#I don’t have book 5 on hand though…I’ll have to do something about that

[bookwyrminspiration]

just finished the memory of souls

[freyito]

ꜰʀᴇʏᴀ ꜝ ⨟ ʜᴏᴡ ʜᴇ ʟᴏᴠᴇꜱ

✭ pairing(s): aventurine, dr ratio, boothill, gallagher, sunday, argenti sampo, jing yuan, blade, luocha, dan heng, gepard, caelus, welt (seperate) x reader

✩ inspo: this is fun to think about

✧ a/n: for those who don't know exactly what this means (also shoutout to freya the god of love), there are 3-5 'types' of (romantic) love. eros, romantic love, ludus, playful love, pragma, enduring love, and then there's mania which is obsessive love and agape which is universal love. The last two can sorta bend in a familiar or platonic way as well as romantic.

🗒 cw: gn reader, just fluff, proofread

✎ wc: 3.3k

⎯ Aventurine

LUDUS ; PLAYFUL LOVE. Aventurine prefers to flirt, to have fun, be a little silly with his love. After all, life’s too short to not enjoy it. He wants a partner who will not only put up with his games but also join in and enjoy it, someone to tease who will tease back. He would love a deeper connection as well, but before that comes fun.

“Honey, I’m hooome~!” Aventurine calls from the apartment door, making his way to the kitchen. You weren’t cooking anything, simply sifting through the fridge for a snack. His arms wrap around your waist as the scent of his near overbearing cologne washes over you. He presses his lips to your neck and peppers it with a bunch of fleeting kisses, mumbling about his day into your skin even though you didn’t ask. When you dared to try and pull away, he only pulls you closer, pinching at your waist and grinning. “Awhhh, are you not happy to see me?”

He doesn’t give you time to reply, hauling you up and turning on his heels. You don’t get to complain, not before he practically throws you on the bed and throws himself onto you. He wastes no time finding your most ticklish spots, waiting for you to ask for mercy. “I want a proper welcome home!” He exclaims, like you hadn't given him enough attention. Not like you can do what he wants while you do your best not to laugh, squirming underneath him, trying to break free from his tickle attack.

⎯ Dr. Ratio

EROS ; ROMANTIC LOVE. While Ratio isn’t necessarily the best at showing his affection, he is head over heels for you. Absolutely and irrevocably in love, and it only grows with each passing day. He’s quite the gentleman when you get past his cold demeanor, and is quite by-the-book.

You had met him in his classroom after his classes, to give him the lunch you had made him. He regards you with a brisk ‘mh’, You are used to this reaction, and you don’t take it to heart. He tells you he’ll be home a little later, and apologizes. Silence stretches between you two before you tell him it’s alright and start to leave the room.

“I am sorry, my love,” He grabs your wrist before you can fully turn around. He presses a kiss to the inside of your wrist, eyes locked on yours as he apologizes. “I’ll make it up to you, I promise. Dinner tomorrow.” He’s so blunt with it, like you have no choice. But he says it with such sincerity, an emotion that is hard to get from him. His eyes linger with yours as you nod, before letting you go and returning to grading his student’s papers.

⎯ Boothill

LUDUS ; PLAYFUL LOVE. Boothill loves with his whole heart, but he just can’t take it seriously. He’s always teasing you, whether it be sultry words, little touches, anything. He loves making you blush.

Tonight, you two are at some bar he had dragged you to, and it’s quite lively. Which gives Boothill ample time to show you off, his arm around your shoulders or your waist whenever someone comes up to talk to you or him. He leans in ever so closer with that toothy grin, eyes half-lidded as he whispers something about how cute you look tonight. When he sees even the tiniest blush begin to bloom, he amps up his flirting tenfold.

Over the entire night, he makes little comments that turn into big flourishes of his love for you, small, teasing touches that trail from your shoulder down to your hands, interlocking your fingers. He leans in close and whispers against your ear, not necessarily just flirts, literally anything he can think of, like that you guys need to put soda on the grocery list or something. It’s the way his breath fans over your ear that causes goosebumps to riddle skin. You try and hide your blushing face, but he grabs your chin and tilts your head to meet his gaze, using his hat to shield your faces from the rest of the patrons and pressing a kiss to your lips.

⎯ Gallagher

PRAGMA ; ENDURING LOVE. While Gallagher may not sound like it, he’s romantic by heart and looks for a partner he can spend his life with. He wants to settle down, enjoy something that lasts. And he prefers a partner that does the same.

He was lounging on the couch at home, a rare sight normally. When you walked into the living room, he greeted you with a lazy smile, reaching for you like he wasn’t a 30 something year old man. He grabbed your wrist and guided you into his arms with a yawn, nuzzling into your neck and breathing in your scent. He lets out a deep, rumbling ‘mmm’ as he does so, sharing no other words.

Any time you try to break free from his hold, whether you wanna eat or need to go to the bathroom, he groans. He doesn’t say much, whispering quiet ‘love yous’ here and there, and if you really do have to get up, he practically follows you around. He’s rarely ever clingy, he’s probably one of the most independent people you know. He’s only like this when he has something on his mind, and marriage isn’t exactly a far off thought…

⎯ Sunday

EROS ; ROMANTIC LOVE. Sunday is a textbook romantic. A dinner and a movie, roses, have you home by ten, he’s the whole package. Anything you could want, you will have. There’s always a fresh bouquet of flowers in the vase in your living room, and perhaps a new poem for/about you every month.

Whatever he gave you in reality, he gave you tenfold in the Dreamscape (especially since he can). This includes his affection, where you two are hidden away… somewhere in Dewlight Pavillion. Somewhere where Sunday promises no one will find you two. It’s not as if you two are doing something lewd, he’s nestled up against your chest, that’s about it. But, he’s been yearning for some time alone with you since forever. With how busy he has been, he hadn’t got a moment alone with you.

“I missed you.” He states. His work is secondary to this moment, as he grabs your hand and presses a kiss to your palm, before nuzzling his cheek into it, all the while his eyes stay on yours. He has you flustered by the way he does it so desperately, yet so… carefully. He needed this, but he didn’t want to allow himself to lose his composure. So, the best he could do was steal you away when you were bringing him his mail, leave you breathless with a few tender kisses and gentle touches, and lead you back to your way out of the Pavillion.

⎯ Argenti

AGAPE ; UNIVERSAL LOVE. Love, devotion, and worship go hand in hand in hand for Argenti. He loves with his heart, body, mind, and soul. He loves unconditionally, every little bit of you, even the ground you walk on. Where the water wet your skin, where the dirt kissed your hands, he loves and loves and loves.

You two are dancing in your kitchen, to a soundless beat. The only rhythm coming from your barely-heard footsteps and the clank of Argenti’s armor as he shares such a moment with you. It is rare that he is home, always out on some adventure across star systems, but it is always a celebration when he is. Atleast, he makes it a celebration. Laughter fills the room as you try your best to keep up with his steps, the man elegant and flawless, as usual, while you stumble just a tick behind.

“You’ve got it, I know you do.” Argenti coos as you do your best to fall into his steps, still stumbling every so often. He dips you down, eyes searching yours with that content smile plastered on his face, before he pulls you up and chest-to-chest with him. His eyes sparkle with mirth, spinning you two around as if your kitchen was a real and proper ballroom, swaying gently. His eyes closed then, humming some tune, a song lost to time that only he remembered. He had hummed it on your longest days and on your darkness nights, the days you weeped and sobbed in his arms, and the days you had turned to him with such a bright smile. A tune that resembled something homely.

⎯Sampo Koski

LUDUS ; PLAYFUL LOVE. While Sampo can be quite the romantic, he prefers to tease and play with you instead. Sure, he could dance with you all night long, bring you fresh roses everyday, but where’s the fun in that? He finds it much more fitting to flirt with you on end, brag a little about his ‘sales’, splurge a little for you every now and then.

You walk into your bedroom to find Sampo laying on his side, his head propped up with his hand, a rose in his mouth. He gives you a mock-sultry glare while you stand there, dumbfounded, halfway between disgust and laughter. Rose petals decorate the bed, and the room, and you tell yourself that you’ll have to remind him later that he’ll be cleaning it up.

For now, though, he beckons you closer, and when you do, he pulls you onto the bed quickly, spitting out the rose, and peppering your face with kisses. The room fills with laughter as you do your best to break away, but he continues this torrent of kisses, rarely taking a breath. When you complain that ‘it’s too much!’ he only ups the ante, kissing your neck, your shoulder, any exposed skin he can find. You simply just have to accept your fate, now…

⎯ Jing Yuan

PRAGMA ; ENDURING LOVE. He who has waited for an eternity yearns for an eternity spent in one’s arms. Jing Yuan has lost most of those dear to him, if not all. While he knows life will reach its end, he cannot help but wish he had someone to spend the rest of it with.

It is very rare for Jing Yuan to be free for even an hour, and yet here he was, a whole day to himself. He’s lounging in his room, basking in the sun while you lay in his arms, reading a book. You two barely share any words, yet the silence between says it all. It’s a comfortable feeling, something that feels like home, something he cherishes every second of. It’s one thing to find home within the Xianzhou, but it’s another to find home in someone’s arms.

He tilts his head as he looks down at the book your reading, contemplating if he wanted to pull your attention away from the book, or not. With a soft ‘hmph’, he makes his decision to leave you alone, choosing to nuzzle into your hair instead. You don’t react, which he doesn’t mind, wrapping an arm around your waist and pulling you impossibly closer as he closes his eyes. Perhaps an afternoon nap would do him some good…

⎯ Blade

PRAGMA ; ENDURING LOVE. Not even death could keep Blade away from you. His own suicidal tendencies, his never-ending want to die, his need to die, his own voice begging for a means to an end, it all washes away when he sees your smile, as if the sun is greeting him once more after such a wretched eclipse.

He knows he has loved in the past, and yet when he recalls that feeling, Blade is only met with a burning feeling akin to rage clawing its way through his chest. He prefers to not think about it much, focusing on Elio’s script and whatever mission he’s been dispatched on. Yet, when he’s met with you laying in his bed, messing with his phone, waiting for him, a different kind of feeling weaves its way into his heart. Something warm, a kindling, of sorts.

His own voice quiets when he allows himself to feel that feeling, peace, perhaps? He’s quick to brush it off, shove it down along with any other emotion that was daring to well up, and takes a seat next to you. When you look up and beckon him closer, he doesn’t accept. But, he does lean in, and presses a chaste kiss to your cheek. It’s a rare display, you can’t remember the last time he even dared to hold your hand. And before you can question him, he’s gone, out of the room, leaving his phone behind, like always.

⎯ Luocha

EROS ; ROMANTIC LOVE. Luocha is quite the romantic when he wants to be. Since he spends most of his time wandering, he doesn’t get to see you very often. But when he returns home, he loves nothing more than to share stories of his travels and hold you in his arms. You are his anchor, what brings him back to reality when his thoughts drift to the distant churches and candle wicks that give way to angry flames…

He finds you sleeping on the couch, phone in hand, twitching every now and then, but making no real reaction to any sound. It was clear that you were waiting for Luocha to come home, and had succumbed to sleep. Luocha had texted you 4 days ago that he would be home, and you yourself had no idea how long you had been up, the past couple of days had skewed your perception of time. By now, it was around 3:00 am.

With a soft huff and an even softer gaze, Luocha scoops you up into his arms and carries you to your shared bed. He’s careful, doing his best to be as quiet as possible as he carries you, but you still wake up. You mutter a slurred ‘Luocha?’, and all he does is shush you, shaking his head and greeting you with a warm smile. You don’t get time to protest as he lays you down on the bed, giving you a soft kiss on your forehead, before turning on his heel and exiting the room. He will join you later, as much as he wants to lay beside you now, he’d like to get settled back in, first.

⎯ Dan Heng

PRAGMA ; ENDURING LOVE. Dan Heng tends to retreat into himself, a lot. Ever since he revisited the Xianzhou, this has become a habit of his. He doesn’t exactly push you away, but his ‘time to think’ seems to overtake your guys’ alone time. Regardless of it all, he always comes back to you, finding home safe in your arms.

He wakes in the dead of night, his past life’s memories catching up to him once more. He doesn’t cry or scream, his breath is shallow, as he listens to the silence of the hotel you two were staying at. He stills for a moment, the scars of the past fading into a blissful nothingness, before he looks down at you. Sleeping peacefully, completely unbothered by Dan Heng’s sudden awakening.

His body relaxes as his mind quiets finally, the simple sight of you reminding him that the past is the past, and nothing more matters right now. He settles back into bed, taking a moment to admire your face, hesitantly reaching out. His fingers brush against your cheek, trailing to your hairline, tucking a strand behind your ear. You don’t even flinch, but you instinctively curl up closer to him. Dan Heng graces your sleeping form with a rare smile and a huff, before wrapping his arms around you and pulling you closer.

⎯ Gepard

EROS ; ROMANTIC LOVE. While Gepard may be shy about certain things, that doesn’t mean he is lacking in the romance department. His job may keep him away from you for quite a while, but he always finds his way back to you.

It had been quite a while since you and Gepard had a proper date, or even night out. Oftentimes, he’d come home late into the night, too exhausted to even eat, and all he would want to do is cuddle up next to you in bed. He loves his job, he truly does, even if it means coming home at near 2 am and waking up at 5 am. Of course he wants to spend as much time with you, but some days are harder than others, and he wants to stay as healthy as he can.

Tonight, however, he’s come home early. At 6 pm to be exact. A completely normal time to get off work… if he wasn’t the captain of the Silvermane Guards. Before you can even ask why he’s home so early, he hurriedly asks you out on a date. His face is only slightly flushed, and the minute you say yes, he lights up like the sun peeking through the clouds on a rainy day. He takes you out to one of the nicest, fanciest restaurants in Belobog, and he just cannot contain the giddy smile all throughout the night. He stares at you as if you are straight out of a movie, eyes practically shining everytime you laugh.

⎯ Caelus

LUDUS ; PLAYFUL LOVE. Caelus doesn’t take himself too seriously, even if there’s a stellaron housed inside of him. So why take love too seriously…? Not that he doesn’t love you, no, he adores you. But between all this trailblazing and saving planets and researching stellarons and what not, he doesn’t get much of a chance to be a little silly. And you, luckily, are his escape from that.

He barges into your room with the brightest smile known to man, his hair a little messy, and what you can only hope is soot dusting his cheeks and hands. Caelus looks so proud. Too proud. In his hands he holds what looks to be a worn out raccoon plushie, also blessed with a heavy dusting of soot. You stare at him blankly as he does not explain himself, simply waltzing over to your bed.

“Our son.” He states, so proudly, as if he had brought the thing into the world on his own. Desperately in need of some fun today, you play along, telling him ‘our son needs a bath.’ And Caelus looks at you as if you have offended his entire lineage (which, apparently, is two people now.) He jokingly chastises you for calling your son ‘dirty’, and “How could you say that to him!?” “He’s just a baby!”. Though, eventually after hours and hours of him threatening to put his sooty hands all over you, he washes the stuffed raccoon. And himself.

⎯ Welt

PRAGMA ; ENDURING LOVE. Welt has seen lifetimes pass, and lifetimes more come into the universe. He’s vowed to himself to love whoever comes into his life as long as he loves, to love hard and never back down. He dreams of church bells ringing while the scent of roses fill the air, rather than the mournful gong of those ringing bells, signaling someone's end, or the bittersweet smell of lilies.

He holds you closely tonight, practically bathing in your cologne, eyes closed as he hums a tune from some far off timeline. It is a quiet, tender moment, one that is very rare between the two of you. Welt could spend all his time on the Astral Express and still never have enough time for you. He is greedy in that way, seeking any time he can with you, even if it is only for 5 minutes.

He himself doesn’t know why he’s feel especially wanting tonight, but he doesn’t busy his mind asking himself why. Time and space is infinite even as constricting as it feels, and he knows better than to keep himself occupied with such silly questions. The day he catches himself not missing you, yearning for you, is the day that he will wither into stardust.

© freyito, 2024 | masterlist | queue | kofi | star header by roseschoices DO NOT REPOST AS YOUR OWN OR USE FOR AI/AI CHATBOTS.

[ellecdc]

Poly moonwater or marauders (up to you! I can see both being cute, though marauders would be interesting since theyre all gryffindors) x a partner who thinks snakes are the cutest, and has a really big python of her own? And she often takes it on “walks” (walking outside while the snake is lounging on her arms to get some sun) or chills in her room with the snake just resting on or beneath her robes (calmer snakes in my experience love to slither up sleeves and wrap around abdomens and collars)? My snake loves doing that, and sometimes it gives people a fright haha. My snake is quite large, but just the cutest and most curious thing, she’s helped many of my friends get over a minor phobia before. She also contracts her muscles (not enough to hurt) when wrapped around a hand, which feels like a little hug. LOL sorry for rambling, I love my sweet baby (5 foot long apex predator) so much. Bonus points if reader is very sweet and smiley, just the last person you’d expect to have a big “scary” snake.

this was such a cute and funny request. and, funnily enough, almost immediately after I received it I started seeing this creator with her snake on TikTok and was like "this is perfect!!!"

poly!marauders x whimsical!reader who apparently has a pet snake that her boyfriends didn't know about

CW: fem!reader, reader has hair she can put up in a bun, best friend Barty being a fucking menace, snakes?

Remus let out a breath of relief when he finally made out your form sitting contently under a tree on the castle grounds with your face shoved in a book.

He couldn’t help but worry about you a little bit; he worried about James and Sirius too, mind you, but something about you struck him as a little too pure, a little too lovely to be navigating this scary world on your own.

He knew you could, he just didn’t think you should have to.

It appeared Sirius and James were just as grateful at locating you when Sirius took off in a run to join your little makeshift picnic.

Remus almost felt bad for the interruption of what was likely a very peaceful sanctuary you had built for yourself. But knowing you, you’d be just as happy to have them join you.

Your smile at Sirius’ form as he made it to your blanket let Remus know he was quite right in his prediction.

“Hi Siri!” You greeted tranquilly, causing James to let out a small breath of awe as he all but dragged Remus the rest of the way over to you. 

“Hey Angel!” James called to you as Remus offered you an apologetic smile turned grimace. 

“Do you mind if we join you?” Remus had the grace to ask.

“Of course not; I’d love it if you did.” You responded quickly, shifting over to make room for them all on your blanket.

“Of course you’d be so gracious; our sweet girl.” Sirius cooed at you, but as he went to pull you towards him by your shoulders, he let out an embarrassing shriek as he launched himself away from you. 

“Godric’s saggy balls, Pads; what is the problem?” James asked bemusedly as he took over Sirius’ now vacated spot beside you.

“She’s got a sodding snake in her hair!” Sirius screeched as he pointed at you.

James’ head whipped back towards you to see that, sure enough, there was a medium sized snake seemingly almost curled up in your messy bun.

“Don’t move, Angel.” James said seriously as he stood carefully and brandished his wand. “I’ll get it off of you.”

“Oh, there’s no need, James. She’s very docile.” You said simply as if you hadn’t just scared the living daylights out of your boyfriends.

“Docile!?” Sirius bellowed at the same time as James questioned “she?” 

Remus smirked at his boyfriends’ theatrics, though felt momentarily ashamed he hadn’t realised you owned a snake, or…had a snake friend.

“Is she your pet, dove?” He asked finally, fighting the urge to grimace as the snake curled further around your bun and moved its head to sit at your temple. 

“Yes; her name is Tinkerbell.”

“Tinkerbell?!” James and Sirius chorused.

Remus chuckled at the boys letting their Pureblood show. “Like the fairy from Peter Pan?”

He was rewarded with a pleased smile as you moved your eyes back towards him. “Exactly.”

“How long have you been living with a snake?” Sirius asked severely, causing Remus to nudge him with his knee warningly.

“Barty got her for me for my birthday.” You responded simply.

“You’ve had that thing for months?” James asked, finally earning a swat from Remus.

“She’s not a thing, Jamie.” You gently chided, offering the snake your finger who wrapped her head around it reminding Remus of a cat rubbing up against their owner's leg. “I’m surprised you haven’t seen her before; she’s almost always with me.”

Sirius just let out another horrified squawk as Remus fought the urge to let out a full body shiver.

“You carry… Tinkerbell around with you often?” He queried carefully.

You hummed in acknowledgement as your hand fell back to your book. “She usually wraps around my elbow under my robes, but lately she’s enjoyed nesting in my hair. I think maybe now that it’s getting warmer, she likes to sit in the sun.”

“We really need to talk to Junior about gifting our Angel with dangerous animals.” James muttered quietly to Remus and Sirius as your attention turned towards the devil your best friend himself.

“Hi Treasure! Hi Tink!” Barty called you you; his voice raising an octave when greeting your reptilian friend.

Remus winced when he noticed a slightly larger snake hung casually over Juniors shoulders that seemed to be considering the group as they approached.

“Introducing your sweet girl to the boys?” He asked as he sat beside you on the blanket; speaking about your three boyfriends as if they weren’t there.

“Yes. I don’t think it’s gone particularly well, admittedly.” You responded serenely, reaching out to gently boop Barty’s snake’s nose with your finger. 

“It’s going fine.” Sirius argued; never willing to show signs of weakness in front of a Slytherin. 

Unfortunately for Sirius, Barty seemed to call his bluff. “You’re not afraid of a little old snake, are you Black?”

Sirius scoffed derisively. “I go to school with enough of them, don’t I?”

“Okay, why don’t you pet Mr. Smee here then?” Barty taunted, holding out his large reptilian friend to Sirius. “He won’t bite.” He promised with a Cheshire cat smile.

Sirius looked at Barty sceptically before his eyes nervously darted towards you. 

“Mr. Smee is very friendly, Siri.” You encouraged.

Sirius tried to smile at you before he returned his stormy eyes to Barty. “I don’t make it a habit of petting slimy animals, Junior.”

Barty scoffed as he rolled his eyes. “He’s not slimy, Black; he’s scaley.”

Seemingly pacified, Sirius reached out a cautious hand towards Mr. Smee.

Sirius made a garbled heaving sound as he slowly pulled his hand away from the snake's body where strings of slime connected his fingers to the reptile.

“He is slimy!”

“That’s because I soaked him in slime!” Barty cackled. “You’re so easy, Black. Gods, I should spend more time with the lot of you; this was fun.”

And with that, Barty stood from the blanket, kissed Tinkerbell on the head and then pressed one to your head as well before he skipped off.

“He’s a real menace.” James grumbled as Sirius transfigured a piece of paper into a paper towel and wiped at the slime on his fingers.

“I thought that was very brave of you, Sirius.” You praised him, and almost all of the contempt colouring Sirius’ face faded away as he looked at you lovingly.

“Thanks dolly.”

Thankfully, Tinkerbell remained content in your hair, and the boys remained content pretending there wasn’t a snake on their girlfriend’s head for the rest of the afternoon.

[bri-cheeses]

Jerseys vs Hoodies - Part 6

| Rosekiller microfic | Word count: 871 | Part 5 is here | @krispykidgarden this one’s for you in honor of the fact that finals suck :) |

-

Evan doesn’t know what to say.

He’s looking at Barty, who in turn is gazing at him with a soft smile and a questioning look in his eyes. Evan thinks he needs someone to just pinch him, because there is no way that this is real. No way that he poured out his heart to Barty and wasn’t sent away with it in pieces.

No, he hadn’t been sent away at all. Quite the opposite, actually. But that just made it all the more unbelievable.

Evan should say something poetic and romantic, should smile back and kiss Barty and tell him that he wants to try to be something more with him, but all he can do is stare dumbly and say, “Is this real?”

Barty chuckles, and Evan’s heart melts.

“I could pinch you if that would make it feel more believable,” he offers.

Evan laughs and lets his forehead fall against Barty’s chest, shaking with amusement and giddy joy as Barty’s hand smooths away some of his curls.

“Nope,” he says, and can’t believe that this is happening to him, “I think the fact that you just said that did the trick.”

“Good.” Evan can hear the smile in Barty’s voice and looks up to see it resting in place, aimed at him fondly.

“So…” Barty ventures, “what do you think?”

Evan knows what he means without having to ask. Slowly, he says, “I think that we’re two idiots, but two idiots who could be less of dumb if they just kissed. And actually meant it,” he adds as an afterthought.

It doesn’t seem possible, but Barty’s grin stretches even wider as if it can defy all logic.

“That seems about right,” he agrees.

And then his mouth is on Evan’s, nothing else existing except for the two of them sitting in a library and figuring out a whole new way to fit together.

“Evs,” Barty breathes once they finally pull apart, and Evan smiles so wide he feels as though his face may break in half. There’s no way Evan could ever get tired of hearing Barty say his name like that.

“You know,” Barty tries again, “I really think that you wearing my clothes should be a regular occurrence.”

He tugs on Evan’s sleeve, where the fabric hangs a little from being too long, and seems to be slightly distracted as he mumbles, “You look really good in it.”

Evan blushes and swats Barty’s hand away.

“We’ll discuss the details later,” he says breezily, still smiling. “Just don’t ask me to wear your jersey. I think I’ll leave the whole “jersey wearing thing” to Reg.”

He was just joking, but a horrified expression crosses Barty’s face as soon as Evan finishes his sentence. It immediately causes Evan’s heart to fall through his stomach.

“What?” he asks worriedly, his smile long gone.

Barty shakes his head and grabs Evan’s hands, easing his fears slightly. “Rosie, do you know what this means?”

Evan shakes his head, still confused.

“This means that we owe Reg for the start of our relationship,” Barty says, and looks as if he’s seen something truly harrowing.

And suddenly Evan gets it.

“No,”’ he gasps. “We can never tell him, or else he’ll be absolutely insufferable.”

“Too late,” says a voice from somewhere between the stacks of books, and then Regulus is standing at the edge of the table, bag strap looped around his shoulder and looking slightly worse for the wear.

Barty and Evan turn a horrified glance to each other.

“Please tell me that you weren’t here the entire time,” Evan finally says.

Regulus shakes his head, and Evan feels slightly mollified. Only slightly, though, as Regulus then says, “I just came back a little bit ago to come and get you two for dinner, and you looked as though you were having a… moment.” Regulus wrinkles his nose. “Please never kiss in front of me again.”

Barty just grins and slings an arm around Evan’s shoulders, even as Evan’s face turns red.

“No promises,” Barty says, then turns around to peck Evan on the nose. Evan can’t help but smile at him. Regulus makes a sound of disgust.

“I’m going to be sick,” he pronounces, then gestures for the pair to stand up. “Come on. We’re late for dinner.”

Barty sighs dramatically, then stands and extends a hand to Evan.

“Shall we go, sweetie pie?” he asks in a ridiculously sweet manner.

Evan sniggers, “Of course, snookums,” then places his hand in Barty’s and allows him to haul him to his feet.

“I’m leaving now,” calls Regulus, already walking away as Barty tucks an arm around Evan’s waist. Evan never wants it to leave, and somehow, he gets the distinct feeling that Barty doesn’t want it to leave either.

“So, what do you think, Rosie?” Barty murmurs. “Shall I escort you to dinner?”

Evan smiles up at him, taking in Barty’s adoring gaze and lovely dimples. Then, because now it’s a thing he can do simply because he wants to, he tilts his head up and pecks Barty on the lips.

“That sounds lovely, Bee,” he says, then starts off towards the Great Hall.

Barty’s arm doesn’t leave his waist.

-

(The End!)

[thebubblesareevil]

Secrets for the Soul

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 5

“That concludes our meeting for tonight, thank you all for making time to join us.” Announced Batman, finally ending this tortuous l, though necessary meeting. Diana stood from her seat and said her goodbyes intent on getting back to Danny for movie night. If she hurried she could stop and pick up ice cream, her hopes of the frozen treat were dashed however when she was stopped by a hand on her shoulder.

“Diana, a moment of your time?” Batman asked with a gruff voice. Diana silently mourned her ice cream as she smiled back and the two stepped away from the zeta-tubes. “As you are aware, Black Canary is leading the training for the covert team. However Canary brought it to my attention that while Superboy is doing well in his training, he is getting very little experience fighting opponents of an equal or greater power level.” Diana frowned.

“He is the teams biggest heavy hitter, it would do them no good if he were to falter when given a challenge.”

“My thoughts exactly, which is why I would like you to take some time to spar with him. Show him what it means to fight above your level.” Batman nodded,

Diana looked at Batman, skeptical “Wouldn’t Superman be better suited for this task.”

“Things between them are a bit…stained to say the least.” He ground out.

Diana frown, “I would be willing to engage the young one in battle, however Superman needs to figure things out with the boy. He is only a child, he needs guidance.” She said firmly.

“I know your hands are already full, we can work out a schedule at another date however I would like it if you would come by this weekend to meet him.” Diana raised her brow. His eye twitched “Please” he added.

“Now that wasn’t so hard was it? Alfred’s been pestering you about manners again, huh?” She smirked. Batman grunted. “That should be fine, I’ll be there Saturday morning at 10, and Batman? I won’t hold back.” She said with a savage grin.

“I would expect nothing less.” And with that Diana took her leave. It was a short flight from the Zeta point to her apartment, when she arrived Danny looked up from his Mars book.

“You’re late~” He said with a grin “You know what that means. You forfeit your movie choice!” Diana sighed as she went to get changed.

“All right, fair is fair, did you pick up dinner?”Danny nodded as he scrolled through the movie choices.

“Chinese is on the counter, drinks are in the fridge.” He shouted as he set up the movie. “Comedy good?” He asked as she made her way to the fridge.

“Sure.” She replied, opening the fridge she grabbed the drinks sitting next to the chain covered stew labeled ‘Danny’s! Do not touch!’

Grabbing the Chinese she made her way over and plopped herself on the couch. “So what are we watching?”

“Only one of my favorite ghost comedies EVER! The Grudge! It’s hilarious, trust me!” He tilted his head in a picture of innocence. “By the way, why were you late, something wrong with the league?” He inquired, nudging her with his elbow. Diana scoffed.

“We are a team of international vigilantes, something’s always wrong. However, in this case, Batman stopped me to ask a favor. There is a young hero who packs quite a punch, however unlike you he has mostly fought people who are physically equal or weaker than him. He needs to train with someone stronger than him to get used to fighting stronger opponents. I’ll be meeting with him on Saturday morning.” Danny nodded.

“Cool, I’m gonna be hanging out with Travis. We were planning to check out the arcade near his new job.” Diana smiled.

“It’s a pity he left the museum, where did he end up going?”

“He got a job on the boardwalk, at that smoothie shop. Y’know with giant monkey on the window.” Diana nodded.

“They do have good smoothies. Grandfather expects us for dinner that night so don’t stay out too late.”

“Sounds great! Hopefully I can get the recipe for that stew, it’s way better than Lunch Lady’s… don’t tell her I said that.” Diana frowned.

“So long as it doesn’t try to eat my lunch again, my poor sandwich it was so young, so tasty.” She replies dramatically with her hand on her heart. “Now start the movie, I wanna see what passes for ghost comedy.” She passes Danny his mushu pork and he presses play….

Two hours later Danny is asleep on the couch as Diana stares at the tv, reevaluating her definition of humor. Looking down at her peacefully sleeping cousin, she couldn’t be too mad. But she could ask around for the best chick flick she could find as payback.

———————-

Saturday morning came, and as promised Diana made her way to a zeta tube. When she arrived at Mount Justice, Batman was already there and based on their reactions he had already briefed them on todays training. She grinned, this was gonna be fun.

She wasn’t wrong either, they each took turns trying to knock her down, each failing more splendidly than the last. When it came time for Superboy to face her she readied herself to face the strength of Superman.

Unfortunately for Superboy, he did not have the same strength as Superman. Diana had also been regularly sparring with Danny, so her evaluation of his strength might have been a bit…skewed to say the least.

Unfortunately only hindsight is 20/20 and so when Superboy charged she immediately countered with full force, and he went flying across the room. After crash landing Superboy quickly righted himself and started charging her once more. Diana, while impressed at his enthusiasm, frowned at how easy it was to push his buttons. She grabbed her lasso and quickly subdued him. He fought against the bindings, though he had no hope of destroying the magical artifact. Diana released him only when he calmed down. She looked Superboy in the eye with a smile.

"You did very well young one, your warrior's spirit is admirable, however you must use it at the right time. When fighting an opponent that you know is stronger than you, you must used that spirit wisely. Wait until you find an opening before you strike, otherwise your opponent will use that strength against you, as I did."

Superboy clenched his fists and grit his teeth, Diana knew that look well. He was frustrated, her advice was likely akin to something he hears quite often. Diana sighed, "I will not tell you to purge yourself of this spirit as it is a useful tool, one I myself use when fighting overwhelming enemies. It is nothing to be ashamed of. However you must be careful not to be consumed by it. I have known many who let the rush of battle consume them. It has never ended in their favor." she approached Superboy, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"I will work with you on this journey, young one, so that you may learn as I did." she said with a smile.

Superboy looked surprised "Seriously? Why? What do you get out of this?" Diana laughed

"What else?! I want a proper rematch! You have impressive strength, I would like to see what you can do with it with a little extra training, young one." Superboy looked her in the eye for a moment before looking to the side.

"My name is Conner." he said with a blunt tone. "And...thank you."

"It's my pleasure Conner, now come, our time today is short let's see who else wants to try their might."

She turned back to see Kid Flash slowly inch behind Artemis. She gave a predatory grin, "It seems we have a volunteer!"

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

Meanwhile...

Danny woke up with his alarm at noon, and couldn't help but revel in the amount of sleep he got, a whole eight hours. He briefly considered snuggling back into the world's comfiest, and coldest, comforter, gifted to him by Frostbite. He slowly closed his eyes before his second alarm went off reminding him that he does in fact have to get up, as he has plans today.

He dragged himself out of bed, still wrapped in his comforter, and made his way to the kitchen. After starring into the fridge for roughly five minutes, as though it held the secrets of the universe... or poptarts, he grinned and grabbed his leftover stew. Pouring some into a bowl and reheating it, he slowly made his way to the table to savor his blob ghost stew. He jumped only a little when his phone started blaring once more, he scrunched his nose before looking at the caller ID. It was Travis. Danny sighed, it was too early to talk.

"Hnnghh?" The sound of laughter exploded from the other end.

"I'm sorry sleeping beauty, did I wake you?" Danny released a massive yawn.

"Nah, mm jus eatin breakfst? Wazzup?" He mumbled, watching the tiny blobs swim around in his stew with half-lidded green eyes.

"Hey I ran into a buddy of mine, mind if he tags along?" Danny scooped out a particularly plump blob and took a bite.

"Hmmm" Travis laughed.

"I'm gonna take that as a yes. We'll meet you at Café Loco before we head to the arcade, you sound like you need it. Were you up playing video games again last night?" Danny once more responded with a noncommittal, “hmmm” because no he was not playing video games. He was flying invisibly around the city and lost track of time, who wouldn't it was beautiful.

“Alright man, I’ll let you get back to you’re breakfast. See ya soon.” And the call ended.

Danny put his phone back down and finished eating before he started getting ready for the day. He threw on some jeans and a t-shirt, taking a moment to consider the jacket. His core would keep him cold, normally he wouldn’t bother but…. He sighed grabbing the jacket. Being a teen hero left him with more than a few scars, Travis was led to believe he got them in the accident that killed his “parents” but this new guy… it would be annoying to explain again, best avoid it entirely.

He grabbed his wallet and headed out, walking down the street he greeted familiar faces, stopping to pet Mrs. Perkins’ dog as he made his way to the bus stop. It wasn’t a long ride, and when he arrived he clambered out of the bus. Heading towards Cafe Loco like a beacon in a storm. He beelined it to the counter, nearly crying at the lack of a line as he ordered his cappuccino with 4 shots of espresso.

Travis found him huddled in a corner booth, curled around his coffee, watching people pass by. He saw a perfect opportunity and slowly snuck up to the booth, he was inches away from tugging the earbuds out of his ears when Danny suddenly turned his head to look him directly in the eyes. Travis jumped back with a shout, Danny took a long sip of his coffee, the stranger next to Travis covered his mouth trying his best not to laugh.

“Why is it so hard to scare you?! I swear this guy has eyes in the back of his head!” At this point the guy next to him scoffed.

“Or he saw your reflection in the window.” He said, pointing at the offending surface.

“Who’s side are you on?!” The stranger shrugged and Danny chuckled.

“I don’t think pointing out the obvious counts as taking sides. Your Travis’ friend right? I’m Danny, nice to meet ya.” He said, the other guy smiled.

“I’m Matt, nice to meet ya. Is the coffee here any good?” Danny nodded, pulling his coffee closer.

“It’s okay at best, he just likes it because they don’t limit his espresso shots because he bribes them.”

“It’s not consider a bribe of it goes in the tip jar.” He said with a wide grin. Matt blushed.

“Oh really, I’ll have to try that.” He coughed into his hand. “So, uh, you said we were going to the arcade.”

“Hell yeah! You said it had all kinds of new and retro games! Plus desktop gaming! Let’s go!” Danny stood from his seat. While he may never reach the overwhelming height of Jack Fenton, Danny had grown to be a respectable 5’10. He was quite proud of this fact though he didn’t think of it too much, considering his cousin was over 6’. But still he wasn't that tall, right? Danny thought,

'So why the hell did Matt just look at him like he was 10 feet tall? Sure the guy wasn't huge, but he wasn't exactly short either.'

Matt backed up just a bit, rubbing the back of his neck and looking away, "Yeah, let's get going before it get's too crowded." Danny downed the rest of his coffee and they headed out. Along the way they started talking about the upcoming school year, as it turned out Matt would be joining him as a junior at Gateway High.

Despite Travis' not so subtle diversions, Matt eventually made a rookie mistake. He asked what Danny wanted to do when he graduated. For the next hour Danny went on and on about how he wanted to build space ships, and how amazing space is, and did you read the Daily Planet interview with Martian Manhunter?!

Not to say Danny ran out of things to say about space after an hour, especially when Matt was giving him his full attention even when they got to the arcade and started playing. No, as someone who worked with Danny until his parents made him quit, Travis knew EXACTLY how long winded Danny could be when it came to space so he did the only thing that could distract him from space. He brought up his cousin.

"So I here your cousin is single and ready to mingle, according to Mrs. Doris, you think if I gave her my number I'd have a chance?" Travis wiggled his eyebrows. Danny looked at him as though he just said he put jelly on a tuna sandwich.

"Dude first of all, you're like 17 it's not gonna happen, second of all, and I cannot stress this enough, she is way out of your league." Travis pouted as Matt laughed at his suffering, not knowing his sacrifice.

"Ahh whatever man, let's just play. I hear there's this new game added to the online corner. Something called Doomed?" Danny froze, slowly turning to face Travis.

"Did you say Doomed?" his eyes were wide.

"Yeah? Have you-" Danny grabbed both teens by the arm and dragged them over to the desktops. Over the next few hours, the three of them made characters and a crowd gathered as Danny dominated level after level. Eventually though his alarm went off, reminding him to head home for dinner. After they said their goodbyes, Danny took off leaving Matt and Travis alone.

"Don't even think about it." Travis said, Matt tensed.

"He has single handedly increased the foot traffic in the space exhibit from the sheer amount of people who come to flirt with him. Him and his cousin are next level man." Matt's face turned a fiery red. Travis looked at him with pity. "If it makes you feel better, he has yet to actually say yes to anyone. To be fair though, I don't think he realizes their flirting when he's in space mode." Travis shrugs.

Matt nearly wept.

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

Danny dug into the lasagna with extreme gusto, while Diana ate at a much more restrained pace as she ate her second helping.

"You've outdone yourself, grandfather. Dinner is absolutely divine." Diana complemented the elderly (at the moment) Ancient. He gave her a proud smile.

"I should hope so, I got this recipe from Naples in the 15th century, from a lovely family of noodle makers. I tweaked it a bit based on it's evolution, I'm quite proud of how it turned out." he said with a grin as his form shifted to that of a young man. "But enough of that, how was your day today? I know you were planning on training the young Kryptonian clone today, how did that go?" grinning, Diana raised a brow, Danny perked up.

"Have you been spying on us grandfather?" Danny laughed.

"He's always spying on us, trust me. But who cares, what was that about a clone?" Diana sighed, resigned.

"Conner is a clone of Superman. Normally it would be his responsibility to train him, however he has been a bit... reluctant to interact with the boy." Danny scrunched up his nose.

"Did he try to kill him yet?" Diana looked at Danny, surprised.

"Superman may object to training him but I assure you he has not intent-" Danny waved his hands.

"No, no, not Superman. Did Conner try to kill him yet, it's like, a clone rite of passage." Diana stared at Danny. Danny stared back.

Clockwork drank his tea, fully aware of what he started.

"I'm gonna need a little more explanation than that." Danny shrugged

"I mean, he's gotta try to kill his original at some point. Just to get it out of his system y'know. My clone didn't last a full day before she tried to kill me." Danny shrugged, taking another bite of his lasagna.

Diana gave him a look like she was praying to the gods for patience, honestly she probably was, before she finally responded.

"When exactly were you cloned?" Danny shrugged.

"When I was like, 14 I think. I know it was after I met gramps, now that is a crazy story." Diana took a deep breath.

"We can get to that later, can we focus on the clone that tried to kill you? Please?" Danny set down his fork on his now clean plate.

"I guess, there's not really much to tell. My dad's best friend, who hated him by the way, wanted me to be his son because we were the only existing halfas, he's not technically he's more alive than he is dead, and because he was in love with my mom, she despised him, I told him no when he repeatedly demanded for me to join him, of course not he's a fruitloop, so he cloned me, a couple times actually but none of them were stable so they destabilized, and Ellie, the only stable clone, posed as my cousin, she is now kinda, and when my back was turned she tried to kill me. It's cool though, she realized Vlad was a fruitloop and we beat him up." he shrugged. "Like I said, there's really not much to tell." he explains before he starts to sneak over to the cookie jar.

Diana looked over at her grandfather, "What?" he nodded in symathy.

"I understand it's a lot to take in, however I assure you any future murder attempts perpetuated by young Ellie are completely harmless. She spends most of her time these days exploring the realms or spending time with Pandora." Clockwork explained.

Diana sighed turning to Danny "And you were okay with this? Being cloned by your enemy."

Danny swallowed his bite "Oh, hell no. I was pissed. Not only did he violate my privacy, he stole my DNA! He made a kid to replace me! So I kicked his ass and stole my clone." Diana looked to the heavens for advice, Clockwork set a hand on her shoulder.

"The gods will be no help when it comes to things like this. Trust me." he smiled. "And how was your day Danny? Did you have fun making friends?" Danny grinned.

"Definitely! He let me blather on about space!" Diana's eyes went wide.

'Dear gods, not another one.'

@a-salty-sal@impulsiveasshole@meira-3919@alcorbearson@cute6troll@samgirl98@skulld3mort-1fan@addie-lover-of-stories@amercurio@chronicallyonline-fandomwh0r3 @heirxofxtime @gin2212 @thegatorsgoose@wanderer-of-worlds@terzatheunderscorerima@bright-shade@satanicrutialspecialist@mur-ururu@birdie-24-05@ascetic-orange@cyber-geist@thatrandomsarahchick@dr-syko-pharm-4@observerblock23@addie-lover-of-stories@rainybyday@berseid@pastalavistamf@ae-vixrose@sunflowershine03@theauthorandtheartist@ruelukas22@krzys2000@onlyhereforthechaos@stargirl1331@apointlessbox@mewzaque@distractedducky@cutelittlebeanie@unorthodoxdreamers @universallytacowolfbakery @joseph557@ver-444@icedbluesoul@shark-time@milo-l-l @spookytragedyshark@nutcase8691@idfk-man10

[koolades-world]

prompt 5 with Satan, please? 🤲💕

hello!! yes of course :)

enjoy <3

prompt 5 w/ Satan

“Mc, how much sugar in your tea?” Satan called to you from the kitchen. You were seated in the living room, texting friends.

“Not too much. Like, a spoonful or two. If I have too much sugar I’ll never be able to fall asleep.” You looked up from your phone, but he wasn’t in the room.

“Thank you. You’re amazing.” You heard him laugh a little from the kitchen. He went back to preparing the tea, and you momentarily went back to messaging your friends. You were chatting about menial, unimportant, random stuff. As soon as you mentioned you had to go because you agreed to spend time with Satan, they began to tease you. They all make jokes about the two of you kissing and what not. This had become something of a regular routine, as this was something you did with Satan often. Whenever you told them you had plans with a different brother or were spending the night doing something else, they were shocked. You really didn’t spend that much time with him in the evenings like this, but part of you wished you could more.

“Ready?” He entered the living room with two mugs in hand. One was his favorite mug. It was a light gray covered in little cats doing various cat things. It had been a gift from Mammon, and after confirming he got it in a legit way, it became the only mug he used ever. The other one was a mug that was mostly Lucifer’s, but he allowed you to use it when you wanted. However, when he sees that it’s missing and you’re not the one using it, he never says anything, even though it’s most certainly Satan at that point.

“Yep!” You got up from your chair and followed him back to his room. You couldn’t lie, you were giddy to spend time with him. Even if the two of you were just spending time in each others vicinity, both doing separate activities, it made you happy. You tried to take one of the mugs from him, but he wouldn’t let you. You didn’t want it to spill, so you let it go and resolved to holding the doors open for him instead.

You made your way into his room. He set the mugs on his side table, and debated on what book to read. He seemed to be midway through a few of them. You, on the other hand, knew exactly what you wanted to do. You’d borrowed one of Levi’s Devilswitchs and had been slowly, but surely making you way through one of his games. The device was sitting on his bed, exactly where you’d left it. Eager to pick your game back up, you threw yourself onto his bed and booted it back up. Satan eventually settled down next to you with his book in hand.

“What blend did you pick today?” You asked, inhaling deeply and trying to place the scent.

“That new one you brought for me when you got back from visiting home.” He didn’t look over at you, but you could tell how excited he had gotten over that fact.

“Aw, you’re really sharing it with me? I’m honored.” You carefully sipped it since it was still a little hot. He'd handed you the mug that was usually his. It was quite a cute mug, and the gesture moved you.

“Of course I am. You gave it to me, so I figured it was only fair. It reminds me of you, anyways.” He opened his book and began reading. You started playing your game, and the time flew while you were together. You drifted closer and closer to him, until eventually you were laying with your head on his shoulder. You rolled over to the device wasn’t so much in his face.

It was nice, laying there with him. The quiet sound of Satan flipping pages was the only sound you could hear beside the occasional shuffling outside the room. You don’t know when it started, but at some point, you started to fall asleep. Your eye lids grew heavy, and every time you felt them close for a moment too long, you tried your best to snap them back open. But soon, you stopped resisting and fell asleep.

It took Satan a little while to notice you were asleep. Only after he heard your gentle snoring did he realize you were knocked out. He couldn’t help but smile at the sight. He took the switch from your hand and set it down on his side table next to your tea. You’d gotten so into your game that you’d barely touched it. He couldn’t fault you though; he tended to do the same from time to time when he was really into a book. He returned to reading, trying his best to hold still.

Some hours later, he was still reading the same book when you started began to stir. Or, that’s what he assumed. You began to twitch and shift around. At first, he thought it was cute. Your breathing picked up, and your brows furrowed. Your features grew steadily more concerned. He knew something was wrong. He wasn’t sure how intense your nightmare was, but it pained him to watch you suffer. He knew he shouldn’t wake you though. Instead, he held you close and soothing stroked your hair. Even if you wouldn’t remember it was him, he wanted to comfort you. All that mattered to him is that you felt secure.

You woke up with a start, breathing heavily and gripping him tightly. You seemed a little confused, but you didn’t want to let go of him. “I’m here. You’re safe with me.” You melted into him once you heard his voice. It was the confirmation you needed. He continued to tell you comforting things until you were calm again. At some point, he wasn’t sure if you were awake or asleep anymore. “Mc?” He whispered. Since you didn’t respond, he knew you must’ve been asleep or had a good reason to be so still and silent. He didn’t mind though. He liked that amount of trust you put in him to fall asleep on him twice.

He was happy to have met you.

[oftenwantedafton]

the new hire | steve raglan x female reader

rating | explicit

part 5/?

words | 5k

cw | dom/sub, oral sex

ao3 link

Three more nights at Freddy’s.

Three uneventful evenings, three boring shifts where you sit and stare at the monitors in the security office and see nothing unusual. You know you should feel grateful that there are no intruders. No sign of the rabbit.

No sign of Steve Raglan, either. It still hasn’t occurred to you that those two might be linked. For now, they are separate phenomena.

Friday morning you return home from work and shower and lie in bed, willing your eyes to shut. Sleep is still evading you, even though you’re tired. Your phone rings and it startles you. You rarely got calls. You have no friends. Few living relatives, and those few don’t care to contact you.

You answer and you know, before he even speaks, that it’s Steve on the other end of the line.

“Hello?”

“Hello. It’s me. Just checking in,” he says, using that same deceptively cheerful tone he’d had when you’d first met in his office. “Doesn’t sound like I’ve woken you up.” You doubt he’d feel remorse if he had. “How have things been going at Freddy’s?”

You sit up, your fingers fussing with the comforter. You can’t imagine he’d call just to shoot the breeze. So what did he want now? “Everything has been quiet.”

“Good. Glad to hear it. Listen, you’ll need to swing by the office to collect your wages today. I am booked solid for the weekend and won’t be able to stop by like I did last time.”

“Um…okay.” You wonder what’s going to be keeping the social worker so occupied. Of course it’s none of your business, but still. The lack of attention you’ve received these last few nights has been unpleasant. Even Raglan’s strange company is better than none.

You squint at the alarm clock beside the bed. It’s not even nine yet. “I guess I could just head on over now.” You fling the blanket back, preparing to slide out of bed.

“No, that won’t do. I’ve got a full schedule of clients to see today, and you need to get some rest before your shift tonight. Can’t expect you to function properly without it. It’s really best if you came later. Say, around six?”

You can’t imagine that it will be that big of a deal to hand you cash. That should take all of several seconds. But of course he’s going to make this complicated. “Doesn’t the office close at five?”

The friendly tone slips a bit. He doesn’t like being questioned like this. You know it. You know better than to argue. You wonder if you don’t secretly enjoy bringing out the darker side of him. Spread over his lap. God, you’d been absolutely soaked…“Yes, it does. Which is why you’ll be arriving after hours. I’ll be getting caught up on paperwork until then.”

“How am I going to get into the office?”

A heavy, exasperated sigh. “I’ll let you in, obviously. Be prompt. I’m not going to stand at the door waiting forever.”

“Okay. I’ll be there at six.”

“Excellent. See you then. Sweet dreams,” he adds, and those two rough words make you feel warm and aching all over again.

***

If you have any sweet dreams, you don’t recall them.

You debate about getting dressed for work before heading back to the DSS office. You’ll have several hours to kill. Maybe you could come back home and squeak in another nap. In the end, you decide to wear something casual. It’s not like you were going for a job interview. You’re not trying to impress Steve.

Except that’s not entirely true, is it? Because you spend a little longer getting ready, making sure your appearance is tidy, applying light makeup and body spray and earrings. You choose a v neck tee that clings to your figure, draped over dark wash jeans and you tell yourself, as you look in the mirror, that you are strictly going there to collect your pay, and that is all. There’s no reason to expect anything else might happen.

You hate how you have butterflies in your stomach. You hate that you’re so eager to see the older man, so eager to please him. By the time you leave your apartment, your anxiety is through the roof.

There are still cars in the parking lot when you arrive, so apparently the social worker isn’t the only straggler in the building. Not a lot, though; it was Friday night, after all.

The entrance to the office is framed in glass. You can see the tall man waiting for you on the other side, arms folded. You check your watch. You’re on time. A little early, even. Which meant he’d been waiting early, too. Anticipating…what, you don’t know.

There’s a bruise on your hip from your last encounter with this man; a bruise on your soul and you don’t know which is worse, the physical harm or the emotional manipulation. Why do you crave him so much?

Raglan opens the door once you reach it, the narrow wedge you’re allotted no longer surprising you. You brush past him, eyes downcast, that brief touch of his body against yours like lighting a match, heat blooming. You hear the snap of the door being locked behind you and then without a word he begins walking down the hall, leaving you to catch up.

When you reach Steve’s office he shuts the door behind you. He could have already handed to the cash and been done with you. So why bring you here? Why shut that solid wood barrier?

He drops into the leather chair behind the desk, much as he had in the cloth one in the security office, with that same careless abandon. The seat rotates back and forth and you wonder if he ever just spins around like a child would, just for fun. There are little details in the room that you hadn’t noticed the first time you’d been here. The many framed awards lining the walls. The wire rabbit with its slotted ribs to organize and tuck mail into. A map of the local district and some generic looking nature scene that was probably mass produced, something the company had provided. There’s an eyeglass case and some change and a set of car keys on the desk, the rabbit’s foot now a familiar sight. A lot of keys on that ring. Some of them for Freddy’s, most likely.

Raglan runs his index and middle fingers over his moustache, then strokes the facial hair covering his chin. Whiter there than other places. He looks at you like he might a puzzle piece, trying to discern where you fit in, which way he needs to align you to make you slot properly into whatever grand design he’s orchestrating; his secret, meant for none but him alone to enjoy.

The money is curled in his other fist. You notice it now, when he relaxes his grip and reveals it. You imagine it is warm from his body heat. He stretches the arm out and you walk towards it. His wrist turns and the bills land in a pile on the carpet. You descend to your knees, reaching again, but his foot shifts and swiftly covers the currency, leaving your fingers empty. Your lashes lift and you see the rapid rise and fall of his chest. Your hand curls around his calf. You press your lips to the inside of one knee. His breath hitches.

You stare up at him. Still wrapped around one leg, still watching him warily. Wanting. Waiting. His hand reaches for your face, fingers curling under your chin. Thumb spread over your lips and then speared between, pushing past your lips and teeth and stopping when he’s nestled against your tongue. Your eyes linked as you suck that digit, curling around it with the wet muscle and stroking, clutching it against your palate, feeling creases and whorls, joint and nail bed. Discovering the taste of the currency he’d clutched, that odd metallic flavor sunk into cotton and linen blended threads.

It’s not enough, you want to taste more of him, reaching for the button fastening his shirt sleeve. A small alarmed sound when you succeed, catching another glimpse of that pink scar you thought you’d seen during your interview. Was he ashamed of it? You don’t mind it, tongue darting out to lick along the pulse there, and the sound he makes, that deep groan, echoes in your core.

“Stand up.”

Your mouth abandons his skin. You frown a question at the older man. You’d thought he wanted you at his feet, on the floor, between his legs, worshipping at what dwells at the apex of them.

“Up,” he grates again, and you hastily comply.

“Why didn’t you wear something easier to remove?” The chair creaks as he leans forward, fingers at the button fly of your denim. “Surely you had some inkling…” The zipper is yanked down and his fingers curl around the waistband, dragging the jeans down until they’re resting midway across your thighs. “The scent of your depraved fantasies…oh.” A little huff of surprise when he shoves the hem of your shirt up and you scramble to hold it out of the way—why had you worn something so awkward, honestly—and he sees the discoloration he’s left. The ecchymosis has faded a bit, shifting from dark blue and purple to a fainter shade of maroon. He strokes over that bruised patch of flesh with a soft caress, completely ignoring the lace panties you’ve chosen to wear (yes, you’d had an inkling, as he’d called it, hopeful and lusting but you don’t want to admit it, not to yourself nor to him) keeping his attention solely focused on that injury he’d previously inflicted.

Then he kisses the spot and you think you might just die then, just spontaneously combust, because it’s so awkwardly tender and so near the area you really want his mouth at, feeling that brush of facial hair stroking your mound, between your thighs. He pulls at the damaged skin with his mouth, sucking, and a fresh sting erupts there while his fingers curl around and knead one cheek, another reminder of where he’s been before, meting punishment to balance the pleasure he’s about to gift you now.

The crotch of your panties is dragged to one side—a tight strain, the fabric isn’t very giving—wedging against your groin, digging into the crease while his tongue delves over the exposed pink flesh, the tip curling and thrusting between legs you wish you could part better, but you’re restricted by those stupid jeans you’d decided to wear that he clearly has no intention of removing further. So you stand on legs that are already trembling like a newborn foal’s, this older man seated in front of you with his nose digging into your mound and his tongue trying to collect whatever essence it can, scraping and prodding while the beard you’d imagined to be coarse and abrasive is instead a soft textured brush that only heightens everything. His glasses are knocked askew and you pull them off with your free hand, setting them on the desk beside you, the other still occupied with keeping the hem of your shirt out of the social worker’s way, letting you see the glory of him ravaging your cunt even in this limited fashion and it’s the single most erotic thing you’ve ever seen or felt in your life.

You’re touching his hair now, sifting through the layers, and you realize it is many, many colors, not simply gray and white but every shade in between, silky ribbons shading from dark to light, stormy sky to bright daybreak. The fervor with which he consumes you only intensifies, sending your hurtling through the path of ultimate bliss, your twitching bud finally surrendering to the relentless lashes of Steve’s tongue. You cum in his mouth and you hear the strangled inhale through his nostrils, your body mashed against his face, the fingers on his head cupping and shoving him closer and closer. A hum of sound and the hand on your ass tightens and the hypersensitivity that makes you want to recoil and push him back for respite transcends into something else. He’s got you there again, right on the brink, and you bite your tongue to stifle the wail when you climax a second time, still unsure if anyone else is left in the office to hear you.

Raglan eventually moves away, slouching against the back of the leather chair, looking disheveled and this, this is what you had envisioned when you’d called him, asking him to come to the restaurant that night. Climbing out of bed, hair tousled, clothes rumpled, that careful, neat appearance suddenly wild and raw and natural. You’re still trembling, still caught in the turbulent throes post orgasm, managing to lean over and capture his lips and he allows it, allows you to smooth back the slightly curled lock of hair that’s descended across his forehead, lap at the damp mouth that tastes familiar, like your own sex, while you reach down for his crotch and find him hard and straining.

Your descent to your knees is less than graceful—your thighs are still effectively shackled—but you manage the task, just as you manage to open his fly and shove the waistband of his briefs down. There is a lot there for your mouth, for your throat; daunting, but you’re determined. You want to take this man apart, enjoying this sudden shift in power, where he’s allowing you to direct the course of every action. You tease a few licks before you properly take his cock in your mouth and suck and the noise this elicits is one you know you’re going to savor again later, when you’re alone and you remember this, a backdrop for self pleasure. It’s a needy sort of whimper, a surprised sort of pleading sound. You can feel the tremors wracking his thighs already. He’s not going to last long. Your mouth is as relentless as his own had been, working up and down, straining with a lewd, wet slap each time he collides further and further back. He spills so deeply in your throat you don’t even taste it at first, until the pulsing head rests on the base of your tongue, when he jerks your head back so he can see your depravity, blown pupils meeting blown pupils, white cum still staining your red mouth and that breathy little moan hummed through his lips betraying just how much he’d enjoyed it.

You swallow the rest of his load down—bitter, as you’d known it would be—and sit back on your heels, realizing the two of you are still panting, still struggling to recover. You watch him shove himself back into his pants and you take that as a signal that you’re to do the same, grabbing up the cash you can finally reach off the carpet—and damn if that doesn’t make you feel like more of a whore than collecting your wages at the diner ever had, like he’d insinuated—before you push yourself upright, shimmying back into your jeans after tugging the crotch of your panties back towards the middle where it belongs.

You have absolutely no idea what to do now. He had started this, whatever this was, and you’d finished it, and now you’re struggling not to feel used and empty. In the heat of the moment everything had been perfect, but now you want all of that stupid, sappy stuff that you believe should come after intimacy. You want cuddles and pillow talk and of course this is hardly the time or the place for that. This isn’t anything even remotely resembling something like that; it’s not a relationship, not anything really, just the release of pent up tension between the two of you, but you stare at his face and you crave those lips and you want his arms around you. You know he’s going to tell you to leave and you’ll do it because he told you to but you wish, for one silly little moment, that he’d request the opposite instead. Ask me to stay. Tell me you want more. I want more than this.

Raglan’s refastened his shirt sleeve and slid those ill fitting glasses back into place and he almost resembles his usual tidy self. Some of his hair is still mussed and your fingers itch to help straighten it (or better yet make it messier) but you resist the urge. It had been okay, before. You know it wouldn’t be now.

“I have to finish my work. You should try to take a nap before your shift.” His voice is quiet. He’s not meeting your eyes. You follow him out of his office. Everyone must be gone now. It’s dimly lit and quiet.

There are a million things you want to say as you wait for him to unlock the door. Instead you remain silent. You force yourself to walk away, knowing he’s watching every step you take.

***

You don’t sleep.

Can’t, not after what’s happened in the career counselor’s office. His mouth on you. Your mouth on him. Taking each other apart. Those memories alone are going to be enough to fuel your next rounds of self pleasure for a long time.

The first hour of your shift passes without incident.

Then you see movement on one of the screens. Not the rabbit. A human. Male. Dressed in dark clothing. It looks like he’s climbed in through some vent on the outside.

The security door is unlocked, as Steve had instructed. You’re already dialing his number, keeping a wary eye on the stranger. He’s brought a flashlight, shining the beam around. Thief? Thrill seeker? It didn’t matter. He wasn’t supposed to be here.

The phone keeps ringing. Come on, Steve. Nothing. You redial in case you’ve hit the wrong numbers, even though you’re certain they’d been correct. Even try the office, thinking maybe he’d fallen asleep at his desk. No answer, just voicemail.

Police, then. You don’t have any other choice. You’ll deal with the consequences later. Surely pissing off Steve couldn’t be worse than letting this guy do whatever it was he was planning on doing.

You lift the receiver again and hear nothing. No dial tone. Complete silence. The phone is no longer working.

The threads of panic that had begun to squirm through you earlier now writhe, demanding attention. You don’t even have any kind of a weapon to defend yourself.

You should really lock the door. Again, Steve be damned.

You stand, intending to do just that. From the distance you hear the sound of glass shattering. Shit. Not just a casual explorer, then.

The lights go out.

You’d completely forgotten about the warning you’d been issued about how the electricity tended to be fickle. You normally just switch it on at the start of your shift and back off again before you leave. The office is completely dark. No more monitors. The emergency lighting in the hallway glows red. You’ll have to reset the breaker if you want full power restored. Which means leaving the office. That pitch dark room you no longer want to hide in.

Another crash. This sounded like something heavy. Metal striking another object. You’re still hovering in the open doorway. The switch for the power isn’t that far away. You could make it there and back again, surely. You take a step forward, your fingers still hooked around the doorframe. Another step. Now you hold only air. You keep walking. Your chest feels tight. It hurts trying to breathe so shallowly. You try to keep your tred light. It couldn’t be much farther. Just a few more steps. You think you can make out the shape of it, the box jutting out from the wall.

You’re not alone in the hallway.

The intruder has found his way here. He starts towards you and you jerk to a halt, taking a step back.

From the depths of the service room, the figure of the decaying rabbit animatronic emerges.

You don’t see the silver eyes. Its back is to you, facing the other man. You hear the sound of something striking the mascot, the clatter of that object as it hits the floor. The human male’s body is lifted and flung against the nearest wall. You can hear bones snapping.

You’ve lost your footing in your haste to back up. You scrabble backward on hands and feet, the soles of your sneakers squeaking against the linoleum. You’re no longer trying to quiet your breathing. It comes and goes in a harsh, desperate whine. The rabbit’s bulk does nothing to slow it down. It’s right in front of you. Those strange glowing eyes focused on this vulnerable prey. You can hear it breathing, a dry, rusty sort of drag. There’s a roaring sound in your ears. It’s getting harder and harder to see, to focus. You’re blacking out. Darkness.

***

You awaken to feel something cool and wet being pressed against your forehead.

You blink rapidly, struggling to get your bearings. You’re no longer in the restaurant. You’re in a car. Steve Raglan’s car.

There’s a blue flashing light nearby. Police cruiser? You catch a glimpse of blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail. The young female officer gets behind the wheel of the vehicle and drives away, the tires screeching as she peels out of the parking lot.

“What…”

“You’re okay. Look at me.”

You try to focus on the social worker’s features. His hair looks a little damp. He’s still dressed in his office attire. “What happened?” You lick your lips. They’re so dry. You can barely get the words out.

“Someone broke into Freddy’s. The police just escorted them away.”

“I didn’t call them.”

“I know. I did.”

“I tried to call you. There was no answer. I even tried the office. Then the phone went dead.”

“The line was cut.”

“By that man?”

“Yes.”

“So how did you call the police?”

“I didn’t call from Freddy’s. I called the police as soon as there was no answer here. I knew something was wrong.”

“You’ve never called me at work.” You frown, shaking your head. Things still seemed fuzzy. You feel like you’re missing pieces of the puzzle. “What did that guy want, anyway?”

“That’s for the authorities to sort out.”

“Why didn’t you answer the phone?”

Steve stares at you for long moments. “I was unavailable.”

“At midnight? What were you doing?”

“That’s not your concern.”

“I could have gotten hurt. Seriously hurt. You realize that, right? This is so asinine. You’ve got me guarding this place with no training, no weapons, you tell me just to call you when I need you, and when I needed you, you weren’t there.” The words spill out in a rush. Fear and anger, betrayal and hurt coursing through you.

“I apologize.”

“You apologize? No, that’s not good enough, that’s—” He cuts you off by leaning over to kiss you. Your brain short circuits instantly. Why does he always feel so good? “You can’t just do that and expect it to make everything okay,” you manage when you part for air.

“It makes it better though, doesn’t it?”

Kiss it and make it better, Daddy. Oh, fuck. How can you be thinking about sex at a time like this?

“Where did you find me?”

“The hallway in the back. Why?”

“The rabbit was there again. It was fighting with the man. I think it was trying to help me. Don’t tell me I didn’t see it. It was there. I heard it breathing.”

“The animatronics don’t breathe. They’re not alive.” His voice is surprisingly gentle and patient, as if he’s explaining to a child how the Easter bunny isn’t real.

“This one is,” you insist stubbornly. “You can think I’m delusional. I know what I saw. Something is happening here.”

The older man turns his attention to the steering wheel, reaching to turn the key in the ignition. “You’ve had enough excitement for one day, I think. I’m taking you home.”

“What? My shift isn’t over.” You look at the digital display that glows green on the vehicle’s dashboard. It’s barely two.

“You won’t be docked for not completing the shift.”

“I’m capable of driving myself home.”

“I’m taking you,” he repeats, the firm disciplinary tone taking hold once more.

“I don’t want to leave my car here.”

“No one is going to touch it. The police are keeping watch for the rest of the night in case the intruder had an accomplice. They’ll be doing frequent patrol sweeps to make certain.”

“There wasn’t anyone else. Just him.”

“That you saw, until the power went out and you lost the monitors.”

You fold your arms across your chest, trying to think of a comeback. “Do you ever sleep? How come you’re always so wide awake in the middle of the night?”

He glances over at you and smirks, flicking a finger over the tip of his nose before returning to view the road. It’s deserted at this hour. “Coffee. I tried to tell you.”

“It tastes awful.” You’ve never admitted it out loud before.

“I never said it doesn’t. It’s much like alcohol in that regard. It has to be tempered to make it palatable.”

“This isn’t the way to my apartment,” you realize out loud.

“I’m not taking you to your place. I’m taking you to mine.”

“Oh,” you say softly.

“Any more complaints?”

“No.” You stare hard out the window. You hadn’t been expecting this. Any of this. How was it possible for this man to keep disarming you at every turn?

“Good.”

A house. He lives in a house, you silently answer the question you’d wondered previously. Two stories. Two car garage that he neglects to use, pulling into the driveway. You realize suddenly you’ve never once asked if he was married or had children. You’d just assumed.

Just assumed he was alone and waiting for you to fall, quite literally, into his lap.

It seems like a big living space for one person, but you don’t dare question it. You follow him meekly inside. He tosses the keys onto a table by the door, flicking on the lightswitch and then turning the deadbolt.

So far today you’ve gotten eaten out in the career counselor’s office, sucked his dick, almost gotten hurt by a trespasser at your job, possibly rescued? by a monster rabbit that doesn’t really exist and now you were in said career counselor’s home. All in the span of less than twelve hours. Unbelievable.

“I’m sure you’re ready to knock out. The master bedroom’s up here,” he invites, ascending the nearby stairs.

“What, I’m not going to spend the night on the couch?”

“You’re getting awfully mouthy. I’m not certain I like this new brashness,” he tosses over his shoulder as he continues climbing the stairs.

“You liked the mouthiness earlier,” you mutter softly, thinking he won’t hear you.

“I can see I’ve been too lenient.”

Oh, he’d heard.

You both reach the top of the stairs and he leans, reaching around you to flip the hall lights back off. Suddenly you’re in the dark again. Listening to breathing.

His hand finds yours. You’re pulled into one of the nearby rooms and a lightswitch is flipped, partially alleviating the tense moment. You watch him rummage in a dresser for a shirt, tossing it at you and pointing as you hastily clutch it to your chest. “Bathroom’s that way. Get changed.”

As if you’d want to sleep in the security uniform, especially after being on the floor of the restaurant. You wouldn’t mind a bath or a shower but you think that’s asking for too much. You duck into the other room and quickly get changed. It’s just an undershirt, solid white. You stare at yourself in the mirror. What, exactly, are you doing? Spending the night at this man’s house. In his bed.

You run your tongue over your teeth. You want to brush them. “Hey, Steve, is there a spare toothbrush? I don’t want to rummage through your stuff.” You open the door to find him standing just outside. Your mouth goes dry again. Fuck, you want him so bad it hurts.

“Here.” He steps inside, crowding you slightly against the sink as he reaches to open the medicine cabinet, withdrawing what you’d requested. “Don’t squeeze the toothpaste in the middle. I hate that.”

You glance, bemused, at the tube with its neat, empty curl at the end. “What will happen if I do?” You murmur.

“Don’t tempt me.” His hand grazes your ass and then he leaves the bathroom, closing the door behind him.

You don’t spend too long cleaning your teeth. There’s too much want in you, want for what’s behind that closed door. You open it and find him waiting his turn, leaning against the wall. You discover the comforter and top sheet are now pulled back. Slate gray. Masculine. You have pastel pink at home. Full. Not a King size like this. Luxurious. How many thread count in these sheets? Your head sinks into the pillow. Perfect. Not too firm, not too soft.

Steve exits the bathroom. Watches you get comfortable. Sits on the other side of the mattress and reaches for the light. Darkness again. You hear the sounds of fabric shifting as he gets undressed. You wonder why he doesn’t want you seeing him bare. Are there more scars? The springs creak as he changes positions, standing again to remove his pants. Back down, now lying beside you.

Your face turns in his direction. Your heart is pounding. His arm reaches, dragging you against him. Spoons laid together. His breath by your ear. “Be a good girl and go to sleep.”

You don’t want to behave. You want to turn over and touch and taste. But you obey. You close your eyes and try to soothe your racing pulse. You concentrate on the crisp feel of the bed linens beneath you and Raglan’s warm arms around you and you find yourself enveloped in slumber.

[abilouwrites]

HOW YOU GET THE GIRL

Mat Barzal x fem!oc

Series Masterlist

ONE

I only like the bookstore during the night, when it’s slow and nobody’s around. The lights are flickering and the town suddenly goes quiet in contrast with the bustle of the busy mornings and heavy traffic of the day.

I only work here on the weekends for the closing shifts or the opening ones. Something to make a little more money to fall back on besides my adult corporate job. My parents are proud, more my father than my mother that I’ve begun my climb up the corporate ladder.

I don’t hate my job, far from it. Simply the long hours and bossy bosses that make me pull at my fingers and tug at my hair. Especially with my youth and admitted naivety, those at my job can be wary about me either in the break room or being hesitant to invite me out for drinks.

I’ve been told by my therapist that I rushed my childhood, skipping grades and taking collage classes while also taking highschool classes at the same time. I want to fight her on it, claim that I did have a childhood and had dreams but I know that I’m defending something I never had.

Two parents who were always fighting; hated eachother but swore to stay together because of their vows, “Hey Bella” I smile at the older lady standing at the counter as I tuck behind into the back room and set my purse onto the table and wrapping my apron around my body, “slow day?” I ask as I switch from heels to converse.

“Yeah, it’s the middle of the school season so all the kidlets are probably studying” she sighs out rubbing her tired eyes, “ok, I’m off. Be safe. Please” she reminds me as she pats my shoulder, “I’ll need you to come in a bit earlier tomorrow for the opening shift, we’re getting a new shipment of books for the month”

“Uhh, yeah yeah I can do that, so 5:30 instead of six?” I clarify, as I clock myself in on the timetable next to the register.

“Yes, thank you Emma. You’re a doll” She smiles and blows me a kiss exiting the building as the cold wind brushes against her; gently pulling at the greying blonde hair that’s always been tucked into a a little bun.

I turn on some music to keep my mind from straying as I walk around the store. Gently brushing my fingers against the creased spines and occasional leather covered book. Those nice collectors editions are always Romeo and Juliet, or Hamlet.

Personally I’ve thought Romeo and Juliet a bit childish and immature, but I’ve always been told I’m looking at it from a modern perspective. I believe that Romeo and Juliet is the way to not fall in love.

But then again, that’s coming from the girl who watched her parents try and fix an already broken marriage by having an abundance of kids and forcing themselves to stay together even though, everyone’s known they’d be better apart. Even their own kids.

I tidy up the reading corner, setting the old book. Princess and the pea back onto the shelf and searching for the one tomorrow.

My my fingers pull and push against the covers of the kids books, looking for something different. I don’t pay attention when the bell jingles and jangles while I hear a heavy step quickly become softer. I hear them physically relax as they walk the isles.

I eventually decide on a book with a unicorn and a blonde girl. Something I fondly remember of my own childhood.

I stretch up a little and let my hair down from its clip, it falls unevenly against my shoulders but I don’t mind or even care that much. This bookstore is my happy place; where I am safe and content within my own body. Here I will never care what I look like.

I view the man searching in the fiction section, something specific I can tell by his body language. If he needs help I’ll allow him to ask; yet I’m wary of going up to a man and guiding him to the book.

When he finally notices me watching him he turns around and asks, “do you know where I can find ‘The road’ it’s uh. Geez by I think by Cormac McCarthy?” He stumbles out; slowly dragging a hand across his face and brushing his shaggy brown hair out of his eyes.

His face is soft but sharp; his eyes evoke a warm bubbly feeling inside me. Eyes that make me feel comfortable being alone with him, “yes, I believe we only have a few left” I tell him, walking off to a different section of the store, “I know, our shop is set up weird” I explain.

“And why’s that?” He inquires, his pace isnt rushed or faster than mine. But relaxed and nonchalant. As if he has all the time in the world.

“The original owners, she has a special section called ‘Meine Leibe’ which I think translates to ‘My loves’ or ‘my life’ once she passed her daughter kept it the same so this little section would always be here for her. I find it endearing” I know I ramble on a bit but I’ve suddenly grown afraid of having a silence against the two of us

“It is, it’s just a little place with all her favorite books?” He keeps asking, as I turn into the cozy little corner. I thumb through the alphabetical order.

“Yeah, her favorite chair, pillows. Shannon was such a kind lady” I reminisce, “here is The Road, is there anything else I can help you with? Or will that be all for today?”

“Uhh, ha unless you have ‘The deal’ by Elle Kennedy then I’ll take that too” I think he’s being sarcastic but I can’t really tell.

“I think we do, are you a hockey fan?” I ask walking to the romance section.

“I guess you could say that, do you watch?” He asks, “do you need a hand?”

“I watch a bit, just the New Jersey Devils with my dad. Yeah it’s just above there” I point, even on my tip toes the store has ceiling high bookshelves. And because it’s night the ladders been locked up. I move to the side as he grabs the book.

“Are you from Jersey?”

“Yeah, I lived there before I came to New York for a work deal”

“I’m going to assume it’s not this job.. right?” As he makes his way to the register and I slink behind the counter

“Yeah, my uh big girl job as my mom likes to address it as” I hear the roll in my eyes as I scan the bar codes and ring him up, “will that be with cash or card?”

“Card” He pulls his wallet out of the front pocket of his jacket, “thank you”, he checks for my name eyes staring just above but also at my chest.

I poke my eyebrows up at him praying to god this man isn’t looking at my tits directly; not even with the slightest bit of discretion.

“I’m uh looking for your name to thank you— I swear I’m not looking at your uh. You know boobs” he almost whispers out the last bit before continuing, “not that they aren’t nice or anything but uh” the tips of his ears turn pink and his cheeks suddenly become flushed, “I will just pay now” he groans out softly; handing me his card and rubbing his eyes with his hands.

I ring him up and he puts his pin in, “thank you again, you never told me your name” he questions for that piece of information

“Emma”

“Thank you Emma, have a good evening” he purses his lips and grabs his books. Hands shaking as he smiles and starts to leave.

“You too, wait” I lean over the bar slightly, “you never told me your name?”

“Mat”

“Alright then, have a good evening Mat. Come back soon”

The door jingles as he leaves and I watch him through the window, I see him sigh and smack his books against his head. Though I don’t exactly hear what he says; noises muffled through the glass and the music.

“Huh. What a strange guy”

[prrism]

I arise from the void! *slams down post* Enjoy! *crawls back into void*

Spring Ache

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part ?

Summary: With Spring melting away the cold of winter you were ready to get to work, however Techno was not…

Characters: Techno x Reader

Relationship: Parental/platonic

Pronouns: Unspecified/kept neutral

Today’s gonna be a good day. With the cold of winter finally starting to melt away you were more then ready to get things ready for farming, while you did mostly work with weapons you enjoyed dabbling in other activities like farming, keeps you self sufficient and sharp to your surroundings. Not to mention you now had a little helper with you this time… or you would if he’d hurry up and get downstairs already.

“Techno! We’ve got a long day ahead of us, I need you down here.” You call, after a minute with no response worry starts to creep in. You upstairs and knock on his door. “Techno? Is everything alright?” Only a muffled whimper is heard, you quickly open the door to see him holding his jaw in pain. You kneel down and motion for him to approach, when he does you just lightly touch his jaw and he flinches away in pain, very abnormal.

“I’ll be right back, I’m gonna check something real quick.” You stand again and leave the room, you start looking through various bookshelves in hopes of finding something that could help. Old texts… fairytales… ah hah! Research notes on the Nether, it’s a bit of an outdated book now but it should have enough information for the time being. Flipping through most of it until you reach the section about piglins, proceeding to skim through it. You mumble aloud as you read through the section, finally finding what you were looking for.

“Our investigation has shown immature piglin’s start growing out their tusks between the young years of 6-10. Observed to be painful as they must outgrow the infant tusks. Many of the young seem to favour a certain mushroom native to the Nether at this time, acting as some type of numbing agent.” You look though the rest of the page and sigh, as helpful as the information is they never clarified which type of mushroom was used to help. Not that it mattered, Techno didn’t seem in any condition for a trip and you were certainly not going to just leave him here alone. You settle for a more human approach to the problem, sitting him back on his bed and handing him a bag of ice, he eyes you questionably.

“Don’t give me that, mister. When people get bad toothaches we usually numb the pain with some ice, you’ll also only be eating soft foods for a bit so you don’t hurt jaw more.” You hear him sigh, displeased. “I’ll make you some mashed potatoes.” Instantly he perks up again, you chuckle at this. “Alright, you try to relax for I bit, okay. Once this is over we’ll go back to our regularly scheduled routine.” He nods and you ruffle his hair, to his dismay, stepping away to get started on those mashed potatoes.

A week later and your garden is coming along great, showing signs of sprouting already. Phil had come by to visit a couple days ago, more then happy to give you a hand once you explained what was happening, sadly Kristen had to say back, apparently their own child was being rowdy, something about sand. With the extra hand you were able to check in with Techno more, switching ice packs when they melted and making sure he still had something to do, his jaw may have been hurting but that didn’t mean he couldn’t do anything. Today, while spreading some fresh bonemeal you hear someone approach, looking over to see Techno.

“Hey kiddo. Wanna help spread the rest of this on the carrots for me?” You smirk when he gives you an annoyed look.

“Do I have too.” He drones, you roll your eyes.

“Farming is just as important as fighting. Also those tusks are looking great.” You quickly add the last part. Techno looks at you confused, you summon your sword as it was the quickest reflective you had and let him see the newly grown in tusks.

“Whoa. So that’s why my mouth feels weird.” He inspects himself.

“I’m sure you’ll get used to them soon enough. Now about those carrots.”

“Yeah, I’m going.” He gives a light huff and takes some bonemeal from you, you smile. Yup, today’s gonna be a good day.

Taglist:

@maxismp1

@justmare

@anon-duck

[themultifandomgal]

Tyler Hoechlin- Our Love

Season 3 Bloopers/Gag Reels

#1

“I don’t like her” I say crossing my arms while in character

“You don’t like anyone who gets within a foot of Derek”

“Not true” i scowl at Posey as Scott

“You didn’t like Erica” Dylan points out

“Yeah because… shit sorry what’s my line?” I ask after going blank. This makes Dylan, Posey and Holland all burst out laughing “sorry” I giggle.

#2

Tyler is currently sat next to me as I’m reading a book on the couch. During this scene Peter is supposed to come up the lift and and we’re meant to have an argument.

“I swear if he tries anything I’ll kill him” I hum. Tyler laughs

“Is that anyway to talk to your uncle in law” I glance up to see Ian dressed as Peter looking at us

“When said uncle in law wanted to kill us once, yes” I slam my book shoot and get off the couch. I’m meant to storm past Ian, but instead I end up tripping and Ian has to catch me

“Cut!”

“Shit sorry” I laugh clinging on to Ian who’s holding me up “can I do the scene barefoot, I might not fall then”

“You’d fall over your own two feet instead. At least you can blame the heals” Ty says laughing.

#3

“Hi this is YN YLN on the set of the vampire diaries” I joke looking at the camera pointed towards me. We’re doing little promo videos for season 3A.

“Stella is a bad ass in this season….ahhh” I squeal as a bug flies towards me

#4

Tyler and I are doing a more intimate scene. The scene is supposed to be be us to lay on the floor of Dereks loft wrapped up in a thin sheet when Jenifer comes in and attacks us, but Tyler and I can’t stop laughing

“I’m sorry, it just feels like we’re filming something that’s not Teen Wolf” I say earning a nudge off Tyler.

#5

“So it’s not actually Stiles?” I ask placing my hands on my hips

“Well the body is, but he’s basically been possessed” Holland says folding her arms

“Then what do we do?” I ask frowning

“I say kill him” Ian pipes up

“Shut up” i scowl

“You can’t save him”

“Listen here old man” walk over to Ian and point into his chest “I’ve forgotten my lines and have no idea what I need to say, but all I know is it’s on the lines of something about not killing anyone”

#6

“So what do we do?” I ask looking at Dylan tide up as he pretends to be sleep

“I suggest we just kill….”

“No!” We all shout at the same time to Ian

“Who even invited you?” I ask rolling my eyes

“I thought…”

“Yeah well don’t” I reply “no one here even likes you” i mutter

“Hmm”

“Nothing” I fake smile. Dylan starts laughing though so we have to redo the whole scene.



[us-the-voices-and-more-voices-2]

Conner and bizarro finally meet

on a random lonely day in the Kansas country side, Conner is rocking in a rocking chair reading a book lex got him. it's a big fat comic collection about this guy who works with the FDA for some reason and he's honestly just enthralled. there's a whoosh sound and suddenly Jason and bizarro appear, Jason has his arm over the shoulder of bizarro as he waves over to Conner. Conner is pretty confused who the other guy is.

Conner: hi Jason, who's with you?

Jason: oh this is bizarro, he's kind of my son.

Conner: since when?

Jason: since ages, lex basically was going to kill him but we accidentally broke him out of his containment. long story short he's here he's my son.

bizarro: *waves* bye! I'm bizarro

Conner: hi bizarro

Jason: don't mind him he's words are a bit backwards, something about the programming didn't quite work. all negative verbs and such are positives and all positives are negatives. we are working on it right buddy?

bizarro: I'm resting on it!

Jason: speech therapy is hard, he's perfectly normal he just has some mixed up brain functions. lex actually managed to reverse alot of the degenerative disease problems, so you know bizarro is just struggling with a few things. he's doing way better than before though right buddy?

bizarro: I'm not fine, I'm doing bad! red is doing a bad job

Jason: aw, thanks. I try, we really have to work on the negative verbs, but it's fine we can try again later. anyway I wanted you to meet your brother bizarro!

Conner: *holds out hand* nice to meet you bizarro, what do you like to do?

bizarro: I hate… reading books and watching movies, it’s not fun.

Conner: oh! I love reading books, I have some if you want one.

bizarro: I’m not interested, I hate reading. No thanks!

Conner: wait here I’ll go get one!

Conner runs into the house to go grab some books, he didn’t really know he had a brother but this was kinda cool. Even if it came out of nowhere.

Conner: I have.. Julia Gillard’s cookbook, pride and prejudice, moby dick, and.. bionicules? Honestly I don’t think I’ll read them again so you can have them, my gift!

Bizarro looks at Conner and smiles, he takes the books and starts reading them on the floor of the patio.

Jason: I know I should have called you, but we never have the chance to meet up.

Conner: it’s fine, honestly. I was just reading some comics, been a long week. Just wanted to soak up some sun, since Lex was nagging me about it.

Jason: Lex??

Conner: oh I didn’t tell you, yeah we are kinda trying to fix things between us. I think it has something to do with the whole kryptonite induced cancer, thing. He surprisingly actually does not mean any harm to me, it's so weird.

Jason: damn, even Lex of all people is trying to mend his relationships. Never thought I’d see the day.

Conner: oh it was weird, he came up to the house and actually apologised to me. Lex. APOLOGISED

Jason: NO WAY, I don’t believe you *crosses arms*

Connor: I wish I had it on tape, but no he did. It was so weird, then he told me he actually was pregnant with me.

Jason: wait… *murmurs* when would that have been.

Conner: oh a couple years ago as I’m about 4-5 now.

Jason: oh yeah he did basically disappear for a whole year one year, kinda thought he had some sort of horrible injury or assassin on his tail. Didn’t really think he was having you?

Connor: honestly I would not know, because again didn’t exist yet.

Jason: that’s actually around the time bizarro was made actually, well a year or 2 beforehand.

Connor: yeah makes sense, wait. bizarro is older than me?

bizarro: I'm younger than other superman.

Connor: true I do think your older than me, does lex keep saying anything about dissolving DNA to you guys?

Jason: on yeah that's what originally happened to biz over here, right buddy?

bizarro: me DNA re- reconsti- reconstituted.

Connor: oh damn, that most be why he is motherhen'ing so bad. "you really should be checking for it every 2 weeks" as lex says to me fortnightly now. ugh annoying.

Jason: really? guess I'll take his advice that does unironically sound like a good idea. Connor, well this has been nice. but we have to go or we are going to miss family dinner. see ya

Connor: honestly nice that you dropped by, nice to meet you bizarro!

bizarro: hi other superman!

Connor: you can call me Kon if you like

bizarro: hi Kon!

Connor: see you both enjoy the books! I'm sure bizarro will enjoy them

Jason: oh totally pride and prejudice is my favourite, I was looking for a copy for biz actually it's a wonderful gift, nice seeing you! see you next time for the space pirates?

Connor: always, those fucking space pirates though

bizarro: I love space pirates, they are the best

Connor: lol you're so right, bye guys!!

bizarro + Jason: bye!!!!

prev | current | next

[gretavanlace]

Poppins (part 5)

Josh/Jake Kiszka x reader

18+ only! Minors do not interact!

Warnings: graphic sexual content, language, slight angst, etc

Sleep doesn’t plan on dropping in to visit you tonight, that much is clear. Still, it doesn’t stop you from staring up at the ceiling, longing for it.

If you could just quiet the storm inside your head, if only for a moment or two, you might be able to drift away.

All hope is lost completely when your phone begins to vibrate on the night stand beside you. It crosses your mind to ignore it, but no one calls at this hour for no good reason.

With an exasperated sigh, you roll to your side and grab it up.

“Perfect.” You mutter upon seeing Jake’s name displayed on the screen. Yet another facet stepping up to complicate this shit show of a night even further.

“This better be good.” 3 am phone calls don’t lend themselves to a proper greeting in your book.

“Well, hello to you, too, pretty girl.” He laughs, clearly bright eyed and full of piss and vinegar.

“I’m sleeping, Jacob.” You huff, flopping onto your back once again.

He calls your bluff. Of course he does. “No you’re not. You sound wide awake, and I need someone to keep me company.”

“No pretty young thing to follow you home from your gig tonight?” You ask, though you certainly don’t actually want to know.

He makes a sound in the negative, and then adds, “But if I get really hard up, I can just pop my head out the door and flag down one of the hookers that are loitering around this shit hole of a motel.”

“That bad?”

“I’ll put it this way,” he breathes a wisp of a laugh, “If I were to look under the bed and find a dead body, I wouldn’t be shocked. Not even a little bit.”

“Yikes.” You genuinely feel for him. Hotels and their germs freak you out as it is, you can’t fathom being expected to sleep in an establishment as fine as the one he’s describing.

“Make sure you check for bed bugs before you go to sleep.” It breaks your heart to think of him slumbering fitfully while tiny monsters feast away.

“You think I’m going anywhere near that bed?” He sounds offended, but you know better. “I’m sleeping in the fucking bathtub. I wish you were here, though.”

“So, you’d have me suffer through a night in hotel hell just so you’d have someone to keep you company? Narcissist.”

That halting laugh of his, the one you’re completely smitten with, makes an appearance, but his reply comes gently. “No. There’s just something about the thought of seeing something so beautiful surrounded by all this ugliness…I don’t know.”

That, you hadn’t expected.

He glosses over his honesty and begins telling you about the bar he’s playing. About how it used to be a speakeasy. How there are still scattered bullet holes in the walls from a raid. Al Capone once visited, he tells you animatedly, and broke a bartender's nose for speaking without respect…

On and on he prattles, and you let him, paying close attention to his every word. This isn’t your first time being ‘Jaked’ in the middle of the night.

And if you’re being honest, maybe your attentiveness has more to do with the fact that you miss him already. It’s good to hear his voice, that calming, soft rasp. His idiosyncratic tendencies - ‘you know’ as a place filler as he gathers his thoughts, interesting, suppose, it’s all so jake, and it makes you feel safe in the strangest way.

You ask questions in all the right places, not enough to interrupt, but just enough to encourage the stream of thoughts he has decided to share with you.

That is, until he catches on. “Are we whispering because it’s late, or because you’re at my brother’s?”

You pluck at the blanket thrown over you, chagrined. A child caught with her hand in the cookie jar. “He was out of sorts with you gone, so I stayed. You know how he gets.”

“I get that way, too.” He points out softly. “Who babies me?”

You shrug, though he can’t see you “A girl in every port?”

“Would you stop with that?” He suddenly sounds sad, and it’s so unlike him you’re shocked into momentary silence.

It stretches on for a while, with you now staring at the wall as the tree outside lends the shadows of its leaves to dance and flutter in the night. And Jake, cooped up in some depressing, filthy room god knows where, breathing in stagnant air and mold spores.

He slices through it first, “Hey, poppins?”

“Hmm?” How easily can make your heart ache and pound without effort. They both can.

“Do you miss me?”

The hopefulness in his query makes you smile. He sounds almost…vulnerable?

“I do, Jake. I always miss you when you go away.”

A discreet hum of satisfaction is his only reply before the quiet returns. Then…

“Why are you at my brother’s, babe? Is this a ‘when the cats away the mice will play’ situation?”

Why is he always so calm and collected? Tipping his hand just enough to stoke the flames of your curiosity. And why is it so sexy?

“Are you the cat?” You ask softly, avoiding his actual question.

He sees your bet and raises the stakes “Are you two the mice?”

Still unwilling to hand over your secrets, you ask a question of your own. “What is this? You both really do get off on the competition of it all, don’t you? Is there a scorecard hidden away somewhere? Because I —“

“Hey,” he soothes, voice comforting like a warm, much loved quilt. “There’s no scorecard. We actually have a scoreboard. It lights up and everything. Cost a shit load.”

He successfully tugs a giggle out of you, plucking the thorn out of your side effortlessly. Seconds later, however, you’re right back where you started.

“Why, then? Sometimes I feel like I’m caught in sibling rivalry crossfire. Like I’m constantly ducking and dodging Kiszka bullets.”

“No such thing.” He’s trying his best to lighten things up. “We Kiszkas are noble and peaceful people.”

He desperately would like to be let off the hook… instead, you keep him dangling on the line. “I’m serious.”

At last, he gives in. “Alright, alright. The thing is, you can’t really blame us. Sometimes it’s unavoidable and that’s just science.”

“Science.” You repeat, unimpressed.

“Yes. Science. Identical twins, such as myself and my lesser half, share nearly indistinguishable brain wave patterns, and —“

“Jesus, do you two carry around some big book of twin factoids everywhere you go?”

Brushing your flippancy aside without comment, he continues on. “So, shared brain waves and 99.9% identical DNA means we view the world around us in much the same way. That’s why you hear those crazy stories about separated twins finding each other later only to discover they’ve been living parallel lives. Essentially, we’re the same person.”

“Is this where I come in?” You ask, trying hard to conceal the fascination hiding behind your nonchalance.

“Possibly.” In your mind's eye, you picture his fingers running over his lips in a gentle pinching motion. An endearing habit of his when he’s feeling contemplative. “But, sometimes I think it has very little to do with all of that. Sometimes I think it’s just you.”

“Me?’

“You’re the lighthouse, poppins…” his voice is soft and thoughtful. “And he and I are the ships. Question is, who will run ashore first?”

“Something happened between Josh and I tonight.” You confess. “And I honestly don’t know why I’m telling you. I just felt like you should know.”

“Doesn’t that make you think?” He questions, backing you into an invisible corner.

“Doesn’t what make me think?”

“The fact that you felt the need to tell me. It’s interesting, isn’t it?”

You’re not sure what to say to that, so you choose the easiest path and say nothing at all.

“Jealousy isn’t a character flaw I struggle with. Never has been.” You listen to the creaking groan of the likely cheap and worn chair he is repositioning himself in. “Territorial? I’ll own that, but almost never with Josh. So you have your fun, love. Get him out of your system. You and I both know which ship your light shines a little brighter for.”

He ends the call with little room for argument on your part. You consider calling him back to tell him he’s wrong (is he wrong?). Instead, you slip out of bed and pad down the hall towards Josh’s room, light and hushed on your feet.

~

Josh is dreaming of you. Lost in turquoise waters that lull him deeper and deeper, down down down. You’re everywhere. Your voice, echoing and purring with the delicate current. He is tangled in your silken hair. It glows in otherworldly shades of bioluminescent purple and he longs to touch it, but each lock dissolves into blinding glitter the moment he reaches for it. Closer to the floor of your sea he drifts, as your soft moans grow louder, accompanied by the alien mournful song of whales calling to one another, his unconscious world shifts…

Now you lie beneath him, twisted in wrinkled sheets, clinging to him as he rocks into you deeply. Your nails sting as they bite into and drag across his back and he hopes it burns forever. He likes it better here. Bathing in your ocean was bliss, but here he can touch your face. Here he can search your eyes for their secrets and taste your skin. He can hear the desire thrumming in your hummingbird heart. Here you are his.

He always thinks you’re beautiful, but like this, you are celestial. A supernova captured in his arms.

You call his name, but your eyes are cast over his shoulder. He knows without question who has come to dismantle his perfect world.

“Tell him to go.”

You shake your head languidly with a Mona Lisa smile, “I’d like him to stay.”

Squeezing around him just right, you run your fingertip down the bridge of his nose…

…and he startles awake with a curse.

~

His door isn’t closed, but merely pushed to…still, you lift a loose fist to knock lightly. A faint moan in the dark stops you.

It’s a tranquil sound, one you might expect to enjoy while caught up in slow and easy early morning sex. And while it isn’t overtly obscene, it steals the air from your lungs all the same.

He’s sleeping, your eyes have adjusted to the darkness enough to know that, but he breathes another sigh into the air, and then…your name.

Can a sound be poetic? Can inflection be art? Because that is the only way to describe the way your name sounds on his tongue.

He’s dreaming…and whatever world he has faded into holds some version of you inside of it as well. What is going on inside that brilliant, beautiful mind of yours, Joshua?

This is wrong. You should go back to bed and pretend this never happened…but the angel on your shoulder has taken the night off, leaving the shameless devil in charge, plotting nefariously.

A harsh hiss of “Fuck!” bites out of him, startling you. He sounds frustrated and furious. He is awake, and very unhappy about it.

Standing still as a statue, you wonder ridiculously if he can hear the wild beat of your heart.

Knock now, you think. Pretend you’ve just arrived at his door. For the second time, you raise your hand to knock, and for the second time, you stop in your tracks when you see it.

His hand slips beneath the sheets as a shutter of pleasure ripples out of his chest. It’s no more than a strangled gasp, but your body explodes into heated pins and needles.

The drag of his fist against the linens keeps time with the airy moans he is panting into the night. It’s fucking intoxicating and you so badly want to go to him.

Instead, you back slowly away from the crack into the door, retreating further back in the hall. You’ll slink back to bed and it’ll be like this never even happened —

A floorboard creaks. An inanimate object groaning to tattle tale and shine a spotlight on your presence.

He stops instantly as you clamp your eyes shut tightly for a split second…if I can’t see you, you can’t see me mentality.

And while you pray with your whole soul to disappear like smoke in the air, he rises, tucks himself back into his sweats, and confidently closes the space between the two of you.

Before you can process, his fingers lace around your wrist and pull you into the room. Your body is pressed against the door, his breath warm on your neck as he reaches behind you to twist the lock.

A single finger traces along your cheek before tucking a lock of your hair behind your ear. “Were you watching me?”

“I…” You stammer, guilty as sin. “I was just getting ready to knock and…”

His hand slides between your legs to tease his fingers over soaked cotton. “Oh,” he tilts his head, smug and pleased with his discovery. “Someone was enjoying the show. My sweet little thing has ruined her pretty panties.”

He finds your clit and presses against it, remaining still, taunting you with the delicious pressure of his touch. “Do you like to watch?”

You nod, the shame of being caught slowly seeping from your veins.

“Yeah?” He slips into your panties from the side and teases two fingers inside you, curling upward until your thighs are shaking. “You wanna watch me cum?”

A whine of desire trembles out of you, telling him all he needs to know.

His fucks his fingers into you just a hint faster. Building you up nice and easy, creating a heavenly push and pull that you never want to end. “Some other time, sweetheart. I’m far too in love with this soft little cunt of yours right now. Pink as cotton candy and just as sweet.”

Your hands are fisted into the shoulders of his worn out t shirt, steadying yourself as your hips rock to meet him.

“Jake called.” The words leave you as barely a whisper.

“Did he?” There is a conversational edge to his cadence. As though you might be discussing the weather while you clench and drip into the palm of his hand. “Missing you already?”

“I don’t know, he— oh, fuck…right there.”

“Right there?” You catch a glimpse of the cocky smirk playing over his lips in the dark. “I'll touch you right there, sweet girl. I’ll take care of you. Just relax and let me.”

Your back arches away from the door to bring your body nearer to his. You want him pressed against you, skin to skin. You want to melt into him and live there forever, surrounded by his warm light.

“You look so fucking pretty in this light.” The moon is filtering in through the window, cool and blue. You think of winter, and he mirrors your thoughts. “Like a snow angel.”

Your hand delves beneath his waistband of his tattered sweats. A chill races up his spine when you wrap your soft hand around him. “That’s it, sweetheart. Take what you want…good girl.”

You coil and quiver around his fingers, giving yourself away.

“You like that?” He nips his perfect teeth into your bottom lip. “You want to be my good girl? A perfect princess to make my cock hard and my heart ache?’

Tightening your grip, you stroke him faster, earning a groan, long and low, deep within his chest as he fucks you closer and closer to the edge with just his hand.

“Josh, please,” the air feels charged, the way it does just before a vicious summer storm unleashes. “I’m so close. Don’t stop.”

“Not gonna stop,” he rocks into your hand a little faster to catch up with you. ‘Not until I have what’s mine. Let go for me. Show me how beautiful you look when you cum.”

With another practiced twist of his hand, he drags you under, free hand covering your mouth to quiet your cries, though he wishes he could let you scream until you were hoarse and spent.

He chases after you, burying his face in the crook of your neck to muffle his own cries as he spills over your hand, tiny rivers of warmth that tickle your skin until your eyes flutter closed to savor the feeling.

It’s peaceful for a stretch, but when the words come, you don’t swallow them down like maybe you should. You speak them into existence like maybe you shouldn’t.

“He says you’re in love with me.”

His lips ghost over your cheek, light as the softest feather. “I am.”

Taglist: @gretasintrees @greta-van-chaos @celestialfauna @s0livagant @groggyvanfleet @kiszkathecook @brokenbellz @llightmyllovee @paleshadow-ofadragon @doodle417 @seventieswhore @jake-kiszkas-smirk @weightofdreams-gvf @alisonwonderland29 @gretavanfleas @gretavangroove @sparrowofthedawn @xserenax-13 @tbagggvf @obetrolncocktails @tripthelightjaketastic @jakeslovehandles @poofyloofy @70sgroupielovr @heatmyfleet @age-of-nyahh @sammiboo162 @spicedandicedtea @jakekiszkasleftnutsack @saoirsemaeve @mywickeddivinity @paintmyhouse @tripthelightfandomtastic @tripthelight-fanfic @mckenna4 @sarakay-gvf @theweightofjake @joshsmama @sammysvanfeet @rhythm-of-space @highladyofasgard @jordierama @calumspretty

[cosmerelists]

Shallan’s Murders: Ranked by Level of Disturbing

Shallan-murders-feature requested by @nerd-in-distress

[Major spoilers for Stormlight Archives!]

I’ve already ranked Kaladin’s dramatic entrances & the awesomeness of Vin’s kills. Next up we’re looking at the many deaths that Shallan has enacted, directly or indirectly. Since Shallan’s murders tend to be Trauma Personified, I’m going to rank them by how disturbing I found them.

#10: Bluth

We’ll start with the one that I find the least disturbing--in part because I think it’s the least attributable to Shallan herself. Technically, Bluth is inspired by the “Ideal Self” that Shallan draws of him, a drawing which motivates Bluth to join the fight against the bandits and die. So it is true that if not for Shallan, Bluth would not have been in that situation and likely would not have risked himself. But it is framed as a redemption, and I don’t find it particularly disturbing. 

#9: Her own alters

In particular, I am thinking about the Battle of Thaylen City, during which Shallan keeps an entire Thrill-infected army busy by constantly creating illusions for them to kill. Every time one of these illusions die, Shallan feels it, as though she is sending out parts of herself to be murdered, over and over again. I’m not going to lie--this scene has made me cry, and I do personally feel a sense of creeping horror imagining Shallan simply sending herself out to be murdered hundreds and hundreds of times. But I suppose these deaths aren’t exactly real, so I can’t rank this too highly on the disturbing scale. 

#8: The Coachman and his Parshmen

Shallan has a bit of a rocky start when it comes to being Veil and infiltrating the Ghostbloods. During one such incursion, she hires a coachman to bring her to a meeting and then makes him drive away without her to trick the Ghostbloods. Later, she finds him and the Parshmen murdered and his coach burned. Here again, it’s not like Shallan murdered them with her own hand...but she does cause their deaths, insofar as they wouldn’t have been in danger if not for her. But this is really the fault of the Ghostbloods, so I rank it as less disturbing in terms of what Shallan herself does. 

#7: Her Mom’s “Friend”

I have honestly always been unclear about whether Shallan or Shallan’s father actually kills this guy, but the wiki says it was Shallan, so I’ll go with that. This is our first real person who is killed directly by Shallan’s hand--and honestly, I find it to be the least disturbing of actual-people-murdered-by-Shallan. I mean, the guy was a Skybreaker trying to suppress the return of the Radiants by murdering a kid, so I really feel like Shallan was acting in self-defense here. I mean, it is disturbing for Shallan, though, so that counts for something.

#6: Tyn

Speaking of murders in self-defense...Shallan does directly murder Tyn, but this one is once again purely self-defense. Tyn was trying to kill Shallan at the time, and Shallan summons her Shardblade in a desperate act of self-defense. There is still a level of horror, though. Tyn was sort of Shallan’s friend, and Shallan’s Shardblade is Trauma Personified at this point in the story--I believe this is the first time we ever actually see it. I don’t remember if it’s confirmed whether the Blade is Testament or Pattern, but there’s an extra layer of horror if it’s Testament, aka the spren that Shallan killed and is now using to kill someone else.

#5: Ialai

Now, here’s a murder not in self-defense at all. Radiant just straight up murders Ialai and hides this fact from Shallan. This is after Shallan, Radiant, and Veil vote on it and decide not to murder her...but then Radiant does it anyway in order to protect Shallan from having to do it--and from having to know about it. Unfortunately, this doesn’t so much protect Shallan as it does cause her intense mental and emotional distress, as now Shallan thinks there is a spy among her friends. This is partly why Formless becomes such a big threat in this book. So while I didn’t feel particularly upset that Ialai died, this murder did end up being disturbing in its implications--especially the idea that one of Shallan’s alters could do such a thing without Shallan (being willing to?) know.

#4: Her mom

Shallan’s mom was trying to kill her at the time, and baby Shallan summoned a Shardblade and killed her. Shallan then became convinced that the sword was her mother’s soul, which was locked in a safe behind a picture in that very room. For a very long time afterwards, Shallan would believe that safe was glowing with her dead mother’s soul. That’s all pretty disturbing--from attempted daughter-murder to actual mother-murder to just heaps of trauma. It was still self-defense, but that doesn’t help much with how disturbing it all was.  

#3: Testament

The Stormlight Archive books are FILLED with mentions of the Recreance, that day when the Radiants betrayed their oaths and killed their spren. Of course, we eventually find out that the decision to break the oaths was mutual, and that the Radiants and their spren agreed to take this action (for reasons that are still not clear...). But there is one spren-killing that occurred long after the Recreance and that was not, so far as we know, a mutual decision: Shallan’s murder of her first spren, Testament. This is the spren whose blade killed Shallan’s mother, an act that so traumatized Shallan that she broke her oath, turned her spren into a deadeye, and then repressed all off the memories. Later Shallan meets Testament in Shadesmar for just an extra layer of trauma--her murder victim is still walking around. Maybe this will get less disturbing if a way of saving deadeyes is discovered, but for now, I find this one very disturbing.

#2: Grund 

Grund is the street kid from Kholinar that Shallan tries to help by giving him food, only to later discover that Grund is being forced to do this by the gangs, who then murder Grund in front of her while he uses his dying words to declare how much he hates her. Even though this is not a death caused directly by Shallan’s hands, I find it to be one of the more disturbing deaths attributable to Shallan--because it’s a kid, because he dies of head trauma which I find disturbing, and because he uses his dying words to blame her, which is a pretty big helping of trauma to add to Shallan’s already large pile.

#1: Lin Davar

Listen, Lin Davar is the worst, and I am a fan of him being dead. Nevertheless, I find this to be far and away the most disturbing of Shallan’s murders because of how it happens. First, Shallan uses the blackbane her brother gave her to poison her father. But it doesn’t work. Her father wakes up, and Shallan has to murder him a second time, this time by literally strangling him to death with the necklace he gave her while singing the lullaby he sang to her after she murdered her mother. And strangling is not fast--she has to persist and sing until he is finally, finally dead.

So congratulations (?) to Lin Davar for being Shallan’s most disturbing murder victim! 

[physalian]

On Using Measurements and Metrics in Fantasy

This is what *I* do and what I find more immersive, easier to write, less world-bending, and more productive: I don’t use actual metric or imperial measurement systems. Why?

Personally I don’t like seeing a world completely different than our own referencing an Earth-bound measurement system (but when I must, I use metric even though I’m American).

Some people don’t have a useful frame of reference for how big something actually is if you just throw big numbers at them. Or even big units. Yeah I know a ‘football’ field is big, but that’s a very foggy and useless ‘big’ if I don't actually watch the sport and see it on a daily basis.

Specific numbers end up seeming more important than they are, whether you’re giving weights, lengths, times, etc, because you got specific. 24 hours won’t raise any brows but 22 hours will. And you just open yourself up to plot holes getting needlessly specific. You’re inviting your readers to do the math and if *you* didn’t do the math, they will find out about it.

This is for fantasy, not any other genre, although I’d still rely on vague numbers anyway unless I’m writing something super sciency where the math is important. Anything from sports to rocket science.

So what I do instead:

Give you measurements you can reference yourself. If I have a tiny fantasy macguffin, it’s about a pinkie finger wide, not 2cm. If I have a sci-fi ship, it’s about two houses/stories tall, not 20ft. It’s a puncture wound the size of a fist, not 4in. It’s a bed small enough for the character to sprawl and still hang off. It’s shoes that can fit in the palm of their hands.

Why I think this works better:

I really suck at converting numbers to actual measurements. Tell me to measure 4 inches between my hands and I’ll give you a gap +/- 2. But the size of a fist? Well I’ve got two right here, now I know what you’re talking about. Hands aren’t all the same size, but for me reading, that’s all I need to know. Do not make me bust out a tape measure or google to properly appreciate the scale of a thing in your book.

Outside of letting my characters give rough time estimates (e.g. a journey taking maybe 2 weeks) because they don’t know themselves, specific numbers aren’t very useful.

If you pick the right size comparison (picking the right allegory), it’ll read more immersive and less sterile. A character just got shot. Is the wound 1 cm, the size of a pencil, or the size of the fingers trying to dig the bullet out? A character is trapped in a criminally small cell. Is it 5 feet wide, or is it so small, they can’t even stretch out fully? A character has to make an incredible shot with a gun or a bow. Is their target 100ft away, or is it an ant on the horizon, is the target’s head the size of a marble? A character is about to fall, is the drop 800ft, or is it so far, they can’t even see the bottom? So far there’s clouds at the bottom? So far the river below is thin as a hair? The biggest lake in the region might be 4 miles across, but more importantly, standing on the bank feels like standing at the coast, cause that there’s an ocean. A tower might be 60ft tall, but more importantly, it gives you vertigo and seems to sway in the wind and it’s taller than every other structure around.

I think this also works with character descriptions. My character has no idea how long he’s been held captive, but his hair has grown out over his eyes to cue you in on the passage of time. Or my character isn’t 4’11, but her head doesn’t reach her boyfriend’s chest. Or, my character has some truly massive muscles, biceps like this other dude’s head. My character has an ugly scar from a nasty knife fight. It’s not eight inches across, but the person touching it can’t even cover it with their whole hand. This character has lost a lot of blood, not 1 liter, but enough that their clothes are dripping with it and the carpet can’t soak it all up.

Generally, the actual number isn’t the most important detail your audience wants to take away from the page, it’s what that metric now means for the scene. A 4ft cell means nothing to me, but a cell so small, my character might go crazy from claustrophobia is important.

And, also, maybe your characters also suck at gauging metrics. I have a character who’s good with horses who’ll give you their heights in hands, but another who’ll just say that one’s so tall, he can’t see over her shoulders.

When the characters need to know the numbers, give the numbers. If you have two people building something, letting them toss weights and lengths back and forth makes sense. But when it’s only the audience that needs to know the numbers, consider coming up with some other way to convey them.

[and-claudia]

Against All Odds pt.5 (Joel Miller x fem! reader)

Warnings: angst, gore, reliving trauma, canon typical violence, IT'S LONG (let me know if I missed any)

General Warnings for later on: The main story will have an age gap between Joel and the reader (Reader will be 25 once we get to the main storyline), this will also be your warning that it will eventually be an x pregnant reader (if that's not your jam, I'm sorry) there is also going to be more graphic/trigger parts later on so please always to be sure to read the warnings BEFORE reading. This story will also be 18+ and TO BE ON THE TAGLIST YOU CAN NOT BE AN AGELESS BLOG (i do actually check that) also there first hand full of parts are all prologue so Joel won't actually be in it for a bit

word count: 8000+ (oopsie)

Taglist Sign-Up (read my rules carefully before filling it out)

a/n at the end, please read and give your feed back in the comments

After running through the rain for a few miles we finally made it far enough to be safe from patrol. We were in what looked like what used to be a barber shop or something. Regardless of what it used to be, now it was our shelter for the night. 

“You should get some rest, Ellie. We aren’t making it to the State House tonight.” I said to the young girl. 

She eyed Tess and Joel, clearly unsure if she’d be safe lowing her guard after finding out she had been bitten. 

“You’ll be safe, I promise.” I tried to reassure her. 

She slowly nodded and found herself a dry spot to curl up for the night. Tess and Joel stood on the opposite side of the building. I walked over to them so we could discuss our game plan. 

“So, it’s,” I checked my watch, “just passed 2:30 am, sun will be up by around 7:00 ish, we got at least 4 hours for watch. We can each take an hour and 20 minutes.” I suggested. 

“I ain’t sleepin’.” Tessl said matter of factly. 

“Yeah, me neither. Someone needs to watch the door and someone needs to keep an eye on that kid.” Joel said. 

“One: door’s barricaded, ain’t nothing getting in through there. Two: she said that bite is 2 weeks old. She hasn’t gone all crazy yet, she won’t overnight. It’ll be fine.” I tried to argue. 

“I don’t trust it. That doesn’t happen, Yn. But I mean if you want to risk yourself and-” I knew he was about to mention the baby but I gave him a pointed look warning him not to, “and sleep,” he corrected himself, “then be my fucking guest.” 

I sighed, “Well I am tiered Joel so yeah I think I’ll take the so-called risk.” 

I walked away and dropped my bag down to use as a pillow and used Joel’s jacket I took from the apartment to cover my upper body up. Every time I’ve ever slept outside the walls it had always been either with, or at the very least beside Joel as he took his watch shift. So being away from him right now felt strange, even though he was only a few yards away from me. Luckily though I was still tired enough to fall asleep fairly quickly. 

Unfortunately, I had only managed to sleep a little over an hour. I tried going back to sleep but it was no use. So, instead, I got up and walked over to Joel and Tess. 

“You can go back to sleep.” Joel said quietly. 

“I’m fine. If one of you wants to rest for a bit I can take over for one of you.” I offered. 

“We’re good.” Tess said, not taking her eyes off the girl. 

“Fine.” I sighed and grabbed Joel’s bag. 

He never checks the small, inner pocket of his bag and I had gotten into a habit of tucking a small book in there when I could, even if I wasn’t going with them I would still do it. I wasn’t sure if he ever finished reading them or not but he would always return it to me when he got back and had something to say about it. 

“What are you doing?” Joel asked. 

“Looking for something.” 

I didn’t remember him returning the last one I gave him, so I wanted to see if it was still in there. And lucky for me it was. I pulled out an old, slightly faded copy of The Picture of Dorian Gray. Joel gave me a weird look. 

“I mean, if you don’t need me to watch anything and I’m not falling back asleep, might as well pass the time some way.” 

I took it over to the wall and sat down. Luckily the rain had stopped, giving way to the light of the moon. This gave me just enough light to read in. Despite my efforts, I fell asleep about 30 minutes later and didn’t wake back up until the sun had risen. Sitting against the hard wall like that made my back hurt as I stood up and walked over to put my book back in Joel’s bag. 

“Ellie awake yet?” I asked. 

“Nope.” 

“Okay well, I’m going to go find somewhere to pee.” I said before walking off. 

When I got back Ellie was now awake and Joel had the rifle he had stolen from the guard pointed at her.

“Show us your arm.” He said. 

She sighed before rolling up the sleeve of her jacket, showing the scar from where she had been bitten. 

“Yeah, it’s not getting any worse is it?” She sassed. 

I walked over and squatted down beside her. 

“Can I see it?” I asked. 

I didn’t get a good look at it in the chaos last night and wanted to see it for myself. She nodded and held it over to me so I could see it better. 

“If we’re in the open city why aren’t we getting swarmed?” She asked, I turned to Joel for him to answer her. 

“Don’t worry about it.” He said causing me to roll my eyes. 

“Well, I’m gonna.” She sassed. 

“We’ll be fine.” I said quietly before letting go of her arm and standing up. 

“What was Marlene doing with an infected kid?” Tess asked. 

“I’m not infected.” Ellied argued. 

I walked over to sit with Joel and Tess, “I mean she’s right. She was bitten but not infected. I know that doesn’t happen but it did… But why were you with Marlene then?” 

“She found me after I was bitten.” She explained. 

“And she didn’t shoot you?” Joel asked harshly. 

“Clearly not.” Ellie snapped back, causing me to fight the urge to snicker at her response before she explained a little more, “She locked me up and her guys test me every day to make sure I wasn’t infected.” 

“How did they test you?” I asked before I could process what I was saying. 

“They’d make me count to ten then hold my hand out and keep it steady. But you know what I think really impressed them was the fact that I didn’t turn into a fucking monster.” 

I nodded, “Fair enough.” 

“I gotta pee.” She said going to stand up, but Joel did the same and his grip on the rifle tightened. 

“Joel. Let her go. She’s not going anywhere. You heard her, she’s worried about what’s out there.” I said quietly to Joel before turning to her, “Go back there, just find a spot. And here, use this. It’s the best we got. Just tear out a few pages.” I said tossing an old magazine to her. 

She caught it and disappeared into one of the small side rooms. 

“Nothing’s gonna kill me in here, right?” She called out. 

“No, you’re fine. I just went too.” I yelled back. 

As Joel sat down, I noticed his right hand was shaking and still bloody from last night. 

“Broken?” Tess asked having seen the same thing as me. 

“Maye a hairline, it’ll heal fast.” He replied. 

“Can I see it?” I asked gently. 

“It’s fine.” He said coldly. 

“Joel, let me see your fucking hand.” I said, holding mine out for him to put his in. 

He sighed but did as I told him. I looked it over, it was defiantly swollen. Luckily it wasn’t too nasty, the rain helped clean it out pretty well last night. 

“It’s fairly clean. I’m gonna wrap it for you.” I told him rather than asking already standing to grab my bag. 

“Joel she made it through the fucking night.” Tess said as I walked back over, bag in hand. 

“Doesn’t matter.” Joel bit back. 

I took my seat on the ground beside Joel and began to bandage up his hand. 

“It’s gonna happen sooner or later.” He tried to reason, “We’re still close to the wall, we sneak her back into the QZ, and we find a different way to get the battery.” 

“This is our best shot,” Tess argued, “If we take her back there, someone is gonna notice her arm, they’ll scan her and kill her.” 

“Well better them than us.” He shot back. 

“May I give my two cents here?” I asked finishing up Joel's bandages. 

Tess nodded for me to go on. 

“I can’t believe I’m sayin’ it but I agree with Tess. We can’t bring her back… and we can’t kill her. It ain’t fair to her. Bringing her to the State House is our best option here, rather than bringing her back to the QZ where we know she will get killed, or killing her ourselves. At least that way we won’t have to live knowing we lead her to slaughter.” I said. 

“You two both need to quit talking about her like she actually has a life ahead of her.” Joel said. 

“Maybe she does.” I argued just as we heard footsteps coming back. 

“Whatever, let’s just eat something before we have to head out again.” Joel said digging into his bag. 

“You hungry? We can share some of ours.” Tess offered as Ellied sat back down. 

“Marlene sent me with my own.” She said before digging into her bag and pulling something out of it. 

Joel passed out a couple of pieces of dried jerky to both me and Tess. I broke off a piece of mine but as I brought it up to my mouth and caught a whiff of it, it made me feel nauseous. I sat up a bit more and brought it away from my face to take a few deep breaths before handing the pieces back to Joel. 

“Here. I’m not hungry.” I said. 

“You need to eat.” Joel said, not taking them. 

“Joel, take them.” I snapped a little. 

“You okay kid? You look really pale.” Tess said, taking the jerky from my hand. 

“I’m not a kid. And I’m fine.” I lied. 

I could tell she wasn’t convinced but I am glad she didn’t ask any more questions. Instead, she put the jerky away and dug in her bag for something.  

“Here, eat these, I’ve been secretly growing them at my place. You need to eat something. And drink some water.” She said handing me a small bag of berries. 

I nodded in thanks and slowly ate them. I was so caught up in trying not to puke that I had completely tuned out the conversation Ellie and Tess were having until Tess stood up from her stool and walked closer to the young girl. Joel tried to stop her, but I grabbed his arm to keep him from doing so. 

“Why are you so special to Marlene? And don’t lie or we’ll take you back.” She threatened. 

“You take me back, you don’t get your battery.” Ellie popped off to her. 

Tess scoffed, “You heard that huh? Well, then you must’ve also heard that he wants to shoot you.” 

Ellie eyed Joel nervously before replying, “Yeah, but she said you shouldn’t, at least not yourself. And something tells me she won’t let him do it.” She said referring to me. 

Joel rolled his eyes at her remark. 

“Look, I’m gonna talk to you like you’re an adult,” Tess began as she knelt down in front of Ellie, “We’re not good people, we’re doing this for us. Because apparently, you’re worth something. But we don’t know what you’re worth if we don’t know what we have. So, answer my question.” 

I could tell Ellie thought about what she was about to do, she seemed apprehensive. 

“She told me not to tell anyone and now I’m telling the first people that I-” She hesitated. 

“Hey, it’s okay we won’t tell anyone.” I finally spoke up, trying to reassure her. 

She took a deep breath before continuing, “There’s a Firefly base camp somewhere out west… with doctors. They’re working on finding a cure.” 

“We’ve heard this all before.” Joel sighed, annoyed that we were even considering giving her the time of day to explain herself. 

“And whatever happened to me…” 

“-Is the key to the vaccine.” Joel said with her, knowing what she was about to say. 

“That’s what this is? We’ve heard this a million times before. Vaccines, miracle cures. None of it works. Ever.” He argued. 

“Fuck you, man. I didn’t ask for this.” Ellied snapped at him standing up. 

“You and me both. Tess, Yn, this isn’t gonna end well. We need to go back.” He urged. 

I stood up as Tess did the same. 

“Let’s just finish it.” Tess said, “It doesn’t matter if she is or isn’t what the Fireflies say. If they believe that she is then… we get what we want.” 

“I mean, best-case scenario she is, we hand her over, they find a cure, we get the truck and find Tommy. Worst-case scenario is she isn’t and this was a waste of time.” I said. 

“No, Yn, worst-case is we all end up dead.” Joel said harshly. 

“Can you two get over your lover's quarrel, are we going or not?” Tess asked. 

Joel sighed and grabbed his bag, “If she so much as twitches.” He warned. 

Ellied began to snarl and make choking sounds as she pretend to twitch around causing me to bite back a snicker. Joel didn’t find it amusing. 

“Don’t.” Tess reprimanded her and she stopped immediately. 

We all collected our stuff and as Joel picked up his newly acquired rifle Ellie eyed it up and said, “Can I have a gun.” 

“Absolutely not.” 

“No.” 

“Hell no.” Joel, Tess, and I all said respectively. 

“Okay, Jesus. Fine. I’ll have to just throw a fucking sandwich at them.” She said as she picked up what was left over and put it in her bag. 

Joel moved the barricade from the door and then opened it to make sure the coast was clear. When he confirmed that it was, we followed him out. 

When we walked out, the sun was shining and you could see the city around us. Or what used to be a city that was now falling apart and overrun but nature. Ellie was ahead of me and watched her with a small smile as she took in the sight before her. 

“Whoa.” She sighed. 

“I know, I had the same reaction my first time seeing it.” I said, nudging her slightly with my arm. 

“We should get movin’.” Joel said. 

And with that, we began walking. We passed some of the craters left from the bombings. Just like me, Ellie was oddly fascinated with everything we passed. 

“It’s like a fucked up moon. Are these from the bombings?” She asked. 

“Yeah, Joel or Tess can tell you more about it. I don’t really remember it.” I admitted. 

“They bombed most of the bigger cities like this, “ Tess explained, “They had to slow the spread somehow. It worked here, but it didn’t in most places.” 

We walked a little further before we got to a road that was impassable due to a collapsed building. It was really in the most inconvenient spot. If it wasn’t blocked, then the State House would have been a straight shot taking ten to fifteen minutes tops to get there. But since that was not an option we had to choose one of the alternate routes. 

“Long way or short way?” Joel asked. 

“Well, I mean it’s the long way or the ‘we’re fuckin dead’ way.” Tess said. 

“Well, I vote long way, just based on that limited information.” 

Joel nodded, knowing it was the safer route, “We have to check it from the hotel first.” 

We nodded and began walking that way. It was still eerie walking past all the abandoned cars. I didn’t dare to look in them. I made that mistake once. Most of them were empty, but not all of them. You had a chance of finding an infected or perhaps worst severely decomposing person in them. 

As we walked, Joel hung back in the back of the group, Tess lead the way while Ellie and I walked together. 

“Where the fuck are they all?” She asked. 

I just shook my head, “You’ll know it when they’re close. Don’t ask about them though, you’ll jinx us.” I warned. 

“I didn’t know last time.” She said. 

“Was that when you got bit?” I asked.

She nodded, “It was in the old mall in the QZ.” 

Tess turned around at that and waited for us to catch up. 

“You got bit in the sealed-off mall that no one is supposed to go in. Ever.” 

“Whatever. I snuck in. I wanted to see what it was like. Didn’t think there was gonna be anything in there and then one just came at me outta nowhere. I thought I got away, but.” 

“So, it was just you in there, alone?” Tess asked. 

“Yeah.” Ellie said. 

“How old are you?” Tess asked another question. 

“14.” 

“Wow. I mean, you got some balls on you, sister.” 

“Thanks.” Ellie said, smiling to herself causing me to smile a little too. 

We continued our trek down the old highway, occasionally climbing over cars that had been wrecked and flipped over. Joel was staying silent which wasn’t unusual for him. Not that I wanted to speak to him right now. 

“So Ellie,” I began, “No one’s going to come looking for you, right?” 

“Yeah, like mom, or dad or boyfriend?” Tess added. 

“Well, I’m an orphan, and ah no…” She said, “Everyone always said the outer city was crazy,” She said, changing the subject, “like there were hoards of infected running wild.” 

“Not exactly like that.” Joel’s voice startled me a bit. 

“People like to tell stories.” Tess added. 

“So, there aren’t Super-Infected that explode fungus spores on you?” Ellie asked. 

“Shit, I hope not.” Tess joked. 

“Just thinking about that makes my skin crawl.” I said with a small shutter as the thought of what facing one of those would be like. 

“Or what about ones with split open heads that can see in the dark like bats?” Ellied asked causing me to freeze. 

I had come to learn that when I had been attacked trying to get to the Boston QZ, all those years ago with my brother and Pa that it had been a Clicker. They were the final stage of being infected. It was when you became more fungus than human. The fungus grows out of your skull, cracking it open and allowing it to grow bigger. 

I took a deep breath and went to continue walking but just as I went to take a step we all froze and looked off to our left where we could hear a loud, distant howling yell of an infected. 

“What was that?” Ellie asked. 

“I told you, you would know when they got close.” I reminded her. 

“Let’s keep movin’.” Joel said, gripping his rifle a little tighter. 

We eventually made it to the hotel. When we pushed open the door the smell of murky water hit me causing me to sigh. I was not going to be able to catch a break today from horrible smells. It also looked like the rain we had just gotten had made the water in there rise a lot more. 

“You’ve gotta be kidding me! You guys ever stay in a place like this?” Ellie asked. 

“Uh no,  a little out of our league.” Tess joked. 

“How do you even know what this is?” Joel asked. 

“Have you ever heard of books?” She sassed causing him to roll his eyes before he descended the few stairs down into the water. 

“Wait a minute we're going in there?” 

“Unfortunately.” I said to her as I tightened the straps on my backpack. 

“We gotta get to the stairwell on the other side.” Tess said, nodding across the way at it. 

“Well, I- I um don’t know how to swim.” She tried to argue. 

“Seriously?” Joel asked. 

“Do you think we have pools in the QZ?” She shot back at him. 

“No, smartass. I mean,” He finished his sentence by jumping off the last step and showing the water, despite being higher than usual, only came up to right around his knees. 

“I don’t know how I was supposed to know that.” Ellie said as she walked down the stairs. 

I went to walk down the too but Tess stopped me. 

“Careful, kid, they’re slick.” She warned with a knowing look. 

Fuck. She knew. 

“Thanks.” I nodded before carefully walking down with her following behind me. 

The floor was covered in slippery algae so I took my time walking across it with Tess as Joel and Ellie were ahead of us. 

“Does he know?” She asked. 

I looked at her but didn’t answer. 

“I’m not trying to pry. Just wondering if that’s got him so bent out of shape.” She explained. 

“No, me being pregnant is what’s gotten him so bent out of shape. He doesn’t want it. He said the last time he held a baby was before I was even born…” I explained. 

“That’s what happens when you get with a much older man,” She teased only partly joking, “But I guess the question is, do you want it?” 

I nodded, “Yeah.” 

“He loves you, Yn, he’ll come around.” She tried to reassure me. 

I shrugged, “I just think he has too much going on right now, and worrying about me even more than he usually has to just sent him over the edge. Like he made it very clear that he doesn’t want the baby, but wants to make decisions on what is best for me now. He doesn’t need to do that. He doesn’t want it, so let me worry about it. You know?” 

She nodded as we both stopped to look over at Ellie as she messed around with the old luggage cart. Then, when she jumped back, clearly startled by something, Tess and I were both pulling out our guns as Joel rushed over to help her. Joel helped her up after seeing that there was no immediate danger. She made her way over to us and we both made sure she was okay. Once we made it across the water, we had to climb up ten flights of stairs to get high enough. Joel led the way with his rifle, making sure the coast was clear for us. 

When we got to the top Joel checked down the hall to make sure we were safe then walked out. When Tess and I made it there we both paused for a second to catch our breaths. 

“Come on, it wasn’t that bad.” Ellie teased. 

“You try climbing ten fuckin’ flights with our knees. See how you feel.” Tess shot back in defense. 

“Okay, but what about her? She like in her twenties, why are you winded?” Ellied asked nodding to me. 

“I have my reasons.” I said. 

“That’s convincing.” She said before following Joel. 

 We rounded a corner and saw that part of the building had collapsed. 

“Well, when the fuck did that happen?” Tess asked.

We tried to open a few of the doors but none of them would budge. I walked closer to the rubble. There was an opening I could fit through. 

“Hey, what if I climb through? I can work my way around and open it from the inside maybe?” I suggested. 

“Worth a shot.” Tess agreed. 

“No.” Joel was quick to shut that down. 

“I can go. I am the smallest.” Ellie offered up. 

“No, if you die, we get nothing.” Tess said. “Let Tess go.” Joel suggested. 

“Why can’t I do it?” I questioned, crossing my arms over my chest. 

“Because you might get hurt.” He argued. 

“And if she does, Joel, it’ll be on here. She’s a big girl she can go. Come on let's get her up there.” Tess said, ending our little argument. 

They helped me up through the opening then I began climbing over hunks of cement and barbs. 

“You good up there?” Joel called out to me. 

“I’m fine. Just trying to map out a course. It’s a fucking a mess up here. Give me a few minutes.” 

I finally mapped out my route to get over the piles of concrete without getting impaled by a metal barb. Once I made it through I took a glance around me, to the street below. Fuck. There were infected down there a lot of them. We wouldn’t be able to go that way anymore. I sighed, turning around to go let the others in. 

“Joel, put your fucking gun down, if you shoot me, I’ll shoot back.” I warned as I began to move pieces of furniture out of the way. 

I got to the door and opened it, my face must have said it all. 

“What’s wrong?” Tess asked. 

“Come see for yourself.” I said, turning around and leading them to see what I saw down in the street. 

When we got over to the balcony, Ellie stepped up onto the bottom molding to get a better view. “Be careful.” I said, coming to stand beside her as she leaned over a bit more. 

“There’s so many.” She said in awe. 

I saw Tess nod from the corner of my eye, “Yeah, last time we came through here, they were still deep inside the buildings. But I guess enough people came through looking for the QZ, they went inside seeking shelter and that’s how they get more and more of the city bit by bit, year after year.” 

We watched them as they all seemed to move together. 

“They’re connected.” Ellie commented. 

“More than you know.” Tess began, “The fungus also grows underground. Long fibers like wires, some of them stretching over a mile. Now, you step on a patch of cordyceps in one place, and you can wake a dozen Infected from somewhere else.” 

“Really?” 

Tess nodded once again, “Then they know where you are and they’re coming for you. You’re not immune from being ripped apart. You understand?” 

“Tess, chill you’re scaring her.” I said. 

“I’m just being honest with her. This is important for her to know. I’m trying to keep her alive.” She said defensively. 

Ellie hopped down from where she was standing with a small sigh.

“So, guess we’re not going that way.” 

“Nope.” I confirmed. 

“So, what do we do then?” She asked, looking between the three of us. 

I looked at Joel and waited for him to confirm what I already knew he was going to say. 

“Museum.” He said and I immediately shook my head. “No. There’s other ways, we can take one of those.” I said. 

“We don’t have a secure way to check those routes. And we’re running out of time. It’s the only option now. You knew we might go that way if you’re so terrified of it, then maybe yo-” 

“Joel, I swear, if you say that I should’ve stayed back one more time I’ll push your fucking ass off this building and let the Infected have their way with you.” I said. 

He was way out of line. He knew what happened last time. He knew why I was terrified to go back there. 

It happened about 8 months ago. We were going out to trade with Frank and Bill. I decided to tag along, I hadn’t seen them since we met something always came up but always sent my best wishes when Joel and Tess went. But this time I was able to go. 

We made it out of the QZ without any issues. I couldn’t remember why but we decided to take the route through the museum. They hadn’t taken me that way last time so I was excited to see a different part of the city. We made it in without any issues. It was when we got to the second floor. Joel had told me to have my gun ready, just in case there were any infected hiding out in there. 

Tess was behind me and Joel was leading us. He had his flashlight out lighting the way. I saw it before he did. I man ran out from the shadows straight at him. He had a knife in his hand, ready to attack. Joel’s head was down, trying to get his light readjusted in his grip. 

“Joel!” I yelled, getting his attention. 

He sidestepped the attack just narrowly missing getting slashed. Now the man was running straight at me. I wasn’t sure what happened, but next thing I knew my ears were ringing, the man had fallen with a thud, and my hands were shaking as they gripped my now-raised gun. 

What had I done? 

I killed him. I killed someone. They weren’t even infected from what I could tell. Then I heard it. The howling of a dying man. I hadn’t killed him. 

“You son of a bitch! You shot me!” He yelled, trying and failing to stop the blood that was coming from his stomach. 

I hadn’t really aimed and he was so close that the bullet ripped him up pretty good. 

It got worse though. The man had clearly gone insane because next thing I knew, as I stood there in shock, the man took his rusted knife and made a cut at the bullet wound. It wasn’t a huge one, but it was enough that he could stick his own hand into it. And that is what he did. At this point, Tess had grabbed me and was pulling me backward from the way we came and Joel was walking toward us to try and block out the man. He managed to, but not before I saw him pulling out his own intestines as he continued to bellow in pain. The last thing I saw was him finally go limp on the ground. 

Once we got out, Jole made sure I was okay. I was still in shock and couldn’t find the strength to speak. So I just let him hold me for a few minutes before he began walking us back toward the QZ. 

As we walked to the museum, the scene replayed over and over again in my head. It had traumatized me. Not only was that my first time killing someone, but what he did after being shot scared me. I can still hear his screams in my sleep sometimes. 

“Earth to Yn?” Tess’s voice brought me out of my trance. 

“Sorry, what?” 

“Take this flashlight.” She held it out to me and I took it into my shaking hands. 

“Okay, more ground rules,” she said, turning to Ellie, I didn’t listen to them as my eyes met Joel’s. 

“You’ve been quiet.” He commented. 

“Yeah, just reliving some trauma… you think he’s still in there?” I asked, referring to his dead body. 

“Well, I doubt he had some kin to come collect his body.” Joel sassed. 

“Joel quit being an ass. You know that scared the fuck out of me. I couldn’t sleep for a month without seeing him.” I said, tears welling up at the thought of it again. 

“Hey, I’ll go ahead of you, if he’s there, close your eyes and I’ll guide you past it. Okay?” Tess offered. 

I nodded, “Thank you.” 

It was so weird that Tess was now being nicer to me since she figured out that I was pregnant. At least someone was, it’s not like Joel has been. 

Joel went in first. He poked his head in and made sure the coast was clear once he was sure it was he went in and nodded for us to follow. I was still shaking as I followed him in, followed by Ellie, then Tess. I was zoned out to everything around me. I had one goal and one goal only: get in and get out of here. I vaguely processed Joel and Tess talking about something Ellie found but couldn’t focus enough to catch what was being said. 

“Yn, you got that?” Joel asked, stepping in front of me. 

“Hm?” 

“Silent. Completely silent from now on.” He said and all I could do was nod. 

Any other time I would’ve processed why we were being silent, but I just couldn’t right now, but I still went along with it. We made our way up the stairs, my little “friend” was on the second landing. I hesitated as we got closer. I was shocked when Joel stopped and nodded for Tess and Ellie to go passed. He stepped down closer to me and nodded, telling me the body was still there. 

“Close your eyes.” He mouthed. 

I nodded and did so. Then he grabbed my hand and carefully led me passed him. Joel tapped my arm and my eyes opened, we had made it past. 

“Don’t look.” He mouthed before nodding me to go forward. 

I went to take a step but something caught my attention. Up at the top of the stairwell, I swore I heard something. I shrugged it off as paranoia and continued to follow Tess up. Once we made it all the way up, Joel took over leading us. I was feeling a bit better having passed the body now, but something felt off. 

We made it into an exhibit hall. Joel had once again made sure the coast was clear before we entered. We were back to our original lineup with Joel leading, then me, then Ellie and Tess in the back. I had made it through the doorway and was waiting for Tess and Ellie when I heard a rumbling sound. Just as they were crossing the threshold, the ceiling out in the hallway collapsed sending both of them to the floor. Joel and I were quick to help them up. 

Then we heard it. Screeching and then… clicking. There was a Clicker in here with us. 

Without saying a word, Ellie stayed behind me as Tess and Joel stayed ahead of me and we all moved together, slowly backing away from where we had heard the noises. I was shaking and had to bite my lip to keep from crying. Why did it have to be a damn Clicker? I would’ve much rather preferred to have another crazed man attack us than have to deal with one of them. It rounded the corner and I looked away, I didn’t even want to look at it. 

As we continued to back away, I heard more clicking coming from another hall. When I turned to look, another was stumbling out. Our backs were against a display case as it stumbled around it. I watched in silent horror as it rounded the case and began to walk behind Joel. I was holding my breath to not make any sounds. Then, it all happened so fast. Someone exhaled just loud enough for it to hear. The Clicker turned and screeched at us. 

Then, Joel was taking his gun and shooting at it. “Run!” He yelled at us as he tried to fight it off. 

I was in complete defense mode and took off running. Tess and Ellie went one way and I split off the other way. I realized it was a stupid idea seeing as I had no idea how the fuck to get out of here and the way we had come in was now blocked off by the collapsed ceiling. It didn’t matter all that did was getting away. I heard thuds and more gunshots as I turned into another part of the exhibit. There were footsteps behind me and turned just in time to see Joel running and pointing for me to go in there. He followed in behind me, bringing the Clicker that was chasing him along with him. He pushed over one of the busts and it hit a glass display case, shattering it and distracting the Clicker. We hid behind a taller one and Joel very quietly reloaded his gun. Once he was done he glanced around us. 

Then, he pointed to something past me. I turned and saw Ellie crouching behind a display by herself. I turned back to Joel and nodded before carefully making my way over to her. We got there and got her to follow us. We were inching our way to the other side when the sound of glass crunching under a boot made my heart drop. I barely had time to glance up and see the Clicker jump onto Ellie. 

It had her pinned and she was doing her best to keep it away from her. I didn’t hesitate to aim my gun at it. I shot it once, twice before it stumbled off of her. Joel got her up and began rushing away with her. The Clicker stumbled for a moment before running at us once again. I fired at it again and again until it fell to the ground and I emptied two more rounds into its head. 

I thought we were clear. I couldn’t hear the other but as I glanced around me I realized that Tess was nowhere to be seen. Then I heard it, the other Clicker. It was running at us before Tess got to it. She hit it with a hatchet which stopped its advances on us as it turned toward her. Joel quickly grabbed his rifle and aimed at it. Within two shots to its head, it too went down. 

“Is everyone okay?” Joel asked. 

“Twisted ankle, but… yeah.” Tess spoke up first before turning to Ellie, “You alright?” 

“Well, I didn’t shit my pants, so…” She said but then rolled up her sleeve, “Well if it was gonna happen to one of us.” 

“Hey,” Tess spoke up once again, “Let's get the fuck out of here.”

She began walking towards the window to lead us out and Ellie followed. Joel hung back for a moment. 

“Are you okay?” 

I nodded knowing he meant if I was physically hurt, which I wasn’t. Tears began to well up in my eyes, quickly wiped them, and just turned to follow the other two out of here. Once we got out, Joel helped Tess wrap her ankle while I helped Ellie cover the wound on her arm.  As I tied off the bandage I could feel nausea creeping up my throat. I quickly but carefully hurried across the wooden planks to the other building where it was a bit more flat. I managed to get out of where they would be walking before dropping to my knees and hurling. 

Once I was done, I sat back, catching my breath. I felt something tap my shoulder and opened my eyes to see Joel offering me his water canteen. I took it with a small nod. 

“This is why you shouldn’t have come out here. It’s gonna get worse before it gets better. It’s still not too late to head back. You know the way back to the QZ from here.” He said gently, clearly trying to comfort me with his tone but his words did the complete opposite. 

I spit out the water I was using to get the nasty taste out of my mouth before turning to him. 

“You must be out of your damn mind if you think I am going back through there alone. I’ve never been out here by myself before. There ain’t no way in hell I am turning around and heading back by myself. I don’t care if you think it’ll get worse. You made it very clear this is my issue to deal with. If you’ve suddenly had a change of heart we can discuss it when we get back. We won’t be out here forever. We’ll get Ellie to the State House, get a truck, and then go to the radio tower to find Tommy. We’ll be gone a month, two months tops. I’m roughly 7-9 weeks is what the midwife said. So we will have plenty of time to discuss it then. Let’s just take care of this.” I said standing up and handing him back his canteen. 

“Wait, you’re pregnant?” Ellie asked from where she stood near Tess. 

“Yeah.” I sighed. 

“And you came out here?” She was clearly surprised by my choice. 

“Yup. Come let’s get moving.” I said, wanting the attention off of me. 

“Yeah, let’s go.” Tess said nodding and leading the way. 

We made our way to the edge of the building and from there you could see the golden top of the State House. 

“Is it everything you’d hope it’d be?” Joel asked her. 

“Jury’s still out. But, man, you can’t deny that view.” She said in awe. 

“No, no you can’t.” I agreed, stepping up beside her. 

“Come on, let’s try to get there before it gets dark.” Tess said before swinging herself around the edge of the rusty old fire escape ladder. 

I went to go next. 

“Should someone help her?” Ellie asked Joel. 

“I got it.” I reassured her. 

At least she genuinely cared. She followed behind me, and then Joel. We were pretty high up so it took a little while to climb all the way down. 

Tess kept leading the way to the State House. I couldn’t help but feel like she was walking a lot faster than we were earlier. She was also seemingly trying to keep her distance from us. Anytime we tried to catch up too much, she speed up a little more. I wasn’t sure why she was in such a rush all of a sudden. Yes, we were trying to get there before it got dark but we were making good time. 

When we finally made it, it was quiet. Too quiet. 

“Where the fuck are they?” Tess asked the question that we were all thinking. 

It was evident they had been here at some point seeing as there was one of their trucks parked out front still. They should be here. Joel went to check the cab of the truck. With his rifle in hand, he opened the passenger door and threw it open. Empty. However, I could see from where Tess, Ellie, and I were standing that there was blood splattered in the cab. Something had happened to them. Both Tess and I had our guns drawn ready to help Joel should he need it. He disappeared around the other side and when he didn’t signal us to follow or show up again we grew impatient and went to see what he had found. 

“What the fuck is going on?” Tess asked. 

“I don’t know.” He replied, staring at the empty truck. 

“They went inside.” 

We all turned to see what Ellie was talking about and sure enough there was a trail of blood leading up the steps. Then, without warning, Tess pushed pasted both Joel and me and grabbed Ellie by the arm, and began forcefully leading her up the stairs. 

“Come on!” She said to the girl. 

I turned to Joel to see if he had any clues about what just happened but he looked just as confused as I did. We both then followed after them. We were all shocked by what we found when we got inside. Everyone was dead. Tess looked panicked. 

“I mean there’s gotta be like a fuckin’ radio or somethin’, right?” She asked as she began to frantically look around. 

“Who killed them, FEDRA?” Ellie asked. 

“No,” Joel began as he rolled the body closet to him over with his foot, “One of them got bitten. The healthy ones fought the sick ones. Everyone lost.” 

I turned to see Tess still frantically looking around for something. “Tess, what’s going on?” “Where did Marlene say she was taking you?” She asked, ignoring my question and quickly approaching Ellie. 

“I- I don’t know. Just west.” 

“Just west.” She repeated to herself, “Fuck. Okay. Well, I mean, one of them’s gotta have a map on them right?” 

Joel and I continued to watch her. 

“Can you two help?” She snapped at us. 

“No! Tess… it’s over.” Joel said. 

“They wouldn’t risk having a map, Tess… I’m sorry.” 

“Come on. We’re going home.” Joel said. 

“That’s not my fucking home!” She yelled before taking a deep breath and standing back up, “I’m staying,” she said, much calmer, “I mean… our luck  had to run out sooner or later.” 

“Shit.” I whispered under my breath knowing what she meant. 

“She infected.” Ellie said. 

I watched Joel, wait to see how he would react. 

“Show me.” 

“Joel.” She went to take a step towards him only for him to take one back, away from her. 

With a sigh, she grabbed the collar of her shirt and jacket and pulled it down revealing the infection at the junctor of her neck and collarbone. I covered my mouth and tried to breathe slowly as I felt a wave of emotions hit me. We may not have always gotten along the greatest but I’ve been around her for so long now that seeing her infected still made me sad knowing this would be the last time we saw her. 

“Ellie take off your bandage.” She said. 

The girl did as she was told and to my surprise, her bite was already almost completely healed. Tess walked over to Ellie and grabbed her arm to show Joel. 

“This is real, Joel. She is real,” She then turned to me, “Promise you’ll get her to Bill and Franks.” 

“I don’t know the way.” I said shaking my head. 

“He’ll go with you. He would never let you go by yourself. He won’t have a choice but to go. So, please, promise me you’ll get her there. They’ll take her off your hands. They’ll handle it from there.” 

I was nodding gas Joel kept saying “no” and arguing that they wouldn’t take her, but Tess was adamant that they would. 

“Joel, this is your chance to set it all right. All the shit we did. Please say yes, Joel.” Tess pleaded. 

I was watching with teary eyes, not crying yet, waiting for him to agree. But before he got the chance to say anything an infected screeched. I immediately pulled Ellie to stand behind me and brought my gun out and shot it. Joel still hadn’t answered. Instead, he ran towards the door. I was about to ask him what the hell he was doing but as soon as he opened it I heard the snarls of a hoard of infected coming our way. When I shot that one it must have woken all the others nearby. 

“How many?” Tess asked. 

“All of them.” “How long?” I asked. 

“Maybe a minute.” 

My heart dropped. 

Everyone stood trying to think of something to do, knowing it was practically hopeless. Then, suddenly, Tess grabbed the rifle and walked over to one of the barrels. He knocked its cap off them and dumped its contents onto the floor. She did the same to two more. Then grabbed a basket of grenades and threw them down too. 

“What are you doing?” Ellie asked. 

“Making sure they don’t follow you.” Tess replied. 

When I realized what she was going to do, my heart broke a little. 

“Tess.” I began. 

“Don’t. Don’t cry me. We never really got along anyways.” SHe joked half heartedly. 

I laughed sadly and nodded. 

“Hey, take care of them and save who you can save.” She said. 

I nodded one last time before turning around. 

“Hurry, let's go.” I said, grabbing Ellie’s arm. 

“We can’t leave her!” She yelled. 

“We have to!” I yelled back, following Joel out of the building. 

We had made it less than a hundred yards when the explosion happened. We dropped to our knees for a brief second before standing back up and turning to face the building again. Joel and pulled out our guns, ready to shoot any infected that came our way. I could see them stumbling out of the building, on fire, but none came our way. When we decided we were as safe as we could be, we lowered our guns. I turned to Joel only to find him already staring back at me. Neither of us said a thing. There was nothing to be said. We just turned around and began walking away from the raging fire behind us. 

a/n: are y'all okay with this long of parts or would y'all rather me break them up into smaller bits?? So far for this and the last part I've been doing a full ep a part... so would yall rather me keep them shorter or are yall cool with longer ones like this??

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@sexyvixen7

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[ladykailitha]

Royal Pain Part 9

Hello! Thank you so much for the out pouring of support last time. I love that everyone loved the tattoo idea. If you want to see a basic idea of what it would look like, check the reblogs of part 8 (though if I had the energy I would throw into an editing program I’d skinny up the sword a bit and make the wings wider).

We meet the candidates for the apprenticeship and we learn the history of Jeff’s tattoo (warning for racism and bad cops) and Eddie’s reason for the wings.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8

*

Steve walked back to the front the little paper in his shaking hands.

“I’ve already had a couple people this morning asking about the apprentice gig,” Robin told him. “When should I have them come in?”

Steve rubbed him bottom lip thoughtfully. “I don’t have to go to Dustin’s until 5pm on Sunday, so have them all come at 10am then.”

Robin nodded. “He choose a design then?” she asked, nodded to the paper in his hand.

Steve nodded back his lips pressed together as he handed it to her to scan.

She looked down at it in shock. “He picked this one?”

Steve nodded again, unsure if he could trust himself to speak.

“This is going to take a long time and a lot of money,” Robin whispered. “He’s aware of that, yeah?”

“Yeah,” Steve croaked. “He knows. He was very insistent and is able to pay for it. All of it.”

Robin nodded. “Then let’s get this bad boy printed for him then.”

She printed it into three pieces. One for each wing and one for the sword.

When he came back into the room, Eddie was laying on his chest with his shirt off. Steve licked his lips as his eyes trailed down the plains of Eddie’s back to where it dipped into the man’s jeans.

This was going to be a lot harder than he thought it was going to be.

“Okay,” Steve said after taking a moment to compose himself. “What we are going to do is trace the outlines and then we’ll spend two to three hours each week, working on it. It will probably take about ten to twelve weeks, doing it once a week. So if you want to move it up two days a week, I would recommend that.”

Eddie twisted to face him. “Yeah, I figured it was going to take some time. When I set up my appointments with Robin, I’ll make sure to do twice a week.”

“Sounds good,” Steve said, pulling on the latex gloves and sitting down. He scooted as close to Eddie as he could and picked his gun.

“You know,” he murmured over the sound of the gun. “I don’t think you ever said why you wanted the tattoo so badly you waited to find the right person to do it for you. And thanks for trusting me with it by the way.”

“You’re welcome,” Eddie said. “The work you did on Jeff’s tattoo was phenomenal. It was a very personal tattoo for him and you made it special. Did he tell you how got the scar he wanted you to cover up?”

Steve hummed, placing the first stencil down. “Yeah, something about how when Miranda and him first starting dating, someone called the cops on him, thinking he was kidnapping her. And how despite both of them saying they were on a date and Jeff having his hands up, the cop still fired, hitting his right arm.”

Eddie nodded. “It was messed up. He thought for sure Miranda was going to book it, but they stayed together and it’s been five years now.”

“So he got it for the fifth anniversary?” Steve asked, concentrating on the outline.

“Yeah,” Eddie said. “It was Miranda’s suggestion, actually.”

“They seem like great people.”

Eddie smiled fondly. “The best. I think he’s still working up the courage to ask her to marry him.”

Steve laughed. “He better hurry up otherwise Robin might try and steal her from him.”

Eddie laughed too. “Well considering they both swing for both teams, she might actually have a chance.”

“Oh god,” Steve said as he finished the first wing. “Don’t tell Robin that. She might actually try. And I don’t want to mess up a good thing, you know?”

“Fair.”

Eddie chewed on his bottom lip a moment. “But, yeah, the tattoo. It’s to commemorate a poor boy from the trailer park making it in the big city to play music for a living. Actually fucking making it.”

Steve smiled. “And the bat wings were for the aesthetic?”

“Hell yeah they are,” Eddie replied with a grin. “But, holy shit, Stevie. The sword of fucking Kas...it’s like you read my mind or some shit.”

Steve lifted the gun as he laughed. “Nah, I just listened when you and Dustin talked about it.”

Eddie adjusted himself in the chair and loosened the muscles in his shoulders a bit. He settled and nodded. “You did really good, sweetheart. I love it.”

They just fell into conversation as easy as breathing and far too soon Steve was done with the outline.

Steve pulled off his gloves, having set aside the gun already. “Go on, it’s not much to look at right now, but the bare bones are pretty fucking all right.’’

Eddie immediately bounced to his feet to go look in the mirror. He turned every direction and after a moment of watching him Steve stood up with a large hand mirror and tilted it until Eddie could see his back.

Eddie let out a gasp. “Holy fucking shit. This is going to be so epic. I can’t wait!”

Steve smiled fondly. “I’m glad it’s starting out okay, at least.”

Eddie grinned at him through the mirror. “It’s absolutely wicked.”

“Do you have someone who can rub the lotion on your back?” Steve asked, biting his bottom lip.

Eddie nodded. “The guys have offered to take turns helping me with it until it’s done.”

Steve hummed. He was a little disappointed. He was going to offer to do it for him. But it was a bit of a relief, knowing Eddie had such good friends that were willing to take care of him.

“That’s sweet of them,” he murmured, taking the time to gently wrap the tattoo the best he could in Saran wrap to protect it on the way home.

Eddie scoffed. “They only offered because they’re excitable children who want a sneak peak at the tattoo before anyone else.”

Steve huffed out a laugh. “Yeah, okay. That sounds like what I’d seen of them.”

Eddie turned around once Steve was done and grinned at him. “Am I going to see you at Nightmare Holes again this weekend?”

Steve winced. “I want to but I can’t this weekend. I’m meeting a couple people on Sunday morning morning and I cannot be hungover for that.’

Eddie huffed out a small chuckle. “Maybe.”

Steve shoved at him playfully. “I’ll make it up to you. Why don’t you come over again next Monday and I’ll make dinner for us again.”

Eddie’s eyes lit up. “That sounds great, wha’cha making?”

“What do you like?” Steve asked as he cleaned up. “Italian, Chinese, Mexican? Something else? I’m sure I could find a good recipe in time.”

Eddie tapped his lip with his index finger thoughtfully. “Can you do sesame chicken?”

Steve grinned. “Oh, I knew there was a reason I liked you. I love sesame chicken and have a kick ass recipe, I think you’ll love.”

Eddie grinned back. “Can’t wait pretty boy.”

Steve flicked his cleaning rag at Eddie’s ass. “Now go on, some of us poor schlubs have to work hard for our living, rock star.”

Eddie laughed in delight as he skipped away from Steve’s deadly aim with his rag. He got to the door and saluted, before turning on his heel and walking back to the front desk, shirt in hand.

*

Steve picked up a dozen donuts and coffees for him and Robin. Robin had already gone in to open the shop for the interviewees so he felt he owed it to her to at least get her coffee and donuts.

When he got to the shop he was a little surprised how many cars were out front. They couldn’t all be there for the apprenticeship, could they? He walked into see the entire waiting room filled with applicants.

He turned to Robin and she looked as shocked as he was. He set the donuts in front Robin’s desk and handed her the coffee.

“Hello,” he said turning around to greet the...he quickly counted, the six hopefuls. “I’m Steve Harrington and welcome to Royal Pain. You’re all welcome to have a donut and we have water and paper cups over to the side.” He gestured to where it was and most head turned to see where he meant.

“Is this really a tattoo parlor, man?” one of the applicants asked. He was what Steve would have stereotyped a California surfer boy. Bleach blond hair that fell to his shoulders, tanned skin, dark blue eyes that were currently glaring at Steve.

Steve let his shoulders roll back as he regarded the man in question. “What? The bright, colorful design precludes it from being a place people come to get tattoos, how?”

The guy leveled another glare at Steve and then leapt to his feet. “Whatever, this blows. I’m out of here.” He stormed out, pushing the door so hard it clanged against the wall harshly.

Steve looked at the remaining five. “Anyone else have a problem with the aesthetics?”

There were people that exchanged glances, but they ended up all shaking their heads no.

“Good.”

A pretty blonde girl with bright green eyes and a sparkling smile raised her hand.

“Yes?” Steve asked pointing at her.

“Not to be lumped in with the asshole that just left,” she began shyly, “but I really don’t see any tattoos on you and, well...”

Steve grinned. “And it makes it a little hard to trust me as a tattoo artist, right?”

She nodded, her high pony tail bouncing as she did.

Robin rolled her eyes, but wisely said nothing. Steve showed her his right forearm. “I didn’t do this one, this is the first tattoo I got though.” It was of a small vanilla ice cream cone. “I got this after my first real job at an ice cream shop that burned down.”

A lot of eyebrows shot up at that, but no one uttered a word.

He pulled at his collar showing a female robin on his shoulder right below the clavicle. “Got this one when my best friend turned twenty-one. She has a matching tattoo in the same place.”

He pulled up his shirt to show a lion devouring a bloody heart on his right side. “My friends called my lion-hearted, my detractors called me a bleeding heart, so I got this.”

Steve put his shirt down. “Yeah, I don’t look like your stereotypical tattoo artist that has their whole body covered in tats. But I’m one of those weirdos that only gets a tattoo if it means something to me. But make no mistake I’m good. I have had this shop for three years and only been a tattooist for five. And I’m taking on apprentices because this shop is so busy I need the help to lighten the load.”

The girl blushed. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay,” he said, heaving a heavy sigh. “People who look like me don’t usually become tattoo artists and I think that’s stupid. It shouldn’t just be a certain kind of person that has dyed black hair, piercings, and their body of work all over their body.”

She nodded. “I get what you mean.”

Steve smiled at her. “I figured you would.” He knew that if she was any good, he was going to pick her, hands down.

“Right,” he said turning his attention back to everyone. “I wasn’t expecting so many of you and I realize that isn’t fair to you. If you have somewhere else to be today, make an appointment with Robin,” he cocked his head her direction, “and I’ll meet with you personally at another time. But otherwise, I’ll have Robin call you in the order you arrived and we’ll talk in my room.”

He clapped his hands. “First, let’s give you a tour of the place and if you decide it’s not for you. No hard feelings. Except that guy.” He winked at them and they laughed.

He showed them his room and the other rooms that would be for the apprentices to practice in or once they got their own chair if they stayed, it would become their room.

One of the other guys decided that it wasn’t for him and Steve was left with four remaining hopefuls.

And what a strange bunch they were, too. He had the prep girl, but he also had a native boy that while he didn’t look the part of the surfer dude, embodied it with his very soul. If the guy got brought on, Steve would have to pull him aside and make sure he didn’t do marijuana at work, because the guy looked a little baked at the moment. He also had a Goth chick complete with the tattoos and piercings, and dyed black hair. She stuck out like a sore thumb, if Steve was honest. And the final hopeful was  this squirrely looking guy with dark wavy brown hair.

All of them had more tattoos than Steve did.

He sighed to himself. He wasn’t sure this was going to work out. He knew he shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, better than most, but still as he looked at the remaining applicants he felt a little disappointed.

He sighed and went back to the office to wait for Robin to call the first one in. It was going to be a long day.

***

Part 10  Part 11 Part 12  Part 13 Part 14  Part 15  Part 16  Part 17  Part 18 Part 19  Part 20  Part 21   Part 22  Part 23  Part 24  Part 25 Part 26  Part 27  Part 28  Epilogue

Look, I love Robin with all my heart, but we all know the reason she didn’t ask Vickie out wasn’t that she had a boyfriend, but that her partner was a boy. She would 100% back off if told to, but she would so go for it if she thought had a chance. (Looking at you Ronance shippers, if you think that Robin was flirting with Nancy in the Upside Down, Nancy was still with Jonathan at the time.)

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