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#I can’t go to another park cause they’re either in town or even further out
emeraldcreeper · 2 years
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It’s incredibly homophobic how they’re making the frontage roads in town one way starting tomorrow and I don’t trust cars not to get so fucking confused and cause wrecks so I can’t go on my enrichment walks so I don’t start biting out of rage
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sweetyyhippyy · 17 days
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Die with a Smile. Eddie Munson x Fem! Reader. *ANGST*
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Summary: Eddie and his girlfriend try to escape town from a larger Mind Flayer that is destroying town.
Word Count: 1.2k
TW: End of the world trope. Final moments alive. Mentions of gun shots and bombs. Final goodbyes. Dying.
Note: This is a song inspired fic, obviously by the title. And I also loosely inspired this off of the end of the movie Cloverfield.
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Eddie’s hand squeezes hers, tightening his grip as they run from the gunshots and explosions that were going on in the distance. 
Even though the Mind Flayer had been defeated over 2 years ago at Star Court Mall, somehow another one made its way into Hawkins, but this time this one wasn’t going down without a fight. And this one was on steroids, towering hundreds of feet in the air, reminiscent of Godzilla terrorizing Tokyo. 
The town had been destroyed both by the Mind Flayer and all of the efforts to try and take the creature down. After hours of trying to shoot it down, shooting grenades at it it was clear that nothing was going to work. The military was quick to set up evacuation of everyone in town. 
Her and Eddie rushed to one of the evacuation sites from the trailer park, getting out of there was a war zone enough. 
Eddie worried about Wayne, if he had gotten on a bus and if he hadn’t where he was and if he was safe and alive. He had hoped he had gotten out of town in the first wave. 
One of the school buses was packed with people from the town trying to evacuate, but as it was driving an explosion went off near the bus and caused the bus to crash onto its side. 
They were closer to the Mind Flayer that either of them ever wanted to be, getting caught in the crossfire of bullets and crumbling concrete. 
Her and Eddie, along with a few other people were able to escape from the bus. But they were all on their own to find a way to get as far away from town as they could before it was too late. 
“Eddie!” She yells from behind him, losing her footing in the rubble surrounding the ground in the woods. “Eddie! Wait, I need to stop for a second!” 
“We have to get out of here, baby. We have to get as far as we can.” He was determined to get her out of the blast zone that he overheard some of the military soldiers talk about. 
A large blast goes off, making the entire ground shake below the couple, making her hand slip from his and causing her to fall to the ground. 
“Oh shit.” She groans, struggling to get back up onto her feet. Her vision goes hazy from the falling dirt in the air. 
Eddie quickly rushes to her, taking a knee to look at her. “Can you get up? We just have to go a little bit further.” Carefully he helps her onto her feet, draping her arm over his shoulder. “I got you, baby. Let’s go.”
Just as Eddie is about to start walking, the air raid siren starts to echo through the air along with a loud screech from the Mind Flayer. 
“Shit.” Eddie curses to himself, freezing in place. “Shit!” He yells, the word echoing. 
The instructions were clear from the military soldier that Eddie had overheard.  
“If you hear the air raid siren, it’s too late.”
The military was planning on leveling the town in order to take down The Mind Flayer. Their hope was that all, if not most of the town’s population had evacuated to keep the casualties at a minimum. 
“Oh my god.” She grips onto Eddie’s shoulder, turning to look at her boyfriend with terror in her eyes. “W-what do we do?” 
He shakes his head, sighing loudly. “Nothing baby. This is it for us.” His large wet eyes looking into hers, no terror in his body like hers.  
Her heart drops to her stomach at the realization that this was her last moments alive. Her last moments with Eddie. 
“Can’t we take shelter somewhere?” 
“No baby. The bomb they’re going to set off is going to make Hawkins something people only read about in books. There’s no saving ourselves anymore.” 
Eddie looks at his girlfriend, her forehead covered in a thin layer of sweat, dirt, and blood causing her hairs to stick to it. This was going to be the lasting image of the girl he had loved for the better part of 3 years. 
“Eddie… I don’t want to die.” Her voice breaks at the end as she swallows sobs. 
He helps her onto the ground, sitting next to her and hugging her close to his body. “I know, sweetheart.” His own eyes filling with tears that he blinks back, kissing her hair. “I don’t want to go either. But we don’t have much of a choice.”
From up above their heads, multiple helicopters fly away from town, the military getting away before dropping the bomb that would wipe Hawkins off the face of the earth. 
“But guess what?” He unhooks himself from her and grabs her face. “I get to stare into those beautiful eyes of yours before I go. Somehow that makes it all the more worth it to me.” 
Tears start to flow down her cheeks as they sit together, studying every inch of each other's face to commit it to memory. 
“At least I get to be with you.” She says, holding his hand tight. 
“I love you baby. This isn’t how we should be ending things, but I’m so glad that I’m with you.” Eddie says to her as he presses a kiss to her lips firmly. 
“I love you, Eddie. Love you so much.” She sniffles, letting her sobs out fully. “Eddie, I'm so scared.” 
He was terrified too, but he didn’t want to show her how scared he was and send her into a full blown panic attack. “I got you the whole time, sweetheart. You don’t have to be scared.” 
She shuffles her body in between his legs, cuddling into his torso while he wraps his arms around her. 
“Love you so much, baby. Love you so much.” He repeats in her ear over and over, tears rolling down his cheeks now that she wasn’t looking at him. 
Her grasp against his jacket gets stronger as the Mind Flayer continually screeches in the distance and the ground shakes each time it walks. 
A loud woosh from overhead makes both of them look up at the hazy night sky, several planes soar in the sky toward town followed by a large explosion and debris flying around both of them. 
She screams as large branches start to snap from above and land next to them, making her squeeze her eyes closed. “Eddie!” 
Eddie squeezes her tighter into his chest, trying to shield her as best he can. “I got you, baby. I’m right here.” 
Everything around them gets louder, more and more explosions booming, some of them sounding close to them. Debris falls into her lap, Eddie yelping in pain as some of it hits his back. 
“I love you, Eddie!” 
“I love yo-,” A loud whistle from above their heads interrupts Eddie, followed by the sound of a tree snapping from behind them. 
Both of them knew this was truly it. 
She looks up at Eddie, tears clouding her view of him. “I’ll see you soon, baby.” 
Eddie grabs her face, nestling it in his palm. “I’ll see you soon, sweetheart.”
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lilacmeadows · 4 years
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Made For You pt.1
Okay so this is gonna be a series. My FIRST series. So go easy on me pretty please. I’ve never written smut, and I know nobody wants badly written smut. So we’ll see about that. But this one is definitely gonna be more of a slow burn. Maybe 4 chapters? Yeah. I like that. 4 chapters. I’ve just been thinking about this idea for a while and I wanna get into writing. I hope someone likes this.
BUCKY X READER
Summary: Hydra had just finished training you to be the Winter Soldier’s perfect mate when the Avengers saved him. But what’s going to happen to you now that Hydra has deleted your old life and left you with nothing but a soldier that needs to learn to love himself before he can love someone else.
Part 1    Part 2    Part 3 (coming soon)
WARNINGS: explicit sexual content, explicit language, eventual dom/sub dynamics, mentions of captivity and kidnapping. violence- guns, mutual pining, eventual smut, fluff, angst if you squint (must be 18+)
WORD COUNT: 2k 
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PART ONE
She’s so used to quiet in her quaint bedroom. The faint whirring of the air conditioner, sounds of footsteps and machinery being rolled outside her door, the music they would play for her when she was extra good that week.
So when she was awoken to gunshots and yelling, y/n was anxious and didn’t know what to do. She backed into the corner of the room furthest from the door and shut her eyes. Hopefully, if she stayed quiet and unseen, things would resolve itself, and she wouldn’t see any violence come her way.
Luckily for her, after what felt like hours later, the sounds quieted down. The gunshots were less frequent and finally came to a stop. She waited for a few moments before sitting on her bed with intentions of continuing her knitting. She wasn’t allowed many activities, but this was one luxury the Men didn’t mind since she hadn’t had any violent outbursts in a long time. She hated being shocked, and she liked knitting.
But the quiet didn’t last long. Minutes later, she could hear footsteps approaching her room. Too late to go back into her corner without being heard through the ‘doggie door’ the Men used to pass her food twice a day, she sat still and slowed her breathing.
‘Anything on that floor?’ She heard one male voice say from further away.
‘Not yet. Mostly supply closets on this floor, but I’ll check them all.’ Said a voice from much closer. He couldn’t have been more than 10 feet away from her door. She could tell they were American like her because they didn’t have the funny accents the Men all had. Gripping her plastic knitting needles tightly in one hand she braced herself for the intrusion.
Her door cracked open a little, then quickly opened all the way.
“Cap, you need to see this.” The man called over his shoulder. “Are you alright ma’am?”
“Yes. I’m fine, sir.” Her small voice replied, a little rough from lack of use, but still remarkably sweet.
“Who are you? Do you know where you are?” He approached her slowly, taking in her meager appearance, but also watching out for the pointy sticks she has a death grip on.
“My name is y/n. I’m in my room.” She replied. Starting to feel very uneasy by this stranger, but also not thinking that he would hurt him. She had been here for so long, it was strange seeing a tall, black man enter her bedroom. Only trainers and watchers were allowed to enter her bedroom.
“What is it?” Another, taller man asked, but his question was soon answered when his eyes landed on the girl sitting on her bed with her tucked gently under her. He immediately noticed her lack of decent clothing, and it caused a blush to creep up his neck.
“We have a girl here, possibly a hostage, maybe an experiment. She doesn’t look like she particularly wants to be rescued.” The first man said to the other, who’s slowly entering the room while trying not to stare at her thin, flimsy, cotton dress.
“Hi, I’m Steve, this is Sam. Do you know where you’re from?” The blonde man said to her while crouching down to be at her eye level. She nodded her head yes. “Well we’re the good guys. We’re here to save you. Do you want to come with us so we can take you home?”
She had to contemplate for a minute. It had been so long since she got here that she couldn’t imagine what it would be like to leave. These men looked sincere, but she knew if she left and was caught, she’d be punished terribly. But if the gunshots meant anything, there would be nobody to punish her. Which means she can’t stay regardless because there would be nobody to take care of her either.
“Did you kill my watchers?” She looked at the blond man after a few quiet seconds. Steve and Sam made eye contact and had a whole argument in silence before Sam spoke up.
‘Yes, we did. But they were bad men. They were keeping you here. But you’re free now. You just gotta follow us, and we’ll get you out of here.’ Sam said, gently. Not wanting her to think they’re cold blooded murderers, but also trying to rush this meeting along so they can board the quinjet, where the rest of the team was waiting.
Steve held one of his hands out to her, which she hesitantly took- knitting needles and purple ball of yarn in her other hand. She thought about grabbing her sweaters, but they weren’t kept in her room. Quite frankly, she had no idea where they were. The Men didn’t allow her to keep the things she learned to knit in her room. But they would give her back a sweater during the cold months. So she just followed the two men awkwardly. Them taking large, hard steps towards parts of the building she had never seen, and her dainty footsteps lagging behind. The trainers taught her to walk with a ladylike gait, on the balls of her feet with barely any pressure to her heels.
After many hallways and stairwells, they found themselves outside the building. The quinjet was parked close by, and y/n’s eyes almost jumped out of her head. Of course she had never seen anything like that before. The men led her onto the loading area which closed behind them.
“Take a break for sightseeing?” Said one man from the front of the jet. They couldn’t see her because of her small stature behind the two men.
“Actually, we found someone. Her name is y/n. She was in one of the rooms, top floor.” Steve said to the man, while fishing you out from behind his back.
She was met with eyes. Many pairs of eyes. All looking directly at her. Not used to all the attention, she looked down at her feet, which were bare as usual and slightly irritated from walking on various terrains. Her toes painted baby pink. Another luxury the Men allowed her. Some watchers were nicer than others. The shorter, fat one that came every other night would bring her a light, barely noticeable, polish that she was only allowed to put on her toes.
Being there wasn’t so terrible. She was 10 when they took her in 2006. She had a mom and older brother, and they lived in a town in Georgia. She often wonders what happened to them that morning when the Men put a rag over her face, and she woke up on a bed in the room that would become her new bedroom.
She didn’t leave the room often. There was a small bathroom across the hall from her room. The watcher would be standing guard outside her door, and she would let him know she would like to use the bathroom or bathe. He would have to stand in the room with her while she bathed, but after a while, they were kind enough to face the wall. She fought for a long time. Refusing to eat the food (which wasn’t terrible), screaming and crying, she even plotted the occasional failed attack. But then they started the shock therapy, and she learned. Being in that chair was brutal. Rewiring her brain into submission. Submission to the Men so they could train her. She had to be ready for the Soldat when he needed her. Why her? She didn’t ask and they didn’t tell her. She learned very quickly that she was only allowed to speak when spoken to.
Make the Soldat happy. That was her mission. She had been told that phrase so many times that she heard it in her sleep. She had never seen or met him, but she was being trained to be his. A possession he could have control over during the brief times he was unfrozen. She was to listen to him, obey, sleep with him, and just make him happy because the mind controlling words were having less and less of an effect, and the Men were afraid he would lash out and massacre them all.
But it doesn’t seem like she’ll be fulfilling her life goal after all because now she’s in the air with a group of people looking at her like she has two heads. A woman with pretty red hair, a man with a large bow, and a man with nice glasses towards the front of the jet, were on one side. On the other was a blond man with very long hair, standing up to talk to a man in a purple shirt, and a man sitting by himself with long brown hair. All of their stares were pointed at her, but his seemed to go through her. Like he had x-ray vision and could read her mind.
“Y/n, you can have a seat right there.” Sam said, pointing to an empty seat next to the redhead who only squinted at her. “That’s Natasha. She’s nicer than she looks.”
“No, I’m not.” She said, making eye contact with y/n. “But we’re glad to have you aboard.” Natasha finished, the slightest smile forming at the girl.
“Um... Cap, where are her clothes?” The man from before asked Steve.
“I don’t know. This is what she was wearing, and I didn’t see a wardrobe anywhere, Tony.” Steve sighed, obviously exasperated by even the thought of a conversation with Tony.
Tony looked at the girl expectantly. Was he waiting for her to chime in? Because he’d be waiting a long time. She was trained very well. Talking out of turn was one of the first rules she learned.
“Sweetheart, are you alright? Do you want something to cover up? We have blankets. What about water? You thirsty? Does she even understand a word I’m saying?” Tony’s last question was aimed at the men she entered with.
“I understand. I’m sorry. I’m alright, sir.” And if the team was trying to keep their staring inconspicuous at first, they completely abandoned that when she spoke. Her voice was so small and smooth. Just a little weak from not talking much.
“How about we get you a blanket anyway so I can be a little more comfortable” He nodded towards Sam who left the room and returned with a large blanket. She hadn’t realized how cold she was or that her nipples were pointing through her thin dress. Or that the cotton dress was really just a white slip that was damn near see through.
Maybe the grumpy looking man on the other side of the jet does have x-ray vision.
“Thank you, sir.” Everyone had to be called Sir. She hadn’t been around any women, but she was pretty sure if they looked as serious as the one next to her, she’d call them Ma’am.
“Tony is fine.” He smiled at her.
“Hey. I’m Clint, by the way.” The man on Natasha’s other side said, turning his body to address her. “So, umm... What were you doing up there? Are you working for Hydra?” Other members of the team groaned and scolded him for being so blunt, even though they were secretly happy he asked because they also wanted to know.
“I was knitting.” She said simply. She was going to leave it at that, but she could see the way Clint’s eyebrows almost touched his hairline at her short reply. So she continued with the mantra she was raised with. “My purpose is to make the Soldat happy. He is my mission.”
She had never seen a room of people’s heads turn so fast. Eyes darting from her to the brooding man on the other side of the jet. He squinted his eyes, looking equally as confused.
She hadn’t realized that her mission was right in front of her.
part 2
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outercrasis · 3 years
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Sessions
Pairing: College!Din Djarin x F!Reader
Word Count: 2.6k
Warnings: None (let me know if I missed something!)
Summary: Everyone is talking about the mysterious new guy on campus
A/N: I had a ton of fun writing this extremely self-indulgent AU and I have plans to keep writing more about these two. It won’t be an actual chaptered fic, but at some point I’ll throw together a masterlist with a chronological order to things.
Series Masterlist // Main Masterlist
Introductions
The semester had only started four weeks ago and he was already a legend around campus. Almost everywhere someone could be found whispering about him. You'd even heard faculty speculating, wondering about the rumors they overheard their students sharing.
You first heard of him in your literature seminar, some of your fellow classmates discussing a recent rumor about the now fabled man. Something about a motorcycle and a child caught your ear, prompting you to interrupt and the girls in front of you who they were talking about. 
The looks you received from the pair were incredulous at best. “You mean you haven’t heard about him?”
“Heard about who?” you asked, genuinely confused. It had only been the first week of class at the time and you were too caught up with your own busy start to check in on the rumor mill.
“Mando, obviously. He’s all anyone is talking about.” From there the girls had happily filled you in on all the latest sightings and rumors. 
Mando, as they called him, was shrouded in mystery. He'd popped up on Corellia University's campus when the semester began and no one knew a thing about him. He hadn't gone to Corellia before, internet searches turned up nothing, and even the skull-like symbol on the back of his leather jacket wasn't familiar to anyone. Any information on him was conjecture at best and there was plenty to go around. Once the rest of the class caught onto what you three were discussing, theories began to fly.
People discussed how he’d been spotted downtown, beating on some guys in a back alley. He’d also been seen uptown the same night though, strolling through Basalt Park. One girl was nearly certain that she’d gone to elementary school with Mando, but he’d mysteriously disappeared one day without explanation. Someone else was confident he was just a cop trying some weird shtick to go undercover. Then one person insisted he had a kid with him sometimes while another was trying to explain that he was actually a murderer. The rumors only became more ludicrous from there.
By the end of the discussion you only ascertained two things for certain. He went by the name Mando and he wore some kind of special helmet. Information you could have gotten by watching him pick up a drink at the Java Hut. Not nearly enough to warrant this level of fervor in your opinion.
From there, hearing about Mando was inescapable. You got home that night only to have your roommate and best friend, Layla, launch into theories about him. Within the week someone set up a social media page to try and track his location around campus via DMs fellow students sent in. That had struck you as invasive and unsettling, but the messages about him kept flooding in.
By pure chance, you had yet to actually see him for yourself. There weren't even any creep shots for you to look at. People had been trying to take photos of him, but he was like a ghost. In the time it took them to pull up their cameras he'd disappear. 
There wasn't even more concrete information about him beyond what you'd learned that first day. Just more and more speculation, a good amount of it made up purely for the shock factor. Another week slipped by, the semester picking up, and Mando news became standard in your day. There was always something new going around about him and as much as you tried to avoid it and focus on your studies, you couldn’t help but wonder about him yourself.
Who was this guy? Was this all some stunt or ‘social experiment’ that would be revealed by a sociology student at the end of the semester? Or was he a legitimate peculiarity, doomed to stick out like a sore thumb? You weren’t sure if you should hate him for making a big deal out of himself or pity him for all the unwarranted attention. Either way, you were sure that whenever you met this enigmatic Mando, you’d know.
×××××
You grumble looking at the submission form. The name and student ID information is blank again. You told Todd last week those fields needed to be made mandatory. How else were you supposed to know who to email when you end up with a no-show for the hour?
Looking further down you're pleased to note that they're at least a grad student. Despite the unfinished form, graduates almost never skip sessions like these. You're thrilled to have the opportunity to discuss something other than freshman composition for once. It's fun helping the wide-eyed freshies, but you can only go over basic comma rules so many times before you start to lose it a little.
There's a knock at the study room door and you look up only to be rendered speechless. It's him. Mando. With a kid on his hip. So Alissandra hadn’t been lying when she told you about the toddler she saw with him. Interesting. Continuing to take him in, you can’t help but focus on the obvious - the only thing you knew about him other than his supposed name, the helmet. 
It’s unlike anything you've seen before. You're fairly certain it's a motorcycle helmet, but it's been modified. Rather than the typical rounded shape, his is all sharp angles and flat at the front. It’s colored a sleek, shining chrome that gleams under the washed out fluorescent lighting. Most arresting is the way he's changed the face of the helmet. The cheeks dip inward at a sharp angle, creating deep, curved contours. His visor is a T of black glass in the center, entirely impossible to see through. It's intimidating and… kinda hot?
The little boy he's holding starts to wiggle in his grasp, physically demanding to be set down in the study room. Once his feet touch the floor, he immediately runs over and climbs into the chair next to you. He's a welcome distraction from his father’s? brother's? guardian's? commanding presence in the room.
The boy can't be older than three, smiling up at you with a wide toothy grin. His hair is covered by a green beanie with large floppy ears sewn onto it and he's wearing a little brown jacket with a sherpa collar. Maybe a bit too heavy for the early autumnal weather, but if the rumor that the kid rides on a motorcycle with Mando is true, it’s perfect. His eyes are large and brown, shining up at you with a slightly mischievous glint.
"Hello, what's your name?" you ask, smiling back at the child.
"Grogu," comes the reply, not from the kid, but from Mando.
You arch an eyebrow at him. He can't be serious with that name. "Grogu?" you ask.
He shrugs, placing his bag on the table. "I came home one day and he told his babysitter that was his name now. He won't respond to anything else. So, Grogu."
You look back to the bouncing toddler. He's still grinning, nodding along with what's been said about his name. They must not be lying then. Either that, or it was some elaborate prank between them and you would never be in on the joke. 
"Well okay, Grogu it is." 
You extend your hand out to Mando, offering your name alongside it. He offers a leather clad hand in return, giving you a firm handshake. You're pleased when he only gives your hand a gentle squeeze, not crushing it like so many other students have done. His gloves are unique as well, black with orange fingers, the leather well worn in. It's warm to the touch, his body heat radiating through the thick fabric. 
"Mando," he says, officially introducing himself as he takes the seat on your other side, across from Grogu.
"Mando," you repeat, cementing it as a truth from the rumor mill. "Got any other names?" You hope that comes across as casual and not intrusive. He hasn't even gone to remove his helmet, telling you he isn't a man who cares much for people prying into his business.
"No. Why?" Mando cocks his head slightly as he asks, the helmet adding an exaggerated look to the movement. He reaches into his bag, pulls out some crayons and a pad of paper, pushing them over to Grogu.
You shrug, trying not to think about how you heard his name might be David from someone in your composition course. "Just thought I'd ask. One hears many things around campus and it's hard to tell what's true or not."
"What do you mean?"
That question makes you pause. Surely he knows. Part of you is still convinced he’s doing this act on purpose, trying to gain notoriety for some reason. The way he asked though, something about it tells you that the poor man is clueless about the buzz he's caused.
"Mando, you're like the talk of the town right now. We only just met but I've heard plenty about you," you explain. It's hard to tell with the helmet on, but you're fairly sure he's shocked underneath. Grogu ignores you both, excitedly scribbling away on his paper.
"I'm fairly sure most of it's just rumor and speculation, but still. You're like a thing around campus," you add.
He's quiet for a moment, his laptop only half out of his bag. "Oh," he finally says. "I didn't know."
Grogu gives a happy shriek not a second later, breaking the awkward tension that had begun to creep into the room. He's beaming, holding up his crayola masterpiece. On the paper there is what appears to be a hastily drawn frog using every color in the box.
Mando returns to himself, pulling his laptop the rest of the way and continues to get set up. "Great job, kid. It looks good."
Most people would have said that dismissively, a platitude to get their child to stop bothering them. When Mando says it though, the authenticity is palpable. He said six words and you can hear the pride lacing them all together. It’s sweet, the obvious affection this clearly private man has for the toddler. 
You can’t help but wonder what his connection to Grogu actually is. The way he spoke just then, if you had to put your money on it, you’d say father. The kicker then though is if he’s biological or not. And if not, then how else does a grad student get strapped with a three year old? Thinking about all the potential scenarios is enough to make your head hurt.
You’re also left wondering where all the more violent rumors about him are coming from. His tenderness is so readily on display that it’s hard to imagine the man before you choking someone because they cut him in line at the local froyo shop. He’s mysterious and gives off a vaguely dangerous vibe, sure, but less than five minutes around him and the kid and it’s obvious he’s no threat to you. He’s just a guy trying to get his assignments done for class, same as everyone else.
Your stomach still catches in your throat as Mando starts unexpectedly tugging off his gloves. From what you’d heard, he never takes anything off: not his jacket, not his gloves, and certainly not his helmet. All anyone knows of his true appearance on campus is that he’s obviously male with rumors flying around about everything else including simple attributes, like the color of his skin. Now, here he is, casually revealing this groundbreaking information to you.
His hands move fluidly, pulling off each glove in just a few easy tugs. His skin matches the heat you felt from them just minutes ago, a warm golden tan, with a few faded lines of scars worn in. Watching him type, pulling his paper up for you to discuss, you feel a deep and sudden ache to have his hands touch you again. A simple handshake is no longer enough. Every stroke of the keys is measured, deliberate, and leaves you wondering how he would use those fingers on you.
“This is what I have so far.”
His voice snaps you back to reality, a quick wave of shame washing over you. Where did all of that come from? It was just a man’s hands for heaven’s sake, certainly not something you should be horny about at two in the afternoon. Not to mention that he came in here looking for your help, not wanting you to start fantasizing about his hands expertly working you over.
You clear your throat and tear your eyes away from the offending appendages. “Great, let me just read the introduction here so I can get an idea for what you’re writing about.”
You settle into working with him easily. His paper is already well-written, just needing tweaks here and there to bring it to the next level. It’s nice working with him. He’s attentive, clearly listening to everything you have to say and taking it into account. He doesn’t even try to challenge you as some of the more macho male students are wont to do. By the end of the session, you can’t help but wish all of your time as a tutor was that easy.
“Thank you,” he says sincerely, tucking his laptop away. “You really helped.”
You smile at him, thrilled with his genuine complement. “Of course, that’s what I’m here for.”
He finishes packing up his and Grogu’s things, with you silently lamenting as his gloves slide back on. It still feels like a ridiculous thought, but he really does have beautiful hands. There’s a small tap on your arm and you look to your left to see Grogu patiently waiting. He’s offering something to you, paper outstretched in his little hands.
“Thank you,” you say, taking the sheet from him. You look at it to see a frog carefully drawn on the page. It’s not the same as the first one he showed you and Mando, this one more deliberate and thoughtful. The colors are still just as varied, but it’s obvious he took more time to think about where he was using each one. You can’t help but smile at his small masterpiece.
“It looks great, buddy. I’ll keep it forever,” you tell him. Grogu beams at your praise, excitedly looking over to Mando. 
Mando nods at the kid. “Yeah kid, I heard her too.” He turns his head towards you. “Thank you again. I’d take good care of that drawing. He’ll never forgive you if he finds out you got rid of it.”
“Does that mean I’ll be seeing you again?” Your own boldness takes you by surprise. You have no idea where that came from, how those words spilled without a second thought. Part of you is already cringing at Mando’s potential reaction.
He surprises you once again though, holding a hand out for Grogu to take. Shouldering his backpack, you hear an amused huff of air from under the helmet. “Yeah, mesh’la, I’ll see you around.”
There isn’t a chance to reply as Mando turns, escorting his tiny charge out of the room with him. You’re a little dumbstruck, now equally surprised with him as you had been with yourself. 
And what was that name he just called you? Mesh’la? You don’t even know what language that could have been, much less the meaning. Something about his tone when he said it tells you it’s a good thing though, that he’s not secretly calling you rude names in some unknown language. You can’t help but wonder if you’ll ever get to find out.
.
.
.
taglist: @honestly-shite
248 notes · View notes
luci-in-trenchcoats · 4 years
Text
First Date
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Summary: The reader accidentally sends an angry email off to a co-worker but winds up with a date instead...
Pairing: Landscaper!Dean x reader
Square: First Date
Word Count: 1,900ish
Warnings: language, fluff
A/N: Written for @spndeanbingo​​​​ . Enjoy!
_______
You yawned as you trotted out of the kitchen with a cup of coffee in hand down to your home office. You plopped down in your chair and got on your computer, checking your email with a tired hum. You saw an email from the facilities manager and sighed.
“Oh come on,” you said, rolling your eyes. “I’m work from home now, jackass. Refund my parking pass. That was like five hundred bucks.”
You growled and typed out an angry email in response, getting so fed up when you finished you knocked your coffee all over your computer.
“Shit!” you said, grabbing some tissues and moping it up.
You saw a sent message appear on screen and you shook your head.
“No. No. No, I didn’t send that. Recall, recall,” you said, shoving the tissues aside. It’d already been opened though and the recall failed, your jaw dropping. “No! I just moved into this house! I can’t afford to get fired.”
You grabbed your phone and decided to bite the bullet, trying to dial the guy when you got an email back.
As highlighted in my original message below, your refund will show up next month along with all other refunds to staff now working from home.
You hit reply and started writing an apology, praying he didn’t report you to HR.
I’m so sorry. It was an accident. I wrote it to express my frustrations and had no intentions of ever sending it. I’m deeply embarrassed, Mr. Winchester, and apologize once again.
You bit your bottom lip and waited a minute, getting a response back.
Thank you for your apology, Ms. Y/L/N. Seeing as today is my last day and it was a mistake, I see no reason to pursue this further.
“Ah, thank you, thank you,” you said. “Now let’s deal with this coffee.”
Two Weeks Later
“So what’s the damage?” you asked. The man in the flannel and baseball cap wrote up a tally on his clipboard before looking back at the house and yard again.
“Normally, for total lawn maintenance, that includes your weeding, trimming, spring and fall clean up, etc. for a lawn this large, you’re looking at around eighty a week,” he said. “But we’re trying to break into this neighborhood so let’s call it fifty a week. We get ten yards around here, we’ll knock it down to forty. How’s that sound?”
“Fifty for everything?” you asked. “Including the snow removal?”
“We’ll negotiate a separate contract for that but I’d call that about 350 for that season,” he said. “So. We have a deal?”
“For fifty bucks, you got a deal,” you said, shaking his hand.
“Perfect. I will have a contract written up and sent over to you this evening,” he said. He dug around into his back pocket and pulled out a business card.
“Super Natural Lawn Services,” you said. “Winchester.”
“Hm?” he said, writing something down on his clipboard.
“Name sounds familiar is all,” you said.
“Used to be in charge of managing the grounds at a local place until they decided to have their staff work from home. Ms. Y/L/N,” he said with a smirk. 
“Oh my…” you said, Dean chuckling. “I am so-”
“I like running my own business a lot better,” he said. “Besides, you apologized. We’re all good. We’ll get that contract straightened out and I’ll get a team over Friday morning to start on your landscape design.”
“I really am sorry, Mr. Winchester. I-”
“Y/N. It’s good. I promise. I’ll see you around, okay?”
You nodded and he headed back to his car, giving you a wave as he drove off.
Two Weeks Later
“Hey, Dean?” you called from your front porch. He poked his head up from where he was head first in a notebook, staring at the dirt edge around your house. “You want a drink? It’s really hot out.”
“I’m okay,” he said, sweating pouring off of him.
“You want to come into the air conditioning for a minute?” you asked. He was about to say no when he took off his hat and his hair was soaked with sweat. “Come on.”
“Alright. Just for a minute,” he said. He hopped up onto the porch and stepped into your foyer, letting out a sigh. “Okay, that’s nice.”
“You like lemonade?”
“Sure,” he said. He took off his boots and followed you to your kitchen, taking a seat at the table when you waved him down. You brought over a large glass, Dean gulping it down. “Do you have a minute? Now that your lawn is in good shape, I have a few ideas for landscaping near the house if I could pick your brain.”
“Sure,” you said. He flipped open his notebook and showed you a drawing, your eyes wide. “You drew that? It’s great.”
“Do you like that kind of style? It’s minimal upkeep but it’s not barren out there this way,” he said.
“I love it. How much does that cost?” you asked.
“It’s part of your weekly bill. I have a few other ideas in here you can take a look at and tell me which you like best,” he said. You flipped through the notebook with him, still liking the first one the most. “Alright. We’ll get that going for you then.”
“My neighbor was asking about you the other day. I gave her your name,” you said.
“Fingers crossed we get a bit more business around here then,” he said as he stood up. “I’ll get out of your hair now. Thanks for the drink, Y/N.”
One Month Later
You hummed as you sat on your front porch with your morning coffee, watching Dean across the street and walk around a yard with his team. They’d already done your yard for the week and you knew Dean was up to about six or so houses in the development. With a big stretch you glanced over to your car and saw something on the windshield. You got up and walked over, plucking off a note.
Found a problem with one of your plants. Rabbits were eating it. I’ll replace it later today.
You looked across the street just as he looked over. You gave a wave and he returned it before you headed back inside.
Four hours later you were getting home from the store to find another note stuck up against your front door.
Plant should be all good now. Enjoy your weekend.
“Hey,” you heard behind you and you nearly jumped out of your skin. “Sorry.”
“Hi, Dean,” you said. “S’alright. I got your note.”
“It was a simple fix,” he said. “I actually am looking for my work gloves. I either left them at your place or the Jones’ but I didn’t find them over there.”
“Are they black?” you asked.
“Yeah. You find them?” he asked. 
“Maybe they’re near my new plant,” you said, nodding your head. He looked over and they were on the grass beside it.
“Ah. That’s what I get for taking calls while working,” he said. He grabbed them and started to leave, pausing at the driveway. “Hey, Y/N.”
“Yeah?”
“You single?”
“Why?”
“Cause if you’re dating someone, I don’t think my odds of getting a date will go very far,” he said as he spun around. You smiled and leaned against the porch post. “Single?”
“Why would you want to date me? I was very rude to you once.”
“You were pissed about throwing money away for no good reason. Trust me, I got plenty of emails that day. You’re the only one that apologized. Plus you may have once told the grumpy guy in the cafeteria to go do a job that makes him happy.”
“You knew who I was when I emailed you, didn’t you.”
“Yeah. I looked you up at work. You were nice back then. You always offer my crew cold water if you’re home. I just like you,” he said.
“Pick me up at seven,” you said as you spun around. “You decide what we’re doing.”
“Alright,” he said. “I wouldn’t advise a dress and heels.”
“Now I’m intrigued. I’ll see you later then, Dean.”
“Yes you will, sweetheart.”
“Hi,” said Dean when you opened your front door just before seven. You laughed when he held out a packet of flower seeds. “They’ll go great in a planter on the porch.”
“Thanks,” you said. You put the packet inside and locked up, following him to his car. “So what are we doing?”
“I figured we could do something and grab a bite after if that’s okay?” he asked.
“Sure,” you said. “Were you thinking of a movie?”
“Hopefully it’s more fun than a movie,” he said. “Trust me.”
“Okay, that is the most fun I’ve ever had on a first date,” you said, Dean chuckling as you both turned in your helmets. “I did not even know there was go-karting in this town. Like really nice go-karting too.”
“We could come back sometime,” he said. “I don’t know about you but I’m starving.”
“Same,” you said. 
“Well follow me then,” he said, walking past his car in the parking lot and headed for the street. He took your hand and you walked across over to a diner, Dean walking the two of you inside and to a booth by the corner.
Twelve minutes later you had a double bacon cheeseburger with jalapenos in front of you along with a basket of fries and onion rings. You dug in, Dean smiling to himself as he enjoyed his own burger.
“Too much?” you said.
“Save room for dessert. They have out of this world sundaes,” he said.
“If it’s as good as this burger, I’m sold,” you said. “So what made you want to have a landscaping business?”
“I get to be outside, do some hard work but some mental work too. We’re doing pretty good for our first year,” he said. “I didn’t like my old job very much.”
“It sounds like this one is working out for you.”
“It is. Probably would have taken me longer to ask you out if I hadn’t sort of known you already but I don’t mind,” he said, taking one of your fries.
“You flirt with all your customers or just me?”
“Just you,” he said. “How’s it working out so far?”
“Pretty good. Want to go catch the music fest downtown after our meal? Main act comes on at nine,” you said. “Unless you’re not into rock.”
“Oh, sweetheart. You and me are gonna get along just fine.”
_____
446 notes · View notes
jjungkookislife · 3 years
Text
Fic Recs 2020 Pt. 1
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Seokjin
let’s get married [SMAU] @hangsangwithbts
Summary: seokjin has no intention of getting married, but after facing tremendous pressure from his family to finally settle down, he comes up with the brilliant idea to fake a marriage. the lucky bride just so happens to be you.
voice mail @joonary
summary: kim seokjin is best known around campus for his romance advisory podcast, voice mail, but to you, he’s just your lovable idiot of a best friend. but when he accidentally lets it slip that he’s fallen for one of your fellow peers, you can’t help but be a little bit curious (and quite frankly, a tad bit jealous).
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Yoongi
cheers if you agree @out-of-jams
summary: If it weren’t for the fact that he didn’t know who you were or even how to get into contact with you, Yoongi wouldn’t be posting all over Weverse for anyone to see. Not that he thought anyone would be smart enough to put the pieces of the puzzle together with how many people responded to his posts anyway.
snake kisses @peekaboongi
summary: You are grossly unprepared for the snake hybrid that enters your life. Yoongi is quiet and sneaks around you but eventually, even the cold reptile warms up to you.
under construction [SMAU] @luffles424
summary: In which y/n is just trying to figure out what to do with her life with the help from her (un)helpful friends
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Hoseok
going once, going twice, sold @bxebxee
summary: But the real reason anything at all started with Hoseok was something much simpler, and probably wholly unexpected - not that you ever planned on any of the other members of the MBA Society to find out.You leave your unlocked phone in his car before stumbling your way into your tiny, studio apartment. And he sees a twitter notification asking you for further discount on your panties.That is all it takes.
just practice @lamourche
summary: The second time you hook up with Jung Hoseok, he doesn’t remember the first time.  You’re surprised.  It was only a few weeks ago, and you were in a broom closet. That has to be different, right? (Well, not really, you’ll learn.)
game over @9uk
summary: your boyfriend has been gaming all day without paying much attention to you. that is until his friends on discord brings up the moaning noises in the background.
you’re my kryptonite @dovechim
summary: Superheroes are immortal, they are everything we are not. The Krypton are a race of superhumans sent down to Earth to protect humans, and they are the epitome of nobility and protection. You have always believed in their immortal, God-like powers, revered and admired them your entire life. Your wish for your very own superhero is granted when you meet Jung Hoseok, a Krypton with the most unique, powerful abilities you’ve ever seen.
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Namjoon
first, do no harm @yandere-society
summary: Dr. Kim is well known as the most skilled heart surgeon in the hospital, but when you notice his mortality statistics seem skewered, you discover all is not what it seems. Now, Dr. Kim is offering you a choice: will you join him? Or become yet another broken heart beneath his scalpel?
internet friends [SMAU] @bts-celestials​
summary: meeting through online, namjoon slowly starts to fall for the person who likes all the things he’s into. maybe having friends online is fun.
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Jimin
reset @dovechim
summary: We are made of the pieces of what we remember, and we hold in ourselves the hopes and fears of those who love us. As long as there are memories to call our own, there can be no true loss. But Park Jimin has no such privilege.
paparazzi (tw: flash banner) @chinkbihh​
summary: What if the roles were reversed and it was Jimin who was the fan and you who was the idol?  But what if he wasn’t just a casual fan, but an avid fan?  Maybe even a sasaeng…  
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Taehyung
the morning after @softlyjiminie
summary: one night, full of passion, whispered promises and heated kisses. one morning, full of regret and unwanted memories. is a night with your ex enough to send you running back into the arms of the devil?
fake love @mygsii
summary: an arranged marriage between you and taehyung leaves behind feelings of bitterness and hatred. will your heart be able to survive, especially when you’ve loved him all your life, or will it fall apart with this marriage?
cheap skate @gukslut
summary: Who doesn’t know Taehyung and his lady? Cutest couple in town, I’d say, and have been since they started dating in their college days. Oh, that was a while ago, though. And still, they’re happy as can be in that place they have together. Almost hate seeing one without the other, y’know, it’s like seeing just one testi- oh, right, I’m not supposed to talk like that. Anyhoo, I only say that because I saw Taehyung at a jewelry store the other day while I was buying my sweet Jiminie his presents. Maybe that boy’s finally gonna pop the question, but I do hope he’s got a good plan for it. Something sweet and romantic. Maybe I’ll find out after Jiminie gets back from that cabin he’s visiting.
baby i @jiminsfault
summary: a one night stand with a stranger leads to so much more than just great sex
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Jungkook
only for love [SMAU] @lysjeon
summary: for almost four years it had been just him and sarang, and he had no plans on changing the life they had become accustomed to any time soon, but of course y/n has to come and shake his world.
one time in your room @ubemango
summary: There are papers to write, and virgins to daydream about. (You can think about Jeongguk’s dick later.)
piss off your parents @littlemisskookie
summary: In an effort to piss off your parents you move in with their worst nightmare- a boy with tattoos, a rock band, and an irresistible charm.
departure @nomnomsik
summary: As a flight attendant for Korean Air, you’re scheduled for a thirteen-hour flight to Japan. However, things get intimate between you and your partner and co-pilot, Jeon Jungkook, when he realizes Park Jimin, the famous idol from Korea, broads the plane and blatantly flirts with you.
curiosity @hobidreams
summary: when innocent jungkook comes to you with a not-so-innocent question… you decide it’s easier to just demonstrate.
inkling @gguksgalaxy
summary: Jungkook is your brother’s boyfriend’s co-worker, they own a tattoo and piercing parlour. In other words, he’s tall, gorgeous, has his passion literally etched into his skin, looks incredibly good in a man-bun, and is semi-unattainable for you. Why? Well…you’re not entirely sure but him ditching right after a very heated make-out session sure isn’t a good sign. His extremely poor mood the next week sure isn’t either, but the only way to fix it is to face the beast head-on. Right?
j’aime @baepop
summary: You’re the newest hire at a local café and head barista Jeon Jungkook takes you under his wing.
pop goes the cherry @1oserjk
summary: jungkook comes back home to find you visiting as well, all grown up — in more ways than one.
skirt chasers @1kook
summary: “Baggy clothes are in, but you wouldn’t know that, Miss I Draw Inspiration From Catholic School Girls.”
kiss it better @jincherie
summary: When one goes to Kim Seokjin for advice, it’s almost guaranteed to never end well. This is something Jungkook learns quickly when he mistakenly follows treasured advice to ‘be smart’ and ‘use his assets’. He just did what he was told! Of course, the execution was a bit poor… and embarrassing. But hey, if rocking up to cheer practice in a skirt doesn’t woo your crush, what will?
pay by play @yoonia
camboy!au
deeply poisoned @xmagicxshopx
summary: Kiss me on the lips, a secret just between the two of us. Deeply poisoned by the jail of you. I cannot worship anyone but you and I knew the grail was poisoned but I drank it anyway.
speeding ticket @minstrophywife
summary: Caught speeding to get home in time, you find yourself pulled over by a very delicious cop. Perhaps you can talk your way out of the ticket.Or,“I’m afraid I’m going to have to do a cavity search ma’am.”
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OT7/Multiple Members
buttercream @minniepetals
summary: you were always adorable in their eyes, sometimes a little too adorable.
dulce periculum @forgottenpasta
summary: Devious and devilish, your two new impish hybrids never miss a chance to torment you for your hopeless attraction to them, knowing exactly what they do to you. But is sly sexuality and enigmatic allure all there is to the tiger and wolf hybrid, or do the depths of their eyes hide something more for you? Part ½
tropicana @dragunjk
summary: groovy punch sippin
amaranthine @koyamuses
summary: As the sole owner of Nightshade, a quaint bed and breakfast on the outskirts of the city, you find pleasure in rising each morning to tend to your guests but behind closed doors and within the shadows, you are the covenant leader to a group of young vampires who have claimed you as their mate.More often than not, your day is brimming with a mix of daily chores and back door deals that ensure the survival of your covenant. However, everything changes when three werewolves come stumbling into your life, all three of them claiming it was your scent that drew them closer as the words true mate ring into the silence.
testosterone boys @kiwiscript
summary: A little end of the year party tradition gets taken too far.
operation love letters @ve1vetyoongi
summary: When every student on campus is going crazy about a survey that claims to make true love bloom, your best friend manages to convince you to join in on the fun — except you’re disappointed to find out that your results just seem to be lost causes. That is until a love letter from a mysterious secret admirer turns up and you find yourself on a mission to find the person behind the pen — but you quickly realise it’s going to be a lot harder than you initially thought when you have 7 possible bachelors to investigate, right? Operation: Love Letters a-go!
our princess @iridescentjin
summary: In your newly established poly relationship, you are intimate with both Taehyung and Seokjin at the same time for the first time.
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97 notes · View notes
kinglazrus · 4 years
Text
Smells Like Team Spirit
Phic phight 2020
Submitted by @phantomphangphucker: Danny Fenton seeming creepy, unnatural, predatory, etcetera to the general population of Amity Park. Or only seeming creepy, unnatural, predatory, etcetera to tourists, while Amity Park locals are confused by anyone finding Fenton ‘creepy/intimidating’.
Summary: Some mascots are great at pumping up a crowd. As Casper High's mascot, Danny has only one job: strike fear into the hearts of their opponents. This is the story of how Danny becomes the famed Mascot of Fear.
Word count: 9268
Tucker witnesses it first. His cousin from another state is visiting for the weekend and Danny comes over to hang out. Ozzy has met Danny before, a few times, so Tucker thinks they won't mind if Danny joins them for a little while. He arrives while Ozzy is in the bathroom, and Tucker gets a three-player game of the new Doomed: IV console game set up.
Danny lounges on a beanbag chair, leaving the couch to the Foley cousins. Clutching his controller, he plays with the controls, watching his character jump, roll, punch, and shoot, trying to get a feel for the different set up.
"I think they took out the high jump," Danny says. He spams the jump button while tapping various others across the controller, testing different combos.
"What?" Tucker lunges for the game case, taking out the pamphlet tucked inside the cover. He flips through, looking for the controls.
"Yeah, it doesn't seem to­—oh damn that's fun."
"What? What?" Tucker scrambles up, throwing the pamphlet aside, and watches Danny's avatar leap into the air, then sprint forward.
"Air-dashing," Danny says with a grin.
"Sweet." The boys bump fists.
Danny, kneeling on his beanbag, keeps air-dashing across the screen, whipping the controller back and forth emphatically. The action does nothing to improve the gameplay, but at the same time, it just wouldn't be as enjoyable without it. Tucker lays upside down on the couch, hands braced on the floor, cheering Danny on. "Go, go, go!"
It's stupid and fun. They haven't even started playing the game yet, but this is the most they'll enjoy themselves all afternoon. And that's the scene Ozzy walks in on.
They remember Tucker's best friend, although they hadn't seen him since coming out. Ozzy's not sure what to expect from him, but it certainly isn't this. And by this they don't mean the raw enthusiasm for a simple game mechanic. They mean the shiver that crawls up their spine the second they lay eyes on Danny. They feel cold, like they've stepped in a bath of ice-water rather than their cousin's living room.
Danny turns his head toward Tucker and sees Ozzy standing in the doorway. Both of them freeze. Ozzy's heart beats fast and heavy in their chest. Their pupils dilate, stretching wide, and sweat beads on their forehead. They can't look away. If they do, then they're dead. If they let Danny out of their sight, they're dead.
Danny gaze slides away, back to the TV, and Ozzy can breathe again.
"Ozzy's here," Danny says.
"Oh!" Tucker's head swivels toward them. He hadn't noticed Ozzy and Danny's little staring contest. It had only lasted a second, but to Ozzy, it felt like an hour.
"Check it out!" Tucker says. He kicks off the back of the couch, flipping forward. His knees hit the carpet hard, making a loud thud, which earns him a shout from the dining room.
"Don't bother the neighbours!" Tucker's mom, Angela, says.
"Okay, Mom!" Tucker calls back, without much conviction in his voice. He beckons Ozzy forward and points to the TV. "They replaced the double jump with air-dashing! Which seems stupid at first, 'cause jumping forward isn't the same as jumping higher. But it looks like if you air-dash into something, you can climb up it!"
Tucker talks fast, making lots of vague gestures with his hands, not really looking at Ozzy. He grabs his own controller off the couch and swivels toward his cousin. "Here's how you do it."
Tucker looks up at Ozzy and pauses. "Hey," he says, tilting his head. "You okay?"
Ozzy is not okay, but they can't really explain it. Danny glances there way again, just for a second, and a shudder passes through them. Something about Danny is off, but Ozzy can't really explain it. He looks the exact same as he did the last time Ozzy saw him, even wearing the same damn t-shirt. But when Ozzy looks at him, and Danny looks back, their brain starts screaming not right, not right, NOT RIGHT!
"I'm, uh, I'm good, yeah," Ozzy says. They shuffle into the room, casting nervous glances Danny's way, and sit down on the couch, taking the farthest spot from Danny. Ozzy leans up against the armrest, taking the controller Tucker passes them, and looks forward. They think that, maybe, if they look ahead instead, if they just don't look at Danny, they won't feel so weird, and whatever this is will pass.
But oh, god, this is so much worse, because now they can't see Danny, and that makes their heart pound. An image of Danny suddenly lunging from his seat bursts into their mind and Ozzy stiffens. Hands tightening around the controller, they glance out of the corner of their eye.
Danny hasn't moved. Danny isn't even looking at them. It doesn't make them feel better.
"Seriously, are you good?" Tucker asks. He sits down to Ozzy's left, blocking their view of Danny.
"Let's just play," Ozzy says.
Tucker shrugs and starts the game. As they play, he keeps looking over at Ozzy, wondering why they're acting so strange. They were just fine half an hour ago, but now they're stiff, and kind of pale, and they keep looking away from the screen, even when they're in the middle of a fight. Ozzy's always been better than Tucker at Doomed, but today they're at the bottom of the scoreboard.
Tucker racks his brain, trying to come up with a reason for the strange behaviour. A bad phone call, maybe? Ozzy's mom has been in and out of the hospital for a while. He hopes it's not that. He wants to ask them what's wrong, but he doesn't want to push it. And they might not be comfortable talking about it with Danny there, either. So, Tucker decides to wait until they're alone.
His chance comes sooner than expected, when Danny says he has to go.
"Aw, really?" Tucker asks. He droops, shoulders slumping. "You've only been here an hour."
"Yeah." Danny nods. "I just remembered that physics assignment. I haven't finished yet."
"I thought you finished that?"
"Uh, so did I. But Jazz just texted me. She found the sheet and apparently, I left a few questions blank. I should go home and finish before she really gets on my case." Danny stands up and stretches his arms above his head. "Sorry. We can make up for it next time."
Before Tucker can protest further, Danny leaves, casting one last furtive glance in Ozzy's direction. Ozzy doesn't relax until they hear the front door close.
"What did he even check his phone?" Tucker mutters. Thinking back, he can't even remember Danny looking down at his pocket. It bothers him, but he knows Danny wouldn't lie without a good reason, so he'll leave it for now.
He pounces on Ozzy instead
"What's wrong?" Tucker asks.
"Nothing's wrong."
"You're a worse liar than Danny. Is it... is it your mom?"
"What? No." Ozzy shakes their head. "Mom's fine. She's doing really good, actually."
"But there is something wrong," Tucker presses.
Ozzy groans. They reach up to run their fingers through their hair, faltering when they touch their shoulder instead. Moving their hand up, they touched their buzzed head. "I don't know. Danny, he–" Ozzy cuts themself off.
"Danny? What'd he do? Did he say something while I wasn't looking? I'll kick his ass," Tucker says, leaping to his feet.
"No, don't!" Ozzy grabs Tucker's belt and yanks him back down. "It's nothing, okay? He didn’t do anything. It's stupid."
Tucker stares intently at them, then sighs and backs off. "Okay. It's okay if you don't want to tell me, you don't have to. But if you do want to talk about whatever it is, I'm right here."
"Yeah, okay," Ozzy says.
Valerie sees it next. She invites Danny over for a study session at her new place in Elmerton. People say Elmerton is a neighbourhood at the edge of Amity Park, but as someone who now lives there, Valerie knows it's its own town. The people in Elmerton aren't like the people Amity. They don't have the same mannerisms. They don't have the same slang. They don't even have the same ghosts.
In fact, Elmerton has no ghosts. Which makes it a pretty poor place for a ghost hunter to live, but the apartments are cheap, and it's all her dad can afford right now.
They take the bus after school. It's an inter-city bus, because none of the school buses go out that far. The ride is more than hour. Plenty of people get on and off the bus in that time. Valerie likes to watch them. She can tell exactly when the last person from Amity Park steps off.
Valerie doesn't know how she could explain it to an outsider, but people from Amity can recognize each other at a moment's glance. It's something about the way they hold themselves, how they react to things. When your life gets threatened every day by ghosts from another realm, you look at things a little differently. It's like one day everyone from Amity Park collectively decided to stop giving a damn about anything that didn't immediately threaten to kill them.
"Huh," Valerie says as she looks over the bus. She and Danny sit at the very back, in Valerie's usual seat. After her first few times taking the bus, she learned it was just polite to sit further back when you had a longer ride. It also gives her a good view of the whole bus.
"What is it?" Danny asks, looking away from the window. So far, he has been spending most of the ride staring out at the passing scenery, watching as things got dirtier and poor run down the closer they got to Elmerton.
Instead of answering, Valerie leans over Danny.
"Hey!" He presses himself back against his seat, raising his arms, a scarlet blush creeping across his cheeks.
Valerie ignores him in favour of scanning the skies. "You don't see any ghosts or anything, do you?"
"What? No. Why? Why would there be a ghost here? I mean, it's Elmerton, right?" Danny says. He laughs and looks away, tugging the collar of his shirt. Is it just him or is it a little hot in here all of a sudden?
"Yeah, I guess so," Valerie says, pulling back. Her frown stays settled on her face.
There are only a few people on the bus with them, besides the driver. At the very front, a woman with weathered skin and greying hair, who got on at the last stop. Even though the bus is already moving again, she still hasn't taken her seat. Instead, she stands straight, facing the back of the bus.
By the middle doors is a young woman and teenage girl, their backs to Valerie and Danny. The woman has her arm around the girl's shoulder. Every once in a while, she cranes her neck and looks in their direction.
A man in a rumpled suit sits closest to them. Valerie sees him on the bus every day. They've chatted a few times, and he's nice enough. They usually say hi to each other. Today, he had started down the aisle toward them, giving a cheery wave. But the moment his gaze slipped from Valerie to Danny, he paled, dropping into the nearest seat. He clutches his briefcase tightly, holding it like a shield.
Valerie knows instantly that none of these people are from Amity Park because they all look afraid and she has no idea why. She stares at them a moment longer, glaring at the young woman when she peeks over her shoulder again.
It takes Valerie a minute to realize it, but she finally notices the one thing all of them are doing.
"Are they... staring at you?" Valerie whispers to Danny.
He shifts uncomfortably, tucking his hands under his arms, and leans his head against hers to whisper back. "Yeah."
"Why?"
Danny shrugs. "It's just a thing people do sometimes."
"People sometimes stare at you like you're about to, I don't know, pounce on them?"
Danny shrugs again.
"That's... really weird."
"Maybe they've heard of my parents," he says, grinning sardonically.
Valerie rolls her eyes and pushes his shoulder. He laughs, and Valerie does her best to ignore the tense atmosphere for the rest of the ride. She ignores it, but she doesn't forget it.
Valerie finds Tucker in the gym sound booth after school one day and corners him there. She locks the door behind her and pins him against the sound board. "What's up with Danny?" she asks accusingly.
Both Tucker and Sam have the annoying habit of dancing around Valerie's words whenever she tries to approach them cautiously. She's learned, from experience, that being direct and forceful is the only way to get information out of them. Getting Tucker alone with no back up also helps.
"I don't know! He's not a ghost!" Tucker blurts out, raising his arms defensively.
"What?"
"I mean, nothing. Nothing's up with Danny. He's so great. You know how great he is. You dated him for a little bit, luck you."
Valerie stares at him, wondering for a moment if this is Tucker's way of confessing that he has a crush on his best friend. She shakes her head, casting that thought aside for now. Grabbing Tucker's collar, she pulls him forward until they're nose to nose.
"You mean you've never seen how odd people get around him?"
"What, no?" Tucker's genuinely confused by the question. His face screws up as he thinks, trying to figure out what the hell Valerie is talking about. He needs to tread lightly, so he doesn't accidentally spill Danny's secret. He doesn't think she knows, despite how weird her question is.
"Just think about it for a minute, okay?" Valerie says. She releases Tucker and steps back, crossing her arms.
Tucker composes himself, smoothing out his shirt, and gives her a dirty look. He decides to indulge her anyway. With a great, dramatic sigh, Tucker taps his chin, looking up at the ceiling, then down at the floor. He hums and haws, making a great show of how terrible and strenuous thinking about this is, and then he shrugs.
"Nope, can't say I know what you mean." Brushing past Valerie, he heads for the door.
She reaches out and grabs his collar again, yanking him back.
"Come on, you're gonna stretch it!" Tucker whines, batting Valerie's hand off.
"I'm being serious here, Tucker. You've never seen anyone looking, I don't know, afraid of Danny? Kind of wary?"
"Afraid? Of Danny? You can't be serious, he's not–" Tucker freezes.
"What is it?" Valerie reaches out for him again.
Tucker smacks her hands away and skips out of her reach. "A couple months ago. I had my cousin over, and Danny hung out with us for a bit. They were acting really weird. I thought it was about their mom. And then I thought it was because they weren't out the last time they saw Danny, but they said it wasn't either of those and told me to drop it."
"Danny came over to my place to work on our history project last week. On the bus, people wouldn't stop looking at him. He brushed it off, but that's weird, right?" Valerie asks. "They looked like... like they were afraid."
Tucker laughs. "So weird. Can you imagine people being scared of Danny?"
It's the most ridiculous thing either of them has heard all year. They break down into a fit of laughter, falling against each other. It's so outlandish and absurd that you couldn't make it up if you tried.
Which is why Star, who has her ear pressed against the sound booth door, grins and takes off the moment the conversation dissolves into laughter. She has only one thought in mind: Paulina has got to hear about this.
"No way."
"Yeah."
"No. Way."
"Yeah!" Star nods enthusiastically. "I swear that's what they said."
"Afraid of Fenton?" Paulina asks. Star's already said it three times, but it's so unbelievable she has to hear it again.
"Afraid of Fenton," Star repeats. "Foley's cousin and some," she waves her had dismissively, "Elmertonites."
"Ugh, Elmerton."
"I know."
"Who's Foley's cousin?" Paulina asks. She can't remember if Foley has any other family in the city, but Star would. Star's the only person who knows this town, and it's people, better than Paulina. They are the gossip queens and they make everybody's business their own. Knowing a little extra something about a certain somebody could always come in handy somewhere down the line.
"An out-of-towner," Star says.
"Interesting." Paulina closes her locker and leans against. She waves at a few boys walking by, giving them a disarming smile. They crane their necks around to keep looking at her for as long as they can. As soon as they're around the corner, Paulina's smile drops and she turns back to Star. "You know, I think now's a great time for my friend from New York to come visit!"
Star grins. "Oh, great idea, Paulie. Amity is so great this time of year."
They walk down the hall, arm in arm, giggling and conspiring.
Everyone knows about Paulina's New York friend. Theirs is a friendship built not out of love but a mutual desire to constantly get one up on each other. Which means they aren't friends at all. But, their dads are business partners, so the two girls often find themselves forced together. These occasions are typically full of sweet smiles and sweeter words. Which everyone knows is a clever rich girls choice weapon in any circumstance.
When Paulina invites Whitney van der Bloom to Amity Park for the weekend, Whitney answers with a cheerful, "Sweetie, do you even need to ask?"
Which really means, "Sweetie, why on Earth would I want to go?" Sweetie, in both cases, is not a complement.
Whitney goes, of course. With a slew of backhanded complements tucked in her pocket. The battle begins the moment her plane touches down and she is determined to come out of this weekend as the undisputed victor. Paulina may have a home advantage, but Whitney was born into this kind of conflict. New money always flounders around a bit before learning how to properly navigate the delicate social rules of high society, and she can tell Paulina is still getting her sea legs.
Whitney finds it adorable, like watching a baby toddle through their first steps.
On her walk through the airport, Whitney touches as little as possible. She left New York in a private plane, from a private airstrip, where every surface was clean and shiny. Amity Park was neither of those things.
By the main entrance, she finds Paulina's driver holding a sign with Whitney's name on it. She passes him her luggage, a single Gucci bag, and follows him outside to the waiting car. She's impressed by Paulina's power play, although she would never say it out loud. Staying in the car while sending her driver out to collect Whitney, like a nanny picking up a child from daycare, is a bold move.
It's fine. Whitney will let her have the lead, for now. She won't have it for long.
The driver opens the back door. Whitney slides inside like she owns the car, tossing her hair over her shoulder, giving the driver a sugary smile. When she turns and gets her first good look at the inside, she freezes.
Rather than sitting on the other side of the car, at a respectful distance, Paulina is right beside her in the middle seat. And there are four other people with her. Paulina's little satellite—Whitney thinks her name is Sun—sits to her left. And across from them are two boys she doesn't know—and doesn't want to, based on how they're dressed—plus a girl she does know.
"Sammy?" Whitney asks, looking across the car at the Sam Manson, heir to the Manson fortune.
"Bloom," Sam greets her coolly. Sam doesn't even twitch at the nickname she loathes. Because that would be a sign of weakness, and she knows that if there's one thing you never want to do, it's look weak in front of Whitney van der Bloom. The girl may only be fifteen but she's a menace.
"Hi." Whitney drags out the "i," her voice rising and falling. "Oh. My. God. I haven't seen you since the Cabo retreat! What are the chances of seeing you here?"
Sam grins wickedly. "Pretty high, actually."
"Oh?" Witney doesn't have a response for that. Sam has always thrown her off, purely because she refuses to play the same games Whitney and Paulina do. It's infuriating.
She turns to the two strangers instead, looking them up and down. The boy on Sam's right makes her cringe. A turtleneck and cargo pants? Whitney would give him points for boldness if the colours weren't so garish. When she meets his eyes, he wiggles his eyebrows at her.
Whitney immediately decides she wants nothing to do with him.
The other boy, sitting right across from her, isn't much better. Worn out jeans that are actually worn out and weren't just made to be like that, and a ratty old t-shirt with a flaming green "F" on it. Gross. Resisting the urge to curl her lip, she lifts her eyes to his face.
He's not looking at her. He's looking down and away, his stare so intense it should be burning a hole in the carpet. Little does she know, it could, with very little effort on his part.
Normally, Whitney takes that kind of gesture as a sign of submission. Instant victory. Right now, something about this boy makes her think she doesn't want his eyes on her.
"Whit! I'm so happy you could come!" Paulina throws her arms around Whitney's shoulders and pulls her in for a hug, kissing Whitney's cheeks twice.
Whitney snaps out of her daze, although not fast enough to return the kisses. Another victory for Paulina.
"Of course, Lina!" Whitney says. She sees the boy in the turtleneck mouth "Lina" at Sam. She wonders what their relationship is. "There's no way I would pass up the chance to visit somewhere as quaint as Amity Park. It's nice to get a break from the lavish lifestyle, you know?"
"Oh, I know. You look like you need a nice rest." Paulina smiles widely.
Whitney's eye twitches. "So, Lina, who are your friends?"
"Well, you already know Sam. I didn't realize you ran in such high circles,"  Paulina said, earning another twitch. Before she can say anything back, Paulina moves on. "And these two are her friends. Tucker." The boy in the turtleneck, "and Danny." The boy that Whitney does not want to look at her.
Paulina leans forward and grabs Danny's arm, pulling him right out of his seat. He yelps and stumbles, bumping his head on the top of the car. Tucker reaches out to stop him, but Sam holds her arm out and keeps him back, wearing that same fiendish smirk. Before Whitney can figure out what's happening, Star's moved to take Danny's place, and Paulina has slid over to the other side of the car. She drags Danny down and sits him right next to Whitney.
"Danny's such a good friend, I can't believe I haven't introduced you to him sooner," Paulina says. She's still hugging his arm, pushing him forward a little more so Whitney has no choice but to squeeze up against the door to avoid touching him.
She doesn't want to touch him. She doesn't want to be next to him. She doesn't even want to be in the same car as him. Whitney unconsciously reaches for the door handle, but the car's already moving. She's trapped.
"Don't be rude, Danny. Say hi to Whitney," Sam says. She looks like the cat that ate the canary. And Whitney feels like the bird.
Danny gives Sam a disgruntled look before turning to Whitney. "Uh, hey, Whitney," he says.
Whitney tenses. The sound of his voice sends shivers down her spine. It washes over her, raising goosebumps along her arms. The cold certainly doesn't help. She thinks it's the AC in the car, until Danny's arm brushes against hers and she flinches away. His skin is icy to the touch.
"Sorry," Danny mutters. He finally looks at her.
Whitney wilts under his stare. Looking into his eyes is like looking into an endless expanse. Her own gaze jumps around, searching, but Danny's holds steady. Not even a twitch. Whitney's not even sure if he's blinked since she got in the car. When he looks away, his eyes slide off her.
"You– you're very," she stammers. For once, her words are lost to her.
Paulina's smile is bright as the sun. She leans back, giving Danny the space to do the same, and Whitney quickly tries to compose herself. She steadies her breathing, checking the other occupants of the car to see how they reacted. Tucker looks curious. Sam looks smug. Star looks delightfully vapid, eyes wide and smile wider.
"They're going to be with us all day, I hope you don't mine," Paulina says. "Danny knows the city really well, and Sam. Well, like I said. She's a Manson."
Whitney, still at a loss for words, nods numbly.
"This will be so much fun!" Star says, clapping her hands together.
Whitney doesn't think so.
Whitney lasts for four hours, which is far longer than anyone expected.
"I'm almost impressed," Star says, waving at Whitney's private jet as it takes off. "She's very good at faking important phone calls."
"Just never tell her that to her face," Paulina says. Hand on her hip, she eyes Sam, Tucker, and Danny. "I guess we can give you all rides home. But I hope you know this was a one-time thing. Mostly because Whitney probably won't come back after that."
"Uh." Danny raises his hand. "How do you know the phone call wasn't important? Why won't she be back? She's your friend, isn't she?"
"Oh, Danny. You're so sweet, you know that?" Paulina pats his cheek and pivots. Swaying her hips, she starts walking back toward the car. It's not even an insult this time.
"Thank you? I guess?" Danny says.
"Come on, Fenton. I might even help you with your math for what you did today." Star grabs his wrist and drags him after Paulina.
"I didn't do anything!"
Sam and Tucker linger a moment longer, watching Whitney's plane disappear into the sky. Tucker turns to Sam and says, "I'm so confused. Why did you even agree to this?"
Sam shrugs. "Whitney van der Bloom sucks."
"Yeah. Yeah, she does."
Paulina and Star eagerly spread the word: Danny Fenton scares outsiders. The rumour spreads quickly throughout Casper High, although everyone is careful never to mention it while Danny himself is around. Not even Sam and Tucker tell him. It's one of those rumours you don't want getting back to the person it's about. Not because it's bad, but because it's a hell of a lot more fun when they don’t know.
Nobody really gets the "why," except those who know Danny best. To everyone else, he's a scrawny kid with eccentric parents, and he wouldn't hurt a fly. Most of them decide outsiders are just weird like that and put it out of mind. But Mikey, clever kid that he is, decides to put Danny's mysterious ability to work.
"I'll help you with your physics homework if you cheer us on at the decathlon," Mikey says. He leans across the aisle between their desk, whispering low enough that the teacher won't hear them.
"You do sports?" Danny asks, raising on eyebrow.
"No, it's academic. Don't be ridiculous."
On the edge of his seat, Mikey waits for Danny's reply. The decathlon is tomorrow, which may have been short notice, but Mikey isn't a fool. He knows academics bore the hell out of Danny and the only way he will go is with incentive. Mikey waited until they got their most recent test back. Peeking at Danny's paper, he can see his classmate failed, which is good news for him.
One decathlon is a small price to pay for a passing grade.
Danny looks down at the big red F on his test. He whispers back, "Sure. When is it? Do people have to dress nice for these things?"
"Tomorrow. And," Mikey pauses a moment to consider, "yes. I mean, no. Not nice, but there's this thing we do. It's okay, I'll have you covered. Just wear what you usually do."
Danny looks uncertain, but Mikey knows he'll accept. He gave Danny no other choice.
Mikey tries to gauge Danny's reaction when he passes over the hoodie. It's ten minutes to the start of the competition. They're backstage getting ready for the judge to call them out. At the moment, they're separated from the other team, but there's no rule against some friendly banter before things get going, so Mikey has a plan. A plan that needs Danny to wear this hoodie.
Danny holds it up, frowning at the design on the front. A fierce raven with bright green eyes carrying a bloodied snake in its beak; they're competing with Silver Valley today whose mascot is a snake. He picks up the hood, inspecting the mask sewn into it. It's a simple black masquerade mask with a long, beak-like nose.
"And this is... standard?" Danny asks, lowering the hoodie so he can look Mikey in the eyes.
Mikey nods emphatically. "Yeah. I know decathlons don't seem exciting, but we get really into it. Lots of people do this."
"And you just had a hoodie with this exact picture lying around?" Danny turns the hoodie around, displaying the graphic image on the front.
"Yeah. Lester wore it last time. He's let me borrow it for you today," Mikey lies. It actually cost him thirty bucks to get custom made, but the mask was cheap. Besides, the competition today has a cash prize, which will more than make up for it when his team wins.
"If you say so," Danny says. He shucks off his button up and pulls the hoodie on instead, pushing the hood down to rest at the back of his neck.
Mikey immediately pulls it back up and lowers the mask over Danny's eyes. "It's part of the school spirit," Mikey says.
"Riiight." Danny adjusts the mask, but he doesn't take it down. "Shouldn't I be sitting in the audience?"
"You will. But I wanted to introduce you to the other team first. It's a sportsmanship thing," Mikey explains. He beckons Danny forward, leading him down a long hall behind the stage. As the hall opens up into the wings of the stage, the other team comes into view.
Like Mikey and the other decathlon members, they wear matching jackets. Although where Casper's jackets are red, Silver Valley wears grey.
Danny stops just before stepping into their line of sight. "Mikey," he hisses. "I don't see anyone dressed like a snake over here."
"Just trust me. You want that physics help, right?" Mikey only feels a little guilty about tricking Danny like this. Mikey's not actually hurting him, and they aren't breaking any competition rules, so it's fine.
Danny shuffles his feet, giving the other team a solid once through, and nods.
"Hi, everyone!" Mikey says, drawing the team's attention. "We just wanted to come over and wish you good luck! Friendly competition and all that."
Watching them closely, Mikey catches the exact moment they lay eyes on Danny, and it is so much better than he could have hoped. The whole team freezes. Mikey can see their eyes dilating, like they've been shot with a burst of adrenaline, a little kick-starter in their fight-or-flight response. Judging by the way a few of them shuffle back, they're leaning toward flight.
Mikey revels in the fear in their eyes. "Good luck!" he says.
"Yeah." Mikey turns at Danny's voice. For a second, he thinks he sees something in Danny's eyes, something swirling and green. But in a blink, it's gone. Danny smiles brightly, but with the mask it looks downright villainous. "Good luck. I think you'll need it."
The Silver Valley team pales. Casper High wins by a landslide that day.
The story of Casper High's raven boy spreads from Silver Valley out to other schools. Most of them think it's just a rumour, but enough people pass it along that it eventually works its way back to Casper and into the ears of one Dash Baxter. Dash, being the proud jock he is, can't let himself be one-upped by a nerd.
"Hey, Fenton!" he calls out to Danny at lunch hour. Shoving his way between Sam and Tucker, Dash slams his hands down on the table. Danny flinches. "Relax, I'm not here to wail on you. For once."
Sam shoves Dash's hand off the table. "Great, then get the hell out of here," she says.
"Shut up, Manson. I ain't talking to you." Dash sneers. He turns his focus back to Danny. "I got a proposition for you."
"I can't believe he knows the word proposition," Tucker whispers.
"I said shut it!" Dash raises his hand to smack Foley upside the head. Halfway through the swing, Danny lurches forward and snatches Dash's wrist.
"Dash, if you want to make a deal or something, I don't think hitting my best friend is the right way to start," Danny says.
Dash scowls at him. He jerks his hand out of Danny's grip and steps back, rubbing his wrist. He won't say it out loud, but Danny's got a pretty good grip. "Yeah, whatever. He's not worth it anyway."
"Dash."
People are staring at them now. Most of them looking for a show Dash isn't going to give, at least not today. Eager to get this over with fast, Dash leans over until he's so close there's no way anyone could overhear them.
"Listen. You do one thing for me, and maybe I won't wail on you for a week," he says.
Danny shoots him a deadpan stare. "Maybe?"
"Fine," Dash relents. "I definitely won't."
"What do I have to do?"
"Come to our next football game."
"I'm sorry?"
"Are you deaf, Fenton? Come. To. The. Game." Dash enunciates carefully, slapping his palms down with each word, leaning closer in. Danny reels back so far that he has to grab the table to keep from slipping off the bench. "And wear the sweater."
Dash saunters away before Danny has a chance to respond. The prying eyes turn away then, more than a few disappointed by the turn of events. Danny ignores them in favour of turning to his friends.
"Do you guys know what sweater he's talking about?" he asks.
"Probably the one Mikey had you wear," Tucker says. "Because it's so s–" Sam kicks him under the table. "–exy! It's uh... it's a sexy sweater."
"Oh, my god." Sam drops her face into her hands.
Danny doesn't know it's not standard practice to shake hands with the opposing team's quarterback, and their backup quarterback, and their backup backup quarter back before a football game. But he is pretty sure it's weird for him, a random student, to be doing it instead of someone from the actual team.
"Just stand in front of 'em until they shake your hand, that's it," Dash says, shoving Danny toward the Waterford Heights Weasels. He waves impatiently, motioning Danny forward. Dash personally doesn't see what's so scary about the getup. A sweat with a bird and a mask, big whoop. But he's willing to try it, anyway.
"Think it'll work?" Kwan asks. They stand side-by-side, arms crossed, elbows brushing. The rest of the team mills about behind them, some of them spying on Fenton, others getting in the right headspace for the game. It's only a couple minutes to kickoff.
Dash shrugs. "Worth a shot."
It's a great night for a game. The sky is clear. It's not too chilly. There's still an hour before the sun will set. It means they'll have the light in their eyes for half the game, but if this works, that won't even matter.
Dash and Kwan watch Danny approach the first player. They made sure to give him the jersey numbers beforehand. Kwan, who has neater penmanship, wrote them down on Danny's palm. Their original idea was to have him greet the whole team but that would take too long. They settled for the key players instead.
Danny plants himself in front of the star quarterback and sticks his hand out. Dash snickers when the guy tries to step around Danny, and Danny sidesteps right back into his path. He says something and shoves his hand in the quarterback's direction again.
"You think Fenton's playing along?" Kwan asks.
"Nah. As if he even knows what's up. Did you see the blank look he gave me in the cafeteria? Besides, I upped the 'no-beating' time to two weeks if he did the handshakes."
Kwan touches his fingers as he silently counts the dates in his head. "That's the next home game."
"Yep. If this works tonight, I might just give him the offer again then."
The Waterford's quarterback eventually shakes Danny's hand, scurrying away as soon as he's released. Danny moves on to the next one.
That night, the Waterford Weasels don't get a single touchdown.
Danny is suddenly the most popular kid at school, at least amongst the jocks. Considering how much weight Casper High puts behind their athletic programs, that makes him pretty damn high on the food chain. Not that he seems to realize.
The basketball team, the volleyball team, even the cheerleaders. They drag a confused Danny along whenever they can and set him lose on the opposing team. There's always a bribe, of course. Everybody knows Danny isn't big into school spirit. He'd never gone to a single game before all this, after all.
At first, they're just using him. He freaks out the competition so much it throws them off their game, which means a lot more trophies to fill up Casper High's dusty case in the near future. Eventually, though, it becomes something else. There's still the raw, primal joy of seeing Danny scare the hell out of some outsiders, but they start inviting him to the after parties, too. They let Danny's friends tag along. Dash even gives him a friendly slap on the back one day when they're passing in the hall.
Three months ago, nothing like that would have happened. Three months ago, Dash would have stuffed you in a locker for even suggesting it.
By some miracle, they manage to keep the teachers out of the loop. If any of them asks, the students either answer with a shrug, or suggest that Fenton's turned a new leaf and he's really into school spirit now. Most of them go for the shrug.
It doesn't last forever, though. The students get bolder, inviting Danny to away games outside the city. He rejects most of them, no matter how sweet the bribe, with a number of excuses.
"I have homework."
"I've got some extracurricular stuff to work on."
"I don't have a car."
"You don't need a car, we've got a bus!" Dash says.
Danny, already turning to walk away, stops. "What?"
"You can ride on the team bus with us," Dash says. It's not exactly conventional, but they've got the room for it. All they have to do is sneak Danny past Tetslaff and keep him out of sight until they're on the road. There's not much she can do about it once they've already set out.
"Are you serious?" Danny asks.
Dash rolls his eyes, not even deigning Danny with a proper response. Fishing his notebook out his backpack, Dash quickly scribbles out the time and date of the away game, plus when the team bus is going to leave.
Danny eyes the piece of paper, frowning as he tries to decipher Dash's cramped handwriting.. "You don't even know if I'll show up."
"You'll show up."
"I doubt it."
Danny shows up. He meets Dash by the back door, already donning the sweater he's now permanently borrowed from Mikey. He asked Mikey if Lester would ever want it back, but Mikey assured him his debt is settled. Whatever that means.
"Tetslaff usually waits until all the equipment is loaded up before getting on. We just have to sneak you by her, which won't be too hard," Dash says.
"You realize I'm not shorter than you anymore, right?" Danny asks.
Dash squints. No, he hadn't, actually. Even though they see each other every day, Dash still pictures Danny as the same wimpy kid from freshman year. But Danny's right. He has a few inches on Dash, now that they're a couple years older, although he's still got nothing in terms of muscle mass. Just looking at him, Dash is pretty sure Mikey has more muscle than Danny does.
"Whatever, let's just go." Dash leads Danny over to the bus.
Tetself stands with her back to them. She oversees the rest of the team as they throw their equipment bags into the storage compartment at the bottom of the bus. She's completely oblivious to the two rule breakers heading her way.
But Kwan and Dale see coming from afar and jog over to join them. They fall into step on Dash's left, making a little wall between Danny and Tetslaff. If Danny ducks his head, he's completely out of view. They're almost home free, a few feet from the bus, when Danny's foot slips into a rut in the grass he careens forward.
He cries out in shock, throwing his arms out to catch himself. Dash manages to snag his arm before he hits the ground, jerking Danny to a stop. He hangs there a moment, body limp, blinking at the grass and wondering if that really just happened.
"Daniel Fenton, what are you doing?" Tetslaff asks.
Dash jostles Danny out of his daze. He scrambles upright, brushing himself off as Tetslaff approaches. She stops right in front of him, fists on her hip, her glare stern.
"Getting on the bus?" Danny says.
Behind Tetslaff, Dash slaps a hand against his face.
"Only team members are allowed on the team bus. Those are the rules."
"But coach, he's out lucky charm!" Dash protests.
Tetslaff turns, squinting at Dash. Crossing her arms, she leans toward him. "Oh, yeah? How so?"
Dash, Kwan, and Dale share a long, considering look. Kwan shrugs. Dale tilts his head back. Shooting Danny a wary glance, Dash beckons Tetslaff over, out of earshot. She stays rooted to the spot.
"Please, Coach?"
Normally, a little something like saying please wouldn't do a lick of help in swaying Tetslaff. She's as stubborn as her arms are thick. But today, she feels a little indulgent. The team's being doing great, both in practice and on field. She's willing to give a little, if only for all the effort they're giving her back.
With a sigh, Tetslaff follows Dash.
"He scares the hell out of the other players so that they mess up and we win," Dash confesses once they're out of earshot.
Tetslaff's eyebrows shoot up her forehead. "Fear tactics, huh? Didn't want to rely on you own skill?"
"That's not it! I know we're a great team. We don't need Fenton. But he makes us work harder for it. He's kind of motivating, you know?"
Tetslaff looks at Dash and says nothing. With a shake of her head, she marches back to Danny. "Mr. Fenton, you're coming with me."
Danny gives the team a helpless look, a weak shrug, and follows their coach back into the school.
"Damn," Kwan says. "Almost had it."
"Did you mean what you said about Fenton, Dash?" Dale asks.
"I think I did?" Dash watches Danny and Tetslaff until they disappear through the doors. "I don't know about you guys, but whenever he scares the other team, I kind of want to earn that."
Dale nods. "Man, I wanted to see the fear in their eyes.
"Huh." Kwan taps his chin, deep in thought. "Does anyone else think we should be concerned about the fact that we enjoy that so much?"
All at once, more than half the team drones, "Nah."
"I think you're right, though," Kwan says to Dash. "Having Danny around is kind of fun."
"Today's game is gonna be so boring." Dale moans in disappointed. He boards the bus, quickly followed by his teammates. Soon enough, everyone is on and in their seats. All they need is for Tetslaff to return. She's gone for a solid ten minutes. There are still a few hours before the game starts, but it makes the players antsy. Dash keeps checking out the window for any sign of her.
The school's back door opens. Dash perks up, leaning toward the glass as Tetslaff steps out. She holds the door open. Danny comes out after her. And he's wearing the official Casper High Raven costume.
"Boys!" Tetslaff says when she climbs back on the boss. "Say hello to our new mascot!"
Her declaration is met with a round of cheers.
It's two hours before the game. Danny sits on a bench outside the locker rooms, the raven head resting beside him. When Tetslaff offered to make him the mascot, he admittedly hesitated. In the past, he didn't have time for stuff like this. But things are a little easier now, ghost-wise. His parents are better hunters. Valerie proves time and again how capable she is. The ghosts themselves have even backed off a little since Danny started junior year.
For the first time since starting high school, he actually has the time to do high school things outside of homework. It won't be his first time acting as the official mascot, either. He used to fill in for the mascot in freshman year, before things got too much for Danny to handle and he had to drop it.
He wishes Tetslaff let him keep wearing his hoodie, though. The raven costume isn't that comfortable.
The door to the locker rooms opens. Paulina steps through, already in her cheerleading outfit even though there's still an hour before she needs to be on the field. She takes one look at Danny and says, "Oh, hell no."
Danny recoils, offended. He thought they were on sort of good terms after everything with Whitney, but apparently, he was wrong.
"Tetslaff already made me the mascot, Paulina. I'm here whether you like it or not," he says.
"No, duh. I'm pretty sure you two were the only ones who didn't know you're are mascot." Paulina flicks the shoulder of the raven suit. It makes a dull thunk. The plastic feathers barely twitch. "But you're not scaring anyone in that thing. What are you gonna do, say 'boo?'"
Danny thinks about all the little tricks he has up his sleeve and grins. "I think you'd be surprise."
The costume may be bulky and round, with a wide friendly smile that gives one of those "huggable mascot" looks, but Danny's a ghost. If anybody can do scary, it's him. The past few months have proved that nicely.
"Wait, wait, wait," Paulina says, holding up her hands. She pivots in front of Danny and grabs his shoulders. "You know that you scare people?"
"I mean, yeah? It's kind of hard not to." Danny shakes his head. After the fifth time some stranger flinches away from your touch, you start piecing things together.
"And you never said anything?"
Danny honestly didn't think he had to. Did everyone just expect him not to catch on? Yes. Yes, they did. But that's not the point right now. Danny rubs the back of his neck and chuckles nervously. "I don't really care much about being popular anymore, but it's kind of nice to be invited to stuff, you know?"
Paulina doesn't believe him for a second. She crosses her arms and gives him a critical star. "And?" she asks.
Danny looks at her, looks away. Kicks the grass with his foot. He knows exactly what she wants to hear. He wants to deny it, but he can't. Sheepishly, he admits, "And it's kind of fun."
"Perfect. Then you won't mind what I'm about to do to you."
"Wait, what? Paulina, I– ah!" Paulina grabs his arm and drags him into the girl's locker room.
Danny holds himself perfectly still, arms out from his body. "Paulina, I don't think–"
"Ah, ah, ah! I'm almost done! No moving. And make sure you don't lean back against things too much, or else you'll smudge it." Paulina peers under Danny's arm, holding a paintbrush slathered in blue body paint so dark it's almost black.
"Aren't our team colours red and white?" Danny asks. Turning his arms over, he scans the parts of his skin Paulina has already finished painting. Bold feathers cover most of his upper arm, going up his shoulder and, from what Danny could feel as Paulina worked, down his back. She won't let him see what she's doing, though. He hopes it's cool.
"You mean the most boring colours in team colour history?" Paulina scoffs. She steps back, admiring her work for a moment, and drops her brush in the can of body paint. "I've been trying to get Ishiyama to change the school colours for years. Maybe with this, she will."
"Are you don’t yet?"
"Boy, I worked hard on this, let me breathe it in before you go out there and ruin it."
"Mikey's hoodie was scarier."
"Mikey's hoodie was garish. This is a work of art."
Danny picks at his new pants, heavy things made of a thick material and covered in a generous layer of black feathers. At least his legs will be warm tonight.
"You think I'm scarier without a shirt on? Gee, thanks." Danny rolls his eyes. He's not as offended as he sounds, though. Being a half ghost has led to some physical qualities he would rather do without, but can't do anything to change. Like an incredibly fast metabolism that burns through everything he eats before he even has a chance to taste it. Jazz keeps telling him he has to start making health choices, so he doesn't pass out or keel over from hunger.
He tries, but there's only so much he can do, and his ribs seem to be permanently on display. Danny pokes them now, scowling at how they press against his skin. That is so not healthy. He lets his hand drop back to the feathered pants.
"Where did you even get this on such short notice?" he asks. All Paulina did was make a phone call, then someone came buy and dropped off a paper bag with the pants, body paint, and a smaller plastic bag inside.
"I already had it made, silly. I told you, that sweater was so ugly. I couldn't let you keep repping Casper High in something like that." The noise Paulina makes is nothing short of disgusted. She really hates Mikey's sweater, effective as it was. But this is going to be glorious.
Danny peeks over his shoulder, trying to catch his reflection in the mirror, but he can't get a good view.
"Look straight," Paulina commands, pushing Danny's cheek. She raises his arms. "Hold them out like this, perfectly still. Perfect."
She takes out her phone and snaps a few photos of Danny's back. Flicking through them, she chooses the best one, posting it to the Casper Ravens twitter page with the caption "new mascot unveiling tonight." Once she's done, she passes her phone to Danny to show him her handiwork.
"Whoa." Danny stares down at the delicately painted wings on his back. Paulina made them just right so that when he raises his arms, it looks like the wings are unfurling. "Okay, that's a lot cooler than Mikey's hoodie. A shirt would still be nice, though."
"It'd take away from the look. You're practically a skeleton. What'll freak people out more than that?"
"Really feeling the love, Paulie."
"No using my nickname for her!" Star shouts from behind a row of lockers.
Paulina shooed the other girls to the other side of the room when she brought Danny in to give him his new look. By now, they are all changed into their uniforms and ready to show they're spirit.
"Okay. I'll just call her Lina instead."
"Please, god, no." Paulina groans. "That name is so stupid."
The other cheerleaders giggle as they join Danny and Paulina in the main room. They look nice, wearing their matching pleated skirts and crop tops. With their hands on their hips, the pom-poms give their steps a little extra bounce.
"We know you haven't choreographed anything. Just do your think, and we'll do ours. I know you aren't as clumsy as people think," Star says. She gives Danny an encouraging pat on his cheek. It is not as motivating as she thinks it is.
The girls start lining up by the door, doing a few small jumps to get their blood pumping. Danny does the same, shaking out his arms and hopping from foot to foot. He moves to take his place at the end of the line.
"Hold it!"
"Oh, what now?" Danny groans, slumping over. Paulina's shoes invade his vision. She sticks a plastic bag under his nose, holding it out for him to take. "What's this?"
"The last piece of your costume. It's my favourite."
Danny removes the piece from the bag. He grins wickedly.
Balmoral High, as the home team, runs onto the field first. Having heard of Caspers' unusual intimidation tactics, they came prepared. The players run onto the field amidst a burst of sparklers and strobe lights flashing their team colours. It pumps up the crowd, just as it's meant to, and the team is met with a roar of approval.
They pump their fists, leaping and bounding across the field. Cheerleaders in short skirts and shorter tops wave their pom-poms, do cartwheels and flips, and spur the crowd on. Their mascot runs on last. A guy in a bear costume, his raises his arms and roars, slashing his paws through the air.
It's all very cute.
Casper High comes in with far less fanfare. The cheerleaders are first, swishing their hips and blowing kisses at the crowd. Raising their voices, they cry out to the crowd. "We're the corvid to your carrion! We're here to fight to the break of dawn!" The few people from Amity Park who could make the trek to the neighbouring city cheer back, cranking their noise makers and stomping their feet. The players charge in next, thrusting their helmets in the air. They have feathers paint on their cheeks.
A few Balmoral players snort, bumping elbows and pointing to the face paint. When the last Casper student runs onto the field, all of Balmoral turns to watch for the infamous mascot. No one comes.
"Ha!" Balmoral's linebacker, in the middle of the team huddle, shouts. It would seem that Casper's reputation isn't all it's cracked up to be.
"Excuse me?"
The linebacker freezes, feeling a tap on his shoulder. He turns, slowly, and sees a boy wearing raven skull mask and a devilish grin.
"Boo."
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Text
You Saved Me - Derek Hale x fem!reader part 18
I’ll be switching point of views for this one so buckle your seat belts. I just hope I do the character’s justice because it’s been a minute since I watched the show. Also going to be changing the perspective because... My writing makes no sense and it probably never will. 
--------------------
“I'm saying we need a new plan, because next time, one of us is going to be too hurt to heal.” Derek led Scott and I into the subway car in the middle of the abandoned depot. The unfortunate reality is that Jackson was no longer Jackson, and we only had one option left. 
Scott sighed, “Ugh, I get it. We can't save Jackson.”
Derek sat down on one of the seats, “We can't seem to kill him, either. I've seen a lot of things, Scott. I've never seen anything like this. Every new moon's just gonna make him stronger.” He said grimly.
“But how do we stop him?”
“I don't know. I don't even know if we can.” He shrugged, sounding defeated. I could imagine how he felt, powerful but so helpless. 
“Maybe we should just let the Argents handle it...” He suggested. 
“I don’t know if they could help.” I crossed my arms over my chest, “Chris filled him with lead and it didn’t stop him. I don’t think they could handle it either.”
“I'm the one who turned him. It's my fault.” Derek let his head hang. 
“That’s not true.” I looked at him sternly.
“You didn't turn him into this! I mean, this happened because of something in his past, right?” Scott asked.
Derek scoffed, “That's a legend in a book. It's not that simple.”
“What do you mean? What aren't you telling me?”
“Why do you think I'm always keeping something from you?” He looked up at Scott.
“Because you always are keeping something from me!”
“Well, maybe I do it to protect you. Both of you.”
“Doesn't being part of your pack mean no more secrets?”
Derek sighed, looking down at his hands, “Go home, Scott. Sleep. Heal. Make sure your friends are safe... 'Cause the full moon's coming, and with the way things are going, I've got a feeling it's gonna be a rough one.” Scott left with a huff, leaving Derek and I alone. 
“Der...” I said softly, running my fingers through his dark hair. He closed his eyes, humming softly. 
“You can’t blame yourself, you could have never imagined what could have happened.” 
“I thought there was something wrong with my bite.” His voice was barely audible, “Something wrong with me.” 
“No, no, no.” Kneeling down, I cupped his cheeks in my hands, “There is nothing wrong with you. You’re perfect.” 
“You have to say that. I’m your mate.” 
I only cringed a little at his use of the word “mate” unironically, “That’s not true. I give you criticism at any chance I get. But that’s mostly because you keep turning kids into soldiers.”
“I guess you’re right.” His lips turned up slightly, “You’re like my conscience, but a lot better looking than this mug.”  He leaned forward, pressing a chaste kiss to my lips. Grinning, I kissed his nose and stood up. 
“I gotta get home, make sure everyone’s alright. I’ll see you later.” I winked, making my way out of the depot. 
-
I got home late, but not any later than the usual lately. As soon as I closed the door, I saw Uncle Noah at the kitchen table. He was pouring whiskey into a glass, probably wasn’t his wish. He had dark circles under his eyes and looked like he hadn’t slept or showered in a while. Walking quietly, I placed my hands on his shoulders, squeezing lightly. 
“Come on, let’s get you to bed.” He looked up at me slowly, blinking his pale green eyes at me. 
“I don’t know what I did wrong, (Your Mom’s Name).” He said, “(Y/N) is so distant and she won’t talk to me anymore.” I was told once or twice that I resembled my mother, but in his drunkenness, he must have thought I was her.
“I mean, hell... She was dating someone for months and she didn’t even tell me. Sure, he was a person of interest... But he was also her friend.” 
Smiling softly, I guided him to a standing position, “No, Noah, she’s just going through a lot right now. She’s still learning and growing. And you’re doing the best job you can and she loves you for it.” I helped him to his room and into bed.
“Goodnight, (Y/M/N).” He yawned, pulling the covers over himself and closing his eyes. 
“Goodnight, Noah.” I said, closing the door behind me. I took a deep breath and went down the hall to Stiles’ room. He was sleeping away in the most ridiculous position possible, having fought off a kanima and saving his friend from death. I was just happy to see him there, alive and breathing. 
“Goodnight, Stiles.” I whispered, closing his door all the way. 
-
It was the night of the full moon and my body was already feeling the effects of it. But since my self training/ anger management was doing well, Derek gave a hesitant okay for working with Scott’s Scooby Gang to keep a look out at Lydia’s birthday party. Derek and I had the betas in the railway car in the depot. He was looking through his family’s chest again. 
“What is that?” Isaac asked, looking quizzically at the symbol on the box. 
“It’s a triskele.” Boyd said, “The spirals mean different things: past, present, future; mother, father, child.” 
“Do you know what it means to me?” Derek asked. 
“Alpha, Beta, Omega?”
“That’s right. It’s a spiral, it reminds us that we can rise to one.”
“And fall to another.” I finished. It was one of the few things I remembered word for word from the research we did back when Derek was cousin Miguel. 
“Betas can become Alpha, but Alphas can fall to Betas, or even Omegas.” Derek said, continuing to look through the box. 
“Like Scott?” Isaac asked. 
“Scott’s with us.” 
“Really?” Isaac’s voice held just a touch of sarcasm, “Then where is he now?”
“They’re looking for Jackson.” He looked pointedly at me, then back to the group, “Don’t worry, they’re not gonna have it easy either. None of us will. There’s a price you pay for this kind of power. You get the ability to heal” He handed a leather belt connected to a chain to Isaac, “But tonight, you’re gonna want to kill anything you can find.”
“Good thing I had my period last week then.” Erica chuckled. Derek pulled a metal crown from the box, there were screws turned inwards towards where someone’s head would be. 
“Well, this one's for you.” Erica’s face immediately changed. Beeping made me look down at my phone. 
Stiles: 
2006 Swim Team - Lahey was the Coach.
“That’s my cue to leave.” I shoved my phone in my pocket and backed out of the open door, heading out into the open depot. 
“Wait.” Derek called after me, catching me before leaving out the door in my car that was finally back from the shop. 
“Yes?” I sing-songed, turning around to face him. 
“I wanted to give you something.” He said, reaching into the pocket of his jeans, “You have something from Stiles but you should have something from me. Something that means... More.” From his pocket he produced a silver ring, it had a twisted band towards the top with a triskele cut out of the metal. 
I started down at the ring in shock, “Is... Is this a proposal?” His eyes widened.
“No.” He squeezed his eyes shut, “I mean, not yet. This... This is a promise. For both of us. You uh, could wear it on your ring finger if you want though-That is if you want it-” I silenced his babbling with my lips.
“I love it.” I smiled, taking the ring and sliding it on my left ring finger. It fit surprisingly, “Thank you.”
“Tonight... I’m probably going to get hurt. Just try to block it out as much as you can.” 
“Sounds good. I love you.” I cupped his cheek. 
“I love you.” He smiled. My hand slipped from his cheek and I made my way out of the depot. 
-
I parked outside of Lydia’s house and I was actually able to park in her driveway. From what I remember, Lydia’s parties, especially her birthday parties, were supposed to be insane and packed. Yet, I could only see Roscoe. Which meant that Stiles was finally invited. Good for him. I knocked on the front door and waited, slipping my hands into my jacket pockets. 
The door opened, revealing Lydia who was vaguely confused by my being at her door. She tilted her head to the side and narrowed her eyes at me. 
“Sarah?” 
“(Y/N).” I corrected her. 
“Oh. Well, come in.” She opened the door further, revealing the tray of pink cocktails in her hand, “Have a drink.” I grabbed a pink drink from the tray and cheered it towards her as I went inside, going straight to the back where Scott, Stiles and Allison were sitting on the deck of the pool. 
“Is this... everyone?” I asked, sitting besides Stiles in a lawn chair. 
"Maybe it's just early?" Scott said, not believing it himself.
Stiles said grimly, "Or maybe nobody's coming because Lydia turned into the town whack job."
"Well, we have to do something because we've completely ignored her for the past two weeks..." Allison said.
"She's completely ignored Stiles for the past ten years." Scott pointed out.
"I prefer to think of it as I haven't been on her radar." Stiles said in an offended tone.
"Whatever helps you sleep at night." I patted his shoulder. 
Scott sighed, “We don't owe her a party.”
“What about the chance to get back to normal?” Allison crossed her arms over her chest.
“Normal?”
She shrugged, “She wouldn't be the "town whackjob" if it wasn't for us.”
Scott nodded, “I guess I could use my co-captain status to get the lacrosse team here...”
I pulled out my phone, “I could pull some strings with some people from my year.” I found the group text I had gotten from when I had been abducted, typing in Lydia’s address and the promise of a party and booze. 
“Yeah, I also know some people who can get this thing going. Like, really going.” Stiles said, looking down at his phone. He was looking through his contacts, finding: Drag Queen from Jungle.
“Who?” She asked. 
“I met them the other night... Let's just say, they know how to party.” He sent off the text then looked over at me. 
“What is that?” He asked, motioning with his phone to my left hand. 
“A ring. You know what those are, right?” I sipped my drink. 
Stiles’ jaw clenched, looking towards the sidewalk, “You gonna marry him.” 
“It’s not an engagement ring, it’s a promise ring.” 
“Whatever.” He got up, walking inside. I avoided Scott and Allison’s awkward gaze and just took a large gulp of my drink. 
In the next ten minutes, the amount of people who showed up was pretty astounding. Town whack job or not, promise people booze and they will come. Walking through the crowd, I saw people that I used to hang around with. A lot of people gave their condolences, lots of staring, sad smiles, but that’s how it was. 
“A little jumpy are we, Jackson?” I took a sip out of my drink. 
While walking through it hit me - shitty, over priced cologne. And possibly, a terrible attitude. And lizard. I turned quickly and saw Jackson. He was startled by my sudden movement. 
He narrowed his eyes at me, then looked away, “I don’t have to explain myself to someone who makes minimum wage.”
"I would watch my back if I were you, (Y/L/N). Full moon makes me feel a certain way." I chuckled and looked down, craning my neck back up to flash him my red eyes.
“Maybe it’s because you’re not a disgusting lizard thing right now, but I could care less that you are trying to intimidate me. You don’t even know why you came here tonight, do you? You’re certainly not here for Lydia.” 
It was my turn to narrow my eyes, “You don’t know why you’re here. So that means...” The puppeteer was here, “Good talk, gotta go.” As I walked quickly, trying to find Scott or Stiles, I found Matt getting a drink from Lydia, but he really wasn’t looking at Lydia. He had his eyes trained on Allison and the way he wasn’t looking at her reminded me of the night Michael took me. I didn’t like Allison at the best of times considering she shot me and all, but this was too much to ignore. As I walked towards Matt I was halted, like my feet didn’t want to move from what I saw. Derek was standing by himself near the outside of the house. I walked up to him quickly. 
“Derek, what are you doing here? Where are the others?” They couldn’t have transformed then transformed back by now, there was no way. 
“There’s been something I’ve been thinking about.” He swirled the drink in his hand, the same drink everyone else had, “You have a habit of making people miserable or getting them killed.”
“Excuse me?” I squinted at me, swallowing thickly. My throat felt dry and was it getting hotter?
“Think about it. Your parents think you’re too weak to keep your secret so they take your life from you, taking you from me. You’re the reason your parents are dead. You got Michael killed.” He stepped forward and with every step, I took one back, “I’m just wondering when it’s my turn to die or even Stiles.” 
“Derek, I-” My eyes were watering. 
“How about I kill Stiles for you? Save some blood for your hands. Or,” He chuckled, “Would you rather do it yourself.” He started to walk back towards the party. I grabbed his arm to stop him when he abruptly turned. 
“You know what, I’ll just let you kill me. You can handle the rest on your own.” He grabbed my wrist and jerked it, my claws flicking out. I tried to pull my wrist away but his grip was too strong. 
“No, stop!” I screamed as he slashed my claws across his throat, blood spraying across my face. Suddenly, Derek and blood were gone. All the party goers were going about their business, I was the only one who had seen Derek use my own hands to kill him. I looked over my hand and made sure the blood had been imagined. My eyes were then brought to the pink drink in my hand. This had to be the reason... Lydia spiked the drinks, but with what? I couldn’t even remember how many of these I had. To make matters worse, my stomach got super queasy-
I turned to the bushes and threw up everything that I had eaten that day. If I didn’t feel great, it was worse now. I got a few disgusted looks but that was the least of my problems. I dumped my drink in the bushes and started to stumble forward, looking to find Scott or Stiles. Thinking about it now, my mouth was starting to get itchy which was possibly the worst possible feeling to add onto everything else. I went into the house and upstairs, finding Matt groaning on the floor and Allison rushing passed me. 
“Matt?” I asked, helping him off the ground, “What happened to you?” Once on his feet, he rubbed the back of his neck. 
“Allison happened. She put me flat on my ass.” Probably with good reason. 
He squinted at me, “Are you alright?” I shook my head. 
“Not really. You got gum or something, that drink left the worst taste in my mouth.”
“No,” He said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a white pill bottle, “But I have some pain meds.” 
“That’ll work.” I took the bottle then looked behind me, grabbing a water bottle out of someone’s hands.
“Hey!” The person glared. I glared right back, “Not the time, freshman.” This seemed to scare him enough for the kid to walk away. I opened the bottle and popped the blue capsule in my mouth and chased it with what was not water but actually vodka. 
“Jesus!” I spat to the side, “What is wrong with people?” I looked at the bottle, realizing that it had no label. 
“Hey, what was that? Tylenol? Ibuprofen?” 
Matt smiled, “Mistletoe actually.” I blinked at him, my heart dropping into my stomach. 
“What?”
“Mistletoe.” He chuckled, “That’s supposed to knock you guys out, right?” I took a step back and hit the doorframe, already feeling the effects of the poison in my system. 
“Using Jackson to kill my murderers is good, but I need protection. You protected me once. From Lahey. And you’re gonna protect me again, whether you like it or not.” 
SCOTT
Scott pushed through the crowd, asking anyone who would listen if they had seen Lydia. The drinks she had made had been spiked to create hallucinations. We had to find out why. She spiked the punch with wolfsbane petals which seemed to cause Stiles and Allison to hallucinate too.
Outside, Stiles ran up to Scott, “Hey, I can't find her. And dude? Anyone who drank that crap, they're freaking out.” They watched two people cannonball into Lydia’s pool with all their clothes on. 
“...I can see that.”
“What the hell do we do?”
“I don't know, but we gotta-”
“I can't swim!” Both their heads turned. Matt was being carried by three people, he was flailing and panicking, “No, no, no, no, stop, guys! I can't swim! I can't swim! I can't-I can't-” The partiers didn’t listen, throwing him into the pool. He went under immediately. And to their surprise, Jackson and (Y/N) ran to the poolside and both pulled him out. 
Once on the pool deck, (Y/N) got Matt on his side, helping him cough up any water he swallowed. They both helped him to stand. Everyone was staring at that point.
“...What are you looking at?” Matt barked at the gawking crowd. Jackson took the time to make his exit. (Y/N) walked towards Scott and Stiles, Matt close behind her. 
“Move.” She growled, flashing her bright red eyes. The two parted, letting (Y/N) and Matt through. Immediately after, a siren cut through the air. 
“COPS ARE HERE!” Someone in the crowd shouted, causing the party goers to scatter. Scott and Stiles followed the ground out and onto the street. Scott looked down the street and saw them. Matt was standing in front of his car, dripping wet and seething with rage. Jackson in his kanima form was in front of him on all fours and (Y/N) stood at his right, claws out and fangs bared. He’d been under their noses for so long but now that they know, that meant they were in danger, all of them.
----------------
Read Part 19 here!
Who needs a point a view when you’re under mind control, ammi right?
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mourntheantagonist · 4 years
Text
How Long Can You Hold Your Breath?
HWOL Day 1 Prompt: Pool Sex
Rating: E
Word Count: 2.4k
Read on AO3
It didn’t matter what position they were in, it was always there in his view. Turning his head to the right when he was underneath, to the left when he was on top, it was right fucking there. Ten feet back and fifteen feet below held a deep hole in the ground filled to the brim with chlorinated water.
A smell that made him sick to his stomach each time he walked by. Not because of the toxic fumes but because of the bad memories attached to it. The picture taken off of Jonathan’s camera of Barb sitting on the diving board that remains, while she does not, is permanently etched into his mind. Her last moments spent not only alive but in the dimension that they call their own. Lost to the upside down with her true legacy buried deep in the government’s top secret files and all that’s left of her name is a fabricated lie to ease the simple minded and allow them to continue to live in a town that has monsters that kidnap and possess children for no reason other than sport.
No matter how many times he drained and refilled that fucking pool, it never felt the same again.
Guilt and fear combining together to make the pool essentially useless. He could hardly dip his toe in the water without fear that something would emerge from the drain and pull him down into the water. Lost to the world the same way Barb had been.
Sometimes he’d sit on the edge of the same damn diving board to feel what it was like for her. Let himself fall into the water fully clothed, closing his eyes and letting the liquid consume him until the panic set in and he was pulled back to reality. Swimming to the surface, crawling out onto the deck, and just lying there underneath the heat of the sun while his clothes dried and he caught his breath.
He knew the words in his head weren’t true. Knew the words Nancy drunkenly spat out weren’t true. At least the ones where she said “we killed Barb.”
He didn’t kill Barb.
But he didn’t do anything much to stop it either, did he?
So he let the thought linger in his head.
Maybe he deserved the same fate as Barb.
So he avoided the pool like the plague, fearing that one day he may not come back to the surface.
But it didn’t matter what he was doing, the thought was always there. The fear was always there. Didn’t matter if he was balls deep in Billy fucking Hargrove, his head would never fail to make that ninety degree turn and Billy would have to grab his attention by moaning his name or one time just yelling it because Steve would turn away and his movements would become mechanical and fifty percent of the time it would just ruin the moment for the both of them.
Billy knew what it was about, Steve had told him the stories, at least the ones that were already public knowledge. He knew enough to know that it was the pool that was the root cause for the dissociation.
And they tried closing the curtains. Something they likely should have been doing in the first place as it wouldn’t be the first time someone was lurking through the woods with a camera and a strange desire to photograph people through their windows. But even with the drapes drawn, he could still hear it. Hear the water moving slightly, and the drains flowing. In fact, there wasn’t a single part of his entire damn house that you couldn’t hear the ambiance of the pool water.
So that left them two options. Fucking in the cramped Camaro or Beemer parked out at the quarry in the dead of night where monsters were known to lurk, or continue with this charade where they both pretended like it was working.
But Billy was, rightfully so, getting tired of snapping his fingers in Steve’s face to get him to come back to the present.
Steve always said it was because of the memories.
“I have nothing but bad memories about it.”
So eventually, out of a need to help Steve into a life of just a little bit of normalcy, and perhaps a tinge of horniness, he approached him with an idea on his mind.
“What if we made some good memories.”
Steve is surprised he let himself agree. Surprised he let Billy take his hand and lead him out into the back.
It was dusk and the sun was just beginning to set. The sky was littered with pinks and oranges and somehow that calmed his nerves ever so slightly. It was still warm out too. A comfortable seventy five degrees. Everything was perfect except for the one obvious thing that wasn’t.
He was already staring at it.
But Billy quickly pulled his attention away by fishing his hand beneath the waistband of both his jeans and briefs. Cupping a hand around his soft dick nearly immediately feeling it start to chub up at the touch of Billy’s soft palms.
Billy slowly pulls both the jeans and briefs down in one mother. Crouching as he lowers them over his knees until they drop to the ground. Standing back up and holding Steve by his cheeks and kissing him all soft and slow, trying his best to just keep Steve here in the present. Separating only as the hem of Steve’s shirt is lifted to where it meets their chins. Pulling it over Steve’s head leaving him standing there completely naked, slightly shivering as the sudden change in temperature while Billy remains fully clothed.
Undressing Billy? Now that’s something that can keep Steve’s focus.
He’s less slow with Billy than he was with him. Pulling his button up over his head rather than sparing the time to undo the only two he ever fastened. Pulls his jeans down the same way Billy did him, but instead staying crouched on the ground, moving a mouth to Billy’s inner thigh where he gently bit the tender skin.
“Stop.” Billy said, moving a hand to the back of Steve’s neck, gently tugging his hair upwards telling him to stand back up.
“What?” He asked.
“In the pool.”
“Billy I can’t.” He’s looking away again.
Billy pulls him close to him by the grab of his forearms so that they’re chest to chest. Breath hot against his lips.
“Tell me what part scares you.”
Billy kisses the space behind Steve’s ear as he waits for an answer. Urging the response out of him with the movement of his lips against sensitive skin.
“I’m afraid I’ll be pulled under. That I won’t come back up. I don’t want my head going under.”
Billy nibbles on Steve’s earlobe. Pulls until it escapes between his teeth. Steve shudders.
“Then we’ll just keep your head above water. Just let me treat you like royalty King Steve.”
“Would you stop it with that?”
“Never.”
To that Billy just let himself fall backwards into the pool. Splashing water up in the air, some of the droplets finding their way onto Steve’s body like a sprinkle or mist. Billy’s head went under and the way he resurfaced was like a goddamn mermaid. His neck craned backwards so all his hair would flow behind him. Drenched curls still visible despite being soaked. Hair darkened by the wetness but still the effects of the sunset’s shine reflected the golden blonde Steve was so used to seeing dry.
Somehow he found himself looking directly at the pool, but completely entranced by something else. His naked boyfriend as he floated along the surface of the water with the front half of his body completely exposed in a show off fashion.
“You gonna get in?” Billy asked, swimming up to the part of the deck where Steve was still standing in his own nude presence, crossing his arms over his chest like that did anything to protect him. Billy rested his shoulders on the side of the pool wall and looked up at him with his gorgeous eyes. Lashes wet with droplets that the light in the sky reflected so perfectly. Like expensive jewels on his eyes. A playfully pleading look, one that Steve always found difficulty in refusing.
Steve hesitantly climbed down into the water in the four foot end by the ladder. Slowly but surely increasing in depth as his feet hit first, causing him to shiver for more reasons than one. Billy’s hands found their way to resting on his back, not so much to catch him if he were to fall backwards, but to remind him he was right there.
By the time his foot finally reached the pool floor, the waterline sat halfway up his torso. The water was cold, but not too cold. Something given a couple of minutes he would easily get used to. He pressed his back to the side of the pool wall, feeling the warmth of the water heater pressing up against the back of his leg warming him up and sending another shiver up and down his spine.
“You good?” Billy asks, his chest now brought all the way to Steve’s. The combined warmth of his body and the heater alongside the coldness of the pool water is an odd but pleasant sensation.
Steve nods his head and brings his arms around Billy to cup his ass. Staring intently at Billy and almost forgetting where he is.
Almost.
He guesses this is exposure therapy. Associate good feelings with the bad ones. It was worth a shot.
“So what does King Steve want to do?”
He gets a weird feeling in his stomach when the question falls. The idea rattling in his head like a maraca since Billy splashed into the pool.
“How long can you hold your breath?”
Billy gets a way too wide smile on his face and instantly moves in to put his mouth on Steve’s. Hand finding its way to the nape of his neck angling him downward in a desperate interlocking of lips. Separating after a few short moments and kissing the corner of his mouth, the line of his jaw, the crook of his neck. Pausing there to apply suction that has Steve’s head tossing backwards and his hand gripping the edge of the pool.
Billy releases himself from the space above Steve collar bone and follows it up by tracing a wet tongue halfway down the length of his chest before pausing, taking a deep breath, and going down further until his head is fully submerged. His hair flowing up behind him and even with the distortion of the water Steve can see Billy perfectly clear.
Billy bites at the skin of Steve’s hip bone causing Steve to slightly jerk and his now completely hard dick twitch from the sensation.
Steve expects Billy to resurface, to take another deep breath before going in, but he doesn’t. Instead he takes the head of Steve’s cock in his mouth without an extra breath, running still off of the single one he took and had already been holding for at least twenty seconds. A cascade of bubbles from his nose find their way to the surface.
Steve convulses around the warmth of Billy's mouth paired with the lower temperatures that surround him. A quick change from cold to hot sent him reeling. Head tossed back once more as Billy begins swirling his tongue around the tip of his dick, likely tasting the effects of pre on his tongue coupled with the taste of chlorine. He’s down under the water for long enough that Steve’s already gripping the edges of the pool with so much strength he may have permanent indentations in the palm of his hands.
So he grabs something softer. Fishes a hand downward and latches onto a clump of Billy’s wet curls. Fisting them close to the scalp.
Billy finally comes up for a breath once Steve has already begun to feel a release around the corner. Billy’s hand slowly jerking him while he resurfaces and takes another deep breath. Steve forces him into another kiss before he lets him go back under.
This time Billy’s going deeper. Much much deeper and Steve has to kick the urge to buck his hips and instantly come down his throat. Instead pulling tighter at his hair. Not in an away motion that would have Billy stop, but in a tightening of the fist that told Billy to keep doing what you’re fucking doing because he wouldn’t hear him otherwise.
Billy has one hand roughly pressing a thumb into Steve’s pelvic bone while his other finds his own cock as he begins to stroke himself. Moaning underwater around Steve’s cock that pushes Steve to the brink. To the edge.
He tugs on Billy's hair to let him know he’s there. That he’s close and he surges down the length of Steve’s cock until Steve can feel he’s hitting the back of his throat. Steve’s hips buck forward and in one single motion he is coming directly down. Hand gripping Billy’s hair tighter and tighter throughout the orgasm until he eventually lets go and his legs nearly give out on him. Steve’s hands go back to supporting himself on the wall where he attempts to catch his breath, and Billy only follows up with him shortly after. Also out of breath but likely for a different reason.
Billy is still quietly jerking himself when he resurfaces and let his chest fall into Steve’s. Chin resting on his shoulder and dick finding it’s way inbetween Steve’s legs.
He wraps his own hand around Billy and finishes for him. Billy’s fingernails dig into Steve’s shoulders and it doesn’t take much longer before Billy is having an orgasm of his own beneath the water. A stream of come finding the way from the tip of his dick, slowly floating up to the water’s surface. Billy’s chest is heaving against Steve’s while he holds on tight. Letting his feet come out from under him and allowing Steve to be his only support.
“How the fuck did you hold your breath that long?” Steve asks, still breathing heavily.
“I’m a surfer. Also, it wasn’t that long.”
Steve just pushes him back and has him going back under the water. Billy resurfacing with a laugh and another kiss to Steve’s lips.
A good memory finally associated with the damn pool outside. Maybe it wasn’t so bad after all.
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saii-the-idiot · 3 years
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Helluva Boss/ Hazbin Hotel spoilers,,, again
Okokok so I have arranged this into a theory. Starting with what we know for sure. Imps can kill other imps in the wrath ring. The overlords can be killed, but only by special weapons. We don’t know enough about the other rings yet but assuming that because they’re also only populated by imps and other natural born hell creatures with no way for humans to access them, we’re going to say for the sake of this theory that they follow the same rule and that since pride is run by someone who isn’t native to hell it’s the only exception (Lucifer was cast out of heaven in the bible). The two possibilities right now are that either it’s possible for sinners to kill imps and they’re just unaware of it so the imps built their city farther away as a means of protection and they have a mutual trust to not kill each other while there, or the imps that visit the pride ring are immune to being killed by sinners and other imps alike. For the purposes of this theory, I’m going to set angel weapons and the special overlord killing guns like Striker has in episode 5 aside for a bit as they aren’t common enough to add anything important to the body of this theory.
Ok first off before I start digging into the actual meat of this I’d just like to say, I believe the annual purge is something that only happens in the pride ring. Judging by the fact that the imps can kill each other off in the other rings and that their population doesn’t grow nearly as fast, they don’t exactly need an annual purge. Also from what we’ve seen of the wrath ring, they have plenty of room for farms. Wrath at the very least isn’t packed full of citizens in huge dense cities needing to be purged every year, and again assuming the other rings operate in a somewhat similar way (as in they don’t have sinners constantly flowing in) it’s a personal theory of mine that the only ring with an annual purge is pride. 
Now that that’s out of the way, let’s look at our first possibility. That the imps are able to be killed by anyone, including sinners, in the pride ring. That the imps, in avoiding the murderous sinners, built their city far away to avoid any accidents. And that the imps have a mutual understanding not to kill each other. This possibility however is disproved by Helluva Boss episode 2; Loo Loo Land. I’m talking about the amount of people that survive the seemingly deadly theme park. Between the fires set by Blitzo in his battle against Robo Fizz, the deadly rides, and the assassins shown lurking around every corner, this isn’t exactly somewhere you would wanna take your kids for a fun day with the family. This is further supported by Loo Loo the mascot’s line “If y’all get hurt here, just try and sue us!” I know this seems like a bit of a reach considering it’s just one line, but Loo Loo did specifically say “get hurt” instead of “get killed”. While it’s easy enough to overlook if you’re not paying attention, in a series centered around death and the afterlife where every detail matters, I think it’s actually a clue as to the way death works in hell and what it means for the series. In the series in general imps and sinners alike are shown to survive really traumatic injuries in the pride ring without much more than a scratch or bruise to show for it. The exception in this episode is when Stolas turns someone into stone by just looking at them, but we’re not counting that as supporting evidence because he’s an extremely powerful overlord.
Another exception to this are Sir Pentious’s egg minions who are killed en masse in the turf war of the Hazbin Hotel pilot, but they don’t appear to be sinners or imps so we’re going to set them aside for now and theorize about them another time. The only ever confirmed deaths that take place in the pride ring are caused by overlords, and in a place literally crawling with murderous psychopaths this leads me to believe that regular imps and sinners are completely incapable of murder in the pride ring without angel weapons. The imps are also constantly exposed to the sinners, so surviving as a population for tens of thousands of years at least without any casualties at all is impossible. The imps are also violent beings by nature, the majority of which are completely unopposed to killing, so the chances of them living in harmony on the outskirts of the ring are next to zero. With all this, I think we can safely rule out this as a possibility for how the pride ring operates. This leads me to the next option. 
The other (more likely) possibility is that the pride ring is an immune zone to killing. First off, it wouldn’t make sense for the sinners to be able to kill one another and the imps here, as they wouldn’t get their eternal punishment that way. The purpose of hell is to punish sinners eternally, and if the sinner can just nope out whenever they want then it defeats the purpose entirely. Hell is also, you know, full of people that have committed horrifying acts in their lives. It’s full of every murderer, psychopath, and just all around asshole out there. This is the afterlife with no consequences and a lot of sinners would take advantage of this. There could and probably (knowing the demeanor of the sinners) would be imp hunting events set up by the unkillable human souls to prey on the In terms of the purpose of hell, the general immunity to harm displayed in this ring, and the way the ring has quarantined the sinners to only be able to live there, It’s my firm belief that imp or sinner you’re unable to die in the pride ring at the hands of anything other than an angel’s weapon. 
This would also make the pride ring a safe place for the imps to go to avoid being killed off by other imps. There is however a much darker side to this part of the theory. What if the pride ring isn’t this safe place that the imps are looking out for? Sure, some of them might be going there on purpose to try and make lives for themselves, but there’s also a possibility that imp city in the pride ring is a place for castaway and escaping imps to go if they can’t stay in their own rings. This would add to the overpopulation and increase their chances of being killed in the annual purge however. I feel like if imps are moving to the pride ring and it is a neutral zone they have nothing left to lose and are willing to accept the possibility of their deaths every year. It could also be a place for imps sent for execution/eternal punishment of their own to go, given that not a lot of people want to willingly move to the place with an annual purge. 
However, there is one thing that could potentially poke a massive hole in this theory, and that’s the official Hazbin Hotel comic “A Day In The After Life” in which we’re introduced to the concept of cannibals in the afterlife. In this comic, (for those who have no idea what I’m talking about) Alastor goes down to the part of town where the society of cannibals lives because he got word of a new butcher he hadn’t heard of before and wanted to try his products. Knowing this is a cannibal colony, they would have to be eating sinners and/or imps. You’re probably wondering “how could they be killing and eating each other if this is a safe zone?” but this also has a possible explanation. Angels are known to sometimes leave behind their weapons after the purge, as shown in the Hazbin Hotel pilot, so the butchers in the colony could have just picked up the weapons after a purge. This is further supported by Alastor hearing of a “new” butcher just after the last purge, meaning the butcher probably only got in business after getting his hands on an angel’s weapon. 
Another thing that could disprove this theory is the other official Hazbin Hotel comic “Chapter 1: Dirty Healings” In which Angel Dust kills several of Valentino’s “associates”. This is once again disproved by the fact that the angel weapons can be fashioned into guns, as shown in Helluva Boss episode 5. If Angel Dust had even one of those guns, he would easily be able to kill all the shark demons. (Don’t ask why Angel Dust can’t just kill Valentino if he has the gun(s), he’s extremely outnumbered and would be killed almost immediately if he did)
Another thing I was thinking about is because the imps can travel between rings, can they just go to a different ring for the purge? If so, then can all imps do this? But that’s yet another theory for another day.
These are all just theories of course, feel free to correct me if I got anything wrong. I’d like to see what y’alls opinions on this are. Watch a new episode come out and prove like,, all of this wrong. Sorry for this being so long and wordy lol
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The Dance of the Color Guard, Op. 64 Ch. 4
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Katniss and Peeta used to be best friends when they were kids, but now in high school, they're barely on speaking terms. It isn't until they are forced together as the titular star-crossed lovers for their marching band's field show that they will have to face their past mistakes and try to get along if they ever hope of defeating the notorious Capitol Height's Imperial Marching Crusaders in competition.
It's all about winning and if that means pretending to be in love with Peeta Mellark, so be it.
A/N: Thank you to @rosegardeninwinter​ for editing and helping push me to finish! You are the best and any mistakes found are mine. :) 
Start at the beginning on Ao3: X
Ch. 4 Ao3: X
June
“Peeta really isn’t that bad,” Madge said for what felt like the millionth time. Katniss rolled her eyes and flipped the page of her magazine. Ever since learning that Peeta was going to be the Romeo to Katniss’ Juliet, Madge had been defending him every chance she got. “He’s really not. And he’s so smart, Katniss. Picks up on things real quickly. So all this moping around you’ve been doing all week is stupid.”
Katniss frowned and shoved her sunglasses further up her nose, preferring the screams of the children running around them on the pool deck to Madge defending Peeta Mellark to her once again. Was she being overly dramatic about this? Maybe. Was Madge right that Peeta wasn’t as bad as she made him out to be? Perhaps. But it still sucked and she couldn’t stop complaining about it.
“I know you’re Team Peeta,” she sighed, “but would it kill you to see things from my perspective just this once? Isn’t that what girl friends are supposed to do? Side with their other girl friends?”
“Maybe if you were right about him being a bad person, I would,” Madge sniffed, picking up her own gossip magazine to flip through. “But as of right now, you’ve provided me no evidence in support of your claim.” It was times like these Katniss wished her friend wasn’t the daughter of a prestigious lawyer.
“Gale sides with me,” she argued, pointing at her tall friend standing in line between two twelve-year-old kids for their slushies. “Doesn’t that count for anything on my behalf?”
“Gale’s an idiot.”
“An idiot you’re dating.” Madge stuck her tongue out at that, unable to refute her long-standing relationship with Gale and Katniss smiled. Of all the relationships she’d seen throughout the years—and band romances had provided plenty of weird, random romances, the weirdest being Johanna Mason and Melinda “Cashmere” Hewitt—Madge and Gale’s was the only one she saw that made no sense on paper yet made complete sense in person. The spoiled rich girl with a heart of gold and the rough-around-the-edges boy from the bad part of town? She never used to buy it in the movies, thinking the concept too ridiculous, but Madge and Gale proved her wrong time and time again.
Even when they had broken up sophomore year, claiming they were just too different, Katniss was still proven wrong because they couldn’t shut up about each other—griping about how she just didn’t understand and he always has to be right and I can’t believe I lost my virginity to that, a fact Katniss could have gone her whole life not knowing. When they got back together, it was hard to say who was more thrilled about it: the happy couple or Katniss.
“Come on, Madge,” she sighed, flopping back in her lounge seat. “Why must you always be the diplomatic one?”
“Someone has to be between your impulsiveness and Gale’s anarchy attitude.
“Did someone say anarchy?” the anarchist himself joked, handing Madge her lime-flavored slushie with a kiss on the lips for a tip. He handed Katniss her watermelon one and jokingly asked where his tip was. Katniss threw her three dollars at him with a “Keep the change” rebuttal. Gale laughed and pocketed the cash, lifting Madge’s legs up and over onto his lap so he could sit.
“So what did I miss?”
Madge snorted and offered her boyfriend a sip of her slushie. “Here’s a hint: it’s Katniss’ favorite subject.”
Gale rolled his eyes and accepted the drink. “Mellark again?” He took a large sip and winced at the sudden brain freeze, handing the large cup back. “God, I’m so sick of hearing about that guy. Katniss, get over it and move on already.” Even Gale was getting sick of her talking about it? Somehow, that hit lower on the pathetic scale. Gale was her complaining companion. Her bitch buddy. The person she reserved all her annoyances for because she knew he’d have his own trivial things to complain about. Hell, their friendship was founded upon complaining, starting in 8th Grade Science when their teacher kept giving them busy work to cope with the very public scandal of his wife sleeping with their school principal. They complained about everything with each other.
And now even Gale had said enough.
Well this sucked.
“Fine,” she said, not really feeling fine about it. “I won’t talk about it anymore.” Her friends looked doubtful. “I mean it! No more talk of Peeta Mellark and how my whole summer is practically ruined because I have to have extra practices to teach him how to dance on the field. And I’m not going to talk about how that cuts into my shifts at Aunt LuLu’s store, which means my spending money is going to be next to nothing by the time school starts. So if you two ever want to do anything more fun than hanging around the school parking lot, I guess you’re shit out of luck.”
Gale smiled sweetly at Madge. “I’m so glad she’s not talking about it anymore.” Katniss scowled and gave them the middle finger, causing them both to laugh.
“I think you both are very biased over this whole thing,” Katniss said after a while. Gale and Madge didn’t say anything, too focused on tanning and summer reading homework. That didn’t seem to stop Katniss from continuing. “You’re both too friendly with him because of classes and band. He’s gotten to you.”
“One of us is biased,” Gale said, “and it’s not us. It’s you. You’ve hated him for as long as I’ve known you.”
“With good reason!” she huffed, crossing her arms. They didn’t ask her to elaborate on that, already making it clear they were done talking about Peeta Mellark and all the annoyances he brought to her life, and she hated the fact that she did want to keep talking about him. About marching band. About the whole stupid situation. But she kept her promise and kept her mouth shut. 
No one said anything further until Madge declared herself starving and Gale suggested they stuff their faces with greasy burgers and fries at Sae’s.
**********
Sae’s Diner was packed with its usual lunch crowd—men and women from the factories nearby on lunch, sitting at the worn pastel-colored counter; a couple of kids they recognized from school goofing off in the corner booth, shooting straw wrappers off the straws; and a book club filled with women in their fifties discussing some brick of a book over coffee and Sae’s famous blueberry and cream pie sitting in the center of the small diner. The old woman herself smiled warmly at them when they’d walked in, asking if they were wanting the usual. 
“You’re the best, Sae,” Gale thanked as they waved and headed to their booth next to the front door. 
As they waited for their cheeseburgers and chocolate milkshakes, Gale chatted about some war movie he and his brothers saw that sounded god awful boring, no matter how much he tried re-explaining the plot to them. Madge and Katniss rolled their eyes and told him if he wanted to see the movie again so badly, to go see it by himself. “I’m not going to the movies by myself like some weirdo,” he scoffed, taking his hands off the table as the waitress deposited their plates of food and drinks. 
“Why not?” Katniss asked, picking up a french fry to dip into her milkshake. “I do it all the time.” 
“Because you hate people.” 
“So do you.” He shrugged, not having much to argue there, and picked up his burger. 
“So what time is Trinket summoning you tomorrow?” Gale asked, changing the subject completely, and tearing into his burger. Grease dripped down his hands and Madge tossed a pile of napkins at him. He accepted with a smile and slid his side of pickles over to her, something he purposely ordered more of because he knew how much she liked them. Madge happily bit into one, her eyes gazing at him with such adoration, Katniss rolled her eyes. Their coupling was too much for her sometimes. 
“I thought you didn’t want me talking about marching band,” she said innocently enough, taking a bite into her own burger.
“I didn’t want you talking about Mellark,” he said pointedly, wagging a fry at her. “Marching band is different. Less annoying and less boy drama. So what time does Miss Cream Puff have you coming in?”
It irritated her that Gale simplified her great dislike for Peeta Mellark as mere boy drama because it was far more complicated than that, but there was no point trying to explain it to Gale. He understood a lot about her, but when it came to Peeta… Well, it was best to let him believe whatever he wanted. “Eight a.m. sharp,” she said sourly, dipping another french fry into her milkshake.
Gale winced. “That sucks. Why so early?” 
“Peeta couldn’t get out of working his afternoon shifts and it was either that or not have a single weekend off until November.” She was still bitter about the change in schedule. Originally Miss Trinket wanted them twice a week outside of color guard’s normal rehearsal times, but with Peeta’s work schedule not being as flexible as Katniss’, she’d decided to make it morning rehearsals and make those shorter, which forced them to add another day of rehearsal to make up for the cut time. Now instead of having rehearsal four times a week, Katniss had five with her weekends full of shifts at Aunt LuLu’s shop for the extra cash she desperately needed. This summer was going to blow.
“I still think you should’ve been picked for Juliet,” Katniss told Madge teasingly. “You and Gale, maybe?” she cooed. “The true star-crossed lovers of Athens Ridge.” 
Gale scowled. “I’d rather drop dead than have to deal with Trinket when she’s in choreographer mode. She’s a total tyrant.” 
“She’s not so bad once you get used to her.” 
“Tell me what you think after dealing with her for a whole season, oh captain, my captain.” 
Point taken.
Much like at the pool, they talked for a bit about things going on in their lives—Madge taking some online French class because her grades last semester weren’t great; Gale’s successful find for parts with Thom in the junkyard. Katniss didn’t say much as she munched on her burger and fries, afraid Madge would lecture her again on Peeta Mellark and her inability to let things go with him. That and she promised she was done talking about him. But outside of marching band and him, not much was going on in her life. She felt a bit pathetic about that. 
Conversation picked up when Sae came over, asking how things were doing. The three smiled at the old woman, happy to fill her in on all the small details of their lives. Sae was the unofficial grandmother of the Seam. Always there to show her support for her kiddos. Her small diner was covered with pictures of sports teams she’s sponsored over the years, pictures of her and kids dressed in dance gear, holding certificates. 
“Did you hear the news about Katniss, Sae?” Madge asked when the topic of marching band came up. Sae was always interested in that, loving watching her talented kids play as they wove around the field. “She’s going to be our Juliet this year! Isn’t that exciting?” 
Sae’s grey eyes warmed, turning to Katniss. “Is that so? Captain and the lead part?” She shook her head in astonishment, her salt and peppered colored hair coming loose from her hair tie. “You were always so talented with those flags. I’m not surprised. Who’s your Romeo?” 
“Peeta Mellark.” The name felt lodged in her throat, but thankfully, it squeezed out without too much of a squeak in her voice. 
Sae didn’t know all the kids on the west side, but she definitely knew Peeta. He would often tag along with her and her dad on their trips to the woods, stopping at the diner after for hot chocolate and pie. In fact, his picture was one of the first ones you saw coming in—Sae and six-year-old Peeta smiling at the camera, her arm around him as he proudly held up his lost baby tooth. Her dad had taken the picture, she remembered, and if the camera’s lens had shifted a little more to the right, it would have also captured five-year-old Katniss pouting on the side, upset that he kept losing his baby teeth when she’d lost none. It was a picture her gaze avoided whenever they visited Sae’s, unable to stomach the sight of an old friend turned asshole, the memory of her dad’s laughter as he took the photo. 
“Oh, Peeta,” Sae chuckled, the familiar twinkle she always got in her eyes when he was around. The old woman doted on him when they were kids and he ate up her attention like there was no tomorrow. “How is that boy? Staying out of mischief, I hope?” 
Gale and Madge looked to her with knowing smiles, wondering what she would say. Katniss cleared her throat and looked down at her half-eaten plate for a moment. “Fine, I guess. We don’t hang out anymore. You know that, Sae.” 
She did know that, but it never stopped her from asking whenever he came up. “Aye, girl, I do. I suppose you aren’t happy with Effie Trinket’s choice, then?” 
Gale snorted. “Happy? More like obsessively pissed. She hasn’t shut up about it since May.” She glared at her friend and he shrugged, popping a fry in his mouth. “What? You haven’t.” 
Sae gave one of her warm, crooked teeth smiles. “Maybe this is the push you kiddos need to kiss and make up.” Katniss’ cheeks warmed at the mention of kisses, remembering Leevy’s comment how they were so going to have sex by the end of the year. She still hadn’t fully forgiven her friend for that suggestion.
“I’m afraid that’s impossible, Sae,” she said, her voice still a little strained. “We’re just too different.”  
“Ah, well. I suppose we grow in different directions sometimes,” the woman sighed with a shake of her head. A woman from the book club table called for her and Sae gave them a parting wave and smile. “Tell Peeta ol’ Sae misses her boy and that he needs to come in more. I haven’t seen him in ages.”
Katniss pointedly avoided Gale and Madge’s amused smirks, focusing on the burger in front of her. “I’ll be sure to pass the message along,” she muttered, taking a big bite of her food to avoid continuing this conversation. She loved Sae. Thought of her like a grandmother. But there was no way in hell was she telling Peeta that. No way. Then he’d think she was gushing about him to anyone who would listen, thrilled to be his Juliet, a role many girls at school would kill for (Probably. Maybe. She thinks.), and then his stupid ego would just get bigger and he’d be even more obnoxious to deal with. No, best not to mention anything and lie next time she saw Sae. 
A small part felt guilty at that, though, because Sae was like a grandma who wanted the best for her, and Peeta too, she guessed, but again, Sae didn’t know what happened between them. And Katniss wasn’t going to fill her in on their broken history six years too late. 
Her phone next to her plate vibrated, signifying a text message just came in. Wiping her greasy hands, Katniss frowned, picking up her phone. Who was texting her? Everyone who’d text her was either sitting right across from her or were busy at work or camp. The little text message lit up at her touch, showing it was from an unknown number, and her frown turned into a scowl as she read it. 
Hey!!!!!!!!!1!1111!!!!!!! the message read with a thousand typo-filled exclamation marks. God, who text like that? Trinket gave me ur ######## Hope thats cool. Thought Id give mine!!!!!!!111111 🤗 Ill see u  Mon dearest Juliet ❤️❤️❤️❤️!!!!!!!!!!!!111!😘😘😘😘!!!111!!!!!! 
For the briefest of seconds, Katniss swore her vision blacked out. One moment she was staring at her phone. The next, darkness. Like her brain couldn’t process the simple text on her phone and chose to shut down instead. When her vision cleared, the message was still there, glaring brightly at her with those thousand exclamation/number marks. 
Peeta Mellark texted her. He had her number.
         Her stomach churned and now she feared that what her mother always warned about Sae’s greasy food would come true now and she’d throw it all up. 
Peeta Mellark texted her. It was truly official. He had her number and she had his and they were partners now. If she had any doubts about this whole thing before—as if she had dreamt the last four weeks of her life—they were wiped clean now. Replaced with this typo-filled text message from the very boy who hurt her. 
“You okay?” Madge asked.
Katniss nodded and clicked out of the message, tossing the phone into her bag. She’d deal with it later.
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obxhoe · 4 years
Note
I was wondering if you could maybe do a JJ x kook reader, where the reader is kinda stuck being with rafe because of family ties and this is the time JJ takes the blame for what pope did to toppers boat, and the reader pays it off anonymously because they have a crush on him?
a/n: HI!!!! This is like a month late I’m so sorry y’all but I have more stuff in the works now that I have more free time. I spun it a little like John B and Sarah have been together for a lil bit, so the timeline is a tad off from the show. It’s kinda all over the place so I’m sorry about that.
Word count: ~1.8k
Warnings: mention of drugs, some swearing, probably typos, nothing else really
Ever since Sarah started dating John B, you’ve been hanging out with the Pogues. Your skepticism, due to being a kook yourself, about hanging with the group quickly fizzled after just one day on the HMS Pogue. And almost everyday you’re with them, that is whenever you can get away from Rafe.
Ah. Rafe Cameron. King of the kooks. And your “boyfriend”, not necessarily by choice. You two had grown up together on Figure Eight and of course as soon as you two had entered the age where it was acceptable to date, both sets of parents threw you together. It was nice, at first. It was new, exciting and you got to spend time with one of your best friends. But as time went on, and as you matured, Rafe seemed to stay in his high school days. Drugs controlled his mood, he was never on time or forgot you had plans and had completely changed from who he used to be.
You tried to break things off but your parents begged you to give it one more chance, they just couldn’t lose their friendship with the Cameron family or tarnish their precious image. So you gave it one more chance, about ten or more times. Your relationship at this point consists of hooking up with no strings attached, going to family dinners and putting on an act.
Your time is mainly spent with the Pogues. Rafe absolutely hated it at first, but he realized he couldn’t stop you and his sister, so he gave up eventually. Your summer days consist of surfing, relaxing on the boat or causing trouble around town. The trouble coming mostly from the shaggy blonde, with the ocean blue eyes that you were absolutely, undeniably, in love with. Rafe gets with his fair share of girls now. It never really bothered you at all since you both had come to a mutual agreement that this so-called relationship was purely physical and just an act to satisfy your parents. So now you spend your days and nights sneaking around with JJ Maybank, only the pogues and Sarah knowing what’s really going on. Rafe knows you’re fucking other people, but he doesn’t know who. If he did, he would lose his shit.
You wake up to your phone ringing next to your bed. Rubbing your eyes, you see the caller ID state that it was Rafe. You sigh rolling your eyes, you just talked to him before you decided to nap due to the exhaustion engulfing you after working a 7 hour shift this morning.
“Is this a booty call?” You ask, flopping back on your bed.
“Y/N! Someone sunk Topper’s boat!” He yells. You sit up immediately, stomach sinking, having an idea of who could have done this.
“Wait what?” You stand up and start pacing around.
“The plug wasn’t put back in. Topper claims he remembered to put it back in, but he was also drinking the last time he was driving it. Probably those fucking pogues though.” He raises his voice. “I don’t understand why you and Sarah hang around them, they’re trash y/n.”
“Rafe…” You state, already getting annoyed. “I love gossip just as much as the next girl, but I was hoping this was either more important information or a booty call. And seeing that it’s not, I am going to go back to bed.”
“Whatever. Come over tonight then?” He asks.
“Yeah yeah, see you then” You huff and lay back down trying to sleep, but your mind won’t stop thinking about the incident. Part of you knew JJ could have done this, and another part of you denied that. You give up on trying to sleep, throw on a bathing suit and one of JJ’s giant tees and head over to the chateau. 
You hop out of the car and walk around to the backyard of the chateau. 
“Now if any kooks come up to you and ask if you had anything to do with it, you walk up to ‘em, look ‘em right in the eye” You hear JJ stop and Pope mumble something. “And deny. Deny. Deny.” he finishes. You stop in your tracks, your suspicions now proving to be true. Your phone goes off and you mentally curse yourself for not putting your phone on do not disturb.
“Y/n?” JJ runs over to you, his face lighting up.
“What were you guys just talking about?” You ask nervously.
“Um uh well. I-” Pope starts but JJ cuts him off.
“Just talking about trying to find the gold. In case any kooks find out, we can’t have them fucking it up for us, ya know?” JJ says. You nod, not believing a single word but too scared to push for any further answers. 
“Well I gotta go back to work, I told my dad I would only be gone an hour or two.” Pope says, heading to the driveway. “Dinner tonight?”
“Yeah. Wait no fuck. I forgot I have a stupid family dinner thing I promised my parents I would go to.” You say, remembering you told Rafe you’d go over tonight. “Can we just come and hang out with you at work?”
“Yeah sure, I don’t care. Kie said she would help out today so she’ll probably be there by the time we get there” He says, and the two of you follow him.
You get to Heyward’s and not even 15 minutes after you arrive, chaos ensues. 
“Hey Pope, someone here to see you” Heyward says, eyeing the boy almost as a warning.
“Evening officer.” He says, swallowing as his hands start to shake.
“I have an arrest warrant for felony destruction of property.” Shoupe orders, as the other officers step forward and grab him. You start screaming, following Heyward outside, JJ hot on your heels. Kie starts to sob, and everyone else starts to shout, confusion in the air around you. Pope looks as if he can’t breathe. His eyes looking lost. All of a sudden the screaming stops, and you hear one voice call out.
“It wasn’t him! it was me. He tried to talk me out of it. but I was mad because he’d just been beaten up. I was so sick of those assholes from figure eight that I lost my shit.”  JJ turns to Pope. “I can’t let you take the blame for something that I did. You’ve got too much to lose.”
“JJ what are you doing?!” Pope hisses.
“I'm telling the truth. For once in my goddamn life, I’m gonna tell the truth. I took his old man’s boat too.” 
“What the hell?” Heyward says from behind you.
“JJ come on” Pope pleads. 
“Shut up Pope, shut up. He’s a good kid. “This was all me.” That was the last thing they said before they took him away. You didn’t notice you had started crying until you felt your tears roll down your neck. You feel a hand on your shoulder and see Heyward giving you the most sympathetic look. As much as he acts like JJ annoys the fuck out of him, you know that he loves JJ.
You, Pope and Kie stay outside as everyone else retreats to where they were before. You sink to the ground, hands covering your face.
“What do we do?’ You groan, wiping away the rest of your tears from your cheeks.
“I’m not sure we can do anything” Kie says.
“Well,” Pope starts “I mean in a perfect world we could pay off whatever his restitution would be. But Topper’s boat is expensive, like only the Kook-iest of Kooks can affor-”
“Pope, we know okay. That doesn’t help” Kie interrupts. You shoot up, an idea coming to your head. Deciding to keep it to yourself knowing that the two of them would immediately shut it down and call you crazy, you make an excuse to leave so you can execute your plan.
“I have to go guys. Get all socially acceptable and that shit for dinner with my family.” You start walking in the direction of your car. “I’ll see you guys tomorrow!” You call out. You get into the car, open the glove compartment and grab the checkbook. Luckily, you share your bank account with your very, very elderly grandparents, who are loaded. And never check the account ever. So no one will notice anything missing. Your parents won’t be able to see anything, no one will ever know, and you’ll be able to do it anonymously. You drive to the station and climb out the car, your hands sweaty and stomach nervous.
“I’m here for JJ. Uh Maybank.” You tell the lady at the front.
“Let me grab Shoupe” She gives you a judgemental look as she walks back.
“Y/n, didn’t expect to see you here. Everything okay? Parents good?” Shoupe says as he sips on some coffee.
“Yeah yeah everythings fine. Um I’m here for JJ” You say, fidgeting with your hands.
“Maybank?” He raises an eyebrow.
“I’m here to pay his restitution.”
“That’s $25,000 Y/n…” He puts his coffee down.
“Alright.” You grab a pen from the desk and start to write in the checkbook.
“Woah woah woah. Slow down. What will your parents think when they see 25k missing?”
“They won’t know. It’s not their account.” You finish filling out the check. “I would like to keep this anonymous please.” You hand it to him and walk out the door. You drive to the local market and sit in the parking lot, air conditioning cranked high and your favorite band blasting through the speakers and wait for him to call or text you.
------
“Maybank” Shoupe says, unlocking the cell that he was sitting in. “Your restitution has been paid, you’re free to go.”
“By who?” He shoots up, eyes wide.
“Don’t know. Don’t care. Get out of here.” Shoupe commands.
------
Your ringtone interrupts the music and you groan as you reach for the phone hoping it’s from the only person you want to talk to right now. *JJ* flashes on the screen, with a photo of him shotgunning a beer. 
“JJ?” You try to sound confused to avoid any suspicion. 
“Y/n! I’m out! Someone paid my restitution. Shoupe wouldn’t tell me who but at this point I don’t care. Can you come get me please? Oh! And bring burgers and fries, jail makes you hungry.”
“JJ you were there for 2 hours, tops.” You laugh.
“Yeah and I’m starving. I’ll be waiting outside the station.” You hang up, pick up some food and head over to the station.
The moment he sees you his eyes light up.
“Hey beautiful.” He hops in the car and grabs your face, kissing you passionately. “I love you. You know that? I fucking love you.” You smile as the words leave his lips.
“I love you too J. Now eat up.” You throw him the bag of food and drive off to the Chateau, texting Rafe that something had come up. You’ll come up with an explanation as to how you got out of your “family dinner” for Pope and Kie. Tonight, you’re putting JJ first.
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bonjour-rainycity · 4 years
Text
The Long Way Around ~ Chapter 16
Link to previous part: https://bonjour-rainycity.tumblr.com/post/625552318938611712/the-long-way-around-chapter-15
Pairing: Jasper x Reader
Word count: 3050
Warnings: None
Y/n’s POV
I sigh, pulling on my tennis shoes. “Can we do this later? I’m not feeling it.” It’s only been six hours since our last drill, I haven’t heard from Jasper, and the burn in my throat has yet to fade from six hours ago. I just want to be left alone.
“No.” Rosalie’s voice is firm, and she reaches down a hand to pull me up. “You need to be consistent otherwise you’ll lose progress. No more moping.” Now, she gives me a shove towards my bedroom door, “I’ve let this go on for too long.”
Childishly, I take slow steps towards the door. I really just want to get back in bed and watch some Netflix or something. “It’s not like it’s your fault. I’m just not in the mood.”
“Look,” Rosalie sighs, placing her hands on her hips. “Being away from your mate is hard, I get it. Emmett and I hate being away from each other, but-”
Her words register, and I have to cut her off. It’s something that’s been bothering me since the fight, when Cora addressed Jasper. She’d asked him if he was willing to die in the place of his mate, and she’d meant me. And now, Rosalie throws the term casually into conversation. My mind floats back to that discussion Jasper and I had all those months ago, about mates, and I know that the term is anything but casual; it’s equivalent to an eternal, undying commitment.
“Yeah, about that.” Rosalie’s eyebrows raise, presumably at being interrupted, but she speaks no further. I play with my fingers, glad Jasper’s not here to feel my insecurity and nervousness. It might give him the wrong impression. “That word has been thrown around a lot recently.”
Now, a smile quirks across Rosalie’s lips. “Does that bother you?”
“No, not bother,” I’m quick to correct. “It definitely does not bother me, it just…y’know, means a lot.”
“And that worries you?” This time, her guess is correct.
Timidly, I nod. It feels dumb to be admitting all of this, but it’s the truth. “It just feels so fast to be feeling this way.”
Rosalie takes a small step towards me, and her voice is kind when she speaks. “You guys go at whatever pace feels comfortable for you. All I’ll say, is when you know, you know. And there’s no going back.” She heaves a sigh, and then smiles. “Now, get your butt in the backyard. You are not getting out of training just cause you’re in love.”
Rolling my eyes, I follow her out of the house. I’ll have to make time to mull over my thoughts later, when I’m alone.
When we reach the backyard, which is really just a clearing in between the massive house and the forest, Emmett is waiting, and so is a scent that throws me into an immediate predator-like crouch.
“Emmett, you’re supposed to wait until she’s prepared to open the bag,” Rosalie chides, looking at me warily.
Emmett shrugs, a wide, unbothered grin across his face. “I’m taking it up a notch.”
Just the fact that I can register their conversation shows me how far I’ve come. A few weeks ago, I would’ve been laser-focused on the squishy bag fifty yards from me. I use the knowledge of my progress as a lifeline and force myself out of my crouch.
The footsteps racing toward me give barely a second to react before I’m slammed onto the ground with the force of a freight train. I snarl, fighting to get the dead weight off of me. The weight snarls back, and I recognize the sound instantly as that of another vampire. He must have smelled the blood and come to fight me for it. With that knowledge, my new goal becomes escape and, if possible, escape plus satisfaction in the form of guzzling the packaged human blood. But my first priority is set. With a growl, I grip the shoulders of my assailant, using my strength and my ability to put him on the ground. The man gasps in response to my attack, and soon a groan is drawn from his lips. My hands tingle, the only physical sign that I’d used my powers. Once the man is on the ground, I hold him down with a knee on his chest. I’m about to hit him with a wave of fire to further incapacitate him, when I notice the contorted, yet familiar, face below me.
“Arthur,” I gasp, hurrying off of him.
He takes a few steadying breaths but looks at me with a glint in his eye. “Nice job.”
“Yes,” another voice agrees as Edward hurries to join our group. “That was very controlled, Y/n.”
“Controlled?” I’m sure my eyes must be bulging comically. “I about made my friend think he’d been set on fire just so I could have some packaged blood.”
The blood. I freeze as I realize I had been ignoring it. Not unaware of it, exactly, just not prioritizing it. Experimentally, I take a shallow breath through my mouth. The fire ignites, but I fight through it. I take another breath, and another, eventually working up to a deep breath through my nose. That hits me the hardest, but with gritted teeth and much effort, I push down the urge to follow the scent.
Oh wow.
My face breaks in a grin to match that of Rose, Emmett, Arthur, and Edward.
Even now, fully aware of the sweet smell, I can ignore the urge to go after it. The temptation, as well as the painful burn in my throat, are very much present, but I can control my instincts. I am controlled.
“Aha!” I exclaim in joy and jump in the air, elevating about twelve feet before crashing back into the ground, leaving a small crater.
I bask in the congratulation from my friends as well as in my newfound optimism. Maybe Jasper is right. We might actually be able to go on a trip soon, just the two of us.
I swallow at the implication.
We’ve never been alone before for an extended period of time. Even our two trips to the waterfall were relatively brief.
Now that I know it’s a real possibility, I ache for uninterrupted time with Jasper.
But then my thoughts shift and I’m returned to a state of worry as I face the harsh reality that none of us have heard from either Carlisle, Esme, or Jasper in well over six hours.
The fact that Edward hears my thoughts and can offer no reassurance makes me feel even worse.
Emmett notices the shift in my mood. “Wanna wrestle?”
Usually I refrain, but right now, that actually sounds kind of fun. At the very least, it will distract me.
Hesitantly, I nod, and Emmett grins widely. After tossing the now tightly closed bag to Rosalie (who discards it safely), Emmett draws me further away from the house.
“Esme will kill us if she comes back to crushed brick,” he explains.
Edward chortles. “What, again?”
“Hey you’re next baby bro,” Emmett teases, his grin never slipping.
We circle each other for a few minutes. Then, with barely any warning, he lunges.
We grapple. I’ve been a vampire for nearly eleven months now, and my newborn strength is all but gone. Emmett is definitely stronger than me. My advantages lie in my speed—Emmett’s size makes him slightly slower than others—and in my ability. Still, I’m very hesitant to cause my lovable friend pain, so I keep a tight reign on my powers.
Emmett manages to get his arms around my middle and tosses me about two hundred yards. I slam into a tree, taking it down with me. But before it has a chance to hit the ground, I’m standing in front of Emmett, using his shoulders to throw him off balance. Just as I’m about to kick him in the stomach, a low move, I know, Edward’s phone rings. Immediately, we all freeze, guessing who will be on the other end of the call, but in the dark as to what news they will provide.
“Carlisle?” Edward’s voice is terse, a vocal expression of the feelings raging inside my heart. Please, please let Jasper be okay.
“Edward, we are on our way home. The conversation went well.” Carlisle’s voice is calm, optimistic even, and my friends exhale sighs of relief. I can’t quite relax yet though. Not until…
Thankfully, Edward hears the frantic tone to my thoughts and takes pity.
“Is everyone alright? Where are Esme and Jasper?”
“Everyone is just fine. Esme is checking us out and Jasper’s running a quick errand before we leave for the airport.”
I let out a shaky breath, nearly falling to the ground as all the tension leaves my body. He’s okay. He’s coming home.
“Wonderful,” Edward enthuses. “When should we expect you?”
“Our flight is supposed to land around five tomorrow morning, and we should reach the house around eight.”
The three hour drive between our small town and the nearest international airport suddenly seems incredibly rude. Perhaps…
Immediately, Edward shakes his head in my direction. “You’re not ready for that.”
“But you said I was controlled!” Inwardly, I cringe. My voice sounds like that of a whiny teenager.
“Controlled for the exercises, yes, but it will be completely different when you’re surrounded by humans, even if you stay in the car,” he tacks on, knowing my next argument. “Besides, Carlisle parked his Mercedes at the airport. It makes no sense to drive there when he already has a car waiting.”
I fight back a groan. I just want to see Jasper. I miss his hugs, his scent, the feel of his hand in mine, the way he smirks when I tug on his hair, cuddling up and reading or watching movies, the sound of his laugh-
Edward’s kind chuckle breaks through my thoughts. “Just eighteen more hours.”
Pursing my lips, I check my watch. It’s just past two-thirty. I can distract myself for seventeen hours and twenty-four minutes. Right?
Edward focuses back on his conversation with Carlisle, but I tune him out. I can get all the details later, from Jasper. All that matters now is that they’re safe, they’re coming home, and that the mission was successful.
I think of ways to fill my time. Hunting would certainly be a fun occupation, but I quickly dismiss the idea. Jasper will want to go when he returns, and I would rather go with him. Heck, we might get a whole family trip out of it if Carlisle and Esme need to go, too. I could kill a few more hours wrestling with Emmett though, eventually, we were sure to get sick of throwing each other around. Randomly, a thought strikes me, and a smile spreads across my face.
“Bella, Alice, Rose” I call, hurrying back towards the house.
{***}
Seven grueling hours later, we’ve amassed our supplies. Paint cans and pillows and fabric and wood and brushes and tools and baskets and a million other tiny objects crowd my room. It seemed much larger before we crammed all this in.
While the girls had kindly set up a room for me after my transformation, it lacked, well, me. The style was very generic and resembled more of a guest room than someone’s personal space.
I decided it was time for a change.
Bella lost interest hours ago and was now off somewhere with Edward, so Rose had roped Emmett into being our fourth set of hands.
“I like the pink, but that’s just me,” Emmett contributes, sounding surprisingly emphatic.
Rosalie groans. “I asked for base colors, not accent colors.”
Emmett makes a face that quite explicitly communicates the word, ‘geesh.’
I hold back a laugh and instead focus on studying the samples of paint in front of me. One in particular stands out, and I relay my decision to the group. We begin painting, each of us taking a wall. Arthur seems to feel left out and joins us about halfway through, and Rosalie puts him to work building a window seat.
Soon, my walls boast a calming sage color, and I can’t help the smile that spreads across my face. Yes. Arthur’s constructed a lovely window seat complete with little doors on the bottom to give me extra storage, and I thank him profusely. It’s truly beautiful. Alice disappears and comes back with the perfect lace curtains, and I actually squeal. I would have never thought to include lace but, seeing it in context, I can’t deny that it’s just perfect.
To add a bit of depth (in Rosalie’s words, anyway), we throw in some hints of lavender, cream, and brown. Pleased with my reaction to his window seat, Arthur and Alice craft a bookshelf, and then leave in search of the perfect chair and table. While they’re gone, Rosalie, Emmett, and I talk bedding. After a surprising amount of arguing, we decide on a cream duvet and many pillows in variations of cream, lavender, and coffee.
Alice must have been notified of our decisions (by means of text or supernatural premonition, I don’t know), and returns bearing many gifts. She and Arthur set the items gently on my bedroom floor: a dusty pink vintage chair, a carefully distressed cream circular end table, a small cream pillow (presumably for the chair), a handful of startlingly large blankets, and hanging twinkly lights for above my bed. I about burst with excitement.
Not about to be outdone, Emmett leaves and returns exactly one hour later bearing a huge flat-screen TV. He grins as he and Arthur rebuild the bookshelf into a larger bookshelf-entertainment center-combo. It’s truly awesome.
With five hours before Jasper’s arrival, my room is finished. I can’t help but beam as we slide the last of my books into place on the carefully organized shelf.
“You guys….” Emotion makes my voice tight. In my, albeit fuzzy, human memory, I can’t locate a time when my friends had gone to such lengths to help me, to make me happy. I’m truly, deeply grateful for these people I get to call my friends. More than that, my family. “It’s perfect. Thank you.”
They respond with smiles and an easy chorus of phrases diminishing their instrumental roles. I just pull them in for a group hug, which is met with varying levels of appreciation, and can’t help but laugh.
They leave me alone to enjoy my new space but also so they can finish cleaning up before Esme gets home. I feel bad, them having to take trips to the dump and various stores on my behalf, but Edward is right. I’m not ready to be surrounded by actual humans. Still, I’m eager to show Jasper my progress. He’ll be proud of me.
The thought of my love—for, as much as it scares me to think of him that way, he surely is— causes me to pause. Now that my room is all nice, it seems unfair for him to have to come home to find his untouched. A flash of a weak human memory confirms my theory: I had just returned from a week long school trip and found my room clean with freshly washed sheets. Someone—my mom or my dad?—had figured I would be tired and knew I would appreciate the act. Hopefully, Jasper would too. I exit my room and turn up the staircase to the top floor. Jasper’s room is located at the eastern corner of the house, and I head in that direction. When I get to his door, I pause. I’d been in here many times before, but never without him. Would he be upset? Would he consider this an invasion of his privacy? Those fears nearly send me back down the stairs but, reviewing what I know of his character, Jasper wouldn’t be angry. He probably wouldn’t even care. So, I push the door open.
Jasper’s scent, while faint, hits me, and I close my eyes, savoring. It’s been days since I’ve been surrounded by the comforting warmth of him, and my heart aches for his return.
I want to kick myself for being so besotted. Who was I, that I would be reduced to such sadness at just a few days away from my boyfriend?
I sigh, knowing the truth.
But he’s not just my boyfriend. Jasper is my mate. Neither of us is human anymore, so human standards cannot apply to us. What I feel for him is so completely…more than any human could ever even conceive of feeling.
I swallow under the weight of my admission. Put simply, I know deep in my gut that Jasper and I will be together for eternity. And, if death ever tries to do us part, it will not succeed. Whether in after-life or whatever comes next, we will be together.
Oof.
Needing to focus on something other than these intensities, I hurry to Jasper’s bed and strip the sheets and pillowcases. His room is spotless, so there’s not much work for me there. Still, while his bedding is in the washer, I busy myself with dusting, While wiping off one of his shelves, I find a couple of my books I’d noticed were missing, and roll my eyes. Thief. In retaliation, I take his favorite chessboard and shove it under my bed. Now, we’re even.
Once the bedding is finished drying, I replace it and smooth it out, making the bed as best I can. Vampirism is supposed to make you good at everything, but I can’t quite replicate the tightly fitted corners Jasper creates with ease. Eh, good enough. Besides, it’s the thought that counts, right?
I replenish the washing machine with Carlisle and Esme’s bedding next, not wanting to leave them out. Just because I’m not ridiculously in love with them doesn’t mean they shouldn’t have freshly washed sheets too, right?
By the time I’m done with my various cleaning, it’s only two hours until Jasper’s arrival. Alice can sense my anticipation, and invites me to watch a movie with her. I accept but, instead of focusing on the classic plot, count down the minutes until I can hear the car’s wheels on the drive.
A/n Thank you for all your kind words on my last update! Each reply, like, and reblog makes me smile and I truly appreciate you taking the time out of your day to do that! Don’t forget to let me know what you thought of this chapter and if you would like to be added to the tag list :)
xx, 
Bjr
Link to next part: https://bonjour-rainycity.tumblr.com/post/625820783935160320/the-long-way-around-chapter-17
Tag list: @meri-soni-meri-tamanna @one-thread-can-save-a-life @salsameter @enchantedcruelsummer @meashy-moo @sana-li @femflorals @80strashbag @tomisbaeholland @heyimval13 @triscuitcracker @deviantly-gayy @sleepywinnie847 @vexingcosmos @avalongrey @artms-blnd
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zootopiathingz · 3 years
Text
Into the Wilde
Meet (Not So) Cute
There are many steps of a hustle. The first one being that you have to have the confidence to actually do it. Not a lot of mammals I know have the guts to try. But when you're like me and you've been doing it since you learned how to talk, it basically becomes your whole personality. My lifeline is based on tricking other animals to get what I need so I can sell my product and earn some money. At first I wasn't proud of this, but now I've gotten used to it after 20 years.
Today's just another day of work for me. I'm going to meet up with my business partner, Finnick, at an elephant ice cream parlor to scam our way into getting a giant popsicle. Then we're going to resell it as our own branded "pawpsicles", and to earn some extra cash we'll sell the leftover sticks to some construction workers, maybe some rodents. It sounds convoluted but it's worked so far. I don't see why today should be any different.
Right about at noon, I make my towards the ice cream parlor known as Jumbeaux's Café. Sure, the place is meant for bigger animals, but that's the point. We need the biggest popsicle we can get so we can melt it down to smaller sized treats. And so no one suspects us, we have the perfect story that's sure to fool the owner.
As I cross the street, a Fresh Doe truck drives right past me, nearly running me over. I look back at the ram driving it, and he shouts at me to watch where I'm going. What an asshole. Eh, I expected him to blame me for it. Everyone in Zootopia's always blaming the fox. That's just how it is.
Moving on, I walk in front of the café, but I have to make sure no one's watching me. You can never be too careful with this kind of stuff. Once the coast is clear, I follow an elephant lady inside, and now begins the plan. I see Finnick waiting for me by the door, wearing an elephant onesie costume.
Finnick and I go way back. I've known him since I started doing this type of business. He showed me the ropes and was the first to suggest that we do this together. At first I didn't want to, since I was dead set on becoming independent. But after a few years I decided to accept his offer, since we could make twice as much money working together than by ourselves. Besides, what was the harm in having a friend? Well, we never exactly referred to each other like that, but that's pretty much what he is.
He walks past me to get in line, murmuring, "Let's get this over with." I follow him quickly and we make our way towards the front of the line, and since we're smaller than the elephants, no one notices that we cut.
The owner (I think his name is Jerry, so I'll call him that) turns around to take another order. He almost doesn't even see Finnick and me, so I have to call out to him to get his attention. He looks down at us, and I see in his face that he's not happy. I don't need to guess why.
"Can I help you?" He asks, eyeing me up and down. I get why it would be weird for a fox to buy something from a shop for elephants, but damn, he hasn't even heard me say anything and just assumes I'm up to no good.
"Yes sir, I'd like to buy a jumbo pop, please." I say politely.
Apparently I wasn't polite enough, since he just glares at me. I can tell he's observing my behavior very closely, so I try to stand still in the least suspicious way possible.
"Listen, I don't know what you're doing skulking around during daylight hours, but I don't want any trouble in here." He says. "So hit the road!"
Geez, if this is how he treats customers, then it's a mystery why this place has a four-star rating. But I want to avoid arguing with him, at least not aggressively. That would get me nowhere. I have to keep up an act. "I'm not looking for any trouble either, sir." I say in my own defense, "I simply wanna buy a jumbo pop," I gesture down to Finnick, who trots to my side. "for my little boy."
Yeah, the plan is to pretend we were a father and son. Acting cute and pulling on heartstrings is the best way to hustle, so that was our usual routine. I bend down to ask Finnick, "You want the red or the blue, pal?"
He walks up to the glass displaying the three jumbo pops. As expected, he points toward the red one. We always got red, it was just how we liked it and it always sold the best.
Jerry, however, just shoos him away with his trunk. "Okay, come on, kid. Back up." He looks down at me, "Listen buddy, what? There aren't any fox ice cream joints in your part of town?"
"Uh, no, no. There are, there are. It's just, my boy," I pat Finnick on the head. "this goofy little stinker, he loves all things elephant, wants to be one when he grows up."
Finnick pulls up the hood of his costume, which has the ears and the trunk of an elephant. It even has its own trumpet, which he uses now to emphasize my point. "Is that adorable?" I ask as he leans against my leg. "Who the heck am I to crush his little dreams, huh? Right?"
But Jerry isn't impressed. Honestly, he could not care less, it seems. "Look, you probably can't read, fox," He takes a sign and points at it with his trunk, "But the sign says 'we reserve the right to refuse service to anyone'! So beat it!"
Refusing service to someone because they want a jumbo pop seems extreme to me, but hey, I'm not a café owner. Still, we can't give up yet. We need that jumbo pop, and we have to get it one way or another.
"You're holding up the line." An elephant lady says as she pushes me from behind.
Finnick trumpets sadly and I rub the top of his head 'sympathetically'. We have to appear as cute and as sad as possible now, so maybe we can be pitied by Jerry or another one of the workers. But these elephants have no mercy. Great. Now how are we supposed to sell today? There aren't any other ice cream parlors that sell big enough popsicles that we can get in time.
Suddenly, I hear a voice from beside me. "Hello? Excuse me?"
I turn around to see a bunny speaking to the owner. She's wearing a hat and an orange mesh vest, so I guess she does parking duty. Why she's even here is beyond me, but I get the sneaking feeling it has something to do with me and Finnick.
"Hey, you're gonna have to wait your turn just like everyone else, meter maid." Jerry says to her.
"Actually, I'm an officer." She says, pulling back her vest strap to show off her badge. Huh, that's weird. I didn't think they let bunnies on the police force. Then again if she's doing parking duty, she must be new. Makes sense. Police work isn't meant for animals like her.
"Just had a quick question," She goes on, speaking a little louder. "Are your costumers aware they're getting snot and mucus with their cookies 'n cream?"
A couple elephants sitting nearby hear this, one even spits out his ice cream all over the other's face. I have to hold in a laugh.
Jerry looks down at her confused, "What are you talkin' about?"
"Well, I don't wanna cause you any trouble, but I believe scooping ice cream with an ungloved trunk is a class-three health code violation." The bunny says, "Which is kind of a big deal."
Wait, is she trying to help me? She might also be trying to help out the customers by not getting snot in their ice cream. But still, she just randomly shows up while I'm trying to buy a jumbo pop for my 'son'. It can't be a coincidence, right?
Jerry glares at her for a moment before she continues, "Of course I can let you off with a warning if you were to glove those trunks and, I don't know," She gestures for me to step forward, in which I oblige. "Finish selling this nice dad and his son a...what was it?" She whispers to me.
"A jumbo pop." I say, smiling up at the owner. "Please."
"A jumbo pop." The bunny repeats.
Wow, I honestly did not expect anyone to actually help us. I was starting to think our little ruse wasn't going to fool anyone. I almost feel bad that we're having to trick her, too.
Jerry sighs in defeat, deciding to give in. And I don't blame him. "15 dollars."
"Thank you so much." I say, then nod at the bunny. "Thank you."
But as I reach into my pocket, I'm surprised to feel nothing there. Or so, that's how it looks to the others. Of course I have my wallet with me, I'm not an idiot. It's just all part of the ploy. "Oh no, are you kidding me? I don't have my wallet!" I chuckle nervously, pretending to be frustrated with myself. "I'd lose my head if it weren't attached to my neck. That's the truth. Oh boy," I sigh and kneel down to Finnick, "I'm sorry, pal. Gotta be about the worst birthday ever."
I might have improvised that part, only to further guilt the animals around us. Hey, a fox has to have a little fun.
"Please don't be mad at me." I say, cupping Finnick's face in my paws, kissing his head. I know he hates that, but I have to do whatever it takes. I stand back up and take his paw. "Thanks anyway." I say sadly to the bunny before walking out of the line. I can feel Finnick trying to reach out to the jumbo pop, probably pouting like a child.
Before I can even walk out the door, I hear someone slam something onto the counter. Not to my surprise, the bunny pays for the jumbo pop for us. I'm surprised she actually fell for our little fib. She really is a rookie.
After we're given the red jumbo pop, the three of us walk outside the café. Finnick holds the bunny's paw while I carry the jumbo pop over my shoulder, surprisingly it's easy to lift. Just a few pounds heavier than myself.
"Officer, I can't thank you enough. So kind, really." I say to her, "Can I pay you back?"
As I get a better look at her, I catch a glimpse of something in her belt. It looks red, maybe pink-ish. But just from that one glance, I can already tell exactly what it is. I've seen it many times in my life. Hell, I'm used to seeing it almost everyday. Fox repellent.
Of course a bunny would be carrying that around. They were all afraid of us. But then why did she help me when she obviously isn't fond of foxes? I guess she's just trying to make herself feel better. Now I feel less guilty about tricking her.
"Oh no, my treat." She answers, releasing Finnick's paw. "It just— you know, it burns me up to see folks with such backward attitudes toward foxes."
Really? Then explain that fox repellent, two-faced meter maid.
"I just wanna say you're a great dad and just a..." She pauses to find the right words. "A real articulate fella."
"Well, that is high praise." I put a paw to my chest, deciding to play along. "It's rare that I find someone so non-patronizing. Officer...?" I ask, hinting that I want to know her name.
"Hopps." She tips her hat. Of course she has a last name like that. "Mr...?"
"Wilde. Nick Wilde." I hold out my paw, and she gladly shakes it.
I probably should've used a fake name so this can't be traced back to me. But I'm not worried. It's not like she's a real cop, anyway. And I'm not doing anything illegal, so it doesn't matter.
She bends down to look at Finnick, smiling widely. "And you, little guy, you wanna be an elephant when you grow up? You be an elephant. Because this is Zootopia." She pulls out a sticker from her pocket and places it on his chest. "Anyone can be anything."
Now I know she's not from around here. Anyone who actually grew up in Zootopia would know that that stupid saying doesn't mean jack shit. You can't just be whatever you want. God, someone needs to open her eyes and introduce her to the real world. Oh well, she'll figure that out soon enough.
"Ah, boy. I tell him that all the time." I say, then hand the jumbo pop down for Finnick to hold. "Alright, here ya go. Two paws!" He holds up the jumbo pop easily, probably better than me since he's actually stronger despite his size. "Oh yeah, look at that smile! That's a happy birthday smile! All right, give her a little bye-bye toot-toot!"
Finnick toots twice, and the bunny mimicks the sound with a small laugh.
"Bye now!" I say as I turn around, walking along the sidewalk with Finnick.
"Goodbye!" She says, but I don't bother to turn around to see if she waves. I honestly don't care less.
Well, that was a painfully long five minutes. But it worked. Now it's time to move into phase two of our popsicle procedure.
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mychemicalimagines · 5 years
Text
Punished by the Big O!
Request by @impinehoney​. “may i request some fluffy and smutty,, extra dom and possessive poly ghostface with a fem reader? ahh thank you bunches”
Warning: Cussing and Smut! No one under the age of 18 please!
Tag: @elskinner45​
A/N: I want to thank my editor for this! She helped me so much! Thank you for waiting patiently! I really hope you like this!! 
Words from my editor:] “Hi This is the editor. I apologize that it took so long to get this story posted, and that is mainly my fault. I had to travel outta town for the holidays, and was gone for a few weeks with no internet access. When I finally managed to get home, school started and the laptop I’ve had for a couple years now decided it wanted to stop working. I got a new one and was finally able to edit the story. So, once again, I apologize that it took so long to get it posted. Hope you enjoy it!!”
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I sit in my English class, just thinking. I have two boyfriends...but no one knows we’re dating. My boyfriends are Billy and Stu, but to the world, they’re dating Sidney and Tatum. They are the Ghost Face killers with a master plan but I’m not allowed to know that either. I just know I’m not supposed to talk to Sidney or Tatum. 
They never said anything about talking to Randy. I smirk to myself and when the bell rings, I walk straight to Randy.
“Oh hey, Y/N!” He says excitedly.
Everyone in the whole school knows he has a crush on me and Sidney.
“Hey Rand. Umm...Did you want to sit with me at lunch? I need help with my math homework and I know you have an A in it.” I say, sweetly.
He stutters for a second. “Y-y-y-yeah. Yeah I can help you during lunch!” 
“Thank you so much Randy.” I smile.
He blushes. “You’re welcome!”
Hour later, Randy is helping me with our math homework and I can feel someone staring at the back of my head. I turn slightly to see Billy staring at us with murder in his eyes. I wink at him and turn back to Randy listening to every word he says. The bell rings to go to class and I look at Randy. 
“That was easier than I thought!” I kiss his cheek. “Thank you!”
I grab my stuff, not noticing he is blushing.
“You’re welcome! You have my number if you need anymore help.” He says, grabbing his bookbag.
“I will definitely use it!” I smile and walks to my locker.
As I open it, it gets slammed shut. I jump a little and look up to see Billy and Stu on either side of me.
“What the fuck was that?” Billy whispers, angrily.
“Whatever do you mean?” I ask, innocently.
“We told you to stay away from him.” Stu whispers.
I smirk and whisper. “Nope, you said not to talk to Sid and Tatum. Never said anything about Randy.”
They think for a second and Stu takes a deep breath. He walks away, stomping slightly. 
Billy shakes his head and whispers. “You’re getting punished when you get home.” 
Before I can say anything, he walks away. I spend the rest of the day wondering how they’re going to punish me. I get into my car after school and drive fast but safely home. My parents are gone for the week so they aren’t going to be there.  I park in my driveway and think for a few minutes. They can’t possibly be here already. 
Can they? I would never know. I get out of the car and walk inside of my house. I look around the house to find any evidence of them being in here. I can’t find anything so I walk up to my bedroom. I open the door and walk in slowly. I look around but before I can do anything, the door slams behind me. 
I jump, dropping my bag on the floor. I see Billy and Stu. Stu is leaning again the wall beside my door with his arms crossed and Billy is now leaning against my door with a huge smirk on his face. I swallow deeply. I’m in a lot of trouble. 
Billy clicks his tongue. “Oh, what are we gonna do with you, babygirl? Hmm?”
Stu smirks and walks closer. “What do you think, Bi? A spanking? Both of us at once? Not letting her reach that sweet, sweet release?”
Billy’s smirk grows as he looks at Stu. He glances back at me and I can’t help but swallow deeply again. I know I’m in trouble, but it’s the best kind of trouble to be in. Billy lets his fingers lightly trace my collarbone, making me shiver and goosebumps cover my skin, as he talks to Stu.
“I think…” He licks his lips. “I think all three of those sound like a damn good punishment, Stu.”
Stu grins and nods. “Mmm. A good one indeed. Let’s get her naked.”
The next thing I know, my clothes are ripped off me and laying in tatters on the floor. I shiver, both from the breeze coming through the slightly cracked window across the room, but also because the simple action of the boys literally ripping my clothes off sends a wave of arousal through me. They chuckle and share a look before their hands are on my shoulders, gently but still commandingly, pull me from the door.
“Safe word?” Billy asks, looking me in the eyes.
I tell him the word we all agreed on. I’ve never had to use it, but every time we get a little freaky, the boys always make sure I remember it in case I need to use it for some reason. As soon as the simple word leaves my lips, the boys nod in approval.
“On the bed. Now. Hands and knees. Ass up.” 
I do as Billy directs and swallow deeply, trying to discreetly rub my thighs together in an attempt to keep the slick from running further down my legs to my knees. Not even 10 seconds after I rub my thighs together, I feel a sharp smack against my ass, which is quickly soothed by a soft rub.
“Don’t do that, baby. Let us see how wet you are.”
I shiver at the huskiness in Stu’s voice. I spread my legs a little further apart, letting them see exactly what they want to. When I hear them hum in approval, I get soaked even more, and feel it drip down my thighs.
“Mmmm. Good girl.” Billy murmurs.
A feel a hand on my ass again, gently rubbing, soothing the earlier spank from a few moments ago. It doesn’t take me long to figure out that it’s Billy. I lean back into his touch for a moment before there’s another swift smack to my ass cheek.
“Be a good girl. Stay still and take your punishment like a good girl.”
I let out a noise that’s a half whine and a half whimper in response to Stu’s command. There’s another smack to the opposite ass cheek.
“I think 10 spanks should be good. Count them, babygirl. Otherwise we’ll have to start over.”
I nod. “Yes, sir.”
“Good girl.” Billy hums in approval. 
Each time they spank my ass, alternating cheeks so as not to hurt me too bad and cause actual pain that’s not pleasurable, I cry out, with pleasure, the number of the spank. By the time the tenth smack comes, my ass is stinging, but my body hums with pleasure and arousal. I was soaked before the spankings, but now I've soaked the bed under me.
The boys hum in approval as they soothe my ass with soft and gentle rubs, and even a few kisses. 
“Strip us, baby.” Billy orders a few minutes later. 
I quickly turn around and do as I’m told. I take my time in getting their clothes off each of them, enjoying the view. Once I’m done, and they’re both naked, Stu lays on the bed.
“C’mere.”
I scramble across the bed and straddle his waist, settling down so I rub against his dick. We both moan at the feeling. He grips my hips and rocks me against him a couple times until, on the third rock, he slides inside me. My wetness helps his entrance and he slides as far into me as he can. I gasp and moan at the feeling. 
He groans. “FUCK! You feel so damn good!”
I gasp and moan at the feeling of him inside me and his words. I lean down and kiss him passionately as he moves me against him, forcing him to slide in and out of me. We both moan as we kiss and fuck. It doesn’t take long for me to feel Billy behind me. Or more specifically, I feel him pressing up against my asshole. 
He runs his fingers along my slit as Stu slides in and out of me. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that he’s using my slick to lube up his dick. Billy slowly pushes into me, taking his time, stretching my asshole ‘round him. I cry out in pleasure as slides all the way in. Both the boys take a moment before they start thrusting in and out, in an alternate sync with each other.
When one slides out, the other slides in, and vice versa. In a matter of minutes, we’re all three covered in sweat. The room is full of the sound of our fucking: our moans, groans and cries of pleasure and passion, and the sound of skin slapping against skin. I close my eyes and lean my head back on Billy’s shoulder as he fucks my ass, and I rock against Stu..
The two of them take turns in making me cum. By my fifth orgasm, I can tell their both getting close to their releases. I rock against them more, and the three of us cum together, at the same time, with the both of them filling both my holes up. My muscles give out from the pleasure and I pretty much just flop down on Stu’s chest, with Billy doing the same to me.
The three of us catch our breaths, and ride out the end of our waves of pleasure. Once we’ve managed to get our breaths back, and our hearts have slowed back down to a normal rate, Billy slowly pulls out of me, making me moan and shiver again. He chuckles and smirks as he moves to kneel on the bed. 
Stu lifts me up off of him, making me moan again. He chuckles and smirks too. The boys share a look, and Billy gets off the bed, heading to the bathroom. I lay down next to Stu. He props himself up on his elbow and looks at me.
“How you feelin’, babygirl?” He asks, brushing my hair out of my face.
I giggle and blush. “So. Fuckin’. Good.”
“Think you learned your lesson?”
I nod fast. “Yes, sir.”
“Good. Otherwise, we’ll have to punish you again if you didn’t.”
My entire body shivers at the idea of that. Billy chuckles as he walks back into the room, kneeling on the bed, holding a damp rag. He glances at Stu, smirks, and looks back at me. He starts to clean me up between my legs, getting their cum off me. I smile at him. They do this after every time we get together. 
Once Billy is done, he tosses the rag on the floor and lays down next to me. He and Stu wraps their arms ‘round me, and hold me close to both of them. I smile widely and cuddle to the two of them. They kiss my head, and hold me. Billy runs his fingers up and down my arm, knowing that helps me to relax. 
Stu gently kicks the blankets up from the foot of the bed, and manages to cover the three of us up. Just as I’m ‘bout to doze off, I hear them both murmur the same thing at the same time. 
“I love you, babygirl.”
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crusherthedoctor · 4 years
Text
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The beach trope: another one that often comes early in Sonic's quests, and this one's no different, though expectations are very mildly subverted by making it the third zone instead of the very first. (Careful Crusher, you had the audience on the edge of their seats there.)
More importantly though, it's possibly one of the most famous and celebrated level tropes in the series. Emerald Coast is undeniably iconic, Seaside Hill is just as iconic while also merging with the Green Hill setup, and Wave Ocean... is a poor man's Emerald Coast, but it's probably better than most levels in '06 by comparison, so it too is iconic, from a certain point of view. We can't forget Jungle Joyride either, even if that's mostly because we got to see the frame rate die before our very eyes.
So how do you make your interpretation stand out? How do you prevent having a Wave Ocean 2: Wave Oceaner on your hands? Well, it's actually very simple...
Creating Zone 3: Coastline Resort
3-1: Shining Shore
Remember when I said that sometimes all it takes to make an environment feel different is the time of day, or a change in weather? This is one of the first major examples of putting that philosophy into action, as compared to previous beach levels, which were usually content with taking place in the bright sunny daytime, this one takes place under a pleasant purple sunset.
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This of course contrasting heavily with not only the blue sea, but also the sands, which although given a mild touch of purple courtesy of the sunset, cannot fully hide their natural shade of white.
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And of course, waterfalls.
We can’t forget the waterfalls.
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Despite being a true blue beach level first and foremost, there are also a few hints of plaza, further setting it apart from the Emerald Coasts and Not-Emerald Coasts of old times past. This aesthetic in particular is based heavily on the seaside town of Whitby.
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No doubt Sonic would admire this place, at least when he's not forced to go deep underwater. Maybe when the adventure is over, he can come back here and have a relaxing moment with... someone. Dunno who though. I doubt Eggman would be interested, and not just because he's actually in-character. Oh well, plenty more horses in the sea.
Speaking of, what about the underwater sections? Shining Shore does have them after all, in full 3D, as opposed to making them bottomless pits in disguise. Unsurprisingly, everything's a lot more blue than purple down there, gorgeously so, but the coral reef provides its own variety of colour.
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The local fishies don't seem to mind you being in their line of sight... nor do the Badniks, but probably for a different reason.
Since we're three zones in, you might have noticed by now that each zone, regardless of their overall colour scheme, has one element in at least one act that goes all rainbow with the colours than everything else. You had the flower patches in Gleaming Meadows, you had the wood barriers in Tricky Tropics with their rusting paint jobs, and now we have the coral reef in Coastline Resort... any reason for this?
Alas, the answer is a mundane one: it's just a little way of tying all the zones in Viridonia together. As this quest revolves around the mystery of the elusive Ethereal Zone, this seemingly inconsequential aspect is a way of ensuring that it will always remain at the back of your mind. It may be relatively more subtle and easy to miss than, say, a giant moon glaring down angrily at you no matter where you go on the map as it literally comes closer and closer to killing everyone, but the intention is effectively the same: the central meat of the setting and story is always present in some form, however indirect, even if the characters aren't currently discussing it.
Also, shout out to the lighthouse that helped our heroes by inadvertently blinding the pursuing mechanized orca.
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You really put a dent in Heavy Gunner's strategy.
First Section (calm): Lagoony Tunes (Crash Bandicoot 2: N-Tranced) Peach Field (Mario Hoops 3-on-3)
Second Section (adrenaline): Lost Palace (Team Sonic Racing) Hang Eight (Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back)
3-2: Crazy Rapids
Being a whimsical water park, made even more whimsical to fit the video game format, this one explains itself in a lot of areas. But let's go over the finer details anyway, shall we?
As mentioned in the fic, the park has been made to fit in seamlessly with the ruins present in the area, thus creating a Good Future-esque wonderland of nature and technology in harmony. For an idea of how the ruins aesthetic would work, imagine something akin to the Sunset Beach Resort in Jamaica, particularly the long bridge and archways you can see in both of these shots:
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Kind of has an Aquatic Ruin vibe, doesn’t it?
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Even then, that only applies to half of the architecture, as the other half breaks up the yellow with some white, reminiscent of a certain OTHER watery location in Sonic's past...
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We also have the giant fountains sprinkled around the place. There are two types of fountains to be exact, both of which may seem familiar to the attentive eye...
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The difference? They're larger. MUCH larger. As in, you can actually platform your way on and around them.
As for what’s inside? It's exactly how you'd imagine it to be, albeit exaggerated even further to befit a Sonic level.
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And in-tune with the beachside mood, the Chao Garden found nearby would take a page from the one in Station Square...
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...with a little extra flavor of this...
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...complete with miniature water slides and the like for the adorable inhabitants... the inhabitants that Eggman currently has an unexplained interest in. How do the Chao factor into his latest plan?
Heh heh, only I and those I've discussed it with in PMs know that for now.
First Section (outside): Windy and Ripply (Sonic Adventure) Ocean Palace (Sonic Heroes)
Second Section (inside): Data Select (Tee Lopes) Wii Shop Channel - Mii Channel (Super Smash Bros. Wii U)
3-3: Aquarium Gallery
Disappointed that Crazy Rapids lacked that smooth red-on-blue contrast that Aquarium Park from Sonic Colours had? Well we can’t all be in the same league as Eggman sadly, but fear not, for the similarly named Aquarium Gallery gets right in on the action, combining red walls and an overall upper class aesthetic...
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...with the expected quantities of shimmering blue that comes with the aquarium setting. And with glass tanks of great size, comes great fishies to go along with them.
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The black and white checkered floor would also be a must. It's a Sonic game, we gotta have a checkered pattern somewhere. It just works. /ToddCrusher
Don't worry about the living conditions for the fish here, by the way. Eggman mechanizing them aside, the people who work at the park - and those who visit it - make sure to treat all the marine life with the utmost respect and kindness. Just a shame that they're apparently not so willing to lend that same understanding to Trudy... but it does provide an early hint that despite the few genuine bad apples who are outright antagonistic towards Trudy, most of the folks ignorant to her condition are exactly that at worst: ignorant. Meaning, despite first impressions, most of them are not bad people at heart, and with a little help and persistence, it's not entirely impossible that they can eventually learn to understand and sympathise with Trudy's situation.
In other words, they have more dimension than the background characters in Sonic Boom, where they're all mostly a bunch of one-note arseholes with little redeeming qualities and don’t deserve to be saved by Sonic in the slightest.
Anyhow, eventually, after a trip through one of those sweet underwater tunnels...
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...we find ourselves in the cavern area, where red is exchanged for turquoise, and there are reflected ripples galore. Since the Marble Caves in Chile already look halfway to being a Sonic level due to its unique formations, that's the best comparison I can make here.
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Too blue, you might say? Well, the sunset from earlier would be poking through the holes in the wall, adding some warm to the cool once more... the giant seashells everywhere help spice it up too.
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Like these, but bigger than Ken Penders’ ego.
If that’s even possible...
First Section (aquarium): Rooftop Run - Night (Sonic Unleashed) Coconut Mall (Mario Kart Wii)
Second Section (caves): Sea Shell Shenanigans (Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex) Dire, Dire Docks (Super Mario 64)
3-4: Hydro Plant
The outside structure for this place is shaped like a giant wall, which predictably brings the Hoover Dam to mind:
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And that applies inside as well, at least initially. The similarities indoors come mostly from the generators, as well as the sheer size of the place.
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Since it's considerably rustier however, we have darker lighting in place, with the sunset outside preventing it from being too dark inside. There’s also a copious amount of daring graffiti caused by hoodlums... or maybe Eggman, since he'd probably be the type to do that to any property that isn't his. Some of this graffiti would look very impressive...
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While others would... uh...
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Look, they tried, okay?
With all this graffiti, that means there’s opportunity for a generous helping of cheeky references to previous installments if you’re able to find them... and if you can understand them. To this day, the typo in “make belif reborn” has not been corrected. Absolutely disgusting.
But as the fic dictates, the further you go on, the tidier and more high tech it becomes. Simply put, this section would remind one of Aquatic Base from '06, mainly because I've always liked the idea despite its characteristically terrible level design, so why not salvage the concept and give it a second chance?
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With some added flavor to make it less monotone, mind you. Like actual water sections, some green lights to break up all the blue, giant crab robot threatening to kill you... the works.
Sonic may be glad that this zone is behind him, but little does he know, it's not the only zone with intense water action around these parts. Luckily for him, that won't be for a while, so he can breathe a sigh of relief for now. Still, we know Eggman has other ways of keeping the gang on their toes...
First Section (rusty): Wily Stage 2 (Mega Man 7) Pokey Pipes (Donkey Kong Country 3)
Second Section (high tech): Ocean Base Act 1 (Sonic Advance 3) H2 Oh No (Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex)
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