unmarked even though it had now been weeks of being in the same house together. He hadn’t even tried to sleep with you. It had you confused, shouldn’t he have wanted to have sex with you by now?

-

“Dude quit being a little bitch and just do it already!” Soonyoung groaned at his younger brother while he pinched the bridge of his nose.

You were currently outside learning how to play soccer with Somi, just far enough away to where you couldn’t hear what was going on inside. They were all watching you guys from the window. You felt someone staring at you so you looked up from the ball next to your feet towards the house. Your mate was eyeing you and had a fond smile flashing brightly at your from his spot. You gave him a sweet one back with a little wave added before you continued on with your fancy foot maneuvering past the younger girl and scored a goal, causing you to jet your hands in the air in celebration. God he loved you.

Jihoon looked away to sigh and he ran his shakey hand through his slick hair, “But how am I supposed to do that? You fuckers are here every second of everyday and she can hear everything that goes on the same as I can. You’re all way too distracting. If she’s anything like me-” He was cut off before he could finish his sentence.

“Which she is.” Mingyu stated with a giant grin on his face while crossing his arms over his chest.

“IF she’s anything like me, she doesn’t want you guys listening in or around when we’re going at it. She’s too private for that” Jihoon emphasized, trying his best to contain his annoyance at the taller boy for his smugness, “Plus, you’re all too lovey with each other, it makes us both awkward and uncomfortable.” He admitted.

Joshua laughed and slapped his hands on his knees where he was sitting down at the table, “So you’re telling me that WE make YOU GUYS uncomfortable? Have you ever even been in the same room with yourself? You’re both ridiculously intimidating to the girls because you’re so quiet. WE know it’s because you’re just shy. But THEY all think you’re some sort of psycho killer dude!”

“Yeah if looks could kill, we’d all have been long dead by now!” Snorted Wonwoo, who had his arm wrapped around his mate possessively.

Jihoon raised his chest out defiantly, slightly annoyed at his pack mates for making fun of his cold exterior, “Yeah? Well at least I can keep my hands off my mate for more than a split second!”

He never really understood the need to keep partners away from other people. That is, until the other day when Chan had accidentally brushed up against your front while trying to reach for a plate. He all but chewed him up and spit him out for it, though you didn’t know that as he did it once you had gone up to bed. He couldn’t help it. His inner wolf just snapped at the poor kid. Though looking back, he’d still do it again. No one should be touching you but him.

“Not for long. You’re getting soft. You’re laughing more at the things she says, you’re joining us on errands more because she goes with, you’re getting more and more protective over her because she’s not marked and you don’t want anyone taking her away from you” Mingyu proudly spoke up much to Jihoon’s shock. He happy that he had taken the smaller wolf off guard with his statement, “You’re getting just as whipped man. You want my advice?” He asked, seeming pretty genuine with his question.

Jihoon nodded at him. Mingyu was surprisingly one of the few who could actually keep a few feet’s distance from his mate. Out of everyone in the pack, he would’ve DEFINITELY expected him to be the one most likely to be attached to his lovers side. But he when he found his mate, he didn’t get possessive over her at all. He just let her do her own thing with relative freedom. He figured he must have had some sort of secret behind being able to control himself and, for your sake, Jihoon figured he should take any help he could get before he got bad.

“Mark her as soon as you can. It helps. You wont get as jealous, at least around us, because we’ll smell you on her.” He shrugged towards his elder, quickly going over and kissing the top of his mates head who was sitting on the ground braiding Josh’s mates hair.

The thought of marking you sent a weird feeling through Jihoon’s veins. He WANTED to. But the real question was, would you LET him? “I don’t know. It could help I guess. But again, you bitches are always here and if I EVER want to do anything with her, you assholes can’t be anywhere near or she’ll refuse.”

“Okay okay! What if we were to all go visit Taeyong’s pack later? Then would you get the stick out of your ass and just fucking get it over with?” Seungcheol interjected with a heavy chuckle.

He was just as glad that his younger brother found you as everyone else. He really needed you in his life, even if he didn’t want to admit it. So he knew he had to help him figure out how to finally make things ‘official’ with you.

Jihoon thought for a moment. There didn’t seem to be a reason why that couldn’t work. He’d just have to make sure you knew to stay behind which, considering how touchy feely the others were, you’d probably be more than happy with that, “That’s….. actually a good idea.”

“Yeah no shit Sherlock. That’s why he suggested it” sneered Jeonghan. Jihoon sent him a small warning growl before Hannie went and collected the other mates and boys to tell them the new plan for the day.

He couldn’t lie, he was super fucking nervous. Other than that day you found out you two were mates, he hadn’t been left alone with you. At least not completely. There was always someone how because of how many people that lived in the house. He didn’t have much experience with girls. He had more experience than you did, but he was still trying to grasp the whole ‘mating’ thing. He didn’t know where to even start. He couldn’t just go up to you and go “hey I need to mark you or I’m gonna go crazy so we need to fuck like rabbits.” I mean, what kind of loser did that? He had to start thinking of a more subtle approach.

And, as if on cue, in came you and Somi from outside after Jeonghan had called for you both from outside. Your cheeks were a bit flushed from being in the sun and your hair that was once put up in a neat ponytail was now falling out in locks towards the rest of your face. You had grass stains on your knees and you had a bit of dirt on your forehead. You looked like you had gotten into a fight with the ground when in all reality, it was just your first time playing a child’s game.

“So, we’re going somewhere?” Somi ran up and kissed Chan on the cheek before he cuddled her in his arms.

“Yeah. WE are. THEY’RE staying here.” He let a playful grin plaster on his face as he pointed at your and your mate.

You cocked your head to the side in confusion, “We are? Why’s that?”

Chan gulped down his dry throat and shifted his eyes towards Jihoon, who was now staring daggers into him, “Oh… um- well… because…”

“Because we’re gonna be doing coupley shit over at Taeyong’s today and Jihoon said you wouldn’t want to watch us make out.” His sentence was quickly interrupted by the oldest alpha, much to your mate’s relief as his answer seemed to satisfy you.

“Ew yeah no. I’ll stay here that sounds gross,” you shook your head and scrunched up your nose in disgust, “Though I think I’ll take a shower. I feel almost as gross as you all are together.” You chuckled as you mad your way up the stairs and to the bathroom.

-

A little while later after everyone had got themselves together and understood why they suddenly had to leave, they began to head towards the door to depart. You were now upstairs in your bedroom, a towel tightly wrapped around your body and hair as you read a book to work on your Korean. You were pretty good with the actual speaking portion of the language, minus your accent of course, but you were still having a bit of trouble with the spelling and reading. And since it was the native language of most of the people who lived in the house, you figured it was best you study up on it a bit more to become more fluent.

Before you knew it, the others had left. You began focusing on a page of plural ways of speech and were brought out of your gaze by a soft voice near the doorway of your bedroom, “How’s the studying coming along?”

“It’s going about as well as dealing with humans after centuries of avoiding them.” You figured, putting your book down on the bedside table and looking at your mate who was now moving to sit at the end of your bed.

“That bad huh?” He joked while bringing his hand to touch your naked thigh. It brought a light pink blush to your cheeks, but you did your best to avoid it as much as possible and continued the conversation.

You shrugged the heat one your face away, “It comes and goes in Waves. Besides, It could be worse”

“And how’s that?” Jihoon questioned, giving you a tilted head in response.

“I could have had to go watch all the other suck face all day with another pack.” You laughed in amusement at your own joke.

Jihoon hesitated for a moment before he responded, “Well… yeah… about that…” he trailed in an effort to avoid the situation.

“What about it?”

“Wellllll….” He took a deep breath in so he could finish his sentence, “They decided to leave for me- well for us- so we could… have some time alone together…” he brought his newly hot face down to look at his lap so he didn’t have to look you in the eyes as he spoke.

“Alone time?” You bit your lip to hold back a knowing grin. You knew exactly what he was trying to say. But you really wanted to HEAR him say the words. Half to confirm your suspicions, half so that he would squirm a bit.

“Uh yeah. Alone time…” he started to pick at his nails to distract himself. He had never really been this nervous before. Why was he even nervous? You were his mate. It’s not like you’d have an issue with it all… right?

Your pulse was starting to race. The thought of what could happen was heating your body up to the point of concern. You weren’t sure why you were reacting this way, maybe it was because he was your mate, maybe it was because now you could go into heat, you didn’t know. But you did know that if he was going where you thought he was going with his sentence, you’d definitely not be complaining.

You gave him a wondering look, “What do you mean by alone time?” You faked innocence in your question, playing with the edge of the towel wrapped around your body.

He groaned in frustration and threw himself to the bed, landing on his back with a light thud while his hands found their way to his face, “They all left so I could mark you okay?? I knew you wouldn’t want to do anything like that with them here. But I knew I needed to do it soon so that my jealousy wouldn’t get the best of me. So Cheol agreed to have everyone leave for the day so we could just-get it over with” He sighed out, hands still covering his eyes so he could ignore your no doubt astonished face.

But instead, you found yourself straddling him in your easily droppable attire. His hands automatically sent themselves down to hold your hips once his body realized what was happening.

“You know, you could’ve just said that to begin with you know” you seductively let out. His face was absolutely stunned at your sudden behavior change. What actual fucking alien world had he stepped in when he came into your shared room?

(Updated 9/16)

[recollins]

hi! can you do one of reid and he has a secret girlfriend/fiance/wife (idk your choice haha) that the team doesnt know about then something happens to spencer (hospital maybe) or the team meets her by chance and everyone is surprised and start piecing together why reid declined to go out all those times and stuff? you have free reign over this drabble I know it'll turn out great anyways! thanks!!

Of course! This is so cute! Sorry, I know this took a hot minute, but I apparently don’t have the ability to write short drabbles (and of course my internet went out for like an hour when I was ready to post 🙄). I hope you don’t mind it went a little long, hopefully you enjoy this!

Pairing: Spencer x Female Reader Words: 3,531 Content: Fluff Warnings: Knife injury, stitches Masterlist

--

The tentative hand tugging on your pencil skirt was right on time. With a smile, you sat the stack of book returns on the shelf and turned to smile at your favorite visitor. As soon as she saw she had your attention, June held up the most recent book you’d recommended to her, beaming as she said excitedly,

“Zero found his mom! I was happy he was gonna live with Stanley but now he has his her too!”

“See? And you were worried it wasn’t gonna be a happy ending,” you teased the enthusiastic seven-year-old as you crouched down to her level. “Did you like it?”

June nodded enthusiastically, her blonde curls bouncing wildly with the movement. “I loved it! I would’a been so scared with all those lizards though! I don’t know how Zero and Stanley were so brave!”

“It’s not easy to be brave, but doing the right thing can show you that you’re a lot stronger than you might believe,” you told her, and to your surprise you saw uncertainty clouding her soft blue eyes.  

“Miss (Y/N), do you think I could be brave?”

You nodded and reached up giving her chin a gentle squeeze before you stood. “You already are. I mean, you walk here from school every day by yourself. That’s pretty brave, if you ask me.”

To your surprise, June dropped her eyes and gave her small shoulders a dismissive shrug. “I’m not as brave as my big brother. He can climb all the way to the top of our tree and I’m too scared to even go past the first branch.”

As you did every Wednesday, you rested a hand on June’s shoulder and led her with you over to the children’s section of the library. Instead of instantly taking her to seek out a new book for the week, you led her to the reading nook and nudged her towards one of the chairs as you sat across from her.

“You remember Dr. Reid, don’t you?” you prompted, and June’s smile flickered back to her face as she gave an eager nod. How could she not? Spencer had come by the Story Circle – a kids book club you hosted every Saturday – and had eagerly joined in on your discussion of that month’s book, The Hobbit.

Though not [as] gifted as Spencer Reid (honestly, you didn’t think anyone else really was), June was an incredibly smart little girl and read well over her normal age group. It turned out that The Hobbit was one of her favorite books, and she and Spencer had spent hours talking about it after the club had ended.

“Well, he’s an FBI agent. Remember?” June nodded again. “Do you think he’s brave?”

“He is,” she confirmed instantly, and a smile came to your face. “He’s probably the bravest person ever!”

“I think so too,” you admitted, grinning back at her. But you think your brother’s pretty brave too, huh?”

June nodded, a little slower this time, trying to figure out the point you were about to make. “But he’s not an FBI agent like Dr. Reid.”

“He’s not. But he can still be brave, because there are different kinds of braveness in the world. Dr. Reid goes out and finds bad guys, and your brother can climb trees and not get scared.” June’s brow furrowed as you added pointedly, “and you walk all the way to the library by yourself. Everyone’s brave in their own way, but Dr. Reid’s bravery isn’t any different from yours. They’re all just as important, and all just as impressive.”

June’s smile took up her whole face, and to your surprise she hopped off her chair and rushed over to hug you tight. You laughed and hugged her back as she said, “thank you Miss (Y/N). you know what?” You pulled back and raised a brow at her in question. “You’re just like Gandalf. You’re wise and you always say things that make other people feel better. Like he does with Bilbo!”

You laughed with her as you got to your feet, taking her hand to lead her towards the shelves you wanted. “So then does that make you Bilbo?”

“Uh-huh. And Dr. Reid is Thorin, ‘cause he’s really smart and clever, but he’s really nice too. And he’s a leader. And he’s probably brave enough to fight Smaug.”

“I bet you’re right,” you agreed, already looking forward to telling Spencer all about this tonight. He loves little kids, and knowing June thought about him so highly would definitely make his day. “You know, speaking of bravery and dragons… I think I know a good book for you this week.”

You paused at the end of one of the aisles and knelt down – June following your movement – and you tugged out a book you’d been waiting to recommend to her. She took your offering and studied the cover as she read out,

“The Two Princesses of Bamarre?”

“Yep. Do you remember reading Ella Enchanted last month?” June nodded slowly. “This was written by the same author. It’s about a little sister who has to be really brave and go on an adventure to save her big sister. There’s dragons, ogres, and fairies in this one.”

June’s eyes widened with every word, and as you both stood she peeked up at you. “And true love?”

That was what the two of you shared – you were both hopeless romantics.

“Would I give you a fairytale story without that?” June giggled and shook her head. You nudged her gently back towards the reading nook, knowing her mom wouldn’t be by to pick her up for another hour at least. “I’ve got to finish putting the books away, so you get started on that and see if you like it, alright?”

“Thanks Miss (Y/N)!” she said eagerly, already cracking the book open on her way. You just grinned and shook your head as you headed back to the books you’d left on the shelf. The front desk phone ringing hadn’t even caught your attention, and you were just grabbing the books again when the other librarian Amy came bustling over to you, handset held out.

“It’s Stafford Hospital asking for you,” she whispered, and instantly your stomach flipped. Why was a hospital several cities over be calling for you? Warily you took the handset and said,

“This is (Y/F/N) (Y/L/N).”

“Miss (Y/L/N), this is Nurse Lesser from Stafford Hospital. We’re calling you because you’re listed as the emergency medical contact for Spencer Reid.”

You nearly dropped the phone, sucking in a sharp breath as your heart skittered to a stop. “Oh my god, is he okay?”

“I’m sorry ma’am, I’m not able to go into specifics right now, but if you’d be able to come down and speak with –“

“Yes, yes, I’m on my way,” you said quickly, already racing for the front desk. As soon as the call ended you practically threw the handset back to Amy as you grabbed your purse. “I’ve got to go, I’m so sorry. I’ll see you later!”

Amy didn’t even get a chance to respond before you were booking it to your car.

The normally fifteen minute drive to the hospital took you less than ten; you’d be sure not to ever mention how many traffic laws you’d broken to get there so fast. Not that you really cared about that, though. Your mind was in overdrive, heart stuttering painfully against your ribs, lungs refusing to let you get a full breath. All you could hear was emergency medical contact for Spencer Reid.

Heels and all, you practically sprinted through the ER parking lot, desperate to find out what had happened. You and Spencer had been dating for just about five months now, and though he’d listed you as his contact as soon as you’d made things official, this was the first call you’d ever gotten for it. You knew dating an FBI agent came with risks like this, but you really hadn’t been prepared for the instant panic and fear that came with knowing Spencer had been hurt.

Once inside, though, you had no idea where to go or what to do. Maybe you should’ve thought to ask that during the call, but you’d flown into panic hyperdrive and had been on a one-track-mind purpose of getting to your boyfriend as fast as possible.

You paused in the lobby for several moments, looking around desperately until you spotted someone that looked like a nurse.

“Excuse me!” you called, racing after him. The young man paused and looked back at you as you asked quickly, “I-I got a call. I’m an emergency contact for a patient –“

“Which patient, ma’am?” he asked, glancing down at a clipboard in his hand.

“Dr. Spencer Reid. He’s with the FBI, I don’t know – they wouldn’t tell me what’s wrong –“

“I’m sorry ma’am, he’s not one of my patients. If you want to wait in the lobby –“

“You don’t understand. I need to know – can you just please find out where he is? Spencer Reid. R-E-I-D. They just called me –“

“I’m sorry, did you say Spencer Reid?” a woman asked from behind you. As soon as you were distracted the nurse practically bolted from your side, but you were too busy studying the group of people behind you.

The woman who had spoken – a petite, beautiful blonde – was coming up to you, confused concern on her face. You recognized her instantly from Spencer’s description of his team, and for a moment you worried he’d be upset. He hadn’t wanted you to meet his coworkers just yet – and certainly not like this – but right now that didn’t matter.

“You must be JJ,” you started, not missing the blink of alarm she gave you as she nodded slowly.

“Yeah… I am. I’m sorry, who are you?”

Oh, right. That had probably been a lot creepier than you’d meant.

“No, I’m sorry. That was super weird of me. I’m (Y/F/N) (Y/L/N), Spencer’s girlfriend. He’s told me all about you guys.”

JJ and the others behind her all made noises of surprise. One of the men you recognized as Derek Morgan actually choked on his coffee as he spluttered, “I’m sorry, you’re what now?!”

Heat flooded your cheeks when you realized everyone was staring at you like you’d just sprouted a second head. Nervously you brought your hands together in front of you, fingers twisting together as you repeated a little quieter, “um, I’m Spencer’s girlfriend?”

“Spencer has a –“ a beautiful dark-haired woman scoffed, mouth hanging open as she tried to think of a way to finish that sentence. She must be Emily. “I had no idea Spencer had a girlfriend.”

“Surprise?” you offered, almost instantly cringing at how stupid that was. Thankfully, one of the older men seated behind the others gave an amused snort. Derek, Emily, and JJ all turned to stare at him as Emily asked incredulously,

“What, did you know about this, Rossi?”

“Of course not,” the man – apparently David Rossi – scoffed as he nodded at you. “But unlike you all it doesn’t surprise me that our resident genius would be dating a beautiful librarian. It doesn’t get any more Spencer Reid than that.”

Your cheeks were burning now as the others made noises of agreement. The last man to speak stepped forward and held out his hand to you.

“As I assume you already know, I’m Aaron Hotchner.”

“Spencer’s unit chief,” you confirmed, shaking his hand. “Though I never pictured it like this, it’s really great to meet you all finally.”

“It’s great to know you exist,” Derek quipped; Emily smacked his arm.

“You don’t know why Spence is here?” JJ prompted, and the surprise of meeting your boyfriend’s team flickered out the moment you remembered why you were here. At the look you gave her she said quickly, “don’t worry, he’s fine. He was cut by an UnSub we were chasing and he needed some stitches. We’re just waiting for the doctor to give us the clear to see him.”

Rossi patted the chair beside him and invited, “you’re more than welcome to sit with us, if we haven’t scared you off.”

“Of course not,” you smiled, taking him up on his offer and settling beside him. The others gathered a little closer, clearly ready to learn more about you. Derek wasted no time on jumping into the questions.

“So (Y/N), how long have you and Reid been dating?”

“Five months on the 18th,” you told him with a smile. His eyes widened in surprise and he made a noise of absolute shock.

“You’ve been datin’ for almost half a year and we didn’t know you existed?!”

“Um, surprise again?” you offered, getting a snort out of JJ this time. “I’m sorry. Spencer said he was waiting for the right time. He wanted to give us time to get comfortable with our relationship and make sure things were serious, and then things have just kept coming up. He definitely didn’t want to spring it on you like… well, exactly like it just happened…”

“He was going to tell us at the Halloween party, wasn’t he?” Emily asked you, and at the bewildered head nod you gave her she explained, “he was insistent we would all be there, and when we had to fly out on a case he was really upset. I thought it was just because he has an unnatural love for Halloween, but…”

“Wait,” JJ cut in, snapping her fingers. “When we invited him to lunch last week and he’d said he had to return a library book…”

The team around you ahh’d as they all chuckled. You looked around, still not getting their amusement, but thankfully Rossi caught on to your uncertainty.

“Reid’s been acting dodgy with us lately, and we’ve all been trying to pinpoint it. I can honestly tell you it’s a relief to know he’s in a relationship, not the mob.”

“You’re the only one that thought that,” Emily started, and from behind her, Aaron cleared his throat.

“No he wasn’t.”

The others turned to give him incredulous looks as JJ asked him, “you actually thought Spencer Reid was in the mob?”

“Hey, you and JJ thought he was in a fight club!” Rossi defended, and this time you had to snort.

“A fight club?” you laughed; Emily just offered a shrug as JJ said,

“He had bruises on his – oh.”

Ah, there was the burning in your cheeks again. The others laughed as Derek rubbed his hands together, looking around.

“Guess this means you all owe me your bets.” At the noise of protest around him, he said quickly, “I was the closest! I said he was crushin’ on someone!”

“You guys had money on his caginess?” you asked them with a bemused laugh. JJ, Rossi, and Hotch gave you apologetic smiles as Emily argued,

“That doesn’t count. Garcia wins, she said he had a secret girlfriend.”

“That’s not even fair,” Derek grumbled, shaking his head and crossing his arms irritably. “How is it the only one of us that was right is the one who isn’t even a profiler?”

Before they could go any further a voice called out, “I’m looking for Spencer Reid’s emergency contact, Miss (Y/L/N)?”

Instantly you scrambled out of your seat, rushing past the others to the Doctor peering down at you.

“Yes, that’s me. Is Spencer okay?”

“Yes ma’am. I’m happy to report he’s just fine,” he assured, and the group around you all made noises of relief. “He needed a decent amount of stitches but the blood loss was minimal and luckily there won’t be any long term damage. He’s ready for visitors, if you’d like me to take you back.”

Though you wanted to see him you didn’t feel right stepping in front of his team. They were his family and he’d known them all much longer than he’d known you. But when you looked back at them, JJ and Emily ushered you to go first.

“Go warn him that we’ve met, because as soon as we see him, he ain’t livin’ this down,” Derek assured you, giving a playful grin. With a laugh, you just gave a nod and followed the Doctor back into the patient rooms.

Spencer looked up at the sound of your heels, a huge smile spreading over his face. Though you instantly smiled back, you made a noise of distress seeing his bandaged arm. Rushing to his side, you gingerly took his arm and held it up, running your fingers lightly over the wrappings.

“Baby, are you okay?” you asked softly, looking up at him in concern. Spencer smiled and reached out, cupping your face with his free hand and brushing his thumb over your cheek in comfort.

“I’m just fine. I’m so sorry, I wanted to call and let you know what’d happened, but I left my phone in the SUV. I know the call from the hospital had to have taken you by surprise.”

“You know…” you started, giving him a smile as you leaned into his touch. “Not as much as finding your team in the waiting room did.”

He actually gasped, his mouth dropping into a shocked ‘O’ as he stared at you in mild horror. “Oh no. I – I’m so sorry, sweetheart. I didn’t even think about that. I didn’t mean to throw you to them like that –“

“Spencer it’s okay,” you laughed. “It wasn’t what we’d talked about but I liked meeting them. Although apparently they were making bets about why you kept ducking out of things with them.”

He frowned, an adorable pout coming over his face. “They do that a lot. And they give [me] a hard time for being from Vegas…”

With a laugh, you finally let go of his arm and reached up, cupping his face with both your hands and pulling him down into a kiss. He hummed against your lips, the hand on your cheek sliding into your hair to hold you to him. Your lips moved against one another softly, tongues brushing briefly before you broke apart to keep from going farther.

“I’m really glad you’re okay,” you said softly, letting your fingers slide over his face to sweep his hair back behind his ears. “Did you catch the guy that did this?”

He nodded, a hint of pride in his soft brown eyes as he gave you a smile. “I did, actually. We managed to stop him before he killed a teen, and even did it without him taking his own life. He cut into me instead of his neck. It was close.”

You knew how bad that must’ve shaken him. Spencer had told you his hardest cases were the ones he had to watch someone take their life, almost more so than the cases with kids. To hear he’d been the hero warmed you to your core, and you knew exactly what would make him even happier.

“It’s funny, I was just telling June about how brave Dr. Reid was, and you go and prove me right.”

As expected, Spencer’s face lit up with a smile at that and he sat up a little taller. “You told her I was brave?”

“I did,” you confirmed. “And it’s been decided that she’s Bilbo, I’m Gandalf, and you’re Thorin.”

“I’m Thorin?” he asked in surprise, and you gave an eager nod. “Why?”

“According to June, you’re smart, nice, and clever. She’s a pretty perceptive first grader.”

Of all the things you loved about Spencer, his genuine humility was one of his best qualities. You knew he didn’t see himself for the incredible man he truly was, and watching the soft blush on his cheeks at June’s compliment warmed your heart even further.

Before you could sweet talk your boyfriend any further, though, you heard commotion in the hallway. The rest of Spencer’s team all piled into the room, with Derek in the lead, a phone to his ear.

“Oh yeah, baby girl. I’ve got him right here. I’ll let him tell you why he kept his girlfriend from us for five months.”

Spencer’s eyes widened as Derek held out the phone; he shook his head and Derek gave a deadpan frown. When Spencer refused again, his friend stepped up and pressed the phone to his face.

“No, Morgan, I don’t – oh, uh, hey Garcia –“

You could hear the squeaking of a very upset woman on the other end and you laughed along with the team as JJ and Emily came up on either side of you.

“So, (Y/N), how does dinner with the team Saturday night sound?” Emily mused, and JJ elaborated,

“We have about six months of embarrassing Reid to make up for, and Rossi makes a mean lasagna. You in?”

“Oh, I’m definitely in,” you laughed, catching Spencer’s eye as he rambled off a desperate apology to the phone in Derek’s hand. He raised his brows to you, silently asking, is this okay?

The smile and wink you gave him assured that yes, this was better than okay. This was as close to perfect as meeting someone’s family would ever get.

[agathaharknes]

yennaia + gamer au

This was supposed to be three sentences and definitely not crack but I just had to... sksjsjssksjjs.

Yennaia prompt: Gamer AU.

LINK TO ARCHIVE OF OUR OWN IN THE REPLIES.

Word count: 1.8k+ Pairing: Yennaia. Rating: T.

Tissaia really had no idea why she was doing this. Perhaps to appease Rita. Perhaps because her addiction to nicotine had worsened over the course of one year of a bloody Continent-wide pandemic and she was loath to use her credit card every time she needed a new pack of cigarettes. Perhaps she was going through a midlife crisis to cope with the fact that being the Chancellor of Aretuza College was already stressful enough without half the generations there trying to fool her subordinates into thinking cardboard replicas or even mannequins counted as attendance or simply because the rest of the Board of Governors (Stregobor) couldn't differentiate between what could be said through an email and what required her to clean her entire house so the background of her call was pristine.

Her controller vibrated in her hands, (Why, for the love of the Gods, couldn't that setting be turned off?) her knuckles turning white from gripping it so strongly. "Oh, for fu- heaven's sake." There, she had been ambushed. Again. A funny and wholly unexpected thing happened, though, one of the users turned on her companions, offing the lot of them with clean headshots the brunette definitely couldn't pull off in the span of twenty seconds.

"Uhh..." What does one say when your virtual saviour just betrayed her entire party on a whim and was being cursed at obnoxiously loudly and vulgarly for it?

Yennefer ignored Sabrina calling her names that absolutely applied to her and her hormonal reaction to a lovely blue-eyed MILF the likes of which she had only seen in her dreams. "No thanks needed, love. I was getting tired of seeing you frown like someone had keyed your car every time you got killed. A pretty thing like you should only have cause to smile." Oh, Gods, now she sounded like a creepy old man that lived in his mum's basement. Great. Good job. Her Social Studies major was an absolute hit. Fuck her life. Fuck Oxenfurt College. And fuck Sabrina's witch-like cackling while she was at it. "Name’s Yennefer." She choked out miserably.

Tissaia scowled at her laptop. Hackers. Amazing. This was the best day of her new normal life. "Mind telling me how you broke through the most expensive antivirus in the Continent, dear? Because now I really need a refund." Now she also needed to contact Aretuza’s IT team on a Saturday night, because she was not about to mess any further with these blasphemous machines, thank you very much.

Wait, what? "That wasn't me... You left your camera on." The woman legitimately squealed at that, her oversized jumper sliding down her left shoulder and exposing just a glimpse of her collarbone as she pinned up her hair into a bun with... were those pens fashioned as swords? Oh, bugger, this was so not the time to get turned on! "Are you alright?" Mercifully Sabrina, Renfri and Phillipa were already accosting someone else, else she was sure the brunette would've completely lost it, more than she already was doing, anyways. "Hello?" No answer.

Tissaia was fishing for her boots when she started ranting, “Oh, don’t you worry! I’m fine! Just dandy! This is exactly how I wanted my life to go.” She motioned with her hand to the space around her. “I wished for nothing more than dealing with complete morons from nine to six, five days a week, whilst trying to make sure my sanity doesn't desert me.” Biting her lower lip for a moment she began checking that the ends of the laces were the same length when she pulled them up. “Running right after to my local grocery store to buy more instant meals that are probably going to give me cancer in five years if the bullshit articles my mother keeps sending me-”

Yennefer had told herself she wasn’t going to allow this wasn’t going to get any creepier than her misguided comment but she still had a gift code for that nice liquor store which conveniently had retailers popping up every six blocks everywhere for the last few months, especially in Thanned isle, only Gods knew why. “This bloody succubus of a twat that is my best friend has been forcing me to constantly use this cursed game by changing the password for my email and then Aretuza’s server and then-” Bingo. One text to Philippa and they had her IP address, with a mortified Triss already calling Jaskier since she was the only one that had managed to get a decent scholarship at that posh college.

This was her future wife who was about to jump from a bridge from the looks of her and they just had to do humanity a great service by saving her from herself and from sobriety.

“Can you believe that tosser? I am a lesbian! I spent my teenage years clad in flannel until my girlfriends staged an intervention kind of lesbian! Yes, Vilgefortz, I will sue you for harassment in the workplace and I will blacklist you. No, Vilgefortz, I don’t want to break quarantine to go on a date with you and I definitely do not want your disgusting cologne anywhere near my-” Tissaia’s head shot up, her doorbell was ringing and she pinched the bridge of her nose, reaching for a new, disposable, mask.

“You stay right there.” She threatened the girl, who had the most beautiful violet… Perhaps she really ought to let Coral get her a therapist. It rang again. “Gods-damn-it.” She thought.

Her plan was going marvellously. She would only have to sleep with a knife under her pillow for a few weeks for blackmailing Sabrina (Who honestly hadn’t the slightest talent to pass off plagiarism as a sudden stroke of genius in her final project without her aid.) into going along with this. The blonde was lighting the candles around the monitor without trying to burn her hair off and had given away her best bottle of cheap but still good wine for the cause. Thanks to Renfri and her frankly psychotic, owl obsessed, girlfriend she already knew what she would be replacing her trauma-ridden last name with! Splendid!

The brunette shut the door on Jaskier’s face after taking the brown paper bag from his hands, spraying the bottle of vodka inside it with so much disinfectant that it dripped down onto her carpet. Taking off her gloves and disposing of them, she grabbed a knife from the counter and ignoring the annoying blue light that came from the kitchen table, “Oh, shit. You’re soulmates. I’ll tell the rest of the girls we’re all fucked.” Tissaia cut off the upper part of the glass in one smooth hit, like Calanthe had taught her when the then teacher could still be considered fun by her groups of friends.

“Shut up, tiddybug!” She heard Yennefer sing-song.

Feeling like being crass the blue-eyed woman took a rather large swing directly from the bottle. Sitting back down, she sighed. Yennefer took a dignified sip from her wine; she could do balanced when her significant other to-be needed to let loose. “Did you like the bottle? It has good reviews from… wait a minute… apparently several alcoholics who don’t know what a budget is.”

Tissaia’s face paled. “I thought you weren’t a hacker.” The woman muttered. She didn’t fancy getting kidnapped and… No, no, no. Fucking Rita. What was the cost of moving, again? If she slept four hours less a day and split her cleaning time in two she could probably trade this house for Stregobor's in-

“I am not!” Yennefer cried. Bloody hell. “You just mentioned that you worked at Aretuza and-” Sabrina had probably started a group call and Phillipa was indeed hacking into her computer to save her arse. The Redanian was currently writing a script for her to follow. “Your username in the game is your surname. My friends and I tried to get into that school a few years back and I do remember that the Chancellor is a woman and that her last name is de Vries.” Her username wasn’t her last name, it was actually something that suggested she was an Ice Queen of the highest order. Queen Elsa from the movie Frozen would be intimidated kind of Ice Queen.

“Everyone is aware the highest-ranking members of the faculty live in chalets near the castle, pardon, the building.” True. According to Triss, that was a part of their contract that if unfulfilled prohibited them from working there ever again. To Yennefer that seemed borderline cruel, forcing them to be available at all hours like circus animals for juniors that didn’t deserve their spots.

“My best friend is a student there and she knows which one is your home because she wants to eventually be a teacher.” Partially true. Until that day came, Triss, like any rational individual, avoided the Chapter’s Village like the plague lingered inside, and wouldn’t be caught dead there unless she had to stop Sabrina from doing something stupid because of the anarchist phase she was going through. Jaskier was an acquaintance of hers of sorts because Triss had tutored his boyfriend Geralt in Biology and being daddy’s boy, he knew which one was Tissaia’s house because he had almost gotten expelled like fifteen times.

“I honestly just wanted to do something nice for you, you sounded like you needed it and… I know quarantine hasn’t been lifted once in Temeria since it all started.” Philippa wrote then that she would probably make for a decent actor without flashing her breasts to the audience every five minutes. She pursed her lips and replied in the mock post-it note to fuck off.

“I… I… Thank you. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have assumed- I’m sorry, darling.” Her pale cheeks flushed at the term of endearment that slipped her tongue and Tissaia bowed down her head, red-painted nails caressing the glass bottle almost reverently. “Say, why don’t you tell me what your email address is and I send you my mobile via chat? The explosions in the background aren’t that, uhm, comforting to listen to when I’d much rather be hearing your voice.” Should she have looked up she would have seen the smile that threatened to split Yennefer’s face. “Only if you want to, of course! I- what am I even saying? Never mi-”

“No! Wait!” She placated. Sabrina squeezed her shoulder as she went to retrieve her phone charger, offering her a genuine smile. “I’d love to.”

“Okay.” Said Tissaia, an awed sound leaving her throat when blue finally meet with lilac. Gods, she was drop-dead gorgeous. Rita could have whichever bottle, all the liquor she wanted from the school’s cellar for indirectly enabling this.

Was one week a proper enough courting period to then buy the engagement ring? Or should she just have Philippa get her the best, costliest one from that jewellery eshop they all liked through some minor fraud that would take her like half an hour at most, today? “Good.” Yennefer de Vries had such a nice ring to it.

[devinescribe]

With The Memories

Chapter 3 to '100 Promises'

Chapter 2 | Chapter 4

Warnings: Swearing, violence, weapons, bullying, blood.

"Haha, come on (Y/N)! You don't want to miss this, do you?" The boy shouted excitedly. You two had gotten permission to go off to a festival by yourselves. He had been on a trip with his parents for two weeks, and it would be the first time you two saw each other since then. You giggled, running down the stairs. "No, give me a second!" You shouted back, basically jumping into his arms. He laughed as you hugged him, burying your head into the crook of his neck. "I missed you! I'm so glad you're back," you said gleefully. He smiled, letting you go to push up his glasses. "Well, let's get going," he said. You nodded, grabbing his hand as you two walked through the crowded streets of Tokyo.

"And there was this really cool arcade with tons of games! I was really surprised that they even let me go, but it was more of a way for me to let them have alone time. Well, it was more mom's idea than dad's, but still, I want to take you there one day!" He excitedly rambled about his trip. Over the past year, Niragi's mother had noticed the way she treated you and her son was wrong on so many levels. So, she apologized to you, saying that she knew what she had done was wrong, and that it was ok if you didn't forgive her. Forgiveness wasn't something that came easy to you, especially when it was someone who had wronged you so much. But once you saw that she was trying to change and making an effort be better, you did. "Aww, that's so cool Gigi!" You shouted. "(Y/N) that nickname is so embarrassing..." he muttered, the tips of his ears turning pink. You laughed softly, apologizing.

You two had walked around, going on different rides, and trying different games. You had won a lot of games, and so had Niragi. "I'll trade you 5 ring pops for your sour patch kids," you said, holding them out to him. "Hmm... ok!" He said, switching the sweets with you.

The last game Niragi played, he had decided to give the prize to you. "Oh, is that your girlfriend?" The person tending to the game stall asked. You both shook your heads. "My apologies, well, you won so pick your prize young man," they said. Niragi, being more attentive than most, saw how you had looked at one of the stuffed animals on the wall. He pointed to it, and they got it down for him. They winked at him, whispering a 'good luck', before letting you two on your way. "Here you go, (N/N)," he said, giving it to you. Your eyes lit up with joy. "You're giving it to me? But you won the game," you asked, hugging it tightly. "Because you deserve it. I left you for two weeks," he smiled, patting your head. "Thank you!" You chirped, grabbing his hand, leading him to other places around the festival.

Niragi stood on the roof after Chishiya left, remembering the memory. It had only been a few years ago, when you were both 16. Could you really be here in the Borderlands? Or did Chishiya find out about you through someone, and now was using you as a way to piss him off? Or as a way to find a weakness in him? He looked out towards the people partying below. "All so pathetic. Having a party every day, every night as if none of them die. As if none of them could die right now," he scoffed out loud to himself. He tried to make his mind think of anything else, but he couldn't. She was the only thing on his mind. The girl who had been by his side for years.

"Niragi! Where are you? This isn't funny anymore, come out!" You yelled into the darkness of the empty park. You two had started a game of hide and seek, but it had gotten late, and yous still hadn't found him. You began to worry about what had happened to him, but pushed the thoughts aside, beginning to look more. "Niragi! Niragi Suguru, if you don't come out, I'm leaving and the next time I see you, I'll beat your dumbass!" You threatened, feeling frightened of the darkness. There were a few streetlamps, which only made it creepier to you. You heard boisterous laughter and yelling, and decided to go find what was causing it. Maybe it was Niragi? You sped walk over to the noise, it getting louder as you went. You tried to walk as fast, but as quiet as you could. You walked closer, seeing it was the guys from school. You looked up the tree they kept throwing things at, seeing Niragi up there. You gasped quietly, looking around, seeing what you could do. You saw one of them had left their baseball bat over where you were, and grabbed it. You put it over your shoulder, walking to where they could see you. "Don't you have anything better to do?" You asked, looking disgusted at them. Niragi's eyes widened with excitement. He knew you were not a delicate little flower, and as much as he hated to admit it, you were braver than he ever was.

"Aw, look it's his little girlfriend," one of them taunted. "What are you? Five? And if I was? At least he would have one," you laughed. One of the boys charged at you, going to grab you, but you quickly swung the baseball bat at his arm. You heard a cracking noise, and laughed, hearing him howl in pain, rolling on the floor. The noise wasn't sickening to you. It made you feel... in control. "Strike 1!" You shouted, looking at Niragi with a smile. He laughed as well, seeing the people who tortured you two feel pain. Another one of them had thrown a rock at you, which you easily dogged. "Do better!" You taunted. Another one of them had tried to hit you, getting to close. You swung your bat, hitting him in the head. "Strike 2!" Niragi shouted from the tree, watching to see if you needed his help. He saw you smile at him again. He would help if you asked him to. But, he also knew how much fun you had putting people in their place. Well, outside of your house anyways.

You laughed, seeing as they were scared now. "You bitch!" The second to last boy yelled, throwing another rock at you. You smiled, hitting it back with the bat. It hit his nose, and he yelped in pain. You watched as blood dripped from his nose, onto his lip, and on to the ground below. "Strike three, you're out!" Both you and Niragi taunted together. The leader of the group, or as you like to call him, the biggest idiot of the group, was the last one left. He pulled something out of his pocket. "People like you piss me off. You always think you're so good until someone else has the upper hand. You've spent the last 3 years of our lives tormenting us, and now we finally have the courage to stand up for ourselves. No more defenseless little girl. No more playing nice," you said. Niragi noticed him pull something from his pocket, and quietly jumped down from the tree. He walked behind, and you saw him. Watching his movements. "You think you know it all. But I bet you didn't see this coming!" The guy yelled, pulling the pocket knife out, charging at you. 'Child's play' you thought, waiting for him to get closer before you threw the bat towards Niragi. He caught it, and you smiled psychotically, crouching down quickly. Niragi threw the bat, and it fell just in front of the boy. He didn't have time to stop his attack, so he tripped over the bat. You heard a scream, and looked over, seeing the knife had gone through his hand. Both you and Niragi laughed watching him squirm in pain. You two watched as blood poured out onto the floor bellow him. "Karma's a sweet woman!" You shouted, walking over to Niragi. He high-fived you with a laugh. "Just to be nice, I'm going to give you advice, don't pull out that knife, and go to the hospital. And don't mention us, because you will live long enough to regret it," you smirked, walking off with Niragi.

Niragi found himself laughing at the memory. "I was so useless in that instance... but her? No way. She'll survive here, I know it," he said to himself. He remembered how he thought you looked like a goddess in that moment. A saving grace for him. Not an angel, because you were far from holy, but a goddess of... well, he liked to call it karma. "Maybe... maybe I don't have to wait for a game to see her. If I know her, I know where she is," he whispered to himself. If anyone could survive these games, it would be you.

Last Boss had come up besides him. "My patrol is over?" Niragi guessed, looking at the man besides him. He only nodded. "Alrighty, well, good luck, I might be out late tonight, but don't worry because I'll be back with someone who could be highly useful to us," Niragi said. "Who might that be?'' Last Boss asked, quite curious. "(L/N) (Y/N). The most badass and clever girl I've ever met," Niragi stated with a smirk. "Is she good with weapons?" He asked. Niragi nodded. He knew you were skilled with those things. The world had let you to be. "Well, you should be telling Aguni and Hatter, not me, but she sounds interesting," Last Boss commented.

Niragi walked to the room where he expected Aguni and Hatter to be. They were there, sitting at the table, drinking some kind of liquor. "Hey, I got word from Chishiya of a talented player. I know who she is, what she can do, and have an idea of where she might be. I'm going out to find her, and bring her back here," Niragi said as soon as he went into the room. Hatter smiled his usual charming smile. "Her name? What relation she has to you and how long you've known her, as well as the skills you say she has?" Aguni questioned, keeping the stoic look on his face. "(L/N) (Y/N), I've known her for 8 almost 9 years, she's skilled in weapons, reading people, and quite intelligent as well as clever. She doesn't get attached easily, and would sacrifice others to achieve her goals, so a potentially strong player for hearts and diamonds games," Niragi stated. "Ooh, how interesting! I like her already. If you can find her bring her back, I'm sure she'd be quite good for the militals, wouldn't she?" Hatter asked, looking over at Aguni, who nodded. Niragi smirked, nodding and heading out.

Oh wow, what's this? (Y/N) isn't a scared little baby who can't do anything for herself? That's right bitches! (Your all very lovely, don't worry^_^) I got tired of (Y/N) always being a crybaby and being to weak for her own good, so we are attempting to make her a Harley Quinn type character, with the confidence of the boys at my school who thought I'd say yes when they asked me out, and the badass attitude of... well... me? I don't know, all I'm saying is, she isn't going to all like "Help me! I can't do anything for myself and everything scares me!" Kind of character. It's totally ok if your (Y/N) is like that, it's just I didn't want mine to be like that. No hate to anyone who makes theirs like what I described, you guys are amazing nonetheless!

[ronninoir]

Can I Steal You For A Second? Chapter 30

Summary: Adrien is forced to participate in a new dating show, but becomes more excited when Ladybug says she’ll participate as her civilian self.

AKA: AU where Adrien doesn’t know Marinette, the superheroes are 22 and Gabriel is mean and ruthless but not Hawkmoth.

Read on AO3

Start from the beginning Chp 1 on AO3

Marinette was excited when she was finally allowed to get ready for the rose ceremony. She had spent the last four days doing absolutely nothing in the mansion all by herself and she was losing her mind. Even if this rose ceremony meant Juliette going home, since Lucie and Lila had to stay, thanks to Gabriel Agreste. Saying goodbye to Juliette would be horrible, but at least the other girls would come back to the mansion and she wouldn’t be alone anymore after tonight. 

They were doing this rose ceremony differently and it was actually happening outside of the mansion. That excited Marinette even more since she was actually getting to leave the mansion. She put on a dark blue dress with a low sweetheart neckline with skinny straps and a high slit on her right leg. This dress gave her the illusion of curves which her Ladybug physique didn’t allow for and Marinette was grateful for the thicker material that could hide her shaking hands as she watched Adrien send home another one of her best friends.

The SUV deposited her outside of an airplane terminal and Marinette instantly became nervous. Tikki was hidden in the folds of her dress, but she wasn’t prepared to travel anywhere, especially since Adrien would probably be going with her. Which would then leave Paris unprotected. Marinette was on the verge of a freak out when she noticed Chris Harrison standing next to the terminal, smiling at Marinette.

She walked up to him and gave him a warm smile. “Marinette,” he said, gently pulling her into a hug.

“Hi, Chris.” Marinette responded before pulling away. She was very grateful that Chris had decided to travel over to Paris for their season, as he had been a steady force and a constant reminder that these things do work and that everything can end up okay in the end.

“How are you?”

“Good, I’m good.”

“How are you feeling?”

Marinette paused, not wanting to sound too confident, “I’m okay. Nervous but excited to see Adrien again tonight.”

“You don’t seem nervous,” Chris pointed out with a smile.

Marinette laughed, “That’s because I’m very good at hiding it.”

“Do you think you had a good week?”

Marinette thought back to everything that had happened that week and couldn’t help the smile that crossed her face. “I didn’t get to travel as much as I’d like,” she said with a wink, to which Chris chuckled, “But I think my Hometown turned out really well.”

“I like the confidence, Marinette.” Chris said with a gentle smile, “Go ahead and follow the red carpet and find your spot.”

“Thank you,” Marinette replied as she did as she was instructed. She followed the red carpet into the terminal and she felt herself take in a breath as she laid eyes on what was inside.

It was covered in lights and lanterns and candles. The lights were soft enough to set the mood and also give the room a warm color. As she continued on the red carpet to her name spot, she noticed the three roses sitting on a podium made of a handsome dark wood, as well as Lucie patiently waiting for the other girls to arrive and elegant in a light pink.

After Marinette stopped on her marked spot, she waited less than a minute for Juliette to arrive. Juliette had the same look of awe as she walked towards their spots that Marinette had, and when she stopped she gave Marinette a smile and a small wave. Marinette waited for Lila to appear soon after Juliette, but she didn’t come. After a couple of minutes, Marinette leaned over to Juliette and whispered, “Do you think something happened to her?”

Juliette shrugged and whispered back, “Maybe she just wanted to make an entrance.”

Just then, they heard a car door shut from outside and both Marinette and Juliette rolled their eyes. So very typical of Lila to be late.

Instead of Lila, however, they were treated with the beautiful sight that was Adrien. He was dressed in a crisp suit with a dark grey button down and a black tie. He didn’t look confused to see only three girls gathered and Marinette knew that something must have happened.

“Good evening ladies,” Adrien said as he hit his spot right next to the roses. “This week definitely gave me a lot more than I thought was possible going into it. To be able to go meet your families, and just have such amazing conversations with all of them is more than I could have hoped for.” Adrien took a deep breath, and there was something off about his expression, but Marinette couldn’t pinpoint what it was. “As you may have noticed, Lila is not currently with us tonight.” Marinette’s gaze snapped back to the spot that should have been Lila’s. She had almost forgotten that it was empty because of Adrien’s entrance.

“It was discovered at my meeting with her parents that Lila had been intimately involved with one of our crew members for almost the entire duration of the show’s filming.” Marinette felt her jaw drop, and noticed that Lucie and Juliette looked the same. “She was promptly removed from the competition and sent home with her parents.” A small smirk creeped its way across Adrien’s face and Marinette realized what was off with his expression. He was trying very hard to keep a smile off of his face.

It all made sense. Lila’s constant sneaking around and being up at crazy hours at night. How she noticed Marinette sneaking off with Plagg the night of the Task, she was up and actively participating in something that, if caught, would have gotten them in serious trouble. Any slight noise or movement would have put them on high alert and that was when Lila discovered Marinette sneaking out. This also must have been the dirt that Sasha had on Lila, which makes sense because Sasha’s room had been right next door to Lila’s this whole time. She would have heard the noises and eventually put two and two together.

Adrien must have been ecstatic to get rid of Lila, the biggest problem child on this show. His Father’s second favorite being eliminated for a reason even he couldn’t argue with.

“With that being said,” Adrien started, jerking Marinette from her trance. She glanced at the two girls on either side of her. Lucie was fully in shock and looked uncomfortable by the idea of what Lila had done. Juliette, on the other hand, looked so excited she was like a kid in a candy store. “Juliette,” Juliette walked slowly up to Adrien, clearly trying to appear calmer than she actually was. “Juliette, will you accept this rose?” Juliette nodded and gave Adrien a hug before walking back to her spot next to Marinette, rose in hand.

“Marinette,” Adrien called and she walked up to him, giving him an encouraging smile. “Marinette, will you accept this rose?” Marinette whispered an, “Always,” before giving Adrien a hug. As his face was buried in her hair, he whispered, “I’ll tell you everything on Sunday, I promise.” Marinette just smiled at him as they broke apart and returned to her spot. Once Lucie’s rose was given out, the girls watched Adrien walk out and get into a car before they were ushered into theirs.

Juliette broke the minute the car door shut. “Oh my God I cannot believe that is what that girl was up to!” She shrieked and giggled.

“It makes total sense, though,” Marinette added. “Between the lying and the bullying and how desperate she was to stay on the show.”

“All of her actions have never made sense, but it does knowing that Adrien wasn’t the guy she was really here for.” Juliette finished with a devious smile.

“I just can’t believe she would do that to Adrien,” Lucie said, still in shock about the whole thing. Marinette and Juliette nodded, letting the silence sit for a moment as they realized how much Adrien had been played.

“On the bright side,” Juliette said, finally breaking the growing silence, “that snake is gone and we won’t be stuck in a hotel room by ourselves anymore!”

Marinette and Lucie laughed. “The mansion is a lot creepier when there aren’t any other living beings inside of it with you,” Marinette admitted, causing another laugh to escape from Juliette. 

Once they made it to the mansion, the other two girls’ suitcase delivered while they were out, Juliette poured the three of them each a glass of champagne. “To the death of the Snake!”

Lucie and Marinette repeated the toast and drank to the end of Lila’s reign on their lives.

                     ----------------------------------------------------

Sunday’s patrol was wonderful. Chat gave Ladybug all of the wonderful details about Lila’s hometown and how it feels to finally be rid of her.

“I feel as though a major weight has been lifted off of my shoulders and I can finally act as though I’ve seen how messed up she was and how glad I am to have her out of my life.” Adrien was saying and Marinette completely agreed.

“Last night the three of us toasted to Lila’s disappearance and I can honestly say that finding that out about Lila was one of the happiest moments I’ve ever had on this show.”

Chat looked offended at that statement and the look caused Ladybug to laugh. She reached over and scratched behind his ear, which she knew was a weak spot for him, “Don’t worry Chaton, all the other top five moments involve you.”

He leaned into her touch for a little bit before sitting up and becoming suddenly very serious, “I know this isn’t what you were expecting to hear tonight, but I just wanted to apologize for ever trusting Lila and doubting you.” Chat said, sheepishly looking at the ground and refusing to meet Ladybug’s eyes.

“Oh, Kitty, don’t apologize for seeing the good in everyone. You have a wonderful heart and one of the many things I love about you is how you can see a bright side to everything and everyone.” Chat looked at her then and she grabbed his hand and gave it a squeeze. “Don’t ever change, Kitty. We may adapt as we grow older and have lived with each other for a while, but don’t ever think to change something so vital to your personality because you want to impress me. I love you just the way you are.”

They shared a moment, where the rest of Paris faded away and it was only those two on the rooftop drinking in the other’s presence. “Thanks Bugaboo for being there for me.”

“Always,” Ladybug promised with a smile. “Can you just promise me one thing?” Ladybug asked, trying very hard to not let her voice shake.

“Of course,” Chat responded, not even doubting her tone.

“Please, please, don’t give me any details about what happens in the other fantasy suites.”

Chat blushed a deep red and looked very uncomfortable suddenly. “Don’t remind me.” He murmured.

“Are they going to make you sleep with anyone?” Ladybug asked, trying very hard to not sound too interested in his response.

“No, thankfully that’s totally up to me.”

“Think you’re going to get lucky?” Ladybug’s tone was joking, but they were slowly working towards a topic they hadn’t discussed just yet.

Chat’s eyes suddenly locked on hers and the intensity in them was blinding, “That all depends on what one particular girl decides.”

Now it was Ladybug’s turn to blush. “We’ve never discussed how we feel on that particular subject.”

“No, we haven’t.”

“So, do you want to talk about it now, or wait until the televised date?” Ladybug asked, secretly hoping he’d say the latter. Anything to get away from this awkwardness that had settled over them at the current moment. 

“Marinette,” Chat said plainly, shocking Ladybug enough with the use of her real name to his full attention. “I want to marry you, tomorrow if this stupid show would let me. I want to have a life with you, where we run Gabriel together or even start up our own company to get out from my Father’s gaze. But, I also want to start a family with you.” He grabbed her hands and scooted closer to her to where their knees were touching. “And I may not be an expert of any sorts, but I’m pretty sure babies don’t come from the sky with the help of storks, do they?”

Ladybug let out a small laugh and leaned forward to rest her head on Adrien’s. “I want all of that with you too Adrien, I just don’t know if the time is right.”

“I don’t know if the time will ever be right, and this isn’t something we have to decide tonight. Whenever our date comes, if it feels like something we want to pursue we can.” Adrien took a deep breath and Marinette felt her hair stir from it. “I can promise you this, though, I will not come close to doing any of that with either of the other girls. We may talk or laugh or even kiss a little, but I swear on my life I won’t let that happen with anyone except you.”

Ladybug let out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding. She trusted Adrien, a lot, but it was still really nice to hear the words come from his mouth, a promise she knew he would keep. They shared a brief kiss before Ladybug broke it apart with an interesting thought that had suddenly surfaced in her mind. 

“You know, there won’t be protection in that room.”

Chat pulled away sharply and raised an eyebrow in a look of question that was insanely hot. “How do you know that?”

She had opened her mouth to respond right as Chat had come to the same conclusion, “Alya,” they said together.

Ladybug shrugged, “Her research is solid; she hasn’t led me wrong yet. Just something to keep in mind.” 

Chat looked uncomfortable at that information, and stood up quickly before offering a hand for her to do the same, “And on that happy note, let’s actually begin patrolling this city.”

~~~

A short one for you all today, but I promise the best is yet to come 

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[lunarrwolf]

black butterflies [colby brock]

fandom: sam and colby/traphouse

pairing: colby x self

word count: 1,963

part(s): one

summary: after a prank gone wrong, colby and his friends meet another youtuber during her meet and greet in hopes it will cheer her up

A/N: this is a self-insert because it’s a fic that was started for my own personal pleasure. it was supposed to be shared last year on my fan account after a poll was done but never was bc i ended up not feeling ready to do so. i figured since i‘m ready to share it now, it would be best to do it here since it’s pretty detailed

ONE

“What’s up guys?! It’s your girl Kirsy here, and today we’re going to be entering Freetown State Forest. Otherwise known as The Cursed Forest of Massachusetts.” The girl looked into her camera brightly, the excitement of finally being able to explore her home state’s most bizarre places setting in as she recorded.

“Wait - cursed? You didn’t say anything about that.” Her best friend and roommate exclaimed, red locks shaking as quickly as her head was. Casey had been interrupted during a well credited movie of theirs when her friend decided she wanted to go out and take advantage of the fact that neither of them had any plans for the weekend. And as usual in their two bedroom home, no morning schedules meant the freedom to explore the best-worst possible places and capture it all on film for both social network and personal use.

“Didn’t I?” Kirsy chimed, turning the camera toward her roommate who only glanced into the object before shooting her friend the middle finger. She laughed and followed the retreating figure toward the path that would eventually lead them into the actual forest. It was a widened road of dirt and rocks, causing the two of them to nearly trip every so often. The sun was just beginning to set, so the scenery on the other side of the camera was something the green haired girl was glad she was able to capture as she filmed. They continued to walk down the barren path for about forty-five minutes - trees starting to surround them after a half hour - and by then the sun had set quickly without notice and the night began. She could hear Casey muttering about how the place was significantly creepier, and an idea popped into her head. She turned the camera to herself and glanced up to make sure no attention was being brought to her before looking into the lens. “So we’ve been walking for nearly an hour. Casey is already kind of freaked out because of how dark it is, so as her best friend I thought it would be fun to do a little prank on her.”

“What are you doing?” She looked up to meet the narrowed eyes of the redhead that caught her speaking lowly to the camera.

Casey’s eyes didn’t falter from their current state as she continued to glare at the other girl. “Kirsy, I swear if you’re planning something-”

Kirsy scoffed, “What would I be planning out here? Your murder? No thanks - too much work.” She finished off, laughing lightly at the expression she received before the girl with reddish brown locks turned back to survey their surroundings. Kirsy did the same thing for the following ten minutes of their walk. The only sounds they heard so far were forest animals and the wind rustling through the loose leaves of the trees. There was the occasional crunch or branch snapping, which unnerved both of the girls until they would see some small critter scattering to another bush or inside a hole somewhere. She really wanted to pull a practical joke on her friend after not being able to do one on her the whole month she’d been gone on a trip prior to this night. It seemed to be quiet enough to where she wouldn’t really suspect a thing. As long as comments were made from behind her, Casey wouldn’t notice.

She took the opportunity when they were nearing a fork in the pathway and jokingly said something about the atmosphere of the place that would make her friend give her a knowing look. And that was just what happened. However, when Casey turned around, the main star of the channel the video would be posted on was nowhere to be seen. She turned in a full circle slowly, being even more aware and extremely careful where she stepped so she wouldn’t disrupt the sudden silence of the area. “Kirsy.. Kirsy.” She hissed out, moving toward the edge of the path. “I swear to god if this is one of your pranks-” A twig snapped from directly beside her once she got to the natural line that separated a way back to civilization from unpredictable darkness. Her heart was pounding, and tears were springing in her eyes. It had been too long of a time since her last appearance in one of her friend’s scary videos; she forgot how frightening things could get within minutes or hours of arriving somewhere.

There was an obnoxiously loud rustling coming from the same direction, and she approached the bushes to her right cautiously. Reaching a reluctant arm out, she started to move stuff away from her so she could peer behind the plant. As her face got closer, someone jumped out and screamed a scream that was deadly enough to be included in a horror film. “Shit!” Casey jumped back, almost falling to the ground if she hadn’t been able to balance herself.

She glared up at the girl who was trying hard to hold on to the camera as she held her stomach in laughter. “Holy crap, you should’ve seen your face!”

“Dude. What the fuck!” Casey stood back up and snatched the camera away from her friend, marching away as she ignored the calls of the hysterical girl running to catch up.

-

A small group of friends sat on the leather couch in the living room, watching a fellow YouTuber explore a haunted forest with only one other person. It was entertaining to say the least - the amount of times the media influencer messed with her friend was endless, and it only got better when payback would be put into order. One of the darker haired males shook his head, a smile on his face as he shared an amused look with his friends. “I need to marry this girl.”

“Marry who?”

Brennen looked up to see a brunette enter from upstairs, looking at the group of them with curiosity written all over their faces. “Kirsy, dude. Not only is she rocking the new hair, but she obviously knows how to have fun.” Colby didn’t hesitate to join the others on the couch once he heard the name. She was very well known in their industry; a skyrocketing vlogger who stuck to the same several categories of videos and never failed to deliver quality content. She was known to go above and beyond for her fans after having been one herself for years before deciding to dive into the world of explorations. At a recent milestone of 500,000 subscribers, she not only released new merch, she also scheduled a last minute meet and greet that had the sidewalks and almost half of the central park of Boston flooded with local fans of hers. She was someone the members and friends of the trap house admired, as she wasn’t afraid to be herself even when others put her down and criticized the way she behaved on camera.

“Guys, check it out. She added something at the end of this.” Jake brought the guys’ attention back to the computer from their phones. She wasn’t smiling and didn’t hold a bright aura like she usually did when adding bits recorded after her adventures. When she spoke it sounded normal, but after having watched her for the past three years, the boys knew when something was off. They watched the girl give the lens a wry smile before clearing her throat, glancing away as she dove right into the point of the additional bit.

“So this part was recorded a couple of nights after we went into the forest. Casey hasn’t been with me since we got back.” She started off. “I did realize after the fact that she was genuinely mad at me, and I do feel really bad about it. She’d been gone for a month before then. Which meant she didn’t have to deal with abandoned houses, restless spirits, or me and my stupidity - so she wasn’t prepared to be brought back into the swing of things so quickly. I take full responsibility for any actual fear I caused her, and I want to apologize for doing this to her right as she got back from what I know was a good, relaxing trip for her. I did apologize off camera as soon as I caught up with her and she did say she forgave me. However, she uh- she won’t be in videos anymore. And I’m going to be honest with you guys...” She trailed off, and Colby’s heart lurched when he noticed the glossiness in her eyes, “I don’t know where our friendship stands. We know each other’s limits, and while I didn’t go too far, I think she just got tired of me doing all of this. So... yeah.” She gave a dry chuckle, tugging at the end of her sleeves.

“Damn.. she must be crushed right now.” Mike commented, glancing between his friends as they all gave their agreements.

“I can’t even imagine possibly losing you guys.” Sam added.

“And over a prank - Casey’s pretty cold.” Corey brought in, changing his position on the couch and leaning forward when the girl began to speak again.

“Anyway, I’m sure you guys didn’t keep watching just to see me get all emotional. So on to the good news!” The green haired girl continued, clapping her hands together and smiling brightly at the camera as if nothing happened. Still, they could see the look in her eyes, and it was unsettling to see the otherwise outgoing Dominican that way. “I'll be going to Los Angeles in a few days on business, and am happy to announce that I'll also be having a meetup at Santa Monica Pier. I haven't set the exact date in case my schedule goes out of whack, but I will be bringing along someone special. I expect that our family's policy of acceptance will be applied to him.”

“Wait wait wait - my girl's got a man?”

Mike rolled his eyes, smirking at Brennen. “If she was yours, wouldn't she know you exist?”

There was a short amount of silence while the targeted guy looked over with a playfully offended look on his face. “That was cold.” The guys laughed and chuckled, but deep down they still felt bad about what they just heard. The ginger had been by the brunette's side since the start of the channel. Though Casey was mostly the support and a guest in abandoned vlogs and some other types of videos, she would speak out as her friend's defense and help out in any way she could. Some would have figured that a month off would have her ecstatic in going back into working with her best friend. However, it sounded like that time away made her less for the type of content Kirsy had and more against it. The latter of the two must have been devastated at that moment.

“We should go meet her.” Sam announced. “Sounds like it's free - and Brennen could use an ego boost if she does know he exists.”

“You guys gotta give me a little credit here. My channel's pretty big.”

“Yes, but has she acknowledged it?” The dyed brunette questioned, laughing at the glare he received in return. It seemed like it was a unanimous agreement to take a short trip to the pier when she arrived, but everyone was vocal except for Colby. Sam shook his best friend's shoulder, and the young man blinked, switching his gaze over to the former blonde. “You alright?”

“Yeah.” He nodded, glancing back at the screen. “I agree. We should go meet her.”

[writer-dreams]

Love Potion (Part 5) (Draco Malfoy x Reader)

Part 5 is here now!!!! I'm sorry for the wait!! I hope all if you enjoy!

Prologue / Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6 / End

Update Tags: @celestialceci @marvelobsessedteen @imaginesforthepeople @danidomm @marvelrose @vogueworthy-barnes @glossysoph @stevesvibraniumshield @bi-mama @fiveisadorable @paulalucianap1 @drama-llama-04 @mellow-delight @hahaboop @awesomehannaha @stantalentstanclc @queenskyster @outsider-underwater @babebenhardy @imaginespnr5er @riddikuluslypotter @pitkins @bughug1999 @drawlfoy @onyxbunny22 @sorgenprinzessin @vivianhuynh77 @dauntlessdracarys

House: You choose

Blood Status: You choose

Warnings: Possible swearing

Note: The reader in this story is female / uses female pronouns

Word Count: 2,514 words

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

3rd Person POV

Day 5

Y/n walked out of the common room, feeling much better after a refreshing night’s sleep. She was glad that there were no classes today, which offered her some time to relax after the horrendous situation yesterday. Y/n scowled at the thought of Pansy. She was going to kill that pug-faced twat one day. Oh, that wench was going to get it someday- Caught up in her thoughts, she crashed into the hard chest of someone. Blinking rapidly in confusion, she looked up and noticed those familiar grey eyes and infamous blonde hair. Draco.

Draco grinned cheekily at her. "Hello, Love. How are you feeling this morning?"

"Oh, fine. My head has stopped spinning and I feel stable enough to be able to walk around properly."

"It’s good to hear that. I was actually looking for you anyway. Walk with me?" Draco asked, flashing a charming smile at her and extending a hand towards her. Y/n’s heart fluttered at his sweet smile, but she managed to return a small grin and placed her hand inside his. Maybe in the beginning of this, she would have been disgusted at even the thought of touching him, but now....it felt almost pleasant to do so.

She thought about how much she despised him in the beginning, and her new-found adoration for him. She wasn’t in love with him, but she wouldn’t mind being friends with him.

Draco ended up dragging her to the black lake. The water gleamed a deep shade of blue, concealing all the creatures that lurked below the surface. The bright sun already high in the cloudless sky, showering them in warm light.

"What are we doing here?" Y/n asked curiously.

Draco gestured towards the large wooden pier that overlooked the lake. He then tugged on her arm and pulled her towards it, like a child excitedly dragging someone to see their greatest creation. The old wood creaked under their feet but Draco didn’t seem concerned. He took a seat at the end of the pier, swinging his legs over the edge. He then looked at her to do the same. She sat down next to him, feeling oddly comfortable in his presence. She felt Draco’s warm hand rest of top of hers but she didn’t pull away. His grey eyes stared intently into her (e/c) orbs.

"Merlin, Y/n. I’m so glad you’re alright." Draco stated.

"Me too, Draco. I don’t think I can thank you enough for saving my life. I owe you." Y/n replied sincerely.

"You don’t owe me anything, Love." Draco took her hand in his as he placed a soft kiss against the back of her hand.

The moment was ruined when the pair heard some footsteps. The loud steps were accompanied by an obnoxious voice that caused Y/n to roll her eyes.

Not again.

"Drakie-Poo! Why do you constantly choose someone like her over me??" The annoyingly high-pitched voice of Pansy Parkinson whined.

"Excuse me, Pug-Face? I’ve had just about enough of you and your jealousy. How many brain cells does it take to understand that he’s not interested? Clearly, you prove it takes more than one."

Pansy’s face twisted into a snarl and she quickly turned to Y/n. She opened her mouth to retort but Draco quickly cut her off.

"Parkinson," He said Pansy’s name in such a cold, hostile manner that Y/n felt shivers run down her spine. "What the hell are you doing here? After what happened last time, I’m surprised you still have the guts to come near us."

"Draco, you have to believe me. She’s drugged you or cast a hex on you or something! Don’t you remember how much you despised her?! How much you hated the very sight of her in the same corridor as you?" Pansy cried out.

Y/n averted her gaze down to the floor. Pansy wasn’t completely off with her accusation. Technically, she had drugged Draco with a love potion. He didn’t really love her, it was all because of a stupid potion. This whole situation was changing her perspective of Draco. She was beginning to fall for a fake version of the blonde-haired prat.

"What is with your obsession with me and Y/n? Even creepier, you claim that I’ve been spelled to fall in love with her? How dare you! You’re just as annoying as Saint Potter. Now leave us be, Parkinson, or I will have my father know about this!" Draco snapped at Pansy.

Pansy gazed down at her black shoes. Her fists were shaking violently at her sides, as if she were trying to keep herself from shouting at Draco. She looked back up and her eyes were filled with pure hatred as she threw a burning look at Y/n.

"I’ve tried everything. I’ve been by your side since forever, I’ve supported you through everything. All of a sudden this twat waltzes into your life and you’ve fallen for her?! Where have all my efforts taken me?!" Pansy said through gritted teeth.

Draco rolled his eyes and nudged Y/n slightly. She looked back at him to see him getting up and walking towards the castle, his back turned to Pansy. "Come on, Y/n. Let’s just leave."

"I pushed her off the Quidditch stands for you!" Pansy shouted before gasping and covering her mouth with her hands quickly.

Draco stopped walking immediately, his whole body visibly stiffening. He slowly turned back around, his bangs covering his eyes.

"What did you do?" He hissed.

Pansy didn’t answer. She stood completely still, as if afraid that the slightest movement from her would cause him to attack. Her stance reminded Y/n of a deer caught in a headlight. Draco switched his gaze to Y/n, who was slightly taken aback by the intensity of his grey eyes.

"Is that true?" He asked slowly. Y/n could see he was trying to restrain himself from lashing out at the Slytherin girl. Pansy looked at Y/n with pleading eyes, begging her not to tell the truth. Y/n knew she couldn’t lie to him and Pansy didn’t really deserve to be saved from Draco’s wrath. She hesitantly nodded, watching as Pansy’s knees buckled slightly, a defeated look in her eyes.

With an enraged look, Draco swiveled back to Pansy, his wand whipped out and pointing threateningly at her. Even then, Pansy refused to move from her spot.

"I can tolerate you annoying us and interrupting our dates. However, I can not tolerate you trying to kill my girlfriend." Draco brought his wand closer to Pansy, who was still frozen with fear, "I wish I could say that this will not bring me great happiness."

With a wicked smirk, Draco shouted, "Densaugeo!" A purple light shot out of his wand and hit Pansy directly in the face. Pansy cried out from the impact and fell to the ground, screaming as she covered her mouth. From between Pansy’s twitching fingers, Y/n could clearly see that Pansy’ teeth were growing longer and longer. She looked almost like a demented kind of beaver. The Slytherin girl scrambled from the ground and rushed towards the hospital wing. Watching the girl’s form grow smaller and smaller, Y/n ran towards Draco and pinched him roughly on the arm. The Slytherin Prince let out a yelp, pulling his bicep out of her grip.

"What was that for?"

"How could you be so foolish? I understand that you only wished to protect me but you’ll be expelled for hexing her!" Y/n cried. She wasn’t sure why she cared so much if he was expelled or not.

"Oh, relax. Pansy would never want to get me expelled. She cares too much," Draco said, "Even if I don’t."

"I’m also sorry that I couldn’t do more." Draco continued, "I want to hurt her even worse than I already have but her family’s part of the Scared Twenty-Eight."

"It’s alright. I think you’ve done enough." Y/n smiled, "Now let’s just enjoy the rest of today."

Draco nodded, allowing himself to be dragged back to the pier. The pair sat down together, back in their original position. Y/n then leaned over and rested her head on Draco’s shoulder, admiring the water. Draco didn’t seem to mind and pulled her body closer to his. Y/n’s mind was swimming with questions. Why was she feeling so comfortable around him? Why did her heart feel so fluttery? Why was she literally leaning on him? Her mind screamed at her to get off of him, though her body didn’t move. Y/n silenced her thoughts, just wanting to enjoy the calming sight of the lake.

"Ah! I’ve almost forgotten!" Draco snapped his fingers, sitting up straight and rummaging through his uniform’s pockets. He then pulled out a crumbled piece of paper, unfolding it and holding it out in front of him. Y/n squinted her eyes to look at the words through the paper in the light. She could make out Draco’s fancy and neat handwriting, though she couldn’t actually read the words that were written. The blonde male caught her stare and flipped the page over so that she could see.

"It’s a poem." Draco smiled at her from the top of the paper. He flipped the paper back before clearing his throat and reciting the poem.

"(Y/n), we haven’t been together for long,

Yet, I feel obligated to write you a song.

To confess the deep affections I hold for you,

And I hope you feel the same way too.

This may seem quick, yet I know you are the one.

You may scoff at me, but my heart cannot be stolen by just anyone.

My feelings for you have changed so much,

Switched with a simple touch.

This love you have given me is a drug,

Intoxicating, addicting and given by hugs.

I assure you that my love for you is not fake,

No, there has been no mistake.

A goblet of pumpkin juice,

Raised to you in truce.

You return the gesture, as if it was planned,

A cup of (f/d) in your hand.

I love everything about you,

I could not say anything more true.

I love how clever you are or how beautiful you always look,

Merlin, if I could write it all down, I’d write a bloody book.

Know that this is no joke.

Your love envelops me like an invisibility cloak.

We’ve stitched our love together with needles and red thread,

It’s about time we’ve set aside our differences and learned to accept them instead.

The world has given me such an amazing girlfriend.

I never want our time together to end.

Love is often called weak, useless, something you should not feel.

You have shown me the hidden strength that love has concealed.

Potions class was where our love first began,

If I were to leave it now, I’d be a mad man.

I wrote this poem for you, filled with endless rhyme,

To show that I love you, (Y/n), until the end of time."

Her heart swelled as he finished. Without thinking, she gave him a tight hug, feeling his body shake as he laughed lightly. Coming back to her senses, she released Draco, feeling slightly embarrassed. She wondered why this poem filled her with happiness while the first poem had disgusted her. What had changed? She used to gag at such a sappy poem, why was she suddenly feeling like she was flying? Why did her heart skip a beat whenever she looked into Draco’s grey eyes? Why did she feel completed whenever she was with him?

She was brought back to reality when she felt Draco kiss her cheek. He pulled back with a grin.

"Did you like it?"

Did she like it? Yes, very much. Even if it was written by Draco, Y/n wasn’t really bothered by that fact anymore. Nobody had ever wrote her a poem, as cheesy as they’ve been. Draco had been the only person to do that.

"Yes." She breathed out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They spent a few more hours at the lake, enjoying each other’s company. Although Y/n didn’t want to admit it, she truly did enjoy the date. (She also refused to call it a date). The sun was beginning to set, changing the sky from bright blue to a beautiful mix of yellows, oranges, pinks, and purples. Y/n’s eyes began to feel heavy as she watched the sun disappear behind the mountains.

"Tired?" Draco asked.

Y/n nodded, causing Draco to shift over to allow her to lay her head in his lap. He took off his robe and wrapped it around her like a blanket.

"Sleep." Draco whispered.

Y/n didn’t need to argue, as she found that she was quickly losing consciousness. Before she fell asleep, she let one last set of thoughts ring through her head.

You do realize this is fake right? This side of Draco, this feeling, it’s all fake.

I know, but I’ve already fallen in too deep.

**********************************************

Hello everyone! The long-awaited Part 5 is finally completed. I'm extremely sorry that it took so long. I really hope that this met your expectations. The poem was probably one of the most difficult things to write, though I pushed through because I wanted poems to be a special thing in this series. I'll try my best to be more on time with Part 6. Thank you for reading. Until next time.

-Jade

[crappyimagines]

listen before i go (002)

Pairing: steve rogers x female reader

Summary:  you die with steve when the jet fell back in the day but he lived while you died. you, later on, get reincarnated and steve goes coo-coo

Warning/s: angst & death

Chapter Warning/s: creepy shit, tiny bit of angst, a lot of pov jumping, not proofread

Chapter Summary: Everyone meets Circe, hulk version of your but creepier. like, really really creepy.

prologue - 001 - 002

Steve was at the gym doing his daily training when Bucky came up to him with an unreadable expression.

 “Hey, buddy. What’s wrong?” Steve wiped his forehead with a towel to stop the sweat from dripping down his face. He was wearing his usual tight white shirt and sweatpants. The shirt hugged his muscular form and anyone would go crazy at the sight.

 Steve watches his best friend stumble from his own words, clearly anxious about something.

 “Seriously, buddy. What’s wrong? Are you alright?” he puts a comforting hand onto Bucky’s left shoulder.

 He watches Bucky as he takes a deep breath and fought with his inner monologue.

 Steve takes a sip from his water bottle but immediately stopped when Bucky’s mouth formed those unforgettable words.

 “Y/N’s alive.”

__

Bucky knew he fucked up.

So much for preventing Steve from freaking out. 

So much for being subtle.

“What?” Steve all bout shouted, not meaning to sound angry.

“Are you playing a joke on me?” Steve looked at Bucky, showing a disappointed and hurt look.

Bucky’s eye widened in alert. 

“No! No, man. I swear. I was supposed to tell you subtly but I’m not good at being subtle, I guess.” he scratched the back of his neck and smiled sheepishly.

Steve shook his head, emitting a small smile of amusement only to be replaced with a serious look again.

“Y/N?” Steve looked back at Bucky, telling him to inform him about their undead friend. His almost lover.

“Right.” Bucky coughed and sighed.

“Well, she’s not exactly the same..” he trailed off, earning a frown from Steve.

“What do you mean?”

“She doesn’t remember us..” Bucky sounded confused by his own words.

“I mean she looks the same but it’s not entirely her?” his reasoning only did him worse.

“Fuck, what I’m trying to say is I think she’s a reincarnation of Y/N.” he spat.

Wow, that sounded better in Bucky’s head. Now he just sounded like a fool.

Steve looked at him incredibly, not knowing if his best friend was jesting or what.

“I swear, Bucky. If this is a joke I-” Steve was cut off by an alarm, booming throughout the tower. 

meanwhile…

“Mr. Tony, I really don’t think that this is a good idea.” Y/N quivered as she looked at Tony through the glass. She was in a box of a room with a see-through glass that allows both Tony and Bruce to observe her. 

“It’s all good, kid. That room is designed to be impossible to escape out of.” Tony proudly said and nodded at her.

Y/N looked at Bruce who nodded encouragingly at her.

She sighed and placed her hand on the table in front of her. Then she whispered the dreadful name.

“Circe”

The lights above her started to flicker. Her hand that was above the table appeared to have another hand under it, surrounded by a cloud of smoke. The peculiar hand grasped her own, twisting it and swallowing her own being. Y/N’s figure disappeared only to be replaced by a chilling figure. 

The figure showing the infamous Circe.

Circe loomed over the table, her body covered in black smoke and chains serving as an accessory to her body. She wore a revealing outfit, showing ancient tattoos on her body. Her sinister bright yellow eyes are staring at the two scientists behind the glass who seemed wary.

Bruce looked at her with a gulp while Tony stared in amusement. 

“Nice to finally meet you” Tony greeted the strange creature with sarcasm laced in his tone.

Circe turned to look at him, giving him a sinister look. That caused Tony’s proud aura to falter but he was quick enough to stand tall again but it didn’t go unnoticed by Circe. She smirked.

“Nice of you to tell the girl to bring me back. I thought I’d never see the light again.” Her voice was powerful. Captivating. Beautiful but eerie. 

“Yeah you’re out but you’re still stuck in that room,” Tony smirked at her.

“Now you just need to answer some questions and-” The billionaire was cut off when the woman disappeared. 

The two scientists looked at each other in surprised terror. 

Suddenly, there was a presence behind Tony. Lips leaned down towards his ear, and hands snaking down his shoulders.

“I will answer no questions” then she turned towards Bruce and smiled.

“Nice to see you again, Bruce.” she smiled at him creepily and disappeared again.

The two scientists were panting in nervousness as Bruce stared at Tony.

“Designed to be impossible to escape out of, huh?” Bruce stuttered out.

Tony shook his head and rolled his eyes.

“Jarvis, do an emergency lockdown. ASAP.” 

_______

As soon as Steve and Bucky heard the alarm, the discussion was dropped and they ran back to the main room. Everyone was piling in, looking around in apprehension. 

“What’s going on?” Clint was first to ask.

Tony stepped out with his suit on, the mask open, showing his worried expression.

“Something’s on the loose and I need every one of you to watch out-” Tony started and before anyone could even ask questions, Circe appeared right in front of him.

The room went quiet and all attention was on the uncanny lady.

“What the fuck is that?” Sam whispered against Bucky’s shoulder

Circe’s frightening eyes snapped towards Sam as he gulped. In an instant, she was standing in front of him, staring at his face.

Sam was visibly shaking but he wouldn’t dare admit that he was scared.

Bucky stiffened as everyone reached for their weapons.

Something moved behind Sam which made Circe look.

It was Captain America, inching towards them.

Circe looked at him as she froze. She didn’t move for a while which added more to her unnerving persona.

She slowly walked up to the captain. She tilted her head to the side and studied his face.

She was studying him.

She stared at his left cheek and raised her right hand slowly, inching towards his face.

Steve made a small move to inch away from her hand but stopped when she snapped her eyes at his eyes.

She continued to inch her hand towards his cheek and when it touched, a bright light immersed from her whole body and Y/N appeared. 

She immediately pulled her hand away from him and towards her chest, crying softly to herself.

“I’m sorry. Please don’t make me do it again. I’m sorry.” she chanted apologies as everyone looked at her in awe.

Steve stared at her in shock.

He made a move to touch her but Tony was immediately by her side, cradling her figure.

“It’s alright, kid. You’re back. You’re safe.” he whispered as he hugged the young girl. Tony dismissed everyone as he walked away with the quivering girl and Bruce. 

Steve stayed still, staring at their retreating figure.

Bucky was right. She was back but she’s clearly different now.

Even in the shortest amount of time that Steve got to see her, he was happy. He was ecstatic. As happy as he was to see her, he couldn’t help his heart from breaking when he saw her crumbling after she surfaced back from her other identity. It hurt him to see her in so much pain. He had enough of that sight back in the day. He hated it. And he hated how he doesn’t know anything about it. About her.

He hated not meeting her sooner. But what’s more important is;

“She’s back”

[mythandlaur]

Dissonant Counterpoint, please.

The WIP Tag Game

You should know this one!

Dissonant Counterpoint - Crypt of the Necrodancer - 2017

A multichapter pre-canon story about Octavian and the relationship between him and an original character, Francis “Fret” Hetfield. Both Octavian and Fret were musicians rejected by the greater community, and even though Octavian didn’t particularly enjoy Fret’s...eclectic method of expressing himself, he still reached out a hand in sympathy and the two became fast friends. However, over time, their ambitions drifted apart--with Octavian shooting for the stars with the Golden Lute while Fret maintained music as a mere hobby, setting his sights on more domestic goals. This rift continued to push them apart until Octavian finally found the Golden Lute he’d been searching for, and an explosive argument broke out between the two, leading to an accident with the Lute that left Fret patient zero--and, eventually, the first casualty--of a magical plague that would engulf the village.

Octavian revived Fret after fleeing to the crypt, giving him one last chance to join him, but Fret refused, disillusioned and disgusted by how far his friend had fallen. The altercation that followed was ugly, and all that was left of Fret was charred bones and a halberd--though perhaps some guilt stirred in Octavian’s twisted soul. After all, with the Lute’s power, bones can still be useful. And really, is there much of a difference between a halberd and a scythe, anyway?

Obviously this was in 2017 when I was much more into Necrodancer as a whole, but I still enjoy the original characters I created for it (Fret and his adoptive sister Maria, who would eventually succumb to the plague as well and become Reaper). It’s probably never going to get finished just because it was so long ago, but hey, there’s the plot!

And here’s a snippet dated December 2017, under the cut

Octavian had a good feeling that he had reached the place that kept the secret he'd been itching to learn. Though he hadn't expected the place to be quite so...small.

It had taken him a few tries to find anything out in the fields behind the village, and he had little to work with; he knew the direction Fret left both the town and the graveyard each day, Fret had said he 'didn't live too far' from the graveyard, and he had once vaguely gestured off to the west when mentioning that he had to go 'do chores'. But Octavian was stubborn, and if he wanted to find out something--including wherever Fret was so cagey about living--he would find it out.

It was evening. He suspected whoever lived here had already had supper, and so he sidled up to the little wooden cabin off to the side of the large barn. Not wanting to knock if no one was home, Octavian began peeking through the windows, finding the curious sight of the telltale flicker of candleflames and lanterns, yet no one seemingly there.

And then, when he looked in one mirror, a small girl looked back at him, and the bard yelped and scrambled back. The girl in the window--likely twelve, with thick, curly dark hair and mischievous eyes--grinned at him, and knocked on the window a couple of times to ensure Octavian was thoroughly spooked before ducking out. As Octavian cautiously approached the house again, he could hear footsteps inside running for the door.

The click of a latch. He looked off the way he'd come to see the girl's head sticking out of the door, searching about for him.

"Hey. Some people knock."

Octavian, somewhat shaken, headed back for the door, and caught a strong whiff of spices before the girl shut it behind her. "I--ah--I apologize. I'm looking for a young man."

"Aren't we all." She grinned.

Octavian shook his head, flustered. "No, no, a specific young man, dark hair, a bit of--scruff on the chin..."

The girl's eyes lit up. "Oh! Fret!"

"Yes, that's him."

"Right place, wrong building. Come on."

The girl merrily skipped past, leaving the bard momentarily too dumbfounded to follow. Once he managed to get his feet moving again, he followed the girl towards the entry to the barn, where she fumbled with the lock for a moment before pushing the doors inward with a loud creak.

The girl pranced in, Octavian following a moment later and immediately having the pleasure of the very strong scent of wet cow and hay. He couldn't help wrinkling his nose; the village streets held a certain musk to them that was similar and that he also disliked. He doubted the courtmen and women had to deal with this...He shook his head to clear it, and glanced around.

The barn was not as large as it first appeared. There was at least one donkey staring back at him, along with the large, furtive eyes of several of the smelly bovines. And yet, no sign of Fret...

"Hey!" The girl crossed her arms. "Fret, are you awake? You are now. C'mon, I brought someone."

The shuffling was Octavian's first indication to look up--all he could see was crudely made wooden paneling where the rafters should've been, which shifted and creaked under someone's feet. Growing ever more alarmed, Octavian slowly took several steps back so he could get a glimpse over the paneling.

"Maria," came a familiar grunt, "I thought you were busy doing your magic st--"

Fret's head peeked over the edge of the platform, and their eyes met. Fret's expression froze, though his eyes widened slightly.

"...You."

He sounded vaguely surprised, though little else could be gleaned from his expression. The two stared at each other for several long moments, awkwardness hanging heavily in the air between them.

Octavian decided to try humor. "So! You aren't simply a spirit that wanders the night?"

"...How did you know?"

Octavian's attempt at a jovial expression immediately faded at the harsh, accusatory look in the other's eyes. Disliking the conflict, Octavian shifted his gaze away, locking his hands behind his back. He could almost believe the little attic room didn't belong to Fret...if it weren't for the small sleeping pallet and his lute lying nearby, along with an unfamiliar fiddle that must've belonged to him.

"Er...A deductive mind," Octavian replied, lamely.

"Why are you here?"

"Well, I--I wanted to know what all the secrecy was about. You...live up there, in that room?"

Exasperation was creeping into the edges of Fret's expression, though he nodded once. "Better than the street."

"What?"

"They took me in. I do the heavy stuff; herding, lifting, pulling, and they feed me and let me stay in here. Won't let me practice in here, though. Scares the cows."

For a brief moment, Octavian nearly burst out laughing at the mental image of Fret's screaming, wailing 'performance' beginning a stampede. He swallowed it down, but unfortunately was not sure what else to say, causing another awkwardness to descend on them.

"But..." Octavian fumbled, opening and closing his mouth a few times before blurting out, "But there are bats up there...?"

The girl, Maria, snorted, startling him slightly. For the first time, Fret's expression shifted, a light smirk on his lips. "Yeah there are," he replied with a chuckle, turning his head to look into the rafters mere feet above his head.

"He's friends with the bats," Maria chirped, "They love him."

Fret smiled into the rafters for a moment, before his gaze briefly turned to Octavian, appraising him in a manner Octavian found very discomforting. "You're not afraid of bats, are you?"

"Erm, no..." They'd spooked him in the past, but he supposed it was no creepier than the old graveyard.

[paynesqueen]

Fall into Midnight: Chapter Two

A Liam Fanfic, K Rating (suitable for most ages)

Sometimes to move on, you need to go back in the past to get some perspective for your future.

CHAPTER 1 |

+NOTES+

I have no idea how many chapters there will be in it. I’ll see how it goes.

I started this a while ago and it got re-written so many times so I hope it still makes some sense.

This fic will mostly have romance and a bit of drama and some smut at some point.

I’m always open to suggestions or comments so feel free to leave some.

There will always be a lot of grammatical errors. I apologize for those.

Chapter Two

He had never expected to ever see her again. Perhaps maybe at a 10th year high school reunion, but not like this for sure. She hadn’t changed much either. It was strange standing here with her since they hadn’t been friends back then. She was hanging with the popular crowd since she was dating a guy on the football team, but she had never really acted like it. She was always nice to everyone and even when he got bullied, she was one of the first people to try and make it stop. So no they hadn’t been exactly friends, but they had spoken from time to time because that was that kind of girl she was; she liked to talk to everyone.

“Yes, it has.” He finally spoke. “How have you been?”

“Peachy.” She retorted, but her eyes didn’t reflect the word. “Grams, I’ll just go put away the grocery and be right back.”

And with that, she turned her back on them and walked back to the car to unload it.

“Don’t mind her attitude.” Mrs. Parker said. “She’s going through a hard time.”

“It’s alright.” He assured her.

“Well, I’ll leave the gardening for tomorrow then. I’ll go help her out in the kitchen. Thank you so much for your help today.” She thanked him as he walked her to the backdoor.

“It was my pleasure. If you want, I can come and help you out tomorrow.” He offered her.

“That’s really sweet of you. I’ll be sure to have a cuppa for you when you come over.” She smiled.

“Perfect. I’ll see you tomorrow.” He replied before letting her go inside.

He waited a little bit before heading back to his own house. He felt like a creep as he looked towards the kitchen window, but he just wanted to see Rosalie once more. She emerged in the kitchen, her arms full of packages. Seeing her was actually bringing back memories from high school and how he thought she was one of the most beautiful girls in the school. She used to keep her hair shorter, but now they were longer and in waves.

“You could have been nicer to him, Rose.” He heard Mrs. Parker chastised her taking him out of his thoughts. “He’s not the reason why you’re upset.”

“Grams...”

Liam didn’t stay longer as this was a private conversation and he didn’t want to feel creepier either by listening in. As he walked back inside his house, he wondered what had been the chances that the house next door to his was going to be occupied by one of his classmates. Life was strange like that sometimes.

When he came back inside, he checked his cell and saw he had one missed call from his real estate agent. He had called him yesterday about putting Amber’s name on their house. He listened to it and took note about what he would need to do for it to happen and he sort of hoped she hadn’t destroyed it before he got his name off it.

+++

Later that night, he was just done doing the dishes when there was a soft knock on the door making Watson bark at whoever was on the other side of the door. It was nearly 10 at night and he wondered who it could be.

“Watson, sit.” He ordered his dog as he opened the door. Watson wasn’t a mean dog, but he was big and he didn’t know how the other people could react to him.

On the other side stood Rosalie looking unsure of what she was doing there and he had to admit that he was intrigued as why she was standing in front of him.

“My grams sent me over to apologize for my attitude of yesterday.” She told him before he could ask her. “I guess you being a man was just enough to set me off, but you did not deserve that.”

“No need to. I mean, I did just leave my fiancée a week before our wedding so perhaps your attitude was on point.” He tried to joke.

“Well I guess you did deserve it then.” She sent me a small smile. “I read about it online. Not that I believe everything they say, but I guess they did have that part right.”

“I didn’t read them. I knew they wouldn’t care about the truth anyways.” He sighed.

For a moment, they just stood there in silence as neither of them seemed to know what to say. She had obviously said what she needed to say, but Liam didn’t really feel like being alone tonight and wondered if she would have a drink with him.

“I- I should probably get going.” She finally said as she backed away.

“Want to have a drink with me? Talk about old times or whatever.” He quickly offered her.

She seemed to hesitate for a moment and then finally nodded. Watson sniffed her a little and apparently found her to his liking as he started licking her hand and demanding her attention.

“Aren’t you a sweet boy?” She genuinely smiled at him as she petted him.

While she did that, Liam went into the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of red wine and two glasses. It wasn’t his drink of choice, but he thought that it might be something she enjoyed. When he came back, she was still kneeling in front of Watson who was on his back accepting the belly rubs she gave him.

“Hope you like red wine or else, I have beer and probably have some bottle of liquors somewhere.” He said to her.

“Wine is good.” She assured him.

He sat down and poured the wine. He watched her as she gave one final rub to Watson and walked up to him.

“So want to tell me the real reason why the wedding is cancelled?” She asked him as she sat next to him and accepting the glass from him.

“Will you tell me why you hate all men?” He retorted.

“I will if you will.”

“Fine. I was the one who cancelled the wedding because I realized that it was a mistake. I had this feeling for months, but it took a long time before I finally voiced it. She wasn’t happy and I can’t blame her. The conversation wasn’t easy with her and I tried to do the right thing and take care of everything myself so she wouldn’t have to deal with it, but I think that she mostly felt humiliated in the end. I’m pretty sure that if I forgot something at the house, it’s being destroyed at that very moment.” He told her.

��Yeah, that would be a good gut feeling.” Rosalie chuckled. “Women tend to have quite a taste when it comes to destroying our exes’ stuff.”

“Yeah, but I still think I took the right decision about this wedding if only a bit late. I didn’t think it was going to end up on a happy note for us you know. Honestly, I sort of realize that a part of me even regretted proposing to her so that’s how far long I had started to have doubts, but I guess they became louder as the months grew shorter.” He sighed. “I hope she’ll be able to forgive me and find the right one for her. She deserves to find the guy that won’t break your heart.”

She sat there in silence for a moment and he wondered what was going through her head at that moment. He was seconds away of asking her what was wrong when she finally spoke.

“You’re a good guy, Liam. I mean, yeah you did take your sweet time before finally telling her, but you didn’t play around once you did and you took your responsibilities and believe a lot of men would have just said no can do and left. Not caring what the other could go through.”

Now he felt they were about to start her sad story as she was once again lost in her thoughts.

“Now your turn.”

“I don’t hate all men, but since the targeted one isn’t available to deal with my wrath, well, all the other men must pay.” She sighed. “I’m pretty sure you remember Adam Carlson.”

He nodded because who could forget the football player she dated throughout high school? He wasn’t a bad person either, at least back then, but popularity did get to his head the year they graduated.

“Well, he’s the unavailable man who should be dealing with all my leftover anger of what he caused.” She went on. “That selfish bastard didn’t think for once second what his leaving would do. I don’t care what it does to me; I’m an adult and I can handle it or at least learn to deal with it. But did he think what it did to his kids? No no no... He just woke up one morning decided he didn’t want to be married anymore or have children. Apparently, it was not something he ever wanted but felt obligated to do. He asked for a divorce giving me full custody of our children and then disappeared. No number or anything to contact him in case something happens to the girls. That fucking asshole just decided that none of us were worth his time.”

When she was done, she finished her drink in one shot and he quickly refilled it; she obviously needed it. So many information he learned in the minutes it took for her to tell her story. She had kids as in more than one and she had them with her high school boyfriend which meant she had been with him for over ten years.

“Wow...” He finally spoke. “He deserves all the ass kicking in the world that’s for sure. I just can’t imagine someone doing this to his own children. I mean, it sucks about the divorce and I wish you didn’t have to go through it, but its one thing to divorce and another to complete abandon your kids.”

“Well he did. My oldest is old enough to understand what’s going on. She knows what her father did and still, she will ask me if it’s okay that she still loves him. I mean, what am I supposed to answer? I can’t say no, but at the same time, a part of me wishes she could hate him as much as I hate him for doing this to them.”

Tears were starting to streak down her cheeks and she quickly wiped them away; “I’m sorry. I didn’t think I would spill it all like this on you.”

“It’s okay. You obviously needed it.” He reassured her. “But I’m trying to understand something. You got full custody, so shouldn’t he be paying you alimony or something?”

“In our divorce terms, the money we made on selling our house was going all to me. It was his way or getting rid of all of us and be sure that we wouldn’t have a connection anymore.” She answered him. “I think that he just wanted out so badly. I mean, he told me that a year ago, the divorce was finalised six months later because there wasn’t much arguing. What I asked I got as simple as that.”

“Do you think your children will ever look for him? I mean, when they are older.” He asked her.

“I don’t know. If they do and they find him, he will have to deal with it, but I made it clear to him that he can’t come back into our lives if he ever feels the need to have his children back his in life after they all have been raised.” And then a sad laughing sound came out. “The worst part is that he probably won’t want to come back, but if by any chance he did, I’m not sure I would be able to tell him he can’t see his children if my girls want to see him too.”

“That’s because you’re a mom. I’m guessing most parents want the best for their kids and we’ll do what it takes to make them happy.” He replied. “But I honestly feel that if that time ever comes, you’ll do what’s right for your kids at that moment.”

“Thanks, Liam.” This time the smile she gave him seems a little bit less saddened.

“But since you brought them up in a way I wasn’t expecting. You have two girls?”

She laughed; “Yes. Grace is nine and Cora just hit the big two. They are both such balls of energy and probably the only reasons why I haven’t broken down completely.”

The surprised look on his face obviously made her go on; “Yes, I got pregnant at 17. It wasn’t an easy decision. I could have turn towards other choices, but I knew that I wanted this kid. I was lucky enough to have a family behind me and at that time, Adam had been onboard or at least, he made it seems like he was. Juggling my pregnancy and school hadn’t been easy and it may have taken me longer to graduate Uni, but she was worth it.”

And it was obvious in the way her voice softened that she meant it. He couldn’t imagine what she had to go through being pregnant so young. He wanted kids, but he was about to be 27 years old, but he wasn’t in a hurry to get any.

“It’s weird to think Adam was there for Grace when he wasn’t even sure he was the father, but Cora was for sure his and he suddenly couldn’t take it.” She admitted taking another sip of her glass.

Wait? What? He felt like he might have heard wrong. Adam might not have been the father? The way she spoke before, he hadn’t even doubted that there were other possibilities.

“Huh... I-” He stuttered not knowing what to say when she added more.

“We had been on and off in the time I got pregnant. I hooked up with a few other guys who could have easily been Grace’s father.”

Okay, the wine was obviously loosening her tongue. Liam wasn’t sure if she meant to tell that detail or if she just needed it off her chest. Still, that new information brought its load of questions he had about it.

“Didn’t he do a paternity test knowing there was a possibility that he was not the dad?” He asked her.

“No. When Grace was born, he decided that he was her father and no test would prove him wrong.” She sighed. “Honestly, I was surprised that he didn’t bring it up in the divorce. He could have easily made it that he was maybe not Grace’s biological dad, but he didn’t. I guess he just didn’t want to make it more complicated.”

She closed her eyes as she inhaled and exhaled softly; “God, I can’t believe I just threw this all on you. I’m so sorry, Liam. Perhaps, the wine wasn’t such a good idea.”

“I don’t mind at all. I mean, I wasn’t expecting to learn that much about you in less than 20 minutes, but it’s nice to know you feel enough at ease to share that much.” He reassured her.

“So would it be now your turn to talk? I think I did a lot of sharing tonight.” She laughed.

He had way more questions to ask about the subject, but she was clearly done talking about it and obviously needed the breather so he simply nodded.

“Honestly, I don’t know how much more I can say about a cancelled wedding. I mean, right now I’m just trying to think of the next steps to take, you know. Like, the guys and I are on a hiatus or whatever this is actually is anymore and I have worked on my music, but I still feel like I haven’t gone in the direction I was supposed to. I don’t know, maybe this wedding hadn’t been my only mistake in the last few years.” He sighed.

“Liam, you wanting to get married was not a mistake, you just chose the wrong girl. I mean, perhaps subconsciously, you are ready to get married and you were with her and you thought it was the obvious next step, but she just wasn’t the one you were supposed to marry. I’m pretty sure when you’re ready to date again, you’ll eventually find her. It might be in six month, a year or even two years, but you will find the right one.” She assured him.

She had a point. He did want to get married. It was something that always felt like the natural next step in a relationship. But yeah, he didn’t want to get married just to be married. He wanted the kind of commitment his parents have; he wanted something just as strong with its ups and downs.

“And as for the career, well, I can’t be much help there. You’ll eventually find your sound once you stop putting so much pressure on yourself. You didn’t say it, but I feel like you are comparing where you are and where the other guys are and god don’t we all know that’s the worst thing someone could do.” She continued. “So maybe you could try to relax and don’t rush your next album. Take your time. It doesn’t matter if it takes two or three years if it actually captures what you want to share with your fans.”

“Thank you Dr. Parker.” He laughed. “Any other advices?”

“Not at the moment.” She grinned. “If I ever do, I’ll be sure to send them to you.”

After that, they talked about random things. He listened as she told him about her dream of opening her own bookstore and café and she did the same when he told her about the few auditions he had done in hope to see if acting was something he wanted to pursue.

“Can’t you hint about what roles you auditioned for?” She asked. “I mean, you can’t tell me this with any details whatsoever.”

“I can’t. I mean, rumors are being spread as it is about what roles I audition for and most of the time, they are wrong because basically, no one is supposed to know what I audition for.” He answered. “Look, if one of these roles ever goes further than the first two meetings, I will give your more details. I promise you.”

They spoke about their families and she told him more about each of her daughters. Grace wanted to be a dancer and Rosalie had just signed her up for a few classes so she could decide what she preferred. Cora was in her terrible twos and Rosalie’s thin patience over the last few months was often tested.

“She inherited of my stubbornness, that’s for sure. I feel the need to apologize to my mother for what I have put her through when I was that age.” She exclaimed. “Grace was much calmer and maybe it was because she was an only child and she had no one else to look up to. Cora just wants what her sister has.”

“Well my mom always told my sisters and I that we would pay for what we put her through when we were going to have kids. So I guess that’s what’s happening to you right about now.” He laughed.

“That I am.” She laughed too and looked at her watch. “Oh damn, it’s nearly 1am. I should head back home.”

“Going to be awakened early by the girls?” He asked her.

“They are at my parents’ for the week. My mom wanted to give me time to settle in the house and give me some alone time.” She answered him. “I just think that this bottle of wine was the first alcohol I drank in the past two years and I feel its effect more than I thought or perhaps it’s the unloading I did earlier on you. I still apologize for that.”

“Might be a mix of both, but there’s no need to apologize for that.” He chuckled.

“Thanks. Well, it was really nice catching up with you, Li.” She said getting up. “If you ever feel like doing this again, I promise that the next time we’ll keep it lighter than tonight has been.”

Yes, he wanted to do this again, but the night was ending and he didn’t want her to leave before he asked her the one question he meant to ask her before she changed the subject back to him earlier. He needed to know now.

“But can I ask you one thing before you leave?” He said as she looked at him. “And please don’t take it the wrong way, but don’t you wish sometimes that Adam had taken the test so you would know for sure if he was the father? I mean, especially if he wasn’t, perhaps one of these other guys could have been a better father and wouldn’t have done what he did.”

“Now, I do, but back then, I was just happy he wanted to be the daddy. I mean, which 17 or 18 years old boy would easily just accept to be a father? I don’t know many who would have done this and I loved him. I was so much in love with him and it seemed like the simplest solution to just accept on faith that he was indeed Grace’s father.” She admitted.

“Maybe you’re right, but I feel like that this decision might have robbed some other guy’s chance of proving that he was capable of taking his responsibilities also.” He stated.

“What is this really about, Liam?” She asked him directly. “You obviously have something on your mind, so why won’t you just say it.”

They stared at one another before he finally asked her the question he meant to ask earlier; “Is there a chance that I’m Grace’s father?”

[raywritesthings]

A Troubled Man

My Writing Fandom: Harry Potter Characters: Ginny Weasley, Sirius Black, Harry Potter, Molly Weasley, Hermione Granger, Fred Weasley, Goerge Weasley, Ron Weasley, Buckbeak, Albus Dumbledore Pairings: Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley Notes: Canon Compliant, Character Death, References to Depression Summary:  “Excuse me, but I care what happens to Sirius as much as you do!” (Ginny Weasley, “Fight and Flight”, Order of the Phoenix pg 761) A look at the brief but meaningful relationship between the last Black and the youngest Weasley. *Can be read on my AO3 or FFN, links are in my bio*

The only upside to what had happened in Little Whinging that night was that their mother was far too upset to remember to charm the kitchen door, Ginny reflected as she listened through the newly created Extendable Ears her brothers were trying out, the whole lot of them crammed onto the third floor landing.

It was amazing how clear their mum’s voice was coming through. “How did the Dementors even find him?”

“Harry’s residence is a matter of public record, Molly,” explained Albus Dumbledore with exceeding patience. She couldn’t imagine how he had the time to field the Orders’ questions and run interference at the Ministry on Harry’s behalf.

“Yes, but you said he’s meant to be safe there, Headmaster,” her mum persisted. Only extreme worry would cause her to argue with Professor Dumbledore like this.

“The blood wards protecting Harry only extend to the property limits of his relatives’ house. This is why the Order guard has been necessary. The preliminary report from the Ministry says that Harry and his cousin were attacked off the property, and Arabella’s account supports this. So long as he remains inside—”

“So he’s under house arrest, then?” Asked a voice Ginny was beginning to grow rather familiar with. Sirius Black, wrongfully accused escaped convict and their host of sorts in this gloomy house that used to be his family’s. Ginny couldn’t imagine growing up in a place like this.

There were a number of weary sighs.

“No, I just want to be clear. Can’t leave the property for his own safety and all that? In that case, Albus, could you tell me for what reason we sent Harry to stay with his relatives all the way out in Surrey — spending valuable time and resources this group doesn’t really have — when he could have been, oh, here maybe?”

“Ooh,” the twins breathed together, grinning.

“You’re meant to be writing that letter to him,” her mum snapped waspishly. She hadn’t taken much of a liking to Sirius ever since they’d gotten here. Ginny thought he’d have better luck with her if he cut his hair.

“Yes, and I’ve written it on the scrap of parchment I’ve been allowed. ‘Stay out of trouble’. Not much use when the trouble came to him in the first place.”

“Harry will be moved once it is safe to do so, Sirius,” said Dumbledore.

“Not an answer, though, is it?” Ron muttered at her elbow. Beside him, Hermione shook her head.

“He does have a point, Albus,” said Kingsley Shacklebolt in his deep voice. Kingsley had an ear piercing like Bill and was therefore cool even if they didn’t know much else about him besides his job. “Moving him from one location to another is a security risk that could have been avoided.”

“I have explained before why it is necessary for Harry to spend a portion of his summers at his relatives’.”

There was a scoff at the word “necessary”. Ginny could guess who it originated from.

Her suspicion was confirmed a moment later by her mum asking, “Perhaps instead of undermining the Headmaster you could criticize your friend, Mundungus.”

“I haven’t defended him,” said Sirius. He said nothing further, though it was hardly any surprise. Mundungus Fletcher had been the one to supply Sirius a new wand off the black market. And Dung was funny in an odd way.

The front door opened and shut, though none of them could see who it was from their vantage point. Shuffled footsteps stopped with a bang and a curse as something heavy fell over; Tonks with the troll’s foot umbrella stand again.

“Quick, the Ears!” Feed began reeling them back up as, loud and clear without magical aid, old Mrs. Black’s portrait started her screaming back up again.

“HALF-BLOOD TRAITORS WALKING MY HALLS, SULLYING THE NAME OF BLACK!”

The adults could be heard rushing up to quiet the commotion, and Ginny snuck down a flight to watch the end of Dumbledore’s purple cloak disappear through the front door.

She came back up. “Meeting’s over. Dumbledore just left.”

“But we still don’t know what will happen to Harry,” Hermione said in clear disappointment.

“They can’t wait that long to move him, can they?” Ron looked to be trying to keep his spirits up. “Anyway, Harry’ll be alright. He’s fought off way more than two Dementors before.”

The twins agreed with nods, but Ginny wasn’t so sure. It was one thing two years ago; they’d all been warned about the Dementors guarding the school. It was another thing to be attacked out of the blue just streets away from your own home. Harry had to be wondering who had done it and why, just like they all were.

They were all forced to scatter at the sound of more footsteps, this time coming up the stairs towards them. Ginny peeked out of her hiding place in the drawing room to watch Sirius trudge past. He continued up to the room he shared with Buckbeak the hippogriff, and she heard his door shut with a snap.

“He’s in a mood,” she heard Ron mutter from his room down the hall.

“He always is lately,” Hermione replied in clear disapproval.

Ginny wasn’t sure what to think of that. She wondered what Sirius had been like the times Ron and Hermione had met him before and how that differed to now. Every so often she thought they caught glimpses of it, like the first night they’d arrived or whenever a good number of Order members stuck around for dinner after a meeting. He was always more jovial then, or trying to be.

Ginny looked around the dusty old room and shivered. They hadn’t started cleaning this one out yet, so she’d do better to steer clear of it for now. It felt like something or someone was watching her, holding their breath and waiting for something. She hurried back to the room she shared with Hermione to wash up before dinner.

---

Sirius hadn’t been at dinner, a point her mother refused to acknowledge. In fact, she’d made every effort to behave as though everything was perfectly fine. The only indication that it was not was near the end of the meal when the dishes were being cleared away and her father voiced a quiet question about taking up leftovers.

“He’s a grown man. He can make his own food if he doesn’t want to eat with us.”

Ginny privately thought that even if Sirius had been a grown man when he was arrested, he’d not had much experience cooking the last fourteen years or so and should possibly be cut some slack since he was forced to put up with the lot of them all summer. Ginny loved her family, but even she knew they could be a bit much sometimes to outsiders.

They were all sent up to bed soon enough. Ginny tossed and turned for a while. She just couldn’t seem to settle, mind occupied with Dementor attacks and Harry skulking around his Muggle relatives’ house — which in her mind’s eye resembled something like Grimmauld Place as she’d never seen it before — barred from leaving just like Sirius was and they all had been since the start of summer.

After a while, she gave sleeping up and rose from her bed. The house seemed even creepier at night, things looming out of dark shadows at unexpected moments. She might lose her head if she ran across Kreacher with no warning. For some reason, her feet carried her upstairs instead of down; maybe she was unconsciously avoiding waking the portraits by mistake.

Ginny paused in front of the drawing room. As much as she didn’t like it in there, she also felt some sort of morbid pull towards it, almost like…

Shuffling feet a couple floors above broke her from her thoughts, and Ginny quickly backed up out of the room. She hadn’t even realized she’d opened the door and stepped inside.

She heard the footsteps again and decided to have a look. It was coming from the floor above Ron but below the twins. Ginny didn’t actually think anyone slept on this floor, come to think of it. She passed by a door labeled pompously with the name Regulus Arcturus Black, noticing a light on in a room she hadn’t thought was in use. Ginny went to the door and pushed it open a few inches.

Inside she found a bedroom in shocking red and gold after all the black, silver and green of the rest of the house. There were posters on the walls, still like Muggle photographs, of women in hardly anything. In the middle of it all stood Sirius, who looked to be sorting through some old papers.

He glanced her way. “Shouldn’t you be asleep?”

“Shouldn’t you?”

“Point taken.” He gestured around the place. “How do you like a fifteen year old’s attempt at decorating?”

It made a very sudden amount of sense. “This was yours?”

“Yeah, when I Iived here. The first time, anyway.” Sirius looked down, his face cast in shadow.

She could tell he was likely to wallow if she didn’t rescue the conversation soon, so Ginny said, “Well, it’s very typical boy.”

He laughed, not quite the bark that seemed to be his usual. “Oh, I wanted my mother to think so. She was too busy goggling at those Muggle girls I cut out of the advertisements in the magazines to realize I was reading up on motorbikes. I built my own, enchanted it and everything.”

A man after her father’s own heart, Ginny noted to herself. “And the Muggle girls weren’t a side benefit?”

He shook his head, hair whipping about his face like shaggy ears. “Never interested me much. If I can figure out how to undo the old Sticking Charms, they’ll be coming down.”

“How come?”

“Thought I might clean this up for Harry to use. Though your mum reckons he’ll go in with Ron. Probably better he does,” Sirius muttered as he rubbed at his face with one hand. “No sense being alone in this house.”

“No,” Ginny agreed.

“Still,” Sirius said, rallying himself. “Might be worth it to show him some things. Look here at this.”

He took a photo off the pile he’d been sorting through and handed it to her. Ginny nearly gasped at the sight of an older Harry — except it wasn’t Harry at all, but a similar-looking man with different shapes glasses and hazel eyes. He was chasing a green-eyed baby on a toy broomstick around a cozy sitting room while a woman with deep auburn hair laughed and laughed.

“This was his family?”

“Yeah, his first birthday. I couldn’t be there — they were in hiding already, and the Order was spread pretty thin. Back when we could do something about all this,” he noted, though the usual bitterness was softened as he continued to gaze down at the photo of the Potters. “So I sent him that toy broomstick. Lily said it was his favorite. She sent a letter with the photo, should be somewhere...here!”

He’d gone back to his pile and withdrew two pages of old parchment filled with Lily Potter’s neat script. Ginny held her breath as she took a piece of the past. Her eyes only skimmed the text. She couldn’t really concentrate on the words themselves, only that they’d been written by a woman who’d been killed less than three months later.

“Harry writes his ‘g’s the same way as her.” Sirius pointed it out with a finger, undeniably proud.

Ginny’s eyes jumped from one ‘g’ to another rapidly, zeroing in on the two capital ‘G’s in the name Gellert Grindelwald, which was mentioned for who knew what reason.

“Does he?”

“You don’t think so?” Sirius was frowning a little, like he thought she doubted him.

Ginny shook her head. “I wouldn’t know. I’ve never really read Harry’s writing.”

“You don’t write letters at all? Not just this summer?”

“Oh. Well, Harry is Ron’s friend, really. We all like him, though,” she added quickly. “Actually, I, er, I sort of had this massive crush on him when we first met. Sort of makes things awkward. He probably wouldn’t want letters from me.” She turned away under the guise of setting Lily Potter’s letter down. “And I don’t know why I just told you that since you said that sort of thing was stupid.” He probably thought her a real idiot now.

“I said it wasn’t for me, not that it was stupid. James and the rest all thought I was the stupid one when it came to that.”

Ginny didn’t know what to say, not sure she really understood. 

“Did Harry say he didn’t want letters from you? Doesn’t seem like him. Then again, he’s yet to ask me about girls.”

Ginny shook her head. “No, he’s always been nice about it. Even during everything with the Chamber.”

“Chamber?” Sirius asked, his brow furrowing.

There was a moment where she thought her face might heat up, but it passed. Ginny was so used to everyone sort of knowing, even if they never spoke about it, that she’d quite forgotten that Sirius would have no reason to. Well, almost no reason. “Er, I was tricked by an enchanted diary in my first year, and Harry had to come and rescue me. I was a blubbering mess.”

“Ah, well that’s alright then. I was completely useless two years ago when the Dementors nearly caught me. Harry doesn’t resent me for having to rescue my sorry arse.”

Ginny found her lips curving into a grin, which Sirius matched with his own. “Will he be here soon, then?”

Sirius nodded. “The Order’s arranging a guard to collect him and transport him here. Mad Eye’s been put in charge, so he’s keeping tight-lipped. But before the week is out, I’m sure.” He looked happier just to say that out loud. Even if Ginny had yet to see them in the same room together, she could tell how much care Sirius had for his godson.

Well, good. Harry ought to have someone who was there just for him. Merlin knew those Muggles in Surrey weren’t up to the task.

Sirius checked a fine watch at his wrist. “I’ll put in a couple more hours here. You should really get to sleep, though. I doubt your mum will let you skive off chores tomorrow.”

“You think she’ll let you?”

He really did bark a laugh that time. “Maybe not, but I’ve got Buckbeak upstairs to ward her off.”

Ginny sat on the side of the bed. “I’m not tired just yet, so I may as well keep you company. No sense being alone.”

Sirius paused, his gray eyes meeting hers and for once looking absolutely clear. “No. No sense at all.”

He went back to sorting through the old papers. Some, he explained, had been left behind when he’d first ran away from this place. The others had been collected over the last few months by Professor Lupin and Professor Dumbledore. He seemed particularly happy about a set of mirrors the Headmaster had managed to locate.

“These were mine and James’,” he told her. There were a lot of those asides about his old friends. Gradually, she found it comforting rather than unsettling; the more Sirius spoke about Harry’s parents, the more he seemed to breathe life back into them so that they weren’t the silent, shadowy figures in the old Boy Who Lived story, but real people.

“I wish I had James’ old notes. He used to draw snitches in the margins and hearts with his and Lily’s initials when he thought we all weren’t looking. You might check Harry’s homework some time, just to see if he’s the same…”

She thought again about Lily Potter’s capital G, trying to imagine it on a fresh piece of parchment accompanying a Dear Ginny...and she drifted off to sleep.

---

She hadn’t meant to, of course, and woke the next morning quite disoriented. For a moment, she thought she must be in her dorm at Hogwarts with all the Gryffindor colors surrounding her — then her eyes caught sight of a woman in little more than underthings and remembered. Sirius must not have been successful about that Sticking Charm.

There was a blanket over her she definitely didn’t remember pulling over herself.

Ginny stretched with a yawn and headed downstairs to see if she could find anyone else up. The only ones in the kitchen were her mother, brothers and Hermione.

“Morning, all.”

The twins and Ron gave vague murmurings of greeting, the three of them devoted to their breakfasts. It would take a few minutes for them to regain their wit.

Her mum set a plate down for her. “Eat up, dear, we’ve a lot of work to do.”

“Which room?” Ginny asked, her mind going back to the old drawing room for some reason.

“I thought we might tackle the second bathroom,” said her mum. “With Harry coming in, we’ll have more company and that much more need of it.”

“That bathroom’s too small for all of you to work on it,” said Sirius. They all turned to find him in the doorway.

“Well, I suppose we’re not needed today,” Fred remarked. Beside him, George placed his feet up on the table.

“Don’t think I won’t find something for you two,” their mum said, swatting at George’s feet. “Even if Sirius has decided he’s making up the chore list for today.”

He hardly seemed bothered by the sullen tone; Ginny suspected he rather enjoyed getting small rises out of people. “Actually, I was hoping to borrow the girls.”

Ginny blinked in interest even as her mum asked, “What?”

“Buckbeak needs to get out in the back for a bit, stretch his wings, general business.”

“I could go with Hermione,” Ron said.

“And never come back inside,” Ginny replied quickly. She wasn’t about to let an opportunity to get out of the house even for a few moments pass her by. “You and Hermione would get so distracted bickering that Buckbeak might just decide to fly away.”

“He’d be smart enough to manage it,” Sirius agreed. “Come on, I’ll bring him downstairs for you.”

Hermione patted Ron’s hand with sympathy while Ginny made faces at all of her brothers while their mother wasn’t looking.

“Have fun cleaning up Hippogriff dung,” George said in a low voice just as the two of them left through the kitchen door.

Ginny stood in the main hall with Hermione, each of them quiet as possible considering the portrait-lined walls. She noticed the older girl watching her, though, and had a feeling a question was just waiting for the chance to be asked.

Sirius returned but in his Animagus form, as he seemed to be demonstrating for Buckbeak how a four-legged creature ought to navigate steps. The proud Hippogriff followed slowly, snapping his beak once or twice when he nearly stumbled. Ginny sent a nervous glance back at Mrs. Black’s portrait, but the curtains remained shut.

Once both animals had reached the bottom of the steps, Sirius changed back. He took the reins Buckbeak wore and passed them off to Hermione. “He’ll trust you best. Ginny, you just give him a bow.”

She did so, waiting with her breath held until Buckbeak mirrored her.

“There. You two will be fine now.”

“Er, Sirius?” Hermione asked. “What should we do with the, erm, droppings?”

“What the old Purebloods did, naturally.”

Ginny let out a snort that she hastily covered with a hand over her mouth.

“Someone will take care of it. Off you go,” Sirius said before Hermione could voice no doubt a series of follow-up questions. “He’s impatient.”

Soon enough, Ginny was leading the way into the backyard. It was incredibly small and fenced in with hardly anything struggling to grow in it. Buckbeak pawed at the ground in places and tossed his head once or twice, forcing Ginny to grab onto the reins to help Hermione. It was obvious the animal longed to fly.

“Poor thing,” Ginny couldn’t help saying aloud. “You probably miss being on the run.”

“Where did you go last night?” Hermione asked her rather than comment on her conversation with Buckbeak, which seemed to her a bit rude. She hadn’t even left him room to reply.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean you weren’t in your bed when I woke up but you weren’t down in the kitchen either. You acted like you’d just woken up when you joined us.”

There wasn’t much point to lying to her. Hermione was a much early riser than Ginny anyway — she’d gotten into the habit of sleeping in two shifts at a very young age, after all.

“I was in Sirius’ room.” At the great gasp and shocked face Hermione pulled, she let out a laugh. “His old bedroom, Hermione, not the one he’s staying in now! It’d get a bit crowded with Buckbeak in there, too.”

“Ginny!” Hermione exclaimed before immediately slapping a hand over her mouth. They both glanced about nervously, but the shout didn’t seem to have shattered the protection they were living under. “What were you doing in his old room?” Her friend hissed after the tense silence.

Ginny shrugged. “Couldn’t sleep. Sirius was sorting through some things in case Harry wanted to use the room.”

“But Harry always stays with Ron.”

“Not when he’s with the Muggles,” Ginny pointed out. “But he’ll probably stay with him here, yeah. That’s what Sirius thought mum would decide. So he was just going through some old things to show Harry, maybe. He’s got loads of stuff from his parents.”

For some reason, this caused Hermione to frown rather than smile like Ginny might have thought. “Yes, I wonder if Sirius isn’t a little more focused on Harry’s parents than on Harry.”

“What?” Ginny scrunched her nose up. “That’s barkers. He wants to show Harry their things, not ignore Harry for them. And wouldn’t Harry want to see them?”

“Honestly, I’m not sure. He hardly ever talks about them, you know,” Hermione told her. “The only things he keeps of theirs were given to him by other people. I don’t know if his aunt just keeps everything else at home or if he doesn’t like the reminder.”

“Oh.” Ginny hadn’t thought of that. Harry always seemed to be so enthralled by the atmosphere and clutter of possessions that filled Ginny’s house that she’d always thought — but maybe Hermione was right. Maybe Harry didn’t want his parents’ things. Would it be too painful?

The door opened behind them.

“You’ll have to bring him in now.” Sirius stood two feet back from the door, hidden mostly in shadow. Ginny wondered if he’d been told to keep from opening or answering the doors. Like Buckbeak, his eyes were on the sky. “Your mum’s getting nervous,” he added to Ginny. Without further explanation, he turned and retreated into the house.

Ginny sighed. “Alright, Buckbeak. You heard the rules.”

The Hippogriff did not want to go back inside, but between the two of them they managed. Hermione led the way up to the master bedroom and peered inside. “Eugh, it’s filthy.”

There were animal bones littering the floor by Buckbeak’s makeshift nest of blankets. Ginny swallowed down a spike of panic and stayed in the hall.

“Wonder where he gets the food,” she said, for something to focus on.

“Well, I wonder where he keeps his rubbish bin. Honestly.” Hermione came out and shut the door, leaving Buckbeak to resettle inside. “You mother would be horrified if he let her see in there.”

“Mum’s horrified by a lot of things. Anyway, least the bones are picked clean.” Ginny started down the stairs with Hermione following. “One time the twins forgot a plate of chicken when they left for school and didn’t tell anyone. Their room smelled for weeks.”

“Oi. Not nice to talk about people behind their backs,” said George as he poked his head out of the second bathroom. He didn’t look too grimy, all considered.

“Good thing we were to the side of you, then,” Ginny replied without missing a beat.

He shrugged. “Fair enough.”

“Girls?” Her mum called. “If you’ve finished with Buckbeak, see if Sirius needs anything else. Otherwise, I’ll have to find you something.”

“Yes, Mrs. Weasley,” Hermione answered.

Try as they might, they couldn’t find him. When Ginny checked his old childhood bedroom in hopes of catching him there, the old boxes of photos and letters were all packed up tight.

---

Harry came soon after, livening up the place with anger and nervous energy. Some of that dissipated once he learned more about the Order thanks to Sirius’ intervention — Ginny was still incredibly cross with her mother for forcing her to leave, even if she’d gotten it all from Hermione later anyway — and the rest left once the result of his hearing came back. Ginny had quite a bit of fun celebrating that with the twins.

Harry was soon roped into leaning the house with the rest of them, and Sirius began participating more obviously as well. She hesitated to call it fun, but it passed the time as well as anything.

Ginny often worked with Sirius because she reckoned if something was about to blow up in their faces it was best to be standing next to the wizard who knew the most magic and was capable of performing it outside school. When not with Sirius, she stuck by the twins for exactly the same reason.

It was also to give him and Harry some space. She knew in an ideal world, they’d have probably spent the whole summer together and come over to the Burrow for dinners or games of pickup Quidditch. Had Sirius even played? She’d seen Mr. Potter’s name on a trophy during the odd detention or two.

Sometimes Sirius would call her over on his own. “Ginny, take that end of the sofa with Harry, there. I’ve got this side.” Or, “Can you and Harry take that bag down to the front hall? Mad Eye’s collecting them to dispose of.” Always her and Harry, too.

But Harry ended up spending a lot of his time with Ron and Hermione, which was what often happened when the three of them were in the same space. With the twins holed up together planning their business and her mother on a cleaning warpath, Ginny often found herself in Sirius’ company. One afternoon she was perched on the flat surface of an unused vanity in the master bedroom as Sirius fed Buckbeak — with supplies from Dung, as it turned out. Pigwidgeon flitted about his head with slightly more calm than usual, while Hedwig slept standing on an ornate owl perch probably placed their decades I’d not centuries ago, and Crookshanks slept on the bed. He was a veritable magizoologist, and Ginny wondered if that might have been what he’d have become had there not been a war on.

Rather than puzzle about the possible career choices of Sirius Black, Ginny decides to voice her suspicions. “I know what you’re doing, and you may as well stop.”

“Think Buckbeak would be rather cross if I did,” he replied.

“Come off it,” she said, grinning in spite of himself. “Making Harry do things with me. I said I had a crush on him as a kid, not that I’m in love with him.”

“I never said you were either. Just reckon you two could be better friends.” He tossed the last animal carcass to Buckbeak, who scarfed it down with rather overdone messiness.

“Sure. But just so you know, I’ve been talking to a Ravenclaw boy the last few months. And Harry likes a Ravenclaw the year above him.”

“Hm, similar taste.”

“I’m — oh no.”

“Were you about to say it?” He finally turned to her with a full grin. “Everyone does at some point.”

“Not me.” She’d stopped herself early enough, thank Merlin. “I’m merely telling you in an earnest fashion to stop your nonsense if you think it’s helping.” Having skirted the mention of the homonym to his name, she nodded to herself.

“It could be my own mean-spirited joke. I was quite known for those in the day.”

Ginny looked him up and down, scrutinizing him. Perhaps what she knew of him was little, but, “Nah, you wouldn’t. You wouldn’t make a joke about Harry.”

Sirius’ look became one of chagrin. “Caught me out, did you? You’re pretty brilliant, you are.”

“I’ve worked hard on it,” she said, not bothering to hide that she was pleased. It wasn’t often adults saw her for much more than the youngest and smallest of seven. “Since I am so brilliant, I suppose you might as well induct me into the Order now. I promise not to give its secrets away to Fred and George.”

He barked a laugh. “That decision would be up to Dumbledore. And your mother.”

“Was worth a try,” she sighed.

“Always is.”

Two loud cracks outside on the landing announced Fred and George’s sudden proximity. “Ickle Gin-Gin? Our mother is calling us to dinner,” Fred said, loud enough to be heard from where he stood on the landing but soft enough not to carry down to old Mrs. Black’s portrait.

“Special party for the perfect Prefects before they assume their duties on the train tomorrow,” George added. “Don’t want to be late!” They Disapparated with two more cracks, probably to search for her on other floors.

“Merlin, forgot it was already the thirtieth.” The usual milestones of summer had seemed muted in the darkened house. Even her birthday had passed by with little fanfare, everyone too concerned with Harry’s hearing the next morning to be in a mood for celebration.

“So it is,” said Sirius, almost too quiet for her to make out. He went to the bed and scratched Crookshanks behind his ears. “You finished all your work?”

“Left History of Magic for last. I’ll just scribble it down the morning before first class. Not like Binns knows the difference.” Ginny hopped down off the vanity and crossed to the door. “You eating with us?”

“I might be down in a bit. Save me a plate.”

“Alright.”

He did arrive in plenty of time for the party, but though he talked and laughed with all of them, Ginny thought there was a shadow hiding behind his eyes. The way he followed Harry about the room, sometimes right at his elbow and sometimes at a bit of a distance, made her think of his Animagus form. She wondered if Harry thought the same.

---

Having Sirius accompany them to the platform had been a wonderful sendoff no matter what Hermione said about vague threats Malfoy had made to Harry. So what if the Malfoys knew Sirius was in London? They’d probably already assumed that, and it wasn’t as if they could go to the Ministry without revealing their source was an illegal Animagus himself and reportedly dead man. The sheer joy in his eyes and in that foggy grin as he’d chased birds about the sidewalk and jumped up to bid Harry and the rest of them a last goodbye had been worth it, and Ginny wouldn’t be convinced otherwise.

She thought about Sirius every so often during the first term. Wondering what was going on at Headquarters, how he passed the time. Harry might know, but he had enough to be getting on with without her pestering him about his own godfather.

As the holidays neared, she wondered how Sirius would be spending them, too.

Then her dad was attacked and they were all back in Grimmauld Place, so in a way she was finding out.

Ginny wasn’t planning to stick around long enough for that, though. She waited long enough to hear Harry’s whole story after Sirius pulled her up from the floor when they were deposited by Dumbledore’s Portkey before stating, “We’ve got to go to St. Mungo’s. Sirius, can you lend us cloaks or anything—?”

“Hang on, you can’t go tearing off to St. Mungo’s!”

Despite her and the twin’s arguments that they needed to see their dad, he refused. And she understood not wanting to draw attention to the unexplainable connection Harry seemed to have with You-Know-Who, she got that Sirius was trying to protect his godson. But this was her dad!

He made them sit and drink Butterbeer instead. What had happened to them being old enough to know things? To not being kept in the dark? Hermione had told her they’d gotten word of Sirius’ support for the D.A., so why was he suddenly acting like her mum?

She sat glaring into the fire for the rest of the night until her mum came back with news about her dad. Overjoyed as she was to know he was recovering, Ginny barely touched her breakfast. They still weren’t being allowed to go right away.

Her mum and Sirius were making nice at the stove — making nice! — and talking about bloody Christmas plans or something.

She couldn’t believe the lot of them.

Ginny was still so angry she couldn’t sleep the next night, even after seeing her dad for herself at St. Mungo’s. She’d forced herself to appear happy to her mother and the others on the trip, but betrayal at Sirius’ actions the previous night stewed in her like a stomachache.

She got up, heading down to the kitchen in the hopes that a cup of tea might soothe her enough to settle for a few hours.

Except that Sirius was already sitting at the table nursing a mug of something. She didn’t much care what it was. Probably more of Dung’s cheap liquor.

“Evening,” he greeted casually. When all she did was glare, he sat up a little straighter. “Something the matter?”

Ginny scoffed. “Really? You have to ask?”

She crossed to the cabinets and started opening and closing them with loud bangs, not really looking inside. She was being so her mum at the moment and hated it, but right now she was more interested in hating him.

Then his hand reached for the cabinet handle she’d been about to grab and pulled it open, taking out a tin of herbal tea. It occurred to Ginny then just how tall Sirius was; he spent most of his time either slumped into chairs or slightly hunched over. 

It made her wonder how tall the cells in Azkaban were.

“Here. Unless you’re after something else.”

His words reminded her of her anger, and she wrapped it around herself like a cloak to ward off her chilling thoughts. “Like an apology maybe?”

She could hear the aristocratic raise of his eyebrow and didn’t even have to look to know it was there. “For?”

Ginny whirled around. “You didn’t back me up!”

“Of course I didn’t,” he said, and it sounded so damn dismissive she wanted to curse him, or punch him since that wouldn’t get her in trouble with the Ministry. “You weren’t thinking clearly.”

“And you got to decide that?”

“As the only adult in the room, yes, I did.”

Ginny petulantly opened her mouth to argue he hadn’t been the only adult in the room with Fred and George of age, but realized at the last second that would be playing into his hand.

So she struck lower.

“No one in the Order thinks you are.”

Sirius’ eyes flashed and for a single moment she was reminded of the wanted posters and how very terrified she had been of him the last several years of her life. “No, they don’t,” was all he said quietly. Then he turned his back to her.

“Sirius. I- I didn’t mean—” Somehow his lack of fight was so much worse than any shouting would have been. Because he was a fighter, and if he was giving up already then she didn’t know what that meant.

“Sometimes I forget the years. It’s hard not to, especially here. Then I see you or Harry or the others.” He glanced back over his shoulder at her. “You’re nearly as old as we were, but don’t you see? How young that is.”

Her protests all seemed to have died on her lips.

“No one told us we were too young. No one tried to hold us back.” He shrugged. “We thought we were invincible, for a while. Then the bodies started piling up. And the Inferi came. And the Dementors…” Sirius shuddered, but he carried on in a hoarse tone, “Did you ever wonder why there’s barely forty kids in a year at Hogwarts anymore?”

“No,” she admitted quietly. “I thought it was normal.”

“I want you lot to be prepared, yes. Because it’s going to get uglier, a lot uglier, before it gets better. If it does. But I don’t want you to be like me.” His gray gaze held hers, and it sent chills up her spine. “I don’t want you to have their lives. I want you to grow old and have children of your own and get fed up when they yell at you for being such a broomstick in the mud.” His eyes were wet now. “I want you to have the lives they should have had. Do you understand?”

“Yes. I- I think I am tired after all.” She turned and left the kitchen, glancing back once to see Sirius leaning his back against the counter as he rubbed thumb and forefinger over his eyes.

She did what she’d always done since the Chamber with her tears and cried into her pillow for the lives that were never lived. And the lives that this war had yet to take.

---

She didn’t have a present for him, Ginny realized on Christmas morning. She hadn’t thought they’d be here for Christmas and hadn’t known how to get it to him. Then she’d been so distraught and angry the next few days. But they were all sitting around the table talking about their gifts and thanking each other, and she realized it didn’t seem as if he’d gotten a thing.

They were shuffled off to see her dad at St. Mungo’s, but when they returned Ginny hurriedly took out some parchment and ink and scrawled out a quick card.

“It’s an IOU,” she explained when she found him still stringing up tinsel on the bookcases in the library. He was big on decorating, she’d discovered in the days leading up to Christmas. “Next time we see each other, I’ll have the present.”

He hummed as he looked over the sloppily drawn tree. “And when will that be?”

“Next summer. We’ll be coming back here if nothing changes, won’t we? Or maybe you could come out to the Burrow for a day. Have you ever been?”

“No. But your uncles described it when your parents bought the land and started building the place.”

Ginny blinked. She’d forgotten Sirius had known her uncles. Ginny usually forgot about her uncles as well, but the looming war seemed to provide frequent reminders.

“They said it was hilarious,” Sirius added.

Ginny smirked. “Is a bit, yeah, but it’s home. You’ll have to come. I know King’s Cross is too public, but the house should be alright, shouldn’t it?”

“We’ll see,” was his answer. “But I accept this delayed present on one condition.”

“Which is?”

“You help me spread some cheer today.” He threw some tinsel over her shoulder and wrapped the rest around his neck, galloping out of the room. Ginny laughed as they ascended the steps, and joined in on the second half of the verse of his carol.

“Oh, tidings of comfort and joy—”

A door flew open on the landing above, cutting them off mid-song.

“Sirius, please.” Her mum’s face was red and splotchy; probably still upset by the fight she and Ginny’s dad had had about the Muggle stitches. But she froze as she took in the sight of Ginny.

“Er, sorry, mum.”

“No. No, that’s alright, dear. It- it is a holiday,” she said. “Carry on.” Then she turned and shut the door.

“Downstairs, eh? Let’s see if we can find your brothers,” Sirius suggested, the tinsel train connecting them already tugging her in the other direction.”

“Right.” Ginny waited till they cleared the next landing, then heaved in a big breath.

“God rest ye, merry Hippogriff, let nothing you dismay!”

---

She never saw him again after that holiday.

A quick hug as she hurried down the stairs to join the others on their ride back to school was what she’d left with. She couldn’t remember if there had been words. It was a regret Ginny carried the rest of her life.

Harry at least had seen him and spoken to him before the end. She was proud she’d helped to give him that. Proud still that she’d gone with him to try and rescue Sirius. She’d do again in a heartbeat, especially if it did save him this time. But time didn’t work that way.

Three summers later, Ginny entered Number 12 Grimmauld Place for the first time since that Christmas before his death. She did it for Harry, since he didn’t want to go alone.

The house felt small and dim instead of strange and Gothic the way it lived in her memory. Kreacher wasn’t present — he’d opted to stay among the Elves at Hogwarts, lonely in his old age, they suspected. That was just as well; Ginny could only muster pity for him, no matter how much he had changed since the spring he helped orchestrate Sirius’ death.

They walked hand-in-hand through the house, using their wands to move the furniture that would be leaving to the front hall. Then Harry led them up to Sirius’ childhood bedroom, looking unsurprised as he stepped into total chaos. Ginny gasped.

“Snape did it,” Harry told her. “He was looking for something.”

“In Sirius’ things?”

“It’s complicated.” Everything with Snape was. She was still processing how she felt about her one-time Headmaster. “I wish I’d known all this stuff was here before,” Harry remarked, more to himself than anything as he looked about the parchment scattered on the floor.

“He was going to show them to you. He told me that, but I think...I think he got the impression you wouldn’t want to.”

Harry frowned. “How’d he get that impression?”

Ginny shook her head. It was on my a sneaking suspicion, nothing to get him riled up at Hermione over. They were all older now, and wiser for it. “I don’t know for sure. Only there was talk. I think he worried he was doing everything wrong by you.”

“Most everyone back then was telling him he was,” Harry said. “They didn’t understand. He wasn’t perfect, of course.”

“He had a lot of his own troubles.” Ginny was reading things, Muggle books Hermione had lent her. They talked about things they called illnesses but to her sounded like curses. Post-traumatic stress. Depression. The Dementors never had wands, but she thought they’d put a curse on Sirius all the same.

“Yeah,” Harry agreed softly. “Yeah, he did. He didn’t need to be perfect, though.”

Ginny stepped forward, circling her arms loosely around his lower back and forcing him to look at her. “He told me about some of this stuff. I can’t remember everything, but looking at it might help.”

Harry kissed her forehead. “It might.”

They packed up the boxes and antiques and furniture and left. Bill removed the Fidelus and Unplottable Charms, and it sold for a small sum before the year was out.

A weight lifted off her chest. One of her own curses gone.

---

They were having a boy. They’d gone to see one of the Muggle Healers. Her dad has been fascinated to know how much the Muggles could see about a baby that had yet to be born.

They’d gone in part because they were having trouble deciding on names. This was to be Harry Potter’s first child, after all, and like it or not people were going to obsess about it.

Her husband threw himself down into a chair. “I don’t want my name in it.”

“You have your dad’s name,” Ginny pointed out from her own seat. She preferred sitting to standing these days, though sometimes she grew stir crazy. “Bill has my dad’s, and I have my mum’s. It’s not like it’d be out of the ordinary.”

“It’s not that. It’s just...a lot to put on a baby, you know?”

She nodded.

“I’d rather give him my dad’s name. I always sort of thought I would. Only…”

“Only?” She prompted, knowing if she didn’t he’d just drew for another day or so.

“Sirius.” Harry looked at her, his eyes sad. 

“Oh,” she said softly.

“When I think of — it’s horrible, isn’t it? But when I think of a dad, or what a dad would do.” He shrugged helplessly. “I know my dad would’ve if he’d been given the chance, I know that. I just…”

Ginny leaned as far as her belly would allow and touched his shoulder. “It’s understandable, Harry. Sirius was all you knew.”

“I know, but I know he’d never want to take my dad’s place.” He put his head in his hands, hair sticking out at even odder angles.

She thought for a while. He was right about Sirius’ wishes, but Ginny wanted to honor him, too. She always would.

“James Sirius, then,” she said after a moment, and Harry looked up. “That way, they’re never apart.”

His face slowly split into a wide grin, his shoulders slumping in relief. “You’re brilliant, you are.”

She closed her eyes, smiling at memories of a young girl who’d thought herself so grown up. “Suppose I am.”

At least she’d had the chance to become one. Ginny rested her hand on her stomach, feeling James Sirius kick to meet the touch.

The life they should’ve had. The life that every child could have now. Sometimes it didn’t feel real.

She’d fight every day to keep it, though. Sirius has said once that some things were worth dying for, like the children he’d charged into battle to protect. But some things were worth living for, too.

Ginny would never forget that.