#also their actual neck is very thin this guy is just all poofed up like a proper bird

[sysirauta]

There's something that makes them go "wtf is this?!"

[bittybattybunny]

HEY GUYS GUESS WHAT I FINISHED

well mostly

that’s a temp crown and I have a single seam left BUT IT’S DONE REALLY OTHER THAN THAT

So now I’m prince ;3c (i also realized i could have grabbed my fake bouquet from my room for more fun---) also I’m wearing a face mask cuz I really didn’t want to put makeup on to fuck around in my basement when I do a proper photo shoot with Snuppet or something I will but deal with the mask (which btw is from @/timetravelinghk !!! It’s one of my favs to wear besides my levisnatch i wear at work)

I’m like super pleased with how this came out; It’s like patterned fully from scratch *stares at the failed attempts* yeah. it’s been a journey.

I’m gonna ramble a bit about the things I dealt with with this costume so read more I’m long winded

For context I started drafting patterns and such for Prince back when I made Snuppet. The idea has always been to cosplay as Prince and HK when I puppet him. However I wound up getting called back to my day job like right after I finished Snups so I never had a chance to continue because hooooo boi this summer was nuts. People wtf we broke records in sales for my work despite pandemic but i’ve ranted before--

There was also the matter of my boots and my wig. See the wig I’m wearing is the SECOND wig i bought for prince. the first one arrived all like... weird. i can’t get it to be fixed so I’ll use it for a monster costume and cover it with blood (its got like weird glue residue. like how some monster high dolls’ hair gets?)

This one is really nice uvu it’s my first arda wig i ordered; I do have the same in a dark purple because I will be making a ‘shadow prince’ version of this outfit in black and purple

and then the boots.

hoo boi

those boots

*inhale*

So let me say, I have decent sized feet. I wear between a womens 10 and 11 and that makes finding shoes a lil hard.

More so when I need very fucking specific shoes.

Yes i could do boot covers but it wasn’t going to be the same.

so I spent over a month looking and finally found those ones. they cost me a little bit (like they by far are the most expensive shoes I’ve ever bought. I hate spending money on shoes even for cosplay)

So they said they’d arrive soonish. I even paid express shipping.

Guys i ordered them in April. I got them late AUGUST. the site was a nightmare i could never get info it was permanently stuck in ‘packaging order for shipment’ and the help desk sucked and I was so busy with work I couldn’t call my bank and then just one day

they were just in a bag shoved in my mail box. i opened them right before a shift so they sat in my car all day

then i ordered gold cord on amazon

LACING THESE THINGS IS A FUCKING NIGHTMARE

the first time I wore them took me no lie about half hour to get them laced proper and on. My sister was waiting and had to come up like “...you okay?”

once laced tho i can easily put them on and off in like 5 minutes

now the costume itself has been. interesting. so you can’t see but the actual way i put this on is there’s a zipper and velcro! I’ve mentioned before I have CFS and chronic pain issues so I try to make my cosplays easy in easy out if i can. so this actually just. zips up and then the flap with buttons velcros down. it keeps the whole thing a lot smoother across my chest. (also i wear a binder for this cosplay. I bought my first one for this. if you cant tell i kinda went all out for this cosplay because I resonate with this fucker on a personal level and he’s brought me peace of mind this last year. I haven’t done a male cosplay in years and it’s kinda nice to do it again.)

Those sleeves

hhhhhh

those sleeves

trying to figure out the proper way to make those puff sleeves was. yeah. and even then they aren’t perfect but they work for me. When I redo this for shadow prince I may make them a little.. poofier? i have the idea how to do it now.

I also like had to alter my pattern after i made it to fit better. I have narrow sloping shoulders so things slip off them easily, my original pattern had very BROAD shoulders whoops.

the collar was also fun. i have to keep like stabbing myself with pins to get it to stand right.

I think the cravat was the easiest thing. it’s actually not tied or anything. its sewn together and then there’s velcro so i just wrap it around my neck and secure. As i said. i prefer easy on easy off.

the pants were. fun. I’ve always had issues making pants. the first set well... I made farrrr too thin. the legs were fine but i couldn't get the waist bit over my thighs or rear TTvTT

I’ve been playing with that pattern for the past week. I actually made them too WIDE today which is a much easier fix. tbh could take them in more but I do want the poof a bit. I do need to not wear LEGGINGS under them next time. like.

this costume is warm. I’m going to be a roast prince when con’s are a thing again. between how warm the tunic and binder are, and carrying/puppeting snuppet if you see me please know if I glare it’s most likely I’m dying. Gods it’s warm. I overheat so easily. (another reason I make it easy on and off)

So yeah! that’s my tirade on my prince cosplay! if you actual read down to this point mwah!

get a laugh out of the fact as I was coming back up stairs i scared my cat. he always freaks out when I’m in cosplay.

Also admire i took these photos blind. I didn’t want to put contacts in so i was playing with my new remote (i got a phone based tripod and it has a bluetooth remote to take photos it’s fucking great ngl)

alright I’m gonna go---

idk watch youtube tbh Im just happy i finished this!!!!

also please ignore the fucking litterbox i swore i moved it out of frame akjkldsffg

[sunsetpout]

Heaven Sent

Summary:  They're here. Like, for real, with her, in the garage, and they can't believe it.

This is basically a rewrite of the hug scene in 1x09, inspired by something @lukepouterson said in a whatsapp conversation and that made me cry. Hope you enjoy the short ride! (also available on ao3!)

Time has stopped. She was breathing, or maybe she wasn't, but time has stopped, she could feel it.

"I love you, guys." she said, her voice shaking. She didn't know why she suddenly threw herself at Luke, because she obviously knew she was going to end up with her face on the garage floor, but something clicked inside her brain, and she knew that if she didn't at least try to do it now, then they would be gone forever and she would have regretted it for the rest of her life. She just felt it in her heart that she had to do it in that exact moment. Then, time stopped. For all of them.

H e a r i n g She heard a little noise, like something twinkling or sparkling she didn't know, she had a very hard time figuring out what it was. The only thing she was sure of was that her face wasn't on the floor and that she was actually being held by Luke. She opened her eyes, not sure of what was actually happening. But yes, her head was on his shoulder and his hands on her back. She pulled away a little, her hands grazing his arms. She looked up to see Luke, of course it was him and he was still there (she actually felt her heart beat so hard against her chest). Were they- actually touching? "How can I feel you?" she said with a broken voice and actually impressed that she could get those words out of her lips. His face looked just as confused as hers might have looked at this exact moment, his eyes full of tears, but damn, he looked so beautiful and strong and fragile at the same time. "I don't know" he just said, and it clicked. Julie felt like it was the first time she was hearing his voice, or maybe it was the first time she was hearing in her life, ever. Of course, visually pretty much nothing changed for her, even though maybe he looked even more real this way, but she could clearly hear a difference in his voice. Maybe it's the fact that he was crying or maybe it was because he was more real, but this right there felt like music to her ears. More melody that she could hear when she played the piano, more depth than the sound of crashing waves and more emotion that she had ever felt before, all in one little innocent sentence. And all of that even though she just played at the Orpheum. She couldn't control her body, and her hands instinctively went to his hands, eager for more, never wanting him to stop talking ever again.

S i g h t They were actually touching each other. This single fact probably made his brain explode, and the only thing his body was capable of doing was to touch her face, to replicate her every little movements, because he wasn't the captain of this body anymore. As soon as he realized they were hugging, he started crying even more without even realizing, because he was holding her in his arms and he didn't want to let go, ever. He stopped breathing for a few seconds but quickly took a breath again, afraid that he might die a second time otherwise. Now, they were looking at each other, and he felt like being a ghost came with crappy sight because what he was seeing right now was probably the most beautiful thing he has ever seen in his life. Her eyes looked so much shinier than usual, and it wasn't because she had been crying too, but he could see that her eyes were actually sparkling, a portal to her soul that would make him go crazy if he stared at them for too long. Her lips, so close but at the same so far away, were right here, in front of his, and he watched them, longing for the day he could actually touch them (he would never tell her that). And her hands, small, beautiful hands, that he just took in his and placed on his heart. These hands right there were the perfect fit to his and he felt that maybe they were made to be held together all along. "I feel stronger" he said, because in that exact moment, he felt invicible.

S m e l l "Alex, Reggie, come." He couldn't believe what was happening. Everything was messy and cloudy in his mind. The pain, the Orpheum, the euphoria he felt on this stage and now this? How could it be possible? He just stood up, taking the last piece of strength he had in him to join Luke and Julie with Alex, afraid that maybe she wouldn't be able to touch them (maybe their bond wasn't strong enough). But as soon as they all touched each other, he felt something rise in him, and he couldn't figure out what it was, but it felt like maybe he was coming back to some kind of life. He felt so alive again. And not alive as an actual living person, but in this exact moment, he felt a kind of joy that he stopped feeling a long time before actually dying. All of his senses came back to him, and the first thing he felt was actually Julie. He just knew it was Julie. This girl right here, the one person who changed their lives, smelled of vanilla and sugar, and he would start crying all over again over this little detail if he wasn't already sobbing because that was the sweetest smell he has ever known (even better than the smell of pizza). As they hugged, he could smell everything. Alex smelled just like the ocean, a breeze of air, a bit of salt, a memory of his surfer past maybe, a soft touch for a softer heart. Luke, on the other hand, smelled like wood and pine, something he carried with him from the day he left home, sometimes sleeping outside the garage to look at the stars. And lastly, he could smell the garage, and he didn't know what kind of smell it was, but he just know that it felt like he was home again.

T o u c h Of course he was scared. He was dying, again, they just played at the Orpheum, and some evil ghost king put a freaking stamp on his ghost body! He felt so scared that when Julie called them, he almost didn't join them. But his body was driving itself and he was too weak to actually think straight, but before he knew it, he was hugging Luke, Reggie and Julie, and at this exact second, he felt his whole body come back to life (like truly felt it). He could feel the weight of Julie, so tiny, under his right arm, him almost crushing her. He could feel Reggie's hair on the nape of his neck under his hand, and also the fabric of Luke's satin vest suit grazing his left arm. He instantly felt his heartbeat slow down a bit. As long as he could remember, being able to touch things was the only way of calming him down when having panic attacks, the only thing that could keep him on the ground and make him come back to reality. "I don't feel as weak anymore." He heard Reggie speak, and they all pulled away a bit, even though he didn't want it to stop, afraid that this feeling might be gone too soon. "Yeah, me neither." He was impressed he could talk at all, a bit starstruck. That was probably the best time to play the sassy card not to show everyone how he was truly feeling. "Not that, you know, I was ever that weak." But it was true in a way, he didn't feel weak right now. In fact, he had never felt stronger.

T a s t e The guys suddenly felt a strong pain on the back of their wrists, and for a second it felt like they were about to lose their arms, but no. They were stronger now, because of their bond with Julie, they were stronger than the stamp, stronger than what Caleb was throwing at them, and they felt stronger that anything. But as soon as they felt the pain go away and the stamp disappear into thin air, they panicked for a bit. "What do you think that means?" Julie asked, afraid that for some reason they might poof out in front of her and leave her forever. But Luke smiled at her, and his big eyes were shining so bright, she instantly calmed down. "I think the band is back." Luke could actually see. And she just knew. They all knew. Alex was smiling too, "You guys think we could try that hug thing one more time?" Yes, yes, yes, and yes, they could almost hear each other's voices without needing to talk. Reggie was the only giving his approbation, but they didn't need to talk to understand each other, and then they all touched again. "Hugs are good." Alex could touch. "I like this." Reggie could smell. "Me too." Julie felt alive again, fully alive and happy. And everytime they touched, it felt like magic, hug after hug, never fading away, and none of them ever wanting to stop, ever. Of course, they all had so many questions about all of this and about what would happen tomorrow, or the day after that, but right now, it was just plain magic. They didn't care if they crossed over or not, they didn't care if they'd go to heaven or hell or none. They were just enjoying this moment, savoring it. Maybe playing at the Orpheum wasn't their unfinished business, but they didn't care. Right now, the only thing that mattered was that they were with Julie, the one soul who actually saved theirs. And maybe, it also meant that heaven is not a concrete place. It's not a castle in the clouds with rainbows and trees and whatever else. It's actually want you want most, and in that moment, heaven is Julie, heaven is them. That moment tasted like heaven.

[miss-pearlescent]

Grim Reaper’s Duties (2/2)

(1/2), (2/2)

(M) for Mature Content

The air around them was full of crackling energy as Kai watched the vortex form above. Somebody powerful was going to show their face soon, and Kai didn’t know if that being would be a threat to Lily or not.

He dug within himself, searching for the pull of death. If Lily’s soul was supposed to cross over today, he would know.

But he couldn’t feel the pull.

It was like every other time he was around her. He would always think death was calling to him, but her presence tamped that. All he felt around her was the urge to protect.

“You’re not allowed to die,” he told her, ready to call forth the weapons tattooed on his chest. “Not on my watch.”

“Geez, I didn’t know I needed permission,” she said sarcastically. “I’ll try my best not to die today.”

Kai almost laughed if the situation wasn’t so dire.

Another clap of thunder rang through the building, causing the water to crash like waves against the tiled walls. Lily stiffened and he could feel her nails digging into his back, all her earlier humour and sarcasm gone.

As much as she said she wasn’t trying to die, he could smell the fear on her.

Earlier, he swore he could smell arousal on her too, but the chlorine fucked with his nostrils and he wasn’t sure. Now that the pool was being sloshed around, his nose was working like usual.

And he didn’t like that she smelled of fear.

“Show yourself,” he beckoned at the dark circle of clouds on the ceiling.

Lily cast him a look that said “Are you sure you want that?” but stayed silent and turned her watchful eyes to the clouds too.

One blinding lightning flash forced both of them to look away.

Kai, the Grim Reaper. We finally meet.

The voice coming from the clouds was so loud, it reverberated the walls.

“Who the fuck are you?” Kai shifted his body so Lily’s vulnerable back wasn’t directly facing the vortex.

I am here to give you guidance. The woman in your arms is important.

Well, no shit.

Lily craned her neck, addressing the voice herself. “Me?”

Ignoring her, the voice droned on. She is a vessel.

A vessel? Kai paused for a moment to process that.

The simple statement made Kai drop Lily like she was a ton of hot bricks. He regretted it a split second later when he saw her stagger on her feet in the whirling waters of the jacuzzi.

No, she can’t be a vessel.

Vessels were essential to heaven, sent by the big guy upstairs to do a very important job.

Lily didn’t seem phased by the fact that Kai basically dropped her on her ass. “I’m a what? What’s a vessel?”

When the voice wouldn’t answer her, she rounded on Kai.

“Tell me,” she demanded.

She deserved to know, but Kai wanted answers of his own first. He turned to the swirling clouds again.

There is more, the voice boomed.

Of course there was. “Let me guess,” Kai sneered. “I’m her guardian.”

You are correct in your guess.

Kai let out an energy blast at the clouds with a swipe of his scythe, his frustration balled into the attack. Of course, it did nothing.

“I refuse,” he called out. “I am the Grim Reaper. This is not part of my job description.”

The resounding clap of thunder sounded like laughter. You cannot refuse. This is a Heavenly Mandate.

Kai cursed at thin air. “If you hadn’t noticed for the past millennium, I come from the Underworld. I do not answer to heaven.”

It matters not. Protect her at all costs.

A scream came from behind him and by instinct, he spun around, summoning all his weapons.

What he saw was not right.

A demon resembling what humans called an octopus had its tentacles poised and ready to launch at Lily. But she was standing her ground, pushing the ten foot long tentacles away with her bare fists.

These demons were known to take down entire coliseums and suck the prey out from every crevice of the ruins, yet it could not grab hold of a human.

“Can I get a hand here?” Lily cried over attempts at swatting away the demon.

Right, he needed to protect her.

The only way to kill the demon was to take it out limb by limb before the first limb regenerated. But as he sliced off tentacle after tentacle, he told himself he was not doing this because of some Heavenly Mandate, but because Lily didn’t deserve to die by the hands of some demon. She was a human who should have a simple human death.

With a final screech, the demon’s last tentacle was lobbed off and it fell into a brown puddle on the tile, mixing in with the blue-green pool water.

Lily stepped back with a shudder, right into Kai’s chest. “It looks like diarrhea.”

Kai snorted in amusement as he spun her around. Nice of her to keep her sense of humour. “Are you hurt?”

“I think I’m fine.” She patted down her baggy tank top and her arms. “Maybe just a few scratches here and there—” She stopped when suddenly her clothes had poofed away.

Just like that. Poof.

Kai’s ears got hot as if he had been caught misbehaving as he looked down at Lily’s bare breasts. The water covered her from the waist down, but her breasts...

He blinked as she squealed, covering herself with her arms. Damn, he felt like a dick but all he had wanted to do was check underneath her clothes to make sure she didn’t have any injuries.

Somehow, he had willed her clothes away.

You have proved yourself worthy, Grim Reaper.

Ah, fuck. The old man was still here?

He crowded Lily against the side of the jacuzzi, covering her naked body from the clouds above them. He didn’t know if there were actual eyes behind all that thunder and lightning, but he wasn’t going to risk it.

And he felt a twinge of pride when Lily ducked into his chest, using it as a shield.

“I’ve heard you loud and clear. Anything else you want to tell me?” Kai asked.

She is not as fragile as you think.

He didn’t think so, not when she handled that demon just fine on her own. He quirked an eyebrow and then looked down, expecting traumatized eyes to look back at him. Except, Lily wasn’t even looking at him.

The air around them suddenly cleared and it was eerily calm as the thunder and lightning dissipated. He could hear her breaths come out in quick succession.

He could also smell her arousal.

“Lily?”

She moaned and he saw that she was palming her breasts under the water.

Damn, his erection shot up like a true soldier.

-

Lily couldn’t help it. She was so turned on. It wasn’t just the electricity in the air that made her hormones go wild. She had just gone through a huge adrenaline rush fighting off an oversized octopus, then was saved by the freaking Grim Reaper, stripped out of her freaking clothes in front of him, and then covered by his broad chest all in a matter of a few minutes.

Not to mention, he had unknowingly trapped her against a jacuzzi jet which was pulsing water between her legs as they stood there.

A little embarrassed, but too horny to care, Lily tried and failed not to make a sound as she was pushed toward a climax.

Kai’s hands wrapped around her arms, pulling her up a little so the jet of water only hit her thighs. Her mind cleared a little and she realized she had been toying with her breasts. Quickly, she covered them.

“What is a vessel?” she asked.

Kai barked out a laugh. “You’re asking me this question now?”

She pursed her lips in feigned innocence. “Why not?”

His smirk made him look like a predator toying with his prey. “Because you were so close to coming apart right in front of me and I think you deserve it after all you’ve been through.” He tugged her down into the water, right over the pulsing jet stream again. “Would you still like to discuss things?”

For a second, Lily couldn’t speak. “Y-yes,” she managed to get out as the pressure seemed to come at her harder, pushing open her slit like a cock ready to enter. “I want to know what that conversation was about.”

“Hmm, eager.” Lily closed her eyes as she felt Kai’s hands trail down to her ass. “I like that.” He spread her cheeks open, allowing the full onslaught of the water to push into her.

She gasped and wrapped her legs around his waist, the pressure too great. But she found that there was something else prodding at her here.

He hissed when she ground her hips at his erection. “I am here to protect you, Lily. Nothing else.”

“You’re going to have to be more clear.” Boldly, she trailed a long kiss down his neck. She followed his strong pulse, down to the ripped muscles that disappeared into his shirt. “Does that mean no fucking?” she faked a whine.

She knew Kai enjoyed her humour, so she hoped he understood her in sex too.

To her surprise, Kai spun her around so quickly, she nearly lost balance until he caught her again by the hips. He nudged her feet apart and squeezed her ass down into the water...right in front of the pulsating jet again.

Lily cried out as the water flicked at her clit.

She clung to the tiles of the pool’s edge as Kai’s hand came around, cupping her breasts.

“As a vessel, you are sent from heaven to be a womb. You are important to history because you will give birth to somebody great, either on the side of evil or good.” One of his fingers rolled around her nipple and she squeezed her legs together to fend off the orgasm because she wanted to hear more. “I am your protector until you give birth to this child.”

She fought a laugh. “So when you said I wasn’t allowed to die on your watch, you were right.”

Kai licked the shell of her ear as his lower hand trailed down and buried itself between her legs. “I shall take care of your soul.”

She reached back, a little bit tired of this mythical talk when she only had one thing on her mind. Fumbling, she freed Kai’s hard cock from his jeans and guided it to her entrance, arching her ass up so he could push right in.

“Kai?” she murmured.

His response was a mix between a growl and grunt. He seemed shocked by what she had done in the last six seconds.

She wiggled her ass a little. “Can you take care of my orgasm first?”

That seemed to be the only push he needed because suddenly he was surging inside her, hitting her deep until she nearly came out of the water.

She bit her lip to keep from coming just from that.

He held her by both hips, pulling her down and opening her legs wide for better entrance this second time around.

Lily was already seeing stars as he pushed into her again. He pressed her up against the water jet, letting the pulses take care of her clit while he drilled into her from behind.

Even when she broke, her cries bouncing off the tile walls, Kai did not stop. His cock was unrelenting as her inner muscles squeezed him, begging for more. She thought she had maybe come again or even a couple more times, but really she was losing count as her body shuddered against him.

He gave her everything he had, promising himself to her even as he fell forward with a shout, angling his hip back so he could pull away before he spilled into the water. Panting, he kissed her shoulder as she continued to shake, riding out one more orgasm against his leg, and he let her take all the time she needed.

Finally, when both of them had caught their breaths and Kai could step back without stumbling on his feet, Lily turned around and automatically wrapped her arms around her waist out of a sudden shyness.

Kai noticed and, wordlessly, her clothes were back on her body. “You won’t have to worry about me being the father. I am the Grim Reaper.”

A pang struck Lily in the chest and she absently rubbed at it. Of course he was the Grim Reaper. She had known that for a whole twenty minutes. It wasn’t like she was disappointed that she would have to find other men to fuck when a sex god was standing within her reach.

Was he a god? A demon?

She didn’t know this man, had only met him an hour ago, yet she somehow knew she could trust him. “I don’t know if I would be a good vessel anyway,” she confessed with a casual shrug because she wasn’t ready to be a mother yet, let alone a mother to a historical figure. “But I...I am glad you will be around.”

In response, Kai simply stared at her.

She bit her lip, unsure what to say. “You will be around, right?”

He still didn’t say anything.

“I mean, I know you’re busy being the Grim Reaper and all, but if all these monsters are trying to kill me and stuff, it would nice to get some help.”

His lip turned up and she knew she had him.

“It would also be nice to have a friend in the middle of this batshit craziness,” she whispered, pursing her lips and gauging his reaction.

All of a sudden, Kai pulled her in, pressing a tender kiss to her lips. It wasn’t anywhere near a French kiss, but Lily still felt it down to her toes. It made her feel she had nothing to fear.

She must’ve looked dumbstruck when he pulled back because he had that all-knowing smile on his face again. “A friend,” he teased.

---

OKKKK so I’m not 100% satisfied with the ending because there was supposed to be a bit more to this story but I do not have the time energy or patience to write another 2000 words LOL Hence, both characters are confused and wishy-washy hahaha Kai was supposed to be like “Must. Not. Sex. Her. She belongs to another!!” and also “WHO THE FUCK IS THE FATHER SUPPOSED TO BE?? CUZ SHE JUST GOT KISSED BY THIS ANNOYING ASS DUDE AND I DON’T LIKE IT!” all the while being shocked to learn that he himself is supposed to father this child :) :) :) Oh yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeah. Anyway, this idea of being protected by a guardian angel of sorts was inspired by Larissa Ione’s Demonica/Lords of Deliverance  series because there are “guardian angels” assigned to protect humans but nobody is told the reason for it. One angel was assigned to protect a young girl who was married off to an abusive king. She was not allowed to die despite how miserable her life was because, according to prophecy, she had to give birth to some great historical figure. That hit me hard :’( So I wanted to give that fictional girl a story that’s happier :)

I was also gonna make Lily address the fact that HULLOOOOO she is not just a womb. But my brain is only good at imagining crazy scenarios that can lead to s-e-x so I did not have the mental capacity to flush that part out either :) I know my stories can get really confusing at times with a lot of plot holes that don’t make sense which is why I get so nervous about writing fantasy etc BUT I REALLY LIKE THINKING ABOUT THEM so thank you for bearing with me!

Anyway, I got a little burnt out overthinking this story (I am not very good at world building or translating all the action in my head into words) so I started writing something else. Please stay tuned for that, and thank you for reading ^^

[theshadowspecter]

Nuisance

(Bloom: again, warning for character death.)

Abigail was lost in thought as she made her way back to her boat. She had to force someone to take her place or suffer a truly horrible fate. She briefly pondered about taking another Mafia member; they were dumb enough to go with her...but the Boss...she couldn't go back to Mafia town. Not just yet. How was she gonna break the news that one of their guys was gone?And then ask them to come back with her? Not to mention Snatcher had mentioned how Mafia soul's weren't filling, or something. What if she brought back some Mafia, and the demon decided they weren't good enough? Then there were the goats and nomads of Alpine, but she didn't know how she would lure them. That just left Dead Bird Studios....

Now there was an idea! The moon penguins had probably barely even heard of Subcon, and those owls, while timid, were also very gullible! She could even tempt them with the idea of using Subcon as the next location for a movie, that'd be bound to get someone in to at least scope the place out! And all the contract said was she had to bring them to Subcon, right? She didn't have to hurt them or even bring them to Snatcher himself, right? She quickly pulled out the contract to skim it over again, confirming her thoughts. This was gonna be easy! She brings an owl into Subcon, gets free of her contract, and helps the owl leave before Snatcher can, well...snatch.

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

Arriving at Dead Bird Studios, she brought out the Bird ID that she had received from the Conductor (as a deal to let him into the Mafia Town bar) and walked up to the receptionist. “Evenin',” she greeted, “I'm here to see the Conductor.” The receptionist didn't even look up from his magazine, he just pushed a button and the door to her left opened. She thanked him and went inside, her plan forming in her mind.

She easily found the conductor talking with an owl and waving a script about in his...wing? Hand? Whatever. They clearly weren't filming at the moment, which meant he might actually listen to her.

“Hey Conductor,” she called out, jogging up to him, “I just got back from a trip to that dark forest at the edge of the desert, ya know, Subcon? And I thought it would make a great setting for a horror flick! Do you wanna come check it out?” Conductor looked her way for a moment before turning back to his script and waving her off with his wing, “nae, lass, I'm too busy wit me current filmin ter check out some old woods.”

“Well fine,” she huffed. “Maybe Grooves will want to go instead.”

That did the trick.

“Ohhh no ya don't lassie! I ain't gonna let that peck neck beat me! I'll go check out Subcon with ye.” She perked up, “really?!”

“Aye.”

“Great!, we can go after your shoot-” she began, starting to walk away. “Now hold on a min, lassie, I canne go taday.” The girl stopped in her tracks, and she turned back to him, “you can't?”

“Nae, lass. I got too much work ta do. How's de dae afta tomorrow sound?” She forced a smile and agreed, then left the Conductor to his work. She could still ask Grooves.

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

“Now darlin, as much as I appreciate the idea, a horror movie is just not what the audiences want!” The penguin answered when she asked him, “if the Conductor wants to make a horror flick, that's fine by me! I know what people really want to see!” He smirked at his own rhyme, then left her to go back to his directing.

She sighed, before heading back to Mafia town. Like it or not, it was her home.

Back in Mafia town, she hesitated outside the entrance to Mafia HQ. She had to report to the Boss what had happened, but what was she going to say? The truth? I'm sorry but your Mafia man got gobbled up by a ghost that only let me leave after signing away my own soul? She pondered for a moment before walking away, back to her own home.

The next day, still wanting to avoid the Mafia HQ, Abigail went back to Dead Bird Studios. It would make for a nice distraction, at least for awhile. She had just walked through the main doors when a loud Scottish voice called over to her “ah lass! Perfec' timin!” Conductor had been talking with some owls before he went over to her. “Abou' tha' forrrrest,” he began, “I'm sorry ter say that I won't be able ter accompany yew after all.” Abigail froze up for a moment, “you can't?”

“Nae,” the bird continued, “Word is that Grooooves is ahead in his filmin, and I'm not abou ta just sit back and let him release a new movie unchallenged!”

“I see.”

“But fret not lassie, I'm still interested in tha' forest. In fact I've already come up wit' a name fer a new movie, 'Ghost Train', an' dat place will be da perfec' settin'! Course I still need someone ter scope out da place...” the Conductor spun around and pointed at a random Express Owl, “you'll do!”, he cheered. The meek owl let out a small cry, “m-me?”

“Yea, you! Go w' the lass to tha' spoooooky fores' an' see if it's got what it takes ta be in one o' MY movies!”

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

It was that very afternoon that Abigail and the owl set out towards Subcon. The history buff was lost in thought, trying to think of a way for her plan to work. 'If I could just loose the owl in the woods long enough to find Snatcher and tell him that I bought someone in but 'lost' them, that will have completed the contract. Then I'd just need to sneak back to the owl and get him out!' It wasn't a good plan, but it was all she could come up with on short notice. She was pulled out of her thoughts by a feathery wing tugging her sleeve. She looked down at the owl who nervously pointed ahead, “a-are we sup-pp-posed to go in there?” She turned and was surprised to see Subcon straight ahead. How long had she been lost in thought? She squared her shoulders, it was time. “Yep. That's Subcon.” She felt the owl shake. “It's...it's ok,” she said, more to herself than to the owl, “we'll just go in, take a few pics, jot down a few notes, and be out lickity-split!” 'At least I hope so' she thought, as she lead the way into the darkness.

The trek though the forest was uneventful, at the start. The express owl was very timid; he kept looking over his shoulder as they ventured further into Subcon. “A-are you sure this is the right way?”

“You bet!”

She really didn't have a clue. She was trying to find a spot where she could quickly leave the bird and then find him again. Thinking back to her previous visit, the only place that stood out to her was Snatcher's tree, but that would be walking right into the lion's den!

A quick movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. She paused, and motioned for the owl to stop as well. With a small hoot, he looked around like a trapped animal and whispered, “w-why'd we stop?” “I thought I saw something,” the girl muttered. If Snatcher was around, he wouldn't be dodging behind trees. She shook her head, “its probably nothing, let's keep going.”

It took two more instances of sensing something just out of sight that finally made Abigail stop long enough to think. Were they being followed? As if to answer her question, some nearby foliage rustled and out popped a....little cloaked figure. They were small, their face just a glow, hidden under a hood. The owl gave a yelp and hid behind Abigail, who's curiosity overrode her fear. Who was this?

The little figure gave a small wave up at her, “you must be the one the boss wants.” Abigail pointed to herself, “me?” The figure nodded, “yeah! Boss said if any of us saw you, to bring you right to him! And anyone who was with you as well!”

“Boss?” Abigail questioned, “...wait? Us?! There're more of you?” The little hooded one nodded before running ahead a little, then turning back to them, “c'mon! The boss hates to be kept waiting.” Completely dumbfounded, Abigail followed the small stranger, the Express Owl in tow. Abigail had a hunch who this 'boss' was, but was so wrapped up in questions that her previous rough escape plan had all but left her mind.

They didn't walk for very long before the figure stopped and turned, pointing at Abigail, “Boss says you should wait here.” It turned to the owl and grabbed his arm, starting to pull him away. The owl frantically struggled, calling for help and reaching back to Abigail, who, with a “Wh-hey!” started to run forward to grab him when she felt herself stopped. Looking down she saw about half a dozen more small identical-looking beings holding her back. She looked up to see four more pushing and pulling the owl-still crying for help-into some brush. Abigail started to call out, “Wai-!” when a bunch of thorny purple vines shot out of the ground around the owl and the others, completely sealing them from her view. What horrified her more, however, was the dead silence that immediately followed.

The ones holding her back had let go by this point, and she paused to gape at the vines before turning to question the newcomers, but found herself all alone. A noise made her look back at the vines, which were quickly retracting back into the ground, revealing Snatcher. A slight rustle from behind the specter caught Abigail's attention, and she noticed what looked like a couple of those figures running off carrying something heavy...

“I MUST SAY I'M IMPRESSED! I THOUGHT FOR SURE YOU WOULD HAVE BROUGHT ANOTHER OF THOSE DUMB BRUTES.” Abigail looked away in shame. Now two had suffered because of her. At least there would be no more victims...

“There,” Abigail huffed, “I completed my contract! Now relinquish my soul!” The specter laughed, “DO YOU REALLY THINK A SINGLE SOUL IS ENOUGH FOR ME? THAT WAS JUST A TRAIL RUN TO SEE IF YOU WERE UP TO SNUFF! AND GUESS WHAT? YOU PASSED!” With that, her contract flew out of her jacket and burned up in some blue flames. With a flourish, Snatcher poofed another contract and quill pen out of thin air. “HERE, LET'S SIGN ANOTHER CONTRACT!” Warily, Abigail glanced over this new parchment, which now ordered her to bring a new person to Subcon at least once a week for, “an entire month?!” She read, horrified. “THAT'S RIGHT!” Snatcher proclaimed, “AND HEY, THAT'S ANOTHER MONTH YOU GET TO LIVE! PROVIDED YOU MEET THE CONDITIONS ON THE CONTRACT, ANYWAY.”

Abigail trembled, frustration filling her chest. She glanced downcast and whispered “I can't.” She heard him sigh and looked up to see him looking back at her. Still smiling, always smiling, but his voice sounded a little dour. He flicked his wrist and a small golden ball of energy-Abigail's soul- formed in his hand. “IF YOU REFUSE TO SIGN, THEN YOU FORFEIT YOUR SOUL TO ME.” “Wait a minute!” Abigail sputtered, “I finished the initial contract! You have no claim over that anymore!” The ghost smirked at this and simply replied, “TOO BAD. I NEED SOULS, AND IF YOU WON'T BRING THEM TO ME THEN I DON'T NEED YOU AROUND. BUT HEY, I'M FEELING PRETTY GOOD RIGHT ABOUT NOW, SO I'LL GIVE YOU ONE MORE CHANCE.” His voice dropped to a deadly whisper, “SIGN. THE CONTRACT.”

Abigail's survival instincts kicked in and before she could even register what was going on she had already signed. Like before, the paper was stamped, rolled up and flew into her jacket pocket. Snatcher poofed her soul away with another flick of his wrist, before clapping his hands together, “WE'RE BACK IN BUSINESS! I'LL EXPECT TO SEE YOU SOON! SMELL YOU LATER!” and dove into the ground. Not wanting to spend any longer around there than necessary, Abigail took her leave.

Her entire trip back she had racked her brain for solutions to her problem, to no avail, and by the time she got back to Mafia town, she had a headache. Before she could reach her house, however, she heard a “Stop!”. She turned to find a Mafia member, who continued, “Boss wants to know where you are. Boss says to report to him.” Abigail groaned, she really didn't feel like a confrontation, “tell the boss I'll see him bright and early tomorrow, ok?”

“Mafia agree to deliver message.”

“Good,” she said, heading off to her home. She wanted to sleep, but there was no way she could now. Once home, she put some coffee on and went over to her desk. Grabbing a pen and piece of paper, she started to write out ideas...

[imagines-dreams]

A Night in the Stark Household

Rating: G

Warnings: nothing, just fluffy fluff fluff

Summary:  When Tony and Rhodey come home from a night out, the last thing they'd expect is for all the furniture to be upside down. Also, all the kids are upside down?

Word Count: 2042

~ - ~

Rhodey’s eyes widened. “Uh, Tony?”

Tony sighed. “I was just- Were you not listening? I was saying that-”

“Yeah, yeah, Pepper’s amazing and you’re worried, yeah, but you should probably-”

“I mean those weren’t my exact words, but-”

“Tony!” Rhodey grabbed his arm and pointed to the ceiling of Tony’s home. “What the hell is this?”

Tony blinked and stared at his home. Everything was upside down. His ceiling fan was on the floor. The counters were on the ceiling. Tony stared intensely at his rearranged home. Tony thought back. He didn’t drink at all. Maybe it was PTSD or hallucinations? He smacked his cheek. Nope, everything was still upside down.

Rhodey opened the door to stare at the forest outside, and just like he expected, everything was right side up outside. So, it was just Tony’s furniture was upside down.

“Hey, guys!” Peter walked into the kitchen, upside down, as in his feet were on the ceiling, and opened one of the cabinets. Everything inside wasn’t falling down, like gravity dictated. Tony also noted that Peter’s hair, for some reason, didn’t obey gravity either.

Peter grabbed a package of oreos and started snacking on them. “Why are you guys upside down?”

“We are not upside down,” Rhodey said. “You are!”

Tony smiled. “Kid, put everything back. You can’t web everything-”

“I’m not using my powers! I swear.”

The retired superhero laughed. “Kid, come on. You’re Spider-Man. I know-”

“Peter, what’s the hold-up?” Riri walked into the room, on the ceiling, as in her feet were on the ceiling and her hair was floating, so it wasn’t obeying gravity. She took an oreo from the package and stared at her mentors. “Why are you upside down?”

“We are not upside down,” Rhodey repeated. He opened the door and pointed outside. “The trees are on our side!”

Tony furrowed his eyebrow. “Wasn’t Nebula in charge? Where is she?” Tony walked on where the floor should be. He stepped over light fixtures and the ceiling fan and found Nebula with Morgan and Harley. The two kids had vests on and gloves that resembled the Iron Legion’s gauntlets. Near the tv, away from the laser fight, were Dum-E and U. Harley popped up from behind the couch. His toy repulsor lit up, and Morgan evaded it easily.

“Take the shot!” Nebula commanded, pointing at Harley’s obviously exposed chest.

Morgan raised her arm and tilted her head as she tried to aim properly. Her repulsor lit up. Harley’s vest beeped, and the young man faked his death, making weird noises and falling to the ground. Well, the ceiling?

Dum-E and U clicked and cheered for Morgan. When Harley didn’t get up, Dum-E reached over to help him up.

Harley giggled and jumped up from his spot.

Nebula smiled and nodded. “You did well, child.” She crouched down and held up her hand.

Morgan giggled and high-fived Nebula. “Thank you!” she said.

“Good game,” Nebula said.

The boy nodded. “Yeah.” He held out his hand for his tiny opponent. “Good game, Morgan.”

The little girl stomped to him and shook his hand with confidence. “Good game, Harley!”

Tony couldn’t help but smile. His insane family. That turned his life upside constantly. Who, apparently, also turned his house upside down. He smiled widely. “Nebula?”

Morgan beamed and waved. “Hi, Daddy!”

“Hi, sweetheart. Nebula, what’s going on?” Tony stretched his neck and looked around.

His daughter giggled and hid behind Harley’s leg. He, however, just tilted his head.“Uh, why are you upside down?”

Morgan started giggling. “Daddy looks tiny.”

“He was always tiny,” Nebula said.

“I am not tiny,” Tony said. He stared at all the kids. By Morgan’s giggles, something is being hidden. Harley was smart, but he couldn’t do all of this by himself. Peter might be able to, but his webshooters could only do so much, and it wouldn’t explain how everyone was walking on the ceiling and how everyone’ hair was defying gravity.

Tony groaned. “Riri?”

“Yes?” The girl smirked.

“Turn it off.”

“Turn what off?” she asked innocently. “We’re just wondering how you and Rhodes are upside down. Did you get into an interdimensional fight or something?”

Morgan giggled.

Tony stared at Riri, his newest protege and apparently the new prankster. He shook his head. “If it were any other kid, I take away all your toys.”

“But you can’t!” She laughed. “I’d just build more.” Riri pulled out a remote control and pressed a button. Everyone and everything floated back to its original place. Still, all members of the Stark family remained on the ceiling.

Morgan ran to her older sister. “I don’t know how it works,” she mumbled.

Riri smiled. “Don’t worry, I can teach you.” She took the little girl in her arms. “Lift up your wrist.”

Everyone did as she said.

“Now, turn the dial on your new watch.”

When the dials turned, everyone gently floated down back to the ground. Riri nodded to the two robots. “Can someone turn Dum-E’s and U’s dials please?”

“On it!” Harley turned a new dial on Dum-e, while Nebula turned U’s dial back. Both of them chirped in thanks.

Morgan gasped and marveled at everything as she went back to obeying gravity. She laughed and said, “Thank you, Riri!”

“You’re welcome, Morgan.” Riri let her down, and the child immediately ran to Tony. “Dad, did you see? I was on the ceiling!”

“Oh yeah?” Tony crouched down and asked, “And how did that happen?”

“Well,” she drawled. Morgan turned around and pointed at Harley. “Harley wanted to prank you and Uncle Brhodey, then, Peter” -she pointed Peter and laughed- “he wanted to web everything to the ceiling. But only he can walk on the ceiling, so Auntie Nebula said it was a bad idea, so Riri” -she pointed at her older sister, who was smirking ever so proudly- “invented something, and poof! Magic!” Morgan giggled. “And that’s how we ended up on the ceiling, like those creepy, crawling bugs.” Morgan wiggled her fingers near her face to resemble bugs.

“Hey!” Peter yelped.

“Not you, Peter,” Morgan whined. “Like the centipedes and flies and those brown bugs. Bleh!”

Tony laughed and scooped his daughter into his arms. “Just for the record, I hate every single one of you. Except Morgan. She gets a free pass because she admitted to her crime.”

Nebula tilted her head.

Dum-E and U clicked, reminding Nebula about Tony’s sense of humor.

Nebula tilted her head. “I hardly call threatening to donate you a sense of humor.”

“Hey, I’ve grown since then!” Tony claimed.

Rhodes inhaled through his teeth. “I mean, have you?”

“Watch it, Rhodey. You’re on thin ice.”

Rhodey shook his head. “See, this is why I don’t have kids.” He looked at all of Tony’s children. “Or at least, this many kids.”

Dum-E and U whirred.

Nebula pointed at her brothers. “You forgot them.”

“Right,” Rhodey said. “Kids and robots.”

The two chirped.

“They said thank you,” Nebula translated.

Tony laughed. “Look, they’re not all my children.”

In response, Peter, Riri, and Harley looked at each with knowing smirks and smiles. They all crossed their arms and set their plan that they just discussed through eye contact in motion. Harley went first. “You literally packed me lunch for my first training session at the Avengers Compound.”

“And you gave me glasses with a new AI of my own for my Europe trip,” Peter said.

Riri hummed. “And wasn’t it you who attended the PTA meeting on my parents’ behalf when they couldn’t make it?”

Harley threw his head back with a laugh. “And remember the time he actually called us his kids?”

“That was a great day,” Peter agreed.

“Ok, ok, I get it!” Tony shook his head. “You know, the gray hairs?” He pointed at everyone. “All because of you.”

U whirred again in annoyance, and Dum-E nodded in agreement.

Tony pointed at them. “I didn’t have gray hairs then because I dyed them when I only had you two. Not an excuse.”

“Ok,” Rhodey leaned back and forth. “Obviously, you all have a lot to talk about, so I’m gonna go.”

“Bye, Uncle Brhodey!” Morgan said.

He laughed and kissed her head. “Bye, little Stark.” He waved at everyone else. “Goodbye, other Starks!”

“Bye, Rhodey!”

“See ya, Rhodes!”

“They’re not my kids!” Tony went up the stairs with Morgan in tow, mumbling to himself. “Why does everyone think they’re my kids?”

The six left stared at each other. A beat passed, before Tony shouted, “So are we still doing bedtime stories or-”

"Get out of my way!” Riri screamed, shoving everyone off the stairs.

Peter shot a web and swung up the stairs so he was in front. “You did it last time! I’m gonna tell the story of how Spider-Man got the shield!”

Harley flicked both of his wrists, and his hand and foot thrusters encased his hands and feet. He flew past his brother and sister. “Sucks to be you!”

Nebula just stared at her robot siblings. She rolled her eyes and pressed a button by the stairs. The steps transformed into a ramp that both the robots could climb. “Come on.”

The two followed Nebula up. The guardian found the rest of her Earth family arguing over which story to tell Morgan, while Tony was too busy smiling and watching the four kids argue.

Nebula walked to Morgan’s side and glared at everyone else.

“Fine!” Riri gave up.

Harley shook his head. “This always happens.”

“You know, one day, you’ll have to take our side,” Peter pointed out.

Nebula shrugged. “What story do you want, Morgan?”

Morgan held up a very colorful book. “This one!” Nebula held it and looked up at Peter, Harley, and Riri. She looked through her memories and nodded. “It’s Harley’s turn.” She handed the book to him.

“Thank you, Nebula.” So, Harley cleared his throat and began to read to his mentor, his mentor’s biological daughter, the other kids his mentor took under his wing, an alien aunt, and two robots.

When Pepper arrived home from her business trip, she wasn’t surprised to find Dum-E, U, and Nebula watching over the sleeping humans. She smiled and whispered, “I got this.” She went to her husband and gently woke him up.

Tony groaned and stared at his wife. “Oh, hello there.” He blinked once before checking on everyone in the room. He went through his mental checklist. Nebula, Dum-E, U, Morgan, Peter, Riri, Harley, and Pepper. Rhodey left early. The retired man slumped back in his chair with a sigh.

Pepper smiled. “It’s late.”

“Mhm,” he agreed. He saluted to Nebula. “Thanks.”

Nebula nodded. She shook both Pepper’s and Tony’s hands before leading Dum-E and U down the stairs.

The mother smiled and woke up Harley first. “Hey, Harley.”

He smiled sleepily and rubbed his eyes. “Hi, Pepper.” He stretched and tapped Riri.

The girl woke up with a start and shook her head. “Oh, it’s late.” She stretched and shook Peter’s shoulder.

Peter groaned and closed his eyes tightly. So, Harley kicked his leg.

“Harley,” he whined. Peter smacked his lips together. When his eyes caught Pepper, he gasped. “Oh, Sorry, Mrs. Stark. It got late.”

She smiled. “It’s alright. You guys should at least sleep in your beds in you’re gonna stay.”

Harley shook his head. “Nah, gotta get home today.”

“Same here,” Riri said, stretching her arms over her hand and cracking her knuckles. “Plus, I gotta beat Parker here at the science fair tomorrow.”

Peter blinked. “Oh, yeah.” He groaned. “I should go home, too.”

Tony laughed a little. “Make me proud, you two.”

“Please, get a drink if you want,” the CEO offered. “Don’t want anyone falling asleep in their suit.”

They nodded. Before leaving the room, they said good night to Pepper, Tony, and Morgan, and Pepper kissed each one of them on the head before they left. Finally, it was just the three of them. Morgan, Pepper, and Tony.

Pepper smiled at her husband. “The house is quiet,” she stated.

“That’s rare.” Tony poured himself a glass of water and sighed. “I actually don't mind the noise. Not too much, anyway.”

Pepper smiled and kissed his cheek. “Neither do I.”

[winchester-ofthe-lord]

Yes, it’s vegetable lasagna (with a side of gummy bears)

hey guys, I made a thing :)  

this was for a friend’s Valentine’s challenge and I really had a blast writing it, so I hope you enjoy :) please feel free to leave a comment and let me know what you think <3

pairing: Sam Winchester/Gabriel

word count: 3.9k ish

warnings: all the fluff for my bunker boys

read on ao3 

When he realizes that he’s been staring at the same sentence for the last seven minutes and that he still doesn’t understand the deeper meaning behind the blurry vortex of single letters, he doesn’t even have the energy to stifle his yawn anymore.

He stretches his weary arms over his head, finally releasing some of the tension in his neck muscles. An elongated, squeaky moan escapes his mouth. Sam chuckles to himself, glad that nobody is around to hear him make the sound of a dying moose.

With a dull thump, he snaps the heavy tome in front of him shut and decides to take a break from his research session on Transylvanian lore.

He gets up from his seat at the library table and heads towards the bunker’s kitchen.

While still in the hall he can already hear his brother’s muffled voice. Apparently, Dean’s talking to someone on the phone, seemingly entirely absorbed in the conversation.

The second he catches sight of Sam who quickly nods his head in a silent greeting and mouths a questioning “Who?” towards the phone, Dean- yeah, Dean downright jerks and almost drops his phone while he hastily ends the call.

He seems to be trying for a nonchalant look, but he rather resembles a startled toddler who got caught with his hands in the cookie jar.

“Hiya Sammy,” he gets out, at last, accompanied by a nervously affected, toothy grin.

Sam can’t help but snort a laugh at the sight of his obviously flustered brother.

“Am I interrupting something?” Sam asks with an arched eyebrow. “You weren’t having phone sex with Cas again, were you?” Both eyebrows now wiggling teasingly.

Before Dean even gets the chance to deny this blunt accusation, a confused deep voice interrupts him.

“Who’s having phone sex with me?” Cas walks directly up to Dean, gives him a peck on the cheek and a curious smile. He casually slides his arm around the hunter’s waist and pulls him into a gentle side hug. Dean instinctively leans into the embrace, puts an arm over Cas’s shoulders and turns his head to give his angel a kiss to the temple. He lets his forehead rest there for a moment, nudges his nose into the soft, dark hair above Cas’s ear and grins.

Much to Sam’s displeasure, Dean doesn’t whisper the following answer quietly enough, and he overhears his brother speak in the angel’s ear, “you know exactly that we only need to have phone sex when one of us is not in the bunker. Why would I have to call you when last night we-"

“EW! No. Stop it. Please!” Jack yells when he enters the room, hands clutching at his own ears, so he doesn’t have to hear his dads talking about…well, that.

Sam has never been more grateful for the appearance of the nephilim before. He gives Jack an apologetical look of commiseration and clears his throat.

“So, who were you talking to, then?” he asks his brother in an attempt to change the topic.

Once again Sam watches how Dean becomes nervous and uncomfortable, though this time not as bad as before, for he’s still safely wrapped in angel arms.

“Yes, Dean, who were you talking to?” Castiel asks in an accusatory tone and turns his head to look his hunter in the eyes. He even sounds a little hurt that he was not privy to this information.

He cocks his head and stares at Dean intensely, one of his eyebrows raised in question. The hunter answers with a similarly intense gaze, eyes wide open, as if he wants to say, Dude, you know exactly what I mean. After several seconds of exchanging glances in awkward silence, something in the angel’s brain seems to click into place and he gives a very slow, understanding affirmative nod.

“Okay, I’m clearly missing something here, but you know what? I don’t even want to know.” Sam says and shakes his head, smiling to himself.

Suddenly Sam turns around to face Jack and raises an admonitory finger. “Hey Mister, what do you think you’re doing there? Dinner’s in an hour, you know that.” The young man freezes instantly, midway into pouring cereal into his bowl. His eyes dart to Dean and Cas, silently pleading for their help.

“Uhm. Uhh… yeah, well. I won’t be here for dinner today. I have…other plans.” Jack stutters, the box of cereal in his hand still hovering above the bowl.

Before Jack’s brain suffers a total failure, Dean steps in, “yeah, um…actually, we all do. Cas, Jack and I wanted to go to the movies tonight. And well, we know you’re not that much into action hero stuff, so we didn’t even bother asking you if you wanna join us.”

From the corner of his eye, Sam sees Jack shoving a spoonful of Cookie Crunch into his mouth before disappearing with the entire bowl in the direction of his room. How he manages to eat cereal while walking – without spilling anything – remains a mystery to the three remaining men in the kitchen. Especially considering Jack’s talent for making an even bigger mess when eating than Dean.

Dean, Cas and Sam all gaze equally impressed after the nephilim, until Cas mumbles, “maybe we should always have him eat his food while walking,” which makes the two brothers burst into laughter.

Upon catching his breath, Dean grabs Cas’s hand and gives it a light tug, “Come on, Cas, we got 20 minutes before we have to leave and we still haven’t finished…” Luckily, this time Dean actually whispers the next words unintelligible enough, as he leans into his angel while they leave Sam behind in the kitchen.

Sam still chuckles slightly when he remembers something. “Hey guys!” he starts to shout in their direction, "have any of you seen Gabe? He wanted me to"-- the sound of a door being shut could be heard in the depths of the bunker --"meet him here." He murmurs disapprovingly under his breath, "Thanks for the help.”

He walks over to the fridge, opens it and reaches for a beer when suddenly he feels two hands poking him in the ribs. Fortunately, he hadn’t grabbed the bottle yet; otherwise, he probably would have dropped it.

“Surpriiiise,” the startled man hears a playful sing-song from right behind him, and the two hands clasp around his waist.

Sam takes a sharp inhale and pants with feigned rage, “goddammit, Gabriel! You want me to have a heart attack?!” In one swift motion, he turns in the arms of his attacker and closes the fridge door. He looks down at the shit-eating grin of his goofy angel boyfriend.

“Aw, I am sorry, moose-boy. How can I possibly make up for this near-death experience or yours?” Gabriel sneers at him, winking through dark lashes.

At that Sam can’t help himself but mirror the grin and lean down to give his angel a tender hello kiss.

Gabriel hums contentedly, “Mmh, feel better now?”

“Much,” Sam replies with a pleased smile and lets his big hands wander from the angel’s shoulders down to his ribs. They skim along his hips, grasp firmly at his thighs and lift him up, where Gabriel immediately wraps his legs around Sam’s waist.

Sam carries his boyfriend over to the kitchen counter, trailing kisses along his neck, and sets him down on the countertop. One of his hands fiddles with the hem of Gabriel’s shirt, fingers seeking skin contact, while the other one finds his stubbled jaw.

A moan escapes Gabriel’s throat when Sam starts to suck at his sweet spot right below his ear and mumbles a suggestive, hoarse, “You know, Dean and Cas are taking Jack to the movies tonight.. so, we've got the whole bunker to ourselves” into his ear.

The moment he tenderly bites down on his earlobe, Sam also brings a hand down towards the archangel's fly, and the startling noise of the zip snaps Gabriel back to reality.

“Stopstopstopstopstop right here, bucko,” Gabriel hinders Sam from going any further by placing his pointer finger on Sam’s smirking lips, “I’ve got other plans with you tonight.”

The taller man takes a step back, a little surprised that Gabe of all people turns down a spontaneous make-out session with him. Sam quirks a quizzical eyebrow. “Oh, do you? What kind of plans are we talking about?”

“Just wait and see, Samsquatch,” he says and hops down from the counter. “You gotta be patient for at least another hour until I’ve made all the necessary preparations.”

“Necessary...preparations?” Sam snorts, leaning back against the kitchen island opposite to his boyfriend and folding his arms on his chest. “Well, now I’m really curious. What are you up to this time, Gabe?”

A self-complacent smile forms on the angel’s face. “Preparations! And now stop this--” he points his index finger at Sam’s expression, “--confused frown you’re making there. We don’t want your pretty face to get stuck like that, do we?”

“Gabriel--”

But the archangel already poofed away into thin air. Awesome.

And once again, Sam is left alone in the kitchen, looking like the proverbial moose caught in headlights.

What the hell is going on with everyone today?

He opens the fridge again, grabs the beer Gabriel stopped him from taking before and decides that he so does not care that everyone apparently made plans without him. Let them.

Sam heads back towards the library where he sits down at his previous spot once again and takes a sip of his beer. While the others are having fun, he’ll just keep looking for possible causes for the numerous young girls who drowned in the area over the last few weeks.

His research so far has led him to an ancient Transylvanian myth about “bottomless lakes, which swallow people without ever returning them.” Though he’s not entirely sure if this story has anything to do with drowning girls in Kansas...

Nevertheless, he keeps reading, this time on his laptop, instead of the weighty book:

“Sometimes water is alive, and when it is, it asks for a dead man’s head.” This is what the elders of villages in the Maramures region believe; they are very sure that the lakes in the area sometimes require human sacrifices. There are several mountain lakes with dark legends, each of which is called an iezer.

Fifteen minutes pass quickly, while Sam reads about sunken churches, lakes that swallowed guests at a wedding, a hidden vortex able to drown even the most skilled swimmers and much more.

However, none of it helps him in the slightest.

His beer’s empty by now and he runs a hand over his tired face when he hears Dean coming into the room.

“Hey Mister Research, did you find anything on the water corpses?” he asks, nodding towards the article on the laptop screen.

Sam sighs deeply and shakes his head, “nope, at least I know now that it’s got nothing to do with water nymphs, Transylvanian dead-man’s-head-eating lakes or Nessie.” He pinches the bridge of his nose between his thumb and index finger and closes his eyes for a few seconds.

“Uh...okay? Well, I just wanted to let you know that we’re heading out to the movies now.” his brother tells him. “And don’t wait for us, we’re probably gonna grab a late dinner afterwards. At this new Italian restaurant-- you know, the one I told you about last week?”

“Yeah, I remember. But make sure Jack gets a salad just for once, okay? The boy needs something healthy every once in a while.”

“Uh...sure. You have fun with...Ariel.” Dean briefly raises his hand to wave goodbye and leaves the library again, lightly chuckling to himself.

Jerk.

Shaking his head at his oh so funny brother, Sam clicks on the next online article, and it doesn’t even take two whole minutes until he’s completely absorbed in his research again.

He’s so engrossed in the words in front of him that he doesn’t hear the slight rustling in the air right behind his back. This might be the reason why he literally jumps when all of a sudden his view on the screen is entirely obscured.

The action is accompanied by a playfully melodic “Guess who!” which makes it even more startling.

“GABRIEL! Seriously, what the fuck!” Sam forcefully pulls the two hands down and away from his eyes, “I swear to God--”

“Hey! Keep my old man out of this!” Gabriel chuckles amusedly and walks around Sam’s chair, trying to get his hands out of the tight grasp.

He manages to get one hand free, pushes the laptop closed, gestures Sam to move back with his chair a little bit and then sits down to straddle his lap.

“You were saying?”

“I was saying,” he emphasizes, “ if you keep giving me heart attacks like this, one of us might die under mysterious circumstances.” He leans against the back of his chair to look reproachfully at the man on his lap.

With a smug smirk on his face, Gabriel replies, “Well, then it’s a very good thing one of us in an archangel. Death shouldn’t be much of a problem.” He winks at Sam who huffs out a laugh.

“You’re unbelievable, you know that? Anyway, have you made all your ‘necessary prep’-- wait...are you wearing a suit?” he grabs the angel by his shoulders and holds him at arm’s length to get a better look at him, “Gabe, what’s going on?”

Gabriel shifts uncomfortably in Sam’s lap and feigns ignorance.

“Huh? What do you mean ‘what’s going on’ - nothing’s going on?”

Sam stops the angel from wriggling about on his lap by holding him in place by his hips and throws his most judging bitch face at him. (Don’t fuck with me, angel-boy.)

Two placating hands slide in between the two men. “Easy there, Chewbacca. Why would--”

“Gabe, you’re wearing a suit,” he chuckles at the rare sight of his boyfriend in fancy clothing, “that’s not something I see every day. And then Dean was strangely secretive about a phone call earlier, he wouldn’t even tell me who he was talking to. Plus, he skipped our weekly family dinner - to go out with Mister I-thought-it-would-be-polite-to-tell-her-she-has-Syphilis and their man-child who asks random people if they liked nougat too. And sweetie,” Sam raises an eyebrow again and laughs, giving Gabriel a once-over, “you’re wearing a SUIT.”

Gabriel glances down at himself with mock offendedness, clutches one of his hands at his chest and dramatically gasps for air.

At the amused look of expectancy he receives from Sam the angel heaves a frustrated sigh, rolls his eyes and lets his head fall back.

“Jeeez, why can’t these stupid imbeciles follow even the simplest of orders and lie low for just this once…” Gabriel mutters under his breath and pushes himself up from Sam’s thighs.

He walks a few steps away, turns on his heels with a sigh and shrugs nonchalantly.

Slowly pacing back towards Sam he starts, “Well, Samantha, I had originally planned this to be a surprise, but looks like there’s absolutely no chance that anything goes according to plan when you Winchesters are involved.” He reaches out a hand for Sam who takes it hesitantly and lets himself get pulled up. “And now that the cat’s out of the bag, we might as well just skip the part where I have to convince you to follow me and jump to the last step of my, I have to admit, apparently not that well-wrought plan.”

All of a sudden Sam’s hand starts to tingle where it touches Gabriel’s, and the air around them shimmers for a brief moment.

In the fraction of a second, Sam finds himself outdoors, under the night sky. Gabriel lets go of his hand and steps away once more.

The bunker’s rooftop - Sam realizes after he cast a quick glance around - is dimly lit by fairy lights and… floating lanterns? When he looks past Gabriel, towards the forest, he sees blinking fireflies, tiny, glowing dots in the darkness. Hears the chirping of cicadas.

The sky above him is covered in countless stars and in between them are bright dancing lights, cloaking the air in bands of color. The vibrant shades of the not-so-Northern Lights were in perpetual motion, flowing and changing from pale green to yellow, red, violet, blue and back to green. It was unmistakably resembling a giant glowing rainbow.

Sam’s state of mind can be described as a weird mixture of total amusement due to the very cheesy setting and at the same time being completely baffled and speechless.

He slowly lowers his amazed gaze, mouth slightly agape, and finds Gabriel’s eyes already looking at him in eager anticipation. Gabriel looks unusually sheepish. Actually, Sam’s pretty sure he’s never seen his boyfriend this timid and insecure before.

“Do you- Do you like it, Sam?” the smaller man stammers.

At that, Sam snorts loudly, “Sam? Since when do you call me by my actual name? Who are you and what have you done with my cheeky little Trickster boyfriend?”

“Okay, first of all? I call you ‘Sam’ all the time. And sec--”

“You only ever use my real name when I’m not around!” Sam interrupts with a hearty laugh. He probably shouldn’t find it so funny that Gabriel is obviously suffering, but he really does.

“This isn’t--” Gabriel harrumphs with frustration, “This is not the point here. The point is that- uh- goddammit, Sam! I’m trying to be romantic here, don’t make this so hard.”

Sam is struggling really hard now to suppress his laughter. But he won’t let Gabe get away that easy. Also, this might be the first time anyone has rendered him speechless, so Sam’s gotta make the most of it.

“You? You wanna be romantic. That so?” he gets out, at last, biting his cheeks to avoid another grin.

Gabriel looks at him defiantly, “Yes, me. Romantic!” The touchy archangel pouts and crosses his arms in front of his chest.

When Sam realizes that his boyfriend is completely serious, he walks up to him, reaches his hand out and grabs one of Gabriel’s wrists. He’s still slightly chuckling when he pulls the angel into his arms.

Sam nuzzles his nose into Gabriel’s hair and says, “I’m sorry, Gabriel. I really like what you did with the roof. It looks amazing. And your suit?” he lets go of his man to take a proper look at him. “You look amazing in it, too.” He smiles at him wholeheartedly and the angel seems to relax a bit.

“So, this is what your necessary preparations were for? Or is there something else?” Sam says, still smiling at Gabriel, who seems to have finally regained his sass again.

“Well, bucko-- if you’d rather I didn’t call you Sam-- as it happens, there actually is something else.”

With a snap of his fingers, the archangel reveals a small, round table, covered in a white tablecloth. Three long, red taper candles create a dim and shimmering atmosphere around the table and the two chairs facing one another. Two carefully arranged plates are already filled with what seems to be lasagna. There’s an open wine bottle and two half-full glasses next to each plate.

“Before you ask, yes, it’s vegetable lasagna,” Gabe says with a content smile.

Sam stares at the table, utterly stunned. He keeps looking back and forth between Gabriel and the steaming, appetizing dish...and then he notices the side of gummy bears in a little bowl.

“Gabe--” he begins, but apparently this is all he can get out in his dumbfounded state.

The angel takes the chance and begins in an unusually serious tone, “Sam, I never thought I’d ever be truly happy,” he looks straight into his human’s eyes. “I’ve been living for a very long time now and I’ve spent countless years of this time here on Earth ever since I...left Heaven...since I...ran away... I- I just couldn’t watch Michael and Lucifer tear at each other’s throats anymore. Couldn’t bear their cruelty, their--,” he huffs disparagingly, “their inhumanity. So I hid.” He glances at the floor, carefully considering what to say next.

“When I became the Trickster, I spent my time with game-playing. Stupid, pathetic games causing a lot of people-- good people-- to die. Or even worse... Sam, I’d lost my path. I ran away from cruelty, only to become cruel myself. Over time I’ve grown too mischievous. Gruesome. I’ve done some really...terrible things.”

Sam watches the archangel attentively. Absorbs every single word that seems to take a lot out of Gabriel to even say out loud. Hell, to even admit all these things to himself must’ve been excruciating…

Still staring at the floor between them, Gabriel takes a deep breath before he continues, “but that was before I met you.”

He slowly raises his head and locks eyes with Sam once again, an earnest smile tugging at his lips.

“You and your dumb brother made me realize that I have free will, too. That I can choose my own fate. That, despite my flaws, I can still try and do better. That, one day… I might even be forgiven.” His voice is slightly shaking on the last words. He swallows loudly, not breaking eye-contact with Sam.

“You even showed me that, no matter how much I enjoyed my Kielbasa experiences, there’s more to life than Casa Erotica.” Both men burst into a laugh at this memory and Gabriel’s face lightens up again, his usual easy-going nature back on his face and in his body.

“Sam, all of the things I did were just futile attempts at filling the empty space in my heart. And thanks to you I know that now.

“Because you are the one who filled this empty space. You are everything I never knew I even needed to be happy. And I know I probably don’t deserve this,” he tensely glances down to his hands and tries to gather all his courage to get out the next words, “nevertheless, I thought I’d let you know that I’d love nothing more than spending the rest of your life together with you.”

Gabriel heaves a relieved sigh, apparently pleased, and maybe even a little surprised at himself, that the words actually left his mouth.

He’s still eyeing his own hands and now Sam can see why:

A small, black, velvety box appears in the angel’s palm, but before Sam even gets the chance to have any kind of reaction, his boyfriend steps right in front of him. Only a few inches separate Gabriel’s bright, radiant hazel eyes and his loving smile from Sam’s face.

“This is the point where I’d go down on one knee...but I’m afraid I might completely disappear from your sight if I did that now, Gigantor.” He smirks at Sam’s touched, though at the same time awkwardly amused expression.

“So, if you don’t mind, I’d prefer asking this next question standing up.”

He pauses for a moment to collect his thoughts. Opens the small box with shaking fingers and reveals a thin, silver ring.

“Sam, I love you. More than I ever thought I could love anyone.” He closes his eyes for a second. Inhales deeply.

“Sam Winchester, will you marry me?”

In an instant, Gabriel's lips were met by Sam's, kissing the shy, insecure smile away.

The archangel pulls away from his hunter, tentatively searching for his eyes, “is...is that a ‘yes’?”

Sam’s face softens. He smirks before leaning into the next kiss, grinning against his fiancé’s lips, “That’s a ‘yes’!”

[djinmer4]

Bookends 1 of 2 (Lovecraft AU)

“So you’re going into space.  Looking forward to your trip, fraulein?”

“No, not really.  Space scares me.  All that vacuum surrounding me and if one little thing goes wrong, poof!”  Kitty clapped her hands together.  “There are no second chances in space.  One mistake and you’re dead.”  She shivered.  “But Jean says that something important is happening, there’s someone there we need to rescue, so to space I go.”

“You can’t stay behind?  Marie and Bobby aren’t going.”  A blob of shadow rested at the foot of her bed like some abyssal hellhound.

“Rogue and Iceman have a different mission they need to attend to.  And the only reason Kelly’s letting us go up in the shuttle at all is because I asked him.  I can’t not go unless we want to break into a government facility, and Mr. Summers is right.  As the most public mutant organization in the US, we can’t afford to have the bad PR that stunt would generate.”

“Take some of the bamfs with you.  If you get into trouble, they can teleport you all back here.  I know you’ve been practicing with them.”

She shook her head.  “Are you kidding?  Can you imagine how much chaos the bamfs could cause in that type of environment?  No, they have to stay home.”

A twitching tail (for sanity’s sake she refused to admit it was another tentacle) wrapped around her wrist.  “Who exactly is going up?”

“Myself, Jean, Cyclops, and Beast.  Storm can’t be in such a closed environment for long due to her claustrophobia, Iceman and Rogue are on a mission already, and Scott doesn’t trust Logan after you ate his mind.  Angel and Colossus can’t fit into the space suits and Dazzler’s on tour.  There’s one more slot to fill, but I can’t think of anyone else I’d actually want up there with me.  I guess the original crew can just throw dice or rock-paper-scissors it to decide which of them also gets to go with us.”

“Hmm, why don’t I go with you?”

“You?  Like any of us are going to trust you in a tense situation like that!”

“I’m hurt, liebling.”  A massive grin split the creature’s face in half.  “If there’s one thing you can trust me for, it’s that I always keep my word.  If I promise to aid you in your mission and not seek any to kill, hurt or traumatize you for the duration, you know my aid would be invaluable.”

She gave him a suspicious glare out of her hazel eyes, but he did have a point.  Everything Yana had told her and all of Jimaine’s books had agreed that the Crawling Chaos took his bargains very seriously.  It wouldn’t prevent him from exploiting loopholes, but as long as it was more entertaining to keep them intact, he could probably be counted on.  Still . . .

“Are you going looking like that?  Because there’s a Dr. Corveau who’s still coming on the mission not to mention the crew of the station.”

“You underestimate me, kinder.”  He sat up, pulled Jimaine Szardos’s face out of thin air, and placed it on the blobby area that might have been a head.  Paralyzed with shock, Kitty watched as the form solidified to a female human’s, the complexion lightened from indigo blue to pale peach and gold hair started growing from the head.

“No!” She shouted.  “Don’t do that!  Not someone we’ve all seen you kill.”

“I have others.”  He pulled the mask off (a scene that was going to repeat itself in Kitty’s nightmares) then conjured another one in its place.  Kitty turned around and closed her eyes, only looking back when the sticky wet noises of the transformation had stopped.

The man who stood there was actually fairly handsome, with pale Caucasian skin, curly black hair and deep blue eyes.  He was maybe a handspan taller than her, and well-muscled although not to the point of absurdity.  His nose and jaw were both a trifle too large for his face, just enough to save his facade from boring perfection.

“You forgot that you’ll need clothes.”

“Oops!”

“Shroud, who’s the last-minute addition to the team?” Cyclops asked as they flew to  Cape Canaveral.  “I hope you didn’t pull one of the students in for this.”

“Er, well, you see . . . “ Her shoulders slumped.  “It’s Nightcrawler.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“He wanted to come along!  And it’s not like I can stop him from doing whatever he wants!  At least this way he won’t freak out the Dr. Corveau or the station crew.”

“Let’s just hope he doesn’t get hungry during the trip.”

“Tschk!  Humans.”  The Crawling Chaos looked at the gas coming through the vents.  “I don’t suppose that idiot will open the door until everyone’s out.  So I guess I’ll just have to come to him instead.”

The black-haired ‘man’ walked over to the inner airlock.  He raised his ‘hands’ and tore through the 2.5 cm thick steel with ease.  On the other side were a couple of mind-controlled humans and a Shi’ar system commander.  Before any of them could react he teleported behind them.  Two swift but restrained blows destroyed the devices on the men’s necks, causing them to pass out.  While Nightcrawler was occupied with that, the Shi’ar dashed into the control room.  The other considered going after him but decided to work on rousing the X-Men instead.  

Once everyone was awake they ran to follow.  “You fools are too late to assist Lilandra!  I’ve detected the incoming portal and armed a cannon to fire on her ship as soon as it emerges!”

Dr. Corveau peered at the screens from behind Cyclops.  “I don’t what’s going on, but the targeting is still manual!  If we destroy the panel, we can prevent him from aiming, though the cannon will still fire!”

“Done!”  Before the Shi’ar could react, Cyclops fired his beams, causing the control board to blow up.  Unfortunately, it overloaded all those circuits and everything around them started sparking and flares appeared on the equipment.

Still, through the window, they could see the portal open up.  A ship of unknown design came through, then a beam of light from the station flashed at it.  To the X-Men’s relief and the Shi’ar’s dismay, the beam only clipped the side of the ship.

“Damn you!” hissed the red-armored alien.  “If I can take her down in my ship, then your efforts will have been in vain!”  With that he turned and ran through one of the side doors, taking two of the still mind-controlled humans with him.

“Dr. Corveau, Shroud, can you get the panel working again?  Maybe we can use the cannon he attached to shoot him down.”  The two technologically inclined members of the mission didn’t even bother looking.

“I think attaching the cannon in the first place did some damage.  Between firing it and you destroying the panel, this station’s about to blow!”

“Back to the shuttle!”  Before anyone could move, black tentacles came up from the ground and grabbed everyone.  There was a loud BAMF, a sensation of heat and pressure, then everyone found themselves on the shuttle.  After a second, the two crewmen who had been helping the Shi’ar at the airlock also showed up, dropped from a black hole that appeared in midair.

“Thank you, Nightcrawler.”  Once they had cleared the station, barely dodging the explosion, Cyclops took stock of the situation.

“Jean, is the pilot of that ship the person we need to rescue from your premonition?”

“She is.”

“Alright, the shuttle doesn’t have any weapons.  I think we can still ram that other ship and interfere with its aim.  Dr. Corveau are you a skilled enough pilot to do that?”

“I am, but why are we doing all this?  We don’t know the person on the ship or the weird psychopath on the station.  Why don’t we just run away?”

“One of my mutant abilities is precognition,” stated Jean, still focused on the battle in front of them.  “I’m not clear on all the details, but I do know we have to rescue the person who came through the wormhole.  Otherwise, the entire Earth will be enslaved.”

“And how accurate are your predictions?”

“Over 80%.  And most of the ones that don’t come true are due to people taking actions based on my prompting.  We don’t want this one to come true.”

“Besides,” broke in Kitty.  “The other guy was definitely mind-controlling the station crew.  That’s evil enough that we should at least give his opponent the benefit of the doubt.”

“Points taken.”  Dr. Corveau steered them towards the pursuing ship.  While they closed in, Cyclops had another idea.  “Nightcrawler, would it be possible for you to teleport the escaping party here?  Then we could just let the other ship blow up and fake his or her death.”

“I cannot.”  The statement was so unexpected it drew every X-Man’s attention.  A flash of sharp teeth warned them from making any derogatory statements.  “Or rather I could, but I choose not to.  Call it professional courtesy.

“I could teleport you to the other ship but I don’t recommend it.  The quarters there are quite cramped and most of you would not survive having your insides melded with inanimate objects.  Shroud perhaps-”

“No.”  Cyclops was firm about this.  “Shroud has the least amount of combat training of all of us.  We’ll try-”

This time it was the ruby-glassed man’s turn to be cut off.  There was a large bang and the shuttle bucked and shuddered.  “I took out the pursuer’s weapons and he’s breaking off the chase, but we’ve got another problem now!”  Shouted Corveau from the cockpit.  Everyone raced back, except for Nightcrawler who sauntered like he had not a care in the world.

“I’ve damaged the steering,” said the physicist, jaw clenched with stress.  “There’s enough to get her down safely but not enough to get us out of the damaged ship’s blowback.”

“Will the other ship come down safely?”

“At this point, that’s up to how sturdily that ship was built and how good the pilot is.  Nothing we can do about it now.”  Cyclops nodded.

“Nightcrawler, can you teleport us back down?”

“Everyone but Jean.”

The taller man snarled.  “Let me guess, professional courtesy again?”

Fangs flashed again, causing Corveau to shrink away.  “Exactly”

“That’s unacceptable!”

“What if we put Jean in the solar module?” asked Beast, trying to head off another argument.  “Then the rest of us could teleport down and we could pick her up after this thing lands.  The module should be good enough to shield her from the radiation.”

“No good,” stated Corveau.  “I mean, the solar module could do that.  But the autopilot of the shuttle is out and someone will need to stay at the controls all the way down.  Whoever’s doing that is going to die.”

“What if we combine the two?”  Jean stepped in at this point.  “Everyone else goes into the solar module, while I stay out here and pilot.  I could take the knowledge of how to fly from Dr. Corveau and shield myself from the radiation with my kinetic abilities.  I’m the only one who has a chance to survive this, other than the obvious.”

“It’s too risky-”

“It’s my decision.”  Jean knocked out her former fiancee, then passed him to Beast.  She reached out to Dr. Corveau.  He hesitated for just a second.  “Are you sure?”

“It’s the only way I have a remote chance of surviving.”

“Alright then.”  He relaxed and let her touch his face, passing out when she was done.

Beast, Shroud, and Nightcrawler carried all the other knocked out humans into the solar module and sealed the door.

Beast and Shroud listened as the module shuddered and transmitted the scream of stressed metal from the outside.  Nightcrawler, on the other hand, continued to watch the door, a sinister smile on his face.

AN: I refuse to do the whole Phoenix Saga.  I don’t like the people involved and it pretty much goes the same way as the 90s cartoon, except Nightcrawler teleports more people and less angst about Jean.  So Part 2 is going to skip ahead to the end.  If anyone wants to write about what happened between the two parts, feel free.

[boneswriteswords]

Dating Raphael Would Include (SFW):

- This poor guy has no idea what to do with tbh (other than not so secretly obsess over you)

- Tries so hard to do romance but he is a clumsy and nervous boi with more than a few issues with himself and his place in a relationship. The thought counts and he appreciates all the thanks you give him.  

- He has an existential crisis like twice a month, particularly around holidays, birthdays, and relationship milestones. You have prepared a kit to help deal with them.  

- R E L E N T L E S S about making you blush. He wants your face cheeks pink all the time (ass cheeks came later but he has other ways to make those ones pink *wink wink*)

- If there is no room for you to sit, he will make room. He will let you have his chair. He will clean off the table or counter for you. He will catapult any of his brothers off the couch to make room for you to sit.  

- On the same note, he also motions to his lap and you immediately know to sit there cuz he wants you stupidly close.

- If you are asleep and he is awake, he will poke your feet until you wake up to give him attention.

- His voice drops like three octaves when he talks to you. Cuz he is a big mush when it comes to you. He whispers things to you a lot too. He has this urge to just be soft when it comes to you.

- S c e n t kink. Holy shit does he like to stick his nose in the areas where your scent is the strongest. His favorite thing to do is curl up in his warm basking spot with his nose in your neck. Even more so when he smells like you and you like him. (Give him a little thing of your body spray as a gift and waaaattttcccchhhhh)

- Knits you a large red sweater with a giant R on the front.

- Your rage is cute to him. You know, as long as it's not at him. You are passionate about a lot of things so sometimes, just to be a giant shit, he'll slip something into the conversation that will get you raging. ( "Babe, I don't know. I don't see why you don't like John Winchester. He seems like an ok guy." "HE WAS A SHITTY DAD AND THOSE BOYS DESERVED NORMAL LIVES OK FUCK JOHN WINCHESTER!!!!")  

- Butt grabbing. 'nough said.

- Dropped the L bomb first. Didn't even realize it. Got very worried when your eyes got watery and handed you a tissue very awkwardly.  

- Everyone calls you when Raph is in a mood. Like they don't even bother trying to talk to him anymore and just go right to "Im calling your girlfriend just gimme a sec before you break any more stuff."

- Fully expects you to participate in family things without actually inviting you. Will come to your place with a look of 'da fuck are you doing here?' if you don't show up on time to the event you didn't know was happening.

- Iron grip + late sleeper = Raph. If you are an early riser, it isn't happening. He isn't getting up and he isn't letting you go, get over it.  

- Will use you as a weight when he bench presses. Don't ask, its part of the routine now, just go with it. (Lowkey he is just showing off and wants to touch the booty)

- Because he is so big, you often have to stand in front of him so people know you are in the room too. Its funny when he pushes you behind him because its like you disappeared into thin air. poof! gone. Where'd she go?

- He gets into the nest/bed first because if you do, he flings you off with the force of his body landing on the bed.  

- This conversation:

Raph: Y/N is feeling down. What do I do?

Donnie: Well have you tried just randomly telling her ‘you’re beautiful?’

Raph:  Hmm.. good idea. Thanks Donnie.

Raph, waking up next to Y/N the next morning: Morning babe, I’m beautiful.

[mayonara]

Black Friday

The batboys participate in the all crazy tradition of Black Friday shopping. Why? Because Tim wanted to.

Jason didn't exactly appreciate it.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Also posted on AO3

"I don't get why we're here," Jason said and heaved a long breath, rolled his eyes over to stare at the teen beside him whose eyes were sparkling. "We have money and quite literally, probably have everything we need."

"Yes, true. But this is for the experience," Tim explained and Jason could see his hands were twitching, impatiently waiting to disappear and drown in the sea of crowds.

"I still don't get it."

"You don't need to. Just—enjoy," Tim said with a smile and then swiftly waved good-bye before he jumped into the crowd, letting himself be carried away and soon enough, Jason had lost him.

"Alright, what are you doing?" Jason asked and looked to his other side, found Damian gazing with disinterest. Well, as uninterested he was trying to make himself out to be because his eyes were glazed with wonder. "Yeah okay, guess you can go off on your own then."

"Tt. Not like I need your permission," Damian said and shrugged his shoulders before he too left Jason's side.

"Guess it's just you and me," Jason said and blew a raspberry against Dick's neck, getting a cute yelp out of him as he pushed at his face and told him to stop.

"Jay!" He whined and screwed his eyes shut, displeased with the raspberries.

"Yeah yeah, let's go look at stuff," Jason said and settled for pecking his cheek to lighten the mood.

Satisfied, Dick huffed a breath and started pointing everywhere. "Thewe!" He chirped and pointed at the TVs but Jason shook his head and told him to pick somewhere else. Dick thought about it for a brief moment and hummed to himself, roamed his eyes around the large electronics department store and finally found something of interest. "Games!" He yelled against Jason's ear since the place was quite loud as it was completely filled with people. Crazy ass shoppers trying to strike a good deal.

Jason still couldn't believe shoppers were this crazy, so crazy they even stood in line hours or days before the event itself. Seriously, what has this world come to?

Whatever. Jason shuffled Dick to his side and held him tight around his hip as he headed towards the video game section. As they finally were able to make it through one of the isles, Dick started being a menace and wiggled around in his arms.

"Ugh, Dick. Stop."

"Down!" He cried. "I want down!"

"No, I'm not setting you down."

And Dick started struggling even more, whining as he pushed and shoved against Jason, wanting to be put down. Jason relented and that just made Dick fight even more. God damn, he was being a major brat at the moment, always wanting to get his way. The boy was still struggling and then suddenly, his body went limp and almost caused Jason to lose his grip on him.

"What the hell Dick?"

"Down Jesson. Pwease. I wanna wawk!" Jason groaned loudly at Dick who was making it very difficult for him to hold and decided to set him down onto his feet.

"Okay fine. But behave okay?"

Dick nodded and Jason decided to bust out the child's leash he brought with him and hooked it onto the monkey backpack that was clipped around Dick's torso. "This way, you can't just run off." Jason said and made sure the clips were secured before he looped the leash around his wrist. "Okay, you can lead now," Jason said and Dick grinned with delight. The boy scurried off, legs unsteady as he walked in front of Jason, weaving around the people while Jason struggled to keep up.

As Jason continued to follow after him, he came to a sudden stop as his eyes were caught by something. It was a new video game he’d been wanting to play and there was a demo station that was screaming for Jason’s name. He called out to Dick who stopped and walked back over to his side. "Entertain yourself with this," Jason said and handed him his phone to play while he went ahead and started up the demo.

Jason was immersed in the video game world, button mashing his way through the intro so he could get the real core of the game. Turquoise eyes were glued to the scream, watching in awe as the game took him through the story. By the time he was finished, he was awed and fascinated by the pure gameplay and how it played smooth like butter so he decided he was going to purchase it and grabbed a copy for himself.

"Alright Dick, we can go—" As his eyes fell to his left, there was no one in sight.

The boy was gone. He was—gone. Poof, like he’d vanished in thin air. He was sure Dick was standing right beside him but that spot was empty. His cell phone was left behind, sitting on the ground and the monkey backpack he had around him also joined his phone. Someway or somehow, Dick managed to maneuver himself out of his leash and disappeared.

Okay, he needed to calm down. He just had to take a deep breath and—oh who the fuck was he kidding? He fucking lost Dick—lost him. And now he had to find him in this giant store. Fuck, he was in so much trouble if the others ever found out.

That is, if they did.

Jason swiftly got a move on his search and swiped up his cell phone to pocket back in his jacket. He snagged the monkey backpack and gripped it tight as he began sprinting up and down the isles in search of a little boy who was dressed in bright blues and greens. Even as a child, he loved wearing oddly bright colors.

Fuck, Jason had already searched through two sections of the store and Dick was nowhere to be seen. How far could the little booger go anyways? It's not as if he was playing his demo that long and besides his legs were short and his strides were small and on account of this place just being over packed, he couldn’t have gotten that far. Jason already had enough difficulty trying to get around the people, often times bumping into them or shouldering them aside.

He sighed heavily, could feel his heart pounding with worry for the boy. Afraid he might have gotten hurt or worse, kidnapped or something.

Jason was about to hit up the next section when he ran into Tim and Damian.

"Whoa!" Tim exclaimed as he almost ran right into him. "Oh—hey Jason," he said when he realized who it was.

"Oh. Yeah, hey guys," Jason greeted and scrubbed a hand through his sweat soaked hair. His attention fell upon the two and found that they had two baskets filled to the brim with items. Jason arched a brow at them in curiosity but Tim just shrugged his shoulders before asking about the one thing he hoped he wouldn't have noticed.

"Where's Dick?"

"Oh—yeah Dick? Well funny thing is—" Jason started nervously and Tim cut him off, realizing what was up.

"You lost him?"

"I didn't exactly lose him."

"So, he what then, disappeared?"

"Sort of."

Tim sighed heavily and pinched the bridge of his nose before he shoved his basket into Damian's arms. "Go pay."

"Tt. Why do I have to pay for your things?"

"Just do it while Jason and I go find Dick," Tim instructed and Damian tossed him a nasty glare, but went with it anyways.

"You better find him unharmed or else, Todd," Damian scowled at the older man, but Jason paid him no mind as he was more focused on finding the brat.

"I can't believe you lost him," Tim said as he pulled Jason along, leading the way around the store.

"Hey! He just went off on his own!" Jason exclaimed, trying to defend himself even though he was definitely in the wrong.

"Yeah but you were supposed to watch him. God damn it Jason, you're the adult. Dick is like, a kid."

"A smart kid."

"Still a kid, so we need to find him quick before something bad could happen to him."

And okay, Tim was actually correct. No matter how hard he tried to deny it, it was really his fault for getting distracted and losing Dick. So they really needed to find him before he could hurt himself and preferably before Bruce finds out because Jason had an inkling that Damian might just tell on him.

They searched high and low, weaving through every isle in search of their eldest-now-youngest. They must have looked through the whole place and when they finally narrowed down which locations were left, they spotted him in the least place they actually expected to find him at which was the home theater room.

"Fuck," Jason breathed, eyes narrowing in on the familiar form.

"Thank god," Tim said and threw his hands up at the brat. "There he is."

"Yep," Jason sighed and could feel his heart calming, the tension leaving him as he finally relaxed. Fuck, he was breathless as he and Tim had been sprinting around the store. They both definitely worked up a sweat.

They walked into the dimly lit room, could see Dick sitting on the ground with his legs crossed, elbows propped on his thighs and eyes glued to the large TV screen. Their eyes followed his line of sight and found him watching a children's movie. His eyes were opened wide, mesmerized and completely focused on the tiny little fishes swimming in the sea.

"Dick?" Jason called and his ears perked up, jerked his head in the direction of where Jason and Tim were standing.

"Jason!" Dick exclaimed, clambered up to his feet and dashed towards the man. He lifted his arms for him to be lifted and Jason did just that. He coddled the boy in his arms, holding him tight.

"You scared me," Jason murmured and kissed his cheek. "Ugh, why did you do that?"

"Do wha?" Dick asked innocently, hadn't even realized how much trouble he was in.

"Disappear!"

"Oh," Dick blinked and still didn’t realize what he’d done. "Feet huwt and I was bowed."

Jason just stared at him in disbelief and he must have looked angry because Dick's lips were quivering and his eyes were filling with tears, glassing over. "I sowwy. Sowwy Jesson," he said and then threw a glance at Tim. "Sowwy Tim." He looked so forlorn, so remorseful even though he still didn’t know what it was that he was in trouble for. Jason sighed heavily because he couldn’t just stay mad at him.

"It's okay Dickie," Tim said and caressed his cheek as he wiped away the tears forming beneath his eyes. "Just don't do that again okay? You scared us."

Dick puffed up his cheeks. "I sowwy."

"As long as you know you're sorry then," Jason said and stroked his back gingerly to soothe away his sorrow, hoping to bring that smile back to his lips. "If you do that next time and disappear on us, I won't bring you to the store again."

Dick nodded his head. "Okay! I be good!" He said and held out his pinky for Jason to take. It was a thing the child him always did, wanting to swear on his promise.

Jason smiled softly and hooked his pinky around Dick's tiny ones. "Promise?"

"Pwomi," he murmured and shook before he rested his head against Jason's shoulder and made himself comfortable.

"Alright, well, I'm exhausted. Let's go home," Jason breathed out a long sigh and Tim just laughed.

"We got to check on Damian first."

"Oh shit. Right. He's probably mad."

"Livid I imagine. But it's fine. He got some nice things so he's probably happy," Tim said as the two headed towards the exit of the store.

"Like what?"

"Video games duh," Tim answered with a smirk and Jason should have expected that. At the mention of games, Dick's excitement filled him again and he lifted his head.  

"Games?!"

"Only if you behave," Jason said and narrowed his eyes at the boy with reprimand. Dick just giggled and nodded his head, promising that he would be good so he can play video games.

After this whole fiasco, Jason was never going to go shopping during the holidays again because holy shit, fuck it. It was too much effort and annoyance to deal with. It also didn’t help that he lost Dick as well and had to fight his way through the crowd.

Yeah, never again. He’ll settle for shopping online instead.

[knightsoflight]

Chapter 2: Vampires and Smoke Bombs

Three young people must fight the darkness to survive. Warning: Fowl language and intense/uncomfortable moments. DO NOT REPOST!

"The second reason why I don't like to socialize that much. Those that often are so kind to me, tend to get hurt...Not all the time but more than half it seemed, to say the least...

I found a little kindness from an unexpected place and from an unexpected person.

However, like how fast he came within a flash, he was snatched away by faith. Or so I thought..."

*flashback to a club somewhere in town.*

It was a typical nightclub where most of the goths, rock and metal lovers just came to chill. It was a hole in the wall kinda place, full dark walls, colorful lights and a dance floor. Some of the walls were drawn and even projected by lights with creepy faces and weird shapes. It was like a drug trip on the walls.

A young Devi was drawing at a table, when she heard something like a small bomb go off and smoke appeared out of no where beside her.

"Greetings!" said a voice in the smoke.

Then a boy around her age appeared as the smoke cleared. He was tall, thin and pale, wearing a black shirt with fish nets on the collar and on the sleeves. He appeared to be wearing a long black, tattered, skirt of some sort over his pants and belted black boots.  His hair was also pitch black and went down to his neck. When he smiled or talked, he showed fake costumed fangs. The kind you put on individually on the teeth you had. His face was white with make up on his face, to make it look supernaturally pale. His eyes were a deep blue.

"I'm a vampire." He said. His voice was average when it came to depth. It had a firmness to it with a gentle tone, but there was a slight since of a snobbish accent as he spoke.

"I see..." Devi said not really convince she asked "Where did that smoke come from?"

"Um..." He replied in a light snobbish accent. "What I am is answer enough."

Devi looked down from the table and asked "Are those smoke bombs?"

"Um..." He replied and sighed "Yes..." then chuckled nervous with his right hand behind his head, his snobbish accent fading into his more friendly and welcoming tone.  Their eyes locked as the boy's face became kinder, his true self showing.

"The first thing I noticed about him was his eyes. They say blue eyes are rare and his shimmered so beautifully and held so much warmth.  They reminded me of the sky on a beautiful day. Light yet deep. Yet, I couldn't help but feel a little sadness or maybe longing in those eyes of his. I would later discover why."

Then he asked. "I never seen you here before?"

"That's cause I've never been here before." Devi said "My friend, Sunshine said she would be here. Well not my friend, I just know her from school."

"Ah, yes Sunshine." Eric said slightly nervous but more searching the best way to put his words, as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"What?" Devi asked

The boy began to explain still searching for the best words.  "Sunshine and I don't get along much. She can be well...let's say haughty?" He said this as he rolled his hand in a circle motion, in a gesture of explaining.

"You mean she's a stuck up bitch..." Devi put it plainly out.

"Um, that's a little harsh but yeah...I guess you can put it that way.." He said as he nodded. Then he smiled and put his hand slightly against his chest and said " She is lovely as the graves sometimes..."

"I see..." Devi said with a giggle.

"I hope that didn't come out wrong..." He replied in concern. "I'm not saying anything bad about you..." He struggled a bit with being perfectly honest and being a gentlemen at the same time. He placed his hand over his forehead. "Ugh...I need to stop talking now...My mother always said to think before speaking...I'm such an idiot...." He smacked his head with his palm.

"It's okay. I have a feeling she set me up when she said she would meet me here." Devi assured him. "She didn't seem like the type to want to be here and not to mention, her friendly tone with me didn't seem legit..."

"You wouldn't be the first person she does that to, she does that especially to new kids. That's why I felt the need to say something...She honestly hates places like this. Anyway, allow me to introduce myself." He said as he bowed down as if he was wearing a cape and talked in that stereotype tone of a vampire. "I'm Eric!"

"Ooh, fancy moves Eric!" Devi said in upbeat tone as she got up and began rubbing her stomach and petting her head at the same time. "Lets see you try this one!"

Eric chuckled and said "I tried that once. I ended up twisting my wrist! You're pretty funny, may I ask for your name?"

"Oh, sorry!" Devi said "I'm Devi!" as she reached her hand to shake Eric's.

"Nice to meet you." Eric said warmly as he shook her hand. "Sorry, about earlier..." His expressions clearly showing he felt bad, as he looked down a little worrisome.

"It's okay, no harm done." Devi giggled "I can tell you just wanted to be honest, without being hurtful. "

"You definitely know how to read people." Eric replied warmly.

"Hey Eric!" Said a voice coming from behind him. A large girl came up to them. She had twin buns in her burgundy hair and her body wrapped in bandages. Over bandages was a black midriff top, baggy pants and sneakers.

Eric introduced the girl. "Devi, this beauty here is my good friend, Oblivia. Oblivia, your hair looks cool tonight. Did anything new with it?"

"Nah, just added a little bounce to it." Oblivia said and then whisper "I'm so freakin high tonight..."

"Hi..." Devi replied and asked "Are you a vampire too?"

"No, too trendy!" Oblivia said "I'm a mummy!"

"..." Was Devi's response to her.

"Hmm..." Eric said chuckling to himself. "Well, the good thing about befriending mummies if you get hurt, they got plenty of bandages!"

Devi giggled as Oblivia face palmed. Eric just imitated the drum used in bad jokes.

"So do you do any fancy entrances like your friend Eric?" Devi asked.

"Nah, none of that smoke bomb stuff for me." Oblivia explained "That's vampire fair. I'm a mummy! I just play play my flute and yell ‘Hail the gods’!" With that she touched her Ank fake gold necklace, then took out her flute and blew through it. This made Eric and Devi, as well as anyone unfortunate enough to be close by, to cover their ears.

"That's nice...." Devi replied not really meaning it

"Aww thanks!" Oblivia replied

"Oblivia...." Eric replied rubbing his ears annoyed a bit. "Remember to warn others before you do that...I just got my hearing back in my right ear, from the last time you snuck up on me with that thing..."

"Oh, you hush! You make smoke bombs that pop in your face! How can a little flute hurt your ears?" Oblivia replied slightly annoyed by his whining.

"They don't pop in my ears though...." Eric added as he place his hand on his right ear, with an annoyed expression. "You blew it directly into my ear."

"You make your own smoke bombs?" Devi asked.

"Yeah." Eric explained as he took out one of his smoke bombs. "I actually made special smoke bombs that use less flammable material and chemicals, than regular smoke bombs but still produce a good amount of smoke. That way there's less of a chance of setting something on fire."

"Wow!" Devi said in surprised. "Sounds like you're pretty smart!"

"Eh..." Eric modestly said "I just like to tinker with things. Though, you still don't want to throw these at people. They sting like hell when they pop!"

"He's talking from past experiences of them popping in his face, as I said, while he was working on them!" Oblivia teased and gave a slight wink at Devi. "He's a klutz! Not to mention a flirt sometimes!"

"Oblivia..." Eric said embarrassed at her comment, as he accidentally squeezed the smoke bomb in his right hand and then POOF! The smoke bomb explode right in his hand!  He coughed at the smoke and tried cleaning himself off.

"Eric, are you alright?" Devi asked

"Yeah..." Eric said then felt the sharp pain of his hand and hissed at the pain.

"Spoke to soon..." Oblivia said as if this was nothing new.

"I'll be fine, let me just wash this off..." Eric said kinda twinging at the pain as he went towards the restrooms.

"Eric..." Devi replied

"He does this a lot." Oblivia told her as if it was nothing new and explain "He gets hurt and just doesn't want to be a bothersome to others, so he pretends he's fine.  It's just one of those habits I guess, but he's a great friend too. Even if I tease him a bit, he and I are best friends for a good reason. You got a problem, you can talk to him about it. He'll listen with his heart and won't turn away one second. He's just a great guy to hang out with, especially in role play! "

"Hmm..." Devi smiled warmly at this "How long have you known each other?"

"Since childhood." Oblivia replied. "I use to pick on him a lot and he use to be such a cry baby about it!"

"Oh that's nice..." Devi replied in a slightly sarcastic tone.

"Yeah, well we were kids back then." Oblivia explained. "You can't go through life without some fun or getting into some trouble. Though sometimes I'm surprised that he's alive. "

"Really?" Devi replied in surprise "Why you say that?

"Let's just say, he's been through much more than most people. I won't tell you what though. That's kinda his business." Oblivia told her in a sad tone. "That's one of the reasons why I stopped picking on him and also, why he is like the way he is, with not wanting to be bothersome thing...I really shouldn't have said anything but...I can be absent minded myself. "

"Well, I won't say anything..." Devi replied. "I can understand actually. I don't have very many friends really since I started school."

"Well, you made two just now." Oblivia replied. "Eric, I know is your friend already and any friend of Eric's is a friend of mine!"

"Thanks!" Devi replied with a smile.

"Come on, we better go help him." Oblivia told her. "God knows he could use assithence (spelled incorrectly to show how she pronounces certain things)..."

Um...okay..." Devi replied

****

"Some desires and dreams can be done alone, but some like his, was desire to never to be alone. Little did I know, both kind of dreams have one thing in common. They're both things that feel better doing with others.  I wish I knew that during my times after that horrible incident, that took place not long after I met Eric and the one after I met Nny..."

Devi got done bandaging his hand up as she said "You should be a little bit more careful..."

"Yeah...." Eric coughed and said in an upbeat tone "But hey! I didn't catch on fire like I said!"

Devi just chuckled as she shook her head and said "Well, you could have blown off your own hand!"

"True..." Eric replied as he rubbed his hand and warmly told Devi "Thanks..."

"You're welcome." Devi replied and asked "Do you need any ice or anything?"

"Nah, I'll be fine." Eric answered "As Obliv said its not the first time this has happened and this is mild compared to what I've had."

"If you're not careful though, Eric, you might blow off your head!" Oblivia said, while playfully ruffled his gel covered hair. Devi giggled at the two.

It wasn't too long before Oblivia had to go home.

"Okay, well I gotta being going." Oblivia said "Bye Eric! Nice meeting you Debbie!"

"Bye..." Devi said "And its Devi..."

"It's okay" Eric told her as he put his hand in front of her to stop her from yelling too loud. "She has a little bit of a speech impairment. She can't help it sometimes."

"Have fun on your date!" Oblivia shouted.

"Oblivia!" Eric shouted embarrassed and sighed.

Devi giggled and said "Is that why people call her Oblivia?" She wasn't trying to make fun of her. She was asking out shear curiosity.

Eric shook his head and said "No, her real name is Olivia, of course, but she didn't like her name. Then some kids were making fun of her and kept calling her that. She liked the nickname surprisingly and it stuck with her ever since."

"I see..." Devi said and then asked "So as a vampire, you must have to drink blood from mortal humans to sustain your spooky life style."

"Well..." Eric said, going back to his snobbish tone for a moment. "Of course."

"Well, come on." Devi said as she put her hand on her neck. "Bite me right here. I want to see you drink my blood."

At first Eric slowly and gently put his hands on Devi's shoulder's and leaned over as if to bite her on the neck. Devi closed her eyes thinking he might actually do it, but instead he just took his hand, gently stroke down her neck with his fingers and chuckled.

"Just kidding! You honestly thought I was gonna do it, huh?!" Eric laughed

Devi swat at him playfully to get back on him for doing that.

"K...you got me. I'm... " Eric said

" Not a real vampire..." they said at the same time. Devi said it with a smart alec smile.

"Yes..." He said in a "oh well" kinda way.

"Well its not like really I believed you." Devi said "But why the vampire act anyway? Trying to impress your friends or something?"

Eric shook his head "No that's not it." He said "I've always liked the vampire thing. They're good looking, they're a night owl like me, and you gotta admit, would be nice to do half the things they do like defy gravity and turn into mist. They're just neat to role play as. Besides, I dunno what I wanna be so I might as well have some fun. So I do the vampire thing just to give me some sort of identity, until I figure out who I want to really be."

"Interesting." Devi said impressed.

"Most people would say just to be yourself." Eric said "I guess this is myself for now."

"I guess..." Devi said. "But you don't necessarily have to dress up to figure who you are."

"Oh I know." Eric said. "I just do that mainly for the fun of it, as I said. Though if you want my opinion, I do believe vampires do exist. It'd be kind of nice to meet one, one day too. See what they are really like, you know?"

"I think it would mainly be scary though, wouldn't it?" Devi said a bit unsure.

"Maybe, but life is kinda scary anyway." Eric replied in a positive note. "I have nothing to really lose in my life, so I might as well explore and take a risks. "

"What about your friends?" Devi asked. Eric looked at her curious. "I mean, you said you have nothing to lose. Are your friends nothing?"

Eric was surprised by her question and then said "Of course my friends aren't nothing. I just meant...." He kept struggling as he fumbled with words "Family wise and well...life wise...I don't have much...I didn't mean..."

"It's okay..." Devi replied with a slight chuckle."It was just a trick question. You do seem to care a lot about people though."

"Well, of course." Eric replied with a smile. "My friends do mean a lot to me, in fact, I don't have much of a family. My friends seem to be the only ones who care, but everyone moves on I guess...I guess that's what I meant when I have nothing to lose. Once I'm out on my own, I can finally see the world and be free..."

"I see..." Devi replied as she remembered what Oblivia said. "I'm sorry if I got personal...."

"No, it's okay." Eric assured her. "It's just some personal stuff that I have to deal with in life. Everyone goes through it, you know? Once I graduate and everything, I'll be able to move on and step-forward finally. So it's all good. For now, I got something to identify with. A vampire that's good with making stuff and well try to be a good friend."

"That's good." Devi replied warmly. "You got a good head on your shoulders."

"What about you?" Eric asked "What are you into?"

"Painting and art, mainly." Devi replied as she showed him some of her sketches.

"Wow, you're really good!" Eric replied. "Are you going into art as a career?"

"Yeah, I hope too someday." Devi replied.

"Well, I wish you the best on that." Eric replied "You're really are talented."

"Thanks..." Devi replied shyly.  "Hey, since you're good at chemicals and such, maybe you could be a scientist or a chemist."

Eric chuckled and said "Well, maybe...As a job if I needed the money, but I wouldn't say it's my passion. I only learned to do it as a spare time thing and I wanted to do a fancy gimmick without, risking myself or others getting hurt especially. I'm more so into special effects, set design and props, so I might get into that."

"Well you're very smart, I'm sure you'll find a way someday." Devi replied.

Eric nodded and said "Thanks."

" Anyway, want to get a drink? My treat!"  Eric asked.

"Can't...Not old enough..." Devi said. "My dad would kill me if I did..."

"Oh, I don't mean alcohol." Eric said as he smirked. "Believe me, the smell alone is awful and how it affects those who get addicted to it, I can't even imagine touching the stuff myself. I meant to get a drink from the vending machine."

"Sure." Devi said agreeing with getting a soda.

****

They continued to talk and even dance for it seemed an hour or so. A girl pushed Devi into Eric's chest and once they looked up and realize they were almost nose to nose with each other, they backed away from each other quickly.

"I'm sorry!" Eric said in a fluster tone.

"No, its fine." Devi said

"I was thinking..." Eric said "Um, its getting late. Would you like me to walk you home?"

"That would be nice, I guess." Devi said. "Thanks..."

"No problem!" Eric replied brightly. Then they heard the doors burst open and a group of people came in. They too wore goth costumes of leather and denim, almost like that of a biker gang. That of a skeleton which made their over all appearance even more frightening. They weren't like Eric or Oblivia, who were mere teenagers having fun. These guys looked a little bit older and they looked mean. They certainly weren't the type of people you'd want to meet in a dark ally.

"Eric, who are they?" Devi asked unease.

"They're called the 'Skeleton Crew'." Eric said in a serious tone. "They tend to come here and cause trouble. They're not exactly friendly and from what I hear, certain people have disappeared after hanging out with them."

"Wow..." Devi said becoming more ill-at-eased. "Sounds like they're a fun loving bunch..."

"Come on." Eric said with worry because they were heading pretty close to them. He took Devi by the arm gently yet firm to let her know it was no longer safe. "I might want to walk you home right now, while the gettin's good."

"Sounds like a good idea..." Devi agreed without hesitation.

They walked away quickly, however not quick enough. One of the gang members grabbed Devi's arm.

"Hey, I never seen you around here before?" He grunted.

"Oh shit...!" Eric tensely replied. Then he snapped at him. "Leave her alone!"

"You talkin to me?" the gang member said.

"Ooh, a full sentence!" Eric said in sarcasm. "Very impressive!" Eric then went over and said "Now, let go!" and bit down on the guy's wrist to force him to let go of Devi. The gang member's screams caused the other members to come over.

"Hurry, now's your chance!" Eric said as she pushed Devi."Go! I'll distract them!" With that Devi ran and Eric threw some of this smoke bombs to distract them. Devi was about to get to the exit but got caught by another one of the gang members. Eric caught up and pushed Devi forward to move by jumping in between the two. However, this was his ultimate mistake, for the gang member took out a knife and jabbed it into Eric's side. Cringing at his wound he threw a smoke bomb at the gangster's head, then he ran after Devi.

It wasn't long before they were a little way away from the club that Eric collapsed.

"Eric!" Devi said as she ran to him. "What's wrong?" Then she saw his wound. "Oh no, Eric!"

"Guess I screwed up big time... " Eric said with a smirk and in a upbeat manner. Devi slightly picked him and laid his head on her lap. "Eh?"

"Just hold on!" Devi replied a bit shaken. "You'll be okay...We'll get you to a hospital!"

Eric chuckled lightly and asked "Are you scared? It's okay, Devi...It's not your fault...I just had bad timing this time....I tend be reckless...I guess..."

"Why are you laughing? This isn't funny! You got hurt protecting me..." Devi replied starting to feel bad.

Eric smirked weakly and said  "Well, we may have just met...but we're friends...that's what friends do...I'll admit though...I also really do like you....Can you promise me one thing?"

"Huh?" Devi replied

"Don't ever lose your ability to smile." Eric told her his voice breaking up as his consciousness began to fade. "Even when things get bad, don't let it bring you down....That's what my mom use to say to me...before she left..and it's advice...that always kept me going..."

"Eric..." Devi replied. Then they heard what sounded like sirens and people coming.

"Please go...." Eric replied as he began losing conscious. "I can't stay...awake longer...so please get to safety...." With that he closed his eyes, his body went limp and he spoke no more.

Devi frighteningly looked at him and cried out shaking him "No, you can't....Eric!!!"

She checked his pulse and to her hope there was and he was still breathing, but it was getting weaker. She laid him down and tearfully crossed his arms on his chest, like how a vampire would. She felt he wouldn't make it with his wound. "Thank you..." Devi whispered, having no control of her tears. With a light kiss on his cheek she said "and goodbye..." Before running off.

****

"Devi..." Tenna said "But Eric was right. It wasn't your fault that happened."

"Not that's not the point, Tenna." Devi explained. "Everytime I meet with people it seems like I have bad luck with them!"

"But you can't expect to stay in isolation forever." Tenna told her.

"I could try..." Devi said in her usual monotone kind of way. "And everytime you get me to go out and hang with someone, it ends up as a mess!"

"Okay, so that one dude I have you meet up with was sick." Tenna said.

"He had diarrhea both of the mouth and the other end!" Devi snapped at her. "First he wouldn't shut up then he had the runs. It ruined my dinner! You can't blame a girl for dumping a guy cause of that!"

"Well still!" Tenna replied "He couldn't help that problem! And I'm trying to help! I can't even make you freakin smile! You're not exactly the most enjoyable person to hang out lately..."

"Well sorry..." Devi said as she nodded her head in a sarcastic manner. "But lately things haven't been enjoyable for me. Sickness has been driving me crazy with this whole darkness coming and such, I'm trying to paint, not use any so called powers and staying away from people all together!"

"But maybe there is something going on, Devi!" Tenna told her. "We're mages or witches. Maybe there's some sort of evil we have to fight against."

"I'm not a witch!" Devi said "I'm a cursed human being that's bad luck to people, whose just trying to stay sane and live a somewhat normal life!"

Before Tenna could speak, an explosion occurred and both Devi and Tenna went tumbling to the ground. Devi coughed and shouted "Tenna! Where are you?!"

Then she saw a figure in the smoke coming towards her. "Tenna?" Devi asked actually smiling in the thought of her friend being okay. However, the smoke cleared and Devi realized it was not her friend that came toward her. She looked up to see a skinny, young man in short black hair and wearing black shirt with stripe sleeves and baggy pants.

The skinny young man that appeared before her knelt down as he put his wrapped up hand under Devi's chin. She looked and couldn't believe who she saw. Even after this whole time she knew who it was, just by looking into his eyes.

"Well, thought I never see you again." The young man replied. "Thought you died off somewhere after the last time we mingled."

"Johnny...." Devi whispered in fear. She could barely speak out anything cause she was so shocked.

"Ah, so you do remember me!" Johnny said with a smug toothy grin. "I was worried that you wouldn't remember. I wouldn't forget you though. That blast you did back then damage me quite a bit. I certainly would never forget it."

"Devi!" Said the voice. Then that doll showed up but only she could see it. "Devi, you gotta accept your powers right now!" It cried frighteningly as it pressed on Devi's hand.

Devi became completely shaken by this as he continued to speak. "Ah, I can see the enthusiastic look in those eyes. Eyes of fear are easily recognized. I suppose you remember that I must kill you now!" With that he tried forcing a purplish blade out, but a blast ran out and nearly hit him.

"Devi!" Cried the doll as it nudged her. "Please accept me and let me help you! Please Devi! I can help protect you!" But Devi was too much in shock to even listen to it's cries.

"Hey, creep!" Tenna shouted to him. "You better lay your hands off my girl. She's already going through enough problems!"

"I see so life's been hard on our little Devi." Johnny said with a merciless smile. "Rather fitting especially after you nearly crushed me! Before I kill you, I'll be happy to have you witness me destroy your little friend!"

He got up and walked towards Tenna.

"Tenna, get away!" Devi shouted to her friend. "He's too strong, he'll kill you!"

"Devi..." The doll whimpered sadly.

"Better listen to your friend, Tenna!" Johnny said. "Not that it matters. It's too late to save you even if you do run away!"

"Mr. Spooky!" Tenna shouted "Staff form now!"

"Spooky!" Her familiar turned into staff with a large white orb and brown handle. Around the orb, was a strange pink and green, leaf pattern ring that went around it like the rings on Saturn.

Johnny jumped up and used his purple energy blade onto Tenna who blocked it with her staff. However, the force was so strong that it it knocked Tenna and Spooky to the floor.

"Tenna!" Devi shouted.

"Well, that was easy..." Johnny said disappointingly. "How boring... You got knocked out just by that attack. I guess it will be just easier to kill you then." Then he walked over to Devi and said "But before I kill her, I need to make sure I finish you off first."

Before he could take more step towards her, a smaller blast nearly hit him and he backed away slowly.

"Now what!" Johnny grunted. A few smoke bombs came out of the tree.

"You leave her alone!" Said the figure in the tree.

"Who are you?!" Johnny snapped.

The smoke cleared and again Devi became once again shocked on who she saw. Another boy around Devi and Tenna's age, appeared when the smoke cleared. He was wearing a black long sleeve shirt with fishnets on the sleeves and open collar, black long goth skirt with pants underneath and boots. He had shoulder length hair and pale skin all over this time.  He had something on his back but it was hard to tell from the angle they were in.

The young man smiled as he introduced himself. "I'm Eric the Vampire!"