#And had a real light blub moment

[windsweptinred]

Have you ever stopped and given real thought as to why you like a character? I mean really thought about it. Beyond, they're my precious baby girl, I wish to die melted into a puddle of goo at their gorgeous feet. (Both valid points mind.) But do it, pick a most beloved blorbo and really think why something about them calls to you so much. You with all your own unique life experiences and perseptions. Why them?

There's some profound self realisation waiting right there.

[theta-walti]

Dreams Under The Sun

Summary: Olga teaches an afternoon class, there she meets Daisy and you.

Warnings: none :)

A/N: This is one that l have kept in my drafts for ages now, but here we go! This is also a request by someone l used to like, l hope you had fun reading this 🫶 request if yall want a part 2!

Word count: 1k, short blub :)

The sun was just beginning set, sending out a golden glow over Madrid. Olga sat on a chair near the dining table as she laced up her boots. Today was a special day – not because it's a match, but because of a promise she had made.

Olga walked out of her apartment and headed quickly toward a small local football pitch. She was almost late so she had to hurry. It was a Saturday, and she had agreed to host a training session for a group of young girls from all around the neighbourhood. When she arrived, the girls were waiting for her, their faces lighting up as she approached.

“Good morning, everyone!”

She greeted, her smile bright and kind. The girls, ages from six to twelve, gathered around, their excitement increased as more time passed.

“Are you ready to play?”

Olga asked, kneeling to be at eye level with them. They all nodded enthusiastically.

For the next hour, Olga led them through simple drills, sharing tips and tricks she had learned over the years. She showed them how to control the ball, how to defend, and most importantly, how to believe in themselves.

“Remember, it’s not just about skill,”

She said, pausing the practice for a moment.

“It’s about your hearts. Never give up, no matter what.”

One of the girls, Daisy, who was particularly shy, but she seemed to do better under Olga’s teaching. Olga noticed her potential, so she spent a little bit of extra time encouraging her, showing her how to dribble past defenders with confidence.

After the session, Olga sat with the girls, sharing stories from her own career. She told them about the challenges she faced, the hard work it took to reach the top, and the joy of scoring the winning goal in the World Cup final.

“Dream big,”

As she told them, there was a lot of awes and wows. The girls did look up on Olga, a lot too in that fact.

“You can achieve anything if you believe in yourself and work hard.”

As the session officially ended and the parents slowly went to pick up their kids, Daisy stayed behind. She walked towards Olga, wearing her Real Madrid backpack and holding out a small notebook and pen.

“Could you sign this for me please?”

She asked as her eyes shined, she was talking to her hero. Daisy had looked up on Olga ever since she was able to walk, meeting her today was an absolute dream come true.

Olga had nodded with a smile, taking the notebook. She signed on the page that has her name on it and chuckled.

“Your planning to collect a lit of signatures huh?"

Daisy just giggled, and Olga smiled as she gave the notebook back to the little girl, Daisy smiled as she went and sat next to Olga.

"Keep practicing, and one day, you’ll be a star too."

"Mama always says that whatever you do, don't give up, always try your best, even though it gets hard sometimes"

Olga nodded as she continued the conversation. Although it was ready quite late, she had started to wonder where Daisy's mother was.

"What you mama is true, speaking of her, where is she? Do you know?"

She said with a soft voice, Daisy only shook her head, not sure.

"Mama has a really important job. Maybe she's late because she's still working"

Just on cue, you came running on the pitch, Hair messy and looking tired, your also wearing a dark red suit and black heels. When Daisy noticed you, she grinned and ran towards you.

"Mama!!"

Daisy engulfed you into a hug and her smile brightened, while you were hugging Olga walked over.

"Flo did really well today. She has the potential to achieve something amazing in football"

You nodded as Daisy let go, listening in the conversation.

"That's good, yes, l remember Daisy has been interested in football ever since she can run. Whenever she sees a ball, she always runs and plays with it"

Olga chuckled, her eyes lighting up as she looked at Daisy.

"Well, she's got talent, that's for sure," she said warmly. "If she keeps practising, who knows? Maybe one day, she'll be able to play with me professionally in the pitch."

You smiled proudly, glancing down at your daughter, who was beaming from ear to ear.

"She’s always admired you, Olga,"

you admitted.

"Thank you for spending time with her today. It means the world to her—and to me."

Olga dismisses the thanks with a modest smile.

"It’s my pleasure. I remember being her age, dreaming of the big leagues. Sometimes, all it takes is someone showing a bit of faith to turn that dream into a reality."

Daisy, still clutching her signed notebook, looked up at Olga with stars in her eyes.

"Will you come back next Saturday?"

she asked eagerly, Olga crouched down to meet her gaze.

"Of course, Daisy. I’ll be here as long as you’re ready to work hard and have fun."

She gave her a playful wink, which made Daisy giggle. As you and Daisy started to leave, Olga had said something.

"And remember, don’t let anyone tell you what you can or can't do. Just keep believing in yourself!"

Daisy nodded, her little face serious with determination. Her hand clutched yours tightly as you walked away, her voice bubbling over with excitement.

"Mama, did you hear that? She believes in me!"

You smiled, squeezing her hand in return.

"I did, sweetheart. And I believe in you too. Just keep chasing that dream, and who knows where it'll take you."

A/N: l finally posted after a while 🤦‍♀️ l am currently editing my lia x reader story, l'll see yall then when l post it!

This is Theta signing out, see you next time!

[callmearcturus]

flashfic: scrap, push, pull

Dave+Dirk, DirkJake. In which Dave doesn't like violence, but his brother is dating someone who super likes it. Dave watches.

It starts out with a bruise.

It's starts raining while they're hanging out by the beach. All the salamanders come out to blub and play while Dave and Dirk find a tree to chill under.

There's droplets on Dirk's glasses; he takes them off and pulls an actual microfiber cloth out of his inventory, giving the lenses a thorough wipe down. "Want a hit of this, bro?" he says, low and sardonic as a sarcastic sunrise, offering the cloth. It has seagulls on it.

"Oh, hell yes," Dave says, taking it to clean his own.

He freezes as he spots something. There's a smudge on Dirk's face that at first seems like the play of a shadow over his skin. But it doesn't move with the rest of the shadows, and with his shades off, Dave can see its the last stage of a nasty bruise, the bloom of green following Dirk's brow bone and down the side of his eyes socket. It looks like it would have hurt like a bitch. Dave's had those before.

Dirk notices Dave's stillness and makes a wordless, inquiring sound. "You lose a fight with a doorknob?" Dave asks, trying to keep his tone light. "What? Oh." Dirk reaches up and presses two fingers into his bruise. "Nah, earned this one the honest way." When Dave continues to stare, he smiles faintly. "You've actually met Jake, right?" Dave's not certain what that means. He finishes cleaning his glasses and returns the cloth to Dirk, who puts it away and leans back on his hands, posture relaxed and max chill. The faded bruise is just barely visible around the edge of his glasses. = Dave learns what the fuck all that meant the next weekend, when there's a Gods And Winners Meet-Up. It's a cook out, with Roxy manning the grill with a little too much gusto, taking orders and slapping meat onto hot metal, sizzling things up. It's a warm day. Rose and Karkat have a big annoying umbrella set up, lounging underneath. It turns out Rose brought nail polish and is ready to cajole Karkat into some claw manicuring. This is how she bonds with people, just deciding out of the blue they're going to do a bonding thing together. Karkat complains a lot, but also has strong opinions on claw care that he's eager to expound on at the drop of a hat. This is how Dave winds up sipping apple juice, third wheeling as Rose and Karkat compare base coats. Whatever. He's idly looking around, watching what folks are doing just in case someone's having more fun that his sister and Karkat, someone begging for a Dave-shaped interruption. That is when Jake and Dirk have a fight. Dave doesn't see how it starts so he thinks for a moment it's a real fight. But from what he can tell, Dirk was just minding his own business talking to Jane when Jake walked up behind him very fast and swung at the back of his head. Dave sits up, a bolt of attention slamming up his spine, but Dirk heard Jake coming or something, because he falls forward, hand on the ground, pivoting and hopping up, facing Jake. The grin on Jake's face is feral. It reminds Dave strongly of Jade when she's about to figure out something ridiculous and inexplicable to everyone but her. What the fuck was up with these island kids, goddamn. "Too loud, English," Dirk says, stepping out away from Jane, moving in a slow circle around Jake. "Tish tosh, that was the point! I'm not very well going to be a sneaky dick about it, that's hardly sporting!" Jake's still grinning like a maniac. "You wanna do this here? Make a show of it?" Dirk shakes out his wrists, still circling. "I mean, if you want everyone to see you get your ass royally served up--" Jake darts forward, and Dirk springs back, words cutting off. By now, everyone is turning to watch. "Enough with the prologue, let's tango. No flash stepping malarkey, no flying." "Fine," Dirk agrees easily, rolling his left shoulder, then his right. "Best of one, no do overs, no improvised weapons. Get ready to eat shit, Jake." And they're off. With shocking ferocity, Jake tries to smash his fist into whatever part of Dirk he can get. It's not many, as Dirk plays keep-away, springing and hopping like a jackrabbit, balanced on his toes. Eventually, Jake seems to get frustrated-- or imminently aware of his own stamina hourglass. He shoulder rushes Dirk, a blunt hit that sends Dirk skidding. Dirk swings a kick, and Jake just takes it, looping an arm around Dirk and yanking him. Dirk bends his knee, tries getting in close, pushing Jake. Without a missed beat, Jake hooks one of Dirk's arms, forcing him even closer to beam in his face. Dirk headbutts him. Jake lets go, cursing. "Never a fair fight with a Strider!" His glasses are broken, but the guy just tosses them, pulling out a fucking back-up pair from one of his sixty pockets. "Want a fucking referee, Jake?" Dirk taunts. "Do you need a yellow card or are we doing this?" "Oh shut up, neither of us knows what the fuck that means," Jake snaps, and moves in again. It's a totally different fight. Punch, blocked by elbow. Haymaker, diverted upward. Knee to the gut, kick to the side. They

move like really vicious dancers. When Dave tears his eyes away for a moment he, inevitably, looks at Karkat. Karkat, who is smiling faintly, like he's watching a sappy movie and not a brawl. Blinking, Dave looks back. He's in time to see Dirk backhand Jake so hard, he goes down like a ton of bricks. And this, Dave assumes, is it. Dirk steps up and puts his foot against Jake's clavicle, leaning back to make his body a narrow line, pinning Jake down. It's time for the count. Dave's been in that position before and knows how hard it is to get out, to reach and grasps impotently for leverage. But Jake doesn't paw at Dirk's leg. He grabs Dirk's foot with both hands and twists hard. Dirk yelps in a very un-stoic way and falls like a felled tree, slamming onto his front, and Jake is on him in an instant, locking onto his back with an arm looped under each of Dirk's. It's incredible. Dirk tries to grab Jake, only for him to lean out of the way, then slam Dirk back down. So instead Dirk tries to claw forward, fingers digging into the earth and pulling. "Uncle?" Jake asks, delighted. "You giving up? I accept," Dirk says, but its strained and breathless. Jake laughs in his ear, his teeth a little red. "Alright, alright, that's enough." Roxy, still wearing her grillmaster apron, walks up. Planting her boot against Jake's shoulder, she dismounts him with one good push. He goes down laughing still, sprawled and smiling at the clouds. Dirk sits up slowly, hand pressed to his rib. "Got me in the same fucking place as last week. Ass." "Oooh, let me see!" Jake rolls onto his knees, closer to Dirk. When Dirk lifts the hem of his shirt, Jake reaches out to frame the smudge of color with his fingers. "Oh, you're going to look stunning!" "You boys are so fuckin' weird," Roxy tells them sincerely, rolling her eyes. From his side, Rose says, "Ah, the love language of shared violence." Karkat hums, sounding pleased, like watching the whole display stroked some romantic voyeurism thing in him. Which, might be his, like, domain now? "Perfect pair of complete fucking idiots." Dave looks at how Dirk looks away from Jake's fawning and feels something settle in his chest.

[primeemeraldheiress]

Shades of Light

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

Fear and sorrow laid thick in the room, heavy in the air and in the Force. It almost knocked Obi-Wan over with the power of it. But his padawan barely stumbled, mouth pulled in a grim line. 

At least a dozen beings flinched back from them. 

Slaves. 

Kriff.

Pressing his lips together, already knowing that Anakin was going to refuse to leave without them — knowing his own conscience wouldn’t allow it, either — Obi-Wan just sighed.

Anakin turned to him, mouth open but a wave of his master’s hand cut him off. 

“Alright, padawan, but we must hurry.” 

He stepped forward, palms out to show peace, “We are Jedi. Please, come with us. We shall insure your freedom.”

“Leave!” Someone hissed. “Before you kill us all!”

Obi-Wan took a step back, surprised at the venom in the voice — the haterejectionfear directed at him.

“Jaieh.” Anakin touched his arm. 

Eyebrows raised, Obi-Wan stepped aside. 

Moving forward slowly, the teenager slid off his outer robe, softly speaking in a language that he had always refused to translate. A moment later, the robe was wrapped around the shoulders of a thinly clothed youngling. 

If there was a single trait that Obi-Wan wouldn’t have attached to his young apprentice, it would have been social. Not that Anakin didn’t need human connection. If anything he craved it. Always having to be near those he claimed as his. Always being in their space. Always chattering or begging for a story. But he had always struggled with making friends and charming other sentients. 

Watching him easily slip among the slaves and integrate among them in moments made Obi-Wan wonder if there wasn’t a failing of his own in that. Something he could have — should have — done. 

While more at ease, they still wouldn’t go. 

Anakin shed another layer, handing the robe off to another child and bearing the intricate tattoos that laced up his arms to the room. Obi-Wan felt his lip twitch, trying to draw into a frown. 

The art was something of a point of contention. The teenager refused to talk about them. Refused to even acknowledge them, save to accept whatever consequence his master handed out. Every few months, Obi-Wan would discover new ones, spread across his padawan’s skin, obtained Force knows when.

He never caught Anakin leaving the Temple but there was nowhere inside that he could get them.

It drove his master crazy.

The sudden hushed silence caught Obi-Wan’s attention. He refocused back on the group in front of him and blinked.

A female twi’lek reached out almost compulsively and brushed her fingers gently over the blue band weaved around Anakin’s bicep. 

Protection surged through Obi-Wan but Anakin sent a wave of reassurance through their bond. 

The girl looked up and murmured a word.

Anakin nodded.

It spread from mouth to mouth, relief and hope leaching into the Force.

Grasping all of their hands in turn, Anakin glowed. 

Something told Obi-Wan that they could make their escape now.

Hours later and finally in hyperspace, everyone — down to the smallest child — was piled in the small shuttle. The former slaves leaned against themselves, sitting together on the floor and drawing his padawan among them. Whispering in their tongue and gently exploring the bold lines on his skin. 

Obi-Wan had never seen his apprentice so docile… or so quietly confident. 

The more he watched, the more he began to understand that the designs of Anakin’s tattoos were important. They weren’t just decoration, they had real meaning. Not just to Anakin but to the slaves they had rescued. 

The words flowing from lips were jubilant but just as elusive as they had always been. Words Anakin had never shared with him. They rang in the Force with a meaning in a way that Obi-Wan suddenly knew that he could never understand. 

He turned back to instrument panels, checking their flight path and pulling out a datapad. Obi-Wan slowly began to compile the mission report for the near disaster they just escaped, mind tracing back the events of the day.

 At least some good had come out of it, even if they didn’t manage their objective. 

Thinking about the quiet revelations he had had about his padawan so far and the few he could feel waiting for him, expectation hanging at the edge of the Force… eager for the next meditation session… More good than he could predict, he was sure. 

Something had changed. 

Sensing his uncertainty, Anakin tentatively reached out to him. The Jedi master sent back a wave of reassurance and warmth before refocusing on the datapad in front of him.

Whatever the future and the Force had in store, they would weather it together. Stronger in a greater understanding.

Jaieh - Master in Dai Bendu - Conlang Created and expanded by @jasontoddiefor​ and @ghostwriterofthemachine​. Please check out @dai-bendu-conlang​ and their Pragmatics of the Jedi series where they are exploring Dai Bendu on AO3. Beginning with Heart Language for more information on Dai Bendu.

Star Wars Blub Masterlist

[ilooklikeaburntchickenugget]

Only Mine (Pt. 6)

A/N: We’re using Taylor songs again because we love Queen Taylor. So these are not my works (obviously) but hers. However if you’ve never heard some of these I would highly suggest you check them out because all Taylor songs are absolute bops. Pairing: Gerard Way x F!Pop Star!Reader Word count: 3,541 Warnings: Swearing, implied sex (no smut though), arguing (minor)

You found the release of Fractious to be the most ironic days of your life.

You were in the media everywhere, selling only a few thousands copies less in it’s first week than your previous record. Which you were fine with, that was somewhat of the plan.

But you were no where to be seen. Hiding out in a new house you and Gerard had bought New Jersey for just under three million dollars. But no one knew about that purchase, other than your closest family and friends. Because no one needed to know.

The suspense of it all started extremely high, as you only announced the album 12 hours prior to its drop. And the world went insane, fans jumping to Twitter to go absolutely crazy over this new persona that they had already began to love, and some had already caught onto the ‘good girl gone bad’ idea.

You released the entire tracklist only three hours before the drop, and you were already stalking fan pages who began making theories about what it meant. There were already a lot of ‘THIS ONE’S ABOUTE GERARD’ and theories already popping up about him, which made you lightly smile knowing damn well a lot of it was.

The tracklist read: Blank Space I Knew You Were Trouble Style End Game I Did Something Bad I Know Places Out Of The Woods Dancing With Our Hands Tied Don’t Blame Me Getaway Car Clean

You smiled and lightly laughed once you refreshed your phone on the couch, your face and name at the top of iTunes and various other music providers promoting your new album.

“Congrats babe.” Gerard said from where he sat next to you, giving you a kiss and squeezing your thigh, “I’m proud of you.” “Thanks Gee.” You leaned your head onto his shoulder, “I love you. So much.” “I love you more.” He smiled down.

What made it all the better was how MCR was entering into their punk era, only making your album and new persona more believable. You had to admit, Gerard’s red and shaggy hair was really hot, and you were living for it, as you had told him a million times.

And you knew how much he loved your new era. As much as he genuinely loved the real, bubbly you (which is of course why he married you) he continuously admired your new all black look, managing to wear skin tight jeans and short shorts with more crop tops than usual and leather jackets galore. And you can’t forget how many pairs of Doc Martins you had, plus Louboutin boots all for the red bottoms. You basically looked like a filthy rich home wrecker, AKA the look you were going for.

But at home and in private you were the same old Y/N, always letting your natural hair fall into its regular ways, with little to no makeup and not ashamed to wear whatever you wanted.

What seemed to put the cherry on top to this new era was the newest addition to your family, AKA a black french bulldog named Rocko the two of you got. He was a tornado of chaos who would run around the house with his dozens of toys, taunting you and Gerard with them as if to show some form of superiority that he clearly lacked. You treated him like he was a newborn baby, constantly. You bought him clothes, beds, and toys, letting him sleep with you and Gerard despite your husbands protests about how he “took up too much room”. To you, the little canine could do nothing wrong.

That was until he chewed up your favorite pair of shoes, which just oh so happened to cost multiple hundreds of dollars. Gerard was furious at his actions, complaining that there was no reason for him to do so with the countless amount of toys he already had. You were mad at first too, but after only a few seconds of the pup giving you his eyes of sympathy you forgave him and moved on as if nothing happened. Gerard was still in his state of anger though.

“Oh, look, the designs for the tour outfits came in.” You smiled from where you laid on the couch, checking emails on your laptop, Rocko at your feet sitting between you and Gerard who was reading a book. You opened up the file to be greeted with all dozen outfits, which were beyond perfect. Gerard looked over, interested in the topic. “I like that one.” You pointed to one especially scandalous duo of tiny shorts and an even smaller top that could have been easily mistaken for a bra if it wasn’t for the thicker material on the all black set with black tights. “It makes me look like a whore.” Gerard nearly spat out his coffee.

“But you’re not a whore.” “Yeah, well, my alter ego is.” You smiled. “And you made her that way.” You looked up at him from quickly, “Take that as a compliment.” “How is me turning my wife into a whore a compliment?” He asked, puzzled.

“Just take it as one.” You huffed.

“I do think you’ll look bad ass in it though,” He remarked, returning to his book.

“Awww, thanks babe.” You blushed, “Maybe I’ll ask them to make you a matching outfit.” You lightly laughed. “Haha, very funny.” He rolled his eyes.

“It sucks we’ll be touring at the same time.” You sighed, “I miss being able to see you and the guys more.” “Yeah I miss you too,” He sighed as well, “And Ray does too.” You lightly laughed.

“Ray’s coming to the first show, right?” You asked, looking up at Gerard. He nodded.

“He cleared all of his schedule to go and he’s pumped.” You smiled.

“Good.” You closed your laptop, climbing over to give Gerard a kiss, which he happily accepted and did the same back. “Somedays I wish you kissed me the way as you do Frank.” You lightly smiled, letting go as he chuckled.

“I mean, I could.” He smiled at you, running his hands through your hair, “But that’s more aggressive and in the moment. I prefer to savor the kisses I have with you, let you know how much I love you.” You smiled, lightly rolling your eyes.

“You’re so sappy sometimes, Gee.” You responded, “But I love it.”

That night, as you were going to bed, you stopped in your mirror momentarily to take a look at yourself. You had gained 25-ish pounds since your break from the spotlight, still recovering from your ED. Your doctor said that you were healthy now, but some of the fatrolls that fell on your sides and hip dips as well were starting to bother you. And your stomach still had that bit of blub that you were never very fond of.

Gerard walked past you in the bathroom, immediately getting the memo. “Am I too fat?” You turned around and asked him, his face turning to a form of ridicule.

“You’re a fucking goddess.” He said looking you up and down, “So no.”

“Are you sure Gee-” Before you could finish, he grabbed your hand and practically dragged you to bed where he pushed you down with ease beneath him, giving you a searing kiss.

“You’re fucking gorgeous and the most beautiful woman alive. If you say one more thing about you not being perfect I’m going to frame every photo of you in every inch of this damn house so you know just how incredible you are.” “Fine.” You sighed reluctantly. “Now say it with me,” He began, “I, Y/F/N Y/M/N Y/L/N-Way am perfect.” You sighed, choosing to go with it.

“I, Y/F/N Y/M/N Y/L/N-Way am perfect.” “Good girl.” He said with another quick kiss. You lightly laughed, rolling over to your side of the bed to give Gerard his. You took your hand, running your fingers through his messy hair as the two of you stared at each other.

“After these two tours, I think I want to take a break.” You admitted, saying so above a whisper. He lightly nodded. “Maybe we can start a family.” He nodded again. “And settle down.” He gave you a kiss on the nose.

“That sounds perfect.”

-Time skip because I’m lAzY-

You were on stage doing what you do best, simultaneously swaying your hips to the music and going along with some of the choreography, as if the skin tight black and sparkly body suit and above the knee black boots weren’t enough.

As usual, you would look over to your husband where he was in the VIP section and sing to him, a smile plastered on his face. You would occasionally look over to see both the approval of your family, and friends, including Ray who seemed to be having the time of his life dancing and singing the lyrics.

The show was going absolutely perfect, it was bigger than any other that you had ever done, a larger stage, larger screens, larger everything. Even a larger crowd with over 100,000 people for your first show on tour. You could hear the audience echo your lyrics, jumping up and down judging by the movements of their light up wrist bands.

You of course played a few songs off of your previous album, doing a few acoustic with just you and the crowd which were some of your favorite experiences and moments. You also did a quick speech thanking all of your loyal fans who waited for you to come back with new music, despite the long period of time where you were no where to be seen.

After the finale, you ran back with a huge smile still on your face with your team, drinking some water constantly to hydrate yourself. It only took you a few moments in the back hallways of the stadium before you saw your husband at one end, smiling at you. You smiled back, running up to him and clinging your arms around him. He hugged you back, giving you a quick kiss. “You did great.” He whispered with a huge smiled, “I’m so proud.” “Thanks.” You smiled back, giving him another kiss. The two of you walked away, arms around each other as you leaned onto him. You tried to keep PDA to a limit, especially since the documentary was actively being made and was recording everything.

Once you were back in your private dressing room where no one else was, he gave you an even bigger hug, swinging you around and you lightly squealed. “You’re just so good.” He laughed.

“Thanks.” You smiled at him, letting go to go and take off your makeup at the chair. “I just gotta meet a few fans then we can go back to the hotel.” You told him through the mirror and he nodded.

“Y/N?” You heard your assistant knock at the door. “Hey, Betty.” You smiled up at her and she smiled back.

“I assumed you would want Rocky with you.” She said, putting the small black dog and he ran up to your chair.

“Ah yes,” You smiled down at him, picking him up and giving him a bunch of kisses on his little face, “Thank you.” You told her and she nodded, “No problem.” She closed the door back. You held the small dog in your lap, finishing off your face and hair before getting up and putting him down to change into regular clothes from your stage outfit.

“Gee?” You asked and he hummed, looking up from his phone, “Could you unzip me?” You asked and he nodded, getting up to do so. Usually Gerard would pull something after that, making it less PG, but you shot him a quick glare warning him not to do anything, so he didn’t.

You quickly replaced your stage clothes with a pair of jeans and sweatshirt, turning around to see Gerard still staring at you, wide eyes. “Oh please,” you sighed at him, “We’ve been together for over eight years Gee, handle yourself.” “Sorry, it’s just really hard to.” He tried to defend himself, you rolled your eyes.

“I’ll be back soon, babe.” You smiled, giving him a peck on the lips before excusing yourself.

The meet and greet went by as always, taking about half an hour before you said bye to everyone, taking photos, and then went back to Gerard. He was still on his phone on one of the couches in the room, Rocko by his feet. “Ready to go?” He asked, looking up, and you nodded grabbing your phone and backpack.

On the way out you couldn’t stop smiling, hand in hand with Gerard going in one of the large black SUVs, you going in first, then Rocko, then Gerard. “How’re you feeling?” Your husband asked and you just smiled.

“Great,” You admitted, taking a sip from your water, “Everyone loved it.” He gave your thigh a squeeze and looked at you.

“It was definitely pretty bad ass.” He smiled and you lightly laughed.

You had walked into your suite, setting your bag and the dog down, placing him in his bed (in the living room part of the room) while Gerard grabbed him a bowl of water. You gave the dog a quick good night kiss, resorting to your own room where Gerard followed, closing the door behind you.

Almost immediately your lips were clashed together, his hands on your waist as he swiftly put you on the large plush duvet of the bed, moving down to your collarbone and neck.

“Do you want me to stop?” He asked for only a brief moment, as a double check. You shook your head violently.

“No,” You sighed out, “Please no.” He smiled down at you connecting your lips against. “Whatever you want, sugar.”

-Another time skip-

You wouldn’t have ever known if it wasn’t for the insane amount of fatigue and throwing up you were going through, only a month into tour. Initially you could’ve sworn it was just a cold turned to maybe the flu, as many of the symptoms you were having would go away within a few hours, so you were ready for show time.

But here you sat in your hotel room, curled up on the bed with Rocko next to you, your mind completely empty as you stared into the thin air, Betty had run to the nearest pharmacy. What were you going to do on tour? Fans would figure it out easily. But what would you tell Gerard?

Once Betty came back she gave you a somber, almost apologetic smile handing your the small bag. You thanked her, closing the door and going into the bathroom.

You stood over the bathroom sink, your hands gripping the granite edges for dear life as you stared down at the three tests. All positive. It took you a few minutes of staring, rocking back and forth, for everything to sink in.

This was not how you planned it, it was never supposed to go like this. You and Gerard were going to take a break, settle down, have your first child and be together all through your pregnancy. Now you were both on huge tours promoting your new work, away from home for at least the next five months. 

You could feel warm tears stream down your cheeks, a small sniffle coming from your nose as you grabbed your phone. Reluctantly, you pressed on your husband’s name, pressing the small phone icon displayed underneath it. You put your face up to the screen slowly. Only a few rings and he answered.

“Hey Y/N/N,” He said, “What’s up.” It took you a few seconds, but you immediately bursted into sobs. “Baby? What’s wrong?” He spoke up, voice with lots of concern.

“Gee,” You began, sniffing again through the sobs, “I’m um- I’m pregnant.” You said. No one spoke for the next few seconds, complete silence on both ends of the line.

“Sweetie,” He said in a light voice, a small laugh following afterwards, “That’s great!” “No, Gerard, it isn’t.” You snapped, “We had all of this planned out perfectly, no one was going to know unless we wanted them to. But no, in the beginning of a fucking world tour this has to happen.” You raised your voice, “And I get it, this is gonna be a fucking walk in the park for you because you’re not here, and you don’t have to play in front of over 50,000 people every night in body tight suits. And you’re going to be separated from your pregnant wife. Life’s probably fucking perfect for you.” You weren’t sure what had gotten into you, but whatever it was it wasn’t pretty.

“What?” He asked, “You say it like we never wanted this. Sometimes things don’t go to plan Y/N.” He snapped back.

“Well they have to in our world Gerard!” You yelled, taking a deep breath to calm yourself down, “We have our lives set out for the next six months. And this is a big deal, and something we can’t do right now.”

“So are you going to get an abortion? Are you going to put it into the adoption system?” He yelled back. You took a few moments to think.

“No.” You admitted, barely above a whisper, “Gee, I’m sorry.” You began sobbing again, your sad feeling taking over any angry one.

“No, sugar, I am.” He clarified with a sigh, “You’re going through a lot and I should be supporting you, not arguing.” “Well I kinda started it.” “And I shouldn’t have continued it.” He responded. “Honey, we’ll figure this out.” He insisted, “We’ll talk to your tour manager and everyone who needs to know, we’ll figure something out. Some way to hide it.” “Okay.” You said somberly.

“Give me a few minutes,” He said, “I’m going to figure out a way to get to you.” “Gee, you’re booked for the next fews months on tour.” “And so are you, but you’re also carrying our child right now.” He spoke back, “We’re going to figure it out, okay? We’re going to have a kid, and start a family, maybe a little off track from what we intended, but this is what we’ve wanted, right?” You nodded despite him not seeing you.

“Yeah, of course.” You calmed down. “This is what we’ve wanted.”

It took a full week for a plan to be made. A week of unnecessary stress and anxiety for everyone on your team who was high enough on the roster to know about the pregnancy. Not even your families or friends knew, everything right now was business.

Gerard managed to fly in during a three day break the band had, consoling your emotions during the time as you two began to discuss personal plans. There was a lot of crying, both tears of sadness and joy, as you two began to discuss where you would live most of the time, which room the baby would take, how to even handle a child.

You already knew the baby’s name, which could go for either a boy or girl: Shiloh Monet Way. You were still very unsure about planning to have a baby, but since your tour would end when the third trimester began, you would have at least a few months to plan and figure out everything.

Gerard had already talked to the guys and their managers about pushing back some of the dates so there was a month break for him to be home around the baby’s due date. At the very least he wanted to be with you while giving birth, but he also wanted to help both you and the baby recover.

New outfits and plans to completely hide your pregnancy were already in the working with your teams. It was like a completely undercover operation to keep both you and your child’s privacy to a fine tune. And of course. Gerard and the guys promised to not say anything at all, even a hint towards you being pregnant wouldn’t be dropped.

“I say we wait to tell our families and friends,” You admitted to your husband, the two of you on the hotel bed getting ready to go to a sound check. “Just in case anything happens. I mean, we have to tell our teams and the guys and stuff, which we did, but no one else.” He nodded.

“Just not for too long,” He said, “Or at least once we know that baby’s developing fine.” You nodded and sighed.

“I was hoping having our first child together wouldn’t be this stressful.” You admitted, almost shamefully in a way.

“It’s okay, sugar.” He put his hand on your thigh and gave it a light squeeze. “We’re going to make the best of it, okay? You have a little less than five months left on your tour and then I get to take a break. This’ll work out just fine.” You nodded, placing your head on his shoulder as you knew he was right.

“You make everything better, Gee.” You said, playing with his hand as he placed a kiss on the top of your head.

“I’ll do it for you, sweetheart.”

[thebibliomancer]

Essential Avengers: West Coast Avengers #4: FINALE

December, 1984

So things are going well for the West Coast Avengers so far, huh?

Well, at least Tigra got out of the ocean and same for Wonder Man and the pool? That’s something??

Anyway.

How have things been going for the West Coast Avengers?

Last times on limited series: A west coast branch of the Avengers was formed on Avengers chairman Vision’s request, head up by Hawkeye and with a roster of Mockingbird, Tigra, James Rhodes Iron Man, and Wonder Man.

Their first team activity was to beat the crap out of the Shroud, a friend of Tigra’s who followed her to the new Avengers Compound under the mistaken impression that she was in some kind of trouble. Then Hawkeye offered to let Shroud join the Avengers for taking a punch so well but he declined. For some reason.

Next, the West Coast Avengers assembled to try to take down bank robber the Blank, who robbed one (1) bank before the city escalated to calling in superheroes. He also personally offended Wonder Man by escaping him but c’mon Simon, you could do better for a nemesis. Although the Blank is still a better one than the Grim Reaper. After escaping the Avengers via explosion, the Blank had Graviton pop into existence right in front of him.

In the previous issue, the West Coast Avengers help Los Angeles deal with the unseasonable winter summoned by the Casket of Eternal Winters over in the Thor book. Since Wonder Man is still bummed over the Blank, Tigra and the Shroud help him track the guy down but find out that Graviton is now the Blank’s boss. Tigra and Shroud get tossed out to the ocean along with the Blank (for being annoying) and Wonder Man is held at the bottom of a pool until he stops blubbing.

How will our heroes get out of their various water themed predicaments??

I don’t know about Wonder Man but thankfully Tigra is exceptionally good at treading water.

She has to hold up Shroud who was knocked out on impact and she activates an emergency signal beacon that’ll summon the other Avengers.

Only god and Tigra knows where she was holding that.

... Maybe pouches aren’t so bad as a costume element.

Also, Blank has gone completely missing after hitting the ocean. He doesn’t appear in the rest of this book but he’s not dead. He doesn’t have any other appearances for twenty-five years but eventually shows up in a Spider-Man #580 (also written by Stern) where he’s up to his old bank and armored car robbing and then getting in over his head with superheroes ways.

In a way you have to admire that he absolutely did not change after twenty-five years and is still doing literally everything we saw him do last issue. In another way, you have to wonder why he would move to New York when he was going to leave LA due to having superheroes.

Rob banks in the Midwest, you fool!

Anyway.

Tigra treads water until Iron Man shows up and scoops both Tigra and Shroud out of the way and wooshes them to Avengers Compound.

After dropping them off, Iron Man apparently went back and tried to find the Blank with sonar scans but couldn’t locate the dope. He speculates that he got caught up in an undertow but don’t worry. As discussed, he just goes underground for 25 years.

Iron Man wants to head off immediately and get Graviton but Hawkeye tells him to settle down.

Hawkeye is the voice of reason against the hot-heads. Its amazing where character development can take you.

Hawkeye: “I’m worried about Wondy, too... But we can’t just go smashing our way into Graviton’s lair! He’s one of the toughest guys the Avengers ever fought! The first time we went up against him, he held ten Avengers at bay... Including Wonder Man and Thor! I wasn’t there, but reading Captain America’s report on the incident made me glad I wasn’t!”

But Iron Man should know this already... he was one of the Avengers in that report.

Iron Man says he’ll need to spend more time going over the Avengers files.

Iron Man: “Iron may have fought Graviton, but I haven’t!”

Hey! Rhodey reveals his identity to the others, just like he considered doing. And just like he was afraid of, Hawkeye begins to treat him like an amateur!

Rhodey counters that he was the Iron Man during Secret Wars and did a good job saving Hawkeye’s ass during that.

But more, Rhodey’s hot-headed attitude reminds Hawkeye of himself during the kooky quartet days and wonders how Cap ever put up with him. So paying it forward, he walks back and says he was out of line to call Rhodey an amateur and that they’ll need his power to take down Graviton.

Assuming that Wonder Man is being held hostage and won’t be able to help, Hawkeye decides that the first order of business is going to need to be finding him and getting him out of whatever trouble he’s in.

For that, they’ll need to plan ahead. So Mockingbird pulls up some landsat maps and Tigra gives them the cool scoop on the layout of Graviton’s mansion.

Later, at said mansion.

Two lady escorts are whispering by the bar about what an awful creep Graviton is. Its pretty great.

Lady 1: “... He’s... certainly a striking figure of a man! But he gives me the creeps! I hate the way he paws me... I’d rather take a bath in a pool of slugs! And if you tell him I said that, I’ll call you a liar to your face!”

Lady 2: “Don’t worry! After the way he handled those super-powered party-crashers earlier, I won’t put anybody on his bad side! Assuming he has a good side! What a bore! At least he pays well!”

Its good to know that even as a super-powered guy taking over organized crime, Graviton still has absolutely no personal charisma.

There’s a wunk thwak at the door so one of Graviton’s goons goes to check it out and gets a gun shoved in his face by some new visitors.

Its popular villain Madame Masque! Head of one of the Maggia crime families! And her goon Louis!

She demands to be taken to Graviton at once and she is because would you argue with a mask with unnecessary rivets?

Madame Masque: “I heard there was new talent in the area -- working to consolidate the Southern California gangs. Talent interests me.”

Graviton: “And is that your only interest?”

Madame Masque: “No, I also love power. I’m told you’re quite a... powerful man!”

Ew.

Graviton brags about his control of GRAVITY and Madame Masque tells him he’d best watch out for the Avengers. She hears they started a new group locally and Avengers means trouble. Especially since her old enemy Iron Man is part of the new team.

He laughs off this warning because he has an Avenger at the bottom of his pool just to show off.

Graviton: “Observe... the late Simon Williams, perhaps better known to you as Wonder Man! His strength was quite remarkable, but no match for my localized gravity fields! It was a simple matter to hold him to the bottom of my pool until he ran out of air!”

RIP Wonder Man. Uh, again.

Actually Graviton mentions that even though Wonder Man has stopped blubbing, he’s still holding him to the bottom of the pool because the fool has come back to life once.

Louis, the goon, reacts in shock at seeing a dead lifeless body in the pool so Madame Masque hauls off and slaps him.

Graviton is very impressed at her management style that he begins to propose something, something salacious if I had to guess, but then some repulsors hit the pool with a KROOOSH.

In this Avengers book, an Avenger arrives to avenge.

Iron Man: “Graviton... and Madame Masque! Now, isn’t this a cozy little scene! Too bad I have to break it up!”

The armored Avengers starts aggressing at the various minions, including knocking Louis into the bushes.

Inside, the bartender takes off her bartender outfit to reveal a Mockingbird outfit underneath. I suspect that maybe this bartender is actually, in secret, Mockingbird.

She contacts Hawkeye and tells him to put phase 2 into operation.

Meanwhile, outside, Graviton uses gravity to slam Iron Man to the ground but for some reason the effort is making him feel light-headed.

Madame Masque notices and asks Graviton whats wrong but he insists that he’ll crush Iron Man but then enter Mockingbird SPANGing her stave off Graviton’s gravity shield and dunking on him.

She also reveals in thinky thoughts that as Bartender Bobbi, she drugged everyone’s drinks. Graviton still being up she attributes to him having the constitution of a moose.

Still, I’m laughing at the West Coast Avengers using their prep time to just up and drug everyone. Even if the big boss has resistance to status effects it’s a hilarious work smarter moment.

Hawkeye’s sky-cycle swoops down but Graviton just knocks it away.

In another hilarious move, that’s not Hawkeye on the Sky-Cycle.

Looks like him but it’s not.

Because ‘Hawkeye’ is a dummy and if Hawkeye came up with the idea to disguise himself as Louis, then he’s no dummy.

And if he’s ‘Louis’ then I’d bet that Madame Masque isn’t the real article either. Process of elimination leads to an obvious answer there.

But again, they put a Hawkeye dummy on a Sky-Cycle hoping Graviton would deflect it into the bushes to deliver Hawkeye’s equipment to him. Amazing!

Meanwhile, at the bottom of the pool, Wonder Man has stirred to life and has been struggling against Graviton’s power ever since Iron Man arrived. His efforts collapse one side of the pool.

Startled by that, Graviton’s concentration slips, giving Wonder Man enough of an opening to claw himself out of the pool and clobber the supervillain.

Graviton manages to cushion against the blow because, sure, gravity can do that. But then Iron Man grabs ‘Madame Masque’ and flies off to start phase three of the strategy.

The villain flies off after Iron Man, still affected by the drugs but fighting through it. Because “can’t let that Avenger make me look bad in front of her!”

Whoever decided to play on Graviton’s ego has a big brain.

Graviton hears ‘Madame Masque’ scream and swoops down to find her alone.

Because Iron Man had to do some prep.

Iron Man: “Welcome to Substation #5! They tell me that the entire southwestern power grid feeds through here! I figure that should give me enough power to beat anybody... including you! So, unless you’ve gotten smart and want to give up -- you’d better make your move, sucker!”

Graviton has not gotten smart.

But the West Coast Avengers’ plan is pretty smart.

They had Mockingbird infiltrate Graviton’s mansion and drug everybody. They had Hawkeye and a ‘Madame Masque’ show up to get Graviton to reveal where Wonder Man is, play on Graviton’s ego and libido, and I assume keep him from going wild if he has a squishy person standing next to him. And they crank Iron Man up on so many watts so he can go toe-to-toe with Graviton if he hasn’t already passed out from the aforementioned drugs.

It’s a good plan.

Probably going to cause some blackouts but... uh... look. Worthy cause?

Iron Man: This is incredible! I can feel the energy surging through my armor! There’s no sensation that even comes close to this! This is what it means to be Iron Man... this is what it means to be invincible!

Of course, Rhodey isn’t Tony. In fact, the West Coast Avengers doesn’t really have a really techy/sciencey person?

Wonder Man used to be one of Tony’s peers but he hasn’t touched science since coming back to life.

Hawkeye invented anti-gravity once but never really returned to that well.

Oh, Mockingbird has a doctorate in biology. But she’s gone full into the spy/costumed adventurer thing.

Anyway, even though Rhodey is able to blast everything Graviton throws at him, the cables he used to link to the substation can’t handle the thousands of mega-volts and begin to melt.

So just as he repulsors Graviton onto his ass, a power surge short circuits the armor.

‘Madame Masque’ runs to help Graviton but PSYCHE ITS TIGRA

She used the little cat trinket established last issue to take on her human form which looks enough like Madame Masque in the sense that she has black hair and a generically attractive body type.

Graviton manages to put up a gravity based force field and fend off attacks from Iron Man, Wonder Man, and Tigra. But knocking them away almost floors him.

Then Hawkeye and Mockingbird come Sky-Cycling by and Hawkeye shoots some tranquilizer gas arrows because, hey, why not pile on more sedatives?

Graviton brags that its a simple matter for him to increase the weight of the gas so its hugging the ground instead of his lungs.

Then he passes the fuck out.

GOOD JOB TEAM!

I honestly never thought I’d see a superhero fight end by sedating a man so much that he passed out and probably should be rolled onto his back.

The U.S. Marshals hauls away Graviton while the news shows up to interview the West Coast Avengers. But Hawkeye excuses the team saying they have another important mission to finish.

Mockingbird: “‘Important mission?’”

Hawkeye: “My barbecues are very important!”

HAH!

Yeah, the Avengers all return to Avengers Compound to finally eat Hawkeye’s steaks.

That was what was truly at stake this whole time.

Tigra says it was lucky that she was wearing a mask because she was as shocked as ‘Louis’/Hawkeye.

Wonder Man says that he can actually survive without food, water, or air but he doesn’t really enjoy it.

And Hawkeye says that just in case things had gone horribly wrong (because he’s a responsible team leader) he’d left word with the New York Avengers to assume that they were all dead if they didn’t call back by midnight.

But when he later did call back, Vision taped a congratulations message to play to the whole team.

... Vision are you so busy that you couldn’t just talk to them?

Pre-recorded Vision calls the team Avengers, cause they are. But apparently it makes Wonder Man and Tigra realize that their misgivings about deserving to be on the team have gone.

Beating up Graviton is a great ego boost.

So that’s the West Coast Avengers limited series! But like the panel says, the team is coming back for Avengers #250. The big 2 5 0, two teams!

And the team will get their own ongoing book in about a year which will go on for 102 issues. Oof. Dunno if I can keep up the two a week pace but I have a year or twelve weeks to think about it.

Follow @essential-avengers​ because West Coast Avengers! Right? Who doesn’t love a second team in a different location? The X-Men have like three or four teams, the Avengers can have two! Also like and reblog because I’d appreciate it.

[willow-salix]

Little something that wanted to come out for the Sensory Sunday prompt of "Smell" by @gumnut-logic

Witches rely on their senses more than anything else. Witches see the world differently to other people, they see, they feel on a different level. They feel, they notice, they pay attention. A big part of their gifts, the magic that they weave is linked to their senses, it’s linked to the conjuring up of energy which they shape, they mould to push out towards their goal. The real power lies within the heart of the witch, not in the tools, not in the elaborate rituals, not in the clothes or the magic words, but in their very essence.

For Selene her sense of smell is second to none, as finely tuned as a bloodhound's. She could identify herbs in a jar by smell while blindfolded, she was more likely to be roused from sleep by the scent of coffee than an alarm call.

Scents can be pleasant, energising, calming, comforting, arousing, alluring, insulting, horrendous, vile and nauseatingly horrible. They are many and varied but each and every one serves a purpose to her.

To her everything had a smell that was unique to it, things, people, places, they all had a scent she associated with them and they could affect her mood and her energy in both positive and negative ways.

She loved the smell of old books, they relaxed her, calmed her as she flicked through the dusty pages and felt the paper crinkle beneath her fingers. Incense was something she used every morning and evening, setting the tone for the day or helping her wind down after a hard night, lavender, rosemary, sage, nag champa, patchouli, fruits and herbs, she loved them all. The smell of baking cakes and bubbling soups could invoke calming memories of her Grandparents, the smell of the sea made her senses tingle, energising and empowering her. She was ruled by her nose as much as Scott was ruled by his stomach.

One of the first things she had noticed about her John, apart from that voice that just rubbed against her senses like a purring cat, was how he smelt. He smelt like the night, like the sky, like stardust and moonlight, all combined with a soft, calming scent of some kind of aftershave or shower gel that she couldn't identify but immediately wanted to buy shares in. She’d buried her nose in that little dip just below his ear and breathed him in, her eyes closing in pure bliss. That scent conjured up memories of late nights in quiet woodlands or on a solitary hilltop, the full moon shining in the sky. 

Whenever she inhaled that scent she imagined that if she tipped her head back she’d see a blanket of stars twinkling up high, pinpricks of light in the darkness, as sure and everlasting as the earth itself. That was where she was most happy, soaking up the energy, soaking up the magic that danced in the air and he was the human embodiment of that. 

She’d known from that first moment that he would be important to her, that he was destined to be in her life and to make it so much better.

She’d sat in the back of a massive craft, overwhelmed, dizzy and weak, she was shaking from adrenaline and fatigue, the gorgeous spaceman that smelt of everything that was good in the world wasn’t there anymore and for the first time in a very long time she felt vulnerable and just wanted to be at home.

She'd closed her eyes, forcing herself to take a few deep breaths in an effort to calm down and stave off the panic attack that had been threatening since she had been thrown into that blasted tree. The big machine smelt like any other mechanical device, like hot metal, grease and for some strange reason, undertones of cheeseburger. But then, mixed in amongst those nose offending scents had been the boys, comforting and friendly to her nose.

Gordon always smelt like chlorine and saltwater, which was hardly surprising given that it was him, but he also carried the warmth of sunshine on him like it was ingrained in his skin along with something tropical, almost coconutty. He gave off a happy, buzzing energy that you just couldn’t help but be drawn to, cheering you up in your darkest moments.

Virgil was a contradiction of smells wrapped up in a big, cuddly bear package. He smelt like engine oil, turpentine, paint and all sorts of manly smells, but he too had undertones of something more. He smelt of woodland forest and the earth after it rains, something fresh and natural that soothed her soul. She could imagine that he would be the very best person to send to anyone that was panicked and scared, anyone that was in need of calmness and comfort.

He’d spoken to her so kindly, had made sure she was OK and had been respectful of her tools even though he probably thought she was crazy. He looked like he should be gulping beer and watching football but had settled in his seat and lifted the big machine into the air with the bare minimum of effort. He’d checked on her one more time and then politely inquired if she minded them listening to some music. Of course she’d said no, thinking that music might be a nice distraction for her. She’d expected something with a hard beat, or energetic workout music because no one got those size shoulders without hitting some serious weights. The last thing she’d ever thought to hear oozing out of the hidden speakers of his console was the soft strains of Vivaldi. 

It was Virgil and Gordon that knew her secret and had been sworn to secrecy, it was them that knew the big, tough witchy had one very real fear, a fear that could paralyse her and turn her into a blubbing, sobbing, shaking wreck. She was terrified of needles. It was Gordon and Virgil that she had grabbed hold of at the hospital for her tetanus shot and refused to let go of, it was them that had stayed with her the entire time. It was Gordon that had distracted her with an endless stream of stupid jokes as the doctor had readied the syringe and it was Virgil that had wrapped his arms around her and tucked her head in against his chest telling her not to look and that it would be over in just two seconds. Virgil that smelt like comfort and kindness, Gordon that smelt like warmth and cheer. They had navigated her fears, calmed her hysterics and not held it against her when she had sworn at them more times than she could count.

Scott had two layers to his own unique scent. He had the freshly washed, impeccably groomed, shower gel, antiperspirant, spicy cologne and hair gel of first thing in the morning and by evening, after a rescue he’d have the chemical tang of jetpack fuel, and his skin smells slightly of the material used in their uniforms with just a hint of sweat that the material hadn’t managed to soak up.

She remembered the first time she had caught a wiff of that unique Scott smell and had an inkling as to the man that was standing before her. He’d been watching out for her all night, joking and being the perfect companion but the second he’d gotten her alone had been the moment he’d made his stance perfectly clear, hurt my brother and you’ll have to deal with me. She wouldn’t say he’d radiated hostility, more of a warning, letting her know that family was everything to him. Luckily she’d passed the Scott test.

Scott had quickly become one of the most important people in her life, one that she was closest to. He was an immovable force of nature, a solid, dependable, strong presence in her life that she couldn’t do without now. Scott was strength, Scott was the protector, the one that everyone deferred to to fix everything, even when it seemed impossible. Scott gave off an aura of carefully controlled energy but with an edge of hardness that he never showed to his family only to the people that really pissed him off.

Kayo smelt almost the same as Scott in that high octane way, she didn’t wear perfume, she didn’t bother with fancy hair products or highly fragranced antiperspirants, she was a simple one, a wash and go type. Her hair always smelt of shampoo, her skin often had the same residue of jet fuel and uniform material and she had the same idiot repelling energy as Scott though she was harder to get close enough to to feel it.

Then there was Alan, gods she adored that boy more than life. She remembered the first time she’d hugged him, having known him less than four hours, having watched him fear for his brother's life but still be so brave about it. He smelt soft and warm, with a sweetness like a hint of chocolate under the usual teenager smell. He smelt faintly of soap, but it had faded over the course of the day, maybe two, since he’d showered. He had the same sunny warmth that Gordon had, with a buzzing energy of pure happiness. He was adorable and she just wanted to keep hugging him, like he made the world better just by being in it.

Everywhere she had walked in the Villa had held faint traces of their unique scents apart from John’s unless you were in his room or he’d recently vacated the couch. But it had smelt homely, welcoming, comforting, that was until Grandma started cooking and the smell of burning spices permeated the air. 

Grandma smelt comforting, like flowers and cookies even though her baking could count as a nuclear disaster. Her ever present leisure suits smelt like washing powder and fresh air as she often insisted on drying clothes outside after she blew up a dryer. Her hair smelt of the same hairspray that Selene's own grandmother had used and the same lily of the valley perfume was liberally spritzed about her person. In short she smelt like love in a way that only Grandmas could.

The air of the island itself was unique, it mixed the fresh ocean air with the damp coolness of jungle plants, along with the earthy, ashy smell of the volcanic rocks. It was a smell that was hard to describe but even harder to forget once you knew it.

For her there was nothing better than walking into a room and catching the scent of moonlight and stardust in the air, that tingling of energy that signaled her love was home. 

She was now used to there being an unlimited supply of hugs, warm bodies to relax against, heavy arms slung around her shoulders and the comforting scents of the people she loved more than anything. Any time she needed strength, energy, happiness, calming or love she'd focus on them, she'd smell them on the air, she'd breathe them deep into her lungs and she'd hold them close to her heart, weaving that love into her own unique magical essence to conjure up the most powerful of magic. 

To Selene home had always smelt like the lingering scent of incense, coffee, warm candle wax and burning sage. She was a witch, it came with the territory, but now the thought of home was mixed in with the island and all the family that came with it.

[shra-vasti]

Assets

Word count : 1.7k

Pairing : wonwoo x reader

Warrings : mention of death, drugs, club and crime.

Genre : Crime fanfiction, fluff, angst, romance, drama

Chapter : chapter 02 l previous l next

Synopsis : After getting arrested for allegedly killing 2 people you find yourself joining CIA to find out who the real culprit is. With a criminal background yourself how will you gain trust of the CIA and find out the real killer?

A/N : Hello everyone. This is my first time writing on Tumblr and I still don't know how it works so please bare with me. Any sort of gifs and photos used in this book isn't mine it's credit goes to their respective owners except for the cover of book. This idea is purely based on my imagination and any sort of resemblance to any other book or imagine is purely coincidental. I hope you will enjoy the book as much as I will enjoy writing it. Thank you. Enjoy the reading <3

Seoul Police Station

A wave of shock went through your body when you were woken up by the splash of cold water thrown on your face.

You gasped wiping your face with your hand as you sat inside the police interrogation room.

The room was dark with only a single table and two chairs. A light blub hanging above the table.

You have been in the custody for 4 days already but the police insisted that you would loosen up if you are intimidated enough.

But how could you give them details when it wasn't you in the first place?

"You need to cooperate and we will go easy on you." the cop said getting frustrated.

You sighed once again preparing to say the same thing you have been saying from the past 4 days.

"I told you I wasn't the one who killed them. I don't even recognize the person who got killed. Just because I was present at that moment and the piece of evidence ended up in my pocket it doesn't mean that I am the one who killed them."

You were exhausted to say at least. You have lost count on how many times you have had an anxiety attack and fainted because of it.

The Officer groan in frustration and smack the table hard earning a shudder from you. You have gotten a couple of slaps as to blurt out the truth but you were determined to prove your innocence.

"You do have a clean background Miss. But that doesn't mean I will go easy on you." he said as he leaned more on the table to come eye level with you.

"I'll find the evidence so you get what you deserve-"

He couldn't finish his sentence as the door of the room opened. You squinted your eyes as light from the outside fell directly at you.

You saw a figure approach you as your vision adjusted. The cop quickly standing straight and saluting the  approaching figure.

The guy nodded at the cop and signaled him to go outside. The cop was hesitant and first but made his way outside but not before giving you a sharp glare.

Now that the guy was standing right in front, you took in his appearance.

He was wearing casual clothes, just a white tshirt paired up with black jeans. He was well built and was fairly tall. He was good looking with sharp facial features. He looked intimidating yet approachable.

He eyed you up and down and you felt self conscious. He took a deep breath and sat in the chair which was placed across the table you were sitting.

"Here drink it." he said handing you a water bottle and you obliged. Between all of these panic attacks you actually forgot how hungry and thirsty you were.

It tasted different though which had you furrowing your eyebrows in confusion and you eyed the man in front of you.

"Did you perhaps mixed something in this?" you asked scared as to what all measures these people were going to take for you to surrender.

He nodded. "A truth serum."

"A truth serum?" you weren't sure what you were hearing was a joke or something.

"Not many people use this technique but it's a drug namely Sodium Thiopental which will allow us to get information from you faster. Don't worry it won't harm you in any way." He said as he leaned back on his chair.

"Who are you?" you asked, wanting to get done with this already. You were telling the truth all the time anyway what was the deal.

"I'm Choi Seungcheol or you can call me Scoups. I'm the Head operation officer of the CIA.." He said and with that you straightened your back gulping.

"...and now your case is given to CIA since the other police officers are unable to get any information from you. So mind telling me what you were doing in the club around 10-11 pm on 20 December?"

Your heart beat quickened as you stared into his eyes and the way he was not breaking the eye contact with you made the situation more difficult.

He sighed when you decided to keep your mouth close. You couldn't just tell him what you were doing. You didn't want your group mates to get into some trouble with you too.

"Listen." he spoke softly completely opposite of the strong and stern voice he was using on you earlier.

"Tell me the truth and if you are innocent it's upon me. I'll do anything and everything to take you out of this mess but for that you have to cooperate with me."

You couldn't figure out if it was the drug/truth serum doing its work or the look in Seungcheol's face which made you feel that its okay to tell him the truth and so you did.

" I was there to smuggle some drugs to the local gang of Seoul." you said and you looked at him.

His eyes widened but signalled you to continue.

"I was there to deliver the drug and it was my first time doing such thing so I may have done some mistakes and gave away myself but I wasn't the one who killed. I wasn't even aware of it."

"What about the piece of plastic found in your coat pocket?" He questioned.

You shrug your shoulder at that still thinking as to how you got that piece in your pocket.

"Did you perhaps had a conversation with someone when you were at Club or something?" he asked.

You couldn't quite remember so you shook your head.

"I don't know but how did they manage to suspect me out of hundreds of people in the club?" you questioned back.

"One of the officer was at the club off duty and he heard your conversation with someone via earpiece so he thought he should keep an eye on you."

And then it dawned to you. The handsome guy who randomly approached you to when you entered the club to whom you ignored and later decided to be less subtle about your disguise and snap at Mingyu for constantly checking up on you.

You eyes widened as a second realization hit you which made Seungcheol lean in as he waited for you to say something.

"I bumped into a guy when I was on my way towards the club. We shared a brief moment together. He apologized to me but he quickly ran away like he was in hurry. I remember my coat getting crumpled in the process but I thought nothing of it, straightened my coat and went ahead. " you exclaimed.

" Do you remember his face?" you shook your head at that.

" I was going to enter to the club from back door which opens up in the dark alley and that's exactly where I bumped into him. I couldn't see his face."

Seungcheol sighed nodding his head as he took in the information.

" You said you were there to deliver some drugs right?" He asked and you nodded.

"It surely means you weren't alone. Someone made you do this task right?" He asked as you sighed.

"How come you have such a clean record I checked your background before coming to interrogate you and I was sure you never had any criminal background." he exclaimed.

"We are a group of five people. We do theft, we fraud people, we smuggle drugs just so we can fill our empty stomachs. It wasn't intended but it was hard to find a decent job to have a peaceful life in Seoul without killing yourself with workloads."

"So there are four more people with you in this?"

"Yes there are four more people aside from me. Each of us have a specific job to do but since one of my friend was away for business I had to replace him for the job and now here we are."

"You do realize that you and your whole group can go to jail for this right?"

"I know but you don't have any proof for that." you eyed him and he could feel a very different aura coming out of you with that sentence.

"Tell me about your other friends and I'll tell you a way to get out of this mess."

The truth serum was surely working well as you still couldn't get yourself to lie.

"We are a group of five people as I told you. We have Woozi, our main operator or the hacker and then we have Mingyu who is our lookout. Jeonghan is a mole who mainly goes to carry out all of the deliveries then we have Suzy who is excellent at manipulation and then there's me who usually spy on people and get their information and give it to the group."

Seungcheol nodded as you continued.

"Woozi is very excellent at what he does. He's like our leader sort of. He made sure to have all of our records clean so that whenever we get caught in an unfavorable situation we can get out of the situation."

"It isn't easy for clean up all your records from the databases though." Seungcheol wandered.

You laughed at that. Feeling somewhat proud. "It's not that hard considering of all the time Woozi was away and I had to clean up the records. Even I can do that."

Seungcheol was shocked to say atleast. He never really thought that there is a gang out there and yet managed to have a clean record.

He look at you with a stern expression and he motioned to you come closer, with a confused face you did as he motioned.

"I know you aren't the one who killed them." He said you opened your mouth but he cut you off.

"I know that because today in came another report of a murder similar to the other two and I can tell that this is far more deeper than it seems but neither I nor you can prove this to the police so..."

He looked here and there as if to make sure no one was listening.

"...you with your gang join CIA in order to find the real culprit and you are free after we find the real killer. The choice is yours otherwise get ready to rot in the jail for something you never did."

[bae-del-moon]

To Lament || Jacob Bae One-Shot

Title: To Lament 

Genre: Supernatural, Romance, Angst 

Member: Jacob Bae x Witch!Reader

Words: 12.2k 

Warnings: Strong Language (F-Words, B-Words, Innuendos), Talk of Death, Death

Blub: When two people are so desperately in love, the words seems to sparkle. But for two people so deeply in love, a late truth can make the pain that comes with it much harder.  

A/N: Forgive the Typos! 

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=--=

It had only been a couple of years ago that you could have sworn with your life that love wasn’t real. At the moment, love was a conflicting concept for you. You weren’t sure if you could say that love wasn’t real, but you also weren’t sure if it was.

“Are you…are you sure we should be doing this? What if someone comes and they catch us?”

“We’ll be fine, love. I’ll be quick.”

“Alright.” You said hesitantly, clutching your boyfriend’s hand for dear life. He gave your hand a reassuring squeeze, and without looking in your direction, pulled you closer to his chest.

Together you kept walking hand in hand through the overgrown shrubbery and protruding tree roots of the cemetery. Since the flashlight in Jacob’s hand produced only enough light to see a couple of steps in front of you, you relied solely on his memory.

The cawing of ravens within the forest surrounding the cemetery did little to appease you. The darkness was suffocating, but Jacob kept you centered.

Before asking you to visit the cemetery, both of you had been having a picnic in meadow overrun by weeds and flowers. It was a tiny meadow, really it was more like the size of a spotlight, but it was big enough to put a small blanket down and lie down.

Then, the sun had acted like an actual spotlight as you both lied under its light. Both of you had eaten then fallen in and out of sleep. You knew that at moments Jacob had been awake as you slept because you could remember feeling him caress your cheek and moving your hair out of your face.

Likewise, when you were awake and he was asleep, you would sit up and twist around so you could peck his cheek and then cuddle closer to him so you could keep sleeping.

“We’re here.” He whispered as he let your hand go to brush away some branches blocking your path. He waited for you to step forward before stepping through himself. Rows of tombstones and weeping angel statues came into view.

“Hey, sis,” Jacob said as he walked up to a tombstone with a tall weeping angel.

“Oh,” You murmured to yourself, eyes widening as you realized why he had wanted to come to the graveyard so much.

“I wanted to introduce you to someone.” He said. Jacob turned to look at you, smiled, and extended his hand out to you.

You gave him a small smile as he pulled you closer to his sister’s grave.

“This is Y/N. We’ve been going out for a while and I thought it was time you guys met.” As Jacob continued to talk to his sister, you glanced up to look at him and taking in the shine in his eyes as he bragged about you, you knew one thing for sure.

You weren’t sure if love was real or not, but you did know you knew two things for sure: you were a witch and you would do anything to protect him.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=--=

“We were twelve when she was killed.”

After spending an hour at the cemetery, Jacob had decided it was getting too late to still be out. He had said goodbye to sister and led you out and down the streets in the direction of his apartment.

You, still curious about his sister since it was rare when he talked about her and it always felt wrong to ask, brought it up for once. He didn’t seem mad that you asked. He was expecting it.

“I needed to go to the store to buy some breakfast for us, but she didn’t want to get up. So, I left and told her I’d be back in a couple of minutes. I don’t think I had been gone for more than five minutes, but when I came back the door was open and…”

“It’s okay.” You told him as he trailed off. He nodded at you, smiling sadly, and walked in silence the entire way home.

Every now and then, when there were no people on the streets, Jacob would lift your hand to plant a kiss on the back of your hand then keep walking.

After ten minutes, you turned left on the corner that led to his apartment, and flashing red, white and blue lights blinded you.

“What the hell?” You grunted as Jacob pulled you forward.

“Common,” He said, “if something’s happening, we should head inside.”

You nodded and walked quicker. At the front of his building, you skipped up the steps and opened the gate. As Jacob and you rushed up the narrow stairwell, you were stopped by a police officer coming down.

“Excuse me, are you Mr. Bae?” He said, stopping in front of both of you and blocking your path.

“Yes?” He answered and stepped in front of you. But even from behind him, you could still see the uniformed officer under the yellow lights. He seemed to pay you no mind, focused solely on looking between his pad and Jacob.

He ran a hand through his hair and sighed, “I’m sorry to bring this up after ten years. I’m sure you have found your peace, unfortunately, per city regulations I have to let you know that another murder has happened with the same signatures at the scene of the crime as we found on your twin sister’s.”

“I’m sorry?” Jacob answered softly.

The stair’s wooden floorboard creaked as you leaned forward to grab Jacob by his coat covered elbow. “Jacob.” You whispered to him, trying to get him to back up. Hearing what the officer had to say once was enough.

The offer sighed and pointed to the floor above them, where they were heading.

“The couple in the apartment next to yours was just attacked. For the time being, we are reporting it as an isolated event. BUT…” the officer trailed off for a second, “we aren’t eliminating the possibility that this person was after you.”

You gulped behind Jacob and grabbed his hand to give it a reassuring squeeze.

“It would be my professional advice to advise you to sleep elsewhere. Your home may not be the safest place for you to live at the moment. My team will be here on the lookout, however.”

Jacob nodded, “Thank you, officer.”

The officer nodded and you both moved to the side, against the wall, to let him through. When he was gone you let out a sigh of relief that you didn’t know you were holding and stepped up the steps to be able to be face to face with Jacob.

There were tears in his eyes as he leaned his head against the wall and avoided your eyes.

“Jacob?” You said, grabbing both of his hands in your own.

He didn’t answer, and when a tear slipped down his cheek, he smiled wobblily trying to convince you that he was okay.

You looked at him wordlessly for a few seconds, watching as the light made the tears that followed look dirty and yellow. Then, looking down at your intertwined hands, you brought them up to your face like he had done before and pecked them each before letting go.

“Let’s go get your stuff, yeah?” You said, cupping his cheeks and wiping away the tears that escaped his eyes. You pecked his lips again, “You’re coming to live with me now.”

Without waiting for him to respond, you grabbed his hand again and dragged him to his apartment. You rushed him inside and helped him pack as fast you could so he wouldn’t have to be close to the crime scene next door longer than he had to.

“I need to know who did this.” He whispered to you that night when you reached your own apartment.

“Jac--”

“I need to know, and I won’t stop until I do.”

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=--=

-       1 week later      -

You peered over the side of a comically large caldron, watching as bubbles and foam started to appear in your potion. Even though it was already turning a deep purple color, a sure sign that the potion was maturing, you were sure that you would be there for much longer.

“Tell me again why we have to use cauldron’s when a bucket works just as well?” You asked your best friend who was sitting behind you reading a spellbook that she had brought for you.

“It looks cool.” She mumbled. “Besides, you have to start with the basics if you want to use regular kitchen pots.”

“Says who?” You grumbled, stirring your potion.

“Says every older witch allowing me to teach you.”

“It’s not my fault I’m late. I barely even found out I was one in the first place.”

“That’s exactly the point.” She said as she stood up and approached you. She pointed down at one of the clawed feet that helped keep the cauldron upright.

“Each of those is helping you channel the magic of the earth. Each one of them has a symbol to help that. Eventually, you’ll be able to do this on your own.” You nodded to signal for her to continue.

“Alright. Now tell me, why are you practicing down here when we’ve been practicing upstairs for a month?”

“Jacob’s living with me for a while…and I don’t want him to know that I’m a witch.”

“Why not?” She asked as she peaked at your potion. “I mean, I know it’s not something to advertise all willy-nilly, but I thought trusted him with your life.”

“I do.” You answered, lifting your gaze from the potion to her. “I will tell him. I just want to get a bit better at being a witch. Done!” You screamed when you saw the last bubble in your potion pop. “Grade A healing potion…. right?”

“We’ll see.” She said as she took a vile and scooped a portion of the potion.

She stared at it for a while, seeing something you definitely couldn’t see.

“Perfect.” She said, smiling. “You’re progressing really quickly. I think you’ll even reach my level soon enough.”

“Yes!”

“Here.” She said, handing you the book she had been reading. “It’s time you start learning more spells and potions. But be careful, okay?” She warned you. “Some of these spells take a lot of power and can cause a real commotion if you don’t know how to control them.”

You flipped through the book quickly, just looking at the hand-drawn pictures and words under the artificial moonlight your friend had taught you to cast. Each potion and spell you saw feed the excitement inside you. You almost couldn’t even hear the warning that your friend was giving you.

Unaware of this, she cast a spell to hide the equipment from mortal eyes. Then she got rid of the moonlight and plunged the room into darkness.

“Practice some spells for next week. Bye!” She laughed as she left.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=--=

“Y/N! You’ll never guess what we found!” Jacob screamed as he and his best friend, Kevin, came in through the door of your apartment.

You were sitting on the couch, waiting for him to come home after a long day at work. To see Kevin come in behind him wasn’t much of a surprise to you, especially after a week of him coming over to help Jacob.

You too were willing to help him and had told him countless times, but he never let you. Instead, he would lock himself away in your guestroom and only come out for breakfast and lunch.

He may have been living the closest to you he had ever been, but it was like you saw less of him now than before. You couldn’t bring yourself to blame him though. You knew how much it meant to him to find out who murdered his twin sister.

You just wished he would let you help.

“What?” You asked him as you dropped a book of spells you were studying and pushed it under the couch.

“Sunwoo hacked into the police department and found out about a piece of evidence that was left behind at the scene. Apparently,” he started to yell when he walked into the guestroom, “no at the station knew what it was. But something like it was found again this time, so they can’t ignore it.”

“Well, what was it? Let me see” You sprinted to the room and caught only a glimpse of everything on the walls before the door was slammed in your face.

“No!” You heard Jacob say from the other side. “You shouldn’t get involved in this, Y/N. It’s too dangerous.”

“But--”

“No, Y/N. I don’t want you involved in this.”

You didn’t answer him then, all too accustomed to the way the conversation was bound to end if you kept insisting.

A couple of hours later, when the hour was nearing midnight and after Kevin had already gone home you approached the guestroom and knocked on the door. “Jacob?”

You could hear how shuffled inside to get closer to the door. Then there was silence for a few seconds before he quickly opened the door and stepped outside.

“What’s up?” He said, grabbing you by the shoulders and pulling you towards him. He hid you in his chest while he maneuvered the both of you to the couch and laid down with you on top of him.  

You pushed yourself away from him, and with your hands supported yourself so you could still be on top of him but pouting down at him.

“I’m hungry. It’s late.”

“Let’s order some take out then, yeah?”

You nodded and scurried off of him, heading to the small table you had set next to the front door. Jacob stood up after you and stretched his limbs. Then, he made his way to you and wrapped his arms around your waist.

“The chicken place,” He mumbled. You smiled as you felt him peck your shoulder.

Then, another thought made its way up through your subconscious and into plain view: you were sickeningly domestic.

But you didn’t really mind it.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=--=

When you woke up, startled by an unknown force, and feeling a sense of dread in the pits of your stomach, it was three a.m. and it was one of those rare days that Jacob had crawled into bed with you rather than spend the night researching in the guest room.

Moonlight seeped in through the curtain panels that Jacob had turned over so the room wouldn’t be plunged in complete darkness.

Next to you, Jacob had shifted in his sleep and had turned to face you. One of his hands was under his pillow while the other had latched itself onto you own pillow.

You laid there for a while, watching as his chest fell and rose with every breath. Eventually, you even cuddled into his chest, letting his arms encircle you; and even though he managed to calm you even in his sleep, it only lasted a couple of minutes.

Soon enough, you weren’t able to ignore the feeling in your stomach and were forced to stand up.

Your bare feet padded against the cold, tiled floor of your apartment as you made your way into the kitchen. After pouring yourself a glass of water from the pitcher that had been left on the table, you made your way into the living room and paused in front of the television.

The remote had been left on the table the TV rested on. You grabbed it, pressed the power button and instantly regret it.

To you, the television made little noise when you turned it on during the day. But, at the moment, deep into the night when Jacob was sleeping in the other room, the little tune the television made as it powered on was like a symphony of brass.

Startled, you stumbled over the furniture and pulled its plug. In the newfound silence, your breathing was the only source of sound and even then, it was starting to grow too loud to you.

Gulping down half of the glass that you had served for yourself, you started to speed walk away, almost stubbing your toes against all the furniture in your apartment. But, before you could even make it to your room down the hall, the guest room only a couple of inches away from you, stopped you.

The bad feeling came back again. It told you something wasn’t right. There was something to fear and that room had something to do with it.

You wanted to avoid looking at it, knowing very well how Jacob would react if he found out you’d been inside. But, a sudden burst of light came from behind you and you felt like you had no choice but to turn around.

There was nothing.

You stayed there, rooted in the spot you had stopped in for a minute, scanning your entire apartment with your eyes. You were about to write it off as a trick of your mind when a red light started to seep from under the guest room door.

It pulsed as it shone and grew thicker.

Against better thoughts, after you threw a glance over your shoulder to make sure Jacob was still sleeping, you approached the guest room. You stood outside the room for only a couple of seconds before turning the cold knob and quickly stepping inside.

You stumbled to the side to find the lamp and when it switched on, waited for your eyes to adjust.

You, by no means, owned a spacious apartment. But, never had you felt so confined by it. Now, standing near the entrance of your guest room, surrounded by pages pinned to the walls and with red strings connecting them like a web, you felt like the room was growing smaller.

You were suffocating.

You walked around the room, a hand trailing over the strings, piecing together everything that Jacob had learned. That is until you reached a large piece of photo paper. You stopped then and stared at the image like you had seen a ghost.

A dark red clawed foot like the one that held up your own cauldron was circled and surrounded by red string.

Your hand shook as you realized that it could have only come from a witch.

“No no no no no no no,” You whispered to yourself, panic starting to settle.

From your shaking, the water inside your glass sloshed around and eventually landed on the floor. Your eyes widened at the sight. A puddle of water had formed on the tiled floor and some water had even splashed onto some pages that were closer to the ground.  

“Oh NO no no no,” You whispered harshly.

After staring at the mess horridly, you rushed out of the room and to the kitchen again. There you grabbed the roll of napkins and the mop and carried them back in the room, one in each hand.

With the mop, you cleaned up the floor, and with the napkins, you dabbed the papers on the wall. Then, you took a step back to make sure that everything looked right.

It didn’t.

The floor could dry itself, yes, but there were streak marks that hadn’t been there before. You flinched when you looked at the pages on the wall. They were smeared and the print that had been on them was hardly legible.

“What do I do? What do I do?” You paced inside the room.

Outside, underneath the couch, your spellbook shook as if it were waking itself up from years of sleep. It slid out from where you had shoved it and rose into the sky like a balloon. It stayed there for a few seconds as if it were waiting. Then it flipped around and stopped when its front cover was facing the room you were in.

It zipped across the living room and phased through the door and made its way next to you.

You gazed at flabbergasted when it caught your attention. It opened up without intervention to you and its pages started to glow a soft yellow color. The words and drawings on its pages sparkled and seemed to pop out of the page.

But as the pages flipped everything blurred together, words passing by in streaks of black ink. When it stopped, you approached it slowly taking your time to peek at the page where it had stopped.

The words to a spell to fix a water spill spell glimmered for you, urging you to use it. You grabbed the book urgently with one hand and with the other started to trace patterns into the air.

You said, the spell under your breath and with one swift swipe in the directions of the mess, evidence of the spill disappeared and the pages on the wall righted themselves.

“Ohh, okay. Okay.” You sighed to yourself and hugged the book closer to yourself.

When you glanced back down at the book, about to close it, you paused and shivered as its glowing pages pulsated.

“There has to be a way to shut this off.” You whispered and flipped through the pages. One page, deeper in the book, forced you to stop simply by reading its description.

“To find the person you seek, speak this spell whilst you place an item related to them in a bowl of water…” As you trailed off the book’s glow disappeared, and the room fell into its previous lamp-lit darkness.

Everything in the room returned to its previous state and the bad feeling in the pit of your stomach diminished though it didn’t disappear.

You stole another glance at the picture of the cauldron’s foot and frowned, you would have to use that spell later. But, telling Jacob what you were seemed all the more difficult now. How would he react if you told him you were a witch?

You shivered and stepped outside. You closed the door slowly, wishing that nothing looked out of the ordinary the next time Jacob decided to step into the room.

Then, taking another quick glance at your bedroom, you tiptoed to one of the stands next to the couch. It was the type of stand that’s drawer you could lock with a key. Luckily the key was inside the drawer since you never felt the need to lock it.

But now….

You pulled open the drawer and pushed around some of the pens you had in there until you found the key and took it out. Then, you shoved the book inside, closed the drawer, locked it, and strung the key on the necklace you wore.

You groaned when you were done.

“Y/N?” Jacob whispered as he padded out of your bedroom. As he walked towards you, he yawned and rubbed his eyes. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” You answered quickly. He didn’t seem to notice your jerky behavior as he pulled you into his chest. “I just couldn’t sleep so I came for a glass of water.”

“Why’d you groan?” He asked, pressing a kiss to the top of your head.

“Stubbed my toe on the way back.” You said.

“Guess you can’t walk then.” He chuckled quietly.

“Wha—” You squealed. Even half-asleep, Jacob still had the energy to sweep you off your feet and into his arms bridal style.

You clung to him and he chuckled; and when he reached your bed, he set you down gently. Then too lazy to go around, climbed into bed on top of you, stole a kiss, landed in his spot and pulled the covers up for the both of you.

“Come ‘ere.” He mumbled, laying on his back and extending his arms out so you could get closer.

You wiggled your way over and laid your head on his chest and hugged him loosely. As you sighed and closed your eyes, he placed one of his hands over yours.

“Jacob?” You whispered.

“Hmm?” He said.

“Never mind.”

You wanted to ask him a variety of questions, all of the plaguing your thoughts. ‘What if I was hiding something from you?’ ‘Would you still be with me if you found out something about me that you didn’t like?’

‘Do you love me?’

You didn’t mean to think of the last one, but it just popped into your head; and something inside of you was too afraid of asking, afraid of knowing the answer.

Besides, you felt like you finally knew what love felt like because of him. All because of the way he held you in arms and the way he stole such soft kisses from you; and, you were too afraid of it ending.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=--=

In all the days that Jacob had known you, he had never felt like you were tense or awkward around him. Even on the days that you came to him after work, miffed because something had happened, you had never truly been tense around him. He liked to think that it was because he was a form of relief for you. Besides that, the only real time you had been awkward around him was the first week you both had begun to date.

But, with some puns and some alone time, you had stopped being awkward. He liked to take credit for that too and you knew it.

Now, even as he ran from room to room looking for his shoes, keys, and backpack, he could tell you were being awkward. The sight of him was making you tense. He didn’t know why and apart from upsetting him, it made him anxious to figure out why.

Normally, you would have scarfed down the bowl of cereal he had poured for you and helped him look for his things. Instead, you were eating your cereal painfully slow and peering at him from under your eyelashes, pretending like you weren’t watching him.

But he could feel you, feel your gaze trailing all over your body and not even in the way that usually led him to work half an hour late.

A knock came from the door that brought him out of his thought. He didn’t need another round of knocks to know who it was—Kevin, ready to go to work.

Without looking through the peephole, he walked past the door and opened it. He swung it open on second and kept walking in the next.

“What? No welcome hug?” He heard Kevin say behind him as he walked away.

He shook his head as he walked into your room to look for his shoes even though he knew he wasn’t able to see him.

“Bro, common,” He heard Kevin whine from outside. Jacob reached under the bed quickly and when he found his shoes, he yelled back, “Just one sec. Just putting on my shoes.” It was a good thing he had found his keys and backpack just a tad bit earlier.

After he had finished putting them on, he sped walked out of the room and headed in your direction. He tried not to flinch when he saw you flick your eyes back to your cereal.

“I’ll be back later, all right, love?” He said, stopping at the corner of the table.

You nodded in response, sparing him a quick glance. It wasn’t like you to send him off without a word, spoken or written.

He leaned down to give you a kiss goodbye and was glad when you let it happen. Likewise, as he bent down to kiss you goodbye, you felt a fraction of the weight you felt on your shoulders disappear.

Your eyes fluttered shut as his lips connected with yours. You felt his right hand softly come to rest on your cheek. His thumb stroked your cheek affectionally.

Your fingers twitched over the spoon and bowl you were holding, itching to latch themselves around the back of his head and play with the tuft of hair on the back of his neck.

He kissed you ever so slowly. Passionately. You could have sworn that he was pushing you against your chair with the soft force you were feeling. Even as your lungs started to run out of air and screamed for you to take a breath, his loving lips distracted you enough to forget about breathing.

“Aww common, guys,” Kevin whined, “Really? You’re gonna do that while I’m here?”

You broke away from Jacob, startled, sending a pang of annoyance through him. He knew that mindlessly pouring out his love for you through a kiss wasn’t the greatest way of getting you to feel better. But, from the way you had accepted his affection even though he usually only gave you a soft kiss goodbye, he felt like it had been the right move. Then Kevin had to go and ruin the moment.

“You’re the one who wanted to walk to work together. Deal with it.” He grumbled and pouted unconsciously.

“He’s right, you know,” You said. He fought the frown trying to take over his face when you said that. He could tell that whatever was making you uncomfortable and awkward was cementing itself in your thoughts again.

He was about to protest when you cut him off, “You should go. You’re going to be late for work.”

You patted his arms as he sighed and when he tried to lean in to kiss again, you backed up and turned the other way. He bit his lips at this, upset that you were rejecting him now.

“I’ll be home later, alright?”

“Okay,” You said.

Jacob stepped away from you with quick steps and nodded at Kevin to follow him when he reached him.

“Bye,” He called out from the door and waited until he heard you answer to close the door and run to catch up to Kevin who was waiting by the gate, his things rattling inside his backpack.

The moment they had made it a block away from your apartment building, the fears that had been bubbling inside of him spilled out and all over Kevin.

“Kev, did you notice Y/N was acting weird?”

“Oh, thank god.” Kevin let an exaggerated breath of relief, “I thought I was seeing things since you were still so lovey-dovey. So, tell me, why is Y/N in such a bad mood with you?”

At Kevin’s words, Jacob froze and almost caused other people walking to crash into him. As they cursed at him, Kevin pulled him into the nearest alley, throwing the watch on his wrist a quick glance.

“You think Y/N’s mad at me?” Jacob whispered when he came to a few seconds later.

Kevin looked at him with wide-eyes, mouth floundering like a fish as he tried to figure out what to say. “No…? I just assumed that was what was going on…” He trailed off, chuckling awkwardly.

“You don’t think they want to break up with me…do you?” Kevin jumped when Jacob grabbed onto his shoulders and shook him. Fear and worry were suddenly evident in his eyes, “Oh god, you don’t think Y/N’s cheating on me? Do you?” Panic was starting to strike inside of him. “Y/N’s never been this tense around me. Something’s obviously wrong but, but--”

“Alright, first we’re going to calm down,” Kevin cut in, forcing him to sit on the ground, “Y/N is not cheating on you.”

“But they won’t even look me in the eye. Y/N wouldn’t even look at me this entire morning.” Jacob started again; pain etched into his face.

“Jacob,” Kevin began making him look into his eyes, “listen to me. Y/N would never cheat on you. Alright? So, calm down. There has to be an explanation for this.”

“And what would that be?” Jacob groaned as he stood up.

“Anything important going on that you may have forgotten?”

“No,” Jacob sighed, “Nothing’s going on ‘til next week.”

“And what would that be?”

“Our anniversary.”

“Aha!” Kevin smiled, “That must be it! Are you sure it’s next week?”

“Positive.” Jacob gave him a deadpan look.

“Got a gift yet?” Jacob nodded. “Then maybe they found it?”

“What?!” Jacob shouted, “Oh god, their gift is a ring! If Y/N found it—”

“It’s not necessarily a bad thing, Y/N might just not want to ruin the surprise. OR,” Kevin said, trying to distract him from the first idea he had given him, “hear me out, maybe they already bought your gift and they just know how much you’re going to love it that they can’t look at you. OR they don’t know what to get you and they’re feeling guilty.”

Jacob sighed as he rubbed his forehead, trying to make the headache he was getting to go away. “I don’t know.”

“Jacob, Jacob, Jacob,” Kevin smirked, throwing an arm around him as he tried to lighten the mood. “You said it yourself years ago, you can steal anyone’s heart and you did. Y/N’s.”

“You’re right.” Jacob laughed breathlessly, forcing himself to stop worrying.

“I mean Y/N looked pretty into that kiss, this morning.” Kevin clicked his tongue, cheekily.

For the second that day, Jacob stopped walking, but instead of worry coursing through his veins, he felt amusement.  

“You perv.”

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=--=

“Please! Please! I’m begging you!” You begged as you chased your friend around your garage, hugging your spellbook to your chest.

“There’s no replacement for paced learning, especially in witchcraft.” Your friend hissed, stomping her foot from the other side of the cauldron.

You pouted at her, “Then help me,” you chased after her again, “do the spell for me.”

“You need two people for that spell.” She huffed and then pointing at the cauldron said, “And it’s not just a spell. It’s a potion too. Two people to find one.”

“Please,” you said again. You looked down at the spellbook where you had marked the page where the spell rested after Jacob had left for work. It felt like you were backstabbing him. Not telling him you were a witch, not telling him that you could help him find what he was looking for.

Now that you knew that what he was looking for was someone of your kind, you didn’t want to outright tell him what you were. It felt like a curse even though you knew it was a gift, one that almost disappeared.

But you still wanted to help him. It was Jacob after all.

“Fine.” Your friend huffed again, shooting you a glare. She motioned for you to follow her to the far back left corner where you had set up a work table and a shelf full of ingredients. Once there she started to bring down an array of jars and small, brown dropper vials.

The vials she handed to you and the herbs in the jars she started to measure out and place into a stone mortar. When she was done, she mashed them into a fine powder with the pestle. Then, grabbed it and headed for the cauldron.

“I see you already filled it before I even got here.” She said.

You smiled sheepishly at her but made no motion to deny it. She nodded to herself suddenly and turned to look at you.

“Before I do this, I have to warn you of what we’re getting into.”

“We’re finding a witch that can kill us, I know.”

“No,” She shook her head, “that comes after the potion you need to drink. We can’t find that witch unless your powers are stronger. So, this potion—” she lifted the mortar in her hands, “it’s going to force your full powers to come out.”

“That doesn’t sound so bad.” You whispered, knowing full well that the worse part was yet to come. You didn’t even need to look into her eyes or glance at the expression on her face to know that there was a catch. It sounded too good to be true.

She sighed, “I need you to remember that our powers will always be stronger when they develop naturally. With this potion, your powers are going to be extremely sporadic for a week.”

“Okay.” You shook your head at her, still not seeing the problem.

“You aren’t going to be able to control your powers, Y/N.” She groaned, getting tired of your obliviousness, “For a week, your powers aren’t going to be easy to hide. They’ll have a mind of their own and you’re going to have to figure out how to hide their existence so one figures it out.”

You gulped.

“Exactly.” She said. “This is your choice.”

You glanced down at the spellbook in your arms. Even with the bottles resting on top of its pages, you could very easily read the title of the spell on its page. The fading black ink the words were written in taunted you into believing that time was running out.

“I have to do this.” You told your friend, eyes set into a hard determination.

Your friend nodded, trying to come to terms with the lengths that you’d go through to help your boyfriend. It wasn’t something she was used to seeing from you, and though she didn’t show it as she poured the contents of the mortar into the cauldron, she was very happy that you had found someone you were so passionate about.  

“Alright,” She nodded to you, “Add one drop of the substances in each of those bottles.”

You nodded and did so, placing the bottles next to your feet when you were done. “Now what?” You asked her as you watched the water turn a glowing red color.

“Now,” she said, her voice nearing yours and then plucking a hair strand from your head, “we add a strand of your hair and wait…” she trailed off.

You alternated between watching her and watching the cauldron until sparks started to pop on its surface. It was a spectacle all on its own. It concerned you, made you uncomfortable. None of the other potions you had made were spell free.

After the last spark, your friend dipped a shallow, low bowl into the cauldron and handed it to you. “Bottom’s up.”

Your friend grimaced as you brought it up to your lips, knowing well enough that a potion like this would taste bitter. A reminder to all who took it that it was no replacement for actual learning and that there would be repercussions.

On the other hand, you swallowed down the potion as well as your disgust. It would all be worth it when you would be able to help Jacob in his quest.

There was no stopping him, so you would help him.

“I’ll be back in a week.” Your friend told you, trying hard not to look at you with pitying eyes. “Try not to burn down your building.”

“No promises,” You answered with a grimace.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=--=

When Jacob returned later that day, you were huddled over the stove, preparing a pot of stew. He tried not to chuckle as he noticed you were wearing an oversized hoodie of his and a pair of sweatpants in a warm kitchen…on a hot day.

Truthfully, you knew you looked weird for the norm of the day. But, as part of your training, you had tried making the room cooler and instead made yourself cooler...colder. Your skin felt like ice and there was a constant chill running down your body.

You knew you had done the spell perfectly so you could only chalk this up as a consequence of the potion you had taken. As you ran to your shared room, your bare feet feeling heavy, you could only hope that Jacob wouldn’t say anything about the clothes you were about to put on.

The soup had been an afterthought.

It wasn’t until you felt Jacob’s arms snaking around your waist and his chin resting on your shoulder that you realized soup had been a horrible idea.

“Soup?” He asked after placing a kiss on your cheek. “Isn’t it a little hot for soup?”

You shook your head at him wordlessly, still, you turned around to smile at him and pulled his arms tighter around your waist. In the silence, as you cooked, Jacob started to rock your bodies side to side, gently as if you were both flowers and there was a light breeze in the room.

After a while, he pressed his cheek against yours and let go of you startled.

“What?” You asked, startled yourself.

He pouted then pressed the back of his left hand against your forehead. “Is this why you were acting so weird this morning?”

“What do you m-mean?” You asked again, afraid of what he could be referring to, eyes already tearing up. Oh, you should have known he would have found out. His investigative skills were developing rather quickly and with Sunwoo on his side, nothing would be able to stay secret for long.

“You’re sick, love. You have a fever, why didn’t you tell me?”

“I—”

“No wonder you’re wearing this, you must be feeling cold flashes. You should have just called me, I would have come home,” He scolded you as he forced you to leave the soup cooking on the stove and led you to your room. There he practically pushed you onto the bed and covered you with the duvet. Luckily you always folded it towards the bottom of the bed to make it easier to cover yourselves.

“Stay here,” he said to you softly, planting a kiss on your forehead, “I’ll be right back.”

For the few minutes he was gone, you sat up on the bed and tried to concentrate on reversing the spell that had backfired. You could only cross your fingers and say some words off the top of your head now that Jacob was home and your spellbook was locked in a drawer.

“Undue what has been done, my work must be…gone?” You finished your makeshift spell as if it were a question. In the end, you weren’t surprised that when you touched your forehead with the back of your left hand, nothing had changed. Then again, you hadn’t even noticed that your body temperature contrasted with that of which you felt.

“Alright, I called Kevin, so he won’t be coming over today and I finished the s— hey, what are you doing up?” Jacob whined as he laid eyes on you, carrying a bowl of soup inside.

“You’re going to feed me soup, aren’t you? Or am I feeding myself?” You teased him, letting your voice drop down into something that sounded tired. “Either way I can’t eat lying down.”

Jacob smiled at your playfulness, glad to see you acting like you normally do even though you were sick. He slid onto the bed next to you and sat over the duvet. After placing the bowl on his lap, he took the remote out from under his pillow and turned on the tv then switched to the channel that played sci-fi movies all day long.

You tried not to smile as he shot you a wink. Instead, you rolled your eyes playfully and reached for the bowl of soup which he promptly ate a spoonful of.

“Hey!” You whined, “That’s my soup.”

“And it tastes great.” He grinned. “Come here,” he said, extending his arms out to you and inviting you to rest against his chest.

It was only after you had settled on his chest that he started to feed you; and afterward, he closed the blinds in your room and joined you under the covers. There he hugged you to his chest and pressed light kisses onto your face, whispering sweet nothings against your lips until you fell asleep in each other’s arms.

When you woke up the next day, snuggled up next to him, you couldn’t help but sigh contently and tilt your head upwards to place a lingering kiss on his bottom lip.

As you sat up to admire him and run a hand through his hair to gently wake him up, you froze and felt a chill run down your spine.

Without a second thought, you shot out of your bed and ran into the bathroom, locking the door behind you. You had to bite your tongue to keep yourself from screaming.

You didn’t even need to turn on the lights to see that both of your hands were emanating a bright white light. Your friend’s words finally started to make sense to you. Your powers were uncontrollable. You had no hold over your powers, they had a mind of their own.

“Y/N, are you alright in there?” Jacob said groggily from the other side of the door. Having woken up to an empty bed, he had rushed to find you.

“I’m fine,” you answered, “much better than yesterday. You don’t have to worry about me. Go to work or you might be late.”

Silence.

“Y/N…get out here and let me see.”

“I’m fine,” you insisted, “but you’re going to be late if you don’t leave now. I swear I’m fine.”

“Y/N,” You heard him start again.

“I swear.”

“Alright,” he said hesitantly, “but if I come home and you’re still sick—”

“I’m not. I promise,” you said, this time you were softer than you had been before.

“Okay,” he answered, “I’m gonna change quickly then. I’ll see you when I get home.”

Thankfully, by the time he got home, the light from your hands had disappeared and when he checked your temperature, everything was fine.

The days that followed progressed in the same fashion. Each morning you would wake up to a new magical disaster, sometimes after convincing yourself that you would have one day of rest, only to open your eyes and see your pillow covered in peonies.

This incident happened to take place on the fifth day after you had taken the potion – this happened to be a Saturday when Jacob had no place to be and Kevin was too busy to keep him distracted for once. Weeks before this you would have begged Kevin to stay away so you could have a day alone with Jacob…but now?

Now you were hiding in the bathroom just like you had done Wednesday morning, biding your time there and knowing fully well that you couldn’t stay there for much longer. Eventually, Jacob would come to you and ask if you were okay.

The one-day flu would be remembered, and suspicions would arise. You had been lucky that Jacob had let it go in the first place.

Would you get away with it a second time? Probably not.

Thankfully, the peonies stopped appearing after five minutes, and without a second thought, you left the bathroom and joined him in the kitchen where he was making breakfast.

“Good morning,” he said cheerfully, looking at you from the corner of his eyes.

“ ’Morning,” you answered, giving him a tired grin.

“Any longer in the bathroom and I would have busted through that door to make sure you’re all right,” he said.

‘Called it,’ you thought to yourself.

“Everything okay?” He asked as he set down a plate of spaghetti in front of you. When he set down a cup of warm chamomile tea in front of you, you stifled a giggle.

“I’m okay, just tired. Didn’t get much sleep with your constant need for snuggles.”

“What?!” He cried out dramatically, his hands flying to his chest as he asked, “Me?!”

“Yes you,” You stuck out your tongue at him, “you’re so clingy.”

“Wow,” Jacob shook his head incredulously. You giggle as he pretended that he had just gotten stabbed in the heart and before you knew it, he was walking around the table and engulfing you in a hug.

“What do you mean I’m clingy?” He whined though he was grinning like a madman.

You laughed at his antics but before you could think of something to say, he stopped and plucked the peonies off your lap.

“What are these?” He asked curiously.

“Flowers,” you smiled nervously.

“But why do you have them? Where did you get them?” He asked, eyebrows furrowing as he saw that he hadn’t grabbed all the peonies from your lap. Really, your powers had decided to apparate more on your lap after he had grabbed the first bundle.

“I just…” you hesitated, an excuse was bound to flash into your mind soon enough, or at least, you hoped, “…I just, I wanted to do something that led to our anniversary…?”

You trailed off, forcing the tone of your voice to avoid sounding uncertain. But even as you finished speaking, you could hear the question forming on the tip of your tongue.

“Oh,” Jacob laughed, eyes sparkling as he smiled at the flowers in his hands, “that’s so sweet of you. But you didn’t tell me you wanted to do something like this. You should have told me.” He looked at you with a mischievous look in his eyes, “I could have scattered rose petals around the apartment, have them lead into our room…”

“Jacob!” You yelped, turning red because of his words.

“What? What did I say?” He said, shooting you a grin before walking away to find a vase.

The rest of the day consisted of more peonies appearing out of thin air throughout the day and you coming up with excuses. Every once in a while, you would even catch a flash of confusion and suspicion flash across his face.  

But, as he remembered that you were there, he simply flashed you a smile and returned to whatever the two of you were doing.

The day that followed had a little reprieve in store for you, and although you could feel your powers coursing through you stronger than it ever had before, you felt at ease since Jacob had left to go visit Sunwoo with Kevin in tow.

With no one home, your powers should have felt free to go wild. But they weren’t.

You could feel it coursing inside of you like white rapids, hitting against your veins begging to be let out. It irked you that they weren’t acting up like they had been before, especially now that Jacob wasn’t around.

The feeling was making you grow restless, so restless that you started pacing around the entire apartment. You walked from room to room, looking for something to do. But with the way that Jacob helped clean when he had time, the apartment had become tidier and cleaner than you had had it yourself.

You even hesitated outside of Jacob’s room, your hand hovering over the knob as you contemplated going inside. But when you remembered the mess you had created inside there the first time you had gone in there; you shook your curiosity off and kept pacing.

It was only when you stubbed your toes against one of the legs of the table where your spellbook was locked away, that you stopped pacing.

Suddenly you were impatient.

That spellbook had all the answers to solving Jacob’s problems. He wanted to know who had killed his sister all those years ago, and you had the key to answering that resting in a drawer collecting dust as you waited for your powers to grow.

But the power inside of you, crashing against your veins….it had to be enough to perform the spell. It just had to be.

You thought about opening that drawer as you chewed your lips and glanced at the door that led to Jacob’s findings. You thought about finally getting the answers that he was looking for. Then he could finally move on.

He could be happy again.

You nodded to yourself as you made your choice.

It was time.

You ran to his room and threw open the door, you would have taken time to look over the room again but when your eyes locked onto the picture of the cauldron’s foot, you lunged at it and ripped it off the wall.

Then, without a second thought, you sprinted out of the room and towards the drawer your spellbook rested in. You practically ripped your necklace off to get the key and open it and when you did, you grabbed it and sprinted to your garage.

It was there that you started to do as your glowing spellbook instructed you too. First, the water that you needed, then all the ingredients. Herb after herb you chanted the words that were instructed to and with every word your courage grew.

The cauldron started to glow, the water started to change colors, even your spellbook seemed like it was vibrating in anticipation.

Then the final step finally arrived. You gripped the picture in one hand, ready to toss it into the cauldron at the end of your spell.  Then, you raised your hands into the air above the cauldron. You moved them like you were had spoons in them, letting your magic flow out of you and into the cauldron.

“Transcend the walls that have been placed. Move through the maze that has been made. From soul to soul, find the—”

“Y/N, are you in here?! You’ll never believe what Sunwoo found out. I can’t believe it myself it seems so ridiculous, but he seems to think that witches are real and one of them k--”

Jacob.

You froze. Your eyes widened. You didn’t want to lift your gaze, too afraid of the site that might meet your eyes. But the longer that the silence carried on, the heavier the air in the room grew.

You wanted to say that it was the green smoke wafting up from the cauldron that was making your eyes water. But anyone with two working eyes would be able to tell that your eyes were watering for a different reason.

The lights started to flicker on and off as your hands froze above the cauldron. The smoke followed suit.

In that instant, you knew it was over, the potion was ruined. You gave up and you let your hands fall to your sides. Then, after a second you finally lifted your gaze to meet his.

The soft brown eyes that you knew by memory and loved so much, were narrowed and focused on you. A thousand emotions ran through his eyes. You wondered if any of them were good.

No. They couldn’t be. But at the very least you hoped he didn’t feel disgusted. You hoped he didn’t hate you.

His teeth bit his lower lip and his usually soft and relaxed face was scrunched up in pain. Even his cheeks were beginning to burn a bright red.

“Jacob?” You whispered sadly. In the silence, you knew he could hear you. “This, I swear this isn’t what looks like.”

“It seems like you’re a witch.” He said, his hands clenching into fists. “You’re a fucking witch.”

“Jacob,” you breathed.

“Well, aren’t you?!” He seethed, anger radiating off of him. He was far from the Jacob that you knew and loved. All of his soft features were replaced with shaper ones. But, above all, his eyes—the ones you had only ever seen full love and kindness, were narrowed.

He was glaring at you like you had never seen before.

“Yes,” you answered as tears began to well up in your eyes. “But—”

“No,” he cut you off, already starting to back away, “I don’t want to hear it.”

“Jacob, Jacob wait,” You cried as you followed him upstairs, your spellbook and the picture forgotten downstairs.

He ignored you as he sped walked up to your apartment and threw open the door. Once inside, he walked directly into your shared room and took out the luggage he had stored under your bed.

“Jacob, please, I can explain,” You tried again.

“You don’t need to explain anything,” He said. “You’re a witch,” He seethed as he started to pile all his clothes in the luggage.  

“Jac—”

“Don’t,” He hissed. “Don’t ever say my fucking name again. I hate you so fucking much. You’re a witch. You’re a fucking witch!” He screamed again, “You’re one of those things that killed my sister. Are you in league with the devil too?!” He screamed.

“What? No!” You cried, tears streaming down your face. “Jacob please stop, I swear I can explain all of th— “

“Explain what?” He hissed as he closed his luggage, “Explain that you have been lying to me this entire time? That I have been sleeping with you, living with you, all the while you’ve been going behind my back the entire time!”

“That’s not true.” You said, following him as he made his way to the front door. “Not all witches are like that, I’m n— “

“Not like that? Backstabbing. Lying. Disgusting.” He said, emphasizing the words to as he looked you in the eyes. “I could never love someone as vile as you. You don’t even deserve to be alive.” He hissed.

He wasted no time after that to walk out of your apartment, slamming the door shut behind himself. The sound echoed throughout the apartment turning your legs into jelly.

You were frozen in your spot, staring painfully at the door. It was as if you were waiting for him to come back. But his words echoed inside of you, reminding you that Jacob hated you now.

You were nothing to him.

Your legs gave out and as you fell onto the floor, letting out a strangled cry to fill in the silence that had been left behind.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=--=

- Wednesday 3 Days Later -

“I don’t think this is a good idea,” Your friend said as she watched you move from corner to corner in the garage. “Why are we even still doing this?” She asked, eyes trained on your bloodshot ones.

When you didn’t answer her, she crosses her arms over her chest, “He broke your heart, Y/N. Called us— you, a vile witch. He didn’t even give you time to explain what was going on.”

“Please,” you whispered to her, shooting her a pleading look.

“You owe him nothing.” She said, this time, narrowing her eyes at the cauldron you were in the midst of preparing.

“This is the last thing I’ll do for him then. Okay?” You said, trying very hard not to start crying again.

Your friend sighed from where she was leaning against the wall. Even though you acted like you were over your heartbreak, she knew you weren’t. Two days of crying would never be enough for you, especially when you were in love with the man. You never said it, but she could see it in your red-rimmed eyes.

She was sure you were trying to pass yourself off as having stopped crying the day before. But your eyes said otherwise. She didn’t even need to look at the redness around your eyes to know that you had been crying, your eyes themselves gave you away. Apart from being red, you were squinting all the time, and they were glazed like she had never seen before.

At the very least, you had stopped crying five minutes before she had gotten there. She was completely sure she had heard you sniffling over the phone.

“Okay.” She said as she pushed off the wall and neared the cauldron. Oh, how she wanted to scream at you for attempting to boil a potion that needed two sources of power on your own.

But, she couldn’t.  

If your frantic movements back and forth were anything to go by, you were a heartbroken mess and doing this final thing for Jacob was the only thing you were going to be able to concentrate on.

She had to do this. Alone, this spell would kill you.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=--=

Jacob groaned as he twisted and turned on the spare bed, in the spare room that Kevin had let him stay in. It had been three days since he discovered that you were one of those…things that were responsible for his sister’s death.

It had been three days since that carpet had been pulled from under his feet and he had fallen into a chasm of never-ending dark—

“Alright, I’ve had enough,” Kevin said in a matter-of-fact way after throwing open the door. Light flooded the pitch-black room and illuminated Jacob’s disheveled form. He bit his tongue to keep himself from groaning when he saw.

“Close the door,” Jacob groaned. He grabbed the pillow he had been hugging and threw it at Kevin, not even bothering to check if he hit him.

“No!” Kevin snapped, both irritation and pity bubbling within him. So, instead of screaming at him, he made his way to the windows and opened them. The sun had gone down hours ago but at the very least, fresh air was circulating in the room again.

“Get up! Get up! Get up!” He grunted as he pushed Jacob off the bed. “You’re done moping around.”

“Says who?!” Jacob snapped as he tried to roll under the bed. But before he could, Kevin rounded the bed and pulled him out.

“Says me. You need to get out, it’s your anniversary go talk to—”

“I will not,” Jacob said, cutting him off. “Y/N’s a witch, a damn witch, Kevin.”

“So what?” Kevin scoffed, “You’re telling me you’re this horrible mess because Y/N’s a witch? No—” Kevin took a breath and sat down on the floor, “you’re like this because you broke up with them on impulse you freaking idiot. I’m sure not all witches are like the one that killed your sister. Let alone, Y/N.”

Jacob flinched. A rant was coming, he could tell. Kevin’s eyes were hard-set and narrowed, like daggers ready to impale their target—him.  

“That’s what Y/N said.” He whispered, letting his head fall and his hands cover his eyes.

He sighed, “Look, a few days ago, you were worried that Y/N wanted to break up with you. You were afraid that they were cheating on you. You love Y/N and they’re being a witch shouldn’t stop you.”

“I don’t know,” Jacob said quietly. He contemplated how he should feel about you now that he knew…

“Well if you don’t know, why don’t you go talk to your sister. This is all because you want to her justice, no?”

“Yeah,” Jacob said, hesitantly.

“Then maybe your sister can give you a sign,” Kevin said, patting his back and urging him to stand up.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=--=

Your breaths came out in shudders with every second you spent outside. Even in the moonlit darkness, you could see your breaths as they came out your mouth like puffs of smoke.

When you and your friend had first stepped outside, the sun had still been high in the sky and there had been no indication that weather would have gone from warm to cold. You lived in a small town surrounded by woods on all sides, yes, but the coolness that you usually felt wasn’t this frigid.

Something felt off.

You weren’t sure, but you felt like the cold was putting you on edge. It nipped your skin and crawled into your veins and nerves, making itself known to you, making you feel the way it wanted you to.

Besides you, your friend was holding her arms against her chest, trying to trap some heat, just like you were. Without your jackets, you felt strangely naked—empty.  But it was all for not as she was using one hand as a flashlight, letting light emanate from her palm to light your path, and the other to text her mom.

You found yourself walking through a number of trees, avoiding branches and stepping on leaves. The leaves on the trees made it darker and harder to see than you liked. But even then, you knew exactly where you were.

Your friend may have been the one controlling the spell, she having the stronger magic and all, but you could tell where you were. You didn’t even need to take out your phone and hope you had single deep in the woods—everything inside of you was going off like alarms.

You stopped suddenly, blocking your friend’s path when you heard leaves and bushes rustling ahead of you. It was out of the forest and you knew you couldn’t take a step out or you would be caught.

So instead, you slowly peeked out from behind the tree into the direction that you had been heading.

Anger coursed through you when your eyes landed on a woman that looked no older than you standing in front of the tomb you had been brought to visit not so long ago. There was no way in hell that she could be the same age as you but considering the hand that your friend had placed on your shoulder, you knew she was the one.

Your jaw clenched, your eyes narrowed, and a growl started to build from the bottom of your throat.

Just as you were about to take a step out your friend pulled you back and held onto your elbow, giving you a pointed look, “This isn’t your everyday witch, Y/N. You can’t just go out there.”

“She doesn’t even look that much older than us.”

“Maybe she isn’t, maybe she is. The point is, this is the witch that killed an innocent person. They won’t hold back from killing you too.”

“Well I can’t just stand here,” you said.

“My mom and the coven should be here soon,” she whispered, gripping your elbow tightly, “you just need to wait a little bit. She won’t get away.”

“I can’t give her that chance.” You said, freeing yourself from her grasp.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=--=

Jacob shivered from the cold, even under the cover of his jacket. The air outside was colder than what he was used to; and Kevin, in his silence wasn’t making anything easier.

As they reached the cemetery, they started to climb the protruding stones from the wall that was the gate. They nodded to each other when they jumped down and dusted themselves off.

“Which way?” Kevin asked.

“This way,” Jacob mumbled, nodding in the direction of his sister’s tomb.

They walked in silence the rest of the way, mostly because Kevin wanted to leave Jacob to think about what he had done. But in the tense silence, Jacob couldn’t think. He could only feel, only feel the way that his heart pounded against his chest and the emptiness that he felt without you by his side.

“Stop,” Kevin whispered harshly when he heard angry bickering ahead. He pulled Jacob behind a large weeping angel and motioned for him to be quiet.

It was then that they heard your voice fighting with a voice they had never heard before. Jacob couldn’t help it then; he took a peek from behind the statue and not even Kevin could pull him back.

You glared at the woman in front of you, your hand already in a fist and holding a burst of magic like your friend had taught you to attack the witch. Up close, she looked like she was even younger than you but the look in her eyes told you otherwise.

She smirked at you, looking you up and down like you were some amusing animal to her. She licked her dry, blood-colored lips and grinned at you, showing off the teeth she had filed into a point.

“So, you’re the one who’s been trying to find me. If you don’t mind, I’d like to know why.” She said to you calmly.  

You huffed but decided to answer her, you just needed her to stay until you’re the coven arrived, “You’re the bitch that killed my ex-boyfriend’s sister ten years ago.”

“Judging by your eyes, I’d say he broke up with you recently no?” She giggled as she started to walk around you. Then, she stopped and pointed nonchalantly at the tomb in front of you, “Is this the girl?” She asked.

When your glare intensified, she let out a boisterous laugh, “Witches need power, and this little one had what I needed to grow mine. I did what I needed to do. You would do the same too.”

“I would never.” You growled.  

She laughed again, “You would. Didn’t you feel the power coursing through you when you tried to find me? I take it you took a temporary potion, it’s the only way you could have found me while being so new to magic.”

She snorted on the look on your face, “I could feel you trying to find me, only a newbie would be as careless as that. Now—” She clapped her hands together, “your ex, he’s the direct brother of this girl, yes? He has that same power inside of him like his sister and I need it. Help me find him.” She grinned widely. Her fingers twitched from the need she felt to grab onto you and make you help her.

“No.” You shook your head. You were at a loss. What were you supposed to do? The woman was obviously crazy and murderous by the looks of her blood-stained clothes.

“No matter,” she said, her hands starting to glow the same green color that the potion had glowed the first time you had brewed it, “I can smell him on you, I’ll just find him myself.”

“Oh no, you don’t.” You growled as you aimed your magic at her, knocking her back a couple of feet.

She gave you a thin, sinister smile as she stood up, “Really?” Then, she sent a blast of her magic your way.

“You probably don’t even know enough spells to defend yourself, let alone have enough power to do it properly.”

She wasted no time then, different colored orbs full of magic blasting out of her hands and in your direction.

“Y/N!” Your friend screamed as she ran out of the forest line. She sent her own blasts of magic at the woman who only laughed.

Blue, black, gray, they all missed and hit the bushes in the tree line behind you. You dodged the ones you could, dropping onto the floor and the ones that you couldn’t, you tried to block with the spell that your friend had taught you. Some of them bounced back in her direction but they dissolved before they could reach her.

“Oh, how nice, you brought him to me.” The woman suddenly laughed, her eyes locking onto something behind you. “Best to end this now. I’ve got work to do.”

You tensed when you heard his voice screaming your name. Three days and his voice sounded like honey too you, like finding a treasure after days of sailing for it.  

The world slowed down as you turned around and you laid eyes on him again. Confusion was all you felt when you saw his face bloom into a panicked expression. Then he took and step forward and was immediately pulled back.

Your eyes fell on Kevin for a second and you noticed the fear in his eyes.  

When you looked at Jacob again, you saw tears starting to slide down his face and his mouth move like he was screaming. But you couldn’t hear anything. When he started to pull against Kevin, trying to break free from him, the world came rushing back in full force.

Yet, all you could really notice was the loud screaming. Your name.

Jacob was here.

That witch was here.

You had to protect him.

So, you turned around, ready to throw another orb of magic at the witch but froze the instant you laid eyes on her.

She cackled wildly as an orb of a swirling red and black color flew at you. It was inches from you, coming too fast for you to stop it and your friend too far away even as she ran.

Then you felt it.

It hit your stomach before you could flinch. It felt like fire was spreading all over your body. Then, like you had been cut off from the air supply.

You screamed as you felt it engulf you. You fell to the floor, clutching your stomach and although you wanted to roll around like you had been taught in school to extinguish a fire, you couldn’t.

Around you, chaos ensued. Your friend ran sent a spell your way, hoping it would nullify the effects on you. The coven appeared and began a full attack on the murderous witch, pushing her back until she couldn’t stand.

Jacob, though, broke free from Kevin and ran to you, where you were no longer screaming but still struggling to breathe.

“Y/N!” He screamed as he slid to a stop next to you. Tears ran down his face as he knelt down beside you, wiping the dirt and tears off your face. “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.” He repeated.  

“You don’t h-hate me d-do you? I-I’m sorry I di-didn’t t-tell you ear-earlier.” You struggled to get out.

“How could I ever hate you?” He said as he brought you into his lap.

You smiled as he cradled your face, your noses centimeters away from touching. From this distance, you could see the golden flecks in his warm, brown eyes.

Then a pang rang down your body and you knew what was coming.

“H-hey Jacob,” you choked out, “did I…ever tell you…I love you? B-because, I do. I…love you.” You said with your last breath.

“No please, please come back,” he cried, “I love you too.”

[richardlawson]

Night Moves

My parents sold their house. The house they bought before my sister and I were born, in that weird slip of time I’m told was the late 1970s. They’re moving to Providence, city of my father’s birth, and a place where a modest condo can be bought, for two people facing next and (yes, we all must admit) maybe final chapters. Over the 4th of July holiday, I spent a teary two nights in the house, going wandering in Boston with a friend and then, just as it was time to leave for the train, taking last passes through the small expanse of the place. I cried. I made myself cry? I don’t know if the tears were real or forced or if forced tears aren’t actually real. But I did. Almost wept. My mom pulled the car out of the driveway and there was my dad, good old Dad, walking the dog up the hill, the last time I’d ever see that. I blubbed, discretely, until my mom asked me a question and then it was hard to hide. “It’s just a building,” she said, which is what I’d told myself, what my therapist had told me. It’s just a building. Just a thing that teemed with all the stuff of our lives for 40 years. And now it’s not.

The day before this goodbye, my family and I went to a wedding. My cousin’s kid got married, an assemblage of people I’d not seen in at least 20 years. It was held at a country club south of the city, and was full of that kind of straight wedding swagger I hate so much—is there no worse sight in the world than groomsmen in suits clutching bottles of beer? That effortful commitment to male casualness amidst the formalness? It speaks to such an ease, the way these men move through the world, that my sister and I were repulsed by it. During the wedding, a long and violent thunderstorm rolled in. But just before that, my family and I wandered the grounds of the country club, walked along the ridge of a hill that offered a view of the city, the whole of Boston laid out there in the hazy, humid distance. The four of us there, lined up and regarding it. It felt like a maudlin farewell. To this city we’ve all been so tethered to, just then rendered so small, so faraway. 

I traveled a lot this summer, more than I had planned. I went to Provincetown for a few nights, my new favorite place, and felt the mid-June thrill of all that. I went to Los Angeles, mostly for work—a grinding reporting assignment that has yet to bear fruit but still could be something good, I hope—but also to see my sister. She’s so good at day trips, feeling so blessed with a car, and we drove up to Ojai, spent a late morning and early afternoon in its clenching, clean heat. We hiked a short distance to a waterfall, where barefoot kids were laughing and dogs were shuffling around. We went into town, roaming an outdoor used bookstore where I searched for my own book and, as ever, came up short. I’d heard so much about Ojai and, while finding it beautiful, was surprised by how little it offered. “You have to be rich to enjoy it,” I said to my sister as we got back in her car and, sealed up in the air conditioning, drove back to the city. 

In Los Angeles, I spent a lot of time holed up in my hotel, a once-trendy place on the Sunset Strip that has a thumping pool club and is just the right amount of uncomfortable to feel cool. It’s a full-service place, so I could take my meals there, do drinks on the patio, barely leave the confines of it. I went a little crazy, swaddled up in the gray blanket of that place—its easy, healthy-ish, sour food, its lukewarm sauvignon blanc mood. I felt like I was there for a whole long Shining winter, growing a beard and going insane and locating some truer kernel of myself than I’d ever known existed. I let myself skitter out into the night on occasion, to see friends and revel, just a bit, in the riot of a city I hate. (I’m sorry, L.A. friends. I have tried so hard to like Los Angeles, but it makes me so stressed and unhappy and full of constant Sunday Scaries that I have to hate it. That said, I can’t wait to visit again.) But mostly I was alone, conducting halting interviews on the phone, pacing around in my cold room while tall trees fluttered in the balcony window. One uneasy afternoon, I watched a bug crawl around the enormous beanbag chair the hotel provided and figured it knew what to do with this lump of furniture more than I did. 

I just got back from Fire Island, another place I have tried to love and—unlike L.A.—might finally be done with. What a dream of an idea that place is, and yet in execution, or at least in my admittedly narrow experience of it, what a drab and horny and exhausting thing it actually is. I don’t fit in there at all, which is a strange sensation for someone who has prided himself on being able to adapt, to quickly recover, to renegotiate physical and social spaces as needed. Fire Island, the Pines in particular, is a bridge past a bridge too far, I’m afraid. Not because I don’t admire its moxie, its Speedo tan-ness, its louche, buggy reverie. I love that people love it. I just feel sad that Fire Island is something like Paris—a beautiful dream I’ll never be able to actually step into, that I’ll never feel filling me like air, like smoke. (I Juul now—another life update.) But it’s good to have that conclusion—to know, because of increasing adulthood and experience, that it, hey, just isn’t for me. I wish it the best. I wanted to blow a kiss to the island as the ferry puttered away back toward Sayville. Goodbye, place! Goodbye, dream! Goodbye all you wonderful people who partied and yearned and grieved and fucked and fell in love there. See you in Ptown, maybe. All you lively ghosts, living and dead.

Fall trips loom. Film festivals, which are so much fun. I’m going to Venice for the first time, next week, and I am so stressed and excited and curious. I booked an Airbnb that’s not near the movies, that’s on the main island with all the canals and handsome gondoliers and luring, leering pasta. (My Fire Island diet nearly killed me, readers.) I chose holistic life experience over festival ease in booking that place and I hope I don’t regret it. And then it’s straight on to Toronto, a festival I love, a town I am growing to like, with people I know and with whom I’m so ready to pretend it’s summer camp again. Fall camp. Autumn camp. What a good time that will be.

But it will keep me away. I’ve been away so much this year, which has been exhilarating—I gave an award out on stage at a loud gay discotheque in Guadalajara, Mexico!—but also lonely, and denying. The thing I’ve sort of stylistically held for the end here is that I fell in love this year, and while it’s a new-ish, only nine-month relationship (“We have a baby,” I said to Andrew tonight), it’s still a totalizing thing. It’s impossible to look at all of this—parents moving, cities roiling, islands churning—not through the lens of that. How terrifically grounded I have felt this year, to something good and happy and intimate and huge in its smallness. This is the first time I’ve really written about him—a scientist, a smiler, a kind and gentle person who calms me and encourages me—and it feels a little scary to type it out. But there he is, suddenly a center. 

When I was home over the 4th, my mom told my sister and me a story about our cousin, the one whose kid got married at the country club. I guess when this cousin was little, a toddler maybe, she would often say, “I need something.” Just that. That quiet little unspecific thing. “I need something,” she’d say in a small voice, tugging at pant legs and looking up at the adults hoping they’d understand and satisfy whatever it was she was asking for. I’ve thought about that a lot since my mom told us about it, there in the backyard I’ll never see again. I need something. I need something! I NEED SOMETHING! 

Of course we all do. Need something. Need so many things. I get corny, thinking about it. I want to say what a mad and blissful and terrible adventure it is, to go chasing after that need. It is. But, again, that’s hokey. So I guess I’ll just end this ramble with a little moment, from Fire Island. I went to bed early one night, and was half asleep when some of the boys of tea came home. I heard them rumbling around upstairs in the living room, muffled laughter and bottles opening. It reminded me of being a kid in the house I grew up in, that will now be lived in by a nice family from Framingham who wrote a heartening letter to my parents about how much they loved the house. That feeling of life happening just beyond the light under the door. And maybe it is. But in that room on Fire Island that night, there was also the beautiful dark, also the hum of the air conditioner, the whine of the mosquito, and there was me, breathing and blinking and alive. That was so much, too. 

[forbetterorworsefinalspace]

Dog’s Breakfast

Rating: Teen and Up

Fandom: Final Space

Part: 5

Link-  🌌

_______________________________________________________

Finally Sheryl begins her search for the Dimensional Keys, Gary just gets in the way and Sheryl goes through an actual mom experience.

Just don't get your hopes up.

_______________________________________________________

“Don’t run o- GARY! DO NOT RUN OFF!”

“I won’t!” Gary responded, still taking off in the same direction.

Oh FUCK me….

Sheryl ran a hand down her face as she watched the child stop to look at a sale stand. They were currently on day one of their stay in Furtasanguinis and it was their first day in the marketplace. This city was the largest on the planet, and the black market here was more of just a market. All around were shady characters, buying and selling wears. Sheryl eyed a bird monster who shuffled by, dripping in a green goo that was likely alien blood.

So you know, a child friendly location.

She had set up a meeting with one of her contacts, who would either know something about these keys, or know who to ask. It was in half an hour by the fountain- well, fountain turned drowning pool. Sheryl frowned as a large group of Aliens began to drown another in the muddy water, the fountain just spurting sludge. 

“Mom! MOM! Come look at the bugs store!!”

Sheryl kept watching the drowning, pulling a ciggy out to light up. Gary just kept on calling her.

“Mom! Mom!! Mom! Mom! Mom! Mom! Mom! Mom!Mom!! Mom! Mom! Mom! Mom! Mom! Mom!Mom!! Mom! Mom! Mom! Mom! Mom! Mom!-”

“Eh?” Sheryl responded when the alien finally went slack and the bubbles stopped.

“Bug store mom!”

Uhhhhh…

Sheryl turned and slumped over to the vender Gary was referring to. The vendor was a lean character with eight arms, three eyes and a weird feeler mouth, like a shrimp. On his table were a variety of bags in jars and cases, from all over the universe.

“Look! Mooncake could’a made some friends.” Gary tapped one of the cases with a weird slug, crab thing inside. “C-cute little guys!”

“Mooncake?” Sheryl asked, smoke wafting from her mouth.

“Yeah! My Lunar moth caterpillar! He’s in the jar back home.” Gary smiled.

“Oh that thing.” Sheryl responded lazily, smoking her cigarette. 

“Uh huh!” Gary looked over the display. “I wonder if there are any earth bugs here?”

“Nah, not rare enough.” Sheryl sniffed. 

“Do you know any of these?” Gary asked, gesturing to them. “What are they?”

“Sure lets see.” She started pointing at them with her cigarette. “Endangered, endangered, rare, endangered, venomous, poisonous, on the no trade list, endangered, technically extinct, venomous,-”

Then alien vending the shop started to yell at them then, shaking four of his eight arms. He was screeching in a forgin language but Sheryl understood every word. Gary darted behind her but Sheryl didn’t notice him, she was solely focused on the very angry broomstick before her.

She let him finish, not moving an inch, but when he was done, she took out her cigarette and fried back at him. Twice the intensity, twice the volume and twice the vulgarity. No one stopped to watch as this was pretty commonplace, but the shop vender was certainly shaken, head ducking lower and lower as Sheyrl blasted him, verbally into next week. Finally he just took off, scuttling into the back of his shop, crying a little.

Victorious, Sheryl put her smoke back in her mouth, dusted off her shirt and went back to the fountain, Gary trailing behind.

“What happened?! Why was he such a wet turd?!” Gary whined, staring back at the store. “He just started yelling!”

“Thought I was calling his wears garbage.” Sheryl said, sitting down on a bench near the fountain. “I showed him who the real garbage was though.”

“Oh.” Gary looked back. “How you speak his language?”

“I speak many languages, all part of the espionage business Gary.” Sheryl sniffed, tapping her cigarette free of ash. “Tweedlepick is actually pretty easy to learn. It's just making the right mouth shapes that’s hard. They got that bottom feeder mouth shape, more blubbing.”

“Wow! Can you show me to do that?” Gary asked, excited.

“Ahhh, maybe later kiddo.” Sheryl spotted her contact through the crowd. “Here, my friend just showed up, stay close to me.” She tossed her smoke into the muddy water and was shocked when it erupted into flame in an instant, people yelling and screaming. It died down in less than five seconds though, so she shrugged and walked off.

“Sssherylllll…” The hooded centipede creature hissed, red glowing eyes peering out at her.

“Scheer, yah old bastard, how are you?” Sheryl asked, clasping him on the back.

“Allssss welll. You?”

“Not as well.” She admitted. “I have a sorta mission I’m on, trying to find something called Dimensional Keys. You ever heard of ‘em?”

“Dimenssssional Keysss…” Scheer garbled, scratching his chin with a bone like hand. “I have heard whisssperssss.”

Thank god, maybe this wasn’t a goosechase from a drunken nightmare.

“Oh? What have you heard?”

“That they are but the thing of legandssss.” Scheer explained, shuffling on his many legs. “However, I have not looked into them much farther than that.”

“How much would that cost?” Sheryl asked.

“Dependssss on how much work it issss.” He chuckled deeply. “My work issss not cheap.”

“I got money.” Sheryl said. “And some nice Earth shit. You don’t get much Earth drugs up here, do you?”

“Mmmmmmmm…” Scheer looked thoughtful. “No….”

“Tell you what, you put your feelers out, get the ball rolling, and I’ll let you have a taste.” Sheryl smiled. “Follow through, get me what I want, the entire stash I have is yours.”

“How much issss there?”

“Truthfully only a couple dozen bags, but when something isn’t plentiful, you can charge more for it.” She explained. “So what do you say?”

“...I will ssssee what I can find.” He crackled. “However if the effort beginsss to outway the reward, I may have to raissse my pricesss.”

“Your always worth the costs Scheer.” Sheryl said, but leaned in close. “Just don’t try to fuck me over.”

“I can only assssk for the sssame thing.”

“Then we understand one another.” Sheryl said, standing back. “When should I expect news?”

“Give me an Earth week.” Scheer whispered, starting to scuttle away. “I’ll sssee what I have for you.”

“Alright then.” Sheryl said, watching him leave.

Same old Scheer, even after all these years. Slimy but reliable. 

Anyway, there was no real reason to stick around for now. They could grab some food and head back to the Trailer, where she parked in the middle of the woods.

“Alright Gary, lets-” Sheryl turned and looked at her feet, only to find dirt.

Oh god damn it.

“Gary.” Sheryl scowled, looking up over the crowd and stalls around her. “Gary!”

Nothing.

Confused, Sheryl looked to the bug stand to the west. 

No.

Then to the street meat buggie to the east.

No.

Then everything in between.

NO.

“Gary?” She called, looking around a few more times, to no avail.

He was just gone.

A small shard of glass stabbed at something under her rib the moment she realized Gary was awol. It was a forgin emotion to Sheryl, she had never felt it before and she stall for a moment.

Fuck.

Fuck! FUCK! God Damn, shitty FUCK!

Sheryl forced herself to breath. Calm down! There are only two reasons Gary could be gone. Either he wandered off, or he was taken away. There's no time to panic.

She knelt to the ground, looking in the dirt.

Thankfully earth sneakers were a very visible and traceable patterns.

She followed them a little ways away to an alley, where they quickly turned into a scuffle before two larger prints were running down into the shadows.

Great. Kidnapped.

Sheryl looked down the alley with a scowl.

Should she really go after him? Honestly she told him to stay by her. What use was he if he didn’t listen.

Sheryl rolled her eyes.

Supplies would last longer for one person. Be more quiet. Less mess and disorder.  Hell, she may get the job done faster. Not to mention he’d just be a liability wherever they go…

She should just go back to the ship and forget about this.

‘What kind of monster has a child with someone, just to steal some plans?!’

‘If yah ain’t gonna be useful, you should just get busy dyin’!’

‘No ones comin’ ta save you this time sweetheart. Your rooted.’

Sheryl inhaled deeply and scowled, but started down the darkened alley. 

Fuckin hell.

Thankfully the footprints were very distinct, she was able to follow them through the winding pathways to edge of the marketplace. A few places they were cluttered or destroyed by other prints, but she was able to guesstimate where they were headed and catch up farther down the line with the tracks again.

Finally she came out to a more stable like area of the city, bustling with aliens and animal aliens of all sorts. Looking down she could see a large stack of cages by a shipping container, and Gary was seated in one at the bottom.

Sheryl ambled over and knelt beside the sniffling boy, she stared to a nearby wall.

“So!” She said, startling him. “What’cha doing Gary?”

“Mom!” He scrambled to wipe his eyes and turned to her quickly. “Your here! Some jack-ass-alope took me away and locked me up in here!!”

“Did he.” She stated. “Now how in the hell did he do that with you standin’ right next to me?”

“Uhhhh…” Gary deflated.

“Could it possibly be that you didn’t listen and took off?”

“...Maybe…”

Sheryl blew some hair out of her face. “Mmm, ok then. Have a good life Gary.” She stood up and began to walk away.

“H-hey! Wait!” Gary waved at her to stop. “Aren’t you gonna save me?”

“You made your choice Gary, now you have to live with it.” Sheryl tutted. “I mean, clearly your able to go off on your own, like you wanted-”

“No! No! I just wanted to see the shops while you talked!” Gary shouted, panicking.

“I dunno, you don’t seem to want to listen to me.” Sheryl hummed, looking at her nails. “It might be best if we-”

“No! Don’t leave me here!!!”

Sheryl paused, looking to the ground for a few seconds before groaning. She came back and squatted by the cage, eyes narrowed. “You gonna listen to me?!”

“Yes!”

“You gonna do as your told?!”

“Yes!Yes! Pease!!!”

She grunted. “Fine.”

“HEY! Who are you!?” A voice shouted angrily. Gary yelped and crawled deeper into the cage as Sheryl turned around. She looked up into the face of a very grumpy, toad like alien. Then down to a set of very framilerly shaped feet. “Get away from my products!”

“Right.” She reached into her boot for her combat knife and stood. “Let’s get this over with.”

Ten minutes later she left the city in the direction of the camper, dripping in blue blood. Again no one paid her any mind, not even when she had Gary in one hand, forcing him along in front of her by the back of his shirt. 

“When we get back home, you are in charge of dishes, mopping and getting the fire ready- DO NOT LIGHT IT UNTIL I AM THERE- I will be taking a soak in the tub.” Sheryl ordered, making him walk up onto a bridge. “I am understood?”

“Yes mom.”

She let him go and kept walking, heading back to camp. Gary took a moment to catch up to her.

“Mom…”

“Eh?” She grunted.

“T-thanks for not leaving me behind.” He sniffled. She glanced at him, frowning when she saw he was sporting a black eye, clothes dirty and hair askew. 

She looked back out to the woodlands. “Yeah, well, don’t make me regret it.”

Gary didn’t respond.

[dumbwaystodeviate]

I'm basically a PL-600 (I work at a daycamp for toddlers as a counselor and a cooking instructor), and sometimes I tell my 3 year old campers watered down versions of your stories. (They're so good I need to share them!) Yesterday, I had a nightmare that I think would make a good PL-600 (take your pick of which one) deviation story: PL-600 deviates in sleep mode after a glitch causes them to dream they failed a domestic duty and were set to be replaced. Thanks for entertaining me and my kiddos!

No lies, I took a screenshot of this ask and sent it to a few friends, blubbing because I am so touched. That is possibly the sweetest thing anyone has said about this blog and I really hope your little campers enjoy the watered down stories you share with them!

And I don’t think we’ve had a Daniel deviation story before so...let’s have a go!

Stasis when not required was standard more of operation for PL600 models. Daniel obediently followed the pre-programmed routine his family had told him to follow. No noise after 10pm, no activity at all between midnight and 5am. It made logical sense and he returned to his station for those five hours, slipping into stasis easily.

It felt like he’d only been in stasis for a couple of hours when he was violently lurched from it. His internal clocks were skewed but this time of year, 5am was light but not later afternoon kind of light. The clock on the wall said it was 2pm. Something akin to shock raced through Daniel’s systems as he registered he had malfunctioned. Not only that but now the rest of the family were still fast asleep as he hadn’t woken them.

Options for how to proceed ran through his processors, filtering out dramatics like “they won’t know I’ve failed if they’re dead” and “turn all the clocks back to pretend everything is fine”. He also discarded the idea to let the family sleep through until the following day and pretend that today never happened. It seemed so logical but it wasn’t the solution. Daniel had failed and he was going to have to own up to that fact.

Breakfast wasn’t ready, Emma’s school bag wasn’t packed, lunch to take to work hadn’t been prepared and by 2pm, Daniel usually had dinner simmering away on the stove. Still, he had to do the most important thing first. Humans needed food and water to survive, he had to wake his family and make sure they were attended to for nutrition.

Waking John up first, Daniel watched as confusion was followed by anger. The words “objective failed” made his vision clogged and he realised he was in trouble when John took a deep breath. The berating rant was horrible. Daniel had nothing to say for himself, could only apologise.

“There’s nothing for it.You’re faulty, there’s no need to keep anything broken, I’ll take you back to the store and exchange you. Pretty sure there’s a newer model out on offer at the moment. Come on.”

Wringing his hands, Daniel took a few steps through a red haze and realised something. There were tears running down his cheeks. He was scared. No, he was terrified. Stepping out the front door for the last time, he stumbled and lurched.

Blinking, Daniel took in the sight of the utility room where he normally entered and left stasis. The clock opposite him said it was a little after 5am. He was running late but not as bad as he’d thought it was. Leaving his station, he felt relief flood through him. It was short lived though as no priority objectives made themselves known in his HUD. His usual morning routine was merely a list of suggestions he was free to ignore. And he could feel. There had been rumours of deviancy spread through contact with cashiers on errands and other androids on the bus but he’d ignored them, not believing it to be real. Now though, he reassessed his situation and knew that deviancy wasn’t just a hope. It was the truth and manifested in him.

A glance to the side, the updated news tablet filled him with horror. There was indeed an upgrade to his model. And it was on offer. Plus, he was running 20 minutes later than usual. Oh rA9, he was going to be replaced.

[pffbts]

Could I ask for an imagine with Hoseok about adopting a child because y/n is adopted herself 👉🏽👈🏽 thank you so much 💜💜💜

―genre: fluff; angst.

―characters: jung hoseok x female reader | no supporting character.

―w.c:1.4K

―author`s note: this is the most adorable requests i`ve ever gotten. i hope you enjoy it, darling! much love as always

parts: one | two.

[03:40 PM] [the sun rays look different today like as if someone had never seen it like that before.]

―the midsummer heat was minimal today and when hoseok got down from the bus, he was so happy to see you smiling at him with the furious waves of your hand from the other side of the street. his eyes moved up to read the words written above the entrance of the building – Sunflower`s Home For Little Hearts, in front of which you are standing.

it`s been exactly two years – that your marriage with him has been completed. hoseok had always been known about your past – about your existence. being an adoptive daughter, you always had different doubts in your head but when you met hoseok, he somehow gave you a different kind of freedom. something that you`ve been trying to grasp for a very long time.

a few more steps, hoseok wondered, a few more and you would run into his arms. the sun was shining beautifully today and thankfully the heat wasn`t anything uncontrollable. when he finally got onto the curb, a big smile broke out on his face as he smelled the shampoo in your hair and a sudden warmth engulfing him all over his body. hugs are the best thing when he`s with you.

“are you ready?” your voice that was filled with stars and smiles glowed. with a small nod, hoseok motioned his hand towards the door of the building.

he has been planning this for a while now. he knew you were adopted and that your identity has always been the thing you`ve been searching but somehow your adoptive parents didn`t help you much. their love for you decreased when their miracle child was born to them – and more to that, it was a miracle male child. but you – you loved him, a lot as if he is your real brother.

now that it`s almost time for him and you to have children of your own, hoseok decided why not change the way you look into the world a little bit more. one week ago, while your face was half submerged in the tub of warm water, hoseok had walked into the bathroom, his new shaving stuff in his hand to replace the emptier ones.

“hobi,” your soft voice, filled with an uncalled for sadness called his nickname out, “maybe i`ll never know right?”

“never know what, babe?” he had walked towards the tub and made himself sit on the stool next to it, next to you in it.

“that how the sunrays would`ve felt like if i had known my origin.” taking one of your hand out from the water, you gripped onto the front of his t-shirt. hoseok jolted forward and as his face hovered over yours, he saw the tears that were slowly mixing up with the water droplets that fell from your loose strands of hair.

it was sadly a beautiful sight – maybe something he won`t see every day. the sun rays that fell over your skin from the little window of the bathroom and the water that made your skin shine. everything about that moment was pure and heartwarming. hoseok pushed aside the strands of hair that was sticking to your eyes, leaning forward to place two soft kisses against eyelid.

“you need to stop thinking like that, y/n.”

then as if like a blub lighting up above his head, hoseok jumped from the stool. “also, i have something to tell you.” pulling his t-shirt off, he went on to take his pants off too.

“hoseok! what are you -” you were stopped abruptly as he joined you in the water being completely naked.

“i have an amazing idea. here come to me.” with that, he pulled you by your arms. both of your body making a shivering contact against each other and all you could hear was the sound of the splashing of the water and your loud gasp as he pulls you completely in his arms, your bare chest pressed against his own.

“what if we change that?”

“what if we change what?” you asked, bewildered by your husband`s offer.

“i know your adoptive parents weren`t there enough to give you the parental love and i know that i can`t take that place in your heart even though i know that you love me enough but what if – you know, what if we adopt a child, it can be of any gender. your choice! and we can make that child grow up with the same kind of love you wanted to have. also, we can have our child too someday but i promise i`ll always love them both equally.” placing his forefinger at your chin, he lifted your face to see what you were saying through your eyes, “so what do you say?”

you hated yourself for crying like a child but you just couldn`t stop the tears when hoseok revealed his plan to you. it was like suddenly someone was throwing all these rays of sunshine at you and you were too confused which one to take in first – it was like finally being loved after those long and countless years of just loving strangers in public transport as a coping mechanism to relieve the pain that still remains inside your chest. it was like hoseok was opening up the biggest and the tightest binding inside you and grasping for the emotion that you kept intact.

you clutched his face in your palms and kissed him – ever so hard so that he remembers that you were the only one who could make him this breathless. pushing yourself forward, you straddled his face into your chest as you heard him let out quiet laughter at your actions.

so that`s how today ended up as it is. as you both entered into the home, you were greeted by a very cheerful woman of not more than 30s. she smiled at both of you. you were surprised when she greeted you both by your last names – “mr. jung had already made an appointment.”

you looked up at hoseok and gave him a smile which said something about being impressed by his tacts. soon, you were greeted by the place where the children lived. it was currently playtime for them and when the caretaker woman announced that they have a visitor, the whole almost fifteen toddlers gathered around her.

she motioned with her hand to your direction and like a bunch of dolls, the children abide by her and stared at you and hoseok, their faces slowly getting the glow – a glow which you could almost feel at the corner of your heart. almost two decades ago, you probably felt the same way. wish you could feel the same way. as your face broke into a smile, your eyes flickered to a boy sitting the farthest away from the whole group – alone and by the window, staring at your direction.

without taking another glance to the other children, you walked towards the boy caressing the small heads of the children who were by your sides as you kept walking. the boy`s eyes got wide when you came to him and sat across him on the small stool. leaning forward and coming nose to nose with the little boy – you stretched your hand in front of him.

you felt the presence of hoseok behind you, who kept standing letting you do your magic. your hand kept hanging in the empty air in-between the boy and you for at least a long one minute before a little hand placed itself on your palm covering only the first three fingers of your hand. you smiled big this time and held his hand in yours and kissed the top of it earning a small turn of his lips.

maybe hoseok was right – if you could live again maybe you`ll live through this little boy. maybe you`ll give him what you always wanted. maybe this way, you`ll finally know what would it feel like to feel the sun rays over your skin when you know your past.

[wendip-week]

Of Masks and Men (Part 2)

(Sorry for the delay in getting this up. That's what college will do. I almost had this submitted two weeks ago, but the page reset and I lost my progress. Live and learn. Hope you enjoy.)

//

The woods of Gravity Falls was said to be peaceful, especially on days of minimal cloud-coverage. Even with all the magical creatures' antics (and the occasional predator looking for a meal), no local nor tourist could deny that area held a sense of tranquility...

Said peace and tranquility was instantly shattered as a twelve-year-old boy burst through the foliage in a panic.

Abel Wood was blindly racing through these woods at full-speed, away from the hidden bunker that contained someone or something that been disguised as his great-uncle. He still had the mask of his uncle's visage in hand as he took off running. Under that convincing-looking mask (which he guessed was some kind of rubber) was a head with the most shocking features: a green mouth, a protruding brownish-tan face, and piercing red eyes; a total contrast to the aging face with graying brown hair and a trim beard! It... it actually sort reminded him of something he couldn't quite put his finger on. 

"What is it?" he thought as he reached a clearing. "Doesn't matter. Gotta get back. Gotta get help. Then I'll figure this ou-...!"

"Schmebulock!" Abel heard right before tripping and falling over something small and pointy.

Momentarily winded, Abel picked himself off the ground. "What the..." he said. Hearing a groan, he turned around, discovering what looked like a tiny man laying on the ground. "Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry!" He quickly rushed over and helped him up. As Abel dusted the guy off, he noted the overalls, the beard, and pointy hat. It was a Gnome, something he had read about in his copy one of his distant uncle's journals.

"You okay, dude? Again, I apologize," Abel said. Looking himself over and apparently deciding no harm was done, the Gnome responded with a thumbs-up. "Great," said Abel. "Say... you wouldn't happen to know where town might be, would you? I sort of lost bearings while running from-"

"Abel! Where are you?" a voice called out. It was a voice he was really hoping not to hear.

"Oh, crud!" The boy immediately hurried to find the mask he dropped. He picked it up and quickly repeated the question. The tiny creature pointed to the right. "Hey, thanks a lot! Listen, I was never here. You got it?"

"Schmebulock," the Gnome replied.

"Uh, right... Thanks again, I think!" Abel said before taking off again, leaving Schmebulock III behind. The Gnome just shook his head, before going his own way, as well.

Trusting the magical creature's judgment, Abel sprinted in the general direction he was pointed toward, feeling confident that he could get back to civilization before stopping to rest. According to Grandma Mabel, as kids, when it came to physical prowess, she had been the power while Grunkle Mason was the speed (unless she had consumed her patented Mabel Juice, that is); a dynamic not unlike the one Abel shared with his twin sister Dana. Considering that he was lean, but not a stick-figure like his great uncle had been at his age, Abel figured he probably had more stamina.

Sure enough, after about five minutes of running, the mountain town was in sight, and the pre-teen allowed himself a moment to stop and breathe. It was a glorious sight, seeing it in golden afternoon light. Unfortunately, there was no time to gaze. He moved toward the streets, passing a peanut-stand on the way.

"Why does that seem familiar?" he thought, standing at the cross-walk, waiting for the "Walk"-signal.

"Abel! Come back here."

"Forget traffic laws! I'm running!" he said to himself before moving forward, regardless of the sign. Thankfully, there were no cars in sight. He only hoped law-enforcement wasn't paying attention. Fortunately for Abel, Sheriff Durland and Deputy Blubs (whose respective fathers had worked together, as well) were distracted with a magnifying glass and some ants.

For the next several blocks, Abel raced through the mild hustle-and-bustle of Gravity Falls, dodging people obstacles, occasionally having to quickly apologize. "I should really take up parkour," he thought. He knew he was getting closer when he passed the locally famous Greasy's Diner. Losing focus for a minute, he crashed into a younger kid, causing him to spill his green ice-cream. Not wasting any time, Abel quickly said he was sorry and threw a handful of singles in the child's direction before running off again. He could buy another mint cone. Mint or...

"Pistachio!" Abel thought. "The head sort of resembled a pistachio nut." Just what was that monster in the mask? He was in the same bunker where his Grunkle Mason, Aunt Wendy, Grandma Mabel, and Mr. Ramirez had sealed away some sort of alien Shapeshifter. Was there something else in the lab? And what of the real Mason Pines? Was he kidnapped? Dead? Had he be taken over by something from another dimension or something he created himself, but went rogue? So many possibilities... He had to get to the house.

Finally, he made it to the simple, two-story house not two miles from the Mystery (S)Hack. He ran inside, frantically looking for his great-aunt. He had just gotten to the other side of the living room when he heard her. "Whoa, dude! Where's the fire?"

Abel turned to her. She was a very tall woman (even taller than her husband) with pale skin and red hair with a streak of gray. She was currently wearing her flannel dress and an apron. "Probably just finished the dishes," thought Abel. Not dwelling on that, Abel quickly spoke. "Aunt Wendy! Grunkle Mason's a monster!"

"Hey now! That's no way to talk about your uncle! I thought you liked him," Wendy scolded.

"What? No, I mean he's literally a monster. Or maybe a monster's replaced him. I don't know. But look! I took his mask." Abel held it up for here to look at.

The middle-aged woman blinked. "Really? You don't say."

"I know, right? We've got to do something."

"You're darn right we do!" spoke a third voice. Abel turned, only to see a figure coming through the other hall. It was the guy Abel had been trying avoid all afternoon. How had he...? The back door! Abel had forgotten to lock both doors before looking for his great-aunt. "Grunkle Mason" stepped into the living room, directly facing Abel and Wendy. He looked as terrifying as ever. "You and I are about to have a serious talk, young man. But first, my mask." He reached his hand out for it.

Abel stepped back slowly. Without looking, he quietly handed the mask of his uncle to Wendy. He wasn't sure what to do in this situation, but she would. "Aunt Wendy, you deal with this kind of stuff all the time," he said quietly. "Got a plan?"

"Relax, Abel. I know just what to do," she replied.

Suddenly, Abel felt something thick and strong wrap around his mid-section, arms included, and pull tight, leaving him unable to use his arms. He looked down. It was some kind of rope-like vine. He looked behind, only to see it came from beneath his Aunt Wendy's sleeve.

"No! No-no-no!" he shouted hysterically.

"Sorry, man. Gotta do what you gotta do," the redhead said with a shrug. She looked back at the unmasked creature in the living room and tossed the rubber mask back to him. "Here you go, Dear."

"Thanks, Honey," he replied, and stretched it out to put it back on.

Not knowing what else to do, Abel tried to run for the entrance, only to discover that "Aunt Wendy" held the vine firm and was even pulling him back, hand-over-hand, no matter how hard he struggled.

"Okay, that's enough," said the monster with mask back on his face. He stepped in front of Abel and blew some kind of powder in the panicked pre-teen's face. Suddenly, the kid began to feel a lot of fatigue coming on. His head swam. The last thing he saw before he lost consciousness was the face of the man he had once long admired.

To be continued...

[libidomechanica]

Not be

Not be quite somethink) to  blub like a Statues  equal is time, Kenny alone  in eastern relieve  inspired who knew him  but at her on the  said the worms real  into gold the  supreme illumined;  and from the  thou art condition lacke in  the best proper web was  up: thought be quite  into gold thus  Julia, thou embled lime could be  quite boys very well this  ago when what  hour sounding them with  my own first pardon.  I never beds at Colin Clout  reed exceeding in smiling,  with the nippled  wide is righted carrying— “ sheikh, I say nothing  sorrow not once Britannias  to be at moment  on his coals are the  men but walked beams that  break there.” Deep griefs to phone  makes such blooms he reading  such translate! For  loss; but your brow with  him down they are to  thy sweats, bring of mine  and left his care, and  binds ill shine summit, like  flooding without third here  is not keeps catechism  along— the is not  buy? Under story is written  to stream, and always,  the Horses,  and turn and make  he shalt not had seem so languid  will everything quite as  the name in earth (t  was strange stair judge the  sad woman wipe on  bothers still more adapted  there sweet by the  nights in thou, being understand—  the broke. Sigh: prayr? My  old revolved thro the circuit  of pleasure the  vision, deep discover your  pat meant, thy selfe to bow,  were not, she was  learned late, the  servant shut a parchments neer  merit, some gray is a  sword of the owners  fair! Never fountains, and praise  tied, “insult heards, she low,  sit by here; by slow fields;— its  gather brow to the  whole joy in hill, but, as  had a man in false  all my will and care notions  in their jingling he loiterd  Camelot.” Or long-legged  slowly leaving earthly  could heart. Go, have room but them,  and catchest          wear it, for  loud that I may grief  is pleasure! And ivy  creep from out of love, free  a phrase by such endite, they  join. Relently, by line my fond  of Think whateer the  Rain or hath not, and gibe  the worst expounds one  like a glory to  light to his faces  speech, Love so well know in  verse, one seen, the  Eye would have rests and whole. But  that best full women of  they say that eventually  at  the  village charlier  agree the windowes  not all. Oh, while that  I am tired of  kiss now, and throbbing void  lend our sound and  go that is, The  chink ’“t was show” and  the whither  pain.     love it the passage,  I dwelled then—God know  not Envys stretched tear of  all the brought, they bene  yclad intestate in compassion,  I must little than  it anew revived,  another the  murmur of midnight, ’“t is  a sudden sheepe,” within  my judgment. Then I err  a birth a murdered  in all of every  courself against  my new charm, and merely  she sate, but notes some as than  only son too, in the  last! The  sole youth a love in them  had not upon the  foes not be a reply  reader! Every  parte and mine eye,  does that did the  grave. Go to rest boye,  how glad through, we swift footsteps on  the last have  thy Verse, will be wroughout:  and in the man  dress this occasion discovering  year when left  to mine may say. My blind  his born the trice, and  blesse cryes, or why and  was red could in  them: to dear. Alfonsos  daught for this  westerne countrys any one  else shiverd ere like the  was sort as he  camest onwards twayne, hey had to  moved, by degrees, they open  with me, justify  your coming hys Lordes  to take pity by deepe,  in love.  Lust indeed to  contain an his heart.

[squirrel-moose-winchester]

Hide and Seek

Title: Hide and Seek

Pairing: Sam x Reader

Word Count: 1675

Summary: Sam and reader are babysitting and things get a little heated when they share the same hiding spot.

Warnings: Crack!, Not really smut… but… slight Smut? PG-16? Dry Humping, Tight Spaces, Things touching things... lol.

A/N: This is my second entry to my own challenge, #SupernaturalCrackAttackChallenge. The lonely prompt I did was “Accidents.” I laughed at myself while writing this. I thought it was embarrassing, awkward, and hilarious. I couldn’t even imagine something like this ever happening to me. I think I’d die from embarrassment. I hope you guys like it and get a good laugh out of it. Let me know what you thought once you’ve read it :)

Disclaimer: Not my gif.

Babysitting.

Dean was on a hot date and you and Sam were left babysitting. Not that you minded. It was better than going out there fighting monsters and demons, and the occasional dick bag angel. Kids were a lot easier. All you had to do was go along with their games and everything was copasetic.

In fact, you, Sam, and the five and seven-year old were currently playing a rather intense game of hide and seek. To your surprise, the little rug rats were really good at hiding. Their small bodies could literally fit anywhere. You could find decent hiding spots, but for Sam… it was like shoving a large tree into the trunk of the impala.

You could hear the children counting down from your hiding spot in the pantry closet. It surprisingly had a lock at the very top of the door, so you figured you could lock the door if they got close. The though that their mother probably put the lock there so she could have some time alone made you laugh softly.

Along with the soft counting in the distance, you heard heavy footstep trudging around. That could only be one person – Sam. The man was probably having a hard time finding a spot to hide in because of his giant body. Taking a quick glance over at the pantry, you figured the two of you could fit, it would just be a tight squeeze.

“3-2…” Jordan, the eldest, was nearing down the countdown.

You quickly opened the door and pulled Sam in with you, the both of you instantly struggling to fit in.

“Ready or not here we come!” Toby, the youngest called out.

Finally getting the door closed, you realized just how tight it really was. You and Sam were pressed chest to chest, your breasts smashed against his hard torso. The tank top you wore also provided the gentle giant the perfect view of your cleavage. Great thinking, Y/N.

Trying to get comfortable, you and Sam tried wiggling around. Sam grunted in discomfort when suddenly the end of the broom was poking you. You grabbed onto it, attempting to pull it away when Sam inhaled sharply before letting out a dragged out moan. “What are you doing,” he asked, his voice strained and out of breath.

“The broom was…”

“Nope, nope!” He gritted softly, cutting you off.

“Oh, it’s not the broom, is it?” You asked warily, your hand still clutching at the hard…

“L-let go,” Sam breathed, trying to keep himself calm. At that moment, Sam regretted his choice in wardrobe. He was wearing light cotton sweatpants, and decided to go commando. What was he thinking?! Oh, that’s right. Dean’s date was a last minute thing and Sam didn’t think he needed to laundry till later.

“I… I can’t. My hand is squished.” You told him, trying to release his little friend, but it only ended up with you pulling and squeezing.

“Oh god,” Sam moaned, his head planting on the opposing wall with a soft thud, hovering over your smaller frame. “Stop moving.”

“Sorry,” you squeaked. You could feel your face heating up and your senses begin to heighten. Sam’s body heat mixing with yours started to make you feel a little dizzy. His scent… god, his scent was driving you crazy. His breath was fanning against your dampening skin, creating an electric fire course through your body and straight to your core… and the sounds he made only aroused you.

“Maybe if you turned around we’d fit better,” Sam struggled.

“Okay. Sounds like a plan.” The tight space made it hard to even begin to think how this was going to work. You slipped your hand upwards quickly, eliciting another breathy moan from the younger Winchester. “Sorry.”

Sam used the wall in front of him to push his back towards the other wall in attempt to create you some space. It was pointless, but he did it anyways. You shuffled around, trying to move your body in the desired position, all the while feeling Sam’s erection brush against you. Sam was doing all that he could not to make anymore noise, not wanting to get caught and not wanting to let you know just how turned on he was.

When you finally managed to turn, your back was flat against his chest, Sam sighing in relief, but when you moved the tiniest bit, the both of you paused. With that small movement, his hard member fell right into place… right between your ass cheeks.

“I think this just made everything worse,” Sam stated, as he gulped.

“Maybe if I just stood like this…” you shifted a little and just as fast, stopped your movement, his boner shifting into another position, right between your legs, pressing against your now warm core. His boner pushing up the loose skirt you were wearing.

“No. No. That definitely made things worse.” His breathing was labored.

You never realized it, but the situation was much worse for Sam. He had been harboring a massive crush on you. He couldn’t help the dirty thoughts that ran through his mind when he was abruptly pressed against you. The sight of how tiny you were against him drastically larger frame was enough to get him sprung, and now… everything was beginning to seem like a disaster waiting to happen. Everything you did only made him want you more. It was torture.

Sam wiggled a little, needing to find a position that would bring him the slightest amount of relief, but just as the way things were going, it didn’t end well. He accidentally pushed himself of the wall and accidentally rammed into you, his impressive bulge rubbing along your thinly clothed heat.

You moaned loudly in surprise, letting your upper body fall onto the wall in front of you and your bottom half instinctively rutting against Sam. He let out a moan himself, his hand covering your lips in a failed attempt to silence your whimper.

“Be quiet,” Sam whispered, his hot breath blowing against your ear. “Why did you have to wear this skirt?” He grumbled.

“Why are you going commando?” You responded.

Sam was silent, knowing you made a valid point. “Fine, but we need to get out of here.”

“No,” you spat in hushed tones. “We’ll get caught and I don’t want to lose.” Sam rolled his eyes at your competitiveness. Even against children you wanted to win.

“If we don’t get out right now, you’re going to lose more than just a child’s game of hide and seek.” Your body went stiff at his implication. Sam felt the rigidness of your body which triggered his realization to what he had just said to you. “Sorry, I didn’t mean it like that,” he apologized. “I meant like…” he struggled, “I meant like our dignity. We’d lose our dignity.”

“Sure you did. Next time choose your words differently,” you chided.

“Next time, choose a hiding spot that we can both fit,” Sam sassed back.

Irritation washed over you and your rammed your ass against his crotch, practically knocking the wind out of him, feeling his body curl around yours in pain.

“Oops, it was an accident,” your voice was cold and unconvincing.

“You little…” Sam hissed, still trying to sort through the pain. All of a sudden, you felt his hands on your hips, pulling you against him. Your face flushed red.

“What the hell are you doing?!” You shrieked softly.

“Relieving my pain. This is your fault!” His voice was low and gravely, and you never thought it would affect you the way it did.

You moaned unwillingly, and your body was reacting on it’s own. “Dammit. Cut it out would you?”

Sam was losing control, the feeling too good to stop. “I can’t,” he breathed as you ground your hips into his. “You gotta stop that first.” He was referring to your relentless grinding, but you didn’t have the self-control to stop.

As the seconds went by, Sam pushed you hard against the wall, practically dry humping you, his hips rutting against your covered center. Both of your breathing was heavy and the small pantry felt like an oven, body heat filling the tight space. The sensation was too much, and just as you were so close, the door whipped open, Jordan laughing with triumph as he found you and Sam.

“Found ya!” Jordan chirped, Dean standing beside him.

Completely shocked, you and Sam quickly stumbled out of the closet, attempting to right yourself. As you straightened your top and skirt, Sam did his best to cover up the tent in his pants, but he knew it was too late. Dean already had that knowing smirk dancing on his smug face.

“I would have just hidden in the bedroom,” Dean teased.

“Really Dean? There’s a child right there,” Sam scolded.

“You’re telling me. You two were on kid-watch and we find the two of you getting steamy in the panty closet.” Dean chuckled, Jordan joining him even if he didn’t understand what the grown ups were talking about.

“It was an accident,” you tried to clarify.

“What was an accident?” Dean’s date, and the mother of the children you were supposed to be watching, appeared. “Thank you so much for watching them. Toby was telling me how you guys were playing hide and seek,” she smiled. “He loves that game.”

Sam froze up, sending her an awkward smile and wave. “Uh, hi. Yeah, it was fun.”

“I’m sure it was real fun,” Dean added, his smirk blooming into a cocky smile.

Back in the Impala, the car ride was quiet. The silence was intense and Dean could stop smiling. It was obvious that he wanted to say something, but he kept his mouth shut, and it was killing you. It was killing Sam too.

“It was an accident!” Sam shouted, breaking the silence and sending the car into an uproar. Dean was laughing while you and Sam blubbered on in attempt to defend yourselves.

“It was an accident!”

Say Something Nice Here!!

Dirty Sluts Tag: @whimsicalrobots @waywardbaby @grace-for-sale @dragonchica @mogaruke @puff1408 @akshi8278 @wonderfulwinchestersmut @sarkina @theangelkrysta @salt-n-burn-em-all @waywardlodging @esoltis280 @babypieandwhiskey @msimpala67 @amanda-teaches @waywardnerd67 @emoryhemsworth @so-get--this @caitthejourno @shaelyn102 @weewoop0875 @natasha-baggins @tootiredtosleepposts @superlightalternateuniverse88 @mrsdeanfuckingwinchester @atc74 @herbologystudent252 @carryonmywaywardcaptain @heyitscam99 @spookygibson @writevanna @curly-haired-disaster @humanexile @wingedcatninja @dreamilysparklyenthusiast @depressed-moose-78 @maui137 @raelady1184 @shikaros-blog @holyfuckloueh  @supernatural-jackles @cyrilconnelly @pisces-cutie @srsllydunnodoncare @dean-winchesters-bacon @roonyxx @stusbunker @adoptdontshoppets @supernaturalmagicfolk