#and him saying that a lot of good innocent people seem to die around logan FUCK YOU!!!!!

[fullmetal-angelgrace]

just watched x-men origins: wolverine and LMAO i know people said it was bad but holy FUCK was it bad

why would an adamantium bullet do shit to his memories??? he's been shot in the head probably a thousand times before with his brains blowing out why would this be any different just because of the material of the bullet?? whack, also weird that his body just kinda absorbed the adamantium

also I can't believe they DOUBLE fridged the love interest like damn

there were so many moments where i laughed because they were trying to be sooooo serious lol

it honestly started out ok tbh but went downhill pretty fast. i did like seeing logan being happy and doing domestic things, and just kinda being soft a lot, even after all the shit, like with those old people in the barn, and with that teleporter friend too, but also. like. wtf was with the random fat joke, like: haha he's fat now, that's it. that's the joke.

i think what i hated most was them bringing back kayla and she just stood there while logan stared at her and stryker said it was all fake, like she didn't say a damn word, the writers really hate women 😭😭 i thought she was good in the beginning, but she felt weirdly bland at the end, she was really just there for the man pain 😔

[cadybear420]

Cadybear's Re-Reviews- Ride or Die

Welcome to the first of Cadybear’s RE-Reviews! In Re-Reviews, I of course reassess my original opinion of a story I’ve recently replayed. Maybe my opinion has changed, or maybe it still holds up and I have further thoughts. 

Today I will be re-reviewing Ride or Die, the seventeenth review I’ve done. The last time I played this story was 3 years ago, in May 2021. I last reviewed it in March 2024, putting it on the Wood Tier with a 3 stars out of 10 rating. As of my most recent replay however, I can comfortably put it on the Gold Tier at 8 stars out of possible 10.

Sooooo… My opinion on this story has changed VERY drastically as per my second replay. 

The first time around, I did not care for this book. The plot felt poorly paced to me, with too much happening at once. To the point where I said it caused me actual mental distress trying to keep up with it. And I found the whole mood and writing far too melodramatic for what I felt was supposed to be a shallow relationship between MC and the Mercy Park Crew. It was far from being one of the worst to me, but I still found myself speaking very harshly about it. And it shows in my original review. 

This time around, I had much more ease in following the plot. I don’t know why. But rereading it, it is a pretty solid story, and I actually found myself quite invested in what was gonna happen next. There were definitely some parts where I found myself tuning out a bit and had a bit of trouble following, but for the most part, it was a decent and enjoyable story. And because I could follow the story better this time, I could follow some of the more emotional themes of it.

I actually had quite a bit of fun with this MC. Even though she is often pushed as this ingenue/innocent type character, it’s not too overbearing, and she isn’t made to be outright spineless or passive. And they do have some flexibility in their character too– we get quite a bit of variety in how we behave towards the other characters, how we act in certain situations… and that’s something I always appreciate. 

There are even some choices that seem to directly affect the story, most notably the ones where you choose if you focus more on studying or more on spending time with the Crew (with premium options to allow you to combine the two things)– and if I’m not mistaken, it affects whether your MC becomes valedictorian or salutatorian. Though they don’t make it clear how much of your story’s outcomes are changed by your choices. Guess I’ll find out when I replay. 

And I actually found a lot of these characters very endearing. Toby and Ximena were very vibrant and charming and easily my favorite members of the crew. Riya and Darius… I remember being a tad more annoyed with them in my first playthrough, but this time I found them to be very interesting and pleasant characters. 

And by far, my favorite character is certainly MC’s Dad. Oh my God. Even in my first playthrough, I think I did always have a bit of a soft spot for him. He’s just such a sweetheart, and a lot of the interactions and scenes between him and MC were quite emotional to me, I will admit. It was definitely in those moments where I could buy the bittersweet feelings that people rave about. Even though the dad is a bit overprotective, it feels backed by understandable well-meaning intentions rather than some over-the-top “if anything happens to my daughter I got a .45 and a shovel” stereotype. 

I’d say it definitely puts a fair amount of twist on the stereotypical “goody two shoes good girl x immoral tough bad boy” trope. While Logan’s route definitely upstaged those of Colt and Mona (and I’ll get to that later), the story doesn’t revolve entirely around MC’s relationship with him (or any of the other LIs really). The dad was a very sympathetic character, and like I said before, his protectiveness felt well-intentioned and not over-the-top. And rather than a stereotypical “MC runs away with the bad boy and rebels against her evul oppressive father” ending, she’s instead allowed to grow and change to independence through her experience while still sticking true to her academic and family values. 

Of course, there are still a fair amount of problems with it. 

For one, I do still think this book is pointlessly genderlocked. The storyline with MC wanting independence and Dad being overprotective could still work with a male MC, to be honest. And Logan’s character I think would have also still worked as a woman if he was GOC. 

For second, the handling of the LIs– which is probably my biggest problem with the story. I did find Logan a lot more interesting of a character in my replay, but my God, is he a screentime hog. Although the seemingly forced attraction between him and MC isn’t quite as pushed in the first couple of chapters, the story is still blatantly biased towards him and it’s clear they want us to see him and MC as inherently romantic. 

All of the options for MC to choose between her studies/school friends vs driving lessons/the crew involve Logan, and often are given romantic connotations (eg. “study date with Logan”, “double date between you/Logan and Riya/Darius”). And by the halfway point of the book, we’ve only gotten one premium scene option with Mona, two with Colt, but plenty with Logan. 

Now, in my first review, I said that I don’t understand why Logan is so god damned special and why he of all the LIs was the main LI. But here, I think I would phrase that a bit differently: I don’t get why Logan is far more special or important than the other two LIs. 

This time around, I was able to follow Logan’s special reason for taking interest in MC. Quite simply, he was employed to be a sort of “honey trap”. He and Teppei Kaneko knew that MC’s dad was a cop and had been assigned to track down the MPC, and so Kaneko had Logan charm MC and lure her into their group, in order to possibly manipulate the Dad and his case. He calls the cops on Brent’s party so that he can save MC and get on her good side. This is obviously all well and good narrative-wise, but it doesn’t justify him getting this many more scenes than Mona and Colt. 

Personally, I still found Colt the most compelling and developed of the LIs, due to the whole conflict between him and his dad. And Mona is an interesting character too, in that she was once a straight-A’s “good girl” like MC but had gone down a bad path and ended up being stuck as a criminal. These are genuinely interesting character types! Yet for some reason, the story acts like these are much less important and significant than Logan’s character, so much so that they have far fewer premium scenes. Seriously, Mona is given so few interactions with MC and premium scene options, that it’s honestly hard to feel for any relationship between the two of them. So it still feels 100% like she’s just the token f!LI (and the story’s subtitle still isn’t helping matters). 

I mean, I get it. I can understand to some extent why Logan might have a little more focus than the others– he’s the tool that’s meant to bring MC into the crew and keep her there, in order to disrupt her dad’s investigation. But it sort of cheapens the impact of any connection MC could have with Mona or Colt. 

As I mentioned before, Mona’s whole backstory is that she was once like MC– a straight-A goody-two-shoes student, who suddenly gets roped in by “a beautiful girl with a beautiful car” and now lives her life as a criminal away from her old identity and life. This is fine and all, but the “I was roped in by a beautiful girl with a beautiful car” thing ends up feeling rather Logan-centric due to how few romantic opportunities we get with Mona in the first half of the book. Logan’s the one who ropes MC in and gets all the interactions with MC that are meant to keep her interest in being in the crew, whereas Mona has very little presence in that regard. 

Logan may be the one manipulating MC into being part of the crew, but they should have allowed room for intrigue in any of the other LIs to be a bigger factor in what keeps her in. If that makes sense. 

And even all that aside, I do think the romance aspect is a bit melodramatic, kind of? Like, MC and these LIs have only known each other for, what, a month? Three months? Yet they try to push the LIs as having these deep feelings of love for the MC and make it seem tragic when they eventually have to go their separate ways. Like, they have the LI outright say “I love you” to MC at prom. 

I understand that MC and the crew did have a major impact in each others’ lives, but it was hard for me to buy it or feel it was earned or organic when Colt confessed his love for MC. I do like that they allow MC to not return the feelings and point out that they don’t know each other as well, and ultimately treat their romantic interactions as just a small thing. Frankly, I think the romance is better when played that way, as a brief fling that was never meant to last or become deeper. Not all relationships get to develop or have a happy ending. 

I’m fine with a story’s romance routes being more shallow and fling-y, but the story itself needs to treat them as such. ROD somewhat does that, but at times it does also try to frame it the same way of regular more developed Choices romance routes, and that does take me out of the story a bit. LI and MC saying “I love you” to each other in HSS:CA might not have quite been earned either, but at least in that, it is played out as a more cutesy thing. Whereas in ROD, it’s played out as 100% serious, so it doesn’t feel quite right. If they kept it at more of a “I like the idea of dating you” or “You’re important to me and I’ve come to deeply respect and value you” type of thing, I’d feel for it a bit better. 

I also think it’s weird that they have MC still care about the group even after learning that both Colt and Logan had essentially manipulated her. I mean, Mona, Ximena, and Toby, I can kind of get why MC would still care about them. But with Logan and Colt… I don’t fully buy MC still being that eager to help them. Logan manipulated MC, Colt lied to MC about stealing another human being, and Mona ended up betraying her whole group. MC can get angry at them, but still acts weirdly sentimental towards them near the end of the story. Speaking of which…

The story’s ending. I was okay with it before, but I can honestly appreciate it much better now. I’d said in my previous review that even if I did like the story, I probably would not have wanted a sequel for it. And… that still holds true. I like the story, but I don’t think it needs a sequel. MC not getting a happily ever after with her LI is certainly different from the usual Choices ending (again, why couldn’t books like TNA, FCL, Surrender, and TBB have this), but I like that outcome not just because it was “different”, but primarily because it felt appropriate to the storyline and MC’s experience with the crew. 

It makes much more sense for MC’s relationship with the crew to be more like a short-lived fling that was never meant to become deep, which is why I felt it was better to play the romances as such. In the end, it allowed MC to break free from her usual studious and family-focused routine and a taste of adrenaline-fueled independence, and now she gets to move on and start a new adventure as someone who is still studious and cares about her family but is also more independent. 

And unlike other books that got their sequels suddenly canceled like ATV or Hero, the note that this story ended on was fairly conclusive, and it doesn’t really need a continuation. I still wouldn’t have been against the sequel idea (MC being targeted and having to bring the group together again after graduating college) that was revealed in Storyloom, as I do think it’s an interesting idea to explore (as long as there would be a choice for the ending where we don’t get back with our LI)– but it does work just fine without. 

Of course, I still don’t quite get why people have praised this as one of the bests/most legendary of Choices. In my original review, I said that even if I did like this book, I wouldn’t consider it quite one of Choices’ bests. And I do think that opinion still holds true. As of now, I do like this story well enough. I find it fun, action-packed, with a solid coming-of-age narrative and even some strong emotional moments. It does do a fair amount of things differently, but… it wasn’t quite enough to really stand out and *wow* me. It goes with COP and ID in my category of “It’s good, but it’s not that good” stories. 

Overall, I’m glad I gave this story a second chance.

[kieraswriting]

Coffin Chapter Five

Masterpost

The humans were all gone. Roman had left first. He didn’t seem to spend much time at the house. Logan and Patton had left later on.

Virgil had been here for a few weeks now. He was allowed to do what he wanted in the basement, except at night, when the cell was locked again. There wasn’t much to do. There were several games in the cabinets, but most games required two or more people. Logan brought down some books, and that would have been nice, had they been anything he could understand. They were very technical, and not in subjects he knew much about. So Virgil ended up playing a whole lot of solitaire and making card houses.

There was a familiar sound from above him. The front door was being opened. Odd. He’d thought they would be away for much longer.

“Patton! Are you home?”

Ok, no. That was not any of their voices. A friend maybe?

Footsteps went all over the downstairs, and then probably the upstairs, where Virgil couldn’t hear as well.

“Go away,” he muttered. “They aren’t home.”

Virgil put the cards back in the package.

Then the footsteps came to the basement door. It was locked. He was sure. He hadn’t checked, but he knew they always locked the basement door. He’d be safe down here. But he hadn’t checked!

Then he heard a key being turned in the lock and the door opening. Virgil raced into the cell and pulled the door shut. He didn’t watch where he put his hand, and got a burn from the silver, but it would heal soon enough.

“Hello? Is someone down here?”

Crap. He should’ve just been quiet and still.

A man came down the stairs. He was in his forties or fifties, but clearly the kind of man that took pride in his strength. But looking at his face, Virgil had no doubt that he was related to Patton. He carried two silver pistols openly on his hips, and probably all those pockets had other implements for either capturing or killing vampires. He had a badge on his chest that proclaimed him to be a Vampire Hunter.

All hunters smelled bad, like Death herself had shared her perfume with them, but this was the worst Virgil had smelled yet. He wasn’t sure how he hadn’t smelled it as soon as the front door opened.

He also hasn’t known that hunters were open like this. He’d heard stories of hunters before, but that was because he was always around vampires. Some people were still suspicious that vampires existed, how were hunters able to just declare themselves like this?

“Oh, are you the one sent to Patton?” The man asked.

Virgil didn’t make any kind of reply. He didn’t know him. He didn’t owe him anything, not even a reply. He just hoped the man wouldn’t try to come into the cell.

“Not very aggressive, are you?” The man walked further into the room, noting the cards on the table.

Virgil watched warily. There was no way that the man didn’t realize the door was unlocked. Roman had come in. If the man kept coming closer, he might come in as well.

“Haven’t even got a muzzle on or anything…” the man said, turning to stare at Virgil. “I bet if I came in there you wouldn’t try to bite me, would you?”

Virgil’s breathing sped up. He did not want some strange dude coming any closer.

“No, that was a question. Answer me. If I came in, would you bite me?” The man’s voice had turned harsh and commanding.

Virgil shook his head.

The intensity faded away. The man pulled a massive key right out of a pocket, and searched for awhile. He found the right key, and locked the cell. Virgil wasn’t sure how he had keys to everything, but he didn’t doubt that this man would shoot him if he protested to anything.

After locking the cell, the man went back upstairs. Virgil could hear him, either talking to himself oddly or on several different phone calls. It was another three hours before Patton got home.

•^*^••

Patton got home and was surprised to find the front door unlocked. He was sure that he’d locked it when he left.

“Oh, Pat!” He heard his dad say as he stepped inside.

“Dad! Hi!” Patton stepped around the corner to the living room and stopped dead. “What are you wearing?”

His dad grinned, looking down at the numerous tools of the trade that were attached very visibly to his clothes. “You know I had a meeting with the board today.”

“Yes…” Patton frowned slightly. “I thought you were going to call and tell me how it went.”

“It’s all far too big to say over the phone.”

Patton sat down. “Ok. What happened?”

“We’ve decided that we’ve been wrong, doing things the way we’ve been.”

Patton nodded.

“Now, China still disagrees, and several from Africa and one from Canada, but all of the European representatives completely agree with us.”

“Wait, this was a big board meeting? I thought it wasn’t bigger than America.” Patton interrupted.

“Well, it wasn’t going to be, but once we decided, we went ahead and contacted the other branches, and set up a whole big thing!”

Patton nodded again.

“So, it’s been decided that hunters should become public.”

“What?!”

“I know! But it’s been a long time coming. We can only do so much if we can’t let anyone know about it. Even silver guns are still pretty loud.”

“But I thought that the whole reason of keeping it a secret was to avoid people panicking.”

“Yes, but when we weighed a few weeks of panic against the lives vampires could be taking while we slink around, trying to do things slowly, it’s been decided that we should just out with the whole thing.”

“You think they’ll all be caught in a few weeks?”

“Eh, not all, but I’d say 90% is a safe bet. If the vampires get exposed, we’ll have people handing them in left and right.”

“But if people try to hand them in, those people could get hurt.”

His dad shrugged. “Not more people than the other option. So, because of all this, we’re gonna get badges, and I’m working on getting the police to work with us, it’s gonna be so much to do!”

Patton nodded, a bit dazed. “Yeah, I see the badge. What are you going to do with all the vampires? Surely there isn’t that much room to hold them all.”

“We have a decent amount of room, but what we’re going to do is have them split up between the ones that are controllable, and uncontrollable. The uncontrollable ones we’ll stake, and the controllable ones we’ll work with to give something back to the community. That’s where you come in.”

“Me?” Patton squeaked.

“Sure! You’ve always been able to get nearly any vampire to do what you wanted inside of a week. I’ve been downstairs, noticed how well trained that one is already. You could really help with this, Pat.”

“It’s… it’s a lot, Dad. I don’t know yet.”

“Oh, you’ll be fine! You’ll just have to show a couple of our guys how you do things, and then they’ll be able to do their parts by themselves. It’ll be good practice for you, make it easier for you to take over my job one day.”

Patton turned his instinctive grimace into a kind of a smile. “Yeah… I guess, knowing the people already would make it easier.”

“It’s not just knowing them, Pat. It’s taking a leadership role. You’ll lead the hunters, and they’ll see your natural genius with vampires, and you’ll start making the important connections you’ll need when you get to be my age.”

“It’s still just a lot, Dad. I think I need time to think it over.”

“No, you don’t understand, we’re doing this today.”

“Today?! Why?”

“The sooner the better! We’re going to jump them, before any news can leak out and they hide away. I’m expecting you to come with me tonight on the first big hunt.”

“I—I just, I’ve only just heard about this—“

“Let me rephrase this, if you don’t come tonight, not only will I be disappointed in you, but I’ll be embarrassed in front of a very large group of people.”

Patton froze.

“And frankly, I’m surprised that you aren’t excited about this.”

Patton could handle his dad being upset with him, it happened. He could even handle him being disappointed, though that definitely hurt more. But how could he embarrass his Dad? And publicly? And he’d be doing it on purpose. He couldn’t. He could just do that.

“I’ll be there. When does it start?”

“Sunset. I’ve brought you and your friends badges. I’d love to stay until then, but I’ve got to contact the rest of the hunters in this part of the country, and there’s not much time left now.” He stood up and set three of the badges on the table. “I can’t wait to see you again tonight.”

Pat mustered up a weak smile.

“I love you, Pat.”

Patton accepted the hug his dad offered. “Love you too.”

•^*^••

Virgil had been listening carefully to the conversation going on above him. It sounded bad. Really bad.

He knew that they were hunters, but hearing Patton’s dad talk so casually about staking large numbers of vampires, and probably enslaving the rest, sent a cold chill through him.

Then Patton’s dad left, and Patton started downstairs.

“Virgil?”

Virgil wasn’t sure what to say. “...hi.”

“Are you alright? My dad said he came down here earlier.”

And then Virgil was reminded that he was talking with Patton. Patton who was kind, and tried to be considerate even to a vampire. Patton who could possibly be convinced.

“I-I heard you two talking…” Virgil said, testing the waters.

Patton’s eyes went wide, and then a little ashamed.

“Patton, please, don’t help do something like this.”

“I have to.”

“No, you really don’t. It’s not even— I don’t know why you do any of it. You don’t have to.”

“I do.”

“Why?”

“My dad lost my mom and my brother, and nearly me too, to vampires. I can’t leave him. He needs me.”

“But surely you don’t have to do this. Surely you don’t want to!”

“I don’t want to hurt innocent people, vampires or human, but most vampires aren’t innocent, Virgil. You aren’t like most of them.”

“Your dad doesn’t want to find out who’s innocent.” Virgil said, leaning against the bars of the cell. “He wants to find which of them are useful as slaves and kill the rest.”

Patton sat down heavily, scrubbing at his face with his hands. “There isn’t anything else I can do. I can’t go against my dad. I won’t.”

“If you don’t, you let innocent people get hurt. And die.”

Patton squeezed his eyes shut, and tears leaked out. “I know…” he whispered.

The door upstairs opened. “Patton? I’m home.” It was Logan’s voice.

“Um…” Patton swiped tears off of his face. “I’m downstairs!” His voice sounded shockingly happier to Virgil.

Soon Logan came down the stairs. Of course he noticed Patton’s slightly blotchy face, but didn’t comment.

“Is there some sort of conversation going on?”

“Yeah, my dad came by. It’s uh,” Patton gave a dry laugh. “It’s pretty big news.”

He explained quickly to Logan.

“I see. And what are your thoughts on this?”

Patton shook his head. “I don’t know. I have a lot of thoughts, but they’re all twisted up right now.”

Logan nodded understandingly. “And what are your thoughts, Virgil?”

“I think it’s going to catch a whole lot of people that didn’t do anything wrong.” Virgil said bitterly.

Logan nodded, a curious look on his face. “And what percentage of the vampire population would you believe is similar to you? In their desire not to hurt others, primarily.”

Virgil shrugged. “I don’t know. I didn’t know that many vampires.”

“Then what leads you to believe that such a large number of people caught in this effort would be innocent?”

Virgil shrugged, but gritted his teeth anyway.

“I truly am interested in your opinion and thought process.” Logan said. “Please elaborate. I am unable to understand you from mere shoulder movements.”

“Just— they can't all be violent! It’s not like we lose out feelings or memories when we get turned. Even if they do hurt people, they could be doing it on accident, or they felt like they were driven to it. And… and I’m also scared. I don’t want what happened to me to happen to anyone else, ever. But this sounds almost worse, and he was talking as if it would be a lot of people.”

“I’m going to infer that you also are concerned that you would be thrust into a difficult or painful position again, correct?”

Virgil chewed on his lip, but nodded.

“Your concerns are valid. I do not know precisely how to address them at this time, but your points are still valid. I personally intend to go this evening, if only to gather more information. I would be open to another conversation upon my return.”

“It’s not the time for information gathering!” Virgil insisted. “They’re going to be killing people tonight. Maybe a lot of people.”

“I personally do not believe that there will be many, if any casualties tonight. I believe that many others will be caught just as off guard as we have been. The hunters, while certainly more energetic, ought not to be any more efficient than usual. And they will be in the open. Any vampires will have adequate time to find a place to hide for a night.”

Patton looked downright hopeful at hearing this.

“In the next four weeks, however, there is indeed a potential for much bloodshed, and it will likely be influenced by the events of this evening. I find it imperative that I be there as a witness.”

Patton was nodding.

The front door banged open. “Guys! Have you heard the news?! Patton? Logan?”

“Downstairs!” Patton called.

Roman bounded down the stairs, the most exuberant Virgil has seen him yet. “Have you heard?! This could be it for me!”

“Yes, we have heard, Roman.” Logan said calmly. “And yes, you could possibly ‘make a name for yourself’ this evening.” He even did air quotes for the expression, which Virgil found amusing.

“You just… you have to be careful what kind of name.” Patton said, his face creased with worry again.

Roman was practically bouncing up and down with excitement, for once not deterred by Virgil’s presence, a badge already pinned to his shirt.

•^*^••

On the tv, playing in Thomas’s house, came a woman’s voice.

“It seems that the hunters have finally found a vampire. We have not confirmed this fact yet. They’ve— oh. Oh, dear God, they’ve torn it apart… No! Do not put the camera near it. Oh. Oh God.”

Thomas turned the tv off. He knew that Dee had to have heard, even from his hiding place. He put his face in his hands and sighed deeply. Life was about to become a nightmare.

•^*^••

When Virgil heard the humans get back in the early morning, there was the unmistakable sound of crying.

[snowdice]

Tea, Cookies, and Handcuffs

Fandom: Sanders Sides

Relationships: Logan/Remus/Virgil (mostly Logan/Remus for this)

Characters: Logan, Remus, Virgil

Summary: Logan finds a strange man on his property and of course invites him in for tea.

Universe: Cops and Criminals

Genre: Crime

Notes: Non-consensual drug use, morally grey Logan, cop Remus

*Grits teeth* Do not create a new AU Adriana. PUT. IT. DOWN.

This is part of my Roll the Dice Event which is where I do random ships, universes, and genres for the Sanders Sides fandom. For more details see this post. I posted a few days ago my results from this dice roll here.

Logan returned home to an interesting sight. There was a man peering into his front window through the blinds of his house. Logan paused on the sidewalk and observed the man for a few moments with his arms crossed. “Can I help you?” he eventually asked.

The man spun around in surprise, but quickly did his best to recover, squaring his shoulders and plastering a serious look on his face. “Are you Virgil Sanders?” he asked.

Logan cocked an eyebrow. “No.”

That seemed to throw him. “Oh,” he said. “Is… is this your house?”

“Yes.”

“Cool,” he said, a hand coming up to rub the back of his neck. “I, um, like your shrubs?”

“The ones you are standing in?”

“…Yes.”

“If you’re planning to burglarize me, I’d advise against it,” Logan said. “I have only a few things of value and of those, most are my research which you likely could not easily exchange for money.” He tilted his head and thought for a moment. “Well, I do have a television, but I rarely use it and it’s very old. You’d be doing me a favor really; I wouldn’t have to find a way to take it to the dump once it finally ceases working.”

“I’m not a burglar.”

“Then why are you here?”

“I’m a police officer,” he explained. “I’m looking for Virgil Sanders.”

“Whatever for?” Logan asked.

“That’s official police business.”

Logan tilted his head. “Virgil doesn’t seem like the type to commit a crime and he hasn’t mentioned witnessing any.”

“You know Virgil Sanders?” the man asked.

“He’s my roommate,” Logan answered simply.

“Wait so I am at the right house!” the man exclaimed. “Why did you say I wasn’t?”

Logan squinted at him. “I said nothing of the sort.”

There was a long pause. “I guess you didn’t.”

“Virgil will be home in half an hour,” Logan said. “You can come in if you’d like.”

“Sure,” the officer said. “Royal, by the way. Remus Royal.”

“Logan Berry,” Logan replied, struggling to unlock the front door with the bag in his arm.

“Oh, here let me help,” Officer Royal said, grabbing the bag from him. “Oh my god, what’s in this? Rocks?” he asked immediately, stumbling forward a bit at the unexpected weight.

“Yes,” Logan replied. “I just taught a seminar on metamorphic rocks and have my case of samples in it.” Logan finished unlocking his door.

“…Oh.” The officer said. “Huh. You must have a lot of muscles under that nerdy shirt.”

Logan looked back at him for a moment. He just grinned innocently. Logan shook his head and walked into the house. “You can set the bag by the door.”

He heard the man obey as he walked into the kitchen and went straight for the tea kettle. He needed tea to deal with this day.

The officer shuffled into the kitchen. “Have a seat,” Logan instructed, waving at the kitchen table.

He readied the tea pot and chose a blueberry flavored tea before grabbing two mugs. He filled each mug with tea and walked over to the table.

“I don’t make a habit of accepting drinks while on official business,” Officer Royal said when he sat one of the mugs down in front of him.

Logan rolled his eyes. “What am I supposed to have done with it?”

“Oh, there are all sorts of things someone could put in tea: hallucinogens that drive you mad, poison that tears apart your insides, cinnamon.”

Logan couldn’t help but snort. He quickly covered his mouth, but the police officer’s eyes still flickered up to his and he grinned. “What if you get thirsty waiting for Virgil?” Logan asked.

“Guess I suffer.”

Logan hummed. “Well, allowing that would make me a bad host. What if I take a sip of it so you know for sure there isn’t any cinnamon in it? Would you drink it then?”

He considered. “Sure,” he said after a moment. “Why not?” Logan picked the mug back up and took a quick sip out of it, Officer Royal’s eyes intent on him.

“Does that suffice?” he asked.

The officer nodded and took the mug from him. “Thanks.”

Logan waved him off. “Of course.” He sat down in the seat across from him.

“So, you’re a professor?” Remus asked.

“Just a guest lecturer. Grading and dealing with undergraduate students are not activities I relish in the idea of. I prefer to focus on my research and travel when I wish rather than being a professor. It makes for a less predictable life, but more rewarding.”

“Sounds like an interesting career path. I didn’t peg you as someone who likes danger like that.”

“You don’t even know me.”

“I have a good sense for people.”

Logan smiled into his tea. “Do you?”

Officer Royal’s eyes narrowed on him. “Do you doubt me?”

“Of course, not Officer Royal.”

“You can call me Remus,” he offered.

“Remus then,” Logan accepted, “What do your impressive police officer senses say about me, then?”

Remus sat back and considered him for a long moment. “You like Science Fiction.”

Logan glanced down at the Doctor Who mug Virgil had gotten him for Christmas. “And how ever could you have figured that out?” he asked dryly.

“You have a degree in geology.”

“I came home with a bag of rocks, Remus.”

“You’re usually the smartest person in the room.”

“Well that’s just a fact.”

Remus grinned and then leaned forward like he was telling him a secret. “You like men.”

Logan leaned forward himself. “Wistful thinking.”

“Doesn’t make it false.”

“Hmm. Perhaps not.”

Remus’s eyes twinkled with mischief as he continued to make hypotheses about Logan which grew more and more personal each time. Logan had to admit, he was quite entertaining. Logan even shared a few of his jam filled thumbprint cookies with him as they spoke as a reward for the amusement.

“Here,” Logan said quite a while later, picking up both of the mugs. “Virgil should be home in a few minutes. Have one more cup of tea.”

He accepted easily and took another cookie, continuing to blatantly flirt until Logan heard the front door open.

“Hey Lo, I’m home,” Virgil called.

“In the kitchen Virgil,” he responded.

Virgil walked into the kitchen and his eyes fell on Remus. “Who’s your friend?”

Remus stood quickly to turn to him. “I’m Officer…” but then he paused, wavering a bit on his feet. “Uh… I.”

Virgil hopped forward on instinct to catch the man as he fell. Always good in an emergency, Virgil. Logan rounded the table.

“Woah, dude what happened?” Virgil asked, lowering him down carefully.

“I…” Remus said, squinting up at Virgil.

Logan leaned forward while the two were distracted and grabbed the handcuffs off of Remus’s waist before quickly snapping one of the cuffs around Virgil’s wrist and attaching the other to the kitchen table.

There was a pause. “Lo, what the hell?” Virgil asked.

“Apologies,” Logan said getting to his feet, “I did not want you coming home to an unconscious body and contacting the authorities before I had time to get away.”

“Oh fuck,” Remus said, leaning his head back against the floor.

Logan just hummed. “Virgil isn’t the hacker I assume you’re looking for, by the way,” he informed the man.

“Holy shit, what the hell are you talking about?” Virgil asked, pulling at the cuffs.

“I’ve been running a criminal enterprise off of my laptop Virgil, please keep up.”

“Shit,” Remus said. He was clearly fading from consciousness.

“Unfortunately, the police are getting far too close for comfort. So, I will have to be going. I set up an account to make automatic payments for the rest of the lease, so don’t worry about that. You won’t see me again.”

“And you’re just going to leave me here cuffed to a fucking table? I thought we were friends.”

Logan reached down and patted him on the head. “We are, Virgil. That’s why you aren’t currently drugged. Don’t worry, the drug in his system will wear off within a few hours and I’m sure he’ll release you then. In the unlikely event he happens to die from it, well, I’m sure another police officer will be dispatched to track him down before you can suffer any ill effects from dehydration.”

With that, Logan turned away from him. He would regret never seeing him again; he quite liked Virgil, but such was life. He ignored Virgil’s yelling as he packed up what little he needed and slipped out of house with no plans to return.

Want to read more? This is part of a series and the next part is Matboards and Subway Sandwiches.

[tempesrature]

Communication Degree

Pairing: Ride or Die | Ellie x Logan

Summary: Ellie has never been good with properly communicating her negative emotions. So Logan is there to help her out.

(A very loose continuation of the Dedicated Emotion: Logan Series but you really don’t need to read the series to understand this.)

Word Count: 2,059

Warnings: PG-13 (cursing) 

A/N: I’ve always character analyzed Ellie as the type to bottle up her feelings due to her dad being overprotective (people who grew up with overprotective parents and ended up being an emotional wreck because you’re scared to say anything bad to anyone but eventually learned that saying no and voicing your negative emotions is part of self-love and self-respect gang, rise up). 

~*~

Logan perches his legs on the coffee table as he leans back on the couch with one arm behind his head while he scrolls through his phone.

He’s currently reading up on some job postings that he’s interested in—car mechanic, car salesman, car…exhibitionist? (He’s pretty sure it’s some kind of sex thing)—and let’s the hum of normalcy settle into the space.

It’s been a three months or so since Ellie and Logan decided to move in together in a small apartment near Langston. Three months since he made the decision to live a life that will never take him away from the girl he loves ever again. Three months since he’s been borrowing money from Vaughn to help pay off the apartment bills—he winces at the last thought. Logan knows that getting a job with a record on his file isn’t going to be easy but so far it’s been almost impossible. Not that it’s going to discourage him. Logan is nothing if not tenacious and he’s confident that he’s going to find one soon. In fact, he already has some interviews lined up for the week.

But he really wishes he would land one soon. Other than paying Vaughn back, he wants to take Ellie out on dates other that just driving around the Devore, going to isolated cliff sides to watch the stars and hanging out in the park. Although she never complains (practically looks forward to them she would gush), he wants to do something nice for her. Maybe a surprise dinner date in a fancy restaurant or a trip further away in a cabin by a lake—something romantic and unexpected that will make her as happy as she makes him.

Logan sighs and exits the website he was scrolling through and opts to open his Pictagram account instead, feeling a little strange and happy at all the new comments and hearts he seems to be getting from his latest picture of Ellie sitting in the Devore in a pretty yellow dress. That’s the one thing Logan found extremely strange. When Ellie convinced him to make an account (so she could tag him memes, she reasoned) he was hesitant at first. The primary reason as to why he never bothered with social media in the first place was because he just can’t have his identity floating around in the internet when he was a wanted criminal. But now that he isn’t…he decided to give it a try and he’s been pleasantly surprised by how much he likes it. One of the best parts, he figured out later on, is the fact that he can scroll through years and years worth of Ellie’s life in her account which gives him the opportunity to ask questions and listen to stories of moments and memories he missed. That way, even if he wasn’t there, he’d have something to brag about his girlfriend to his future coworkers.

Logan hears the front door slam open and he quickly pulls his legs from the coffee table, trying to look innocent, as he turns to the direction of the door with a beaming smile. His smile falters for a moment when he sees the irritated and angry look on Ellie’s face as she throws her backpack on the couch beside him.

“Hey Trouble—” Ellie turns away from him, stalks to the bathroom, yanks it open and slams it shut behind her with a loud bang. “—maker…”

Logan frowns. That’s not good.

One thing that Logan learned about Ellie and living together in the past three months, blissful and happy as they were, is that there is a certain…science…to living with someone else. He’s always lived by himself, never having to take care or be mindful of anyone’s space other than his own, so the past three months have been a big adjustment for him. But Ellie has always been patient with him. Letting him make mistakes and helping him learn the intricacies of not pissing each other off every time one of them forgets to wash the dishes. So it’s definitely not good if she comes in the apartment and immediately ignores him in favor of locking herself in the bathroom. But he tries not to let it unnerve him as he pushes himself off of the couch and heads to the bathroom door.

He takes a deep breathe, leaning on the wall beside the door and tentatively knocks three times.

“Everything alright, trouble?”

He hears rustling and the toilet lid slamming down.

“Go away Logan. I’m angry right now.”

Logan’s heart picks up, his mind running through his memories to see if that anger was directed at him somehow (had he left his dirty laundry on the floor again?). Finding nothing, he decides to confront it head on. 

“Angry at me?”

A loud exasperated sigh. “No, not at you.”

Logan lets out a sigh of relief before he drops himself to the wooden floor and leans against the door. 

“Want to talk about it El?”

A sniff. “It’s stupid Logan. Just let me deal with it and I’ll be fine in an hour.”

Well. He isn’t going to do that if she’s crying behind the door. That’s one more thing that Logan learned about his girlfriend. Ellie likes to pick her battles. Which is admirable if she didn’t also end up bottling all of her frustration and anger until she explodes. Although Logan has never been the target of it (so far) he’s noticed in the past few months the little rituals she does to distract herself from her anger and annoyance. Such as suddenly wanting to clean their (already pretty clean) bedroom or start aggressively cooking scrambled eggs. With his least favorite being shutting him out completely.

Like right now.

When it first happened, Logan was totally at lost on how to deal with this new aspect of their relationship and just did whatever she asked from him—which was to let her “deal with it” on her own. But Logan hated the feeling of being so useless, that he couldn’t be there for her when she’s always been there for him. So with a little googling and a few anonymous questions on internet forums, he has now gained the necessary advice to be able to properly help her in times like this.

“You know El,” He starts, trying to tick off the mental list he created for this situation. “I really love you.”

A short pause, her voice heavy with confusion. “…I love you too Logan…?”

“Mm, I know,” He replies, a small smile tugging on his lips. “Because I love you and you love me, I’d really like to work together so we can figure out how to make you not angry anymore.”

A sniff then a whimper. “…But it’s really stupid…”

“Did you think it was stupid when I asked for your help on writing my resumé?”

“No…”

Logan smile widens when he hears the resolve in her voice weakening. “Exactly. There’s no such thing as ‘stupid’ between us, El. Even if you just want to talk about what’s making you angry. We don’t need a solution right now,” He pauses for a moment, his tone teasing and playful. “I’ll even let you drive the Devore if it makes you feel better.”

Logan grins at the soft and easy laughter that floats behind the door, momentarily thanking LostThrowaway43 for his brilliant advice of making small jokes to lighten the mood and make her laugh.

He hears the lock click open and he pushes his back away from the door. Ellie slowly opens the door and looks down at him gratefully, her eyes puffy with tears. Logan merely grins and pats the space beside him while she closes the door behind her and drops down to sit beside him. She leans her head on his shoulder and Logan easily fits his arm around her waist before she starts her outpour of emotions.

About how a certain professor has been a hardass and has been giving her a hard time, about how he constantly nitpicks on her work while the same mistake from her classmates get a pass and about how she wants to drop the class but can’t because it will leave a mark on her record.

And Logan listens to it all, only interjecting a few times to ask questions and affirming how much of an asshat the professor is. By the end of it, Logan can tell that Ellie looks a lot better and lighter. Sure, she’s still pissed at the professor (and he’s now pissed at the professor too) but he considers it as a win that he was able to coax her out of the bathroom and got her to talk.

Ellie sighs, the anger in her seeming to flow out in the past hour or so, as she fits her hand in his and gives it a grateful squeeze. “Thanks Logan. I actually feel a lot better now.”

Logan grins, turning to place a soft kiss on her head. “Glad to hear it trouble. What do you want to eat for dinner tonight?”

“Let’s go out,” She turns to him, a teasing smile on her lips. “You did say I could drive the Devore.”

Logan looks down at her with a grin as he raises an eyebrow. “Nuh uh. You just said you feel better now, the Devore was an if option. You can’t have it both, troublemaker.”

Ellie laughs before she takes his face into her hands and gives him a sweet and loving kiss. He responds easily, wrapping his arms around her waist to pull her closer. Eventually, she breaks the kiss and swipes her thumb over his lips, taking away the pink lipstick stain she’s left, as she gazes into his loving and amused eyes with a teasing smile.

“Next time, I’m driving the Devore before I start word vomiting.”   

Logan pretends to groan as he shakes his head, his heart so full at the affection and gratitude directed at him.

“You’re lucky I love you.”

Ellie softens, her eyes misting when she nods. She knows that he’s teasing, all in an effort to make her feel better but she’s struck, once again, with the realization that he doesn’t even know how right he is. That yeah, she really is lucky. That if it was anyone else other than Logan on the other side of that door, she would’ve never even opened it.

She gives him a small peck on the lips before she untangles herself from his limbs and picks herself off of the floor. She offers him a hand and he easily fits his hand into hers before she pulls him up with a small huff.

Logan quickly dusts off his jeans before he intertwines his hand in hers and gently tugs her to the door. Their conversation easily, almost naturally, transitioning to light hearted topics about his job hunting and their plans for the weekend.

~*~

Logan perches his legs on the coffee table as he leans back on the couch with one arm behind his head while he scrolls through his phone at the memes his coworkers have tagged him in Pictagram. He snickers at a particularly funny one about how some costumers angrily demand high quality and expensive car parts but their budget can barely get them a meal at McDonald’s. He taps his phone twice, giving it a heart, before he hears the front door slam open.

He quickly pulls his legs from the coffee table, trying to look innocent, as he turns to the direction of the door with a beaming smile. His smile falters for a moment when he once again sees the irritated and angry look on Ellie’s face as she throws her backpack on the coffee table with a huff…and promptly takes a seat right next to him.

“I cannot believe the grade he gave me!” Ellie shouts, crossing her arms and leaning back on the couch with a scowl. “All because the PowerPoint was in a color that hurt his eyes?! Unbelievable!”

Logan secretly smiles, leaning forward to place his phone on the coffee table, before he angles his body towards her. He reaches out to tuck a stray hair behind her ear, his eyes lighting up with affection.

“Tell me all about it troublemaker.”

[lovingkaneko]

Ch.1: The Girl With The Bike (Colt x Mc)

Summary: Colt Kaneko never lost a race, but when challenged to one by a female from another crew, he finds himself to be smitten with her. 

Author Note: I don’t get many reads but I hope you guys actually check this story out! First chapter, let’s goooo. Next part here

Book: Ride or Die: A Bad Boy Romance | Choices: Stories You Play (AU)

Pairing: Colt Kaneko x MC | Ellie Wheeler

Word Count: 2,356 

Rating: VERY N*FW (Sex, Swearing)

Sometimes I genuinely couldn’t understand why my pops trusted that guy, he was a nobody. He was just a high school drop out, but he was kept around for what? The fact that he can drive fast? Bullshit. My dad never believed in me, never saw what I was capable of. So, I sat at the front desk chewing my gum aggressively and waiting for costumers. Nothing interesting ever happened, I’d only ever meet people who knew nothing about cars and were trying to repair something. Yet, Logan got to be part of the crew and I didn’t. I couldn’t help but clench my fists with anger, not hearing a voice calling me.

“Son,” I finally heard and sat up in my seat quickly.

“What is it?” I asked him as I popped my gum aggressively.

“I want you to do something for me,” He said blankly, as always. But still, my heart jumped excitedly at the thought of being needed by him. I kept a poker face as I answered.

“How can I finally be of service to you?”

“Don’t think you’re doing anything big, you’re simply turning in a car to a customer. That’s all I ask,” My dad answered in an expressionless tone.

“A customer for the shop?”

“No, son. You’ll be giving the keys to a member of the Wheelers.”

My jaw dropped unexpectedly, the Wheeler Crew was a well known group. Like the MPC, they also deal illegal cars. Nobody messes with them, their leader is rumored to be a police officer, you’d be in immediate danger. I was shocked my dad came to me with this request.

“Why can’t pretty boy do it?” I asked with a scoff, pretending I wasn’t at all enthused about the job.

“He’s out doing me another job, everyone else is busy. Trust me, you weren’t my first choice.”

I felt anger bubble up in my chest at his words, but I couldn’t ruin this moment I had to prove to him that I was capable of doing other jobs for him. I’d start with turning in a car and then I’d work my way up to more serious tasks. 

“When do I go?” 

“Now, she’ll be waiting for you at the regular dealing spot. You’ve followed me there before,” My dad answered and I nodded.

“I’m on it.”

He handed me some keys and I raised eyebrows when I realized what they had bought. A 2019 Camero, not bad for a car. I got out of the shop quickly, not wanting to waste any more time. I put on my helmet and rode off on my motorcycle. The wind flowing through my shirt was something I would never get used to, the adrenaline pulsing through my body was intoxicating. 

Buildings passed by in a blur, I was going fast and zooming through the alleys of Los Angeles. Before I knew it, I got to my destination. The dim lights in this alley were making it slightly easier to see in the dark night. I couldn’t see anyone nearby, I scoffed. She was probably late, not surprising. 

“Wow, Kaneko sent his son. I’m honored,” said a female voice from behind me. She was leaning on the wall with a bike next to her. But it wasn’t just any bike, she was standing beside a Suzuki Hayabusa motorcycle.. My jaw dropped at the sight of it, one of the fastest bikes in the world. The girl’s head turned to look at the vehicle beside her.

“Like the bike huh? Got it last year, a birthday gift from my dad.”

I hadn’t paid much attention to her, I was distracted by the vehicle beside her. But I finally met her eyes and chest tightened painfully. My heart began to beat faster than usual and I felt like throwing up. What the fuck was I feeling? 

“It’s nice, don’t think it’s a bit fast for a girl like you?” I asked with a smirk as I tempted her. She didn’t seem to like the joke, she scoffed.

“What would you know about speed? I could beat you in a race any day,” She raised her eyebrows and crossed her arms.

“I would love to see you try, princess.”

Her eyes looked at me up and down, slowly.

“It’s odd seeing you here, your old man never lets you out to do business,” She pointed out after a few moments of silence.

“Yeah? Well, I’ll be around more now that I can prove myself to him.”

“That’s good,” She smirked, “I’ll be sure to leave a good word in for you.”

I felt my heart twist at her words, if my pops could just hear that I did well with this job, surely he’ll trust me more. If she mentioned to him that I was professional and fit for the job, then maybe I could do more for him.

“Under one condition,” She added.

“What would that be?”

“Only men get to be part of the big boy activities. I’m not sure you’ve got it in you to work for your dad’s business,” She walked closer to me, “You’ve gotta prove yourself to be a man.”

My mind clouded with anger as she taunted me, but my body reacted... Differently.

“Yeah? Well why should I have to prove anything to you?”

“You don’t,” She answered, trailing her words, “But wouldn’t you love to keep doing business with us? If I only requested that you come to the trades.”

My eyebrows raised in surprise, she could definitely make those sorts of requests to my dad. He didn’t have the guts to say no to the Wheelers. 

“What do you have in mind?” I asked as I finally allowed myself to take in the rest of her appearance. My eyes trailed down to analyze her body and boy, I was pleased with what I saw. 

“A few things... How about a bet,” She was standing right in front of me. Even though I towered over her, she still didn’t lose confidence. 

“A bet?”

“Mhm...” She bit her bottom lip gently as she thought for a moment. I wanted to badly to push her up against the alley wall and just--

“A race,” She said finally, “You, me, and our bikes. A quick spin around the block. If you win, I get to tell your dad that you’re the best dealer I’ve met. If I win, well... Let’s just say you’ll have to find out.”

I don’t know how I felt in that moment, I felt a jolt of electricity run through my body, I felt taunted and overall... Turned on.

I nodded slowly, “You’ve got yourself a bet.”

She smirked triumphantly and made her way over to her bike, putting her helmet on. She turned to me and motioned towards my motorcycle. I snapped out of my daze and got on my bike, making sure to slip on my helmet as well. 

The engine of her ride roared into the night and my eyes admired her body. She sat up straight and drove out of the alley to our starting line. I followed her, the adrenaline rushing through my veins. She stayed beside me.

“Whoever makes it back here first wins, it’s an innocent race. Don’t even think of playing dirty with me, little boy.”

This girl pushed every button on me, making me angry and ready to win.

“Won’t have to,” I smirked, knowing she can’t see me behind my helmet. 

“Count of three!” She yelled over the roar of her engine, “One... Two... Three!”

We started driving at the exact same time, I could easily beat her. I’ve never lost a race against another bike. The wind flew through my clothes, I heard nothing but the sound of it. I could see her beside me, her body leaned forward as she laid on the bike to go faster. 

Before I knew it, she was ahead of me by a lot. I stepped on it, quickly making my way close behind her, still not being in the lead. Beside the wind, I finally heard something. She was roaring with laughter, mocking me.

Her voice echoed in my head, “What would you know about speed?”

I’ll show her what I know. I somehow went faster than I ever had, not willing to lose to a cocky bitch like her. My bike drove next to hers, the finish line in sight. She twisted her head to look at me, I looked back at her and could’ve sworn she winked. 

Her motorcycle zoomed ahead, beating me by five full seconds. She slowed down and finally stopped. She parked the bike and took her helmet off, her braid messy because of the wind. I got off as well and placed my helmet on the bike.

“I won, fair and square.”

“Didn’t expect that from a girl,” I answered as the adrenaline of a race still pumped through my body. 

“Well, you don’t know anything about me,” She whispered as she stood directly in front of me. Her gaze was intense and I could see that she was planning something to do to me. But I couldn’t think much, her body was tempting me to do things I’ve never thought of doing. I never thought that having a girl beat me in a race would be so sexy.

There was a dark look in her eyes that made her a thousand times hotter. She pressed her hand onto my stomach, feeling my abs.

“Decisions, decisions... What am I going to do with you?” She asked as she continued to feel me up. Normally, I would’ve just teased her for being desperate. But I wanted her now more than anything. 

I pushed her into the wall directly behind her, capturing her lips with mine. She moaned into my mouth, a sign that she wasn’t expecting me to kiss her. Her hand made its way behind my neck, pulling me closer. Her other hand traveled up my shirt and she roamed around. 

My arms were wrapped around her waist, my hand lowering to feel her ass. I gently squeezed and she gasped into the kiss. I took this as the chance to slip my tongue inside her mouth, she was going crazy for me and I could feel it. 

After deepening the kiss, I finally pulled away and pressed a teasing peck to her jaw. Slowly, I trailed my lips down to her sweet neck, only letting my mouth hover over and breathe on her. She squirmed with need and I finally locked my lips right below her jaw. I gently scraped my teeth against her neck and she whimpered with pleasure.

I continued to mark her neck, loving how she would make the best noises. I went back to her lips and she sighed heavily, missing the contact.

Surprisingly, she decided she wanted to do the same to me. Her lips suckling at my neck, making sure that her bites were noticeable. 

We went back to devouring each other’s lips, hungry and filled with need.

I didn’t expect her hand to trail down to the bulge in my pants, she gently palmed me as we made out. This girl was going to drive me insane, I could already tell. 

“Please,” I whimpered as I couldn’t take it anymore. The voice that came out of me was one I hadn’t ever heard before, I hated it, I sounded so weak. 

“Those are the magic words, baby,” She licked her lips and made her way to her knees. My heart pumped erratically in my chest and I simply couldn’t function.

She unbuttoned my pants and trailed the zipper down, only pulling my jeans down low enough to expose my package. Lucky for us, this alley was fairly dark and everyone was scared of it anyways. We’d be alone for a while.

She pressed a kiss to my bulge through my boxers and I couldn’t help but groan. I felt as she pulled them down and kissed the tip of my erection. Her tongue licked the top all the way to the bottom slowly. I heard her hum in approval.

Finally, she took me into her mouth. My jaw dropped and I let out a moan I didn’t know I was holding back. She sucked harshly and drove me crazy. 

I pulled at her hair and she groaned, sending vibrations onto my cock. I knew I wouldn’t last much longer. I tried to tell her, but my voice was caught in my throat.

“I-- I’m--” 

“Shh baby, I’ve got you,” She whispered, her hot breath touching me made me almost lose my grip.

She went back to sucking and after a few moments, I felt myself on the edge.

“Aww look how I got you twitching,” She smirked as she looked up at me. She finished me off with her hand, I came harder than I ever had and she had only used her mouth. All the girls I had been with in the past barely got me to finish, but I had never felt anything like this.

She pulled my boxers back on and stood back up.

“Not bad, Kaneko,” She chuckled as she leaned back against the wall, crossing her arms. I was still catching my breath and couldn’t say anything. I kissed her again and she smiled against my lips.

“Don’t worry about getting me off tonight, we’ll just have to wait till next time,” She pressed one last lingering kiss onto my lips. She reached into my pockets and pulled out the keys without me even noticing, I was in a trance. She handed me a big case that I hadn’t seen before. It was heavy with cash and I totally forgot we were doing a trade.

“I’ll be sure to leave a good review,” She winked and got back on her bike. She drove off quickly, without letting me say goodbye. I ran a hand through my hair as I stared in the direction in which she left.

I smiled to myself for the first time, it wasn’t a smirk... I genuinely felt content.

[theatresweetheart]

Homeward Nightmares

Desperate Measures: Chapter 1

Fandoms: Sanders Sides, G/t

Summary: Logan suffers with nightmares of his time in a pet shop and Patton tries to help.

Warnings: Over-exhaustion, traumatic flashbacks, brief injury mention, blood mention, brief descriptions of blood, main character being treated like a pet, brief talk of death (being put to sleep), excessive swearing, fear, crying, panic attack.

Pairings: Romantic/Parental Logicality, Familial Moxiety, Familial Analogical

Word Count: 4686 words

Taglist: @isle-of-gold @anonymous-bean @sandersships @kaytikitty @picklesandbeyond @minty4green

A/n: For the taglist, I decided to just tag everyone that wanted to be tagged for the Desperate Measures story. If you want to be removed from/added to a certain taglist, shoot me an ask or a message and let me know! Otherwise, enjoy!

                                         +~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+

The ever insistent tapping on the metal bars rattled through this core. The snide looks he would get from the other side of the cage; large eyes that held a malice for him and his kind, smiles that did not reach the patrons’ eyes.

Smiles that were dangerous and sharp.

But the child that stood in front of him, while she didn’t look dangerous to the average human adult, was a threat to Logan’s safety.

Kids did not take lightly to borrowers, especially not when their parents didn’t seem to care much about teaching them manners and decency. Children saw borrowers as toys and things to be physically manipulated—like a doll or an action figure. Something inanimate and therefore, not sentient.

The girl had entered the store about ten minutes ago and she had immediately searched for something in particular. It wasn’t until she was standing in front of Logan’s cage had he realized she was there for him. Or, if not him personally, then for Arthur who was quietly rocking himself back and forth on the other side of the enclosure.

She raised a hand and tapped at the bars again, trying to gain his attention. Logan stayed resolute with his back turned to her, but he could still feel her eyes digging into his back. The heat of the look she was giving him.

When the borrower stayed sitting, his knees curled up to his chest and his head ducked down, she relented for a moment. The thundering footsteps falling away behind him.

At this, he turned his head, watching as she went to tug at her father’s suit jacket. The man in question seemed to have his head bent forwards and his eyes glued directly to his phone as if it were the most important thing in the world. However, with a look like that, Logan could tell that this was the kind of man was that was ready to buy his way out of a problem if something went awry.

He wasn’t going to be bothered with her or her father until he saw that she was pointing in his direction.

He couldn’t hear their conversation, but he had an itching feeling that he knew what exactly she wanted.

The father had then turned to the shopkeeper after that, asking about something or other. The conversation was too distant for Logan to be able to make out what exactly they were saying but with the devilish grin the girl sent back over her shoulder, he knew it wasn’t going to be good.

“This is it,” Arthur mumbled to himself, his head in his hands as he kept rocking himself back and forth, as if he was trying to calm himself down.

Any conversation that he tried to have with the other male usually ended up with Arthur in some sort of anxiety-induced fit. One would have thought that Logan would have been better with that sort of reaction as his own son had suffered through the same thing, just in different circumstances.

Seemed that being away from them for four months had already taken a toll on his emotional well-being.

“We’re going to die here,” Arthur continued to bellyache and moan.

No, Logan wasn’t going to die here.

He wasn’t about to just kneel and keel over. Not when he had so much riding on getting out of this damned place.

It wasn’t long before the shopkeeper was coming over, the little girl and her father trailing behind. The keys jangled in their hand and the lock on the cage was undone before he could even think to say something.

“C’mere Logan,” the shopkeeper said in a condescending tone as they pulled the door open, before lowering themselves down to kneel with their hand palm up in front of the opening. “Little Eliza here would like to hold you.”

“Get lost,” he shot back, brown eyes sharp and distrusting.

The shopkeeper sighed, rubbing their free hand down their face. “I don’t want to play these games today, just be good for once and come here.”

Logan sneered at that, rolled his shoulders and deliberately turned his back to the three humans.

“Is he always like this?” The father asked, but he sounded more distracted and uninterested than he actually was.

“Unfortunately,” the shopkeeper replied, “Eliza, would you like to hold Arthur instead? He is better behaved.”

“No,” the girl said suddenly, with such vigor that it startled Logan. “I want him, not the other one. The other one looks like a nervous wreck.”

A quick glance over to the other borrower did solidify that truth. He really did look like a nervous wreck, shaking and shivering and muttering to himself.

“Logan,” the shopkeeper raised their voice again, trying to sound more authoritative. Like that had ever worked in the past. “Come here. Don’t make me reach in there and grab you.”

That wasn’t even a threat anymore.

“Allow me, sir,” Eliza said in that mock innocent voice.

Logan turned to look over his shoulder when the shopkeeper gave a surprised noise and the young man was instead welcomed with the sight of a hand coming directly for him. A startled yelp escaped him without his permission as the childish hand got far too close to him for comfort and he raised an arm as if that would defend him.

Of course he was disappointed when the girl’s hand wrapped around his form anyways, beginning to lift him off of the cage floor without a problem. As if he wasn’t a full grown man.

Vertigo hit far too soon and he was pulled out from inside of what had, sadly, become a safety net. While many people had stared in and pointed and laughed, no one had been able to touch and grab him before.

He was pulled up in a fist that was far too tight, that shoved his arms painfully into his sides, so much so that he knew he would have bruises by this evening.

“Gentle with him, kid,” the shopkeeper said, noticing the grimace on the smaller features, “he’s not as strong as you.”

“I’m being gentle,” Eliza lied through her teeth, that shark-like grin never leaving her features as she examined the borrower in her hands. “He just doesn’t know what it’s like to be held.”

“I shouldn’t have to know what that’s like,” Logan hissed up at her and she squeezed a bit tighter, shoving the wind from his lungs.

“Pets shouldn’t talk back, that’s what my always daddy says.”

“Very good, darling,” her father mused, scrolling through something on his phone before beginning to tap away at the screen.

While the shopkeeper did look initially worried about Logan’s well-being, they weren’t doing much to change the situation either. There was a lot that they could do to the kid, such as making her put him down. Making sure that she didn’t squeeze the life from him without meaning to—or completely meaning to, whatever her intentions with him were.

“Let me go,” Logan’s voice was hoarse from lack of a proper supply of air being taken in, but it wouldn’t stop him from making demands. Not when his safety was on the line.

Eliza giggled again, shaking her head and using her thumb to stroke up and down his back in a rough and careless motion, obviously trying to cause him discomfort. “Pets also aren’t allowed to make demands, my daddy says that too.”

Logan grit his teeth, frustration nipping at him. “Let. Me. Go,” he enunciated this time, as if he thought she didn’t understand him the first time.

He was trying to stay as calm as possible, as losing his temper was something that wasn’t going to help him at all in this situation, but he was so close. So fucking close to doing something he knew he would regret afterwards—not in terms of feeling bad, he couldn’t care less about the human child and her ridiculous feelings, but for the punishment that would be sure to follow instantly afterwards.

Eliza only shook her head, making her stroking motions a bit more painful and prominent. “Borrowers like you shouldn’t be talking back to their owners,” her eyes sharpened. “Daddy, can I have it?”

‘It.’

‘Can I have it.’

That was fucking it.

“Whatever you want darling,” the father said.

Logan’s eyes scanned the three humans and he was pleasantly surprised when he noticed how none of them were focused on him, far too busy with each other. Which gave him more of a chance. With those words shoving an icy knife into his stomach, he needed to make a split second decision. After a moment of deliberation and desperation and his survival instincts taking over, he—albeit hesitantly—bit down into the girl’s hand and held.

His nose wrinkled when he felt the hot rush of blood flood into his mouth and suddenly all he could taste was metallic and thick.

“Ouch!” Came the cry from the female and before long, her hand snapped open from its locked position around his form and, without anything keeping him upright, Logan was dropped back onto the tabletop where his cage was. “It bit me!”

“Disgraceful,” the father snorted, “keep that thing away from my daughter. You should put it down for biting an innocent child.”

“Innocent my ass,” Logan snarled, pushing himself up onto his elbows while his torso groaned at him in agony, before raising a hand to wipe the remnants of blood from the edges of his mouth. “Your hellish child could have killed me.”

“It would have been no loss,” the man spat back, picking his daughter up as she wailed and held her hand close to herself. “I demand something to make up for this tragedy.”

The shopkeeper, who had been frozen in their surprise, quickly gathered Logan up into their hands. “O-of course, sir, I’m so sorry! He’s never done something like that before, I didn’t think he would—”

“I don’t care about what you thought and what you didn’t think, I want something to compensate for the pain that it put my daughter through. You can start by getting her a band-aid.”

“O-of course, sir.”

The shopkeeper’s attention fluttered down to the borrower in their hand and Logan just glared right back up at them, brown eyes so full of hatred and fury that shone through chocolate brown bangs. Almost as if he was challenging them to do something to him.

“You are in so much trouble for this,” the shopkeeper said then, as Eliza and her father decided to browse the rest of the pet shop for something of better interest that wouldn’t end up biting her. “It’s going to be a world of hurt for you.”

“I fucking dare you,” was what they got back in response.

It was a challenge. Logan was challenging them to do something to him and they hadn’t thought that far ahead. They hadn’t expected Logan to say anything at all—in fact, they had sort been hoping that the borrower would be sulking like he usually did in his cage. Not this time, it seemed. This time he was ready to fight them every step of the way.

Though, when the shopkeeper’s eyes hardened on him, Logan finally felt something stir within him. The dangerous, cold look he was getting in return. A calculating stare he was used to giving, but not used to receiving.

“Maybe I will get you put down for this. That way, you’ll never get to see your family again. They’d never know what happened to you. And it would teach you not to mess with those that have such power over you. It would be your last mistake.”

The words hit him like nothing else had before. They sat like a heavy rock in his chest and anything about defying the shopkeeper that had wormed its way into him was gone.

————

Logan woke up in a cold sweat.

The taste of something metallic was overwhelming.

He blinked, panicked, trying to figure out where he was. The pitch black, save for the tiny bit of light seeping in from just above him, was making it hard to correspond that he was safe. It was hard to recognize what was surrounding him when he couldn’t see.

The blankets under his hands felt weighted and cold, thick and scratchy.

There was also a warmth beside him, a tired voice mumbling something, but Logan needed to get out. He needed out. He needed to get out.

He couldn’t do this.

He could not do this.

Unable to calm himself down quick enough, he threw off the blankets and sat up, using a hand to push his hair out of his face before reaching blindly for his glasses. It took a couple tries, but he managed to find them. 

The sound of someone shifting behind him made the young man stand up, twisting to face someone that he hadn’t wanted to ever see again.

Bright, sharp, sadistic green eyes looked right back at him and Logan’s heart dropped into his stomach.

“Maybe I should get you put down for this.”

Cold.

He was so cold. The look that he was getting from the other made him step back, eyes wide and terrified.

“It would be your last mistake.”

Hot.

The room was so hot. When had it gotten so warm? The thundering of his heart in his chest was the only thing Logan could focus on. Not the panting breaths, not the blood he could hear rushing in his ears.

Not the taste of blood in his mouth.

“Your family? Please. They’d never know what happened to you.”

He couldn’t breathe, his chest was tight and his mind was blank. Everything was blurring around him, the terror that seized his wrists was real and electric. Hot and cold all at the same time.

“Logan?” The voice didn’t match the features he was seeing, but his mind was in far too much of a frenzy to actually register who was saying it. The panic that just seemed so instinctual was far outweighing his rational thought. “Honey, what’s wrong?”

Eliza was right there. Standing outside the bars of his enclosure and he had no hope of getting out of this mess alive. Not when she had been so upset the first time. He didn’t remember getting caught again. Or, no, maybe he hadn’t been caught again. He had never truly gotten back home in the first place. Everything had been far too good for that.

A human that cared? A borrower that trusted said human? Getting to actually hold Patton and Virgil again? It must have been some sick trick. His mind was playing games on him in his grief.

Using tactile hallucinations to torture him.

“Don’t come any closer,” he warned, his voice breaking.

He tried to sound demanding but it came out as more of a withered, desperate plead.

“Pets don’t make demands.”

But they weren’t listening to him. The movements, while sluggish and tired and obviously weighed down by the late night, had slowed down considerably. Almost as if she didn’t know what to do.

Though, they still came closer to him. Logan matched it instantly with a step backwards. Every time the person in front of him came closer, he tried to put more space between them. Before long, Logan had his back pressed against the wall. 

He was cornered.

The hands then raised and were held up in a position that he recognized as a sign of surrender, which made no sense. Eliza had been far too persistent to leave him alone. She always had that sadistic grin on her features as her fingers had wrapped around his form, threatening to squeeze the life from him. To bruise and to tease and to taunt like he wasn’t a person with emotions or morals or sentience.

There was the ghost of her tight hold, compressing and forcing shorter breaths in and out. His panic was not helping the situation in the least.

He felt himself go weak in the knees and he slumped against the wall, staring up at the person in front of him with terror. The only emotion he was coherent enough to summon forward.

“Logan, you need to breathe,” the voice said again and the vision flickered between two vastly contrasting scenes.

There was the pet store in all its glory. The loud chirping from the other animals and the tinkling from that stupid bell above the door. Eliza, her father and the shopkeeper standing on the other side of him, all looking smug and victorious.

But then, the other scene was relatively relaxing. It was dark. He was back home. Patton was kneeling in front of him. Dark curls falling in front of tired features but soft gentle eyes pleading for him to relax. For a different reaction than what he was getting.

“Look at me,” the tone pleaded again and Logan shook his head.

“Don’t ignore me, Logan. You’re in no place to be making demands.”

“Can’t,” he choked out finally, his eyes squeezing shut as tears flooded forward, the echoing of the past six months were loud bells, ringing and chiming. Sharp reminders of what he had gone through.

There was too much going on. Eliza was taunting him, the shopkeeper was using this weakness against him. The moment he looked up would be the moment he let those damned humans win. He couldn’t let them win. He couldn’t let them break him.

The moment he broke would be the moment he lost his only chance to go back home.

He would lose everything.

A gentle breath was released in front of him. “Yes you can,” the voice was quiet, reassuring. “I’m right here. I’m not going anywhere.”

His shoulders were bunched, hands shaking as they stayed firmly pressed against the floor, trying to keep himself as far from the person in front of him as he could.

In what seemed like forever—possibly only ten seconds or so—Logan felt the presence get closer to him. He could feel their warmth, but in all honestly, he was too scared to open his eyes for a few different reasons.

If he were to look, it would leave no barrier between his un-shed tears and the person in front of him, thus causing him to lose any progress he had made with them by proving he was emotionless. Humans could use that information to manipulate you. He couldn’t show that weakness. He didn’t have an Achilles heel.

The other reason was that he was terrified to see Eliza again. He wouldn’t be able to handle it. Not anymore.

Before he could say anything, he felt the person grab him by the hand. A loving touch. A tender grasp that said more than words could. Logan had initially flinched at the sudden, somewhat unwelcome, contact.

This was a touch that he knew. A touch that he could trust.

A sob jumped in his chest as soon as reality set back in and almost immediately, the presence grew far closer.

When he finally managed to open his eyes, after convincing himself that he was fine—he was completely safe, nothing was going to happen to him—he saw Patton’s sad eyes, but it wasn’t just that. It was more than that. It was concern, grief and unsaid words. Whispers that neither of them had the heart to say to each other.

All within a second, Logan was being tugged into the sweet embrace of his husband, a hand pressed against the back of his head and keeping him safe. He was safe.

It wasn’t long before the one sob turned into two, then three, then four. And then they didn’t stop.

Logan reacted before his mind had caught up to him, but his hands dug into the back of Patton’s shirt, hiding his face into the crook between his neck and shoulder and just sobbing. Heaving, in and out without time or pace.

“Shh, shh,” Patton soothed him quietly, letting his free hand stroke up and down Logan’s back, shifting and rubbing circles instead. It went between both motions a couple times, but never was it unpredictable. “You’re okay, I’m right here. Everything is okay.”

It was painful, seeing him like this. So broken and scared. Nightmares had never really happened before Logan had been captured. They had been present from time to time, sure, but not to this extreme. Not to the extreme that one hallucinated someone else in the room with them.

Or to physically see the threat.

Or to physically feel the threat.

“I’m sorry,” he gasped quietly, sniffling as the tears finally began to slow down. He tried to regain his composure. “I�� I shouldn’t have…”

“Don’t apologize, Logan,” Patton didn’t pull back from the embrace until he felt Logan shifting. He didn’t want to take the comfort away too soon if Logan wasn’t ready to lose it. “It was a nightmare and you can’t prevent those. Don’t apologize for reacting the way you did. It’s okay.”

Once he felt him shifting, Patton allowed himself to pull back but he didn’t release Logan fully. He reached up, removing Logan’s glasses and setting them to the side before using the sleeve of his night shirt to wipe the water away to the best of his ability.

They sat in silence for a couple minutes, Logan allowing Patton to clean him up without fighting back or complaining, whether teasingly or seriously, at the mother hen-like actions.

Sitting in the peace and quiet of each other was only going to last (and help) for so long. After another moment of quiet deliberation, Patton was speaking—softly and with no sense of pressure—again;

“Do you…want to talk about it?”

The request was innocent, Logan knew that, but he shook his head. He really did not want to relive the past ten minutes so early in the morning.

Patton sighed quietly, before nodding. “Alright. Think you can get back to sleep?”

That was something he was less sure about, but it seemed there was no true harm in trying. He was exhausted, that much was obvious. Emotionally and physically drained.

“Yeah.”

There was an understanding shared between them and Patton handed Logan his glasses. There was that lingering heaviness in the air, but it was going to be like that for a while anyhow.

Trauma lingered and continually affected one’s day to day life. To expect Logan to just immediately heal because he was home would be absurd and irrational.

No matter how much it hurt Patton’s heart to see him loved one so distressed, the only thing he could do was support him. Ease him through the nightmares and continually prove himself a worthy and safe presence.

Without saying anything else and just as Patton was beginning to stand, the lightest knock from their bedroom door caught their attention. Virgil stood in the doorway, his over sized hoodie draped over his shoulders as he held tightly to a blanket like it was a tether. The little one also had his sleeve stuck in his mouth, a nervous habit.

Logan belatedly realized that it was the blanket he had made the boy for his fourth birthday.

The two adults watched as the little boy’s eyes moved between them, obviously reading the situation. They seemed to grow even sadder when what was happening registered. 

Virgil was incredibly perceptive, which was admittedly an important trait in a borrower, but this only proved how much harder it was to hide things from him. Especially when he knew what to look for.

“Hey kid,” Logan croaked, his voice was practically gone by this point in the night. He raised a hand and waved as an invitation for Virgil to come in.

As soon as he had been given permission, Virgil immediately went to his fathers and sunk down to his knees, crawling into Logan’s arms and letting himself be held.

While it was reassuring and comforting for Virgil, Logan also felt better. Being able to hold his son so close, to cradle him in his arms. To feel the rise and fall of his breaths and the light patter of his heartbeat. It was solidifying the idea that he was truly back home, that this wasn’t his mind playing tricks on him.

His hold tightened unconsciously on the kid and Virgil responded by holding tighter to his father.

It was almost as if Logan was trying to shield Virgil from the horrors that he had seen. The horrors of the human world and their disgusting wants and needs. His son would never see that side of humanity, not if he had anything to say about. The most that Virgil would see would be the students that attended the University—at least the students only complained about midterms, homework and early mornings.

The third hand that suddenly appeared on Logan’s back surprised him slightly, but he leaned into the touch as well.

He was safe and the images he had seen were just that; images.

He did feel a twinge in his chest when he realized what had brought Virgil in here in the first place. It meant that Logan’s panic had been loud enough to wake him, even with his room down the hall. But the genuine concern that the boy had to come and see if he was doing okay was kind. Certainly something that Virgil had picked up from Patton, undoubtedly.

Patton stroked his fingers through Virgil’s hair a couple times, watching as he just seemed to melt into Logan’s embrace, the tired features were hidden in his shoulder.

“Let’s get you two back to bed, hmm?”

Logan’s eyes turned to Patton as his husband smiled lightly, sadly but genuine. He could agree that getting to bed would be the most logical course of action, as it certainly was not the time to be awake.

Patton pushed himself off of his knees and Logan was soon to follow, however a bit slower as he tried not to shift Virgil too much. He wasn’t sure if the kid was asleep or not, but he didn’t want to disturb him either way. Then there was the task of getting him back to bed.

As the blanket slid from Virgil’s hand, Logan was quick to attempt to get it before Patton picked it up for him.

“Mm,” the voice from his shoulder mumbled quietly. “Papa?”

Logan hummed in response, showing that he was listening. “Yes, Virgil?”

Virgil shifted his head a little bit, enough so that he could see the underside of his father’s jaw. “Can I stay here with you and Dad tonight?”

Logan didn’t even have to look at Patton to know the answer to that. “Of course you can,” he adjusted him a little bit more, so he could hold onto him a bit more comfortably and securely.

The bed that they had was big enough for three people, especially when one of those three was a six-year-old boy.

After a bit of readjusting the bed—since Logan had nearly torn it apart in his panic to get away—he set Virgil down beside Patton and immediately, Virgil clung onto him.

The sight was what gave him pause. It was what made him stop for a minute and really see just how lucky he was to be there in that moment.

To see his boys curled up together, safe and comfortable.

The grin that twitched the edges of his lips was genuine. Pulling his glasses off and setting them off to the side, Logan pulled at the comforter before slipping underneath as well. He wrapped his arms around both Virgil and Patton and tugged them both closer to him.

Logan was insanely lucky to be back home. He had watched countless others get adopted from the same cage he had been in, shared brief farewells with other borrowers who were never seen again. The thought was heavy and uncomfortable, but being able to say he was alive.

To be able to say that he was home.

That was what mattered the most.

[tss-ragnarok-au]

Chapter 2

Warnings: Swearing, Death mentions, Food/Eating, Sleep deprivation

Word Count: 1,333

Author’s Note: A wild Virge has appeared!

Virgil was absolutely 100% fucked. There was no way he was getting out of this one. Being lost in the woods was one thing, eventually, if he kept walking in one direction long enough, he’d make it out. Being lost and alone with something following him in the woods was something else entirely.  Oh, and the last few days he’d been hearing voices! That was new. So he’d decided, why not? Let’s follow the voices.�� 

Unfortunately, whatever was following him also found that idea just swell. Therefore, still screwed. 

So he carried on as death loomed over him, he knew it would come, but he didn’t know when, and at this point giving up was just sad. It was like high school. Nine months ago he wouldn’t have said anything was worse than high school but this qualified. Wasn’t worse than gym though. 

Still, the gym didn’t have underbrush that trips you up and tree branches that grab at your legs. The monster was closer than ever… should he really start running now? Shit- yeah he should start running. He got about two steps into that plan before he rammed into a disturbingly warm tree. Wide blue eyes blinked at him in surprise.

Not a tree, not a tree. 

“You’re human!” The person(?) said as a huge smile split his(?) face. Wow, he(?) really did look like another kid… but looks can be deceiving.

“And what are you?” Virgil hissed, pulling out of reach.

“Patton!” The kid held out his hand but Virgil didn’t move, “Oh, I’m human too.” 

Before Virgil could decide what to do with the outstretched hand, a garbled growl sounded from behind him, making him whip around and accidentally stumble backwards into… Patton.

“Oh, excuse me for a moment.” the strange boy stepped in front of Virgil, in between him and the pair of glowing eyes glinting from the trees. “Would you please leave us be?” Patton then proceeded to throw a very large rock quite violently  in the direction of the eyes. One dull thunk and a whimper later, whatever had been following Virgil all this way was gone. Just like that. Made Virgil feel real good about himself. 

“Hey kiddo, do you have somewhere to stay? My friend and I are living right around here, and we’ve got plenty of room.” That wasn’t suspicious. Let’s invite the bumbling idiot that just proved himself entirely incompetent to our secret hideout. Either this boy was stupid, tricking him, or he was way too nice. As much as Virgil wished it was nice, he was gonna go with stupid or evil. Still…

“You have a base?”

“Well,” Patton chuckled, “I dunno about ‘base’ it seems a bit too cozy for that title!”

Cozy. Virgil’s legs quivered at the word. All the adrenaline that had been keeping him going rushed out of him. “Cozy”. It emanated warmth, and happiness. Being wrapped in blankets. Pillow fights. Laughter. Being safe. Feeling home. It was an awful idea to trust something that felt so good. It had to be a trap, it had to be! But it had been days since Virgil had slept. Weeks since he’d had a blanket or a pillow… or a bed. He was afraid he might collapse, or worse, cry, if he tried to resist the offer. All his bitter memories that had sprouted from foolish trust, faded to nothing more than fuzzy sparks of feeling. Not nearly enough to stop him as he nodded. As he allowed Patton to lead him back to a decrepit mansion of a cabin. As he fell deep into the soft blankets, pillows, and dreams.

***

Shit. So.. Virgil might as well accept his demise. Gods he was so stupid! Falling asleep, unprotected, in someone else’s house, he just had to-

There was someone in the corner of the room. It wasn’t even the boy he saw before (unless it totally was because that boy was a shapeshifting monster who was about to eat his brains). Somehow, the figure hadn’t noticed him. He was staring intently at a wall. So Virgil’s brain said, hey, we’re gonna die anyways and decided the best thing to do was get his attention.

“Uh, hi.” Virgil hadn’t noticed how dry his throat was. The words barely came out as a croak. He swallowed and tried again. “Hello?”

The guy (Virgil was gonna call him Sean, he looked like a Sean) in the corner snapped out of his haze. “Hello.” they were in awkward silence for a moment before Sean added, “I’ve never seen someone sleep for twenty five hours before.”

Virgil wasn’t quite sure what he was going to say but it didn’t much matter because his voice refused to function. 

“Logan, by the way,” Sean said, handing him a large glass of water.

Virgil resisted the urge to gulp it all down (last time he’d made that mistake he thought he was having a heart attack), but the water tasted so sweet and cool. He restrained himself to a small sip, and chose his first word to be-

“What?”

“That’s my name.”

“Oh, that’s better than Sean”

“Pardon?”

“Nothing! I just, er...yeah, nothing.”

Logan made eye contact and Virgil could immediately feel the older boy staring into his soul. He suddenly felt like he was about to get detention. Logan broke the stare and gave a small smile.

“And your name?” Virgil figured, eh, they hadn’t killed him when he was entirely defenseless for over a day, they got to know his name.

“Virgil.”

“Funny,” Logan stood to leave, “I had you pinned as a Brandon.”

Virgil could only stare at the closed door. Okay, so maybe Logan was cool.

***

Staring at a closed door suddenly becomes much more exciting when the door opens. It becomes infinitely more exciting when the person who opened it has cookies. The chocolate chip cookies smelled as warm as Patton’s smile. Virgil didn’t trust that smile yet, as much as he wanted to, but his stomach was rumbling and if his mouth watered any more he would choke. You see, Virgil was fully aware at this point that he had made several poor decisions, so what’s just one more in the good name of cookies? So he sat up straighter (heh) and tried his best to stare even harder at the delicious platter.

“Are you sure the first things he should be eating a-” Logan’s voice coming from somewhere downstairs was cut off by Patton innocently shutting the door (so they were definitely different people). 

“Do ya-” he paused for a moment noticing how intensely Virgil was eyeing the baked goods, “Do you want a cookie?” he finished, just a hint of fear in his voice. 

“YesIwouldlikeacookie” Dammit Virgil, you desperate sweet-toothed bitch. Patton, apparently amused by Virgil’s cookie-simping antics, picked out the largest and most buttery of the cookies. Dear lord, Virgil might cry. Every instinct in him was screaming, a warm bed, a place to stay, and cookies? It had to be too good to be true. It probably was. More importantly though, he now had a cookie. 

It was even better than he could have ever imagined. However stubbornly agnostic Virgil was, the only way he could describe the cookie was heavenly. In all honesty he could have gone on for hours about it, how the butter felt like sunlight shining through a window onto a velvety carpet, where you could lay for hours, how the melted chocolate chips made his heart warm like a fireplace too late at night casting a soft orange glow over laughing faces. (I’ll spare you the rest).

In short, it was tasty. 

And it wasn’t poisoned.

Actually Logan and Patton had made exactly zero attempts on his life. And… Virgil really needed a safe place to live if until everything blows over. He choked down his anxiety and just asked

“Would you...er, can-can I stay here? Like, for a while?”

This time Patton’s grin was a whole lot less scary. 

***

Asks are now open for Virgil too!

***

@whats-up-kiddos @ananonsplace @ollyollyoxinfree @arya-skywalker and @supernovainthenightsky could you let me know if y’all want me to keep tagging you?

[omgjasminesimone]

Juvenile Delinquents Part 1

Logan x MC (Ellie)

Summary: Ride or Die AU. Logan’s day started out routine, but it ended with mugshots.

Next Part: Part 2

Word Count: 1600

Logan sighs as he drums his fingers on the steering wheel. He hates the waiting, it makes him anxious, too much time to think and allow his nervous energy to build up.

He switches on the radio to have something to drown out his buzzing thoughts, flipping through several stations before settling on 90s West Coast hip hop.

“Logan, it’s time.” Kaneko’s voice comes in clearly through Logan’s earpiece.

“Okay, I’m ready.” Logan replies, revving his Devore’s engine before peeling out of the parking lot at top speed.

In short order, he catches up to the rest of the crew. Kaneko, in the just stolen sports car they’ve been targeting. Mona drives her own convertible to his right, Ximena is in a pickup truck to his left, and Toby is just in front in his favorite Italian import car of the year.

Logan falls into place in the back, completing their diamond formation.

“No one saw you pretty boy?” Mona asks. He can faintly hear the Lebanese traditional music playing in her car through his ear piece.

“Nope. Got to the parking lot without anyone tailing me, and peeled out quick.” Logan answers, unable to mask his cocky tone.

“That’s my boy.” Kaneko praises.

“Uh oh.” Toby mutters.

“That can’t be good.” Ximena replies.

“I’m picking up cops on my scanner boss. Coming up on the 405 South fast.” Toby informs.

“Damn it. Everyone, take the next exit.” Kaneko directs. They all merge right to exit the freeway.

“Shit, they’re expecting us boss.” Toby is still in front, so he’s the first to see the police spikes set up across the asphalt.

“Bet they’re not expecting this.” Mona mutters, engaging the modified spike proof tires Toby installed and driving through the spikes, dragging them along after her car.

The others quickly fly out of the opening Mona has created, and the police give chase.

They use all their usual tricks to try to shake them, but the Mercy Park Crew has been very active lately, and it seems the police have been studying up on their tactics.

“God damn it, I’m running low on gas.” Kaneko informs his crew.

“What do we do boss?” Ximena asks.

“Logan, I need you to peel off, let them catch you to buy us some time.” Kaneko directs.

Logan blanches, gripping his steering wheel tight. “But then I’ll have a record. They’ll have my prints. Know who I am. I’ll be fucked.”

“You’re 17. It will be a juvenile offense, while the rest of us will definitely get prison time. You’ll get off easier. You’re the only one who can do it.” Kaneko explains.

“But-“ Logan starts.

“Logan.” Kaneko interrupts, and his tone informs Logan he’s not asking.

Logan sighs, peeling off from the others as he takes a right on La Cienega. “Will you make sure someone picks up my car when they impound it?” Logan asks.

“I’ve got you Logan.” Ximena promises.

“Thanks.” Logan replies, turning off his headset as he leads some of the police away on a high-speed chase. He circles back and runs a red light, causing one of the cops to crash into the ones still pursuing the crew. But he’s going so fast that he can’t make the next turn, slamming into a pole.

Logan groans as he tries to remove himself from his dented in car. There’s a lot of damage, but he knows the crew will be able to fix it.

“Get out of the car with your hands raised!” A cop yells, and Logan can see he’s pointing a gun at him through his rear-view mirror.

“I can’t! The door is dented in!” Logan shouts back, raising his hands so the cop can see he doesn’t have any weapons.

Several cops approach, guns raised, to remove him from his vehicle. As soon as he’s out, they cuff him and force him into a patrol car.

…

Logan toys with the bandage wrapped around his forehead to stem the bleeding from his head hitting the windshield as he surveys the police station.

It’s busy. Phones ringing, cops dragging resisting criminals to cells, people being processed with fingerprints and mugshots.

It seems like there’s so much going on, that if he could get his wrist out of the hand cuff chaining him to the bench, he could make a run for it. He experimentally tries to squeeze his hand free, but the cuffs are too tight. He sighs. Guess it’s time to face the consequences of his actions.

“Oh my God Jason, you don’t have to forcefully restrain me, I’m not going anywhere.” An airy voice complains.

It’s a girl who looks to be around his age. She’s pretty, with long brown hair and matching brown eyes. She looks too innocent to require the tight grip the detective has on her arm, dressed in a Langston College sweatshirt and jeans.

“Yeah right, like I’d fall for that, again.” Jason replies, forcefully pulling her over to get fingerprinted.

Logan leans back against the wall, closing his eyes as he tries to drown out the loud cacophony of sounds so he can think. What’s his next step after this? He’s got ID on him with his real name, so they’re going to know who he is, and have his prints, and be able to track him back through foster care records.

Will they try to force him back into a group home? He’ll just run away, again, so hopefully they don’t bother.

Is Kaneko going to let him back into the crew? Seems like that would be an unnecessary risk that Kaneko’s not going to be willing to take. But Kaneko can’t just cut him loose either, he knows too much. He doesn’t think Kaneko would hurt him, but he might send him away. Back to Michigan maybe? Logan doesn’t want that.

“What are you in for?” The pretty girl he noticed earlier asks.

Logan is startled to find her sitting beside him on the police precinct’s cold metal bench. She hadn’t been there a second ago.

He looks her over, measuring whether or not she’s harmless. She quirks an eyebrow at his silence. “Hablas ingles?” She asks.

“Yeah, I speak English.” Logan replies. He doesn’t know much Spanish, despite his father allegedly being Salvadoran according to his birth certificate. All his foster parents spoke English, so he only picked up the Spanish basics once he realized people were always going to look at him and assume he speaks the language.

The girl smiles at him, and when she speaks again, he notices a peek of silver in her mouth, a tongue piercing. Guess she’s not as clean cut and innocent as he first clocked her to be.

“So, what are you in for?” She repeats.

“I thought you weren’t supposed to ask people that in here.” Logan responds warily, and the girl lets out a laugh.

“So, I take it you’re a first timer then.” She quips cheerily.

Logan glances down at the pink nail polish adorning the girl’s fingers, the charm bracelet on her delicate wrist. As he looks up into her innocent looking face, a few freckles dotting her tan skin, he has a hard time wrapping his mind around a girl like her being in a place like this.

“And I take it you’re not.” Logan finally replies, and her lips turn up in a grin as the two teenagers stare each other down.

“Fucking hell, Eleanor. Again?! Really?!” An officer interrupts, storming up to the teens.

The girl, Eleanor, he supposes, rolls her brown eyes. “Calm down Dad.”

 The Detective’s face becomes red with anger at his daughter’s flippant attitude. “I will not calm down! You’re out of control. Drugs, Eleanor?! Really?!” He yells. The other cops desperately try to ignore the scene he’s creating.

“Prescription drugs.” Eleanor stresses. “It’s really not that big of a deal. If Ingrid wasn’t such a snitch, everything would have been fine.”

“Is this a cry for help Eleanor? Selling prescription drugs at school? I can’t get you out of this, not this time. Ever since your mother died-“

“This isn’t about Mom. This was about making enough money so I could pay LA rent and not have to live with you anymore! You treat me like a child, you’re overbearing!” Eleanor yells back.

“Maybe I would treat you like an adult if you acted like one!” The Detective yells back. His daughter shoots him an icy glare in return, and Logan watches as he closes his eyes before taking a deep breath, trying to compose himself. His attention turns to Logan.

He uncuffs Logan from the bench, gripping his arm and leading him over to be fingerprinted. “Hands up.” The Detective orders gruffly, and Logan reluctantly complies. The Detective frisks him, coming upon his wallet. The Detective rifles through it, quickly finding Logan’s license. “Logan Sanchez?”

Logan nods, and the Detective writes the name onto his paperwork. He takes Logan’s wrist, forcing his fingers to the ink pad and then rolling each finger over the fingerprint paperwork.

“Wheeler, mugshots. You know the drill.” Another cop calls. Eleanor hops off the bench, smiling cheekily as her mugshot is taken. Her father shakes his head as she blows the camera a kiss for her last frame.

The cop she called Jason grips her upper arm again, leading her away. She turns back toward Logan. “See you inside!” She says with a wink before Jason tugs harder, forcing her to walk.

Her father frowns as he turns to look at Logan. His look conveys his belief that Logan is going to be a problem. He grips his arm, rougher than Logan thinks is necessary, and positions him in front of the camera.

Unlike Eleanor, Logan doesn’t smile for the camera.

taglist:  @choicesarehard​ @ifyouseekheart​ @brightpinkpeppercorn​ @regina-and-happiness​ @drakexnadira​ @flyawayboo​ @fairydustandsarcasm​ @alesana45​ @umiumichan​ @maxwellsquidsuit​ @lahelable​ @god-save-the-keen @mrsmckenziesworld @paisleylovergirl​ @iplaydrake​ @sinclaire-made-me-sin​ @choicesgremlin​ @lovehugsandcandy​ @desiree-0816​ @cora-nova​ @justdani14​ @emceesynonymroll​ @emichelle​ @badchoicesposts​ @client-327 @riverrune​ @liamzigmichael4ever​ @princessstellaris​ @mrskaneko @anxious-arliah​

[lovelylogans]

Can I ask for more Rory salt? Right after finishing the show I didn't realize why everyone was so upset about her but now that I've rewatched I kind of understand. I'd like to hear more about your opinions on her! (Mostly bc I have 2 braincells so stuff like that flies over my head lol)

okay, granted, a Fair amount of my salt comes from the perspective of a journalism student, ie who they’re trying to portray, and also like. someone at a similar Point in their life, so. here we go. rory Salt.

like i will say she isn’t like, bonafide the Worst Character of all time, but like...... okay. like. this tracks back to one of my original and largest gripes with gilmore girls, and also a large reason of why i like the earlier seasons better than the later ones.

this post explains it very well; the early seasons (and first episodes) of gilmore girls seem to promise healing, moving forward, bettering familial relationships. the actuality of gilmore girls is the repetition of mistakes and things continuing in cycles, and often getting worse.

so, like. rory. rory’s character is established as this sweet, innocent, naive kid, with a fairly decent work ethic and big dreams to aspire to journalism and a certain level of fame (like christine amanpour, i think was the journalist she mentioned in the first day at chilton ep?) she’s smart, quiet, beginning to establish a relationship with her parents, but still a bit uncomfortable within the realm of chilton/privilege—i think this is best exemplified within the debutante episode, in which she’s uncomfortable with the premise, but goes through with it for the sake of making emily happy. same with the golfing episode with richard—she has zero interest in golf, but she gets to spend a day with her grandfather, and she wants to establish that relationship with him.

but then there’s that thing kicking in, in which gilmore girls is essentially a cyclical tragedy; rory gradually becomes more confident in herself and her abilities (becoming valedictorian, going up against paris for the speech on cspan) and in her relationship with boys; she goes after jess, and, once he leaves, lets him go and eventually is like “you shouldn’t have left me. but i’m saying goodbye to you, on my terms.” i think that s3 is where her character is strongest; she’s still sweet and shy, but she has a bit of an edge. she’s caring toward her friends, she, sure, makes the occasional mistake, but she eventually rallies from them. that’s when i like rory’s character best.

rory starts her decline in season four. this dates back to the whole cyclical thing; she’s the one who goes to her grandparents for money, echoing the original premise of the show, and a cycle starts anew. she goes to another new, prestigious school (yale) where she’s pushed to new limits. 

but rory makes mistakes. she stands up for herself, yes, namely taylor when he pushes for her to be ice cream queen, but she also has a certain level of... entitlement, i suppose. like. let’s take “die, jerk.”

(i’m gonna go briefly into a journalistic tangent here, which is especially heaped by the fact i’ve been writing a lot of reviews lately. also, it applies.)

so, first of all, she takes her mom to her job. her mom. literally think about every other job in the world and, barring a “family day” at the office, please name a situation in which that’s acceptable. right? there’s basically no other situation in which that’s a thing you do when you’re being professional. (this is a repeated gripe, by the way; she often brings lorelai along. this could have been achieved with some phone calls where she hangs up and then does her job. but i digress. this goes into a whole rant on how women in journalism are portrayed in tv shows and other media, but seriously, i digress.)

then there’s the review itself. it’s mean.

“she has the grace of a drunken dock worker.” compared her to a hippo. “the roll around the bra strap,” the line about regretting how evolution had led man to stand on two feet because it led to this night. the ballerina comes to yell at her, which is wrong, but holy god, that never even should have been published. sure, it’s partially the fault of doyle, who as an editor should have stepped in, said, “rewrite the holy hell out of this,” and given her a talking-to on how reviewing should be about the performance and not body-shaming her, because yes you can give things a bad review but not to that level, but rory is the one who wrote it. and she only begins to seem apologetic when people start to react to it other than doyle; the ballerina, her mom, emily and richard. this happens a few times throughout—rory (and lorelai) never seem to realize how mean they can get until people start reacting to what they’re doing and saying. 

she’s willing to write those things, read them, have other people read them, and put them out into the public, and doesn’t even consider the potential ramifications that it could have had on not only the dancer, but the ballet performance (which gets shut down, in part due to rory’s review) the costumer, the crew, everyone involved. yes, bad reviews exist, and yes, they can be brutal, but they’re almost never so personally vindictive and mean. she says she’s writing her opinion. look at how harsh that opinion is.

that’s part of why my opinion of rory takes a decline; being mean. another part of it is a certain level of entitlement.

because the revival is on my brain lately, let’s talk revival stuff. making it as a freelance journalist is hard. it’s hard work. it isn’t for a lot of people. especially in new york city, where the industry is so competitive that finding a job in journalism is a whole Thing. rory has a piece in the new yorker (not bad!) and is writing a piece for gq (also not bad, not bad at all!) about people waiting in line for a certain event.

now. let’s take, like, season four/season five rory, who compiled like three separate PILES of research for a story that wasn’t even hers, worked hard enough at chilton, a highly academically competitive school, to get valedictorian. rory is portrayed as a hard worker. she does what’s necessary for the job and to improve.

revival? whoosh, out the window!

she falls asleep during an interview for the gq job. she continually jets off to london to go see logan. she’s completely unprepared for a job interview, having absolutely zero ideas for any stories, despite the fact that freelance journalists are almost always working multiple stories and coming up with new ideas so they can, y’know, get paid. chilton offers her a job as a teacher if she gets her masters, but she turns it down, which, on one hand, sure, follow your dreams, on the other, if you’re continually complaining that you’ll take a job, ANY job, and get a very good job handed to you on a silver platter with the potential for more growth post that job with the addition of your masters and DON’T TAKE IT?!?!?!

plus, in the job interview, when she doesn’t get it, UNDERSTANDABLY, she calls the interviewer angrily saying that the interviewer practically promised her the job, despite the fact that it was a PRELIMINARY JOB INTERVIEW and there are OTHER CANDIDATES who DEFINITELY AT LEAST HAD STORY IDEAS. no matter how impressive your resume is, you have to at least show that you’re trying, because the whole thing in journalism (esp for those breaking into a business) is that EVERYONE has an extensive resume. that’s part of why it’s so competitive.

and still complains that she’s broke, in addition to the trust fund that we know she received at 25, plus whatever money richard left her in his will. if she was broke, she’d be living entirely above her means—those continual trips to london, living in a sizeable one-bedroom apartment in NEW YORK CITY, going out to eat very often. 

and then just??? i could ramble more (the whole sleeping with a MARRIED DEAN thing, her partnership with logan, i could go back in and ramble about how the body-shaming is continual despite the fact that they frequently eat fattening foods and make fun of sports and are only so thin bc, well, tv magic, but also because they have Miraculous metabolisms, the way that they treat their friends, to some extent, but. yeah. here is some Rory Salt.)

[rosepetals-flyingbirds]

Tortured Souls. (6)

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Reader.

Summary: Y/N Stark is being chased and accused of a crime she didn’t commit, what happens when the person behind all of this possesses her very own face.

<<

(Gifs go to their rightful owners.)

Warnings: None.

Word Count: 5,400

Compound.

Steve was in the main living room with Sam watching the game when it went to the commercial and a Break News red sign appeared.

The reporter started to talk about the game so Sam stood up and walked to the kitchen to grab more beer in the fridged. “The SHIELD building in Washington has been invaded a few days ago, our reporter Samantha is in the local and will tell us what happened.” Sam stopped his tracks and walked back to watch the television.

The reporter was in front of SHIELD's building in Washington D.C, the lady told about how a dozen workers died in an invasion that occurred in an attempt to free a prisoner.

A picture of Artem appeared on the screen. “The prisoner is called Artem Melnikov, he is a Ukrainian that the Avengers and Shield’s agents got in an old HYDRA’s base in the middle of Russia. As you may know, Hydra is a militaristic and science division of the Nazi and was created by the German Baron Wolfgang von Strucker. Strucker isn't alive anymore and SHIELD told the world that neither Hydra was, but the event in years prior showed how a few important people of SHIELD were related to HYDRA organization. 

The last information the world received was of James Buchanan Barnes, the Winter Soldier.” Steve crossed his arms. “Barnes was accused to kill the king of Wakanda T'Chaka and a lot of other victims over the years. The man was the very own friend of Steve Rogers, Captain America himself. Our sources don’t know where Barnes is right now but the last time he was in the public eyes was in a court where the judge declared him innocent. Could it be possible to Barnes be behind all of this?” Sam shook his head, people didn’t know shit about Bucky and yet everyone loved to call him the bad guy. 

“Our sources managed to grab a few footages of the night of invasion here on SHIELD, the young woman clearly is Y/N Stark, daughter of the billionaire Tony Stark also known as the Iron Man. Apparently it doesn’t matter how much money do you have, children will always try to take their parents' attention, right? Back to you Trevor.” She said and Steve wanted to punch the TV.

Sam put the TV in mute and scratched his scalp, “Godamn it, now her face is plastered around the country.”

Steve nodded and took a deep breath. “We knew it was going to happen, how Fury let that leak?” He asked pissed.

Sam shrugged and looked at the TV that showed the victim's pictures and their relatives crying at the funeral. “Maybe he didn’t, you know has other people inside there that are important, and I don’t know… Maybe it was one of the victims’ relatives that wanted revenge and then,” He pointed to the TV. “That happened. Do you know where Stark is?”

Clicking his fingernails against his knees Steve darted his eyes to Sam. “He said something as grabbing some evidence in Turkey, I don’t know what.” He looked at the television again and an old lady was crying and yelling asking for justice.

Sam felt bad about the scene and knew Steve was feeling the same. They were Avengers and their work was to bring justice and hope. “We better call him.”

The game got back but neither of them had the head to watch it. “He probably knows by now.”

Tony.

Tony was flying through Turkey and went to meet one man he had hired to find some old documents.

He met the man in a cafe, he was in a hurry so he spoke with the man and grabbed all the information when his phone vibrated.

It was your name and a set of small alive videos of random News Programs talking about you. He sucked his breath and cursed Fury for letting these pieces of information leak that way. Tony touched the device and told the men his job was done and the money was on his account.

He got back at the hotel he was staying and opened his suitcase at the floor stepping on it making the Iron Man armor mold perfectly on his body.

He flew through the windows heading back to the States specifically to Washington searching Fury. ‘Nick Fury is calling sir.’ FRIDAY announced. 

Tony answered and before Fury could answer Tony was yelling at him. 

“Calm down! I didn’t give them her information, neither Everett.”

“Well someone clearly did, so what you don’t know about your people whereabouts or sources?”

“I’m sorry but whose daughter is being hunted?” Tony rolled his eyes. “Where are you?”

“Flying to Washington, I need to talk with you personally.”

“I’m not there, are you on a jet or in your armor?”

“What difference that makes,” Tony asked annoyed.

“Can you stop playing and tell me, if you are in your armor come to Logan in Utah, surely your armor will find the coordinates, you can also track this call if it makes it any easier.”

Tony argued a bit more but ended agreeing to his request and flew through Logan-Utah, he saw Fury there and landed outside a cafe that seemed empty, Fury probably sent everyone away saying he would have some government confidential meeting.

Tony kept using the armor but without the face part. “This brings me memories.” Fury scoffed and entered the place, Tony following behind.

Fury sat in the secluded booth and Tony sat in front of him, it had pancakes and coffee above the table. “This is how I’ll die? You’ll poison me? Or is just some sort of truth elixir that will make me tell you my deepest and weirds secrets, do you want to know how was the night I lost my virginity? Urgh, it was gross, do you know that-” Fury’s face was serious and clearly annoyed by Tony’s words. “Maybe you don’t.”

Fury sweetened his coffee and started to drink and Tony did the same. “I called you to say that I wasn’t the person that leaked Y/N’s information. Not anyone I know either, I said she would be in home confinement and I wouldn’t sell private information to the media. You know I keep my promises!”

Tony drank his coffee and stared at Fury’s wondering.

“All of them?”

He sighed. “Tell me one goddamn time I had lied to you or broke a promise.”

Tony rolled his eyes. “Listen I’m trying to save Y/N okay? How come you can’t believe she is innocent on this?”

Fury rubbed his face. “Stark, you haven't been around in that world much okay?! The majority of your life you’d spent in parties and ignoring everything important surrounding you. And as you may remember we get betrayed in that world, a lot. I’m sorry she is your daughter. You know I consider her as a friend too.” He said.

“Let’s be honest, do you think she would do that with us? You know her since she was 13 years old for God’s sakes, actually was that sneak eye of yours that made her start in that crazy world, if you hadn’t praised her skills, and she stood at home or safe and sound avoiding this life she probably wouldn’t have to go all kamikaze in Russia.” He said clearly pissed you had chose that life.

Fury rubbed the brow as if to ward off a headache. “Oh come on, when I first saw her she was beating your ex-bodyguard ass in a boxing ring in the middle of the living room.” He pointed. “I wasn’t the one that inserted her into that life, we both recognize she would go after them with or without the knowledge I helped her build. She is a great agent, one of the best actually. But just because we all care about her it doesn’t mean that she feels the same.“

Tony ate a few bites of his pancakes and was tapping a foot under the table, very annoyed about the topic. “Then what? Are you saying she is guilty and is trying to screw our lives by selling Hydra our information?” His lower lip quivered. “Not my Y/N. I’m sorry you had a lot of disappointments in your life, I did too, but I’m sure she isn’t guilty. And you should too.” Fury nodded, he knew Tony would say it.

Fury took a sip of his coffee and shared a silence questioning his next words, he didn’t know if he should say it and help you even somehow indirectly. “I found something, on the footage on the night of the invasion in D.C I used a mixture of two programs and,” He grabbed a small blue device out of his big coat and opened the video, Tony scoffed and opened his mouth ready to say he had seen the videos hundreds of times but Fury cut his words. “Shut up and watch it,” He played the video and then Fury clicked in a few words on the side of the screen, then the video froze and when Fury zoomed it the left side of ‘your’ face was sort of blurry, it wasn’t the cameras since Shield use A1 technology, it was something out of it. “I analyzed other random people with the same illumination and hour on the cameras but none had that weird effect on their faces.”

Tony took a deep breath and smiled. “Great now you are on our side, took you long enough.” He let a relaxed puff of air and enjoyed his pancakes, it wasn’t easy to use the fork with the ‘iron hand’ so he took it off.

“I still don’t trust her.” Fury said.

Tony placed the fork on the plate and swallowed the bits that were in his mouth. “Really? You just said it wasn’t her, what other reasons do you want?”

“She is smart and makes the best tactics, she might have contracted someone just to put us exactly where we are.”

Tony rolled his eyes. “You know what, you think you are so intelligent and forward of everyone else's but you are just crazy. This isn’t a movie Fury, what can’t you just believe her?”

Pinching his nose Fury tried to find a good reason to make Tony open his eyes. “Because people aren’t victim’s Stark, people are psychotic and you know her parents had a record of drug use, maybe her mother had used and it had hit her brain inside the womb and with that transforms her in a sociopath or psychopath. You know this happens.” Tony's brow furrowed completely mad at his words.

Tony gnashed his teeth in the mention of something so insulting. “You are an idiot for saying those things, you like to believe you have control of everything while she is just a young girl being incriminated by something she did not commit!” Tony's voice was raising in each word. His hands trembling.

“You are right, I didn’t mean in that way.”

“Send me that version of the video, it will help me with the judge and with the whole court process.”

Nodding, but with a tightness to it, like he was holding back from saying something else. “Speaking about it she won’t be able to stay at home confinement much longer, I will go to the Compound later to talk with her.” Fury said and finished his coffee, Tony kept quiet eating his food which made Fury sense something was wrong. “She is there right?” He asked.

“Y/N? I don’t know we are not really intimate right now,” He answered quickly and chewed the last of the pancakes pushing the plate further in the table, Fury shook his head knowing Tony was hiding something. “What?” He tried to play coy.

“She isn’t." Fury shook his head. “I do all in my power to help you two and this is what I receive?” He spoke throwing his hands up.

Tilting his head to the ceiling and letting out a heavy sigh Tony stuttered before finding the right words. “I’m serious I don’t know if she is in the Compound, we fought because of her stupid decision and I’m not really staying at home or going in the Compound,” He moved his hands to his armor.

Fury studied his face. “You know I can read all your facial signs right? Where is she?”

Tony shook his head and looked at Fury’s ‘device’ above the table. “Isn’t you that have her anklet coordinates?”

Fury rolled his eyes. “Stark, Y/N is a criminal and I’m putting my head in the middle of the crossfire to help even though I don’t believe her innocence in all of this.”

Tony rolled his eyes and propped his left arm on the table propping his head on his hand.

Fury saw his annoyed face and felt angry about how Tony always get annoyed when he didn’t get what he wants like a spoiled infant.

“Contrary to your belief, you are not the center of my universe! So if you truly consider I’ll lose my job and my whole career to make you happy you’re really really wrong.”

“Fury, all I ask is for you to hear her out, okay, please! She is the girl that saved your ass in that mission you went with. She is the girl that helped Nat when she started having anxiety. She is the girl that spent six whole days in the hospital when Sam got into a coma. Do you think she will be the one that will sell information to HYDRA? And besides that, she really cares about Steve and… and the other guy, which both had suffered by HYDRA. Do you truly believe she is guilty? Search the truth in your heart.”

Fury squeezed his eyes. “‘The truth in your heart’? Why the hell you said that? Is a t-shirt or something?” Tony gave him the look of ‘come on’. “I want to believe in her, Tony. But what if she is guilty and in the end, she will go away with them and leave us behind? I can’t risk my career out of a friendship.”

“What is more important reputation and people who care about you?”

Fury scoffed. “Are you reading those help-books she bought for you?” Tony laughed, Fury did too. “I’ll talk with her, let’s see if she can convince me.”

Y/N.

You had set all your clothes and a few research items in the room, you looked around the place and did almost every possible thing.

It was dark outside and Bucky hasn't got back yet. You started to create scenarios in your head where he regrets the almost kiss and are running away scared that you’ll confront him about it.

Jordan was with Barsi and you had made sure that the place would be a safe place for animals, you surely could use some love now so you placed a pair of boots on your feet and walked out the place searching the separated spot where the dogs and other animals should be.

Five minutes more into the woods you found what you were looking for.

It has big shelters one for each type of animal, normally the cats found a way out and the sneaky creatures entered in the dog’s one but it was cool since they got well with each other.

The dogs were really calm, normally when someone got closer they would make a huge mash of sounds. You opened the outhouse and found what you weren’t looking for.

Bucky was sat on the floor with two dogs laid close to him with their heads in his lap, the others were quiet sleeping and looked really comfortable having him around.

One dog barked when saw you making all of the others too, Bucky got up in seconds like you were some sort of threat. The babies came running and you pet every one you could reach, Bucky placed his hands in the pockets of his pants and cleared his throat. “I fell asleep.”

“I noticed,” You laughed, “It’s late already, I wanted to see them again and since I found you, do you wanna eat something? I mean you had been out around... five hours, at least.”

“I lost count of time. It’s pretty awesome what you did here.” He referred to the animals.

You looked around seeing the big place had space for each one of them. “Yeah, I mean is sad the fact that I have to do so, but I adore seeing the pure joy on them.” He made a confused look. “I mean the fact that someone has to save them from bad people, stupid people who hate them.”

He nodded. “People are stupid.”

Jordan appeared in the outhouse holding a big dog food bag. “Oh hey.” He said, you thought you heard Bucky scoffing but it was probably something else. “Is time for their dinner.”

You looked at the big barrel where food has always been inside. “I thought their food stood here.”

“It does but I just got back from town with a few new bags, the old ones were almost empty.” He placed it in the floor and walked out of the place, he looked behind and saw you stopped there looking at the dogs that were more than happy to see Jordan. “Uau, I didn’t know the famous life made you lazy, help me get the rest princess.” Jordan joked and you rolled your eyes laughing.

You walked out and found the pickup truck. You got one bag and walked inside, Bucky got the food separating it in the plates helping in the process. “The cats have eaten already?”

Jordan separated the food with a perfect portion for each type of dog and nodded at Buck's work. “No, neither the horses. You can go there, but be careful with the yellow one, she just got back from surgery.” You nodded and walked out of the place, you shook your head to Bucky which he understood the meaning since he followed you.

You opened the place and saw the cats running around playing with their toys when you grabbed their food they started to meow all together making a huge mess. “Surgery?” Bucky asked trying to not trip on them.

“Maybe is castration, or something else…”

“Castration?”

“Yep, I make sure all of them get castrated. I hate the number of abandonment it has already so we don’t need to make it bigger. My point is if everyone castrated their cats and dogs, it wouldn’t have so many lost babies out there. I mean I know I help them here and in every state money can allow me, but it isn’t the same thing for them. They are supposed to be the 'man's best friend’ so having just one owner isn’t the same.” A one-legged kitty was amazed by Bucky’s pants.

He laughed and grabbed the poor things in his hand. “I agree.”

You scratched the kitty's chin and took her out of Bucky's chest placing the food pot in front of her face. “Good.”

Bucky was amazed at the animals there, he surely knew about the shelter you had in NYC. “How did you asked Tony to do those things? With the animals I mean.”

“Well, since being a Stark I’m what people can say 'filthy rich’ so rather than spending my money in plastic surgery or fancy clothes and a possible contract with famous people to get me 'Hollywood famous’ too,” You laughed at the ridiculously. “I rather spend with what truly matters. Animals, kids, countries where hunger and thirst is a strong characteristic… I just try to use the pros and power of money on things that truly matter.” Bucky swore his heart was beating even faster.

When all was done, you and Bucky got back to the dog's place.

The two of you helped with anything that Jordan needed an extra hand with.

And when it finished Bucky excused and got back to the house.

You kept brushing the horses with Jordan, who had a grin splattered on his face. “What?”

He shrugged “Nothing.” He replied with a smirk.

“Come on.” You tried.

He looked out the barn looking at the patch that leads to the house.

“He is jealous, of me and you.”

You shook your head and kept paying attention to your current task. “He is not.”

“Come on. He had been staring at me the whole time like I was about to pick a gun and shoot you two.”

You laughed and shrugged. “He is just being cautious… he, he is of the world that me and Tony live in.”

“He is the Winter Soldier. Of course, he is of that world of yours and Mr.Stark.” You widened your eyes, you didn’t suspect him to recognize Bucky. “Don’t worry, I know he was a victim of all the torture he had been through. And you know me, I won’t call the cops or anything.”

You calmed down. “I think it would be no use. He was declared innocent by the judge and he is a free man.” You finished brushing the third horse and changed their water.

Jordan finished grooming the last horse and walked away to wash the brush and his hands. “So nothing to worry about then.” You caressed the horse for the last time and walked to wash your hands too. “But I’m serious the way he looks at you and the threatening way he looks at me says something. What? You two had dated and it didn’t work?”

“Not quite. We are good friends and… and I don’t know I got injured on a mission and he sort of blocked me out of his life.”

“Hmmm, I assume the injury it was bad.”

“Someone shot me.” He widened his eyes, he knew how to use a gun but yet it was sort of unknown to him. “But I’m here aren’t I?”

“So what, you two will keep liking each other and will be silent about it.”

“What? Wait what do you think I like him?” You played innocent.

“Well, first of all, I don’t believe my friend would ever come back here with some guy that seems really nice and just be friend with him, and also the fact that you are talking about him with that sparkle in your eyes.” He pointed at you.

“Jordan we are in the middle of the night in a barn, the “sparkle” can be the lamp above our heads.” You pointed your fingers at the five bigs lamps it has there.

“Nah, I know that spark. It just appears when you truly care about someone.”

“What are you? A novel writer?” He laughed.

“All I’m saying is that even spending years away from me I know you too damn well to be able to recognize when you’re liking or loving someone.”

“Okay love is really a strong word.” You put emphasis on the really part.

“You don’t love him?” He asked teasingly.

“Of course, he is my friend.” He gave you the look. “Come on I have a lot of guy friends. Actually, the majority of them are men.”

Jordan walked closer to your reach and dried his hands on a cloth and handed it to you. “Okay, so you look at all of the majority of friends the way you look at him?”

You let a sigh, he wouldn’t let the subject go away. “Not all of them.”

He nodded. “And that is why you’re blushing and avoiding to go back there?”

He was right, yet the last time you had seen him was years ago. “Excuse me, I spent five years away from your life. Is that inconvenient for me wanting to know more about you?”

He laughed. “Either way the way he looks at you it definitely says something,” You two walked out of the place and closed the door. Your emotions were screaming. “How do you know that?”

He looked at you and spent a few seconds trying to find the best words. “Because he looks at the same way I used to.”

You blushed, you had felt a small crush on him, but it was when you were just a mere kid and the idea alone of being close someone emotionally gave you bad memories about Raza. “Oh come on,” You bumped his shoulder with yours.

He laughed and nodded but spent some seconds looking at you, like he was reading every trace in your face. “Whatever you say but the way he looks at you it clearly states something. And I don’t have any idea what happens in that SuperHero universe you live in, but he would be good to you. I mean he is here right? And the way he looked at me when I entered the house it gave me chills. The guy had literally a gun aimed at me.”

“You were with a shotgun yourself. And besides nothing could give you chills Jordan.”

“Oh, one thing does scare me.” You kept quiet and wondered what he meant. “A angry Y/N.”

You laughed and remembered the number of times you two had fought when you were younger. “Surely!”

“Okay. So go back there to your 'only friend’ guy and… I don’t know, find something to talk about.”

“He surely will ignore me,”

“Make him pay attention then.” He said and kissed your head and hugged you. “Good night, troublemaker.”

“Good night, firefighter.” 

Both titles were nicknames you two received, you because you would enter anyone house if you thought an animal was hurt, and Jordan because once he literally ran into a house on fire to save an old lady, which made Happy really mad about his job as your bodyguard.

And as a joke, Tony placed him to watch out for Peter.

Bucky.

Steve had called Bucky ten minutes ago to put him inside what was happening in the real world. 

Steve told about your information that leaked and he asked if Bucky had grown the guts to talk with you. He answered yes and told him about Jordan.

“Who is Jordan?”

“Apparently an old friend, they are taking care of the animals now. I think he likes her.” The talk went on until you entered the house, you saw Bucky was on the phone and it surely was someone you knew.

But you let it be and walked around going to grab some water. Bucky gave you the phone and you saw Steve’s name on it.

Steve explained that the information had leaked but Fury assured he wasn’t the responsible for it.

He also explained that Clint and Tony were going after some evidence to help in the process, you asked about Natasha and Vision. He told he hadn’t seen Natasha in a week and Vision was okay as always, he didn’t tell anyone about your whereabouts.

                                 …

Bucky started to make a dinner since he likes to cook you wouldn’t interfere with it, actually it brought good memories when he cooked and you two spent the time talking.

He was just placing the past inside the boiling water. “So what had you done in the months where we weren’t close?” You asked.

“I got a few missions, it was okay.“ He answered, you gave him a beer, even knowing he wouldn’t get drunk but at least would make the ‘talk‘ more equal. “You?“

“Well, everything became a terrible soap opera, then I moved out of the Compound, I don’t know if you’d noticed.“ He lowered his head, of course, he did, suddenly he came back from a mission in Siberia and you weren’t there anymore. “Then one day Fury appeared in the door of my apartment saying I was being arrested for leaking private information… and well here we are.“

“Do you have any idea who can be behind all of that?“

You shook your head in a silent ‘no’. “I’m glad the majority of my friends believe me, thank you for believing in me, Buck.” You reached his flesh hand squeezing for a few seconds.

He smiled making the corners of his eyes crinkle. “Sure, you’re my friend and I know you wouldn’t do this type of thing.”

You smiled completely delighted that he gave you his breathtaking smile after so long, but the subject was something that was stealing your rest. “Steve almost believed them, you saw how he was when he watched the footages.”

His forehead furrowed. “You know that punk, but the important thing is that he raised his hand.”

You let a heavy sign and took a couple of sips. “I know it’s stupid and I had a huge luck having so many on my side, and Sam apologized and everything but… I still feel like you guys don’t believe me. Tony, I get it, he is the father figure and wants the best for me, but what if he is doing that just to protect the idea of me?”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m his best friend, daughter for all effects, but, what if he is just trying to prove to himself that I won’t be a failure in his life?”

Bucky felt in the same way with Steve. “Tony really loves you, you’re the only family he has.” He said and felt a punch in his throat. Only family because I killed the rest of it. He thought.

The following hours you two settled in a comfortable conversation like all the rest didn’t matter. He talked about the new things he remembered and even brought the little notebook he used to note the things his mind got back.

You smiled and felt happy having your friend there again.

You two cleaned the mess in the kitchen and got ready for bed.

When you finished your shower Bucky got his and you sat on your bed reading his note-book, with his permission of course.

You worshipped reading his memories, loved his messy handwritten and adored how he placed a few pictures here and there to make it more sense in his mind.

He walked out of the shower and gave you a goodnight smile. “Bucky. You don’t have to sleep at the end of the hall.” His faces blushed, he didn’t expect you to realize he was trying to create a barrier between the two of you. “You can sleep in the others, or here if you want too.”

Bucky had nights and nights filled with nightmares, and it wasn’t awkward for you two sleep in the same bed, it had occurred thousands of times over the years. Didn’t matter if it was his nightmares or yours, didn’t matter if it was in a small hidden place in dangerous missions nor if you two passed out after watching something on your laptop.

It was normal for him, he even believed the soft mattress wasn’t too soft with you in there. But then you two had been self-conscious with each other in the last weeks. Would it erase all the years of building trust you have accomplished with him?

“Okay, I will just make sure everything is locked.” He answered after questioning himself and walked downstairs.

It has happened before. And the mattress was huge and he probably would face the other side of it.

Bucky was pacing downstairs he saw if everything was okay dozen of times, and walked back to your room. He knew he loved to feel you beside him when he wakes up sweating his fear out. He likes to see your peaceful face and hear your heartbeat beating in a certain rhythm. He took a deep breath and walked back to the room.

There you were laid already but the notebook was still in your hands, Bucky thought it was adorable, you probably knew all the letters there by heart. He laid on the other side and darted his eyes everywhere in the room.

You closed the book and placed it on the nightstand after a few minutes. You turned the lamp and moved your body so you were facing him. “Good night, Bucky.” He looked at you and answered softly.

"Good night, Y/N."

                                 …

After a few turns around he eventually got asleep until he felt something somewhat heavy on his metal arm. It was you supporting your head on his shoulder and your arm was over his torso.

You always liked the cold feeling of metal against your body, the contrast it made on Bucky’s warmth. He looked at the scene and smirked, your mouth was slightly agape so he knew you wouldn’t wake up easily, he moved his flesh arm and grabbed your hip calmly pulling your body above his.

You moved sleepily adjusting your body above the new heat, for Buck’s sake you were really tired so the new position didn’t alert you.

Bucky caressed your hair and fell asleep rapidly feeling somehow protected with you above his chest.

Before his slumber could take him fully, he whispered a soft. “I love you, doll.”

                                 …

>>

I’m sorry if the mention of animals shelters it’s very personal, BUT I love animals and if you don’t, what is wrong with you? (If I was Tony’s friend/daughter I surely would make hundreds of shelters.)

[5-falsehoods-phonated]

Overgrown Metal

Chapter 2: Camping

Summary of fic:

Almost two decades ago, the fae rose up from beyond the realm with technology far surpassing the human race, quickly taking over after laying waste to nearly everything in their wake. Virgil and Roman, Society escapees and hunters, run into an uncertain future while fleeing from their pasts. Remy and Remus stare their only chance straight in the face as they teeter on the edge of reluctant adventure. Emile is left his cousins engineering palace and is given the tools to change the world. Logan, a lone researcher and outcast is found by an old friend who offers him a chance of the century. Hyden (deciet), can shift into anything he so chooses, but staying true to his form as his heritage slaps him sideways proves harder than he thought. Patton mourns the loss of his son as he slowly uncovers secrets he wishes aren't related.

Or less wordy:

Eight idiots with trust issues fumble around each other and try to save the world from killer mechanical beasts and fairies that will snap your neck without taking their hands from their wine glasses.

Warnings: Violence, fight scenes, dark fantasy, apocalypse setting, some gore, blood

TW for this chapter: spiraling thoughts, mentions of anxiety. If you see more you want mentioned, please say something.

Ships: Remy (sleep) x Remus. Brotherly Roman and Virgil. Platonic Logan and Hyden (Deciet)

Wrapping his cloak tighter around himself, the young man grumbled quietly to himself as he scooted closer to the small fire. Two cans of mini raviolis sat nearby, cracked open slightly and heating up just a foot away from the flames. He let out a quiet curse as his stomach grumbled loudly, making more noise in a couple seconds than he had in a week.

'What the hell is taking you so long?' he thought at his still absent companion. The water of the nearby river was freezing, it shouldn't be taking this long to clean. He would had heard if the other was attacked. Even if the attacker was silent Roman typically wasn't, their overly dramatic battle cries carrying over fields if they so chose them too. Maybe they fell in? Again, he would have heard the yell...unless the shock from the cold rendered them nonverbal. Or something had dragged them in. Maybe while cleaning off their weapons their hand had slipped and they had sliced themself open and was currently bleeding out and he wouldn't know because he was being too stubborn to leave the warmth of the fire. What if they fell and cracked their head open on a rock? What if-

Cruching footsteps interrupting his racing thoughts and he breathed a quiet sigh of relief. While he was getting better at not having to check on Roman every few minutes to make sure they were still around, it didn't stop his thoughts from quickly spiraling when the thought of him being alone again filled his head. Roman plopped down beside him having deposited their pack with their other belongings nearby, leaning forward to carefully take the cans away from the fire and depositing one in front of each of them before procuring spoons from God-knows-where but he was hungry so it didn't matter.

He growled low as he snatched the utensil, ripping the lid the rest of the way off and shoveling the ravioli with essence of tin in his mouth regardless of the heat.

"Slow down, dark and stormy gremlin, you're gonna choke!" He didn't even spare a glance at the scandalized face as the last of the sauce was scraped up and eaten in less than a minute.

"Was hungry." He mumbled out, hands disappearing back into the cloak as he burrowed further into its warmth.

The other eyed him fondly. "Honestly, Virgil I can't take you anywhere. I get a spot at the nicest pasta joint in town and this is how you behave? I really can't take you anywhere."

They frowned as they only recieved a soft huff in response. "Are you alright? I'm sorry I was gone for so long, that oil takes a while to work out in cold water."

Virgil shook his head. "....that."

Catching only half the mumble, Roman set their own empty can down and scooted closer. "Can I ask you to repeat that or is it a signing day?"

Virgil squeezed himself tighter in the fabric and lifted his head up towards the other. Roman's eyes shone with concern even in the dim light of their small campfire, the effect only slightly ruined by the dark curls drying in the humid air making them puff out in a fluffy halo around their head. The image made him smile lightly and duck his head back down to suppress his giggles.

"Hairs messy."

He only giggled harder at the offended gasp. "I'm offering you a damn heart to heart here and I get insulted!" Roman grimaced as they felt what state their hair was in, ruing their days as a traveler if only for the fact that hairstyles were rendered useless on an adventure. They were still bitter over The Great Hairspray Debacle of 2015, having to give the space up in their pack for "actual necessary supplies, Roman".

Virgils laughter died down as the nervous feeling began to creep back into his thoughts. Roman noticed the sobering mood and sat back slightly, willing to wait for the young nervous wreck to gather his thoughts.

"Town's coming up."

Roman nodded. They knew there was a town with an underground market a few days travel away from the last time they had come through this way. They hadn't had time to stop before, but this time around they needed to empty out their packs of the items that had been piling up for a few weeks now and their supplies were getting low enough that they would have needed to stop to stock up anyway. They gestured for Virgil to continue even though they knew what the source of anxiety was going to be.

"What if..." Virgil growled in frustration as the words stuck in his throat, the rolling anxiety in his stomach and mind making him struggle to not shut down. Long, pale fingers twisted and bunched the fabric around him until with a frustrated huff they darted out and flipped out a quick gesture.

"Recognized?"

Roman nodded in understanding and he sighed in relief. He knew not being able to speak most of the time had to be annoying for his companion but thankfully they never seemed to mind, only waiting patiently for either words to be forced out or hands to jerkedly spell out what little bit of sign language he knew. He made up a lot along the way and most of the time he was able to be understood. With no internet to look up the language, books being a Society priviledge and a general distrust of people making it difficult to ask anyone for lessons, even though they never stayed in one place for long, official sign wasn't something either of them were good at.

"That's why we have the cloaks and hoods and even the masks if we feel like we need them. We're pretty far away though, I doubt anyone we would know would be around." Roman took up a stick and poked around the fire a bit, stirring it as the embers began to die down for the night. "Nothing has ever happened at any of the towns we've been in, and I've heard this one is particularly...underground, so to speak. No one who would recognize us would be caught dead near there. We'll go in, sell our parts, grab supplies and get out. Next stop after that will be that abandoned city-town-place wherever that we heard about a while back. It'll be fine, Anx."

Virgil smiled at the old nickname, something Roman had taken to calling him when he refused to reveal his name the first few months they began traveling together. His shoulders relaxed the tiniest bit as the name ironically released some of the pent up anxiety, fingers releasing the cloak and instead splaying on his ripped black jeans to try and wipe off the accumulated sweat.

They both sat in silence for a while after that, watching the fire die down completely as the late evening faded into complete darkness, the clear sky allowing the stars to be on full display with no threat of light pollution to obscure their giddy twinkling. Crickets chirped quietly in the long grass, fireflies answering back their call with lazy winks of light. Even the river was hushed, water seeming to lap quieter at the shore for fear of breaking the rare tranquility the nearby travelers were soaking in.

With the world this soft and still, Virgil could pretend for a moment that this was merely an extended camping trip. Maybe they were on their summer break and were hiking for the fun of it. Tomorrow they could trek through a forest like it was nothing, sunlight streaming through normal tree branches as untouched wildlife teemed around them. All of their gear and supplies could be innocent in nature, the heaviest thing in their packs could be a small camping stove rather than their extensive collection of foreign trading parts. Their supplies were running low, so they'd soon start heading back the way they came, finding their car and laughing at some dumb play argument they had on the way back while they reloaded everything and climbed in the front, laughter turning to more bickering as they fought over what music they'd listen to first. Roman would drive first since Virgil only had his permit and wouldn't feel comfortable taking the wheel until he recognized the roads they were on. They'd get to Virgils house and it would be coming onto late evening so he'd let Roman stay the night, knowing his dad-

Virgil furiously scrubbed at his eyes, snapping back from his thoughts. His dad wouldn't care of a friend stayed over. He didn't care about anything. He didn't even care when - no. Nope, not tonight. Rubbing absentmindedly at his arms he scooted backwards away from the now dead fire and laid back to watch the sky, Roman following soon after. They didn't say anything as he turned and wrapped himself around the other tightly, for which he was grateful. He smiled as he felt lips touch the top of his head and careful arms lay themselves across his back. Surrounded by safety and warmth it wasn't hard for sleep to find him.

-------

".....an."

"Come on, Ro....."

"Princey, get up!"

Roman shot up, blinking rapidly to clear the lingering sleep from their eyes and shaking their head to try and whip the tangled curls away. Glaring in response to their brothers shit-eating grin, they settled for flipping him off while they rubbed at their eyes, getting a water bottle thrown at them in retaliation.

"Too early." They mumbled as they fumbled with the lid.

Virgil laughed. "Try again, Sleeping Ugly, it's almost noon. I've had camp packed up for hours now."

Offended at the nickname but grinning nonetheless, they downed half the bottle in one go and dragged their pack over lazily. Virgil was always the early riser in their party of two, despite the late nights he often kept as a sleeping schedule. Roman however, was happy to spend the day hitting the metaphorical snooze button unless they had actual plans. Which, unless another Mech Beast was spotted this close to a town, which was highly unlikely, this was supposed to be a day of resting.

Looking over at the other however, their irritation softened as the ball of anxious energy went from task to already done task trying to keep himself busy. Though it seemed he'd be more talkative today than he had been that didn't mean his nerves weren't soaring to the sky with how close they were to people again. They knew they should both take a break today, but if moving would help...

Mind made up they stood, swinging the pack around to rest on their shoulder and picking up another to carry first for the time being. Different peices of metal and containers holding strange substances clanked together inside, securely wrapped in paper and fabric to prevent them from breaking or getting scratched. They'd make Virgil carry it later on but they figured since they got extra sleep it would only be fair to carry the heavier pack first.

Trying one last time to fix their hair back into a reasonable shape Roman turned towards Virgil with a smile.

"Ready?"

Hoisting up his own pack he nodded and kicked at the already severely scuffed dirt, rising up on his tip toes as he began to walk.

"As I'll ever be."

--------

This is also available on AO3 if you're interested. I can't promise regular updates but I really like this story so I'll be picking at it for a while.

And we're another chapter in! I didnt think about this before, but if you'd like to be tagged for story updated feel free to ask. If you want to read it on here but can't find the first chapter, search overgrown metal in the tags and it'll come up.

[mfackenthal]

The MFackenthal Show and Cordonian’s Gone Wild!

Anitah: Hello fabulous audience members!  We are so glad you’re here. I know it’s a little early for the show to start, but if you could please try to take your seats quickly and quietly, that would be super helpful.

Alicia: As you all know or can guess, we’re the guest stars for today’s show.  

Pam: But what you don’t know, because Megs doesn’t even know it yet, is that we are taking over today’s show!  

Gen:  So … really, we’re in a bit of a hurry here … we need to start this show before Megs gets on stage.  Can you freaking be seated already?!

Pam:  (whispering loudy to Gen) Yo, asshole, be nice to the audience.  

Anitah, Alicia, Gen, and Pam all take a seat behind or on the desk that Megs often sits behind to start her show.  

Anitah:  Sit, sit, sit, everyone.

Alicia:  Roll the cameras.  

Gen:  counting down using her fingers In 3 … 2 …. 1 …

Pam: Welcome everyone to the Cordonian’s Gone Wild edition of The MFackenthal Show!!!!

Anitah:  You may be wondering where Megs is - don’t worry, she’s in hair and makeup.  She should be out soon.  

Alicia:  For those of you who don’t know, I’m @leelee10898 - You can call me Alicia or Leelee, whatever you want.  This is @ao719 AKA Anitah.

Anitah: The other girls call me Nita so that works too.

Pam:  I’m @speedyoperarascalparty: Pam is my name.

Gen: And I’m @cocomaxley -  Genevieve or Gen or asshole.  Okay party people - Parties are not set up with an audience - so get your butts out of those seats, move your chairs to the left side of the room where the MFackenthal staff will help clear the room and bring in some more comfortable couches.

Anitah:  Then, help yourself to a glass of Maxwell’s Purple concoction.

Pam:  And don’t ask, we’re not allowed to share the recipe.

Alicia:  Seriously, as to what’s in it … just don’t ask.

Gen:  Anyways … everyone get a glass so we can raise a toast.

The audience scrambles out of their seats, following the directions as best as they can.  The whole room is quickly transformed, a disco ball is hung from the center, a dance floor being laid down in the middle of the room, couches are set up around the dance floor and there’s a table stage left with about a dozen punch bowls filled with Maxwell’s Purple Concoction.  

Pam:  Does everyone have a drink?

Anitah:  Everyone, please raise your glass.

Everyone raises their glass. The girls stand center stage - which is now the center of the room - and just as they’re about to raise their glasses, Megs comes walking out.  

Anitah:  To Cordonia!

Pam: And loyal, hot men!

The audience parts for Megs and the room gets quiet.

Alicia:  To … choices?  Why is everyone so quiet?

Gen:  Welcome to your show, Megs!  

All:  To Megs!!!!

The audience:  To Megs!

Pam hands Megs a glass of Maxwell’s drink.  Megs takes it and slowly does a full 360 looking around the room.  

The audience is cheering and clapping loudly.

Megs:  Damn, ladies.  If i didn’t know this was my stage, I’d never recognize it!  Tapping her foot, is this a dance floor?  Is this Maxwell’s purple concoction?  Do you know what’s in it?

The audience: Don’t ask!

Megs:  laughs.  Oooookay … well, the producers are telling me we are already rolling soooo …

Anitah:  So hello Megs and welcome to your show!  

Megs:  Welcome indeed!  Megs takes a sip of the drink and a steadying breath.  So … okay, well …

Gen:  Well, in case it’s not obvious - we’ve taken over your show.  We know what the people want-

Pam:  Don’t worry - we’ll give the people what they want.

Alicia:  So, just take another sip and let us take over.

Megs looks at the girls, shrugs her shoulders, looks around, and takes a seat next to an audience member.  

Megs:  Alright, ladies.  It’s your show.

Anitah:  Oh! That was easier than I thought it would be.  Alrighty!  So … ladies, what do we think the people really want to know?

Megs:  Looking away from the stage and putting a hand over her hand to muffle her voice, she loudly says:  What brought each of you to the fandom? Looking forward and feigning innocence Whoa, who said that?

Gen:  laughing real smooth Megs.

Pam: I was going through Drake withdrawals. It was between books and I needed a fix.

Gen: I found TRR after seeing numerous ads on social media for the Choices app. I spent a ridiculous amount of money to binge TRR book 1 and book 2. Then, like Pam, got super thirsty for Liam, sorry not sorry Anitah! I found AO3 first then after some google searches, I found tumblr.

Anitah: It was a total and complete accident! I was googling something about the game while (im)patiently waiting for a new chapter to be released in book 3 and I saw a link to a fanfic. I had never even been on tumblr before and had zero clue what it even was. But was so glad when I found this glorious fandom!

Alicia: @darley1101. Someone shared a damien fic she wrote on the choices fandom FB page.

Megs:  Oooh - here’s some insider information - @darley1101 has been booked to be on this show in the future.  Hey, so tell us - When did “Cordonian’s Gone Wild” get started?  How did it get started? What’s the real story here?  

Anitah: Seriously Megs - chill!  We’ve taking over!  But, great question!  So we all joined a huge chat group with what...10 other people? Lol. It was pure madness. Pam started writing one shots for people in that chat. Bringing their real selves into fics with their LI’s. And the four of us began talking in a separate chat and one night we were talking about how crazy, ridiculous and fun it would be if we all went to Vegas (with our pretend husbands because the IRL ones aren’t as much fun)

Pam: Or as 🍆

Anitah: So then I wrote One Night In Vegas...and we posted it just for fun and people really seemed to enjoy it. Do any of you remember who or how we got Cordonians Gone Wild?? Because I do not!  lol

Pam: Nope!

Gen: This was Anitah or Pam. I know that. But it worked out because we all had different LI's after I got thirsty for Rashad.

Megs: I wondered how Rashad came in to the picture and had to assume someone latched on to him ... or, don’t be mad ⁨Genevieve⁩ ... he was the “leftover” (straight) male

Gen: Actually this was @boneandfur’s fault. She wrote some Rashad one shots and I loved him after that.

Megs:  Ooooh, I wonder if she wants to be on the show?  Hmmmm...

Anitah: As we were saying … Then as we went on each of us kind of developed these character traits I think (feel free to chime in guys lol) but example...in Mardi Anitah steals the royal jet and that became her thing-  lol - so I always steal the jet and Liam gets pissed (which is exactly what I want)

Gen: Yep! I became the resident asshole which isn't too far off from real life. Actually it's exactly like real life.

Pam: Yea I mean, Pam is based off me. Gen and I realized we used to live right by each other in Illinois before I moved back to Michigan. I'm a marriage and family therapist. Went to Northwestern, so we wrote in Gen and I lived in Chicago together.

Anitah: Well, if I had a jet in real life I'd steal it…

Alicia: Shaking her head like she’s been zoned out … Actually I think I was the one who came up with the name lol. I remember mimicking it after girls gone wild.

Meg starts to get up to ask a question, but Gen is standing behind her and places both hands on Meg’s shoulders to push her back into her seat.

Gen:  If I know Megs, she’d now ask a process question, like How do you decide who writes for what couple?  Or how did you decide? Is it set in stone?

Megs glares up at Gen while she asks the question.  Then she nods and waves Gen back to stage.  

Pam: The couples are set in stone. They are our LI. Some of us are more committed than others..pam and anitah stare down gen and alicia.  Some should cower in shame.

Gen and Alicia appear to be utterly unphased.

Gen: (cackling) I can't help it! I have a soft spot for Mr. Sinclaire!

Anitah: Pam and I are just less adventurous.

Pam: Trust...honesty....FAITHFULNESS!

Anitah and Alicia mock Pam’s words and movements

Alicia: Leo Rhys is my husband and has my heart.... I just have a soft spot for, Colt, Logan, Matt, Adrian, Damien, Earnest.. am I forgetting someone??  Oh yeah Bryce and Beckett.

Pam: Cough..whore..cough

Alicia: sticks up middle finger

Anitah and Gen: continue laughing

Pam: We all write all the couples, but the pairings don’t change...even if avatars do

Gen: She's talking about you Alicia.

Anitah: As far as who writes for what couple, if it’s a group fic we all participate, but each of us writes the respective couple if it’s a one shot or what not.

Gen: Usually someone comes up with an idea and someone else will be like - I'll write it 🙋🏻‍♀️… Or sometimes it's crickets …

The whole stage gets super quiet, everyone seems to be listening for the crickets. Megs gets up and the four girls glare at her.

Megs:  No, no, I got it - your show.  Why don’t you all simply discuss who has read which choices books and what is everyone’s favorite while I go and refill my drink?  

Megs winks to the camera and walks to the table to get a refill.

Anitah: Oh god...there’s such a long list...

Pam: Anitah and I will sit this one out…

Gen: Prudes! I'll say it again, I love Mr. Sinclaire. But I've played AME, Bloodbound, VOS, TCATF, ROE (blah), PM and a bunch of others. But not a lot of the newer ones.

Alicia: Did you seriously just BLAH my husbands book?

Gen: Yes the fuck I did!

Alicia: The only one I have NOT read yet is most wanted. I have started the haunting of braidwood manor, both it lives and passport, but have yet to finish those. Otherwise I have read all books fully released and am up to date on current ones.

Gen: Most Wanted is so good!

Pam: Drake…

Gen: (pats Pam’s hand) We know, Pammy. We know.

Alicia: Some I have read numerous times.... like Ride or Die.... perfect match and blood bound…

Megs has come back to her seat.

Megs: Who is your favorite OTP?

Anitah: Liam x MC

*Everyone looks at Pam waiting for Drammy to be said 👀*

Pam: Drammy! I'm consistent

Alicia: Ah shit ummmmmm ...

Gen: Liam x MC

Alicia: Colt x Ellie

Megs:  Poor Rashad and Leo!  Shakes her head.

Gen: They’re fine.

Alicia:  Oh!  You know what we should talk about?  Ourselves!  Our jobs, our hobbies, our favorite things - what we do when we’re not writing …

Pam:  Okay then … when I’m not writing - I work, play with my kids, I'm a brownie troop leader for my 7 year old, I fantasize about Drake Walker

Gen: Working...always working. Jobs are stupid. And I have this part time gig called a husband and two teenagers.

Anitah: Playing with my kids, being annoyed by my irl hubby and photographer on the side.

Alicia: Be a mom and all the "Mom" stuff that comes along with it..... oh and work...

Megs: And for fun?

Anitah: Photography for fun. I love taking pictures and scoping out new places to take them.

Gen: I used to crochet a lot. I taught myself to cross stitch. I like hobbies that keep me away from electronics.

Alicia: ummm good question. Write?? Crafts. Garden. I actually really didn't know how much I enjoyed it until last year.

Pam: Writing is my favorite past time currently. I also like to do arts and crafts with my kids, cooking..not baking, just to be clear...I like doing home improvement projects, painting, playing with my kids, hanging with my IRL hubs. Also, auditioning for a spot on Nailed It.

Gen: OMG! The first communion cake! It was amazing!

Megs: I should have made you make us a cake to go with this punch, Pam.  Alicia mentioned favorite things … What’s your favorite work that you have written? Feel free to answer this as a group and about your work individually.

Anitah: Definitely NOLA is one of my favorites

Alicia: Same

Gen: NOLA was amazing!

Megs:  And that stands for???  

Anitah: Oh - New Orleans! I didn’t write it but it’s still one of my favorites

Gen: Max hugging Pams feet saying, “don't take my puppy, Bertrand.”

Anitah: Omfg I forgot about that part!

Alicia: NOLA, and Never Give Up.. does rhys smirk. That I've written Amsterdam.

Pam: I loved In Another Life, Amsterdam, Harry Potter

Anitah: I liked In the Doghouse too...it was rough but...angst🤷🏼‍♀

Gen: says the queen of angst.

Pam: Yes!!! Loved Doghouse

Alicia: Ooh and Christmas. With max and the cow

Pam: I liked Naked and Afraid, but it was a bitch to write. Dates was fun too. Hawaii...the dance🤤🤤🤤

Anitah: OMG YESS 😂��😂😂

Alicia: the vein

Anitah: (laughing) The vein(s)

Alicia: Yes. But it was the 1st time Leos Rhys’ vein was displayed

Pam: Pony will never be the same

Alicia: Leo naked tackles me in the water

Pam: Yep....Drake’s junk over my face...🤤🤤🤤 Guys...I think I might have an oral fixation. For real.

Alicia: no shit. And i mean that it the nicest way

Pam: I need something else to do with my mouth than suck Drake’s dick

Alicia: Suck his balls?

Pam: That could work...🍊🍊

Gen: And the crazy train just went off the rails…

Megs:  LOL, well - you can find a full listing of their work now showing on the screen here.  

Anitah:  Awh, thanks Megs!  Oh!  The producers are indicating that it’s time for a commercial break.  So we’re all going to refill our drinks and then we have another surprise in store for Megs.  Megs - don’t forget to refill your drink and then join us on stage after these messages.

<Insert a commercial for the sponsor of this and all content:  Choices by Pixelberry.>

The 4 ladies and Megs are now center stage.  Everyone’s glasses have been refilled.  

Pam:  Megs, as the hosts of your show and now that you’re two glasses of purple drink in - we have some questions for you!

Gen: How did you come up with the idea to do these interviews? I think it's awesome because it really helps get to know the other people in the fandom. Oh! And what's your favorite color?

Megs:  The idea behind these interviews came from multiple conversations I had with some friends, especially @tmarie82, @lizeboredom, and @maxattack-powell.  I wanted to give back to this community but I wasn’t inspired to write fanfiction.  So I talked with them about different ways I could give back.  I wanted ways that were non-competitive and ways that I could highlight the work of a specific author or visual artist.  Multiple people mentioned how awkward it could be to reach out and start talking over tumblr but that they were always interested in process and the lives of the artists and I was like - I have no shame in asking all of the questions!  Let me ask and share what I learn.  Then I did a follower post - I think I had maybe 100 followers?  Maybe 150?  People had to enter - so I figured it was self selecting group and I did my first interview.  The Ellen saw my interview and offered me her time slot.

Oh! … and my favorite color is mint green.  

Anitah: How do you read so many fics to do your reviews? It’s amazing that you take all that time to do that and signal boost these writers to the fandom!

Megs: Awh, thanks!  The true answer is two fold.  One - tumblr mobile on my iphone.  Two - I’m a huge nerd.  I wake up and pretty much immediately start reading.  I read in line at the grocery store.  I read while waiting for the programs we use at work to switch between screens - because shit if that doesn’t sometimes take 5 minutes.  Why should I stare at the screen while the wheel of death turns when I can read a couple paragraphs about the men in my life?

Pam: How do you decide what to read? Are writers or fics recommended to you or is it just luck?

Megs:  At this point - tumblr tags probably play a larger than appropriate influence on what I read. I tend to check my notifications first and start there.  I’m a sucker for having a conversation, sharing a joke, or getting a response from another person - be in the author or another fangirl or fanboy.  I definitely take recommendations though.  And, on the off chance that I can just choose what I read, then I go through my feed and see what strikes my fancy.

Alicia: What's your favorite thing you have read so far? And what is your funniest tumblr moment?

Megs: I have no clue what my favorite thing is that I’ve read.  There is so much amazing work … but before I talk about my own funnies - I will mention two stories that had me laughing.  One is by @hellospunkiebrewster called Blackouts and Bad Decisions and let’s just say that Bertrand has a tramp stamp.  If that doesn’t make you laugh - nothing will.  The other one was published far more recently by @laniquelovewrites.  It’s called The Lion Prince and it’s inspired by The Lion King.  I thought it was so funny that I read it to my husband.  Who also thought it was funny.  Hmmmm … as for my funniest tumblr moment … it’s probably been those times when I find a way to make an author’s characters ask for what I want.  Like in this post - where I pretend Ethan and I are changing the clocks in the author’s house so that I can get the next part of the story sooner.  I mean, I think I’m funny at least.

Well ... that’s about all the tim-

Pam: Oh Megs, Megs, Megs, not so fast.  Did you think that our big surprise was asking you questions?  No, the final surprise is yet to come.

Anitah:  Yes, Megs, with the help of your amazing audience, we are going to play …

Alicia:  drum roll please …

Gen:  Never Have I Ever - CGW on the MFackenthal Show edition!

Megs:  shakes her head and smiles So … how does this work?  Like, when do I have to drink?

The four girls look at each other and shrug their shoulders.

Well?  

Pam:  You drink when we tell you to drink.

Gen:  Yeah, down what’s left of that glass and we’ll get you another!

Megs:  laughs … okay, well, I’m already buzzed … uh, can I say that on my show?  … well, kids, everyone here is old enough to drink.  Don’t drink and drive.  Everyone who has been drinking will be taking a ride-share home!

Anitah:  Okay, first question from the audience … Never have I ever been on The MFackenthal Show

Gen: this is my first time! So do I have to drink to this or not?

Pam: Looks like I'm popping my cherry!

Anitah: I’m drinking.

Alicia: 1st time… I'll drink to that!

Megan: haha, well, not as a guest … takes a drink.

Anitah:  Second question: Never have I ever fantasized about a fictional character.

Gen: Omg! Who hasn't? Because I'm thirsty. Always thirsty for my pixelated men...I mean man.

Pam: Hahahahaha...snorting and laughing hysterically. Oh..wait...you're serious?

Anitah: all the time (chugs drink)

Alicia: *Guzzles drink*

Megan: anyone who says no is lying … takes another drink

Alicia:  Never have I ever cheated on my partner.

Gen: I've never cheated on my IRL hubs. I've never cheated on Rashad either. Mr. Sinclaire doesn't count! 😂

Pam: I won't even cheat in my pixelated hubby by playing other books or romancing other LI...I believe honesty and trust are the foundation of all good relationships. STOP ROLLING YOUR EYES, ANITAH!!

Anitah: Never cheated

Alicia: NO!

Megan: Nope! I have a hard time even “playing the field” in the choices games.  If I want to see what it’s like to be with another LI, I have to do another full playthrough.  

Alicia:  Never have I ever...had sex outside.

Gen: In real life, yes I have. In CGW I haven't. So I guess that's a draw.

Pam: Yes in real life and Pixelated life.

Anitah: (laughing hysterically) Well pixelated life we know the answer to that because...kinky king. And real life, yes.

Alicia: IRL yep. CGW Yup!

Megan: Indeed I have.

Gen: Never have I ever Given a blow job in public like Pam.

Gen: (hides face) yes. More times than I care to admit.

Pam: laughs...yea let's just say my hubby enjoyed one of the star wars movies intimately.

Anitah: eyes wide as she chugs her drink

Alicia: takes a drink silently

Megan:  *takes a big drink* shaking her head from side to side

Gen: Never have I ever said your fictional husbands name in a moment of passion?  ... No. Thought about during a moment of passion? All the time. Do NOT tell my husband.

Pam: In my head? Over and over and over...lol. I did however call my husband Drake once, just in passing. He was less than pleased.

Anitah: Not in a moment of passion but I have absolutely thought about it. I did however call my 3 year old son, who’s name starts with L, Liam, and he proceeded to correct me with his full name while giving me the stink eye.

Alicia: no. Have I thought about it…. Hehehehe

Megan: No. If I had, I’d never hear the end of it.

Pam:  Get to drinking, Megs!  Next question from the audience, never have I ever tried to see how many marshmallows can fit into my mouth.

Gen: Marshmallows, saltines, cinnamon - this was bad. Really bad.

Pam: can't say I have!

Anitah: I sure did.

Alicia: no, I have not

Megan: Marshmallows make me feel sick to my stomach. I tend to claim I’m allergic to them, even though I’m fairly sure that would mean I’m allergic to sugar.  LOL

Pam: Never have I ever given someone a lap dance/received a lap dance

Gen: not in public…

Pam: Oh I've been to A LOT of bachelorette parties..so yep!

Anitah: Yes!

Alicia: sorta

Megan: Yes … my husband does this dance to Brittney’s toxic … Give me one of those questions. Takes a set of note cards from Pam and flips through them.  Okay ... Never have I ever broken a bone.

Gen: I've never broken a bone! Yes I'm proud of that!

Pam: Nope!

Anitah: knock on wood - no I haven’t.

Alicia: I have not!! Even though I am an absolute klutz.

Megan: I haven’t either!  Which is amazing because I have fallen out of a tree - totally sober, btw.

Anitah:  Drink up, Megs!

Megs: finishes her drink … Okay, never have I ever told my real life husband/partner about my pixelated hubby.

Gen: No, he already thinks I don't love him. This would prove it.

Pam: Yep! My hubby is actually super supportive. He has helped me plot a few fics...the Drake and Pam chocolate wax disaster was made exponentially better by his suggestions. He is known as our cinnamon roll and Gen wrote him into a fic as owning a cinnamon roll shop..LOL. When Drake and I eloped, I made him call me Mrs. Walker the entire weekend and would not respond to any other names. I'm such an asshole

Anitah: (laughing) No way! He knows nothing! He doesn’t know about choices or that I’m in love with a pixelated man. He doesn’t know about tumblr or that I write. No one I know in real life knows anything about this. It’s like...my dirty little secret.

Alicia: yes and no. He does know about choices, he does know about Leo.. he does not know my level of infatuation with him.

Megs:  Yup!  My husband often asks “are you playing your stories?”

~~~~~later~~~~~

Megs:  lifting her head off the armrest of the couch and blinking her eyes open hhhhhuh?  Where …?  Ooooh, my head is killing me … How is my studio back to how it looked before?  Was that a dream?  Megs gets up and pads over to her on-stage desk where she picks up a note and reads aloud, “You passed out shortly after our game.  We partied hard with your audience and then put your studio back together.  Whenever you want to do this again - let us know.  I’ll steal the jet.  Luv, CGW!”

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

And now for the tags! If you want to be added to the tag list for these or removed, please let me know!

@hopefulmoonobject @queen-among-writers, @hopelessromantic1352, @lilyofchoices,

[greenninjagal-blog]

Even If It Kills Us (but it won’t hopefully) pt2

hey, Hey, HEy, HEY! Sander’s Sides Mafia AU Part Two! 

(Mostly for @kindly-falling @laragazzadellluna who surprised me with wanting more)

Part one is right here! Summary: Virgil is a normal college student, who’s never done anything illegal, much less something worth sending hit men after him for. Unfortunately, it looks like he’s going to die before he gets his answers.

“Do you think you can--perhaps--make time now?” the man says in the most pretentious voice Virgil has ever heard, “I assure you it’s quite important.”

Virgil thinks hes going to throw up.

Because this man is holding a gun--a gun and he just killed a man

(regardless that the other man has just been trying to kill Virgil)

He just killed a man like it was nothing. Like it was a simple chore.

 Virgil chest heaves and it feels a lot like trying to inhale his own tongue. There are alarms and screaming and people trying to kill him and Virgil doesn’t know why but he knows this isn’t the time to be here.

fuck he can’t breathe

Patton’s fingers wrap his arm holding him to this reality like an anchor but Virgil thinks that this can’t be real. It can’t be real.

There’s a dead body on the floor a few meters from them.

But it can’t be real.

“Virgil,” The man says, “You need to breathe. This is not the time nor the place for a panic attack.”

 Patton--Patton-- growls at him. It’s surprising because Pat is the nice one, the flowered crowns, the puns, the sweaters and the warm hugs. Virgil is the one who hisses at people who get too close. 

But this is Patton who just stood in front of Virgil to save him from being potentially shot and Virgil thinks that he came so fucking close to losing the best person in his life

And he can’t exhale. His lungs scream.

“Virge,” Patton says quietly, “breathe with me.”

“We don’t have time--”

“Shut up!” Patton snaps. It’s not like him. Virgil breathes in and it feels a lot like claws dragging through his chest. 

He does it again.

“I’m okay,” He rasps out as if saying it out loud would make it true in any sense.

“Excellent,” The man deadpans, “It’s time to go.”

“Where?!” Patton demands, “And who are you?!”

“The man who just saved you life.” He responds distastefully. “That’s all you need to know. It’s time for you to leave.”

“Excuse me?!” 

Virgil is certain he’s never seen Patton like this. If he wasn’t already scared beyond belief, this would definitely be the thing causing him a panic attack. He’s already shaking all over, his whole body. 

(If pat lets go hes sure he’d shake himself apart)

“This doesn’t concern you anymore.” The man says, “Its a family matter.”

Virgil has never seen the man before today.

“People got shot!” 

The man considers his gun for a second and Virgil was certain he was going to shoot Patton too. “Yes, that is because they are the enemy. And quite frankly its time for you to step out unless you want to be shot at again.”

“I’m not leaving Virgil!”

“I don’t have time to argue this with you.” The man says, “Your blood is on your own hands, not mine.”

It sounds like a threat. 

Patton squeezes Virgil’s shoulder.

Another form comes crashing around the corner behind them, but Virgil barely has time to register who they are before the man has fired two shots and they drop. It’s effortless. He fires again but the chamber is empty.

“Time to go,” He says.

He reaches out for Virgil’s arm and then stops himself-- “Can you run?”

Virgil nods.

They run.

Everything in Virgil screams that they were going to be shot, killed. But the man seems rather confident as he shoves open the exit door, eyes darting the outside.

They aren’t more than a foot outside before an expensive red sports car is plows over the curb and blocks their easy exit. 

(Virgil doesn’t know a lot about cars, but fuck is this one nice)

The window is already down and the driver is smirking something awful. “Get in!”

The man who had saved their lives, stops short, “Absolutely not!”

The driver laughs good-naturedly and pulls a gun from somewhere. “How about now?”

There’s several gunshots from behind them. The glass door to the theater shatters.

“Fuck This,” Virgil breathes and because these people aren’t the ones currently trying to shoot him, he grabs the door handle and throws himself into the car. Patton lands sideways in his lap.

The man looks absolutely scandalized, “You cannot--!” 

“Get in the damn car, Logan!” The driver shouts, “What’s the worse that can happen?”

“You’ll get us killed!”

The man--Logan-- gets in the car anyway.

Several bullets hit the door as it closes.

The driver laughs again, and Virgil is pretty sure he’s having fun. He presses the gas pedal to the actual floor and the car just explodes. Virgil hits the opposite door and Patton tumbles off the seat to the floor.

“I swEAR!” Logan yells as the driver spins out of the parking lot going at speeds that were illegal for a good reason. They nearly collide headfirst with three different cars but they were already gone by the time the other drivers even honked their horns.

“Ooh! Tails!” The driver called, checking his mirrors casually and running a red light. He tosses his gun in Logan’s lap, “Do you mind?”

“You are a terrible driver!” Logan snarls at him. 

Virgil digs his hands into the leather seats. His stomach is in his throat as Logan leans out the open window, and fires again and again. Virgil can see him through the other windows, and his cold and calculating look that tightens when their driver makes an unexpected jerk of his wheel. 

He can’t hear a thing.

Then Logan throws the gun, having emptied it, into the open air and climbs back in their car with curses tumbling off his lips.

“Who taught you how to drive?” He snarls.

“Did you get them?” The driver asks unbothered.

“no I left them--of fucking course i did. I’m not you!” 

Awesome. Virgil who’s never even jaywalked before, realizes that he is in a car with two strangers, both of who had guns and knew how to use them, not to mention their driver had already broken at least fifty driving laws. 

what the fucking hell

“Ouch harsh,” The driver laughs though, he reaches up and tilts the rearview mirror, “How’s it going back there, Sanders?”

“I’m going to throw up.” Virgil says. It’s not a lie.

“Hey, watch the leather, Jack Smellington, I just got her cleaned!”

Then for some ungodly reason Patton starts laughing too.

(Further proof, Virgil thinks, that Patton is crazy)

“Wow!” Pat reaches up and fixes his glasses, “I didn’t know the movie was in 4-D!”

“This is not a movie!” Logan hisses but his seriousness is in stark contrast with their drivers booming laugh. 

(it’s different now, Virgil can’t quite put his finger on why, but it just sounds different)

“Who’s the puffball?” The driver asks, “I like him.”

“Patton Pater!” Patton!! says!! brightly!! “I like you too! What’s your name?”

“Roman Prince!” He says, “Resident Knight in shining armor!”

“A reckless playboy, with far too many cars and not enough rules.” Logan corrects with a sneer, “This is not your business, Prince.”

“It is when the next heir is as cute as he is!”

Virgil’s heart stops, “what?”

“i said you’re cute! Do you swing my way?”

Logan turns around in his seat. “Ignore him,” He commands, but Virgil gets the feeling Roman is not going to let that stand. “Based on your reactions in these past few minutes, I’m going to assume that you have no clue what is going on.”

Virgil’s throat is so dry he can barely breathe again, “Are you taking me somewhere to kill me?”

Logan sighs and takes off his glasses to clean them which is not an answer.

Roman zooms onto a freeway, “Did you even introduce yourself, Specs?” 

(Virgil absently wonders why there are no Police cars chasing them down)

“My name is Logan. Sanders.” Logan says slowly, “We’re cousins.”

“That’s...” impossible is on the top of Virgil’s tongue, but he then remembers how cagey his mom always was when holidays came up. He knew he had relatives, somewhere but he had known better than to ask after the first time. “....alright.” 

(it’s not alright. Its very, very far from alright.)

((Patton takes his hand and its enough support for Virgil to remember to exhale))

“Excellent,” Logan replaces his glasses. If it weren’t for the blood on his tie he could have been a TA at their college. “Our family is a mafia.”

Roman jerks the wheel and Logan’s head slams into the head rest. Patton lets out a yelp. 

“Sorry Padre!” Roman shoots a sideways glare at Logan, “Really? Spock, there were a hundred other ways to break it to the kid. He looks like he’s going to faint. We’ve talked about this.”

“You talked, I did not listen because I do not want any misconceptions to arise.” Logan hisses, “I don’t want him to think anything other than the honest truth!”

Roman’s smile quirks viciously, “Oh that would be just awful wouldn’t it.”

Virgil doesn’t like the connotation of that.

He doesn’t like any of this.

(Part of him is horrified because he can understand it?? Why does it make sense to him?? His mom obviously never wanted anything to do with this part of his family, how she tried to keep him at home, how she always seemed to be looking over her shoulder, too paranoid to let him out of her sights. Part of him wonders if he always knew this, always knew something just wasn’t right.)

“What does that have to do with Virgil?” Patton asks innocently. 

(Virgil knows he does that on purpose: its a load question and Patton is the barrier between it and Virgil himself)

Logan clenches his jaw, “It has to do with Virgil, because Virgil is the only other viable heir.”

“....what?”

Virgil’s voice is dry and broken. He had to have heard wrong. This wasn’t, couldn’t be real.

“Three nights ago the head of the family, Thomas Sanders, was murdered.” Logan says and then pauses.

“Murdered?” Patton repeats.

“Most of the family thinks it was our rivals--”

“Rivals?” Virgil interrupts, “You mean that’s who trying to kill me?”

Roman laughs, “God, that would be ironic!”

Logan makes an annoyed noise, “No the Prince’s aren’t the ones attempting to kill you. Though they should keep to themselves as this does not include them.”

“I can drop you off right here if you want.”

Virgil makes a noise in the back of his throat.

Roman meets his eyes in the rear view mirror, “Chill out, Winter Sulker! None of my family’s going to touch you without my say so. I’m my families heir.”

“Then who is trying to hurt my kiddo?” Patton asks, “And why?”

Logan clicks his tongue. “Thomas well...

“He named you, Virgil, heir to the family, although it is not logical in any sense--” He stops himself again seeming to remember who he was speaking to. “You are Thomas’s heir and therefore are slotted to take over. And unfortunately, not everyone in the family is...agreeable to this course of action.”

Part Three

[levineseth]

Unfamiliar

Book: Ride or Die

Pair: Colt Kaneko x MC (Maika)

Summary: Colt is willing to do something stupid for Maika.

——————

This was stupid.

Colt could hear the pounding music from the street as he parked his motorcycle and got off. He removed his helmet, nervously running his hands through his hair.

He hadn’t spoken to Maika much since the whole thing with Logan went down. The last time he saw her was when she was on top of him in the driver’s seat of her car. And to be honest, he had thought about that moment a lot since then.

He had thought about it so much that here he was standing outside of her senior prom.

It wasn’t hard to find. A quick Google search gave him the date and time. After a few hours of teasing, Ximena had helped him pick out a suit. He even bought her flowers- though he later learned that he should have gotten her something called a corsage.

The music from inside stopped, leaving Colt in abrupt silence. His thoughts screamed loudly in his head- he should leave, he’s going to ruin her night, he didn’t even go to this school. He shook his head and walked towards the door before he talked himself out of it.

———

Regret was coursing through him. The flashing lights of the dance floor were hurting his head and he couldn’t find Maika anywhere. Why did so many people go to this damn school?

After nearly ten minutes, Colt was ready to give up. But as he walked away from the crowd, he saw her. She was standing near the food table next to who he assumed was her friend Riya.

His breath caught in his throat as looked at her. The emerald green fabric of her dress clung to her every curve. Her brown hair was swept up away from her face. She was always beautiful to him, but right now she was absolutely stunning.

He was so caught up in her that he didn’t notice her eyes fall on him. She stomped up to him, heels clicking angrily on the floor.

“What the hell are you doing here, Colt?”

He continued to stare at her as his words seemed to fail him. This had seemed to be a good idea this morning but now he wasn’t so sure. He felt so out of place, so nervous, so unlike himself.

A slow song, something he recognized from the radio, began playing. Couples all around them began swaying. He finally found his voice, using it to ask one simple question: “Maika, may I have this dance?”

Her eyes softened as they drifted down, taking in his suit and the bouquet in his hand. She reached out slowly, fingers brushing his lightly as she took the flowers from him. She placed it on the table next to them and laced her fingers with his, leading them towards the dance floor.

“So.. is this a yes?”

“Shut up and dance, Colt,” she giggled as she wrapped her arms around his neck. His hands instinctively found her waist as if they had done this hundreds of times before. They danced in silence for a few moments before Maika finally spoke.

“What are you really doing here? I mean, prom? My prom? Not really your scene.”

“I never went to my prom.”

“Okay? So you decided to crash mine?”

“I always kinda wondered what it would be like to get all dressed up and dance with a hot girl all night.”

“A hot girl?”

Colt laughed, deep and genuine as Maika’s face reddened.

“You look beautiful tonight, Maika.”

“I- thanks, Colt. And I’m surprised you own a suit.”

“It’s a rental.”

“Of course it is,” she laughed.

He was happy the conversation had changed from her original question because he wasn’t sure how to tell her that he missed seeing her every day. That he only showed up here because he was going absolutely crazy not having her in the shop.

The song ended, but the pair didn’t let go of each other. His hands moved from the small of her back to the curve of her ass, pulling her closer to him.

He leaned his head down and whispered in her ear: “Do you want to get out of here?”

She pulled back slightly, eyebrows raising, trying to grasp the meaning of his statement. Finally when she decided he meant the words innocently- she replied, “Yeah, I could use some air.”

————

Maika was leaning against his bike, his suit jacket draped over her shoulders. It looked like something out of a movie and Colt couldn’t stop staring.

“God, you’re hot,” he said, allowing his eyes to travel the length of her body.

“We’ve already covered that,” she giggled, rolling her eyes at him.

“So, how’s the prom experience?” he asked, gesturing his hands broadly. “Was it everything you hoped for?”

“It’s getting there,” she replied with a small smile. It made him feel warm.

“And how about your senior year, huh? Are you valedictorian?”

“I have to wait for our final test results to come in, but it looks like I’m going to be.”

“I’m proud of you, Maika.”

Her eyes turned glassy as she looked over at him. “Thanks, Colt. That means a lot.”

He knew he shouldn’t say this and he begged his brain to shut up but his mouth betrayed him as he quietly said: “We miss having you in the shop.”

“Colt...” Maika sighed quietly.

“I know, I’m sorry. I ruined the moment.”

He hoped that she would drop it. He hadn’t wanted to bring it up in the first place.

“Everyone watched it happen,” she continued. “Everyone knows what a fool I am.”

“What?” He reeled around to her. “Maika, no one thinks you’re a fool.”

“Oh please, I saw their faces.”

“It’s Logan who’s the fool.”

She looked at the ground, face scrunched in slight disgust. He hoped it was towards the thought of Logan and not at him.

“I don’t know how he could do that. Just lie to you like it was nothing,” he continued, watching as her eyes slowly returned to his. “I’m sorry, Maika.”

She let out a puff of air and said, “That’s the first apology I’ve gotten through this whole thing.”

“Well then I’ll say it again. I’m sorry that happened to you.”

She pulled him into a gentle hug and he let himself hold her close to him for a few extra moments. They separated but remained close, standing just a few inches apart.

“So will you come back to the shop?”

“I don’t think I’m ready for that yet,” she spoke quietly. “But maybe if you were to ask me on a proper date, I’d say yes.”

He smirked at her. She stared innocently back.

The next moment, their lips were connected. Colt’s hands found her hips yet again, pulling her flush against him. Maika’s fingers tangled in his hair. He didn’t want to seem too eager- like he was waiting weeks to kiss her again- but here he was, kissing her as though she had all the answers to life’s questions. And maybe she did because the way she rolled her hips against him left him groaning the name of a god he didn’t believe in.

They pulled away at the same time, both breathless but smiling. She giggled, resting her head on his chest. He rubbed his warm hands on her cold skin.

“Let’s go back inside,” he said, not really wanting to but knowing she wanted to hang out with her friends.

“You’re staying?”

“I figured I better get the full experience.”

He smiled at her, feeling an unfamiliar warmth fill his chest. She grabbed his hand, intertwining their fingers as they walked back into the building.

[lovingkaneko]

Speakers (Colt x MC)

Summary: Colt has had enough of his neighbor blasting the worst music in the middle of the night.

Author Note: Just something I thought of in the shower. I got carried away with the story and the characters, there’s so much I could write about this. But I’ll keep it a one part thing :,) This is my favorite story I’ve got so far

Book: Ride or Die: A Bad Boy Romance | Choices: Stories You Play (AU)

Pairing: Colt Kaneko x MC | Ellie Wheeler

Word Count: ~2.7k

Rating: Mature (swearing) this is mostly fluff.

I pressed my pillow into my face, trying to drown out the torturous music coming from next door. I physically couldn’t bare to listen to it anymore. This was my first night in my new apartment and I regretted moving away from my dad already. He obviously didn’t want me to be with his crew, for a reason I didn’t understand, so I decided to leave. I won’t stay where I’m unwanted. But if this keeps going, I’m going to lose my mind. 

“Is that-- One Direction? Are you fucking serious?” I groaned loudly, not wanting to get up to face my neighbor. She’s probably a stupid teenage girl obsessed with Harry Styles or something. It’s not 2013 anymore, why is she still listening to them? The music stopped abruptly and I sighed with relief, placing the pillow back under my head. I closed my eyes and slowly drifted off in the silence. It felt like sleep was an inch away and in my grasp, but I was awoken suddenly.

“YOU’RE INSECURE, DON’T KNOW WHAT FOR!”

“Oh my fucking GOD!” I shouted, sitting up and banging on the wall, “Shut up!”

The music stopped once more and I calmed down. Finally, I was able to sleep comfortably without having to be tortured by the sound of British boys. I woke up the next morning feeling exhausted and irritable as usual, I checked my phone to find a message from Ximena. She had simply asked if I was coming over to the garage, an innocent yes or no question. Why would she even bother to text me? I put my phone in my pocket without answering.

Closing my apartment door, I stepped out into the hallway. The floor creaked, reminding me of how cheap my rent is. I made my way down shaky stairs, thinking about seeing the crew. If I’m being honest, they were fun to hang out with. They were tolerable, besides Logan. That guy presses all my buttons and the urge to punch him is almost irresistible.

I got to the parking lot, reaching into the pockets of my leather jacket for my keys. After searching in every spot on my body, I groaned. I had left them inside my room, how the fuck did I forget?

I turned back around and made my way back up the stairs, cursing under my breath. As I approached my door, I noticed a girl locking her door next to mine. 

Oh, so this is the annoying Directioner. 

Except, she didn’t look like just any teenage girl. Her hair was put into a tight braid off to the side of her shoulder and my eyes did indeed trail down her body. She was stunning, but that didn’t excuse the fact that she took away from my precious rest. 

“Hey, you,” I called out to her and she turned to look at me in shock, her eyes widening innocently. I suddenly felt a twinge of guilt, I was on the verge of complaining about her music but I decided against it.

I closely examined her features, suddenly discouraged. I had to think of something else to say. 

“Can I borrow your bobby pin?” I asked in a bored voice, she still looked like a deer in the headlights but she took a few seconds before relaxing.

“A bobby pin? For what?” Her voice was sweet and pretty, matching her exterior. Yet, I was still shocked at how innocent she sounded.

“It’s none of your business,” I said and she furrowed her eyebrows.

“Well then why should I let you borrow it?” She was suddenly angry, I was taken aback by her new attitude.

“You know what? Forget it,” I scoffed before turning away from her. She laughed and I looked at her again in frustration.

“I was joking,” She took the bobby pin out of her hair, making her bangs fall over her face, “Here.”

She handed it to me and my jaw clenched, not wanting to pay attention to her. As innocent as she seemed, I knew she was trying to get into my pants, which wasn’t going to happen.

“Thanks,” I went back to my door and began to pick the lock.

“Woah hold up, are you breaking into that room?”

“Uh, yeah?”

“Isn’t that like... Illegal?” She asked as she subtly freaked out, I chuckled. If only she knew the rest of it.

“Sure,” I continued.

“Should I be calling the cops or--”

“It’s my room,” I cut her off with a sigh.

“Ohhh,” She realized and cleared her throat, “Don’t bother giving it back. I’ve got millions more, um... Have a good day?” It sounded like a question.

“Okay,” I answered as I heard the lock click. I went inside, not saying goodbye to her. My keys were on my bed, of course. I picked them up before continuing with the rest of my day, not even thinking of her for a split second.

It wasn’t until that night, when the torture began again. 

“YOU GET THE LIMO OUT FRONT--”

“Fuck, not this again,” I whispered to myself, standing up. More than anything, I wanted to go banging on her door to complain. But as I was opening my door, I remembered that she had done me a favor earlier. The anger in my body subsided and I breathed slowly. Ellie was pissing me off.

“YOU GET THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS--”

“Can she at least pick good songs?” I slammed my door shut and went back to bed. Somehow, I managed to sleep with Hannah Montana playing next door.

I woke up later than usual the next day, getting ready in a better mood than usual. As I stepped out of my apartment, I noticed a note left on my doorstep. I was suddenly alarmed, was this a message from someone out to kill me and my father? I pulled my phone out, ready to dial the crew. I picked up the note and immediately, I lost all my excitement.

“Any song recommendations?”

Is she serious?

I went back into my room and grabbed a pen. Angrily, I scribbled a note back to her, “Just stop playing your fucking music at three in the morning.”

I pushed it under her door and continued with my day. The crew didn’t have much coming up lately and I was beyond bored. I laid in my bed, slamming my door to piss off my neighbor.

Immediately as I pulled out my phone, the music began.

“WHY YOU GOTTA BE SO RUDE?”

I chuckled, since she purposely picked that part of the song to start with. She was taunting me. As much as I hated pop songs like this one, I found myself tapping the side of my phone with the beat.

The music stopped and I figured she went to sleep, it was late anyway. I had no reason to stay up anymore, so I drifted off.

The music continued for days and it went back to being annoying. I had actually gone to tell her to shut it off after coming home from the garage, Logan had started a fight with me and I wasn’t taking any shit. Her music had been turned lower, it was all she had changed. 

I was thankful that she wasn’t blasting her speakers anymore.

However, one night was different. She had her music crazily low, but I still heard it, of course. I pressed my ear to the wall, curious as to what she was listening to, wondering why the daily routine had changed.

“I heard that you're settled down That you found a girl and you're married now”

"Adele? She’s never played that,” I whispered to myself, acknowledging the change of music. She was always listening to peppy love songs, but I guess she wasn’t feeling it tonight. 

This continued for a month, she played heartbreak songs at least once a week. There were days in which she didn’t listen to music at all, sometimes I’d hear her sing along. She wasn’t good, definitely not, but it was something different.

One night, I heard her playing The One That Got Away by Katy Perry. I had enough of it, I was dying of curiosity. I got up and left my room. I knocked on her door softly, as opposed to the aggressive knocks I’d do when I was telling her to shut up. The music stopped and the door clicked open. She peeked her head over the corner and her tear filled eyes widened as she saw me.

“Colt?” She asked before hiding behind the door, sniffling and I guessed wiping the tears away. She motioned for me to come in and I stepped inside. I felt suddenly uncomfortable, I liked knowing things and that was the ONLY reason that I was there. Obviously, something had happened with her and it was crucial for me to find out.

“What’s with the emo music lately? What happened to Justin Bieber?” I questioned as she looked at me with her bloodshot eyes. 

“Why do you care? I thought you hated it anyway,” She chuckled sadly, sniffling again. That was the thing, I didn’t care, so I don’t even know why I was there.

“I don’t care, I’m just... Curious,” I explained cautiously to make sure she doesn’t sob even more. I hated seeing people cry, it pissed me off.

“I’ve had nobody to talk about it to, Riya hated Joseph and is glad that he dumped me,” She said, as if I knew who that person was, “So I guess I can tell you.”

Before I knew it, I was sitting on her bed with her and she was ranting to me about her break up. Honestly, I was far too intrigued in her story. I even felt anger at some points, hearing about how that guy treated her. 

It simply reminded me that I would never get into a relationship, that stuff sounded overly complicated and stressful. 

She had a whole box of tissues beside her and she constantly wiped her tears away. How the fuck did someone cry so much? Is that even physically possible?

She finished telling me all about their relationship and I was left wanting to know more. She checked the time on her phone.

“Oh my gosh, it’s five in the morning!” She exclaimed, “I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to keep you up this late, I got carried away. It’s nice having someone to talk to,” She smiled sadly.

True, she had talked so much. But I didn’t mind it for some reason, she was an interesting person. She was genuinely innocent, there was no dirt on her. Hell, she was a virgin before she dated that prick.

We said goodbye to each other, not planning to see each other after this. 

But the meetings continued, every single night for a month. The first few weeks consisted of her telling me stories about him and how much she liked him. She was healing, it was apparent in her attitude when speaking of him.

One night, we were sitting in front of her TV eating popcorn and watching Criminal Minds. This was usual for us at this point, I considered her a friend. Being with her was like inhaling fresh air, she was so much different from me, it was fascinating to see life in a different perspective. 

There was a knock on her door and she quickly got up to open it, I turned around to check who was there. But by the way she froze, I knew immediately who it was. I made my way to her side instantly, pulling her behind me protectively. 

“Joseph,” I snarled at the man at the door. He looked offended by my appearance. He seemed hostile.

“Do I know you?” He asked and his breath reeked of alcohol, I would’ve gagged if I wasn’t used to it, the men at the sideshows smelled so bad. Don’t get me started on Salvador.

“No, but I know you. Get out of here,” I jerked my head for him to leave. I felt Ellie’s hand beside mine and linked our fingers together, feeling her trembling.

“What are you? Her new boyfriend?” Joseph scoffed and I felt my jaw clench with irritation.

“Yeah, now beat it,” I lied, not caring about what she would have to say. The skinny blonde boy’s mouth gaped open and he scowled. He must’ve felt that I was going to knock him out, because he furrowed his eyebrows and left without another word. I closed the door and turned to a shocked Ellie.

“It’s nothing,” She said, wide eyed. I really didn’t know what she was on about, I shrugged, realizing that our hands had separated. I made my way back to the couch, rewinding the episode. She sat beside me, she was distant this time.

“How was it? Seeing him after so long, I mean.”

“I’m just... Unsettled. I didn’t expect him to come here, I wasn’t ready,” She whispered and I heard her voice crack as she started crying.

As I’d mentioned before, watching people cry pissed me off. But I was angry for other reasons, I hated seeing how that bastard hurt her.

I never knew what to do, nobody had ever comforted me. So, I just settled for putting my hand on her knee and rubbing my thumb on it soothingly. Except, this time, she did something differently. She wrapped her arms around me.

I was stiff at first, my eyes widening as shock made its way through my body. I awkwardly hugged her back, this wasn’t something I was used to...But I liked it.

I relaxed slightly and buried my face in her neck, she smelled like strawberry shampoo. Her weeping slowed and she pulled away, I felt embarrassment flush through me. I never hugged people, I hated being touched, I wouldn’t even let my mom do it. Yet, Ellie Wheeler was nice to hold.

I noticed her mood was ruined by his sudden appearance and I came up with the perfect plan to make her stop being mopey. 

I took her phone and connected it to the cursed speaker she had next to her television. My fingerprint was already registered, since she thought it would be good for emergencies. I opened up Spotify and searched up something I never thought I would do, but I was desperate to see her stop crying.

“MY FRIENDS SAY I’M A FOOL TO THINK THAT YOU’RE THE ONE--”

“Colt,” She gasped, a smile coming onto her face, “Are you playing 2009 Justin Bieber?” I rolled my eyes and went up to her, putting her hand in mine and pulling her up on her feet. 

“What are we doing?” She asked as she examined my face, I wasn’t smiling.

“We’re blasting music at three in the morning,” I answered, accidentally grinning at her. Her mood had changed in an instant, she dragged me into the open space of her living room. Before I knew it, she was jumping up and down and singing at the top of her lungs.

“LOVE ME, LOVE ME, SAY THAT YOU LOVE ME!” 

She was lost in the music and I was just watching her admiringly.

“Come on,” She took my hand and before I could protest, she pouted. My mouth gaped open, in disbelief that she thought that would convince me to dance with her. I wish I wasn’t so easily controlled by her.

Everything else in my mind had disappeared, my hate for dancing had been thrown out the window. It was just us right now. The song ended way too soon an we were left laughing and out of breath from jumping up and down. The neighbors below us were probably pissed off, but we could care less.

She looked so beautiful, her usual braid was messy and her eyes were still red from crying over that asshole. But I couldn’t help myself, I was staring at her lips and she smiled as she noticed.

“Go for it,” She said as her cheeks turned pink, “You’re my boyfriend, after all.”

I rolled my eyes at her joke, but I didn’t lose the chance. I kissed her.

--

Tags: @mskaneko @desireepow-1986