#Yeah I didn't really knew what to put on his screen. Or how you draw a tv lmao | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

dwobbitfromtheshire · 6 months ago

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Not So Complicated

AN: Yes, I just realized that Robin and Steve didn't get the Family Video job until the Byers started to move, but this is an AU, so anything goes. . . I really couldn't help but write this. . .

He hated the idea of leaving Hawkins, just as much as Will did, but his mom wanted them to be safe, and it wasn't just that. They knew how Mom felt now that Hopper was gone, and Jonathan knew how hard it would be for her to stay. If they asked her, she would choose to stay for them, but in the process, she would be miserable. He had thought about Nancy. . .what if she died. . .would he be able to stay? Jonathan never wanted to find out. He hated leaving her, but it comforted him to know she was still alive. They had a month before they left, and Jonathan was determined to make the time he had left with Nancy count. It's how they ended up at Family Video. Movie night.

"Do you know what you want?" Nancy asked as they walked through the door, the bell ringing rather loudly.

"No, why don't you pick something out? I need to ask Steve something," Jonathan said.

"You're really going to ask for Steve’s number for Will?" Nancy asked in amusement.

"Why did you ask it like that?" Jonathan huffed. "I'm just going to talk to him."

"You know I know his number, and Dustin knows his number, so it's safe to say Will knows his number," Nancy said. "This is just an excuse. . .isn't it? You know, what? Why am I stopping this? I'm going to pick out a movie."

Steve had his back turned, his eyes on the computer screen. He hadn't even noticed that they had come in. Jonathan leaned on the counter and rang the bell. Steve sprang up immediately.

"Ahoy, ladies, I'm Steve Harrington, and I'll be your - !" He yelled, startling Jonathan. "Shit, Jonathan, you're not a lady."

"Last time that I checked," he said, laughing.

"Robin made a bet that I - you know what, it doesn't matter," Steve said, blushing. "It's a Scoops Ahoy thing."

"Yeah, I saw you in the outfit. Kind of wish I had gone to Scoops at least once to see you in action," Jonathan said. "Bet you really put it to work."

It was supposed to be a sarcastic comment, but Steve’s cheeks turned pink, and Jonathan suddenly wondered if he just accidentally flirted with him. Steve smiled softly as he gazed at him, and he was thrown for a moment. He always thought that Steve’s eyes were brown, but as he looked at them more closely, they weren't just brown. . .they were green, too. They reminded him of the forest.

"Something wrong?" Steve asked.

"Are your eyes hazel?" Jonathan blurted out.

"Last time I checked, yeah," he said in amusement.

"It's. . .nice. . .your vest really brings out the green. It reminds me of the forest. . .I like trees," Jonathan said.

I like trees? Did he suddenly turn into an idiot?

"I like trees too," Steve said, grinning.

"This is going to sound weird, but can I have your number?" Jonathan asked.

"Yeah," Steve said in surprised and scribbled it quickly on a piece of paper. "Here."

"I know your name, and do you usually draw a heart over the I?" Jonathan asked.

"Only in special circumstances," Steve winked.

"I just - it's for Will, you know, in case he wants to check in," he said quickly.

"Sure, for Will," he said laughing.

"Why do you sound like you don't believe me?" Jonathan said.

"Because it sounds like you don't even believe it," Steve said as he leaned on the counter, getting closer to him and inflating his eyes.

"What - stop doing that with your eyes," he said.

"I'm not doing anything," he said innocently and stood up.

Suddenly, Nancy appeared beside Jonathan with a grin on her face. Jonathan jumped.

"I found a movie," Nancy said, and he stared at her. "Jonathan?"

"Yeah, that's great," he said, blinking rapidly.

"Is everything okay over here?" Nancy asked as she looked between the two.

"More than okay," Steve replied. "I see what you see in him, Nance. He's pretty adorable. If I were another girl, I'd be stealing him away from you."

"You're an idiot, Steve Harrington," Nancy said affectionately.

"Cute boys will make some people do stupid things," Steve said, batting his eyelashes rather obnoxiously, and Nancy giggled.

Just for a moment, Jonathan wanted Steve to steal him, but then, for another moment, he wanted Steve to steal Nancy, too. That was such a weird thought, and he was so focused on it that he didn't even notice that Nancy had dragged him outside. Did he just hit on Nancy's ex-boyfriend, and did Steve flirt with him back? No, that's crazy. Meanwhile. . .back in Family Video, Steve was leaning against the counter, watching the door rather intently.

"Well, any luck?" Robin asked as she came out of the back.

"Huh?" Steve asked, looking at her.

"Any luck meeting someone special?" She asked.

"Have you ever looked at someone for one moment and not see them, not really, but then this one small moment changes everything?" Steve asked her.

"Well, you know I always thought you were an asshole but clearly, you showed me," Robin said.

"Not like that," he said. "You know, romantically."

"Okay, so, a pretty girl walked in who you never thought was pretty before?" Robin asked.

Steve looked back at the door and thought about Jonathan. He thought about his dark brown eyes. . . The color of coffee and just like coffee, it woke something up inside of him.

"Yeah. . .he's very pretty," Steve said with a sigh.

"Alright, so, who is this girl?" Robin asked as she started putting away video tapes.

"Robin!" Steve exclaimed.

"What? Am I missing something?" She asked.

"I'm going to give you a minute," Steve said as he turned back to the computer.

Robin rolled her eyes before continuing to put away the tapes. Steve sighed and gave her a look. He crossed his arms and began tapping his foot. His best friend was still a genius, right? Robin gasped and dropped the tapes. She turned around and ran around the counter, grabbing him.

"Steven, did you say what I think you just said?" Robin asked.

"Yeah," Steve said grinning.

"Did you mean what you said?" She asked.

"Yeah."

"Okay, okay, okay. . .what does this mean?" She asked.

Steve thought of Nancy's smiling face, her blue eyes, and the way she sounded when she called him an idiot. . .the way his heart still beat when she called him that.

"Well, I still like women so I don't know," he said.

"Hmm. . .well, can you tell me something you do know like. . .who is this guy you think is so pretty?" Robin said with a grin.

"You're going to flip," he said.

"Steve, this pancake has already flipped. Time to take it off the griddle," Robin said.

"Well, it's complicated. . ."

A month or so later, Jonathan didn't call Steve until after they had moved. It had been a lot of sleepless nights lost thinking of him, thinking of Nancy, and sometimes thinking of the both of them. After a long phone call with Nancy, he nervously called Steve.

"Hello?" Steve asked.

"Hey, it's Jonathan," he said.

"Hm, I thought my number was for Will," Steve said in amusement.

"It never was," Jonathan said.

"Knew it," Steve said.

"Don't get cocky or I'll hang up," he said.

"I'm not, just happily stating a fact," Steve replied.

"So, how are you?" Jonathan asked and winced at how awkward he sounded.

"Better now that you called," Steve said.

"Oh, well, I'm glad I can make your day better," Jonathan said, grinning.

"My parents are home. . .so, I'm really glad you called," Steve said.

"Are they really that bad?" Jonathan asked.

"Steven!" Jonathan could hear another man's voice on the other end of the line. "Are you making an appointment to get your hair cut? I swear, it's bad enough that my son is too much of a dumbass to get into college. Now I have to worry about him looking like a girl. It's like you want to embarrass this family. You should at least make an effort to look like a man if you can't be one."

"I'll make an appointment after this phone call, Dad," Steve said through gritted teeth. "It would be rude to hang up on this person."

"You better," he said. "Your mother is medicating again. She just had to listen to Sandra brag about her child going to Harvard. You don't want to disappoint your mother again. You remember what happened last time?"

There was a long stretch of silence, and then suddenly, he could hear Steve let out a breath.

"She did that because of you," Steve muttered.

"Jesus, Steve, are you okay?" Jonathan asked.

"I'm fine, I will be fine," Steve said. "I guess I'm going to have to make an appointment though."

"Don't cut your hair," Jonathan blurted out.

"What?"

"I mean, do you want to cut your hair?" He asked.

"Well, no," Steve said.

"Then don't. . .you look good. . .really good," Jonathan said softly.

"Okay. . .I won't. I look good, huh?" Steve asked.

Jonathan smiled at the tone of his voice, how much happier he sounded because of him. He never thought that he would have something like that in common with Steve Harrington, and he kind of hated that his dad was such an asshole but there was a part of Jonathan that felt a little less alone knowing that there was someone else who knew what it was like to have a father like that.

"Hey, so we're going to tell Nancy that we're. . . friends now, right?" Jonathan asked.

"Yeah," Steve chuckled.

"It's good. . .that's good, but maybe we don't tell her that she was right about us getting a long," he said.

"Why? She's going to figure it out anyway. You know how she is. . .especially when she's right," Steve said.

"I know, I know. . .she just gets this twinkle in her eye. . .," Jonathan said.

"That's both obnoxious and beautiful at the same time?"

"Yeah. It makes you feel like you want to be wrong all the time," Jonathan said.

"Tell me about it," Steve said softly.

"Are you still . . . Never mind, forget I said anything," he said.

"Always, I think," Steve said, answering his incompleted question.

There was a heavy silence that followed. It said everything and nothing at the same time.

"I wish I was there," Jonathan said.

"Yeah, me too," Steve said softly.

They talked longer than they should have and didn't stop until Steve’s father practically yanked him off the phone. Jonathan had flopped on the bed after that, feeling everything come alive for him in that moment. He liked Steve, a lot more than he should, but he also still loved Nancy. . .what the hell? He hugged his pillow close to his chest and sighed.

"Hey, Jonathan," Will"s voice broke through his thoughts. "El wants to play a board game. Are you in?"

"Yeah, I'll be there in a minute," he replied.

"Are you okay?" Will asked. "Did you and Nancy have a fight?"

Jonathan sat up and looked at his brother. He wanted nothing more than to tell him. . .to tell Will that he wasn't alone, but he also didn't want to make him feel like he was pressuring him to tell him anything he wasn't ready for. Jonathan sighed, opened his mouth, and closed it again. He also wasn't quite ready yet to say it outloud. It's not that he didn't trust Will. . .he just wasn't ready yet because while he was quite aware of himself now, Jonathan hadn't really quite accepted it yet. He was feeling quite overwhelmed, and it wasn't necessarily a bad thing. There are just too many emotions swirling around in his head all at once. He just needed to breathe.

"Everything's perfect."

Days and weeks passed, and Jonathan and Steve were still in this dance that neither one would mention. Nancy now knew they were friends but had yet to see them flirt or notice the way they talked about each other. Nancy was happy to be a part of Steve’s life again, but she missed Jonathan, and she felt less alone in knowing that she wasn't the only one. Currently, Nancy was leaning against the counter, talking to Steve while Robin put away inventory.

"I don't know, Steve, I just feel like there's something he's keeping from me. Do you have any idea what it could be?" Nancy asked.

"No, and even if I did know, I'm not going to be the kind of friend who goes blabbing to the girlfriend," Steve said. "There's a code, Nance."

"What if I did this?" Nancy asked as she inflated her eyes and poked out her bottom lip.

"Those powers of yours don't work on me anymore," Steve said, lying.

"He just seems troubled about something," Nancy said with a sigh.

"Maybe it's the fact that he's miles away from you, and he doesn't know how to say just how much he misses you. You know Jonathan, he's better with the camera than he is with words," Steve said.

"Well, he hasn't actually picked up the camera in a while. Too busy smoking weed with his new friend Argyle," Nancy said.

"Maybe he needs to find a balance. Photography and spending time with Argyle," Steve said and tried to keep the jealousy out of his voice.

"Maybe he's just blocked creatively. . .that happens sometimes, right?" Robin asked..

Nancy huffed and rolled her eyes. Steve wasn't sure what it was, but Nancy seemed to have a problem with Robin.

"Maybe," Nancy begrudgingly agreed.

"Well, maybe I can talk to him and get him to talk to you. . .gently, you know?" Steve said. "But if he says he's not ready to talk about whatever ever is bothering him then - "

"I'll back off, I swear!" Nancy exclaimed and then paused. "You don't think maybe he doesn't love me anymore, do you?"

"What? No! That would be crazy! Our boyfriend's an idiot but he's not that stupid," Steve said.

"What did you just say?" Nancy asked.

"I said Jonathan's an idiot but he's not that stupid," Steve said.

"That's not what you said. You said: "Our boyfriend's an idiot," Nancy said.

"What? No, I didn't!" Steve exclaimed.

"Yes, you did!" Nancy yelled.

"No, I didn't!"

"Yes, you did!"

"Robin, tell her," Steve said.

Robin froze like a deer in headlights as she cradled the tapes against her chest. She glanced at Nancy and then at Steve.

"You. . ." Robin started to say but looked at Steve for a moment, and her head snapped down to her watch free wrist. "Oh, would you look at the time. . .it's my lunch break!"

Robin dropped the tapes and ran right into the break room.

"See! You did say it!" Nancy asked.

"That doesn't prove anything! Robin is always squirrelly," Steve scoffed.

"You said it. I heard it. Robin heard it," Nancy smirked. "You called Jonathan our boyfriend."

"Hey, I mean, it's technically true. He's a boy, and he's my friend," Steve said, blushing. "You're never going to let me live this down. Are you?"

"Never," Nancy laughed.

Steve appreciated the fact that Nancy thought it was just a slip of the tongue. He wasn't ready to admit her about anything else his feelings for both her and Jonathan. How could he ever explain that? So, he let the bit go on for a while. . .up until the spring break from hell. Everything was perfect, Steve was on the cusp of revealing his feelings to both Jonathan and Nancy when shit hit the fan. He saved up money, working extra shifts, doing what his father asked of him, and then he was going to surprise Nancy with two plane tickets to Lenora. Of course, Chrissy Cunningham died, Eddie got pinned for the murders, but the real culprit was a new monster from the Upside Down. . .or rather an old one. Now, here he was, in Max's kitchen, trying to fix his bandages and trying not to cry over the image of almost losing Nancy.

"Hey, man, you alright?" Eddie's voice startled him.

"Yeah, yeah, all good," Steve said, adjusting his bandages and wincing when he decided to pat his stomach.

"Clearly, seeing Wheeler like that shook you up," he said. "Maybe I was right before."

Eddie's words sprang into his head again, and they kept spinning around in there.

". . .unambiguous sign of true love that these cynical eyes have ever seen. . ."

"You weren't wrong. . .about me anyway," Steve said. "I don't know about Nancy."

"She didn't waste a second going in there," Eddie said.

"That's just who she is," he said.

"Maybe, but Dustin told me about how she infiltrated the lab. . .stormed the gates of hell to get justice for her friend, Barb. . .she loved her, too. Maybe risking her neck out for people she doesn't know is something she does, but she's just as determined to do it for the people she loves. . .man, she's my new favorite superhero," Eddie grinned.

"Mine too," Steve blushed and paused. "It's complicated. . . She's still dating Jonathan Byers."

"So, he's all the way out in California, right? You're the one that's here," Eddie said, and Steve gave him a look. "Well, you're a better man than I am."

Steve glanced down at the hanky in his pocket. After his awakening and coming out to Robin, they had both been determined to find out any information they could find. They took off during Christmas break and traveled up to Indianapolis as well as Chicago. Steve smiled as he remembered the little bar in Chicago they had found, tucked away from everything else practically. This nice young woman who explained the hanky code to him before proceeding to make out with his best friend. It had been the best Christmas for the both of them.

"It's complicated because - " Steve started to say.

"Steve?" Nancy's voice spoke from the doorway.

Steve jumped, his heart practically leaping into his throat.

"Nancy? Are you okay?" Steve asked.

"I should be asking you that," Nancy said.

"I think it's safe to say that none of us are okay," Eddie replied.

"Are your bites hurting you?" Nancy asked, and he didn't say anything. "Steve?"

"Yeah, okay, they hurt like a bitch," Steve winced.

"We need to put some medicine on it and re bandage the wounds," Nancy said.

"I think I saw a first aid kit under the sink," Eddie said and bent down to retrieve it. "Here you go."

"Help me?" Nancy asked, and he nodded.

Steve shrugged off the vest and handed it Eddie. Nancy grinned at him and giggled.

"What?"

"I know who you reminded of in Eddie's vest," Nancy said. "Tom Cruise from the Outsiders minus the teeth, of course."

"Really. . .you know, I always thought Tom Cruise was hot in that," Steve said, and Eddie nearly choked on his own saliva.

"Yeah, me too, especially with the tattoo," Nancy said as she took off his bandages. "You should get a tattoo."

"Yeah, what would I get?" Steve asked. "Your name?"

"Oh, yeah, our boyfriend would love that," Nancy giggled.

"What?!" Eddie exclaimed, his eyes comically wide.

"It was slip of the tongue," Steve explained, and Eddie didn't ask any questions.

Nancy put the bandages on him, wrapping her arms around him as she did so. She stood on her tippy toes to whisper in his ear.

"I think you and I both know that it stopped being a joke a long time ago," Nancy whispered, and it took everything in him not to shudder. "We're going to get out of this, Steve, and we're going to see our boyfriend again. Our boyfriend."

She made sure the road rash wounds were cleaned thoroughly before patching them up as well. She kissed his cheek, put the vest back on, and went off towards the bathroom. Steve leaned against the kitchen counter, wondering if she really meant that.

"It's complicated because I'm also in love with her boyfriend," Steve said.

"Shit! Okay, yeah, I didn't see that coming," Eddie said with wide eyes. "Wait, I know we've been through hell together, but why are you telling me this?"

"I thought that maybe you might be a little safer than others," he replied.

"Why?" He asked.

"Because, you know. . .do you really want me to say it?" Steve asked.

"Yeah!"

"You're, you know. . .the hanky," Steve whispered.

"You mean this one?" Eddie asked, pulling it out of his back pocket. "It's just something I wear because I saw another heavy metal guitarist wearing one just like it."

"Oh. . .oh, shit," Steve said, and then he laughed. "Sorry, man, I thought you were like me."

"Nah, those are just rumors," Eddie said, flashing his dimples. "I never tried to deny them, though. They hated it when I acted all flattered and not like it was an insult, which it isn't."

"Thanks, man," Steve smiled.

"So, when did you know that it wasn't just girls?" Eddie asked.

"One day, Nancy and Jonathan just walked into Family Video. . .I looked into his eyes, and I just knew. I realized then it wasn't just Jonathan that I noticed. I looked at guys and girls over the years, checking out every bit of them. . .with my eyes glancing at their lips and the way their clothes fit and wondering what's under them. . .what they look like and what they would feel like," Steve said. "It hit me all at once."

"Wait. . .does everyone not do that?" Eddie asked.

"Uh, no, dude, they most certainly do not," Steve said.

"Oh. . .OH!" Eddie exclaimed and paused. "So, it's not normal to be a little into ot when you kiss your guys friends?"

"Normal, yes. Straight? Hell no," Steve laughed and slapped his shoulder.

"They were fucking right," he breathed and paused again. "Oh shit, okay. . . I feel like half gay isn't the proper term. . ."

"Bisexual," Steve said. "Only if you prefer labels."

"Okay, okay," Eddie rubbed his face and pushed his bangs up.

"You okay over there?" Steve asked.

Eddie leaned against the counter, his whole body relaxing as he exhaled. He smiled.

"Yeah. . .so, are you going to tell them how you feel?" Eddie asked him.

"I don't know," Steve said. "I mean, I had plans before, you know, but everything is so messed up now. . ."

"If you don't take the chance now. . .you'll might not get another, especially with everything that's happening now," he said and sighed. "I had so many chances to get to know her. . .but I thought she was like every other popular person who hated me . . . Then she surprised me, and we had this one moment, then she was gone. Life is short, man. Don't let your insecurities get in the way."

"Yeah, that's true," Steve said. "You're pretty smart for a third time senior."

"Fuck off," Eddie said laughing. "You're pretty great for a jock. I was glad I was wrong that all jocks are the same. . . I think I'm starting to like being proven wrong."

"Thanks, Eddie," Steve said softly.

"Anything for my fellow bisexy," Eddie winked at him.

"No! No! Absolutely not!" Steve exclaimed and Eddie laughed.

It was that moment with Eddie, that moment in the Upside Down too, that Steve clung to after he died. His words echoed in his head after Max was put into a coma, and the Upside Down came to Hawkins. He held onto them even after all that and tried not to think about Nancy's face when he told her how he felt. He tried not to think about Dustin's face when he told them that Eddie had died. Steve tried to desperately cling to the hope that the metalhead had left him with, that Robin continued to drill into them. He tried not to think about Nancy's worried expression and the words that they would talk whenever they saw Jonathan again.

He showed up two days later when they were gathering donations for the 'earthquake' relief that they were holding at the high school. A yellow pizza van pulled up, squealing loudly. Will, El, a man with long hair, and Jonathan spilled out of the vehicle. Steve watched as Jonathan and Nancy ran toward each other, Jonathan twirling her around in his arms. Steve smiled softly, watching them for a moment. Before he knew it, Jonathan was grabbing him and pulling him into the hug. No one else was looking, too busy hugging each other. Everything else seemed to fade into nothingness for a moment, blurry shapes in the background as Steve pulled back to look at them.

"Our boyfriend's home," Nancy said softly.

"What?" Jonathan asked.

"Slip of the tongue," Steve blushed.

"It was an accident then, but I think Jonathan needs to know if you mean it now," Nancy said.

"Do you mean it?" He asked Steve.

"Yes," he said. "Yeah, definitely. I love you. . .both of you."

Suddenly, Jonathan is crashing his lips to his. . .in front of everyone. Steve didn't care about that, though. All he cared about was the fact that Jonathan was kissing him, and Nancy was with them. . .in between them. He smirked as he kissed Jonathan back when Nancy let out a delightful gasp. Dustin shrieked.

"OH MY GOD!"

Steve quickly broke the kiss with Jonathan to look at everyone. They were all staring at him in shock. . .everyone except Robin and the man he assumed was Argyle. They were both grinning.

"What?" Steve asked. "I'm welcoming our boyfriend home."

"I thought that was just a joke!" Dustin exclaimed.

"It never was," Steve smirked. "Not really."

"Oh. . .and everyone involved is okay with this?" He asked.

"Well, I was the one who kissed him, so, yeah," Jonathan grinned.

"I'm definitely okay with this," Nancy said.

"I'm happy for all of you," Dustin said.

Dustin did look happy, but it killed Steve to see that there wasn't the same light in his eyes as before. It was tinged with sadness, and he could tell that Dustin was trying his hardest to be happy right now, but they were down a member, and it was difficult for him not to feel that. Steve pulled himself away from his partners and hugged Dustin tightly. The guy he had come to love like a brother was in so much pain right now, and he would give anything to fix it. Anything.

"Thanks, man," Steve said.

"I love you," he said. "You're my brother."

His heart clenched at those words. He loved hearing that but at the same time, they sounded so sad.

"I love you, too," Steve replied.

Steve pulled a way from the hug and ruffled Dustin's curls. He turned to find his partners being hugged by both their siblings. In this moment, his group of friends felt more like a family than his own parents ever did. They were going to face this thing together, and looking at them now, he felt like they could really accomplish something.

Two weeks later. . .

Steve’s vision was fading, the edges going dark as he tried to stay awake. He could feel his own blood in his hands. . .at his sides. . .just when his bites were starting to heal. He coughed, and now he could feel blood in his throat. Nancy and Jonathan were by his sides, crying.

"Stay with us, Steve! Please!" Nancy screamed.

"Steve!" Jonathan cried. "Come on, no, don't close your eyes!"

"Tired," Steve gasped.

Nancy was kissing him. Doesn't she care that she was going to get blood on her lips? Jonathan didn't either, apparently, because he kissed him too. Suddenly, he heard more footsteps. Joyce and Hopper's face swam above him, their faces pale blurry shapes.

"Let's get him in the van, hurry!" Hopper yelled.

Hands reached for him, and everything went dark. The last thing he saw was a large winged creature flying overhead. Did it have Eddie's face? Memories of his life swam before him. . .memories of playing with his nannies. . .meeting Tommy. . .joining the basketball team, the swim team, the baseball team. . .hoping each time his parents would be there to cheer him on. Then came the memories of meeting Nancy, falling for her, and the dreaded memories that came after. Her smile and her voice called to him like a beacon along with Jonathan's. He remembered getting to know Dustin, getting to Robin, and realizing that there's more love in this world than just romantic love. . .he wasn't alone anymore. He had a family. The kids and everyone else. Suddenly, he was standing in a forest. . .a mixture of green and brown swirled around him. Nancy and Jonathan stood holding hands in a clearing.

"I like trees," Jonathan whispered, his voice echoing in the empty forest.

A demogorgon stood behind them, and Steve started running towards them, trying to call out. He wasn't moving, though, and he couldn't speak either. Just as the demogorgon jumped on them, Steve woke up. A bright light overhead nearly blinded him, and suddenly, people surrounded him and pulled something out of his throat. Oh, he was in a hospital. . .hopefully. He glanced at the doctor trying to talk to him, but everything turned black again. When he woke up, he was a little more alert this time. His eyes landed on two people in the corner of the room. Eddie and Chrissy?

"Oh god, am I dead?" Steve asked.

Eddie laughed, and Chrissy giggled into his shoulder.

"No, you're very much alive," Eddie said.

"Then what the fuck?" Steve asked.

Dustin appeared at Eddie's side and into Steve’s view. He launched into the story of how Eddie (now a vampire) and Vecna's victims (who weren't actually dead) had helped El save the day. The gates were closed, and Vecna was no more. Steve hung onto every word, smiling at the light, though a little dim, was now back in Dustin's eyes. When Dustin finished telling him, he burst into tears and threw himself into Steve’s neck. Steve groaned.

"Careful, Dustin," Eddie said.

"No, man. It's alright, worth it," Steve smiled and carefully wrapped an arm around his brother.

After Dustin finished crying, he pulled back and wiped his eyes. Eddie patted him on the back.

"I'm glad you're okay," Dustin sniffled, and then he gasped. "Oh, shit! I need to tell Nancy and Jonathan! They've been back and forth between your room and Max's room. She's awake, by the way! I'm going to go get them!"

Dustin paused for a moment as if he was thinking about staying before shaking his head and rushing out of the room.

"He's never going to leave our side, man," Eddie said. "Not that I'm complaining."

"It's cute. He's happy you guys are alive," Chrissy said.

Steve grinned and laughed when he saw the markings on Eddie's neck.

"Is that a hickey, Eddie?" Steve said teasingly.

"I did that!" Chrissy said proudly.

"She went after me harder than the bats did," Eddie said, flashing his dimples.

"I can't help it if you're so yummy," Chrissy said, wrapping her arms around his waist and pulling him to her.

Eddie moved his arm behind her and tugged her closer, brushing his nose with hers. Chrissy giggled softly.

"Not as yummy as you are," Eddie said and paused. "Wait, is that still cute to say coming from a vampire?"

"Yes," Chrissy laughed.

The door burst open. Nancy and Jonathan came running in, breathing heavily. Nancy burst into tears and threw herself at him, climbing in beside him. Steve groaned again and laughed, wrapping an arm around her. Nancy pulled back a little.

"Oh! Did I hurt you?" Nancy asked.

"A little, so worth it," Steve said.

Nancy laughed. She began kissing his face all over, and finally, she landed on his lips, kissing him deeply. Steve smiled even though he could taste her salty tears on his lips. Nancy broke the kiss, letting Jonathan in to do the same, his own tears intermingling with Nancy's.

"We love you," Jonathan said softly.

"Love you too," Steve said weakly and cleared his throat.

"You're an asshole, though. That demogorgon was coming for me," Jonathan said.

"Cute boys make people do stupid things," Steve replied. "You're so worth it."

Jonathan started crying again and kissed him, running his fingers through his hair.

"Uh, we're just going to go and give you a few moments," Eddie said with a grin. "Glad you're alive, Steve."

Steve peered over Jonathan's shoulder to match Eddie's grin. He walked out the door with Chrissy. Clearly, they were going to make out or judging by the way that Chrissy pinched Eddie's ass on the way out, they were going to fuck. Steve smiled and buried his head into Nancy's hair.

"You know, I think there's room enough for you too," Steve said to Jonathan.

"I'm not risking pulling on anything," he said, and Steve laughed.

Jonathan rolled his eyes and plopped down in the chair next to Steve’s bed. He took his hand hand in his before taking Nancy's other one.

"It's okay, Jonathan's new bed is big enough for both of us," Nancy said.

Steve opened his mouth to say something when the door burst open, and Robin came running in with Vickie. Dustin was breathing heavily behind them.

"I tried - I tried to stop her," Dustin gasped.

"You're awake! You have no idea how scared I was. The thought that I would never see my best friend again. . . You are a sacrificial idiot! How many times do we have to go through this? You're important, too!" Robin yelled and burst into tears.

"I'm sorry," Steve said softly.

Jonathan moved out of the way and let Robin hug Steve carefully. Robin pulled back to stand at the edge of the bed with Vickie.

"You're not allowed to do that again," Robin sniffled and then paused. "Did I interrupt something?"

"No, you're good," Jonathan said.

Steve looked at the shirt Robin was wearing and then at Vickie. He tried to hide the knowing smile on his face, but apparently, it was pretty evident.

"Oh my God! He knows!" Vickie blurted out with wide eyes. "Although, I don't think I really care that he knows, unless you do, of course, Robin. How does he know, though?"

"He knows about me, and now they know about me. . .I think. Did I tell you guys or just think about telling you guys?" Robin asked, pointing to Nancy and Jonathan. "Do you really not care if they know about us?"

"If you trust them, so do I," Vickie said. "Besides, if they can keep something like this a secret then anything is possible."

"Wait, how did you know about me and Vickie?" Robin asked.

"Well, first off, you're wearing a pink shirt that's definitely not yours, and Vickie's wearing the shirt that I let you borrow that you never gave back," Steve said.

Vickie and Robin looked down, cursing when they saw he was right.

"Is that what you were doing in the on call room? Switching shirts?" Dustin asked.

"No, buddy. We were not," Robin said, slapping his shoulder. "We're dating."

"OH! Is that why you wouldn't date Steve?" Dustin asked.

"Hi, I'm Robin Buckley, permanent resident in the lesbian department," she said, wiggling her fingers at him.

"Nancy, you told me Steve and Robin had dated!" Jonathan exclaimed.

"I thought they had!" Nancy exclaimed defensively. "I know now that they are strictly platonic."

"Wait, were you both jealous of Robin?" Steve asked, and they blushed. "Well, that's cute."

"It's okay, I was jealous of Steve at one point," Vickie said.

"You were?" Robin asked.

"I had this whole plan where I would send back Fast Times to Family Video, hoping Robin would somehow notice that I had paused it at a specific moment, letting her know that I liked women. Of course, I overhead Steve and Robin talking their relationship to the next level. . .they wanted to get married! I didn't know they were talking platonically. Without even thinking, I got back together with Dan. Even though he was an asshole, he's still a person with feelings, you know. . .I can't believe it, but as it turns out, he was using me too. . .so, no hard feelings, I guess. My head was just spinning. . .you make my head spin," Vickie sighed. "I'll stop talking. . ."

"Don't you dare, I could listen to you talk forever," Robin said.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

Vickie squealed, stood on her tiptoes, wrapped her arms around Robin's neck, and kissed her deeply. Robin sighed against her mouth, smiling into the kiss. Dustin grinned as he moved past them to stand on the other side of Steve’s bed.

"They are so cute," Dustin said. "Hey, I saw Eddie and Chrissy go into the on call room. . .you think they're going to "switch shirts" too?"

"Definitely," Steve snorted.

"I don't think so, I saw Argyle and Eden go in there after them," Vickie said, breaking her kiss with Robin for a moment before continuing.

"Eden?" Steve asked.

"Suzie's sister. Suzie and her family came down to help when they heard about the earthquake," Dustin said. "OH! I should bring her here to meet you! She's been dying to. . . Wait, hold on, you don't think that they're all switching shirts in there?"

"Argyle is a very. . .loveable person, and he doesn't deny it either," Jonathan laughed. "I wouldn't put it past him. Eddie is his type."

"How would that even work. . .those beds are very small. . .WAIT, WHY AM I THINKING ABOUT THIS?" Dustin yelled. "Eddie's my brother! Gah! SUZIE!"

They all laughed as they watched him storm out of the room. Vickie and Robin had finally broken the kiss. Robin's arms were wrapped around her waist, supporting her on her tiptoes, as Vickie trailed her fingers up Robin's arms. They beamed at each other.

"I think we're going to find another room," Robin said. "Glad you're alive, Steve!"

She took Vickie's hand, and they left the hospital room, giggling. Steve smiled after they left, staring at the doorway they left through. Everything was falling into place for everyone. . .including Steve. . .he could believe it. . . They had won. He looked at Nancy and Jonathan. Nancy's eyes twinkled as though she guessed what he was thinking.

"Can you believe we're here now?" Nancy asked.

"No," Steve said. "But also, yes."

"You know, this could have been the solution to our problem back then," Jonathan said.

"Don't dwell on that," Nancy said.

"We're here now," Steve said.

"We just - made things so complicated," Jonathan said.

"Well, they're not complicated now, and we have all the time in the world," Nancy said. "We have more time."

"Yeah," Jonathan grinned.

Steve laughed. He doesn't know why he was laughing, but it suddenly bursts out of him. He was so deliriously happy.

"Steve?"

"Everything's. . .perfect."

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withahappyrefrain · 10 months ago

Note

“I love you, but that’s a terrible idea” from the January OTP prompts for Jake and Venus pretty please :)

"I love you, but that's a terrible idea," Venus stated, taking her eyes off the screen to face her husband.

"So is that a no?" Jake asked, trying to emulate a puppy dog with his green eyes. If their relationship was still fresh, it would have worked.

"You're really asking that in regards to our baby having a cowboy themed nursery?" Venus deadpanned.

"It's cute! They can have little cowboy boots and a stuffed horse, as well as some-"

"We are not getting them Longhorn themed stuff Jake. I was lenient with the dog, but I draw the line at indoctrinating our children," she placed her hands on her stomach. While she was far from showing, it was already an instinct.

"I want it to be known that I did not indulge that much when it came to getting Okra Longhorn themed things. They have one jersey and one toy," Jake said, putting his hands up in defense.

"And what, you think that deserves a reward or something?" Venus rolled her eyes as she paused the Bachelor episode she and Jake had been watching.

"I think we should at least get baby Seresin a matching jersey. Think of how cute the pictures would be. We could also get them a horsie blanket, a brown cow ottoman-"

"Did you say brown cow ottoman? Wait, have you been looking at stuff already?"

Jake moved so he was sitting next to her on the couch. Grabbing his hand with one hand and placing the other on her stomach.

"I'm not an amateur V, I have a Pinterest board," Jake said with the complete sincerity that she both loved and was confused by.

"I'm only six weeks along, why the rush?" She asked, resting her head on Jake's shoulder. The smell of Cedarwood calmed her, reminding her that he was here. She snaked an arm around his shoulders, her fingers quickly finding his scalp to massage.

Jake sighed, fighting back the urge to roll it off. She would know and he knew better. Plus she would stop her world famous massages.

Always a step ahead, she quickly added, "And don't tell me it's nothing because I have that pregnancy intuition now."

Jake's brows knitted together, "Pregnancy intuition?"

"Yeah, I'm like ninety percent sure it's a thing."

Jake rolled his eyes, though a small smile remained on his face, "Is that what you're going to say when you want to be right?"

She leaned in, a devious smirk on her face, "Are you going to tell me I'm wrong?"

The comment got a smile out of Jake, the tension visibly leaving his shoulders as he laughed. A domino effect, as it got a laugh out of Venus as well, her smirk melting away into a sweet smile.

Jake shifted, laying his head on his shoulder and wrapping an arm around her waist.

"This upcoming class is going to be tough according to Cyclone which means I'll be spending more time at work and I... I don't want to miss anything."

Instead of responding immediately, she simply pressed a kiss to his forehead. Her hand found his, bringing it to her stomach.

"You're not going to miss anything. I mean, probably me throwing up-"

"But then who's going to hold your hair?" Jake asked, his voice filled with genuine concern.

He truly didn't want to miss anything.

Call it pregnancy hormones or being in love for years, but it nearly brought tears to her eyes.

"I have ponytail holders. But I promise, you will be the first to know when baby Seresin is making me throw up. And you'll be there to set up our nursery, which will not be cowboy themed but I'm willing to entertain the idea of a baby cow ottoman to rest my feet on."

It brought a smile to Jake's face, though it didn't completely put his mind at ease. This would be his first true test as a Top Gun instructor and it couldn't have come at a worse time.

"Besides, if Cyclone keeps you from me, I'll call him personally," Venus explained as she reached for the remote, resuming the rose ceremony.

"How....how do you have his number?" Jake asked, thoughts of missing baby time being replaced by the potential of his wife committing some kind of felony.

"I have my sources," was all she said before getting the bowl of popcorn.

It took Jake a few moments before it hit him.

"Bob?"

"Wanted to thank me for introducing him to his wife."

#my writing #jake seresin #jake Hangman seresin #jake seresin x oc #hangman imagine #jake seresin imagine #jake seresin oneshot #jake hangman seresin #hangman fanfiction #top gun hangman #hangman fluff #hangman fic #jake sersin fluff

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xdeewolfx · 6 months ago

Note

About rambling on about your day at trww screening, I would love to hear about it!

anon i love u ..... i'll put it under a cut cuz this might get long winded i love talking thank u

SO i went to the uh, august 12th ? the real will wood screening in new jersey last year. i think it was the last of 3 or so shows that day so it was taking place later in the evening. i got there uh Way Stupid Early because i wanted NOTHING to go wrong (i have chronic bad luck). the nice people at the movie theater were very kind, they let me sit inside and wait cuz it was hot out, they chatted with me a bit, and were just generally really cool people. i sat in the theater lobby for a bit, saw there was a merch table cleared and waiting to be set up. i didnt approach cuz im not That Kinda Person but i was like omg, thats gotta be for trww screening right. some people would come and go out of the direction of trww theater, mostly helpers. but THEN, im sitting there and i see tall guy in hat walk behind the table, rummage around in a bag, and start eating a lil snacky snack. the lobby was kinda dark and im blind as a bat anyway so it didnt click for me in the moment. i tried not to stare, only glanced up a few times. but eventually he looked up too and i was like wait that is THE real will wood. i stayed calm and casual, he waved at me, and i waved back with a sorta exasperated "oh my god, are you will wood?" and he just laughed and nodded. i told him i was there for the 7pm showing, and he (SO very shocked) was like "oh- oh my god? i thought you were here for the matinee!"

so that alone was super fucking cool. i didnt try to keep him or nerd out too much cuz at the end of the day he is just like, A Guy. yeah i really like his music but i didnt wanna be a freak or anything. he walked off and im like keysmashing in the discord group chat to my friends. chris appeared a few times too, walked outside for a smoke or to take a call or whatever. i smiled at him a few times but didnt have any one-on-ones and again didnt wanna be weird and pull him away from what he was doing or whatever.

after a bit, will walks out of the theater and approaches me. he leaned in and whispered "you can just... sneak in, if you want" with like the sneakiest smirk and im like UH ! UH ! UHHH!!!! because holy fucking shit no way will wood himself just offered to sneak me into the showing before the one i paid for? i just thanked him and he walked off, i didn't end up sneaking in cuz i had VIP for my actual showing and didnt wanna risk being kicked out of the theater. i mean, im sure will would have had my back but i just did NOT wanna risk it yfeel.

those were kinda the last interactions i had before one of the theater guys told me i probably wanna go stand outside to line up because people were starting to show up for the show i paid for. super cool of him. he walked me outside and i stood at the front, met some very awesome people, chatted for uh idk how long. time was moving so weird i was so excited.

before the line got too long, i noticed will and chris were sitting on a bench a ways down and i was like shit. h. okay. want to interact, i want to get them each to draw a little doodle in this sketchbook i brought. told myself i'd get will to draw a little black cat (had a black cat named jynx that i love and adore and miss so dearly) and chris to draw a little black dog (had a black lab named Q who i also love and adore and miss so dearly) and i knew this was my chance. sure i could do it at the meet-and-greet part of the vip experience i paid for but like. i knew there'd be a line of people and they'd want to expedite the process so i just went for it. i waited for a good window where nobody else was around so they wouldnt be overwhelmed. i, probably in the most sopping wet of a man way, shyly walked up and excused myself, asked if i could talk to them, to which they were both super cool and chill with it. i thanked them for their time, asked them if they could each draw what i was thinking of. will took the marker first while i explained why a black cat was so important and significant to me, and he listened with such genuineness.

i asked will if i could possibly get this tattoo'd one day, and he said “now i’m going to let you know. maybe some day i’ll strip down naked and run down the street saying slurs. so i might be CANCELLED some day. and if you have this on your body you will be called out on twitter. just so you know” which, funniest fucking response ever. what a fuckin king.

after that, i asked chris to draw a lil dawgie. he was much less enthused about having to draw but he DID it, he did like a step by step narration as he drew, ("how did I manage to make it look like a dick and a vagina at the same time") i told him he was doing great and got a very nervous "dont PATRONIZE me!" but it was all in fun and we all got a really good laugh out of that too i think. all in all both REALLY funny guys and good sports.

after that i thanked them both profusely and walked back to my spot in line. i met and chatted with even MORE people until the actual lineup for the show began. will opened the door and ushered us all in, this time in a different theater than the one he was in earlier in the day. this one was past the merch table, i kinda just walked straight past it to the theater because they werent even selling things yet, just getting things set up. everyone else behind me seemed to linger though, so i kinda just like. stood in the doorway of the theater nervously, not knowing what to do.

will walked up and asked me what was wrong, i told him i was nervous and didnt want to go in there by myself since nobody else was following. hes like, "awh, you're not alone! we'll go in there together" to which i knee-jerk replied with "omg we're besties." not the worst thing i could have said but i did feel quite silly, its alright tho he laughed so hopefully it wasnt like. too awkward LMAOOO.

chris was already in the theater waiting, will told me to sit anywhere so i just kinda sat directly at the front (later i'd learn that i picked the seats directly behind chris and will, pretty neat). some announcements were made as people started filing in, then the VIP part started. i once again was first in line, i didnt really have anything more to say or do besides take a picture with them and get them to sign the drawings they'd done earlier. when i popped open the book for chris to sign his dog, he just "jesus i hate looking at this thing". jokes on you chris i love looking at it. its hanging on my wall riiight now. probably wont get it tattoo'd (sorry) but its okay he begged me not to anyway.

i felt kinda silly and im kicking myself for it a bit, but after this photo chris was like "thanks for comin out and supporting us," and then sorta paused like he expected me to fill in the blank and say my name (in hindsight i realized i. NEVER told them my name.) but i was too jittery and overwhelmed by all the people behind us so i just smiled and walked off. i know they probably wouldnt have remembered my name anyway cuz they met so many people that day but, its like damn ! what if !

i went and got popcorn after that and just watched as people filed in and got pics with will n chris, told nice stories and gave gifts, then it was time for the screening itself. before they shut off the lights, will ran down the isle giving everyone high fives, starting with me since i was right at the front. SO fuckin cool.

the rest of the show was just, ykno, watching The Real Will Wood and sometimes getting gags or commentary from chris and will. at one point, when the song 2012 started playing, a guy next to me shouted the loudest "FUCK!" in time with the song. this got will to sit up and slowly turn around with a puzzled look, then he just "nice man" and gave the dude a high five. there was also a funny gag where someone pulled out a lighter and waved it all slow concert-style to Bones, so naturally everyone else pulled out their phone flashlights and it lit up the entire fuckin theatre. will and chris both turned around and just “jesus fucking christ” because it was SO GODDAMN BRIGHT. theres actually a pic of me doing the flashlight thing from will's instagram story LMAOO, i was honestly in a decent amount of his story shots (im the one in the orange shirt). pretty neato.

i didnt get any videos or pictures during the show itself because 1. its a movie. duh. but also cuz my phone was like, RAPIDLY losing battery and i could not risk it dying in case of an emergency. thats alright tho, im okay with the memories of that being in my brain :]

after the show, chris and will thanked everyone and we all sloooowly filed out to the merch table. since i was at the front of the theater, i was one of the last ones out, but thankfully i got the merch i wanted. bought a tshirt and a few albums. met a few people in line that i still talk to every now and then. at the very end, again since i was one of the last ones to the merch line, chris and will were just hanging out thanking people and saying goodnight. since the picture from in the theater kiiinda sucked lighting wise and was a little blurry, i asked if i could take a selfie with them. they were both really cool about it, i thanked them yet again, and then i was off. i sat in a corner charging my phone while i waited for an uber, and that was the day done :]

thank you for letting me ramble, anon, i love thinking about this day. i have chronic bad luck but everything was going right for once and im so thankful for it. i'd love to meet chris and will again some day, they are such genuine and nice people

#ask #anon #long post #ww #will wood #the real will wood #chris. will. if ur out there. i wanna be ur friends pls <3 #it felt like such a main character day. normally i HATE that but ykno what.#life has fucked me over so much that i was fine with indulging for one day. one of few best days ive had in recent history

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dapg-otmebytheballs · 1 year ago

Note

SAY THE PARASOCIAL THING SAY IT

Aksjfhk okay

This got super long but basically I was thinking about that post about Phil being more open in his boundaries and I think he actually always has been! More under the cut

I think Phil has actually always been more self-assured in his interactions with the audience and I have some idea(?) of why that is. Phil has been around forever on YouTube, he is kind of a performer in a very classical way. You can see this in like how he carries himself in his liveshows, using very basic tenets of performance that we're taught like face the audience always and fill up any lulls in the conversation. There is always a screen between the creator and the audience, of course there is. But the culture we see now of internet celebrities and their audiences having very little boundaries because of how accessible creators have become to audiences wasn't as prominent back then. You understood as a creator that your audience will make whatever they want of what you're saying and you can't account for any bad faith readers. Phil always came across to me as someone who knew how much he wanted to put out there and was self assured in it. He doesn't feel the need to clarify stuff, and likewise engages with fandom in a similar good faith. What goes on in his life and what informs his thoughts, beyond what he shares, is none of our business, that was an understood thing and he's left it at that. And what fandom talks about, how we interpret stuff, how we do our parasocial shit is also not meant to be more than a performance, it isn't supposed to Say Something Serious about the creators, which is also understood. And though of course audience interactions started getting wildly out of hand some years after Phil started posting, he still is a product of a time where that wasn't how things are meant to be and he maintains that distance with ease. Thinking about stuff like draw Phil naked where he engaged with it in good humour, or how he didn't mind having sponsorships and clickbait titles because there's an implicit understanding that this is All A Performance so he doesn't have to try and "act authentic". There's a confidence he has in his role as an entertainer, and that informs how he interacts with us. (also I had expressed this all much better earlier but Tumblr ate it up so now I have to type it again sorry if this reads weird ;-;)

On the other hand, Dan seems to worry about all that stuff a Lot More. (And I was apprehensive about saying this so I thank anon here for allowing me to say my parasocial shit XD) And the thing is, the reason I notice that is Because I am literally like Dan about that stuff when interacting with an audience (I did some videos as well yeah, but also when I've organised events that I had to host, or presented poetry somewhere, etc etc) where I constantly feel the need to qualify everything I say and do very worried I'll come off as being maliciously bad, or even perceived as being a certain way or having a certain tone when I don't. I find it in rather positive ways with Dan too (like correcting language in old videos or pulling them off when there's something in there that aged badly or could be seen in bad taste). But other times I see reflected in him my own tendency to overcompensate (self referencing how he is making Easy-Content a la 'some shit a youtuber would do', making sure he doesn't come across as having the wrong political opinions by stressing on his principles when something like that comes up 'don't settle for neoliberalism' ((also he is totally correct and I actually do love those clarifications just fyi)) )

You can see this play out so well that time when Phil accidentally says 'cockies' instead of 'cookies' and Dan makes a 'cut that out' motion and Phil just laughs about it and corrects himself and Dan goes "Are you keeping that in??"

There's probably a lot of factors to why they have those particular styles of interacting, and really there's merit to both. Phil knows where the boundaries are and ever since him just speaking random shit hasn't had the extra issue of possibly outing Dan before he's ready, Phil has just gotten even more open with how he speaks, but I truly think he doesn't care as much what we think about him. It's like, what's going on in his life is none of our business and what we're making out of our parasocial relationship with him is none of his business, which is a great way of approaching being a creator and unfortunately something that is becoming less and less of an option as the culture shifts completely with generations that have been within this internet creator culture since they were born.

Dan having entered the scene later on when this kind of culture had started (plus of course his own issues that did Not help the situation) means that it made sense for him to approach us with that bit of hesitancy and that he continues to do so. I know I have that hesitancy about how I word things because I've also seen people be taken out of context and treated in really bad faith and that is a completely understandable thing to take into consideration.

But yeah Phil being the "quiet one" has never really meant that he is less certain/more shy to me, personally, I think he is an incredibly professional entertainer is the thing and I love love love that about him because he's of a dying species in the current climate.

#asks #parasocial time #dnp #dan and phil

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toothpastecanyon · 9 months ago

Text

The Comfort of Agony, Chapter 7

For the first time in his eternal life, Alcor had been bound. He couldn't leave even if he wanted to... so it was just as well that he didn't want to leave, right? After all, this was what Mizar wanted.

He didn't know what she was so angry with him for, but he probably deserved it.

See most updated version on Archive of Our Own.

______________________________________________________________

It was dark outside the store, but Piper swore she could feel the fluorescent lights beating down on her. She stood in line, shuffling slowly forwards until it was her turn. Dumping everything on the counter, she watched the cashier take a long look at her items before his gaze flitted up to her. The lights buzzed loud in the stretching silence - she tried for a smile.

“Hi,” she managed. “Uh, busy day, huh?”

“Hmph.” He grunted, and picked up a box of chalk. “You got a lot of these.”

“Yeah! Um - sidewalk party! We’re, uh, we’re all gonna draw on the sidewalk!”

“I see. Lot of candles, too.”

Piper laughed - it sounded way too loud. “Yeah… power outage? At my house?”

“Uh huh. And the sigil ink is for school, yeah? I hear that one all the time.”

“It’s… i-it’s, uh…” She looked at his raised eyebrow, and stretched her smile. “Look… I really need this.”

The man stayed still a moment longer… then, with a sigh and a shake of his head, he picked up the scanner. Beep, it went, and Piper tried to take a deep breath. She glanced down at the mirror in her purse, her heart pounding in her chest.

Beep. Beep. The man stuffed everything into two shopping bags and tapped his screen.

“Comes to, ah, one ninety seven, sixty six. Cash or card?”

“Card?” Piper blinked. “Oh, uh, I mean, card, yeah! Here you go - or wait, I scan it.”

After fumbling through the payment, she snatched up the bags, took her receipt, and hurried out of the store. The parking lot was dark, with glass crunching under her feet and the roar of cars speeding through the nearby highway. There was a shadowy figure smoking against the wall, and Piper tried not to look like she was walking too fast as she made a beeline for her car over at the gas station.

Once she was in, with all the doors locked, she tossed the bags onto the seat next to her and let out a huge breath.

“Oh, my stars,” she said, patting her pockets for her keys. “He totally knew what I was buying that stuff for. Do you think he’s gonna call the cops on me?”

“Probably not?” Alcor made a face. “He probably wouldn’t have sold it to you in the first place, but, uh… we should probably go. Quickly. Piper?”

“I’m working on it, where’s my- oh! In my hand!” A nervous laugh as she put her keys in the ignition. “Sorry, uh… getting a little tired, I think. Been a long day.”

“I know. We’ll be stopping for the night soon, though.” Alcor strained to peek over the dashboard. “We passed a motel a couple minutes ago, right? If you drive back that way, that’s probably the closest one.”

“Yeah,” Piper said, a little distracted as she pulled out of the parking lot. “Yeah, that’s… I’ll do that.”

It was quiet as she accelerated down the ramp, and merged back into the highway. The road stretched out endlessly ahead of her, the streetlights passed her by one by one by one; stars, she felt like she’d been driving for a lifetime. She shifted a little in her seat, rolled her shoulders, rubbed her eyes. Glanced over at Alcor, and made a face.

“So, uh,” she started, if only to break the silence. A few seconds passed as she thought of how to follow it up. “I still don’t get it. We’re summoning demons… to bind an angel?”

“Exorcise an angel, binding’s just a part of that.”

“Uh, okay?”

“It’s, uh, different.” Alcor took one look at her expression, and sighed. “I get it, this is way out of your comfort zone. But I promise, this is the safest way I can think of to get the materials. We’re summoning weak demons with strong binding circles, and we’re not even making deals with them, okay?”

“Okay…” Piper turned the wheel as she took a gentle turn. “Then, uh, what are we doing with them?”

“Nothing. We don’t need them - we need their chalk.”

“Chalk?”

She glanced at the shopping bag full of chalk they’d already bought, and he seemed to anticipate her question. “Chalk from a used summoning circle - it’s imbued with a low level of demonic essence. Once we get enough of it, we should be able to use it to trap the angel like normal chalk can be used to trap demons. We’ll need more complicated stuff later, but it can wait for when you’re not exhausted.”

“I guess that makes sense.” Piper said, slowly. “But why doesn’t normal chalk work?”

“It’s, uh, complicated.” A short laugh. “But basically, angels aren’t drawn to the physical world the same way demons are, so they can’t be bound in the same way. It’s not exactly harder, but the materials for it are different - not exactly stuff you can just buy in a store.”

“Okay…”

“The simplest way to repel an angel is with demonic essence. That’s why we’re doing this tonight instead of waiting for tomorrow - summon a few demons in your motel room and he won’t come near. You can sleep easy!”

“Sleep easy,” Piper echoed, rubbing her eyes. “I hope so.”

She was starting to feel warm sitting back in her seat; she shifted around again, turned on the AC and blasted it right at her face. She kept her eyes fixed on each road sign as it came out of the black and sped past her, waiting for that motel. Come on, she thought, any minute now…

She was so focused on the road ahead, she didn’t notice the dark figure of a car merging onto the highway and smoothly pulling up behind her. The lights came on in an instant; Piper jumped in her seat at the sound of a siren, and then her stomach dropped at the flashing blue and red lighting up her dashboard.

“Oh, shoot!” Piper gripped the steering wheel; she realised she’d swerved a bit out of the lane and quickly corrected. “Shooot… Alcor? What do we do?”

“The cops - dammit, this is the last thing we need.” Alcor strained to look out of the side mirror. “Uh, stay… stay calm? Maybe he’s pulling someone else over?”

The highway was empty but for the two of them; Piper made a face. “I don’t think he is.”

She flicked on her signal and started slowing down; Alcor blinked. “You’re pulling over?”

“Uh, yeah?”

“You can’t do that!”

“What do you mean I can’t do that?”

“You’re a missing person! He probably recognised your car!”

“Maybe he’s just here for the demonology stuff?” Piper eyed the plastic bags. “We could hide those somewhere, right?”

“It doesn’t matter where you hide it if he runs your plates, Piper!” Alcor watched in panic as they kept slowing down - he banged on the glass. “Piper! Piper, he’s gonna take you into custody! Piper-”

“What am I supposed to do?!” She snapped. “Run from the cops? I’m in a fucking Camry, Alcor!”

Alcor didn’t respond to that. Piper took a few short breaths as she turned onto the shoulder; her eyes were burning, and she rubbed them.

“It’ll be - it’ll be fine, okay?” She came to a stop, grabbed the plastic bags, and opened her glovebox. “We just act natural, right?”

“Piper-”

“We just act natural.” She tried closing the glovebox; she forced it up a few times as the plastic bags bulged. “It’s not like they can arrest me, right? I haven’t done anything wrong - I’m the one who got attacked! They can’t arrest me for getting attacked, right!”

“Piper-”

“Agh, stupid little- this is just perfect!” She slammed the glovebox one more time, and watched through blurring eyes as everything came tumbling out onto the floor. “What am I supposed to do?! I’m screwed! I’m screwed!”

Alcor spoke quietly. “You’re not screwed.” He said. “It’s gonna be okay, okay? Take a deep breath.”

Piper took in a shuddering breath, and pressed her hands to her face as she let it out. “I’m so fucking tired.”

“I know. I’m sorry. We’ll be on the road soon, okay?” When she glanced over at him, she found a reassuring smile on his face. “Once this is over, we’ll be at the motel, and you’ll be able to go to sleep. You’ve done a traffic stop before, right?”

“...Yeah.” Another deep breath, in, and out, and then she set her jaw. She looked behind her, at the blinding white headlights shining through her back window, then over to the glovebox again. “Okay. License and registration.”

“Yeah!” Alcor watched her dig through the papers that had spilled into the footwell. “I’ll dim myself, too. I’ll look like a normal mirror, but I can keep an eye on things, okay?”

“Okay.” Piper heard footsteps just as she found her registration; she sat up, and put her hands on the wheel. “Okay, okay.” Glancing over at the mirror, she found it blank, just as he said. Chalk boxes were still strewn around the footwell, but there was nothing she could do about them now - hopefully he wouldn’t notice. Nothing to do about it now.

“Okay, okay, okay.”

She could feel her heart hammering in her chest as a bright light came up to her window. She couldn’t see the figure well behind the flashlight; but a hand reached out and knocked on the glass, and she rolled it down.

“Uh, hi officer, I just-”

Click. Piper paused at a strange noise… and then froze as the cold, hard barrel of a gun pressed itself against her temple.

“Don’t move,” said Mag’s voice with an eerie echo, and Piper didn’t dare to breathe. From the corner of her eye, she could see the mirror light up again, could see a furious brickwork demon come roaring into view.

“Y̵̛̘̼͛̿͋̊̏̈͘ö̵͇͕͕̩̹͉́͌́̀̄̀͌̽̄͘͘͜͠ȕ̶̮̦͒͒͆̐͐̔̈̚,” Alcor snarled as the angel put away the flashlight; the pure glow of his gaze cast its own light into the car.

“Ȋ̸k̷͖o̷̮ẅ̸̘́w̴h̷̠̓ã̴̲t̵̞́ ỵ̵̆ȏ̷̠u ̷̻͠d̴͚͗ĭ̸̼d. Ŷ̸̈́͊o̴̰͛̂u̸̬̱̮̇̔̐ t̴̑̈́̈͐̀̎u̵̾̈͌͋r̶̛̯͋̅̑͌̍̈́ņ̷͓̓͐̀͘̕͠͠e̶͐d h̷̀è̷r̸͂ ̵͔̃͆̽͌̾͜͠͝ Ä̴̝͇̼̮̋̋͝G̷̡̱̜̩̮̥̼̍̾̍͆͋̏Ā̴̠̽̌̈́Í̵̡̥̙̱̯͕̪̃̒͊̀̃͜N̸̗͚̜̱̤̈́Ś̶̩̻͖̺́͆̍̎̀̒Ṯ̸̨��͍̜̹̀͒͌͗̚͜ ̵̘̼̾̃̈́̀͑̍͆Ṁ̸̪̟̍̈́̿̏̏͘̚E̶̺̝̝̺̮͕̎̅! W̷̝̲͎̥̮̪̄͒H̷̨̞͍̜͓͒̆͋̆́̈́͐͗̽̈́͋̓̈́̽̄̚ͅE̵̡̧̨̱̜͎̟̠͓̪̯̓̋͐̈́̊̂̔̀N̶̡̨̢̧̥͙̪̝̘͇̹͈̜͕̓̉̔̽̅̌̃̋͐͂̕͠ ̶̢̛̬̤̪́̈́͋̔̍̇̚͝Ḯ̵̡̩̖̺̘̩͇̞̖̣̣͐͋͑̌̐͊́̀̌̊͌̕͜͝͝ ̵̨̡̨̫̤̠̯͈̫̥̩̈́̓̒͌͜ͅͅG̶̨̭̣̤̩̼̣̩̘̹̥̼̫͊͆̋͒̈̾E̵̡̡̹̞͈̫͕̭̥͙͈̩̠̰̟͗̀̊͂̄̅̄̐͆̅͂̓̀̏̒̚͠ͅT̸̡͔͉̥̂̍̊ ̵̨̡̣͈̦̻̺̽͑̐̃͗̑̅̕͘͝Ǫ̵̨̛̪͙̫̰̤̻̟̩̰͕̍͐͛͌̈̉̃͂͆͜͝U̴̮͎̻̬̝̙̟̪͕̼͇̩̱̱̗̐̎̓̃̏͒̈͑ͅͅT̴̨̧̤͚̲̩̗͖̞͉̼̉̂̒́́͜ ̸̢̱̞̜͉̈́̿͛͊̀̊͛͛́̒̋͝Ȫ̸̱̲̪̻͈̩̫͙̮̥̠̼͐̓͘ͅF̸̧̝̼̣̮̼̾͊͗̂̎̔̇̈̄̄͜͝ͅͅ ̴̧̡̛͈͖̞̞͙̙͓̂͆͒̂̊ͅH̵̛̱͖̒̈̔͗̏͆̄̔̔̿̏̀̈́̚̚̚Ȩ̸̢̛̥͈̳̠̦̫̩̹̙̩̼̅̒̔̅̉̇Ŗ̶̛͈͈̯͖͇̖͓̟̼͈̖͒͜E̸̢̙̱̯͙̙̣̘̤̟̹̲͊̓̉͋̈̈̿͗̏̌̀̿̈́̚͜͝ ̴͖̹̜̣͚̋̈́̌̓̍̐̈̀͗̈́̕̕İ̷̙̲̺͌͛̌̋͐͘ ̸̡̨̧̝͈̹̠̦̪̞̗͈̱̪̟͇̾̉́̈̅̄̎̓̽͒̒̓̕͝͝ͅẀ̸̢͍̞͇̻̙̱̳̃̑̔͆͛̈́̔́̈́̎̚I̸͈͖̘̬̲̥̮͊͑͂͊̍̈̔͂̐̉̔̓̓͜Ĺ̶̜̯͉̪̗͕̘̳̺͙͖̊̊͐͐͒̃͗̋͊̀̿͠͝L̷̢̡͖̞̯͇̳͔̻̤̜̖̤̈́̑̒̏̉̏̉͂͘͘͝ ̸̨̡̛͓̦̳̮̺̦͉͈̘̥̓̅͂̌̓̑͑̅̓̍͠͝T̸̨̨͎͇̮͓̰̖͖̙̖̟͗̾̂ͅE̶̡̧̪̗̿A̴̢̮̺̟̭̺̝͇̲̫͔̓̒̔̅̀̅͒̄̉̇̄̿͘͝Ȑ̷̢͚̳̳͍̖̱͕̺͔̆̈́̍͋̌̃́͛͊̌̿͛̀ͅ ̴͖̋̂͌̀́̅͗̑̕Y̴̛̛̞̬̺̞̠̩͉̹̜͎̟̆̈́̿͆͑͘͜Ò̵̧̡̡͈̹̮̩͊̿͆̀́̃̊̚Ǘ̷̡̧̜̤̟͓̞̼̮̦͖͖͓̗͔̯͒́̎̽̓̏̊̀̈ ̶̢̧͙̞͉̺̱͎̙͔̠̟̲̹̠̼͆͌̾̎̈̊̅̽F̴̡̦͉̦̠͖̭̹̘̥̉̈͑̌̑̌͜͝ͅR̸̞̗̫̒͠Ȯ̴̙̳̙̽̅̾̇̐͂̈́͗̈͌͛̈̋͘̚͝M̶̢̡̨̠͎̬͉̺͓͕͚̖̮̩̗̖̒̀̂ ̸̧̢̪̞͈͍͖̠̞̱̙͉̹̳̔̊̊̈́͘L̵̢̨̡̠͉̪̼̣̲͖̜̭̍͛̔̔͆̏̅͑̋͋̒̐̊̅̀͜I̶̢̨̲̼̤̭̘͖̭̼̻̲̘̥̰̋̈́͆̉̂Ṃ̸̡̢̖̲͎̱͍̮͓̱͓̰͓̆̈́̂̿̽͆̏̔̇͐͜͜ͅB̸̧̧̢̛̛̬͖̭̖͚̥̣̖̞͖̫͙̪͐̇͐̽̀͂̈͋͆͂͑͌͜ ̵̡̛̳̲͓̟̩͕̏̄̏̽̐̌͑̾̍T̵̯̗̝̘̬̙̐̈́̆̿̀̀̈́̀͒́̄̚͝O̴̼̯̊͐̅̌͛͘ ̶̨̛͚̘͎͉͛̊̍̔͒́̔̅̒̈́L̴̞��̟̟̹͈̞̼̬̞̝͉̻̳͕̝͑̽̏̔͆̈́̾͒̓̽͘͘̕ͅI̷̡̳̜̬̠͈̭̥̥̙͖͚̫͔͌̄͐͐̃̆͋͜M̴͓̱̙̤̼̮͍͓͗͐̚͠B̶̢̲̖͙͕̊͛̇̐̀,̴̣̲͖͎̳͓̣̊̈́̽͗̂́̂͋̍́̾̈́̾ͅ ̶̞̟͖́̐̔̑Ǎ̷̛̜̻̥͚̲̫̲̩̥̗̘̩̳͇͍̇̂̈́̋͋̾̈́̕N̸̜͔͔͓̼̘̱͚̼͙̈̐̂̈̅͜͜G̶̻̘͖͙̣̃E̷̺͇̳̜̗̼͓̙̥̼̯̟̱̎͑͌͛̆̚͝͝͝L̷̰͓͛̅͊̏͆̓̋ͅ!̵̛̼̗̮͖̩͖̙̟̊͆̂͌̏̈͑̓͑̒̓͊̋͆̒͜͠ ̸̙͓̺͈͙̦͎̝̖̱͆̈́͜I̴̛̜͈͚̞̪͔͚͙̬͈̯͌͛͂́̉̈́̿́̊̈̚͝ ̸̡̧̨̫̞͈̥̳̠̰̰͕̙͚̺̈̊͗͑̇̾͊̍̈́̈́̾̑̄͛͝W̶̢̳͙̝͍͕̱͖̌̓͐̽̀̈́̕I̴̠̹͐̈́̐̎͑̓͐̈́̈́̚͝͝L̴̪̩̤͓̣̿͜L̷̢̛͉̪͍̾̿̀͊̏̓̌͊͊͗̇ ̸̮̫̺͙̹͉͖̺̻͙̤̙̜͖̋̂͐͛͒͊̅̅̐͝M̵̻̩̱̥̪̩͉̳͑̽͒̈́̅̏͊̔ͅA̸͓̱͇̫͛̂͊̑̃Ḱ̵̛͍̺͚̋͆̂̈́̀͗͑́̃̈́̒̚͝E̷̡͎͔͎̭̓̒́̕ ̵̪̠̘̿̆̀͂̈́̓̂͛͐̿͌̉̃͆̚͜Ỳ̸̢̛̼͕͈͙̟̩͓̼̣͇̹̀͛̍̔͑͆͊͋̑̚͜Ớ̷̧̠̟̺̘̜̖̼̫͇͔̣̣̦̫̥̝̏̈́͆̽́̔̊̿͆̂̍̕̕͠͝U̷̔́͒ͅ ̴̯͍͌̆͐̇̌͗͗͐̃̽̽Ẅ̷̧̢̢͔͖̳̤̳̜̦̖̝̱̺͖̲͔́̍̆̔̽I̶̛̩̫͈͍̬̤̗̹̽̚Ş̶̧̠̠̬̝̪̹͔̣̱͖̱̋̄̑́͝H̷͎̩͍͔̥̫̗̓̍̈́̄̉̉͂̀̅̏̾͗͐̓͜͝ͅ ̵̨̢͚̻̬̤̝̤̠̰̦̞̥̭̻͂̅̽̾̌͜͜Y̸̧̙̰͍̣̹͍̏̓̓͆͗̊̈́̇̈́̄̊̒͜͠Ō̵̞͔͈̜͙̂̅̅̂͗̏̀̂̑̕U̴̞͍͕̗̣͋̊̒͌͂̓̀̃̓͘ ̵̱͖͖̰͕̦̰̪͔̺̜̖̤̮̝̊̅̀̍͋̋̒̊̈́̋̔̓̕H̸̨̧̨̛̭̼̠̮̣̝̬̟̱̭͐̋̋̈͆̉̎͘̚ͅĄ̷̙̗͓̱̘̼̗͈̪̣͔̓͊̈̊̽̄̋̅D̵̠̝̗̖̱͓̋ ̵͕̞̪̎̐͛̒̀̋́̄̑̓̾͝͝N̵̛̛͙̮͙̠̗̲̥̙̬̻͔̱̘͍̐͛̿̾̎͗̅̎̎̎̈̃͝͝Ȇ̸̙͍̺̠̻̙̫͖̿̓͗̇̀̌̕͜ͅṼ̵̢̢̘̯̘̻̫̞̲͍̳̥͚̬̟͗͊E̸̘͚̣̲̱̭̪̥̱̗̔͌́̚͠͝͝͝͝R̸̘̜͇̈́͛̒ ̴̢̧͉̟̹͉̙͉͙̣͔̥͇͖̭̇̇̐̔̅͂̃̓͛̔̇͘̚͘͝͝͝B̵͇̬̮͚̟̤̹͕͙̫͒̀̐̃̏̽͊̇̕Ē̴̢̛͋̑̀̎̉̈́́͌͐̓͆̕͠͠Ę̵͍̟̭̬͋̒̔̇͝N̴̨̢̨̳̜̥͖̖̫͍̯̔̐̈́̉̋̓͗͐͑̊͑̑̅̀͆̑͊ ̴̠̟̖͓̞̲̊̆̈͗͛͂̄̌͑̔͘̕͘C̵̰̝̒̒̄̅̕R̵͕͇͓̫̭̘̯̦̙͖̱̱̬̙͑̋̿̓͑̌̌̈́̀͜͠͝E̸̲̰̰͙̼̟��̥͂̅̽̋͌͗̋̐͜͝A̵̭̥͍͐͗̈́̐͋͝͝T̷̝̼̼͍̰̞͇̩̬̩̣͛̎̍̋͛̆̈̍̕͘ͅE̶̡̡͎̩̼͙͕̟̲̔̒̌̋̀̋͋̇́͋̆͗̽̌̋̕̕D̵̡̨̮̯̱̠͎̣̟̘̥̙͈͙̰́̇̊̓̍̏̔́̚ͅͅ!̶̛̤͙̖̌́̈́̌̌̐́̓̈́̿̕͘ ̸̧͕̫̺̠̣̘̥̫͖̹̐͌̊́̔͜I̷̺̼̪̲̥̣̘̎̾̇̿̄͐͘ ̴̫͔́̋͒̃W̵̺̊͐́͆̀̋̍̚͘I̷̛͓̝͓̖̤̬͕̣̙͚̊̆̒̑̇͐L̷͎̎͂̀͊̔̆̍͋͋̍̂̂̃̚͠͠Ľ̵̲̳͙͔̖̍̑̓̽̔̕͝͠ ̴̨͕̙̦̳̟͕̟̱̮̲̫̀̏̃̆̕͜͝͠H̶̟̥̤̖̐̓́̎͛͠͝ͅȖ̶̺̙͍̹͓̝͙̦̔̈͑́̋͝ͅǸ̷̹̼̪͎̤̞͓̝̦̰̿̍̈́͗͌͒̍̕̕Ţ̵̨̤͚̬̖̮̈́͊͐́̽̈́́̀̄̕͜͠͝͠͠ ̶̡͕̤̝̫͚̝̮͕͕͋̀̄͂̈̒ͅY̴͔͉̞͌̅̅̀̃͋̂̐͝͝O̴̢͑̉̒̽̒̍̿̌̌̇͛͆̌͠U̷̢̢̟̖͕͓̱̘̘̝̘̱͋̓͂̎̊̊͒̓̑̏̍͒͜ ̴͙̰̜̘͙̭̪͔̱̞̔͋̒͌́͛̂̈́͋̄́̐͗̕͜D̶̯̖̺̃́̈́̏́̈́͊͗̐͑̒̐̐̿̃͘͝O̵̧̳̟̜̳̞̐̐͋͊̈̒̇́͗̀̎͘͠͠W̸̧̟̱̹͈͇̰͔͈̥̠͔͔̔̐͌̈͗̓̀̈́̋̒͒̕͜͝͠͝Ṋ̴͕̩͌͋̒̅̚ ̶̧̛̩̝͎̗̘̊̐͒̂̃̍́͆́͝T̷̢̰̗̫͙̥͎̱͉͖͉̿͜͜ͅƠ̵͍̓̀̆̓̇̆͊̿͑̂̾̚̚͠͝ ̸̺̂͋̀Ț̶̛̠̰͈͕̗̗͚̭̜̈͐͋̈́͐͒̀̈́͘ͅH̸̛̻͙͚̱̪͖͚͚̟̾̈̓͆̇͌̍̎̊̍͝͝ͅÊ̶̦̝͖̪͖̗̻͚̼̥̓ ̵̧̮̻͚͚̪͛̊́͒̃̅͑͐̈̅͊͗̈́͝Ě̶̢̝̳̟̬̫͚̗͓̖̱̮̳̳͓̑̒̓̋̽̈́N̶̢̪͚̣͓͎͇̪͕͉̗̏̀̈́̑̂͑͘͝D̸̛̛̛͇̈̾̍̑̽̀̐̏̀͒̓͘͝S̴̡̨̡̛͕̰̼̠͉͇̗̥͇͖̳̈̽͌̒͗̎̾̈̒̇͊̋͝ ̸̲͈͎̄́̉̋̎̂̈́͘͘͠͝Ǫ̵͚̬̮͉̻̙̭̦̠̘̞̦̉ͅͅF̴̢̧̫̤̘͚͚̟̊͗͗̈́̓͛̀͜ ̶͚̲̲̓̏̀̂͛͆Ţ̴͙̦̞͇͔̹͎̝̲̳͖̗̳̲̇̔̾̊H̴̡̻̺͖̘͈̩̭̦̤̪̱̭̭̙͇̿̂̉Ę̶̛͖̱͎̜͉̗͔̗̱̜̭͛͑̏̈́͛̎̈͛̐̋̔ ̴͍̟̘͈̩̞̩̄͒̋͊̍͑͋͆̊͒̆̋͒̓̈́̚E̵̘͗̃́̌͂A̴͍̳̩̪͖̠̭̼͔͍̳͐͗͝ͅŖ̵̪̙͔̲̱̀͋̒̾Ţ̸̨̛̫̬͕̾͂͆͐̈́̔̚̚͘͝H̴͓͍̗͗̾̈́̀,̴̧̼͕̪̦̘͚̦̺̹̼͈̣́̂̓̔̒̈́͝ ̶͖̺̈̇̈́̐̊͑̚̕

Piper squeezed her eyes tight as Alcor descended into a furious static - she could smell the burnt plastic of the car seat, could feel his words tearing at her eardrums. And the gun to her head… Oh, god, she thought. Oh, god, oh god, oh god. This couldn’t be real. She was dreaming. Please let her be dreaming.

But when Alcor’s fury finally died down, the gun pressed harder.

“Open your eyes.” Mag’s voice was flat. Emotionless. “Look at me.”

Her heart was beating like a rabbit. She couldn't get enough air in her lungs. Oh god oh god oh god-

“Look at me or die.”

Those icy words cut through her panic, and she opened her eyes, looked into the pure white light of the angel’s gaze. Mag’s face was completely obscured by the brightness; all she could see of him was the tattered orange jumpsuit on the arm holding the gun. A terrified whimper escaped her lips; she wanted to cover her mouth, but she didn’t dare move.

The angel stared at her for a moment, its alien gaze raking down her form. Then it spoke again.

“This is the end of the chase.” It said. “I let the air out of your tires. I cut your brake lines. I have total control, and I will kill you the second you step out of line. Do you understand?”

Piper could feel a sob welling up her throat. She just nodded.

“This is how you survive. I will tell you exactly what I want you to do, and you will do it immediately. Look at me. Do you understand?”

Piper looked at it, looked at those terrible eyes. And as she did, she realised she could see just the barest hint of something underneath catching its glow; she could see Mag’s lips, twisted up into a garish smile.

A smile. It was enjoying this.

“Do you understand?”

Piper swallowed back the bile rising in her throat, and nodded. From the corner of her eye, she could see something move in the mirror.

“Piper…” Alcor started - but what could he say? The barrel of the gun pressed ever harder against her temple, and he fell silent.

“The plastic bags.” said the angel. “Wrap them around the mirror, but do not touch it. If you touch it, I will kill you.”

Piper was terrified - terrified of the angel, and terrified of a hot, reckless anger building in her chest. Calm down, she thought. Don’t get yourself killed, she told herself.

(Like it’s not going to kill you anyway, it whispered back. You’re just another Scarlett.)

“Do you understand?”

Piper struggled to look at those eyes. She bit her lip, and nodded.

“Good. Do it now.”

The barrel pulled back a fraction, and Piper worked quickly. She dumped everything out of the plastic bag, spread it over the mirror, and turned it inside out to fit it in. Alcor watched her worriedly.

“Piper?”

The handle was still sticking out. Piper emptied the other bag, and pulled it tight over the handle. The plastic bulged a bit at the point; she picked it up, and looked back at the angel.

“Good,” it said, those eyes moving as it nodded. The gun was still pointed right at her head. “You may redeem yourself yet, child.”

(Redeem herself, snarled a voice inside of her. The fucking audacity.)

“Now hand it over, and I will let you go.”

“Piper?” Alcor’s voice was high and panicked as she started to move. “Wait, Piper, you can’t! Please, he’ll kill you, he’s lying! Piper, please!”

Piper paid no attention. The plastic crinkled as she presented the mirror to him, handle first.

“Piper, think of your Dad! Think of Mag!” A hand was coming forwards, reaching for the mirror. “Remember what he did to Scarlett, you can’t hand me over! Piper!”

Piper held the mirror steady as the hand came forwards, forwards, milliseconds passing like minutes as the blood pounded in her ears. She waited, waited until the hand was right over the mirror, waited until the fingers were curling around the covered handle and take him away from her forever - and then she moved. In the blink of an eye her hand tightened on a fistful of the plastic bag and she wrenched it back with all her strength; the bare handle pierced through the bottom of the bag just as the angel’s hand grasped it.

Demonic essence. For a terrifying instant, Piper thought it hadn’t worked; he didn’t burn, but after a moment his whole body tensed up like he’d touched a live wire. He stumbled back with a strangled yelp, tearing the mirror from her hands and dropping it on the tarmac as his hands moved up to grasp his head.

Piper didn’t want to get out of the car, but she had to; she opened the door quickly, scurried over to the mirror, picked it up, and rose to her feet just as-

“Piper?”

Mag’s voice. Mag’s voice, and when Piper looked up at him she saw his eyes, wide and confused, shining only dimly from the light of the moon.

“What…?” He blinked a few times, frowning as he tried to make sense of the situation. His arm was still extended, and the confusion shifted to a growing horror as he realised he was holding a gun, pointing it right at her. “Piper? I don’t- agh!”

His eyes flashed, and he dropped the gun and went down to his knees. Piper stood there frozen, but she could feel a spike of urgency from the mirror; Alcor’s presence was pooling into her whole body, not taking over yet but standing ready.

“We’ve got to go,” he said. “Now.”

She didn’t need to be told twice. She bolted towards her car, jammed herself into her front seat, turned the ignition and felt it roar to life.

She stomped the accelerator, and the car started going; but only at a crawl. The engine revved loudly - the dial went into the red - but it struggled to pick up speed.

“Piper!”

“I’m going!” The car shuddered as she turned it back to the highway. “Something’s wrong with it, I don’t know-”

A hand slammed down onto the side of the window. Piper caught a glimpse of furious white; a gun aimed right for her face, but she made it onto the tarmac and picked up a burst of speed. BANG! Her ears rang, her windscreen shattered, and the angel was dragged off its feet, hanging onto the door by his fingertips as they made it to fifteen miles an hour.

“Oh, my god.” Piper said, but she couldn’t hear her own voice through the ringing. She glanced to the side and saw him still hanging on as they broke twenty. “Oh, my god!”

His hand was over the open windshield; she tried to roll it up, but he was too heavy for the motor. Twenty five, and the whole car was shaking and juddering - she didn’t know how much longer it was going to run. They needed to get away from him before it gave out.

Alcor was saying something. She couldn’t make out his words, but it made her look down at the mirror. She grasped it firmly, raised it up above her head, and brought the edge down hard on his fingers. They slipped but held; there was a cry of pain, and another BANG that felt like it was tearing right through her eardrums. She cringed as she raised the mirror again, and brought it down with all her strength.

This time, the angel was dislodged; Piper felt the car pull hard to the left as the weight fell off the side. She struggled to correct it - nothing happened when she tried to brake, but she had just enough room to turn away from the guardrails and right herself.

And there she was. Alive. She stared forwards, eyes wide, chest heaving, heart hammering in her chest. Her knuckles were white on the steering wheel. The whole car was shaking; she could see broken glass from the windshield shuddering off the dashboard and falling onto her lap. The display was a flashing mess of warning signs.

She sat there for a moment, stunned. A sign passed them: COZY JOE’S CHEAP MOTELS - 5 MILES

A blink, and then a blink again.

Piper stayed there frozen for another moment, and then reached forwards, and turned on her hazards.

#transcendence au #toothwrites #alcor the dreambender #mizar #Magnus Wright #I added so much zalgo in this chapter I hit the character limit lol

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iamnot-theboynextdoor · 1 year ago

Text

OFMD EP1 REACTION

i already know this is a dream sequence but opening on stede and izzy having a badass swordfight is dope

stede's fantasy is all about him looking and sounding super masc... babyboy that's not you...

HE FUCKING STABBED IZZY. HE KILLED HIM

and of course izzy's last words are "you absolute twaaaaaaaaaat" i'm fucking dying

AND THERE'S THE SLOMO BAYWATCH RUN GOD I LOVE IT

"knew you'd find me babe" and of course ed's got his beautiful beard back and he looks perfect and he loves stede's beard sfjgdskjgdshj stede

aaaaaaand f in the chat for stede's dream sequence, wee john is doing chemical warfare

"can't be worse than you moaning 'ed, oh, ed' all night long" f in the chat for black pete and the rest of the crew

AHAHAHA roach going "he's single" and shoving the swede at jackie. c'mon swede be a hobosexual for us we gotta sleep somewhere

"come closer. spanish jackie don't bite. i lied, i bite" and he giggles i am immediately on board congrats jackie on your 21st husband

love olu's fancy bartender waistcoat!

"i'll buy you a drink" this guy! the guy who's practically stede's twin! in the disco outfit that stede steals! is he the guy stede does a punch on? is he hitting on stede? oh my GOD where is this going

"richard banes. are you stede bonnet?" dear lord this guy could not have a posher accent. is he the guy who ends up with a fake nose. he's an undercover cop isn't he. how else does he know who stede is

awww fuck we're cutting to ed. shit's about to go down

(stede) "hope you're thinking of me as well" close-up on ed's TRUST NO-ONE tattoo. fuuuuuuuuck

and immediately the wedding ed's gonna crash is like some extremely classist/"we must breed more upper class, worthy humans" shit, so ed can do a little murder actually i immediately don't feel bad for them

"objection" ed can board a ship without anyone fucking noticing if it looks cool actually

THERE HE IS he's made everyone put on the emo paint. i keep pausing and rewatching this part. love izzy's sarcastic little smile

jim looks so fucking sexy

so does frenchie tbh

ed's just eating the cake. cake topper my beloved...

OH NO IVAN DIED. OFF-SCREEN. F IN THE CHAT. and frenchie only cares about the cake JUST KIDDING HE IS HARDCORE DISSOCIATING. poor fang tho...

stede taking down blackbeard's wanted poster... does he have a little shrine in the pig sty he's sleeping in. does he draw hearts on the posters

"he's just blowing off some steam" stede has decided the atrocities are cool and fun actually. atrocities are okay if the man doing them has big beautiful brown eyes too. what about it

"i also killed someone and stole their kiosk. sometimes action is better than vision" can we get sue on the crew? "that's what i've been telling him" "that's 'cause you're the smart one" sue confirms that olu is the only crewmember with a brain cell

'we can't turn up with any old ship, we need to look good" STEDE. FOR THE LOVE OF FUCKING GOD.

ed putting the little cake topper in his breast pocket next to his heart i'm going feral

"did everyone get cake?" "yeah they got cake"

ed is doing drugs and izzy has never looked more miserable and soggy. he looks like someone dunked him in an inkwell

OH HERE'S THE SCENE. THE SAD WET MEOW MEOW SCENE

shit's gotta be really bad if izzy needs to be rocked and cuddled while he cries... babyboy you should have just let ed hold the talent show...

i am not at all surprised that jackie's taking all of stede and co.'s savings. this is jackie's house. jackie does not have a tip jar. you're in the republic of pirates hide it better next time

BOO CAKES!

well you didn't even get jackie and the swede a wedding present. this is her wedding present. HIDE THE JAR BETTER-

"what if we took that back?" "i think my husbands would have a problem with that. have you met all twenty of 'em?" PAUSING TO LOOK AT THE HUSBANDS.

"that's a lot of husbands" black pete misses his husband, tails. he misses him a lot

love the one wearing no shirt and a tight waistcoat/corset thing with the axe. one's got cool glasses. two of them are either super twinky or lady-husbands, excellent either way (jackie and her lady-husbands, nandor and his guy-wives... beautiful...)

EDIT: THE TWO HUSBANDS ARE TRANS GUYS HELL YEAH HELL YEAH

"i know that guy we had breakfast together" "you will be having a lot of breakfasts-es together" "oh ok" sometimes a family is a pirate businesswoman and her 20 19 18 20 husbands and we stan

maybe the sexy axe husband cooked the breakfast. i am delighting in imagining them being all cute and domestic until jackie needs them to stand around and look intimidating and then they all scramble into position. their job is to cook breakfast and look sexy and scare the shit out of anyone jackie points them at

i like to imagine that as soon as one of jackie's husbands died she's like fuck i gotta get a new one to make up the numbers. my brand is 20 husbands i can't be seen with only 19. who's new in town that is remotely attractive. ooh, swedish blondie with a metal tooth, he'll look nice next to the one in glasses

anyway stede and co. are now homeless rip

why does roach have buttons on a rope leash sfhdskjghsgk is buttons so desperate to return to his true love (the sea) that they have to treat him like a toddler trying to run into traffic

"dear ed, i think i'm afraid to see you. i'm not afraid you're gonna kill me, i'm afraid your life is better without me!" I AM GOING TO LOSE IT. SOMEONE GET THIS POOR BOY SOME SELF-ESTEEM

i paused on the wanted poster and it said "wanted for theft brigandry larceny arson tax evasion" sgkjhsfgkjsfhgk the fucking IRS is going to find ed before stede does

"could be. could be, mate" stede your ed impression sucks shit

oh god richard's there. are you a cop or just a fan.

"the gentleman pirate saved my life! quite frankly, you're my hero!" with his fancy fucking coat oh god stede has a fan. stede has a copycat fan. AND STEDE'S NOW HAPPY OH MY GOD I AM HITTING HIM WITH A HAMMER (affectionate)

he fed stede a line about jackie's roman puzzle chest... i don't fucking trust this guy i'm convinced he's either a navy plant or a husband plant...

(if he is truly just a baby stede i'm putting him in a jar and shaking him (affectionate))

I FUCKING LOVE THE SWEDE

oh god back to ed's depression den

"not good enough. and that's another toe. take your boot off." okay ed, i know you're trying to get izzy or anybody to kill you in your sleep or something but i'm still. noooo don't commit atrocities you're soo sexy aha

"who am i to you" oh god. shit's gotta be really really fucking bad if izzy's doing emotional intimacy

"i have... love for you, edward" i'm going to explode

first of all izzy is delusional if he thinks he knows ed better than anyone else - we know and love this about him

second, con's fucking acting is going to kill me. he's looking at the floor, there are tears in his eyes, he's whispering and pauses as if saying the word love is going to kill him (and it's not just the emotional repression considering how volatile ed is)

and the way the line is written - it's not "i love you" or "i'm in love with you", it's not a thing izzy does or is, it's a thing he has. an object he's carrying around, separate to him, he's trying to distance himself from it.

and of course ed interrupts him with "oh come on" because he does not trust that anyone actually loves him and he doesn't want anyone to any more, he wants izzy to hate him and kill him!

"i'm worried about you, we all are. the atmosphere on this ship is completely poisoned. but if we could all just maybe... talk it through" SHIT'S GOT TO BE REALLY REALLY UNQUESTIONABLY HORRIFICALLY FUCKING BAD IF IZZY IS ADOPTING STEDE'S CATCHPHRASE

ed, ominously "as a crew" as blackbeard's leitmotif starts up... WORST CHOICE OF WORDS EVER IZZY I'M TERRIFIED

izzy: i fucked up i fucked up i fucked up i fucked up i fucked up

POOR FANG IS WHIMPERING ED DON'T SCARE HIM!!!!!

"i know who we should ask, ol' blackbeard!" (shoves gun under his own chin) jesus christ ed

"FUCKING END!" izzy has had ENOUGH

AND AS SOON AS HE SAYS STEDE'S NAME ED SHOOTS HIM

"frenchie, you are now first mate" STEPS OVER IZZY GROANING IN PAIN

i am very worried

HARD CUT TO THE SWEDE AND JACKIE LMAO

oh god stede's adopted ricky. this can only end terribly

aaaaaand f in the chat for ricky's nose

"i can't believe you guys robbed jackie! so bad!" swede.

jackie looks gorgeous though

SUE IS OF COURSE THE BADASS PIRATE QUEEN

and jackie loves her a sexy swedish double-crosser

thank you sue for adopting the gang of idiots

OH GOD JIM AND ARCHIE MOPPING UP IZZY'S BLOOD. THAT'S A LOT OF BLOOD

poor fang is still crying

awwww and jim's telling him pinocchio to calm him down! (but they suck at telling stories)

"do the voice"

and jim does the fucking voice

ed sounds like he's holding back tears as he describes sailing and robbing and never landing

"fuck you, stede bonnet" "good night, ed teach" HHHHHHH

stede come on man pick up a fucking oar you're not the captain any more

at least we got one romantic reunion! and it was buttons and the ocean <3

sdkfjhsdkjgsdk everyone being like "are we soup merchants now? sweet" and olu with his poor overworked brain cell like "hang on... there's no soup here"

ZHENG YI SAO FUCK YEAH BAY BEE

AFTER CREDITS SEQUENCE!!! storytime with jim extended edition!!!!!

#our flag means death #ofmd

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passimtemere · 7 months ago

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What is it about the hyenas that drew you to them? Is it a happy childhood memory?

The Lion King is by far my favorite movie for sticking with me for so long. It's comfort content that I can always reach out to if I'm feeling up or down. I still have my Mufasa Mattel plush from 1994 (though I lost the Simba that went with him :c). TLK was the first online fandom I really started interacting with, checking out forums and looking into the 'off screen' lore of it all. I learned/practiced how to draw animals in the TLK style. TLK has been in my blood for most my life.

As for the hyena muses, I picked them up around 2017 when there were first talks of the remake (before we knew it was just a mostly beat for beat live-action remake and not one of the 'based on the original content but a new story' kind of remakes they were still kinda making at the time) and I had high hopes for it. So I figured that there probably would be an influx of TLK rpers so I wanted to get my hands on some of the muses (and I love me some secondary villain muses. You know. Middle management). But I didn't really know where to put them. I made the occasional sideblog or just ran them over through my head but it wasn't until we started getting more info on the remake, and the disappointment started setting in. But in honesty it just made me buckle down more on how much I loved the original movie and in 2018 I made a Banzai & Ed specific sideblog, then a main blog in 2019, and they've been with me ever since (though I fall out occasionally as I do with all my muses) but when the hyena are on the brain, they're on it hard.

Now, to get a little too personal maybe, as I've worked with the muses, I really have come to the realization the catharsis of rping a character like Ed. On the surface/face value he really looks like he doesn't get it. Like he's just a space-case who is just there for comedic value and filling in the 'hyena are stupid' trope. But when you've consumed the content as much as I have (and talked with others who have done so too) you realize there is a lot more to him. And I relate to that. Now my functionality isn't at his level but I do struggle with communication sometimes, I have the ideas but the words just don't synch up, and I think that I get some sort of serotonin reward of taking that to the extreme with a muse like Ed and I get to explore those struggles in a safe and silly space. But with Banzai I get to have a semi-sympathetic character who also understands Ed and can vouch for him (while also living out the 'only child' syndrome of portraying siblings) AND who doesn't love playing a pun-loving grouch (i do).

SO long story short. Yeah these characters mean a lot to me

#answered #out of my head #you probably weren't expecting this long of an answer anon but you unlocked 'infodump'#and introspection

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hollywoodsargeant · 1 year ago

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That's a lot of questions, but in my head, they make sense together, sorry

7. 14. 15. 36.

get to know your fic writer

7. How do you choose which POV to write from?

i will be so real for the most part bc i write a lot of pwp/smut it tends to be whichever driver involved i want to fuck less. that's why nearly all of my loscar is oscar pov... and ik the whole apex predator series is liam BUT! major outlier lick the wrapper is logan's pov. on that one it just lit didn't work from either other perspective so

but for like. boyish. which is pov alternating. i tend to pick whichever of the two of them i think makes more sense in my head? some of it is obvious like Well of course if oscar isn't in this scene it can't be his perspective. but for the stuff with both sometimes i do think about it from both and pick the one i prefer and sometimes it's kinda just an instinct. but i do try to keep it. relatively even. idk how successful i am lol

but example the scene where logan breaks his wrist i knew i wanted it to be more about oscar witnessing his friend getting hurt and less about logan actually getting hurt. so it's oscar perspective bc of the context i wanted to put the scene in. THIS IS A REALLY LONG ANSWER i apologize

14. How do you write emotional scenes? Do you ever feel what the characters feel? Do you draw from personal experiences?

if it's an emotional scene i can draw from personal experience with then i will. Example. boyish again. all the shit from logan about dalton going to college and how weird it is is pretty much just things i thought when my sister started college. i also literally almost cried in the car then pretended i wasn't going to. really all the sibling stuff is personal... so emotional scenes yeah from experience when they can be. if not then i do try feeling what the characters feel. i will cry while writing

15. How do you write smut scenes? Do you get very visual or detailed? How important is it to be realistic?

sometimes i write them with my eyes closed i will be so real. but i probably do get? visual? idk i try picturing things in my head then write what i like off that. sometimes the writing process is staring at my screen for several minutes trying out 19 different ways to get from point a to point b and choosing the best. sometimes i already daydreamed the whole fic when i was supposed to be doing something else. it is not a very consistent system i am fucking around and finding out

and i don't really harp on realism. maybe it shows. there's definitely a line where you read something and it's just ??? well that's plain ridiculous or impossible. but like. it's fiction. idc if it's not the most accurate thing in the world i am just here for a good time

36. How do you write kissing scenes?

with agony. Joking. i think i focus more on the character's thoughts during than the actual act of kissing. kissing scenes are def something i've seen a lot of writers complain about/struggle with and i do not disagree... i've written a lot of them in my life but i still don't really know how to. FUCK AROUND AND FIND OUT!

#ask #ask game #sorry all i do is fuck around and find out #motto to live by

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masschase · 9 months ago

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for the ask meme: matt and casey, 55. tracing the lines on the other’s hand :]

This got so long... but then it is me we're talking about 😅

'Touching' prompts list (will accept more!)

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

Heart Line

It really should have been Nyte Blayde night.

It was Friday, after all, and they weren't all the way through their second watch of it yet. However, the moment the Boss had confided in her partner that she'd actually never seen Tron: Legacy, there'd pretty much been no doubt how they were going to be spending their evening. She'd suggested they cuddle up in bed to watch it, mostly so if she got bored it wouldn't be so hard to distract him toward something else, but so far, the movie didn't seem too terrible.

“So this is the guy that made you decide to start puttin’ blue lights on everythin’, huh?” Casey commented matter-of-factly as they watched the protagonist.

“And made it evident I like men.” Matt pointed out with a smirk.

“What made it evident you also like women?” she asked offhandedly. He raised his eyebrows and nodded at the other figure on screen. “Oh yeah.” she chuckled, remembering. “Well... thank you Quorra, I guess.” she said, faux saluting her.

Matt let out a slight chuckle too and took her left hand in his since his right was already around her shoulders. Rather than just holding it though, he began to sweep his thumb along her palm, inevitably catching the lines on it and starting to trace across them one by one. Her hand began to tingle slightly at the touch.

“Mmm.” she purred, glancing down at what he was doing. “That feels nice baby.”

“Yeah?” he replied, smiling and continuing to make his way along them. After a moment he stopped and began to stroke back and forth in the same spot.“I like this line.” he mused. “Sounds a little ridiculous but it's on this top bit of your palm so it’s all... squishy.”. He demonstrated by giving that part of her hand a little squeeze.

Casey glanced down. “Ah see, that is my heart line." she told him. "If you look, it's actually really splintered cause I have y'know... like a shitload of emotional trauma.”. Matt looked over at her, a mixture of confused by the relevance and sympathetic, but she honestly didn't feel the need to talk it through right now, so she shrugged it off and finished her explanation. “And it's up real close to my fingers because I usually suppress my emotions, find it hard to express ‘em, all that shit?”. He knew it better than anyone, if the time they spent dancing around each other before they got together was any indication.

“Love, I don’t want to be an arsehole, but I genuinely don’t know what you’re talking about.” Matt admitted in an amused tone, letting go of her hand and pulling her closer to plant a gentle kiss into the side of her hair.

She sighed, knowing it was stupid but she’d started the tangent now so she might as well get into it. “Look, there used to be this little uh... psychic place back in Stilwater.” she explained. “I didn’t have any money but the lady in there read my palm a little anyway.”. She paused. “She also...said I had poor circulation ‘cause my hands were so cold.” she muttered absent-mindedly.

Matt scoffed slightly. “OK, I’ll give her the last part.” he conceded. “But you know I think that sort of thing’s bollocks.”

“Hey, so do I.” Casey insisted a little defensively, but her eyes did flick over to some of the little good luck charms she’d accumulated over the years that were pinned to a board on their wall, aware that maybe that wasn’t entirely true.

“Right, so all those arguments about ghosts we had were, what, foreplay?” he asked, drawing back a little with a raise of his eyebrows.

“Matt, I swear to god, I’m time jumpin’ us to Old Stilwater some time and this whole damn thing's bein’ put to rest.” she replied.

“Well I look forward to that.” he replied calmly, but there was definitely a tiny hint of smugness to it.

She rolled her eyes slightly. There was a lot of shit she wouldn't have believed had it not directly happened to her, so she didn't feel the need to convince him right this second. But she knew what she’d fucking seen. At least she... was pretty sure. Maybe. Either way, it wasn’t really the point right now. “Look, I don’t believe in all this palm shit now.” she clarified. “But uh... I was 12 so... I may have gotten a little into it after that. I... took the book out from the library, started copying out all the pages and shit...”

“Oh my god.” Matt replied, bringing the knuckle of his index finger to his mouth to stifle a laugh.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m lame.” she replied. “Remind me what you were doin’ at 12 again?” she asked sarcastically, nodding at the screen.

“Trying to hack into The Pentagon, mostly.” Matt pointed out. He paused for a moment. “Go on then, trainee palm reader lady.” he suggested teasingly, offering her his free hand. “Tell me what mine says.”

She took it in both of hers and began to run her fingers over his palm, but she couldn’t resist getting him back. “Huh...” she mused. “Interesting. Says here you were a little bitch when you were a teenager.”

“Oi!” Matt responded, pulling his hand back faux defensively, although he was laughing slightly. “Sorry for trying to indulge your highly scientific pastime.”

Casey laughed along with him. “Baby, c’mon, I couldn’t waste that opportunity.” she laughed. “OK, imma do it for real.” she assured, reaching for his hand once more.

"Real...?" Matt replied sceptically, but he let her take it. She traced the lines more thoughtfully this time. She watched out of the corner of her eye as it made him smile and shift his shoulders a little, obviously finding the sensation rather pleasant. “Well, your head line’s super long.” she explained. “Means you’re smart but like... you overthink shit sometimes.”

“Are you actually reading this or do you just so happen to have met me before?” Matt joked.

She gave him an amused look before glancing back down. “But look, see, you’re also super creative because it curves down a lot.”

“Oh yes, I’m quite the artist in my spare time.” he continued sarcastically, leaning his head back against the headboard, looking entertained.

“I meant with your simulations and shit.” she pointed out. “Although one could argue your fanfic also-“

“Yes, I think you’ve made quite enough jokes about my fanfic, thank you very much.” Matt muttered quickly. He was blushing a little but was comfortable enough with her at this point that he didn’t seem as embarrassed as he once was about it. “Let me see; saliva isn’t lube, don’t use “raven-haired” so much, and you think I need to get some dick.”

Casey bit at her lip, smirking a little. “Well I mean, I was just gonna say the whole setup for Nyte Blayde and Ryder, the character who has the greatest resemblance to you in the entire show by the way, to fuck in the secret lair was pretty creative.” she pointed out. “But good to see you were listenin’ I guess.” She smirked over at him, then returned to looking at the lines before he could further protest. “Ooh, OK, so, your heart line starts in the middle of your palm, that means you fall in love pretty easily.”

“Well... that’s not... entirely untrue.” he admitted.

“Matt that’s probably gonna be the most accurate thing on here.” she teased. “Oh, but it also touches your life line, so you also get your heart broken pretty easily.”

“I can’t tell if you’re supposedly reading it, making it up, or just taking the piss now.” Matt admitted.

“Sweetie, if I was makin’ it up I’d be waaaay more flattering.” Casey admitted, repositioning her head on his shoulder.

“Isn’t that the whole point of these sorts of things?” he pointed out. “Telling people what they want to hear?”

“Well...” she relented. “Maybe if you were paying me.”

“Could be using it to get into my pants.” he teased in a slightly flirty tone, glancing across at her.

“You aren’t wearing pants.” she pointed out.

“Yeah I am.” he replied, releasing his hand from hers and snapping at the waistband of his boxers to prove the point. “I’m not wearing trousers.”

“Not this bullshit again...” she chuckled, squishing the area of his palm just under his index finger. “Hmm, well this says you’ve got a bit of an ego?" she said, raising her brows a little to feign suprise as she looked back to him. She caught the rather intense blue of his eyes and suddenly wasn't so focused on looking at his hand anymore. “But you’re also... real easy to talk to...” she continued. “Sweet... loyal... funny...”. She reached over and pushed his hair back off his face with her free hand before continuing. “You’re all... passionate about your special interests and shit.”. She looked over at him with a fond smile. “You’re just really fuckin’ cool, Matt.”

Matt looked genuinely touched, a far softer smile lighting up his features in return than the chuckles and smirks they'd been enticing from each other. “Well.” he said gently. “I suppose, coming from the Emperor herself, that means a lot.”. He paused and moved his hand to interlink his fingers with hers. “I love you, Cass.”

“I love you too, Matty.” she replied.

He used the arm around her shoulders to pull her towards him and towards him for a soft, slow kiss. That genuine smile was still present when they parted. “You know sometimes I still find it hard to believe you do.” he admitted. “After how long it took to get us here and everything.”

“Yeah, well...” she replied, stroking the hand along his face and catching sight of the little line that had started this whole discussion, then catching his gaze again and smiling. “You make it real easy.”

#not fully edited #wrote this in bits and pieces throughout the day it was fun!#i want to start writing more for them again #thanks for the prompt! :3 #matt: *is british* casey: really? again?#writing #matt x casey #sr boss: casey clark #matt miller #post-sriv #saints row #saints row boss

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