#WELL MONTY CHANGED THE DOOR OBVIOUSLY

[oisiflaneur]

completely valid and also somehow nearly universal response to zero escape:

Nothing makes me want to call math fake as much as the Monty Hall problem. Not even 0.999999... equaling 1. Yes I understand the proof yes it technically makes sense but I just hate the Monty Hall problem so, so much.

[nevermorgue]

Hello Hayley! I've been binge reading your Nevermore headcanons and I LOVE every single one. If you're taking requests, may I ask for some Montresor and Morella friendship headcanons please? I feel like they would tease each other, but be able to bond over a shared love of food. Thank you for all of your work :D

YES!!! I was so inspired by pluto’s morella and monty platonic art in the server. i love the idea of them getting along. but to start, i’m gonna be evil

- Obviously things wouldn’t go so great. Morella doesn’t like him and actively stands up against his nonsense. Montresor probably only sees her spectre, really. He understands that her defense skills are necessary. Probably thinks she’s too kind hearted. Probably also thinks she’s stupid to some degree, but not entirely because of how she stood up to him.

- I can only imagine their relationship changing if Morella just kinda forced herself to tolerate him to keep the peace as much as possible. She doesn’t want unnecessary problems to arise (like the wall thing) nor does she want to feed into what he wants (her to snap/react)

- So her method is to attempt to treat him the way she treats everyone else. Montresor finds it amusing, using her kindness against her and purposely being worse to get her to break.

- That backfires. He’s trying to put her on a Will/Ada level, but Morella is too headstrong to be fooled. She’s kind to be kind, and his pleasantries don’t work on her. If anything, she’s more responsive when he drops the whole charisma thing- because he’s being REAL.

- With this dynamic established. Imagine. She’s a great cook. She ends up making a big meal for the misfits and is oh so kind enough to save a bowl for him. She knows damn well he doesn’t deserve it, but her continuing to be nice to him despite how horrible he is…it’s kinda like a game between them now. She’s trying to say she’s better than him with every kind act. And he’s not only entertained/mildly pissed, but he’s stubborn and wants her to snap and drop the act so he plays along.

- “Lemme guess, doll. Poison’s in here. Naw…maybe dirt.”

“Just spices and care, Montresor. Try it!”

And of course, it tastes fantastic. He says it tastes like shit and slams the door in her face. He eats the entire bowl.

- As time goes on, Montresor doesn’t realize it but he’s starting to see her as less of a game like his lackeys and more of a neutral company that he doesn’t really necessarily hate. And he can tell that their ‘game’ goes more and more stagnant as Morella becomes less faux-kind, allowing herself to pout or scold him. It’s become less of a “try to get the other to back off” and more of a natural sort of interaction.

- She genuinely asks him if he’s ever brushed his hair in his life. He proceeds to answer by running his fingers through his hair, only to cuss when he hits a particularly nasty knot.

- She just kinda tosses a spare hair brush at him. She’s not willing enough to touch him/comb his greasy ass hair for him, but at least gives him the means to do it himself.

- I do agree that they bond over food. They have big stomachs and Morella is just so good at cooking.

- Ada invites Morella to sit with her and Monty in the common area once. She was hesitant, but agrees after she’s encouraged by the misfits to go for some strange reason.

- But once the interaction starts, Morella can tell that Ada doesn’t really want her there. She keeps glaring and tugging Montresor’s sleeve, as she always does.

- It doesn’t dawn on her why she was invited until Ada spills it.

“Why did you want her here so bad, dear? I wanted my alone time with you…” Ada would whine. Ada doesn’t HATE Morella, but she’s still not very happy about their argument in the cellar.

Morella can’t believe what she’s hearing. It wasn’t Ada that wanted her here- but Montresor

- She grins. She has no idea what their relationship really is or if it can be anything other than a okayish neutral, but perhaps this moment right here is proof that Monty can feel something that isn’t cruel or unnecessary.

- And Montresor? Refuses to look her in the eye. She’s not terrible. But don’t get him wrong, it’s only because she’s in the middle. Not smart enough to be on Annabel or Prospero’s strategy levels, but not pushover-y enough to be of any use to him. That’s it.

[hideawaysplace]

Rockstar Freddy found counting coins therapeutic, a way to calm himself, considering the current circumstances and the fact everyone seemed to willingly get along with the Glamrocks.

He understood Lefty’s kindness, he was always open to others, and given the other bear also being a father, them getting along was reasonable and he could tolerate it. He couldn’t stand the other Rockstars getting along with the Glamrocks through.

He did talk to them about those shiny bots stealing their business.

He huffed and slid a coin tower across to the other organized towers.

He heard a knock at the door.

“Who is it?” He asked, assuming it was most likely Bonnie as he usually didn’t get anyone else visiting him.

“It is me.”

His face immediately soured, he didn’t want to let him in but he knew if he didn’t he would be scolded about it later.

“Come in.”

The door opened and Glamrock Freddy slowly stepped into the room.

“What do you want?”

“I was looking for you.”

“Well you found me, you may now leave, I’m busy.”

“Can I please just talk to you?” Glamrock Freddy pleaded, “I want to get rid of this horrible tension in the air.”

“Alright, speak then,” Rockstar Freddy sneered, “Then get out.”

He nodded, “I know… We certainly have not gotten off on the best foot, I know, my only excuse is that I expected friendship right away because I easily befriended Lefty and Helpy and it was not fair to also expect you to warm up to me immediately.”

Rockstar Freddy ignored him, going back to stacking coins.

“I just hope this doesn’t negatively affect things with everyone else, I mean— have you seen the Rockstar Chica getting along with Glamrock Chica? They click so well, I mean, your Chica obviously loves making food and ours loves eating! It’s perfect! Oh and Roxy and Foxy? They’re actually bringing out the best in each other. Foxy was encouraging Roxy to do her best and have fun at the race course yesterday, I thought Roxy would fight him honestly but nope they get along swell! The Daycare Attendant also with Security, I’ve seen them having these tea parties together, well Security does not call them tea parties but they get along very good. And your Bonnie is actually starting to warm up to Monty which is fantastic! The DJ has not met your Music Man but they’ve talked over the screen and they really have great conversations about music, both so passionate about everything! I do get along too with Lefty—“

“So I’ve noticed,” Rockstar Freddy replied in a very cold sounding tone which startled Glamrock Freddy. “You have much in common, you’ve spend a lot of time with him.”

“Uh— Yes we do,” He lost track of his words for a moment, given Rockstar Freddy’s tone, “Look, we can all get along obviously, I do not want you to be alone and isolate yourself while everyone else is having fun, you do not have to spend time with me per say but I think you being alone is not okay. Bonnie- Your Bonnie told me you don’t usually isolate yourself, you like to be involved and I can only think it is because of me.”

Rockstar Freddy raised his eyebrow.

“I just hope one day we can get along and be friends, not right now of course, I think you are a strong leader and a good influence on your band and I think we could get along very well, not just for the sake of this collaboration, but for friendship.”

Rockstar Freddy stopped counting the coins.

“You don’t get it do you?”

Glamrock Freddy frowned.

“I don’t want to be your friend,” Rockstar Freddy pushed one coin tower towards the group of coin towers. “I don’t even like you, I don’t like your Chica, I don’t like Monty, I don’t like Roxy, I don’t like DJ, I don’t like the Daycare Attendant, I don’t care about any of you. I tolerate you, merely because Lefty likes your company, however his opinion doesn’t change mine.”

“I do not understand, what did I do wrong?” Glamrock Freddy asked.

“Your existence! You fail to realize but since this place opened, we’ve lost 20% of business! Our former customers are coming here instead because you apparently have “more to offer”! Due to the sheer size of this place we can’t even compete with you! It is on a slow decline but I know the decline may get more rapid, we might be on a sinking ship, me, the Rockstars, including Lefty, you might drive us out of business! What are we supposed to do if that happens?! We’ll all be scrap metal!”

“We could all work together.”

“Why would I work with the bear that’s stealing our customers? This isn’t even a fair level, your Pizzaplex is huge, we’ve only got so much we can offer to people but they will always go for more, it’s so unfair, you aren’t even fair competition, you make our pizzeria look like cheap trash!”

Glamrock Freddy was trying to calculate a response to his words when Rockstar Freddy snapped his fingers.

“Get out,” He pointed to the door, “I don’t want to see your brightly colored face.”

Instead of arguing Glamrock Freddy just nodded and left the room.

[corpus-vak]

My dudes, no, look. Unless you don't want to get dragged into maths bullshit, in which case don't.

The thing is that the probabilities are all set in at the beginning. I hope we can all agree the maths works the same with three doors as it does with a hundred, because I find that gives a better intuition:

Imagine Honty Mall. He's much lazier than Monty, so he hasn't bothered with the goats. He sets you up with a hundred doors, one of them has a car. You don't care about goats, so we're still the same.

You pick your door; you have a 1% chance of being right. This also means you have a 99% chance of being wrong.

Honty really is lazy, so he goes 'I'm not going to even open the doors, want to swap for all the other doors?'. If you swap, you've gone from a 1% chance of being right to a 99% of being right.

This is the same setup as Monty Hall (assuming you don't care about goats). The only difference is that Monty shows you 98 goats. Honty can't be bothered, but, you know, the lack of goat is still all there. He could open the doors, but he doesn't want to, because you're still winning the same amount of lack of goat.

I think the argument about Monty having agency about which doors to show you the goat behind fail because that's actually the 1% chance that swapping isn't better for you, because you were actually right the first time. If Monty has agency to show you his choice of doors with goats, it's because there isn't a car, because you hit that 1% chance of being right the first time; then swapping is obviously worse, because it's swapping your 99% chance of being wrong for being, but you were right so now you're wrong.

The car doesn't move; your initial choice doesn't change. The die has been cast and there's no probability to happen after you've made your choice, before Monty does anything (which is why Honty doesn't have to do anything).

A different intuition pump that also helped me out:

Consider a Double Regular Monty, where there's 1 goat and 2 cars. If Monty shows you a goat, you can freely swap because you know where the only goat is. If he can't show you the goat, the you know you have it, but also we've broken the system. OK, now lets blow that out to 100 doors, but still 2 cars. Monty opens 97 doors showing goats, so you end up with your door, plus a choice of two others. Becuase you can see 97 goats, you know there's a goat and 2 cars left, but now you have much more limited information.

You still have a 2% chance of being right the first time around; let's flip that around: 98% of the time you've picked a goat.

That means 98% of the time, the only 2 doors that can be left have cars.

What about the 2% of the time you picked a car: well you now have a 50/50 shot, because the two remaining doors are one car and one goat.

So 98% of the time you win 100% of the time, and 2% of the time you have a 50% chance of winning, so swapping means you win 99% of the time.

[notquitecogent]

does it feel like magic?

A little contribution to @hellcheer-au-week!

This is to satisfy the prompts Supernatural/Fantasy Setting, Workplace Setting and Rivals.

Look, I don't know where this came from but I'm trying to stretch myself a bit and actually write a multi-chapter with *gasp* a plot!

Rating/Tags may change.

TITLE: does it feel like magic?

PAIRING: Chrissy Cunningham/Eddie Munson (F/M), Stranger Things

RATING: Mature

WORD COUNT: ~3,000

CHAPTER COUNT: 1/3

WARNINGS: recreational drug use, swearing, egregious werewolf lore, attempted banter SUMMARY: In a parallel world of infinite magical possibilities, enterprising young werewolf Eddie Munson is doing... exactly what he'd do in any other universe: desperately trying to scrape together enough money to both survive *and* finally get Corroded Coffin's demo recorded.

The way to do it? Win The Hawk's Nest's Bartender Of The Month grand mega prize. The only thing standing in his way? The new girl on staff, who just so happens to be hiding a few secrets of her own.

** A silly little workplace AU where Werewolf!Eddie and Fae!Chrissy are rival bartenders at a dive in Fantasy Chicago. Read below or on Ao3.

What the FUCK. 

He’s been working at this bar for two years now, building up a steady stream of regulars – not to mention the other members of Corroded Coffin, a solid 40 percent of the Chicago metal community, and his pack (well, if that’s what you could call Jerry the undertaker and Tim from the McDonald’s drive-thru) – and yet none of it seems to count for anything, because the new chick is about to overtake him and win the ultimate, supremo, MEGA jar of tips that’s rightfully his. 

Bartender of the Month, Monty called it; the owner of The Hawk’s Nest had made the competition a signature of the place a year ago to try and drum up more business. It was a dumb gimmick, sure, but it made everyone lift their game, competing to see who could get the most people through the dive’s dingy wooden door. 

And it had worked; the place was hopping most nights, crowded with humans, fae, lycans and more. Harrington had managed to get a bunch of college kids to celebrate their various athletic endeavours there, as well as inviting the many friends (and friends-of-friends) of his steady stream dates – not that any of them came back after the inevitable dumping.

But Fridays belonged to Eddie. It went like this: he’d get into a bit of a groove on whatever topic caught his fancy, climb up on the bar making outlandish pronouncements as he poured whisky into the waiting mouths of his loyal acolytes, and if they asked very nicely (and they always did) whip out Maria and blast them with a ravenous solo until he was dripping with sweat. Then he’d shuck off his inevitably ripped T-shirt, pull beers until 4am, and head home with whoever was left standing. 

Up until two weeks ago, it was a strategy that served him very well. He was leagues ahead of Harrington, his next closest competitor, and the prize – the aforementioned comically oversized cash-stuffed jar – was so close he could taste it. It would more than cover the cost of finally recording a real, honest-to-Satan Corroded Coffin demo, and maybe then all his dreams would come blisteringly true. 

Then she turned up. 

Christine (“it’s just Chrissy, actually” well fuck that, he’d call her by her full name just to piss her off) had swished into his orbit like a little blonde sugarplum fairy, like a cherry blossom come to life in her fluffy pink crop top and pristine white jean shorts. 

She looked unbelievably out of place against the dark panelled walls and sticky floors of the Nest, and he was sure she’d wandered into the wrong place – even told her so (nicely, obviously, just a “Hey, can I help you find where you need to be?”) – until Monty came out and drew her into a warm hug. 

“Chrissy, sweetheart, how are you?” he’d smiled as he stepped back to give her a proper look. “How’s school?” 

“School’s great, Uncle Monty,” Chrissy gave him a sweet, reassuring smile, and to most, it would have seemed genuine, but something about her steel blue gaze tingled Eddie’s wolf-sense. She was lying. 

Monty didn’t seem to have noticed.

“This little lady is practically my niece,” the older man explained. “Dad was my roommate in college. Best friends,” he said fondly, rubbing Chrissy’s shoulder. 

Oh joy, a nepotism hire, Eddie thought, scrubbing the bar slightly more aggressively than before. 

“Chris, why don’t you help Eddie get everything set up? You can start your first shift tonight.”

Monty’s portly figure shuffled back toward his office, brushing Eddie’s shoulder as he went. “Look after her, would you?” he murmured earnestly.

Chrissy certainly seemed like she needed to be looked after; she was so petite she could practically fit in his pocket, and she gave him a cute little half wave as Monty’s door clicked shut. 

It was kind of hard to look at her directly, actually; the late afternoon light seemed to bounce off her hair, casting a hazy red-gold glow around her big eyes and full lips. In fact, it seemed like all the light in the room was attracted to Chrissy – like she was some kind of magnet for sunbeams or something. 

“Eddie?” she said sweetly, her voice high and tinkly. 

Wind chimes, he thought dimly, standing there squinting at her like an idiot. 

“Huh?” 

He shook his head; for some reason, it felt suddenly full of cotton wool, even though he was definitely completely sober. It’d be almost impossible for him to get drunk or stoned this close to the full moon anyway – even wolfsbane wouldn’t do it the week of his change. 

In fact, all his senses were supposed to be heightened at this point; sight. Sound. Smell. He scented the air discreetly. Even amidst the usual empty bar scents – stale beer, pretzels, disinfectant – he could still pick hers out. It was like... an orchard, or maybe a meadow. 

Flowers, and fresh air, and ripe fruit bursting with juice. 

His wolf-self imagined sinking its teeth into her flesh, piercing through it like the fragile, fuzzy skin of a peach. She’d taste sweet, it thought. 

He felt a familiar heat lick up his spine, and mentally slapped himself. He couldn’t let the wolf get carried away – not this close to the moon change. Instead, he tried for nonchalance. 

“You ever worked in a bar before?” he asked her, quirking an eyebrow. 

Chrissy smiled brightly, showing off adorably crooked front teeth. “Never.” 

“Well, I guess now’s a good time to start. Let me show you the, uh, ropes.”

The ropes? Could he be any more creepy?

Still, she followed him down to the basement without complaint, looking around the dank room stacked high with kegs. Eddie’s nose wrinkled at the smell of yeast which always seemed to permeate the windowless space. 

“So, this is where the magic happens,” he joked. 

Chrissy looked at him for a moment, an unidentifiable emotion crossing her face, before she caught on. Her face scrunched up cutely. 

“Yeah, it definitely smells… magical.”

Eddie grinned, fiddling with one of the couplers and leaning towards her conspiratorially. “I wish I could say you get used to it, but it’s been two years for me, and… it’s honestly worse.” 

He must have been distracted by Chrissy’s responding giggle or something, because at that very moment a volcano of foam began pouring out the top of the keg, soaking his hands and the hem of his shirt. 

“Shit!” he yelped, frantically moving to readjust the coupler and stop the flow. 

“Oh my gosh, Eddie!” said Chrissy, moving toward him.

“No no no, this is all. Part. Of. The. Training,” he grunted back as he turned the heavy metal cylinder to check the pressure gauge. “This is definitely going to be on the final exam, so, you know, take notes.”

Chrissy smiled ruefully. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

“Get me a fresh shirt? There’s one in my bag under the bar.”

She nodded, her strawberry blonde ponytail bobbing and swishing as she turned and climbed back up the stairs while Eddie kept his gaze firmly on the puddle of amber fluid in front of him and not on her back pockets. 

She returned a few minutes later with his backup T-shirt (thank God he’d thought to wash it), and averted her gaze as he swapped it for the beer-soaked one. It wasn’t until he’d pulled black cotton over his stomach that he realised she was blushing; something strange and new in her flower-and-fruit scent.

“So, uh, how about I show you how to tap these kegs properly? ” he said, clearing his throat and attempting a light-hearted tone.

Chrissy showed all her teeth as she grinned, “Oh, you mean that wasn’t the proper way?”

**

After a thorough keg tutorial, Eddie moved on to showing Chrissy how to pull beers – anticipating a long evening of babysitting as she dropped glasses and poured with too much head. 

But, as it turned out, she was a total natural. The girl – young woman, actually; she’d mentioned she was a junior at Northwestern, which by his calculations made them only two years apart, give or take – seemed to have some kind of psychic ability to guess people’s orders before they made them. 

She was graceful, too – especially considering his own seeming inability to navigate all three dimensions of space; there was no tripping over each other, no accidental bumps or dropped glasses or awkward side-to-side as they moved from one end of the bar to the other. 

It was like she could just tell where he was going to be and floated past accordingly, like water around a particularly uncoordinated rock. 

She was also (no exaggeration) magic at mixing cocktails, pouring and stirring and shaking concoctions that had the Nest’s jaded patrons rolling their eyes in pleasure. 

The sight made her giggle with delight (which he’d usually find fake and calculated, but on her it was so genuine he couldn’t help but be endeared) – and even though it was well past midnight, the glow from the afternoon seemed to linger around her like a halo. 

He had to keep stopping himself from staring at her too long, particularly when a song she liked came on and she started humming and singing along, swaying her hips to the beat.

In fact, Eddie had a stupid grin plastered on his face all shift… until his eyes flew to the tip jar labelled Chrissy, with a little heart over the ‘i’. Sure, he’d expected a cute female bartender (yes, she was cute, especially with her legs and the curve of her bare waist in full view) would get a few extra bucks here and there, particularly from certain members of the Nest’s clientele – but nothing like this. 

He never expected her to out-earn his tips on her first goddamn night. 

His good mood practically evaporated in a second, and Eddie had worked himself up into a mild seethe by the time he made it back to the apartment. 

Unfortunately, the wolf made his emotions run hotter than usual this time of the month, while simultaneously rendering his go-to method of calming down – a fat wolfsbane-laced joint – entirely useless. 

His body fizzed with nervous energy as he paced the living room, trying not to wake Argyle. His roommate was usually a heavy sleeper, but Eddie had a knack for clumsily knocking over – or into – any and all of their furniture (the aforementioned struggle with three-dimensional space). 

He threw himself down on the couch face first, groaning into a throw pillow. 

He was so close to making it all happen. How many months had they been waiting to get studio time? This was their shot, their chance. How much longer would he have before Gareth and Jeff and Grant graduated and moved away? A year? Less? 

There was no way Corroded Coffin could stay together past the summer – not without something tangible keeping them there, like a mind-melting demo that would definitely have the greatest rock labels in the world lining up to sign them. 

Except he’d be out for at least two nights with the change (just his luck, the full moon was a Friday and he’d lose Saturday to recovering). If Chrissy’s performance over the weekend was anything like tonight, he was well and truly fucked. 

Eddie ground his teeth. His bad mood – and the busy shift that preceded it – had left him drained, and he could feel sleep creeping in at the corners of his consciousness. 

If he could just get Chrissy to quit… 

** As it turned out, his preferred tactic of simply explaining the situation failed spectacularly when he confronted her the following afternoon. 

“I’m sorry, Eddie,” she said as she daintily polished a glass (he was trying to see who could clean the most in 20 minutes, but Chrissy hadn’t seemed to realise they were in competition – even though she was, maddeningly, winning), ticking down the time until the bar opened at 5pm.

“Are you serious?” he gaped. 

She turned away, placing the glass on the shelf next to its compatriots. “I can’t just quit.” 

Eddie stared at her in shock. “I need to know if you are fucking with me right now. You’ve been here five minutes! No-one will miss you!” 

She huffed a little – for some reason, it made him think of a dandelion – and blushed light pink. It contrasted prettily with her floaty yellow sundress, he thought despite himself.

“You’re not the only one who has bills to pay, ok?”

She was trying to be patient with him, and at any other time maybe he’d have backed off – accepted she wasn’t going to change her mind. But he could almost feel the moon rising, and he was too close to getting what he wanted. The wolf would have none of it.

“So get your boyfriend or Daddy or whoever to pay them!” he snapped.

Chrissy turned back to face him; her flush had deepened, spreading down to the neckline of her dress. High spots of colour dotted her freckled cheekbones as her temper flared. 

She visibly gritted her teeth as she stared up at him, blue-grey eyes dancing. He thought she might actually stomp one of her little Ked-clad feet. 

“You’re not my friend, Eddie. You don’t know the first– the first fucking thing about me."

The wolf bristled at the challenge in her voice, the naked venom, and an answering echo of anger surged through his blood – but Chrissy was already gone, storming off towards the rest room’s graffiti-covered door (Park your junk here, God, what a stupid thing to tag). 

He heard, rather than felt, the glass break in his palm. “Shit, shit, shit! ” he fumed as he gingerly picked the shards from his bleeding skin. 

The night barely improved after that; everything seemed to drag, the customers impatient and demanding, and he surly and irritable. Chrissy stayed pissed at him, going out of her way to avoid even brushing his arm as she ducked and weaved from the taps to the till to the counter and back. 

It wasn’t like before, when they were moving in perfect sync; now, she wouldn’t even let him lean over her to reach the limes. 

He knew he’d said something to set her off, but what the hell did she mean when she said he didn’t know her at all? It wasn’t like she was hard to figure out – a pretty little rich girl from the nice side of town, probably thought the world owed her everything on a silver platter.

Bet she’d never been told no in her life. She was probably just doing this job for pocket money, anyway – trying to prove something to her dad, or whatever. 

It was such bullshit – she had other options, he didn’t. It was as simple as that. Why wouldn’t she just cut him a break?

And it was a shame, really, because it wasn’t as though she was unlikeable. That first shift had been good – great, even. She was sweet to the customers, listened to the old regulars, loved to talk about anything and everything. She hadn’t even flinched when he’d asked her to clean the urinals. 

Which made it all the more annoying when her niceness and sweetness seemed to end right where his actual real life problems began. 

Eddie’s foul mood translated to a shockingly poor haul of tips, which he blamed on Monty’s music selection (“Duran Du-fucking-ran? You can’t expect me to work in these conditions!”).

Even worse, he was staring down the barrel of his change with nothing but a bad mood and patience hanging by a thread. He knew from experience what a shitty idea it was to let the wolf take over when he was like that; it’d make him extra wild, aggressive – less able to keep control of his instincts. 

That was hard enough as it was; while Eddie considered himself more of the flight type of guy (though he’d had his fair share of fisticuffs since entering the ironically named hospitality industry), the wolf was definitely more in the fight camp. If Uncle Wayne hadn’t stepped in with the tranq gun when his teenage hormones were raging, his life would have looked very different. 

(The wolf wanted to do, er, other things too, but he’d only met two female werewolves since his turning and they were at least 10 years older than him – and much scarier than getting shot point-blank with a dart full of phenothiazine and silver sulfide.) 

“You gotta chill out, my man,” said Argyle as he slid down next to where Eddie was stewing on the couch. 

Eddie scoffed. “You got something that’ll work this close to the full moon? I’ve got, like, six hours to go.” 

The sorcerer nodded thoughtfully, his slow, soothing voice lilting, “In all my infinite wisdom, brochacho, I have procured a little something I am told will do – as they say – the trick.” 

From underneath his tie-dyed T-shirt, his roommate produced a tiny baggie of glowing gold powder. 

“Fae dust,” he explained, noticing Eddie’s confused expression as he held it up to the light. 

“And that is…?”

“The dust that is fae, my dude, the dust that is most fae. A pinch here, a pinch there, and it’s good vibes until the sun comes up.” 

Eddie twirled the baggie between his fingers. “So do I snort it, or…?” 

“Any way you like. Drink it, smoke it, under the tongue, whatever. It’ll find its way in there.”

He placed a reassuring hand on Eddie’s shoulder. “Enjoy the moon, wolf-man, and don’t forget, I have my lady friend in town, so kindly knock if you’re back before Sunday.”

[wednesdaynn]

new harry potter fic brewing: everybody lives au... differently

Harry is the boy who lived, he has the scar to prove it. but it doesn't matter anymore. He, like all other non-purebloods, have been ostracized from their own world. He lives just up the street of The Secret Phoenix School Of Magic where certain classes are taught in his old family home. the potter mansion laid in an exclusive part of england. hidden away behind forests and endless fields. The cottage down the road is where he grew up. His grandma, Effie, and his grandfather, Monty, had raised him to be a fine boy. He was always polite to strangers, cleaned up after himself, and knew to listen when the adults were talking. in return his family never dismissed his feelings. they never raised their voice, they always let him talk. considered his feelings. and made sure to give him everything he wanted, as long as he didn’t become spoiled. but one thing the potters were good at was lying, and Harry had found out. 

Hermione was a sweet young girl. with hair as uncontrollable as a lion's mane. eyes as sharp as an owl. a smile as bright as the sun. and the brain of a… well, a genius. Smart sounded more like daft when you were comparing to the likes of Hermione's thinking. quick witted with a sharp tongue, and mistrusting of everyone. she had been ecstatic when mcgonagall had shown up at her door, telling her about the world of witchcraft. she had told Hermione all about the school in which she was going to meet boys and girls just like her. Her parents couldn’t have been more proud of their little girl and Hermione was sure she could see a tear slip from her fathers eye. What she hadn’t known was that she’d be hunted down the second she stepped foot into this world. 

ron had grown up a lot like harry, humble house in wide expanses of fields, he grew up learning quidditch, helping his mom in the garden, feeding the farm animals, secretly practicing spells so to help out his mom with the house, and brothers that were the biggest inspirations to him. But the one difference between Harry and Ron, was that Molly Weasley couldn’t lie, even to protect her kids. Molly made sure her kids knew the cruel world they lived in, how much their father and their family had to sacrifice to live safely and freely. but Ron, being Ron, obviously thought his mom to not be truthful. Ron found they hadn’t sacrificed enough to be claiming to live in such a harsh reality. They get to go to Hogwarts, play Quidditch, go on to become apprentices, aurors, professors, unlike muggleborns. So Ron and his twin brothers, mischievous as they are, came up with a plan together with their old friend Tonks. they would be quitting Hogwarts and signing in to the secret school for muggleborns and make sure that the world would finally have a long overdue change. 

[fernweh-writes]

Hey, it’s me again :3

My birthday is soon(next week on the Friday)

So I wondered if you could write headcanons for the Slasher with an Birthday S/O.

Like what would they give her, what would they do on her birthday. You probably get what I mean.

But only if it’s alright and you got time, if not it’s also fine^^

I already say thank you :3💕💕(btw I really love your writing <3)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LOVE, I HOPE YOU HAVE AN AMAZING DAY!! I did see the other little tidbit you sent in and yes, ofc, anything for you. Especially since it’s your birthday and you asked so nicely<3

(Going ahead and posting this a lil early… i think? I can’t remember when you sent this in sorry :/)

-Fern🌿

Slashers on their S/O’s Birthday

Warnings: NSFW content, 18+

Michael Myers

Michael has always been pretty indifferent towards birthdays. So what, you’re getting older big whoop. He doesn’t see them as important and doesn’t understand the point of celebrating them.

However, as you keep mentioning to him that your birthday is coming up, he gets the hint. Michael isn’t stupid and he knows you well enough to be able to tell what you want.

Still, Michael isn’t going to throw you a party or decorate or anything like that. Instead he makes a statement just by spending the entire day with you.

During your time spent together you find out Michael did actually buy a cake for you. Although it was also partially for his own benefit as well seeing as he has a major sweet tooth. He even got “Happy Birthday y/n” written on the top in your favorite color. When you bite into it, you realize that it’s also your favorite flavor.

After the cake, Michael brings you a small box with a horribly tied ribbon wrapped around it. Don’t look at him funny, he tried okay. So what the gift inside was most likely stolen from a victims, you got a present that you loved. Isn’t that all that really matters?

Michael isn’t much of a giver in bed, he prefers to take. He mainly focuses on achieving his own end and whatever pleasure you get during that is what you get. But tonight he’ll make a point of not only making you finish first once, but numerous times throughout the night. Today is about you after all, why not try and set a new record in bed to mark the start of a new age.

Bo Sinclair

Morning sex, congratulations, this morning you become breakfast for Bo. No need to get up early to cook for him when he can simply devour you.

Surprise! He won’t be an ass to anyone for one whole day. Just for you darlin’. If some people happen to stumble into town, Bo won’t let anyone ruin your day, and quickly has Vincent take care of them. Even Lester will help out if need be, even though Les hates participating in the “family company”.

Sneaks away in the middle of the night to decorate the house. Luckily, Vincent pitches in and helps him make everything look nice. Bo goes all out with streamers, balloons, banners, he even got you a cake!

He’s more than eager to give you your presents as well. Of course he had to buy you a lingerie set, it’s a surprise that’ll help the two of you later that night…

Bo is a simple man, he just wants everyone to know that you belong to him. So he also got you a dainty little necklace of his name. Sure it may be cute to you, but secretly he’s laying his claim to you.

Usually he’s busy with keeping up the town but just this once he spends the entire day with you. Bo spending so much quality time with you doing whatever you want really says a lot.

He may even take you to the next town over for a nice dinner. After all, no one should have to cook on their own birthday and it’ll make good use of the cute little sundress he got you and gives you the opportunity to dress up. You better wear the lingerie he got you under it though. Good luck making it to the bedroom when the two of you get back from the restaurant.

Vincent Sinclair

You’re not sure who is more excited, him or you. Vincent makes sure that you have the best time ever and makes the whole day about you. It’s the perfect chance for him to spend the whole day with you and show you how much he loves you.

When you wake up he’ll be missing. He woke up early to make you your favorite breakfast. He had hoped to bring it to you in bed but sadly you’ve always been the early riser. Luckily for you, unlike Bo, Vincent is a good cook. How do you think the three boys survived before you showed up?

Vincent has always been a more private person so while there’s not any decorations all over the house and he can’t take you out to a fancy dinner you can still expect plenty of sweet surprises. He made you a bouquet of wildflowers that he picked, got you the new books you had been telling him you wanted, managed to snag one of the vinyls for the new album your favorite artist had recently released, and even got you some new outfits that he thought would look cute on you.

Vincent would be the one to put on music and dance around the living room with you. He enjoys personal time with you and uses the day to really express to you just how much he cares for you.

At the end of the day he runs you a hot bath. While you soak in the tub he throws around the rose petals and gets the ribbons and candles ready. Before you have time to get dressed Vincent will be scooping you up, tossing you on the bed, and tying you up. Be ready for a long night!

Thomas Hewitt

There’s not really much he can do for you seeing as the town is running low on supplies. Still, he’ll do his best to still make your birthday special for you. Mainly he’s just going to kick Hoyt and Monty out for the day so that you can have one peaceful day together. Luda gets to stay seeing as she’s also happy to celebrate with you.

Thomas lets Luda Mae know he wants to surprise you with something. So while he works on the surprise she’ll make sure to keep you occupied. Luda Mae will fix your hair for you and go ahead and give you the gift that she had made you, a sundress made from floral print fabric. She’s so happy her son found someone, especially someone as beautiful as you.

Thomas will have handmade you a small necklace. Since you didn’t tell him about your birthday until shortly before the day, you left him with little time to make it. He’s lucky that your comfortable with Luda Mae and he can get her to keep you distracted,

When Tommy sees you with the dress his momma made you and your hair fixed up he almost forgets about the small piece of jewelry in his pocket.

After hearing you squeal with delight when you open his gift he’s ecstatic! He loves nothing more than making you happy. when you eagerly get him to help you put it on he thinks he’s going to spontaneously combust with his love for you.

Luda Mae will bake you a cake. You’re basically her daughter in law at this point and she’s going to make sure that you have a good day. She enjoys having another woman in the house and enjoys seeing you and Thomas happy together. You’ve given her the complete family that she’s always wanted.

Brahms Heelshire

Brahms is very good at being sneaky. At this point, Malcolm already knows that Brahms is a real person. So Brahms has no issue with getting Malcolm to bring him everything he needs and giving him the extra money for the week. He makes sure to cover all the bases, he got you presents, a small cake, and of course stuff to decorate the living room.

The decorations in the living room aren’t necessarily the best. Brahms hasn’t been responsible for doing anything like this in his whole life. But he still does his best to try and impress you and make you happy. Just don’t expect for his best to be very good. After all, it is the thought that counts.

Honestly Brahms not being self centered for once should be enough of a surprise. It’s your birthday so he’ll make sure to be on his best behavior just for you! No tantrums or arguing, he promises! He even makes sure to hide the schedule for the day to make sure you know that today you get to relax.

Of course, you’ll still have to cook since Brahms is only capable of making sandwiches. His peanut butter to jelly ratio may be perfect but that’s not exactly the type of meal he thinks you would want on your birthday. So he does make sure to get the ingredients for all of your favorite foods!

Your presents include expensive jewelry, pretty clothes, and of course lingerie although that’s more of a gift for Brahms than it is for you. He’ll have you model all of the dresses and clothes that he got you. The big finale is the lace bra and underwear that you won’t be wearing for much longer.

Brahms is a switch and usually ends up being the more submissive one in bed. Tonight however, he’ll co for a change of pace and be more dominant. For once, he was the one spoiling you instead of the other way around and that brings out the more mature and dominant side of him. Expect o be sore the next day though, Brahms isn’t exactly good with holding back.

Billy Loomis

Billy has a tendency to be narcissistic and obviously an ass. But he can also be great at hiding those traits. On your birthday he makes sure to do exactly that, really playing up the bad boy/boy next door front he’s capable of. Tatum did believe that he was practically perfect, and on your special day, he’ll do his best to do exactly that.

He may not have the same money as Stu, but he still manages to spoil you. You’ll have his full attention for the day and he let you decide almost everything. Billy even lets you pick out the movies that you watch together on your birthday, which is something he’s never allowed to happen before.

Seeing you be happy gives him a funny feeling that he’s not used to which can cause him to act a little awkward. You throw him off a little bit. He didn’t expect to care so much about someone until you fell into his lap. He’s a simp for you and he knows it. If he wasn’t then he wouldn’t be making reservations for that fancy restaurant you loved and buying you a new outfit just for said reservation. Yeah he’s down bad.

Makes sure that you order whatever you want, today cost doesn’t matter. But if he knows your favorite, he orders for you in an attempt to impress you. See, he remembers your favorite food, isn’t he just the best. Also gets your favorite over priced dessert even if you have to take it to go. He can’t bake and he knows that store bought cake just doesn’t compare to the fancy restaurants.

He bought you lingerie for under that cute little outfit and he expects to see it by the end of night. Expect to pinned against the front door before either of you has the chance to unlock it. Billy has been imagining you in nothing but your birthday suit all night and he simply cannot wait any longer.

There’s nothing he enjoys more than seeing you fall apart underneath him. He loves seeing you look absolutely cock drunk with your makeup smeared on your face. Your moans and begs eventually begin to melt together and you just become and incoherent mess as he makes you cum again and again. It’s still not enough for him though, he’s going to make you scream.

Stu Macher

He is very determined to make you have the best day over. Expect breakfast in bed! It may not be great but eat it anyways, Stu is not a morning person and he managed to drag his ass out of bed early just for you. So even if the scrambled eggs have the occasional crunch to them it’s best to just grin and bear it.

Is very determined to take you shopping. Expect for him to buy you anything that you touch or pick up. Like the amazing boyfriend he is he will also carry the many bags that you end up with. You’ll have a brand new wardrobe by the end of the day. Of course he made you pick out a few lingerie sets. He even pointed out the ones he liked and made you find your size.

Of course, Stu will still take you out to a fancy restaurant and do the whole traditional night out thing. After dinner though the two of you will end up on the roof of his house that he made sure to help you out on. Stu is secretly a hopeless romantic deep down and will spend time looking at the stars with you because he thinks it’s something that you would like. Will listen to you as you ramble on about planets and watch as you point out constellations if that’s something you do.

Stu is very clingy at all times so he will be hanging over you all day. That’s nothing really out of the ordinary though. But usually those touches include grabbing your boobs, smacking your ass, and rubbing your hips. On your birthday the touches turn more gentle. Expect him to gently tuck your hair behind your ear so he can see your face, gently caressing your cheek, rubbing your knuckles while he holds your hand, all soft and sweet gestures to convey he truly does care.

He’s usually very fast paced with everything including talking, movements, and of course that includes in bed. But tonight he’ll be slow and gentle, drawing everything out. Also makes sure to focus on your pleasure instead of his own for once.

Asa Emory

Asa never thought he would celebrate anyone’s birthday. He certainly never celebrated his own and doesn’t see the point in doing so. To him, birthdays are just another day and there’s no point in celebrating ageing. So he went about most of his life ignoring birthdays, until you came along.

Asa adored you and your enthusiasm for life and all the good things in the world. You were a bright person, especially when compared to him, and he loved the innocence about it. So when you began to mention your birthday coming up with excitement in your voice he knew that you had expectations for your special day.

He may not be a person who celebrates but he’ll be damned if he disappoints. You’re the one good thing life has given him and he’s not letting you get away from him. If that means getting you a small cupcake and sticking a candle in it and a present then so be it. He can manage doing a little something for you.

When he’s not in his collector persona he is much more awkward and an absolute dork in your eyes. So when he takes you out for a nice dinner you’ll notice his slightly off behavior. Asa doesn’t like crowded public spaces and you’ll be able to pick up on his fidgeting. Luckily your good at carrying the conversation for him.

Asa appreciates that you understand it’s hard for him. So when you begin to do most of the talking and don’t pressure him to contribute much to the conversation besides the occasional nod he’s able to relax.

On the way home he gets nervous once more. What if you hate the present he got for you or expected more. He had only gotten you one thing and it wasn’t much. But when you finally open it and you light up like a kid on Christmas morning he lets out a heavy sigh and finally relaxes. It was only a simple necklace but you acted like he had just handed you the stars.

Asa will be surprisingly gentle with you for one night. Of course, he’ll still tie you up and absolutely wreck you but he makes sure to leave out the cutting and biting out for once. The only bruises you have will be on your hips from his harsh grip. It’s the closest thing you’re going to get to love making from him, but you know him well enough to get the meaning behind it.

Jesse Cromeans

Anything you want and it’s yours, he can make anything happen for you. He makes sure to tie up any loose ends with his business well before your birthday so that nothing can interrupt his time spent with you. Of course he makes sure to spoil you even more than he normally does.

Would love to take you on some fancy vacation and stay in one of the finest hotels there. Go ahead, pick any place you want to travel to and he’ll make the arrangements. He makes sure that anywhere he takes you is more private and remote rather than tourist-y though. Both so that he feels more comfortable and so that you can feel special and not have to deal with crowds.

Does the whole flower petals on the bed, candles, flowers, ice bucket with champagne kind of ordeal back at the hotel. Did you really expect him not to though? He has the money to so why not and he knows that even though you claim it’s cheesy that you absolutely love it. Th blush on your face and look in your eyes give away your love of cheesy things and he pays attention to every little thing you do.

Of course you get new jewelry, designer clothes, and lingerie but you get other gifts as well. Pretty much anything you’ve mentioned to him recently he makes sure to get you. Rambling on about that new book your favorite author just released? It’s yours! Been needing new materials for any of your hobbies? You got them!

Expect rough sex. Jesse rarely does gentle and with how much smaller you are than him he can sometimes accidentally hurt you. Your just so small and fragile compared to him kitten, he can’t help it. Of course he always makes sure to take care of you afterwards with a hot bath and will gently massage the knots out of your muscles. Jesse always makes sure that you’re taken care of.

[slasherhaven]

howdy!¡,,, i love your writing👉👈. are u taking requests? if so could i request a (oddly specific) future s/o that is spared bc when they were unconscious and Luda was singing she called her mama so Luda decided to keep her bc "I've always wanted a girl" and so she finds herself having to interact and introduce herself to Thomas? If not that's okay dw!

Thomas Hewitt X Female Reader

I’ve Always Wanted a Girl

Word count: 2682

Luda May dabbed a cloth against the cut on your forehead, wiping away the blood. You had a pretty nasty fall, hitting your head and knocking yourself unconscious. 

Instead of having Thomas take you straight down to the basement, she asked him to lay you on the couch. You just looked so peaceful in your sleep, so she thought that she could at least take care of you a little while Thomas prepped the basement.

Luda May knew that you couldn’t actually be left alone, in case you woke up and escaped. So, she went about her business, cleaning up the living room. All while humming and singing softly to herself.

Your hearing rang in your ears as your consciousness slowly returned to you, eyes blinking open but vision blurred. You slowly started to process the sound of somebody singing, a blurred figure moving around the room. The song sounded familiar...something your mother used to sing to you as a child.

“Mama?...” you weren’t even aware that you spoke, but the older woman heard you instantly.

Your voice halted Luda May in her tracks, making her turn to you. A small smile formed on her face, well isn’t that sweet?

She walked over to where you lay and sat down beside you. “You’re alright now, Dear” she cooed to you, brushing your hair out of your face. The touch and shushing was comforting in your dizzy state, and it lulled you back to sleep.

Luda May looked up when she heard Thomas enter the room, probably to take you down to the basement. “Leave her be, Tommy” she smiled, earning her a confused head tilt from the large man. “I’ve always wanted a daughter” she confessed, making her intentions known.

Thomas just nodded, accepting her decision. He didn’t mind so much as long as you didn’t harm anyone, but he was sure that Hoyt wouldn’t approve. Though...Luda May would certainly get her way.

“Thomas, be a good boy and take her up to the spare room, will you?” she asked.

Thomas nodded, walking over to you and Luda May stood up. He carefully slipped an arm under your shoulders and another under your knees, lifting you off of the couch and holding you against his chest. He could see what Luda May saw in you, you looked so sweet and peaceful, he just wondered what had happened to make her change her mind so quickly.

Luda May just smoothed a hand over your hair again before letting him carry you up to the small unused bedroom.

Laying you down on the bed, Thomas cautiously pushed some hair out of our face, examining you before pulling his hand away. You were beautiful, even in your state of disarray after everything you had been through that day. There were still the stains of dried tears on your cheeks, but still you looked unrealistically pretty. You were the prettiest, sweetest looking thing in this house, you wouldn’t be a bad addition to the household. At least that’s how Thomas felt while looking at you, before quickly turning on his heel and leaving the room before he caught himself staring too long. 

And that’s the short version of how you became the newest Hewitt. The family was obviously still cautious of you, watching your every move, but they made it clear that you were one of them now. Maybe you just had no backbone or maybe you were a realist, but you accepted your fate with some time and tried to adapt to it. 

Luda May had insisted on you referring to her as “Mama”, and you did to keep the peace, Monty bossed you about most of the time, and you avoided Hoyt as much as you could since he seemed to be the least happy about your presence. Luda May had seemed to take on a motherly role with you, speaking to you as if you were her daughter, asking you to join her with chores and cooking. It had become a little routine for you now.

Then there was Thomas. Luda May had introduced you to him, he had nodded and shook your hand when prompted too. His hand completely engulfed your own, but his hold was surprisingly gentle despite the strength you could feel he possessed. 

He didn’t talk much...ever, actually, and he seemed to avoid you a lot. If you didn’t need to be in the room together, he wouldn’t be there, hiding away somewhere else in the house. Though, when you were in the same room, you could sometimes feel him staring at you. You were sure he didn’t notice it, otherwise he would have surely been more subtle about it. Whenever you looked over and caught him staring, he would stare at the floor or his hands in shame.

Truth be told, you weren’t sure what to make of the large man. He was intimidating and had a threatening stature but he never gave you true reason to fear him. He was quiet and gentle whenever he had to interact with you, he was downright timid, and he seemed to have the same avoidance you had with Hoyt. 

You could tell that he was closer to Luda May, his mother. She had told you the full story of how she became Thomas’ mother, having found him cold and alone as an infant. Thomas hadn’t looked at you while she told the story, like he didn’t want to see your pity.

“Oh Thomas!” you heard Luda May’s concerned voice coming from the entrance of the home, “what have you done?” 

With a small frown, you wandered out of the kitchen to see Luda May fussing over Thomas. He was holding a dirty, blood soaked rag against the palm of his hand. He just shook his head, silently assuring her that he was fine.

“If you’re not going to take care of it, I will. Go to your room, I’ll be up in a moment” spoke like a true mother, you smiled a little bit to yourself. As much as you hated to admit it to yourself, you were an honorary member of this family.

Thomas huffed, making you smile again, before nodding and marching up the stairs.

Luda May muttered to herself, shaking her head as she turned to you. “Oh, Y/n, dear. Come with me” she encouraged, passing you as she walked into the kitchen. You followed behind obediently.

“Thomas has cut open his palm. Probably on one of those cars, they’re death-traps” she told you as she started digging through one of the kitchen cabinets. You decided against pointing out the irony.

“Now I have to convince Hoyt to finish the job” she huffed before turning to you with a box in her hands. “Do you mind taking car of Tommy for me?” she asked, presenting the box, presumably a first aid kit of sorts, to you.

“Oh, I don’t think I know how too” you shook your head, eyes widening slightly.

“You clean the wound, clean it with some alcohol to prevent infection, and wrap it with some bandages” she told you simply.

“What if it needs stitches?” you asked, still not taking the box.

“I taught you to sew, didn’t I?” she asked and you nodded, eyes wide at that being the only qualification you apparently needed. “Thomas will help you with the rest” she assured you before thrusting the box into your hands.

You gripped the box nervously before Luda May left the room. Wandering out of the kitchen, you came to the bottom of the staircase. Walking up the stairs was daunting, you had barely spent any time alone with Thomas, and this was definitely be the longest amount of time you spent directly interacting with him.

Finally, you were standing outside of Thomas’ bedroom. You decided to knock, not wanting to be impolite. You heard movement on the other side of the door before it was pulled open, you had to tilt your head back slightly to look up at Thomas’ face.

His eyes were widened slightly, clearly surprised to see you. “Luda May sent me to look at your hand” you explained, glancing down at his still bleeding hand. Even though Luda May insisted on you referring to her as ‘mama’, you only did so when she was around.

Thomas seemed hesitant but eventually nodded and stepped to the side, allowing you to enter his room. You heard the door close behind you as you quickly glanced around. The room was a little bigger than yours but you wondered if Thomas comfortably lay on the single bed in the room, he seemed a little too big for it even though an average sized man would probably be comfortable in it. It was tidier than you expected it to be, no clothes left out or anything.

You turned back to the man when you hears his footsteps behind you, he was still a few feet away from you.

“Uh...should we sit down?” you asked when he didn’t make any move. 

Thomas nodded before crossing the room to his bed, sitting down on the edge. You walked over and sat down beside him, leaving enough room to place the first aid box on the bed between you both.

“Let me see your hand” you ordered gently. 

Thomas unwrapped the dirty rag from his hand and held it out to you. Carefully, you took hold of his hand in both of yours, turning it slightly to examine the wound. Thomas just watched, noticing how big his hands were compared to yours. He had noticed it when he shook your hand all that time ago but this made it even more oblivious, how you used both of your hands to move and turn it as you pleased. It was cute but the tenderness of your actions was what tugged at his heart the most.

“We should clean away the blood first. I can barely see it” you mumbled, more to yourself than to him. “I’ll go get some water” you suddenly dropped his hand and stood from the bed, with a nervous clumsiness.

You barely looked at him before leaving the room. Thomas shook his head at himself. You were so nervous, even to just be in a room with him. He wished he knew what you were thinking but he was sure that you were afraid of him, probably thinking he would hurt you. He couldn’t blame you. Why wouldn’t you think that? What else could make you so nervous about being near him?

His thought were interrupted by the sound of the door opening and closing, making him look up to see you walking back towards him with a bowl of water and a new cloth.

You sat back on the bed, placing the bowl on top of the box that sat between you both. 

“Hand” you spoke gently, holding your own out. He placed the back of his hand in your palm, growing unsure when he saw you frown. 

You hummed before pushing his hand back again. He was about to insist that he take care of his own wound, it wouldn’t be the first time, but then you pushed the box and the bowl further back onto the bed. He was surprised when you moved to sit closer to him, turning your body to face him and bringing one knee up onto the mattress.

You took hold of his hand again, gently placing it in your lap. He was definitely surprised by your actions but allowed it.

You worked in silence, wetting the cloth and cleaning away the blood from his hand. Thomas watched how intently you worked and how gentle you were being with him, like you were purposely trying not to hurt him.

Once the blood was cleaned up, you placed the bowl and bloody cloth down on the floor and opened the first aid kit. Inside the box was a small bottle of alcohol, a tube of some sort of cream, a fresh cloth, bandages, and the items you would need to apply stitches.

You picked up the bottle of alcohol and the fresh cloth. “This will probably sting” you warned him, looking up at him with genuine concern in your eyes. He just nodded. 

You poured some alcohol onto the cloth before pressing it to his injured hand. He didn’t make a sound of pain or pull away but you did feel him tense even more than he already was. “Sorry” you murmured, making sure to coat the hold wound.

Once you were done with that, you placed the now dirty cloth in the water bowl with the other and closed the bottle before placing it back in the box. 

You looked back at the hand, squinting at it slightly. You weren’t an expert at tending to wounds, you didn’t really know how deep the wound was or if it called for more than bandages.

“...do you think it needs stitches?” you asked, looking up at him again. Looking a little lost at what to do.

Thomas examined his own hand before shaking his head, smiling a little to himself as you let out a sigh of relief. 

You reached back into the box, picking up the tube and smiling as you read the label. “Here, let me put some of this one it” you offered. 

He just nodded, placing his hand back in your lap, allowing you to apply the antibacterial cream to his wound. He needed all the protection he can get with his work conditions.

You continued in silence as you finished and wrapped the bandages around his hand, securing them before packing everything back into the box.

“How does that feel? Too tight?” you asked and he shook his head, assuring you that it was fine. “Don’t forget to change them, alright?” you advised, “oh, and keep it clean.”

Again, he just nodded.

“...did you do this on one of the cars?” he nodded again. “Does that happen a lot?” he nodded again, confused about your questioning.

You just frowned, but you weren’t surprised. You had noticed a lot of little scars on his hands as you worked and the house wasn’t exactly hazard free. “Well, you should be more careful” you put a small smile on your face as you met his gaze again.

“I should go and finish cleaning the kitchen...if you need something, let me know, okay?” your offer seemed sincere enough, so he nodded. You were used to his silence.

You stood and collected the items you had brought in with you, heading for the door. When Thomas realised that your hands were full, he shot from the bed, hurrying over to open the door for you. 

“Thank you” you smiled before leaving the room. “Tommy” his name made him stop closing the door, pulling it fully open again to look at you. You stood in the hallway now, items piled in your hands, a timid look on your face. “We should hang out more, I feel like you keep hiding from me” you let out a shy laugh.

Thomas was stunned. You wanted to spend more time with him? He nodded before he even realised he had. But he was glad he did because it seemed to put a smile on your face before you turned and headed for the stairs. 

As he watched you disappear down the stairs Thomas became aware of a realisation that filled him with shame and dread. There was no way you would be so kind to him, even be in the same room as him, if you knew the way he thought of you, how he felt about you.

It’s why he had avoided you for so long, admired you from a distance. He didn’t want to scare you and he was nervous around you. Ever since the day he carried you up to the spare room, he had been infatuated with you. He had been enraptured by your beauty, and then in awe of your kindness considering your circumstances.

He loved you...

[dinosaurtsukki]

[ too scared to say ]

pairing: tsukishima kei x f!reader

word count: 1.6k words

contains: slight angst, tsukishima with insecure!s/o cause he’s usually the insecure one in fics, another wedding-themed fic

a/n: had this idea for a while and i’m glad i’ve finally written it. it’s usually tsukki’s who’s insecure and guarded in xreader fics so i wanted to try it out with the reader being insecure this time

i love you.

you're caught off-guard when you hear the words from tsukishima's mouth. you never thought you'd ever hear him actually say them. as much you wished for it to happen, especially after you spent three years of high school doodling his name in the margins of your notebook, it feels too good to be true.

tsukishima looks sincere about it though. you're both seated on the couch in your apartment and even though it's pouring outside and the electricity had died, you can still make out his face in the dim lighting. you can tell it took him a great deal of effort to say that: his eyes are focused on the cushion on his lap as he picks at a stray thread, the sound of his breathing is more audible now as he inhales deeply.

this is the time where you say it back but the words catch themselves in your throat. after all, weren't you the one who got yourself into trouble for being too naive all the time? after leaving high school and all hopes of tsukishima ever liking you back behind, you tried your hand at relationships. you thought every single one of them would be your last, only to find that you had deluded yourself yet again.

meeting tsukishima again, years after high school, felt like a weird universal coincidence that you didn't know if you should thank for yet. even more so when he admitted to his feelings for you back then.

"so, what do we do about it now?" you asked.

"i'd... like to give this a shot," tsukishima said, rubbing the back of his head. you were reluctant, but agreed anyway.

you've said 'i love you' before, more than a few times. and yet, you couldn't say it now.

"aren't you... jumping to conclusions a bit?" you asked, nervously letting out a laugh.

"what do you mean?" tsukishima frowns slightly.

"just, saying that you might not be sure about that yet so... slow down a bit before saying things like that," you shrugged.

"what? you think i don't know my own feelings?" tsukishima scoffs. there's a look of hurt on his face and you can't exactly blame him for it.

"i'm sorry, tsukki," you apologize, resting your hand in the middle of the couch between you except he doesn't reach for it.

"it's fine," he shakes his head, focusing now on the wall in front of him. "i know you're not really the person you once were and, i don't mind that at all cause neither am i. sometimes, it really feels like you have a wall up."

you find yourself flinching slightly at that last part. maybe this is the part when things go south, like they always do. except, you feel sad that it had to happen with tsukishima too.

but he doesn't act like how you expect him to. "if you need time, it's fine with me," is all he says. tsukishima doesn't sound exasperated, nor frustrated at all. but he does stand up and head for the door.

'you can stay,' you think, 'please stay.'

but all you can bring yourself to say is: "take an umbrella. it's pouring outside."

...

that was about a week ago and tsukishima has barely heard from you then. he didn't know what else to do aside from give you space, and also silently regret things. maybe he was too hasty in saying that he loved you.

but, that was what he truly felt, and it wasn't easy for him to say but he did it anyway. 'you're not always losing anything when you open yourself up to someone,' akiteru had told him. and now, tsukishima was riding a bus on the way to his older brother's wedding.

he had just hung his tux on the curtain rod above the window and settled into his seat though when he caught a familiar flash of blue. of course, tsukishima would recognize your favorite dress and sat up in his seat to see you walking down the center aisle. he watched as you looked around for a seat before landing on the last empty one in the bus, which happened to be right next to tsukishima's.

"hey."

"hey," tsukishima swallowed as you approached.

"is this seat taken?" you asked.

"no, go ahead," tsukishima shook his head, his eyes distracted by the familiar dry-cleaners bag that you held in your hands. "let me help you with that," he offered, taking the hanger from your hands and hanging it up beside his tux.

“saeko nee-san invited me to the wedding,” you explained as soon as you sat down beside tsukishima. “congratulations to your brother, by the way.”

“thanks. we all, kind of saw it coming,” tsukishima chuckled. now that you were here, he realized just how much he missed you. 

“i’m sorry for not calling or anything, by the way,” you apologized. “i can’t say that this is all new to me but, it’s just... well... i’ve been in other relationships before and sometimes, it feels like things repeat themselves too much.”

tsukishima nodded, remembering the night when you two met again after so many years. he was working the counter at the bar and noticed you sitting there, obviously dressed up for a date, obviously stood up in that said date too. you were very much different from the young girl who used to invite him and yamaguchi to watch the latest romance movie theaters, the one who sang songs at the top of your lungs in your bedroom, loud enough for those downstairs to here. but that didn’t mean he liked you any less. 

“hey,” he laid a hand on top of yours. “why don’t we just enjoy today? you still love going to weddings, right?”

you smiled gratefully and chuckled. “yeah, that hasn’t changed.”

...

you fully expected to run into tsukishima at his own brother’s wedding and had thought twice about going before talking sense into yourself. and now, you were glad to have gone. 

the wedding was absolutely charming and more than a few of your old high school friends came. you and tsukishima were seated with yamaguchi and yachi at the same table and chatted about old times and what the volleyball duo was up to. saeko looked stunning in her dress and akiteru cried more than a few times during the ceremony. tsukishima looked proud of his brother, and more than a little tired of his new brother-in-law.

“they look really good together,” you sighed, smiling at akiteru and saeko who were breakdancing in the middle of the dance floor, the latter doing much better than the former. 

“yeah,” tsukishima chuckled. “they barely met each other in high school but i could tell nii-chan was star-struck when they met at the shiratorizawa match.”

“and now look at them,” you giggled. “kind of the opposite of us, in a way.”

“yeah, because you were definitely head over heels for me,” tsukishima snickered. you smacked his arm with the back of your hand.

“and you were too dense to realize it,” you countered. 

“not exactly. just thought it was too good to be true,” tsukishima smiled wryly. 

“we should have been accidentally locked into a room together to force us to admit our feelings.” 

“you and your romance movie cliches.”

you chuckled at that. “just saying. would have made things way easier for everyone.” you sighed again and remembered the confession letter you had penned to tsukishima before deciding to stash it away in your desk. then, you turned to tsukishima who was watching his brother and sister-in-law dance. 

maybe you were going to enjoy yourself tonight.

“hey, tsukishima?”

“yeah?”

“wanna dance with me?”

...

with the dancing and frequent visits to the wine bar, you ended up enjoying the wedding immensely. but as much as you didn’t want to, it was finally time to go home. you and tsukishima didn’t even bother changing out of your formal clothes before catching the last bus back home. your hair had escaped from its pins and you were definite that there was mascara smudged under your eye. tsukishima’s tie hung loosely around his neck and he had already unbuttoned the upper part of his shirt.

all of the dancing tired him out way more than you, but it was a pleasant surprise for him to comply with your request. you also had the wine to thank for tsukishima deciding to break dance for about a minute when his older brother asked him to. 

as soon as he was seated, tsukishima was out like a light with his head leaned back against the seat and his mouth slightly hanging open. looking at him, you realized that he was someone you didn’t want to let go. dating him was scarier because of that and you didn’t want tsukishima to be one of those people you were eventually going to say goodbye to.

but how could he be that person if you don’t ask him to stay in the first place?

once again, you remembered the confession letter that you had wrote to him all those years ago. there was a tremble in your hand when you wrote down the last line of that letter, so much that it screwed up the writing and you decided not to send the letter anyway. you glanced at tsukishima’s misty reflection in the fogged up glass of the bus before using your finger to write down that line.

i love you

the words looked like they were suspended in the air and fragile enough to be blown away by the wind. with a swipe of your hand, you could easily erase the message.

and that’s when tsukishima wakes up. 

his sleepy eyes travel from you to the message written on the window and his eyes widen when he realizes what you’ve written down. with a smile, he leans over, and writes a word right under your message.

i love you too

▸ 🎕 ┈┈┈┈ 🎕 ┈┈┈┈ 🎕 ┈┈┈┈ 🎕 ┈┈┈┈ 🎕 ◂

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[return-of-a-space-cowboy]

The Huntsman's heart pt6

Your journey continued as you left behind the ashen lands. The sky changed from a vivid gold to a dark blue. The stars began to appear in the sky as you both made your way through dense shrubbery.

You saw an apple tree and decided to quickly pick some of it's ripe fruit. You made your way over and reached out for it but you couldn't quite get a solid grip on it. You took a step closer and leaned against the tree but something constricted painfully around your ankle and tripped you. You screamed in pain before noticing two figures approaching. You looked down to your leg to see the barbed wire that your leg had been caught in.

Risotto quickly came to your aid and those figures flead. He was obviously worried as he looked at your injury. He managed to cut you free but the wire tied against your leg was too tight for him to safely cut.

"You can't walk on that, we'll have to hide while you heal" he told you.

"Risotto I'm fine I can still walk… all I need is something to clean the wound" you told him as you tried to stand only to hiss in pain. He quickly picked you up.

"No, you need to rest" he told you as he walked with you in his arms. You felt bad, you didn't want him carrying you while he was already carrying the supplies.

"Risotto I can try to walk until we find a place to rest, it was my fault and it isn't fair on you to be carrying so much" you told him but he ignored you.

After a while you could tell he was getting tired from carrying so much weight. You kept trying to convince him to put you down but he refused each time. You spotted what looked like a barn and pointed it out. It was close to a house but you were both willing to hide inside.

Once you both were inside he looked through the tools to find anything he could use while you rested your leg. He managed to find a pair of shears. You bit your hand as he slipped one of the blades between the wire and your skin. It hurt feelings some of the barbs dig deeper into your skin. You tried your best not to scream, biting down harder on your hand. You heard a snip and your pain was somewhat eased as he removed the barbed wire from your leg. You removed your hand from your mouth and sighed.

The sound of footsteps approached and you both hid behind a large stack of hay. You both watched a light grow as someone approached. As they entered you could see his features illuminated in the light of the fire  he held. The scars on his ageing face were unmistakable. You tried to hobble over but Risotto grabbed you tightly.

"No it's fine, I know him well" you told him as you got him to let go.

"Monty it's me" you spoke to the man as you tried to walk to him. Risotto quickly came to your aid and supported you.

"Princess… the last I heard was the kingdom had been burnt down" he exclaimed.

"It's a long story, I was wondering if you could allow us into your home for the night?" You asked.

"Of course, anything for you princess" he said as you both followed behind him.

"How is your wife and your child?" You asked. You remembered when you'd met him his wife was expecting.

"She's fine" he told you but you could hear a sadness in his tone.

"I'm so sorry, I was careless to ask" you apologized.

"No it's fine" he told you as you arrived at his door.

"You're free to stay as long as you need, if you need anything you can ask my wife and I at any time" he told you. Once you entered you his wife looked at you.

"Oh princess (y/n) please take a seat with your accomplice. I'll have a meal ready for you both soon" she told you.

"No it's fine you don't have to" you told her.

"Nonsense I must, if it wasn't for you my dear Monty would have died" she said before leaving the room.

"You saved his life?" Risotto asked you.

"She did, I'd been stabbed by one of the red Knights during the war in Carnon, her brother managed to take me away from the battlefield. I'd lost a lot of blood but she'd managed to save me from the cusp of death" he explained.

"I used to work as a nurse and midwife when the kingdom was struggling, my brother and I both assisted in Carnon when Diavolo's forces tried to take over" you explained to Risotto. He was surprised, it was interesting to hear what your life was like before Diavolo had ruined it.

"So what happened after Diavolo attacked Lenar? How did you survive? I'd thought he'd killed you" He asked.

Risotto could see how uncomfortable you were to answer. He could see your eyes glaze over for a second as you took a deep breath. He'd decided he'd finally inject himself into the conversation.

"I don't think that's something you want to know" he told Monty.

"No, he has a right to know" you replied to Risotto.

"Diavolo tried to force me to marry him, every day was torture, even when I did submit to him… he did not stop" you told him.

"Me and My lover are fleeing the country, hopefully that will put an end to his torment upon us" you continued before his wife returned with some glasses, a clean rag and a bottle of liquor.

"Anyone want a drink?" She asked. You both decided to take up her offer before you asked if she'd let you use the rag and some of the liquor to clean your wound. She poured four glasses half full with the clear liquor before handing you the bottle and rag. You lifted up the skirt of your dress to reveal the gashes on your leg.

"Oh dear, those men are setting those traps again" Monty's wife exclaimed as you poured the alcohol onto the rag.

"This isn't the first incident?" Risotto asked.

"Unfortunately, they've been setting those traps around here for the past few months waiting for an unsuspecting victim to get caught" she explained. As she sat down and took a sip of her drink. You and Risotto picked up your glasses and took a sip. You nearly coughed it up as the intense acidic and peppery flavour assaulted the back of your throat. Everyone else seemed unaffected by it thou

You finally managed to get it down your throat before you began to cough and wheeze. Monty's wife chuckled a little seeing your reaction. You couldn't help but put your hand over your chest as you felt it warm up.

"The first sip is always the hardest, the more you drink it the more subtle the flavour becomes" she told you. You didn't really feel like drinking anymore of it but you felt bad to refuse someone's hospitality. You took another sip, this time the faint taste of lemon rind surprised your pallet. Overall it was a lot easier to drink.

You began to dab all the cuts lightly, wincing slightly at the sting of the alcohol. You asked the two how their life had been before dinner had been served. After that they showed you and Risotto to their spare rooms. However Monty lingered at the door, looking like he had something to say now that Risotto was gone.

"Is something the matter?" You asked as you sat on the small bed.

"I just have a few things on my mind" he told you.

"You understand who the man you call your lover is? He's the huntsman of the east, a merciless killer" he continued.

"I am but he's just as human as the rest of us. I know it is hard to think so but I've seen him starting to change…" you told him.

He nodded. Though he didn't understand why you would be with the huntsman, he did know that your heart was in the right place.

"Do you plan on returning at any point? If king Diavolo dies or to get vengeance?" He asked. You let out a sigh.

"I don't think I will return, I'm by no means worthy to become Lenars Queen or lead a rebellion against Diavolo… I think I just want to start everything over, I've been putting others over myself for most of my life… so maybe I should put myself first for once" you told him.

"Besides at this point my cousins would have heard about my involvement with Diavolo… I'll surely be exiled for such affairs anyway" you continued.

"Are you really sure you want to leave? You know the people of Lenar would support you entirely" He asked.

"Yes, I'm absolutely sure. I know that as long as I am still within his grasp he'll stop by no means to get me back. Even if that means throwing away his last shred of dignity and making the whole country suffer" you answered.

"I understand, I'll leave you to rest now Princess" he replied before leaving the room, allowing you to finally rest.

🦋🦋🦋

Diavolo watched the mirror with determined eyes, by no means were you getting to Lenar. His carriage occasionally rocked on the uneven path.

"Illuso, is there perhaps a way to eliminate Risotto Nero? Any weakness he may have?" He asked the mirror. Illuso's form appeared looking as if he was in deep thought.

"Frankly I can not figure out much about him, I have seen his entire life but I cannot know how he thinks? Even in his younger years he's far too stoic to learn much from. I'll surely have to extend my search to those he's known" Illuso explained. He could tell Diavolo about the future but he wasn't going to mess it up by letting him know. Time was too fragile for him too mess around with with little care.

"Well I require you let me know as soon as you find anything that is useful" Diavolo demanded. Illuso disappeared from view, letting the mirror return to normal. Diavolo decided to finally try to go to sleep. He'd been too riled up by the situation, causing him to have an uneasy slumber.

Bags had even become visible under his emerald eyes. It was strange as he usually slept with little issue. He'd tossed and turned in his sheets for what seemed like hours. When he did finally fall asleep he'd dream of you returning. It felt so real when he'd claw at your skin, threatening to rip it right off of you. Your screams in pain excited him. When he woke up in the early hours of the morning he couldn't return to sleep as the dreams excited him too much and made so many ideas swirl in his tired brain.

🦋🦋🦋

You woke up to feel the pain in your leg, it wasn't as bad as last night but it still hurt quite a bit. You tried to stand but the pressure still strained it. You did manage to walk on it, making your way to the other spare room. You knocked on the door hoping Risotto would be awake. The door opened and Risotto revealed himself. He'd probably only just gotten out of bed, only wearing his pants. You felt your face heating up as you tried not to admire his chiseled body.

"Is your leg feeling any better?" He asked you.

"Yes, it's still sore but I am able to walk on it" you replied as you averted your eyes to the doorframe.

"You don't have to be ashamed to look at me, you can look for as long as you like cara" he told you as he lifted you chin lightly. Your breath hitched as you looked into his eyes. Those eyes were so unique. You should be afraid to look at them yet you're not, you instead find comfort in them.

His strong arm wrapped around your waist, pulling you into his toned torso and pulled you into the room before pressing his lips against yours. To instantly melt into his arm as his warm chapped lips enveloped yours. Your hands began to roam his torso, feeling every inch of his perfect body before resting them on his shoulders.

Soon that simple kiss became heated as his tongue entered your mouth. You moaned into the kiss, feeling the hairs on the back of your neck stand. You'd never experienced such passion, the love of another that was so intoxicating to you.

He gently cusped your breast with his free hand but you quickly pushed away in a knee jerk reaction. It just freaked you out being touched like that after going through the abuse you'd suffered.

"I'm sorry!" You almost exclaimed to Risotto. You felt horrible about pushing him away, you knew he wouldn't hurt you.

"Don't apologize, I should've asked you before I did that" he apologized.

[hummingbird-of-light]

Desideria Praeterita

Part 47

Scotty

“This has always just been a house; but you here with me? I’m home.”

Scotty felt his heart beat faster when he heard these words. Tears gathered in his eyes but he quickly blinked them away and pressed a kiss to Leonard’s lips.

“I’m just grateful that ye let me share it with ye.”

He smiled at his love and sat down across from him. The engineer looked down at his own plate, but he knew that he couldn’t eat anything. He was too anxious about Chris coming over.

What would his brother say? What would his mother say? Scott couldn’t even imagine seeing them again in a few hours. Did they still look like they had years ago?

“Aren’t you gonna eat?”

Scotty looked up from his breakfast to stare at Leonard. His brow was furrowed worriedly.

“I… I’m just not hungry. And my stomach feels like it’s about to throw up.”

Leonard reached over and placed a hand on his arm, squeezing it softly.

“Don’t worry too much, darlin’. I’m sure your family will be glad to see you.”

Well… one could only hope so.

A few hours later the laptop was set up and Chris and Leonard sat next to Scotty. He was nervous, but the Scotsman knew that this would change his life. It… would make it better, right?

“Ready, Uncle Monty?”

Scott gave his nephew a nod and the young man pressed a key.

For a moment, Scotty closed his eyes, took a deep breath in and out. And when he opened them… he saw them.

His brother was sitting on the left side of the screen, swallowing hardly. He seemed to be just as nervous about this talk as Scotty was.

Next to him was his mother, a hand in front of her mouth, tears swelling in her eyes. She looked older but was still the same gorgeous woman Scott knew since his childhood.

(“M… Monty? Is that really you?”)

Her voice was trembling and Scotty felt his heart sank as tears dripped from his own eyes. He nodded slowly.

“A-aye, it’s me. Hello mum. Hey Robbie.”

His brother gave him a nod, obviously fighting back tears.

Damn it, why was this just so emotional?

(“Are… How… how are ye? Who is that bonnie lad next to ye?”)

Scotty couldn’t help but chuckle at his mother’s question. She had always been interested in the men close to her son.

So the engineer took his love’s hand and smiled softly.

“This… is Leonard. My boyfriend.”

Part 48

McCoy

McCoy had tried not to wander around the house as they waited for Chris to show up. He was nervous, but he knew Scotty was more anxious. He wanted to be strong for his boyfriend.

Scotty had jumped when the doorbell rang. McCoy had stood more slowly and embraced the engineer tightly.

“It will be alright. No matter what happens, I’m here.”

Scotty had nodded at him and went to get the door when McCoy let him go.

Chris had greeted them happily as he came in which McCoy took as a good sign. They got Chris settled with something to drink and debated whether the coffee table or the dining table would be better for the laptop.

They settled on the coffee table.

“I told Dad a little,” Chris said hesitantly as he typed away. “I… I didn’t want them to ask anything you might not want to answer yet. I hope that was ok?”

“Thank ye lad,” Scotty said hoarsely.

McCoy saw how his boyfriend’s color had paled at that. He wrapped an arm around Scotty and pulled him close. McCoy was glad the young man had said something. This chat was important and should hopefully just be family reconnecting. Later, when that was established, and Scotty felt ready they could talk about the past.

Chris sat back and checked his phone, as McCoy released Scotty with a kiss to his temple.

“Ready, Uncle Monty?”

Scotty nodded. McCoy heard the deep breath his boyfriend took. Chris had pushed a button and there were two faces looking back at them. McCoy suppressed a smile. Even if he hadn’t known who was going to appear, he would have recognized them.

Scotty had said Chris was the exact image of Robbie and McCoy saw it was true. The man on screen was simply an older version of Chris. The older woman resembled both her sons in a way that was uncanny.

(“M… Monty? Is that really you?”)

McCoy heard the tremor in her voice, and the joy hidden behind it. He heard Scotty’s nervous answer, but he was studying the pair on screen. Both had tears in their eyes. His hope was rising that this was a good idea.

(“…Who is that bonnie lad next to ye?”)

McCoy’s attention snapped back and he realized he was being asked about. He heard Scotty’s quiet chuckle and smiled as Scotty took his hand. He squeezed it lightly as Scotty answered.

“This… is Leonard. My boyfriend.”

“Hello ma’am,” McCoy said. “I’m pleased to meet you.”

It had been ages since he’d had to meet a significant other’s parents, but his manners were always automatic. He watched as Mrs. Scott’s mouth turned up slightly at the corners.

“Nice to meet you Leonard,” she replied. “Chris told us you’re a doctor.”

“Yes ma’am. I’m a surgeon in the ER, and do research when I get a free moment,” McCoy smiled and glanced at Scotty next to him. The engineer was beginning to smile and McCoy could feel the tension loosening in his body next to him.

[emptysatellite]

fool for love

Ao3

James never thought he’d be rendered speechless. He’d always been able to talk back to his professors, jest with his friends in between classes, and confide to his parents about his greatest hopes and dreams without any problems.

But Lily Evans―that beautiful, intelligent, kind-hearted, loyal witch―could do it to him every time she opened her pretty lips.

Before sixth year, she’d usually say something like, “did you shit your nappy, Potter?” or, “get your head out of your arse, Potter,” or, “Potter, bugger off,” and James would let his jaw drop for a split second before responding with something like, “nah, did you shit yours, Evans?” or, “not until you get your head out of your arse, Evans,” or, “Evans, you know you can’t get rid of me that easily.”

It was always a competition, those first five years, of who could annoy each other more (although, James always thought it was the peak of flirtation, while Lily, well, she was just retaliating from his immature behavior).

James would also attempt to ask out the girl with flaming red curls, but she always shook her head and faked gag, or went on a spiel about why he was such an idiot, or simply rolled her eyes and stalked away.

Everything changed in sixth year, when Lily became less hostile and more friendly towards James. He assumed it was because of the Snape shit that had occurred the year previously, but James didn’t care because he got to see Lily smile more often and that alone made butterflies flutter in his stomach.

He would still pause momentarily after she spoke to him, saying stuff like, “nice match today, Potter,” or, “do you want a sugar quill, Potter,” or, “Potter, truth or dare?” and be able to formulate an adequate response like, “cheers, Evans,” or, “I think you already know the answer to that question, Evans, yes,” or, “Evans, I’m not a coward so obviously dare.”

They had become friends. They sat close to each other in class, traded desserts at dinner, did a handshake before Quidditch matches, amongst other platonic pleasantries.

Due to this newfound relationship, James stopped asking Lily out on dates, not wanting to make her uncomfortable or ruin the friendship that was growing stronger every day.

Sixth year came and went much faster than James would have wished and, before he knew it, he was parting from Lily. He gave her a long hug, promising to write to her; she promised the same and Lily never broke a promise, ever.

Lily was the first person James told when he was appointed Head Boy and James was the first person Lily told that she received a letter from Dumbledore stating she was Head Girl. Lily was the first person James told that Sirius had officially broken away from his horrible family and James was the first person Lily told that her older sister was getting married to Vermin Dursley. Lily taught him about the Muggle traditions he’d never learn in Muggle Studies and James taught her all about the Ministry she’d never learn in Professor Binns’ History of Magic class.

“I miss you, Potter,” she had declared in one letter. “Your jokes could always brighten my day.”

They were writing non-stop and, by the time school finally rolled around, James had a feeling everything would be different.

Why did he get that feeling? Well… James didn’t really know why he got that feeling, he just knew that he felt it and it was true.

He explained the whole situation to Sirius at breakfast, the morning they left for Platform Nine and Three-Quarters.

“Uh-huh, that sounds nice, mate,” Sirius barely looked up from his Vogue magazine, popping a chilled grape into his mouth.

“Did you even listen to me?” demanded James, raising an eyebrow.

“Eh, a little,” he shrugged. “All I really heard was the beginning… about how you had a dream about the future. I stopped listening there, because, in all honesty, you were never really good at Divination.”

“It’s not Divination, because I wasn’t foreseeing the future.”

“You said that everything would be ‘different’ this year,” Sirius finally looked up. “First, it sounds so spooky and ominous, for no reason at all. And second, that’s basically seeing the future.”

“I didn’t say that everything would be different, I said that I feel like everything will be different this year.”

“That’s the same thing, is it not?”

“No, it’s not,” James shook his head, “one is confirmed, one is up in the air.”

“Okay…” Sirius’ voice trailed off as he glanced back down at his magazine.

James just stared at his best friend for a few seconds and, once he realized Sirius was too enamored with the horoscope section to pay attention to him, finished eating his syrup soaked pancakes.

At Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, James and Sirius bid adieu to Mia and Monty, who both had tears in their eyes for their grown up boys, and stepped onto the train with unmatched confidence.

“Want to sit in our normal compartment?” Sirius asked.

“Of course,” James nodded, following his friend to the fateful compartment where they’d met for the first time in seven years previous. They’d entered through the sliding glass doors to see Remus and Peter already settled in, an arrangement of sweets spread along the table.

The gaggle of boys greeted each other and had already fallen into a quick conversation regarding their annual back-to-school prank when the compartment door slid open and four girls walked in.

“Hey, boys,” Lily said at once, Marlene, Dorcas, and Mary following closely behind.

“Ah, there’s our stunning Head Girl,” Sirius motioned to the pin on her jumper, which read in red ‘Head Girl’.

She grinned and looked at James, “and there’s the Head Boy!”

James smirked, doing a dramatic ballerina twirl. “Do I look like a brand-new person? More mature? More dashing?”

“No,” Mary replied, bluntly.

“Sorry to say, but you look like the same prat you’ve always been,” Remus slapped a hand on James’ shoulder.

“My friends have wounded me,” he fanned the back of his hand over his forehead, dramatically, as though he were in a Muggle theater production. “I don’t think I’ll ever recover.”

“Oh, come off it, James,” laughed Lily.

That simple sentence caused James to drop his hands to his side, hazel eyes locked on her green ones. “Huh?” he questioned, thinking that he must have misheard the girl he had loved since he was eleven.

“I only said to come off it,” she repeated, tilting her head in confusion.

“No, that wasn’t it,” he whispered, voice soft around his loud friends who had moved to another conversation, “you called me James.”

“That’s your name.”

“You’ve never called me James before, though.”

“I just thought it was time to change that. We’ve been friends for a while now and friends call each other by their given names, right?” replied Lily.

James broke eye contact and turned his head away. “Yeah,” he said at last. “You’re right.”

Lily’s eyes scanned his face, searching for something James didn’t know. She eventually tore her gaze away, drawing her attention to Remus, who had offered her a Bertie Bott’s jelly bean.

He didn’t talk to her the rest of the train ride, remaining unusually silent. Even when he and Lily had to leave their friends’ compartment to inform the Prefects of their duties that year, James was still quiet, allowing Lily to do all the speaking.

After Lily’s brief introduction speech, she tried to talk to James, but he ignored her. His mind was flooding with thoughts.

Was she mad at him or something? Was she trying to taunt him by calling him James instead of the usual ‘Potter’? He was sure that she still knew of his feelings for her, so was she attempting to play with his emotions?

The Hogwarts Express finally arrived at the infamous school of witchcraft and wizardry and, before they knew it, the group of Gryffindors were entering the Great Hall.

James sat down next to Sirius, as per tradition. Lily sat down next to him.

“Are you alright?” she asked, voice lowered to a whisper .

“Yes, Evans, I’m fine,” he snapped a response, turning towards the front of the Great Hall, where all the professors were congregating.

“James,” Lily said simply, taking his hands into hers.

Her hands were soft and flawless, unlike his own, that were rough and calloused, and it took everything in him to not give into her hardened glare that was directed at him.

“What, Evans?” demanded James.

“Come with me.”

“Professor Dumbledore will be up soon to speak. We should stay and listen; it may be important this year.”

“We won’t be long,” she insisted. “I’m sure we’ll even be back in enough time to hear him talk. Just please come with me, I’ve been wanting to talk to you alone all day.”

That got to James and he let himself be pulled out of the Great Hall by her. She led him out of the room and down the wide corridor, avoiding underclassmen, who were practically buzzing in anticipation for the new school year and the grand feast that awaited them in mere minutes.

“Here,” Lily stopped suddenly, twisting open a bronze doorknob to reveal an empty classroom that looked as if it hadn’t been used in years, desks and chairs covered with linen. She closed the wooden door behind them, letting go of James’ hands. “What’s wrong with you?” Lily crossed her arms.

James raked a hand through his hair. “That’s awfully rude of you, Evans, to assume that something’s wrong with me.”

She rolled her eyes. “I’m your friend, James, I know when something’s not okay with you.”

He froze. “Can you stop saying that, please?” he asked.

“What am I saying wrong?” asked Lily.

“My name,” said James.

“Are we not friends or something and I just didn’t get that memo?”

“No, we are friends.”

“Then why, James, why am I not allowed to say your name like the rest of your friends?”

“Because you’re different.”

“How so?”

“I don’t love my other friends like I love you,” he said at last. “You’re… special.”

Lily blinked, her expression unreadable. She just stared at James before taking a deep breath, stepping towards him.

Her lips grazed his and sparks flew. James immediately responded to their brief touch and he grabbed her waist, tugging her forward, pressing her chest to his own. They interlocked their lips like they’d been snogging for ages, like their passion had been rooted for ions and not mere school terms. They kissed like it’d be their last time seeing one another, like they were to go off to battle the next day.

Lily pulled away first, leaving them both gasping for air. “James,” she said, “I don’t love my other friends like I love you, either. My feelings are so beyond just loving you as a friend. I love you, James Potter. You’ve captured my heart and I don’t want you to let go.”

“Lily, you’ve had my heart since first year,” he replied. “Merlin, I love you like no one else in this world.”

She looked downwards. “I thought your feelings for me were gone. That they’d been gone since fifth year and I was loving you in vain.”

“No, that could never be true. My feelings for you will never fade,” James placed a hand under her chin, lifting it high enough for their lips to touch again.

This time the kiss was soft, less desperate. It was still emotional, yes, but not as hungry; they knew this wouldn’t be their last kiss, that they weren’t losing time.

They broke away from one another. Neither spoke, instead just smiling.

James was speechless again and realized that if he never spoke again at least he’d have Lily by side.

[13-reasons-ideas]

Once a Serpent? Part 1

A/N: This is a Riverdale X 13 Reasons Why crossover. I stopped watching Riverdale when season 2 got weird. I haven't really kept up with the show since outside of promos. As a result, this won't really line up with much of anything in seasons 3-current. I know I usually have Monty be this great guy who changes for the girl but I decided to try something different this time. This story has gone in a direction I wasn't expecting. It won't be super different than normal for a while, but I will give content warnings where needed. Let me know what you guys think and if you want me to continue! As always, feel free to send feedback or Q&A type questions. And much love! - Em

Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to real people is purely coincidental. 

I found Nathan over by the river. He was staring out over the cliff. My black leather jacket was pulled around me tightly. It was a cold August. “Hey.” I called out to him, softly.

“Hey.” He didn’t turn around.

“Can we talk?”

“About?”

“What happened?”

“Not much to talk about, is there Kennedy?”

“Nate…” I started. “Please?”

“Fine.” He sighed, walked back closer to the trail, and sat on a rock. I watched him run a hand through his shaggy hair.

“I just found out last night. I was going to tell you today. I didn’t think it was something you should tell someone on the phone.”

“I just don’t get why you have to go. You’re an adult.”

“Because. I haven’t graduated and I have nowhere to stay here.” He opened his mouth to speak. “My boyfriend’s trailer doesn’t count.”

“Okay. When do you leave?”

“Three days. My mom needs time to finish her week. Dad leaves tonight.”

“You can keep the jacket until then.”

“Thanks.”

“Not doing it to be nice. You know that.”

“I know. But still. Thank you.” He merely hummed in response. “For everything.” I felt tears welling in my eyes. He knew me too well and, even if he didn’t want to, he opened his arms for a hug. I took a few steps forward into his grasp. He wrapped his arms tightly around me as I sobbed. I don’t want to leave. I don’t want to leave you. He shushed me and petted my hair. “I love you Nate.”

“I love you too Kenna.” His voice sounded small. I stepped away from him hhen I calmed down enough to breathe properly again. I couldn’t look at him again as I walked away.

Three days passed by in the blink of an eye. One minute I was starting to fold clothes, the next, I was staring at the jacket on my empty mattress. My room was full of boxes for the movers to take. The Serpent jacket stared back at me. It was almost mocking me. You knew this was a possibility when you got involved. “Shut up.” I muttered.

It was time for me to give the jacket back. Giving it up was almost harder than the breakup. It had become a part of me in the last two years. The thought of being without it made me feel cold. As hard as it was, I knew it didn’t belong to me anymore. So, I took a deep breath and picked it up. I didn’t put it on. There was no reason to make this even harder than it already was.

I pulled to the side of the road when I got to Sunnyside. I knew my car was safe on the side of the road because I was in Serpent territory. Walking along the gravel to his trailer, I felt a pit growing in my stomach. I could have given the jacket to Jughead, or Toni, or Fangs to give to him. No, you couldn’t. I had to see him one last time. The last time couldn’t have really been the last time.

“No, man. I’m all good.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah. It’s not like we were going to work anyway.” Is that? Are they… are they talking about me?

“What do you mean?” Fangs asked. I stopped dead in my tracks behind a random trailer. I was far enough away that neither of them could see me.

“Kennedy is,” Sweetpea paused, “she’s the experiment. You know, try the pretty little rich girl from the North side. See how that goes. See what it’s like.”

“I wouldn’t say that. Look at Betty and Jug.”

“Kennedy is not Betty.”

“Okay?”

“Look. Fangs. Kennedy is the girl who marries the CPA. She buys a house with him in the suburbs with a picket fence. They have a couple or three kids and buy a golden retriever who loves everyone. She doesn’t marry the guy who’s in a gang. We are both better off for this.”

I was stunned. I didn’t know what to do. I knew I couldn’t go out there and make my presence known. But I had his stupid jacket. Jones. I ran back to the entrance of the trailer park and went around the other way to get to the Jones’ trailer. I still had a key that I was going to give back after I gave Nathan, Sweetpea, back his jacket. Leaving the jacket on the kitchen table, I grabbed an old envelope and a pen. This doesn’t belong to me. I wrote quickly. It was messy but I knew he would know who it was from and who it was for. I left the note and the key beside the jacket. Again, I couldn’t look back as I walked away.

My mom and I arrived in Evergreen County just in time for me to be enrolled in school before the first day of classes. I would be attending Liberty High School. From the second I walked in the door with my parents to sign my paperwork, I knew this school would be just like the rest. The walls were lined with permanent “do your best” posters and trophy cases at any given turn. The smell that could only be described as eau de jock permeated the halls.

The principal’s office was down the hall. I tried to hang back from my parents. “Ah, you must be the Campbells. Major Campbell. Mrs. Campbell. And Kennedy.” The man I could only assume was the principal, judging by his obviously fake charm and smile, greeted us. “Gary Bolan.” My dad shook his hand firmly.

“Matthew Campbell.”

“You can call me Heather.”

“Of course.”

“Kennedy, come here darling.” My mom called for me. I walked over to her wordlessly.

“Hi.” I nodded. I had done this plenty of times before.

I decided to take advantage of my few more moments of freedom and explore the school. They didn’t need me to fill out medical forms and make sure my transcripts transferred properly. The school was big. Much bigger than Riverdale High. Didn’t seem too hard to navigate though. The sound of weights clashing together caught my attention. I followed the sound and found myself standing at the open door of the fitness centre.

There was a boy working out. He seemed hyper focused on his actions. It was mesmerizing in a way. The boy was tall. Not as tall as Nate. Most people weren’t. If I had to hazard a guess, I would say maybe between six feet and six foot two. It was hard to tell since he was sitting down. His brown hair was damp with sweat. I watched him. Not in a creepy way. Just… observed. I could tell by his form and muscles that he was probably an athlete. Judging by his size, maybe football? Small beads of sweat trailed down his tan neck. I coughed suddenly and caught this mystery boy off guard. He set the weights down and turned to face me. His face was…. And the cheekbones. Kennedy. What? He’s pretty.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to disturb you.”

“No worries.” He stood up and used his shirt to wipe the sweat from his face. Those abs. Good Lord. I blinked quickly to keep myself from staring. “I didn’t realize anyone was still here.”

“Oh. My parents are just enrolling me now. We moved here a few days ago from New York.”

“Cool. And you are?”

“Oh. Uh. I’m Kennedy.”

“Montgomery.” He nodded.

[writing-is-my-guilty-pleasure]

Meeting and falling in love with Portia, Muriel and Lucio || Slight Modern! AU

A/N: Second part!! Nobody really asked for this but it didn’t feel right to not write about these other three. Also sorry this took so long I’ve been at work and on holiday (social distancing safely tho!) and also am preparing for Univeristy :)

Part 1

Main Masterlist

The Arcana Masterlist

Portia

You two first met out in town - you ran into each other on a market day; she was buying things for Nadia and you were merely perusing the various stalls

You literally ran into each other though

You straight up knocked the bags of various items out of her arms - it was incredibly embarrassing for the both of you

You obviously apologised immediately, the both of you trying desperately to gather up Portia’s things without attracting a crowd

It isn’t until the two of you stand up that you get a good look of each other - you recognise her from that one fancy dinner you went to that Nadia held (Asra made you go)

You offer to help her find the rest of the items Nadia needs, and you spend another hour browsing the stalls and talking about everything and nothing

The two of you end up running into each other at the market enough times for y’all to exchange numbers and make the friendship official - when you eventually met Julian he took a liking to you right away which you took as a definite good sign

You’d been friends for a couple of months and you started to pick up on her little habits, and you started to notice her more; like the small efforts she made when you’d go out or the effort she went to as to make sure all of her friends met and loved you

You introduced her to Asra, and Portia became obsessed with everything in your shop, and she went through a phase where all she wanted to do was spend time at your home, and could somehow look at all the items in your shop for hours on end

You’d always had a strong friendship, but soon enough your feelings towards her started to change as you spent more time together

Portia was surprisingly forwards with her intentions and affections – as soon as you started to show more affection towards her or she caught you staring one too many times, she caught on pretty quickly to your real feelings

Which was kind of lucky because you’d been caught up in an inner debate of whether or not she actually felt the same or if you were reading all the signs wrong, so it would have been a while before you actually got the courage to ask her out

So she took pity on you and just casually asked

“Hey Y/N, wanna go on a date tomorrow night?”

You absolutely choked on whatever food or drink you were having

“A…a date?”

“Yeah, you and me, going on a date like partners do.”

“O-Oh…oh, yeah, definitely, I would very much like to do that please”

It wasn’t anything extravagant, but Portia lit up her garden with an insane amount of candles for a candle-lit dinner and honestly you couldn’t have asked for anything more

Muriel

Muriel was intriguing from the start.

You’d heard Asra mention someone with his name a few times, but it never really stuck in your mind for very long; you told yourself that it was because you didn’t have a face to stick with the name.

The first time you saw Muriel was in the shadows outside Asra’s shop – an immediate red flag in your mind (you later told this to Muriel and he was mortified that the thought of him hurting you had ever crossed your mind. It was just like you forgot about it every time you ran into him.

It was strange looking back on the several other interactions you had with Muriel before you really got to know him; you found it odd that you kept forgetting to mention him to Asra – I mean, Muriel wasn’t exactly easy to miss being around six foot, and about ten inches. He’s a giant of a man, seriously.

The first time you properly ran into him, it was really thanks to Inanna – she’d turned up at the shop, most likely looking for Asra so that he could help.

You opened the door expecting to find a body, or someone in desperate need of help; there were bloodstains on the shop door, but you were surprised and slightly (very) scared to see a large, black wolf hiding in the shadows. Well, the first thing you saw were her eyes, large and gleaming in the small amount of light that was in the shop.

When you finally regained enough courage to move and calm down, you cautiously asked it if it needs help, then immediately questioned why you had just asked an animal a real question

You (somewhat lamely) offered to help instead as Asra was currently away.

Next thing you knew, you had followed an unknown wolf into the nearby forest, and after what felt like hours you finally reached the end goal – which happened to be the largest man you’d ever see

And, bonus! He was also covered in blood :)

Muriel was not grateful at all when it came to your offer of help – he seemed to already know who you were, yet still didn’t want to accept your help.

Even though he insisted on cleaning his wound himself, you manage to convince him to let you help him tidy it up and do one last check over.

From there, Asra eventually caught up with the two of you and realised pretty quickly that Muriel was begrudgingly curious about you, and that he liked you but absolutely was not showing it

You bought him a scarf from the marketplace – he didn’t understand why he deserved good things and you made it your mission to shower him with compliments and nice things

Overtime you just became more and more infatuated with him, and slowly encouraged him to come out of his shell around you

When you kissed him, he was so stunned that you thought for a horribly long second that you had misread all the signs and that you’d ruined your friendship, but he was just confused as to what the hell had just happened

He was like ‘….Iwouldn’tmindifyoudiditagain’ so fast you had to ask him to repeat it, but you were so happy and relieved beyond belief to hear it a bit slower and realise that he felt the same way

Basically he is your soft boi who you adore and would kill anyone who hurts him :)

Lucio

You met him after leaving Nadia’s house one night after dinner

Him being her ex, he was trying to sneak into the house to get the rest of his things without Nadia seeing him - she didn't see him, but you sure did

You had just left the house and you saw him trying to sneak in through an upstairs window, and the sight of the moonlight shining on him made him look so ghost-like that you jumped out of your skin, gasping in surprise

He nearly fell out of the window at your gasp, and the two of you just stared at each other for a solid minute in silence before you both spoke at the same time

‘Who the hell are you?” / ”What on earth are you doing up there?”

After a few minutes of Lucio explaining what the hell he was doing sneaking into Nadia’s house and you listening skeptically, you promised not to tell Nadia that he had been trying to take his stuff back. You weren't sure why, but you felt that you could trust him, even though he was an odd man.

It was a while before the two of you next met up - he disappeared to who-knows-where, but when you did eventually meet up you were surprisingly happy to see him.

For a while you found that his ego was waaaaaay too big, and you found out from Nadia that he made some pretty shady deals with some shady people

You also ‘forgot’ to mention that you were kinda friends with Lucio to Asra, as Nadia had mentioned that Asra had never been friendly towards Lucio in any way

The more time you spent around Lucio, the more you were slowly able to look past his large ego, and you could actually see the real person underneath - he even allowed you to call him by his real name, or ‘Monty’ when he began to trust you (that took a very long time)

You realised just how much he trusted you when he confided his family history. He told you how his father died, and that he had come here to escape his mother. You told him that despite his awful childhood, and despite all the shady stuff he’d been involved him, you still believed he could change for good if he did everything he could to make amends

Eventually, you found yourself spending more and more time with Lucio, and you noticed that he started to relax more when he was around you, and the two of you became comfortable in each other’s company to the extent that Asra started to get suspicious that you were seeing someone because you kept forgetting your shifts at the shop.

After a while, your friendship almost naturally turned into something more, until the two of you were painfully aware that there was some unspoken ‘thing’ between you

It was you who made the first move – he’d been joking about the two of you being a couple and how he’d shower you with gifts and it was honestly getting kinda hurtful because you,,,actually did want to be with him and he was treating it as a joke

So you just kissed him to shut him up, but then he kissed you back immediately and you realised he might actually feel the same way

He told you afterwards that he was trying to hint to you that he wanted to be with you but isn’t good with honest emotions so thought that joking about it was the right thing to do, the asshole

You knew that Asra and, well, everyone, wouldn’t be too pleased with this outcome, but you could see that Lucio truly loved you. Even though his ego was still a little too big for his liking, and he had more money than you ever needed, it was obvious that he was trying to tone down all his flamboyance for you.

~~~

@hakunamatatayqueen​ this is part 2 I just forgot to tag it 

[glenncoco4]

730 Days

A/N: Happy 2 years to our favorite couple! Also, a little callback to Higher Power.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

She hadn't been feeling good all day. These bouts of nausea along with major fatigue were effecting her more and more by the day. Her body and emotions were being put through the wringer, and on top of all that she kept getting worried glances from her husband all day at work, along with a myriad of text when he was out in the field.

He's worried about her, she knows that and if the roles were reversed there's no doubt that she would be acting the same, but she's also feeling a bit claustrophobic.

It's in the moment that he tells her she needs to eat something that she snaps back at him and she then realizes just how bad these mood swings are. He doesn't say anything back to her, but she can feel his eyes watch as she packs up her bag and starts heading towards the door.

She begrudgingly makes her way towards the truck as the defining silence and her husband follow her.

A few minutes later her eyes are watching the golden sun illuminates the buildings, as they pass by. She's so lost in her thoughts that when he turns onto a new street it takes a second to realize that they're in their neighborhood.

The blood quickly drains from her face when he pulls up into their driveway without a word and jumps out of the truck. They were suppose to be going to the pier for dinner in celebration but that's obviously not happening now, she shouldn't have snapped at him, he was only trying to help. She feels tears spring to her eyes and can't help fight the feeling of helplessness, as she reaches for the handle and prepares herself for a night full of silence.

She's so caught up in her actions that she doesn't notice him coming around to her side of the vehicle until he's opening the door with an understanding smile on his face.

He's immediately alarmed when he sees her tears, worried that something happened in the few brief seconds that he was absent. His hands find her face, as he scans her eyes, looking for any indication of what could be wrong. "Baby, what is it? Are you okay?"

Goddamn these hormones is the first thing that crosses her mind. Her eyes follow his cerulean blues that are mixed with worry and turmoil, unable to stop her lip from quivering as she slowly nods her head, but the tears are already falling.

Before she knows it, he's pulling her out of her seat and into his chest. His strong arms wrap around as he cradles her against his body helplessly. His lips find the crown of her head, feeling his own tears start to form in his eyes as she her fingers cling to back of his shirt. Her muffled sobs, breaking his heart that much more. "I thought you were mad at me."

He pulls back slightly, his finger finding her chin, tilting her head up so that he can see her beautiful eyes. "Baby, you have every right to feel how you're feeling. Your body is going through so much, I know you don't mean it and I also know that I've been a little annoying the past few days."

"A little?"

He scrunches his nose at her quick reply. "Touché."

His thumb finds her soft skin as he wipes her tear stained cheek, a teary-eyed smile spreading to her face. "Touché."

Unable to stop himself, he huffs a laugh. "Why do you do this to me?"

"What ever do you mean?"

He shakes his head, as she playfully bats her eyelashes at him.

Grabbing her hand, he reaches for her bag and then shuts the door before making their way into the house where he immediately guides her to their bedroom and tells her to undress. She's just about to protest when he slips into the bathroom and she hears the water turn on.

Doing as she's told, the brunette slowly pulls off her clothes, but grows curious when he doesn't immediately come back out. Once fully bare, she steps into the en suite and realizes why he's still in there. She's met with a very amazing view of his perfect derrière, as he pours some lavender along with bubbles into the water before lighting a few candles.

"Nice ass."

"Oh, you like that, huh?"

"Mmmhmm." She smirks as he pops his butt out even more and starts backing up into her.

She can't help but laugh a his ridiculous action when he suddenly stops, whipping around and places a kiss to her lips. "Your bath awaits you, my queen."

Taking his offered hand, she follows him to the tub, noticing that the jets are already turned on. God this man. With the help of her partner, she steps into the warm water, already feeling the pain and ache dissipate from her body.

She sits down, leaning her head back against the edge as her eyes slowly close. Taking a deep relaxing breath she waits for her husband to join but he never does, somewhat alarming her. She opens her eyes once again only to see him watching her, unmoving. "Husbands don't stare at their wives."

"Maybe not other husbands," He smiles thinking back to the last time she said those words to him and how so much has changed. Slowly bending down, he gets on his knees, now eye level with her, his fingers finding the stray piece of hair, and pushes it behind her ear. "But I most definitely stare at my wife."

The semi-shaggy blonde lets out a content sigh, raising his wife's curiosity. "What?"

"I shouldn't be allowed to be this happy."

He's trying to kill her; he's physically trying to kill her. His words paired with the look in his eyes tempts her to just pull him in with her, clothes and all. "I could make you even happier if you joined me."

"I know you could, but I have to do something." He doesn't make a move at her offer and stands up, leaning down once more to places a kiss to her forehead. "Enjoy your bath, baby."

XXXX

She steps into the the living room an hour later, surprised that her partner hadn't come to check on her. Her body almost feels like new, as she stretches her limbs. Stepping into the kitchen half expecting to see her man standing over the stove, she surprised yet again at the empty room. "Babe?"

He doesn't answer back, making her worry. She steps into the mudroom, thinking maybe he was doing some laundry or giving Monty a bath, but all she finds her their old pooch sprawled out in his bed. Bending down, Kensi runs her fingers through his mange. "Where's daddy, boy?"

He raises his head for a minute as if he's sizing her up before huffing and laying back down. "Yeah, I don't know either."

Tracking back down the hall, she's about to go for her phone when something in the backyard catches her attention. She walks over to the sliding glass door as she watches her husband maneuver around their new backyard, hanging up a string of lights that she pointed out to him the other day.

She watches as he hammers the nail, hitting his finger the first time before he's able to secure the wire. He hops off the ladder and meets her eyes, a nervous smile spreading to his lips, as she opens door.

Walking towards her, he runs his fingers nervously through his golden locks.

"What did you do?"

"Well, I know you probably weren't feeling up to going out tonight so during lunch run I stopped by the store and well..." His eyes lock with hers, as he tries to read her. "Is it okay?"

The tears begin to run down her cheeks as she nods, falling into his arms.

Taking her hand in his, he leads her over to the outdoor patio, as the fire in the pit crackles, and their favorite love song playlist playing in the background.

He guides her to the couch, stretching out his arm to offer her a seat. She watches as he quickly heads back inside but comes right back out with a steaming mug and a bottle of red Gatorade. If she wasn't married to him already, she'd definitely be down on one knee right now.

She gladly takes the mug of chicken broth from him as he sits the bottle of of electrolytes on the side table next to her sounding much more like a parent than she's ever heard before. "I thought this would be better on your stomach."

Grabbing one of his hands, she pulls him towards her, brining her lips to his. "Thank you, baby."

He places another kiss to her lips before taking a seat next to her, throwing the blanket over them as she curls into his side. "Anything for you."

She relaxes into his embrace, the bath was amazing but its nothing compared to this. Tilting her head back, she meets his eyes before he leans down, placing his lips to hers once more.

"730 days."

"That's a long time."

He nods, watching as she takes a sip of her broth. "How are you feeling?"

"A little better."

Nervously, he bites his lip, trying to find the courage to say what he's about to say. "I'm gonna say something and all I ask is that you hear me out."

"Okay?"

"I think we should consider adoption."

She whips her head around so fast that she almost gives herself whiplash. "Deeks..."

"Let me finish."

She nods for him to continue and places her mug next to her drink before turning her body fully to face him. The sadness she sees in his eyes worrying her.

"I just hate seeing you like this and knowing that I can't do anything about it. You're making all these sacrifices and we're not even sure this will work. Plus there are tons of kids out there that need parents...that could need us."

"Why are you just now telling me this?"

"Honestly, I know how much you want this...how much we both want this, but I see the toll it's taking on you and I just want you to be okay."

"I can handle this."

"I know but-"

She shakes her head, cutting him off. Her hand finding the scruff of his jaw, his immediately covering it. "But nothing, Deeks. I knew what I was getting into when we started to go this route, and I want this. I want to at least try this because I think if I don't, I'll always wonder what if...we'll always wonder."

"Are you sure?"

Her heart breaks a little at the strain in his voice. "Baby-"

"I just want you to be okay."

"I know." Her lips find his, trying to reassure him as much as possible. Slowly standing up, Kensi offers her hand to him. "Dance with me?"

"Always." He smiles, taking her hand and pulls her into him, her head finding its place in the crook of his neck.

They're able to get through two song, before her dizziness kicks in again. He helps her sit down, handing her the bottle of Gatorade.

Knowing that she's probably about ready to call it a night, he reaches behind the couch and pulls out a bag, handing it over to her. "I actually got you something."

"For me?" She's confused because they both agreed that they weren't doing presents which should've set off her warning bells because it was his idea in the first place. Opening it, she reaches into the paper bag and slowly removes the bottle. A knowing smile graces her face when she sees the familiar label.

"Yeah, its a gift for the tropical sun, it's made by a woman in Venice for a very select clientele, it's hypoallergenic and made with organic coconut oil, shea butter and jojoba."

She gives him a knowing smile, flashing back to 9 years ago at Christmas when he last said those words to her. The Gatorade is helping ease her stomach and she's feeling a lot better. She bites her lip as a plan begins to form in her head. Looking up at him under he eyelashes, she flashes him an "innocent" smile. "You know what would be really good right now?"

"Huh?"

"If you gave me a deep tissue massage with this."

"You're wish is my command, Princess."

She leans forward, bringing her lips to his ear as she whispers. "Sans clothing."

His eyes go wide as her hand finds its way down his stomach and into his boxers, leaving his mouth dry. "Yep, no-yep, that sounds good."

[mikuhats]

ok sending this here because im too much of a pussy to leave a reply under ur twitter but omg a sister location enjoyer !! ive always wanted to play the game but rarely see anyone talk about it so id live to hear what u love about it ^_^

OMGG !! ok Ok i have a lot. i love the game soo much. (WILL PUT UNDER THE CUT BC ITS A LOT)

ok so like Outside of the actual game, Sister Location was like the First FNAF game I'd watched and really enjoyed since like.. FNAF 2.. so just in general i love it for that kind of reason! it reignited the interest in FNAF I had when i was younger ^_^

into the actual gameplay and mechanics I genuinely think it's rly great. it felt soo different from the previous 4 fnaf games (without feeling like it didnt belong in the series) and even with security breach out I think sister location still remains one of the best change in formula FNAF has had (even if im biased cos its my fav game LOL)

so like first and foremost is the change in cast! while freddy is in the game, he's no longer the mascot or main antagonist for this one. characters like chica are no where to be found, and bonnie is just a little hand puppet. circus baby is the new mascot and she's the main antagonist (though she isn't introduced as such the way every other mascot of the previous 4 fnaf games were). then we have ballora, funtime freddy (ft bonbon), and funtime foxy. the cast manages to have familiar characters from previous games so you don't feel completely unattached to the new cast, while still introducing entirely new characters like Baby and Ballora! I think that definitely is smthing intentional and smthing meant to intrigue you about these new characters. (This is something Security Breach does as well, though I think executed a bit less well, but that could just be me cause everyone really loves Monty and Roxy!)

next is the general aesthetic and designs of the characters, i LOVE IT... they're all designed after different kinds of performers (circus baby a clown+singer, ballora a ballet dancer, funtime freddy a puppeteer, and funtime foxy im not entirely sure? but hes Definitely an entertainer) unlike the original 3 (excluding foxy bc I don't rly consider him apart of the band) who are obviously meant to just be members of a band, the sister location cast covers a whole variety of things for kids to enjoy. i think it adds a lot to what the sister location was Supposed to be before inevitably closing down and the animatronics becoming rentals.

the atmosphere of the game too I think is amazing. it starts with you in the rackety elevator with a funny AI to ease a bit of the tension. to then have to crawl thru a tight vent and hear a robotic voice mention a motion trigger being activated catches you off guard, and your first thought is Something Is In This Vent With Me. it's a really strong start to the game. the crawling in vents and having to navigate extremely dark rooms with the impending feeling you're going to mess it up and get jumpscared is RLY good to me. i think the atmosphere and the use of building tension is done rly well ! the only other fnaf game i would say builds a similar tension is help wanted or maybe security breach with the endoskeletons. it's smthing i really wish the game series did more, instead of making you do tasks so you DON'T get jumpscared, the idea that you don't know when or how you'll get jumpscared definitely adds to the atmosphere to me.

and then to continue i also rly love the scary mechanics of the game. again, navigating a dark room and all you can do is listen for when ballora is close to you is scary the first time you play! having the keep the door closed from bidybab who is trying very hard to open it freaks me out CONSISTENTLY. being in a springlock suit where you have to wiggle to keep the minireenas off you, but still having to keep the springlocks from bursting and giving you a game over is Insane (though also it can end up being more frustrating than scary LOL). trying to get to parts and service thru funtime auditorium where all you can do is take quick flashes and occasionally see funtime foxy get unnervingly closer to you. its crazy. i love it. i think the scares r rly good in this game. i dont think its like the BEST part, but its smthing that i like in comparison to the rest of the series, so i figured i'd add it.

THIS IS ALREADY SUPER LONG SO INSTEAD OF LIKE 5 MORE PARAGRAPHS ILL KEEP THE REST A BIT SHORT

one of the biggest reasons i love the game is circus baby! shes my favorite animatronic and I genuinely think she is such a good balance between unnerving and cute. i love her design i personally think shes adorable and i LOVE her voice. her voice actress did such an Amazing job with baby's voice, bc it's so soft and quiet and to me it scratches a itch in my brain and is calming, but to others it's genuinely creepy. i love circus baby's personality bc she is such a weirdgirl too. Lets just say if fnaf was real and i was born in the 1980s i'd probably have been the first kid to die to her and not elizabeth. i adoreee circus baby.

last but not least (bc this is so long) is the Lore . oh my god the lore in this game is so good. a lot of people think FFPS has the most lore dump, but tbh I think it's sister location. sister location not only formally introduces elizabeth afton into the story, (She might be in the books before this game came out, idk, but it formally introduces her into the Game Canon at least.) it's the game that solidifies michael and william as two separate people. before the game came out it was heavily believed michael and william were the same, and with the SL custom night cutscenes it only really added to that. with the SL custom night golden freddy mode ending where you Hear Michael Talk To His Father it put such a different twist on the story. Ntm we find out that william owned a establishment separated from the Fazbear restaurant(s) with henry and could independently make animatronics. SL told us a LOT about the afton family, and it's smthing i genuinely love ab the game compared to others.

theres still SO MUCH i love ab the game, i havent even mentioned ennard once, theres just so much. (i also barely even touched on gameplay!?!?!?) but ive already written like several paragraphs. its such a wonderful game and installment into the series to me!!!!! i wish it was more popular!!!!!!! bc its SO good!!!!!!