#Took a poster and threw my oc on it :]

[teddybearsims]

Jude for Dazed - May 2024 Issue x

[iann-arts]

for that fun happening last year :D

[ooo---hazelgrimm---ooo]

Strange Magic Prt 3

It's not very much an original idea, I think almost everyone has a story like this in all honesty. But it loosely follows the end of season two and all of season three.

Banners and Dividers created by Saradika, please give them a follow and look into their work! ❤️

There was a loud creaking. 

“There's Billy back.” Max muttered, flipping to another page in her comic book as she hung upside down on her bed. 

“Ooo Billy.” El hummed toward the blonde painting her nails.

“Are you two going to be like this all summer?” 

“Are you going to avoid the community pool allll summer?” Max asked back. Kate rolled her eyes, capping the nail polish. “Steve says you've been pissed since the boaters took over the lake.” 

“Steve needs to mind his own-” there was a loud thud and swearing. The three girls lurched toward the window, Billy was laying against the cool grass cursing up at the stars. 

“He fell down.” El said simply.

“He’s drunk.” 

“Why didn't he just use the door?” 

“Oh, no one is allowed in after eight.” 

“Huh?” Kate asked. 

“Neil, he thinks his dad is home. If you're not home by eight you're locked out of the house and you're not allowed to use your key. Billy's always just came through his window.” Max shrugged. Kate shook her head. 

“What if there was an emergency or something?” 

“Like what?” 

“Like; the snowball started at like seven and ended way into the night, how did you get in that night?” 

“Billy's window.” Kate blinked in shock, “Neil is strict, he doesn't care if we are out late he just better not catch us and you better find a creative way inside, cause the door locks at eight.” Max shrugged, “It's a stupid rule but it's Neil’s house. Use the door!” She shouted out the window, opening it. “Come on.” She said to the other two girls and they went back to their previous activities. There was another loud creak, a thud, and then groaning of springs. 

“Night shit bird!” Billy called out. 

“Night asshole! Don't let the bedbugs bite!” Max yelled back, rolling her eyes but smiling softly. 

“He tells you goodnight?” Kate asked. It didn't seem like a very… Billy thing to do. 

“Yeah, usually he pops his head in and tells me but he must be really drunk tonight.” Max flipped to another page in her book as the other two girls just stared at her, “What?!” She asked looking up, “When I was a kid I used to get really worried about him so he’d always tell me he was home. I wouldn't go to sleep or anything until he got back if I knew he was gone.” 

“That is sweet.” El said, matter of fact. Max threw a pillow at her. 

“Shut up.” She stated before laughing as El chunked the pillow back at her using her telekinesis. 

The girls were sound asleep in Max’s bed and there were loud snores coming from the next room over. Kate paused on her way back from the bathroom.

One did get confused in a stranger's dark house. She quietly pulled Max’s door shut before sneaking into Billy's room. It was exactly how she pictured it; posters of cars and hot women in bikinis, Polaroids of Billy and friends, a stereo with an overflowing stack of cassettes, and a closet overflowing with stylish clothes. One particular sweatshirt stuck out to her and Kate swiped it off the hanger pulling it on over her pajamas.

“Damn is this a dream?” A groggy voice mumbled, Kate turned quickly as Billy stared at her from the bed, “no, if this was a dream you’d be riding my co-” Kate covered his mouth and Billy wrapped an arm around her waist pulling her down onto his mattress. “Hey crazy girl.” He said, muffled by the sleeve

“Hey Billy.” She responded back, pulling her hand away.

“You here for a reason or did you just break in to steal my clothes?” Kate rolled her eyes at him. 

“Of course I'm here to rob you! I've hit all the houses on this block, I take old sweaters and all the left socks.” Billy chuckled at her lameass joke. 

“How can you tell which one is the left one?” he asked her with a smirk. Kate thought for a moment. 

“I'll never tell you my secret.” She winked at him, Billy drunkenly shoved at her face. 

“Dork.” He accused her. Kate laughed, “but you are sooo fucking hot.” She laughed louder at that. 

“And you are sooo fucking drunk.” She responded. 

“And uncomfy.” He pouted, kicking to untangle his shoe from his cover. 

“Hold on.” Kate said, putting a hand on his thigh. 

“A little higher, baby.” He sighed. 

“Hush William.” She scolded him as she stood. 

“Yes ma’am.” He purred instead. Kate rolled her eyes as she untied his converse. 

“A) Don’t call me ma’am. B) I hate to inform you Hargrove, but if it was just a little higher those cute little shorts you wear would show everything.” 

“Okay A) I'm a grower not a shower. B) you think my shorts are cute?” Billy smiled widely. 

“You're funny when you're drunk.” Kate narrowed her eyes at him. 

“And horny. Especially when a pretty girl is in my room. In my clothes.” Kate rolled her eyes pulling the sweatshirt off and Billy hummed happily, “Now everything else.” He ordered putting his hands behind his head. Kate leaned in close to him, pinning his wrist down when he tried to reach for her. 

“No.” She breathed against his lips, before darting away from the bed and out of the door, “Night Billy.” She winked at him, shutting his door.

“Tease!” He shouted. Kate giggled to herself slipping back into Max’s room. 

Billy woke the next day, hungover as shit, clinging to one of his old sweatshirts. “The fuck?” He mumbled, rolling onto his back and flinging his arm over his head to block his eyes from the sun. In the back of his mind he could see someone pulling the hoodie on. 

After a while he stumbled out of bed, tripping over his sneakers. He looked down at them confused and kicked them toward where they were supposed to be. He grumbled his way down to the living room, where Max and El sat snacking on cereal and watching cartoons. So no Neil. 

“Good morning Billy.” Susan said from the kitchen, “Are you feeling okay?” she asked as she passed by him.

“I'm fine.” He mumbled, getting water out of the tap. He headed into the living room as Susan went to the laundry room. “Which one of you was in my room last night?” He asked the two girls, nudging Max with his foot. 

“Ew. Get your gross feet away from me.” Max shoved his leg, and Billy balanced on one foot trying to stick his other foot in her face. Max put her cereal down and started swinging.

“Kate checked on you. She worries.” El told him quietly. Billy dropped his foot standing straight as he put a hand on Max’s head to keep her punches from landing.

“Kate was here?” Billy asked, “Were you awake?” El nodded, Billy narrowed his eyes, “Did you hear anything weird last night?” 

“Happy screams?” El asked, her eyebrows furrowing. 

“No!” Max said, “We don't want to know!” 

“Sure. Happy screams.” Billy smiled at how naive the girl was. 

“No. But Kate did laugh.” El answered. Max snorted and turned toward El.

“Laughed” she asked her friend, “Like actually laughed?” 

“Mhm. A lot.” Max started laughing at El’s answer and Billy shoved her head. 

“Anything else?” 

“You talked a lot, Kate was smiling when she came back to the room, and you yelled at her that she was a tease.” El answered, “She was really happy.” 

“But I obviously didn't get any?” 

“Any what?” El cocked her head. 

“No! Nope! Shut up!” Max pointed at Billy, pulling El to her feet, “Mom! Me and Jane are headed to the Henderson’s to surprise Dustin!” 

“Ok is Billy driving?” 

“I'll drop them on my way to work!” Billy answered. 

“Wait! Are you working today?” Max froze. 

“Yeah. Why?”

“I told Kate you would call out, because of your hangover. You're not usually up till like two pm.” Billy checked the clock which read nine am and smirked. 

“I think I'll be alright.” 

A body moved smoothly under the water, until someone decided to shove their friend, causing them to fall back into the water right on top of her. Arms reached under, pulling her against them as she coughed. 

“Watch out.” Steve told them sternly. Kate pushed her hair out of her face. A loud whistle rang out across the pool and everyone froze. 

“Oh jeez, of course he works here.” Billy. 

“No running Lardass!” he yelled across at the kid, “I have to tell you again and you'll be banned for life! You wanna be banned for life, lardass?” The kid shook his head quickly, “Didn't think so.” He blew his whistle again and everyone went back to splashing. Steve was looking over at the clock. 

“I'm gonna go dry off. I've got to be at Scoops a’hoy in a half hour.” Kate shrugged and followed Steve to the edge of the deep end where their stuff was. This morning they had chosen the chairs closest to the lifeguard tower to be out of the sun. Steve plopped down into the chair, talking to her as he dried off his hair but more importantly Billy sat up on the guard tower looking… well… how Billy always looked. Fine. Really fine. 

“What's fine?” 

“Huh?” Kate shook her head focusing on Steve, 

“You said ‘fine’, what's fine?” Steve repeated.

“Ignore me, thinking back to a different conversion” 

“Damn Harrington, you're so boring she's thinking about some other guy.” Billy shook his head with a smirk, “That's gotta hurt.” 

“I reiterate: Were you dropped on your head as a baby?” Steve asked him, “We aren't like that.” 

“Yeah yeah whatever, but you're an idiot.” 

“Ignore him.” Kate shook her head. 

“Does Hopper know you have a tramp stamp?” 

“Huh?” Steve turned toward the tower. Billy wasn't looking at either of them, constantly surveying the pool. 

“It's not a tramp stamp, it's a tattoo. Tramp stamps have to go all the way across the lower back.” Kate answered

“You have a tramp stamp?!” Steve's head swiveled sharply toward Kate, 

“Tattoo.” Kate corrected,  Billy suddenly looked down at Steve. 

“It’s a dragonfly. You've been with her all morning in that suit and you haven't noticed?” Billy asked him. 

“Well I'm not staring at her ass.” Steve remarked. 

“Your loss,” Billy shrugged, “it's a nice ass.” He winked down at Kate before going back to surveying the pool.

Kate busted out in laughter at Steve's horrified expression. 

“Go to work.” she told Steve, kicking off the wall to go back to swimming. 

“Don’t get trampled, watch your head! Use the swimming lanes.” Steve nagged as another group of guys bumped into Kate as they were rough housing. She pointedly dropped the line in front of her as she ducted under into the swimming lane. 

“This good mom?” She mocked Steve. Before turning and diving under the water. 

“I’m watching her, she’ll be fine.” Billy told him. Steve looked at the clock, looking frustrated. 

“You know she's got a thing? With her head, she faints?” Steve looked pained. He didn’t like trusting Hargrove. 

“You worry too much Harrington, she’s not a child.” Billy told him.

“Steve! Fuck off to work!” Kate yelled across the pool.

“I’m fucking off.” He answered back headed toward the showers. 

It was a while later while she was sitting on the pool deck splashing her feet through the water when she noticed. 

“Oh. My. God.” She said slowly, looking over her shoulder. She dramatically gasped, “William Andrew Hargrove! Naughty boy!” She smirked as Billy’s head turned toward her. “Mrs. Wheeler is a married woman you know.” She teased him before laying back on the pool deck to grab her bag. 

“Nosey.” Billy scoffed at her, putting his sunglasses back on. 

“You couldn’t pull that even if you wanted to.” she mumbled as she dug through her bag

“Oh really?” Billy asked her. 

“Fifty bucks! One of you will back out!” She answered as he stepped down from the tower. 

“Watch the master at work.” He took her bag from her, stealing her towel and a stick of gum. 

“Eh! Asshole!” She shouted after him, tossing her bag back toward the chair.

“Looking good out there Mrs. Wheeler.” Kate faked a gag. The older woman was so starstruck by Billy she didn’t even notice the younger girl. 

“Thank you.” Billy handed her the towel.

“Perfect form.” ‘Oh fuck off.’ 

“Well your form is amazing.” Billy started laughing to cover Kate’s gasp of ‘What the fuck!’ “Sorry, I mean I… I’ve seen you, teaching, swimming lessons.”

“You know I could teach you if you want.” 

“Oh.” 

“I know all the styles. Freestyle, butterfly, breaststroke.” Mrs. Wheeler dropped the towel. ‘Fuck me with a damn chainsaw!’ “Oh.” Billy leaned down grabbing the towel at the same time she did, “You okay?” 

“I didn’t think you- I didn’t think you taught adults.” Kate shook her head as he continued to flirt and set up the date. Mrs. Wheeler left the pool almost forgetting Holly and Billy turned back towards Kate. Kate turned and looked out at the people splashing. 

“You wanna give me my money now or later?” Billy asked, sitting next to her by the pool. 

“You haven't won yet. ‘Advanced lessons to select clientele’.” Kate mocked him in a deep voice. Billy laughed loudly and Kate turned sharply toward him.

“Don’t be jealous, crazy girl.” Billy bumped her shoulder with his, “It’s just to win the bet.” 

“I’m not jealous, I'm mad. That’s my last stick of gum!” 

“Oh.” Billy smacked on the gum extra loud, “You want it, take it back.”  Kate rolled her eyes. 

“Save it for Mrs. Wheeler.” Kate stood grabbing her clothes off of the chair, she picked up the hoodie thinking it was Steve’s. “Bye Billy.” She pinched his calf as he climbed back onto the tower. “Call me and tell me when she backs out so I can collect my fifty bucks.” 

“I’m telling you-” Two boys sat on the edge of the pool eating popsicles, “That thing grabbed Mr. Cank’s dog and ran into that old warehouse!” Kate nudged the kid with her foot. 

“Which warehouse?”

'Brimborn Steel Works.'

Kate drove fast, any time anyone said anything about something creepy in Hawkins it was cause for worry.

There was the sound of squealing tires and Kate sped up, pulling into the steel works place. She watched in horror as the boy tumbled out of the blue car.

“Billy?” She asked.

“Are you following me?!” He accused her, standing and surveying the damage on his car.

“NO!” She shouted back immediately, “I heard the crash! What happened?” She asked coming around to look at his dented car. 

“I dont fucking know!” He leaned down touching the slimy substance on his windshield. “What the hell.” something scurried through the underbrush.

“Billy get in my car.” Kate tried to warn him. He stepped in front of her.

“Who's there?” He called out, “Hey! I said who's there?” 

This tentacle shot out from the building grabbing him and she chased after it as it dragged him across the ground slamming him into the side of the building as he struggled. Kate snapped into action, grabbing a crowbar from off the ground. 

“What the fuck! WHat the fuck!!!” Billy was screaming, Kate stopped dead as she jumped down the last step. She had never seen the Mind Flayer in person but she knew it from Will’s drawings. This one was smaller, about her height. It stood over Billy salivating as he struggled against it, yelling in horror.

“Hey Shithead.” It let out a painful squeal as she swung smacking it in the face. She swung a second time lodging the bar in its skull, “That was for Will you demented son of a bitch.” She spit at it. 

“Come on!” Billy grabbed her, hauling her out of there. Soon there was this scratching noise and when she looked back they were being chased by rats. They made it into the night air and as Billy moved to keep running, Kate yanked him into the camaro, shoving him until he toppled into the passenger side, she jumped in slapping the button for the door lock. “We need to go for help-” Billy cut himself off screaming as the rats started attacking the window trying to break inside of it. Kate tried to get the camaro to crank. It rattled before dying all over again. She shook her head trying again.

“Crank damn it!” She yelled at the car. Kate sat panting for a moment. “We have to make a break for mine.” 

“I’m not going back out there!” The windshield groaned. 

“Well they’re coming in here! Billy, trust me.” Kate demanded, putting her hand on the handle.. 

“I don't trust anyone!” Billy shouted back. Kate grabbed his hand. 

“I’m not leaving you behind.” She told him sternly, “So I’m going to open this door and we are going to run and you will be right behind me because I’m not seeing that thing take over your body like it took over Will’s and I’m not leaving you to demon rats either.” Billy nodded once and Kate shoved the door open, rushing toward her car. Billy slammed the door shut slamming a rat’s head into the frame causing it to break off. The two young adult yelled and Billy smacked the head off of his lap pulling his feet into the seat. Kate sped out of there.

“It’s… bubbling! Why the fuck is it bubbling.” 

“Get it out!” Kate yelled and Billy opened the door kicking the head out into the street.

“What the fuck was that!? What the fuck was that?!!” 

“The Mind Flayer. Or like a piece of it, I don’t know, it comes from the Upside Down.” 

“The fucking what?!” Billy demanded and Kate made a hard turn going straight for Hawkins Lab. 

“I’m only saying this once.” She warned him, “So listen closely.” And she told Billy everything, from beginning to end.

Billy had her seat reclined staring up at the night sky as he processed everything. Kate had put the top down when Billy said he thought he was going to puke.

“Underground hellscape version of Hawkins, monsters, and Jane. The little girl who has a crush on me, has been sleeping at my house, and and and fucking doing sleepovers with my sister has fucking superpowers?!” 

“Telepathy and telekinesis, but yes. Didn’t you ever wonder why we call her El? Why she talks funny and is like super innocent?”

“Well yes but- you’ve fought monsters, like actual monsters?” Kate nodded. 

“I just saved you from a monster.” 

“If Jane, El, whatever closed the gate, why is that thing still in Hawkins?”

“I don’t know, some piece of it must have gotten closed out. I’d have to ask the party.” 

“Max, her nerdy friends, Jane, Byers, Harrington, and Nancy Wheeler- SHIT! Karen.” Billy sat up suddenly and Kate took ahold of his hand. 

“Mrs. Wheeler is fine. She probably already walked out, saw her husband snoring away, regretted ever thinking of you, and backed out.” Billy seemed to relax, “Plus, I’m sure almost getting murdered by a monster and then watching the stars while I tell you your life is about to take a crazy new turn, is way more fun than any ‘swimming lessons’ with Karen Wheeler.” 

“Crazy new turn?” Billy asked. 

“Are you going to go home and pretend all this never happened or are you going to help me kick monster ass? Cause the Mind Flayer isn't dead and I have a feeling this is only going to get worse.” 

“Let’s kill that son of a bitch.” 

The car suddenly slammed on the brakes and backed up. He stomped over to the crashed camaro, grunting he leaned in to look into the open door. There was a shout as the rat sprung from the car and latched onto his face. The man screamed clawing at the animal as he stumbled back. He fell down the stairs into the steel warehouse.

Shit! Well I wonder who could possibly take Billy's place as the Mind Flayer's host body...

Who do we hate the most...

Some sorry son of a bitch that if he saw Billy's car wrecked on the side of the road would go investigate, not to make sure his only son was okay, but as an excuse to ridicule and harm him...

But is still close enough to be significant to the story....

Welp, I guess it will just have to be a mystery.

[mocolococoffeesimp]

This is a bit different than most of what I publish on my blog. An original story by yours truly, featuring one of my ocs Candi! I have been writing this on and off for the past month or so. To those that aren't aware Candi is actually the face of my blog. So, I thought why not write a short story for him? Is this a masterclass in literature? No, but it is something to try to flesh out character. So, here's the story, for those interested.

Word count: 2073.

"Come around, come around! Come and take a look at the fine merchandise!" A young man named Candi was trying to sell stuff he had acquired. Some more legal ways than others. "You want something for your partner? I got it." A small crowd had appeared before the table where he was selling the stuff. He held a wooden clock up to the crowd. "How about this fine clock, good people?" He let the audience look at it. "Sturdy and ancient. Worth bragging to your friends." He smirked at the audience, knocking on the wooden clock to show its durability. Only for the bottom of the clock giving out, the mechanic of the clock falling down on the ground. The crowd stifled their laughter at the sight. Candi didn't seem to falter.

"Well, it is still a fine looking accessory. So, any buyers? How about you, miss?" He pointed at a woman, who was dressed fancily. She shook her head. And, just like that the crowd started to move away from the table. Candi tried his best to sell something, only managing to sell lollipops to children. As the evening arrived, a couple guards arrived at the table. Candi looked up from the comic book he was reading. Once he realized they were potential customers he smiled widely. "Evening, gentlemen. May I interest you in some goods?" The guards looked at each other, before another one of the guards took out a wanted poster.

"Are you.. Candi?" Candi chuckled nervously, ready to start running any moment. "Depends who's asking." Before the guards could react to it he threw some of the items from the table, confusing them for a moment. Candi started running as fast as he could. Guards started to run after him, dedicated to catching him.

"What is it this time?" Candi muttered as he jumped over fences and obstacles with ease. "Larceny? Nah, I haven't stolen anything for a couple of weeks. Spying, nope." The guards were falling further and further behind him, as he kept on jumping over obstacles and such, showing off his mobility. Soon enough, Candi was climbing a ladder. Once he reached the roof, he looked behind him not seeing the guards. He laid down on the roof, catching his breath.

"They were probably some newbies, trying to solve some old unsolved case." He muttered to himself. As he laid on the roof, he noticed a delivery happening on the road. His interest was piqued, as he kept looking at it.

"A lot of guards... Usually it means something valuable." Candi looks at the delivery with intrigue. As the guards started to drag the delivery out of the van, he saw a large blue diamond in the glass casing. His eyes twinkled with dollar signs, as he already thought of how to get the diamond.

"Me want, me want..." He muttered to himself, as he started to think. "I am low on funds after ditching my merchandise... Not to mention, stealing a diamond would be a fun challenge... Let's do it!" He declared to himself, as he took a confident pose on the rood, his eyes landing on the castle where the diamond was being delivered.

After a couple of days. Candi was wearing a fancy bathrobe, as he had a facemask on. He was looking through some information about the security for the diamond. It was tight security, but Candi didn't falter about this. He was excited about the challenge. He sipped a can of soda, as he went looking for an opening in the security. "Hmmm...." He looked at the floor plan he had set on the wall, upside down on the couch. "Nope, didn't help." It seemed like he didn't have a way in. "Ventilation system, nah. Doesn't go to the right place. Sewers, not a straight access." He stood up, kicking the soda can on the table. "Damn it!" He quickly grabbed some tissue to dry the table. Once, he dried the soda off the table, he noticed a message on his phone. As he opened the message, his smirk widened.

"Well, it looks like the front-door is the solution." He set the phone on the table, revealing an ad to a party in the castle. He had some clothes shopping to do.. Right after, he's done with his beauty routine.

A door opened to a locker-room, revealing Candi stepping into the room. He stopped by the nearest locker. He took out a pair of lock-picks starting to lock-picking a lock on the locker. Without a problem, the door opened. There was a uniform inside among some other equipment. As Candi grabbed the uniform for his plans, he noticed a can of soda.

"Ooh, bonus." He folded the uniform over his arm, and cracked the can open. He sipped the drink absentmindedly, only for his face to turn into one of disgust. "Ew, gross. What kind of lunatic drinks soda warm?" As he complained to himself, the door to the locker room opened. The guard looked at Candi, it being obvious he wasn't supposed to be there.

"Hi?" Candi waved to the guard. Guard looked at him suspiciously.

"I'm the new recruit?" The guard noticed the open locker next to him. He then realized what was going on. "Hey, that's my locker! Stop..." Before the guard could finish her sentence, Candi threw the full can of soda at her face. This confused her enough, for Candi to slide past her and start running away from her. As he ran, the alarm started to ring trying out the facility.

"There is an intruder in the building. Capture him." The monotone voice from the speakers alarmed everyone to be alert to Candi. As he ran past the corridors, guards started running after him. He was close to the door, but it started to slide down. Candi managed just in time to slide beneath it, leaving the guards to the other side of it. He was smug about it, as he waved to guards. "See ya never." He waved to the guards, only to trip over a rock. He managed to stay up, but his cool moment was ruined. He didn't dare to look back at the guards, as he started running again. His plan was coming together.

Couple days later.

Candi was munching on a sandwich, as he was scouting the castle through binoculars.

"Hmm.... Where to get out?" He looked at the castle from top to bottom. His plan was to get in as a guard, take the guard outfit off, as guards would soon realize he wasn’t with them, blend in with the guests, find a vault, steal the diamond and leave. But, the problem was where to get out. He could always jump out of the window. But, after doing that couple times, he would prefer a safer way down. "Maybe there.." He saw a ladder going up to a window, which was pretty high up. It looked like it was the sixth floor, but after that he could parkour his way down.

"Seems easy enough..." As he was doing that, he also wrote down guards patterns around the castle. He had to be prepared for the heist, when to move in specific areas and such. His plan was coming together, he would make a bank with this one.

"Evening." A guard nodded to another guard. The guard was shorter than most, once the guard got inside and beyond a corner where no one would see him, he removed the helmet revealing Candi. He had a cheeky smirk on his face. "Hah, idiots." He took the rest of the guard outfit off, revealing he had dressed in quite the flamboyant way to blend in with the other guests. He tossed the guard uniform to a corner, blending in with other guests. He entered the dance hall, looking for the most lucrative spot. He had a smirk, as he started emptying some pockets. Talking to the rich guests, distracting them as he took their wallets. The guards entered the dance hall, making Candi a bit nervous.

"Alright... A distraction is needed..." He started to look around the dance hall, for something to allow him to slip past them and possibly into the vault. Or, at least near it, as he still wasn't certain where the vault was. "Excuse me.." He tapped a woman's shoulder getting her attention. He bowed to her. "May your radiance allow me to dance with you?" He put his best game on. The woman agreed, thinking she was going to be swept off her feet... She was wrong. As Candi took the lead with the dance, he occasionally stepped on her toes and she stepped on his. It was a painful dance for both of them, but it worked as a distraction. Others started to waltz around them, giving Candi an opportunity to slide under guard's eyes. Candi apologized to the woman about the dance, jogging where the guards had come from.

"Alright.... Where there are guards, is something valuable.." Candi muttered to himself, as he explored the corridors. He soon enough found a guard, guarding something. Candi smirked to himself, as a plan formed in his head.

"Oh poor me..." He waltzed into the guards vision, pretending to be drunk. He tried to take support from a table, only to fall onto the floor overdramatically. The guard rushed to him. "Are you okay, sir? I can get you some water." He held Candi gently to check if he took any damage from the fall. Then Candi slammed the guard's head against the floor, effectively knocking him out.

"Easy enough." Candi whistled to himself, as he checked the guard for keys. "Of course not... Let's do this the hard way then." He started to lockpick the safe, behind the door. It only took him a moment for it to open. And, there it was the diamond, he had seen so much effort for. "Jackpot." As he grabbed it, a sound behind him made him stop. "Drop the diamond and get on your knees." Candi turned to face the voice, seeing a muscular guard, she seemed about to be thirty, if Candy had to guess.

"Well, I happened to work extremely hard for this. So, nope. Unless, you ask kindly." Candi smirked at her, as he scouted for a way to get past her,

"Hard? Sure, stealing is so hard. Drop the diamond. I won't ask again." She pointed a baton at him. He rolled his eyes. "Well, since you asked so nicely." He threw the diamond at her, making her drop the baton trying to capture the diamond. Candi took his chance, tripping the guard and capturing the diamond. All before the guard could react. Candi was about to say something snarky, but she tripped him as well. Candi hopped just enough to stand still. Guard stood up, managing to punch Candi. Candi hopped backwards, away from her.

"Damn, I do love a woman who could kick my ass." Candi kept on hopping backwards gaining distance from her. "Watch your mouth, and you'll be leaving in cuffs." The guard snarled at him.

"Aw, buy me dinner first." With that, Candi started throwing whatever he could at her. One of those things happened to be a lit candle. Candi realized too late what he had thrown. But, he wasn't going to stick around to find out the results. "See ya never!" Candi winked at her, as he started running.

"Get back here, you damn twink!" Candi ignored her cries. Guard started to put out the fire. It didn't do any massive damage, but it was enough to set off the fire alarm. Candi opened the window, jumping to the ladder. He started to climb down in peace, as he noticed the people leaving the castle. Once he got close enough to the ground, he jumped off the ladder and blended in with the crowd.

Once he got to his apartment he tossed the diamond into the air with a gleeful smile. He set it down on the desk with a loud thud. He leaned back on his couch, with a satisfied sigh.

"Another successful heist." He looks at the diamond. "To sell or not to sell? That is a question." He pondered to himself, as he cracked a well deserved soda for himself. He was extremely satisfied with himself. for pulling off the perfect heist... Perfect in his mind.

[the-demon-of-a-thousand-eyes]

𝒯𝒽𝑒 𝒟𝑒𝓂𝑜𝓃 𝑜𝒻 𝒶 𝒯𝒽𝑜𝓊𝓈𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝐸𝓎𝑒𝓈 𝒞𝒽𝒶𝓅𝓉𝑒𝓇 41 Reclaiming What's Sightfully Yours

Pairing: Alastor x F!OC (Theia, The Demon of a Thousand Eyes)

Chapter Summary: Waking in your childhood bedroom, you seek to reclaim your engagement ring and reconnect with Alastor and Ombre. You want to leave as soon as they arrive, but they have other plans.

Word Count: 10.3k

Warnings: Cannibalism, murder, torture, blood, knife, tentacles, ass play, scratching, biting

This is not Rosie’s guest room. This is not Cannibal Town. This is not the hotel. Your fiancés are nowhere to be seen.

This is your childhood bedroom.

You pinch your cheeks and scream again.

You’re awake, and this is the room you haven’t been inside in sixteen years.

You drop your hands and stare at them. They’re bare, both of them. Your father took your engagement ring and threw it into his void, storing it only he knows where.

You’re in your childhood bedroom, with the eye lamp and the books on the stars and your poster about the god’s eye nebula. The drawing of your family that would give a psychologist a field day is on your desk, your dresser is bursting with clothes, and you’ve never wanted to be anywhere but here, anywhere else, a feeling you’ve always had when sitting in this bed, in this room.

A knock at the door sounds, and just like it always had been, the knock is a formality. They do not wait for a reply before they enter.

An imp you’ve never seen before greets you. She’s small, like all imps, older, stocky. She has a no-nonsense air about her, and for some reason she reminds you of Naina. You miss her. You miss Rana. You miss Al. You miss Ombre. You’re furious. You have a ring to retrieve. “Good morning, Princess Iris. Your family is pleased by your return. I am to have you dressed for breakfast.”

You roll your eyes. “So father can lecture me over an empty plate? I’ll pass.” If you knew where your ring was you could use the eye to look through it. Where is my ring?! Where did my father put it? How did he even find me?

“His majesty Prince Seer has instructed me to get you ready for breakfast.” She looks as if she wants to say more, opens her mouth to do so, then closes it in a firm line. Her eyes are full of something she is keeping close to her chest, refusing to divulge.

You sigh, sensing you’ll have no room to argue with this, even as you wonder what has made her eyes so sad, so conflicted. As you pull back the covers, you’re grateful that at least you still have on the red lacy underwear and robe Al gave you. You’ll fight to keep them on, even if it will inevitably clash with what they’ll force you to wear on top of it. If you’re lucky, this imp will let you choose your own clothes. As you clasp the hem of the robe, your finger nearly snags on the material and you remember last night. Blood spell. Fuck, of course. “So did my father tell you what to dress me in, too, or do I get a say in the matter?”

“You’ve gotten quite mouthy in the last sixteen years, haven’t you, Princess.” She says with amusement, and you roll your eyes  again, then narrow them at her as you realize the words she’s said don’t make sense.

“You don’t look familiar to me, and yet you act as if you’ve known me for years.” You say as you cross to your wardrobe and pray you can find something that fits, pray you can find something with even a scrap of red, even as you wonder yet again to whom you’d even pray.

She speaks quickly, clearly hiding something as she tries to cover up her mistake. “Oh you know us imps, Princess, we like to gossip.” The look in her eyes makes it seem like she does know you, even as you know you’ve never seen her face before.

You frown as you sift through your closet. “There’s no need to self-deprecate yourself in the process of proving a point. It’s alright if you know someone who knew me, back when I was a child. It might even make me like you.” You say with a chuckle and a wink from a few of the eyes on the back of your horns to let her know you’re kidding.

She looks slightly alarmed, then allows herself to relax. It’s subtle, and if you hadn’t been so observant, you’re sure you might have missed it. “Of-of course not.” She stutters at first, then takes a breath and swallows, finding her confidence again. “I’ve heard talk of course, that you were quiet back then, before you left. You seem to have changed.”  

Despite living in the Pride Ring, nothing in your wardrobe was ever red growing up, and now, as you peer into your collection of clothes you have no interest in wearing, you see every color except it. Purple will do, you decide, it will compliment the red and it will appease my father. You pull out a dress that you suspect Stolas had commissioned for you long before you’d run away, and your heart aches a little. It’s a royal purple, covered in gold eyes with crescent moons inside them, and in between each eye it is dotted with stars. I wonder what time today Noctua was supposed to arrive at the hotel. I’ll have to apologize later for my absence.

“Of course I’ve changed.” You say with a shrug as you make sure the dress will fit, holding it up against you. “I’m a different person than I was then. It’s been sixteen years after all. I have sixteen more eyes. I have made friends, fallen in love.” Gotten pregnant, with twins of all things. You don’t say. Telling her about falling in love is easy, explains the ring. If she tells your father you’re pregnant, he’ll cause a scene, and you don’t trust her not to relay everything you tell her to him. 

“You fell in love?” She looks pleased by this, affectionate and loving, and you swear once again you know her. She notices your suspicion, and tries to quickly backpedal. “Love is an admirable thing to find. I suspect that Prince Seere will not be pleased by this, however. You have been promised to Duke Hyaloid after all. It’s good you were allowed to have that time for it though, for as long as it lasted.”

“It will last for the rest of the time I have left.” You snap, putting an end to this discussion. You sigh, let yourself look sheepish. “I apologize. I am quite emotional about the choices I have made and I would prefer if we drop this discussion. I’d like to get dressed now. I can do it  myself.” You tell the imp. “Wait outside or turn around, please.” You request, then shrug when she widens her eyes. “You can look, too, if you want. Given all my eyes, I’m hardly shy.” You open your robe and she closes her eyes. You almost chuckle as you drop the rope off your shoulders, throw the dress on over your bra and panties, then pick up the robe and drape it over the dress, tying it back around your waist. “You can look now.” You say with a snort as you slip a pair of flats on your feet. They’re black and boring, and you miss your ankle boots.

You stride past her and open the door. A guard snaps to attention when you exit, and you roll your eyes. You see the imp trailing behind you as you leave, chasing you, out of breath. You feel guilty, but you’re in a hurry, and don’t feel like continuing the conversation. Something about her is off-putting. She clearly knows more than she’s comfortable with telling you, but is having difficulty keeping it to herself. It makes you uneasy, and you hope that she’ll be willing to be more open with you later, but in the meantime, you have your father to confront.

Everything about this castle seems to have stayed exactly as it had since you left, kept pristine with more coats of paint as well as constant dusting and polishing. The walls you pass are the same color they were when you left, that lavender that tries to be purple but looks too white. For a family cursed by eyes in a realm that swims with eye motifs, there are none here. 

The only eyes in this castle are in the portraits. They’re the only objects that seem to have aged, and they ascend in chronological order. Like all pieces of art in this mansion, none of them are of you. Your sisters never made the cut either. They are of your father and your brother. Rarely, your mother is featured, but never by herself. 

The first is of your parents, your mother pregnant with you. It is the closest you have ever been to being immortalized in this house. Next is a portrait of your brother in your mother’s arms as your father looks the happiest you’ve ever seen him; even with that frown affixed to his face, his eyes are happy. He never learned how to smile, never in the fourteen years that you’d interacted had you seen one on his face. Next is Choroid on his own, at around age two, playing with his toys. Then Choroid at age ten. Then Choroid and your father and your mother recently, at age fifteen. In all the portraits your mother appears within, she is beaming proudly, and your father is frowning. Choroid has a soft, unassuming smile, content to be a child.

Eventually, you reach the main part of the house from the hallway. Through the foyer and into the dining room, it isn’t long before you see your father sitting at the head of the incredibly long table, as he always does; a large feast of fruits, breads, meats, and cheeses is laid out before him. The portrait on the wall behind him looms massively, and it never fails to make you uneasy. You do your best to ignore it. He does not acknowledge you as you enter, and you do not speak his name. When you sit near the center of the table on the right side, he says your old, abandoned name. “Iris.”

Nothing else, just that name. You study him as all thirty of your eyes narrow at him. His four glare back at you. He is stone-faced, tall in stature, even in a seated position. The crown affixed to his head is large and golden, intimidating, but it’s the grimace on his face, that perpetual grimace, that haunts your nightmares. You wonder what it would take to make him smile. Not even having a son had caused that—his only goal for marriage to your mother. “Seere.” You reply, instead of an honorific title, and he grits his teeth, clenches his fist around the fork in his hand.

“I am your father and you will address me as such.” He stabs at a slab of hellbeast on a plate in front of him, and you roll your eyes.

“I don’t go by ‘Iris’ anymore. Call me ‘Theia’ and I will call you by a different name.” You don’t bother to ask for breakfast. You know you won’t get any anyway, not even if you told him you’re pregnant.

No imp arrives to ask you for your request. You don’t expect one to do so. All is as it has been, as if the last sixteen years didn’t happen.

“Your name is Iris. It is the name I so kindly decided to bestow upon you after your birth. The last sixteen years have meant nothing. You can go galavanting across Pentagram City all you want,” his voice is veritably dripping with disdain at the mention of the name like it leaves a foul taste in his mouth, “it won’t make you a sinner. You ought to have more class than that. I raised you to be better than this, more normal than this.”

“You didn’t raise me to do shit, Seere. Naina did that, and you sent her away when you found out I liked her more than Mother, if she’s even still alive. Also, ‘normal’? What the fuck is ‘normal’? I’m not familiar with this ‘normal’ of which you speak,  and you certainly aren’t either. Nothing about this family has ever been ‘normal’ and it has nothing to do with the curse. Speaking of which, you have some nerve, audacity to speak ill of Pentagram City; it has been far kinder to me than the walls of this prison ever have been. I have people who love and care about me, don’t care that I’ll only be around for a thousand years, want to spend time with me to enjoy what I have left.” Also where the fuck is my engagement ring?

“This is hardly a prison, Iris. It’s a castle. You have everything you could possibly need at your fingertips. No reason to leave these walls, imps to care for your every whim. Why would you want to go anywhere else?” He gestures grandly as he stuffs himself with a piece of cheese, chunks falling onto the floor as he chews with his mouth open. 

You try not to grimace as you reply. “You say that as if I didn’t run away repeatedly, as if I hadn’t more than a justified reason for every attempt and success along the way. Sure, I had what I needed to live, but not to thrive. Naina was the only one who was ever loving and affectionate towards us, and she’s not here anymore. While I never told her that I was planning on running away, I know she would have encouraged me to escape this nightmare—this hole in Hell—just as she’d encourage me to leave again. I have a life to return to now, to which I need to return. Speaking of which, here’s something else I need: where the fuck is the ring you took from me?”

“Your pitiful excuse for jewelry from that red-blood sinner trash is in my study, where it shall remain until you’ve proven yourself to no longer want it.”

You close your eyes and open the ones in the portrait of himself your father keeps in his study. You see your engagement ring sitting on the large ornate wooden desk under a glass bell jar. With a smirk, you use the portrait behind your father of your parents and Choroid and the one in his study to manifest in front of it, lift the lid, and slide the ring onto your finger once more. You kiss the ring, feeling the connection between Ombre and yourself, the tug of the deal on your fingers, and you pull Alastor gently in your direction. He manifests in an instant, and before you can say a word, he pulls you into a fierce kiss. You let your tears fall as you pull him close, achingly close. It hasn’t been even eight hours that you’d been separated, but it felt like eons.

When he finally breaks the kiss for air, Ombre takes over, and you wrap them around you, around your shoulders again. When you break this one, you say, “Let’s go home.”

“I am going to have words with your father.” His eyes have turned to dials, his antlers elongating. A shiver runs down your spine. “He doesn’t get to treat you the way he has your whole life, then kidnap you in the dead of night and get away with it.”

“We have only just found you, Iris.” Ombre replies, “There is far more that must be done here.”

“Al, let’s just go. I haven’t eaten yet, and he’ll no doubt be furious if we don’t leave now.” You take his hand, and before you can manifest all of you away, your father appears behind you.

“So you’ve inherited my ability to travel. How charming.” Seere says, his voice laced with sarcasm. “Almost as charming as the notion that you think this pathetic little red-blood is worth anything. Hyaloid is still waiting. He has been kind enough to wait for you for sixteen years, Iris. Be a good little girl and do as you’re told.”

“Permission to refer to you by your birth name in front of your father.” Alastor says tightly, and you nod.

“You may call me ‘Iris’ in front of Prince Seere, brother to Prince Amaymon, keeper of secrets, robberies, and treasures.” Your eyes narrow as realization strikes you. “You knew.”

Alastor’s gaze flicks to you. “He did.” He says, knowing what you know.

“You knew that the book had been stolen. Did you tell that imp to steal it in the first place, or did you just decide you weren’t going to disclose it when my grandmother discovered it had gone missing?” Your father practically snorts, and you see Alastor’s neck start to elongate, his spine snapping as he grows jagged and monstrous. “Your grandmother had written down too many secrets, too much knowledge in that silly little book of hers. No one needed to know. No one should ever know what knowledge she possesses, so of course I had it taken from her.”

“We’re your own family! If you’d let us break the curse, one of us could have had a son, another brother, even! Grandma could keep living! Mother wouldn’t die! Are you so desperate to be king that you’ll throw away the lives of the family you married amongst, the life that birthed your son?”

“Your mother served her purpose, just as you never have.” He says coldly, and you wince, a full body wince, and you realize that the pain in your abdomen is a literal one.

You groan and clutch at your gut. “Al, please.” You say as you bend over. “He doesn’t know. Let’s just go. I need to eat.”

“You didn’t tell him, nostre âme soeur?” Alastor asks with troubled eyes, softening and coming to hold you against him.

You shake your head. “It’s not like he’d feed me anyway.”

His eyes harden as he turns his gaze on Seere. “What do you mean he wouldn’t feed you?”

“I thought it was obvious, Al.” You murmur as you feel another hunger pang sweep through you. “The first food I’d eaten in my first fourteen years was an apple I stole on Earth. The curse keeps us alive. We live for a thousand years, no matter what condition we’re in, so there was ‘no need to feed us’. We’d live anyway.” The most feral sound you’ve ever heard escapes Ombre as they wail in fury.

Alastor stalks across the room, antlers the longest you’ve ever seen them, body elongated and jagged, jaw extending, roaring in static, “G̸͖̿̑Ḯ̷̙̣̒V̶̨͍̊̆Ę̷͊̾ ̵̘̀M̴͇͓͑̈́Ĕ̸̬͐ ̶̟̾͋O̷̺̓̕N̵͍̅̀E̴̟̤̓̽ ̵̧̑G̵̠̈́Ổ̷̧͉O̷̤̊D̵̘͔͐ ̷̬̞̓̇R̷̟͑̍Ë̶̠́̒A̵͖͂̔S̶̬̻̈͛O̸̪̒̏Ň̸̨͙̚ ̶̞͂Ẉ̷̳͆H̴̲͂Y̴̛͓ ̸̗͗I̶͖͓̎͠ ̵̣̉̇S̶̰̳̈́H̵͖͓̊O̴̞͐̀Ȕ̴͈͜͠L̶̠̟̾̓D̶̢͗ ̷͙͖̆L̴͇̘̃E̶̡͝ͅT̷͖̈́ ̸͍̾̌Y̸͓͋O̴͈̽̄Ṵ̸̅ ̸̡͓̃L̸̩̆̚I̷̦͒V̷͚̏È̵͜.̶̛̪͠”

His claws dig into Seere’s cloak, and he pulls the prince up into the air. Seere’s crown falls with a thunk onto the wood of the desk. “Who do you think you are, talking to me like this?!” He declares, all four eyes narrowed, accusation in his gaze.

“Ḭ̵̈́̑̌ ̴̺̰̳̒A̸̬̳̹̓͋̌Ḿ̴̈́͘͜ ̵̰̟͂̽H̷͈̻̓͜Ë̶̘̱́̑͝R̴͇͓̅̃͘ ̴̤͙̼̓S̴̨̘̓̏O̴̥̟̅U̴̻͙̐̓Ļ̷̮̪͊M̴̩̉̈̈́Ą̴̢͚͛̋̚T̵̼̩̏̔̚Ė̴̥.̵̜̝͊” Alastor bellows, and Seere’s hair blows back at the sheer force of it. “̴̥͐I̸͙̍ ̷̲̀A̵͖̚M̵̯̏ ̶̩̃Ț̷̈́H̸̹͝Ë̷̥́ ̵͚̉F̸̫̎A̶̽ͅT̷̟̍Ḫ̴̕Ë̸̘Ṛ̶͆ ̴͙̃Ö̴̼F̴͖̿ ̴̞̈H̷͓̔Ë̸̻́R̸͉͠ ̶̙̌F̵̭͂U̷̘̚T̶̮͋U̵̟͒R̷͇͒Ȇ̵ͅ ̴̬̏C̷̡̃H̴̬͝I̸̥̓Ḷ̷̀D̵͍̕R̷͔̈́E̷̫̓Ñ̴̦.̸̬̊ ̸̭̎Y̸̪̎O̷̮͆Ȗ̶̜ ̵̹̃Ȃ̵��R̴͚͊E̷͖̓ ̵̮̈N̶̠̉Ȍ̶̦T̶̟̚H̴͓̐Ỉ̴̖N̵̤͝G̸̢̓,̸͕̾ ̸̬̌W̸̮͛O̴͖͐Ṙ̸̥T̸͓̈́H̶̻̀ ̸͙͘N̴̞̂O̶͓̓T̷͙̀H̶̛͙I̶͈͝N̸͚̾G̶̥̈́.̸͑͜ ̸̧̑Ŵ̵̭H̶͇̀A̶̜͠Ṱ̶̀ ̴̞̈́U̴̪͝S̴̢̍E̵̟̔ ̸̧̊D̴͇̕Ő̴̢ ̸̱͆Ỳ̶͚Ö̴̠́Ủ̴̺ ̵̠̃S̸̆ͅÈ̴̳R̸̟̽V̷͔̐Ḙ̸͗ ̸̼̚A̸̰͑L̴͇͂I̵͔͛V̴͚̍E̷͕̚ ̶̾͜A̷̪̍Ǹ̸̢Y̸̥̅ ̷̤̍L̷̨͌O̴͚̊N̴̨̿G̶͔̃Ě̶͉R̵̼̎?̸̩͌”̵̩͝

Another hunger pang tears through your body, and Ombre intones in between hisses, “Let us find you some food, our majesty. Master will see to your father in the meantime.”

Panic seizes you as Ombre leads you towards the kitchen. “Ombre, Al doesn’t carry an angelic blade. He’ll be at my father’s mercy without one.”

“Master was wise to return to our bedroom to retrieve your knife, our majesty. He would not go into battle without the necessary tool to win the war.”

You brighten despite the pang of hunger that ripples through you, and you continue on towards the kitchen. When you open the doors, the imps all stare at you in shock. “I’m pregnant.” You say simply. “I’ve been instructed to eat.”

One takes your hand and leads you to a low sitting table, another goes to the stove and ladles a steaming bowl of stew—of what kind you’re not sure, but it smells magnificent—and your mouth waters. “When you are done, we will serve you more.” Is all this other imp says as she sets the bowl before you and hands you a spoon. You’ve never been truly hungry before, never needed to eat, but with the lives growing inside you, you are more than just the curse. You may stay alive, but without food, they will  not survive.

When the first bite hits your lips, you practically moan in relief. It is the best food you’ve ever eaten, or so it seems, though that may just be due to your hunger, your need for it. You continue to eat and savor every bite. 

As you continue to eat, you close your eyes and open the ones in the portrait in your father’s study. Alastor is all limbs and height, towering over your father with your knife to his throat. From this angle, he’s aligned both himself and your father so that you can see the whole show. You smirk, knowing he’s done this on purpose, knew you’d want to watch. He knows me so well. Finding yourself thinking this as you take another bite, you settle in to watch. Alastor slices open Seere’s arm and it oozes black blood, dripping onto the carpet at his feet. He pays it no mind, still standing massively tall, looming over your father, and manifests a piece of paper. You raise an eyebrow, curious as to where this is headed. “S̸̤̒I̴̘͛̏G̶̣͙͐̌N̴̙̩̚ ̵̪͚̐I̸̼͆T̵̰͋.” “I refuse to sign anything handed to me by you, filthy red-blood sinner! No one will stand between me and my plans!” Seere declares with a yelp as you take a bite.

You smirk as Alastor decides his fate for him. “Ṯ̸͈̈́͒O̴̭͗̓R̷͈̪͓̾T̷͎͙͕̓̀̚U̸͍͛̈́Ŕ̶̛̩͔͈͒Ê̶͜ͅ ̵̻͌F̵͚̙͕̎Ḯ̶̻̻̹͋̈́R̷̘̩͕̓̊̚S̵̟̮̫͑T̴̺̏͋ ̶̢́̎T̸̨͓̭̿̽̑Ȟ̵̛̹̳̝E̷̥̊Ǹ̴̪̅.̸̛͕͖ ̴̨̻͆S̵͙̚Ǭ̵̱ ̴͚̗̑̔B̷͓̦̰̈́E̷͍̗͈͌ ̷̳̻̎̉͘Ị̴͉̦̎T̴̠̯́̽.̷̺͎͍̇̐̔.”

You finish the bowl, and another is placed before you. Ombre purrs as you eat. It’s affectionate, but it’s laced with malice, as if Alastor’s anger at your father is seeping through their shared frequency. 

“At least I know that the two of you are enjoying yourselves.” You say as you take another bite.

Ombre only rumbles again, and you stroke their ears as you eat.

He slices the other arm next, pooling and dripping onto the carpet once more, then slashes across the prince’s chest, his hands, under his chin. Your father cries out in pain with every slice, and it is a beautiful sound that you can hear even from the kitchens; it is so loud. Alastor pauses for a moment, then gets an incredibly devious look in his eye and looks directly into the eyes. “T̷͕̂H̸̬̿I̴̥͆S̴̱̎ ̷̗̉I̷̬̋S̶̙̔ ̷̲̋F̸̻̈́O̷̢̿R̶̡̋ ̶̡̈́Y̶̱̌Õ̵͎Ǘ̵̮,̷͇̿ ̶̩́N̷͈̽O̸̫͑S̸̞̒T̷͓͑R̶̝̾É̸̘ ̴̧͛Â̴̧͠M̵̹̿E̴̺͠ ̸̗̿S̶͙͐O̷͝ͅȆ̷͉Ŭ̶͈R̴̫͝!” “What are you—?” Seere begins, but before he can finish his thought, Alastor takes the blade and stabs it into his cheek, dragging it across his lips to the other side. Your father chokes on his own spit and blood as he lets out the most pain-filled scream you’ve heard yet, and you see as Alastor pulls away that Seere’s face has a now-permanent smile. You break out into an even wider grin as you take another bite.

As your father splutters, Alastor continues to slice him to ribbons, exacting just enough pain to do damage but keep him awake and alive, removing chunks of flesh from his arms, his legs, even his torso. The sounds are music: pain and fear and resignation. Seere collapses onto the floor at his feet, his head lolling, likely woozy from loss of blood. The carpet is soaked in black, drenched in it, and Alastor himself is dripping with it too. You lick your lips at the delicious sight. You imagine licking it off of him, what it would taste like to take him into your mouth covered in your father’s blood. You shiver with want as you see him produce the paper again. “L̴̨̫̍A̷̡̻͘S̵̱̬̉̽T̶̘̿ ̴̦̫̈Č̴̲H̶̦͕͑À̴̙̪N̴͓̘̅C̴͖͖͠Ę̶̲̍̉.̴̲̟͛ S̸̤̒I̴̘͛̏G̶̣͙͐̌N̴̙̩̚ ̵̪͚̐I̸̼͆T̵̰͋.”

Seere nods, but just barely, and a pen is thrust into your father’s waiting hands. When he hesitates, waiting for ink, Alastor shoves the nub of the quill into the wound on his arm as your father cries out again, and you bite your lip as you watch him sign the document. Your father says nothing as it is plucked from his hands, and Alastor whistles calmly as he shrinks to his normal size, stabs the knife into your father’s chest, places the paper upon the desk, and gets out the stamp used for royal decrees. With a wicked grin back at the eyes in the portrait once more, he gives it the seal of approval, and tucks it back into his shadows, before returning to your father. He grabs the handle and twists the blade as he purrs, “You have served your purpose. Now it is finally time for you to die.” The blade digs further into his chest, and you see the moment that it hits home, the look in Seere’s eyes is a panic, and then it is gone, the light leaving them completely. Then he proceeds to carve each one carefully from their sockets. Alastor is pleased with his work. He puts the still-soaked blade in his shadows, and turns to the portrait, to purr to you, “I hope you enjoyed the show, nostre fiancé. I’ll be with you shortly.”

As you continue to eat a third bowl, you watch him stride down the hall and into the foyer. You let the eyes in the mansion fall closed as Alastor bursts open the door, still dripping from head to toe in black blood, mania in his eyes and a wicked grin on his face. “Nostre âme soeur,” He purrs as he strides across the floor, blood pooling with every step, ignoring the frightened imps as they try to clean up the mess, “I hope you enjoyed the performance. It was all for you, after all.” He opens up his fist, and drops four eyeballs—your father’s eyes—into your soup.

You chew and swallow them one after another with bites of soup, then turn towards him with a smirk. “It was a grand one indeed, and what a delightful snack to finish it off, too. I’d expect nothing less, ma moitié.” You purr back, and let him cover you in blood as he wraps his arms around you and pulls you into a feverish kiss. It tastes like freedom and Alastor. When he pulls away, you’re smeared in it, and your dress is likely stained, but Stolas would be willing to commission you another gown, and the robe you can wash. 

You stare into his crimson eyes, the only part of him red, every inch of him drenched in the black of your father’s blood. He manifests your knife, still coated in a fine sheen of black blood, along with its sheath and belt. “I believe this blade rightfully belongs to you,” He licks the blade clean and sheathes it. You shiver and feel yourself grow slightly wet at the sight. He snaps his fingers, and your dress, still in its sheath shape, replaces your purple one.You’re grateful to be in that wonderful red dress with the sunflowers and haunting eyes again. His suit and appearance is freshly clean once more. He wraps your belt around your waist and kisses you, then he continues, “as does this.” He manifests the scroll you’d seen him force your father to sign earlier, and you unroll it.

All thirty eyes bug out and threaten to escape your skin at the message written there. “When did you have time to sight this?”

Ombre purrs into your ear to try and comfort you as you half panic, half swoon, handing it back to him. He takes it in one hand, stores it in his shadows, and catches you as you fall, picking you up bridal style. 

The words of the document ring in your head as he kisses you deeply once again, carrying you out of the kitchen and into the foyer once more. Upon my death, I, Prince Seere, brother to Prince Amaymon and husband of Princess Macula, eldest daughter of Queen Sclera and King Belial, First of the Ars Goetia, name my eldest daughter as my rightful heir to the throne. Henceforth, she shall be known as Princess Theia, daughter of the late Prince Seere and Princess Macula, granddaughter to Queen Sclera and King Belial, First of the Ars Goetia. Princess Theia shall be heir and future Queen of the First Throne.

Below it you’d seen your father’s signature in his own blood and the official royal seal.

Before he can whisk you away with his shadows, you see your mother emerge from the library, no doubt alerted by the noises and then the sudden silence. “Welcome home, Iris. Who is this man, this sinner who’s carrying you?” She says quietly, and Alastor sets you down beside him, pulls the knife from your sheath, and points it in her direction as she approaches. Her hundred and fifty eyes blink at you in what you detect is a mixture of disdain and pity. 

“Al,” you say coolly even as you grimace, “let’s not be so hasty. Give her a few moments; let her know the situation.”

“Of course, ma très chère.” Alastor says calmly as his gaze flicks to yours, lowering the knife only slightly. “I am at your command, nostre reine.” He turns his gaze back to your mother. “I am her soulmate.” He says simply, tersely, and a delicious shiver runs up your spine. He is furious.

“Hellborn don’t have souls. She has no soul for you to ‘mate’.” She says icily, and you sigh, irritated.

Ombre murmurs into your ear. “I will say it every day for the rest of time and all the time after if I must, our majesty. You may not have a soul, but that does not mean you are not our soulmate.”

You kiss them softly and smirk as your mother looks slightly ill. 

Alastor replies as if Ombre hadn’t said anything, not because their words weren’t true, but because your mother couldn’t hear them. “You know, it’s rather funny. Your husband said something quite similar not long before he died.”

“Seere is dead?!” She is dumbstruck, and you nod as a shriek emerges from her lips. “You killed him?!”

“I remove filth from Hell just as I removed them from Earth in life.” He says with an easy shrug as he fiddles with the knife. “I prefer not to kill women, but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t kill you. You abused your daughters and damaged your son’s perception of the world by allowing him to see you do it. Sure, you didn’t do the scarring yourself; you left your husband to do it, but walking out of the room and letting the abuse persist is also abuse. I will not stand idly by and allow it to continue. The only reason you are still alive is because Theia has deemed it so.”

“Iris, who is this ‘Theia’ to whom he’s referring?” Your mother inquires, and you point to yourself.

“Well met, Princess Macula. I am Princess Theia, heir to the throne of King Belial, First King of Ars Goetia. The late Prince Seere signed the document himself declaring as such.” With his free hand, Alastor summons the document and hands it to you. You unroll it but don’t hand it to her, keeping it at a safe distance. “Before his death, he signed this.”

“He signed it under coercion, duress! No one will find this viable if I speak out against it! Your name is Iris, not Theia!” She declares with a shout, and you find yourself side-stepping a poorly aimed beam of fire from her fingertip.

You give Ombre the document, who returns it to their shadows for safe-keeping. “Now Macula, that’s hardly the way to talk to your eldest daughter and heir to the throne, now is it?” You say with a raised eyebrow. “Especially considering Alastor here, my soulmate and future husband, has an angelic blade not far from you, and could strike at any moment. It happens to be the knife that killed Prince Seere, in fact. Let’s not give him a reason to strike, hmm?”

She grits her teeth. “I won’t call you by this ridiculous name. Prince Choroid is heir to the throne, not you, and certainly not ‘Princess Theia’, since no one by that name and title exists.”

You hold up your hand as Alastor moves closer. “Not yet, mon âme soeur.” You tell him with a soft smile, and Ombre nips at your neck affectionately and lets out a pleased purr. You stroke their head, then turn your attention to your mother. “See, here’s the issue. If I asked Choroid right now if he wanted to be king, you know what he’d say? He’d say no. I may have been gone for sixteen years, but I know my brother. He’s been coddled and pampered his whole life, but he doesn’t know shit about how to run a kingdom, how to rule, because despite Seere deciding to have him inherit the throne instead of myself, he never insisted he learn any of it. 

“For the first fourteen years of my life, I learned all of what was to be expected of the heir to the throne. You forced tutor upon tutor to train me, to guide me. I saw more of them and Naina than I ever did of you. So no, Choroid isn’t going to be king, wouldn’t even want to be king. I know that if necessary, I’d just ask him to sign a document saying that he would abdicate to me, but I don’t have to do that, so I won’t. This conversation does remind me though, ‘Mother,’” You say her honorific bitterly, sarcastically, “what did happen to Naina, anyway? Did Seere have her killed because you were jealous that we always liked her better than you?”

“Of course not.” She says in almost a whisper, as if she’s terrified to speak. “I would never kill an imp for doing their job. She simply was too skilled at it. You saw her as more of a parent than me. I couldn’t allow such behavior to continue once Choroid was old enough to no longer need looking after anymore.”

You roll all your eyes at once. “That’s hardly the case. He’s still being looked after right now. I bet if I peeked in on him at this very moment, at least one imp would be fluffing his pillow, fetching him his breakfast, or dressing him. He’s a pampered prince who’s never done anything for himself in his entire life. He needs to be looked after simply because it’s always been this way. So no, it wasn’t because Choroid was too old to need a nanny. I wasn’t here, but that doesn’t mean I don’t know that you got jealous, saw the way my siblings flocked to her when I left. They went to her for comfort instead of you, and that made you jealous. Even after you did so, though, they never went to you, and they never would have. You never let yourself be our mother, gave us comfort, so why would we ever go to you for it?” You glare at her darkly. “So I’ll ask you again. What happened to Naina?”

Just then, the imp that came to see you this morning, the one who’d been acting suspicious, steps out from around the corner. She pulls a necklace you hadn’t seen before out from her shirt and over her head. In the moment that it no longer touches any part of her except her hands, her appearance changes, and even after sixteen years, you recognize her in an instant.

“Naina!” You exclaim as you rush past your mother to wrap her into your arms.

She laughs with joy and wraps hers around you. “Iris, my little spitfire, I’m sorry for the poorly veiled deception from earlier.” She pulls away to smile up into your main eye. “It sounds as if I should call you Theia now, though?”

You nod. “Yes, Naina. I am now legally Princess Theia.”

“Well, Theia, it is good to see you again, my dear. I’ve missed you.” She kisses you on both cheeks, and you can practically feel your mother seething with rage behind you.

“I banished you!” She finally manages to bite out, and you let a chortle escape your lips.

“You didn’t do a very good job of it.”

Naina pulls back from you and pats your arm. “Now, now, Theia, that’s hardly the proper way to talk to your mother, even if she did banish the only woman who gave you affection in your early years.”

Alastor laughs, a truly pleased and genuine laugh, and Naina turns to him then. “Is this the man you’ve deemed worthy of your heart?”

He crosses the room, bowing, as he offers his hand. "Alastor, The Radio Demon, quite a pleasure to be meeting you. It is an honor to meet the wonderful woman who raised my Theia, for it is she who stole my heart."

Naina takes his hand and he kisses it to her surprise, and she flushes as she replies, “I can see she’s chosen quite well.”

Princess Macula, still seething with fury, cuts in, “That is more than enough. I will not have this kind of talk continue in my castle. Given that my husband is dead, I am in charge here. He banished you once before. It is still in effect. You have been given more than enough time. Leave my domain immediately, or face the fate you should have met the first time.”

As you convulse with rage, Alastor snarls, “Would you like to see Prince Seere’s corpse, your majesty, or would you like to join him?”

Ombre howls in ire as you growl out. “Permission granted, mon âme soeur, though you should know, she is protected by the curse. Death is not in the cards for her, so long as it is still intact. None of us women can die by any other means.” You smirk and wink at him. “That doesn’t mean you can’t have some fun, though.” You turn to Naina. “This is going to get messy.” You grin wickedly. “Let’s let my fiancé do his work.”

She pats your arm. “Let’s go into the library, little spitfire. I look forward to you explaining the shadow draped around your arms and the bump of your belly you’ve done so poorly to hide, young lady.”

You flush as you walk with her to the library, letting the sounds of your mother’s wails as Alastor slices into her hit your ears as you do so. Naina sits beside you on the sofa in the cozy green room. All the furniture is a plush emerald paired with oak wood. The walls are filled with shelves and shelves of books. The place you’d seen as a prison feels significantly lighter with the knowledge that your parents will no longer be a threat to you and Naina is back in your life again. When you finally sit, Ombre curls into your lap again and nuzzles the small bump that has formed in your belly, your pregnancy starting to show.

As you open your mouth to speak, the front door slams open. Your eyes widen in surprise as you see Stolas stride through the front door before he puffs and expands into his demon form, screeching, knocking over pointless vases and a few of the portraits off the wall.

As you stand and rush to the door, Ombre leaps to curl around your shoulders again, and Naina stands to follow you. From the doorway, you watch as Stolas halts, seeing Alastor covered in your mother’s blood, stabbing into her flesh, Macula’s screams and wails echoing through the hallway to your ears. Noctua returns to his usual form, and upon seeing you in the doorway, heads in your direction. You step back and into the library, and as he passes through and inside, you declare, “Noctua!” Ombre purrs loudly.

He pulls you into his arms as he says with a relieved sigh, “Little nebula, I was worried sick when Princess Morningstar said you hadn’t returned, that Alastor had gone looking for you! I knew the only place you could be was here. I’m sorry I got here so late, but I’m glad to know that the problem has been dealt with accordingly.”

“Well if it isn’t Stolas himself,” Naina says with a pleased smile, and Stolas brightens at the sight of her, “my have you grown!”

“The men in my family have always been tall; you know that, Naina.” He says with a smile as he pulls her into a hug. “I’m grateful to know you’re still alive, still looking after Theia and her siblings.”

A realization strikes you as you sit back on the couch. “Have you seen Fovea and Uvea? Sometimes I regret missing their weddings.”

As Stolas sits in a nearby armchair, Naina sits beside you. “Wedding, dear. Your father decided that your sisters would be married on the same day to avoid them getting any ideas lest they decide to follow in your footsteps.” Naina says with a sad smile. “I haven’t seen them since their wedding day, for their new husbands have kept them away from here, in castles I’ve never visited. I’m sure that there’s documentation of their locations in your father’s study.” Ombre’s purr turns into a hiss, and you stroke them gently.

“We’ll need someone to go through that.” You nod. “I bet Rana would love to get her hands on all of his books and things.” You chuckle, and then another realization hits you. “What about Choroid? He’s still here, isn’t he?”

Naina nods. “He’s in his room. Shall I have someone fetch him?”

“I can get him.” You say easily, even as Stolas and Naina shush you.

“You’re pregnant with twins, little nebula. You should hardly be moving in your condition, much less teleporting.”

“It’s just to his room and back. Besides, it’s fine. I’ll be fine. I need this, need to see my brother again. He needs to know that you’re here, Naina. I’m sure losing you was hardest on him.”

Naina nods, and you see her eyes prick with tears. “I couldn’t comfort him even as he screamed for me. I didn’t look like me anymore, and all I wanted to do was console him. He wouldn’t let anyone—especially Macula—touch him with affection anymore. He’s been distant and cold ever since she told Seere to banish me.” Ombre hisses again, and you scratch them behind the ears to comfort them.

“That’s it.” You declare, and closing your eyes, open the one you’d drawn on Choroid’s bookshelf. You suspect that the rest of his room has changed in sixteen years, but you know that the bookshelf would still be there. It had been passed down as an heirloom, and you’d enjoyed carving your mark into it. You’d been jealous, wished it had been given to you, but now, you’re grateful it was still exactly where you’d left it, left a carving of an eye into the wood. You use it and the portrait of your father here in the library to manifest in your brother’s bedroom.

In a blink you’re in Choroid’s room, Ombre still draped about your shoulders. Maculas’s screams do not reach here. He’s grown so much, so of course it has changed. He’s laying on his large four-poster bed, an empty plate beside him on the comforter, a single set of clothes on the floor at your feet, and a pile of toys he’s deemed are too immature for him. You notice an abandoned magic kit in the corner. It’s covered in dust, hasn’t been touched in years. After Naina had been ripped from his side, his love of everything—especially magic—likely stopped, especially since she’d been the one to teach you and your siblings all she knew about it.

“Hello, brother.” You say softly, and his four eyes flick to your face in shock.

“I-Iris?” He whispers, scurries to the side of the bed, nearly banging his head on the frame. “What’re you doing here?”

“In your room or in the castle? Did Seere not tell you that he kidnapped me from my bed in the night?” You raise your eyebrow with a bitter chuckle, then break out into a pleased smile, your arms outstretched. “Come with me, Chor. There’s someone you need to see again. She has missed you.”

“N-Naina?” He asks with a shaky breath, and you nod. He dives across the bed and into your arms, tears pricking his four eyes, threatening to slip from his face. “Let’s go!”

You wrap your arms around him in shock, then smile softly, using the eyes in the portrait in the library to manifest back beside the couch.

The instant that you’re there, Choroid throws himself into Naina’s arms. The screams continue, but he is so moved he doesn’t notice.

She wraps hers around him instantly, and he sobs into her chest as he kneels on the floor before her, so tall that it was the only way to do so. “N-Naina,” He choked out between sobs, “why did you leave me? Was I not a good enough boy for you?”

As you sit back on the couch beside her, you tell him, “Macula had Seere banish her, jealous that we loved her more than her.”

He snapped his head up to look at you, and you see dark rage set in his eyes. “They both will die for this.”

“My fiancé has already seen to that.” You tell him with a pleased smile, pointing to the open doorway and the wails that continue. “They’re in the foyer. He should be returning shortly.”

You turn to Stolas. “You can go home, Noctua.” You sigh. “I’m sorry you went out of your way to solve a situation that was already in hand.” You give him a weak smile. “Thank you for caring about me.”

He stands and crosses to the couch, takes you by both hands to help you to your feet, and pulls you into his arms. “No need to apologize, little nebula. You are my family. I will always want you safe and happy, your family safe and happy. If you ever need my assistance again, know that I will be here for you at any point in time that you need me.” He gives you a kiss on the forehead and steps away, casts a portal and waves goodbye. “Don’t be a stranger, little nebula. Via would love to see you.”

“I’ll make sure to come see you soon!” You vow as you wave back to him. “I’ve missed you both greatly.”

He steps through, and waves again as the portal dissipates. Your gaze shifts to Naina and Choroid. He’s stopped crying and shaking. You see that she’s managed to pull him up onto the couch in your place. You give them both a soft smile. Your brother looks happy. You suspect it’s the happiest he’s been in a long time, given what Naina said earlier.

“I’m glad I was able to reunite you with Naina, Chor.” You tell him with a sweet smile.

Choroid lifts his head to look you in the eyes. “Thank you, Iris, for bringing me to Naina.”

You nod. “My name is Theia now, Chor, but you’re more than welcome.” You take a breath. “You should know that before our father’s death, he signed this document.” Ombre pulls the scroll from the shadows and you thank them with a kiss. You unroll the paper and pass it to them both to read.

Watching their expressions, you lean against the chair and nervously shuffle your feet as you wait for them to finish reading it.

Choroid finishes first and passes it to Naina. He looks up at you with tears in his eyes. “I’m free?”

Your smile widens. “Yes, Chor, you’re free. I, Princess Theia, will become queen in your stead, as it should have been all along.”

He bolts into your arms again, and you laugh joyfully as you wrap them around him. “Thank you, Theia.” He says as a sob, and you rub his back.

“Of course, Chor. If Seere hadn’t signed it I would have drafted a document so you could pass it to me instead. Just as much as you have no interest in being king, I have both the desire and aptitude to be queen.” You’re so moved to be hugging him, giving affection to your brother, that you don’t notice that the sounds from the hallway have ceased.

When he steps away to sit back on the couch, Naina hands you back the document, a smile on her face. “So this is what you mean by legally being Princess Theia. Well met, my little spitfire. I’m pleased to know that the title you’ve worked your whole life to earn has been rightfully returned to you.” You step towards her and wrap her in another hug, and she kisses each of your cheeks. “You’ll make an excellent queen.”

“She will be the finest queen this kingdom has ever seen.” Alastor says as you see him stride into the doorway, once again covered from head to toe in black blood, a paper bag filled and oozing that same black in one hand. If you had to guess at its contents, you’d suspect it is all one hundred and fifty eyes of the woman who birthed you, whose body is laying in the foyer. He’s a beautiful sight, and you won’t deny how damn sexy he looks drenched black blood and dripping on the hardwood floor. 

You drop your arms from around Naina to race to him. Meeting him at the doorway, Ombre still draped about your shoulders, you pull him in for a hug as he croons in your ear. “While she is not dead, I have removed every one of her eyes for your consumption later, counted each one myself. She may not have a soul, but she has a lifeforce, and anyone who tunes in to the radio from now on will hear hers amongst the screams, never dead but always screaming, trapped in sound and fear. A far worse fate than your father, and fitting of their crimes.” What follows is a desperate and fierce kiss, smearing blood all over your dress in the process. “When you come striding through the door looking like that it makes me want to lick every inch of you.” You purr into his ear as he breaks it for air, and Ombre rumbles a full body purr and latches onto your neck with their teeth. You choke back a moan and bite your lip. Choroid wolf-whistles behind you and you cough sheepishly. You turn to look at Naina and your brother. 

She makes a shooing motion, declaring, “Go on, spitfire. We’ll take care of everything here. Send Rana in a few days and she’ll give us your contact information when she goes through the paperwork in the study.”

“Thank you,” you tell them both with a smile, “I’ll be back soon; I promise.”

Alastor guides you out of the doorway, and towards what remains of your parents. You stare down at them. Your mother curled into her husband, eyeless and motionless except for her breathing, as if wanting to be protected by his corpse just as she’d hid behind him in life. The corpse of your father did nothing to try to defend her of course, just as he always had. You can’t help but smile at the one Alastor had carved into his face. Just as you’d anticipated, neither of them have any eyes anymore, their sockets empty voids. You wonder if he used the knife to do it, painstakingly plucked each one, counting them, harvesting them all for you. Another shiver of lust runs through you at the thought.

“Where’s my knife, Al?” You murmur as you wrap yourself around him again, letting the blood coating him paint your flesh everywhere it touches him. “I want to watch you lick it clean again.”

“Ma très chère Theia, nostre reine, I will do anything you ask, but not in this foyer. I’d like you,” he says as he starts to nip at that mark on your neck, “to lick something else clean entirely.” You moan, and he smirks. “Home, or somewhere new?” He asks as he nips at your earlobe, and Ombre starts tracing their semi-permeable talons across the other side of your neck.

“Come with me.” You say as you wrap your arms around his waist, then close your eyes and use the ones in the portraits on the floor that had been knocked off the wall by Stolas’ demon form and the ones in your room, and then you’re in your childhood bedroom in a blink.

“I’m dripping onto your carpet, ma très chère. Surely—” Alastor begins, and you cut him off as you lick a stripe of blood off his neck.

“Fuck this carpet. I want to ruin it, break this bed. I’ll remodel it all anyway. I’m never sleeping in this room again after we collapse together when we’re done.”

Alastor goes silent besides a shocked noise as you continue to lick blood off his neck and face. Ombre starts biting at your throat with fervor, and you start to unbutton his suit jacket as they do so. “Open your dress for me, our majesty.” Ombre purrs, and how can you refuse such a request?

Tugging on your collar, you let the fabric fall off of you onto the floor, then finish unbuttoning Alastor’s jacket, letting it fall to a heap. Next, you start on Alastor’s shirt, unbuttoning slowly as Ombre runs their claws down your chest to cup your breasts through the red lacy fabric. Shivering with the sensation, you finish unbuttoning Alastor’s shirt and let it fall to the floor on top of the jacket, then start licking every inch of his chest, blood covered or otherwise, nipping at his scars and delighting in his noises.

When he finally finds the ability to move again, he reaches up to cup your hands and lifts your head to pull you in for a fevered kiss, and you moan as Ombre reaches around to undo your bra, letting it drop on top of your dress. They cup your bare breasts and start to nip at your skin. When you break the kiss for air, you suck each of his clawed fingers into his mouth one by one, licking the blood from underneath his nails and watching his eyes widen with lust as you do so. 

Ombre kneads your breasts and rolls out their tongue to trace teasing circles around  the eye just above them, and you moan around the digit in your mouth. Alastor’s free hand threads through your hair and without warning you drop to your knees and undo his belt and trousers, letting them drop down his hips. You pull his boxers down after, and as he stumbles for a second, he snaps, and his boots are off and beside him. You laugh as you take the tip of his massive cock into his mouth and he arches into your waiting soft palette, moaning as he slips inside the waiting wet heat.

Slipping to between your knees to accommodate the new angle, Ombre starts teasing at your clit through your panties with one hand, playing with one nipple with their semi-permeable claws and the other with their teeth. You moan as you take Alastor’s cock deeper into your mouth, and it slides down  as you distort your face to take him fully. He groans when he hits the back of your throat, “Th-Theia, Iris, n-nostre âme s-soeur,” he stutters out in a voice that has lost his transatlantic accent, and the sound of his southern drawl makes you even wetter and you moan hungrily around him, forcing him deeper inside your mouth as tears prick your eyes.

You start a bobbing motion and swirl your tongue around him, wrapping its long, long length around the girth of it as you sob and cry as you take him deeper, fighting through your gag as he purrs terms of endearment and Ombre peels your panties off your hips so they can slide their fingers across your clit and into your wet heat. You moan harder and louder as you feel those semi-permeable claws tease your entrance, and you buck your hips against them as you swallow, as Alastor warns with a shout, “Th-Theia, I-Iris, I-I’m—” You pull him closer to you and he cums with a shout down your throat. 

You swallow every drop as he does so, and he collapses to his knees. You steady him as he does so, let his softening cock fall from your mouth and he kisses your lips as they return to normal, kissing your puffy lips covered with spittle. You help him pull his pants and boxers off his legs as he uses his tentacles to throw all three of you onto the bed. As the bed creaks with the weight of it, Ombre pulls your panties off your legs in the process, then their fingers find that spot inside you that has you seeing stars, and you purr at the contact, arching into their touch. Your tentacles emerge to pull them both towards you, and you beg, “O-Ombre, please, inside me. I need you.”

Ombre nips at your neck and slides down your form to slide their tongue inside you, and you whine, “That’s not what I meant.”

Alastor laughs as he bites down on your neck in that favorite spot of his.

“Perhaps you’ll remember to be more specific next time, our majesty.” Ombre teases as that tongue returns to work, and you whimper as that tongue of theirs hits that spot inside you again. Alastor’s tentacles tease your legs and they wrap around them and up against your clit. You try to roll your hips into them but find that they have once again restricted your ability to move. You whine again, and Alastor chuckles, then lets one of them slide teasingly against your clit.

You moan and sob out a desperate plead for more, anything, just more, and Ombre uses those semi-permeable claws of theirs to wet and slide their fingers into your other entrance, one after the other, and you hiss at the burn and moan into it as it happens, reveling in the pain as it mixes with the pleasure. Alastor uses that tentacle against your clit and you cum with a shout, seeing stars as you shake your way through it.

“Please,” you moan out as you let your body convulse and writhe, “please, Ombre, I need your cock inside me.”

Ombre chuckles and drinks your juices as they slide out of you, then snakes their way up your body to kiss your lips, letting their fingers slip from inside you as they do so. You open your legs and they slide inside you, filling you deliciously as they always do. Alastor finds your nipples with his claws as he drinks from the wound on your neck, and you moan deeply as Ombre starts a brutal pace inside you, the bed beginning to creak with every thrust. Alastor’s tentacle teases your clit and another seeks entry from behind. You keen as it slides inside you again, and the delicious burn as you open further returns.

As you writhe under their ministrations, you arch into their touches and bite your lip, your hands threading through Alastor’s hair. Ombre bites your hip as one of Alastor’s tentacles hit’s your clit just right and you cum, their names falling from your lips like a prayer. He chuckles against your neck, and you feel him growing hard against your hip. You moan at the sensation, and he licks at the wound there.

“Al,” you groan as you focus on the sensation of his tongue lapping at your skin, “I need your cock inside me, please.”

Alastor dislodges his teeth from your throat to croon into your ear, “Anything for you when you beg so prettily, nostre âme soeur.” Ombre shifts so Alastor can fill you too, and you thread a hand through each of their scalps as you feel the delicious burn as you stretch to fit them both inside you once again.

They both start a brutal pace in sync, and you groan as the bed creaks with the force of it, louder and louder as they both buck into you deeper and deeper. You wail as the wood bends under the force of it, and you sob as Alastor’s tentacle slaps your clit. Two pairs of claws, one solid and one semi-permeable, dig into your chest, scratching into your skin, drawing blood that drips in rivulets down your flesh.

“I want you to carve your names in my skin. I want you to bury yourselves inside me and never leave. I want to remember you when I’m dead. I want your names to be my last breath.” You gasp out as they punctuate every word with their thrusts, and they groan in unison as they pick up the pace. You feel the bed snap and collapse under their weight, and a moment later, the three of you cum at once, collapsing into the mattress.

As your breathing steadies, you realize that you will always think of this moment when you think of this room. A smile stretches across your face, and you let yourself fall asleep within the embrace of the two men who make up the two halves of your soulmate. Sleep is easy, gentle, and dreamless once again. You are happy to know that all is right with everyone once again.

A/N: One and a half chapters left to post. I just…can't figure out where to go for the rest of 43 and don't particularly have an interest in it. All-Seeing Circus has consumed me. I regret nothing and neither does my clown.

First || Chapter 40 || Chapter 42

[aliypop]

Anyway You Do Chapter 4

Word Count: 2,765

Writers Note: I didn't expect to make this a series, to be honest

Warning: None

Pairing: OC x Elvis

Plot: What happens when love, at first sight, becomes fate.

Taglist:

@darkmoviesquotespizza

@sissylittlefeather

@richardslady121

@thegettingbyp2

@presleyenterprise

@sissylittlefeather

@dkayfixates

@rjmartin11

Memphis Tennessee. October 1959

Cecelia ran upstairs to her old room,

"I'll talk to her," Midge sighed. Cecelia was lying on her old bed. The remaining posters of Frank Sinatra on her walls, the signed Dean Martin one from New York, and her Elvis Record Collection, "Cece... can I come in..." Midge asked as Cecelia grumbled, the song Heartbreak Hotel fading out into the distance. "Oh my God, we're not doing this..." She heard her rewind the record. The last time this happened was the night at Russwood, and before that, the Florida fair when she finally left, and he was hugging another girl. 

"Well, since my Elivs left me... BRAWM BRAWM!" Cecelia sang, "I have nowhere to dwell, BRAWM BRAWM!" Cecelia shouted into her pillow, "It's right at the end of Lonely Street and-" Midge walked in as she saw Cecelia with her guitar, sobbing lyrics like a madman. 

"You're obsessed with him..." Midge laughed. 

"I'm not obsessed. I'm in love with him, Midge..." she sighed, "My heart aches when he's away... and I..." Cecelia began to get frustrated trying to find the words. It had been a while since Midge was in her twenties and in love, 

"I never met anyone like him."

"Cece, you've met plenty of men like him, "

"No, I haven't. Those actors and heartthrobs aren't the same. When I'm with Elvis, I feel home..." she smiled, "It feels like home... Like I can do anything with him." She smiled, " Last year, I was having dinner with his family. We just sat there and had a conversation with just our facial expressions until his mother told us to stop." She giggled, thinking about it as Midge listened. 

"What else, kid..." 

"We talked one time for so long when we said good night, it was morning," 

"So why are you so down then..."

"I know... he and I could never be..." she sighed, "Face it, the world would eat us up alive... You wouldn't get it, Midge..." 

"Oh, sure, the woman who got married in San Fran doesn't understand..." 

"I owe Richard 10 bucks..."

"You two bet..."

"Not the point, Midge... "

"Well, if you love him all that much, tell him,"

"Tell him he gives you fever like Peggy Lee once said..."

"He definitely gives me fever..." she bit her lip as Midge laughed, 

"When he dances... Boom, I'm pregnant, Midge, really I am." Midge laughed as Cecelia laughed. "Look, If I weren't in my thirties and married to Cheryl, who I love... One night with him...mmm-" Cecelia hit her with a pillow.

"WHY YOU LITTLE!" Midge threw a pillow back at her as Cecelia fell over. 

"Now, why do you really think you two couldn't be together and don't avoid it this time?"

Cecelia took a deep breath, looking at the picture on her dresser,

"I should uh get going. I have a flight soon..."

January 7th 1960

Dear Cecelia,

I hope you like the fur coat I sent you. I know it's not much of a birthday gift, but I wanted to give my best girl something. Hopefully, it matches the earrings I got you from France for Christmas. I know it's been hard trying to keep up with dates by a piece of paper, but they're saying pretty soon I'll be back, and I can take you on as many dates as I owe you. 

I also forgot to mention I heard your Christmas record. You sang the hell out of Blue Christmas. It made me wonder, were you thinking of me? 

January 8th 1960

My Dearest, Elvis 

By the time you've read this, it should be your birthday. I did enjoy the coat. It was perfect, though you didn't need to get me anything. Hearing from you is always enough. But! I hope you received the new guitar I got you. I know it's not much, but it's custom-made. 

A few friends of yours told me what to get you. 

And yes, to answer your question, I was thinking about you. I always am. My mother the other day was thinking of you, too. But that doesn't matter. I want to tell you everything whenever you return if you ever return.

          With love,

                         Cecelia S Valmos

Graceland March 7th 1960

"Vernon... Why'd you call us here..." Denise asked as Midge looked at the fleet of fans at the gate. Was she willing to allow Cecelia to endure that every day? 

"I got word in that. Elv-" Cecelia walked by, straightening things up, "We only have 15 days until he arrives!" she smirked. Denise then rolled her eyes, 

" As you were saying, Vernon..." 

"Elvi-" 

"Midge, could you help me pick out what I'll wear when he returns..." Midge nodded, "The dress you have on now is fine. The pencil skirt suit is perfect." She smiled as Cecelia shrugged. Denise only scratched her head, wondering how she even got here. 

"I was saying E-"

 Cecelia gasped, seeing the limo outside. She wondered if it was a guest that no one told her about. Peaking from the door, she saw the top half of a uniform come out as she screamed,

 "ELVIS IS BACK!!!"

"Cecelia Shanel Valmos calm!" Cecelia was out the door and hugging him.

 "Down..."

"I was trying to tell you." 

"Cecelia!" he smiled as he kissed her forehead, the press. And the camera's trying to follow him. He then looked at her outfit as he bit his bottom lip, "Sergeant Presley," she saluted as he laughed. Her eyes were burning with a lusty look that he couldn't ignore. His leather gloves were still on his hands. There were those thoughts she had racing in her mind. 

"What'cha lookin at, doll?"

"Mhmm me nothing..." she took his hand and guided him into the house,

"No hello for me..."

"Tom..." Denise spat out. Her heels clicked back into the house.

Elvis picked Cecelia up bridal style as he kissed her nose, "I got so many stories to share." they said in unison, laughing. 

Sitting at the dinner table, Cecelia sat next to Elvis as he talked about his stories in the military, some she had heard about during his arrival interview. 

"So there was this girl..." and the empty pit of her stomach dropped again. She was already feeling nauseous as he started the sentence. Midge could tell, and so could Denise, who didn't want to say I told you so just yet, "She was a pretty thing, funny too; her father was in the Air Force, and she'd give me advice on this beautiful woman back home." he smirked as Cecelia nodded. 

"What is this woman like?" Denise asked,

"Yeah, what's she like..." Vernon asked, looking over at Cecelia, who appeared to get sicker by the second. "Oh, she's a beautiful woman, got a smile that makes the sunshine seem dim." he laughed, "And when she sings..." 

"I'm feeling a bit tired... I think I'll rest for the evening." Cecelia said, trying not to cry. Cecelia stood up and went outside, sitting under a tree. It was brisk, but she'd managed. For once, she thought she'd find someone who wouldn't have left or replaced her. 

"Well, don't just stand there, Mr. Presley, go after her..." Denise said in a demanding tone. Elvis ran after her as Midge laughed, "I feel like I'm watching one of his movies with Cece..." she joked as the tension of suspense between the two parents was thick. 

"Cecelia, there you are..." Elvis smiled. Sitting next to her. She wouldn't look at him, "Cece... If I did something or..."

"Did our letters mean anything..."

"Doll..."

"Did they mean anything!" she looked at him, her eyes glassy with tears, "Maybe my mother was right..." she laughed, "Right about what..." 

"You would hurt me... just like he did." 

"Like who? Cece, you're scaring me." 

"My father." she sighed, the hole in her heart opened wide as she said it. 

"Sometimes, I can still see him leaving from the doorstep."

Raleigh, North Carolina, June 10th 1941

Are you lonesome tonight?

Fireflies flew around the porch of a white house. Sitting on the porch swing was a six-year-old brown-skinned girl. She'd been out there for what was almost a week. Tears streaming down her face as she held onto her Mickey Mouse toy. It was always her favorite because he gave her that toy.  

Do you miss me tonight?

The sun was gone, and the only thing she would do was sit there and wait. "You've gotta eat something pumpkin." her mother sitting next to her as she petted her hair, 

"I want him to come back..." the little girl had tears in her eyes. "I'm afraid he's not going to." She noticed her mother's wedding ring was gone from her finger. 

Are you sorry we drifted apart?

It had been two weeks now. Another night of her crying, he had stopped writing her letters and giving her empty promises he couldn't keep. "We'll be okay..." she smiled, "I'll fix it... We'll move to somewhere nice, and I'll record again. You'll never have to hurt again."

"I want daddy back..." she cried harder.

"CECELIA HE'S NOT COMING BACK!" Denise shouted as her daughter cried harder, "HE'S GONE, HE LEFT, HE DOESN'T LOVE US ANYMORE!"

Does your memory stray to a bright summer day

When I kissed you and called you sweetheart?

Graceland March 7th 1960

"I just... I don't want to be that little girl again crying..." she sighed, "So tell me if you love me or another," Elvis then looked at her, his finger under her chin as he pulled her face closer to him, "Well doll, if you hadn't run out, I was gonna..." looking into his pockets he tried to feel around for a box, "Well... you were gonna what..." he kept looking for the box, "God damn it... Shit, I think I lost it..." he groaned, 

"You lost what..."

"Hey, what's this little box doing in the chair..." Midgie said, picking it up as Denise took it from her and opened it,

 "Vernon, it's a ring..." 

"A ring?" 

"A ring!"

"Shit, everyone scatter and and find him!"

"Darlin, I was gonna ask you something." he smiled, taking her hand, "I guess I can still ask it, but uh, I have never been so sure and so damn nervous about something." he took a deep breath. 

"Spit it out!" Cecelia laughed, looking into his eyes. 

"Darlin, I want you in my life forever. And-"

" I FOUND THEM. SHE SAYS YES!!!"

"Mother, what are you on about..." Cecelia stood up. Attention turned to face everyone at the doorstep. Standing there on bended knee was,

 "Elvis, are you..." Midge ran as she handed him the ring,

"I'm tryin to." he laughed as she nearly tackled him and kissed him, 

"Is that a yes?"

"Does Little Richard wear eyeliner." she joked as he picked her up. 

"She said yes!" 

"I've got to tell, Colonel..." 

"I'd keep that secret to him." Denise smiled, "I'd keep it a secret until the wedding; It'd be safe for you both." she mentioned as Cecelia sighed, 

"We'll try to keep it a secret,"

"Cecelia..." Denise glanced at her daughter.

"Don't worry, we got this..."

Fontainebleau Hotel Florida March 26th, 1960

"Remember Cecelia, smile." Cecelia nodded, walking down in a black low-cut sweetheart pencil dress with Dior gloves. Cecelia's hair slicked back into a bun full of pin curls."You look so beautiful, Cece." Midge smiled, "Thanks, I'm nervous, singing a jazz song on a show I only know a little about..." her eyes averted to Elvis as he walked by in his suit, "Hey, Mama, you're..." looking at her dress he couldn't help but stare at her beauty, "Hands are shakin."

"I'm a little nervous, darlin." Elvis said as she kissed his hands, "You'll be fine... I know it's been two years, but if you get nervous, know I'm rootin' you on." 

"Ms. Valmos, you're on." Cecelia nodded, "Wish me luck." Cecelia was hired as a last-minute solution to the show, but the people of Miami still seemed to love her,  

"So you didn't tell her whose show it was," Midge smirked, 

"Nope, I wanted it to be a surprise," Denise smiled, 

"I never thought I'd hear her sing jazz..." Midge laughed,

"It's in her blood." Denise watched. On the other side of the stage was the Colonel and Elvis, who had the most love-sick grin on his face. It was as if he was watching her perform for the first time, and in all honesty, he was. It was like Elvis had those same butterflies he felt the night at the carnival. When she finished performing, she passed him as he looked her way.

"Focus, you and Sinatra go on next."

Cecelia turned to see Frank Sinatra walk past her, her heart nearly fluttering. Denise could see the whole interaction happening on the other side of the stage as she chuckled, 

Cecelia was in a dream. She had to be to witness both Elvis and Frank on a stage singing. Never in her 26 years of being alive would she have ever thought to see this happen.

 When filming wrapped, Elvis walked over to Denise, who was looking at Cecelia, who was looking at Frank Sinatra. "Anyone seen Cece?" he asked, hands still shaky. 

"Swooning over swoonatra." Midge laughed, 

"I see..." he sighed as Denise heard the jealous tone in his voice, "Ah...ah... Green is not your color, dear." She smirked, "Think of it as a schoolgirl crush. After all, she's engaged to you." Denise mentioned, 

"If you really wanna woo her, introduce her to him. He's like her childhood crush."

"Fine, but I doubt I'm gonna like what happens next."

"Hey, doll..."

"Hey, honeypie." Cecelia smiled, "You were amazing up there."

"Me...Please now you, you were breathtaking." he smiled, "But speakin' of that... How'd you like to meet Mr. Blue Eyes himself." 

"El, you wouldn't... " she gasped, "He's like my childhood crush!" she grinned, 

"Then, of course, you came along an-" 

"Presley!" Frank Sinatra smiled, "Welcome back."

"Thank you, sir. Uh, have you met Cecelia Valmos?" 

"No, Denise's little girl!" Frank Sinatra smiled, "You've grown up to be a beautiful young lady." he winked as Cecelia turned bright red, 

"Th-Thank you." 

"You know if you two aren't together. Then you should, You two make a cute couple, after all." He winked, and Frank took her hand as he kissed it, "Ms. Valmos, Presley." Cecelia froze as Elvis and Frank laughed, 

"I still got it, Denise. Thanks again for the favor." 

"Are we that obvious?" Elvis asked as Cecelia looked at him,

"Well... there were those instances back in the '50s." she laughed, giving him a quick peck.

"I guess you're right."

Memphis, Tennessee, April, 1960

The sweet sounds of the violin came from the recording studio as Cecelia played, "Rock N Roll and Violin?" Midge said from the other side of the booth, 

"It's for a movie, Midge." She took a deep breath, "Movies, you're doing movies again..." Midge chuckled, 

"Yes, I'm working on a soundtrack first, but it's a romance about a showgirl, who falls in love with this lounge singer... and he's from a dangerous crime family and-"

"Elvis is the love interest..." Midge playfully asked,

"If I can pitch it to a studio, and they take interest." she smiled, 

"Honey, it's 1960..."

"Exactly, times are changing." Cecelia smiled, "And besides, I'm tired of hiding that I'm with my babydoll..." she grumbled, "Of course, we've been planning the wedding and whatnot." She grinned, 

" I want the world to know Midge."

"The world to know what Darlin." Elvis walked into the recording booth. 

"That I'm in love with you." She kissed him. Elvis kissed her back as he held her close to him.

 "What brings you by Mr. Presley..." 

"Hello to you too, Midge." he laughed, 

"Well, I have news."

"Tell me." 

"I'm filming another movie in Hollywood," he smiled as Midge laughed, "Oh God, this is great. I can finally stop watching King Creole!" 

"Don't mind her El," Cecelia smiled,

"Well, I won't, but I was wondering if you'd come to Hollywood with me. I know you've been workin on something, and maybe this could be your chance." He smiled at her.

"How did you know?"

"You left the script on the table... and I read it, well, I couldn't put it down." he grinned, 

"Oh, El..." she blushed hard, "It's true,I think you've got somethin good, and I wanna support your dream the best I can."

"You already are by marrying me."

[garbinge]

Moving Day

Angel Reyes & EZ Reyes & Platonic!OC Andrea ‘Andie’ Baros

Day 28 these April Prompts: “Getting Your Wires Crossed”

Summary: When things go left with your roommate, you call on Angel and EZ to come save you.

A/N: Can you tell I love having Angel and EZ come save the day? Also this is such a loose interpretation of getting your wires crossed but we’re in the home stretch OKAY. 

Word Count: 2.5k words

Warnings: All my fics are 18+ regardless of content. Drinking and cursing. 

Mayans Taglist: @drabbles-mc​ @justreblogginfics​ @narcolini​ @danzer8705

The apartment she had once dreamed of was now looking down at her, mocking her. It all happened so quickly, she had just gotten back from a photography job to find out she had an hour to get her things and get out. She was able to get it all out, but only because there wasn’t much to pack up. Her roommate, or who she thought was her roommate had cleared her out. Stole pretty much all her important things. Left the posters but took the frames, the mattress was tossed up against the wall when she entered the room, sheets gone. Record player, gone. Video games, gone. Hell, even some of her sneakers were gone. Luckily, her dresser still had her clothes, and the hidden bottle of cheap whiskey she threw in there once in a sad attempt to clean her room one day.

Now she stared up at the building, boxes piled up next to her. It was almost like a bad breakup, except at least with those you get to experience some moments of bliss and happiness before they’re throwing you out on the street. Andrea took a swig from the bottle as she stared at the building. Her head tilting like she was waiting for it to talk to her, welcome her back in, offer words of encouragement, maybe even yell at her. But she wasn’t that drunk, she knew that wasn’t going to happen, she just needed to soak it in.

A whine came from her left and she looked down to see the brindle coat dog looking up at her.

While the person she had thought she vetted to be her roommate cleared out pretty much anything of value of Andrea’s as well as anything the landlord had provided in the apartment, they decided to leave behind their 5 year old pit bull.

“Don’t rush me. I’ll call when I call.” Andrea said to the dog moving the bottle as she spoke with her hands.

The dog let out another whine.

The girl sighed, took out her phone and scrolled through her contacts. She knew the number, she knew both of their numbers but buying time was crucial in a time like this.

As she scrolled through her phone, passing each contact name a couple times, she practiced what she was going to say.

“Hey, so I kind of got kicked out of my place because my roommate decided to be the literal scum of the earth douchebag and steal all my shit and leave.” “Hey, who’s got two thumbs and nowhere to live? This girl.” She pointed to herself with her thumbs before using it to click the name she knew would be sympathetic in a moment like this.

It rang two times before someone picked up.

“Sup, chismosa.” EZ said with a chuckle as he answered. It did make Andie give out a short breathy laugh. He had always called her that growing up, she was always in on the gossip and the whos, whats and hows around town.

Since she didn’t rebuttal right away, EZ knew something was up. “What’s up?” His voice got a lot more serious.

Andie closed her eyes and looked up to the sky, completely defeated now.

“Who’s got two thumbs and nowhere to live?” She began to repeat the joke she had previously mumbled under her breath before calling him.

She thought he’d think it was a little funny but his change in tone from serious to worried had proven otherwise.  

“Andie, what the fuck? Where are you?”

The shuffling in the background was loud, he was looking for his keys getting ready to rush to her rescue. Despite his mood, and even her own, it did manage to put a smile on her face. She knew she could count on them, either of the Reyes brothers. In all honesty, she knew she could even call Felipe and he’d help her out. But out of the three, EZ was definitely the easiest to tell. Felipe, although quiet, she felt would always pass silent judgment, whether he meant it or not. Angel, well not calling Angel was more for his own good. He would push the jokes just a little too far and that would easily result in Andie tearing him a new one. On a regular day though, Angel would definitely be her go to, that fun loving, carefree mentality was who she was through and through and Angel brought that out even more in her.

“You know, Angel would have laughed at my joke.”

“Yea, well you called me.” EZ snapped back with bite in tone.

“Angel would have loved that joke, actually.” She pressed EZ’s buttons more. Something she was not only good at, but enjoyed thoroughly.

“Yea, well Angel is a fuckin’ idiot.”

“Yo! What the fuck?” Angel’s voice boomed.

A smile grew on Andie’s face. While she didn’t want to call Angel first, she didn’t mind him coming along, in fact she had hoped he would. Having EZ being the one calling the shots however, was the thought process behind him being the one she reached out to. It was how it always was when they were growing up. When Andrea moved in next door to the Reyes household on Mango Street, her entire life changed. At the age of 12, she hadn’t really made many friends that she’d say were impressionable. Not only did she move around a lot which obviously made it hard for a young girl to keep friends but no one held her interest. That wasn’t to say she sat alone in the cafeteria everyday but there was no one that she made the effort with until she met the Reyes brothers. It wasn’t work to keep up that friendship going, she could be herself and that entire family loved her for it. They were welcoming, EZ was understanding and kind, Angel was funny and protective, Marisol was inviting and heartwarming, and Felipe was well unbothered, which compared to what she had grown up with, it was a refreshing balance.

She had met EZ at the bus stop, he saw she was new and went up to her immediately and introduced himself. He showed her around the school, giving her the ins and outs of Santo Padre Middle School, that alone was enough to earn Andie’s friendship but what bonded them was that EZ knew her. It helped that he had an out of this world memory, but he took the time to ask the questions about her which was way more than anyone else she had met up to that point in her life.

He introduced her to his older brother later that day when they got off the bus. Angel was less sweet and supportive and more trouble and teasing but what sold the deal on that friendship was that Andie could give it right back, and Angel had respected that.

The 3 of them were inseparable growing up, despite Angel and EZ’s rocky relationship, Andie seemed to be the glue that kept them bonded together in spite of that. Until Marisol died and EZ went to prison. There was no bond that Andie could bring to stop that from tearing the trio up. Angel and EZ drifted. Angel let years of sibling rivalry and contention built up and burst at that moment, add in the guilt of giving his little brother the gun that landed him in Stockton State Prison and that just about did it. He rarely visited, rarely talked about him, didn’t come around home too much, ultimately all of that pushed him in search of something to replace that void and how he ended up in the Mayans MC.

For EZ it was different, she felt she had lost her connection with him the minute he set his eyes on Emily Thomas. Now, she adored the girl, they were all friends, some of Andie’s best memories include Emily and the Reyes brothers, but that’s when the shift began. To Andie, Marisol passing was the climax that pushed EZ over the edge while for everyone else that was where the tension began.

Regardless of all of that, she knew no matter the time or day, if she needed them, they’d come.

“Andie’s homeless.” EZ said to Angel. His hand had attempted to muffle the phone but Andie heard it loud and clear.

“Hey! I never said I was homeless!!” The increase in volume made the dog that was standing with her look up to her with sad eyes and Andie took a deep breath to relax. “I have just found myself temporarily out of a living situation and standing on the street with all my belongings.”

“So, you’re homeless.” Angel said. EZ had moved her to speakerphone.

“Can you just grab a U-Haul and come pick me up, this is embarrassing.”

Andie had covered her face and lowered her voice as people were now starting to stare as they passed by. Angel began to speak up but EZ was quick to cut him off, not wanting to deal with his sarcastic humor right now.

“Yea we’ll be there soon.”

And that held truth, they showed up within the half hour. EZ hopping out of the driver seat of the truck first and making his way over to hug his childhood friend.

“What the fuck happened?” He pulled away from their hug and took in the situation around them.

“It’s a long story…” Andie began as she inhaled deeply. “Actually, no it's not. My roommate was a scamming prick and stole my shit and got us evicted.” A shrug fell from her shoulders. “I guess we got our wires crossed when I said she needed to clean up more, she interpreted that as cleaning me out.” Andie let out a breathy laugh.

“We’ll pack up the truck, you can come stay with me for now.”

There he was. Golden boy. Always quick to find solutions, be the helping hand.

“The two of you and all this shit in that tiny ass trailer at the clubhouse? When you send out the housewarming invites feel free to forget my invitation.” Angel was now out of the truck and grabbing boxes and quickly packing them into the U-haul.

“Well, what exactly do you suggest, Angel? We call up Pop and she sets up in our old room? She moves in to your frat boy house?”

The air was tense, Andie could feel it. This was more than their usual banter which meant something had happened between them but it wasn’t the time for her to play therapist and guide them through it, she was just going to let them work it out themselves.

“I mean, yea either of those options would be significantly better than you 0 bedroom 1 bathroom trailer.” Angel argued.

EZ knew he was right, and although he didn’t hate admitting he was wrong nearly as much as his older brother, Andie could see in his face he didn’t want to admit it.

“I can just crash at the clubhouse or something, it’s not a big deal.” Andie protested. Both brothers were now giving her a look which caused her to smirk and laugh. “Okay, you’re right those couches have been reproduced on by the entire Mayans charter, I don’t want to do that.” A laugh escaped from her lips. “But, I’m not going to put your Pops out like that, he hates the company when I stay more than hour when I’m simply visiting so pulling up with all my shit is not really something I want to do.”

Angel quickly responded, “So come stay with me, I got an extra bedroom and a couch no one has reproduced on.” A smile grew on his face.

Now it was Andie and EZ’s turn to deliver a face back to Angel who just shook his head and continued packing. Once everything was loaded up, EZ went to go check with the landlord to see if there was anyway he could get the deposit back, ‘just to have something in your pocket for the time being.’ was how he described it. Andie didn’t see the point, her bank account hadn’t been cleared out but EZ said something about the principle of it and who was she to argue with the smartest man she knew.

This left Angel and her standing on the curb, looking up at the apartment building much like how she was before calling them to her rescue.

“It was a shitty place anyways.” Angel said in his way of consoling the girl.

“I hear so is yours.” Andie smirked as they stared up at the building.

“Beggars can’t be choosers, Andita.”  He used the girls nickname which in most cases could be seen as a sign of love and affection but for Angel it was because he knew for a fact that it would bother the girl.

“You think you’re so funny.” Andie shook her head as her eyes rolled.

Angel frowned his mouth and and nodded his head in agreement, he did think He was pretty funny. As he bobbed his head around, he found himself staring down at a dog. The pup began to wag his tail as he looked up in admiration at Angel.

Angel’s hand moved over to Andie’s shoulder and tapped her eagerly awaiting an explanation before words could even be formed out of his mouth. He wasn’t scared of the dog, but he was beginning to wrap his head around what he had just agreed to without knowing the full situation. Classic Angel.

“What’s with the dog?” He asked wearily.

“She’s mine now. Not only did the prick take my shit but she left the dog. Her name’s Rambo.”

Angel’s eyes darted to her once she said the name. Insinuating the dog was to be feared.

“Are you fuckin’ serious right now?” Angel glared at her.

“I didn’t name her.” Andie’s hands went up in surrender and then she looked at Angel who now officially had fear in his eyes. “Oh will you relax. Look at her, she’s a mush.”

Angel looked down and the dog was practically smiling as her butt wiggled back in forth in excitement that the man had given her the time of day to even look at her.

“I’m not leaving her Angel, she’s coming with us. You have a yard and she can sleep on your never been reproduced on couch.”

Before he could argue it, EZ was back downstairs with a wad of cash in his hand and a grin the size of the sun. Andie frowned with a smile on her face as he hit the money against his hand before handing it to her.

“How did you–?”

“Sometimes being a Mayan has it’s perks.” His eyebrows raised as he hopped into the truck followed by the other two and the pup. EZ looked at the dog who squished in on the seat between him and Angel. “Do I wanna know?”

Angel and Andie shook their heads in silence and EZ acknowledged it with a nod and began to drive off.

[braveclementine]

Chapter 2

Warnings: None.

Copyright: I do not own any Marvel characters or locations. However, I do own my OCs: Elizabeth Silvertongue and Clementine Greenleaf. I also own Clementines' brother Donavan. The following OCs are owned by other Wattpad writers as this is a collaboration project. Their OCs are on the face claim page. I do not condone any copying of this.

"Do you think these are organic?" Clementine asked, holding up one of the schools hard boiled eggs to the light, as though detecting something wrong with it. 

"I doubt it." I said, the faintest of smiles on my face. 

"We need to go shopping." Clementine huffed, putting the egg back down in the container, sliding it back into the refrigerator. We had come downstairs for breakfast, both of us dressed and ready for the day. 

"Let's do it after school." I responded while she continued to search the cafeteria for something to eat. I sighed as I grabbed some scrambled eggs and sausage links. "Clem, you should just eat something. You'll get light headed if you go all day without eating something, especially since you threw your dinner out last night." 

Clementine huffed about it, but got the boiled eggs and a water. 

We talked about the classes we had that day, before we parted our separate ways and I finally separated from her for the first time since stepping foot on the campus. 

The campus was huge and I immediately regretted not arriving a few days earlier in order to figure out where my classes were. My first class was British Literature with Mr. Wilson, and I barely made it before the bell rang, crossing the threshold, having the door be closed behind me. I quickly took a seat near the front, pulling out a notebook and blue pen. 

Mr. Wilson was a five foot ten, black man, probably around thirty-eight or so. He had a clean beard and a great smile. I immediately fell in love with his energy as he spoke to the class and called attendance. 

"Elizabeth Silvertongue?" Mr. Wilson asked, looking around the classroom.

"Present." I responded quickly, cheeks turning a little pink. He continued with roll call and I took the time to glance around the classroom. 

It was not at all what I had expected of a college classroom, for the posters looked more like what I would've expected to see in a high school. Inspirational posters, posters with book quotes, posters with authors and quotes, that sort of thing. In the back of the room was another poster that showed the alphabet in cursive. 

I noticed many of the students were on phones, some having air pods or earbuds in, giving Professor Wilson perhaps thirty percent of their attention. I turned back around, deciding to pay them no mind. 

He started the lesson off after a gentle reminder to pay attention, which many of the students did not listen to. I diligently took my notes up until the time the bell rang, writing down that I would need a copy of Animal Farm for the first month of class. 

I was both disappointed and also excited. Disappointed because I had already read and reviewed Animal Farm for ninth grade, but also excited because I loved the book and couldn't wait to share my ideas with the class. Despite my degree being in accounting, I had always wanted to be a writer. 

"Have a wonderful day Elizabeth." Professor Wilson said as I packed my things up, being one of the last people to leave the classroom. 

"You too Professor Wilson." I said politely. 

"Call me Sam." Professor Wilson said, waving a hand. "No need to be so formal." 

"Oh. Of course." I said, taken back, heading out the door. No need to be so formal? It wasn't formal, it was just polite. . . wasn't it? 

My next class wasn't for another two hours, so I headed off, locating the school library which had a starbucks, panara, and some sort of chinese restaurant inside of it. I found the literary section with no problem- some things are constant no matter what I suppose- and found several copies of Animal Farm. I wished I had thought to bring my own copy, but I had thought we would be doing harder, newer books. 

I checked the copy out for the rest of the month and then headed downstairs to see a long line at starbucks. 

I would never understand the deal about them. Coffee wasn't the best thing in the world, in fact it was rather disgusting. And even if it was good, I wasn't sure why anyone would buy it for that much money, when they could buy a large pot at the grocery store and make it themselves for cheaper. 

I did get an orange chicken and fried rice bowl at the Chinese restaurant, eating that quickly, before deciding to use my last remaining hour to see where the rest of my classes were. 

It was a good thing too, as it took my fifteen minutes to find one classroom alone. 

To finish off my day was biology with Dr. Banner and Psychology with Professor Barnes. The classes would be the same Wednesday. Tuesday and Thursday was The Survey of East Asian History with Professor Rogers. Small group communications with Professor Potts and The study of Cultural Anthropology with Professor Udaku was on Friday. 

I found all of the classrooms except for the Psychology one easily. It took me forever to find the psychology classroom, before finding it tucked away in the corner of a building none of my other classes took place in. The door was shut and it was quiet in the hall. 

I checked the name on the plate along with the room number, seeing that it was indeed Professor Barnes. 

"Great." I muttered to myself, tracing the path from my biology class to this class in my head. I made a note on my piece of paper before the door to the classroom opened and I came face to face with the most beautiful man I had ever seen outside of animes. 

His face was pale and smooth, his eyes baby blue. His hair was short and blond, his jaw chiseled and his nose perfect. He was tall, probably somewhere around the six foot range. He was dressed nicely in a baby blue button up shirt. An old spice smell with a mix of autumn leaves. 

"Can I help you with something?" He asked, his voice sending shivers up my spine. His voice was hard to describe, neither light nor dark or heavy or breezy. It sounded. . . old fashioned. A specific cadence to it that I couldn't put a finger on. 

"N-no." I stuttered out, glancing at the sign again. "I'm sorry." 

"Don't apologize." He shook his head, offering me a smile. "I just thought I heard someone out here." 

"Oh, well I had an hour of free time and I figured I would find out where all of my classes were." I explained in a rush. "um, so yeah." 

"Would you like to talk to the Professor?" The man inquired, looking over his shoulder. 

He wasn't the Professor? That was a pity, something I felt deep in my gut. 

"Oh, no, that's not necessary." I said breathily, already heading back down the hallway, retreating a little. "But thank you, uh-" 

"Steve Rogers ma'am." The man said. 

"Mr. Rogers." I smiled a little and then turned, heading down the hallway, heart fluttering in my chest. 

Damn he was fine. 

ꨄ︎

Biology passed in a daze, something that I wished hadn't happened as Dr. Banner went in depth even on the first day on anatomy. I was glad that I had taken advanced anatomy in high school, otherwise I would've been completely lost. 

I headed straight to Psychology after that, despite the thirty minute time period within classes, mostly in hopes of seeing Mr. Steve Rogers again. 

I sat outside of the classroom, curled up in one of the armchairs that sat in the hallway. I was so deep in thought in my book, I didn't look up until I realized someone was standing in front of me. 

I yelped as Clementine picked the book up out of my hands. "Clem!" 

"Animal Farm? Let me guess, you have Mr. Wilson too?" Clementine said in a disapproving voice. 

"Yeah." I sighed, reaching up, taking the book back from her. "At least this month will be easy. It'll help lighten the load for my biology class. Anyways, how are your classes going?" 

"You'll never believe this." Clem said, perking right up. "I have Tony Stark for mechanical engineering." 

"No way." I said, stunned. "He's a teacher?" 

"Apparently." Clementine said, excitement lacing her voice. "This is going to be great! Anyways, how do you like the Professors so far?" 

"Well Professor Wilson seems nice enough, though not super strict." I replied, closing the book, placing it back into my bag. "Dr. Banner was interesting and very clear. Wish he'd gone just a little slower, but I'll just have to study a little harder." I paused and then said, "And then there was a really handsome teacher that I don't have but. . ." 

"Oh, do tell?" Clem said, a teasing smirk on her lips. "Whose caught Elizabeth Silvertongues' attention this week?" 

I pushed her shoulder playfully before saying, "Mr. Steve Rogers. Hes' beautiful." 

"Blond? Blue eyes? Pale skin?" Clementine smirked. 

"You have him?" I asked, feeling jealous. 

Clementine rolled her eyes. "Professor Rogers. He teaches my American History II class." 

"Lucky." I muttered, sighing. "Maybe I'll switch my courses." 

"Ha." Clementine laughed. 

I grinned as the door to the Psychology door was opened and I was suddenly thrown for a loop once more. The man standing in front of us was tall, possibly even taller than Professor Rogers. He had dark blue eyes and a dark persona. His shoulders were back and straight, broad. His hair was a dark brown, which was cut short. He was wearing a gray striped suit, though he also had black gloves on his hands. Perhaps a skin condition? 

"Hmm, new record." Clementine teased, making me jolt as students started to walk into the classroom, chatting with each other. "I think you just put two people on your hot list in one day." 

"Shut up." I muttered, standing. Clementine smirked, nudging my shoulder. 

The Professor however, stopped the two of us as we neared the door. "Don't sit next to each other. I would prefer no trouble in my classroom." 

Smiles slid off both of our faces and we headed past him silently. In the classroom, girls were huddled in groups, giggling and laughing, a group of guys were roaring in the back as they looked at something on one of their phones. And in the corner, a girl and boy were making out without a care in the world. 

"Yeah. . ." Clem scoffed. "We're the ones who're gonna cause trouble. Un-be-lievable." She stormed off to sit on the left side of the room next to the wall while I sat in the front row on the right side of the room. 

Professor Barnes closed the door behind him with a final sort of 'snap'. He stood at the front of the classroom, hands in his pockets, just staring until the class slowly started to quiet down. His eyes seemed to meet each of ours and I glanced down at the textbook in front of me as he reached me. 

"Now that you've all shut up, we'll get started." He said, his voice dark and cold. 

The classroom was completely different from all of the others I had been in today. No one made a sound, the only thing to be heard was his voice and the sounds of pens and pencils scratching on paper as we wrote. 

Occasionally, he would ask a question, before immediately directing it at me. I would turn red every single time and lightly say that I didn't know the answer, embarrassment eating me up from the inside out every time. 

As the clock hit the time when class ended, Professor Barnes wrote the homework down on the board. I spent the last few minutes writing it down in my planner, barely noticing other kids leaving. 

"See you in the hallway." Clementine muttered as she passed me, clearly wanting to get out. I capped my pen, starting to put everything away. 

"Miss Silvertongue." A far more pleasant voice said, and I glanced up to see the blond haired man there once more. 

"Hi." I said, nervously, now seeing that Professor Barnes was glaring at the two of us from over his papers. 

"Did you enjoy the class?" His lips lifted into a secret smile, as though he knew exactly what had gone on in the classroom. 

"It was very different from my other classes." I answered honestly and watched his blue eyes twinkle. 

"You want something Steve?" Professor Barnes grouched at the front of the classroom. 

Steve turned, crossing his arms over his chest. His smile was addicting, I could feel my own lips turning into a smile, just watching him. I swung my bag onto my shoulder so I could leave. "the team wants to get drinks tonight." 

"If Sam is there I'm not going." Professor Barnes said, cleaning off the board in front of him. 

I headed down the steps towards the door. 

"Aw, c'mon Buck." Steve's voice continued as I exited the classroom, before trailing off as Clementines' voice took over. 

"God what an asshole!" Clementine huffed, music blaring from her earbuds. 

"How scandalous, you have earbuds in your ears. Whatever shall you do if you get radiation poisoning?" I teased. 

"They're not Bluetooth wireless Elizabeth. They still have a wire." Clementine said, not noticing the sarcasm in my voice through her red hazy anger. I just smirked as the two of us walked back to the dorm. 

ꨄ︎

"Well there we are." I said,  putting the last of the food into the cupboard. We had done our best with getting organic, healthy foods, but without having a stove or oven, it was still going to be very hard to eat what we wanted. "You feeling better?" 

"Yeah, I'm fine." Clementine sighed, closing the refrigerator door, wrapping all of the plastic bags up into a ball, throwing it into the trash. She reached up, pulling her hair out of the ponytail she'd put it into, letting it down. "I'm gonna take a shower and go to bed. I'll see you in the morning." 

"See you." I said, watching her head off to the bathroom, before settling down on the couch, deciding to get a start on the Psychology homework. After two and a half hours, I stumbled to the bathroom, took my own shower, brushed my teeth, and then collapsed into bed, exhausted. 

[ethan-acfan]

I've written a lot about Canon characters, but I haven't done anything with my oc Lilith so that's what I'm gonna do.

(Ac brotherhood)

"Let go of me, you bastards!" I cried out, thrashing against the guards' grasp.

I accidentally bumped into one of them, and they took it as "disrespect." they told me I needed to pay to make up for it. However, I had no money. They didn't believe me and had decided that if I wasn't going to give it to them willing, then they would force me to.

One of the guards stepped towards me, getting in my face. "Hm, how about, no."

I threw my head forward, bashing it against his.

He stumbled back, cursing. "You bitch." He snarled while grabbing my face, hard.

I winced, trying to pull away from him, but it was useless. Just then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a white blur rush towards the guard. It was so fast, I barely saw it.

Blood sprayed out from his neck, and behind the guard stood a man. I couldn't see his face due to his hood, but he wore white robes, with knives and pouches strapped to his waist.

The guard who was holding my arms cursed, grabbing his sword, I took the opportunity to get out of his grasp.

I quickly reached for my dagger, the man in the robes was already fighting one of the guards. I decided to do the same.

I knew I could take down one guard. So I did that. I was relatively small and quick, so I used that to my advantage.

I quickly rushed around the guard, evading his swings. It wasn't long until I was within arms reach of him. I drove my dagger into his neck. Blood spraying all over my face. It wasn't the first time I had killed someone, and it probably wouldn't be the last.

I yanked my dagger from his neck and turned around in time to see another guard about to strike the man from behind. I knew I was too far away to make it there in time, so I did the first thing I could think of.

I threw my dagger, aiming for the guards neck. It hit right where I wanted it, too. The guard dropped to the ground. The man drove his sword through the guard in front of him and turned around to face me.

I was breathing hard. I walked over, retrieving my dagger from the guards neck. I stood up on guard. In case this man tried to attack me.

He pulled down his hood, and I could finally get a good look at his face. He had dark hair, gray eyes, stubble that covered the lower half of his face, and an old scar that ran over his lip.

He smiled at me, "You fight well."

"So do you." I said, keeping my voice steady.

He raised his hand in a truce. "I'm not going to attack you." He said with a chuckle.

I eyed him for a moment before deciding he was being truthful, I put my dagger away and ran a hand through my hair.

I looked back at the man. "So, who are you?"

He smiled, extending his hand. "Ezio, Auditore."

I shook his hand. "Lilith."

He raised an eyebrow. "Lilith?"

I gave a sheepish smile. "My parents were the most thrilled to have me."

It was true. They had even refused to let me use their last name. They had wanted nothing to do with me and had kicked me out when I was around ten. Before that, they had called me "devils spawn." Not the most loving people.

Ezio nodded before looking back down at the guards.

He turned back to me. "How would you like to help me fight against the Borgia?"

I paused for a moment. Of course, I would love to, but how would we even do that. The entire Borigian army against one guy. But what did I have to lose? I had no money, no home, no family. If I did this, I might be able to do something with my life other than be a street thief or a beggar.

I took a deep breath. "Where do we start?"

He grinned. "Meet me a Tiber island tonight."

And with that, he turned and left me standing alone in the alley with four dead guards surrounding me.

I walked over the bridge, keeping my head down. I had seen my wanted posters all over the district after a group of patrolling guards had walked down the alley. I had to run for like 20 minutes before I managed to lose them.

No doubt they would be looking for me, but at least there weren't as many guards on Tiber Island.

On that note, Tiber Island is huge. How the hell was I supposed to find this man?

I walked down the street, watching the crowd. I needed to make sure that no guards were walking in my direction.

I looked at the tall building that was right next to the bridge. For some reason, something was drawing me to it. I decided to go inside.

I walked over to the door to knock, but before I could the door swung open and I was yanked inside.

I reached for my dagger, but before I could, the figure pinned my hands down.

I looked at the face in front of me. It was a man. He was glaring at me.

From behind him, I heard Ezio. "Lilith, I'm glad you found us! You can let her go, Antonio."

The Antonio huffed before stepping away from me.

I gripped my dagger tighter. Ezio stepped towards me. "Sorry about him. He's a little jumpy around new people."

"Right." I said, eyeing the man, who now lurked in the corner.

Ezio cleared his throat. "Right, let me introduce you to the people who will be training you." He said while leading me into the main room.

When we walked into the main room, a man was standing there looking over some maps. When he spotted Ezio, he looked up.

"Ah! Ezio, just who I needed." Thr man paused, looking at me.

"Machiavellie, this is Lilith. Lilith, this is Machiavellie. He will help train you."

He raised an eyebrow. "A new recruit?"

Ezio nodded. "I think she will work best with Valope."

Machiavellie hummed in thought, looking me up and down. "I think you're right. Unfortunately, he is not in right now."

"Is something wrong?"

"No, just a small issue with some Borgia guards. Nothing he can't handle."

Ezio nodded, turning to me. "It looks like we will have to start your training tomorrow. For now, you should look around and get some rest."

I nodded before silently walking out. I wanted to ask questions, but I also wanted to explore the area a bit.

I wondered what secrets I could find in the walls. I grinned to myself, best get exploring.

[ginger-grimm]

🐴 + Jordan!! -🍂

Thank you so much @oneirataxia-girl! Tagging @luucypevensie, @dancingsunflowers-ocs, and @daughter-of-melpomene because they're the only people who enable my Glee OCs haha

Their favorite musical: SIX

Their first-ever Halloween costume: His mom dressed him up as a little Cowboy and Mercedes puts a picture of that in her locker because she thinks it's so cute

Their favorite 2010s song: Classic by MKTO

Their favorite kind of weather: He loves a sunny day, not too hot, but he loves light and warmth

What extracurriculars they do in school: Football and Yearbook

Their favorite word: Goofy

About their first kiss: His first kiss for a movie he did. For obvious reasons, he was freaking out and it was definitely awkward for them both, but it ended up looking great on screen regardless so he doesn't look back on it cringing too hard lol

What kind of posters they had in their room as a kid: Any kind of athletes and music artists he loved, as well as some of his favorite movies

If they have a lucky object (and what it is): He has his name from the cast chair of the first (and biggest) starring TV role and while acting becomes tiring to him, he does always appreciate his time on that show and attributes a lot of other successes to that piece of fabric.

Their saddest injury: His father wasn't exactly a nice person (like, at all), and before he took off for good, he threw Jordan down a flight of stairs in a rage, which resulted in a concussion and broken arm.

[capnjaket]

The Opposite of Lost - Chapter Six

Pairing: Josh Kiszka x Female OC

Warnings: Loss of loved ones

a/n: YAY Sorry this took so long! I've been so excited to reveal the big secret in this chapter - I really hope you like it! Thanks for your support for anyone who has liked or read this so far :)))

Word count: 4.5k

Chapter Six

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆ Joshua

“Wanna come over?” 

“Like right now? To your house?” I questioned.

“Yeah I - My uncle’s gone for the week so I can finally have friends over.” She started sounding a little unsure of herself.

“Okay I’ll be right over then. Sounds good.” I kindly agreed, but scrunched my face up with a fist resting on my forehead at the thought of having to talk to her about my feelings so soon.

“Yay! I’ll see you soon.” Rosemary went back to being her spritely self, hanging up.

 On the drive over, my mind was working overtime trying to conjure up some sort of plan. I decided that the only way I’d be able to do it was if it was early on, because my nerves were already getting the better of me and she’d surely notice something was off and ask and it wouldn’t go the way I wanted it to. 

Reaching the door, my body was stiff as a board, back muscles tensing uncontrollably. But as the door opened and her polite smile and beautiful face greeted me, my worries shuffled to the side. Rosemary threw me in a whirlwind of peace and danger. 

“Hi!” Even though we were making eye contact, my mind had been worlds away before she spoke and brought me out of the trance.

“Hi.”

“Welcome to my humble abode Joshua Michael.” She giggled.

 “Pleased to be here, Rosemary June.”

The house was pretty simple; a main living/dining area that sat next to the kitchen, two bedrooms, one on either side of the space. Everything was a different shade of cream, the walls, the curtains, the carpet. The main space lacked life; even the brown sofas were boring and plain. She walked me straight into her bedroom, and I was pleased to see that her touch had been made on the room. A plethora of band posters covered one of the walls, including a large brown one of ‘Bread’. There were upwards of fifteen plants scattered around, most sitting on the windowsill, and a few larger ones on the floor. There were trinkets and candles everywhere, each surface holding something on it along with a plant. She had her guitar on a stand in the corner, next to her double bed which was covered in a colorful crochet blanket and a vintage style quilt.

“Geez do I need a national parks permit to enter this place?” I joked, motioning to the room. Rosemary walked over and sat on one end of her bed, sitting in her usual one-leg-swinging-one-leg-folded posture, grinning up at me. She patted the space next to her and I comfortably sat like her, still taking in the room. Ok now is your chance. Do it while you still can. I thought. “Rosemary can I - I wanted to talk to you about something.” I looked into her eyes as I told her this before I quickly tore my eyes away from her, realizing that focusing on her beautiful face right now would only make it harder.

“Yes…” Rosemary replied, “What is it?”

“I –” My gaze swept over the pictures on her nightstand behind her. And just as I was about to start speaking again, my eye caught on one particular photo. It was a framed image of an older looking man and a young girl, who was clearly Rosemary only a few years ago. They were standing above a large valley that looked like it was in Colorado, or somewhere near. She looked slightly shorter, with braided hair, being side hugged by the man with graying blonde hair and a wide smile. He looked familiar. My brow furrowed. “The man in that photo… is he your grandfather?” I pointed. 

I could see her stiffen and sit upright, sharply turning to see what photo I was talking about. “Yes.” She said carefully. 

I continued in wonder; “He looks strikingly like John Denver. As in like if that wasn’t you next to him I’d have said that photo was of John Denver.” I went on, in fascinated disbelief.

Rosemary didn’t say a word. I finally looked at her to get an answer. She had pursed lips, eyes almost to the point of glistening; they were so wide. Her whole body expanded as she took a deep breath, eyes slowly locking on mine.

My face dropped.

“That’s because he is.” She whispered, sounding so unsure. She spared a glance at the guitar in the corner. I looked too. I was looking at John Denver’s fucking guitar. My mouth hung completely agape.

“You’re not saying what I think you’re saying right?” I ran my shaking fingers across my mouth. “You’re only joking. Stop fucking with me.”

“No, I am telling you the truth Joshua.” She leaned forward a bit and tilted her head in order to get me to look at her. “I wouldn’t lie to you about this.” She said kindly.

“Sorry I just–” I collected my thoughts. She blew out a huge breath, the tension releasing from her form as she bit back a smile. I guessed it was because she had finally told someone this secret she had been holding for so long. Everything started making sense. From the first time we were alone on the trails, and she got really quiet when I hummed ‘Leaving on a Jet Plane’, to playing ‘The Music is You’ and making her cry. “Oh my god in the garage that day I am so sorry. I wish I hadn’t upset you like that.” I gushed.

“Joshua–” She spoke over my insistent rambling.

“And Jake going on about your guitar, that must have been so hard I just, I’m so sorry I truly had no idea–” 

“Joshua. It’s okay. Let me speak, please. Let me explain.” I stopped, despite the rapid thumping of blood I could feel through my whole body. “If I wanted to tell you earlier I would. And I was actually going to tell you today, but you figured it out faster than I expected.” She grinned. “This secret is serious though. No-one knows. I need to keep it quiet for my own safety, that’s the way it is for me right now.” She explained. “And, all of those times you mentioned, they didn’t hurt me: instead they meant the world to me. I mean, in you, I could finally see my Grandfather again.”

She reached over and grabbed my hand. We shared a long moment of silence as we both processed everything, and when it was time, I looked back up at her, grinning so hard. Rosemary was the coolest and she was John fucking Denver’s granddaughter. 

“Thankyou for telling me.” I squeezed her hand in mine. “So he’s the one you grew up with on the farm? The one who taught you guitar?”

“Yep.”

“Wanna give me the family rundown? Because I’m a little confused at why you’re in Frankenmuth right now if I’m  being honest with you.”

“Okay well my Mom was Pa’s only child, and she had me quite young with a bit of a douche guy who up and left pretty quickly. So my dad was out of the picture from the get go, and he passed away soon after anyway. I think it was some sort of substance abuse. I never wanted to ask. Then Mom died when I was only a few years old in a car crash, and I was left in my grandparents' care. Then when they both passed, I was sent here, my only living relative - my dad’s brother Tom.” I listened intently. After this section she checked on me to make sure I was keeping up. “So here’s the thing. Tom has no idea who Pa was, because Mom and Dad weren’t together long. I can’t tell him because there is a lot of money in my name that he could potentially try to take from me. Pa and my grandmother left basically everything to me, but until I’m eighteen I can’t access it. And so Pa made sure that in the case of them passing before I was old enough, I could choose to hide my identity. So here I am, fake last name, in a random town with a relative I didn’t know existed, and who didn’t know I existed.” 

“Woah woah woah. Fake last name?”

“I just told you about my generational wealth and that’s what you want to ask me about?” She rolled her eyes. “Well Mom was an only child, so naturally with my absent father she gave me her name. And I don’t think it’s the most inconspicuous thing to walk around as Rosemary June Denver, do you?” I laughed with her.

She spent a while talking about her life freely, showing me pictures of her little family at the farm, and her guitar up close, pointing out the ‘made for John Denver’ leather plaque inside the body. She absolutely glowed as she told me about him teaching her guitar, and how the very quilt we were sitting on was made for her by her grandmother. It filled my heart to hear that she had been loved in such an expanse. Just the way she deserved. Just the way she showed love to me and my family. 

On the thought of love, I started to wonder how on earth I was going to confess anything to her now knowing this. If I thought I had even a sliver of chances then, what was I going to have now, knowing how special she truly is? She’s Rosemary Denver for christ sakes; way above my pay grade. She would no doubt leave as soon as she could, away from this stupid little town and little me. I would never be good enough for her, even if she wasn’t the only living relative of my hero. I realized at that moment that she was too special for me all along, she definitely had no interest in me, and I was completely delusional to think otherwise.

“What were you going to tell me earlier Josh?” She said. My heart dropped for the millionth time today.

“Oh it was nothing.” I responded to her lighthearted question.

“You did seem pretty serious about it earlier… What was it? Please?”

“Rosemary, don't worry about it. It was silly, irrelevant.” I didn’t want to process this heartbreak right now. I just wanted to have a good time with Rosemary. Why couldn’t she move on?

“No, Josh, tell me. I’m not gonna think you’re silly. Whatever it is.” She pestered, grabbing my bicep softly.

“Please I… Uh.” I pulled away from her. Rosemary’s touch was all consuming, and it was something I shouldn’t let myself have - it would only make it harder to lose her. But as I moved back, I saw her face plummet, dropping deep into hurt and confusion. “Wait no sorry I … God why is this so hard?” I stumbled on my words, trying to find a way out.

“What’s so hard? Why can’t you just tell me Joshua? I just told you my whole fucking life story. I told you things that are not even safe to tell you. Things that are so hard for me. And you can’t tell me some thing that’s been on your mind?” Her eyes started to well up, trying desperately to hold onto my stare which constantly darted.

“I’m sorry I just can’t find the words… to uh… the words–” 

“The words to what, Josh? Spit it out.”

I huffed a breath. “The words to tell you I think I’m falling in love with you.” Her eyes blew wide with confusion. FUCK why did I say that. No no no what do I do…

“What– I thought… What about Florence?”

“Oh cut the shit Rosemary you know I don’t like her.” I snapped in my emotional state. “Shit sorry I didn’t mean to say it like that. Fuck. I really like you Rosemary. Like really really like. As in I probably could call it love. That's what I was going to tell you, but I backed out because now I know you’re John Denver’s fucking descendant and you’re way too cool and amazing and special for me and it made me realise I could never deserve you and I–” I rambled on and on, before finally taking a breath. I looked up to see tears fully forming on the rims of Rosemary’s eyes. 

“Josh,” She started, her voice low. “What if I think I’m falling in love with you too?” My heart jumped. But just as I was about to respond she started again, rambling exactly the same way I did, carefully masking her hurt with kindness. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about Pa, it’s just no one knows and it’s really important for my safety and I also didn’t want you to see me any differently… but if that means you can’t love me then that’s okay I guess I mean–” 

I leaned forward and pressed my lips against hers, silencing her. She loved me back. That’s all I heard. I just hoped I would be enough in that moment. After a moment she kissed me back, reaching up to my jaw to hold me to her, neither of us willing to let the other go. 

When we finally pulled apart, it was because our smiles grew too wide to hold a pout, unable to kiss. I looked right in her eyes, enjoying the way I could see each muscle tense into a squint from her grin. She grabbed my hands, letting her forehead fall forwards onto mine. 

“Sorry for not telling you any of this earlier.” She whispered.

“I forgive you. Except for the whole ‘I love you back’ thing. I wish I could’ve known that sooner, it would have made this a whole lot easier.” I chuckled.

“Yeah well I don’t think I’m entirely to blame for that one buddy.” She tilted her head to touch her nose to mine.

I pushed my body weight forward to crash us both onto the bed together. “I’m sorry, Buddy? Who am I, your child?” I said, as we tossed about in a play fight.

“What would you like me to call you then Joshua?” She attempted to grab my wrists as I started tickling her.

“How about… your boyfriend.” We stilled. Her eyes lit up, and mine also did, seeing how happy it made her. She nodded. “And you’re my girlfriend.”

Next came two months of pure bliss. Rosemary was safe, Rosemary was happy, Rosemary was my girlfriend. We continued our weekly hikes on Sundays, meeting up around midday, and going off to somewhere new each time. We picked flowers for each other on every walk, and when it was too cool for them to keep growing, we just started giving each other cool sticks and sprigs of greenery. Despite the colder weather, we pushed on, bundling up on ridges and boulders late into the freezing night so we could watch the stars and talk until our eyes drooped. Then we’d hike back to our cars, sleepy and happy, dragging each other hand in hand. And in the morning, when our friends made fun of our dark eye bags and poor attention, we’d just look at each other and laugh. 

She explained to me that she had gotten her job at the diner so that she could buy herself things that she didn’t want to bother her uncle about. But her birthday was coming up, and she had saved up plenty of money to last her until then, so she quit. After that we had even more time together, more often than not choosing to stay warm in my house. 

My family loved her, especially my Mom. Although I couldn’t explain Rosemary’s situation just yet, Mom now knew she only lived with her uncle, so she was always happy to let Rosemary hang around. Rosemary wooed her too, bringing plants that she had propagated for us regularly, though I selfishly took most of them to my room, so that I could take care of them and think of her. 

On the first saturday of November, Jake had booked the band a show in a well established bar a few towns over, and naturally, I asked Rosemary to join us. She excitedly told me she would gladly drive down, and that Jita could come up with her too. It was the start of something big for us, being seen somewhere other than our small town, and by new people. We all had our doubts on whether the audience would like it, since we’d been rocking with a regular crowd in Frankenmuth for some time. But, we took our chances. 

It felt strange unpacking our gear in this new location, where we didn’t know the owners or any of the staff. We did our best to look a bit professional and not like the highschoolers we were, keeping Sammy in line as much as possible. It was reasonably big, definitely larger than our venue at home. Dim yellow overhead lighting lit the space from the short ceilings, and the walls were painted different dark maroons and greens. There were dirty, clattering wood tables and chairs squished into the floor, and two of the walls were lined with booth seating. 

“Jita’s still coming, right?” Jake nervously asked me as we worked together to plug in our amps and long leads. 

“Yes, I already told you. She’s coming with Rosemary right now. They should be here soon, actually.” Jake had still yet to make a move on Jita, even though it was plainly obvious to everyone else what was going on. Around Jita, Jake dropped the cool guy attitude for awkwardness and was continually more gentlemanly to her than anyone he’d ever met, and I caught Rosemary having to kick Jita multiple times at the lunch table for ogling too long at my twin. But somehow, my shy little brother still grappled with having to confess anything to her. 

About half an hour went by, and the little corner stage looked ready to go, so we stepped aside to get ready for the show. Rosemary finally came through the door then, dragging Jita along behind her. 

“Ardy! Jita! Look who finally decided to show up!” ‘Ardy’ was a name I’d started calling her recently, after realizing her initials ‘R.D’ had a nice ring to them. It was special, being able to secretly call her by her real name. I think she liked that too. And thankfully no-one really questioned it. 

“You’re one to talk, you’re always late mister!” Rosemary poked me in the chest before I enveloped her into a hug. “And you haven’t even started the show.” We swayed a bit, and I reveled in the contact to ease my anxiety.

“I know, I’m just kidding.” I huffed out, turning to peck the top of her head. She was dressed nice, hair half-up half-down yet still lovely and wild. Thin braids were mixed into her natural brown curls. She had put on a bit of makeup, and was wearing her lovely blue jean bell bottoms along with a tight white shirt and an old brown leather bomber jacket. The jacket, I’d learned, was her grandfathers, along with much of her wardrobe. It explained the many oversized jackets and button ups she tended to wear. I found that Rosemary was a beautifully sentimental person, and it made me glad to see her be comforted by these items. 

Eventually, the bar filled up, and my parents and Danny’s had found a table alongside Rosemary and Jita. I could see them happily chatting away as we did our final checks before we played.

*❀。• ₊°。Rosemary

It was a big day. I was so excited, and gladly shared it with both sets of parents and Jita where we sat in the audience. I could tell Josh was nervous. They were talking in a circle, planning out their performance or whatever they needed to do, but he kept glancing out at the full room of people. Each time, I made eye contact with him, and he smiled. I hoped I was helping. 

Deep inside, I knew it would be all okay. The audience was going to love them, I just knew it. Today was going to be the start of something really good for the boys, no matter how unsure they were about it. 

“How’s it going with you Miss Rosemary?” Karen kindly turned to me.

“Well thank you, Karen! Did Josh give you that little English Ivy? I told him to give it to you this time since he already put one in his room.”

“Yes darling! I put it above the cabinets in the kitchen. Josh was so upset that he couldn’t keep it to himself. He kept mumbling about how it wasn’t fair, and that you were his girlfriend.” She said cheekily. I laughed with her at the thought of him moping about. “I’ve been meaning to get Josh to ask, what are your plans for Christmas?”

I hadn’t thought about Christmas yet. I needed to get through my birthday first, find a house, move out, think about my identity. And, it was going to be my first Christmas without Pa. My grandmother had passed a year or so prior, and that changed things, but this year I would face it alone. But… maybe not?

“I’m… not sure yet.” Was all I could answer. I gave her an absent minded smile.

She reached out to hold my hand on the table. “Well, we’d love to have you around for the day, or dinner, anytime you’d like, if you want to my dear, no pressure.” My heart swelled.

“Thank you, truly. I wouldn’t want to intrude-”

“Upbupbup!” She interrupted. “None of that. You are always welcome in our house. I’m sure everyone would love to have you, especially Josh’s grandparents. They keep asking to see you after everything wonderful Josh has said. So I think the more the merrier!” Karen gladly spoke, doing good convincing.

“I’ll be sure to let you know.”

When the band finally got set up in their spots, there was no loud cheer, no pausing of conversations to give them any moment of acknowledgement. And although that could have been disheartening, it might have been for the best - they were nervous after all, and didn’t really want all eyes on them just yet. 

But, when Jake played the intro to Safari Song, all heads started turning. For the entirety of the set the room was alive. The cheers got louder and louder after each song, and I watched the parents next to me each grow a strong glint of pride in their eyes. Our little table all danced in our seats, laughing and singing along to Highway Tune, the song they finished with. 

As the last cheer wore off, Josh screamed a final “Thankyou!” into the mic before they left the stage. As they walked towards our table, I saw Jake get stopped by someone I assumed to be the manager or owner of the bar, taking him over to the corner to talk. I hugged Josh tight and whispered praises into his ear when he finally reached us. We all got swept up in congratulating the boys, but stole glances over towards Jake talking to the man. Poor jake was struggling to contain himself, clearly worn out yet high on adrenaline from the performance, but also focused on taking in every word the guy said to him.

“Looks like good news boys.” Kelly nodded to Jake who now wore a shit eating grin while being patted hard on the shoulder by the older man before walking towards us.

“He wants us back.” Jake said in shocked elation. “He wants us to come back the week after next.” We erupted in joy altogether.

We sat and enjoyed our lousy bar snacks and drinks while squished onto the one happy table, and every now and then a stranger would walk past and congratulate the boys on their set. It was getting late, and we had a drive ahead of us, so we all worked together to pack up the equipment into the van. Jita was stuck by Jake's side the whole time, happy to help him with his gear even though she didn’t really know what to do. 

“Hey I think Jita’s going to come in the van with us, is it okay if you drive Josh home?” Jake asked me. 

“No worries at all.” I winked.

We were about half the way home before we even got off the topic of the show. 

“So it is my birthday on Sunday next week.”

“Oh really I had no idea! I haven’t asked you about this at all. Like ever.” Josh teased sarcastically.

“SHH I have a point! I had a look online… and I found somewhere to live. And they do same day settlement.” Josh’s face fell a bit. “I have to move out of my uncle’s place, Josh. And for obvious reasons I’m going to do it as soon as possible. If all goes to plan, I just need your help to move my stuff in. Is that okay?”

“Where are you going?” Josh asked, looking like a sad puppy.

“Nowhere far! Still in Frankenmuth. Josh… I’m not leaving. I want to stay here, with you.” I said carefully.

“Oh good.” He put a hand to his heart. “You had me worried there.” He laughed. 

“I – Uh, I want to talk to Jake and your family about my situation before it all happens though. It’s going to be a little hard to explain how an eighteen year old can afford a cabin working at a diner.” We both giggled. I had become closer to Jake than anyone in the family other than Josh, simply because the twins tended to be together a lot. It was becoming harder and harder for Josh and I to avoid accidentally mentioning Pa infront of Jake, and I felt like I owed it to him to tell him first. 

“Whatever you want. I’m sure it will all be okay. Wanna tell them early this week so they have a little while to mull it over before everything happens?” Josh worked through the plan in his mind. “Jake’s going to need some time to process it, I’m sure. I also imagine he can keep it in for half a week. Mom, I’m not so sure – we might have to save that for like Friday night.”

“Sounds good, I trust your judgment on this.” I said.

“So a cabin, huh?” 

“More of like a house mostly made of wood. I’m romanticizing.”

“Sounds like you.” He poked.

“Your Mom said something about Christmas tonight too, I don’t know what your thoughts were on it. Should I come?”

“Wait she invited you to ours? Damn I was going to do that! Of course, I really want you to be there. If it gets too much I can help you out though, okay? Please will you come?”

“I’ll come over in the afternoon, then. How does that sound.”

“Sounds like my whole family will be drunk already. What a blast. But anytime, really.”

[luucypevensie]

🐴 + Thea, please??

@dancingsunflowers-ocs 💙🌸💙

Of course Alexandra, thank you for loving my daughter sm!

1. Their favorite musical: Rogers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella

2. Their first ever Halloween costume: Cinderella, of course! It was such an adorable mini costume

3. Their favorite 2010s song: A Change of Heart by The 1975

4. Their favorite kind of weather: This might be a bit surprising, but Thea loves the days where there’s so much snow falling from the sky and it’s covering the ground like a big white blanket

5. What extracurriculars they did in school: McKinley High’s Tutor Center, band member for New Directions Glee Club and later on full time member, and equestrian competitions

6. Their favorite word: Classic

7. About their first kiss: Thea’s first kiss was with Max, her childhood best guy friend and her first boyfriend later on (Max isn’t the despicable ex we’re supposed to hate btw). They were about 11 years old, and the two of them were at a New Year’s Eve party her parents were hosting, and Augusta had disappeared somewhere in the middle of it. Max suggested they escape too, and they bundled up in their coats and went outside to talk. They ended up staying outside until the countdown began, and once it was midnight, Max surprised Thea by giving her a quick peck on the lips

8. What kind of posters they had in their room as a kid: Thea adores Paris, so she had those aesthetically pleasing posters of Paris in her room. She also had an old movie poster of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in The Gay Divorcee that belonged to her grandmother Ginny, and one of those ballet shoes posters as well

9. If they have a lucky object (and what it is): Before her grandmother Ginny died, she told Marjorie (Thea’s mom) to give Thea a vintage set of pearl earrings that belonged to her when Thea was old enough. As soon as she was, Thea put them on only for special occasions and when she needed a little luck on test day or when she needs a little courage to perform one of her songs on stage

10. Their saddest injury: After seeing Finn with Quinn, Thea was feeling so upset that she went go riding with Thor. However, because she was upset, she was handling her beloved horse not too well. With one sharp kick, Thor took off so fast that he threw Thea off of him and it caused her to break her arm upon landing on the ground

[thepancakewitch]

One of my lengthy drabbles with myself of my favorite OC, Momoko, enjoying adventures in various IPs.

---

MACH SPEED! He moved like a blur. My presence... is emptiness! Silently, he weaved in and out of the streets... leaving behind only light tapping of his boots against the concrete and flyers with... his face on them.

Chip Zanuff for President.

It didn't take long for him to disperse most of his ads for voting in his country of East Chip Kingdom.

Deciding to show off for his last few moves, he swirled in the air, a trail of blue following.

"SUSHI!" He threw out one. "BENTO!" Another one. "DAIJOBU!!!" A rain of posters followed. The crowd cheered for him as a certain citizen appeared.

"Ahh Nihongo?" She asked. Chip turned in response, wailing out in excitement over this new beauty given to him, asking if he spoke Japanese. Was this... a real Japanese person!?!?!

"HAIHAIHAIHAI! UH... MOSHI MOSHI!" He threw out his hands, clasping onto hers as he shook them up and down.

The woman laughed more, elated by his excitement. "Oh what a joy it is to find another Japanese person outside of the sanctuary. We probably shouldn't speak too much in public... we can exchange details in private." She spoke in Japanese. Chip listened intently, sweating profusely as he adjusted his glasses. He had absolutely zero idea what she said, he all he knew was that he was completely in love with his new kimono princess.

Making their way to a hotel, Chip received a call.

"Boss!"

"PRESIDENT!" Chip replied instantly as he took the call in the privacy of the... bathroom.

"What's your update on your campaign?" He adjusted his glasses.

Chip stared to the door, wondering what his kimono princess might think of him... I mean obviously she liked him to some extent, allowing him into this room with her and... doki-doki... the oppai... he huffed loudly. "Big... big success! BANZAI!" He threw up both of his thumbs.

"It doesn't seem like you're being incredibly honest... where are you right now anyways?" He tried to peer around. "Is this a... bathroom? Did I catch you at a bad time?"

"Chip, where are you?" Momoko called out, giggling. "I hope you're not tattling on me."

Chip began to sweat more as he stared at the floor. The call went silent before a loud sigh came from the other end.

"Don't take too long, samurai."

"NINJA. I'M A NINJA!!! Er, and a president!" Chip replied, laughing nervously as he appeared out of the bathroom. He was greeted with a half naked Momoko on the bed, with her robe now lazily draped around her body as she waved. He wasn't ready, no matter what he was. No... the people need someone strong and... THIS WOMAN HAS CHOSEN ME, TO BE HER NINJA, HER PRESIDENT.

He dove next to her and wrapped his arms around her waist as she burst into laughter. "I feel so rude,  I hadn't even given you my name. I'm Momoko." She replied as he snuggled up next to her. He let out a dreamy sigh upon hearing her name, pressing his cheek against her's.

"R-Really...? What a beautiful name. I'm Chip Zanuff!" He replied with a cheery ring in his voice. Momoko laughed, bringing his chin up in her hand as her other free one strayed across his built body. He obviously wasn't Japanese, but she did appreciate his dedication to her culture... it was adorkable.

"I know, silly, I grabbed one of your fliers... demo... I think it landed somewhere kind of naughty~... can you help me get it out?" She looked down to her cleavage, fluttering her eyelashes back up to him.

Chip nearly died. From feeling her hand freely groping him to her teasing and playful demeanor, mixing in Japanese, this was... a dream come true!!

"Y-yes... may I?" Chip's eyes darted from her face to her cleavage, than back and forth and back and forth... his hand reached up, waving a little bit as his fingers flexed.

"Onegai..." Momoko arched herself against his hand, letting out a soft moan. Chip was simply elated at that point, completely set off. He could feel himself fuming. This was... this was... everything he dreamed of!!! His hand gently massaged on her milky breast, the more Momoko replied to his movements with soft noises of pleasure, the more he found himself growing to want more. It felt so quick, so sudden, and yet, it felt so right.

"HAI!" He grasped at both breasts, hovering over her completely now. Unfortunately this left the rest of his body defenseless to her own hands as his were full with her chest.

"Good boy..." She cooed, her hand grasping at his growing bulge as she continued to moan, feeding into his growing excitement.

He had absolutely NO clue what she was saying, but it seemed alright to keep going. He leaned down, kissing her warmly on the lips before cooing. "Ita deki mas!"

Momoko burst into laughter,

--

"Chip help!" Momoko called out.

Chip managed to dive out and rescue Momoko from falling... from a hit from Sol Badguy's sword. He spun together with her in the air, the two staring into each others' eyes as they laughed. It seemed so magical.

"You're so talented, Chip!" She fluttered her eyelashes.

Chip fumed in glee over her compliment, smooching her before landing on his feet with her. The two landed in unison, holding each others hands as they wiggled together. "You can't defeat us when we're together, Mr. Badguy!" Momoko announced.

Launching her into the air, Chip began to get super fast as she spun around as they both created static images of themselves.

"AI!"

"SHI!"

"TERU~!"

"Daisuki daiyo!" "Forever! HELL YEAH!"

They slashed forward, Momoko delivering a swift kick as Chip followed with a slash. FINISHED!

"True love always wins!" They announced, giggling as Momoko was swept up with kisses from Chip as he cradled her.

Elphelt couldn't help but be jealous over this display, it was EVERYTHING SHE WANTED! TRUE LOVE!!!

--

"I'm going to be... za first lady!" Momoko laughed.

"Yes! A president needs a strong first lady behind him, supporting him!!!"

The two had become too much alike. A scorn upon the world. It wasn't the impending Apocalypse that Ralmelthal predicted... but rather... a pair of an ex-communicated Japanese woman and a weaboo.

[20moonchild21]

𝗦𝗲𝗵𝗻𝘀𝘂𝗰𝗵𝘁 [𝗯𝘁𝘀]

⇉ 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 18

[pairings]

JK x female!oc, Bunny!JK x human!female!oc, Jin x female!oc, Leopard!Jin x human!female!oc, Jimin x female!oc, white Tiger!Jimin x human!female!oc, Taehyung x female!oc, black Tiger!Taehyung x human!female!oc, Hobi x female!oc, Fox!Hobi x human!female!oc, Namjoon x female!oc, Wolf!Namjoon x human!female!oc, JK x Jin x Jimin x Taehyung x Hobi x Namjoon x female!oc

[warnings]

abusive past

[words]

4.2k

[author]

I am so glad to finally add Namjoon fully to the story. I just love him so much.

Like always, I can only recommend you to check out @starlightauroras-main story Inferiority Complex. It’s super cute and exciting to read. But recently, I found another Hybrid!reader story from @secretbangtnn. I definitely will stay excited for Until I bleed out! I hope so will you!

By the way, did you stream Butter? I have to admit that I was shocked when I saw JK‘s eyebrow piercing 😂 How did you like the song? Me personally, I love it. I also love to watch the behind the scenes videos. The boys put so much passion and effort in everything they do, it’s just amazing.

Stay healthy and safe!

Mꨄ

[chapter 17 ||| chapter 19]

Today had been an eventful day. Hope had finally been able to get Jimin’s and Taehyung’s adoption papers, so both of them could live with her officially. In that occasion, thy all had gathered together at the kitchen table in the evening, each boy with a glass of orange juice and Hope with a glass of sparkling wine.

“Okay, guys. I wanna say something.” Hope announced, as she stood up from her chair. “As you know, today we officially welcome Taehyung and Jimin in our family and I want to use this occasion to say a few words. You guys turned my life upside down ever since I met you, but I never regretted anything. I want to thank you, Jin and Jungkook, that you trusted me enough to stay and that you gave Taehyung and Jimin a chance to live here even though it was hard for you. I also want to thank Jimin and Taehyung for giving us the chance to show you that we are good people. And of course Hobi, thank you for always being so positive and funny. I – I really do love you guys.”

Jungkook was the first one who was standing up from his chair and walked towards the girl. He wrapped his arms around her smaller body, before he pressed a short kiss onto her lips. Time has already passed since their first kiss in the park and by now, it was no longer a big deal for them to share some small kisses in front of the others from time to time.

The small shade of red on her cheeks increased when Jimin was the next one to hug her tightly, before he pressed a longer kiss onto her cheek. The white tiger was still more carefully when it came to kissing in front of the others, but Hope didn’t mind at all. She gave him a small kiss back and let go of him.

Jin also came to give her a hug. The older boy was still hesitating to kiss her but instead, he wrapped his long tail tightly around both of their bodies.

“Ehm.” Hope pulled away from the leopard when Taehyung cleared his throat. “I also want to say something.”

Jin rubbed his head one last time over the girl’s neck, before he walked back towards his chair. All 5 people were now expectingly at the black tiger, who had stood up from his chair. The room fell silence for a few seconds, while he was looking for the right words to start.

“I – I don’t really know how to start.” He admitted, scratching his neck with his left hand. “I – I want to apologize to all of you. I gave all of you a hard time, even though you all were nothing but nice to me and my brother. Jungkook and Jin, I thank you for letting us stay with you even though I have not always been nice to you, and Jimin, I am sorry that I made you choose between me and the others. You were just trying to make new friends and be nice, but I gave you feelings of guilty all the times for doing so. I am sorry for that.”

Before Taehyung even had the chance to finish properly, Jimin had already stood up threw himself into his brother’s arms. Hope knew what hard times Jimin had went through. She had found him crying a few times, desperate and helpless because he had not known what to do anymore.

The girl watched as Jungkook stood up and walked over to the two tigers, before he wrapped his arms around the smaller one. He his nose against the white tiger’s fluffy hair and whispered something into it.

It had not been unnoticed by Hope how close all the boys were, despite all the troubles they had at first. Especially Jimin, who had wrapped everyone around his fingers with his sweet personality.

Hope loved to watched the three younger ones joking around together and with each other. She loved to watch Jin and Jimin cooking together in the evenings, and she loved to watch them interacting with Hobi as if they had known him for years.

“Hope.” The girl gasped when she felt Jin wrapping his arms around her from behind, before he placed his chin into her right shoulder. “You were snoozing out again.”

A shiver an down the girl’s spine when she felt the boy’s breath tickling her ear. She knew that by now, it was impossible to hide her redden cheeks every time one of the boys was hugging or kissing her. Even if you could, they would probably hear her heart beat with their extra senses. Hope sometimes had the feeling that they were enjoying those moments where she was struggling to hide her emotions.

Like a few days ago, when she had been sitting on the sofa, watching TV like usually. Hope had been laying between Taehyung’s legs with her back against his chest and her head laying on his shoulder. The black tiger had his tail wrapped around the both of them and his arms on her waist, before he had begun to rub his head against the sensitive skin of Hope’s neck after a while.

It had not felt uncomfortable at all. All the others boys had scented her before, so she was kind of used to it, but Taehyung also loved to tease. After some time, he had begun to bump not only his cheek but also his nose and lips against her skin. If that had not been enough, he had even let his teeth nibbing at her ear from time to time which had make the girl gasp sometimes. Taehyung had only chuckled, and also some of the other boys had seemed to enjoy that scene.

She sometimes wished that her body would not be some obvious, but deep down inside, those feelings were some of the most beautiful she had ever felt, and sometimes it made her wonder, if that was how love was supposed to feel like?

Namjoon laid wide awake in his bed this night. It was one of those days his mind keep racing and racing with thoughts, letting him no chance to find some sleep. A glance at the clock showed his that it was close to midnight, making him groan in frustration.

His room was only enlighten by the small lamp on his nightstand, and when he had looked over towards the clock, his eyes had also fell onto the small, square shaped object laying peacefully on the small desk. That girl – Hope – or rather her Hybrid had given him the small book.

Hope. A feeling he had not been feeling in a very long time. Since he could remember, he had been on his own out there, and at first, he didn’t mind at all. In his mind, there were several smaller pieces of memories when he was a child. Like all Hybrids, he had been bred and living in a laboratory a little bit outside if Seoul.

Being locked in a small cell, he had early been taught that in this world no one was truly caring for each other. Those scientist had only got him out when they had needed to make some new experiences with him. During those times, when Namjoon had felt nothing but pain and betraying, he had started distracting himself by taking in every small piece of information he could pick up and focus on that.

He had often read over those giant posters on the wall, showing off different anatomies of different kind of living beings. Quickly, he had figured out how a huma’s and Hybrid’s body was working, where every single bone was placed or where the different veins were running along. Somehow, he even had caught a glimpse on some Hybrid’s files that had been laying around on the desk that had been telling him for which purpose he had been there.

At first, it had hurt him that he only was a testing object for human to find out how sensitive his instincts were working during different circumstances, but then, that ever had been the only truth in his life. One day, he had accidentally overheard a conversation of two scientists talking about how the testing series would be stop soon and they would needed to get rid of all the participating Hybrids.

He had not known what that meant, but a few days later, he had been dragged out of his cell and brought to a large airplane. Those people had told him that they would fly to America to take place at an auction, but it had only been a large lie. They locket him up and drove into a small forest near the airport, and when night had been come, they had thrown him out of the car like he was just a pile of garbage, before driving away.

Still locket in the cage, the small and confused wolf had waited desperately, hoping that someone would come and pick him up from that cold place, but it had never happened. In the moment he had realized his situation, he had promised himself to never trust anyone again in this world. Luckily for him, he was smart and had been teaching himself enough to survive all by himself in the forest.

For several years, he had been able to hide until one day, he had been too careless while hunting. A hunter had spotted him and immediately had called the police to lock him up again.

Namjoon closed his eyes tightly when the memory of him being teased to the ground by a police officer. He had never meant to hurt anyone, but in that situation, he had not known what to do anymore. The emotions where running wild inside the now older wolf. It took him everything to keep himself under control right now and to not let the emotions take over his body.

Of course he was not stupid. He knew that after that incident there would be no chance for him to win his upcoming court date. Hybrids were absolutely not worthing anything to those creatures calling themselves human. They won’t ever let him win. They would lock him up again or even worse, they would put him to sleep for being dangerous. It was hopeless.

Hope. There was that name again. Laura had brought that small, blond haired girl up a few days ago. Another face that he had met, and another face that would be gone withing the following days. He knew it. He had seen it.

Laura had often brought some people with her in the past. Lawyers, psychologists, judges…but none of them had got him to talk. They all had given up on him without even trying, so why trusting that new girl now? He tried to convince himself that she was like anyone else, but something – a small little voice inside his head – was telling him that something about her was special.

Was it the tone of her voice that had caught his attention from the first moment she had been talking or rather the words she had been using? Or maybe her round, brown eyes that looked so innocent and trustworthy? Or the fact that she already had adopted 5 Hybrids that seemed to have a good life with her? Namjoon couldn’t tell at all.

Suddenly, he wondered how the small girl’s home must look like. Living with 5 other people, she must had a big apartment or even a house. But maybe all of her Hybrids had to live in one room or even in cadges. A shiver ran down his spine while thinking about this. She had not sounded like she would be cruel to them, but then, she was human. No one could tell what was really going on in her head.

He closed his eyes and thought about the past days instead and like the past minutes, his mind was occupied with thinking about that new girl. Somehow, Hope had convinced Laura to let him go outside for the first time in weeks. His heart had been beating so fast when he had felt the sun beams filling up his skin with warmth and energy. The white, clean room he had to spend his days in had been making him sick over the last weeks.

Hope had been with him all the times. She had not been talking much, but despite their lack of conversation it had never felt uncomfortable. In fact, Namjoon enjoyed those moments with, because it was the only time of the day he could escape his clean, white prison without anyone bombarding him with questions or even treatments.

He didn’t want to recognize it, but deep down inside he somehow had the feeling that his life was about to take a big turn. It was a feeling deep inside his guts that were suddenly telling him so. Whether it would turn out for good or bad he couldn’t tell yet.

Days after days went by since Hope had started working, and slowly, her boys and her had developed some kind of a routine to pass the day. But even thought her life had become a little bit harder and more stressful Hope had always made sure to not loose any time with her roommates. She would often try new recipes with Jin, or she would listen to different music with Jimin while talking about random things that came into their minds.

Even the relationship to Taehyung had become closer and closer. He now was like a peaceful house cat, always wanting to cuddle with someone which she thought was adorable. He was a good boy with good intentions, just like Hobi. The Fox had completely warmed up to all the boys and her by now, and he even had found his passion for dancing and music just like Jimin and Jungkook.

Speaking about the Bunny, Jungkook had been behaving all mystery again over the past days. Gladly not in a bad way, but he had often been in his room lately, stating that he had something important to do. He even refused to play video games with Tae a few times which was indeed pretty strange for him, because he usually would never miss a the chance to win against the black tiger.

When Hope had asked the boys about his latest behaviour, they all had just smiled, telling her that she would need to wait for the Bunny to show her himself.

“Movie night!” Hobi playfully yelled, as he let himself fall down onto the big mattress in the middle of the living room where Jungkook, Jimin and Tae were already waiting.

Since Hope was working eight hours a day, they all had agreed that one night of the week would be their joined movie night. On that occasion, they had placed a large mattress in front of the TV and had thrown all cushions they had found in the apartment onto that mattress.

The younger boys had already chooses the movie when Jin and Hope plopped onto the mattress with a large bowl of popcorn in their hands. As soon as the girl’s bum hit the soft fabric, the bowl suddenly was taken out of her hands by Jimin, and two strong arms were placing themselves around her upper body from behind.

Tae had pulled the smaller girl closer towards himself, before he nuzzled his nose into the sensitive skin of her neck, causing her to yelp slightly.

“Tae – “ She giggles when his hot breath tickled her skin.

Of course, the black Tiger didn’t stop. He just kept pulling her closer until it was almost impossible for her to escape his grip but not in an uncomfortable way. Hope always enjoed those gestures of physical affection that made her feel loved and home. Happily, Hope leant back against Tae’s chest, making him nuzzling his nose closer into her neck, spreading his scent over skin.

They stayed in that position for a little while longer, enjoying the movie that was playing on the big TV screen when suddenly Jimin started moving from the other side of the mattress. He pushed himself away from Jin’s arm and started crawling over the other boys towards his brother and the girl. Hope was just about to open her arms for the smaller tiger to cuddle up to her, but from one to the other second Taehyung suddenly shot up from his laying position. He pulled himself and the girl up, pulling his arms closer around her body and away from his brother, flashing him his sharp fangs and growling loudly.

Jimin on the other hand had jumped away with an enormous speed, before his ears shot up hight in the ear and his fangs showing up behind his lips as well.

“Taehyung!” Hope squealed in shock, as she watched Tae’s sharp fangs from the corner of her eyes, trying to break free from his strong grip. “What are you doing. Jimin, stop! Stop growling at each other!”

Slowly, she felt the arms that were squeezing her loosing up around her torso. Quickly, Hope turned around to look at Taehyung in shock. The black tiger had stopped growling and was now looking up at the girl again with innocent eyes. When she looked around her shoulder at Jimin, she saw him also looking around with big eyes again.

“I am sorry.” The younger tiger whispered, as he reached his arms out and pulled Hope into his embrace again, making her wrap her arms around his shoulders. Though she was not scared of Taehyung, having seen his sharp teeth reminded her of how powerful those boys were compared to her after all. “I – I didn’t mean to scare you. It was a primary instinct, I couldn’t control it. You just smelled so good…like me – I – Jimin – I am sorry.”

He gave one last kiss towards the girl’s forehead, before he carefully pushed her off of his lap and crawled over towards his brother, who was still pouting with his arms crossed above his chest. Hope watched in amusement, how Jimin tried to not gave in to his brother’s apologize, but when Taehyung pulled him into a tight hug and whispered something into his ear, Jimin quickly forgave him.

“That was scary.” Hope joked, as she placed her head on Jin’s chest, not wanting to interrupt the two tigers.

Jin just hummed in response, before he pushed his nose into the girl’s hair, while his younger brother laid his head into Hope’s lap.

“You sometimes make it difficult to share you between us, Hope.” The oldest boy suddenly mumbled into her hair. “Especially, when your body smells so pure. It’s literally calling for us to spread our scent over you.”

His words caused a heavy shade of red over Hope’s cheeks. She knew that the boys could always smell her scent, but she didn’t know that they really adored her scent that much.

“P – Pure?” She eventually stuttered.

“Hmmm.” Jungkook purred, as the girl’s hand drove over the base of his sensitive ears. “There is no other scent over you beside your own, because you never had a boyfriend before.”

“Y – You guys can smell that?” The girl’s voice was now holding a tone of confusedness and embarrassment, making Jungkook and Jin chuckle.

“When you are close to someone for a very long time, that person’s scent will cover your own scent, signalling for others that you are taken.” The youngest one continued. “Your scent isn’t covered by another one. Well, beside one of our scents since we are spending a lot of time together.”

Our of instinct, Hope wanted to lift the collar of her shirt to prove whether Jungkook was telling the truth or not. But to her disappointment, her nose was far from smelling a foreign scent on her body.

“Do I smell like all of you?” She innocently asked, before sinking her shirt that she was still holding in her hands.

“Depends on who you had physical contact with.” This time, it was Tae who spoke. “Right now, Jin’s scent would cover mine. The only way to have all our scents cover you would be to – well – mate with us.”

When he finished the sentence, he winked his eyebrows up two time, making the girl blush even more. Of course, she knew what he meant. Jimin had told her about mating and marking once they had talked.

Not wanting to extend that conversation, she turned her still blushing face away from the smirking black tiger and leant her head against Jin shoulder, who was also holding a small smirk on his lips.

Of course, she wasn’t stupid. She had noticed the way the boys had been talking and acting around her, noticed how they would use any chance to hug her tightly and rub their face against her neck, making her blush every time. Sometimes, she wondered, if this was how finding one’s mate was supposed to feel like. Especially, when she remembered the kisses she had already shared with Jimin and Jungkook and that made her heart race always again.

A movement in the corner of her eyes ripped her out of her thoughts. She blinked a few times, before she turner her head, watching Hobi shifting closer towards the trio. He fiddles with his finger for a few seconds, before he looked up at the girl with his deep brown eyes.

“Are you actually making any progress with that wolf in your company?” He shyly asked, laying his fluffy tail onto Jungkook’s upper body.

Hope sighed heavily. She would love to tell him that the were making big steps forward, but she couldn’t. Namjoon was still as closed as the first day they had met. The both of them would meet up almost every day, leaving the clean, white interrogation room and taking a long walk through the small park area. Every time in silence.

Normally, Hope would give him all time to open up all by himself, but unfortunately, his court day was getting closer and closer. Almost three weeks had past since she had met the tall boy, leaving only one week before she would defend him in front of the judge.

“To be honest, we are not making much progress.” She sadly said, sinking her gaze onto Jungkook’s floppy ears in her lap. “I mean, he seems to be much more comfortable around me by now, but his court day is coming up in only one week, and I still have nothing to defend him. I wish he would just open up to me.”

By now, all 5 boys were looking at the girl with sad eyes and hanging ears, while Hope was still crawling Jungkook’s fluffy hair, deeply absorbed in her thoughts again. She wanted to help Namjoon so badly. She tried to give him time and room, she tried to tell him stories about her childhood, hoping that he would tell her something about him too, but it had failed every time.

“What happens if he won’t talk to you.” Jimin whispered from the other side of the matrass.

“If he won’t tell me what exactly happened, I can’t proof that he is innocent.” She replied after a few seconds of silence. “I can’t proof that it wasn’t his fault he reacted this way, and then he is guilty. They will either lock him away forever, or if the judge thinks that he is too dangerous, they will – they will put him to – to s –“

She couldn’t finish her sentence and she didn’t need to. The boys knew what she wanted to say. When Hope had calmed down after a few minutes, she started talking again.

“But don’t worry.” She reached out her left hand to Hobi and her right hand to Jimin, squeezing their larger hands. “I won’t let this happen, okay? I will get him out there. Somehow.”

The room fell silence for another time this evening. The boys all knew what the wolf Hybrid was going though, because they all had went through the same. They also knew that Hope was serious when she said that she would do anything to help Namjoon, they really knew. But the were powerless. There was nothing they could do to help Hope or Namjoon.

“What if you would bring him here for once.” Jin suddenly suggested, making everyone’s head shot around.

“What?” Hope asked a little bit confused, pushing herself off his chest to look properly at the oldest boy.

“Well, he clearly lost his trust in human.” The Leopards continued. “But maybe he would talk to you, once he saw that there are still people who are fighting seriously for him.”

“He is right.” Hobi’s ears shot up highly, eyes sparkling with excitement. “We could show him how we are living here and that he can trust you.”

“We could show him our rooms – “

“ – and we could make him something delicious to eat – “

“ – or we listen to some music with him together – “

The boys were talking all at once now, bringing up all kinds of ideas to convince Namjoon to cooperate. It made the girl speechless and proud when she saw how eager the boys were to help the wolf Hybrid.

“You guys would really do that for him?”

[Inspirations ||| Recommendations]

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[inkburnt]

I’m Not Scared

One-shot inspired by a creepy but fantastic little audio clip made by my bestie @featherburnt. The brain worms were ravenous. I think this is going to be the first of many I write, taking place in the Silent Hill-like setting of a perpetually work-in-progress collab fic we gush madly about. Posting it here first before I decide if it should go on AO3 at all. :x Enjoy some hopeless boys.

Fandom: Devil May Cry Teen–Mature // M/M // Words: 3,438 Characters: V, Garrett (male OC belonging to @featherburnt) Relationship: V/Garrett Warnings & tags: V is not part of Vergil, V’s name is Vitale, horror themes, ghost towns, fear Ship & series: Love and Harmony Combine

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"Garrett, come here." 

The violet glow of the cane threw a small but appreciable light over the spines of binders he couldn't really read. But these were collections of records given the dates written and the uniformity of the labels that bore the same handwriting. Coming to a dress shop was as useless an effort as it was attempting to read a language he did not know, but still he pulled a binder from its nook; and dust that had settled for decades was suddenly disturbed, and thickly took to the air only for V to blow it away from his face. He grimaced when he succeeded in causing it to whirl largely in place. With his mate joining his side as reliably as always, he passed the thing to Garrett's hands. "There are more just like this," he explained, "and the dates descend." He held his cane above the binder for its light. V watched him turn it over, open it, skim through the pages.

"It's just for bookkeeping," Garrett revealed, unimpressed, "nothing useful." 

"This shop must have been in business for quite a while." V wasn't any more interested in that than Garrett was, as they both had been searching for information beyond profits and losses. The kind that may give them some clue. Mannequins left standing and dressed were the last remaining evidence of an era passed, its fashions outdated. A relic, this place, and something that better deserved to be preserved and admired by posterity than to sit here forgotten and wasting away. V found fashion magazines and catalogs laid out over a table and spared the time to flip through some, and he was ever gentle in his handling of old things as he slowly turned page after page. On fading photographs, the violet light cast an unusual tinge.

He did not enjoy being here: the dress shop was one of several sites they had come to, and each one worsened V's opinion of Goussainville Vieux-Pays on the whole. The plane crash had not been responsible for the decline in air and atmosphere, the deterioration of things and areas away from the site that had almost appeared organic, bodily. Decay was an odor V could not put out of his olfactory nerve since he had set foot here. The sounds of modern planes passing overhead were nonexistent—impossible, when a large airport operated just outside the village. Ghost towns were not this dead. Garrett had done a fine job of finding this one. Maybe too good a job.

Dulled footsteps and flipping pages were the only sounds heard for what felt like miles. V knew the former came from somewhere behind him. "If only we could find that boy. He knows more than he's told us. I feel we were wrong to let him slip through our fingers. There is something unnatural here." He thought it was his fault the teenager had gotten away from them. The only living soul encountered since setting foot in the village, and there was no way to know where to find him now. V had begun doubting what he'd seen and heard when they first crossed paths, fearing tricks of the mind—or tricks of the dead. But wasn't that paranoia on its face? Oh, this place was beginning to take its toll. 

That there were dead here was no question; that they haunted this land was certain; that they reached out to V was, unfortunately, a fact. At the very least, he could gather that they were sorrowful but refused to take it out on him. Still, to assume that whatever was wrong with the village was due to their presence would be an impulse borne of ignorance. V could honestly say nothing had been further from the case. Ghosts were remnants of human life, human in their own way, and though the village was brought into being by human hands and inhabited by human lives, the very last vestiges of humanity had long abandoned it, its ghosts bound here by supernatural laws and their own melancholy. They affected little to nothing within the village.

Here, there was something invasive and dark, eclipsing all the rest. 

In all this silence, V felt almost unwelcome. He poked and prodded where he had no right, and if he were any more mad he may claim the place was rejecting him for that. But pages turned, the light of his cane was revived when it died, and his nerves fared no better now than they had on first hearing the boy's warning. On alert, high alert, and he had four demons at his side to pounce the second the alarm went off.

The waste in pointlessly browsing fashion catalogs made itself apparent when V grew bored with it, but a part of him, and a large part in fact, preferred this to facing the soupy, impenetrable fog that lingered beyond these walls. It had been thinner earlier in the day, or so he imagined. The Eiffel Tower had been visible beyond the village borders, hazily yet unmistakably before the horizon. But in recent hours, with the descent of the sun, he thought he’d lost sight of it entirely. He needed only to glance out the windows to know how hopeless an endeavor it would be to navigate the ruined streets under all the gray cover. So he flipped more pages, exhaled his boredom—a clever mask for nerves. Leave it to his mate to come to his rescue, who had an arm to bring around V's waist. “Garrett, I’m fine.” It should have gone a ways in comforting him, but he was put off entirely by this village saturated with grief and an element that was sinister. Did it show that plainly, to Garrett, even in the dark? V thought he’d been masking it better than that. It did not help matters to sense that what should have been warm flesh was hard plastic pressing into his right hip. 

V looked to his left to see Garrett, but he jumped out of his skin when he didn't see him and gasped in something like abject terror. In pulling to the side, the arm on him caught tighter and it sent V into a primal fit of panic; and his cane landed desperate blows on the thing to beat it away, and he was freed only for his back to meet something heavy when nothing had been there before. He whipped around to lambaste the second horror and had nothing short of a panicked yell for his fate. A warm hand caught his arm before he could find his freedom by way of a serious beating, and in his surprise he released the cane from his useless hand, its clatter ignored but its violet light missed in the dark.

He feared for his life, hissed his rejection of the thing that seized him, he knew nothing but the rush of blood in his ears and the eyes and nose and mouth that sized him up. And he almost instantly reeled as he stood rigid, completely unaware of the tears in his wide, fearful eyes. He came within an inch of whaling on Garrett.

Resistance coming from muscles turning to jelly was only a product of instinct. Shaking lips parted but no sound escaped. V heard a voice call his name, or he heard something, anyway. His mind was in severe disarray and it barred all reasonable thought. Large, green eyes stared too long at a face he wasn’t sure he remembered—until, in the seconds that passed, he realized no harm or horror was coming. His name was repeated, a human arm came about his back, and calming words that had been filtering into his brain were finally beginning to hold sway. It proved enough. He wouldn't have spun around to look behind him for that thing that had grabbed him earlier if he wasn't assured of the man arresting him now. That was Garrett, thank heaven. V remembered his grip, the sound of his worry, the faintest trace of smoke, of course he did. This small confidence was enough to let V lean into him, but very much in a state of flight as his eyes kept wide and trained on the darkness behind him, expecting a horror to drag him back. Comforting assurances were heard above his ears, barely above the sounds of his own haggard breathing. And with them, an orange glow in the murk, a flame held out. Like so much the child who hid their head beneath the covers, V wanted to close his eyes and will it all away; but he heard nothing monstrous, saw nothing alive, felt stillness all around. Dying violet light mixed with smearing tears obscured his sight, but he allowed Garrett's protective pull that brought them even closer. In darkness was danger, so V could only think to grab onto the thing that gave him security.

"V, it’s just a mannequin." 

Garrett had comforting strokes for his back, but as much as V felt like a fool, he also thought his mate was wrong. No doubt about what he saw now by fire light, but that gave him no sizable comfort. The fiberglass, lifeless human shape before his eyes was in fact fiberglass and lifeless, and displayed no fashion, and somehow remained standing after receiving blows V was certain should have dropped the thing to the floor. He could not have been mistaken about what sent him into a panic. He was touched with intelligence. That scared him. "I felt it move. It touched me.”

"You could have bumped it."

"No. Nothing was around me." The uncanny likeness to a human face, with painted eyes and lips, inspired more discomfort than a clothes rack, a tree branch, or a garbage can ever could. He hated the human in the nonhuman. Studying the mannequin’s face and form only discouraged him from looking at it any longer, so he turned away and shut his eyes now that he knew no beast or ghoul would try to take him from here. If he had been in danger, his familiars would have known the way they always did, and they would have peeled from his body to assail the thing that aimed to bring him harm—and for that, he knew they needed no permission. Did that suggest his reaction was baseless? That he was wrong for privately accusing his mate of exercising rationale? None of that held any water so long as he remembered what he had felt, assumed what that meant to him, and he was aware that the entity at fault remained among them. No comfort in any one of those thoughts. What could he do but bring his face to Garrett's neck, and try to contain the collapse of his nerves while he had his moment. He only breathed while Garrett pulled him closer with the two arms necessary to soothe him.

How could something so stupid scare him so badly? There had always been worse, and he laughed in its face when his odds were poorer. Oh, the humiliation and all of its implications, and he loathed it. 

Part of cowering went into recovering composure. At least Garrett would never tease him over things like this, and he was ever sincere in the way he would soothe his mate and offer every protection. Until now, V hadn't realized that his hands were like hooked talons, grasping at Garrett's jacket like they belonged to a threatened animal. But there was life in lifelessness, or at least a level of sentience that knew what it was doing. There was intent in inanimate limbs, a defined goal, a reason for movement and for touching V. If it was only to frighten him, to push him out of the shop, it may yet be satisfied. The desire to stay here had evaporated in an instant.

Right now, Garrett’s preoccupation lied with comforting him, so while he allowed V his time to gather his wits, massaging his back was the second-best thing Garrett could do. He pressed his lips to the top of V’s head for a subtle peck. “It’s okay. I gotcha.” The shame of it was that Garrett hadn’t been there the moment V sprang from the danger. He’d only caught the aftermath, and even then, he couldn’t see what V was seeing: he couldn’t see the harm the mannequin posed to him, logically speaking, and given that it was dark inside the shop... But who was he to doubt in V? The oddest things did tend to happen around the warlock, which was unfortunate half of the time, and only helped play at Garrett’s heartstrings. His words were above whispers, soft and grounding. “You got nothing to be afraid of anymore.” Though it irked him that he couldn’t have, perhaps, paid closer attention and stopped this before it started, at least he’d been there at all—albeit at some risk of having himself hurt by V’s cane. He’d felt it directly to the face one or two times, and neither were actually pleasant.

The warlock in his arms grumbled against his throat. “I’m not scared.”

“V...”

As if on command, he leaned back to look at Garrett. Even in the unaltered darkness, their eyes had found one another. And there was a furrow to V’s brows, the mark of stubborn pride. “I was startled,” he reasoned, as if that had made any significant difference.

The single flame ignited, held at the pair’s side for the comfort found in light amid darkness. “Swee’heart, there’s no shame in being scared, especially for good reason.”

Garrett was only meaning to comfort him, but V didn’t like to be seen through as if a strip of cellophane. But the wetness to his eyes likely didn’t help matters, and he’d forgotten about it until now, when he tipped his head down and brought a finger to his eyes to wipe the lingering tears away. How childish of him, and he hated that too; though perhaps not as ardently as he hated the sudden heat brought to his face as he guessed that embarrassment made itself manifest. “I cannot be afraid of a mannequin.” 

“V, you yelled. And you were whiter than a sheet. You scared me.”

“It was a bad surprise, and I am not scared now.”

“Okay, you weren’t,” Garrett finally relented, only sympathetic where he should have considered being impatient instead. But he wasn’t that kind of man; at least, not that kind of mate. To V. “You’re not scared, pretty boy. I believe you.” He believed in the same way he pretended not to see the shimmer in wet eyes, or the pink in pale cheeks; but at least it went a ways in giving V some relief. The sweet thing tried smiling for him regardless, bringing a hand up to pat him lightly on the cheek.

Garrett shouldn’t have to see this, no matter that V had his utmost respect or that he would always mean well. Some things simply had to be kept private, there was some shame one simply had to live with. With a spare hand, he persuaded Garrett’s away from his face. In drying his tears, V brushed off the remnants of his panic and his humiliation, heart rate be damned. He returned his gaze to his husband’s before it was missed, with new resolve summoned to the surface of peridot pools. It was forced, it was a fraction, but better that than enduring fright. He’d at least banished the rosiness from his face. The demon’s flame warmed the cool air, its orange glow revealing a little more detail than V wanted it to—but he was grateful for that anyway, as he was for the faithful anchor on his back: Garrett’s hand again.

He exhaled a breath as he bent over to collect his cane, and held it by its handle not because he needed its aid, but because he didn’t want it being yanked by some unseen force hidden in the darkness. He could do well without more contact. And another scare. “Something is here, and I think we’d be wise to take its hint,” he suggested once straightened. In his voice was an element of haste, his usual cool having taken a backseat to a more primal urge. Even with what he anticipated to encounter out in the fog, he was immediately convinced that out of doors would beat whatever was inside this dress shop by a mile. In spite of overarching discomfort, eye contact with Garrett was a little easier now that V wasn’t the center of attention. Still, he did not distance himself from his mate. He knew that the mannequin was there, it and its friends. Garrett didn’t argue him his point, but agreed with it and took V’s free hand without offering when steps toward the exit were taken.

To him, it hardly mattered how he would lie to preserve V’s feelings. What mattered was how he would protect him and preserve his life. Garrett would not dare to let him walk out of here without a proverbial but physical lifeline, and the connection that came from joined hands was one often sought after. V didn’t fight it when their fingers laced. V didn’t have to be honest with him, either. Body language spoke all.

The poor thing was tense, but he was trying not to be. In his experience, it wasn’t often that inanimate things would come to life and reach out to him. The surprise in that, and in feeling a limb on his body in such a fashion that triggered souring reminders of long-held personal fears, worked as one to unsettle him so completely that he would want to be anywhere but here, and it succeeded. Garrett was sanctuary, so to him V stayed close. The twosome left the past very well in the past and the door to close slowly behind them. They hadn’t heard it, and they hadn’t looked to make certain. Outside, the world was gray and dark, and cold, and a new sensation of oppression lingered like low cloud cover, suspended above their heads. The fog sat thickly, obscuring visibility to the point that nothing beyond a foot in front of them could be made out with detail. The setting of the sun changed things; far be it from V to have ever expected a change for the better.

“We’d be better off if we got outta here.”

The urge to agree was powerful, but it wasn’t defeating. Rather than look in the rough direction they’d come from, V stared into the fog that went on with no apparent end, deeper inside the village. He wondered about that boy from before, worried slightly over his safety if he had somehow lived in Goussainville Vieux-Pays. This place was no place for anyone still alive, much less for children and the ill-equipped. It wouldn’t have been right to leave him here, but it was the desire to discover the root of what was so twisted about the village, and potentially set it right, that motivated V to want to press on. He’d experienced a lot in his lifetime as far as the diabolical went, and he knew that, in general, it was best to nip a problem in the bud before it spread, grew, evolved, bloomed. Perhaps it was a stretch to assume already that devilry was at play, but if not that, then what else? His hand squeezed around Garrett’s, tense for half a second like a pulse, before relaxing. A silent signal to him that freedom would be a way off yet.

“You never know what is enough unless you know what is more than enough.” Words spoken aloud, but they were meant for himself to hear. An unfortunate reflection on V’s modus operandi, his usual attitude toward a question that begged answering, a problem that begged fixing. There was the need to remind himself of that, as if he’d had a duty to fulfill by instinct alone. It is never enough until it’s too much, and he doesn’t tend to know that until he’s over the edge and wishing he’d never tipped over it in the first place. Garrett had to learn that about him the hard way, but at least they always lived to tell about it. A tug of hands, a look of sorry dissent, and though there was initial resistance from his mate, V began on his way in loving company, in search of the supposed problem, the answer to the burning question.

What is happening here?

[aliypop]

That's Alright For Such a Night (Rewrite Chapter 8)

Word Count: 3,038

Writers Note: So far I'm enjoying rewriting this, and Now I'm adding and Rewriting my fanfic series Anyway you do into it to really solidify the timeline.

Warning: mostly fluff / Historic Language and Values

Pairing: POC OC x Elvis

Plot: During the Louisiana Hayride two breakout stars meet in a rush only to learn they've dealt their cards in the hands of fate.

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9

Nashville, Tennessee, October 1959

Cecelia ran upstairs to her old room, plunging herself into her mattress. Cecelia was heartbroken by what her mother was implying.

"I'll talk to her," Midge smiled,

"You sure?"

"Yeah." 

 The remaining posters of Frank Sinatra on her walls, the signed Dean Martin one from New York, and her Elvis Record Collection were all she wanted to be surrounded by,

 "Cece, can I come in?" Midge asked as Cecelia grumbled, the song Heartbreak Hotel fading out into the distance. 

"Oh my God, we're not doing this again, are you?" She heard her rewind the record. The last time this happened was the night at Russwood, and before that, on one of their tours, he had brought another girl into his hotel room.

"Well, since my Elvis left me... BRAWM BRAWM!" Cecelia sang,

 "I have nowhere to dwell, BRAWM BRAWM!" Cecelia shouted into her pillow, "It's right at the end of Lonely Street and-" Midge walked in as she saw Cecelia with her guitar, sobbing lyrics like a madman. 

"You're obsessed with him..." Midge laughed. 

"I'm not obsessed. I'm in love with him, Midge." she sighed, "My heart aches when he's away, and I." Cecelia began to get frustrated trying to find the words. 

It had been a while since Midge was in her twenties and in love, 

"I never met anyone like him."

"Cece, you've met plenty of men like him, "

"No, I haven't. The actors and heartthrobs aren't the same. When I'm with Elvis, I feel at home." she smiled, "It feels like home Like I can do anything with him." She smiled, " Last year, I was having dinner with his family, and we just sat there and had a conversation with just our facial expressions until his mother told us to stop." She giggled, thinking about it as Midge listened. 

"What else, kid?" 

"We talked one time for so long when we said good night, it was morning," 

"So why are you so down then?"

"I know he and I could never be married," she sighed, "Face it, the world would eat us up alive. You wouldn't get it, Midge." 

"Oh, sure, the woman who got married in San Fran to her wife doesn't understand." 

"I owe Richard 10 bucks."

"You two had a bet..."

"Not the point, Midge. "

"Well, if you love him all that much, tell him," Midge smiled, "Tell him he gives you fever like Peggy Lee once said."

"He definitely gives me fever." she bit her lip as Midge laughed, "When he dances, it's like boom, I'm pregnant, Midge, really I am." Midge laughed as Cecelia laughed along. 

"Look, If I weren't in my thirties and married to Cheryl, who I love, One night with him would be all I'd be praying for" Cecelia hit her with a pillow.

"WHY YOU LITTLE!" Midge threw a pillow back at her as Cecelia fell over. The two kept going back and forth like siblings until she realized what Cecelia was doing. 

"Now, why do you really think you two couldn't be together and don't avoid it this time?"

Cecelia took a deep breath, looking at the picture on her dresser,

"I should uh get going. I have a flight soon."

"Cece."

"Because of our skin," Cecelia sighed. Midge knew what she meant, but she also knew something else,

"If that bothered Elvis, he'd never have given you the time of day as his girlfriend." she held her hand, "So own, be proud and honestly... To hell with your mother's thoughts." 

January 7th 1960

Dear Cecelia,

I hope you like the fur coat I sent you. I know it's not much of a birthday gift, but I wanted to give my best girl something. I hope it matches the earrings I got you from France for Christmas.

 I know it's been hard trying to keep up with dates by a piece of paper, but they're saying pretty soon I'll be back, and I can take you on as many dates as I owe you. 

I also forgot to mention I heard your Christmas record. You sang the hell out of Blue Christmas. It made me wonder, were you thinking of me? 

January 8th 1960

My Dearest, Elvis 

By the time you've read this, it should be your birthday. I did enjoy the coat. It was perfect, though you didn't need to get me anything. Hearing from you is always enough. But! I hope you received the new guitar I got you. I know it's not much, but it's custom-made. 

A few friends of yours told me what to get you. 

And yes, to answer your question, I was thinking about you. I always am. My mother the other day was thinking of you, too. But that doesn't matter. I want to tell you everything whenever you return if you ever return.

          With love,

                         Cecelia S Valmos

Graceland March 7th 1960

"Vernon, Why'd you call us here?" Denise asked as Midge looked at the fleet of fans at the gate. Would Denise willingly let Cecelia endure that every day? 

"I got word in that. Elv-" Cecelia walked by, straightening things up, 

"We only have 15 days until he arrives!" Cecelia smirked. Denise then rolled her eyes at her daughter, 

" As you were saying, Vernon?" 

"Elvi-" 

"Midge, could you help me pick out what I'll wear when he returns? I want it to be special!" Midge nodded, 

"The dress you have on now is fine, Cece." Midge chuckled, watching her run around.

"The pencil skirt suit is perfect."Cecelia shrugged,

"It's not about what's on the dress. It's about what's under it." Midge smirked, "Think about that."

"I was saying E-"

 Cecelia gasped, seeing the limo outside. She wondered if it was a guest that no one told her about or if was it some big shot again coming to bother her. Peaking from the door, she saw the top half of a uniform. As she ran out the door shouting,

 "ELVIS IS BACK!!!"

"Cecelia Shanel Valmos, calm down!"

"I was trying to tell you," Vernon smirked,

"Hey, baby." he smiled as he kissed her forehead. Cecelia was still attached to him, 

"Hiya honey." she looked up at him, backing away and saluting him, "Sergeant Presley," He then looked at her outfit as he bit his bottom lip. Her eyes were burning with a lusty look that he couldn't ignore. His leather gloves were still on his hands, and Cecelia was thinking how many push-ups, could he do on top of her.

"What'cha lookin at, doll?"

"Mhmm, me nothing." she took him by the tie and guided him into the house,

"No, hello for me."

"Tom." Denise spat out. Her heels clicked back into the house.

Elvis picked Cecelia up bridal style as he kissed her nose, "I got so many stories to share." they said in unison, laughing. 

Sitting at the dinner table, Cecelia sat next to Elvis as he talked about his stories in the military, some she had heard about during his arrival interview. 

"So there was this girl..." and the empty pit of her stomach dropped again. Cecelia was already feeling nauseous as he started the sentence. Midge could tell, and so could Denise, who didn't want to say I told you so just yet, 

"She was a pretty thing, funny too; her father was in the Air Force, and she'd give me advice on this beautiful woman back home," he smirked as Cecelia nodded. 

"What is this woman like?" Denise asked,

"Yeah, what's she like," Vernon asked, looking over at Cecelia, who appeared to get sicker by the second. 

"Oh, she's a beautiful woman, got a smile that makes the sunshine seem dim." he laughed, "And when she sings." 

"I'm feeling a bit tired. I think I'll rest for the evening." Cecelia said, trying not to cry. Standing up, she went outside to sit under a tree. It was brisk, but she'd manage. For once, she thought she'd find someone who wouldn't have left or replaced her. But here she was again, alone and in her own head. 

"Well, don't just stand there, Mr. Presley, go after her!" Denise said in a demanding tone. Elvis ran after her as Midge laughed, "I feel like I'm watching one of his movies with Cece." she joked as the tension of suspense between the two parents was thick. 

"Cecelia, there you are!" Elvis smiled, sitting next to her. Cecelia, however, wouldn't look at him, 

"Cece... If I did something or..."

"Did our letters mean anything..."

"Doll..."

"Did they mean anything!" she looked at him, her eyes glassy with tears, "Maybe my mother was right..." she laughed, "Right about what..." 

"You would hurt me... just like he did." 

"Like who? Cece, you're scaring me." 

"My father." she sighed, the hole in her heart opened wide as she said it. 

"Sometimes, I can still see him leaving from the doorstep."

"Wanna tell me about it?"

Raleigh, North Carolina, June 10th 1941

"Are you lonesome tonight? Do you miss me tonight?"

Fireflies flew around the porch of a white one leveled house. Sitting on the porch swing was a six-year-old brown-skinned girl. She'd been out there for what was almost a week. Tears streaming down her face as she held onto her Mickey Mouse stuffed animal. It was always her favorite because he gave her that toy.  

 "You've gotta eat something pumpkin." her mother said, sitting next to her.

"I want him to come back." The little girl had tears in her eyes. 

"I'm afraid he's not going to." She noticed her mother's wedding ring was gone from her finger. 

It had been two weeks now. Another night of her crying, he had stopped writing her letters and giving her empty promises he couldn't keep. "

We'll be okay..." she smiled, "I'll fix it... We'll move to somewhere nice, and I'll record again. "You'll never have to hurt again. I promise"

"I want daddy back..." she cried harder, "I want him back now!"

"CECELIA HE'S NOT COMING BACK!" Denise shouted as her daughter cried harder, "HE'S GONE, HE LEFT, HE DOESN'T LOVE US ANYMORE!"

Does your memory stray to a bright summer day

When I kissed you and called you sweetheart?

All he had left to show for it was his White Falcon guitar that she cherished ever so much.

Graceland March 7th 1960

" I don't want to be that little girl again crying endlessly, waiting for you to come back, and then you don't." she sighed, "So tell me if you love me or another," Elvis then looked at her, his finger under her chin as he pulled her face closer to him,

 "Well, doll, if you hadn't run out, I was gonna..." Looking into his pockets, he tried to feel around for a box,

 "Well... you were gonna what..." he kept looking for the box,

 "God damn it... Shit, I think I lost it..." he groaned, 

"You lost what..."

"Hey, what's this little box doing in the chair!" Midgie said, picking it up as Denise took it from her and opened it,

 "Vernon, it's a ring." 

"A ring?" 

"A ring!"

"Shit, everyone scatter and and find him!" Midge shouted

"Darlin, I was gonna ask you something." he smiled, taking her hand, "I guess I can still ask it, but uh, I-I have never been so sure and so damn nervous about something." he took a deep breath. 

"Spit it out!" Cecelia laughed, looking into his eyes. 

"Darlin, I want you in my life forever. And-"

" I FOUND THEM. CECELIA SAYS YES!!!" Denise shouted

"Mother, what are you on about..." Cecelia stood up as her attention turned to face everyone at the doorstep. Standing there on bended knee was,

 "Elvis, are you?" Midge ran as she handed him the ring,

"I'm tryin to." he laughed as she nearly tackled him and kissed him, 

"Is that a yes?"

"Does Little Richard wear eyeliner." she joked as he picked her up. 

"She said yes!" 

"I've got to tell The Colonel..." 

"I'd keep that secret to him." Denise smiled, "I'd keep the wedding a secret; It'd be safe for you both." she mentioned as Cecelia nodded, 

"We'll try to keep it a secret,"

"Cecelia..." Denise glanced at her daughter.

"Don't worry, we got this," Cecelia said as she kissed Elvis.

Fontainebleau Hotel Florida March 26th, 1960

"Remember Cecelia, smile." Cecelia nodded, walking down in a black low-cut sweetheart gown with Dior gloves. Cecelia's hair slicked back into a bun full of pin curls.

"You look so beautiful, Cece." Midge smiled, "Thanks, I'm nervous, singing a jazz song on a show I only know a little about..." her eyes averted to Elvis as he walked by in his suit,

 "Hey, Mama, you're..." looking at her dress, he couldn't help but stare at her beauty, "

Your hands are shakin honey." She ran to his side to hold them,

"I'm a little nervous, darlin," Elvis said as she kissed his hands, 

"You'll be fine. I know it's been two years, but if you get nervous, know I'm rootin' you on." 

"Ms. Valmos, you're on." Cecelia nodded, almost forgetting that was still her last name to the public, "

Wish me luck." Cecelia was hired as a last-minute solution to the show, but the people of Miami still seemed to love her,  

"So you didn't tell her whose show it was," Midge smirked, 

"Nope, I wanted it to be a surprise," Denise smiled, 

"I never thought I'd hear her sing jazz..." Midge laughed,

"It's in her blood." Denise watched. On the other side of the stage was The Colonel and Elvis, who had the most love-sick grin on his face. It was as if he was watching her perform for the first time. He was. It was like Elvis had those same butterflies from The Hayride all over again, but when he was looking at Cecelia, he felt alright again. When she finished performing, she passed him as he looked her way.

"Focus, you and Sinatra go on next," Tom whispered,

Cecelia turned to see Frank Sinatra walk past her, her heart nearly fluttering. Denise could see the whole interaction happening on the other side of the stage as she chuckled, 

Cecelia was in a dream. She had to be to witness both Elvis and Frank on a stage singing. Never in her 26 years of being alive would she have thought to see this happen.

 When filming wrapped, Elvis walked over to Denise, who was looking at Cecelia, who was looking at Frank Sinatra. "Anyone seen Cece?" he asked, hands still shaky. 

"Swooning over swoonatra." Midge laughed, 

"I see." he sighed. Playfully as Denise heard the jealous tone in his voice,

 "Ah...ah... Green is not your color, dear." She smirked, "Think of it as a schoolgirl crush. After all, she's married to you." Denise mentioned, 

"If you really wanna woo her, introduce her to him. He's like her childhood crush." Midge suggested, "Think of it as a gift." 

" I doubt I'm gonna like what happens next." Elvis walked over to Cecelia as he pulled her close to him, "Hey, doll."

"Hey, honeypie." Cecelia smiled, "You were amazing up there."

"Me...Please now you, you were breathtaking." he smiled, "But speakin' of that... How'd you like to meet Mr. Blue Eyes himself." 

"El, you wouldn't... " she gasped, "He's like my childhood crush!" she grinned, 

"Presley!" Frank Sinatra smiled, waving him over, "Welcome back once again."

"Thank you, sir. Uh, have you met Cecelia Valmos?" 

" Denise's little girl!" Frank Sinatra smiled, "You've grown up to be a beautiful young lady." he winked as Cecelia turned bright red, "Gosh, I remember when you were just a little baby and your mother would have you nap in my dressin room, now look at you!

"Th-Thank you." Cecelia stammered as she stood next to Elvis.

"You know, if you two aren't together, then you should be. You two make quite a couple, after all." He winked, and Frank took her hand as he kissed it, "Ms. Valmos, Presley." Cecelia froze as Elvis and Frank laughed, 

"I still got it, Denise. Thanks again for the favor." 

"Are we that obvious?" Elvis asked as Cecelia looked at him,

"Well... there were those instances back in the '50s." she laughed, giving him a quick peck.

"I guess you're right Mrs. Presley."

"I guess I am, Mr. Presley." 

Nashville, Tennessee, April, 1960

The sweet sounds of the violin came from the recording studio as Cecelia played,

 "Rock N Roll and Violin?" Midge said from the other side of the booth, 

"It's for a movie, Midge." She took a deep breath, "Movies, you're doing movies again..." Midge chuckled, 

"Yes, I'm working on a soundtrack first, but it's a romance about a showgirl, who falls in love with this lounge singer... and he's from a dangerous crime family and-"

"Elvis is the love interest..." Midge playfully asked,

"If I can pitch it to a studio, and they take interest." she smiled, 

"Honey, it's 1960..."

"Exactly, times are changing." Cecelia smiled, "And besides, I'm tired of hiding that I'm with my babydoll..." she grumbled, "

" I want the world to know Midge."

"The world to know what Darlin." Elvis walked into the recording booth. 

"That I'm in love with you, and I'm your wife." She kissed him. Elvis kissed her back as he held her close to him.

 "What brings you by Mr. Presley." 

"Hello to you too, Midge." he laughed, 

"Well, I have news."

"Tell me." 

"I'm filming another movie in Hollywood," he smiled as Midge laughed,

 "Oh God, this is great. I can finally stop watching King Creole!" 

"Don't mind her El," Cecelia smiled,

"Well, I won't, but I was wondering if you'd come to Hollywood with me. I know you've been workin on something, and maybe this could be your chance." He smiled at her.

"How did you know?"

"You left the script on the table, and I read it, well, I couldn't put it down really." he chuckled, 

"Oh, El..." she blushed hard, 

"It's true, I think you've got somethin good, and I wanna support your dream the best I can."

"You already are by being my husband."

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