#and i have to fly all by myself!!! which is scary as fuck!!!!!!

[digifag]

^_^

[silentglassbreak]

Well guys, you let me write your delulu fan fantasies, and it was an absolute blast. I had the best time with it, and hope to open myself to doing that again someday. Thank you all for letting me bring some semblance of your fantasies to life. It means the world to me!

Now…I think it’s only fair that I write mine.

Rating: Mature

Warnings: None.

Breathe

The last three days had been a blur. They’d been exciting, exhilarating, and unbelievably fun…but they were so exhausting.

Flying all the way out to Grand Rapids…amid a cyber defect, no less…delayed flight, no one can take cards, two days at a rock music festival…I was beat.

Nicole and I had been planning this trip for months, and it felt like regardless of how many things we did right, we were fighting against some unseen force against us. Everything we tried to do was halted at each turn, and it had become rather annoying.

Despite all of the mishaps, we had persevered, determined to enjoy ourselves against any and all odds. We got to listen to great music, meet some bands, and ate the most disgusting food the festival had to offer.

It was a dream.

By the drive back to the hotel after day two of Upheaval, we were sitting in near-silence, the radio humming low in the vehicle.

"Babes?" I looked over to Nicole. "We need to eat."

I groaned in response, sinking further into my seat. "Sounds dumb. I want to sleep."

She chuckled. "Same, but if we don't eat, we're going to feel like shit tomorrow."

"Ugh," I rolled my eyes toward the pitch darkness outside the window of the rental. "you're right."

She smirked. "As always."

I sucked my teeth. "Can we at least shower first?"

Back at the hotel, we each took our time scrubbing the day off of us, erasing the sweat and makeup left from the weekend. I slipped into my heavy sweats and black crop-top, beads of water still falling from my long, dark hair. Nicole was rubbing moisturizer into her skin, standing in front of the bathroom mirror as I ran my fingers bluntly through my hair.

"I don't want to eat Taco Bell again." Her voice was pleading, and I snickered.

"Same, dude. But what else is open?"

She picked up her phone, opening Google Maps, and scrolling through.

"IHOP?"

I sighed. "It was so bad when we ate there on Thursday..."

She nodded, pursing her lips. "I know, dude. Let me keep looking." Her fingers swiped the screen. "That Denny's looked fucking scary."

I laughed, walking out of the bathroom and grabbed my wallet from my purse, stuffing it in my pocket.

"Oooh!" She stepped into the room, a smile on her face. "There's a TGIFridays open! Only for like, another hour? But if we eat fast, we can make it."

The restaurant was desolate, only one other large SUV in the parking lot. Before opening my door, I slipped my phone from my pocket and checked the screen.

No notifications.

"Have you heard from him?"

I just shook my head, re-locking the phone, and putting it in my pocket. Her look was sympathetic.

"He's an idiot. Don't even worry about it, babe." She put a hand on my arm. "That's a 'tomorrow you' problem."

I nodded, giving her a small smile. "I know. Thanks, Nic."

We walked into the restaurant, eyes glancing around and seeing only one table in the corner filled with no less than five men laughing and eating. Craning my neck around, I searched for the server.

"You think they'll even seat us this late?"

Nicole shrugged, eyes trained on the table with the patrons. "Don't know."

She was distracted, so I stepped forward toward the host stand, looking around toward the bar.

"October..." Her voice was small, just above a whisper.

I didn't look back at her, my empty stomach motivating me to keep checking for the employee. "Hmm?"

A hand gripped my wrist, which made my head snap back to her. "I need you to, discreetly, look over at the table of guys in the corner."

I furrowed my brows, looking her directly in the eyes. "What? Why?"

Her face was stern. "Just do it, but don't be obvious."

Exhaling a breath, I continued searching around the restaurant, letting my eyes fall on the table for only a split second longer than anywhere else.

I counted six men, all black t-shirts and hoodies. Three of them wearing black baseball caps. Half of them were sitting with their backs turned to me, but my eyes caught one of them facing our direction, hands air-drumming feverishly in front of him.

He looked so...familiar?

I stole another glance, and my eyes widened.

"Is that...?"

"Nick Folio." Her voice whispered to me.

I averted my eyes to the floor, hand rising to cover my mouth. "Oh my God."

"If he's here, that means it's them."

I couldn't process that.

Bad Omens was my favorite band. Nearly the entire reason I had flown sixteen hundred miles to a state I had never been. I ground my teeth together, shutting my eyes.

"No fucking way, dude. We just saw them at the festival." I let my eyes look up at her, and she smirked.

"Well, clearly, they're hungry."

"Mkay, well I'll be out in the car if you need me." My legs started for the door, but an arm hooked mine, swinging me back to my spot in front of her.

"Oh, no no no. You're not leaving."

My eyes blew wide at her. "I can't fucking be here while they are! They're my fucking heroes, Nic!"

She nodded. "Uh, fucking same! But when will we ever get an opportunity to be this close again?"

I rolled my eyes. "We're not at a zoo, Nicole. They're just guys."

I didn't even believe the words I was saying.

"Yeah?" She crossed her arms, and raised an eyebrow. "Then why leave?"

My face deadpanned, my lip pouting. "Cause I'm going to throw up."

She chuckled at this, eyes darting back to the guys, completely oblivious to our turmoil unfolding fifty feet away.

"We should talk to them."

My heart fell straight to my gut. "I beg your finest pardon?"

She shrugged, considering me. "Why not? What's the worst that could happen?"

"Uh, we interrupt their meal and I die of a stroke?"

This time, she rolled her eyes. "If you don't go say hello, I'm going to do it."

My brain short circuited. We couldn't have that. Who knew what Nicole's unhinged mouth would say to them...

"Can't I just eat and go? Pretend I didn't even see them?"

"And you'll never forgive yourself. You can't be this close to Noah Sebastian, and not tell him how much his music means to you."

I chewed on my lower lip.

"C'mon, babe. It'll be fine, and I'll be there with you!"

I steadied myself, wiping my hands on my pants. "Okay. Okay, I will."

I turned, looking directly at the table. The server had finally emerged, a tray full of plates in his hand. I waited as he set them all down, and he finally approached us.

"Sorry about that wait, guys. Just two?"

Nicole nodded, given I was nearly catatonic. The short, blonde man led us to a booth, only two away from the table I was dreading. He handed us menus, and took our drink orders.

"Before or after food?" Nicole asked as she scanned her menu.

"Can't you just do it?" I grimaced. "Without being a weirdo?"

She didn't even bother looking up at me. "Nope. Weird is built into my soul, sorry."

I sighed hard. "Before, then. If I eat, I will vomit all over them."

She folded her menu, and stood from the booth. "Let's go, then."

I closed my eyes, and took her outstretched hand, standing. Taking a quick second to right my hoodie - my Bad Omens hoodie - tied around my waist, I took in a hard breath.

"Alright." I squeaked out.

She led me carefully the few paces over to the table, moving behind me. I walked about four feet from them, likely looking pale as a ghost. I caught Folio's attention first, smiling awkwardly and giving a short wave.

"Hey! Can we help you guys?" His voice was upbeat and sweet as candy. Exactly how I expected.

"Hi." I cleared my throat, taking a careful step forward. My hands kneaded each other, and Nicole held a steady hand on my low back. "I'm s-so sorry to interrupt."

All heads had turned to me, and I didn't have the nerve to look to my left, where I knew Noah was sat.

"No worries!" Folio was smiling widely at me. "Are you guys fans?"

I nodded, looking down at my feet. "We are. We just saw you guys perform tonight, and I wanted to just-" My voice cut off abruptly, a catch in my throat. I swallowed hard. "We wanted to tell you how amazing you all were."

My eyes bounced to the other two men facing me. Nick Ruffilo and Matt Dierkes. They were both grinning.

"Thank you, that means a lot." Nick's voice was tired, but his smile was genuine.

Folio stood from his seat, pushing a hand out to me. "I'm Nick."

I took it with shaky fingers, feeling his grip mine tightly. "Folio, right."

He nodded. "And you are?"

Wow, I forgot my name. Smooth.

It took me a moment, but with a more certain voice, I was able to respond. "October." I let go of his hand to move to the side. "This is Nicole."

He shook her hand as well.

She smiled a toothy grin at him. "We flew from Las Vegas to see you guys."

Folio smiled wider. "Really? Wow! That's so fucking cool!"

Trying not to combust, I dared a glance slightly to the left, seeing Jolly and Bryan, who were both chewing food.

"I would introduce the rest of these guys, but I'm sure you already know who they are." Folio chuckled, and we both nodded.

"Yeah, we're familiar." I added.

"Well, that's great. Now, do you mind?"

The voice came directly from the left of me, where I had been avoiding. The tone made my blood run cold, and I felt all of my muscles tighten.

Finally, I looked over to meet his large, brown eyes. Noah looked anything but appreciative of us coming over to give our praise. In fact, he looked downright annoyed.

I couldn't process what he had said, and I stupidly asked, "Excuse me?"

He narrowed his eyes at me slightly, gesturing to the table. "Look, as much as we all appreciate it," His voice was dripping with disdain. "we're exhausted. We just want to eat so we can get out of here."

My heart had stopped beating. If I had anything in my stomach, it would have erupted out of me right then and there.

Maybe it was the jet-lag, or the fact that when I got home tomorrow, my life was actively in shambles, or maybe it was just being hungry...but I was enraged.

My hands balled into fists instinctively, trying to control my irritation, and I repainted my sweet smile.

"I'm sorry, we'll go. We just wanted to let you guys know you did great tonight. And you all are extremely talented."

He nodded, eyes now looking about as bored as they come.

"Great. Thanks." He snapped, turning his body back toward the table.

"Noah." Folio's voice was stern, and he turned back to me, an apologetic look on his face. "Don't mind him. He's cranky. You guys really aren't bothering us."

I heard the sound before I really registered what it was.

He sucked his teeth.

Oh, I see. He was a fucking child.

Now having lost all sense of nervousness, I could feel Nicole's hand tugging at my arm. "C'mon, babe."

I let myself be turned for a second, but my anger spun me back around, now facing directly toward him, which made him glance up at me like an inconvenience.

"You know," I started, sucking my own teeth in mockery. "you're not at all what I expected?"

He snickered, leaning back in his chair. "No?"

I shook my head slowly. "Nah. I expected someone with as much talent and success as you to be a decent person. Guess I was wrong."

Nicole's near silent gasp behind me was not lost, and I smirked.

"Well, sorry to disappoint, sweetheart." His voice was so nonchalant, it made my blood roar in my ears.

My hands twisted around the knot in my hoodie at my belt line, pulling it loose. I pulled it off with one hand, holding it out in front of me and let it go, leaving it to fall directly in his lap.

"Here." I caught him off guard, him looking up at me with wide eyes. "You probably want this back."

He picked it up, recognizing it was one of theirs. "Why would I want this?"

I smirked, a darkness in my eyes. "Well, you're pretty cold, Noah." I leaned down just to meet his eye level. "Might want something to warm you up before everyone realizes."

I heard a stifled snort come from the table, but I couldn't even begin to tell you who it was. Standing back up, I backed away from the table, and looked back at Folio.

"It was really nice to meet you guys. Have a safe night."

With that, I snatched Nicole's hand, and stalked away from the table, only pausing at the booth to grab my bag, before heading for the doors.

Once outside in the brisk night air, I took three large breaths, rounding the building and leaning down. My hands caught my knees, and Nicole stood in front of me.

"Holy shit!" She was nearly hysterical. "You just told off Noah Sebastian!"

Breathing hard, I fought the tears welling. It was too much all at once.

Was it that significant? No, not really. But after the year I'd been having, I couldn't handle that encounter at all.

"I want to leave. I want to go home."

"I know, babe. I'm sorry that went that way. I can't believe how much of a douche he was."

Shaking my head, I stood back up straight, wiping the moisture from my eyes. "Me either."

"Well," A voice came from behind us, and my eyes blew out, seeing him towering only a few feet away, hoodie in hand. "I don't know if I'd go as far to say douche."

My eyes squinted, jaw clicking. "I would."

He approached us slowly, holding the sweater out to me. "Take this. It's yours."

I held a hand up to him, shaking my head. "No, thanks."

He rolled his eyes. "You paid good money for this. And you made your point. Take it."

I considered him, counting my breaths. He was unmoving, so I reached out, gripping the fabric.

His foot kicked at the sidewalk, hands retreating into his sweater pockets. "Look, I'm sorry." I stood, shocked. "Folio's right. I'm just cranky. I haven't eaten all day, I'm tired. You just caught me on a bad moment."

My lips tightened, and I sighed hard. "So that makes it okay to be rude to someone who just wanted to tell you how great you were?"

His teeth chewed on the inside of his cheek. "I said I was sorry."

A hand touched my arm, and I looked back at Nicole, who gave me an amused smile. "Babe? I'm going to go back in. I'm also hungry."

I just nodded, letting her walk past the both of us.

He took two steps toward me slowly, eyes fixed on my face. "Nicole, right?" He asked, without taking his eyes off of me. She stopped short in her stride. "Pull a chair up to the table, dinner's on me tonight."

I caught the small smile on her lips before she continued her trek back into the restaurant.

"Well, you all enjoy that." And I turned, ready to get into the car, when I hand caught me by my purse. I stopped, looking back at him.

"Come eat."

Stitching my eyebrows together, I crossed my arms with my sweater between, considering him.

"Why?"

He shrugged. "Cause I was a douche."

I sat relatively silent at the table, munching slowly on the personal flatbread pizza I had ordered. It was one of the cheapest items on the menu, and I would be damned if I didn't somehow manage to slip him cash for it before we left.

Noah had loosened up substantially once he started eating. He was leaned back in his chair, flicking fries at Nick across the table, and participating in the conversations swirling around. Nicole, as she always did, melted into the group comfortably, sat next to Folio, and telling story after story of our trip and the festival.

"You guys seriously had to drive to an ATM to pay at the IHOP?" Nick asked incredulously.

"Yep. We sure did. The guy couldn't take card, and we felt bad. We could've just not come back, but that wouldn't be good karma."

I smiled at Nicole, the memory of two nights ago flooding in. An arm bumped mine, and I looked to my left to see Noah, eyes searching my face.

"You still mad at me?"

His voice was entirely different, soft as butter and warm like a fire. I smirked, leaning my elbows on the table.

"Haven't decided yet."

He nodded, sitting up so he was sat closer to me. "Yeah? Well, you shouldn't be."

Resting my chin on my hand, I gazed at him. "Why not?"

He smiled brightly. "Cause you came all this way to see me."

This made me snort, rolling my eyes. "Uh, no. I came all this way to see Bad Omens. Which I did."

"Why fly to Michigan? We were just in Vegas in April."

I nodded. "At Sick New World. I was there." He quirked an eyebrow. "Also at the show in October."

He looked confused. "So why come to Michigan?"

Shrugging my shoulders, I smiled a small grin. "Favorite band."

"We are?"

"Is that so hard to believe?"

He smiled, smug. "I mean, not really."

I laughed, leaning back from the table. I was wearing my hoodie now, having become chilly halfway through the meal.

"Bet I can guess your favorite song?"

My eyes darted to his face, amused. "Really?" He looked so sure of himself. "Go for it."

He pursed his lips and stroked his chin dramatically, like a Medium. I tried to hide my laughter.

"Just Pretend?"

Rolling my eyes, I shook my head. "You think I'm that basic?"

He chuckled. "Fair enough." He stared hard at me, trying to get a read. "Death of Peace of Mind?"

Nicole raised a hand. "That one's mine!"

Both of us glanced up at her, not realizing anyone else was listening. He turned back to me, still wracking his brain.

"Dethrone?"

I shook my head. "Nope."

"Nowhere To Go?"

"Nope, close third, though."

"Third?!"

I giggled, a blush flushing up my neck.

"Which album is it off of?"

"Nuh-uh, that's cheating."

He threw his hands up. "How is that cheating?"

I pursed my lips. "Second album."

"Limits?"

"Bingo."

He clapped his hands together in triumph. "Ha!" He pointed at me. "Knew I'd guess it."

Laughing, I pushed him with my arm. "Yeah, after you guessed half of your songs."

We both broke out in laughter, and it occurred to me that some of the other conversations had stopped. I caught Nick in the corner yawning hard, and my eyes met Nicole's. It was time.

"Well, Noah," I looked back at him. "thank you for the food. We should get going."

His lips downturned, but I was sure I was imagining it. "Oh," He looked back at the rest of the guys. "yeah, us too. Early morning."

I nodded, standing out of my chair, everyone else following suit.

As a group, we made our way out the door, pouring out onto the sidewalk. Nicole bid goodbye to the guys, and I did the same. We hugged them each separately, Noah being last.

I wasn't sure if hugging him was appropriate, given our encounter, so I just stood in front of him while everyone else headed for the cars.

"So," I let my lips turn up in a smile.

His face mimicked mine. "This was fun."

"It was. Despite how it started, it was really great meeting you, Noah."

"You too, October."

The bill in my hand was getting sweaty, so I stepped forward, pushing it toward him. His eyes looked down at my hand, and he put his hands up.

"Oh, no. Dinner was on me."

"Please take it, Noah."

He took a step back, as if what I was holding was poisonous. "Not a chance."

Scoffing, I stepped toward him, pulling my hand back. "I don't like people paying for me."

He pursed his lips. "I'm not taking money from you." I groaned, slipping the two twenties back in my pocket. "I will, however," He looked at me from under his lashes. "take your number, if that's okay?"

I froze, my mind stopping. "Oh, uh,"

He looked as though he may run in the opposite direction, eyes becoming panicked. "You don't have to. I totally get it."

"No, no. I can give it to you." His head snapped up to look at me. "I just, uh," My face fell to stare at the ground for a moment before I spoke. "I'm not really looking for..." I trailed off.

"Oh! No! I just had a lot of fun talking to you. Figured we could keep talking? Like, friends?" His smile was nervous, and it warmed me.

"Okay."

"He asked for your number?!" Nicole nearly screamed at the windshield as she drove us back to the hotel.

I cackled. "Yeah."

"And you gave it to him?!"

I didn't verbally respond, only dropped my head in my hands.

"Holy fuck!"

"He said he just wants to be friends."

"Oh, bullshit. He fucking liked you. I could tell he was into the attitude."

I gasped. "Not true!"

"So fucking true."

"No way, dude. He's Noah Sebastian. And I'm...me."

"You're fucking amazing, I don't know what you mean." Nicole looked nearly offended.

"I know. But he just wants to talk."

She smirked. "With his dick, maybe."

The shrieking laughter that exploded out of me was a mix of shock and hilarity at her comment.

"We'll know for sure if he texts you."

I sighed, leaning back in my seat. "We'll see."

As fried as my nerves were, nothing was stopping me from passing out the moment my head hit the pillow of the hotel room bed. I was absolutely cooked, ready to return back to my normal life.

I had received no messages before I knocked out, so I put it out of my head. It was a fun experience, and a sweet gesture of him to take my number, but I knew the likelihood of ever hearing from him again was so slim, it wasn’t worth hoping for.

He didn’t know me, and from what I knew about Noah Sebastian, he was an extremely private person. How did he know I wouldn’t give out his number or share our messages online? I would probably pause before I did anything if I were him.

When my eyes finally cracked open, the fog settled behind my eyes slowly evaporating, I saw Nicole sat up on her bed, looking down at her phone. I grunted, rolling onto my side and pulling the blankets up to my chin.

“What time is it?”

“Nine. We don’t have to leave for the airport for another hour.” She didn’t look up at me, but she smirked when she spoke.

I yawned, letting my eyes fall closed again. “I should go back to sleep, then.”

“You could.” She set her phone in her lap. “Or, you could check your phone.”

Snuggling deeper under the covers, I stretched my legs.

“He hasn’t texted me, dude.”

Nicole raised an eyebrow. “I don’t know. Your phone went off twice about half an hour ago.” She leaned back on her hands. “I already looked at the screen, and it wasn’t your Dad or…anyone else.” She spoke the last words carefully. I knew who she was referring to, and my chest squeezed at the idea.

My hand carefully reached onto the nightstand, gripping my phone. I pulled it in front of my face, tapping in the code, and letting it open. My messages icon showed two red notifications, which I opened hastily.

The messages came from an unknown number. When I opened the thread, my heart halted all its movements.

+17475558326: Hi.

+17475558326: It’s Noah.

My breathing picked back up, and I shot straight up in bed.

“Was it him?!” Nicole was bursting.

My eyes slipped over to look at her, my mouth fallen open. “It was.”

She squealed. “I can’t believe he texted you!”

My fingers shook while holding the phone, threatening to drop it in my lap. “What do I do?!”

“Fucking respond!”

I nodded, my thumbs hovering over the screen but freezing. “What do I say?!”

“Hi? I don’t fucking know?!” She looked amused. I was not.

Me: Good morning.

My finger hovered over the send button for a moment before I finally sent it. Instinctively, I tossed my phone on the bed, pulling my knees to my chest,

“Holy fuck, dude.”

She stood, walking over to my cell and checking the screen. “He’s already read it.”

“Give it.” I held my hand out, and she placed it in my palm.

His type bubble was already up. I took a second to save his name into my phone.

Noah: Sleep okay?

Was this real life?

Me: I did, how about you?

Noah must’ve had the chat open, because my message was read instantly and he started texting back quick.

Noah: Eh, yeah. Hotel beds aren’t my favorite.

Me: Me either. I was so tired, though.

I stood off the bed, stretching my arms over my head. Nicole had disappeared into the bathroom. I pulled my hoodie over my head, and looked at my messages again.

Noah: I’ll bet. You had a busy weekend. Excited to go home?

I thought about my response carefully.

Me: I am. I’m sure my kids are missing me almost as much as I miss them.

It shouldn’t be any big deal to admit that I’ve got kids casually, right? We’re just friends…

The thread indicated he read the messages, but it took him a full five minutes to start typing. My breath held what felt like the entire time, waiting for his text to come through.

Noah: How many kids?

My pulse raced, and I sat down on the edge of the bed.

Me: Two.

Noah: How old?

I raised an eyebrow.

Me: Why do you ask?

He responded slowly.

Noah: Just curious. Making conversation.

I sighed, now slightly concerned.

Me: 9 and 5.

Noah: Boys?

Me: Boy and a girl. My son is older.

Noah: Big brother, huh? Very cool. What’re their names?

I bit my lip, and Nicole was now stood next to the bed staring at me.

“What’s wrong?”

“I told him about my kids.”

She eyed me, confused. “And?”

“He’s asking about them.”

Quirking an eyebrow, she sat down next to me. “Are you not comfortable telling him? That’s a valid feeling, babe.” She put a hand on my knee. “You just met him.”

I nodded. “It’s just kind of…I don’t know, strange? Why would he care what my kid’s names are?”

She pursed her lips, staring down at my phone. “Maybe he’s trying to get to know you?”

“Maybe. I don’t know. Maybe I should just tell him?”

“It’s up to you, babe.”

I sent back a quick response.

Me: Michael and Willow

Noah: Nice.

I was brushing my teeth, so I didn’t immediately respond before his next text came in.

Noah: So, if you’ve got kids, does that mean you have a husband?

I scoffed, rolling my eyes.

Me: Don’t have to be married to have kids, Noah.

His text that came through almost made me spit my toothpaste all over the mirror.

Noah: Children out of wedlock?! Unacceptable!!

I cackled, and I knew Nicole was wondering, but she didn’t ask.

Me: What can I say? I’m a heathen.

I followed it up quickly.

Me: But, no. Not married. Their Dad is around, but we’re not together.

Noah: I see.

I sighed, not really sure where to go from here. Resolving to changing the subject, I was also packing up my things into my duffel to prepare for our journey to the airport.

Me: Anyway, enough about me. What’re you up to?

Noah: On the bus headed to Mansfield. We should be there in about an hour.

Me: Oh, that’s right. You play Inkcarceration tonight, right?

Noah: Yup. Surprised you won’t be there. 😜

I laughed out loud.

Me: Well, I can only stalk you so much. I have work tomorrow.

Noah: What do you do?

Me: I work for a law firm as a paralegal. It’s a mostly remote gig, so I work from home most days.

Nicole and I loaded our bags into the car, dropping our key cards off at the desk.

Noah: Oh that sounds fun.

Me: It’s not, but it pays the bills.

We made it to the rental car return, and I waited outside while Nicole dropped the keys in the box. We made our way into the airport, now having to pay full attention to the tasks at hand.

Check in, move through TSA, head to Starbucks, find gate.

Nicole had stopped at a gift shop that had an impressive bookstore inside, where I opted to go find seats at the gate. It wasn’t until I was settled in that I was able to check my phone again.

Noah: Well, what would you rather do for a living?

I chewed my bottom lip thinking about this.

Me: I don’t really know, honestly. Thats a tough question.

Me: I’d have to think on that.

Noah: Great, I expect a report back in 3-5 business days. 👍🏻

I cackled at the message, and Nicole sat next to me right as I did.

“Still texting the love of your life?”

I scoffed, locking my phone and looking at her. “Oh, stop. He’s just a guy.”

“Yeah, mhm, sure.” She opened her crispy new novel and began reading the first few pages, successfully ending the short conversation.

Noah: What time’s your flight?

Me: We board in about ten minutes.

Noah: Sweet. You’ll be home soon, you must be relieved.

Me: I am, but I hate flying…

Noah: Really? I’m the same way. It’s the worst.

Me: Any tips for me?

Noah: Depends. Is it the small spaces, or the fear of crashing?

Me: Crashing.

Noah: Oh, yeah…no. Can’t help you there. I have an insane irrational fear of being in a plane crash.

I audibly groaned, sinking into my seat.

Me: Awesome, thanks.

Noah: LOL you’ll be fine. It’ll be a smooth flight and you’ll be home to your kids in no time.

Noah: I usually blast music through the whole flight and just tune everything out.

Me: I’ll try that.

The call for our boarding came, so Nicole and I stood, headed for the line.

Me: We’re about to board. Talk later?

Noah: Yup. Fly safe. Text when you land.

Noah: If you want.

Smiling at my phone, I typed back swiftly.

Me: Will do.

Falling into my bed, I took a moment to stare up at the ceiling.

It was over. I was home. All that was left to do was gather myself, pick up my kids from their Dad, and return back to my regular life.

The thought consumed me. I only had an hour until I was due to pick them up, and as excited as I was to see my babies, I was absolutely floundering at the idea of seeing their Dad…

Things had not ended well between Sean and I. Earlier in the year, we had finally called it quits after nearly a decade. Although we tried hard to amicably end things, it just wasn’t in the cards for us. There was too much history and hurt to let it die peacefully.

I gave myself a few minutes to gather myself before I took my phone out, shooting him a quick text to let him know I’d be there at 5PM, as agreed.

Sean: K.

Sounds about right.

I then realized I had forgotten to text Noah, so I opened our thread.

Me: I got home okay. Did you make it to Ohio safely?

Heading for the backyard to let my dog, Steve, out to use the bathroom, I sat at the table, staring out at the grass.

My phone chimed.

Noah: Nope. Bus crashed. Fiery mess. Blood everywhere.

I smirked.

Me: Damn. RIP.

Noah: We’re at the festival, just hanging for now. We’ve got about an hour before they set up the stage.

Me: Same setlist from last night?

Noah: Probably. We haven’t taken the time to make a new one.

I sighed, making my way back into the house and moving around the kitchen to start a pot of coffee.

Me: You should.

Noah: Yeah, how so?

Thinking for a moment, I leaned against the counter, and typed on the screen.

Me: Maybe add in something different? Something you haven’t played in a long time?

Noah: Such as…?

I snorted.

Me: Isn’t that your job to decide?

Noah: You can tell me, as a listener, what you’d want to hear.

Noah: What’s your favorite song off the first album?

Me: The Fountain, but that’s too slow.

Noah: I doubt I even know the words to that anymore, dude.

Me: Exit Wounds?

Noah: Meh.

Me: OMG…

Noah: What else?

Me: Worst In Me?

Noah: Hate that song.

Me: Jesus actual Christ.

Noah: Second album? Other than Limits?

Me: Burning Out?

Noah: …

Noah: That might not be a bad one…

Me: Oop?

Noah: I’ve got to talk to Nick. I don’t have a lot of time. I’ll text you later?

Me: Yup. Have a great show!

Noah: That you should be at…

I ignored his last message, sipping my coffee, and steadying myself. He was a little flirty, sure. It didn’t mean my heart didn’t jump each time he did it.

My knuckles tapped the door, and I was greeted by my son Michael, his smile huge.

“Mom!” He rushed me, wrapping his arms around my waist.

“Hey baby!” I knelt down, pulling him into a tight squeeze.

Behind him, inside the house, my daughter came running as well. “Mama!”

I pulled an arm open for her, encapsulating them both. “Ugh, I missed you guys so hard.”

Letting them loose, I noticed they already had their backpacks on.

“Where’s your Dad?” I looked around inside the apartment, but Michael just waved a hand.

“In his room. He told me to tell you he’ll see you next week.” He was so nonchalant, and although I knew it was forced, I was thoroughly impressed at how strong my young man had been throughout this difficult process.

Silently, I thanked the universe that Sean and I didn’t have to come face to face, and we made our way out of the apartment and down the stairs.

“How was Mushygen?” Willow asked, and I laughed at her pronunciation.

“Michigan was good. Auntie and I had fun, but I’m so glad to be home with you both.” I buckled her in the back of my minivan while Michael climbed in his seat next to hers.

“Did you get to meet any cool bands?” He asked me.

This made me smile as I slid into my seat, starting the vehicle.

“I did. I actually got to meet my favorite band.”

“Bad Omens?!” His voice cracked, and I smiled bigger.

“Yes! We ran into them at a restaurant last night!”

“What were they like?” He was curious, being a bit of a fan himself.

“Super nice, really cool guys.” I skipped over mine and Noah’s introductory debacle.

“That’s so cool, Mom!” Willow chirped from her seat.

“How was your weekend at Dad’s?” I asked them.

They proceeded to give me the full rundown of their three days with their father. They went to the park, out to dinner, but mostly stayed in at the apartment, given how hot it was. They couldn’t wait to go back next weekend.

Sean was a lot of things, but I’d never lie and say he wasn’t a good father to his kids.

Once back at home, I began working on dinner. Spaghetti, per the children’s request. After dinner were baths/showers, two hours of hangout time, before they had to go to bed. It was summer, so bedtime was midnight.

About 8:30PM, while I was sat on my Chaise lounger curled up with Willow watching Inside Out, my phone buzzed next to me.

Noah: That was a good choice. Turns out, a lot of people know that song.

Me: I’m glad it went well! Did the rest of the set go smoothly?

Noah: Sure did. It was tiring, and I’m ready to go home. But festivals are fun.

Me: When do you head back home?

Noah: Tonight. We’ve got stuff coming up on Thursday, so we’ve got to get going ASAP. Takes three days to make it back to LA.

I felt Willow shift next to me, and I noticed she was snoozing comfortably. It was already after 9PM, so I decided it was time to carry her into her room.

Laying her small body in bed and tucking her pale pink blanket over her, I left her with a kiss on the forehead and turned on her nightlight.

When I made it back to my spot, I flipped to SVU, and responded to his text.

Me: That’s a long drive. I don’t envy you.

Noah: You’ve got work tomorrow, I don’t envy you.

Smiling, I leaned back in my seat and covered up with my throw blanket.

Me: Fair enough.

The days passed tediously. Two weeks had gone by since I came home from Michigan. Every day, like clockwork, Noah texted me. Not the entire day, but most of it. We talked about a lot. My job. His music. Our favorite movies. Favorite places. Our hobbies. Our tattoos.

I was working in-office today, smiling at my phone because of the messages we were exchanging.

Noah: How big is it?

Me: Hip to knee.

Noah: WOAH.

I smirked. I was referring to a tattoo of an octopus I have on my left thigh.

Noah: Pic?

Me: I don’t have any off hand.

The flirting had been mild at best, but once in a while, he would say something suggestive, and it made me smile. Still, I would typically change the subject.

Noah: Damn. I’ll just have to see it in person.

This made my stomach twirl. In person? Throughout these last couple weeks, at no point had we discussed meeting in person again. I mean, it was possible, I’m sure. But it hadn’t really registered as a possibility.

While talking to Noah over text only, it almost made the entire experience feel unreal.

Me: I don’t remember seeing any Vegas tour dates on your website, sir.

His text took a few to come through.

Noah: Sir…?

Whoops. Maybe that was a bad move.

Noah: Vegas isn’t far. And didn’t you say you’re going to be in LA in September?

Chewing the skin off of my lip, I clutched my phone.

Me: To see Falling in Reverse and Black Veil Brides.

Noah: Maybe I could go.

Me: I didn’t think you listened to them?

Noah: Not so much, but if you’re going to be there, I think it could be fun.

That made my insides twist. He wanted to see me?

Me: Well, guess I’ll see you there, then?

After work, I dropped the kids at Sean’s. He had requested we do contactless drop off now, to try and avoid any arguments…like my children were a fucking Uber delivery.

He would stand outside, I’d let them out of the car, and they’d walk up to the apartment. It was fucking childish, but I didn’t argue. I had no energy left for Sean anymore. He had taken it all.

At home, I began the process of decompressing for the week, still fuming over my ex’s immaturity. First order of business was to uncork my Rosé, and fill my tallest glass.

I stood at the counter, heels kicked off to the floor of the kitchen, and chugged a few gulps of the drink.

My phone began chiming in my bag, and I fished it out. Someone was FaceTiming me?

Noah…

Noah was FaceTiming me?

I swiped the call open, not bothering to check my appearance first, and his face looked back at me. He was sitting at a desk, bed behind him, wearing a t-shirt and his hair was messy.

“Hey.” I said, apprehensive.

“Hey, sorry, is this a bad time?”

I shook my head, taking another long pull from my glass. “Not at all. Just got home from dropping the kids off.” My tone contradicted my words, my agitation still leaking in.

“You sure? Lookin’ a little stressed there, October.”

I snorted, propping my phone against the stove, and refilling my glass.

“Long day. What’s up?”

He sat back in his chair, hands folded over his chest. “Just wanted to see you.”

My fingers gripped the counter. “You did?”

“Yeah, texting gets old.”

I nodded. “It does.”

“Want to talk about your day?”

I groaned, the alcohol already softening the edges of my brain slightly. “You don’t even want to know.”

He pursed his lips. “Try me?”

Waving a hand in front of me, I swallowed the last of my second glass. “It’s just my children’s father being a dick. Nothing new.”

Lifting a brow, he cocked his head to the side. “What’d he do?”

As messy as ever, I poured a third and final glass, emptying the bottle, and dropping it in the trash can. Lifting my hand to my hair, I pulled the clip loose, shaking my hair out.

“He asked for contactless delivery with the kids.” I said as I lifted the glass to my lips.

He looked taken back. “Like…a pizza?”

“That’s what I said!” I shook my head. “He’s a fucking coward. He can’t even fucking face me without being an asshole.”

“Then maybe it’s better you don’t see each other?”

Shrugging, I ran a hand through my hair. “Fuck, probably.”

Looking at him, I noticed he was walking now, phone in hand.

“Anyway, fuck that guy. How was your day?”

He set the phone back down, and he was clearly in his kitchen. “Uneventful. Played with some beats. Caught up on some of the shows I’d been missing.”

I walked to my room, pulling a t-shirt from the hanger. “I’m going to set you down a sec so I can change.”

He just nodded. “Should I make pasta or tacos for dinner?”

I shouted at the phone as I pulled my shirt over my head and slipped my pants off. “Pasta, always pasta.”

Satisfied, he began pulling items from the cabinet.

“Oh, Noah!” I stood, only in my shirt covering my underwear. He turned to look at me as I lifted the phone. “Did you want to see the tattoo now?”

He padded back to where his phone was at, and leaned down close to the screen. I set my phone on my dresser and stepped backward to get myself in the frame. Feeling sheepish, I carefully worked to only show my ink, and not my crotch.

“Hmm,” He mused. “Cant see it. Better take the shirt off too.”

My eyes rolled, and I grabbed the phone. “Perv.”

He snickered, smiling at me. “What? Beautiful tattoo on a beautiful woman? Can you blame me?”

My cheeks reddened, and I quickly slipped my sweats on. “Guess not.”

He placed a pot of water on the stove to boil, and stepped back, twirling a wooden spoon in his hand. His eyes considered me as I moved back into the kitchen to start working on my own meal.

“Can I ask you something, October?”

Distractedly, melting some butter, scallions, and garlic in a pan, I responded. “Sure.”

“When I asked you for your number, back in Michigan, you acted like you weren’t looking to date anyone.”

My eyes shot over to the phone, my hand stopping its stirring. “Mhm…”

“That’s true? You’re not looking to date?”

Trying to concentrate on my task, I added the cream to the roux I had made. “Not right now, why?”

He shrugged his shoulders, dropping his pasta in the boiling pot. “Curious.”

“Yeah? Cause that’s a super pointed question for just curiosity.”

He smiled to himself, not looking at the camera. “Alright, maybe I’m a little more than curious.”

I turned my full attention to him, adding Parmesan to my Alfredo base. “What’s ’a little more than curious’?”

He looked at me then, eyes piercing me. “Interested?”

Death. That’s what I felt right then. Heart rate explosive, mind racing, eye twitching. No words can describe the feeling when someone as unbelievable as Noah Sebastian tells you they’re interested…

“Y-You’re…interested?”

He nodded slowly, stirring his pot. “I am.”

Stuttering like a cat, I nearly dropped my spoon. “Why?” I managed to choke out.

His face was bewildered. “Why not?”

Biting my lip hard enough to draw blood, I nearly let my sauce boil over.

“Uh,” I moved the pan from the burner and poured my pasta in the water. “I mean, it’s a valid question.”

“I don’t get it.”

“Noah…” I sighed hard, scrubbing a hand over my face. “Have you seen you?”

“A few times.” He laughed as he strained his noodles. “And?”

“I’m not,” I pointed toward him. “that.”

“A dude? Yeah, I didn’t think so but I didn’t exactly want to ask.”

I narrowed my eyes, smirking. “Smart ass.”

“I don’t see the confusion here.”

“You’re being willfully ignorant.” I raised my eyebrows at him.

“How so?” He answered as he threw butter and seasonings into the pot.

Sucking my teeth, I rolled my eyes. “Noah, you’re an actual rockstar.”

“Kay, and?”

“And I’m a normal person.”

“I’m sorry,” He held up the spoon that was scooping noodles into a bowl. “Am I not?”

“I have kids. A job. Baggage. We live in different states. You’re,” I gestured to him again. “far out of my league.”

He shook his head. “I disagree.”

He moved to his table, propping me up on something I couldn’t see.

“Well, you’re wrong.”

He shoveled food into his mouth, taking a moment to chew. I strained my own pasta.

“How do you figure? You’re funny, interesting, fiery, beautiful…”

My throat went dry.

“What’s the issue?”

Putting my pasta together and getting it onto a plate, I walked over to my own table. “You’re forgetting the baggage part.”

He waved a hand. “You’ve got kids. So what?”

I dropped my fork. “So what?”

He rolled his eyes. “I didn’t mean it like that. I just mean, what’s the big deal?”

“Uhh,” I drawled. “you don’t? And probably don’t need that in your life right now.” I sighed. “Or someone who has them. They’re always first priority.”

Nodding, he continued eating. “As they should be.”

Biting into my food, I stared at him, no words coming to mind.

“Look,” He set his fork down. “I’m not saying I want to marry you.” I choked at the word. “I just like you.”

My eyes widened, my jaw stopping mid-chew.

“I just want to take you on a date or something. See how it goes when I’m not super cranky.” He smirked.

Oh God. It was so enthralling, hearing the words come out of his mouth…

The temptation was strong.

But…

“I can’t, Noah.”

He leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms. “No?”

My head hung in frustration.

“I like you, too. A lot. But,” I pushed my plate away, suddenly losing all of my appetite. “I’m still dealing with a lot. I’m trying to get back to a sense of normalcy here. Sean just moved out three months ago. My kids are my entire life. I feel like I’m living in a storm at all times. I’ve got to get a handle on that for now.”

He was silent as I spoke, and I knew I had blown it.

“Are you mad?”

His tongue rolled around in his mouth before he spoke. “No. I won’t lie, I’m disappointed, but your reasoning is valid. I respect that.”

A man? Respecting me? Wild concept.

“I understand if you don’t want to talk anymore.”

He looked perplexed, taking a drink from his water bottle. “Why would I want that?”

I didn’t verbally respond, I just stared at him.

“I like you for more than a date, October. I like talking to you. If it’s alright with you, I’d like to keep doing that.”

My face warmed, and I couldn’t stop the smile spreading. “I’d like that, too.”

“Alright.” He slapped a hand on the table. “That settles that. We’ll stay friends.” He picked his fork back up and kept eating.

I almost didn’t catch the last words come out of his mouth.

“For now.”

[bumblebeesfromvenus]

Taunting Ghosts 👻

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Two idiots go ghost hunting, and it backfires. That's it. TW: bad jokes.

I know it looks scary, but I promise it's not. I was cracking myself up while writing it lmao

The ask is here!

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"Did we really have to fly all the way to fuck-knows-where in Spain for this?" Leon groaned in annoyance, one hand stuffed in his pocket, the other holding a flashlight as the both of you made your way deeper into the woods.

You rolled your eyes.

"I don't know if you know this, but ghosts don't exactly have a knack for phones. Or international flights."

He grumbled something illegible in response, continuing to follow you.

Ghosts, spirits, demons and the like had always spiked your interests. The ever wavering question whether there was an afterlife pulled at your brain. You thought maybe you'd convert to a religion to have your question answered, but never in a million years did you think you'd pick up ghost hunting.

It's a fickle thing, ghost hunting. The large amount of fake content for views made it hard to decide whether you wanted to believe in entities or not. You had to try for yourself. To quench the thirst for knowledge.

That's how you ended up here. In a deep woods in rural Spain, searching for evidence that the biggest local legend was ,in fact, not just a story.

It had huge impacts on the superstitious locals, keeping them from the heart of the forest.

It's said that an ancient cult inhabited these woods, performing rituals and sacrifices to appease their God.

All that is known about the cult is that they called themselves "Los Illuminados" and often used insect and hive imagery. A swarm that could only survive together. Should even the smallest fly fall out of line, it would mean the terrible demise of the entire cult.

The reason why you were here, however, was to investigate a particular event that supposedly occurred.

The cult craved more influence, their following never enough for the ambitious leader. In an attempt to gain followers, they took the daughter of the chief with the biggest village.

They'd planned to indoctrinate her and send her back, hoping she'd influence her father enough to teach their ways. The girl, however, was resistant and fought them every step of the way. In the end, to spare them any more trouble, they sacrificed the poor girl.

It's said that she stumbles aimlessly around the woods, crying and weeping to find her way back home. Uncanny wails have been reported by the locals, saying they came deep from the forest. Not only that, but low moans and groans that shook the trees supposedly stemmed from the followers, patrolling the woods in search of their leader who had abonded them for his own selfish reasons.

Leon gave you an unimpressed look as you told the story.

"A bug cult? That kidnaps people? A bug cult?" He asked skeptically, his brows raised.

You huffed, shoving at his arm.

"It's not a bug cult. They were firm believers of the hivemind. Although I think they took that a tad bit too literal." You answered, your nose scrunching up.

As much as Leon didn't believe in any of this ghost crap, he did enjoy your little adventures. Even if they were at night after you'd dragged him to some abondend asylum or something of the sort. He loved seeing you so passionate. Your belief also meant that you had immense

respect for ghosts and spirits, which ended up with you being very jumpy and scared at times. Leon didn't mind. He could play the heroic protector, having his arms wide open for you to shield you from any evil. He indulged you, too.

Going along with your theories and agreeing with you when the all common question of 'did you hear that?' inevitably came up.

He was a good boyfriend, after all. The best, actually. Always insisting he carry your bag filled with all of your gadgets and devices.

From spirit boxes over candles, salt, and bundled herbs to thermal cameras and Ouija boards. It was all safely stored in the backpack slung over his shoulder.

Dry sticks and leaves crunched under your shoes as you went deeper into the forest, illuminating the way with your flashlight.

You stopped in your tracks and turned around to face Leon.

"Oh, would you do me a favor and take this a little bit seriously? I don't need angered spirits on my plate, too."

"I don't what you're talking about, babe. I'm like a super legit ghost hunter." He scoffed jokingly.

You rolled your eyes, but the hint of a smile that tugged at your lips wasn't missed by him. Leon held his flashlight in all different directions, taking in the woods.

"You know, this is actually a pretty good spot if you wanted to start a cult." He mumbled.

You perked up, eagerly turning to face him once again.

"How so?"

"It's isolated enough so you won't be discovered, but it's not too far away that it would cause significant suspicion if a group of people would come from here. Either to indoctrinate or potential supply runs. It has some memorable spots, something that would help with remembering the way but would be of no meaning to outsiders." He explained.

Your face lit up as you listened to him carefully.

"That's fascinating-"

"Oh, and the bone crosses that were hung up on trees that I've been keeping track of."

Your expression fell.

"WHAT?!"

.·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·.

After Leon had gotten an earful from you, you were heavily fixated on the bone ornaments he'd mentioned.

He led you to one, shining the light on it. You examined it, pulling out a little book and putting down a quick sketch of it.

The ivory, although darkened and withered, stood out against the dark and rough bark of the tree.

"You said you saw more of these?" You asked in a mumble, eyes trained on the bone in front of you.

"Yep. All along the path we went down."

"Interesting... Oh! What if they used them as-

"-trail markers?" Leon smirked, watching as you grumbled something about him being a know-it-all little shit.

"But it's brilliant! A clear sign for the followers but due to the beliefs of the locals, none of them would've dared to step past a tree marked with a bone cross..." you mumbled in amazement, a smile spreading on your face.

Leon smiled at you adoringly.

"My clever little know-it-all." He teased with a grin which earned him a huff and you sticking out your tongue at him.

You gazed a little longer upon your, well Leon's discovery, a strange and eerie aura making it hard to avert your eyes. Leon mirrored your actions, not taking his eyes off it as a silence fell between the both of you.

A gentle breeze was combing through the thick canopy of leaves, their rustling the only sound echoing through the woods.

After a moment, Leon broke said silence.

"Should I touch it? I kinda wanna touch it."

Your eyes widened, and your head snapped towards him. "Leon, no, no do not touch the-"

"I'm gonna touch it."

"NO, Leon, don't you dare touch that cross-"

Your warnings were for naught as his hand was already reaching out. Before you had any chance to stop him, his fingertips came dangerously close to brushing against the bone.

He couldn't make contact with the cross, however, because just as he was millimeters from touching it, it fell to the ground.

You let out a loud shriek, startled, your hand slapping over your mouth. Leon flinched slightly but regained his composure quickly.

He had to hold back a snort at your reaction, instead deciding to wrap his arms around you from behind and pressing a kiss to the top of your head.

"It's alright, sweetheart." He murmured into your hair.

"I swear to god, if we're cursed now I'll kick your ass." You said sharply, staring at the now broken pieces of bone that somehow still formed a cross as they laid scattered on the ground.

Leon scoffed.

"We're not cursed. Besides, I'll protect you from any evil spirits."

Your expression softened and your heart swelled. How sweet of him. Ever the hero, putting your safety first-

"I've watched all the Ghostbusters movies."

"LEON SCOTT KENNEDY-"

.·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·.

Despite the chill and unsettling feeling that sat deep in the pit of your stomach, you refused to give up your search quite yet.

You followed the markers even deeper into these haunted woods, hoping you'd find something at the end.

And find something you did. It was a large clearing, the moon fitting perfectly into the space of the trees when you looked up at the sky.

It was like they split just for her, asking for her light to shine down on them.

"Wow, look at this.." You beamed quietly, turning in every which direction.

What stopped your gazing was a large stone structure resembling an altar. It had a symbol carved into its front, only barely visible as it was obscured by moss and weathering.

"Oh shit, so they were real..." Leon mumbled, walking closer as he inspected the altar.

"There's always a bit of truth to a legend!" You smiled, pulling out your sketch book to draw the symbol, or what you could see of it.

You made sure to faintly sketch in any cracks and scratches. You wouldn't miss anything on this. You wouldn't let yourself.

"Ha! What did I tell you?" Leon beamed, breaking into a laugh as he pointed at something on the altar.

"It is a bug cult!"

There was a small colony of insects huddled together in the middle of the stone table.

"It is not a bug cult." You replied, unimpressed.

"What are you talking about? That one is clearly preaching a sermon." He argued with a serious tone, gesturing at one of the bugs being proped up on a small rock.

You looked at each other for a beat before Leon started cackling.

"He's not- it's an insect!" You tried to stay serious, but the idea of a tiny cockraoch indoctrinating even tinier cockroaches had made a mental picture appear in your brain.

It didn't take long before you, too, were in tears of laughter.

"Can- Can you imagine him having a robe and a little staff and everything?!" You wheezed, holding your stomach as your combined laughter bounced off the trees and into the night.

Leon was doubled over, steadying himself on the altar. You were gasping for air at that point, trying to calm you nerves with deep breathes. Your mistake was looking over at Leon when you'd thought you'd calmed down, only making the two of you break into another fit of laughter.

You were wiping tears from your lashline, inhaling sharply, determined to finally get it together again when you noticed streaks of deep crimson running down Leon's arm.

"Oh my god!" You gasped, rushing over to him.

"What the hell happened?! Are you okay." You asked frantically, inspecting his hand for any cuts or other injuries while wiping away the blood with your shirt.

Leon didn't move, only staring at his bloodied hand.

"Sweetheart..." he said lowly, making you look up at him with a concerned look and furrowed brows.

"This..." he swallowed before continuing," this isn't my blood." Leon stated quietly, keeping eye contact with you.

"What? But how could-" you chuckled breathily, your gaze drifting to his hand.

Your eyes widened as they fell to his arm that you were clutching, not a scratch in sight.

You looked back up at him with parted lips.

"Oh crap."

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I hope it made you laugh at least a lil bit :D

More of my works -> 💫

《taglist》: @vampkennedy @dmitriene @k-fallingstar @argreion @leonslittlekennedy @allysunny

lmk if you want to be added to my Leon taglist!

[vyl3tpwny]

wauitb what the fuck i have 5000 followers

this is insane hi guys

to celebrate 5000 followers on tublr here are some facts about myself: - my favourite food is fried chicken

- my favourite food is spicy fried chicken

most of my hyperfixations fluctuate in and out, but some that don't ever seem to let me go are my little pony, half life, skrillex, undertale/deltarune

recently i have developed an unfathomable obsession with bees i have a huge bee hyperfixation i play bee swarm simulator on roblox every day and i watch bee videos and i also just designed a beesona on pony town its name is beetrice the dragon bee:

my favourite movie is probably wolf children or mr. bean's holiday or elf

im basically lucario for girls

i am like a dragon and i collect things that i like.. you can see some here:

i play a lot of instruments, mostly piano, drums, singing, and guitar/bass/ukulele. my first instrument was the drums tho which i started playing when i was 2 or something. i no longer play drums because our house is too small for a drum set right now and i dont like electronic drum kits. one day!!!!

i have had zero music lessons which is why you should also make music bc you dont need to spend life savings on music education to make chunes

non-musicians who have influenced me the most are @sterfler and @astroeden who have changed my brain chemistry forever artistically (this is not an exaggeration)

i am not allergic to anything at all somehow

im the motherfucker who will drink an entire gallon of whole milk with nothing else yeah im just kind of awesome like that

i do not drink alcohol (anymore) or smoke or do drugs or anything like that just a personal pref

i am filipino but i am also chinese and scottish and italian and polish and maybe other things

i have been openly queer since 2011

i have been a furry since 2007 or something?

i have been making music since 2007 or something....?

my first true love as a musician was queen, which (because of their older albums) was my rabbit hole into the world of progressive rock. my passion for creating music was nurtured entirely by my discovery of genesis and the album 'the lamb lies down on broadway'. the next thing that shaped me as an artist? skrillex - 'scary monsters and nice sprites'

i have really bad verbal processing issues so you can probably speak directly to me and i will have no idea what youre saying sometimes

my feelings on art change a lot but i update my topster lists every now and again

i am mostly right [hoofed] but i'm technically ambidextrous

my first concert was bruce springsteen i think it was in 2009. i still love the the boss to this day.

i'm a kitty cat

i am also a dragon

i am also a possum

i am a formless void

my first song i wrote when i was 8 was titled after a jimmy neutron reference

the second song i wrote was a fan song about the flying dutchman

i played the original dota warcraft 3 mods long before dota 2 and league of legends existed because i've been a blizzard fangirl since like 2005 and now i hate blizzard so fuck you blizzard you're evil as shit but anyway i used to try and do map development for warcraft iii games but really my favourite thing to do was build maps where i could build the biggest possible army to fight npcs for fun. one of the first videos on my thecobalion channel is a warcraft iii map someone else made. i've just now turned it off private so you can see it if you want.

my favourite kind of humour is recursive

ok thanks what i can remember about myself right now. thanks for following me!!!!

[gunthermunch]

[Transcript under the cut]

Marcus: decaf WG: thanks. don't think i asked for decaf Marcus: pretty sure you could use some decaf WG: damn. maybe WG: …sorry, i'm really not good at small talk Marcus: you think i enjoy weather talk? just sip that coffee Wolf. It's cool. WG: ok but don't go ''you're being doomy'' at me Marcus: okay? why would i do that. WG: you weren't there when mom used to take us to big family gatherings Marcus: true. i was busy partying WG: … WG: shit WG: do you uh. mind? if i ask you something? Marcus: i'm all ears WG: do… you also have these thoughts like- haunting… words? or something. I mean, stuff you or someone else said before and it's stuck in your head and shitting everywhere like a bug like a… fly. Marcus: A fly? WG: yeah. maybe three. WG: I dunno, i think its been kinda growing with me, y'know? more space in there, more flies Marcus: did uh- i mean, what happened? WG: uhh yeah i don't think you wanna hear all that it really is a lot Marcus: i've heard a lot of stuff these years WG: are you sure? i dont think i ever told anyone all of it Marcus: yeah c'mon WG: well okay, so… WG: Mom probably told you about my kid years so im not getting into that. then there's my teens and it's messed up i almost die thrice, scary shit. anyways i went blonde, started larping, decided i no longer wanted anything to do with my own body and life and then suddenly school was over and of course i wanted to die for good so then i was all alone, made that to myself, stuff stuff i also met a guy before this he was great and i also turned my back on him. then i don't even remember how but i followed Cassandra to Strangerville which was a whole fever dream jesus fucking christ and then there was Nervous. love that guy. I asked Cass on a date but i messed everything up, then ran away. Again. Stole her whole truck. Now i'm a different kind of blonde and also a babysitter and also completely useless. WG: And now- so, years ago i accidentaly discovered this secret door in Gunther's house that leads to a basement and christ who even does that? the hell? and i'm SURE it has to do with whatever Bluma's going through so that means I could fix it up but i'm not doing it because i'm still running away. And I'm not even scared, I'm just letting stuff happen WG: and i cant keep being on my own. and i need someone. WG: man i miss Morgan. WG: i think that's all Marcus: …you still got that Cassandra's number?

[ellieslittleburrow]

Requested by the beloved @fatherlesschild2 : CAN YOU WRITE SOMETHING ANGSTY ABOUT SHERLOCK AND ENOLA BEING SIBLINGS WITH READER, IDK I HAVE A QUESTIONABLE IMAGINATION BUT MAYBE THE READER GETTING INTO A FIGHT AND TRYING TO HIDE IT?

Warnings : uuuuuuuum angst? Grr scary brother

A/N: sorry for the delay lol. I had to copy and paste every single line from my other account so if something's out of place im soorry hahahah ❤️

------

*creak*

God damn you st-

*creak*

Maybe if i went slower

"God da-"

"Young lady."

Your eyes flew up as your lips parted in a little gasp. Before you stood a large figure. Broad shoulders and a threatening stance, it towered over you, causing you to freeze in place.

Tiny splinters dug into your frozen fingers as you gripped the stair handle, tightening your hold the more Sherlock kept silent.

I mean, is he going to keep standing there until the sun sets and the birds start churping?

Your older brother stepped aside, motioning for you to step inside. And you complied, slowly and hesitantingly.

"Youngsters ought not to be wandering about late at night, particularily when expressly told ,on multiple counts, not to slip out." Sherlock patienly waited for you, taking after you the moment you passed by him.

You felt smaller with a much bigger shadow than you. But you kept your posture straight, anyways.

Your head was feeling too heavy for your liking and you just wanted to sleep.

"I'm sorry, Sherlock, is there any way we could do this tomorrow morning? Now's not the time for a lecture." The words came in a gruff tone. And as if you weren't already in enough trouble with the man, you just headed for the room you and sister Enola shared.

"Sure...Tomorrow." Sherlock's voice sounded." Good night, little one."

"And don't think i didn't see those marks on your neck"

Fuck.

"We'll discuss it tomorrow."

--

It's tomorrow.

A pain is etching from your temple down to the hollow part that sits under your cheek.

Flashes of your....eventful evening storm in from your subconscious and a long sigh escapes your lips.

" Finally awake."

AH. You shriek, your body jerking to the uncomfortably close voice over you. Rolling around halfway, you jump backwards, shrieking at the two people standing over you.

What the hell?

Sherlock and Enola were standing at your bed, both leaning down to examine you like you're a cadaver they were just about to start inspecting.

But you weren't. So why the fu-"

"How did you get that, y/n?" The investigator's eyes dart from your own eyes to your cheek, and you unconsciously cover the said thing with your hand.

Uh....you were't sure whether to lie or not. Whether to tell the whole truth or just half of it.

"Uhhh..." A long sigh escaped your lips without your accordance as you hadn't already decided on which story to tell yet. "Uh..." You stuttered again, flustered.

You shrink in your bed, melting into the sheets as you leaned away from the figure that lowered it's upper body over yours.

"Little one, your answer better be the right one."

Sherlock's eyes calculatedly pursuited yours until they locked.

Dark and threatening, they glared into your soul. Shit. How can someone regret their decision the second they made it?

"I....I fell down the bar stairs."

Fuck. How can someone regret their decision the second they made it?

Sherlock straightens his back. "Really?"

"Y...yeah. you c-c-an ask the men th-there if you want." You got out of bed, the opposite side of where your siblings were standing.

"I was walking....I might've had a drink or two." Maybe admitting to another forbidden punishable act will help you elude the real thing? "And as i was walking down, my ankle twisted and i found myself flying down the stairs."

You brushed past both of them, heading for the door. Nice lie! If they were to go ask the men there, nobody would be able to say a single word, because all of them would have been too drunk to even know their own names.

You'd highfive yourself but-

"Alright then, show me the other bruises."

You were glad your back was facing them, as your eyes widened in surprise. Fuck! You didn't think of that. "The ones on your hands and knees, probably, as well as your hip." Triumph laced Sherlock's voice. You internally damned him to an afterlife in hell.

"What...other bruises?"

"Well of course i can't do that!" You spin around, disdain etched across your face. You scoff.

"I can't undress myself in front of y-"

Haha! Enola. You almost forgot about h-

"He'll leave the room."

You snort a provocative chuckle "You really believe i think of you any differently, Enola?"

"I'm sure he trusts my decision making by now." Your sister lifted a triumphant brow.

Enola's eyebrows relax as annoyance etches across her face. She sighs and happiness internally floods your body. Looks like you were close to win the battle. With her.

"How's this?" Anger embodies Sherlock.

Definitely only with her.

"Lie and i will make sure you...never do that again."

Sherlock started walking towards you.

"But then again, i would like for you to spare us the anticipation, i already know you're lying. Because your-"

"Because my toes seem strange and i breathed in instead of out?"

"Because your friend came running here and said you were getting yourself in really bad trouble. And that it was only a matter of time before somebody got badly hurt."

Oh..of course she did...

"Listen, y/n, we understand that you're afraid of our reactions." Enola started, crossing her arms over her chest. "But you can't hide those things from us, we're your siblings."

Adorable-not good enough, though. Not to insult Enola's attemps and efforts, but you'd never do that just because you're siblin-"That's Enola."

"On my part, if i ever find out you're lying to me about something like this, i will make your life a living hell, little girl. And trust my words, i will make sure of it."

Your head spun towards Sherlock, a bit surprised and...scared as darkness suddenly swamped his voice.

You would've rolled your eyes at him but you were already in enough trouble. You wouldn't want to bury yourself in it, would you?

"I'm sorry." The lie slipped out of your lips like butter. You're not sorry. You don't care. In fact, you're not done with those stupid bastards. And you're not one to let go easily.

Thankfully, they weren't going to know since your face was already bruised. Or are they?

------

I HAVE A QUESTIONABLE IMAGINATION TOO I WILL DO BETTER NEXT TIME OKI KISSIES NOW BYE BYE. ❤️❤️❤️🥀🥀🥀

[obx-pogue4life]

GURLLLL URRR BACKKK!! Missed seein u on my dash! Idk if ur taking requests but I got this idea I can't get out the head

Friends to lovers

Beach party kegger

Kook likes u but ya shoot em down

Pulls gun and is really bad

Jj saves u, screams/beats the hell out the kook like a mad man

Y'all confess ur feelings

And maybe uses the words "all in" and sappy happy ending 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

Oh my gosh I love this idea and I hope you like what I came up with. This is SO JJ 👀😂

All In

Warnings: fluffy with implied smut, kissing, guns, violence, swearing, feeling uneasy, drug use, fighting, protective JJ, crying, friends to lovers, happy ending, prolly more so let me know if I forgot any 💚

I couldn't believe what was happening. My best friend defending my honor, all because of some stupid kook who decided to crash this kegger with his friends. Everything was harmless enough at the start, just cat calling and some whistling, you know the kind; just your general disgusting, neanderthal behavior. It was bothering me for sure but I wasn't gonna let it get to me and ruin my good time with my friends. As the night went on I could see JJ getting more and more irritated with them and the second that kook put his hands on me, his fists were flying.  "DON'T YOU FUCKING TOUCH HER, ASSHOLE," JJ screamed at the kook who was trying to manhandle me into dancing with him and shoved him away from me. The kook comes right back at us and JJ immediately makes contact with his jaw, knocking him on his ass. He quickly recovers, gets back up and spits out a small mouthful of blood. 

"Oh you know you like it baby," he says to me with a wink. "You know you want a piece of this," he cockily smirks, lifting up the bottom of his shirt to show off his barely visible muscles. 

"And just what am I supposed to be looking at here," I say squinting and laughing as I brush him off. I hold my hand up to silently signal JJ not to charge at this guy and beat the living shit out of him. 

We begin to walk away and JJ snickers at his weak attempt to entice me. I sigh and roll my eyes but feel a rough hand reach out for me again, this time harshly yanking me back and hurting my arm. 

"Ouch, you asshole! What the hell," you say, a little shocked this guy was being so forward, especially with JJ right at my side. Usually the kooks just wanted to mess with me and my friends, hook up, be jerks and and occasionally get into the random fight over stupid shit. But this? This felt different, almost scary. 

"Now that wasn't very nice now, was it baby doll," he says to me in a creepy monotone voice. His eyes look frighteningly dark, like there is nothing but emptiness behind them. He sniffs loudly and wipes the underside of his nose with his thumb and it all clicks for me. I can see some white residue still under his nose. He must have just gotten high. "Greaaatttt," I think to myself as I try to shake his grip off my arm. The look on JJ's face right now was one I've seen far too many times. He was ready to kill this kid but I prayed he'd take notice of me shaking my head discouragingly and trying to make him realize that this dude was totally coked out. I pointed to my own nose and tried to get my message across to him, which thankfully he understood. The last thing I want is for him to get into a crazy brawl with a maniac, especially over me. A minute passed by and we all were just kind of standing there, unsure what he was going to do. He still had his hand around my arm and he was really beginning to hurt me but I didn't wanna say anything to make JJ lunge at him, so I just kind of took it the best I could. He could tell I was wincing though and mentally, I was preparing myself for the fight of the year. Surprisingly though JJ very calmly came towards us and apologized. 

"Hey, I'm sorry man," he said trying hard to sound earnest. "Sometimes I just get crazy over y/n getting attention from other guys, you know. That was my bad. I'm just very protective over her. I'm sure you can understand that," he says sincerely. I could feel my heart swelling inside my chest at his sweet words about me and had to snap myself back into the reality of the situation that was before me. 

"What I understand, is that your bitch,  needs to learn some fucking manners. It's not nice to laugh at someone whose just trying to show you a good time," he slowly drawls out, his grip on me becoming so tight, I nearly cry. 

He looks at me whimpering and laughs. JJ clenches his fists and takes a step forward but stops himself when he sees this kook force me onto my knees and notices a gun sticking out of the back of his pants. I start to talk back but JJ puts his finger to his lips, signaling me to be quiet. I give him a funny look but he pleads to me with his eyes to just stay still and stop making noise. I catch on and quickly and stop but it's too late. The kook pulls out his gun and points it directly at my head. "I think someone needs to learn their place and say they're sorry," he says in that same creepy monotone voice. 

"YOU STUPID BITCH," he screams towards me. "I'M FUCKING TALKING TO YOU Y/N," he yells, tapping the gun repeatedly on to my head. 

I start crying immediately and I can't seem to make my mouth move. My entire life is flashing before me and all I can keep thinking about is "I can't believe this is how I'm going to die."  

I can hear JJ saying my name and he pulls me out of my spiraling thoughts but only long enough to hear that crazy coked out kook screaming again. "SHUT UP AND STOP TALKING TO HER," he yells at JJ. 

"No problem man, sorry about that," he says and slowly walks towards him. The kook is pacing in small circles and waving the gun around and all I can do is watch in horror. 

"Yeah she can definitely be a bitch sometimes," JJ chuckles, trying to defuse the situation. He winks at me and nods his head, making a full circle around the kook. JJ is standing in front of me now and immediately, I feel so much better. Even though I've never been so scared in my life, I almost feel safe now. Almost. 

The kook continues to pace back and forth as he and JJ talk about what a bitch I can be, laughing and making fun of me. Their words hurt but they seemed to calm the kook down. A few minutes later he plopped down in the sand and sighed loudly, dropping his gun next to him. He put his head in his hands and took a deep breath, starting at the sand. JJ looked at me and to the gun and I nodded as he immediately springs into action, knocking the kook backwards while I quick grabbed the gun and threw it into the water. JJ was on top of him, punching him over and over again, him now the one screaming. "IF YOU EVER COME AROUND HERE AGAIN! IF YOU EVER FUCKING LAY A HAND ON THAT PRECIOUS BODY! I SWEAR TO GOD I'LL KILL YOU! DON'T FOR A SECOND THINK I WON'T. I SHOULD KILL YOU RIGHT NOW YOU ASSHOLE FOR PUTTING HER THROUGH THAT! FOR PUTTING ME THROUGH THAT! FOR TRYING TO TAKE THE BEST THING I HAVE IN MY LIFE AWAY FROM ME! TRY THAT AGAIN AND I GUARANTEE YOU WILL NOT SURVIVE," he says punching him one last time, knocking him out cold. He was still alive but barely breathing. JJ saw the horror on my face and finally gets up off of him and rushes to my side. "Y/n! Are you ok? Are you hurt? Talk to me, please! Are you ok?," he begs me to answer him. I'm just kneeling in the sand beside this whole bloody scene and thinking about what just happened and I can't seem to talk or move. "Y/n? JJ gently shakes my shoulder and smooths out my hair. Y/N? He says a little louder, trying to get my attention," this time succeeding. 

I let out a broken shriek and lunge into his arms, so happy to be comforted by the man kneeling before me. "J.. I...," I sob, tears streaming down my face. "I thought I was going to die," I say hysterically. "I thought we were going to die." 

"I know darlin', I know" he coos into my ear as I continue to cry. "You know I'd never let that happen, y/n. You're safe with me, always," he says softly, stroking my hair and still hugging me tight. 

"Oh my God," I start to say through my sobs. "And you... you stepped right in front of me...," you try to finish your thought but can't get out the words.  

"I told you y/n, you're safe with me. I will never let anything bad happen to you," he says in a reassuringly soft voice. "I will always protect you." 

I nuzzle into his chest and move further into his lap and cling to him for dear life. I never wanna let him go and even though I'm still shaken, I feel truly safe now. With him. Just like this. 

"Now probably isn't the right time to tell you this," he says into the top of my head. He leans back a little and pushes me away slightly so I can look at him. 

"Y/n?," he says, gently brushing his hand over my cheek and resting it there. "I'm in love with you," he says shakily. 

My eyes go wide and I just stare at him as he leans his forehead against mine, sighing. "I've felt this way for so long y/n. Please? Say something? I thought I was going to lose you tonight. I can't stand to keep this from you another second. I'm sorry if this seems weird or out of the blue but I think I've honestly been in love with you since the moment I met you, I just didn't realize it until we were older. And then after everything that just happened, I know in my heart I had to tell you as soon as possible how I-," his words suddenly cut off and he's completely taken aback. 

I can't stop myself from crashing my lips onto his and finally getting to kiss my best friend. I have been waiting for him to say something and act on his feelings for years. It just figures that a near death experience is what would finally give him the push he needed to finally tell me how he feels. I pull away and let him cup my face again, his grin giving me butterflies throughout my entire body. "So does that mean....," he starts to say before I cut him off again. 

"I love you, too J. I've been waiting for you to say something for so long," I say to him, putting my head on his shoulder and hugging him again. 

"So you knew?," he asks me seriously. 

"I had a pretty good idea," I say leaning back up and facing him. 

"Why didn't you say anything?," he groans, throwing his head back and running his hand through his hair, chuckling. 

"Well...," I ponder aloud. "I just figured that you weren't ready for me to know yet and that you'd tell me once you were," I shrugged. "I didn't want to force your hand and try to start something you weren't ready for or sure about," I say genuinely. 

"I've always been sure, y/n. I guess I was just scared how you'd react...I didn't want ruin our friendship. I couldn't stand the thought of you rejecting me and not having you in my life so I guess I just took the safe route all this time," he says sheepishly, shrugging his shoulders. 

"Well there's no turning back now, Maybank," I  smile at him. 

"All in?," he asks, cocking his brow at me. 

"All in," I agree nodding my head and grinning. 

He leans in to kiss me and the feeling of his lips against mine almost make me forget the events of tonight until we start to hear a rustling in the sand besides us. 

"Shit y/n! We better get out of here before that lunatic wakes up," JJ says helping me to my feet. He grabs my hand in his and we start to run towards the car. Never in all my life have I ever been in such a scary situation but at the same time, never in my life have I felt so safe and settled. Once we get to the car, he opens the door for me and asks me once again if I'm sure I'm alright. I say yes and he reluctantly takes my word for it and closes my door. He quickly runs around the back of the car and hops in, peeling out as fast as he can. "Where to, y/n?," he asks me. 

"Can I spend the night with you J?, I ask quietly. "I'm a little scared to go home to an empty house. Just for tonight?," I plead. 

"You can spend every night with me y/n," he says, taking my hand in his.  "Scared or not," he says bringing my hand up to his lips and kissing it sweetly. 

I smile happily to myself and tell him that sounds perfect, snuggling up into his side, still holding his hand, as he drives us home.

"Thank you," I say to him quietly. "For everything." 

"I'm just glad you're ok," he says, sighing as we turn onto his street. 

We pull up to his empty house and sit in comfortable but heavy silence for a minute, digesting everything that's happened tonight. 

"All in?," he asks me once again, staring straight forward out the windshield. 

I smile at him and lift my head off his shoulder, turning so I can see his face. He turns towards me slightly and l lean my head on to his gently. 

"All in," I repeat, smiling. 

He slowly places his lips on mine, brushing my cheek with his thumb and sighs contently into the kiss. "You have no idea how long I've waited to do that y/n," he says pulling away and staring into my eyes. I blush at his love filled gaze and smile sweetly, his words instantly bringing back all those butterflies. 

"And you have no idea how long I'VE been waiting for you to do that," I giggle, looking longingly from his beautiful eyes to his luscious lips. 

"Oh yeah," he questions flirtatiously, running his free hand through his hair. "Wanna know what else I've been waiting to do with you all this time," he smirks, wiggling his eyebrow at me. 

"I thought you'd never ask," I say laughing as he rushes to get out of the car and runs to my door to open it for me. 

He holds out his hand and helps me step out of the car and closes the door. Still holding my hand m, he leads me towards the door but stops just short of opening it. 

"I'm really glad you're ok, y/n... I don't know what I would have done if something had happened to you," he says to the ground before turning around to face me. 

"And I'm really glad you're ok, J. The way you just leapt into action and stayed so calm. That was really smart thinking. You were so brave, that could have ended so badly for both of us. I don't know what I would have done either if something bad happened to you," I say and start to tear up again. 

"Hey now, don't cry y/n," he says brushing the tears from my eyes. "We're both safe and sound, nothing to worry about now," he says hugging me. 

"Now!," he says, sternly but silly, poking my side trying to make me smile. "TO THE LOVEMAKING," he playfully yells and hoists me over his shoulder. I giggle and roll my eyes as he quickly lets us into the house and runs us both up the stairs to his room, throwing me onto the bed and smiling at me like a love sick fool.  

Thank you so much for reading! I hope you liked it! Let me know if you want a part 2! 💚

[robynlilyblack]

I didn't hear a single word you said with a hug that lasts a second too long when (gn! or fem! as you like) reader and sirius aren't together yet please? <3

Hey Stranger

Sirius Black x fem! reader

Summary: Y/n and Sirius never seem to have enough time, but when they meet again after 5 years apart, will they let it all slip between their fingers again?

Warnings: swearing, old friends to lovers, first kiss, mutual pining, mentions of drinking, alcohol, being drunk and feeling sick, light angst, cute drunk remus, pregnant Lily and baby harry being adorable

A/n: 1.5k words, it says fem reader but I don't think there are any pronouns used for them x I love this so I hope you enjoy!

Navigation | Sirius Black Masterlist | Celebration

“Finally” Sirius lets out a chuckle, Hogwarts reunion and you hadn’t managed to get one moment with your best friend the entire night

“I know right” you shake your head “5 years ago you couldn’t keep us apart” you smile, as does he, neither of you knowing your hearts ached in time

Everyone, including yourself and Sirius, believed you would eventually get together, but that blind hope was fatal in the end. With neither of you ever making a move life happened, school finished, you both graduated and ended up at opposite ends of the country, weekly letters turned monthly, and monthly ones turned into only on holidays and birthdays...

...but your hearts never stopped yearning for the other

“Funny how time just...flies” he says, shoulder finding the wall beside him in the little hideaway you both had sought refuge from the masses in

You do the same, head leaning on the wall as you admired your friend the way you always scandalously did, not knowing he was doing the same

“Very. Merlin, I mean you've got a big boy beard and everything now” you giggle, lightening the moon as you hand reaches out to scratch his chin ever so gently

He groans in the best way at that “You approve?” he asks, secretly hoping you do whilst hiding his disappointment as your hand drops back down

“Course, you look rather dashing” you say in a teasing manner yet hope he find the truth in your words “Almost like a grown up” you add to actually tease him

“You take that back” he points “I am as childish as ever” he disagrees

“Oh really?” you swat away his hand, moving a little closer as does he

“You doubt me?” he gasps, hand to his heart

You shrug, earning the cutest pout before shaking your head “Never” your eyes meet his, finding they sparkle…or maybe that was from the disco ball Marlene had enchanted to fly around

“Pads!”

You both jump, being brought out of your little pining bubble to see James looking thankful he's finally found Sirius and then he spots you and smiles

“Oh hey there!” he gives you a wave “Long time no see”

“Hey” you wave back “I know its been so long! You’re a dad now!”

“I know! Scary stuff they actually let me have one though" he jokes before bobing his head "…well actually it’ll be two soon” he tells you with a sweet laugh while you nod about to say you spoke to Lily earlier when Sirius cuts in

“What’s up?” he asks, looking at James a bit funny

James doesn’t seem to clock it though “Remus may or may not have have realised the hot chocolate was boozy…oh and Harry pit up” he turns to show the damage on his back, earning a giggle from you followed by a quick sorry which James just waves off

“Okay...but what’s any of that got to do with me Prongs?” Sirius wonders, eyeing him 

“Oh. Ya see Remus was our driver and with me having a drink and Lily’s being too big to...” he explains before cutting himself off and frantically looking around “Not that she is in anyway large…merlin ya know I may have had one too many myself but you know what I mean she’s too…fuck it” he eventually gives up, cringing like crazy as he scolds himself while you try not to laugh too hard considering Lily said the same thing about herself earlier

Sirius nods smiling but inside his heart breaks “Okay. You go get Red, little Harry and Moons. I’ll meet you at the car in a few” he tells him, nodding towards you and giving his friend a way more obvious scolding look 

James resists the cringe again as he must realise and nods “Thanks Pads, nice to see you again y/n” he flashes you that famous James Potter smile before heading back into the party

You and Sirius turn back to one another “Short reunion” he says but lets the sadness seep through this time

“Yeah” you nod with a similar tone

“I’ll write more” he promises

“Ditto” you return it “Hug before you go?” you open your arms

He nods "Course" he smiles, resisting the urge to scoop you up and take you with him as he steps forward and into your embrace

Your arms slide around his waist while his wrap around your shoulders, fitting perfectly just like they always did. The hug should have lasted a few seconds but you and he only held each other closer as time ticked on, your nose nudging into his neck while his, your hair. Soaking up the feeling of each others arms for as long as the moment would allow

Technically neither of you end it, a third party does in the form of a drunk classmate bumping into you both “Sorry mate” he holds his hands up before staggering on his merry way

Your hands hold the other but your chests part, chuckling together at the drunken boy before your eyes meet. A million things could be said but as always they weren't, and instead yours and his eyes bared them all at once

“They’ll be waiting” is all he says, smiling sadly

You nod, returning it with a downturned smile

“I’ll write more” you repeat his promise from earlier, fingers griping his jacket harder for a moment before you release them, trying to just prolong the moment a second longer

“Ditto” he does the same, leaning down to place a lingering kiss to your forehead and suddenly it feels like a goodbye, a real one this time, one your younger selves never understood, nor got in the end

When his lips leave your skin you part, hands finding the others until he walks away and you both let go. No more words. Neither one of you can bare the word ‘goodbye’ so you smile at one another before turning away

Sirius moves through the crowd, not looking back because it's too hard. Exiting the venue he sees the car and observes Remus trying to get in it, the sight amusing yet he can’t truly enjoy it. Getting in himself he inserts the key into the ignition but not doesn’t turn it. He felt sick, throat closing up as he felt like he was leaving his world behind

“You alright?” James asks as his hand finds Sirius’ shoulder causing Sirius to look at him, eyes glassy

James’ eyebrows furrow but before he can say anything Sirius unbuckles his seatbelt and opens the door, darting out with a quick “I’ll be back”

The three adults watch him run back in, staring out the window intently, Remus, in fact, does so much he hits his head, earning laughs, even from Harry who lets out a little squeal of one

“Prongs” Remus slurs as he finally stops blinking from the impact

James leans back, looking at him through the gap in the seats “Yeah Moony?”

“Y-you owe me” he manages to get out

James looks at him in shock before turning back to his wife “He can barely function yet he can remember a bet we made ten years ago”

Lily giggles about to say ‘mans got his priories in order’ when her eyes widen “Jamie lower your window” she points at you, running out and sighing as you see the car hasn't left

“Hi” you approach the car, leaning on the car window as it opens “Wait” your eyes search “Where’s Siri?”

“He went back in” Lily reply, giving you a smile

You light up“He did?” you turn to Remus, and then James, although you do a double take on Remus who looks more than plastered but wears a gleeful grin

“Yeah” James gives you a smile as he confirms it, then his eyes wander behind you, smile widening “Behind you” his eyes return, gifting you a wink

Your heart flutters as you push off the door, turning to find a rather disheartened Sirius coming out, thinking he missed you and his chance again until you call out

“Hey stranger”

His head shoots up at your voice “Hey stranger” he sighs out in almost a laugh, his face brightening as he realises you went after him

You both just look at each other for a moment, eyes asking that all important question and when you nod he makes his way over to you, wasting no time in bringing your lips to meet his in a long overdue kiss while your friends cheered you on…well Lily and Remus did, James squealed with Harry who clapped with joy as he had been lifted out of his seat for a better view

Thank you for reading ♡

[the-sprog]

Listen I love DCxDP crossovers as much as the next person, but every time I see people write John Constantine offer as a solution summoning something I cringe internally a little bit. John is all up for self-sacrificing and doing things you shouldn't but he does not fuck with other creatures he knows shit-all about.

On the other end, do you know who does fuck with creatures they know shit all about?? And keep summoning things and making deals with things they shouldn't be summoning or making deals with? And also doing this most of the times with the express intentions of dealing with the dead?

The Winchester Brothers.

Where are my season 15 fix-it fics where Dean does not give up, he does not say "oh well Castiel died after confessing his love for me I guess that's it" or where Sam does not say "well my brother died during a run of the mill vampire Hunt -not even because of the vampires but because of a rusty nail. Let me just abandon him forever after everything we've gone through and finally actually listen to him and get myself a family with my blurry wife and random son"

And instead they do again summon something that is completely separate from everything else they've dealt with before and they actually managed to contact Danny who somehow is the king of the Ghost Zone or whatever fucking shit you want. Maybe you can make the empty nocturne! That would be really fucking cool :O so Danny somehow gets convinced to bring back Castiel or Dean or both.

Ok now I'm actually thinking about it.

You can even make it adult Danny by simply following the Supernatural timeline. Danny gets his powers in 2004, when he's 14, the Winchesters start looking for their dad in 2005, and they're... 20 something. Castiel joins the brigade in 2009 (I thought he showed up in season 5 lmao it's been a while since I've watched it), Chuck starts writing the books- fuck I don't know. 2012? Was it season 7? **Looks it up** fuck nope he starts writing when they start, that's my mistake. I meant when does he show up. And that's together with Castiel. Wow. Give me Danny who is an in universe Supernatural fan. He's the prime target audience! Starts reading after he gets his powers because we'll they're ghost hunters but the ghosts are actually evil. So it's fine. And they're fictional anyway so no big deal.

But then Chuck stops writing (end of season 5) and Danny is extremely disappointed.

He doesn't learn the truth until 2018 (season 13) when Jack wakes up The Shadow and consequently shakes the Infinite Realms. Nocturne has to be somehow connected. Maybe they're not The Shadow themself, but a subordinate? Like Frostbite is the leader while the yetis are his citizens. And The Empty is the realm they live in.

Now Danny is slightly terrified because it means all the things that go bump in the night are real. Which is a scary as fuck thought. And also wonders why they've never had hunters in Amity, or why he and the other ghosts are different from the ones in the books.

But he can't really do anything. To help.

Hunters definitely have checked out the town. There's no way they'd fly under the radar. But either there are already hunters INSIDE Amity And they've staked their claim on the town, no outside hunters allowed. Or there's something wrong w the entire place that makes it so that people don't really realize anything is wrong with it. I til they're inside it. But when outside nothing :/ all normal.

I feel like it wouldn't be Dean who summons him though. As much as I love him, they are aware that pretty much only God could pull out Cas and Jack wasn't going to do it any time soon.

But Dean dying like that? No Sam is not going to let his story end like that. But they've pretty much exhausted all options. What's he gonna do? Make another deal w a demon that's going to ultimately make more of a mess? Who's gonna make a deal w a Winchester anyway?

I don't know how Sam would find a way to contact Danny. The Fentons were the first to make contact with the Zone, so the bunker's unlikely to have any resources. Bobby's gone, so that's a bust. He'd have to find something new. Something no other hunter has interacted with, ever.

Again.

Because let's be real. The Winchesters already did that plenty.

Maybe he stumbles upon Amity by accident and sees it as an opportunity, idk.

Sam's kinda more willing to give monsters the benefit of the doubt. They know angels are not all bad, they had werewolf friends, and so on and so forth.

So sure he might start off listening to the Fentons at first, but if he were to interact with Danny (as Phantom ofc) one on one he'd probably see that they're wrong.

Danny would freak out of course. On one hand, fuck man. He's a fan. That's so cool.

On the other, he knows nothing will stop the Winchesters. He's deader than dead if Sam was there to hunt him.

But alas, he'd do anything to help him get his brother (and Cas, as a treat) back. Who's gonna stop him? God? Jack? Idk man I feel like he'd let them have this one lmao. Or still Danny could definitely argue that he's the king of all afterlives, so what he does to his subjects is none of his business (since God (or at least Chuck couldn't) can't interfere w The Empty, only the afterlives he controls. So heaven and hell. Not even purgatory iirc)

[scarletsaphire]

Chapter 3 of EI for @pokkeshii and beta'd by @pricklenettle. No art for this chapter, but the next one...

Chapter 1 Chapter 2

Trigger warnings for this chapter: Loss of control, implied/suspected drug use

Danny wasn't at school for the next three days.

Not that Dash paid any real attention to the comings and goings of that dweeb. The only reason he noticed was because he'd bombed a particularly important math test, and his resident stress reliever wasn't anywhere to be seen. Danny may have gotten better at flying under the radar since freshman year, but he wasn't that good. Dash had to make do with beating up some sophomore nerd he didn't even know the name of instead.

When Danny did finally show his face again, Dash nearly started laughing then and there. The boy looked rough. He'd never looked good, of course, but he looked especially bad now, even worse than he had before, which was bad. His hair was soaked with sweat, he kept his eyes firmly on the ground, and worst of all, he was shaking like a leaf.

Dash elbowed Kwan, who was busy chatting up some girl Dash didn't recognize. He looked over at where Dash gestured, before rolling his eyes. "You have fun with that, dude. I think I'm gonna keep enjoying myself over here."

The girl giggled.

Dash left Kwan to it, pushing his way through the crowd towards where Danny stood, hunched up against the lockers. 

"Ah, did the last ghost fight scare you that much?" 

Danny didn't reply. 

"What, you had to go run and hide from the big scary ghosts? And you still come back looking like you’re about to piss yourself!"

Still no reply.

"Look at me when I'm talking to you, Fenturd," Dash said, grabbing Danny by the shoulder. He intended to turn Danny's face towards him, maybe get a good look at his sniveling face while he cried for some extra material. It shouldn't have been hard; Fenton had always been a pushover, at least physically. Dash had roughed Danny up plenty of times before.

Instead of being met with Danny's face, Dash was looking directly at the floor and his arm was screaming in pain. He couldn't see Fenton at all, but he could feel one cold hand on his head, forcing him down, and the other twisting his arm behind his back. It was more than just the pain; wherever Fenton touched Dash, his skin crawled in an assimilation of pins and needles. 

"Do you want to say that again, Dash?" Danny said. His voice was off somehow. He didn't sound different, but Dash knew there was something wrong. He could feel it in the way his heart started to pound in his chest and the blood rushed in his ears, how his thoughts seemed to scatter in a silent mantra of run run run run run run- "I said," Danny twisted his arm further, forcing Dash lower to the ground. "Do you want to say that again?"

"What the fuck, dude?" Dash hissed between gritted teeth. "I was just playing around!"

Danny twisted his arm further, and Dash did not start tearing up. He didn't. "Then it's only fair that I play back, right?"

Dash knew what breaking a bone felt like. He'd broken several over his quarterback career. He wouldn't go so far as to say he was used to it, but he was familiar with it. This wasn't a broken bone. There was a popping sound, and then pain exploded down his arm, so much sharper than it had been only moments ago. Dash couldn't suppress the cry of pain as he tried to wrench himself free to no avail. Fenton's grip was cold and strong, holding him tight like a vice. Even as Dash's arm went limp, Fenton just pushed harder.

He didn't know how long Fenton held him there for. Long enough that he’d given up on convincing himself that he wasn’t crying. Fenton might’ve decided to keep Dash there forever, if Mr. Lancer hadn't stepped in, wrenching the two of them apart. Dash fell to the floor, trying to clutch his injured arm to his chest. It wouldn't cooperate. He couldn't move it, couldn't feel it outside of the electric pain shooting out from his shoulder. 

Sure, maybe Dash did cry. He could admit it to himself, if not to anyone else. It wasn't his fault though. Fenton was a thousand times more freaky than he'd ever imagined, even freakier than the ghosts. He couldn't blame himself for breaking down when getting so close to someone- no, some thing as unnatural as that.

---

Maddie tried to make a habit of not setting expectations for the day. She made plans and goals, of course, but she never set out with an expectation. It was a recipe for a bad day, in her opinion, and she tried to avoid those. Which is why saying she did not expect a call from the school did not come lightly.

She knew that Danny wasn't a good student. It would've been impossible for her to miss his less than stellar grades and positively horrendous attendance record. Jack and her had spent all of his freshman year and most of his sophomore trying to encourage him to try harder, but when it didn't work, they accepted it. He just wasn't as academically inclined as the rest of his family was, and there was nothing wrong with that. Or maybe it was just high school; Jack had been held back because he couldn't pay attention, so it wasn't out of the question.

The school had come to the same results for all the wrong reasons. Maddie knew they'd given up on Danny and were just funneling him through the system, and while she was incredibly disappointed, she did understand. Danny simply wasn't motivated, and there wasn't anything they could do to change that.

With all of that said, Danny had never been a bad kid. Even when he was little, he'd always been such a sweet child, always following her around in the lab to try and help, or carrying down plates of food bigger than he was whenever Maddie or Jack forgot to eat. He'd always been kind and caring and sweet and gentle. 

And yes, he'd been different lately, even more so than normal. He refused to talk about what had him so jumpy, but Jazz had told her that he'd gotten into a fight with his friends. It was unfortunate, and surprising. The three of them had been nearly inseparable since freshman year, maybe even before that. But he wasn't aggressive or lashing out, just quiet and drawn back. The past few days had been even worse, with him refusing to come out of his room at all.

He'd said he was sick, with a messy note passed under the door. Maddie didn't quite believe him, but he was clearly not feeling well, so she left trays of food outside the door for him and let him rest. She believed him a lot more when he'd finally emerged that morning, looking like he hadn't slept at all in his self inflicted quarantine, sweaty and shaking. She'd tried to convince him to stay home and keep resting, but he'd insisted that he needed to go to school.

All of that was why the call from the school, that he had not only gotten into but had started a fight? To say that it was a shock was to put it lightly.

Maddie expected for him to be even worse looking than he had been. Danny knew how to fight, or at least did when he was younger. She'd spent most of his elementary school years teaching him and Jazz what she knew. If he had been in good health, then she'd have more faith in him, but when he'd left the house this morning he'd nearly been blown over by the wind. Maddie doubted he'd be able to win a fight against a paperclip, let alone a football player.

Instead, when she ran into the school office she found him sitting in one of the uncomfortable chairs, staring at the wall, sitting perfectly still. He didn't have any bruises on his face or skin that she could see, no blood or scratches or anything that indicated that he was any worse for wear. If anything, Danny looked better than he had this morning. 

His teacher, Mr. Lancer, stood next to him, his arms crossed and eyebrows furrowed. Maddie approached, but he didn't seem to notice her. He was standing next to Danny, tapping his foot on the ground rapidly.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Lancer," she said with a practiced smile on her face.

He visibly startled before clearing his throat and fixing his posture. "Oh, you're here," he said, wearing his own, clearly forced smile.

"I am," she said. She turned to face Danny. "Are you hurt?" Maddie asked softly. If what she had been told was true, she would lecture him later. It was more important to make sure he was okay. She continued when she didn't get a reply. "Mr. Lancer called and said you got into a fight...?"

Danny still didn't answer. He didn't so much as blink or turn his eyes to look at her. If Maddie didn't know any better, she'd say he wasn't breathing.

Mr. Lancer cleared his throat, and she looked up at him. "He isn't physically injured, as far as we could tell. Despite this, he hasn't been responding."

"And you took that to mean that he wasn't injured?" she asked, trying very hard to keep the anger out of her voice. "What if he'd been hit on the head? He should be in the hospital!"

"We did," Mr. Lancer replied drily. "It would've been nearly impossible for him to have been hit like that. There were a number of student witnesses, and Dash Baxter, the boy Danny instigated the fight with, was hardly given the chance to lift a finger. In contrast, Dash is currently in the hospital with a dislocated shoulder and a pinched nerve. I wonder where he learned to react in such a way." The last sentence was whispered, clearly intended to be for Mr. Lancer only.

Maddie pretended she didn't hear him. "Eye witness reports are all well and good, but did you at least have the school nurse look him over?"

"As much as we could," Mr. Lancer replied slowly.

"And what does that mean?" Maddie asked.

Mr. Lancer cleared his throat. "The nurse had some trouble getting close.”

"I'm sorry, I thought you said he wasn't responsive?" she asked incredulously.

"He isn’t," Mr. Lancer said. " Mostly. He didn’t react well when she tried to touch him. If you'd like to try and see for yourself, you're more than welcome to, but if I might be frank, I am up to here with your families escapades today. Daniel is going to be suspended for a week, and the Baxter's have decided to not press charges. Something that you should be very grateful for. Now, if you'll excuse me." Mr. Lancer walked briskly from the room, leaving Maddie and Danny more or less alone.

She turned back to him. He still sat just as he had before, as if he was part of the room's decoration. "I want you to know that you are in trouble," Maddie started. "But I want to make sure you're safe first, and then we can talk about punishment. Do you understand?"

She still got no response.

"Danny, I need you to talk to me. Or at least give me some kind of sign, it doesn't have to be words," she continued. "A head nod. Two blinks. A loud exhale."

Maddie got none of that. She sighed, and straightened. "Okay. I don't know what is wrong right now, but we're going to get you home, and then we are talking about this. Come on." She let her hand fall on his shoulder, intending to guide him out  the door to the car. She didn't have the GAV today; Jack was buys with some kind of ghost snakes report across town.

Half of her expected to get some reaction when she touched his shoulder. Mr. Lancer had certainly made it seem like she should, but the only thing that happened was Danny standing up,  and following her out to the car. He walked as if on autopilot, stumbling over the slight step down to the sidewalk below. If Maddie hadn't been there to catch him, it looked like he would have just face planted.

She pursed her lips. She didn't care what the teachers or nurses might say, something was wrong with her baby. That was clear as day. It was just going to have to fall to her to figure out what.

Maddie had to guide Danny into the backseat, had to buckle him in like she hadn't done since he was five. Her concern only grew as she went through the motions, having to raise his limp arm to get the seat belt under it. It took longer than she'd care to admit, and it wasn't for another good few minutes before she was climbing behind the driver's wheel. She let her eyes wander to Danny again in the rear view mirror before she started driving.

He was staring directly down at his lap, where his hands lay. She noticed then that they were clenched, the only part of his body that wasn't limp, gripped into fists so tight that she could see how his knuckles paled from the tension.

Maddie put the car in drive and tore her eyes away. She needed to get home, and she needed to think. She needed to figure out what was wrong. 

Her first instinct was, unsurprisingly, overshadowing. Or maybe some other kind of possession. It would've explained the sudden difference in attitude recently. If Danny was trying to fight against it, it may also explain his not quite catatonic state, focusing all his energy inward to try and kick the ghost out. It would explain a lot, and it would be an easy enough fix. Maddie hoped it was just that.

She forced herself to think of other possibilities too. While possession would've been nice, she also knew that it was wishful thinking. Possession would mean her baby boy was just as sweet and kind and unbothered as ever, and that he was nothing more than a victim. It would've been terrible, that she couldn't keep him safe, but it would've been an easy fix. Maddie couldn't let her wishful thinking get in the way if it ended up being something else.

He could be sick, like he said, but that wouldn't explain why he was better now. He could have just been acting out, as the school seemed to think he was, but that wouldn't explain the sickness. Unless...

Amity Park didn't have the most alive drug culture. Maddie knew more about that than she'd care to admit. It wasn’t unusual for either her or Jack to be called to plenty of peoples bad trips for false ghost reports before they opened the portal, and it was always to the same couple places. It had been annoying of course, but educational. After the portal had opened, the false reports dropped substantially. Maddie didn't know if it was because the people stopped using when the real world was crazier than any drug trip they might have, or because now they could differentiate between the ghosts they saw and the real ghosts.

Either way, just because it wasn't as thriving as it was in other areas, didn't mean it wasn't a possibility. And the more Maddie thought of it, the more it seemed to fit. The shaking and sweating, the sudden sickness, the insistence that he needed to go to school... If he had managed to take something, it could describe his current state too.

Maddie took a deep breath through her nose. She wasn't going to panic yet. She just needed to make a plan. They were going to get home, and she was going to run tests for a possible possession. If they came back positive, she'd know exactly how to get whatever sorry excuse for a spirit that’d decided to target her baby out. She would make sure that it never happened again. If it came back negative, well...

Her eyes drifted to the mirror again for just a second, just enough to see Danny in the backseat, exactly as he had been when she started this drive. If her tests came back negative she'd figure something else out. He was her son, and she wasn't going to let him face whatever this was alone, no matter what.

—

They came back negative. Every test that Maddie did was negative, or as negative as they always did for Danny. Possession, overshadowing, excess ectocontaimination that might interfere with brain activity, everything. Negative across the board. 

Maddie had hoped that it would be easy, but it was clear it wasn't. Danny still sat on the table in the lab, just as still as he had been for the past hour, his hands still clenched in his lap. He still wouldn't reply to anything. The good news was, if this was some kind of drug trip (and Maddie was almost certain it was at this point) he'd long since passed the risk of any kind of overdose. All that they could really do was wait it out.

Maddie hoisted herself up on the table and sat next to Danny. Even though he didn't look like he was going to do much of anything, she didn't feel comfortable leaving him unattended, especially in the lab. "You know that I love you, Danny," Maddie said, more to fill the silence than anything else. She wasn't even certain he was able to hear her, or would remember anything she said. "I'm always going to love you. But I'm worried."

She sighed, propping her hands on her knees and letting her face fall into them. "I don't know where I went wrong. You were such a bright young boy. You still are, in some ways. But in others, things like this happen, and... Sometimes I wonder what happened to my baby boy."

"I died." Maddie raised her head sharply, looking over to where Danny sat. He was looking at her with eyes the same color as the portal behind him. Her hand went to her waist instinctively to grab the blaster she always had, but nothing was there. She'd taken it off so it didn't disrupt the tests.

Whatever was pretending to be Danny didn't seem to care about her panic, even as she stumbled off the table to go get it. It just kept talking in an echoing bastardization of her son's voice. "But I decided to keep playing at human, to keep pretending that nothing was wrong, that everything was fine. For years."

It was laughing by the time Maddie's hand found the blaster, a laugh that sent shivers down her spine. "It's a miracle it took me this long to figure it out." Maddie raised the gun at the creature as it jumped down from the table, its feet never touching the ground. "But I'm done pretending." It a blink of the eye, her Danny was gone, replaced with the ghost she'd been hunting for as long as the portal had been opened. Phantom.

"I'll see you around, Mom," it said, its voice still not changing. Still Danny's. But it was Phantom's too, her mind connected. And it was Phantom's eyes on Danny's face, with a suit that matched the one on the wall behind him with the colors flipped.

He disappeared before she could decide whether to shoot or not. The blaster fell out of her hand as she fell to the floor, shaking.

[lifewithchronicpain]

As far as legendary pop culture stories go, few are weirder than the Titanic “PCP chowder” incident—a real, actual event that happened during filming on the future blockbuster in August of 1996, in which at least 50 cast and crew members, including star Bill Paxton and director James Cameron, were dosed with angel dust someone slipped into the soup they were all sharing. A story told, on more than one occasion, by the late Paxton in his days making the talk show rounds, it has all the stuff of urban legend—including Cameron supposedly making himself throw up to get the drug out of his system, and Paxton riding out the high by going back to his trailer and drinking a case of beer—except with a ton of evidence and police reports to back it up.

WTF, Ihave never heard of this till now. This Vanity Fair article has more in the event itself:

For the more than 60 people who did eat the chowder, it didn’t take long for the effects to take hold. Cameron, who initially thought the shellfish might have contained “paralytic shellfish neurotoxin, which is very dangerous,” immediately stepped away from the set to vomit. “I get back to the set and nobody’s there.” he recalled in 2009, speaking to Vanity Fair’s Rebecca Keegan, reporting at the time for her book on Cameron, The Futurist. “I’m standing at the monitors, near the camera, and the room is empty. It was like the twilight zone.”

“Some people were laughing, some people were crying, some people were throwing up,” Paxton told Entertainment Weekly back in 1996. “One minute I felt O.K., the next minute I felt so goddamn anxious I wanted to breathe in a paper bag. Cameron was feeling the same way.”

Cameron remembers a Russian-Canadian P.A., who was working as a translator on set, summing it up succinctly: “I feel toxic and beside myself.”

The chaotic scene at the Dartmouth General Hospital makes for one of history’s best drug stories, even if the affected crew members didn’t know it at the time. “Eventually we all got put in these cubicles with the curtains around us, but no one wanted to stay in their cubicles,” set painter Marilyn McAvoy told Vice earlier this year. “Everyone was out in the aisles and jumping into other people’s cubicles. People had a lot of energy. Some were in wheelchairs, flying down the hallways. I mean, everyone was high!”

Cameron, who says he was stabbed in the face with a pen by a crew member (“I’m sitting there bleeding and laughing”), watched helplessly as his crew fell apart. “People are moaning and crying, wailing, collapsed on tables and gurneys. The D.P., Caleb Deschanel, is leading a number of crew down the hall in a highly vocal conga line. You can’t make this stuff up.” (Deschanel did not respond to a request for comment, but Paxton also described conga dancing—so someone must have been at the head of that conga line.)

Holy shit, I’m glad no one got hurt and they can look back on it with humor. But fuck that must’ve been scary at the time.

[lookingforcactus]

Live action Yu Yu Hakusho liveblog: ep 1

This is so much fun. Nostalgia time. 13 year old me is LIVING

Warning for like whole ep 1 spoilers and all

Yusuke and Botan look great which I already knew going in from the gifset that informed me this show exists lol, but it's delightful, bc the characters in this show aren't necessarily the easiest to translate to live action

Botan is adorable. Her hair is adorable. And I'm delighted to see that Yusuke's hair is the Correct amount of Poufy

Plot twist: Kuwabara hot. He looks great actually. Translated nonliterally compared to Yusuke but v well. The actor is selling me on it too, fun casting

Kuwabara was always hard for me to watch in the original bc he set off my vicarious embarrassment soo hard. Glad they're less committed to making him the constant source of painful comedic relief here lol

KOENMA PACIFIER REVEAL I LOVE IT

Laughed out loud for real tbh

Idk if I'm a little disappointed he's not a baby but like live action would make that ridic hard to do in a lot of ways so I don't blame them at all. He's in his adult form which makes sense. Still damn glad they kept the pacifier it is RUINING his dignity and I love it

I also don't blame them for cutting the flying oar effects. A lil sad but the initial transition to Reikai looked great so they're forgiven

Yusuke. "No thanks." I knew it was coming and the delivery still made me laugh out loud. Just dropped it in there. Yusuke I love you please see a therapist

Fight scenes are v creative and p epic

Seriously they do a really good job of making Yusuke's fighting style as a human believable, fun to watch, and effective. He rly does come off as just kind of a natural fighting genius (with practice ofc)

Sakyo in ep 1? Weird but I'm not opposed. The wavy hair is kinda freaking me out though ngl. Smoothness was just such his THING in the show it's distracting

Really liked Yusuke's mom's introduction (not that it was flattering to her as a character) but I wish they'd done more with her in the rest of the ep. Her power hug at the end is great tho

Show's slowing down a bit but it's fine I'm still having fun, the nostalgia power will get me through basically whatever

NO PUU!!!! This is tragic but I Do understand this as an adaptation choice. Reluctantly. Tragic tho.

Bug under guy's face effect EPICALLY creepy

That said I keep watching the motion of him and the other demons in this ep and thinking about Hayao Miyazaki said about the disgusting cruelty of using effects technology to make the scary scary inhuman monsters just fucking. look and move like disabled ppl

Seriously I keep seeing flashes of the appearance and movements of people I know with developmental disabilities (particularly this one guy I know with cerebral palsy but also I've worked in care work for disabled adults and just kind of a lot of people in general) and. I hate this. Especially as a person who DOES have a (nonvisible) developmental disability myself. This is such a rising trend in horror/sff/fantasy tv/movies/video games and I hate everything about it. Hayao Miyazaki was right this kind of attitude and shit really is "an insult to life itself"

Anyway fight scene cool

I love Keiko btw. Her crying and blaming herself! Her face when Yusuke comes back! Also Yusuke "I'm not gonna die just bc you talked shit" pffft jackass (affectionate)

DEMON CREW CAMEO AT THE END

Kurama looks pretty good. Goki actually looks wayyyy better than he did in the anime imho, which I did not see coming.

Effects on Kurama and Hiei's fighting looks surprisingly great. They pulled off the rose whip way better than I thought they would, and did some great wirework with Hiei's speed and fighting style

That said....Hiei...oof. That hair was always gonna be a Challenge but I think their ambition here did uh. not play off rip. Hopefully it'll look better later on

[missmagooglie]

Tagged for Fuck It Friday by @zahlibeth so I'm gonna lean into the spirit of the thing and post snippets from a few things I'm trying to motivate myself to keep working on.

First up there's my first foray into HellCheer, which can best be summed up as "I'm normally not a fan of cheating, but if Chrissy and Eddie were sneaking around behind Jason's back it'd be pretty hot, right?"

"Just don't be late for practice," Debbie says. "You know we're running the pyramid today." "I know!" Chrissy replies, already moving the other direction. "I'll just be a minute!" She hurries back down the hallway, glancing over her shoulder to make sure her friends have moved on, and then ducks quickly into the auditorium.  It's quiet and dimly lit. There's a certain strangeness to walking into an empty theater, the stage dark, each sound seeming amplified in the quiet of so large a space. Chrissy walks quickly down the side aisle and up onto the stage. Even in tennis shoes, her feet still echo dully on the wooden steps. Backstage, she navigates her way to the prop room and looks around. "Well, well, well," comes a voice right behind her shoulder, making her hop and squeak. "What could possibly bring the likes of Chrissy Cunningham, head cheerleader, all the way down to my domain?" She relaxes and smiles. "Hi, Eddie," she says sweetly. "She knows my name!" Eddie says with faux surprise as his hands slide around her waist with practiced familiarity. "Oh, I feel special. You noticed me from all the way up in your princess tower, huh?" She giggles softly at the familiar bit and leans back into him. "If I'm a princess," she says as she bares her neck to him, "does that make you my knight in shining armor?" Eddie hums in disagreement, his lips and jaw vibrating against her throat. "No, that doesn't sound like me at all. I'm no shiny hero, I'm the big, scary dragon. Stealing you away from home and hoarding you for myself."

Then I return to, ahem, Steddie ground with the touring bands AU that infected me when MCR and hard core logo crossed my dash at the same time. Robin and Steve have whatever the corollary of "stage gay" is for a lesbian and her emotional support himbo. And Eddie gets confused about it:

And then there's the bass player. Eddie can't get a good look at his face, not with the way he's bowing his head as he gives his entire focus to the four strings beneath his fingers. His head nods along to the beat, and against all odds makes his unkempt, greasy hair look unfairly attractive even as droplets of sweat visibly go flying with each shake of his head. His plain white shirt has the sleeves cut off, along with a good portion of the shirt's sides, and his jeans are tight enough to show off his ass and thighs.

He doesn't stay in any one place for long, roaming the stage aimlessly as he plays and checking in with his bandmates when he draws near. Dustin grins at him as he steps up onto the drum platform and tries to shout something over the music, Erica hip-checks him out of her space and sends him spinning away. She shakes her head like she's annoyed by the intrusion, but she watches him go with a not quite successfully suppressed smile. There's a playful fondness to the interactions, a sibling-like camaraderie.

That's not remotely what it feels like when the bassist reaches the singer. There's an intensity in how he approaches her, an almost magnetic draw. When he reaches her he doesn't check in like he did with Dustin and Erica. Instead, he presses the crown of his head between her shoulder blades until she takes a stumbling step forward. She leans back against him, letting his head support her as she continues to sing. She smiles fondly around the lyrics and reaches a hand back to scritch at the back of his head like he's a beloved pet begging for attention. His hair falls to cover most of his face, but Eddie can make out his mouth, which hangs open loosely while he breathes heavily through red lips shining with spit and sweat.

In a practiced move, she lifts her arm and he ducks under just in time for a harmony, their heads pressed close together and their mouths barely avoiding each other as they sing into the same mic. The singer keeps an arm looped around his neck, her hand pressing possessively to the top of his sternum as he slouches against her to match her height, and holds him close even as she returns to singing alone, and he melts into her without ever once stumbling in his rhythm. 

Eddie's seen stage chemistry before, but this is something else. It's like they have their own gravity centered on one another. Absurdly, Eddie feels the faintest coil of jealousy as he watches them. He beats the feeling back, because immediately developing a crush on a straight guy (who is obviously madly in love with his singer) before he's even seen his face is too much even for Eddie. And honestly, it's not really even him Eddie feels jealousy over, it's that connection. He loves his bandmates, but he's very much the leader of the group. He craves the kind of partnership these two have.

The singer pulls her bassist close and smacks a big kiss to his temple before shoving him away toward his own corner of the stage, but their eyes stay locked as he retreats and she continues to sing. They look like they're having a silent conversation, even as they continue to play and sing.

The song ends, and before the last note has faded Erica playfully whines into her own mic, "Ewwww! Robin kissed a boy!"

And I can't forget my favorite firefighting blorbos and the Practical Magic Buddie AU. Sorry, there's no actual Buddie in this snippet. Just Eddie and his abuela.

Isabel tuts and reaches for his hand. “Mijito, I have watched you grow from the day you were born. I know you better than you know yourself. And I have hated watching you hide from the world, shutting yourself off from the very things that make life worth living out of fear. I thought, when I saw you together at your wedding, that if you weren’t going to let yourself marry someone you loved I could at least help you love the person you married.” Eddie shakes his head. A renewed wave of grief lodges in his throat and stings at his eyes. “You shouldn’t have - if I never loved her, she would still be here. Christopher would still have his mother, I would still have my partner. Why would you cast that spell knowing that she would die?” Regret washes over Isabel’s features. “I never thought the curse would take her,” she tells Eddie softly, “because it wasn’t real.” Her words hit him like a sucker punch.  “But it was,” he protests, his voice cracking. “It was real for me - for us. It was messy and difficult, and we fought way too much, but,” he pauses for a moment, tears streaming down his cheeks as he tries to swallow back the tightness gripping his throat, “I really did love her, Abuelita. I loved her so much, and I just want her back.” “Oh, cariño,” Isabel says, wrapping her arms back around Eddie and pulling him close. She holds him as his shoulders shake with helpless sobs, and runs a soothing hand through his hair like she always did when he was a little boy. “You will be alright, Eddito,” she promises softly. “Somehow, we always are.”

So that's a small snapshot at how my drafts folder is looking. I'm gonna tag @onyxmoonstone @machtaholic @piratefalls and anyone who hasn't been tagged but wants to share.

[kurtcobainsgreencardigan]

pauuuuuuuuu i’ve got a question. i understand that you enjoy supernatural, so could you explain to me the whole destial thing? i’m like, fairly close to caving and committing myself to 15 fucking seasons of them and dean from gilmore girls (who i fucking hate(the character not the actor)) so like, i wanna know what i’m getting myself into, cause the only stuff i know is the meme that’s always going around, and that everyone and their mother is obsessed with dean winchester

OH MY GOD OH MY GOD @weeping-in-the-willows WE'VE DONE IT!!!

okay andi here we go its gonna be LONG (thats what she said?)

Destiel is a ship between two main characters, Dean Winchester, who is a monster hunter, and Castiel, who is an angel of the lord. Although Cas does not appear until season 4(?), when he does it's clear there's something going on between the two men (boys?), and, whether or not it's intentional, there's a LOT of gay subtext. I think they suffer a lot but it's worth it for the very few moments they get to enjoy, and you value them so much more which makes it so enjoyable.

As for Sam Winchester (Dean Forester), he's a young man with daddy issues who never met his mom and decided that instead of having that horrible monster hunter life he wanted to go to Stanford and study law and have a great academically successful life (Sam and Rory Gilmore would be best friends). He's a sweet, kind, smart, driven, ambitious (and hot) 22(!) year-old who would never voluntarily hurt a fly. Obviously life had other plans for him but what happens to him is up to you. Now, I will say that I'm not the biggest mid-series seasons Sam fan, but I think early Sam was one of my first fictional crushes and I still think of him fondly. His favorite singer is secretly Celine Dion.

Dean Winchester also has daddy issues but as in yes-dad-I'll-do-everything-you-say-so-that-you-love me-while-his-dad-still-loves-sam-more daddy issues (which I know all too well not not the time nor place), whereas Sam was more like "No dad, this is YOUR dream". Dean is like that jackass who thinks he's this huge deal and he think he's really hot and smart and always right, which is infuriating because it's true. But really imagine a giant teddy bear with a flannel. that's Dean Winchester. It's a bit funny but for him the most important thing ever is his family and he will fight with all his might to save it, blood or found, he will die for them over and over again with no regrets, except that one where his daug we don't talk about that. He's also incredibly funny, he likes Frozen and dad rock and pie.

Cas is an angel who very often forgets that. Funny thing about this guy is that they first portray him as like this scary creature, he's the most powerful thing they've ever faced and he's so intimidating but once they get to know him he's really just like if an alien saw a hot guy and went "that one". He talks to cats sometimes.

About the show itself, the firsts seasons they think they're like this moody, serious show, but as it goes on it quickly turns into a comedy. They meet Scooby-Doo once. There's a musical. Doctor Sexy wears cowboy boots. Dracula. Ghostfacers!

Now, I wouldn't go as far as "recommending" it to someone, but if i could start clean and had the choice to watch it again for the first time, I'd tell them put me back in it, and I would cry and curse and suffer, but I'd go through it again.

And that is all, unless Willow wants to add something?

Also I would avoid the last episode, I would not watch it if I were you, I wish I never saw it and I pretend it doesn't exist, it is not canon if I say it is not and I refuse to recognize it as such. Thank you.

[kkotda]

D, G, and R for the selfship alphabet for any character of your choosing!

OMG HELLO THANK YOU SM FOR SENDING SOME INNNN <333

d - danger: how do they react to finding out the other person is in trouble? (i should so talk about wb here but like... actually nvm let me talk about wb HAHAHHA)

togame 'you touched her so i kill you' jo...... he receives the news while he's at the ori and his face turns dark. like even choji pauses to look at togame like 'hey bro, u ok?' and he's all quiet and scary as he gets up to leave, hands stuffed into his pockets, and it doesn't take him very long to find me backed into a dark alley, stuck with some very unintelligent fellows (THIS IS SO CLICHE I'M SORRY HAHAHAHA) but i'd like to think that i'm holding my own very well, like slapping away them away and telling them off, and i see him and i'm like 'oh shit- you all need to get away from here' and they're laughing at me like what is he gonna do and i'm like 'oh no...' he walks up to me, cradling my face, turning it this way and that, and checking for any bruises. and the men are still laughing amongst themselves, trying to put a hand on his (togame's) shoulder like 'didn't even get to touch her pretty face, don'—' and gets interrupted by a flying punch that definitely broke some things. and togame is all like 'keep your fucking hands to yourself.' all cold (but also soooo hot alsdfjalsdkfj)

I'M NOT EXPLAINING THIS RIGHT BUT BASICALLY HE WOULDN'T ENGAGE IN THE TROUBLEMAKERS, just checking to make sure i'm okay and unhurt, but if they try anything while he's there... ooh... not a very bright moment lol (head in hands, i want him i want him i want him omg T-T)

and if i find out that togame is in trouble? girl (gn) hold my boba. ofc i'm not worried about togame because he's very very strong and capable :3 BUT that does not mean i am not going to just sit back and watch from the sidelines (i'm pretty capable myself too >:D) and i can just imagine his smug smile and his face is literally screaming 'yeah, that's my girl' (FALLING TO MY KNEES.)

g - greetings: what was their first meeting like? (feat. my other wb selfship, sakura!!!)

okay this is a little funny and also a fic idea that mothe (@planetxiao) and i had but i'm going to make it selfship lore (sorry mothe T-T): so sakura, when he first meets me, gets a nosebleed. and it's not anything like perverted or anything, he was literally just dead tired due to some like bofurin stuff or something and it was purely just poor timing HAHAHA but i did not know that and neither did the group he was with (suo, nirei, kiryu, and tsuge i think would suffice, maybe even sugi??) so they're flaming him (poor baby HAHHA) like 'sakura-kun... do you have something you need to tell us?' 'sakura-san, i- i didn't think- oh my god!' 'wow, sakura!' 'hm, so that's your virtue...' and we blush profusely. me because i think he's into me (and we all know how insanely attractive he is) and him because he's so embarrassed to have gotten a nosebleed and not being able to live it down. anyways this whole thing gets resolved and i develop a huge crush on him and yeah :3

r - routine: what’s something they do together like clockwork? (gonna do this for both togame and sakura!)

togame and i end our day sitting on the roof together and watching the sunset (isn't that so romantic alfdkjasldfj) <3

sakura and i without fail go to pothos to eat kotoha's omurice (which fun fact, i've never had omurice before so i'm super excited the first time we go there together alskdfalsdfj)

selfship alphabet ask game!

[foxingpeculiar]

Elden Ring/SotE:

So, I realized I totally forgot about Ranni's quest. Very much a "doy," head-smacking moment. Especially since that's obviously the best ending.

So I did the rest of that--went to Renna's Rise, through Ainsel River and Nokstella. I think I got everything in Nokstella except the Golden Seed--I went up to the temple and got the Moon of Nokstella, but didn't think to poke around, and then saw it later from below and was like "fuck it, I'll get that later."

Got through the Lake of Rot with a minimum of fuss. Even beat the Dragonkin boss in there, which I've never done before. Had enough Boluses that the Scarlet Rot wasn't a huge problem. Then went down and beat the Astel down there in one go--he looks scary, but he's not that tough (not for a dedicated sorceress at level 132 with a maxed-out Mimic Tear, anyway).

Got to the Moonlight Altar and did all that shit. The lady in the Ringleader Gaol did take me two tries, but I got her on the second one by basically spamming Transient Moonlight at her. Goddamn, that move rules. Chelona's Rise kind of sucked, only because it took me forever to find that third, flying turtle, but I got Ranni's Dark Moon out of it, so okay, cool. The Lunar Estate and Moonfolk Ruins weren't bad--the talisman that boosts your FP was worth it for a sorcery build. The Glintstone Dragon wasn't shit. And then Ranni and I got sort of married and we're off to the races there.

So then it's Consecrated Snowfield time. But first, I had a whole "Beast Eye Quivers" moment in the Secret Path to the Haligtree area, and thought to myself "well, I already killed Maliketh, but let's see what this is about." So I found the whole Invisible Bridge of Bullshit thing, which I definitely did not find on previous playthroughs, and I guess that's cool.

The Snowfield is kind of going the same way--I'm finding things I didn't even think to look for last time I played this. Like the Albinauric Rise, the seal on which took some figuring out, but (thanks to some Crystal Darts) I managed it. I don't even remember what was in there, but it's the principle of the thing. Also found the Consecrated Snowfield Catacombs, which I definitely did not know were there, and man, that place kind of sucked--mostly because of the Burial Watchdogs. That first one that ambushes you from a high platform freaked the shit out of me the first time and absolutely wrecked my shit, but the second time I was prepared and I got him. (Incidentally, Loretta's Great Bow is fantastic for disarming the flame/frost traps from a distance--learned that). Didn't even fight the second one--just grabbed the helmet from in front of him and ran away through a narrow passage he couldn't follow. I'm not having trouble with the Cleanrot Knights this time, though, and the boss there wasn't shit.

Found the Forlorn Cave, also. Again, nothing to write home about. Although once I beat the Misbegotten Crusader and teleported back to the entrance, there was a Land Octopus at the cave mouth absolutely flipping her shit, so that was kind of funny.

I haven't much progressed beyond the river yet, I'm still in the "this is some Frigid Outskirts bullshit" snowstorm area. Got ambushed by a Red Wolf of Radagon, pancaked by a surprise Dragonkin spirit, stumbled upon a caravan and barely made it away with the Flowing Curved Sword, etc. I feel like there's probably still some stuff I haven't found, but I'm ready to slowly start making my way toward Ordina, I think.

Really curious to see how Elphael and Malenia actually go this time. Last time I got a co-op summon and the other player honestly kinda took the lead in the Malenia fight. But this time, I'm gonna beat her on my own merit... hopefully. We'll see how that goes.