#THEN the alarm at the new place went off for a solid 15 minutes

[piedoesnotequalpi]

What a horrible day to have ears

[official-weasley]

The Extraordinary Dragon (Part 3/6)

A fluffy story about Charlie training a dragon with a sad and mysterious past.

Warnings: Charlie not obeying any rules! Word Count: 2,778

I couldn’t believe it. I have been gone for 15 minutes and the dragon was nowhere to be found. How does one lose a bloody dragon? How does a thing of the size of a small van disappear?

I looked everywhere in the vicinity of Asterin’s habitat but I couldn’t find her. I know she can’t fly and on foot, she can’t be that fast that she would go to any other dragon enclosure. So where could she be?

I looked at my wristwatch, it was almost 9 o’clock. How am I supposed to find a black dragon in the dark?

I had no choice, however, if my boss finds out that I lost her on the first day of her being here, he is not only going to take this opportunity away from me but I am pretty sure I will get fired. Dragon on a loose is dangerous enough, but with 5 villages around the reserve, it’s even worse.

I checked every place the dragon could be in the 500-meter radius. I was getting desperate and was ready to go wake up Matthew and tell him what happened when I remembered that I haven’t checked the nearby forest.

Since Asterin was found by the MacFusty family inside one and was hurt and scared, it didn’t even come to mind that that is where she could be.

I hurried to the edge of the forest and lit up my wand – it was too dark to see anything without it.

About 5 minutes of me walking, I heard the rustling of leaves. I lowered my wand as I didn’t want to shine the light directly into the dragon’s eyes and took a few cautious steps forward trying to make as little noise as possible.

“Asterin, it’s me, Charlie. Please don’t get startled. I just wanted to bring you some food.” I whispered.

I have never been so afraid of a dragon before. I didn’t know her well enough to predict her next move. I know I should stay calm as she can sense fear but I couldn’t help it. She could just jump at me and eat me alive. Maybe that’s her delicacy – eating people.

“Asterin?” I tried calling her again.

I heard a twig break and pointed my wand in the direction of the sound. I thought my heart was going to jump out of my ribcage when I didn’t see anything but a pair of purple eyes. I took a step backward and lowered my wand.

“Asterin, please, you can’t be in the forest. It’s not safe for you.” I said with a gentle voice. I saw smoke coming out of her nostrils and that doesn’t mean anything good. If she breathes fire in the forest she can endanger the two Hungarian Horntails on the other side of it that just had their eggs hatched two weeks ago.

I knew I had to do something about it and get the dragon out. There was no time for panic or me chickening out.

Chicken! That’s it!

I tried not to show too much excitement not to startle the dragon.

“Asterin, I am just going to get something and I’ll be right back.” I took a few steps backward, looking her directly in the eyes before turning around and returning to the food supply hut.

If she doesn’t want to eat meat – especially the Hebridean Black favorite, deer – then maybe she has to have another preference.

I unlocked the door and went straight to the baby dragon section. Chicken blood and brandy. If she can’t eat solids, then maybe this will do the trick to get her back to her habitat!

“Asterin, I brought you something,” I whispered the second I knew I was getting close to where she was before. I carefully lifted my lit wand to spot her eyes – she didn’t move from where she was before I left.

“I think you’ll love this. It smells delicious!” I tried sounding cheerful and even though my heartbeat has slowed down, I was still a bit nervous.

I placed a huge bucket a few meters away from her and poured the contents of 2 bottles inside. I looked around and picked a large stick from the ground to mix the two and slowly backed away.

“Try it. I made this especially for you.” I grinned at the dragon whose nostrils stopped smoking and was now eyeing the bucket with curiosity.

“I promise it’s good and it will make you big and strong.” I sat down on the ground, patiently waiting for her to move.

Asterin let out a silent growl and took a cautious step toward the bucket. She sniffed the chicken blood and brandy and then locked eyes with me as if she was reading my face.

“It’s okay. It smells good, doesn’t it?” I couldn’t help but giggle. She was adorable even for her size. “Look, it’s safe to eat. I like it too!”

I opened a bottle of brandy and took a few sips. Even though I am not big on alcohol, especially brandy, I acted as if it’s the most delicious thing I have ever drunk.

Asterin was now looking at me with her head tilted to the side and waiting as if she expected me to drop dead on the ground.

“You have a lot of trust issues, don’t you?” I furrowed my brows. I wish I would know what happened to her so that I could plan to approach her in the right way.

After staring at me for 5 minutes, she sniffed the liquid in the bucket again and tasted the liquid with her tongue. I couldn’t believe how fast the bucket was empty. I got her to eat!

I stood up slowly and opened a bottle with chicken blood and the brandy I opened for myself before and started walking out of the forest making a trail of liquids. When I reached the edge of the forest I heard stomps behind me and a smile creased my face as I couldn’t believe my method worked.

Asterin was walking slowly and stopping every few steps to look around her and make sure she is not in danger. It broke my heart seeing her so frightened.

The first day a dragon is transported here, it usually sleeps and the next day starts exploring its habitat. It rarely happens that the dragon doesn’t feel comfortable with the amount of effort we put into the habitats and how strikingly they resemble the wild.

I have witnessed at least a dozen dragons coming here since I started working and I have never seen one so aware of its surroundings and with such a strong will to escape.

From the looks Matthew gave me every day before Asterin came here, I knew that handling this dragon won’t be a piece of cake but I was not prepared for this.

The second he told me that I will be in charge of a Hebridean Black I rushed home and started working on my strategy and read as many articles and facts about the breed. Of course, I knew all of it already but it eased my mind to refresh my memory.

Even though nervous, I was ready to start taming the dragon, to try and befriend her but her running away took me off guard. Asterin proved to me that she is not an ordinary dragon, not an ordinary Hebridean Black and that I will have to come up with a new plan to make her trust me before I visit her for breakfast in the morning.

After what seemed like 2 hours, Asterin finally came to the end of my chicken blood and brandy trail and curved up into a ball. I waited for her to close her eyes and for her breathing to steady so that I knew she was asleep before silently returning home.

It was 3 in the morning when I came back but I had no time to sleep. The first step in my training with Asterin has to be that she is comfortable with her surroundings and knows that she is safe. And I can’t waste any time sleeping when I can work out a plan.

Pacing up and down my kitchen for about an hour, I knew what I had to do. I also knew that my boss was going to kill me for it but there wasn’t another way.

It was clear that Asterin started gulping down the mixture when she saw me drinking the brandy. The gesture let her know that it was safe. So if I want to make her feel safe in her new home, she has to see that I am safe in it too.

It seems that she trusts me on the level to trust my judgment – at least to some degree – and if that is the only way I can make her see that she is okay here and that she has nothing to worry about then I have to be a bit mad and break a few rules.

I slept for one hour before my alarm clock woke me up and I hurried to get some clothes on me, quickly washed my teeth, skipped breakfast, going straight to Asterin.

She was already awake when I arrived with a fresh bucket of chicken blood and brandy. I took the biggest one I could find. It already takes a ridiculous amount of both to feed a baby dragon so I can’t imagine how much she needs so she can properly grow into the size she is supposed to be at her age.

At around one year a dragon should be halfway to its full size not looking like a Muggle minivan.

I placed the bucket a safe distance away from her and backed away to give her space to eat. She needed a moment to start sniffing the air and taking a step toward her breakfast but it was faster than yesterday so I was proud of her.

When she was done, she slammed the bucket into a nearby tree with her paw and sat down on the spot where the bucket was before.

“I’ll have to order more buckets, won’t I?” I chuckled and scratched my ear. “At least you ate. Was it good?” I dared to look her in the eyes and she replied with a huff.

I waited a minute more to see if she was going to move but as she decided to sit still as a statue, her claws deep in the ground again, it was time to test the idea I came up with when I got home last night.

I took a deep breath and hoped that this won’t get me fired. As I already said we only have 3 rules but if we break them, the consequences can be severe. I was aware that I could lose my job for this but if I prove myself right then I know what an approach I have to take.

I sat down on the ground a safe distance away from her and took off my gloves and the fireproof hat first. The dragon laid down with her head held high, waiting for my next move.

I took off all my body protective gear and sat down, wearing nothing but a t-shirt and trousers. I hugged my legs and rested my head on my knees, waiting for her response.

To my surprise, she lowered her head but her claws were still not relaxed, her eyes on me.

“Charles, what in the bloody hell are you doing?”

I wasn’t even surprised to hear Matthew’s angry voice. I knew that me taking off my gear was wrong and I was putting myself in danger.

“Please, Matthew, let me explain,” I said calmly, my eyes on Asterin who was now standing up and looked as if she was ready to run away again.

“Oh, you will explain. Why are you without your gear and why do you look like you only slept for an hour last night?” He looked down at me when he reached me, an angry expression on his face, waiting for my answer.

“Asterin ran into the forest last night and she didn’t want to eat anything, not even chicken blood and brandy until I drank some of the brandy. So I thought that since she is so frightened it might help her to see that if I am not protected and feel safe so can she.” I cleared my throat. “Oh, and I did in fact sleep only for one hour.” I finally took my eyes off the dragon and looked up at my boss.

“Is that why a supply is missing from the food hut and why the gate to the forest is broken?” Matthew looked puzzled. “Yes, I am sorry. I will order more food for baby dragons, on me if needed, I just wanted her to eat something and I will fix the fence right after I am finished here.” I smiled apologetically.

“Why would you feed a 1-year-old dragon blood and brandy anyway?”

“Well, you said that her teeth were damaged and that it might pain her if she chews so I tried the liquid diet,” I explained.

“And did she eat?” Matthew sounding impressed now looking from me to Asterin.

“After I drank some brandy in front of her.”

“Okay, we will order more if she’s willing to eat.” He nodded. “Is that what you gave her for breakfast too?”

“Yes, and she ate it all already.”

“We will need to ask the research team to find out how much of this she should get per day so she can grow.” Matthew sat down next to me, observing her behavior.

“Are her claws always this…”

“Tense?” Matthew nodded as I finished his sentence. “Yes. That’s why I broke the rules and took off my equipment. I am trying to prove to her that it’s safe here.”

“And here I was thinking you have lost your mind.” He let out a silent chuckle.

“Are you going to fire me?” I bowed my head.

“No, Charles. I trust that you know what you are doing. Just please inform me of any kind of recklessness you are going to try with Asterin before I have a heart attack thinking you have a death wish standing in a brown t-shirt in front of a Hebridean Black.” He winked at me.

“I will try. There was no time yesterday.”

“I understand. I will leave you to it then. Hopefully, you can make some progress in the next 14 days. She has to have her health examination with the healers then.”

“I will try my best.” I nodded and bestowed him with a small smile.

Matthew got up and put his hand on my shoulder reassuringly. Before he could walk away or take another glimpse at Asterin, she roared so loudly that it hurt my ears. She got up so abruptly that Matt stumbled backward and fell.

I got up and got closer to her to see if I can do some damage control as it looked as if she was going to scorch Matthew at any moment now.

“Hey, it’s okay. See, I am fine.” I tapped on the shoulder Matt did before. “He didn’t do anything to me. Matthew is okay, we can trust him, right?” I turned to my boss who looked horrified. He nodded, stood up, and dusted his equipment.

“Matt, take off your gear,” I whispered.

“What?”

“Take it off.”

“Are you mental? Why would I do that? She just tried attacking me.” Matthew frowned.

“We have to prove to her that you’re trustworthy.”

Matt sighed but obeyed me anyway. Asterin’s nostrils were blowing out smoke, her eyes on him.

“Here, see I am not here to harm you or Charlie.” He lifted his hands in defense, bowing his head a little.

“I told you he is on our side. You can calm down.” I turned to her, talking with a soothing voice.

Asterin laid back down and huffed the smoke out.

“Well, you’re doing something right that she’s protective of you.” Matthew sighed in relief that Asterin decided to keep him alive.

“I guess. I have to think of a way to approach her and to make her relax.” I pressed my lips together, thinking. “I didn’t think this was going to be so difficult.”

“You can still back out and let someone else try,” Matthew suggested.

“No, I can do it,” I said with determination in my voice. “I enjoy the challenge.” “I know you do, Charles.” Matthew smiled and walked away.

[serpentinesarang]

Familiar

pairing: chan (bang chan) x gender-neutral reader

genre: no smut, married!au, emotionally heavy, lots of plot build-up/context description, slow burn, fluff at the end, second-person POV

word count: 2098

content warnings: themes of death, depression/grieving, lack of eating, swearing; this is a SERIOUS piece that may make you cry. please proceed with caution and take a mental breather after. 

summary: your husband chan died a year ago, and life hasn’t been the same until you meet a peculiar stray dog whom you decide to keep.

a/n: partly inspired by the netflix anime film “a whisker away.” hint hint: australian dingo...

korean key:

⦿ sasaengpaen (사생팬) = crazy spy-like super fans, sasaeng for short; pronounced “sah-seng”

⦿ annyeong (안녕) = multipurpose word that translates to hi/bye and no; in this story, it’s used in the hi/bye sense. pronounced “on-yawng”

♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤

Preface

It happened a year ago. The crash. The sasaengs. The coma. The stroke. The doctors’ denial of life support. The funeral.

Your husband Chan had died tragically after a catastrophic car accident outside the JYPE building in Seoul when a group of sasaengs tried to take control of an already chaotic situation on the street. Chan had been rushed to the hospital, so bloodied and so internally fractured that he immediately fell comatose and incidentally suffered a stroke due to the bodily trauma. 

You’d begged with all your might for the doctors to put him on life support, but they refused, saying he’d be vegetative for the rest of your life. They even sent an insurance liason up to Chan’s ICU suite to speak with you about having to pay for his life support as long as you continued to live, and you were just so beaten down by all the hospital staff that you agreed to release his body to the funeral home his parents had flown in to coordinate with.

And you were destroyed. 

Your employer had given you three months’ bereavement, but you still couldn’t bear to go to work for four more months. You slept 12 hours on Chan’s side of the bed every night and only wore his clothes during those four months of intermittent crying. After you used up the remaining sick days and paid time off you’d accrued over the years, your manager finally terminated you for missing too much. The next two months were spent on the couch with no appetite and inconsistent sleep, the good memories of Chan continually flooding back to you at random times. 

This was when you’d decided it was time to get your shit together because the scale declared you 15 lbs [7 kg] lighter; the circles under your eyes scared you each time you dared to glance in a mirror; and your phone’s mailbox had filled to its limit with messages from anyone and everyone offering their condolences for your loss. So three months passed, and you were able to gain back most of your weight, sleep more consistently, and clean out your social media.

Those last three months were the cleansing your soul so desperately needed, and for the first time since the incident, you were starting to feel a level of normalcy again. You’d even pushed yourself to get back into the workforce, and thankfully, this new employer didn’t cause a scene about your 11-month gap in job history. 

The dominoes were falling back into place. Sadly, you’d felt compelled at one point to ghost the rest of Stray Kids because it was just too painful for you to act like you could handle yourself around them. Out of worry and compassion, they all individually sent you messages here and there, but you told yourself maybe in the future. After all, your life had disintegrated to less than dust, so you were your priority moving forward.

Now

Your phone’s alarm wakes you to another dreary November day. It’s a snippet of an audio message he’d left you long, long ago when he was away for a tour. “Good morning to you, [Mr./Mrs.] Bang, my beautiful angel. I’m thinking of you as always. Text me when you get this. Love you, honey.”

November 25th, to be exact: the one-year anniversary of Chan’s death.

You sigh, whispering to the ceiling, “I love you too, baby.”

You pick yourself up, go through all the usual motions, and head to work in the morning snow, trying to keep your mind as numb as you’ve been recently feeling. Perhaps you’ll do a little something once you return home, you resolve.

The workday passes; the snow continues blanketing the city; and nothing really good or bad has happened in the meantime.

You step off the elevator onto your floor of the apartment building. You’re freezing from the windchill, mindlessly deleting spam email on your phone while trudging in your heavy boots to your door.

Once you reach your unit, something at the edge of your eyesight causes you to freeze. You take in the sight before you: a large, tan and white dog lying on your welcome mat with its front paws extended toward you. Its deep brown eyes stare right into yours, and you feel all the air in your lungs disappear.

“A-annyeong,” you murmur softly, pocketing your phone. 

The dog blinks in response, not moving his gaze.

You crouch down in front of the dog slowly, trying not to spook it. “Are you lost, sweetie?”

The dog emits a barely audible whimper, and you can’t tell if it’s sad or relieved to have been found. It’s not wearing a collar, and its abundant fur looks clean, like an inside pet.

Feeling conflicted, you purse your lips. “You must be... I’ll tell you what: you be good and stay here for me, okay?”

The dog exhales sharply before closing its eyes.

Wow, well trained pupper, you think to yourself as you rise. You spend the next five minutes ringing the entire floor’s doorbells, even banging on the doors of the units that didn’t respond to the bell. Each and every neighbor of yours denies owning a dog that looks like a Shiba Inu, and they all claim to not know anyone else who might have one.

“Fuck,” you hiss under your breath after the last person closes their door.

Returning back to your unit, you find the dog hasn’t moved an inch, but it must recognize your presence because its eyes fly open, and its head shoots up toward you.

“I guess you’re mine for now,” you address it. You enter your passcode and push the door open, pointing expectantly with an approving facial expression for the dog to understand it’s okay to go in.

And it happily trots inside, sniffing around the entryway while you shuck off your boots, parka, and other winter layers. 

The dog seems to be waiting for you to finish because, once you turn toward it, it immediately turns around and saunters to the bedroom on the far end of the apartment. You keep up at its side and determine with a friendly visual inspection that this dog is a boy.

Approaching Chan’s old side of the mattress, he turns back to you and sits down in front of the nightstand, digging his eyes into yours once more.

Your brow furrows as you try to piece together what’s happening. “What? What’s up, sweetie?”

The dog replies with a heartwrenching whimper, angling his snout forward as if asking for you.

You pad closer and sit on the backs of your legs. “Will you let me touch you?” you ask him softly, raising a hand for him to sniff.

Oddly, he straight up disregards your hand and leans forward to lick your chin.

“Awww,” you gush at his sudden affection. “I’ll take that as a yes, then.” You stroke the top of his tan head, and again, the poor thing whimpers while leaning into your touch.

You scratch at the bases of his ears before cupping his jowls in your hands. “You’re such a sweet boy, you know that?”

The dog blinks rapidly, pushing forward again to gently lick at your unsuspecting lips this time.

Giggling and stroking his front shoulder areas, you say, “Ohh, thank you, thank you. I haven’t been kissed in a year, so I appreciate that, sweet boy.”

A moment passes, but you have to do a double-take when you notice the thick stream of fluid cascading from his shiny eyes.

You gasp. “Oh nooo, are you crying?” With your thumbs, you carefully wipe away his tears. “Don’t cry, sweetie. I did enough of that for nine months straight, and I can’t have you making me sad too,” you confide with the animal, stroking his head again.

He responds by standing on all fours and pressing the top of his head to your own forehead, and you go breathless again.

He’s so human-like... so emotional... you think, raising your arms over his body and hugging him. You stay there for a solid minute before he finally pulls back and sits again.

You sigh quietly, evaluating his expression. “I don’t know about you, but it’s been a long day.” You nudge your chin up to the bed. “Wanna rest for a while?”

The dog ever so quietly barks with its snout closed, as if in acknowledgement, and he waits for you to move first. So you rise and position the pillows on Chan’s side against the wall for you to sit upright. You spread your legs in a butterfly position, and without you having to beckon or give permission, the dog hops to the corner of the bed and situates himself between your legs. You notice then that he’s eyeing something on the wall above the bed.

The professional landscape shot of Chan with his arms tightly curled around you under a peony-adorned gazebo near a lake, the day of your wedding. You were looking into each other’s eyes with the sincerest of smiles.

You turn to glance at the framed photo. “Yeah,” you sigh deeply, turning back to the dog. “That’s Channie, my husband.”

The dog picks up on your change of tone and scoots forward as close as he can get, resting his paws on your upper thighs and his snout on your stomach. His gleaming eyes practically compel you to go on.

Placing your hands on his soft back, you continue in a strained voice: “He was taken from me last year, on this day actually, November 25th. He was so badly hurt in the accident that he went into a coma and had a stroke a couple days later.”

You pause, and the dog whimpers on your stomach, his sad gaze making your throat constrict and your eyes water. 

How can a dog be so in tune with me...?

You push that question away with a sigh and bring a hand to rest on his head. “I never left the hospital. The nurses had to kick me out of his room when he passed. And I cried my eyes out for almost a year.” 

Your eyes drift off, glancing at the ceiling and the walls while remembering your grieving process. “So now I sleep on his side of the bed... I wear only his clothes at home... and I shower with the same things he always did. He’s always with me, even when I’m not wearing my ring.”

Tears have started falling onto your cheeks, and you look back down at the quiet dog to find him crying again as well, his glassy eyes still intently watching you.

An uncontrolled sob escapes your lips before you mash them together, trying to keep it together.

“I love him so much,” you throw your head back against the wall. “I love him so, so fucking much,” you whisper, the hot tears falling faster now.

You hear the dog whine rather loudly, so you focus on him again as he raises his head. “He was my person, and now I have no one,” you blubber, using your hands to angrily wipe away the tears.

The dog replies with a seemingly uncharacteristic growl, its eyes still very soft in contrast.

“Okay, okay, now I have you,” you concede, catching your breath. “I don’t know where your parents are, and I’ve been alone for too long.” You pause, almost unwilling to continue. “Will you stay with me, sweet boy?”

He barks out a high-pitched yelp, spastically moving his paws against you so they’re digging into your abdomen now.

Cheered up by the dog’s responsive expressions of emotion, you burst into a brief laugh and scratch the underside of his snout. “You remind me of him, you know. Soft hair, gorgeous brown eyes, super caring.”

Again, he whimpers, very quietly this time. You tenderly kiss his moist nose. “I’ll call you Chris... because only I was allowed to call him that.”

Chris responds by licking your lips again.

Your random gasp makes him jump a little. “Oh my gosh, I bet you’re hungry or thirsty!” You try shifting on the bed, but Chris’s weight holds you firmly. “Do you want food?”

Chris lowers his snout, resting it on your chest now. He doesn’t make any noises, but you can guess what he means by this.

“Okay, Chris, I gotcha. We’ll stay here and eat when you’re ready,” you promise as you smooth his pointed ears backward.

...

I found them... if only they knew it’s me... I’m Channie, and I’m still yours, honey. 

[sparrowshrike]

Monster Prom: Wingman AU

Sparrow woke up and hit his head on a shelf above his bed. After giving the area a good rub, he got out of his bed and stretched his wings out. while throwing on some pants, He grabbed a gray shirt and his yellow jacket and slid his wings through the holes in the back before putting his arms through the sleeves. He ate a banana and a clementine for breakfast while putting on his shoes, mask and goggles. Last but not least, he grabbed his phone of the charger, Snapped his bag on his back, and pulled on his gloves. Sparrow walked out to his balcony, extended his wings and leapt off. Sparrow can’t fly, he’s not a Birdperson, his bones are solid. However he can glide really well, he was currently heading for his bus as it was driving to Spooky High.

On the bus

“I see him!” Oz yells to Vicky and Amira, which also wakes up Brian. Amira was holding onto the latch of the Roof Emergency Exit, read to open it. Vicky was waiting to stop out the alarm, and Oz was on watch duty. “30 meters, 25, 20, 15, 10. 5″

“Amira Now!” Vicky yelled as she released an electric charge through the wire, Amira flung open the hatch and then moved towards the window. Sparrow dropped right through the Hatch, They do this everyday BTW.

Sparrow pulled out a bag and opened as Amira woke up Brian again.

“Fruit Loops for Oz,” Sparrow said throwing a container full of fruit loops to Oz “Chicken Brains for Brian, Scrambled Thunderbird Eggs for Vicky, and Hot Sauce soaked waffles for Amira”

“Let me guess you *Nom* had fruit?” Amira asked while eating her waffles

“A banana and a clementine” Sparrow answered

“Dude, how are you not malnourished?” Brian said while plopping a brain in hsi mouth.

“Yeah Sparrow, here have some of this” Vicky said offering a bite of her Sparking Eggs.

“No thanks, Vicky, I can’t handle my Voltage” Sparrow said “So who you guys asking to prom in Six Weeks?” 

“I want to try Liam!” Vicky said, completely missing Sparrow’s dodge

“Damien.” Amira stated

“Scott” Brian said while drifting back to sleep.

“What about you Oz?” Sparrow asked

“Onl-Only if you say yours” Oz stuttered

“Ok, I’m going for Vera”

“Z-Zoe...” Oz said under his breath

The Bus Stopped, They were at Spooky High. The Color squad split up, Sparrow and Oz went to the library, Oz joined a Conversation between Liam and Zoe, while Sparrow sent out Scam Mail.

After Sparrow has made a few more bucks, he overheard Vera talking to Scott

“-Since your super smart and Everything, maybe you could--?” Scott asked

“Fix your entire team in ten minutes?” Vera asked, then she smirked “Of course I can, I’m incredible.”

“Of course you are,” Sparrow said walking over “Please continue.”

“Right, What you need is a new strategy, something your opponents won’t expect. Like, Poison or Psychological warfare.”

Sparrow breathes in “Maybe instead, Try blackmail, I have a wireless camera that can last for days.” Sparrow says with all the moxie he can muster.

“You Do?” Scott asks

“Yes and I already have the means to do this, and make a quick buck on the side. Thank you Sparrow”

“What Side?” Scott asked

“Nothing Scott” Vera Denied

Lunch

The Color Squad splits up for lunch each one focused on their Ideal date, Sparrow sits with Polly and Vera, who is currently talking with the shopkeeper. Sparrow drapes his wings over the chair he’s sitting in and relaxes his muscles. Vera and Polly were now locked on their phones.

“Hey Guys, what’s up?” Sparrow asks

“Hi Sparrow, Apologies, me and Polly are locked on to texting our Financial Slave” Vera says

“Hard to say no to someone who’s kink is buying you anything, it’s my kink too!” Polly says “People buying things for me, I mean”

“Yeah, I figured” Sparrow said, rolling his eyes under his goggles

“Good thing he’s so rich he can pay for both of us!” Polly continues

“Still, he will run out of money at some point, what to do then?” Vera groans “Our cash flow immediately stops, besides getting every thing you want given to you is SOOO Boring.”

“Yeah I get and I’m high as you must get Sparrow!”

“Polly, I neither do drugs nor can I fly”

“I wonder if we could make this a business?” Vera asked “Then we continues to profit even after he goes broke!”

“But business is Boring! Let’s make him do something stupid”

Sparrow was going to ask if Polly meant him or the Slave, but then he realized the ways that could backfire.

“Let’s go with a business first,” Sparrow said as Polly groaned “That way you can do more elaborate craziness later!” this caused Polly to beam “I say you create a chain of Slaves, each one giving the next money which will then be given to you.”

“Spectacular Sparrow! That would increase our income exponentially!” Vera Exclaimed

“Ah, But managing one slave was hard enough, we can’t control an army!” Polly Groaned

“It’s a pyramid scheme, Polly, and you and Vera are on top, thus you only have to keep one or two in line.” Sparrow explained

“Nevermind, I’m gonna go check on my toilet wine” Polly said flying away

“Don’t pay her any mind” Vera said “Polly wouldn’t know good business if it smacked her ass, Which did happen once”

“Not gonna ask”

“Anyway, we make it so to become a slave, they have to buy a kit, and they work their way up from their.”

“Let me guess, for every rank they get a better title?” 

“Exactly! This was a great idea, lets plan together at your place, partner!”

Sparrow:

Sparrow Scam Polaroid:

[banashee]

Part 2/2 of Tony setting the kitchen on fire for @hopelessly-me :D ♥

Enjoy ♥

...Honey, it’s still fucking frozen.

 One day, Clint finally caves.

 “Tony. You know I love you, but       please     - let me show you how to cook. I can’t take it anymore.” he tells him over ice cold dinner. The archer pokes a piece of meat with his fork to prove his point.

 Tony nods slowly, but he also says,

 “Last time it was burned. So now I cooked it for less time.”

 Clint blinks at him, knocking on his plate with the meat, which results in a solid noise.

 “...Honey, it’s still fucking frozen.”

 “...Okay, yeah.” Tony sighs, shoving the plate away from himself.

 “Sorry, I know the last few months of my cooking haven’t been pleasant. At least I didn’t burn the house down yet.” he adds, with a small smile to lighten the mood, but it is clear he is not happy with his results.

 “The alarm didn’t go off in a while, that’s progress, right?” Clint shoots back a lopsided smile, before he continues,

 “Honestly though, I don’t mean to be condescending because that’s probably how I sound, and I’m really sorry for that, but… I know you’re trying, and I know you don’t like help with things… In general, and I get that. But don’t you think that it would be better in the long run?”

 Their hands meet over the table, warm and solid as they squeeze and hold on, thumbs caressing each other. Clint and Tony have been home to one another for a long time now, and they know with a bone deep certainty that they can talk about things without making a personal vendetta of it, no matter how small or big the issue is. It’s just not how they work - what they have is easy going and it always has been.

 A casual friendship with benefits quickly turned into more, and after months of pining and awkwardness, they finally got a move on and figured out their feelings for each other. That talk had been halting and even more awkward than the weeks before, but it led to mutual three-word-sentences and a future full of happiness.

 Tony smiles, squeezing the other man’s hand as he asks,

 “So, you don’t mind having to show me basic shit like cooking eggs without burning them to a crisp?”

 “No, of course not. I love you and I love cooking - there really is no downside here if you ask me.”

 “Alright, then. Thanks, Babe.” Tony leans forward for a kiss, which Clint is all too happy to give him. The cold dinner on the table is almost forgotten in the next few minutes, but as it turns out, it is the perfect opportunity to start.

 “Okay, so, let’s put this back into the pan and crank the heat up. You want this to be warm and cooked through entirely. Then you - Tony… Please put down the salt shaker.”

 “I have salt and I am not afraid to use it!”

 “Yes I know, and that’s a problem! No, go away with that!” Laughing, the two of them tackle each other through the kitchen, until they end up pushed against the counter, foreheads touching and giggling like lovesick teenagers.

 “Will you give up on any harsh decisions regarding the salt?” Clint asks, in a mock-serious tone that is actually a pretty good impression of what Phil Coulson sounds like, and Tony grins at him, his dark eyes sparkling with mischief.

 “I      am     small and salty. Never.” he tries to snatch back the salt shaker, attempting to distract Clint with more makeout opportunities. He leans in, pulling Tony close with one arm and holding the salt shaker up over his head with the other - it’s a dick move, but it works. His boyfriends sputtering at the offensive act only makes Clint  laugh more, but they need to flip the meat in the pan before their dinner burns once again, so their bickering is interrupted.

 A little while later, their dinner is actually warm and not only edible, but really, really good at that. Tony is still surprised that they managed to save it, especially since there have been instances where this would have been simply impossible. But then again, he is lucky enough to have a partner who knows how to save messed up food, given there is a way left to salvage it in the first place.

 “What’s the worst that ever happened to you while cooking?” Tony casually asks another night, while he is chopping vegetables into accurate cubes - they’re making stir fry, and the task at hand is easy and repetitive enough to chat away. Besides, he is used to handiwork, so this is totally doable.

 Clint shoots him a knowing, amused look.

 “...I almost set my kitchen in the SHIELD bunk on fire. It was like three in the morning and I couldn’t sleep, so I wanted to make a dessert with flambé bananas. Well, let’s just say it didn’t go as planned and my neighbours fucking hated my guts for setting off the fire alarm in the middle of the night… That was about 15 years ago, and goddammit, some people      still    bring it up.”

 Tony laughs, loudly.

 “Well, thank fuck you know what you’re doing now - imagine the two of us being Fire Hazards together, the tower would have burned to the ground ages ago. Imagine SHIELD on our asses for it. Or worse, Cap.”

 Slowly, he shakes his head. No one wants to see Steve’s “I am very disappointed in you”-face if they can help it. To be fair, when it doesn’t come to cooking, and more like, battles or developing weapons, the two of them combined are still a fire hazard. But that’s different, really.

 Clint, however, stops chopping with his knife mid air, head crooked to the side as he gently lowers it onto the cutting board. Then, he asks, completely straight faced,

 “...Did I ever tell you that Fury has backup-plans, just in case the two of us should be going rogue?”

 Putting down his knife as well, Tony fixes his partner in a suspicious stare. Despite everything, this is news to him, and he is about 90% sure that at least on this occasion, Clint isn’t fucking with him. Also, this is totally something he’d expect Fury to do. The man is paranoid, and Tony definitely wouldn’t put such a thing past him.

 “Wait what? No, you didn’t. Spill.”

 With a laugh, Clint tells him,

 “Ever since Nat went undercover as your PA and it was clear that both of us would be part of the Avengers, Fury put protocols in place - covered a lot of hypothetical situations, actually, it was quite funny to read. I think the short version is he knows both of us and our, dare I say, slightly chaotic tendencies…”

 With a snort of laughter, Tony collapses against the counter. This is putting it lightly and they both know it, but he enjoys hearing the story.

 Clint continues,

 “Technically I’m not supposed to know that, but Tasha told me about it. She laughed for like, 10 minutes straight. Me, too, by the way.”

 “I bet - heh, sorry i can’t” it takes a bit for Tony to calm down enough to say,

 “I bet he put a lot more protocols in place ever since he got wind of us being an item. Honestly I’d love to see that list.”

 The corners of his mouth are still twitching, and he wipes amused tears out of his eyes as he keeps cackling away.

 “Oh hey, we should do a dramatic reading of that form!” he says then, and Clint is laughing too hard to answer, but he nods, vegetables forgotten on the counter for several minutes.

 He only barely manages to stop Lucky from stealing the chicken right off of the counter, which only makes him laugh harder as he tries to hold his dog back by the collar. Once again, Lucky looks like he is judging his humans - even his one remaining eye is pretty expressive.  

 Once they have calmed down a bit, they continue. Tony is about to put the vegetables into the frying pan, but Clint stops him.

 “Wait. Put in the onions and garlic first, let them get glassy and then add the rest of it in. One after the other. Hardest stuff first, softest last. That way you have everything cooked through without having some parts mushy in the end.” he explains, which is met with a surprised noise from his boyfriend.

 “Huh, that makes sense. Cooking       is     logical, after all.” Tony says, as if that’s news to him - truth be told, it probably is.

 “Of course it’s logical. What did you think?” Clint asks, even though he already knows the answer.

 “Magic? I don’t fucking know” Tony shrugs, but he looks very much satisfied. Even more so once everything is done. The stir fry turned out perfect, and the pasta only boiled over once - the kitchen is a mess, but the food is amazing, so it comes to no surprise that one after one, the other Avengers show up in the kitchen like a bunch of hungry sharks. Food always brings them together, especially if the delicious smells are wafting through the tower.

 Apart from the obvious - having to eat, having to help out and later on, hating the SHIELD cafeteria with a burning passion - this is why Clint learned how to cook in the first place. Food brings people together, brings in company.

 As someone who spent most of his life either lonely or socially awkward or both, Clint learned early on that if he feeds people, they will stick around - at least for a bit.  It is a long standing habit, and although he genuinely loves cooking and baking, because it’s fun and relaxing, the people aspect is a big motivation as well.

 Feeding people keeps them around and Clint recognizes that this might be a little sad. But he can’t deny that he likes doing it, one of the reasons being that, making food for someone shows that you care. As much as his social skills suck sometimes, Clint likes to take care of the people around him, especially loved ones.

 Lucky for him, there is almost always someone around, here in the tower, to enjoy whatever he spent the day cooking or baking. Especially if either Steve or Thor are home, he knows nothing will stay untouched for long. While those two will eat anything and everything that isn’t nailed down, Clint knows that Tony is usually a bit of a picky eater, but he will try everything Clint makes, because he knows from experience that it’s always good. He does have a bit of a sweet tooth though. Bruce on the other hand prefers savory things, which is why he himself is cooking a lot of spicy, indian food, but he will also happily go to town on a loaf of bread fresh out of the oven.

 Natasha, much like Phil and Pepper whenever they’re around, has a huge sweet tooth - whenever there are cookies or cake or anything else, she is the first to creep into the kitchen. Oftentimes, she steals balls of cookie dough and bowls with batter remaining in them. It gets even worse when Phil is around, because the two of them will team up to get all the sweet things - It’s highly classified, but you can totally buy Agent Coulson with sweet things.

 Clint knows all of this, especially since he’s known Phil and Nat for many many years. Therefore, he counts in whatever they are likely going to steal whenever he is baking - he’s known their systematic approach for ages now, but he doesn’t mind it. Not at all.

 Later that same night, Clint is sprawled out in bed, legs tangled with Tony’s and one arm wrapped around him. His head is pillowed on the other man's shoulder, face pressed into his favourite spot - the crook of Tony’s neck.  Restless fingers are lightly scratching his scalp, and the even breathing of his dog by their feet are almost lulling him to sleep. His other hand is lazily tracing invisible patterns on Tony’s back, fingers creeping under his shirt and against warm, smooth skin. The happy hum he gets in response causes small vibrations to travel through his entire body, even when he can’t hear it.

 They drift off to sleep like this, and when they are in the kitchen the next morning, Clint asks, as Tony keeps an suspicious eye on the scrambled eggs,

 “Do you want to bake bread with me later? We can use it tomorrow for french toast.”

 “...I’ll have to touch wet dough, do I?”

 “...Ideally, yes. But it’s fun, I promise. Careful, your eggs.” he adds, and Tony jumps to flip them - just in time - no harm done. He lets out a sigh of relief.  As it turns out, having someone close to help him get a hang of this really helps. Besides, Clint is a good teacher, and the whole love thing helps a lot. Just spending time together, really - and the compliments from their other teammates for last night’s dinner for example. All of it makes him want to keep going.

 “Okay, let’s do it” Tony says, and the happy smile on his boyfriend's face is more than enough motivation to say “yes” again the next time he asks if he wants to bake.

 As it turns out, baking is a whole different thing than cooking, which takes him by surprise. Especially since he needs to be a lot more accurate for this, while with cooking, there is at least a little bit of freestyling allowed. With baking? Not so much.

 “It’s sticky. Ew. Babe, why? Why did you do this to me?” Tony complains, making a face as he holds up his hands that are covered in admittedly clingy bread dough - he’s not quite sure he actually likes doing this.

 “It needs more flour - hold on.” Clint scrapes off as much dough from his hands as he can, carefully grabs the paper bag with two fingers and sprinkles a little bit more flour in both mixing bowls.

 “Try again, it should work itself out. If it cleans out the bowl we’re good.”

 “You said this was fun… Oh hey, that’s actually better now!” Tony exclaims in surprise, relieved that his bread dough isn’t nearly as sticky anymore - now, he can knead it with his hands without thinking of hacking them off right after. Truth be told, he is starting to see the fun part of this whole thing now.

 “See? You’re doing great by the way.” Clint tells him, a warm and happy feeling spreading out in his chest. He is incredibly happy to be able to have this - to have Tony by his side in the first place. Words can’t express how much he loves this man, and he hopes that Tony knows nonetheless.

 “I’ve got a pretty good teacher - you should meet him some time. He’s got amazing arms and an even better ass.” Tony is grinning over at Clint, absolutely not checking out those very much appreciated body parts while he does so. They have been together for quite some time, but the attraction to one another has not died down - not at all.

 “Oh, does he now?”

 “Very much so.”

 Cheesy flirting and easy banter is what they do best, and by the time their dough is covered and resting, Clint and Tony disappear upstairs and into the bedroom. They lose their clothes on the way, leaving a trail through the entire apartment until they fall into bed, wrapped tightly around one another and laughing in between kisses and wandering hands.

 There is plenty of time to pass until the bread is ready to be baked, after all.

*+~

Prompt 10: Teaching

[tiny-maus-boots]

Linchpin

A/N: I know I know. Here I am with the start of something else entirely instead of finishing all the other 2734387423 other open projects I have. But this is for Kate’s bday, albeit a few days early. 

Happy Birthday Workplace Proximity Acquaintance. @smolletts

ALSO: y’all. Just...watch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bql02sOBf4&feature=youtu.be

01. 

"Mind if I sit here?"

Aubrey looked up from the newspaper she was rereading for the second time that morning. She wasn't that much of an avid reader of current events to have spent the time on it, but she'd been stalling. Stretching her time in the quaint Cuban bakery from her usual routine of 13 minutes to an unprecedented 39.

She had almost given up and gone on about her day, resolving herself to stop thinking about the gorgeous brunette with mile long legs and a smile that blasted right past the barrier of cool analytic thought that Aubrey managed her world through.

And here she was in the flesh, voice as soft as all the curves that Aubrey couldn't keep her gaze from dropping to before she remembered her manners and nodded with a smooth gesture at the table between them. The other woman smiled coyly and put her drink down before slipping into the only other empty seat in the small dining area.

"Thanks. I forgot how busy this place gets at this time."

Aubrey quirked a brief smile at that and nodded again. They had been playing a careful dance of covert glances and flirtatious smiles for months. And if she were being honest with herself it was the closest thing to dating she'd done since she left the CIA to take a position with the FBI. Though was it really dating if you were just spy banging an asset for information? There were too many thoughts suddenly crowding her brain, pulling her back to a life she didn’t want to remember and she had to give herself a slight shake to settle her focus.

"It's gotten busier now that the hipsters have discovered it. I guess I should feel bad for hogging a table to myself every morning."

"Nah you're not bad. You're here what? 15 minutes tops? Long enough to read your paper, eat a pastelito and punish yourself with a steaming cup of acid."

It startled a laugh out of her, and Aubrey felt the sudden need to put distance between them. Her brain telling her that it was best to change her schedule, choose a new coffee shop, retreat, it was an echo from a past life of as an operator. She had to remind herself that this life didn't require a deft and abrupt change every time the wind blew east.

"Should I be more alarmed by the fact that you're watching me or that you think my coffee order is bad?"

"First, you've known for three months that I've been watching you. And can you blame me for having eyes? And second, this..." The woman reached out and carefully slid Aubrey's coffee cup out of her hand and replaced it with her own. It was ridiculous, they were strangers and she had no idea if the other woman had done something to the drink. Yet she was tempted to taste it the second the warmth of the woman's hands pressed her fingers around the new cup. "Is coffee, what you were drinking before is a sin."

"Did you put something in this?"

She could have cursed herself for her suspicious second nature, but the brunette seemed to take in stride, head tipping back with the bubble of laughter that erupted.

"Absolutely. Two sugars." The laugh made her own lips tug into a smile and Aubrey brought the cup up to taste the steaming liquid. The coffee was delicious of course but, in all fairness, it could have been the worst swill ever created. Aubrey couldn’t focus past the amusement in the other woman’s eyes. Her heart skipped a beat and she wondered if it was a jolt from the caffeine or the lazy smile on the brunette’s face. “So, what do you think?”

“I think I might have to change my coffee order.”

The smile grew and her heart skipped forward in double time. Definitely not the coffee. A sharp chirp broke the shared held breath between them, and Aubrey reached into the inner pocket of her jacket. She pulled her phone out and glanced at the display with a disappointed sigh.

“Time to go?”

Aubrey raised her head at the question, thumb already pressing the sleep button to black the screen out before it was seen. The woman raised a brow but didn’t ask any questions. It was different. There were always questions, and with questions came demands, and with demands came responsibilities. It was tiring always trying to remember what lie went with what cover, more tiring to just speak the truth of her life.

“Unfortunately. Duty calls so I had better…”

“Sure, I have a date to get ready for anyway.”

It was early for a date and it piqued her own curiosity and something else. Something deeper than her reflexive need to know everything about all the players in the game. Disappointment echoed through her and she knew it was silly. They weren’t a couple; they didn’t even know each other. A few months of watching each across a crowded room didn’t a relationship make. And yet… Aubrey offered a polite but blank smile and a short nod.

“I hope your date has something special planned.”

The woman stood, everything in her body suggesting so much more than a casual flirt between strangers. She leaned over and took one of the napkins that Aubrey had neatly stacked and piled on the table. Her smile turned sultry as she produced a pen, she clicked it and scribbled something before sliding it toward the blonde.

“Guess we’ll find out when you pick me up.”

Aubrey sat back in her chair as she pulled the napkin closer. It was just an address and a time. 8 pm sharp. She raised a brow but couldn’t force the smile from her face. In another place, in another time, she would have agreed and disappeared long before there was time to make a connection let alone have a date. Maybe it was time to try things differently, this was after all, her only life to lead now.

“You know I don’t normally go out with strange women. Especially when I don’t know their names.”

“My name is Stacie.” Something flitted through the gold flecked green eyes, her smile turning bemused for just a breath of a second. Stacie gave an amused half chuckle and pointed at the coffee cup. “And we’re not strangers. I bought you coffee.”

Aubrey looked down at the cup and back up, but the tall woman was already halfway to the door. She stopped to toss a smirk over her shoulder at the blonde and Aubrey felt that surprising surge of adrenaline pump through her, kicking her heart into overdrive.

“Oh Posen…you are in trouble.”

----

 “So how was that for a first date?”

“Hm. Does it count as a first date when we’ve been having coffee together every morning for months?”

Aubrey laughed and tucked her hands into the pockets of her slacks. It’d been a weird day in the office, her mind too scattered to focus on the current killer du jour. It wasn’t like her and her partner, Swanson, was all too happy to point it out. But planning out a date at the last minute had thrown her off kilter and she’d spent more time thinking about that than her job. She had to rely on something familiar and more personal instead of a perfectly planned event.

“Considering the first time we spoke was this morning I’m going to say yes.”

“Definitely a treat. I don’t know if I’m more impressed by your mastery of Latin dance or your flawless Spanish. Where’d you learn?”

“I picked up a little here and there.” It was vague and she knew it but how did you tell a date that you learned it during 18 months under cover in Belize?

“Very mysterious.”

“You say that like you aren’t intrigued.”

The tall woman at her side laughed and slid an arm through hers and Aubrey’s muscles twitched reflexively when the movement blocked access to the gun holstered under her arm. Her neck and shoulders bunched with tension as Stacie looked at her with raised a brow when she felt the hard edge of the grip.

“Is that a gun in your suit or are you just happy to see me?”

“You’re not even a little surprised are you?” Stacie smiled and Aubrey felt the world drop out from under her. She only knew she was on solid ground because the other woman never once faltered in her stride. “About the gun I mean.”

“Should I be? Everything about you screams cop.”

Aubrey gasped lightly at that. “It does not!”

The brunette snorted and gestured vaguely at Aubrey. “Baby, you’re wearing that suit like it’s your superhero costume. Understated make up, hair up in a stylish yet no nonsense hairdo, no jewelry save a watch. My guess is you’re trying to convince yourself and everyone else that this who you are.”

It was too much truth in one statement and gravity hit, weighting her down from her gut. Aubrey cleared her throat and raised a shoulder in a half shrug, playing it off casually despite the fact that it was anything but casual conversation to her. The knot in her shoulder tightened even more and she rolled her neck trying to loosen it.

“You don’t think this is who I am?”

Stacie stopped them in front of an apartment building and stood facing her. Their eyes met and she felt seen. No. Not just seen, exposed. Stacie was reading her as easily as she read every suspect to ever sit in her interrogation room.

“That watch you wear? It’s expensive and has more complications on it than gauges in the cockpit of a 747. I bet it cost at least seven grand and don’t get me started on those shoes.”

“Eight not that it matters.” Aubrey looked down then frowned at her date. “What’s wrong with my shoes?”

“Nothing. But they’re as high end as the watch on your wrist and I don’t recall Ferragamo pumps being standard issue to cops.”

“Well, Federal Agents get a bigger budget, so…”

Stacie narrowed her eyes slightly, her smile turning knowing and Aubrey reached up to rub her neck and shoulder to ease the tightness there. She was uncomfortable being laid so bare to a stranger. It had been too long since someone could see past whatever façade she put up.

“You’re not just a Fed. Why don’t you want anyone to see who you are, Aubrey?��

“Well that’s a conversation for a second date.”

Stacie’s grin changed, going soft and coy at the prospect of another date they both already knew would happen. As uncomfortable as Stacie made her, as exposed as she felt…she kind of liked it. Liked that she couldn’t hide who she was inside, somehow that made it all the more real to her. If this was the only life she had to lead she didn’t want to do it alone. Maybe now it was time for her to let go of the habits she already knew led to nothing but brief entanglements that ended up meaning less than nothing.

“You know you’ve been nursing that shoulder half the night.”

“It’s nothing, just a tweaked muscle.”

Stacie stared at her a moment longer and stepped in close, her hand trailing along the lapel of Aubrey’s blazer. Her heart stuttered and sped into overdrive when the brunette’s full lips twitched into a smile that said she knew so many things Aubrey couldn’t even begin to fathom to guess.

“Ah, well. You do know that I’m a licensed massage therapist. I could totally help you out with your kink.” Aubrey’s laugh tumbled out at the teasing waggle of eyebrows. “No but for serious. Come up. I promise to find all your sore spots.”

There was a hint of something just under the surface but she couldn’t put her finger on it. And maybe before that would have been enough of a red flag to make her take a pass but there was something in the other woman’s eyes that called to her like a siren song. Desire coiled low in her gut and Aubrey nodded her agreement. Stacie took her by the hand and led her up the stairs into the large brick front building.

“Nice place, how long have you been here?”

“Not long, just a few months.”

Aubrey nodded distractedly at that as Stacie casually flung her long hair over a shoulder. She was barely aware of the woman unlocking the door, too caught up in the light scent of her perfume and the soft expanse of neck that dipped delicately at her collarbone.

The first-floor apartment was larger than she expected with splashes of bright color against the backdrop of a soothing gray on the walls and furniture. The blonde’s eyes darted everywhere, internally cataloguing everything she saw and its placement in the room. The lock clicking behind her seemed so loud in the quiet, dim interior of the apartment.

“Can I get you something to drink?”

She gave a slight shake of her head. “I’m good.”

“Except for that shoulder that has you looking like Quasimodo.” Both brows shot up and Stacie laughed playfully before taking her hand once more. “C’mon, let me show you the way.”

“Come into my parlor said the spider to the fly…”

She couldn’t ignore the slight tingle of anticipation that skittered down her spine and Aubrey’s voice came out a soft rasp as she blindly followed the other woman into a smaller room that she used for treating her clients. Stacie moved to a linen closet and pulled out a bath sheet sized towel to set on the massage table. Her gaze trailed up Aubrey’s body and lingered for a few seconds before she turned away to turn on the aroma therapy diffuser.

“There is a hanger behind the screen for your clothes. Just come on out when you’re ready. I won’t peek. Much.”

If Stacie expected her to be shy, she was mistaken. Aubrey had lost any shame in her body during the early days of her career when she’d had to learn that nudity and sex were less important than keeping your cover. The screen was an unnecessary attempt to preserve modesty and Aubrey didn’t think twice about peeling off the layers of her Special Agent costume where she stood.

The sound of her slacks dropping to the ground caught Stacie’s attention and she turned, her lips pursed into a surprised little ‘o’ as she took in every inch of the blonde. Aubrey smirked and settled face down on the table, all the muscles in her body jumping with the weight of tension in the air. A finger trailed along her spine in a gentle caress making her back twitch in warning at a danger her mind couldn’t quite perceive.

Long fingered hands flattened over her shoulders and back down her back spreading warm oil over her skin with practiced ease. It wasn’t the first time that day that she thought she was in trouble, but it was less and less alarming the lower those masterful hands roamed. Maybe Stacie was dangerous for her…but what girl didn’t like a little danger?

Stacie gave a low chuckle as her hands slid over Aubrey’s hip to trail down the back of a toned thigh. “Oh…I think I am going to be in all the right kinda trouble.”

Well. At least she wasn’t the only one.

[ghostly-cabbage]

Frigid (Chapter 2)

Genre: Horror, Angst

Chapter Rating: M (Language, gore)

Word count: 4,391

AO3  FFN 

<<Previous | Next>>

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Today is really stressful, but hopefully this makes someone out there feel better. Enjoy and tell me what you think!

*

Danny flew through every room in the school, even the basement, but the unidentified ghost was gone. He pushed a gloved hand through his hair and swore under his breath. Just his damn luck. At least he’d caught the mountain lion ghost in the thermos. At first glance he’d thought it was Bertrand and Spectra, but that theory had been dashed. The big cat had got him good but it didn’t seem to have any intelligence beyond a wild animal. 

He’d looked long enough that the ghost alarm had been turned off and people started heading back into the building. It was also long enough that his wound had melded together, and the stains on his gloves were the only evidence he’d sustained an injury in the first place. That too would be gone the next time we went ghost. 

He slipped through the wall of the bathroom and dropped down into a stall to transform back. He poked his head out through the door of the bathroom to make sure no one was paying attention. Everyone was too busy trying to figure who’d seen the ghost to care. It was normal for people to hide in the bathrooms during an attack anyway. Right. First things first, he had to put the thermos back in his locker. Classes would resume in a few minutes. 

Sam and Tucker were waiting at his locker when he got there. They perked up when they saw him. 

“Who was it this time?” Sam asked. 

“I don’t know, it was a new ghost,” he said, trying to seem less troubled than he was.

“Ghost Gage readings put it at a level six,” Tucker reported, turning his phone around to show Danny the readout graph that did in fact place its power level around a six.

“What was the reading on the other one?” 

“Let’s see…” Tuck fiddled with his phone for a second before finding it. “Four and a half? A five at first.” 

“A new ghost, huh? That hasn’t happened in awhile,” Sam pointed out. 

“Tell me about it,” Danny unlocked his locker and set the thermos on the top shelf, safe until after school when he could flush the ghost back into the Ghost Zone. “She didn’t seem to know who I was, which is a good thing I guess.” 

“Well, hopefully they won’t come back after you send ‘em back into the Ghost Zone.”

“Yeah…” He rubbed at the back of his neck as he closed his locker. “About that. I sorta only caught one. The level six hightailed it before I could get her pinned down.” Danny started to walk towards his next class. 

“So what’s her deal?” Sam fell into step on his left, and Tucker on his right. 

“I don’t know, I didn’t get much from her. She had one of those stick things that sheep farmers have though.” 

“A shepherd's crook?” Sam supplied.

“Yeah, that. She didn’t say anything to me either, just... screamed.” It wasn’t that odd that a ghost wasn’t very talkative, but something about her was rubbing Danny the wrong way. 

“Creepy,” Tucker said. “I’ll start a file on the ‘Shepherd’ then.” He tapped on his phone as they walked, not even bothering to watch where he was going. Danny reached out and grabbed Tucker’s elbow to phase him through a trash can just before he toppled into it. “Wait, was the scream anything like your wail?”

Danny shook his head. “No, that’s the thing guys, she didn’t directly attack me. Just her lackee mountain lion.”  

“Huh. Well, with any luck, the next encounter will get us some more solid data. Cause right now we’re lookin’ pretty sorry. She wasn’t around long enough to get a read on her core type either.” Tucker's face was wrinkled in concentration. 

“We’ll take what we can get, thanks Tuck.”

“I should really start charging you for my services. You know how much work all this is?” He waved his phone at them.

Danny laughed. “You wanna do my job instead?” Tucker was quiet for a second. 

“Yeah, not a chance.” 

“You sure? I could go find Desiree for old times sake,” Danny suggested with a shit eating grin. Tucker narrowed his eyes at him. 

“Dude. Low blow.” His tone was good humored and easy. One of the perks of being friends so long. They shared a smile and Tucker punched his shoulder. “Alright, I got History, see you guys,” he gave them a two finger salute and peeled off. 

“Did you do the algebra homework for today?” Sam asked as Tucker left. Danny felt his breath seize in his throat.

“There was algebra homework already?” He squawked. 

“Relax, I’m kidding,” she laughed. 

He put a hand over his heart and let out a huge breath. “Sam, don’t do that! Gave me a heart attack, are you trying to kill me again?” 

________________________________________________________________

After algebra Danny had chemistry. He said goodbye to Sam in the hall and headed to the science lab. When Danny got to class Wesley was already there. He was sitting at their table staring a hole into the white board at the front of the room. 

Danny thought back to the last time he’d seen him, cornered against a locker and eyes filled with terror. He dropped his textbook on the table and Wes jumped so violently Danny was surprised he stayed on his stool. His expression morphed from fear to annoyance as he looked at Danny. 

“What’s wrong, man? You look like you saw a ghost,” Danny said. A part of him almost felt bad for going for such an obvious jab, but Wes had made it clear on day one that he didn’t like him. So why be nice? Danny used his foot to drag his stool out and he slumped onto his seat. 

“Ha ha,” Wes replied, voice brittle. He resumed his staring contest with the whiteboard. Danny shrugged, unbothered. Kids came in and took their seats in small groups. Valerie was in this class too, and came in two minutes to the bell. The two still had an unspoken truce that translated into mutual respect. It was pretty close to a friendship. At least when he was Fenton. She came up to stand next to his desk, books tucked in the crook of her arm.

“Hey, Danny. Did you see the ghost today?” From the corner of his eye he saw Wes glance towards them. Val seemed to notice the attention too. “Just curious, from what I can tell not many saw this one. Which is weird for us.” In his last class all the students had been buzzing about the ghost attack, it was the first one of the new school year after all. Everyone had been speculating on which ghost it was and whether Phantom had shown up. 

Danny shook his head. “Sorry, Val. I was on the other end of the building and evacuated with everyone.” 

“Hmm. Okay, thanks.” Danny could see the gears turning in her head, probably frustrated she didn’t get her hands on it /or/ him, but she didn’t say anything else, and went to sit down at her table. Danny could feel Wesley’s eyes on him, and he sighed, turning on his stool to look at him. He was probably going to regret this.

“Lemme guess, you have questions.” Wesley looked reluctant but no less pissed. 

“Everyone just… Accepts that ghosts are a thing here?” He said it in a low voice, like he was afraid of being overheard by someone. 

“Uh. Yeah? Pretty much. Most people anyway. It’s been like this for like two years so… Yeah, people are kinda used to it by now.” 

Wes looked confused and conflicted. He was silent for a beat, before he asked his next question. “What can you tell me about this Phantom guy?” If Danny had been drinking something he probably would have choked on it. 

“Uh. I don’t know, what do you want to know?” 

“Who is he? Why is he here? What’s so special about him?” 

Danny blinked at the barrage of questions and struggled to find words. “Well, he’s—” the last bell rang and Mrs. Merriweather stood up from her desk. Danny almost sighed with relief. She pushed her rounded glasses up, and soothed down her pencil skirt.

“Alright kids, find your seats and settle down. We’re going to review lab safety today, and tomorrow we’ll be starting our first lab. Also the scheduled ghost drill will still be taking place, and because I detest the regulations I’m going to go ahead and tell you it'll be around 2:15 during this class.” She walked across the classroom and flicked off the lights. The projector hummed from its place hanging from the ceiling and Mrs. Merriweather wasted no time hopping to her powerpoint presentation on proper lab etiquette. Danny took the opportunity to shoot a text to Sam and Tucker about the ghost drill. At least this way they didn’t need to be on high alert. Besides, Danny had practically grown up in a lab, he knew this stuff backwards and forwards.

Wes glanced sideways at him, but said nothing. Danny shoved his phone back in his pocket and slouched forward onto the table. He stifled a yawn and struggled to keep his eyes open. A nap sounded fantastic at the moment, he’d been up half the night trying to talk Kitty through her recent fight with Johnny. Jazz said he should try and be helpful and build trust so they were less likely to take out their lovers' quarrels on him. Not having to get smacked around was all well and good but he wasn’t a ghost therapist. That was way more Jazz’s wheelhouse. He’d never say it out loud, because he’d never hear the end of it, but he missed her.

“Mr. Fenton.” Mrs. Merriweather had her hands on her hips. Crap.

“Yeah?” 

“What did I just go over?” 

“Uh… eye protection?” 

She sighed. “Danny, what part of this seems unimportant?” 

“None of it! Er, I mean, all of it? It is important, but I mean it’s not like I can even use any of this stuff anyways so…”

Mrs. Merriweather pinched the bridge of her nose. “And why do you think that is?” Annoyance squirmed in his stomach. “Not because I don’t know anything about lab safety. I know how to be safe in a lab, it’s not rocket science.” 

“Well, since you know everything there is to know, then you’ll be happy to hear that I’ve just decided to give the class a quiz tomorrow on this powerpoint.” There was a satisfied twinkle in her eyes, and Danny swore she loved to torture kids, and being a teacher was the only legal way she could do it. The class broke out into groans. 

“Nice going, Fenton!” Someone spat from behind him. He wanted to phase through the floor and just go home. 

“Pay attention or get detention everyone!” Mrs. Merriweather warned them. It was her favorite thing to say. She turned back to the slide show and continued her spiel. 

The ghost drill was nothing unusual. Despite knowing it was coming, most of the class still jumped when the alarm started, Danny and Wes included. They all evacuated the building and stood outside in the school yard the exact same way they would a fire drill. It was a waste of time, especially since they’d already had a ghost attack today. 

Thankfully, Wes had slipped off to stand with a guy that looked like his older brother, if the resemblance meant anything. Wes probably didn’t want to be seen talking to him if there was any other option. Danny had to hand it to him, he caught on fast. What that also meant was he didn’t have to try and fumble his way through an entire conversation answering questions about Phantom. Danny just hoped Wes ended up asking someone who had a more progressive opinion on him, someone like Paulina, or hell, even Dash. 

Danny spent the last of the drill hanging with Sam and Tucker. The obnoxious sirens had shut off at least. Danny hated those things, his parents had recommended and got approval for the installation at the start of school last year, along with a state of the art ghost detection gadget. After the third “false alarm”, courtesy of him, they got rid of the ghost detection in favor of the manual alarm buttons. That had been a rough week. Danny hadn’t known a peaceful ghost fight at Casper since. 

Eventually the drill was over, and the teachers started ushering kids back into school for the last period.    

“So, what’s going on after school?” Sam asked as they were funneled into the entrance.  

“I’ll probably swing by my house to drop my stuff off, then I’m gonna look around town, see if I can’t find that new ghost hanging around anywhere.”

“Pizza at my place after?” 

“Aw hell yeah, Sam! Wings too?” 

Sam rolled her eyes. “Yeah sure, Tucker, you can order wings. Just keep them away from me, will ya?” 

Danny snorted. “Sounds like a plan, I’ll text when I’m on my way.”

“Or if you need help with that ghost?” she added sternly. 

“Yeah yeah, fine. That too.” He waved a hand dismissively at her. 

_______________________________________________________________

Tucker and Sam walked home with him like they normally did, exchanging goodbyes and “see you later”’s at his front steps. They continued down the street as Danny pushed into his house. He took a deep breath, relaxing into the familiar smells of home. It was weird, not seeing Jazz on the couch with twelve open textbooks taking up all the space on the coffee table. He headed for the kitchen, his empty stomach not willing to wait for pizza later. He dropped his bag by the banister so he could pick it back up on his way to his room later. 

When he walked into the kitchen, his mom looked up and brightened. She had a bunch of papers all laying out on the dining table, some in piles and some splayed out in an order that probably made sense to her at least. She didn’t have her goggles on, instead she had them pushed back like a headband.

“Hi, sweetie! I didn’t even hear you come in. How was your day at school?” 

 “Fine,” he said with a noncommittal shrug. Danny walked past the table to the fridge. As he passed he noticed that the papers were readouts and raw data sheets. Some looked like her own notes which featured the words “ghosts”, “core”, “ecto-signature” and the like about a dozen times. It wasn’t exactly abnormal for his parents, but it did peak his interest.  

He opened the refrigerator and grabbed a can of strawberry soda and an apple, enjoying the feeling of the cool air on his face. He nudged the fridge door closed with his foot and turned towards his mom. 

“So,” he took a bite of his apple, “what’re you workin’ on?” Normally his parents kept all the research down in the lab, unless of course they were close to figuring something out, and were running out of counter space down there. He walked back over and pulled out a chair to sit.

Over the years he’d gotten somewhat closer to his parents. Well, he was more confident in his secret keeping ability now, which was what it boiled down to. Plus, it was advantageous to try and keep track of whatever ghost obliterating tech his parents had come up with this time, which was easier to do if he acted interested in their work. Especially now that Jazz was gone.

His mom’s grin got even wider at his question and he could tell she was bursting at the seams to talk about it. She put her pencil down, and swept up her mug to take a quick sip. It was white with Fenton Works plastered across the side.

“Ghost cores!” She set her mug back down, and pulled her goggles off her head. It let loose a few locks of her red hair that she quickly tucked behind her ear. “So, as you know all ghosts have power cores,” she shuffled around in her research, looking for something in particular. “Except, all ghosts have different power core ‘types’.” 

“Uh-huh,” he nodded along as if it was all new information. He took another bite of his apple. 

“So! Your father and I are working on not only a better method of categorizing ghosts that takes into account their power level but also the type of elemental core they possess. We think if we can find more commonalities and differences it will help find more exploitable weaknesses.” She found the page she was looking for and offered it to him, standing to lean over the table. Danny set his snack down and took the page to skim over it. It looked like a bunch of data on ghost’s with their power measurement, core type, temperature, ectoplasmic density, each a value that was plugged into an algorithm that spat out a number for a final threat level. 

“See, before, we would base an ecto-entities power level solely on the output of the ectoplasmic energy, but with this algorithm, we can have a more in depth understanding of the possible damage a ghost could do and how to counter it.” 

“Hence the ‘threat level’ rather than just ‘power level’?” he said glancing up at her.

“Exactly sweetie!” Her eyes softened as she looked at him. “Oh, you and your sister, you’re both so smart.” She came around the table to brush his bangs out of his face, and squish him in a one armed hug. “I couldn’t have asked for more perfect kids,” she said and kissed the top of his head before releasing him. He forced a smile. She said that now, but she didn’t know what he was. Who he was.

“Now, the issue is trying to find all the core types.” She leaned a hand on the table to look over his shoulder at the paper he was holding. “So far we know about fire, electricity, ice…” She held her chin thoughtfully. “And despite what the core may be, that doesn’t always mean their powers are a direct derivative, the applications of a core type can be extremely varied with only a thin connecting thread,” she muttered. Danny almost didn’t know if she was still talking to him, or just thinking out loud. “I’m doing research on what determines a ghost's core type. So far the leading theory is based on how they died. We think it’s the main contributing factor but I need more subjects to find anything conclusive.” 

If that were true, he’d have an electricity core. The thought made his breath stick in his throat and a cold sweat break on his forehead. Danny went to open his soda— or he would have, had it still been liquid. Instead there was a thick layer of frost on the outside of the aluminum where he’d been holding it, and the contents were frozen solid, bulging the top and bottom of the can. Yikes. He shot his Mom a panicked look, but she was thankfully too absorbed in her thoughts to notice. He handed her back the paper before he froze that too. 

“Sounds pretty cool, Mom. Welp, I gotta go do some reading for class so—” 

“Danny-boy!” Boomed his dad’s voice. He winced and turned to see his Dad coming up from the lab. 

“Hey, Dad.” 

“Helpin’ your Mom with some good ol’ fashioned ghost research are we?” 

“Actually I was—” 

“Maddie, I did what you asked! I tore the whole lab apart, but I still didn’t find the Fenton Ghost Gage anywhere.” Uh-oh. Danny slowly got up from the table and went to make for the door. 

“That’s odd, I swear I left it by the control panel a few weeks ago...” It was quiet for a moment. “Danny—” he turned back around, feigning ignorance with every ghostly molecule of himself. “—have you seen the Ghost Gage sitting around anywhere?” 

The New and Improved Fenton Ghost Gage was a relatively new invention, which actually worked pretty well. Except of course for the glitch that registered a level ten plus ghost in the house. His Mom had theorized that it was because of the proximity to the Ghost Zone that it was giving the off the charts false reads, and left it sitting in a tub of inventions to be tweaked. It was now safely placed between the drywall and plumbing of Casper High, sending it’s readings directly to Tucker's phone. Of course they’d already made the modifications for it to read core types, thanks to Tucker.  

“Nope, sorry. Have you checked the couch cushions? Or the fridge?” he suggested. 

“Of course! The couch! Good thinking, Dannio!” His Dad clapped him on the back with so much force the soda can flew from his grasp, and promptly exploded on contact with the tile floor. Right. Frozen soda explodes. Idiot. 

The outside had been completely frozen, but apparently on the inside it was slush, which was now all over the floor, the walls, the ceiling, and the three of them. It looked like a sugary crime scene. He quirked a nervous smile.

“Oops?” 

________________________________________________________________

Thankfully the soda caused only minimal damage to his parents research papers, but by the time he was done helping clean, the soda on his clothes had dried and gone sticky. Looked like there was no easy phase clean for him. He excused himself upstairs under the false pretense of doing homework and was gone the next minute. 

Time to find that ghost. 

The wind whipped through his hair and whistled past his ears. It was getting colder by the day and he loved it. The leaves on the trees would start turning soon, turning Amity into a collage of colors. If it weren’t for school, he’d love fall. 

He made it to Casper in a minute flat, and started his search there. The weight of the thermos was a constant reassuring weight on his hip as he circled outward. If she was lurking anywhere, his ghost sense would let him know. He flew up and down streets, block after block, but he was getting nothing. Well, unless he counted the people on the street that whooped and pointed at him as he flew past. 

He’d just gone by the Nasty Burger when a crackling bolt of energy zipped past him and punched a hole through a billboard. He recoiled and adrenaline flared through him; or whatever the ectoplasmic equivalent was. He flipped around to see a familiar ghost hunter. 

“You never learn your lesson, do you, ghost?” Valerie growled. 

“I’ve never been the best in school, so I’m gonna say no,” he said with a grin. Another blast shot past him, but he didn’t give her the satisfaction of flinching. 

“Shut up, I know you were at Casper today. What can you tell me about the new ghost?” Danny huffed. He and his friends weren’t the only ones that had the school bugged. 

“You probably know about as much as I do, Red. She was gone almost as soon as I got there.” 

“Like, I’d buy that!” Despite her helmet he could tell she was just as pissed as ever. He splayed his hands in a placating manner. 

“Honest, why else would I be out here combing the city?” 

“How should I know what you’re planning? You’re probably out here waiting for the opportunity to ruin someone else’s life.” 

Danny groaned. “Seriously Red, I said I was sorry like two years ago, you need to learn to let stuff go.” Danny liked to think that deep down she knew he wasn’t there to hurt anyone. She certainly didn’t like him, but she had at least started giving him an opportunity to explain himself before trying to waste him. Baby steps he supposed. 

“Back at’cha, ghost.” She lifted her blaster and it whined as it charged. Welp, decorum was over for the day. He went intangible and rocketed through the billboard. Once on the other side he went invisible and tore off in a different direction. He knew she could track him, but it was worth the few seconds it bought him. The sound of her jet sled roared as she gave chase. 

Pink charges of ecto-blasts peppered his flight path, near misses and wildly inaccurate alike. He zig-zagged, holding onto his invisibility and intangibility as he slipped through buildings. This was the easiest way to lose her, she had to take the time to skirt around huge objects, or waste the time to go straight up allowing him to widen the gap. Not to mention, while intangible the lack of wind resistance put his speed at around 130 Mph. Last time they’d checked at least. 

Once he was sure he was far enough away from Val to have dropped off her radar, he turned and headed for home. He phased through his window and transformed back, flopping onto his bed. He’d been all over town and hadn’t got a single whiff of the new ghost. At least Valerie was on it too. Still, it didn’t make it any less frustrating. 

He glanced at the clock on his nightstand which read 5:10. He’d check for the ghost again after dinner with Sam and Tuck, maybe then he’d at least be able to avoid Valerie. For now, he could really use a break.      

[antpernas]

1/24/21

Flight day!!! And time to say goodbye :’)

I woke up feeling pretty weird, especially considering how much had happened yesterday. I was still emotionally exhausted. Even though we had set our alarm for 5 AM to make sure he made his flight, I woke up naturally at like 4 AM. I just browsed on my phone until he woke up and we had to start getting ready. We also had to get the kayak off the car since I had sort of just gotten home and plopped into bed out of emotional fatigue. I hadn’t realized what a sweetheart he had been while he was packing his bags the night before; he folded all the laundry, hung my clothes, cleaned a bit... Ugh!!!

While getting ready to go, I asked if he was down to still see the sunrise before we went to the airport, like we originally intended, or if he wanted to take his time getting ready and just go straight there. To my delight, he agreed to the former, so we skipped breakfast and headed out!

About 15 minutes into our drive, the tears started falling again and I asked if it would be okay if I held his hand. Him saying yes will forever be the most bittersweet memory of him I have. But I’m still so thankful for it. I’m fairly certain we just listened to music while we drove, not saying much.

The place I wanted to take him was Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, which has a beautiful pier to walk and watch the sunrise from. But we didn’t want to risk being late, so we just settled on the sand.

While we watched the sunset, we chatted some more about us and his weekend. It made me so happy to hear he enjoyed it, and that he felt welcomed the whole way through. He told me he loves the way I love all out, and that with time, things will feel better. I remember it seeming a little funny that the same person who broke my heart was trying to comfort me now, but life’s funny like that! And at the end of the day, he’s my friend, and I’m thankful he took the time to make me feel better. I think the most important thing I told him in that conversation was that I realized that it doesn’t matter to me whether it’s as friends or as lovers, but that there’s so much more I wanted to see with him, to show him, to talk about. “I’m not done with you, Pernas.” I don’t think I’ll ever get those words out of my head!

After that, we dusted the sand off ourselves, and started heading back to our car. Ironically, we passed a sign that said that Lauderdale-by-the-Sea was the diving capital of Broward, and I kicked myself for not having done more research about where to snorkel before he had gotten to Florida. Once we got to the car, we shipped off.

I ended up driving to the wrong airport first, and somehow we managed to still make it to the right one in time, thank goodness! Before he got out of the car, I asked him if I could get one last kiss. And, thinking on it, I think I’ll take back what I said about holding his hand. THIS was definitely the most bittersweet moment of the trip. But again, I’m so thankful he let me have it. We told each other we’d miss one another, and then he got out of the car and to grab his bag. Once he made sure he had everything, he looked at me from across the passenger seat and told me he loved me. 

“I love you, too.”

And that was that. I took a deep breath and started driving to my friend’s house. I had to wait a little while for her to wake up, but once I got there I just bawled on her shoulder and then on her bed for a solid two hours. She eventually had to leave for work, at which point I knocked out from emotional exhaustion. Honestly, can’t remember what I did after I woke up. I might’ve gone snorkeling, I might’ve just gone straight home. I’m not sure! I know I got home that night, though, and slept with one less person in my bed.

So, summary of this weekend, is that I learned a lot, and learned that I still have a lot to learn. Like, WAYYY more than I had every anticipated. But I’m still so very very thankful to Scorpio for showing me how naive my outlook on love and emotions was. And I’m happy that I have a much more healthy relationship with being honest and my own emotions. And most importantly, that I have a new outlook on pursuing things in the future. But for now, all the matters to me is having fun, and, above all, being happy.

[searchin-for-an-urchin]

Like Happiness is in your Reach Aaron Burr x Reader Chapter 11

Tags @fangirlandnerd @ milena-millennium @fangirl570 @studysafeplace @bees-are-more-important

Chapter 1 Chapter 2  Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9  Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12

Masterlist

I’m back (sort of!) I had an insane year, and a few months ago I posted a life updated here BUT I want to start writing more consistently again! I’m also going to try to write for other fandoms too- so hopefully this goes well!

Without further ado, here is chapter 11! I’m thinking a few more chapters. I have a couple more things I want to accomplish in the storyline, but it won’t be long now.

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

        The next morning you’re woken up by your alarm clock. You glance and see the 5:30am flashing and you reach over to hit the off button. Before you could groan about getting up to take your daughter to school, you hear three identical groans from around you. You smile sleepily and start to wake Charlotte up by gently shaking her. When you see her smile, you sweetly say,

        “Come on, Charlotte. Time to get ready for school.” You reach over and lightly tap Peggy and John as you climb out of bed. “Time for work, you two.” Normally, you hate waking up early, especially when you only got four hours of sleep anyway. However, this morning, you didn’t have to force your smile to go along anyway. 

      You don’t remember changing into your pajamas, but you’re grateful that you did. The soft and warm red flannel pants and worn out PTA shirt were comforting, and you opted to stay in it as long as possible. In fact, everyone dragged their feet off to school and work today. Peggy and John left shortly after waking up so they could go home and grab a change of clothes, and Charlotte stood in the bathroom brushing her teeth for a solid five minutes before she realizes she’s just standing there. She eventually snaps out of it when you undo her braids and brush out her hair for the day. Charlotte skulks off to get changed into her clothes while you stare at your closet, combing your hair out.  At about 6:15am, before you can figure out what you want to wear, you hear a knock on the door. As you walk to the door, you loudly ask Charlotte,

        “Did John or Peggy forget something, Charlotte?” You open the door and simultaneously hear your daughter’s grumbled response and find Theodosia and Aaron in front of you, Theo holding a small box from a local donut shop, and Aaron holding a drink carrier with coffee and chocolate milk in it. .

        “Good morning, Y/N!” Theo exuberantly greets you.

        “Oh!” You reply, a little bit surprised. “Good morning, Theo. Please come on in.” 

        “Thanks!” the young girl replies cheerfully. You move to the side as she literally skips past you and sets the box down on an island in the kitchen. A little shocked that anyone could be so energetic in the morning, you turn back to face Aaron. He also walks in your home and you shut the door behind him. 

        “Good morning, Aaron,” you stumble to say when you realize you only greeted his daughter. He smiles and leans down to place a kiss on your cheek and replies in kind. Before he could pull away, you turn your head and place a chaste kiss on his lips. The smile on his face is contagious and exhilarating, and you almost forget that you were exhausted less than five minutes ago. After a moment you ask, teasingly,

        “Does one of those coffees happen to belong to me?”

        “Hmmm, maybe,” he teases back, inching his way closer to you. You can hear Charlotte closing her bedroom door and walking out into the living room. Aaron hears her as well because he hands you the coffee and faces your daughter. 

        “Good morning, Charlotte,” he greets your daughter cheerfully. “Theo and I thought we would bring the two of you breakfast and head to school together today.” Charlotte nods groggily, and says a quiet “thanks” heading to her food. 

        “Charmander here,” you explain, walking over to the table where she had just sat down. “Is not a morning person, coupled with the fact that her Uncle John and Aunt Peggy let her stay up way too late last night.” You stroke your daughter’s hair. 

        “Mama, can you braid my hair into pigtails again?” She looks up to you with a smile and a bit of chocolate frosting on her face. You hand her a napkin and nod, picking up sections of  hair and beginning to plait it for her. 

        “Theo, did you have a good time at the Hamiltons’ last night?” You inquire about the giddy girl, sitting next to her father who is eating his donut and taking a drink of his coffee. She nods her head enthusiastically as she finishes her donut. 

        “Yes ma’am! We played hide and seek and then watched the Spongebob movie before we went to bed.” Charlotte gasps, and it makes you jump because you weren’t expecting her to make such a loud noise this early in the morning. Aaron lets out a small laugh at your surprise, a blush appearing on your cheeks. Your daughter didn’t realize your reaction and added to Theodosia’s story,

        “That’s my favorite movie! Me, Uncle John, and Aunt Peggy watched that movie last night too!” Charlotte, finally waking up, continues to chat energetically with Theodosia as you finish your daughter’s braids. You give Aaron a knowing look and he shakes his head with a smile. Theodosia had sat down first, and made sure Charlotte sat next to her. On the other side of the counter/table is where you sat down - within inches of Aaron. The donut and coffee disappear pretty quickly from everyone’s grasps. While you were watching the girls talk to each other, you see Aaron looking at you from the corner of your eye and turn to face him, noticing a soft smile on his face. He really does have an incredible smile, you think to yourself. He reaches out his hand and you do the same, intertwining your fingers together. Both of you missed the smiles between your daughters. 

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

Two days later you receive a text message from Nathaniel in the morning.

“Are you available to meet for coffee at 1:30?”

Without hesitation, you replied.

“Yes. Starbucks on Broadway sound okay?”

“Sounds good! See you then.”

        It only took you 15 seconds of consideration before you’re hitting the call button and speaking to Aaron. It wasn’t that you felt like you needed permission, but you wanted to talk to him about Nathaniel.

        “Do you have a moment?” You ask carefully.

        “Sure. What’s up?” Aaron says in a calm, but concerned voice. 

        “Nothing’s up, really, but I’m ready to tell you a bit more about Nathaniel.”

        “Okay,” he replies. You can hear the chatter in the background, but Aaron’s attention was on your voice. 

        “Before Charlotte was even a possibility, I was a workaholic.” You take a breath and clarify, “Well, a worse one than I am now. I never took breaks, and I always found reasons to stay at the cafe rather than hang out with friends or family. My logic was ‘If I see my brother and best friend at work, why should I spend time outside of my job to do just that?’. My focus was the cafe and nothing else.

        “One night Peggy and John dragged me out of the cafe and forced me to go out with them to a bar to let off some steam, which in their definition meant me getting drunk and going home with a random guy.”

        “Let me guess,” Aaron interrupts your soliloquy. “The random guy was Nathaniel?”

        “Ding ding ding, we have a winner.” I let out a chuckle. “I remember meeting him and talking to him, but I never learned Nathaniel’s last name. I just learned it the other night at the restaurant.” Aaron makes a noise to signify that he understood. 

        “So we both know that you don’t need my permission to do anything and vice versa, but I assume you’re bringing me in the loop because you’re meeting Nathaniel today, right?”

        “That’s correct.”

“Is there anything I can do for you?” You think about it for a moment, but nothing comes to mind - not even a joke.

        “No, but thank you though.”

        “Thank you for sharing, Y/N. I hope you didn’t feel obligated to do so.”

        “Oh no, not at all. In fact, I feel as if I can rely on you with the information I’ve never really shared before, and I really appreciate that about our relationship.” The word falls out of your mouth before you could catch it, and you aren’t even given enough time to walk your statement back because Aaron is suddenly saying in a sly voice, a bit quieter than his initial volume.

        “I know our relationship hasn’t been defined, but I would also like to inform you that my feelings for you are very real, and of a romantic nature.” You’re grateful that you’re sitting in your office with the door closed because you don’t want anyone to see the bumbly mess that you are turning into as a result of Aaron’s words.

        “Well the definition could be quite simple as I return those real, romantic, feelings towards you, Aaron.” A moment passes, and you could picture the wide, full tooth smile that he had on his face.

        “I’m glad to hear that, Y/N.”

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

        Over the next two weeks, Aaron and Theo would come over for breakfast before school, sometimes bringing coffee and donuts, other times giving you a heads up, allowing you to make the coffee and breakfast. Theodosia said your eggs were the best she ever had, and Aaron complimented you on your ability to hide the veggies so the girls would actually eat them. Each morning started with a greeting from Theo and a kiss on the cheek from Aaron, which would turn into a kiss on the mouth from you (“they already know we’re dating, Aaron”). On the second Monday after your first date, you ask Aaron if he was free on Wednesday evening for a second date. He happily agreed. This time, you paid. 

        Wednesday nights became date nights. From finding the “best ice cream cone” in your part of New York to riding the bumper cars ten times in a row at Coney Island (Aaron let you drive, and he held his arm around you the whole time), the time you’ve spent together allowed both of you a much needed release from your everyday lives. Fridays became sleepover nights. Whether Charlotte went to the Burr household or Theodosia spent the night at your place, the girls were growing in their friendship just as quickly as you and Aaron were growing in yours.

        It was the Wednesday a week before Thanksgiving when Aaron asked what you were doing the Tuesday of Thanksgiving week, and you replied that you would be deep-cleaning your apartment for family coming in the following day for Thanksgiving festivities.

        “It’s a big celebration, really”, you explain. “My parents HATE New York, but they love Charlotte, so they compromise. Mama and Papa come here for Thanksgiving so we go to them for Christmas.” Your fingers are intertwined with Aaron’s and you are walking back to your apartment. Before Aaron could get out why he asked about your plans, you (hopefully) nonchalantly add, 

        “I would love for you and Theodosia to join us for Wednesday and Thursday family festivities if you don’t have any plans”. Aaron stops in his tracks, naturally stopping you as well. A bit worried that he stopped in abject horror, you’re pleased when you see a shocked smile start to curl on Aaron’s face. Aaron had confided in you on your last date that he had lost his parents shortly after he passed the bar exam, and Theodosia Sr. lost her parents before they had met, so Theo grew up without grandparents or extended family, really, which is the opposite of your daughter. 

        “Would your parents mind?” He asks carefully, not hiding his smile at all.

        “Not at all. In fact, they’re dying to meet the little girl who is best friends with their granddaughter,” you tug on his hand for the two of you to start moving again. “And, your name has come up once or twice,” you add, coyly, while your cheeks start to turn pink.

        “Theo and I would love to attend your family’s festivities. Count us in on both days. Would you come with me on Tuesday evening to my work’s Thanksgiving party? Alexander and Eliza will be there, so you’ll have other friendly faces besides mine.” This conversation could not have gone any better. You’re smiling widely as you respond enthusiastically.

        “Sounds like fun.”

[bella-studio]

Don't wanna lose

/Listen, this is my first ROTTMNT fan fiction. And I warn you that in the original I wrote it in Russian(because I am from Russia), so there may be a poor translation. Please don't scold me xd. And... My text typography is very different from how many others do it. So... I hope this is not a problem, and you will understand/

“Donnie had a nightmare, but to whom would he go for help, if not his brothers?”

   The body hurts unbearably. As if all the bones were crushed into small pieces, as if they were well ground in a blender. I barely rise to my elbows and look around. Blood. A lot of blood. My brothers! They are also in the blood. Do not move. No signs of breathing. They have terrible wounds, and Mikey... Oh no, my poor little brother, he got the most. Looking at his broken shell is worse than the pain that I feel from broken bones now. I try to get up, but I can’t. My tech-bo is broken in half, and the shell sparkles from damaged parts. I hear menacing breath behind me. I turn my head. Shredder. He stands in front of me and looks into my eyes with a predatory gaze. At any second, he could attack me, but he was waiting for something. I hear someone is running. April! She is alive! She runs straight at the enemy with a bat in her hands. What are you doing again?! Run from here! Shredder grabs O`Neil with his claws and throws her to the side under a huge box hanging on the chain of the lift. The next second, the armor quickly chopped off the chains. The load fell on April. I heard a loud crunch of bones, and blood poured out from under the load. The shock froze on my face. And in a split second, Shredder, waving his claws, was in front of me.

— NO! — softshell woke up.

   And the next thing he felt was already real pain from hitting the bed cover. Perhaps a broken solarium is not the best option for a place to sleep. Von Ryan rubbed his forehead. He began to breathe air through his teeth, squinting his eyes. Such a dream. But this is not surprising. After a three-day battle with Shredder, the destruction of Donnie’s entire tech and almost premature death, the turtle could not sleep well. All these thoughts of death from the claws of an obsessed armor scared him.

   Donatello slowly walked down the stairs from the bed. 03:15 AM. Third time in a week. He rubbed his eyes, leaning against the table. Terribly wanted to sleep, but did not want to return to the nightmare. He needs someone who will help to distract from this. But who? Brothers are not an option. Father too... April. Yes, she also suffered, but she can calmly listen and help. The best friend after all.

   Donnie took out his hoodie, left the room, looked around. No one, everyone is sleeping. He slowly but surely headed toward the exit to the surface. He climbed the rusty stairs and opened the hatch. It's raining. To match the mood. Softshell closed the hatch and climbed to the roof of the house. Jogging can also distract. He went straight to his friend, jumping from roof to roof and slapping his feet in the puddles. About ten minutes later he was at her window. It is closed: both the lock and the curtains. Donnie sighed sadly, with his hands in his pocket. Unexpectedly there was a screwdriver. How on time. The turtle held the tool to the lock and stopped. But will it not be a hack? ...Nah, Donnie has the right to do it. He continued to poke around the lock until it clicked, announcing the discovery. Von Ryan slowly opened the window and opened the curtains. But here's what surprised: April sat on her bed in headphones, reading a magazine, under a nightlight:

— Do you know that reading under a dim light is not safe for the eyes?  — he said loudly enough for the girl to hear him.

   She jerked and looked in his direction, pulling out her headphone. They looked at each other for about ten seconds, until O'Neil spoke:

— Said the one who spent days on end sitting at the phone or laptop. — she answered with a grin.

   The girl closed the magazine, put it and the headphones on the pedestal and got out of bed, going to the window from which the softshell peeked out. She shoved him forcefully into the room and closed the window:

— What are you doing here?

— Me? I just wanted to visit you, to check how you are... — he was silent for a while, looking away. — How are you?

   The girl raised an eyebrow, looking skeptically at a friend. Donnie sighed, admitting defeat:

— Yeah-yeah, I know, I'm lying bad. Just a mental problem, Apes.

— Do you want me to listen? — in response came a sad nod. — Sit down and wait. Be right back.

   April left the room. Donnie, as his friend ordered, sat on the bed and waited, looking at her modest room. Solid walls hung with posters, garlands and photos. Photos with her, his brothers, with Splinter, her mom and Mayhem. Even joint photos with him and April, of which there were about five. Donatello smiled involuntarily. For the sake of such moments as to be with the one you love and cherish every moment, you want to live. April came soon with two cups of tea that both of them like. She crouched next to Don, giving him a cup, he gladly took it:

— Well... What happened? — she asked after a moment of silence.

— I had a nightmare. It has been repeated day after day since we got rid of Shredder.

— And what was there?

   Donnie looked at April. And she understood from his gaze. She began to look at the floor, considering everything. It’s strange that it’s Donnie, not even Mikey, who dreams of it:

— It was terrible. — began von Ryan. — I am alone, brothers are dead, there is no tech, I can’t move. Shredder is in front of me, but I see that you are running towards him. But he throws you back and...

— And? — stuttered, the girl asked.

— He killed you. Crushed by a huge cargo box. — Donnie started looking at a point on the wall. — There was a lot of blood, I heard a bone crunch. Shredder wanted to attack me, but I woke up.

   April looked frightened at her friend. Everyone shared their dreams with her, even Leo. Even Splinter! But not a single dream was so strange and cruel. And then the first dream that her best friend shared turned out to be just that. She wanted to support him, but Donnie continued:

— You know, I wanted to make a copy of Sunita's brooch. I wanted to become a human, wanted to study at school, go to college... But it turns out that we must fight all the villains, defending New York, and only God knows when this will end! — Donatello sobbed, bitter tears flowed from his eyes, dripping into sweet tea. — I do not want all this... I don’t want eternal battles, I don’t want victims, I don’t want... To die.

— Drop these thoughts, please! — O'Neil exclaimed, wiping the tears from the turtle’s eyes and holding a hand on his cheek. — You know that won't happen. You know that everything will be alright! Yes, we will fight for the preservation of the city, we will fight with the villains, but we will not die.

— YOU DO NOT KNOW THIS! — Don cried out, almost crushing the mug in his hands. He put it quickly on the pedestal and got out of bed. —  All I hear is words! "Everything will be fine! We can do it! We will win!" But no one knows the real cruelty of life! However, I lost everything I created over the years in a couple of seconds! Shredder nearly killed me! He nearly crippled Raph and Mikey! He almost crippled YOU! I am glad that we generally survived those three days, but the uncertainty about what will happen scares me! I’m afraid that I can literally lose everything: our adventures, our games, watching TV, pizza, Leo’s jokes, Raph’s hugs, Mikey’s paintings, Splinter’s stories, and, most importantly, my only best friend! SO HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT EVERYTHING WILL BE ALRIGHT!? — he abruptly fell silent.

   The room became very quiet, only sobs of the softshell and the sound of raindrops on the windowsill were audible. Donnie stood with his hands on his head, it seemed as if it would burst from his own scream. The throat now hurts, tears rolled down in a hail. This silence would have lasted longer if Von Ryan had not heard something. Is April... Crying? But she never... No... No, no, no! Donnie did not want to bring her to tears, he did not want to! The turtle knelt in front of her and put his hands on hers, holding a mug of tea that had already cooled down:

— Forgive me. I shouldn't have yelled at you. You are not to blame for our problems. You shouldn't have been involved.

— What!? — the girl was alarmed. Mayhem, which sat with her and reassured her, flinched. — You want to say that after all that we have experienced I am not a participant in all these troubles?! But I was the first to enter the Secret City. I helped you deal with the Purple Dragons, you guys saved me from Albearto, from Hypnopotamus, you defended my “Normal” day from Foot Clan, you helped to get Mayhem from the mirror, and I helped you with the missions. And remember, if I didn’t get on the train, we would not have guessed where Foot Clan had taken the armor! And you still think that I should not participate in this? So you don’t appreciate me as an important member of the team? As a family member?!

— It's not like that at all, April! — Donnie grabbed the girl by the shoulders. — I appreciate you! As a member of a team or family! And you can’t imagine how much I cherish you! I cherish the moment when we met! And I love you with all my heart, like a sister, but I'm afraid to lose you... — Donnie whispered.

   It was a shame. He just wanted help, support, and in the end he upset his friend. What kind of friend is he who raises his voice? April's hand touched turtle's cheek, and he looked at the her. She smiled faintly. She is no longer angry, but a precipitate of sadness remains in her eyes:

—  You're a fool. — O'Neil grinned. — Well, come here. — she put the mug down on the pedestal next to his and opened her arms for a hug.

   Donnie looked at April in surprise. They had not hugged together for so long, as if never. Von Ryan wiped away his tears and reached for his friend, clutching in "warm shackles." They sat like this for about five minutes. April began to giggle.

— What are you doing? — Donnie asked perplexedly, not breaking his arms.

— It's nothing. Just... To talk out, we had to yell at each other. I hope this does not happen again?

— We’ll try to prevent this... Listen, um... Can I stay with you this night?

— Of course, dude. Of course. Just sleep on the couch. — she laughed. — Just kidding, of course. You sleep with me, so that in case of what I reassured you.

— Pf! As you say, April.

I wanted to write that Donnie is more outspoken with April

Just adore these two

/if there are errors in the translation, then tell me about them. I am doing my best/

[softxharry]

Blacklist (two)

Harry Styles, one of the FBI’s most wanted criminals turns himself in– and all he wants to do is speak with one rookie agent.  

It’s her job to figure him out and it’s his to protect her from her past, but all secrets have to be told eventually.

AN// You can keep up with this story here via the tag HSBlacklist or on Wattpad at brutallybeautiful !

Chapter Two

Grace

I am startled awake by a loud banging on my door and a man's voice yelling from the other side. Oh fuck, I am late to my first day. I push my hair out of my face and scramble into a pair of sweatpants laying on the floor next to my bed.

But I'm not because when I look at the alarm clock on my side table, it's only seven a.m. and I don't have to be in until nine. I shake my head as if somehow that would eliminate all of the confusion inside, my feet pad loudly against the floor as I rush to slide the chain off the door and open it. I can feel my stomach flutter as the wood glides open, creaking and groaning from age. On the other side, two men stand with their hands on their holstered guns, annoyance written all over their faces.

I don't have time to question why they're here before they're speaking. Their voices are so deep that it rattles me.

"Agent Tyler, Adam Hunter. Washington Field Office," the man on the other side of the threshold said, pulling a badge out of his coat pocket and showing it to me for a brief second. "I need you to come with me right away."

-

I sit in an old, and very ugly orange chair across from a solid wooden desk, glancing around the office while I wait impatiently, my leg bouncing up and down nervously. I was trying to keep calm after Agent Hunter informed me that Harry Styles was asking for me and that's why they showed up at my door at seven. I stop on a picture frame that sits on the bookshelf behind the desk.

It's a photo of a man, his wife, two little twin girls. They're bundled up in scarves and toboggans and ice skates. The girls clinging for dear life to the man's legs, like if they would let go he would be lost forever. I smile at the photo and imagine what it must be like to be in a family that happy. The woman is kissing the man's cheek, love is evident.

I'm shaken from my thoughts when the sound of the door opening fills the room. I stand from my chair and flatten out my blazer before holding my hand out to shake his.

"Agent Tyler, Owen Cooper," he said, grabbing my hand firmly. I smile at him and take a seat.

"Nice to meet you, sir."

I knew exactly who Owen Cooper was. Assistant Director of Counterterrorism. I learned about his work in Quantico, how he stopped a second 9/11 in 2011, how he helped find the coordinator of the Paris attacks in 2015. He was the real deal, the big shot and I was sitting right in front of him.

I sit up now and force my leg to keep still. He's a lot taller than he looks in the photo, his skin is darker and his hair more grey. The twins in the photo must be much older now, too.

"I understand it is your first day as a profiler," he said. I nod, fidgeting with my hands in my lap.

"Yes sir," I smile, almost proudly. "I was reassigned from San Francisco, I graduated Quantico last month. I've been vetted by the agency, just as everyone else same background checks, same profiles-"

"So why does Harry Styles want to speak with you?" he said, interrupting me. He seemed genuinely curious rather than accusatory. He leans back in his seat, legs crossed, hands clasped. He looks at me like I should know, but I don't. I've never spoken with with that man in my life, never seen him, never heard of him until this morning. I have absolutely no idea what he wants with me.

But I'm about to find out.

Less than an hour later I'm siting in a chair, a mere ten feet from a brilliant criminal. A criminal whose evaded capture for more than five years, went off the radar, avoided detection. A criminal who wants to talk to me. It's silent for a moment as he stares at me, a smirk plastered on his face.

"A pleasure to meet you Agent Tyler," he said, giving me a smug grin. He leans forward in his seat, to the best of his ability because his arms are secured to the chair. I glance around at the many guards, the many agents, the many faces watching us intently, watching to see what this man is going to say, watching to see if I'm going to mess up. I swallow hard and straighten my shoulders.

"How is Washington? Do you miss San Francisco?" he asks. I almost jump out of my seat. I don't know this man, but he surely knows me. I take a deep breath to calm my nerves. I have to remain calm, I remind myself, dozens of eyes are watching me.

"Tell me about Weber." I said, my voice even yet firm. Kurt Weber was who Harry promised to give information on whenever he first entered the black sight, Cooper tells me.

The black sight is a secure location owned by the FBI where they work on confidential cases, hold confidential criminals. This one just so happened to be an old Sears warehouse before they shut down.

I imagine the workers, packaging and ticketing merchandise before it even hit the shelves. Probably sweating in the heat of the summer, keeping cool in the cold of the winter. I imagine them letting out a sigh of relief when they finally got to sit down for their 15 minute break and I compare it to where we are now, how this came to be, what's gone on in here.

Harry is smiling again, tugging lightly on the confinements that keep him in the chair. The air around us feels everything but easy. It feels like the moments before a storm, when the trees are rustling and the sky starts to get dark. It feels much like that only 1000 times stronger.

"Did your boyfriend move with you?" he asks. His tone is so mono that it sends shivers down my spine, I shift uncomfortably in my seat.

"Cut to the chase Styles, I don't have time to banter," I tell him, my tone more harsh than it was a second ago. He looks a bit taken aback by it and shifts in the wooden chair that he's occupying, staring at me bemused. "Why did you want to talk to me? It's my first day, nothing special about me."

He laughs a hearty, deep laugh and shakes his head at me.

"Everything is special about you, Gracey."

My breath hitches in my throat at the nickname. The one my dad used to sing whenever he'd call me to his office, the one he'd exaggerate in the stories he told me as he sat on my bed at night, the one my mom would hum in the kitchen when dinner was ready. He knows, I know he knows by the look on his face.

He places his hands on his knees.

"Within the hour Weber will abduct the daughter of U.S. General Kalmin Brown. He wants to be out of the country within 24 hours. If you don't move quickly, that little girl's blood will be on your hands."

The way he talks so confident, so smoothly is rattling. A part of me wants to believe what he is saying, but another part of me reminds myself that he is a criminal and criminals are notorious for lying.  But something inside my gut tells me he's not bluffing. I am about to speak again when Harry casually leans back in his chair.

"But you don't have to believe me," he said.

"Why should I?"

He laughs again. "You shouldn't. I am a criminal. Everything about me is a lie," he looks down at his fingernails. "But I guess that's what we have in common, lying. You being raised by a notorious criminal, your mother dying for it..." he trails off and shrugs. Then he looks around at all of the agents in the room. Unbeknownst to them, this is news.

"Oh!" he exclaims finally catching on. If he wasn't confined to the chair, I'm sure he'd be clapping his hands together.

"Oh, they don't know, do they." He makes a I'm-sorry-I-totally-knew-they-didn't face and frowns at me. "Well," he smirks.

-

The door to Agent Cooper's makeshift office slams loudly, with such force that I swear my bones are rattling inside my body.

This office is different than the one at the branch. This one holds no comfort, no pictures, just an old bookshelf and a desk with a computer.

"Why didn't your father's criminal record show up up on your screening?" Agent Hunter demands, his hands resting on the desk. It irks me to know that he- someone who is nearly as a rookie as I am- wants to demand things from me. I stand up from my seat. Cooper gives him a stern look and his eyes advert to the ground.

"We need to order a SWAT and get to that girl now," I said, avoiding the question entirely. Agent Cooper looks at me warily, like somehow he didn't trust me. Hell, I didn't even trust myself right now, but something inside me said that Harry wasn't lying. And I needed to know why.

[jaywrites101]

The City In FreeFall: Chapter Four

This is part of my ongoing Beta for my new book The City In FreeFall, slated to be released sometime early in 2020. New chapters are released here and on AO3. Special shout out to my StreetTeam members: @ciestess and @leave-her-a-tome for their advanced reading and suggestions.  On to the story! Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3

Beaten, bruised, and broken. Oh yeah, today was going exactly according to plan… 

I made it through the front door of our apartment and immediately stumbled towards my bed. The alarm clock next to the bed read 1:48 in bright, red numerals. I wasn't failing Math, so I did a few mental calculations. I had to be at the warehouse by 8:30, which meant I'd have to leave the house by 7:00 at the latest. That left five hours to sleep and set the third part of my plan in motion.

The agonizing pain in my lungs reminded me that five hours wasn't nearly enough time to recuperate. Stupid lungs. They should know better than that by now.

As I approached the bed, everything went dark. I could vaguely feel myself collapsing, in a numb, underwater sense. I was well past my breaking point, but this was different. My mind was still running at top speed, even though my body was failing. Last time I blacked out, it happened too quickly for me to process what was happening. This time I was aware enough to be afraid of it. 

I woke up tied to a chair. On top of our apartment. Leaning over the precipice.

I panicked! The sight of the street below filled me with adrenaline. I threw myself against the straps, completely disregarding my previous injuries. But an orange, scaled hand stopped me from leaning forward.

I thought he was a myth! But that hand was real. The sun setting behind him burned right in my eyes! He pushed my chair further and further back despite my protests. My heart was trying to beat itself out of my chest. Wind tousled my hair while I screamed. Once again, I couldn’t stop myself from looking down. The ground was so far away, the pedestrians below were like ants on a picnic table. My eyes were glued to the asphalt twenty stories straight down.

With a herculean effort, I forced myself to look back at the thing in front of me. Burnished orange scales broke up his silhouette. Humanoid, but not human. His head--Oh God! There was nothing human about that head. Bulged over with a massive lower jaw. And at the top. Two glowing crimson eyes. It was like staring into the depths of Hell and seeing that Hell was staring back!

Movement behind him drew my attention to his tail. It twitched aggressively. "What do you know about Warehouse 15!" he growled. His voice! Even now, sitting alone in my cell, I shiver just remembering it. It was a low growl, impossibly loud! It was the voice of a dragon.

This was DinoHyde.

"Don't kill me!" I pleaded.

"Wrong answer!" he roared in return. With one hand--one--he pushed the chair all the way over the edge. I thought for sure I was about to fall. But the monstrosity still had hold of the back of the chair. Even as all four of the legs swung out into space, that grip held the chair in place. The straps cut into me. Slicing my already bruised body with every shudder.

"Y-you won't kill me--You can't kill me! DinoHyde n-never kills people." At this point, I was pleading more to myself than to him. He pulled me up, just enough to force me closer to those wicked eyes.

"What do you think happens to those people who mysteriously disappear in this city?"

"They were killed by the gangs?"

DinoHyde didn't answer. He didn't need to. I'd heard the tales in the Heap. We all did. Stories that a wild dinosaur was cloned in a lab and exposed to human DNA. No one really believes it. We all grew up just outside that lawless age where vigilantes took up arms to keep the peace. Most of us just assumed DinoHyde was just another vigilante dressed up in a spandex suit. 

Those scales seemed real to me. Somehow, those eyes bored themselves into my skull and pulled out my greatest fear from the deepest recesses. Tears burned their way out of my eyes. Even my mantra was forgotten.

"What do you know about Warehouse 15!" he asked again.

"I-I don't know anything about Warehouse 15," I cried, expecting to fall at any second. "It's just an abandoned Barron Corp storage site. I needed to find a place the SmashStones and the BloodBlades could go wild without getting anyone else hurt! That's it, I swear!"

DinoHyde seemed taken aback. He blinked his eyes a couple of times, at any rate. "You're not working for Lawson?"

"Who?" The name struck a chord with me, but I couldn't place it. I certainly wasn't working for him, whoever he was.

DinoHyde seemed to sense the truth. More confirmation of his supernatural powers. "It's not important," he said. He paused for a minute, his head cocked unnaturally. 

A breeze blew around me. For a moment, I actually thought he was going to drop me. But the moment passed and DinoHyde swung me around back onto the roof. I was stuck facing away from the mutant vigilante. 

I craned my neck so hard I swear something popped, but I still didn't get a good look at him--he just stepped into my blindspot no matter what I did. "You should be in school, kid," he said. His voice was still gravely, but much less harsh. He still didn't know what to make of me.

"I'm not going to school anymore. I'm not going ever again," I returned stubbornly. God, I was such a prick.

"You don't know what you're playing at."

"How can you say that? We're on the same side!"

DinoHyde growled. "You're not on anyone's side, kid!" His voice returned to that deep reverberating tone that scared me so much. "You've made enemies of everyone in the city what with the stupid stunts you just pulled! Stealing a cop car, joining the SmashStones, marching right on up into the BloodBlades stronghold--it's a wonder you haven't killed yourself already!"

At the mention of my heroic deeds, my injuries started throbbing again. In addition to the busted ribs and the hole in my chest, I also had bruises on my back that stung like acid, a tender, itchy line across my throat, a cramp in my left leg, and a collection of cuts on my arms and shoulders. "I guess I just don't have the talent for dying."

DinoHyde smacked at the back of my head lightly. My vision doubled as my eyes crossed from the pain. Add one concussion. Lovely.

"Give it up, brat. You don't have what it takes to make it in this line of work."

"Screw you!" I spat indignantly. "You know, i-if you were out protecting people instead of throwing kids off building tops, I wouldn't have to be here, a-and my friend would still be alive!" 

You know, I didn't think I was doing anything particular by bringing the conversation around to Jerry again. It took me by surprise to realize I meant it this time. Seeing the myth right in front of me… Damn… That gave me someone to blame. Someone besides the gangs. After all the lies and half-truths… This was real. And it hurt. Like a bitch.

I bawled for a solid minute. I've never been any good at handling grief. Even now it's easier to just escape into the past and forget the last couple of days… forget what's happening to me.

DinoHyde let me cry. He waited for me to calm down before he said, "I was sorry to hear about Jerry." That was it. No nonsense, or he's in a better place now like all the other adults kept repeating. 

Just, sorry. 

"He was a good kid,” DinoHyde continued. “Smart. Honest. I wish I could've stopped what happened to him."

"THEN WHY DIDN’T YOU!" I shouted. "You're the monster vigilante! You're the one going around playing hero! Why didn't you--or any of the others--protect him!"

I expected him to smack me over the head again, or maybe tell me off for being a brat. I would've deserved either. But instead, DinoHyde just made an odd wheezing noise that I eventually recognized as a sigh. "It happened in the daylight. I can't operate so freely during the day."

"Whatever," I huffed. I wasn't ready to forgive him so easily. "As soon as you let me go I'm going to clean up your mess for good. There won't be any more kids in caskets."

"It's not that easy."

"Well, maybe you just haven't been trying hard enough!"

DinoHyde spun the chair around into the setting sun once more. He towered over me, those red eyes blazing. "Listen to me kid! What you're doing won't work. The gangs aren't just going to kill each other off just because Sam Farsight has a grudge against them. All you're going to do is start a war that'll burn down this whole city."

I dug my toes into my shoes and forced myself to stare anywhere but at his eyes. The building next to us had a park on its roof. Empty, of course. Most buildings locked their roof access at sunset. It was--

"Sunset…"

"What are you going on about now?" DinoHyde asked.

"It's sunset! And none of the buildings near my apartment have a park on them! Where am I? What time is it??"

DinoHyde huffed. "Relax, kid. We're near the docks, and it's only 7:30-ish."

I quickly ran some more mental calculations. "There's still time, but I've got to hurry. Are you going to let me out of this chair?"

"I will. But I won't help you. What you're doing is suicidal. Both Cutter and SmashStone will be pissed. Even I can't take them both on at once."

"That's fine," I snapped. "I didn't want your help anyway."

"This isn't a game, brat!" DinoHyde growled again. (He does that a lot.) "If you go through with this they will kill you. And I won't be there to save you."

"Then I'll die!" There was something in the force of it that gave the vigilante pause. Conviction, plain and simple. I knew the dangers. But that wasn't going to stop me. "At least I'll die knowing it wasn't in vain. Knowing that I made a difference."

"Kid…" DinoHyde began. But he stopped. Making another one of his strange sighs, he reached behind me and unbuckled the straps that bound me. I wasn't going to stay and chat. I was already limping off to the door.

"Kid!" he tried again. "Listen to me--look, there's a better way. A proper way. Just back down from this madness and I'll--"

"I don't want your help! I'm doing this my way. I don't want anything to do with you!" I limped down the steps, all twenty flights of them. DinoHyde didn't follow after me. I don't know what he did after I left. I didn't care. Was I reckless? Yes. Was I stupid? Yes. Do I regret my actions that day? Oh, most definitely. Did I care at the time? Nope… I was convinced I had things figured out. DinoHyde was just one more test of my resolve.

[canaryatlaw]

today was...a lot. morning was actually pretty good, my emotions have just kinda been all over the place. I never notice when I’m in a depressive spiral until I hit the bottom and look back like oh yeah, that would make sense why I’ve been sleeping so much and feeling so anxious and stressed about work (and I mean, work is definitely a part of it, which really just means I need to get the position at the DV clinic that much more) and discouraged all the time, along with skipping church for like, a solid month, even going in for the babies one week but not staying for the service because I just didn’t have it in me. I think I need to really reevaluate who and what is important to me and how that actually has an impact on my life and wellbeing. Most of all I need to stop relying on other people for emotional fulfillment, because eventually they will let you down and I can’t keep putting myself through that pain. I’ve been thinking back to when my life wasn’t as crazy like it is now. I’ve tended to look back on that time negatively, at least in the positive moments now. But the truth was that while my life was pretty boring, I wasn’t depressed (save for the summer of 2017, but that was external circumstances that I couldn’t control). I was happy with the life I had and the friends I had, and god do I miss those friends. I’m talking to them in a GC on twitter like right now and I really just miss them. It’s been way too long since I’ve gotten to see them and actually hang out with them. And these are my friends- mine, not friends by association with someone else who I know aren’t at all loyal to me as actual friends and I really don’t trust most of them. Is it nice to have sometime to do on my weekends now? Yeah, it is, but the drawbacks have been beginning to weigh on me, and now I’m not sure that it’s always what’s best for me. I’m not saying I want it all gone, because for the most part I do very much like my life now, but there are definitely some things that need to change, because I can’t keep doing this. And more than anything I think those changes need to come from me, not anyone else. god, I’d kill for a good therapist that I was comfortable with and knew I could trust right now just to talk this all out with. I just need to be better with controlling my emotions and not getting attached to people who aren’t going to be there for me. I need to rely on myself, not other people. so that’s pretty much all the emotions I’ve been processing. I’m still split on whether I should say anything to my psychiatrist about it at my appointment Tuesday. It’s gotten to the point where I feel like I should, I’m just so scared of switching meds that might result in a very bad result like it has in the past, and I really don’t trust this new guy yet, so far all he’s done is prescribed the meds I told him I was already own, I don’t have any examples of his judgment on which to base a decision. But I realized today that it’s definitely worse than I thought, so at this point I pretty much feel like I have to, even though that scares me. sigh. okay, I think that’s all my feelings for now, I may come back and add more sentences while writing the rest of the post. but yeah, my day, let’s get to that. I woke up to my alarm at 7:15 and surprisingly managed to get out of bed without that much effort. Got ready, public transit was actually cooperating with my schedule for once and I literally made it inside the sanctuary 20 seconds before the service started, lol, can’t beat that. I had taken a seat next to this guy after asking if it was open, and we started talking a little, just bits and pieces during the service. and y’all, he was SO cute. Kinda preppy, wearing a polo shirt, but it looked classy, not douchey. so throughout the service (which I’ll get to in a minute) I’m like sneaking glances over to him. He just moved to Chicago, and it was his first time at the church, so we talked a bit about that stuff. And like, at this point my brain was setting off serious alarm bells (in a good way, lol) because finding single cute guys at this church is fucking impossible, and I saw my opportunity and knew I had to take it. So once the service was over I was just like “I’m never this forward, but are you seeing anyone? dating in this church is impossible because everyone’s already taken, lol” which he laughed at. He responded that he wasn’t seeing anyone, but felt like he wasn’t really in a good place to be in a relationship right now because he’s got some things he has to deal with, but if he was available he would *definitely* be interested, which he certainly did not have to add if he was just trying to blow me off haha. I said ofc I totally understand, and if he gets things worked out, he’d know where to find me. We left off saying we’d see each other in the weeks to come. So overall I’m declaring this a successful guy interaction! I’ve literally never done that before in my life haha so I’d say pretty good. But yeah the service was really good, started by talking about the beginning of Matthew reading the genealogy of Jesus (which is of course not terribly thrilling haha but that was the point) and then went to talking about how each person on that list had a story and how your story is going to impact the people around you if you allow God to work through you and share it. Really good stuff. And just to make it super awesome, they brought an ice cream truck and paid for everyone to get ice cream??? have I mentioned how much I love my church??? so so much, lol. these people get me. So of course I went down and got an ice pop before proceeding to the volunteer huddle, and it was very much appreciated. Once I was done I went to the volunteer lounge and we did our kick off, and then headed to the baby room. There were 3 of us in the babies and 1 in the walkers, but at this point we’d basically been combining them so it wasn’t really an issue. We started getting babies pretty quickly, and they just kept coming, and coming, and coming.....it was getting insane. and when I say babies I mean like infants, under 1 and either not being able to crawl or just starting to figure it out, and we were running out of rockers and just about anything else to put them in. So at this point it was getting to pandemonium very quickly. I think the final count ended up being 18 babies for 4 volunteers, which is NUTS. Thankfully our kids ministry people are super awesome and did everything they could to help out and took the crying ones on a stroller ride with the massive stroller they have, and that always helps. but yeah, in my 3 years of volunteering with the babies, this was the most babies I have ever seen. Like older kids? sure, I’ve seen plenty of those. but babies?? like those are sooo much harder and require so much more attention. so it was definitely a challenge. Apparently the reason for this was for some reason this service was absolutely flooded with people, with the sanctuary packed out and over 100 people (100!!! people!!!) in the overflow space, which is insane. no idea what triggered that, but definitely a good problem to have. so eventually the service ended and everyone got picked up, and after cleaning up I headed home. Commute home was fine, once I got here I had some lunch and was on my laptop for a bit before starting to get some work done, still doing case research so that’s at least preferable to writing for me, and I got 4 hours of work in so that’s good. I’m at 14 hours so far for the week from Friday to today, so to make 40 hours by the end of Thursday I gotta do 3 days of 6 hours and 1 day of 8 hours (or some similar combination) which is definitely doable, so I’m pleased with that. I finally stopped to watch the Teen Choice Awards, which I felt absolutely ridiculous doing, but I wanted to see Monsta X perform, so I stuck it out for them and was pleased with that. My roommate came home earlier than she normally does so we sat and watched it and mostly laughed at people. They ended up not airing like, the majority of the awards and ended it after two hours which was very strange. I could’ve sworn Monsta X got nominated for “Who Do You Love?” in like an international song category, but couldn’t find any proof of that anywhere, so idk. Of course BTS won every award it was nominated for, including best fandom, so no surprise there. Once it was over we watched the news for a bit and eventually my roommate moved to her bedroom and I turned to netflix and watched an episode of Sugar Rush before showering and starting to get ready for bed, and now I’m here. Ooof that was a long post, but I clearly had a lot to say. Hopefully tomorrow will be better emotionally and I’ll be able to figure out what I need to do going forward to take better care of myself. Until then, I definitely need to be getting some sleep since it’s just past 1 am at the moment, and I need to do at least 6 hours of work tomorrow, do laundry, and hopefully make a quick Walgreens run for face wash and milk, so plenty to do so I’m gonna go to bed now. Goodnight friends. Hope your Monday doesn’t suck.

[tysonbarrieisamapleleaf]

Punch Drunk Love

Reader x Garret Sparks

Smut: yes | no

Requested: yes | no

******

You groaned as you rolled over in bed, covering your eyes as the sunlight poured in through the window, the brightness making you feel nauseous, instantly making you regret all the alcohol you’d consumed the night before. You turned over in bed, burying your face in your plush pillow as you tried to recall the events that led you to this point.

In all your infinite wisdom last night, you’d decided to throw the definition of an epic summer party - you didn’t have a particular reason to celebrate, other than the fact that Garret had come back to Illinois for the summer a few days prior. You, in your 23 years of experience, figured a party was the perfect way to welcome him home. It was sort of that typical college cliche - your parents were gone on some kind of extravagant, European getaway for a few days while you’d opted to stay home, knowing it meant you’d get more time with him when he got here. You’d planned the perfect party - the stuff they make shitty teen movies about, the kind of shitty teen movies that you and Garret loved watching together.

Looking back at it, the party was more of a ploy to get more time with him - you knew he couldn’t pass up a party. You’d hoped that a little liquid courage would help you finally tell him how you felt about him - how you’d always felt about him.

You and Garret had grown up together - your family had lived next door to his for years when you were growing up. You’d both since moved several times, Garret leaving for hockey, you for college - yet somehow you both always came back, every summer. You always managed to run into each other, every time, even if it was only brief encounters. From a quick, 5 minute conversation while you ran into one another at Target, a beer in your parents’ backyard, while your moms chitchat about life and your dads talked about sports - there was always something bringing the two of you together.

Each passing summer since he’d left, you’d hope he wouldn’t bring someone home with him when he came. The anxiety of potentially meeting Garret’s new girlfriend overwhelmed you every time, and you thought that maybe, over the last 9 years, it would have gotten better, but it never did. You’d hope every year that you’d be different, that you’d stop thinking about him, stop caring about him, but it never worked. Whether he was returning from Guelph, Orlando or Toronto, it didn’t seem to matter - the minute you saw him again, you couldn’t help the butterflies that came with it. You were in love with him, you’d known it for a while now.

He was your first crush growing up - you used to just chalk it up to being nothing more than a silly little schoolgirl idea, but as you got older, you knew it was so much more than that. You’d figured it out when you were 15. It was the second year Garret had been away - you hadn’t noticed his absence as much the previous year - at 14, you were worrying about so much more than just missing Garret. By the time you’d reached 15 though, you knew something had changed. You found yourself missing the way he’d offer you a ride to school every morning, how he’d stop and say hi in the hallways as you passed one another on the way to class, how he’d be in his driveway, taking practice shots at the garage door, but would always ask you to come join him, wanting some company. You’d always hope he’d catch you by surprise one day, either with a kiss, or the suggestion of going out for dinner, but it never came to that point.

You’d dated other guys without seeing Garret, but everyone seemed to pale in comparison to him in every way. They weren’t as funny, as charming or as caring, they’d never do something stupid to try and make you laugh in the ways he would, and they’d never make you feel the way that Garret had. Eventually, you admitted to yourself that Garret was the one for you, and you needed him to know it.

You felt you’d devised the perfect plan - throw a welcome home party of sorts, partially for yourself to celebrate the end of your post-secondary education, and partially for Garret. You’d invite him, keeping it casual, hoping he’d say yes. You’d go to the store, stocking up on his favourite beer, while everyone else would have to bring their own - “he’s just coming home, he won’t have time to go grab anything” you’d say to your friends, trying to cover your ulterior motive.

When Garret got there last night, you were already three vodka-crans deep into the party, and enjoying the buzz you’d gotten. You couldn’t help but stare when he walked in your front door,

wanting so badly to just drop everything and run into his arms to give him a hug. You kept your cool though, as much as you could anyway.

His normally long, somewhat wild looking blonde hair had been cut into a short, clean-cut look, while his playoff season beard had been shaved off, leaving the slightest hint of a five-o’clock shadow behind. He’d flashed you his signature beaming grin when he spotted you, and you felt your heart melt when you saw him. God, you loved him.

“Hey Y/N!” he’d smiled at you, wrapping an arm around you in a friendly hug.

The smell of his aftershave wafted over you as he hugged your frame, and you felt completely incapacitated by him. He had this weird way of making you feel drunk whether you’d been drinking or not. You had no idea what it was about him or why you were so head over heels in love with him, but you were. It was like some weird, punch-drunk style love. You were confused about every feeling you had about him, but you couldn’t help it. Everything he did mesmerized you.

Snapping back to reality as you heard your alarm going off, you slammed your hand down on your phone, slowly pulling yourself out of bed. You looked around your bedroom, the mess and chaos from the party last night strewn across the floor. As you headed out of your room, you heard a noise coming from behind you. You turned to face it, and spotted a body laying on the hardwood flooring. A quick glance was all you needed in order to tell that it was Garret - completely passed out in a deep sleep, a snore escaping from his mouth.

A few moments, a hairbrush and two ibuprofen tablets later, you tried to walk yourself through the rest of the night. You quietly stepped over Garret’s sleeping body to access your closet, trying to change your clothes quickly before he woke up. You rifled through the laundry baskets stacked in front of the door, frowning as you tried to remember what had happened.

After you saw Garret last night, you felt those butterflies come back, and you tried to suppress them with a couple more vodka-crans. Garret had come looking for you at some point during the night, but you couldn’t remember anything beyond that point. You felt like slapping yourself silly for the amount you drank last night, but the pounding in your head felt like punishment enough. You just hoped that you hadn’t said something stupid to him in your drunken stupidity last night.

“Y/N?” you heard Garret ask as you slid your denim shorts off your hips.

“Shit!” you exclaimed, trying to tug your workout shorts on over your underwear as quickly as possible.

“I’m not looking!” he laughed softly, shaking his head as you turned to face him. He playfully held a hand over his eyes, pretending to shield them from your half-naked body.

“You can look now,” you rolled your eyes as you extended your foot towards him, giving him a playful poke in the side with your toes.

“Ow!” he rubbed his ribcage gently, laughing as he sat up, “you feeling ok? You had like, a LOT of vodka last night, Y/N.”

“Oh me? Yeah, I’m fine. Great, in fact,” you nodded, hoping you sounded convincing.

You looked him over as he got up from his spot on the floor, biting your lip discreetly. His button-up shirt lay in a crumpled pile beside his pillow, his shirtless frame making you feel breathless. You could feel your cheeks burning as they turned red, partially at the sight of him, but partially at your reaction. You felt like a child, like some giggling little teenager when you saw Garret like this.

“You had me kinda worried last night,” he laughed, “I’ve never seen you so drunk before.”

“Was I that bad?”

“Uh…” he started, laughing as he ran a hand through his blonde hair, giving it a shake as his fingers slid through it.

You quickly shook your head, frowning as you sat on the bed. You’d wished then that the floor would open up and swallow you whole. You couldn’t remember anything after hearing Garret calling your name, and you hated it. He sat beside you, his solid frame sinking into the bed as he gently rested a hand on your back, just below where your bra sat. You turned to face him, a concerned expression on your face.

“Garret, what happened last night? All I remember is you looking for me,” you shrugged your shoulders slightly.

“Well,” he laughed, “um, I went looking for you so I could talk to you, actually.”

He talked you through the previous night’s events - he’d come looking for you, wanting to catch up on life over the past year. He had found you propping yourself up against your counter, your hair sticking to your face with sweat from dancing, your glass pretty well empty.

He told you about how he guided you up the stairs, wanting to tuck you in to bed before you passed out on the floor, how you’d apologized repeatedly to him, but he didn’t know what for. He explained that your words were slurred too much for him to understand you, but that you babbled about something to him before getting sick down the front of his shirt. He’d taken you to the bathroom, carefully tying your hair back for you as you emptied the contents of your stomach into the toilet bowl. Once you’d stopped, he lifted you up, carrying you to your bed. He folded back your covers, placing you on the plush mattress.

Once you fell asleep, Garret had taken off to the bathroom to wash his shirt out in the sink before grabbing you a glass of water and setting it at your bedside. The party had cleared out by that point, and Garret headed upstairs to sleep, having had too much to drink and not wanting to leave you on your own.

“So I slept on the floor,” he laughed, “you did hand me a pillow when you woke up, then said something like ‘love you’ and went back to sleep.”

“Oh God, I said what?!” you blushed, covering your face with your hands.

“I mean, it sounded like ‘love you, Garret’,” he shrugged, “but it could have been ‘thank you, Garret’ I guess? You were slurring pretty bad.”

“Fuck,” you shook your head quickly before looking up at the ceiling.

“Am I missing something?” he laughed softly, “It’s not that embarrassing. We all say shit when we’re drunk,” he shrugged.

You frowned at him, sighing softly as you readied yourself. You had to tell him now. You couldn’t let this continue any longer than it already had.

“Garret, I have to tell you something.”

“Shoot, Y/N. I’m all ears,” he said as he flashed you an encouraging smile.

“Ok, here it goes,” you nodded your head as you began.

“I know you might not feel the same way towards me, and at this point, I don’t really care I guess if you do or not? I just really need to get this off my chest,” you frowned, taking a deep breath.

“Garret, I’ve loved you for the last 8 years. Or at least, I’ve known for the last 8 years, I’ve probably loved you a lot longer than that. I’ve just never said anything - I either didn’t know how to or was scared of what you’d say back. I’m just the little neighbourhood kid who hung out with you and your sister growing up - I’m probably still that dorky little 8 year old with pigtails to you, I don’t know, but I had so much to drink last night because I wanted to tell you and hoped the alcohol would help me finally grow a pair and say it. I fucking love you, Garret Sparks.”

Garret sat there silently, his expression was thoughtful as he processed what you’d just said. You felt more anxious in those few moments than you’d ever felt in your life - it was a matter of seconds but it truly felt like hours. You waited for a response, a reaction, anything from him, good or bad.

“Garret, say something!” the panic evident in your voice as you spoke.

“I love you too,” he said softly, his voice barely audible as he spoke.

“What?”

“I said, I love you too,” he nodded slowly, a soft smile forming on his lips.

“Garret, don’t say it just because I did. I don’t want you to feel obligated to love me.”

“I don’t,” he laughed, “Y/N, I haven’t dated in the last two years because I realized I’d never find someone who made me laugh as much as you did. There’s no one who can compare to you, Y/N. I just took a lot longer to realize it than you did, I guess. I was going to say something to you last night, but I wanted you to remember me saying it,” he nodded.

“So what happens now?”

“Well, what are you doing tonight?” he grinned.

“Uh, nothing?”

“Perfect, so you’re free to go for dinner and a movie with me?”

“Yeah, I think I can squeeze you in,” you smiled as Garret slung his arm over your shoulders affectionately.

[plusultrabitchez]

Rooms On Fire Chapter 25: The Adventures of Hitoshi & Hades

It was 1am as you walked back home. You had just worked for 18 hours straight and were completely exhausted. It had been 3 weeks since you got back from Vegas and you and Hitoshi were working nonstop. Neither of you has had a day off since you got back and you had been on opposite schedules. Hitoshi was just getting home while you were getting ready to leave and vice versa. You hadn't had the chance to be intimate in over a week and you were both pent up and grumpy. On top of all that you had also got the news that you would be leaving to go on an out of town reconnaissance mission...for 10 days.

You trudged up the stairs to the townhome and were surprised to see that some lights were still on. Hades greeted you at the door with a wagging tail and sloppy kisses. "Hey bubs!" You cooed and kneeled down to give him kisses and scratch his ears.

"(Y/N)?" Hitoshi called from the kitchen making you perk up. "Toshi? What are you doing up?" You jolted up and ran into the kitchen. You were greeted by a shirtless Hitoshi and a dinner of fried rice and gyoza. He smiled and brought you in for a tight hug. "I have tomorrow off so I wanted to stay up and make you dinner." You nuzzled into his chest and teared up. How did you get so lucky? Hitoshi heard you sniffle into his chest. "Whoa, (Y/N) are you okay?" He cupped your face in his hands and tilted your head up to look at him. He wiped the tears away with his thumbs and looked at you full of concern.

"Yeah I'm good. I just miss you and you're so sweet and I just..." You started full on crying. "You're really hot and I'm so hungry and this looks so good." Hitoshi chuckled and gave you a kiss. "Come gorgeous, let's eat and watch Scream." You sniffed and smiled at him. "Fucking hell I love you."

The two of you ate and then snuggled up on the couch. Hitoshi laid on his back and you laid on your stomach on top of him. He played with your hair and rubbed your back as you two watched the movie. You sighed happily as you felt yourself starting to doze off. "What time do you have to go in tomorrow?" Hitoshi asked softly. "They're giving me tomorrow off." You mumbled. He smiled. "Oh yeah? So we'll have the day together?" "Mmmhmm." You remembered the news you got today and it jolted you out of your dozing. "Ah fuck." Hitoshi quirked a brow at you as you resituated to look at him. "Soooooo I'm going out of town for a mission." "When do you leave?" "Day after tomorrow." "Okay, for how long?" You cringed. "Ten days." Hitoshi's face fell. "Ten days?" You looked at him apologetically and nodded. He sighed and brought you down to hold you tight. "So you get back..." "The day of the rehearsal dinner." You completed his sentence causing Hitoshi to groan.

"Well, it sucks and I'll miss you like crazy, but as long as you come back to me safe and sound it'll be okay." He kissed the top of your head. "Are you going to be okay with Hades for that long?" You asked. Hitoshi's brows furrowed. "What is that supposed to mean?" "Nothing....its just." You looked over at Hades who was asleep in his bed. "You two haven't bonded yet and I don't want him to give you a hard time when I'm gone." "We'll be fine trust me." You nodded. A smirk grew on Hitoshi's face and gave your ass a firm squeeze. "We're staying in bed all day tomorrow." . . . "Okay call me if you need help with anything and I'll get back to you ASAP." You rolled your suitcase into the entryway where Hitoshi was rolling his eyes. "(Y/N) stop freaking out. Everything will be fine." He grumbled for the millionth time. You gave him the millionth apologetic look. "Sorry, sorry. I know you got this." Hitoshi nodded. You looked outside as a black sedan pulled up to take you to your next location.

"Okay, I'll call you when I get to where I'm going, it'll be a few hours, and remember to put the leash on him BEFORE you open the door." Hitoshi glared at you. "Yeah I know. You've only told me a million fucking times." He snapped. Did you really not think he could take care of Hades? "Sorry!" You whined and pulled him into a tight hug. "I love you Hitoshi." He hugged you back. "I love you too (Y/N)." He cupped the back of your head and brought you in for a kiss. You hummed happily as the kiss deepened and his tongue grazed your bottom lip before tangling with yours. Your fingers tangled in his hair as you stood on your tippy toes to reach him. He smirked into the kiss and backed you up against the wall and let his hands wander to your hips and gripped you tightly.

"Fuck Hitoshi." You breathed between heated kisses. A loud honk from the car outside brought you both back to reality. Hitoshi growled and rested his forehead against yours as you both caught your breath. "I guess this will have to be a teaser for what's to come when you get back." He said in a low voice. You bit your lip and giggled. "Well I can't wait." HONK Both of you groaned and rolled your eyes. You grabbed the handle of your suitcase and gave Hitoshi one last quick kiss goodbye before heading out the door. You tossed your suitcase in the trunk and climbed in the back seat and rolled the window down. "See ya Tiger." "See ya gorgeous." Hitoshi waved as the car pulled off.

He went back inside and closed the door. The house was so quiet without your voice. Hitoshi grabbed a beer from the fridge before he meandered into the living room where he found Hades sitting in his spot. Hitoshi quirked a brow at the big beast. "Move buddy, that's my spot." Hades just stared at him, not budging. Hitoshi's brows knitted together. "Hades, off the couch." He said in a commanding tone. No reaction. He sighed heavily and sat on a different part of the couch. It was going to be a long ten days. . . . After a few hours of binging forensic files while absentmindedly scrolling through his phone it was time for Hitoshi to go to bed. You had called an hour prior to let him know you arrived safely and to say your goodnights.

The dishes were done, animals fed, and now all he had to do was let Hades out to do his business before heading to bed. He trudged to the back door leading to the fenced in backyard and opened it up. "Come on Hades. Go do your business bud." Hades huffed and stretched out on the couch but didn't get up. Hitoshi sighed. "Dude come on, please?" Hitoshi swore he saw Hades roll his eyes before hopping off the couch and trotting outside. He hung out on the porch as Hades sniffed around the backyard. After about 15 minutes Hitoshi was getting a little impatient. "Are you ever gonna go?" He groaned.

Hades huffed at him and then sat down in the middle of the yard. Hitoshi's eyes narrowed at the animal. They started each other down for a solid 5 minutes. "Are you just going to sit there?" Hades shifted his weight back and forth on his front paws and huffed again.

This dog was going to be the death of him. . . . The loud buzzing of his alarm woke Hitoshi up the next morning. He groaned and shut it off before sitting up in bed. It had taken him 30 minutes to coax Hades back inside and even after that he refused to come upstairs. He knew Hades would pout because (Y/N) wasn't here, but he didn't think it would be this bad. Hitoshi now understood why (Y/N) was so concerned about leaving.

The next week carried on like this. Hades would begrudgingly eat then go outside and took his own sweet time. Hitoshi had tried to take him for a evening walk when he returned from work, but Hades wouldn't budge when he put the leash on him. The massive pit bull would just lay down in the doorway and pout.

"I know you want to go on a walk. Whenever your mom even says the word 'walk' you have a conniption fit." He complained as he tugged on the leash. Hades just glared at him and sighed. Hitoshi groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. "Fine! Don't have a walk." He removed the leash from the dogs harness and put it on its hook by the front door.

"Fuck it!" Hitoshi threw his hands up in defeat and went upstairs to take a shower. He closed the bedroom door since he knew Hades would be sleeping downstairs again. As he got out of the shower and wrapped his towel around his waist he heard his phone ringing in the bedroom. He rushed over and saw that (Y/N) was video calling him.

"Hey (Y/N)!" He said happily. "Hey Toshi!" You said excitedly. It was heart warming how happy he looked. Like a kid on Christmas morning. "It's so good to see your face." Hitoshi said and sat down on the bed. You were still in your hero costume and covered in smudges. You had clearly just gotten back to where you were staying. "I miss you so much." You smiled softly. "I miss you too Toshi." You propped your phone up and took off your jacket. "How are things there?" Hitoshi bit his lip as he watched you remove your jacket. He really missed you. "Earth to Toshi?" You cooed. He shook his head and cleared his throat. "S-Sorry, it's uh, it's good. Just busy with work and helping Midoriya with some wedding things here and there." "That's a lot. Are you getting enough rest and eating well?" You asked bending over to take off your thigh holsters that held your weapons.

Hitoshi's eyes were fixed to his phone. You'd current position gave him a great view of your chest. "Yeah. I'm...doing...fine." You smirked to yourself knowing how pent up he was. Hell you were too. "Hey Toshi?" "Yeah?" "You Ugh, got some drool right there." You teased pointing at the corner of his mouth. Hitoshi wiped his mouth and chuckled as his cheeks heated up. "Shut up." You giggled as he flipped off the phone a big grin playing on his face. "Mmm I wish." You said as an idea entered your mind. You backed up so the camera would get most of your body into frame. You slowly started to undo the zipper and hooks that held your top in place. Hitoshi bit his lip hoping he was right about what you were about to do next.

You turned around so your back was to the camera. Hitoshi used this opportunity to check out your plump ass. He was already painfully hard and he wanted you here with him. He removed his towel and waited for you to continue.

You let your top slide off and fall to the floor. Your bare back to the camera. You slowly turned around and ran your hands down your body. Your breasts on full display for Hitoshi. "You are the best girlfriend." He breathed out at the sight of you. He marveled at your hourglass figure as you swayed your hips back and forth and played with your nipples making them hard. Hitoshi started stroking his throbbing erection needing some sort of release. "How hard are you?" You asked softly. You wanted this as much as Hitoshi did. "Painfully." He replied. "Mmm." You bit your lower lip as you turned away from the camera again and hooked your thumbs into the hem of you pants. "Oh fuck (Y/N)." Hitoshi groaned as he continued to stroke himself slowly.

You slowly slipped off your pants and underwear and bent over in front of the camera. You crawled onto the bed, now completely naked, and got on all fours and spread your legs putting yourself on full display for your boyfriend. Hitoshi groaned. What he would give to bury himself between your legs right now. "I'm so fucking wet Hitoshi." You moaned as you slipped two fingers into yourself. "You're so fucking sexy (Y/N)." Hitoshi's hand moved faster. It didn't feel anywhere close to as good as you made him feel, but the sight of you bent over and pleasuring yourself made it so much better. A small whine came from the opposite side of the bedroom door. Hades must've heard your voice. Hitoshi's attention was quickly brought back to the image on his phone.

"I want you so bad." You whined as you slipped a third finger into your wet folds wishing it was Hitoshi's cock instead. "Yeah? Want me to bend you over and take you like that." He asked gruffly. You whined and nodded as you continued to pump your fingers in and out of your soaking pussy. He heard pawing at the bedroom door but ignored it. "I'd pull those braids while I fucked you deep in that tight little pussy of yours." His voice was low and dripping with lust. "Mmm fuck Toshi. That'd feel so good" You moaned as you quickened your pace. You loved it when he talked dirty do you.

"You only have three fingers in right now. I know you can take more than that. Let's make it four." He instructed as he pumped himself faster. You pumped a fourth finger inside you and moaned. Your small fingers didn't compare to Hitoshi's length and girth. "Good girl. Now play with your clit. I want you to cum for me." Your other hand moved to stroke your clit as instructed and made you call out. "Fuck you're so unbelievably sexy (Y/N)." Hitoshi groaned. He was going to cum soon. "I love you. You're so amazing." He praised. "Hitoshi! Fuck I'm gonna-" you couldn't finish your sentence as you moaned loudly and came around your fingers. "That's it gorgeous." He moaned as he watched your juices slowly drip out of your pussy as you continued to pump your fingers as you came. The sight drove him wild. He came into his towel and moaned. "Fuck (Y/N)!" "Mmm Hitoshi." You moaned coming down from your high.

Hades burst through the bedroom door and bolted towards Hitoshi's phone. "Fuck! Hades no!" Hitoshi tried to dodge but his reflexes were shot. The 90lb Pitbull rocketed onto the bed, grabbed Hitoshi's phone in his mouth, and took off kicking Hitoshi in the dick in the process. "Fucking hell!" He fell off the bed and curled up in pain.

After a minute or two he was able to stand upright and slipped on some sweatpants and looked for Hades. "This mother fucking dog stole my mother fucking phone during mother fucking phone sex and then kicked me in the mother fucking dick." He grumbled as he went down the stairs. He reached the living room to find Hades in his bed with the phone wagging his tail and (Y/N) baby talking him. "Don't encourage him!" He groaned walking over and taking his phone back. Hades whined and barked at Hitoshi as he wiped off the slobber.

You had put on PJs, taken your hair down, and were in bed. You giggled when you saw Hitoshi's super grumpy expression. "I'm sorry Tiger. I heard you yell, are you okay?" "No. You're fucking dog kicked me in the dick when he stole my phone." "Oh fuck, are you okay?" Your concern made him feel a little better. "Yeah I guess." He grumbled. "My poor baby." You cooed. Hitoshi smirked. "You'll have to kiss it and make it better when you get back." You grinned. "Oh Tiger I'll be doing more than that." You bit your lip and winked at him. Hitoshi sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "I don't want to wait 2 more days to see you damnit." "Me neither suga, but I'm almost done getting the info I need for this mission." "I don't care how busy we are, when you get home I'm going to have my way with you." He growled. You giggled. "Oh I can't wait." . . . Tomorrow morning. That's when you were coming home and Hitoshi couldn't wait. He had cleaned the entire townhouse, did all the laundry and grocery shopping so you wouldn't have to worry about anything when you got home. He was in a great mood and nothing could bring him down.

It was around 8pm and Hitoshi was going to try one more time to take Hades for a walk. Hades was pouting in his bed. "Come on boy." Hitoshi's said as he patted his knees to coax him. Hades sighed and got up and begrudgingly walked to the front door with Hitoshi. He grabbed the leash that was hanging from the hook and opened the door. He turned around to put the leash on Hades when it happened. Hades bolted out the door at full speed.

"No! Hades! Come back!" Hitoshi bolted after him but Hades was gone. "Fuck fuck fuck!" Hitoshi was freaking out. He did NOT just lose her dog. She would kill him. She loved that dog as much as she loved him. He ran around the neighborhood calling his name while he got out his phone and dialed Kaito Kubo.

"HITOSHI MY BOY! HOW ARE YA?"

"Hi Kaito okay this is an emergency (Y/N) is out of town and I'm looking after Hades and I opened the door before the leash and he bolted and he won't come to me because he hates me can you help me please?!" He was out of breath as he jogged through the neighborhood.

"OH FUCK! I'LL BE RIGHT THERE!" Kaito said and hung up.

Hitoshi ran up and down their street and had no luck. He was in a full on panic and kicking himself. (Y/N) would be heartbroken and furious if anything happened to Hades. He can't believe he fucked up this bad. He was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard Kaito call out to him. "MY BOY ARE YOU ALRIGHT?" He asked and placed a hand on his shoulder. "I did door before leash. She told me so many times leash before door and my dumbass did door before leash. She's going to kill me." Kaito gave Hitoshi a sympathetic look. "Don't worry, we'll find him." He looked around. "ISN'T THERE A PARK NEARBY?" Hitoshi lit up. "YES! She takes him there all the time!"

The pair of them ran to the nearby park and scoured the area for over 20 minutes but there was no sign of him.

"Okay Okay. Umm fuck think! Where else does she take him?" Hitoshi thought out loud. "Oh! Our brunch spot!" "BRUNCH SPOT?" Kaito asked. "Yeah yeah, there's this great little brunch spot when go to when the weather is nice and we bring Hades with us and eat on the patio. (Y/N) always gets him a big meat plate." Kaito laughed. "THAT'S ADORABLE! DOG BRUNCH!"

Hitoshi and Kaito took off running down the street like mad men. The brunch spot was several blocks away next to a busy street. All the worse possible scenarios ran through his mind as they ran calling out for Hades along the way.

The restaurant was dark and the patio wasn't lit up. Hitoshi hopped the fence and looked around as he made his way to their usual spot. And there he was. Hades completely unharmed, sitting down resting his head on the chair where (Y/N) always sat. It was actually heartbreaking how sad he looked. He crouched down next to him. "Hey Hades." He said softly scratching his ears. Hades whined. "I know bud I miss her too. But she'll be back soon. I promise." Kaito hopped the fence and breathed a sigh of relief as he saw Hitoshi with Hades. Hitoshi clipped on his leash. "Come on Hades. Let's go home. Your mom will be back tomorrow." To his surprise Hades actually complied. The three slowly made their way back to the townhouse. As they passed a little supermarket Hitoshi stopped and gave Hades to Kaito. "I'm going to go grab something for Hades. I'll be right back." Kaito smiled and nodded.

After a few minute Hitoshi came out of the store with a big slab of bacon and a steak. He crouched down in front of Hades who was wagging his tail wildly as he unwrapped the meat he had just bought. As soon as the bacon was presented to Hades he scarfed the treat only pausing to howl happily. Hades would howl or "sing" as (Y/N) called it, whenever he was really happy about something.

Hitoshi and Kaito laughed as the dog continued to sing for them as he chomped away at the bacon. Hitoshi stood up. "Alright buddy, you'll get the steak when we get home." Hades wagged his tail and trotted right next to Hitoshi the whole walk back. Kaito chuckled as he watched the pair. "I THINK YOU FINALLY WON HIM OVER." "If I knew that all it took was buying him a slab of bacon I would've done it ages ago."

They reached the townhouse and Hitoshi invited Kaito in for a drink to say thank you for helping him find Hades. They sat down at the bar in the kitchen and cracked open two beers while Hades chomped away at his giant steak.

"SO SHE GETS HOME TOMORROW MORNING?" Kaito asked, his voice booming through the house as usual. Hitoshi nodded as he took a sip of his drink. "Yup. It's only been 10 days but I swear it's felt like months." He shook his head and looked down at Hades who had finished his steak and was now sitting next to Hitoshi. "I'm so glad we found him. I would've never forgiven myself if something happened." Kaito chuckled. "I KNOW WHAT YOU MEAN. FIRST TIME I WATCHED HIM FOR (Y/N) I LOST HIM TOO!" Hitoshi looked at him in shock. "Wait really?" "YUP! I DID THE DOOR BEFORE LEASH JUST LIKE YOU AND HE BOLTED." He took a sip of his beer while Hitoshi laughed. "SHE NEVER KNEW IT HAPPENED SO DON'T WORRY. YOU'RE SECRET IS SAFE WITH ME." He winked.

Hitoshi laughed. "Well I was going to tell her but you're right. Probably best not to worry her." Kaito eyed Hitoshi with a grin on his face. "SO YOU WERE GOING TO BE HONEST WITH HER EVEN THOUGH YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO AND IT PROBABLY MEAN YOU WOULD GET CHEWED OUT?" Hitoshi shrugged. "Well yeah. I tell her everything. She's my partner and best friend. Why wouldn't I?" Kaito smiled. "YOU KNOW I'M SO THANKFUL SHE IS WITH YOU MY BOY. FOR THE LONGEST TIME I WAS WORRIED SHE WOULDN'T FIND HER PERFECT MATCH AND SHE DID. YOU'RE AN EXCELLENT MAN HITOSHI."

Hitoshi's face flushed. "Thanks Kaito. She motivates me every day to be the best I can be. It's been like that ever since we met at UA." He sighed. "I just love her more than anything in this world and I want to do everything in my power to make sure she's happy, safe, and cared for. She's always bending over backwards to help others and never complains. I want to make sure that I'm there to take care of her because she deserves that." Kaito's heart melted with happiness and pride. "That she does." Hitoshi took a deep breath. "Wait here, I'll be right back."

Kaito nodded and sipped on his beer while Hitoshi went upstairs to grab something. He looked nervous when he came back downstairs. He held a little black box in his hands. "I was going to ask you in a few weeks after all the wedding craziness, but I feel now is as good a time as any." Hitoshi opened the box and revealed a engagement ring. It was rose gold with a salt and pepper diamond surrounded by smaller diamonds to resemble a star. "So two things. 1. Do you think she'll like it? And 2. May I have your blessing?" Kaito let out a loud jolly laugh. "OF COURSE!!!" He swooped up Hitoshi into a bear hug. "I CAN'T WAIT TO HAVE A SON!!! I'M SO HAPPY FOR YOU BOTH!" He placed Hitoshi back down on the ground. "WHEN ARE YOU ASKING?" "Our anniversary is coming up so I was thinking I would ask her then."

"LET ME KNOW IF YOU NEED ANY ASSISTANCE PLANNING!" Kaito was over the moon excited. He was bouncing up and down and clapping his hands together rapidly. "I WILL MAKE THE CAKE!" "The wedding cake?" Hitoshi chuckled. Kaito ended up going on and on about wedding planning for the next hour and Hitoshi gladly let him do so. He was relieved that he not only got Kaito's blessing but that he was insanely excited for the two of them.

Now he had to figure out how to make the actual proposal perfect.

(Pic of the ring below)

[pbandjesse]

Im half falling asleep right now. Today was a really long day abd it was good and fufilling and i feel happy but man am I glad to be in bed right now.

I slept alright last night. It was not easy to wake up though. Just mentally I was really stressed about my mouth. And so when my alarm went off I snooze it for 15 minutes. It helped a little. Let me come at the day quieter. I got up and dressed. Felt really cute. My hair was cooperating and i felt good. I made breakfast and headed to work.

I got there so early that the building was still locked. Weird!! But i got in. And my morning was mostly setting up tables and chairs until me and one of the new guys, Brandon, could get to training.

He said I was a good teacher, which always makes me feel really good. But I'm not worried about him. Hes gonna be fine. We had 2 canneries and it was good and the kids were sweet. I forgot a few things because its been so long but we had fun.

I also brought in my book and showed that off. Pointed out places I was talking about the museum. It was fun.

I finished up a couole minutes early and was able to leave and bike up to the bus stop gor the noon bus. But when I got there there was a whole lot of cop cars. Because the homeless lady thats usually around the cornee attacked someone. So that was wild.

And it had gotten really warm. It got almost up to 90. I saw an old lady passing out at a bus stop with a cop helping her. And the school had locked down the basketball court because it was to hot on thr blacktop. It was crazy.

I got our stuff set up. Did the boards. But it wasnt even 1 yet. So I had lunch. And i just skated in the back on the small blue board. Just back and forth. It was fun. Silly and fun.

I accidently got locked in thr closet by the cleaning machine Ms Jenn rides around on. So our start of the day was a mess. I couldnt get any of our art stuff. So we went outside early.

And that wad fun. Skating with the kids. Teaching them power pulls. It was good.

Dinner was solid. But they had no drinks for the kids which was horrible. But we found cups and handled it.

Art time was fine. We had some issues and some of our kids are going to take a break. Because they have just lost their marbles a bit. But we made art and it was good.

I got rhe early bus and got home with enough time to feed sweetp and did my make up. And then i was off. I met up with James and we went to Red Emmas for dinner with his parents. His sister and her boyfriend were supposed to come but couldn't because of classes. But we got lots of differnt foods and it was really nice. Our waitress was sweet but obviously stressed. Like she had customers yell at her recently. I hope she is okay.

We went to a puppet show called "marooned". It was about an astronaut getting lost in space. The astronaut was a real person. And thrn the puppets eere mostly alien or robot. But it was great and i had a really good time. I love getting to see these strange things with my favorite person.

James and me walked to his place so i could get my Shelby and then he walked me home.

I got a shower and now I'm resting. Tomorrow im going ti take a family photo of my collection of robots. And then go to the flower mart. And then I gotta go to the dentist again. Im not looking forward to that at all.

I am,going to paint my toes and go to sleep. I hope you all get good rest tonight. Stay sade out there.