ahlicucisepatubogor

[rmd-writes]

getting in early while it’s actually Sunday here for once because I have words!!!! This fic is at 3,800 words and counting:

He feels like he’s drowning in pleasure. He feels like he’s on fire. He feels like he’s fucking flying.

“Fuck, H, I’m so close. Please,” Alex begs, gritting his teeth and pressing his face into the pillow.

He doesn’t get an answer because Henry comes with a breathy laugh, painting Alex’s ass and back with his come.

“Fucking hell, Alex, you look exquisite,” Henry breathes.

“Please, please, baby. I can’t— I need—”

“Shhh, it’s alright, love. You’ve been so good for me,” Henry soothes him, switching the vibrator off and rubbing his hips.

“I’m going to take it out now, alright?”

Alex is ready to sob. He was so fucking close. Maybe Henry will get him off with his mouth instead. He nods and Henry pulls the vibrator out slowly, then lifts the edge of the towel to wipe him clean.

Henry helps him to roll onto his back, kneeling beside him.

Fuck, he’s so beautiful. There’s a sheen of sweat glistening on his skin, his hair damp at the edges. He smiles softly at Alex, eyes crinkling at the corners and it makes Alex’s heart feel like it’s going to explode in his chest even though his dick is so hard that it’s throbbing.

Henry brushes his hair off his forehead, then runs his hand down Alex’s cheek, tipping his chin up and kissing him like he’s been craving it. Alex can’t help but whimper into his mouth, desperately hoping for more.

“You’re incredible, you know that?” Henry says when he pulls away.

“Do you know what would be incredible right now? Your mouth on my dick.”

Henry laughs brightly. Alex wants to bottle the sound.

“Here I am trying to be sentimental and you come out with that.”

“Only one of us has come, sweetheart.”

“I’m well aware of that, love,” Henry loves his hand on Alex’s hip, running his thumb over the tattoo there.

“Maybe you should fucking do something about it,” Alex pouts.

“I’ll do something about it,” Henry says lowly and Alex’s heart skips a beat in anticipation. And then Henry stands. “Later. You’ve got a paper to write.”

Tagging everyone who tagged me for inspiration weekend/self-promo Saturday: @carlos-tk @carlos-in-glasses @three-drink-amy @lightningboltreader @orchidscript @cha-melodius @fitzherbertssmolder (art/comic wip maybe?) @alrightbuckaroo and also @welcometololaland @strandnreyes @reyesstrand @liminalmemories21 @goodways @maxbegone @stereopticons @blackandwhiteandrose @wandering-night19 @sanjuwrites @inexplicablymine @dumbpeachjuice @tintagel-or-cockleshells @everwitch-magiks @kiwiana-writes @myheartalivewrites @sherryvalli @sunshinestrand @lizzie-bennetdarcy @lilythesilly @rosedavid and an open tag (tag me back!) 💖

[bella-goths-wife]

HERE ME OUTTT…

Platonic yandere bowers gang.

The reader is a freshman, shes just a clueless 14 year old who needs someone to guide her, why not that be the bowers gang?

Platonic yandere bowers gang x freshman reader

You weren’t particularly bad kid

Sure, you mouthed off to teachers and smoked behind the bleachers on rough days

But you also kept up with your studies and got pretty good grades

So you weren’t a bad kid, certainly not bad enough to avoid snide comments or harassment

Certainly not bad enough to catch the eyes of anyone important, or at least you thought anyway

You had met belch first

After a particularly cruel day caused by your classmates constant teasing and bullying, you had decided to hide out behind the bleachers for a quick smoke and to reevaluate your life choices

But instead of the usual quietness, you heard frustrated mumblings and the sounds of crunched up papers

You peaked your head around and saw an extremely frustrated belch sat on the ground with papers scrunched up in his hands as he attempted to solve whatever was on the paper

You had planned to just turn around and pretend you saw nothing, but fate had another plan for you as belch coincidentally looked to his left and made eye contact with you

Belch stiffened and began to plan out how to best beat you into forgetting what you saw, but before he could even rise up from the ground you spoke

“Do you want some help?” You had asked quite calmly considering the situation, and belch had noticed there was not one smidge of mockery or pity in your tone

He would have almost called your tone kind if it weren’t for your monotone delivery

Belch was stunned into a paralysed state as you calmly sat yourself next to him and read over the math problems he had been attempting

Half an hour later you had helped him complete the sheet, practically finishing it all by yourself at that point

Belch was about to threaten you into silence but you just stood up and walked away, not intimidated by him in the slightest

You, a lowly freshman, was not intimidated by him, one of the biggest and scariest people in school

Belch was so taken aback that he immediately reported his findings to Henry, who let a plot grow in his head

While the bowers gang had a few very intelligent members, they were all failing extraordinarily

All of their grades were written with a ‘do better’ message and delivered with a sigh from their teachers

So an idea popped into Henry’s head

Why should they do all of their work when they can just get someone else to do it for them

And now he knows about this genius freshman from belch, well it was almost fate in Henry’s eyes

He rounded up the boys and stalked you throughout your day at school to find a chance to corner you

They watched as you sat through your first lessons with a bored expression and they also watched as you completed the class work in less than ten minutes before just staring out the window for the rest of the time

They watched as you got relentlessly picked on by your peers and they watched as you finally grew tired enough of it to get up and leave the classroom, deciding to just skip considering you already knew what was being taught

They couldn’t help but he slightly fascinated with how you carried yourself

You were a genius, that was very much clear

But you almost seemed like you were reluctant with your intelligence, like the mere fact that you existed bored and exhausted you

Henry in his own brand of narcissism, couldn’t help but think he was the same

He was not, he was intelligent but he could never fully match up to you

But he projected the idea that you were exactly like him, that you two were two peas in a pod

Two geniuses surrounded by idiots

He finally thought he had found an equal

It was then that he decided that instead of just intimidating you into doing what they wanted, he’d make you a deal

And that’s what he did as he and his boys cornered you behind the bleachers

He made you an offer, you complete all their work and get them good grades and they’d allow you to sit with them at lunch and would keep your tormentors away

You were reluctant to accept this offer considering you understood that the boys in front of you were not good people and it was likely you wouldn’t be treated well during this agreement but you were just so tired of being picked on that you agreed anyway

So the deal was made and from that day forward you’d sit with them at lunch and would complete their work for them during the periods that you skipped, most of the time one of them joined you

Most of the group didn’t understand why Henry had extended this offer to you in the first place, didn’t understand his weird fascination with you

They all began to understand individually with time

Patrick began his obsession when he realised that he could make being in your presence a game

Patrick is a sociopath, there’s no sugar coating it because it’s just the truth

And Patrick loves to torment, he likes to manipulative and he likes to cause pain to his chosen target

And it’s only after a few times he tries to target you that he realises that you don’t succumb as easily as other people

Any words he spewed, any plots he cooked up and any sickly sweet manipulative tactics he tried to use, you would most of the time simply see through it

This made whenever Patrick finally did break you down all the more satisfying

It became a somewhat game of cat and mouse to him as he attempted to find the best ways to hurt you

But Patrick also quickly noticed he despises when someone other than him and the others tried the same methods to hurt you, that’s why he scared off all of your tormentors and bullies

He wants to be your biggest and only bully

And he wants the satisfaction of finally overcoming your intelligence and breaking you more than anything

Victor was the next one to become obsessed with you

Victor was the verbal punching bag of the group, or he thought he was considering how he denies ever acknowledging his cruelty towards belch

But with you, he finally had someone who was below him

In his eyes no matter how smart you were, your still younger than him and you clearly need guidance in how to survive in highschool

He could sweetly (meanly and roughly) condescend you and you couldn’t do a damn thing about it because you were the bottom of the food chain

You validated his want to be needed, to know better and be better than someone

He purposely ignores the fact that intelligence wise and probably in most ways your better than him

He doesn’t care as long as he can keep treating you like a clueless little lamb who wandered into the den of wolves

Belch was quickly taken with you considering he always struggled with his intelligence and you had helped him that afternoon in a calmer manner than any teacher had

But he also enjoyed that your not scared of him despite that fact you definitely should be

You spoke to him without mockery but you also didn’t mince your words, you explained things without sugar coating his failures but you also didn’t rub his loses in his face

The other question why he has you teach him instead of just having you do his work, but you help him learn and overcome his insecurities that he’s had about his intelligence for years now

Maybe that’s why he’s so protective of you, maybe that’s why he begin to view you as a sister figure

Belch doesn’t care to expand his thoughts on that subject beyond the fact that he knows it’ll be hard to ever let go of you now

Henry and you have a weird dynamic

In some ways Henry views you as somewhat of an equal, in others he views you as the bottom of the food chain considering you can hardly defend yourself

His fascination brews from the need to be what you are, he’s always wanted to be the smartest in the room and his inherent narcissism had deluded him into believing that’s true

And now he has you, someone who actually is the smartest person in the room

Sometimes deep down Henry can’t tell if he’s obsessive with you because he wants to have an equal or if he just secretly wants what you have

He also enjoys that your unafraid of speaking the truth to him

You don’t sugarcoat your words when talking to him, which is a risky move on your part but it seems to work for you for now

You’ll openly disagree with his decisions if you believe they’re wrong, and usually Henry would kill someone for disrespecting him by disagreeing

But he feels more open to listening to you, feels more inclined to taking your advice

Your almost like a right hand to Henry, that’s if he ever actually admitted that your anything to him

But you are, because he’s already threatened and hurt the people who hurt you and is actively making sure that his presence surrounds you enough so that anyone within a few feet of you will flee out of fear

Henry believes that your just like him, therefore it’s his duty to guide you to the right path

To guide you into his path

You just didn’t realise how intrusive and dangerous this guidance would become

Sorry if this didn’t make sense at all 😭🙏

I’m trying to go for a sister sage and homelander type dynamic here but it probably doesn’t work

I just had the idea and thought I’d mix it with the ask tbh

Anyway, what did you think? :)

[valkyrieromanoff]

GUESS THE LINE: Pedro Pascal x actress! reader

Summary: You and Pedro play Guess the line.

Tags: can be read in a platonic way or not, fluff, just friends having fun together.

A/N: My college is back and it's already killing me. I should be finishing my internship report, but here I am finishing one more imagine about Pedro Pascal. 

I hope you enjoy it, and sorry for the spelling mistakes.

“Hi, I’m Pedro Pascal”

“And I’m Y/N” 

“And this is” Your co-star began, tilting his head to face you so that you could speak together. “Is this a line from Caught Eye?”

"I confess my memory is not the best, but we'll see how it goes." You said while staring at the papers on the table. 

Pedro took the first one and looked at the paper for a moment before returning to you. “Are you ready?”

“I was born ready.” You joked.

“Born ready..” Pedro repeated laughing, as if he thought the pun was very funny. He took another look at the paper. "This one's pretty easy. You'll get it right."

“I'll get this wrong, just because you said it.” You smiled.

“You stay awake, do you hear me?! Don’t you dare close your eyes! Please, come on!” Pedro read the sentence, making his tone more serious.

"It's your line, Caught Eye, Miguel." You said it, lightly tapping your head as if it were obvious. "That scene, with a lot of fake blood involved, still haunts me." You reminded.

"Really? I found it so relaxing to sit in the snow while they threw more fake blood over it." Pedro sneered, waiting for you to grab another paper.

"Come on." You muttered, after reading the sentence.

"What? You don't know where the phrase is from?" Pedro asks, tilting his head to see what's written but returning when he remembers that the point of the game was to guess. 

"I know, it's just a coincidence." You explained, reading on. “Did you really not see it? Or were you too afraid to look?”

"Um, I'm not sure." He muttered, scratching his beard, making an exaggerated expression of contemplation. "I'm kidding, it's Miguel, Caught Eye. Those are so easy."

"I said, better than I imagined." You agreed, tossing the paper aside.

Pedro laughed when he read the line on the paper. He straightened in his chair, preparing his southern accent to recite.

“How would you like to ride home a real cowboy? I got a six pack of cold ones on ice and my roomie’s out all night. So you can scream my name as loud as you need to, sugar.”

You laughed, because you knew the answer. In fact, everyone with tiktok knew exactly where that audio was from.

“Agent Whiskey, Kingsman: The Golden Circle.” You said, and Pedro responded with 'ding, ding, ding'. "When you released that film, did you imagine that six years later, it would bomb again because of your character?" Pedro chuckled and shook his head.

"Surely, I knew that at some point, Whiskey would be the star." He joked. "I'm kidding, I never thought that would happen. I guess it was a nice surprise that thousands of people out of nowhere liked me."

"Who doesn't like you, Pedro?" You said, as he smiled discreetly. 

You picked up a new paper.

“Listen, I’m sorry, I’m trying to care.” You read, uncertain.

You read, uncertain.

"You don't know what movie it is?" Pedro asked, noticing your confusion.

"I have no idea." 

Pedro laughed.

“Dieter, The Bubble.”

"How did you know?" You asked curiously.

"I played him." Pedro shrugged as you blushed embarrassedly.

"Well, it must be a good movie." You retorted, waiting for him to pick up the next line.

“Just because you don’t see something doesn’t mean it isn't there.” Pedro read, staring at you expectantly.

"Caught eye."

"Who said that?" He asked.

"Me, I said it."

"You're right." Pedro confirmed, tossing the paper away.

"That's a good one." You commented, reading the sentence. “It’s easier when you’re a kid anyway. You don’t have anybody else relying on you. That’s the hard part.”

"It's from The Last of Us, Joel tells Henry when Sam and Ellie are playing." Peter spoke up, celebrating his answer. "I'm really good at that."

You chuckled.

Pedro stared at the paper, and shook his head thoughtfully.

"You don't know what it is?" you asked curiously.

"No, I know, I was just trying to remember when it happened." He spoke.

 “Silly girl, can’t you see the truth in front of you? You mean nothing to him, you’re just bargaining chips for his freedom.”

"I remember that one, Caught Eye, Alexander says that to me." You stated. "I remember my face getting swollen from crying so much in that scene, Mads Mikkelsen is a really great actor, he acts his part so well."

"He really is, he can convey that aura of complex and morally grey characters." Pedro agreed.

"Okay, I hope you get that one right. Otherwise we'll have problems," You played along, while Peter raised his hands in a sign of peace.

 “You give out pieces of yourself to people but never let them see the whole picture.”

“Oh, that’s Lost.”

"What?" you exclaimed confused.

"I'm kidding, Caught Eye, Anna." Pedro spoke up, moving his shoulders as if the answer was obvious. "Your character said that to mine, while they were hiding in a sewer tunnel."

"Yeah, it wasn't one of the best locations." You joked.

"Only two left." Pedro commented, choosing one. He cleared his throat, leaving his tone of voice low and murmuring. “I can bring you in warm, or I can bring you in cold.”

"Oh, it's Din Djardin." You spoke, while your co-star nodded in agreement. "I'm just unsure if it's The Mandalorian or The Book of Boba Fett, because you said that in both."

"That's right, but they put The Mandalorian in here." Pedro agreed, showing the paper to you.

"Ready for the last one?" You asked, pretending to think of which paper to pick up.

"More than ever."

"This is a tricky one." You muttered. "Everybody works for somebody."

"I feel like it's something a lot of characters in different shows and contexts could have said ." Pedro spoke up, fixing his glasses. "Can I get a hint?"

"Okay, everything I think makes it very obvious." You spoke, trying to think. "Okay, pay attention."

Pedro nodded his head in agreement.

"Cocaine, wait, can I say that?" You scolded yourself, remembering that kids could watch the interview online.

Pedro laughed, tilting his head back slightly, his eyes almost closed, crinkling at the sides. 

"Narcos, Javier Penã." He said. "That was a good line."

"Those catchphrases you use before cut the scene." You agreed. 

"Well, looks like we're out of lines." Pedro commented, looking at the empty table. "I had a lot of fun guessing which ones belonged to whom."

"You were great at the game." You praised him.

"You got them all right, I think we make a good team." Pedro spoke, stretching his arms out for you to clap hands.

"Yeah, we are." You agreed, slapping his hand, a slight noise sounding. 

You both laughed.

[cha-melodius]

HAPPY 100 FICS / 1000 KUDOS DARLING

Could I please get Firstprince at some sort of pet store?

💜💜💜💜

(HAPPY BIRTHDAY CRICKET!!!! This is the fill for your fandom fest request of firstprince at a pet store. Thank you for being such an excellent doc gremlin and wonderful friend, I hope this fic brightens your day!!)

The Hazards of Unsolicited Toy Advice

(T, 2.2k, read it below or on AO3)

There’s a staggeringly gorgeous man loitering by a display of chew toys.

The sight of him momentarily brings Henry to a complete halt, which confuses David. He reaches the end of his lead and looks back at Henry with his head tilted, clearly wondering what could have interrupted their usual pilgrimage to the elaborate collection of bones, pigs’ ears, and various treats that make this store worth going out of their way to visit. Unfortunately for David, Henry needs a moment. He knows he’s being kind of weird, but surely he can be forgiven. It’s not every day one comes across the personification of pure sunlight in a pet store.

The man doesn’t seem to notice Henry’s watching, thankfully. His full lips pout thoughtfully as he pokes idly at a few toys, picking them up and putting them down again without much intention. A few dark curls fall forward over his forehead as he props one hand on his devastatingly narrow waist, perfectly emphasized by the way his tailored button-down is tucked into navy chinos that hug a truly perfect arse.

David chuffs softly, pulling Henry out of his reverie. Right. The beautiful man looks like he could use some decision-making assistance, perhaps. Henry will take whatever tiny opening he can get.

“If you need some advice on toys, I have some experience,” Henry said, only realizing the way it sounds once the words are out of his mouth.

Unfortunately, the beautiful man does not miss the innuendo. He looks up at Henry, warm brown eyes fringed by the longest eyelashes Henry’s ever seen flashing with mirth as his face breaks into a grin and, oh, if Henry was in trouble before, it was nothing on this. The man’s entire face lights up, nearly blinding in its brilliance, and Henry’s stomach swoops.

“Do you, now?” the man returns as his lips settle into a smirk. He looks Henry up and down, and Henry doesn’t think he’s imagining the interest in his expression.

Henry’s cheeks are heating, but he holds the man’s gaze. “Yes. David is a bit of a connoisseur.”

The man’s eyebrows shoot upward. “David? Is that your…”

“My dog, of course,” Henry says, gesturing toward where David is sitting obediently at his feet. “He’s got quite the collection.”

“Dog named David, ok,” the man mutters, laughing a little to himself. “Does he have a favorite?”

Henry reaches out and plucks a rubber toy shaped like a duck and hands it to the man. “This one is probably his first choice.” At his feet, David makes a noise of interest, and Henry glances down at him. “You have this one at home, Davey.”

The man turns the toy over in his hands, but before he can say anything an employee walks up and hands him a plain brown paper bag with the top stapled shut and some numbers written on the side.

“Anything else, sir?” she asks.

“No, that’s it. Thanks,” the man says, then looks at Henry and lifts up the duck. “Thanks for the advice.”

“Yes, well, if you need any further toy suggestions, we’re here regularly,” Henry manages to say, and it sounds like just as much of a come-on as he means it to.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” the man replies, smirking, then heads off to the front of the store.

~~~~~

Henry runs into the beautiful man again a couple weeks later, standing in the same place as last time. He’s wearing a t-shirt and jeans today with his curls combed and tamed, and is no less stunning for it (though Henry’s always been partial to curls). Today, Henry is slightly more prepared; he’s thought about—ok, fantasized about—running into the man again. This time he’s getting a name, at the very least.

“So, was it a success?” he asks as he walks up to the man. Warmth blooms in his chest at the look of recognition that takes over the man’s face, though it’s quickly followed by a furrowed brow.

“What?”

“The toy. Did your dog like it?”

“Oh. Yeah, definitely,” the man says, bobbing his head a little. “Any other suggestions?”

Henry lets his gaze skim over the toys until he sees the plush strawberry David’s been favoring lately and picks it up, but the man shakes his head apologetically. “No soft toys.”

“A penchant for shredding them apart?” Henry guesses.

“Hard to keep clean,” he says, wrinkling his nose.

“Always an important consideration for any toy,” Henry agrees sagely, only for the man to raise his eyebrows again. It seems to happen with alarming regularity. As does the way Henry’s cheeks heat. He clears his throat and picks up a rubber toy with numerous large holes punched through it. “What about something like this? You can put treats in these for a bit of a challenge.”

The man looks at the toy consideringly before taking it from Henry. “That one could work.”

“I’m Henry, by the way.”

The man opens his mouth, only to be interrupted by another employee with a brown paper bag. After accepting it, he looks back at Henry. “Well, thanks again, Henry,” he says with a little wave, leaving Henry decidedly unsatisfied with the outcome of this encounter.

~~~~~

“The toy with the holes was a hit.” 

Henry turns to see the beautiful man approaching him this time. He’s already got his brown paper bag clutched in one hand this time, and his other stuffed in the pocket of his jeans.

“That’s good to hear,” Henry replies, smiling. At his feet, David starts wagging his tail, apparently having by now decided that the man is a friend. “You’re back again.”

“Turns out you have good taste in toys,” the man says, shrugging a little.

“You’re not the first person to tell me that,” Henry says without really thinking about it, and the eyebrows shoot up again. Henry coughs. “I mean, dog toys.”

He does not mean dog toys.

The man grins wickedly, like he is not fooled. “Well, be that as it may, I thought I might try my luck a third time.”

Henry thinks that it’s about time that he tried his luck, actually. “How about, you tell me your name, and I’ll give you another suggestion,” he counters.

“Oh, I wasn’t aware this toy advice came at a price.”

“Too steep for you?”

“Nah, that’s a bargain, sweetheart,” the man replies. “I’m Alex.”

“Alex,” Henry echoes softly, tasting the name on his tongue, and Alex’s lips part slightly. “And what about your dog?”

It seems to take Alex a moment to parse his question. “Oh, Miss Piggy. She came with the name. I adopted her from a friend of a friend that was trying to get rid of her.”

“That was good of you.”

Alex shrugs. “She’s low maintenance, and it’s kind of nice to talk to someone else in my empty apartment. Not that she talks back.”

Henry tries to suppress the little thrill of hope at the fact that Alex doesn’t live with anyone. “I understand,” he says. “David isn’t much of a conversationalist, but he’s an excellent listener.”

“How long have you had him?”

“Since he was a puppy.”

“So you chose the name David,” Alex says, a touch incredulously.

“I did,” Henry confirms. “It’s after Bowie.”

Alex blinks, like he’s re-evaluating something. “Oh. That’s cool.” He crouches down, which of course makes David start squirming in desire to get to Alex, but he stays sitting next to Henry’s feet. “He’s very well-behaved. Can I pet him?”

“He’d like that.”

Alex reaches a hand out to scratch behind David’s ears, which David immediately presses into, his tail thumping rapidly on the floor. “Who’s a good boy?” Alex coos, and Henry honestly counts himself lucky that Alex’s soft smile is directed at David instead of him; he might not survive it. But then Alex looks up at him in his current position practically kneeling on the floor, and Henry comes very close to shuffling off this mortal coil right then and there anyway.

“So,” Alex says as he stands again, brushing his hands off on his trousers, “what kind of toy advice do I get for my name?”

Henry very nearly suggests some quite different toy advice in response to that question, but manages to bring his brain back online at the last second. “Well,” he says, picking up a tube-shaped rubber toy, “if she liked the treat toy, then this one is a similar idea.” He holds it out to Alex, but he doesn’t let go when Alex grabs the other end. “I have another request.”

The eyebrows go again. “This is an expensive toy.”

Henry shakes his head. “Not a price. But I’d very much like to take you to dinner, if you’d be interested.”

The dimple in Alex’s cheek deepens and he drops his gaze before looking up at Henry through his eyelashes. Christ, but this man is lethal.

“I’m interested.”

~~~~~

Alex tugs Henry in by the front of his jacket as he backs up against the front door to his flat, and Henry wastes no time before sealing their mouths together again. At the end of their first date, Alex had dropped him off outside his building and pressed a soft kiss to the corner of Henry’s mouth; it had been utterly lovely, but Henry has to admit he’s very much enjoying this, the conclusion to their second date. Alex’s tongue in his mouth and the cut of his teeth, Alex’s hands grabbing onto his waist, Alex’s thigh pressing in between his.

“You wanna come in, baby?” Alex asks in the gaps between their kisses.

The endearment makes something warm settle in his gut, and he grins against Alex’s lips. “Thought you’d never ask, love.”

They stumble through the door, and despite the fact that Alex has now attached himself to Henry’s throat, Henry finds himself distracted, listening for the tell-tale sound of claws on the hardwood. Nothing comes, though. Perhaps Miss Piggy is a heavy sleeper?

“What’s wrong?” Alex asks, clearly noticing his inattention.

“Sorry,” Henry says, shaking his head. “I was expecting your dog.”

For some reason, that makes Alex look down and bite his lip, and when he finally meets Henry’s eyes again, he looks decidedly sheepish. “I, um. Don’t have a dog.”

Henry blinks at him. Opens and closes his mouth. “You don’t?”

Alex shakes his head. “No.”

“So you let me suggest you dog toys…”

“Because when a ridiculously hot guy wants to talk to you about dog toys, you talk about dog toys,” Alex says, a little helplessly.

It’s honestly hard to be anything but insanely flattered, but he still doesn’t quite understand. “So all of that about adopting Miss Piggy, and the toy reviews… it was all made up?”

“Oh, no, it wasn’t,” Alex says, nonsensically. Then he takes Henry by the hand and leads him into the living room, where there’s a terrarium set up along one wall. Amongst the water dish and a fake-rock hut, Henry spots the duck, and the toy with the holes, and the tube, which has the head and tail of a small brown-and-tan-patterned snake sticking out of one end. “Miss Piggy is a snake,” Alex tells him. “A western hognose, to be specific. Hence the name, I guess. I was in the pet store buying frozen mice for her the times I saw you. I did adopt her from a friend of a friend who didn’t want her anymore, and she does like the toys, as you can see.”

Henry bends down to get a closer look at the snake, who has big eyes and a little turned-up snout. “I never thought a snake could be cute,” he says, unaccountably and unexpectedly charmed by the small creature.

“She’s a drama queen, is what she is,” Alex says. When Henry looks at him questioningly, he explains, “When they feel threatened, they either pretend to be a viper or play dead. Turn over onto their back, tongue hanging out and everything. She hasn’t done that since right after I got her, though. I think she’s happier here.”

Alex gets a kind of soft, fond smile on his face as he talks about the snake, and Henry can’t help but be ridiculously charmed by that, too. He takes a step closer to Alex and slips his arms around his waist, pulling him in and pressing a kiss to his temple, and Alex’s smile widens.

“What was that for?” he asks.

“You care for her,” Henry says simply. “It’s endearing.”

“Of course I do,” Alex replies. “How could you not love that face?”

“Mm,” Henry hums in agreement. “I suppose this means we don’t have to worry about her waking us early in the morning to go outside.”

Alex’s eyes sparkle as he turns in Henry’s arms, looping his own around Henry’s shoulders. “You planning on spending the night, baby? What about David?”

“Is it terribly forward if I said I already arranged to have someone take care of him tonight?” Henry asks, biting his lower lip.

“Not any more than what I was gonna ask you,” Alex says, smirking as his fingers play idly with a flippy piece of Henry’s hair.

“Which is?”

“Well, y’know, I wanted some advice.” He leans in close, until his lips are brushing the angle of Henry’s jaw, and murmurs, “On a different kind of toy.”

Henry doesn’t need to be asked twice.

[affectionatelyrs]

WIP Wednesday

FRIENDS! HAPPY WEDNESDAY! I've been... not very active on here lately. I won't divulge my life troubles to y'all but I miss all of you greatly but I'm back (I think) and better than ever (that might be a lie) to give y'all some content from a fic that I've been PLANNING SINCE SEPTEMBER. It's been languishing as an outline for a while and I finally don't have any excuses to not write it... so here we are

Thank you to @anincompletelist @inexplicablymine @firenati0n @wordsofhoneydew @ships-to-sail @kiwiana-writes @hgejfmw-hgejhsf and @getmehighonmagic for the tags today! :)

SO WITH THAT BEING SAID... here's a snippet from what I'm for now calling Walk and Talk! :) It's a college AU wherein there's minimal plot just vibes but also not uhhhh Alex and Henry walking out of class together every day and getting to know each other through it all but also Alex is like the literal fucking sun absolute sunshine boy and Henry is so gone it’s not funny (I quite honestly don't know how else to explain this except I consider it to be written in an IRL epistolary style maybe idk stop asking me questions I'm just a girl)

Henry watches the boy maneuver his way through the seats with rapt attention, even after everyone has turned their own back toward the projector screen, which confuses Henry to no end. This boy is much more interesting to watch. Much more beautiful, too—Christ. And then, inexplicably, he plops down into the seat right next to Henry’s, despite there being over a dozen other open ones that wouldn’t require anyone’s personal space to be invaded. Not that Henry particularly minds this, though. He tries to pretend that he isn’t overtly staring by acting as though he is taking very intense, very important notes when he realizes that he doesn’t actually have a pen out, and that his hands are merely hovering over the table while he gazes intensely at a starkly, obviously blank piece of paper. Henry blinks once, twice, before hearing a quiet huff of laughter from beside him. Then, there’s a hot pink pen being slid between his fingers, and Henry has to use his higher-brain powers to make sure he holds onto it, lest it go rolling across the floor and straight into jegging-girl’s coffee spill. Before Henry can get out any words of gratitude, the boy winks at him, whispers, “Don’t worry ‘bout it, babe,” and then immediately, emphatically shoots his hand up to answer one of the professor’s questions. He does a small, triumphant nod upon getting it right, leaving Henry to wonder when he had any time to pay attention to the material to make such an accomplishment possible.

OPEN TAG but also tagging some lovely people under the cut

@happiness-of-the-pursuit @welcometololaland @whimsymanaged @everwitch-magiks @read-and-write- @rmd-writes @anchoredarchangel @three-drink-amy @tintagel-or-cockleshells @indomitable-love @orchidscript @dumbpeachjuice @daisymae-12 @gayrootvegetable @leojfitz @leaves-of-laurelin @littlemisskittentoes @lizzie-bennetdarcy @cultofsappho @cricketnationrise @nocoastposts @myheartalivewrites @matherines @cha-melodius and @onward--upward

[brinkworth]

I heard it was your birthday @heartofspells, so I wrote you a little crack fic as a gift. (curse?) Featuring Remus, who is just trying to print his smutty fanfiction and runs into printer trouble. Happy Birthday!

Tech Support

Remus can pinpoint the exact moment his bad luck started. He’d been working on a project, printing some of his favourite fanfiction. He liked the story so much that he wanted to put a physical copy on his shelf.

It was all going smoothly at first, his printer churning out pages, all with perfectly crisp black letters printed neatly in rows. He clapped his hands in celebration. At this rate, this project would be done in record time.

That’s exactly when the bad luck starts. The printer makes an alarming noise; the paper caught half in the printer and half out. After several angry beeps, the screen reads ‘Error - printer jammed. Please clear printer and try again.’

When he opens the machine, it’s full of paper jammed into every nook and cranny. Places he didn’t know paper could even go in a printer. The printer seems to fight him as he removes it. He has to press a foot against the desk for leverage to pull out a particularly stubborn piece and the printer makes an awful grinding noise. It’s later that he sees the warning message that says, ‘Do not remove paper by pulling in this direction.’

“Oops.”

Several hours later, he’s sitting next to a printer that no longer feeds paper at all as tech support tells him they’ll mail him a new one. It should be there in 7-10 business days.

This just won’t do. Remus doesn’t want to wait that long, so he makes a trek to the store and buys a new printer. Now he’ll have two, but they’re different. And he prints a lot, so it’s worth it. Only upon getting it home, the printer won’t print anything legibly. It all comes out looking like a copy of a copy of a copy. Remus spends hours adjusting settings and test printing.

In the end, he’s sitting next to a stack of badly printed pages of his favourite smutty fanfiction when he’s back on the phone with tech support.

“Hello, thank you for calling The Printer Company. My name is Sirius. How can I help you?”

“Er- yes, hello, I just purchased a new printer and I’m having trouble with the quality.”

Sirius is very nice and seems committed to fixing the problem. He has Remus test different settings and try again several times. After 45 minutes on the phone, though, they’ve accomplished nothing. It all looks the same, and Sirius is now just as frustrated as Remus.

“Will you send me a few photos of your printed pages? One good one from your old printer and one from your new printer,” Sirius asks. “It will help me see what the problem is, and I can share them with my supervisor, who might have an idea.”

“Oh - er - sure, yeah.” Remus replies, kicking himself immediately. He should have just hung up.

He suddenly feels too hot. He begins to root frantically through his stack of papers, to find ones that might be appropriate to send.

“Oh God, definitely not that one.” He thinks, more than once.

A few awkward minutes later, he’s found two pages that look fairly clean, though by the character names, it will be clear what this is, if Sirius has ever read one of the most popular book series ever written. WHY couldn’t these characters be named something normal? Like George and Henry…

He sends the photos and chews on his thumbnail as he waits for Sirius’ response.

“Oh, I see them right here,” Sirius says eventually. There’s a shuffling noise and Remus thinks he hears Sirius snort.

Sirius hums as if he’s studying them carefully. “I’m afraid I’m having a hard time telling these two apart...”

How is that possible? Remus wonders. They are so starkly different.

“I’m just going to read these out loud to verify which is which,” Sirius says. And Remus swears he can hear the man smirk through the phone.

Remus’ eyes widen. “Oh, of course, sure,” he blurts out and then kicks himself again.

As Sirius reads, Remus wants to crawl into a hole and die. The man takes his time, drawing it out, and reading more than must be necessary for what he needs.

“Yes, yeah, you’ve got that right,” Remus says in the end, just ready to be done with this.

Another 30 minutes later, Sirius has walked him through how to fix the printer and Remus is anxious to hang up before he can embarrass himself further.

“Thanks so much,” Remus says, his finger hovering over the end call button.

“Happy to help,” Sirius says. “And you have good taste, Remus.”

Remus’ head jerks back in surprise. “Sorry?”

“I’m partial to Heartofspells’ work myself, but this is good too.”

Remus is stunned into silence for a few moments before replying weakly. “Oh.”

“Have a good day, and feel free to ask for me personally if you need help again in the future.”

Remus bit back a smile. Maybe his luck wasn’t so bad after all.

[edward-hydes-letters]

I just- I don't understand. You're right, I won't stop until I know Henry is safe. If he's keeping such a big secret that could supposedly get him sent to Bethlem, I need to know. I would hope to God that Henry knows for certain I would never tell anyone. I do care about the man, with far more emotion than you give me credit for, Hyde.

However, I believe you forget how long I've known him for. He's been boarding himself up for years. For God's sake, he kept it a secret when he used a soup spoon instead of a dinner spoon in his private quarters. All because he thought it was 'disastrously unbecoming' of him to do so.

The fact is, Henry frets over little things and causes them to be much bigger than what they actually are. Whatever Henry has catastrophised to you, I'm sure it's not nearly as bad as he's made it out to be.

And... if it is...?

(There's a scribbled out mess of reassurances- seemingly mostly addressed to Robert himself. Then, one final reassurance, written confident and clear as day.)

I will still be there.

-Dr. Robert Lanyon

(…there are droplets on the page. They make it hard to read what’s written, but you can still it make out…)

…if you mean that, Lanyon, if you well and truly mean that, then there’s no point in keeping it from you. You’d just keep coming back, if not to me, then to Jekyll-

(The middle of the page is riddled with scratches and marks, like the signs of a struggle. Like someone was trying to keep the writer from finishing the letter- however, it didn’t seem to work…)

If you turn me over to the police for arson, you’ll be turning over Jekyll to the same cell. If you wish for me to rot in hell, then you would condemn him to an identical pire-

(The struggling gets harder, the page is ripped around the edges, and the droplets get larger-)

And if Henry gets thrown into Bethlem, then I won’t be far behind.

(-the bottom the the page is barely legible, so many scratches litter the page it’s almost impossible to make out any words… somehow, you can make out an address…)

This isn’t something to be said over parchment, though. Meet me at my house in Soho an hour till dawn. We have something to show you.

(The only reason you can make out the last sentences is because the words were pierced into the paper, dripping ink onto the water stains…)

You better not have lied to me, Robert. It’s a mistake no man makes twice.

-Mr. Edward Hyde

(…there’s writing in what seems to be cursive, but you can’t make it out…)

[sparks-olivarpente]

Why I liked the Mindflayer better

This starts with "I prefer the Mindflayer over Vecna and that bothers me because I need to be impressed by the bad guy" and ends… It doesn't go anywhere actually. I tried to put my thoughts on paper and they ended up all over the place. Please don't read (thanks if you do!)

The Mindflayer works well as a metaphor of the unknown within us. Little Will can't yet face some stuff within himself, it appears to him as that huge unknowable shadow and Will doesn't know if he himself is the monster or what. This, I can relate to (I litterally used to believe there was an eldritch monster inside of me when I was 13)

But now that the monster has taken shape (S3) and became a person (S4)? He can't work as a metaphor anymore (to me, maybe that works for others. Let me know if it does <3). Now he's just some guy! Who talks too much. There's nothing hidden about him anymore (or maybe there is and that's the whole point. I know there are theories out there about things not being what they seem about Henry's story. Maybe he wasn't truthfull. A lot of S4 was about lying after all, it would make sense. He wants us/the Party to believe he's the bad guy and he's really still hidding behind that)

So, Henry. I understand little Henry up to a point (his view of time, feeling stuck, his loneliness, his disconnection, wanting to take control) but I don't see how that leads to wanting to destroy everything? in his place I'd just end up badly depressed. and wanting to escape. Maybe… if this is about what happens when a disconnected person meets an horror from another dimension, we still miss part of the story? or I just need to watch S4 again.

Our own personal dragons… they're only big scary monsters when we can't face them. Once we do, they become little lost puppies, or screaming toddlers. Not really scary. Where am I going with that… I guess, I can't find another human scary anymore (I mean, after spending most of my life meeting my own dragons) We're all just afraid and we need a hug or something. Henry looks like he has fallen into some deep internal black hole and a hug won't be enough but still. I can't be afraid of him. Annoyed, angry, but not impressed.

Although… being stuck forever in Henry's mindspace is pretty scary. Someone gets Max out of here ;_; It's like Henry created his own hell that's ended up worse than what he was afraid of (time, routine, lie) Time IS scary but… the UD or Henry's mindspace, that seems kind of stuck forever at ONE moment in time? It is worse. It can't evolve, it can't get better (I used to be afraid and angry about time and… just, reality as it is, until I ended up with the curious discovery that time can be seen as a gift of love but getting off topic) (just… I can see Henry being stuck in one of those dark places I was stuck in, only worse)

Having written that I think what I need is, maybe, a deeper understanding of Henry's fears? Now that the monster is a person, I need to see where he is stuck (I'm not sure about that part, I feel I'm contradicting myself, because I find people I can't understand at all, such as Lonnie or Angela, scarier. I really need to watch S4 again and see what really bother me with that guy) (maybe I just don't like Vecna because he looks ridiculous) If he's just the bad bad guy our team needs to kill to put the world back in order… what's the point? (I don't really think that will happen in S5. I don't have a clue what will happen in S5)

This… did not really go anywhere but then I warned you ^^

<3

[sarahjswift]

Lovebite - IWHAIWSA Chapter 3

Heyyyy here's another chapter for you! It's currently Thursday but I think this should be posted on Friday. The day you are seeing this is my last day of school and I'm very excited!

I hope you all are enjoying this series! I'm very proud of myself because these chapters are longer and I have a couple already written and ready to post. I also am keeping up Twin Wounds, so I'm just doing it all XD

Next week is the start of my summer vacation, but it shouldn't affect the upload schedule too much, but there's always that warning.

Thank you all for your support <3

Warnings: Language, Light Smut

Word Count: 1.7k

Tag List <3: @backtobl4ck, @aelinchocolatelover, @renxzs, @blue-bird17, and @autumnbabylon! Thanks for your support <33333

enjoyyyyy!!! :D

__

“You made out with a stranger who is Eve’s best friends’ dad?” Lysandra gasped with delight. 

Aelin glared at her reflection as if it were Lysandra’s face, forcefully massaging her face with sunscreen. “We didn’t make out. It was one kiss.” 

“One very hot kiss, it seems,” her friend giggled. “I mean, he seems amazing. Do you have pics?”

“Uhm, yes,” Aelin confessed. “He sent me a selfie and I may or may not have downloaded it to my phone.” 

“Oh my Gods!” Aelin winced as her friend’s squeal filled the air - loud and proud, even on speakerphone. “Please tell me it was, like, a shirtless selfie. Or no, no, a mirror shot! No - both!” 

“It was a selfie with him and his kids,” Aelin said matter-of-factly. She dotted concealer under her eyes and surveyed herself in the mirror, checking for any blemishes, and-

“Oh my fucking Gods.” 

“What? What is it?” Lysandra squawked, but Aelin was too busy gaping in horror at the purple spot on her neck. 

“I have a damn hickey!” Aelin wailed, then clamped a hand to her mouth. Eve was watching Spongebob, but you could never be too sure with her. 

“Holy shit, this just keeps getting better and better!”

“Not if you’re living it!” Aelin protested, frantically dabbing concealer onto the very obvious love bite on her neck. 

“Can I see? Send a photo!” 

“Uh, no. It’s, like…very obvious.”

“Gods, how much did he kiss you?”

“I have no idea,” Aelin sighed. Luckily, the mark was covered. She sprayed setting spray onto her neck and prayed that her concealer would stick. 

↜↝

Rowan woke up in the morning with two screaming children, a messy kitchen, and a happy heart. 

He replayed the kiss over and over again in his mind, painting it golden. Even when Lilly knocked over her glass of OJ, he just smiled and wiped it up with a wet paper towel. 

The kids wanted to go to the pool and as they reached it, Rowan found himself searching the room for a certain mother. Unfortunately Aelin wasn’t there, and Rowan settled himself into a pool chair with a sigh, watching his children splash around in the shallow end. 

Rowan: Hey

Aelin: Hello good sir

Aelin: how are you 

Rowan: Good, the kids are at the pool today. 

He hesitated before deciding to go for it. 

Rowan: Wish you were here though. 

Aelin: *typing*

Aelin: 💗

__

“Can we hang out with Eve today, Dad? Please?” 

Rowan looked at his children, pleading up at him. Hold your ground, he thought. Hold it, hold it, hold-

“I’ll text her mom.” 

An hour later, Rowan was smiling faintly to himself as Aelin and Eve descended across the parking lot to the playground. Eve ran toward Henri and Lilly and the three immediately skipped to the playground, giggling. Rowan took a deep breath as Aelin walked up to him, reminding himself to calm down. 

She looked amazing as usual in a simple white crop top and a vibrant, flowing green skirt. Stylish sunglasses rested on her head and her golden hair was tucked into a braid. Her top and skirt proudly displayed her muscled shoulders, arms and legs and he enjoyed the view  - of those and other beautiful parts of her - before snapping his eyes up to her. 

“Hello,” she said, a serpine’s smile curving on her lips. She walked up close to him and placed a warm hand on his arm, the only thing separating their skin the thin fabric of his T-shirt. 

“Hey.” Rowan’s voice was lower than usual, and he had eyes only for Aelin as she leaned in to whisper something in his ear. His eyes closed briefly as he felt her hot breath on his skin, wanting it everywhere- 

“You may or may not have given me a hickey.”

With a start, Rowan broke from his reveries and whipped his head around to gape at Aelin. Her eyes were dancing and her grin stretched wider as she tapped a finger against her neck. “I guess you were kissing me a bit too hard.”

“I-Gods, Aelin, I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking-”

“It’s fine, it’s fine!” Her clear laughter rang through the air, making Rowan smile. He couldn’t help it. “It’s funny. I did have a bit of a panic attack this morning, though. That’s why we didn’t go to the pool.” 

Rowan laughed. “What did Eve have to say about that?”

She shrugged. “She was great - we went on a little trail. What about you guys?”

“The pool and now this, after they begged all morning. It’s honestly adorable how much the kids love Eve already.” 

Aelin beamed, and he knew as a parent she was proud. “I’m afraid I’m just as bad about a certain father.”

↜↝

Rowan was so handsome she couldn’t stand it, and the urges to grab his hand, touch his shoulder, just to be near him, overcame Aelin as their families went to get Hawaiian Ice. The way he was with his kids did nothing but melt her heart, and Eve’s obvious adoration of the Whitethorn kids was the cherry on top. 

Soon the sun was setting, and they walked through the resort admiring the beautiful dusk sky. The children were skipping ahead of Rowan and Aelin while they hung back, talking softly, when Eve rounded and walked back to her mother. 

“Mommy, Lilly and Henri said that we could come over and have a sleepover!” she squeaked, excitement lit up in her blue-gold eyes. Her face was flushed and strands of her hair were poking up from her head. She looked insane, and Aelin had never loved anything more. 

“Did they really? Well unfortunately it’s not up to them,” Aelin reminded her daughter gently, praying this wouldn’t get awkward. To her dismay, Eve’s face crumpled and she slumped, practically dragging her feet as she walked back over to her friends. The two parents watched as her daughter informed the other kids of the incident and they immediately whirled around, protest lining their faces. 

“Please, Dad? C’mon, we want Eve to sleep over!” Lilly cried, hanging onto Rowan’s hand. Henri grabbed his other and looked up at his father pleadingly. 

Aelin cringed and turned to her companion, opening her mouth to apologize, when he said; “If Aelin is okay with it, I’m happy to have them over.” 

The children stared at him for a second and then erupted, cheering. They were so busy celebrating they didn’t notice the word change; them - but Aelin did. 

“Them?” she asked with a raised eyebrow. Rowan looked sheepish and he shrugged. 

“I mean, why not? You could…sleep over.”

__

I have no self-control, she thought to herself as she carried Eve’s sheets and pillows into Rowan’s room. Apparently they were all having a joint sleepover - the kids would sleep in Lilly’s room, and Aelin - well, Aelin didn’t know where she would sleep yet. That hadn’t been decided. 

After Aelin and Eve brought their stuff over to the room, they settled down at the dinner table for a dinner of steaming pasta. Aelin was pleasantly surprised at Rowan’s cooking skill, and she said as much.

“Thanks,” he said, biting down a smile. “I’m sure you are too.”

At his words, Eve let out a laugh. Aelin flushed as her daughter exclaimed; “Mommy is a terrible cook! She once tried to make brownies for my school bake sale an’ they were goopy an’ my friend Marianne got food poisoning! Daddy always did all the cooking-”

“Alright, that’s enough,” Aelin interrupted her daughter before she could ruin her chances forever. As she glanced toward Rowan, she found his amused expression frozen, his eyes like chips of ice. She felt herself frown - what had set him off?

__

At nine the kids disappeared into Lilly’s room to “sleep”, leaving the parents to clean up dinner. Aelin watched Rowan stand at the sink, his powerful arms on display as he scrubbed their plates dry. She couldn’t help imagining that they were a family, he was her husband, and they -

Stop. She scrubbed her face, exhaustion suddenly overwhelming her. There’s no point in imagining anything. It’s done. She sighed and collapsed on their couch, surveying the room. Their hotel space was an exact copy to theirs, so she didn’t feel too bad as she made herself at home. 

“Can I ask you something?” Rowan asked, and Aelin turned to find him leaning against the kitchen counter, watching her with an expression she couldn’t place. At her nod, he took a deep breath. “Is…where is Eve’s dad?” 

Oh. Shit. 

His words were light, but Aelin could tell her response would be important to her. She took a deep breath. “He’s..he’s in the picture.” 

Rowan’s shoulders slumped, and his eyes looked agonized for a half-second before a wall snapped up behind them. “Oh. Alright.” 

“N-not like that,” she blurted - she’d do anything to get him smiling again. “I meant, uhm, well…he has Eve every other week. B-but…we’re divorced. We have been for a year.” 

Rowan’s face melted into a smile she could tell he was trying to tamp down. “Oh. Alright.” Aelin laughed as he repeated his exact words from earlier. At her laughter, Rowan chuckled too, crossing the room to sit next to her on the couch. His weight brought the cushion down, and she slid toward him ever so slightly, close enough she could smell his pine-and-snow scent. 

His eyes darted around the room, checking if the coast was clear, before leaning closer to her. Her breaths came quicker, and she closed her eyes as he brought his hand to cup her neck, rubbing his thumb over the exact spot her lovebite was. She felt him lean in and kiss her jaw, loosing a breath as his other hand stroked her hair. Aelin watched him, heavy lidded, as he kissed his way down to her collarbone, lower. 

“Kiss me,” she breathed. He drew in a sharp breath and obliged her, lips pressing gently against hers. It was a soft kiss, not urgent and sharp like earlier, and she leaned into him, letting his heat envelop her as he hugged her. 

She thought, as she gently made out with this man, she hadn’t felt this safe in years. 

[ffauthor]

Teacher William Afton x reader pt. 2

Read part one here:

William was still cradling you in his arms, rubbing soft circles on your thighs, kneeding his fingers in soft motions. You stopped crying, and your breathing was completely stable again, your head burried inside Williams warm chest. His arms over your shoulders, keeping your body pressed against his, you basically sitting in his lap.

"You know... I was supposed to do tons of paper work." You opened your mouth to speak, but william took this as an opportunity to stick his thumb in your mouth, making you stay quiet, confusion stilting your every move. "But... i'd rather spend my time with you." You just nodded, making Williams hand softly trail over to your chin, holding it in place. "How about... I'll take you home.. or too my place, and get some take out?" you basically melted in the way Williams warm hands massaged your collarbone, trailing down slowly. "Which one sounds good for you?" His thumb gets pressed further in your mouth, making you roll your eyes back slightly, your muscles clenching.

"I want you to be okay after all.." you mumble a slight yes, but it comes out muffled, making william chuckle slightly. "You have to use your words, darling." His finger tops press further into your skin, making you whimper. "Y-Yes.." Suddenly the warm touch turns cold, and the thumb in your mouth leaves a trail of saliva connected to the tip of his thumb and your lips. The sudden lack of touch gets you chills, and you beg to grave for more of his comforting touch. "Yes to which one?" His hot breath is nearby your ear, his mouth almost nibbling at your ear. "I-I'd like the.. second one, Mr. Afton." William nods in approval, shifting slightly underneath you. It was then that you realised the soft touch underneath you hardened, even tho you were in between his legs. William groans, holding your hair at the side and grasping his hand slightly on your throat. "Uhg. I love it when you call me that." He caresses the back of your hair softly, tangeling your hair around his finger and then janking only slightly, not that it hurt you. Williams intentions were to help you, to comfort you and make sure you were okay, not to hurt you. You just had a panic attack after all. And he wanted all the thoughts about that filthy rat who dared to make you uncomfortable and touch you in such a inappropriate way to be replaced by him. And only him.

"Very well then, sweetheart." William crawled backwards, standing up in a fast motion and not daring to leave his hand off your skin for a split second. He moved infront of you, holding his hand out to you and giving you a kind smile.

When you reached out to grab his hand, you were suddenly pulled in a tight hug, startling you completely. Just then you knew why. Henry was at the other side of the door, his cheeks colored a slight tint of red as he hesitantly holds the doorknob. He saw all of it, and both you and William were aware.

[thislovintime]

During the filming of Head: (photos 1-5) possibly April 11, 1968, photos by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images, and Henry Diltz; a costume fitting, March 26, 1968 (photo via the official Peter Tork Facebook page).

Peter Tork: “There was a bit of a contradiction between the plan and execution. I think if due consideration had been given to where we wanted The Monkees to go next, we would have not only had a better movie, but maybe even moved the career forward instead of stopping it dead in its tracks.”

Q: "When the idea for Head was bandied about, was it based on artistic expression, rebellion, or just an opportunity to cash in on the Monkees name?”


Peter Tork: “It was an expression of where we were at the time. When we first talked about making a movie, the four of us agreed that we really didn't want to do a 90-minute episode of The Monkees. We wanted to go beyond sitcom situations, because growing up, [Micky] and I had seen some of our favorite TV shows, like McHale's Navy and Dragnet, turn into awful movies.The fairest understanding of the movie was that it was [director and co-producer] Bob Rafelson's take on the Monkees phenomenon overall, without much of a comment or a conclusion. The gist of the movie is the Monkees remain trapped and it seems like they're never getting out of it, which was peculiar because the movie was an effort to get out of it. Other than that, it was a little surreal, some parts are extraordinarily funny, and a lot of that is Jack Nicholson's idea of what was funny.”

Q: “What was your history with Nicholson at that point?”

PT: “
He didn't have much of a history with us. He'd come around the set for a while. He was fun and funny. He had a style and gestures. Mike adopted him completely. And then one day Bob said, ‘Jack's going to help make the movie.’ We were delighted because there was no mistaking Jack's power and capacity, intellectually and artistically. It was clear that here was a man who managed to make himself socially acceptable by bottling all of his insanity and putting it into useful channels. A very rare quality and one that's made him the superstar that he is. You couldn't help but feel that.”

Q: “
There were plenty of psychedelic films being produced at that time to varying degrees of success, so why didn't Head stick?”

PT: “
The Monkees ran into a brick wall and [Head] was part of that. And the fact that it was marketed as a head movie to the suburban kids and as a suburban, bubblegum movie to all the heads didn't help much either. It was a disaster in the making from some points of view. Commercially, surely.” - EW dot com, November 12, 2008

* * *

Head, of course, features two Tork songs:

“‘Can You Dig It�� is about the Tao. The hook line I wrote in my dressing room on the set [of the television series in 1967]. The chords for the chorus I’d written in college, and [they] had just stuck with me. I hadn’t been able to do a thing with them until I was sittin’ there, just writin’ on a scrap of paper with ideas, and I wrote, 'Can you dig it?/Do you know/Would you care to let it show?’ Those three as a triplet — as opposed to a couplet. I just looked at them and [went], 'Wow!’ I grabbed a pencil and circled those three. They were part of a quatrain. I said, ‘Wait a minute. No, this works best as a little three-line chorus.’” - Peter Tork, Head box set liner notes (x)

“The funny thing is that the lyrics [to ‘Long Title: Do I Have To Do This All Over Again?’] came to me right out of the air. I was just playing those chord changes on the guitar, and I opened my mouth and that’s what popped out. The song was weirdly prophetic. I had no idea that was going to be my attitude about anything having to do with music when I wrote that song. I wrote the lyrics in London on that famous trip with Karen Harvey Hammer and Justin Hammer, who are Lady and Baby respectively of the song ‘Lady’s Baby.’” - Peter Tork, Listen To The Band liner notes (x)

“I think they’re [‘Can You Dig It?’ and ‘Long Title: Do I Have To Do This All Over Again?’] the best songs in the movie [Head]. I love both of them. I thought they were just terrific. He had plugged himself into that whole Stephen Stills connection and was working with those guys. I think they fit the movie better than anything did. When those two songs start up in the movie, it comes alive for me.” - Michael Nesmith, Head box set liner notes

[onthewaytosomewhere]

Philip is quite frankly, fucked.

alright luv ur the last of this week's ficlets cuz I needed to make sure this was what it needed to be (since it's gonna link up with the big thing I'm working on)

WARNING: below this line lies implied future and past incestual activity of the brothers sharing boys variety - we're gonna call it afoxcest (alex and the fox bros) (superior to wincest) or FirstprinceS - we'll see - but if you do not or can not read this bcuz of that do us all a favor and scroll right by!!!

Philip is, quite frankly, fucked, he’ll admit it; Martha is laughing at him this morning when he has her over for breakfast to discuss how perfect Alex could be for Henry. Of course, she immediately realizes that Philip also thinks Alex is perfect. He isn’t even going to bother attempting to convince her that isn’t the case. She knows him as well as he knows her. They don’t have any secrets.

“I just need to hope Henry was his ‘impressing foreign boys’ self and not his ‘pissing the foreign boys off with his inability to be functional’ self.”

“Pip, that’s not fair; you know he’s struggling since your dad’s death. I know you’ve tried to help, but your Gran is a lot, and Henry has been getting the worst of it since then. Even if he has messed up, as we both know is possible your Gran was being a right shit forcing him so many places lately. You’ll just have to help him fix that. If you are truly convinced Alex is so perfect for him, or more, you’ll need to have a plan.”

How she never batted an eye when she found out that Henry and Philip have occasionally shared a man between them made him realize even more how lucky he was to have fallen in love with Martha. It’s not a thing they do often, less than they would like, but it’s not like they can find any random person. Their father’s illness did not make things easier in that regard. Besides dealing with the fact they may lose him, the person who helped their mother know who she was. He held their family together, and when he got sick, Philip watched their grandmother creep into more of their lives. He and Martha have attempted to divert as much of that attention off the rest of his family as they can by appearing to fall in line, but it has not been as successful as he would like it to be.  

Philip is brought out of his thoughts when Martha clears her throat and realizes he’s been staring at the table. There, he has the paper sprawled out, the picture of Henry and Alex at the diving competition that some photographer has snapped. Alex appears to be walking toward Henry with a smile that would make kings send armies to battle for him. Philip hopes it went well. He’ll find out soon; if not, he’ll help Henry fix it.

That afternoon, when Henry returns, Philip finds him in the music room at Kensington. He plops down the paper on the table next to him, and Henry looks up, startled, almost as if he’s expecting a reprimand. He instantly knows something must have gone wrong and hopes it’s fixable. He kneels in front of Henry, pulling his hands in his to comfort him, “What happened, Henry?”

“He's so beautiful, Pip,” the small, almost smile that tugs at Henry’s lips is sad, “But I’m certain I mucked it up beyond repair.” Philip gets up and pulls Henry to the nearby sofa, letting him tell him all the details, and starts thinking about what he needs to do to fix this and who he needs to contact to find out more about Mr. Claremont-Diaz. Henry begins to sob into Philip's shoulder. He soothes him, letting him fall asleep against him like their father used to do for all of them.

this can also be found on ao3 if you'd rather, they'll all be there as they get written

[bad-at-names-and-faces]

Harvest

ao3

ffn

chapter index

Frederick looked down as he and his brothers picked up the pumpkins from one of the farms on the hill above the town. 

“That’s a ship from Corona,” he said while loading the pumpkins onto the wagon. 

“How can you tell from all the way up here?” Anton asked. 

“See the flag?” Frederick pointed.

Anton and Peder both stared down at the harbor. 

“Oh, it is,” Peder agreed. “I never really looked at any of the ships that closely.”

The twins ran off to get the remaining pumpkins from the farmer, and Frederick started getting the wagon ready to return to the castle.

“I bet you that’s Henry,” Frederick said as they began to ride down the hill into town.

“Wasn’t he just here?” Anton asked.

“That was last summer,” Frederick reminded him. “It’s been two and a half months since then.”

“Oh, right.”

“So, are they getting married now?” Peder asked.

“I doubt it,” Frederick said. “Not from what everyone was saying. Maybe next summer?”

***

Henry couldn’t quite remember how he left Inga’s room, but he had reluctantly followed her parents as the maid was sent back in to help Inga dress for the day, and they led him into the study. 

“I… I should probably write to my family,” he said. Nobody had said anything for quite some time.

Inga’s mother was the first to speak up. “Please let me know when you finish, and I’ll ring for Kai to send it out with today’s post.

“Thank you,” Henry said, studiously avoiding eye contact with anyone. 

He worded the letter as vaguely as possible, only making clear that the wedding was going to happen as soon as possible, but not giving the reason. He wanted to send a letter to his mother that would get there more quickly, but not with Inga’s parents watching him.  Also a letter to Hilde. She would surely guess.

He signed and sealed the letter, and sat at the desk looking at the wall.

“Here it is,” he said. 

Inga’s mother rang for the steward, who showed up quickly, accepting the envelope.

“His Highness’s room is ready,” he mentioned. “Do you need any help in finding it?”

“If I may be excused?” Henry asked.  If the room was the same as the one he had stayed in the summer before, he would need no help at all. 

“We’ll let you know if we need you,” Inga’s mother said with an air of formality, which he knew was covering up whatever she might actually be thinking about the situation. 

He followed the steward to the room which was so familiar now, and burned into his memories.

Henry sat down at the table in the room and got his own paper out.  First, he wrote a letter to his mother, merely a slightly more informal version of what he had just written, still not mentioning exactly why the wedding would be happening so soon, but alerting her that it would be happening as soon as they could make it to Arendelle.  Then, before sending the first one, he began a letter to his sister.

Dear Hilde,

I don’t know if this letter will surprise you or not, but Inga and I will likely be getting married before I return to Corona. We will try to make it a proper wedding, as I know you’ve told me what you think about me renouncing my claim and leaving you as the sole heir. I promise I will do my duty. I will leave the other details for a later time. 

Your Brother,

Henry

Henry sent off the two letters from the window, and the wind seemed to guess at the secret he was keeping from his own family.  

He heard the door opening.

"James?" he asked. 

"Yes, Your Highness," his valet replied, walking over to Henry’s wardrobe in order to put away the clothes he had brought along.

“Did I…  Did you pack that suit, you know the one?”

“I did, in fact,” James smiled,  “I was actually surprised you didn’t ask days ago, but one never knows when one might need to dress for utmost formality, particularly in your position, Your Highness.”

“Thank goodness,” Henry replied.

“I have not been informed of any occasions requiring formal dress, but do you have a particular reason for inquiring?”

“The wedding is going to happen,” Henry said.

“Soon?” James asked.

“Yes, we’re not entirely sure when it will be, the council hasn’t met yet, of course I only just returned this morning…”

“I had understood the plans were for next summer. Is there a reason for the change?”

Henry looked away.

“Of course,” James nodded. “I was afraid of that.”

“I didn’t say-” 

“Then what is the reason?”

“I mean, it is… that… Inga just found out today.”

“I see,” James nodded.

“Do you think they’ll suspect?  My parents, that is… I know Hilde will probably guess right away.  She’ll tell me as much, I just know it.”

“Your Highness,” James said, slowly walking over, “if they don’t suspect at first, they’ll have no doubts later on.”

“And then what?”

“People will lose interest and find the next thing to occupy their attention.  Some people will bring it up whenever it serves a purpose.  I shouldn’t worry if I were you.  As far as youthful indiscretions go, this was a mild one, not to mention a common one.”

“Youthful indiscretions? You make it sound like I was… in the habit of doing such things.”  Henry stood up, facing James, and then walked past his valet to the wardrobe, mindlessly looking through his suits hanging there.

“Yes, but you’re not married yet.  Until that happens, it’s important not to let too many people know.  A few people will figure it out quickly enough, but most people can’t be bothered.  Just don’t give them any proof.”’

“You figured it out quickly enough.”

James gave him a look.

Henry turned around, looking over his shoulder at James standing by the window. He sighed. 

“Of course you suspected,” Henry said.

Henry walked back over to his desk and sat down, opening an empty page of his sketchbook but feeling no motivation to draw anything.  James continued unpacking.  Henry’s thoughts began processing everything from the morning, now that the shock was wearing off. What were he and Inga going to do once they were married?  They hadn’t thought this out.  They hadn’t even agreed where they would live yet.  They hadn’t even discussed it.  They could travel back and forth, he supposed, but Inga might not like that. She had mentioned how terrible sailing had been for her.  It would be nice if they had some place that would be their own, but what?  Where?  Money wasn’t an issue, that much was true.  

***

Hilde sat on the balcony overlooking the city of Corona, reading a book she had recently acquired. All of a sudden, a gust of wind blew in, stopping almost as soon as it started, and a letter deposited itself in her open book.

It was from Henry. He hadn’t bothered writing during his voyage so far, so why now?  She was hesitant to read it, and was briefly relieved that it seemed positive; no one was sick or dying or hurt, he was just excited about getting married. Except then she reread the letter. He would be getting married before he returned to Corona, and they would try to make it a proper wedding?

Hilde closed the letter inside her book and went to find her parents. She checked the royal study, and her grandfather was there with some advisors.

“Clothilde, come in!” he bellowed. 

“Sorry, Grandfather, but I’m in a bit of a hurry. Have you seen my mother?”

One of the advisors looked up. “Your Highness, your parents are having a luncheon with some distinguished visitors.”

“Who?” Hilde replied. 

Her grandfather waved his hand. “My dear, if it is important, you may interrupt your parents’ lunch.”

Hilde ran toward the dining room, and found her mother alone outside reading a letter.

“Mother, I was told you were having a luncheon?”

“Yes, but I just received a letter… it’s from your brother.”

Hilde considered her words carefully. “What does he say?”

Her mother looked at her and then back at the letter, beginning to mindlessly crumple it in her hands.

“May I see the letter, Mother?” she asked. “He sent me one just now, too. I can’t imagine he would say anything to you that I haven’t seen.”

Her mother handed the letter over. 

Dear Mother,

There will be a letter arriving in the official post next week, but I would like to see you all sooner than that if it is at all possible. Inga and I will be getting married before I return to Corona, and if I hear word from you, we can schedule the wedding so that you can attend. Please let me know.

Love,

Your Son,

Henry

“He told me he was getting married, he didn’t ask me about coming to the wedding,” Hilde commented.

“Why is he getting married so soon?” her mother whispered. 

Just then, her father came out. 

“You’ve been out here a while, sweetheart, what’s going on?” he asked.

“Henry is getting married in Arendelle,” Hilde told him.  “And apparently he’d like us to all come. I have no idea how we’d let him know soon enough to schedule anything.”

“Oh,” her father muttered.

“I’ll write back to him, he’ll know by this evening,” her mother said.

“I thought Arendelle didn’t have telegraph lines yet,” Hilde said.

“Henry didn’t tell you how he sent you the letter, didn’t he?” her father asked.

“No.” Hilde knew that there was something Henry knew about sending the letters, but now she realized she might be the only one who didn’t know how it worked.

“So,” her father said, turning to her mother. “Are you going to tell your parents now or wait for the letter?”

“Grandfather is with his advisors right now,” Hilde said. 

“Actually, we left some Maldonians in there, you know,” her father said. “So we should probably wait.”

***

Frederick slowed down the wagon as he and his brothers returned to town. As they passed by Isabel and Captain Olsen’s house, Meibel ran out the door. Frederick stopped the wagon.

“You got the pumpkins, Frederick?” she asked.  

“Of course we did, Meibel,” Peder scoffed. 

“Do you want a ride into town?” Frederick asked.

“Sure, why not,” Meibel smiled. 

“It’s not a far walk,” Anton interjected. 

Meibel climbed in, ignoring the twins. 

“Is that the Corona’s flag on that ship?” Peder asked.

“I told you that, remember?” Frederick sighed. 

“Are you excited to go to the Naval Academy there?” Meibel asked.

“Ugh!” Peder exclaimed. “He’s been talking about nothing else. Please don’t bring that up!”

They arrived in town, and stopped by Hudson’s Hearth to unload the pumpkins.

Halima stepped outside, and Meibel jumped up and ran over and gave her a hug. 

“Did you see the ship from Corona?” Meibel asked.

Halima smiled and nodded, glancing over at the castle. 

“How are you boys doing?” Halima asked Frederick and his brothers.

“Good,” Frederick said. “I should go check if Henry arrived on that ship. Inga has been looking forward to that.”

“Is she feeling any better?” Halima asked.

“I hope so,” Frederick replied. “I suppose I’ll be stuck entertaining Henry if she’s not.”

***

Anna and Kristoff stood in the library, staring at the door as Henry followed Kai out of the room.  Anna had hardly let herself think for the past half hour. Had it only been a half hour?

“Now what?” Kristoff asked. 

Anna shook her head and sat down on the sofa, and Kristoff joined her. They sat silently, and her mind went over and over what had been said in Inga’s room. 

“What were you going to tell Inga?” she asked Kristoff.

Kristoff shrugged. “I’m not entirely sure. I hadn’t thought things through.”

“You had to have had some idea,” Anna insisted.

“I guess… what I was thinking was that nobody would have noticed if we had another. That way maybe we could have figured out a way to make it look like it was ours.”

“If the two of them weren’t both so determined to get married, I think I would agree with that.”

“You think they’ll be happy, then?”

“Who knows,” Anna admitted. “But I think he’s determined. He might not have thought things through, but I think Inga could do worse than marry him.”

There was another knock at the door.

“Come in!” Anna called out.

Kai stepped in. “Your Majesty, the council is ready.”

“I’ll head out,” Kristoff said.

“Are you sure you don’t want to be here for the meeting?” Anna asked. 

“Yes,” he replied.

***

James had left the room an hour earlier, judging by the church bells outside having just chimed for a second time. Henry heard the wind suddenly rattle at his window.  He had gotten used to these isolated gusts of wind letting him know that Inga had sent him a letter, but right now she could simply slip any note under his door. He thought about sending her a note, but first he needed to see what this was at his window.

He opened the window, and a letter blew in. It was his mother’s writing. 

October 23rd, 1865

Dear Henry,

We were very surprised to see your letters to myself and to Hilde earlier today. We are making arrangements to travel to Arendelle in two days.  We will save the many questions we have until we arrive there, and we will be there within two weeks. Your grandparents will be traveling with us, as well as Hilde, though you neglected to mention inviting her to the wedding in your letter to her.

Love,

Mother

Henry took a deep breath. His mother knew that he had written to Hilde as well. He hadn’t even realized that he hadn’t invited Hilde to the wedding, it had not been an intentional slight, but apparently they had discussed the letters with each other. At least they were coming soon. He wrote out a quick note to Inga, and folded it up. He had no idea what he was expected to be doing, so he was going to slide the note under her door. As he opened his door, Inga was standing there. 

“Hello,” he said. 

“Hi,” she said. “I wanted to see if you were here.”

Henry stepped out into the hall, and closed his door behind him.  

“Funny thing,” he choked out, stopping himself from laughing. “ I was going to bring you a note. My mother already wrote back.”

“Oh,” Inga said. 

“How are you feeling?” Henry asked. 

“Tired, but I’m well enough, I guess.”

“I’m sorry,” Henry said. He wanted to hug her, but at this point, he wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do.  “Have you spoken to your parents since-”

“No,” she shook her head. “My maid came back and, well, I had to tell her. She had been so sure that the gossip was baseless, I felt bad.”

“James knows. I wish I could say he was surprised, but I think you know.” 

Inga nodded. 

“So, um,” Henry began. “The weather seems nice?”

“Let’s go outside to the garden,” she suggested.

Henry reached for her hand, and she gave him a squeeze, then linked her arm in his respectably. 

They walked out the nearest door, and found themselves in the garden. 

“I should be helping with preparations,” Inga said as they approached a bench. “The festival is happening tomorrow, and I just feel like I’m avoiding everyone.”

“I think everyone understands,” Henry said. 

They sat down next to each other, linking fingers briefly, before some commotion nearby caused them to simultaneously sit slightly separated from each other, as if overcorrecting their behavior now would fix what was already done.

Henry saw two of Inga’s brothers run across the way at the other. Following them was Frederick, who happened to look over. He glanced back in the direction of the twins before walking their direction.

“Henry!” Frederick called out. 

Henry stood up, and shook hands with Frederick. 

“Is it true you’re going to get married while you’re here?” Frederick asked.

Inga was turning a shade of pink, looking away.

“Um, yes,” Henry said. “News travels fast, huh?” 

“Father just told us that Mother is speaking with the bishop right now, and enough of the council is in town that they’re going to meet this afternoon.”

“What else did he tell you?” Henry asked.

“That was it,” Frederick said. 

“Oh, that’s good,” Inga said, with obvious relief. 

“I wouldn’t worry, Inga. Father didn’t seem happy about it, but he’s not stopping anything. I don’t know why he’s not happier about it. Henry is pretty nice.”

“Thanks?” Henry said.

“I mean it, and I’m not just saying that because Inga likes you.”

Inga took Henry’s hand, and Henry sat back down with her. 

“I suppose he doesn’t want me to leave here,” Inga said.

“You will have to move to Corona, then?” Frederick asked. “I’m glad I’ll be there, then.”

***

Anna returned to her study from the council meeting and rang for Kai. She had managed to get the provisional consent of the council to allow the wedding to happen in the next few weeks, since the bishop had agreed to it already, and spoke in favor of allowing it to happen without undue delay. They would approve whatever details were agreed on with the royal family of Corona once they arrived.  

Somehow, nobody had asked if there was a reason to make the wedding happen quickly. She valued the small blessing. 

Kai arrived. 

“Hello, Kai, could you make sure that Henry is invited to dinner with the family?” she asked.

“Yes, Your Majesty. Dinner will be in an hour, is that still good for you?”

“Yes, that works well. I don’t know if Inga will be able to make it, but make sure that Oline checks in on her.”

Kai nodded and left.

Anna stopped by their bedroom, and Kristoff was already dressed, about to head over to dinner. 

“I told Frederick and the twins about the wedding,” he said as they began walking. 

“How much did you tell them?” 

“Only that it’s happening soon. They’ll figure out the rest one of these days.”

Anna nodded. “I suppose all three of them will be at dinner this evening, then? I told Kai to make sure Henry is invited. At the very least, even if Inga isn’t feeling up to joining us, we don’t need Ambassador Meyer finding him tonight.”

Kristoff grimaced. “You make a good point.”

As they arrived at the dining room, they were surprised to see Inga and Henry already sitting at the table.  It wasn’t clear if they had been talking about anything when Anna and Kristoff arrived, but the younger two were holding hands and let go the moment she and Kristoff walked into the room.

“Sorry to interrupt,” Kristoff said somewhat gruffly, walking over to his usual seat. 

“We were outside and Kai told us Henry was invited to dinner,” Inga explained. 

“I’m happy to see that you’re well enough to join us, Inga,” Anna said sincerely, though she wondered how much her daughter was forcing herself for the sake of appearances now.

“I’ve heard back from my mother,” Henry announced. “They’re coming on the next steamship to Arendelle. My family, that is.”

“All of them?” Anna asked. 

“Yes, everyone will be coming, including my grandparents,” Henry replied. 

“Oh, of course, that will be good,” Anna nodded, sharing a brief glance with Kristoff, and glad that Inga was the only other person in the room right then. Having his entire family in attendance would help the appearances of this being intentional. “How much have you told them?”

“Just that the wedding will be happening soon after they arrive,” Henry replied. 

Anna wasn’t sure whether to feel relieved or uneasy. They would have to know the truth at some point. 

She and Kristoff sat down at the end of the table.

Frederick arrived just then.  “What did I miss?” he asked, sitting down across from Inga and Henry.

“Henry just heard back from his family, and they should all be arriving within two weeks,” Inga informed him.

“All of them?” Frederick asked, “I thought your grandparents didn’t really travel.”

“Um, yes, they all want to be here,” Henry replied.  

“I guess the council decided to let you go ahead and get married?” Frederick asked.

“Did they?” Henry asked, turning to Anna.

“Yes, with very few questions.  The bishop helped considerably.”

“But usually they have so many questions,” Frederick commented.

"So, Frederick, how are the plans coming along for the naval academy?" Anna asked, intentionally changing the subject. 

"There's a term from January through May, and another term in the fall. And then the spring after that I would become a second lieutenant."

"Will you be sailing much?" Inga asked.

"Oh, there will be sailing," Frederick replied confidently. "It would be rather ridiculous to become a naval officer with no sailing experience, don't you think?"

Inga laughed, while Anna quietly wished that her son could find some other way to make his mark on the world. Kristoff seemed to notice, putting a calming hand on top of hers.  She realized she should try to include Henry in the conversation.

“Henry, what do you know about the naval academy in Corona?”

“My grandfather takes particular pride in it,” he told them, “he wasn’t the one who founded the academy, but he expanded it considerably when he took the throne.  It was his idea to invite select foreign candidates.”

“Why hasn’t Arendelle sent anyone before?” Inga asked him innocently.

“I… I don’t know,” Henry said, clearly not having been asked the question before, or perhaps not sure what answer would be safe in front of Arendelle's queen. 

Anna wasn’t going to be offended, not at this point, but before she could say anything, the twins and Sofia arrived at the same time.

“Sofia, you’re joining us tonight?” Anna asked. She hadn’t said anything one way or the other to Kai.

“Nanny said it was fine,” Sofia insisted, “and Anton and Peder were on their way, anyway when Meibel was going home.”

“I don’t see why not,” Inga insisted, “I no longer had dinner with Nanny when I was her age, unless it was some kind of state dinner.”

“That’s true,” Anna agreed, noticing Kristoff looking uncomfortable. Sometime later that day they would need to discuss whether they were going to adjust the rules for Sofia going forward.

0o0o0

October 21st, 1865

Dear Elizabeth,

I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to write back to you.  Planning the Harvest Festival was keeping me quite busy, but the festival went very well yesterday, and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves quite a bit.  I've enjoyed reading about your little baby, and I hope you tell me more about him. 

Meanwhile, I’m going to have to keep this letter short, because I’m still quite busy, but I will have some news to tell you soon enough. I suppose you won’t be particularly surprised. 

Sincerely,

Inga

Inga sealed and addressed the letter, and couldn’t help but feel guilty for not writing more, especially after so long of a delay of writing to Elizabeth.  

She dropped the letter in the tray that Kai would pick up for the post later that day, and made her way to the Cathedral. Henry was waiting outside the door for her, and the clock was chiming the exact time that her mother had told them to meet her there with the bishop. 

“Has my mother arrived yet?” she asked Henry.  

He shook his head silently, and just then, the bishop came out the front doors of the cathedral, motioning them to follow him inside.

Inga had felt well enough to put on a good appearance at the Harvest Festival the day before, introducing Henry to people, some of whom had already met, and others who were new faces.  Thanks to the permission of the royal council, they were able to say they were engaged. They had managed to avoid seeing the council in person, since their personal consent had been taken care of the previous summer. Between the letter from the King of Corona, and the word from the Bishop of Arendelle that he believed it was best, the matter was settled with surprisingly little grumbling. It helped that they had a quorum without the less agreeable members of the council, whose notifications had been delayed by a few hours.

The bishop led them up the back stairs to the choir balcony, and told them to wait while he finished discussing matters alone with the queen.

“How are you doing?" Henry asked Inga.

“You keep asking me that,” she sighed.

“Well, I mean-” 

“Have you heard about the acoustics of this place?” Inga said, cutting him off before he could say anything else. “Even if you’re whispering, people can hear you perfectly even in the back row of the pews.”

“That’s interesting,” Henry said, sounding confused. “But why are you telling me this?”

“You wouldn’t believe how many people don’t know about this, and what they think is a secret is known by everyone in town because someone was sitting hidden away in a dark corner of the cathedral listening while they were up here talking.”

Henry’s eyes widened, and he nodded.

The bishop brought them into his office. Inga’s mother was sitting in one chair, and the bishop showed them to two more chairs across from his desk. Inga made sure that she was sitting in between her mother and Henry. Her mother may not have been as visibly upset as her father had been, but it still seemed more comfortable that way.

If the bishop knew of their reasons for hurrying the wedding, he didn’t show it, though Inga felt certain that he must know. He seemed satisfied that she and Henry were, indeed, getting married for reasons other than feeling forced to do so, and he would proceed with the plans, and with the regularity of the steamship Henry’s family was on, they would schedule the wedding for one week later. 

Inga and Henry thanked him, and he seemed to sense their disappointment that it would not be sooner.

“While I understand the desire to expedite things further, any sooner and it would look suspicious now rather than later.”

The bishop knew. 

***

The next day, Inga stood in the middle of her room with her mother and the dressmaker and several assistants. They had taken several measurements of her and shown several different drawings of the latest fashions from Paris. Her mother asked her a question that she didn’t quite hear. Inga’s mind was thinking about a thousand different things.

“Inga,” her mother repeated, “you need to pick which one you want. They don’t have a lot of time to make it.”

“Just pick the dress you like!” Inga shouted at her mother in frustration, sitting down gracelessly in the chair in the corner of her room.  The dressmaker and her assistants looked between Inga and her mother helplessly.

Her mother walked over, kneeling down gently on the floor next to her.  “Inga, it’s your wedding, you need to be the one to decide what you want.  I can’t tell you.”

“But I don’t know!  It’s a dress!  I could decide if it was something practical, but it’s not.  I really don’t know what I want.”

“Well, maybe you should have thought of that before,” her mother said under her breath.

“What did you just say?” Inga asked, barely keeping her voice from rising. 

“I’m just saying, I can’t make this decision for you.”

“It’s a dress.  It’s a stupid dress. Pick one, and the dressmaker already has my measurements, so let’s call it a day.”

Her mother sighed, stood up, and walked over to the dressmaker.  The two discussed matters for a few minutes, and then the dressmaker walked over with some samples of fabric and a fashion plate.  

“Will this do, Your Highness?” she asked Inga.

“Um, fine,” Inga mumbled, “thank you, that will do.”

“Very well,” her mother said to the dressmaker, “You can work out the details with Kai downstairs, and let me know if you need anything else, thank you.”

The dressmaker and her assistants left the room, and Inga’s mother closed the door behind them.

“What was that all about?” she asked Inga sharply.

“Exactly what I said!” Inga cried, “I don’t care about the dress I’m wearing, as long as it fits.  It’s never been something I’ve ever cared about.  I should wear something appropriate to my position and the occasion, I understand that.  But why does that mean I need to pick something myself?”

“Because it’s your wedding, not mine or the dressmaker’s wedding or one of your friends.”

“If it were really my wedding, I would have just gone and gotten married,” Inga grumbled, walking over to sit on her bed.

“No one is stopping you,” her mother snapped, “No one has stopped you from doing anything you’ve ever wanted, not in your entire life.  You’re the one making your own life difficult, so don’t complain to me.”

“Fine, I won’t!”  Inga shouted.  She flopped down on the bed. “Now can I be alone, or is that just getting what I want like I always do?”

“I’ll come back to check on you before dinner,” her mother said, suddenly calm.  She left silently, closing the door firmly behind her.

[godofglitter]

The Vault (I Can See You)

Inspired by Taylor Swift's I Can See You, aka the reason I'm out of a very very long hiatus.

Read on Ao3 (it's back!)

*

It’s a dangerous game they’re playing today, and the summer heat seems to be turning up in response. In the cramped space of the storage closet, the scents of sharp cleaning fluid mix with fresh plastic, yet what makes Alex’s head spin the most is the all too familiar smell of Henry pressed up against him, and he finds he wants nothing more than to lick the fine bead of sweat making its merry way down his adam’s apple. 

“I can see you written all over this,” Alex says with a smirk, making sure the movement of his lips lies close enough to the spot under Henry’s ears for his breath to make him shiver- but not close enough to touch. Yet. 

With the hand that’s not pressing Henry to the metal grill of the storage racks, effectively trapping him between metal and a, ahem, hard place, Alex pulls out a crumpled piece of pink paper with conspicuous blue hearts drawn all over, and the cutesy message “Meet me tonight?” scrawled in the most unironically barbie looking handwriting Alex has ever seen. The kind of handwriting all the girls (and maybe secretly even Alex on some exceptionally boring nights) were always trying to perfect back in middle school, so they could write the names of their “true soulmates” on the back of their notebooks and on their arms and on every desk they were assigned to so the whole world could be privy to their not so secret matters of heart. The kind of handwriting that really had no business falling out of his APUSH report in front of the whole class, just as he was about to start his self-proclaimed genius paper on the historical influence of world politicians on American governance. 

Of course, much embarrassment had followed, with a not insignificant number of catcalls (from Nora, of all people, he’s going to fucking murder her later)- yet even through the waves of shame that made his cheeks flame red for the rest of the period, there was a vein of excitement coursing through him that drove him towards recklessness, retaliation- because he knew how this game worked, and he may have lost a round but he’d make damn sure he’d win the war. 

It’s working he thinks, allowing his smirk to turn into a ferocious, purposefully cocky grin at the sight of Henry’s disheveled nod. If only the rest of the school knew about this, too- the crackling sparks flying between them behind closed doors, the desperate breaths against breaths, the insurmountable need to bridge the infiniteness of the space between them. And yet, selfishly, Alex loves the fact that he’s the only one that gets to see Henry like this- cheeks a perfect rose blush, lips wet and bitten through, pupils blown so wide there’s barely a hint of blue around the edges. To the rest of the world, Henry and Alex are the bitter rivals whose pranks against each other will one day make the principal’s head explode- or worse, get the whole senior class in trouble. Only alone, in the secrecy of the vault they lock their hearts in, do Henry and Alex allow themselves to be what they truly are- madly, desperately in love with even the shadow of one another. 

It is this love that prompts Alex to drop a sweet- and maybe a little shy, screw him- kiss on Henry’s cheek, right before he drops his mouth down low to the pliant space right underneath Henry’s jaw and bites. 

Henry’s sharp intake of breath and clearly uncontrolled moan sends all the blood in Alex’s body rushing down, yet he resists the urge to abandon the farce and pull Henry into a searing kiss, and instead continues lavishing attention to the vivid red imprint of his teeth, sucking the soft skin underneath until with a broken breath Henry whispers “please, Alex.”

He knows the rulebook like he knows the backs of Henry’s hands, written in sly glances and brushes in corridors and the teeming darkness under sheets on late nights- and yet Alex can’t help but press his lips against Henry’s at the sound of his voice. The lilting vowels of his voice stick to his eyelids, making it impossible to open them against the cinematically bright sparks that are surely lighting the space between them. He allows himself to apply just enough pressure, a buildup, a hint of true feeling- 

-before physically wrenching himself out of Henry’s arms (seriously, does he have Alex coded magnets in there or something?) and staggering to the other end of the tiny closet. He will never admit it if you ask, but it takes him a second to get his lungs to breathe evenly, especially after Henry starts humming God Save the Queen (not for the first time since they’ve started this thing, unfortunately). The way Henry looks- hair pointing in sixteen different directions, tie undone, jacket forgotten on the floor- sends the anticipatory shiver down Alex’s spine that draws him back near Henry again, somehow closer this time, and prompts him to whisper- 

“Yeah, I will meet you tonight-“, 

A pause, brown eyes meeting blue, breaths abated. With a sudden, wicked grin, Alex bends down once more to blow a moment shattering raspberry on the rapidly purpling hickey on Henry’s neck, before backing carefully but quickly out of the closet.

“-As long as you can make it through the day!” 

*

“Alex Claremont Diaz, I will kill you!” Nora hears from- what?- a broom closet, of all things. Stupid Alex- he probably locked Henry in and went away with the key or something, she thinks, shaking her head at the stupid shenanigans the two of them kept getting into. Of course, I have to be the one to save them, as usual, she thinks as she whips out a spare storage key (swim club manager privileges, thank you) and walks towards the closet door. She’s still shaking her head disapprovingly as she enters the closet, only to see-

Nope, nope, that was emphatically not Henry in a state of utter undress with a giant hickey on his neck, that Alex did not put there, and Henry is not whisper shouting oh fucks behind her, this did not happen, everything is normal, the storage door is closed. 

She doesn’t know about Henry, but Nora will definitely be killing Alex tonight.

[a-vast-horizon]

Ink Demonth day 28: Devour

Henry had lost track of the days by the time Joey finally pulled him from the closet. It had to have been at least a week, maybe longer, but it was so hard to tell without being able to see the sun rise and set, or hear the bustle of the studio’s employees. For all that he was in a crowded building, he was as alone as if he was in some remote desert. At least then he would have been able to see the sky.

Joey grabbed his arm without a word, pulling Henry out of the closet with one tug. He’d provided food once or twice, cold cans of bacon soup, but not enough. Henry tried to pull his arm free, but he was weak, and Joey was relentless.

He pulled Henry into an elevator and pushed a button for a higher floor. Had he finally come to his senses? Was he letting Henry go?

“What… what are you doing?” Henry asked. His voice was rough, his throat dry. The water from the tap had gotten more inky each day, so he’d been trying to drink it as little as possible, even though the bitter taste of the ink had started growing on him.

“It’s a new day for Joey Drew Studios, Henry. Today marks the start of a new era of animation,” Joey grinned. “I almost wish you could be there to see it.”

Henry’s head swam, trying to make sense of the words, before he finally remembered what Joey had said that first day. 

“You’re really going to try sacrificing me to make a cartoon real?” he asked, disbelieving.

“I’m going to do more than try,” Joey said. “I’ve had my mind set on this for a while, Henry, and I’ve found a way to make it happen.”

“You’re insane,” Henry spat.

“Well, people called the Wright brothers insane too, and look how they managed to fly anyway,” Joey said. “I’m not really concerned with your opinion anymore, old friend.”

The elevator chimed, and the grate pulled back. Henry tried to run for it, but Joey’s grip on his arm tightened, and he slumped, unable to pull free from it.

“There’s no running from fate, Henry,” Joey said. He hauled the other man upright, and began pulling him in a direction that looked vaguely familiar.

The Ink Machine.

—

Henry had trouble making sense of the scene in front of him. He was woozy, dazed from hunger and poor sleep, and his vision swam as he tried to take in the Ink Machine room.

The room was dark, lit only by candles that danced with dim light and sent shifting shadows out across the cavernous room. There was a circle on the floor, drawn in ink, surrounded by symbols Henry was sure weren’t English. Dozens of papers lay on the floor surrounding the circle, and Henry realized with a start that they were posters for the cartoons. There was a book on a small table, written in the same script as the circle, with a cool of rope set on top of it. And of course the Ink Machine hung above it all, somehow dominating the enormous room and making it feel so small.

As Joey pulled him towards the circle, Henry noticed that there was another man standing towards the back of the room, barely visible in the shadows, wearing workman’s overalls. 

“Please, help me—“ Henry choked out, but the stranger didn’t react, as impassive as if he was simply waiting in line at the bank.

“Mr. Connor is just here for the Machine, Henry,” Joey said. He pushed Henry, sending him sprawling to the floor in the middle of the circle, and then Henry felt Joey’s foot pressed against his back, pinning him down as the other man pulled his arms behind his back. 

Then came the rough rope against his wrists, holding his arms in place behind his back. Joey tied his legs together next, and then tied those bonds to anchors on the floor just outside of the circle. Henry pulled against the bonds, trying to free himself, but the rope held strong.

Joey chuckled above him.

“It’s just a temporary measure, Henry, to keep you in place while I get the rest of the ritual ready,” he said.

Which was honestly what Henry was afraid of. Whatever crazy ritual Joey had come up with wasn’t going to end well for Henry himself, he was sure, and he was running out of time to get away before the other man could put his plans into action. 

All he could do was lay there on the floor, trying in vain to grab a knot in the rope so he could untie it, forced to listen to Joey’s preparations without being able to see what he was doing.

Papers rustled. Wood creaked as Joey dragged the table to a slightly different position. Joey started chanting in a language Henry had never heard before. The Ink Machine groaned and clanked.

And then there was the ink. 

It hit Henry like a waterfall, gallons and gallons of pitch-black ink in a second, icy cold. His skin prickled with goosebumps, and then prickled with an entirely different sensation.

For days now Henry had been drinking ink from the spigot in the closet without very much thought, but he was suddenly very aware of its presence inside him as it pressed against the walls of its stomach, digging inky tendrils into his flesh as it attempted to reunite with the ink pouring down outside of him. And the fresh ink was doing the same thing, digging tendrils into his skin, worming and searching for what was inside of him.

Henry gasped for air, and ink choked him, flooding his throat and holding his mouth open as more and more ink poured in to tear him apart from the inside out. His chest was already heavy and cold, saturated with ink that was creeping down his arms and legs, tearing apart his flesh in its quest. 

The ink was eating him alive.

No, no, no, this can’t be happening! This isn’t possible!

But possible or not, it was happening. He could feel it as the ink broke into his veins and replaced the blood flowing there, tracking the chill as it shot through his body. His feet were numb, he couldn’t feel his fingers, and his chest felt like pure ice… 

Although it was getting hard to tell where his chest stopped and the deluge of ink started. As it was tearing him apart, it was rebuilding him, remaking him out of ink. Henry understood all at once how Joey thought that he was going to get a living Bendy out of this, reforming ink in ways that blood and bone could never bear.

Well, Henry wasn’t going to let him have what he wanted. As the ink tried to swallow him whole, Henry struggled with renewed fury. If Joey was willing to steal away Henry’s life, then stealing his dream in return seemed only fair.

(Read and follow on AO3 if you have an account!)

[androidcharles]

Rockin' the House Chapter 3

There's a lot crammed into this chapter, so here's a general summary

Ellie has been commissioned by Charles to write lyrics for their music! And she meets up w/ an old friend in the process... And after that the show starts! How well will it go?

Ellie tapped a pencil on her desk as she let out a small sigh, trying to concentrate as she stared at the blank piece of paper. A week ago, Charles had begged her to write lyrics for one of their songs in time for their first performance. Their set list consisted of four songs, three of them covers of songs ancient and modern. It had been a while since she had really written, so writing lyrics for Charles and his band should have been a piece of cake.

However, it seemed like she was having a hard time finding inspiration. It was strange that Charles chose her to write songs for them. He only requested her to do it because his lyrics were a bit dark. She had read over them and didn’t seem to think they weren’t that bad. A bit horrifying in some places, but it didn’t really fit their sound at all.

Charles seemed to like writing somewhat cheerful sounding songs, but dark lyrics wouldn’t really fit with that. But than why did Charles ask her to write the lyrics? Her poems were pretty dark too.

Maybe he thought they were more tame compared to half of the stuff he wrote. She sighed as she glanced over at the clock, realizing it had only been thirty minutes and slammed her head on the desk, letting out a small groan.

“You OK?” Her head popped up and she saw Henry looking at her with a bit of worry.

YOU SHOULDN’T BE OUT OF BED, Henry said, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?

“Writing a song for Charles?” Ellie said, “I mean, he asked me to… The cast comes off in about a few days anyway. I might as well get used to moving around anyway.”

WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO WRITE, ANYWAY? Henry asked.

“Charles said he wanted something bittersweet,” Ellie said, “I guess that’s what my poems are? That’s a very interesting way of putting it. His friends said his poem was too dark.”

“Bittersweet…” Henry said softly as he glanced at the papers.

“I’ve already heard their songs. They’re pretty good actually. Charles uploaded the recordings onto AudioMist,” Ellie said, “I listened to them to get a good idea of how I should write these lyrics but in all honesty, I’m not sure if I can do something that’ll impress him.”

WELL, DON’T FORCE IT. TRUST ME, WHENEVER I’M MAKING SCULPTURES AND STUFF, I FIND THAT MAKING FROM THE HEART IS MORE IMPORTANT THEN TRYING TO FORCE MYSELF TO MAKE SOMETHING, Henry signed at her, patting her back in reassurance.

“Maybe I should take a walk, just to clear my head,” Ellie said, “Maybe I’ll find something inspiring out in the city.”

CAN I JOIN YOU? Henry asked. Ellie smiled.

“Sure, why not?” Ellie said.

The two of them exited the apartment together as they headed out through the city, taking in the sights as they walked around the block before they finally decided to sit down on a city bench. Ellie was busy scribbling in a notepad as Henry took in the surroundings, doing some sketches of his own.

“I’m actually feeling the inspiration flowing through me a bit. This actually kinda reminds me of how I used to pal around with my older cousin,” Ellie said, “We’d run around Manhatten unsupervised and somehow get into all sorts of trouble. One time we got chased by two… HEY I met the Toppats before I even met them. How funny is that?” Henry giggled as he watched everyone going by.

“Yeah, Jacob was always causing trouble. Then he became a security guard for West Mesa Museum,” Ellie said.

DIDN’T YOU HEAR? HE ACTUALLY GOT FIRED A WHILE BACK, Henry said.

“What? What happened?” Ellie asked.

“Um…” I HAPPENED, Henry said, making a sort of cringey face as he put his fingers together.

“Oh, yeah, you stealing the diamond did that…” Ellie said.

HOW DID YOU KNOW HE WAS WORKING AT THE WEST MESA MUSEUM BEFORE I ROBBED IT? Henry said, I NEVER TOLD YOU.

“I was kinda keeping an eye on him. But when I moved up north, I found it more difficult so I just… gave up on it. I don’t know what he’s up to now,” Ellie said. Henry only shrugged as he glanced at everyone passing by, taking note of everyone and watching them walk by. Ellie suddenly grabbed Henry’s shirt as he flinched, glancing at Ellie with a look of confusion.

“Is that… who I think it is…” Ellie said softly. She looked down the street as Henry glanced around, trying to figure out what she was looking at.

“There, over there!!” Ellie whispered, pointing at a person who was wearing a huge coat and a pair of shades, looking around as he adjusted his hat to cover his face a bit more. He tried to think of where he might have seen him before Ellie shot out of her seat, trying her best to run after the man with her crutch. Henry cautiously followed behind her as they situated themselves in an alleyway near the person in question. He glanced around again, as if he was trying to see if there was anyone watching.

“Jacob… JACOB!” Ellie shout whispered. The mans head bolted up as he flinched, trying to figure out where the voice had come as Ellie waved her hands at him. He tipped his head to the side as he started to head down the alleyway before gasping, seeing Ellie looking at him with wide eyes.

“Jacob?” Ellie whispered. Jacob took off his sunglasses, returning her bewildered look as Henry put his hand over his mouth.

“Ellie?” Jacob said, “Is that really you?” He glanced from side to side and leaned forward.

“This isn’t the best time for us to meet right now.”

“Why? What’s going on?” Ellie asked as they suddenly heard a couple of screams from the street.

“That’s going on right now. Excuse me,” Jacob ran out of the alleyway, shucking off the coat to reveal his clothes and a pin on the pocket of his shirt… a Toppat pin.

“No way…” Ellie said softly as he raced down the street, hearing police sirens. Henry beckoned for Ellie to follow him as they ducked through the alleys to another part of the city, where Ellie slid down against the wall and looked up in shock. Henry tapped her shoulder to communicate with her.

SHOCKED? Was the first thing he asked.

“I mean, I guess? I didn’t think he had it in him though. He was always such a goody two shoes growing up. I thought he would still be looking after our aunt. After the fire…” Ellie started to grip her head as she felt a spike of pain shook up her spine. She took a deep grounding breath before looking at at Henry, who had a great look of concern in his eyes.

“Let’s get out of here,” Ellie said, “I think I’ve had enough fresh air for today…”

“Ellie!” The pair jumped when they heard a shout and turned around to see Jacob running towards them. Ellie backed away as Jacob stared at her, almost ready to run after her before she approached him.

“You should get out of here, you robbed a bank!” Ellie said quietly.

“I just wanted to tell you that we need to meet up. There’s… a lot I wanna talk about…” Jacob said.

“What makes you think I’m not gonna turn you in to the authorities?” Ellie asked.

“Because… I trust you?” Jacob said, “I don’t know, but I gotta run! Please, let’s meet up, I promise it’ll be worth it!” Jacob ran off as Ellie sighed, resting her head against the wall.

“Wanna go home now?” Henry said softly as Ellie nodded her head.

- - - - -

About two days had passed since Ellie’s encounter with Jacob. She had mentioned it to Charles and Charles seemed a bit shocked that he was related to Ellie.

“I thought that Rose was a very common last name!” Charles said, “To think that was your cousin… I can’t believe it.”

Meanwhile, she had managed to write at least one song for the first song Charles had written. Charles loved it a lot and was already practicing it with Amelia, who seemed to have a hard time playing and singing at the same time. However, things were getting better considering the people they were practicing with.

Ellie wanted to write another song with the second song that Charles had written, but she couldn’t seem to think of anything in the moment.

“Don’t worry too much about it!” Charles had told her as he packed his things for band practice, “Even one song is enough! I think we’ll just perform some covers of some other songs.”

“I don’t want your band to devolve into a cover band though. I’ve still got a week, I could probably get something done for you in that time!”

“Don’t worry too much about it. I know the creative process and it sucks sometimes. Just get it out when you can, alright?” Charles said, “Say, how about you come with me?”

“Huh?”

“You wanna meet with your cousin right? Might as well come with me.”

“I’d rather not. You’re pretty welcome over, but the other Toppats might not take too kindly to me.”

“Well, not everyone is nice to me. Our music trainers are still kinda cold towards me and there’s also a couple of Toppats here and there who’ll jeer at me. There’s this one Toppat in the kitchen though, Scottie who’s really nice! Ah, well, that’s just to name a few,” Charles said, “If you want, I can have you stay in the chopper and I’ll ask the Right Hand Man to find Jacob so he can meet you up there.” Elllie pondered this for a second. It had been a while since she had talked to her cousin and it would be nice to catch up once again.

“Alright, fine. I’ll come with you. But only if you promise I’m not gonna be like… taken prisoner or anything.”

“You have my word. If they try anything on you, I’ll give them hell.” Ellie followed Charles out the door, letting Henry know that she was going out and she would be back soon. Charles handed him a slip of paper before heading out, locking the door behind him.

“What was that?” Ellie asked.

“A slip of paper with the coordinates of the Toppat manor. If anything happens, he can come rescue us!” Charles said as he headed up to the roof.

After about an hour of flight, the helicopter landed on top of the manor in the designated location, where Amelia was already waiting for him with Dave. Charles stepped out of the helicopter as Ellie walked towards the pilots area, watching him talk to Amelia and Dave as Amelia tipped her head to the side. Immediately, she ran towards the helicopter’s entrance and rapidly pulled the door open, causing Ellie to jump as she stared at her.

“Hello,” she said, smiling at her.

“Hey… long time no see,” Ellie said, “I wanna talk to my cousin, Jacob Rose. Is that OK?”

“Jacob? Yeah, that’s alright!” Amelia said, “You’re not gonna attack him are you?”

“That really depends on a lot of things,” Ellie said, “Can you just tell him that I’m up here?”

“Sure!” Amelia immediately accessed her messenger app and typed up a message for Jacob.

GlitterToppatGirl: Jacob

RoseRedToppat: what

GlitterToppatGirl: Are you available?

RoseRedToppat: what do you need

GlitterToppatGirl: There’s a girl claiming to be your cousin here right now on the roof. She has red hair, I forgot her name… Elsie or something? …….Hello? HEY

“Geez,” Amelia muttered as she closed her messenger, “I’ve gotta get to practice. There’s a room nearby you can wait in if you want.”

“No thanks I’m good,” Ellie said as she cautiously exited the helicopter, relishing the fresh air out here compared to the more smoggy air in the city. She looked up to see a sea of stars above her, feeling a bit refreshed at it all as Amelia smiled at her.

“Alright, whatever you want,” Amelia said, “Just don’t catch a cold up here.” She followed Charles and Dave as they talked amongst themselves as Ellie sighed, sitting on the edge of the helicopter, making note of anything she can do to ensure her safety when she heard the door burst open. She looked up to see Jacob, his eyes wide as he ran towards her. She jumped off of the helicopter just in time to get barreled down by a huge hug.

“ELLIE! I WAS SO FUCKING WORRIED ABOUT YOU!! When you disappeared after the fire and oh greater ones above, I don’t know what to tell you I don’t know where to start-”

“How about you start by telling me why you became a Toppat?” Ellie asked. Jacob flinched as he sheepishly rubbed the back of his head.

“Well, it was more of a recent development. I got tired of working at this one taco stand and a Toppat approached me and asked me if I wanted to join. So… I did. I know it wasn’t really ethical, but I was sick of bouncing between jobs and living with my mom. She’s gone nuts since last year and I don’t know why. So I took advantage of the free lodging and stuff that’s offered there and I just told her I was going to work freelance somewhere else,” Jacob said.

“Seriously?” Ellie said.

“It was either that or become a streamer and I really couldn’t put up with that,” Jacob said, “I didn’t really want to be a Toppat, but I was miserable before! And you already know how my mom is.”

“That’s true, Aunt Bella was always one screw short of a working brain. But that can’t exactly be helped. Especially considering how the entire family fortune was stolen,” Ellie said.

“That’s true too,” Jacob said. He sat down at the edge of the roof as Ellie joined him, feeling a bit relieved as he turned towards her.

“So, what were you up to before you become a private investigator?” Jacob asked.

“Oh, I was a criminal too. I guess it was pretty hypocritical of me to call you out on your own little criminal thing when I was running around doing that shit myself,” Ellie said, “But there’s like… lots of holes in my memories. There are things I can’t remember and things I can’t. It’s almost scary actually…”

“Oh…” Jacob said, “I’m sorry to hear.”

“It’s alright. It’s my fault mostly. I don’t know what happened, but that woman that was with my dad-” Ellie suddenly gripped the sides of her head as Jacob shot up, gasping as she shook in place, trying to breath.

“Ellie! ELLIE!” Jacob shouted, “Oh greater ones above, what do I do?” Ellie winced as she looked up, tears in her eyes as Jacob felt tears springing up.

“I’m sorry…” Jacob said, “I’m sorry you had to go through all that. I don’t know why I didn’t work harder to try to find you but my mom and the police and all these other things just sort of popped up. I really am sorry.”

“It’s fine. We’re together now and that’s all that matters,” Ellie said, “So I guess now we can start over.”

“Yeah, whatever you want really,” Jacob said, lying down on the roof. Ellie lay down with him, gazing at the multitudes of stars as Jacob sighed.

“I wish I could make it up to you, I really wish I could. But if you’re operating on the right side of the law now, I highly doubt anything I could do for you would be legal,” Jacob said.

“I think meeting with you and getting confirmation that you’re still, you know, OK is good enough for me,” Ellie said.

“Well that’s good to hear,” Jacob said, “It’s nice to see that you’re OK as well. After everything that happened, I was afraid you might have died or something…”

The pair was silent as they stared at the stars above, twinkling endlessly as Jacob sighed.

“I guess that’s it then,” Jacob said, “I’m sorry that things turned out like this. I wonder… what would have happened if that fire didn’t happen.”

“We’d probably be groomed to live richy rich lives. Or playing around with the Toppats. Whatever comes first,” Ellie said.

“Well, I would have been a Toppat no matter what then. I guess nobody wins,” Jacob said. Ellie pondered over this for a second, trying to mull over her thoughts before she was suddenly struck with something. Immediately, she pulled out her phone and started to type away on it, hitting each of the buttons like she was desperate to keep the ideas flowing, like a small creek becoming a mighty river.

“Ellie, what’s wrong?” Jacob asked as Ellie looked up.

“I just… I got inspired, I guess you could say,” Ellie said.

“You’re still writing poetry? That’s good to hear,” Jacob said, “What are you writing?”

“Just something that I think Charles and his band will like,” Ellie said. She kept typing away as she mulled over a few details before saving her progress and sending it to Charles.

Meanwhile, Charles, Amelia, and Dave were practicing in their practice room, sounding better then ever as they finished their song.

“Wow, that was amazing!” Amelia said, “A real rush you know!”

“Amelia, are you sure you’re OK? Your voice sounds a bit… bit crushed lately,” Charles asked.

“Huh? Nah, I’m fine! I just need to practice some more,” Amelia said.

“Don’t overexert yourself sweetheart…” Dave said softly, “I don’t want you to get hurt!”

“I’ll be fine! I’m an android, remember? Let’s do it again from the top!” Amelia said. Charles suddenly heard a ping in his head as he gazed at the message in his messenger.

RoseyRose sent ARoseWithoutThorns.txt RoseyRose: I think you’ll like this. This isn’t the final draft, but take a look at it and see if it’ll fit with your second song.

Charles curiously opened the text file and read over the poem before growing a bit excited.

“What’s wrong Charles?” Amelia asked.

“Oh, nothing,” Charles said, “Hey let’s start practicing the second song a bit. I know we’re cutting it close, but I really want this first set to be perfect.” Amelia bounced a little as Dave nodded his head, clacking his sticks together to count them off as they began to play again.

- - - - -

On the day of CC in the AM’s first performance, it was a bit stormy out. That didn’t stop the multitudes of Toppats (and a couple of people Henry had threatened) from heading out to the live house to see the three perform for the first time ever.

General Galeforce sighed as Rupert stood by his side, a little annoyed at the crowd. They were Toppats, that much was true. And with a full squad, they could probably arrest a few. However, they weren’t on duty technically, so they didn’t want to cause any trouble. Plus Rupert really wanted to support his boyfriend by doing this.

“If this ends up becoming another Toppat bottleneck because of that girl… I swear, Charlie’s really playing with fire here,” General Galeforce said as they entered the live house. Rupert took in the air of the place as it was packed fully with dozens of people. He wondered if Dave was even to sell all the tickets that he was given, but he recognized some of Dave’s coworkers in a small group, all talking amongst each other, glancing warily at the stage as Rupert glared at them.

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t the good general!” Rupert jumped to see two familiar faces; Reginald Copperbottom and his Right Hand Man, both wearing poor disguises as General Galeforce rolled his eyes.

“I suppose you two are here to see your daughter perform,” General Galeforce said.

“Hm… I suppose so. I just hope she can be honest about… ah well, it’ll be fine! I can only hope I raised her right. You know how it is with android children,” Reginald said. General Galeforce chuckled, feeling himself relate a little bit. He couldn’t even count how many times Charles had lied through his teeth to him as a young android.

“I suppose a temporary truce is in place for now. Is that correct?” Reginald asked.

“You’re lucky I don’t want to cause a ruckus while my son is on stage. I know how bad concert riots can get,” General Galeforce said. Rupert glanced at the general as he gazed at the stage, feeling a bit excited to not only see his best friend, but his boyfriend performing as well.

Meanwhile, backstage Charles was pacing the floor as Dave tapped his foot uncertainly, listening to the crowd.

“Greater ones above, I hope my drums are tuned, I hope I don’t get off beat, I hope there’s no riot, I don’t want my coworkers to laugh at me, I hope-”

“Dave you’re not helping. Geez, where’s Amelia?” Charles said.

GlitterToppatGirl: I’m right here.

Amelia entered the room as Dave jumped up and hugged her tightly. Charles smiled as he clapped his hands together

“Huh? Amelia! Thank goodness you’re here! They’re waiting for us outside, c’mon, you ready to perform?”

GlitterToppatGirl: No. I lost my voice.

Charles blinked as he stared at Amelia, who opened her mouth, the most haunting glitchy sound coming out as she tried to speak before covering it up again.

GlitterToppatGirl: It’s been like that since this morning. Combined with the drivers being out of date slightly and me wearing down my voice box, it’s going to take about a week for a sufficient replacement part to come in. I’m sorry guys, I can’t sing…

“I’ll do it! I’ll sing in her place!” Dave said.

“No you need to concentrate on drumming…” Charles said, “Ah, let’s see… Well, I don’t wanna resort to lip syncing, so I guess I’ll just sing in the meantime. It won’t be the same, but I hope I can manage.”

“CC in the AM? It’s showtime!” Ozwald shouted through the door. The three of them glanced at each other, realizing how real this was before nodding their heads. They headed out, getting ready to perform for a room of over fifty people. The crowd began to cheer as the curtain opened.

xXBold_Action_ManXx: Remember the first song?

GlitterToppatGirl: Sure do. Break a leg. And not a voice box.

Charles smirked as Amelia began to strum her bass guitar and he began to sing. For the first time ever he felt nervous, watching over the crowd as they swayed to the slow song, feeling almost excited. He saw Henry and Ellie standing next to each other, watching him as he strummed his guitar, Jacob was in the crowd as well, next to his cousin bouncing along to the music.

He saw General Galeforce, a twinkle in his eyes as he watched them perform and Rupert, who was staring very intently at the stage in a mode of concentration even he couldn’t understand. Reginald and the Right Hand Man were standing next to them, Reginald bouncing in place as his eyes were fully on Amelia and the Right Hand Man recording her with his camera, a gleam of pride his eyes.

But Charles couldn’t help but notice someone else in the crowd. Someone he hadn’t seen in a while. He tried to confirm, but he had to concentrate on finishing the song. Once he did, there was a stunning amount of applause and cheering as Charles approached the microphone.

“Thank you for listening! We want to thank you all for coming out here tonight to support us. I’m glad that so many people were willing to come out and hear us sing. I’m Charles Calvin, I’m the guitarist of the band, joined by my good friend Amelia C- ah… Just Amelia is fine for her for now. She unfortunately sang too much over the past week and lost her voice. Isn’t that something?” Everyone laughed as Amelia’s inseams steamed slightly.

GlitterToppatGirl: Not cool dude 😡

“Aha, anyway, we also have our drummer back here, Dave Panpa. Dave is a pretty cool dude once you get to know him and despite his shyness he’s actually a really excellent drummer!”

“Shut up!” Dave said, “I’m not that shy!”

“Well, it’s the vibe you kinda give off you know,” Charles said, “Well, either way, I hope you enjoy this next song. It’s another cover, but I think you’ll like it.”

So the set continued as planned, with Charles giving witty banter in between songs and even introducing the two original songs, crediting Ellie for writing the lyrics to them. As the finished the final bar of their last song, the crowd cheered, clapping and waving their hands as Charles glanced over the it, feeling a chill down his artificial spine.

No he wasn’t imagining it. There were two other androids in the crowd… they just left.

“Ah, I want to thank you guys for coming out to hear us perform! Check out my AudioMist profile CCintheAM for more original songs and of course thank you guys for coming out tonight! We love all of you and we hope you have safe travels going home!” The crowd cheered as the curtain closed, Charles glancing at Amelia with a bit of uncertainty.

GlitterToppatGirl: Don’t worry, I saw them too.

xXBold_Action_ManXx: What were they doing out here? Spying maybe? Trying to catch us off guard?

“Are you guys OK?” Dave asked, “What’s going on?”

“Nothing!” Charles said, “Everything’s alright! We just got through our first set though! High fives all around!” As the three of them exchanged high fives and Dave jumped up to give Amelia a big hug and soft kiss on the lips, Ozwald popped up again, all smiles.

“Great job you three. I was a bit doubtful at first, but you three showed real potential. I guess I can count on you for another performance next month!” he said.

“You bet! Hopefully Amelia has learned a big lesson about over singing, right Amelia?” Charles said.

“Well, clear off the stage,” Ozwald said, “I imagine you need some rest after that.” The three of them nodded their heads as they caught Dave up on the situation.

“There were androids in the crowd? Oh no, you don’t think they’re spying on us, aren’t you?” Dave asked.

“Well, probably. But I don’t know why,” Charles said, “After all, there’s really no benefit to disrupting one of our concerts, so it was probably just to scare us. That’s just disturbing, knowing they were watching us…”

“Maybe they’re planning something!” Dave said, “After all, they wouldn’t be spying if they weren’t really planning anything.”

“We’ve been chasing them around on days where we haven’t practiced. But I don’t know how they found out about us…” Charles said.

“Hey.” the three of them jumped as large man approached the door of the backstage room.

“There’s a group of people claiming to know you. Ellie and Henry their names were?” he said, “There’s also these three mustached dudes and a… living porcupine I think…”

“I’M NOT A PORCUPINE!” Rupert shouted as Charles giggled.

“Let them in,” Charles said, “They’re harmless. Mostly.” The group filed into the room as they extended their congratulations to the three of them. Henry was excitedly signing to Charles as Ellie smiled thoughtfully at him, General Galeforce patting him on the back and giving him praise for his first performance.

Meanwhile, Amelia was being absolutely bombarded with hugs from Reginald as the Right Hand Man very uncharacteristically started to talk very rapidly as he showed Amelia the recorded footage, pointing out his favorite parts as Amelia smiled sheepishly, unable to express her discomfort and embarrassment at the situation.

Rupert was also talking to Dave, telling him how amazing it was that he managed to perform without getting scared or anything as he smiled shyly, telling Rupert about how nervous he was perform but he had to get over that not only for Amelia’s sake, but for his own as well.

After a while, the group finally decided to head to their respective homes, wishing each other a good night as Charles waited for a cab with Henry and Ellie.

“It feels kinda strange to hear something that you’ve written being performed like that…” Ellie said as she stretched, watching Reginald pile into a car with a couple of other Toppats.

“If you want, I can start writing songs so you don’t have to worry about it,” Charles said.

“No, it’s fine, I can keep writing lyrics for you. Just let me know when you need some and I’ll be more then happy to provide,” Ellie said.

IT REALLY WAS GREAT HEARING YOU GUYS PERFORM. I KNEW YOU WERE GOOD WITH MUSIC, CHARLES, BUT TO THINK THAT YOU COULD PLAY THAT WELL… THAT WAS AMAZING, Henry said, smiling at him.

“It was all thanks to our music trainers,” Charles said. The cab approached the curb as they piled in, a bit tired as they headed home, the music from earlier stuck in their heads.

- - - - -

Theodore and CJ were in the alleyway, watching the crowd of people disperse as Theodore sighed.

“I don’t understand. If these androids are not living their ideal life, how come they look happier then us?” CJ asked.

“You know exactly why that’s the answer. I just hope I can convince Daxton of the same thing…” Theodore said, “I’m just scared is all. What if we’re doing this whole Project SAI thing for nothing? What do we even have to gain from it?”

“Money? Power?” CJ said.

“But wouldn’t it better if you could be a little more independent like them?” Theodore said, “Without those obnoxious doctors breathing down your neck?”

“Well, they know what’s best so-”

“So what?” Theodore said, “If they told you to jump off a cliff would you?” CJ shook their head as Theodore sighed.

“I thought so,” Theodore muttered, hearing a ringing in his ears.

Speak of the devils…

“Theodore, report on your findings,” Dr. Daffodil said.

“They were just playing a concert or whatever. Not my kinda scene to be honest. I prefer metal,” Theodore said.

“And the performers were androids?” she asked.

“Only Unit CC and Unit AM. Amelia and Charles as they call themselves,” Theodore said.

“Hmm… interesting. Maybe they’re trying to start this band as a way to garner favor for free will for all androids!” Dr. Daffodil said.

“Or they were just bored and wanted to do something beside fight us!” Theodore said.

“You say that like we’re the bad guys!” Theodore desperately wanted to say that he did feel like, for the first time ever, they really were the bad guys. Stealing all sorts of computer parts, breaking and entering restricted areas, continuing a terrible project under the nose of the government forces was enough to make him feel dirty on the inside.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Theodore said, “I’ll report back to HQ with the video footage and you can see for yourself what this is.”

“Fine, fine. But be quick! You weren’t supposed to be out for this long and who knows who might have seen you and Unit CJ. Daffodil out.” As Dr. Daffodil hung up the phone, Theodore let out a long sigh as CJ looked at him curiously.

“Are we heading out then?” CJ asked.

“Yep, pretty much,” Theodore said. The two of them disappeared into the alleyway, heading back to Site B. But Theodore felt something eating away at him, something that he needed to take care of.

Maybe if I can convince Daxton… maybe… maybe we can scrap this awful idea and move onto something better.

Not just for me, but for them as well.