#anson said he just lets

[ansonmountdaily]

Anson Mount and Rebecca Romijn about "Pike Hair"

"We asked Rebecca Romijn and Anson Mount to reply to some of our favourite Star Trek: Strange New Worlds tweets."

Source: Paramount+ UK & Ireland Official Twitter, June 29 2023

[jaylaxies]

ROMAN HOLIDAY

PAIRING: jake x fem!reader

GENRE/CW: smut, slight fluff, protected and unprotected sex, (don’t be silly, wrap your willy!), cunnilingus, marking, creampie, mentions of petnames (princess, baby, darling, daddy), lots of kissing and brief mentions of smoking, stealing, running away from cops, drugs, somnophilia (consensual), etc.

WC: 10k words

SYNOPSIS: visiting your grandma’s place was more or less your entire plan for your summer vacations and only break you get before your university starts, although, meeting your neighbour, bickering with him and clutching his hand while running away from cops wasn’t in your bucket list.

PLAYLIST: welcome to wonderland by anson seabra, movement by hozier, if you let me by alina baraz, how to love by jen z, roman holiday by halsey.

WARNING: 18+ content, minors dni

A/N: hihi, my sweetest angels <3 i'm finally here with a jake fic which was long due! i hope you guys like it <33 all likes, comments, reblogs and feedbacks are highly appreciated :D loveyou all <3

Bagging a window seat for a day-long journey sure is a blessing, peculiarly when you have to stay sitting at your spot in a train for a sum of six hours. Nestled in your seat, you sit straighter when the scenic view of the sea water meeting the sky graces your eyes—which you capture on your phone’s camera with a soft smile. 

It felt as if it had been ages since you got out of your room, where you used to be cooped up during the entirety of your day, studying for your final year of school. 

Your parents were concerned. They were highly proud of you for achieving top honours, yes, but it was about time you went out and cherished your life a little before you got winded up in the stress of University yet again, which was to start in one month. 

And what’s a better place to spend your vacations at if not at your granny’s home? 

It was a few minutes past six when you finally reached your desired destination, dragging your luggage behind you as a swish of cold breeze hit you. It looked straight out of a movie with how the train station was lit up by old-fashioned lamps which radiated warmth just by glancing towards them.  

You hugged your cardigan tighter, walking out to find the taxi stand just outside the exit area of the station, pulling out your phone to show the driver the address you’d be meaning to go to. He was a kind man, helping you put your luggage into the trunk of his taxi. Your curious eyes looked out, observing how much the town had changed over the years. 

You were seven when you last visited her hometown. Ever since then, your grandma used to be the one who visited you in the city, at your place, however she did not wish to leave her town and move in with your family. You could see why she chose to stay here—the serene view, the freshness in the air, the tranquil surroundings, it made the corner of your lips curl up into a smile. 

It only got wider once the driver stopped his taxi in front of your grandma’s house. It was exactly how you had remembered it to be—a small but two story house with a big veranda which was lit up by fairy lights on the big bushes. The back door connected the path towards the small pool and then yet another door linked the beach from your backyard. 

Your grandma stood by the door with the fondest smile gracing her ever so beautiful face, a few grey strands fell on her face and you couldn’t help but get out of the taxi and run towards her, capturing her in an embrace. A hearty chuckle filled the air, the scent of your favourite cookies encapsulated you, making you wonder if she had baked a batch just for you as you snuggled further, her hand patting your head exactly the way she used to do ever since you were a kid. 

“I missed you, grandma.” Your expression said it all, and she looked more than happy to usher you in the house, saying how chilly the night was and you made sure to pay the driver, thanking him for his service as you dragged the luggage in. 

A wave of nostalgia hit you as your eyes wandered off to observe each corner, but your grandma didn’t hear any of it, making sure her granddaughter was well fed and rested after the long journey. 

She spent a good while telling you embarrassing stories of your father during dinner, which you listened to with delight, sharing your own stories with zeal before you climbed up the stairs, opening the door to the room you used to use each time you stayed over as a child. 

It didn’t change, the bed was still too big for you, the windows were spotless as if it had been cleaned frequently and the scent of old books paired with a tinge of vanilla filled your senses. Your body felt calm and you couldn’t remember the last time you had felt this way. 

Calling your parents, you updated them by telling you had reached safely as you walked in the balcony, feeling comfortable in a sweatshirt and cotton shorts. The night sky resembled a velvet blanket full of glistening stars. 

However, a figure clad in all black captured your attention. It was a bit beyond one in the morning, which is why it was unsettling to see someone walk in such dim lights. The stranger made his way towards your neighbouring house, making you wonder if he lived there. 

Shrugging, you sighed. Sitting at one place for hours does tire your body, so you proceed to finally get into your cozy bed, setting an alarm before your grandma comes in to check if you require anything. 

“Sweet dreams my little peanut,” your grandma smiled, closing the door behind you as you replied back with a gentle voice. 

“Sweet dreams, Gigi!” It was a nickname you used for her, she found it lovely. 

The placid atmosphere and the distant sound of waves acted as a catalyst to your sleep, and you slept soundly, not knowing that the calmness was just a start to your inevitable venture—something no one could have prepared you for. 

You found yourself walking alongside your Gigi to visit the lady next door in the afternoon. She was a kind soul—as stated by your grandma, not to mention that she treated her like her own family, making sure to provide help whenever she could and that’s the reason why you were going to meet her. 

It wasn’t the first time; apparently you used to play in their veranda a lot as a child, which again, you didn’t remember. However, when the lady—Mrs. Sim, opened the door, the memories came rushing back to you. She was jolly, almost as if she was waiting for your arrival and soon, you were engulfed into a sweet hug. 

She called out your name in sheer excitement, leaning back to take a good look at your face, which sported a silly smile due to embarrassment. 

“Aw, love. You’ve grown into such a pretty young lady,” she gushed, ushering you both inside and into the living room area. 

“And you don’t look a day over twenty, Mrs. Sim,” you replied, not lying considering how youthful she appeared to be. 

Her smile only widened at your comment, “now, another word and I’ll be floating in the clouds,” she said, making you chuckle as you got engaged in a conversation, sipping on the cranberry juice which Mrs. Sim had so kindly offered you. 

It was decided that you’d be having lunch together, and you tried your best to help the two women in the kitchen but you were soon shoved out, saying you don’t have to do a thing and rest—that’s the purpose of your vacations. 

Which made you sit down and use your phone, scrolling through random apps and replying to all the texts. 

“Y/n!” Soon, you were called into the kitchen, and you poked your head in with a smile. 

“Yes, Gigi?” 

“Oh, peanut, can you please go upstairs and call Jake for lunch? It’s almost done.” She asked. 

You tilted your head in confusion, mind wandering back to the guy you had seen last night and you came to the conclusion that Jake might be Mrs. Sim’s son. 

You nodded, heading up the wooden staircase. Would you have to introduce yourself to him? Would it get awkward? You had no clue. 

Knocking on the door twice, you took a step back and patiently waited for the door to open and so, you tried again to no avail. You wondered if he had his headphones on, which left you with no choice but to open the door, peeking in slightly only to find the room empty. 

“Oh,” you let out, closing the door behind you for the sake of privacy. 

“He’s not in his room,” you informed Mrs. Sim. 

She sighed, serving a good portion of food for all of you, “I could have sworn he didn’t go out,” she shook her head as you three sat down. You let the elders start eating first and only then you picked up your chopsticks to do the same. 

“I haven’t seen him in a while, what’s the tough guy up to?” Your Gigi asked. 

“He’s busy enrolling himself into universities,” Mrs. Sim says, a sad smile taking over her face, “he says he doesn’t want to leave me and is aiming for nearby universities.” 

“My my, isn’t he a darling boy?” Your grandma praised while you chewed on your food, which melted right in your mouth, silently eating while hearing them converse. 

It didn’t take long for your grandma to ask them to come over for dinner the very next day, “it’s only fair that I cook for you too,” she argued when Mrs. Sim told her that she shouldn’t bother. 

This time, your grandma let you help with the cooking, and of course, you were sent to invite the Sims over for dinner. You hugged your white cardigan close to your body—the nights tend to get chilly. Walking over to the neighbouring home, you rang the bell and were greeted with the sight of Mrs. Sim, who actually dressed up for the little dinner party. 

“Oh, darling. Can you please call Jake down for dinner too?” She asked you as she was busy tidying up her own kitchen. 

“Of course,” you smiled. 

It was the second time you were heading up the stairs. This time, you were sure you’d be meeting the said boy. You found yourself standing right in front of his room yet again, gulping down your nervousness. It wasn’t as if you weren’t used to introducing yourself to new people, school made sure you knew how to do that, however, your nerves were acting up. 

With a deep breath, you knocked on the door, twice—just like the last time. The difference, however, was that the door was opened in this instance. 

The scent of an intoxicating blend of masculinity and sophistication announced his presence, undertones of musk and wood laced up, providing him a complex aura altogether. 

A tall guy with parted black hair leaned against the doorframe, eyebrow perfectly raised in question, his arms folded as his honey brown eyes with the slightest speckles of gold stared your way, his plump lips soon curling up into what seemed to be an assortment of a smile and a smirk. 

“You must be Y/n,” he stated, standing up straight, which caused his muscles to flex enough to the point it was visible in his white button up. 

You licked your lips unknowingly, moistening them up before you nodded, extending your hand for him to shake, “pleasure meeting you, Jake.” 

His eyes travelled down from your face to your hand, a low chuckle left his mouth, him opening the door and stepping out, coming closer to you as he grabbed your smaller hand in his bigger, warmer ones in a firm handshake. 

“I can see why my mom can’t stop talking about you,” he said, making you tilt your head in question, eyes never leaving his face which was captivating. 

“And why is that so?” You asked, stepping back slightly as he leaned in to whisper in your ear. 

“Because you seem to be a good girl,” he breathed, making you go still as he leaned back with the same smirk, leaving you behind, walking down the stairs. 

Now, you didn’t expect the situation to turn out this way, yet you knew that talking to him further would only cause your head to hurt. 

What even made him think about you being a good girl?

Is it your outfit? Plain, loose jeans paired with a pink top and cardigan. It’s basic enough not to be categorized so easily. 

You scoff to yourself, already hating the situation as you walk downstairs, only to find Jake with a smile that genuinely looked sweet while he talked to his mother, helping her lock the door. 

“I see you met Jaeyun,” she smiled, and you nodded, sitting alongside her, not sparing a glance at the said boy as you didn’t even know his real name was Jaeyun. 

The table was set for four, which made you sit right across from Jake, who’s demeanour had changed as he complimented your granny, who laughed at his sweetness. 

“Here, have some more,” he says, serving another portion to your grandma, who cooed at his kind conduct at the table. 

He made sure to be on his best behaviour, only in front of others but when his gaze fell towards you, a bored expression overtook his features, which no one paid attention to. 

You rolled your eyes. It hadn’t even been a whole day since you met and yet the boy made you dread his presence. He wasn’t being straight up rude per se, however his actions weren’t subtle either just like how he completely ignored your existence during the entirety of the dinner. 

He offered to clean up, which included him having to clean up your plate as well, which was something he did with a frown on his face as Mrs. Sim endorsed that he should help with the household work. 

Both ladies were in awe of how well mannered Jake was, and it left you irritated to no end before Mrs. Sim called out your name softly. 

“Jake’s been acting distant lately,” she told you in a soft voice, making sure the said boy doesn’t hear you both, “and comes home late from his part time work, doesn’t share a lot these days too,” she sighs before looking at you softly, “you’re such a lovely girl, Y/n. I’m sure Jaeyun would love to have you as a friend he can rely on. Will you please look after him?” She asked, eyes sincere with worry for her son. 

Now, you were provided with two choices—one to say yes and agree, but you’d have to be in Jake’s proximity for that. The second one would be a plain no, which would sound disrespectful and insolent. 

So you put on your most convincing smile, which turned into an unadulterated one when you saw her being concerned about her son, “of course, I’ll do that, Mrs. Sim.”

“Oh please! Call me auntie,” she swatted her hand at your formal usage of name and you laughed, agreeing. 

Since the dinner was summed up now and the dishes were done, courtesy of Jaeyun; you were asked to walk them back home, which wasn’t even a two minute walk, however you couldn’t say no to your grandma and hence, you agreed. 

Mrs. Sim—or your auntie Sim, thanked you for the dinner, and proposed to at least have one meal of the day together each day, which you thought was a lovely idea given that you had grown to like the lady. 

You were just about to leave when she went inside but a firm grip on your wrist stopped you right away, making you look up at Jake in question. 

“You don’t have to bother being my friend, you’ll only be a hindrance in my way,” he says smoothly. 

Your expression turns sour, almost as if you were bored, “why? So you can keep your fake good boy persona up and going?” You said, mimicking his tone. 

Not expecting such a reply, he let out a surprised scoff, mixed with the slightest chuckle, “so what? It doesn’t concern you. Or are you offended that I’m not actually good, like you,” he whispered, leaning close, which made you realize how tall he actually was, “you know nothing about me, princess.”

The nickname rolled off his tongue seamlessly, sending a shiver down your spine while you kept a straight face, trying not to seem affected at all. 

“Neither do you know about me, Sim. So stop making assumptions and just because I’m nice doesn’t mean I’ll take your bullshit.” You rolled your eyes, saying it all in one go before turning around to leave. 

“You should be scared of me,” he chuckles behind you. 

“In your dreams,” you retorted, not sparing him another glance as your heart palpitated. 

You had never talked to anyone in such a manner before, it gave a sense of newfound confidence—which you needed.

Jake simply watched you walk back to your place, shaking his head once you disappeared from his eyesight and still, a humorous smile never left his face. 

You had updated your parents about your three days here and later called your friend to do the same, who was also busy with her own vacation bucket list, yet it was a refreshing talk given that you currently did not have much to do to entertain yourself. 

Which left you to grab your swimwear and go for a swim—utilizing the pool in your backyard. 

Gigi loved to sit by the pool and made sure that it was cleaned every now and then. She had gotten it cleaned right in the morning today, which also gives you an opportunity to use it. 

The sunset casted a warm glow on the calm waves of the pool, the slight breeze in the air making it serene as you immerse yourself in the water, it closing you right in, feeling like a warm hug. 

You started slowly with effortless strokes, enjoying the feeling of lukewarm water on your body. You stopped after a while, resting as you let your body float with your eyes closed. 

“Enjoying ourselves, are we now?” A voice broke your state of tranquillity, your eyes opening in a swift and the water sloshed with how fast you turned around. 

Of course, it was none other than Jake sim who sat on the pool lounge chair, arms behind his back as if he was sitting to enjoy the view. 

“The fuck are you doing here?” You breathed out in question. 

He looked at you, feigning disappointment as he leaned to look down at you, “oh, princess. Didn’t they teach you not to use such filthy words?”

His condescending tone only riled you up, “didn’t they teach you not to show up at someone’s place unannounced?” You mocked, getting out of the pool and trying to find your towel, only for you to realize he was sitting right on it. 

“I’m simply here to get cumin from your grandma, we ran out of it, you see,” he explained, not sounding sincere as he let his eyes wander all over your wet body, barely covered with your bikini. 

Your eyes, however, focused on the cigarette he took out from his pocket, making you gasp as you made your way towards him in an attempt to snatch it off his fingers.  

Nevertheless, Jake was quicker to get up, grabbing your hand which was extended and pinning it up against the wall, his body pressed up against yours, successfully making your body go still with shock. 

Yeah, you didn’t really adore your body’s fight or flight response. 

“Fuck—” your eyes widened, yet he wasn’t the one to give you even a second to complain. 

“Shh, princess. I don’t want a single bad word coming out of your mouth now, is that understood?” He asked, using his condenscending tone again. 

You could feel every ounce of confidence which you had yesterday leaving your body as you stared into his honey eyes, an unconscious slight nod betraying you.  

That satisfied him, although he didn’t bother changing his position, nor did he mind your wet body as he took out a lighter from his free hand, lighting up the flame, keeping it close to the cigarette which was pressed in between his lips. 

Your eyes were transfixed on his face, observing how swiftly he closed the lighter, stuffing it in his pocket right before he looked away, blowing smoke into the air, giving you the greatest opportunity to stare at his consummate side profile. 

He took the joint back in his fingers, returning his attention your way, “ever smoked before?” He asked, tone seemingly raspier. 

Not trusting your voice, you simply shook your head as to provide him an answer. 

He snickered, “of course you haven’t. It goes against your good girl rulebook, doesn’t it?” 

“Shut up!” Your sudden outburst of anger only humoured him, even more so when you tried to snatch the cigarette from him using your free hand to prove him wrong. 

He didn’t let it happen. 

Instead, you found yourself looking right into his eyes with his slender fingers holding your chin in place. His breath was cool with a lingering smell of mint—which was probably due to the flavour of cigarette. 

“Want it that bad now?” He raised his brows, “open your mouth,” he ordered, not giving you a second to comply, his thumb parting your lips as he desired. 

He took a drag, inhaling the smoke deeply as you gulped, you could hear your heartbeat, or maybe that was simply how aware you were of your surroundings—your proximity with Jake. 

Tilting his head, he leaned in again, mouth parted just the right amount. He let the smoke out and into your mouth in an agonizingly slow fashion, his lips on the verge of touching yours. 

Your subconscious took over once you inhaled the smoke and it hit your throat. The burning sensation caused you to push him off as you coughed out in distress. 

“Guess you can’t handle it, princess,” he clicked his tongue in disappointment. 

You glared his way, composing yourself enough to actually snatch the cigarette from his fingers and take a deep puff, ignoring the way it burned your throat. It was your turn to surprise him by pulling him closer, grabbing his collar. 

Your eyes were closed when you leaned in, blowing the smoke right into his mouth, causing him to take it all in, him never once closing his eyes. He stared at you with such intensity that you could feel it, despite your eyes being closed. 

Once you were done, you breathed deeply, throwing the cigarette on the ground, “don’t get ahead of yourself, Sim,” that’s all you said before walking back into your home, rushing up the stairs and into your room just to avoid running into him again. 

Only when you were in the safety of your room, you let out a frustrated scream right into your pillow. 

Three days in your vacation and this boy had already driven you insane to the point you had smoked right into his mouth. 

You took a warm shower before taking a nap—something you required to calm your heart before you saw him at dinner, again. 

In contrast to yesterday, when he didn’t provide you with an ounce of attention, his behaviour had done a solid one eighty as now, he provided you with his utmost attention, passing you subtle smirks during the entirety of the dinner. 

You were more than glad when auntie Sim distracted you by indulging in random conversations, and you can easily say you enjoyed the information she was providing you with at the given moment. 

“And, and!” Auntie Sim said full of excitement, “Our Jaeyunie was four and you were three when it happened. He was so curious about you playing on the beach building sandcastles alone, he wanted to talk to you and so he collected flowers from our garden and gave them to you,” she cooed. 

You looked at the boy, surprised with the information of him being a sweet baby. Now, he was the one who tried to stop his mother from spilling the stories any further, averting his gaze but you didn’t let it go. 

“Aw! That’s so cute Jaeyunie. Where are my flowers now?” You asked, voice annoyingly high to bother him. 

Your grandma laughed as auntie Sim only urged Jake to get some for you. He looked your way, annoyed and you only passed him a sweet smile. 

You couldn’t deny, being a menace did feel good at times and the dinner wasn’t so bad after all. 

Yet, the events of the evening didn’t let you sleep, causing you to walk on the balcony yet again and you couldn’t miss the figure clad in all black leaving your neighbour’s home yet again, at two after midnight nonetheless. 

It wasn’t something you should be indulging in yet you couldn’t help but wonder.

What exactly was Jake up to? 

In these ten days of vacation, you had done quite a few things which included learning a few recipes with your grandma, bickering with your neighbour, minus the proximity as you made your mission to stay away for the sake of your poor heart. Majorly, you had grown to adore the beautiful beach which was right behind your home. 

Seeing how you had nothing to do in the given moment, you found yourself sitting on the warmth of the sand yet again, close enough for your feet to touch the water which was cold, juxtaposing the temperature of your body.  

You didn’t know how long you sat there dazed, watching the never ending blue waves stretching as far as possible, till you gasped and got taken back into reality once a hand on your shoulder shook you in annoyance. 

It was none other than Jake, who stood there with his jaw clenched, a bouquet of flowers resting in his right hand, causing you to raise your brows at him. 

“Mom forced me to do this, okay?” He huffed, handing you over the multicoloured bundle of happiness. 

It didn’t matter that it was Jake who gave you the flowers, it still made you happy, a smile growing on your face as the scent infiltrated your senses. 

This certainly wasn’t the kind of reaction Jake was expecting from you. He was sure you’d throw a snarky remark or maybe simply not take the flowers from him, but even you couldn’t deny the beauty of nature. 

“Thank you,” you whispered under your breath, surprising him even more. 

It was one of the days you felt calm, not wanting to channelize your energy into something as useless as picking up a fight, however, Jake won’t leave without that happening. 

“That’s it? You just need flowers to shut up?” He tantalizes you to answer back. 

You only give him a sour look in return, wondering what he’s even doing on the beach wearing shoes, clad in leather jacket as if he was going for the cliché illegal races you see in movies. 

“You should go, Jaeyunie,” you nodded with a fake smile. 

Your phone started ringing just then, and Jake caught the display name right before you picked up the call. 

It was Lee Heeseung—the guy who was your study partner in school and also the guy who was your competition when it came to academics. 

The call wasn’t long, he had simply contacted you to inform you about the university he got into as you also filled him up with the university you got accepted into. 

You assumed that Jake would have gone back, which wasn’t the case as he stood behind you, eavesdropping shamelessly. His expression turned into one of realization when he saw you actually smiling and talking sweetly to whoever was the guy who had called you, a scoff leaving his mouth on its own accord. 

“Yeah! Yeah, of course. Will text you later, goodbye!” You smiled, concluding the conversation only to find Jake still standing at the same spot, making you look at him in question. 

“Didn’t know you had a boyfriend,” he said, seeming bored. 

A sigh left your mouth, Jake was great at making assumptions, “why do you care?” You asked. 

“I don’t,” he replied, not missing a beat, “I should go, I have work to do,” he said, walking back to his place. 

Your lips worked before you could process anything, “yeah? Like you do every night?” You asked. 

He stilled, turning back in a second and crouching down to your level, grabbing your nape, pulling you close to him, “don’t get involved in my matters, Y/n. I’m saying this for your own fucking good,” he seethed out, causing you to gulp, your heartbeat rising up due to the proximity again. 

“What are you up to, Jakey?” You asked teasingly, trying to diffuse the tension. 

“Nothing that concerns you, princess. I’m being serious, okay?” He held eye contact, repeating the last word again, and you nodded. 

“Okay,” you mumbled as you felt him caressing your nape gently before he got up, leaving you there wordlessly. 

You didn’t realize how hard you were clutching the flowers while watching his walking figure. The sudden mood switch made you curious, and despite him warning you, it was something you wanted to see for yourself. 

Was he in trouble? Was he caught up in illegal activities? Or was he simply out partying somewhere?

Another sigh left your lips. 

You shouldn’t get involved in his matters. 

You got yourself involved in his matters. 

Sneaking out of your home was easy and you made sure to grab your jacket as the night got chillier than usual. All this to follow Jake. 

It was easy since he didn’t use any cars, walking towards his desired destination. It almost felt comical how you tried to tiptoe for a total of fifteen minutes, hiding in random alleyways whenever you made even the slightest noise of stepping on a pebble. 

For a second you even regretted coming out and spending so much energy on this, till you saw Jake actually stop and get inside an alleyway, which you approached exactly two minutes after he went in. 

Peeking in, you noticed how wide the way actually was, people clad in black and hoodies which hid their faces were present all over, more than thirty people you’d estimate. 

You squint your eyes to get a better focus of what they were up to, only for them to widen in realization when you found them exchanging packets and smoking what looked like drugs. Jake was also engaged in a conversation with a guy, purchasing drugs from him, which caused you to gasp slowly. 

“Looking for something, kid?” A deep, hoarse voice spoke near your ear, causing you to flinch and move away, turning around to see a guy full of tattoos smiling down at you, which disgusted you. 

“Fuck,” you muttered under your breath, looking towards your right to see Jake looking your way, eyes full of shock and worry as he whispered your name under his breath, not believing that you’d actually follow him there despite him saying a firm no to you. 

Maybe he was right, maybe you shouldn’t have come here. 

“Uhm, I—I lost my way back home. I’ll get going now, I didn’t see anything I promise! You guys please continue,” you said, trying to sprint but the guy was quick to hold your jacket, making you stop as Jake rushed your way, leaving whatever he was up to. 

Before anyone could take up any action, the sound of police sirens alerted everyone in the vicinity, which was more than enough for all the guys to scramble as you stood there with panic, trying to move your body seeing how the guys were climbing up the wall full of graffiti on the other side as it was the only way to their escapade. 

“Run,” Jake breathed out, grabbing your smaller hand in his without any notice and running towards the same way, his jaw was clenched. 

You followed wordlessly, mouth open with how deeply you were breathing, chest heaving up and down while you ran and reached the wall. 

The sirens got closer as if someone had tipped the cops to search this particular area and you were worried if you both would get caught up in this mess. 

“Jump,” he commanded and you stared at the wall, shaking your head. 

“I—I can’t,” you stuttered, watching how the others claimed it 

He pulled you closer, picking you up with ease as to provide you with some kind of elevation, which definitely helped when you grabbed on to the top brick, pushing your body up and jumping to the other side, stumbling slighting as you fell down. 

Jake was swift, landing by your side before he grabbed your hand again, pulling you up with him to run again. Your legs hurt yet you didn’t stop till he pulled you by his side, getting a bobby pin out of his pocket to unlock the door, which he opened in a go and pulled you inside, locking the door. 

Silence. 

Your breathing is all you could hear, but Jake’s eyes were louder than anything else, which scared you even further. 

“I specifically told you to stay out of it, what’s so hard to understand here?” He more or less shouted, pushing you against the wall. 

You gulped, not looking at his face but he wasn’t having it, he grabbed your chin and forced you to look his way. 

“What if they did something to you? What if the police caught you? What if something had happened to you?” His voice got smaller after each sentence, more breathy and desperate, making your heart break when he genuinely made it seem like he cared about you. 

“I’m sorry,” you muttered, which probably wasn’t helpful at the given second, “I thought that you were in trouble and,” you whispered, not having more to say. 

He sighed, resting his forehead on yours as his eyes closed to get some rest. You couldn’t move, your whole body felt more alive than ever, maybe it was the adrenaline rush, or simply Jake being so close to you. 

He stepped back after a few seconds, “go change,” he said, and that’s when you looked around to find yourself in a boutique full of clothes. 

“W—why?” You asked. 

“Because the cop saw us, he knows what we’re wearing,” he answered, trying to find clothes his size. 

Maybe he saw you when you were climbing up, meaning that you barely escaped him. 

“But surveillance cameras? Technically, won’t this be considered stealing?” You bit your lip. 

“There are none,” he replied, “and we have more pressing matters than to sit and worry about stealing.”

You nodded even though he wasn’t looking your way, trying to find some outfit, or rather, you were stealing it given the circumstances. 

“So, why were you out there?” 

“I should be asking you that, Y/n,” he said when you went into the changing room. 

“You had drugs with you!” Your voice boomed from the stall and he simply took off his shirt in the store. 

“So what?” He uttered, pissed. 

“Did you smoke drugs that day too? Did you give me drugs?” You screeched while asking and he opened the curtains, seeing you soothing the top down. 

“I don’t fucking do drugs,” he groaned, “I buy it and sell it to the guys next town at a higher price,” he explained. 

The dim light from the changing stall only enhanced Jake’s shirtless body, his abs full on display alongside his torso, which was well built. Your eyes settled on the tattoo he had on his left side of the rib. 

Taking a step further, your fingers gently traced the intricate design, making him shiver without you knowing, his fingers clasping around your wrist to keep it away again. 

“What do you think you’re doing?” He whispered. 

“I—” you started speaking, looking at him with wide eyes which shone of innocence and worry, lips jutted in the slightest pout and hair slightly messy. 

“You’re driving me crazy,” he breathes out, not letting you complete your sentence, coming closer to your face, “why do you have to do everything I tell you not to do?” He asked, however his tone wasn’t filled with anger. 

It was something you quite couldn’t pinpoint yourself. 

He sighed, “let’s get you home.”

“Are we gonna walk back? Isn’t it too dangerous?” You asked as he turned around to put on a shirt averting your eyes from his back which flexed with his movements, your body felt warm and throat parched, especially when he turned around with a smirk. 

“We’re driving back home.”

You soon found yourself on a lookout at the garage entrance of what Jake called an illegal garage which was used for repairing old racing cars. The place wasn’t authorized, which is why stealing from here would work perfectly. 

“How do you even know this?” You asked, exasperated as your nerves got the best of you. 

It certainly didn’t help that the place was dark, and Jake wasn’t replying as he was hot wiring the car without a number plate 

You had no idea where he learned that from. 

“You need to learn things if you want to survive in this world, darling,” he said, focusing on his work, not once thinking how you’d shiver with his use of nicknames. 

He’s glad it’s not some new high tech car, which he won’t be able to hot wire as they contain ignition immobilizers, which makes it impossible for it to happen—you nodded as he explained all of this, your focus elsewhere. 

“Let’s go,” he said after a few minutes, seemingly done with his work. 

You rushed to get into the car, a scream leaving your mouth as he started driving almost instantly, his fingers gripping the steering wheels hard enough for his veins to pop out as you struggled to put on the seatbelt. 

“I can’t believe this is actually happening,” you let out in half a scream. 

“Why? Not having fun now, princess?” He chuckled as he changed the gear, resting his hand on your thighs right after which caused you to squirm around in your seat. 

Your body was extra attentive when he was around, and you weren’t sure how to control your heart anymore, so you closed your eyes. 

“What’s so fun about this?” You asked, clutching the seatbelt. 

“You,” he confessed, messing up with your brain even further. 

“I hate you,” you mumbled, looking elsewhere. 

You didn’t trust his driving despite it seeming effortless, he was over speeding after all. 

“Now, we both know that’s not true, princess,” he stated and you huffed, knowing that he was right ignoring the fact that he was insufferable. 

His pace ensured you to reach home in record time, your legs felt wobbly the second you stepped on the road. 

“Stay here, I’ll be back in a second,” he rushed, leaving you standing alone as he parked the car outside a random garage two minutes away from your place. 

It was hard to believe how you got chased by police, stole clothes and a fully functional car all in one night. 

You saw him jogging back to you after a few minutes, standing right in front of you, “I think I should get back now,” you started to stay, however he stopped you. 

“You can’t do that, your gate’s got a surveillance camera so we need to go from the back side,” he stated, his hand automatically reaching for yours as you started to make way towards the back side, on the sand. 

All of a sudden, you felt smaller, heat creeping up your neck due to the body contact and you let him guide you wordlessly before you realized something. 

“Wait, how will you go back? Your place doesn’t have a back door,” you asked and he shrugged. 

“I’ll just jump to the other side of the garden wall, princess. You don’t need to worry about me,” he teased and you pushed him away, the warmth of his hand leaving yours. 

Tiptoeing into your home, you shut the back door as silently as possible before you rushed up the stairs and almost into your room, only to find Jake coming up with you. 

“What are you doing?” You whisper asked, eyes wide. 

“I’m curious about your room,” he answered with that usual smirk of his and you wanted nothing more than to slap it off his face. 

“You—” you tried to say, but stopped the second you heard another voice. 

“Oh, Peanut? You’re awake?” Your grandma’s voice called out from the balcony, and your mouth hung open as you shoved Jake into your room in an effort to hide him. 

“Y—yes, Gigi! I woke up to get some water,” you lied, wincing slightly as she acknowledged it and wished you a good night in her soft tone. 

You rushed in and locked the door, only to find Jake getting cozy in your bed. 

It was one of those days when your grandma missed your grandpa, and she spent hours on the balcony, looking at the glistening stars to find solace. You felt sad but the more pressing matter here was—how to get Jake out of your room? 

He can’t leave from the back door, he can’t go out from the front door as Gigi would see him, your room windows weren’t the opening type which left you with no option but for him to spend the night right here, with you. 

“Now what?” You asked, hand on your forehead while you paced around the room. 

“What? We sleep together, of course.” He had a cheeky smile on his face. 

“Are you crazy?” You almost screamed, but you didn’t wanna alert your grandma, which made you repeat it in a hushed tone.

“Why? Too scared to sleep with me? You’re the reason we’re in this situation, princess,” he smirked. 

You sighed. He was right about that part but you weren’t willing to sleep with him, so you proceeded to ignore him as you went into the bathroom to change into your comfortable clothes for the night. 

Jake simply patted the bed when you came out, silently asking you to sit next to him, and suddenly you realized that you’re locked up in a room with him, which didn’t help your nerves as you sat down with him. 

Somehow everything was rebellious against your rules when it concerned Sim Jaeyun. 

“Can’t you sleep on the floor?” You almost whined. 

He cocked his brow, “is that what I get after helping you escape?”

“That’s not it—”

“So? Is it the boyfriend?”

“I don’t have any—”

“The guy you were talking to in the morning.”

“He’s a friend—”

“Then there’s no problem, right?” he rasped. 

You didn’t realize your lip was bitten till his thumb brushed against your bottom lip, tugging on it gently to free it, caressing it while looking into your eyes. 

“Right?” He repeated. 

“Yeah,” you breathed, nodding ever so slightly. 

“Atta girl,” he chuckled, flustering you as you tried to look away, which wasn’t something Jake allowed, his fingers gripping your chin now, “god, you look so fucking innocent.”

“I’m not!” You argued. 

“Yeah? Have you been kissed before, princess?” He asks, amused. 

His deep voice sends a shiver down your spine, to the point you almost whimpered out loud, but you were glad you didn’t, “no. But that doesn’t mean I haven’t fucked anyone before.” You confessed, eyes on his plump lips. 

“Oh? Who’s the loser who fucked you without even kissing your prettiest lips?” He asked, frustrated that someone even dared to touch you, even though his words said otherwise. 

You gulped, “we were drunk,” you whispered, remembering your graduation party and how the guy had failed to please you. 

“Did he make you feel good?” Jake asked, expression serious. 

“What?” You were surprised by his question. 

He wasted no time in pulling you to his lap, your gasp only made him smirk wider, his hands resting on your waist, squeezing it lightly. 

“Did he satisfy you, princess?” His voice was an octave deeper, giving you goosebumps. 

“H—he didn’t,” you stutter, which pissed him further, his jaw tensed. 

“So you’re telling me that some asshole was deep inside you and didn’t even bother making you feel good?” He scoffed. 

“Jake—”

“Y’know what I would have done instead?” He asked, caressing your cheek, his thumb resting on your lips right after, “I’d kiss your lips till you get obsessed with mine.” his hooded eyes lured you in. 

His fingers travelled down to your neck, rubbing circles just above your clavicle, “I’d kiss you till my lips memorize every inch of your body, till your mind goes blank,” he whispers, biting your earlobe. 

You breathe in deeply, a whimper leaving your mouth, Jake’s name rolling off your tongue in a whisper right after, making him groan in response. 

“I’d ruin you, princess,” he breathes, eyes meeting yours. 

“Please.” You struggled to breathe, his pointy nose brushing against yours, lips threatening to kiss. 

“Say it,” he urged you, pulling your body impossibly closer on his lap. 

There was no denying that Jake made you lose every sense of rationality and morals in you, it almost felt as if you were intoxicated in his presence, your heart raced, thumping faster than ever, urging you to say yes. 

“Please ruin me, Jake,” you whispered, giving in and looking at him with innocent eyes. 

“That’s a good girl.” 

He was swift to push you down on the mattress, getting on top of you with hungry eyes to the point you almost felt as if you were a prey, and you liked it. 

His cold chain brushed against your clavicle, making you shiver as he leaned down to press his lips against yours in a fervent kiss, a groan leaving his mouth as he finally had you so close to him. 

Your fingers held on to his shoulders desperately, he was difficult to resist, and who were you to resist such pleasure? His plush lips moulding against yours, his hand squeezing your waist as you allowed yourself to get immersed into him. 

You could feel the warmth spreading in your abdomen like wildfire, a gasp giving him the perfect opportunity to taste you, sliding his tongue down your mouth to deepen the kiss, the taste of chocolate lingering in his mouth and you let yourself moan into his lips. 

You tugged on his hair, realizing how correct he was about you being obsessed with his lips as you found yourself chasing after it when he broke the kiss, making him chuckle at your desperation. 

“So fucking pretty,” he muttered, staring at your slightly swollen lips, which glistened with the mixture of your spit. 

He wasn’t the one to waste time, his tongue licking your neck, placing kisses all over it, causing you to squirm and pant till he found the spot which had you rolling your eyes with sheer pleasure. 

Placing a hand over your mouth to silence your moans, he felt a feeling of possessiveness take over him. You looked so fucked out and he hadn’t even done anything to you yet, he wasn’t sure what he’d do if he sees someone else with you. 

The mere thought had him biting and sucking on your skin in an attempt to mark the very spot which had you shivering and your toes curling. He slipped his other hand inside your flimsy tee, and in your bra, feeling your hardened nipples which he flicked between his fingers. 

Your body felt more awake than ever, each touch of his getting a reaction out of you, “so responsive, have you been waiting for this, princess?” 

You could only nod in desperation, trying your best to keep your moans at bay, not wanting to alert your grandma. He kissed your cheek before he got up to get rid of his own clothes, giving you a few seconds to stare at his faint abs, highlighted by the dim lights along with his tattoo, which you so desperately wanted to kiss. 

The image of you looking his way with such big eyes, chest heaving up and down only ignited the carnal feeling of him wanting to be deep inside you. 

It all felt new to you, being aware and not drunk this time, however it wasn’t just that—Jake made you feel this way, your thighs closing when you felt a fluttering sensation down your abdomen. 

“Undress,” he ordered. 

“What—”

“Undress for me, darling,” his words were smoother than the melted butter, making you work upon it instantly. 

His eyes were fixated on your figure the entire time you took to get your clothing off, feeling shy under his gaze, not to mention the outline of his cock in his boxers intrigued you even further. 

“Fuck, you’re all mine,” he said under his breath. 

His plush lips were soon on your tits, his other hand fondling and caressing your nipple while he worked his tongue, swirling it ever so perfectly before giving it a soft bite, making you arch your back as you bit on your discarded clothes, tears forming in your eyes with these euphoric sensations. 

He’s giving you all you could ask for and you? You’re a mess with your lipstick smudged and ragged breathing. Just when you thought that Jake couldn’t get you anymore wilder, he stuffed his hand down your wet panties, which brushed against your extremely sensitive clit. Even biting your clothes couldn’t stop a moan coming out of your mouth. 

“You like it, baby? That’s my good girl. So pretty and wet all for daddy, yeah? Daddy’s gonna taste you now, princess,” his spoke, his accent deep. 

“Daddy?” you asked, whimpering right after when his lips touched your bare pussy, pressing a kiss on your clit. 

There was something in the way he addressed himself so confidently which made you want to submit yourself to him fully, only pushing yourself deeper into sub space as he worshipped every inch of your body. 

“That’s right, baby,” he spoke against your, sending waves of pleasure through your body as his strong hands held your thighs open. 

Obscene noises of him licking and sucking resonated the room as you bucked up your hips unconsciously, desperate for friction, making his cock twitch while he licked languid strokes up and down your cunt, his hot breath fanning your folds, wishing to hear you moan despite the circumstances. 

“Shh, princess. We don’t want your grandma to know now, do we?” He smirked. 

Your hand slithers into Jake’s hair, tugging on it as you convulse in pleasure, letting him continue his ministrations on your leaking pussy, his lips soft unlike his actions, which were rushed and aimed at your pleasure. 

Your eyes roll back, arousal reaching its peak at the unadulterated pleasure as you repeated his name when he moved down to shove his tongue into your cunt, lapping at your juices when you reach your orgasm. 

Yet he doesn’t stop, inserting his slender finger in your tight hole, pumping it in and out gently at first while you whine and he gets up, wetness coating his lips. He lets you taste yourself by kissing you yet again, his fingers entertaining your cunt. 

Your breaths are heavier, louder and you can’t wait to have his cock shoved into you. You weren’t the one to have lewd thoughts in general yet here you were, moaning into Jake’s mouth, clenching around his two fingers which thrusted into you at a newfound speed. 

“Yes, daddy! Yes, oh god,” you mumbled to yourself, letting the lust consume you. 

His fingers curled inside you before he decided that you were ready for his cock. 

“Let’s see how desperate you are, beg for daddy’s cock,  princess,” he demanded. 

Now that his cock was in view, you stared at it dumbfounded. It was veiny and stood hard and leaking, the tip was red and ready to fuck you dumb, it pushed you over the edge. 

“Please, daddy? I’ll be a good girl for y—you please fuck me?” A tear left your eye, tainting your image even further which aroused Jake as a sadistic smile overtook his face. 

You continued to beg him, and he gave you no warning as he lined his tip on your entrance, coating it with your juices, almost pushing it all in but instead, he gave you just the tip, which made you beg out of frustration. 

“Tell me about your darkest fantasies,” Jake teased, seeing you pout and whine, “do it baby, only then you’ll get this cock into you.”

You were going crazy, “I—I want to be fucked awake,” you confessed, hiding your face. 

“Is that so? How cute,” he commented, pulling your body flush. 

Within a second, he thrusted into you sharply, your wet juices acting as the perfect lube to suck his cock right in as he bottomed out fully, cussing at the feeling of your walls clenching around him. 

You could feel the imprint of his dick on your lower abdomen, and he pressed on it with a proud smirk, only to make you whimper lowly, your voice quivering with deep he was in you, “big—so big.”

You laid beneath Jake in such a way that the sight was captivating for him, your vulnerability paired with his ignited primal hunger. 

He firmly wrapped your legs around his waist, pulling out slightly before he thrusted into you again as you were clinging onto him. 

He had never found anyone like you before, it was as if you were the only one for him, the one who reacts to his touch in such ways, the one who drives him insane to the point he has to rile you up just to get you to talk to him. 

His slow thrusts soon turned into relentless, pleasure inducing thrusts, and you found yourself bucking your hips up to meet him, helping him reach deeper spots in you, his tip hitting your g-spot. 

Choked moans escaped your lips, reaching the point of complete incoherence as you got drunk in the intensity of Jake’s presence, your senses overwhelmed as he fucked you without any interruptions. 

“Daddy—please!”

Sensing that you were close, he thrusted harder, twitching inside your pussy, his lips capturing yours as you both cried out, reaching your climax in harmony, breathing in deeply before he filled you up with his warm cum, which mixed with your own juices. 

“Fuck,” you breathed out, causing him to laugh and pull you in a sweet kiss. 

You could see the clear switch in his demeanour when he cleaned you up, asking gentle questions about how you felt or if he went overboard. 

He was perfect. 

Something had changed in the air, and you both were aware of it, but rather than verbalising it, you slept in each other’s arms, Jake staying up a few minutes just to see your peaceful face. 

“Good night, princess.”

Jake woke up early despite not getting enough sleep, still not believing that he fucked you—the prettiest girl he swore he’d ever laid eyes on. 

And he was sure to make your desires come true. 

You wore nothing but his shirt to sleep, which made your pussy accessible to him, his fingers playing with your folds ever so gently as he didn’t wish to wake you up, not this soon at least. 

He continued to do so for a remarkably long time, smiling each time he saw you stir in your sleep, his lips leaving kisses on your neck and shoulder blades till you were fully wet for him. 

Jake was shocked when you revealed that you were into somnophilia, but who was he to deny his girl some pleasure?

His other hand was busy taking care of his raging boner, seeing you dressed in his shirt, your scent mixed with his only drove him crazy. 

His grip on your thighs was firm when he straddled you, pumping his cock a few times before he pushed it in you with a few thrusts, the stretch being enough to wake you up with a whimper, your state disoriented but the second you realized that Jake was making your wish actually come true, you moaned. 

His dick throbbed inside you and you were still not over last night’s adventure as curse words filled the air, along with the mist of your unholy activities and fervent longing as he thrusted with a groan, kissing and nibbling on the skin of your neck. 

You were sure you had bruises forming on your clavicle by now, which also extended down your breasts and inner thighs, Jake being particular about having you marked through and through. 

You could only sigh and plead for more, beg for more, the word daddy coming out of your mouth effortlessly, which was effective to the point it made Jake fuel with desire as he provided you with the most overwhelming, ecstasy filled orgasm, him coming all over your pussy, pulling out this time. 

“I like you,” he revealed all of a sudden, his smile the epitome of boyishness which made you chuckle with your newfound happiness. 

That’s one good way to wake up in the morning. 

“Guess what, Sim. I like you too,” you confessed, growing shy by the last word and he pulled you in a sweet hug, swinging your body along his, your laughter filling up the room. 

You gasped, looking at him with wide eyes.  

You had forgotten to help him escape without your grandma knowing. 

The escape was successful, and so were your holidays which were nearing. Your sadness was apparent on your face, having no desire to go back leaving your grandma and aunt Sim. 

More importantly, Jake. 

It has become a routine for him to slip into your room ever so professionally to sleep with you—some nights you did sleep, other nights he gave you every reason to be awake. 

Which also served as a solid reason for Jake to stop indulging in the so called drug trade, one instance of almost being caught was enough for you both, not that you were involved in the first place. 

He opened up to you, actually acting like a goof at times, juxtaposing his usual bad boy demeanour. He provided you with the best of both worlds. 

Your feelings for the guy you used to find annoying were increasing at record speed per day, and now that it was finally one day before you’d leave, you couldn’t help but be bothered by Jake’s absence. 

He’s always around, which made you wonder where and what he was up to, especially when you wanted nothing more than to spend your time in his arms, lip quivering at the thought that he might not wish to see you anymore.

However, that wasn’t the case when he showed up in the doorway, huffing and hair messy as if he was running. 

“Jaeyun,” you whispered, letting him pull you in the comfort of his warm arms. 

“I’m coming,” he breathed, making you look at him with wide eyes. 

“What?” You blinked, almost stuttering. 

“I’m coming to Seoul with you, princess. I got into the same university,” he chuckled as you snatched the envelope from him, jumping with excitement as tears filled your eyes, hugging him even tighter. 

You felt like your heart was going to explode with the excitement, which Jake found heartwarming. He had planned this the second he saw you and got to know you. It was a given that he wanted to be with you. 

“What about your mom?” You asked softly, realizing that she’d be alone. 

“She’s gonna stay with Gigi. Our ladies are strong women, right?” He asked, caressing your lip, which you had noticed was his habit. 

“W—when did you even apply—this is so amazing,” you went on rambling, which was something he adored, but kissing your lips to shut you up was his favourite thing, especially when he got to see your shy smile right after. 

“So, we’re gonna be together?” You questioned, shyness taking over. 

“You’re wrong if you think you’ll ever get rid of me now, princess,” he smirked, teasing you again. 

This side of him made you faux scoff, “but what if I want to get rid of you?” You challenged, knowing well you weren’t capable of that. 

He took a step closer to you, his broad smile illuminating the room, his hand resting on your waist pulling you closer, “I’d like to see you try and escape me,” he retorted. 

“You want me that much, huh?” Your smile was coy. 

He brushed your nose tip with his, making you chuckle with joy. 

“I’ll always want my princess.”

THANK YOU FOR READING!

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[into-the-grey]

~It's Raining, It's Pouring~

Noah x F!Reader fic

Genre: Fluff, Romance, Mild Smut and some Angst

Sometimes, people are just meant to be in each others lives. And sometimes, magic happens.

Warnings: mentions of SH, allusions towards Suicide, allusions towards abusive family, mentions of death, brief smut (theyre both 18 by this point), high school, mental illness, panic attack, divorce, mild jealousy

WC: 13.2k

Taglist: @wh0th3h3llisbucky @blend-in-with-the-madness

RIP my YouTube history, I think I played It’s Raining, It’s Pouring by Anson Seabra for 7 hours straight working on this. Also, the tense probably changes a few times because I never write in second person, I apologise for that, still learning a bit. It might go from past to present tense and back again a few times. This is a new format, and a new way of writing for me, so let's see how it goes.

Fic Masterlist

Alright; ON WITH THE SHOW

Once upon a time, there were two people. Those two people were star-crossed, fated, meant to be. All of the romantic stories could have been about them. It wasn't a grand adventure for him to find her, and he didn't have to save her from a dragon. And she had never been locked in a tower, or forced into slavery by an evil step-mother.

No.

No, it was much simpler than that.

You. You were the one who lived in the house down the street. The house that he rode past every day on his bike when he was young. You were the one he used to see in the neighbourhood, playing with your friends and climbing the tree at the end of the block that all the kids were convinced was a magic wishing tree.

You were the one who came to school with notes in your lunchbox from your mom and knew that you were loved.

And him? He was the kid with the witch for a mom. She wasn't really a witch, but she scared a lot of the kids on the block. She would stand in the street, yelling for him to come home, and if he didn't show up, she'd give up and lock him out for the night. He was the one who came to school with bags under his eyes wearing the same hoodie he'd been wearing for a week.

He was the one who would look at all the kids around him, wishing he could be like you.

You found him in the wishing tree once. That day, you ran down the block, adamant that the tree would help you pass a test in your fourth grade science class. As an adult, you know how stupid you were, but back then it was the most obvious answer.

He was in the tree, high up in it's branches. He huddled in on himself as the cold wind whipped against his skin. He was alone, but his lips moved as tears rolled slowly down his cheeks. His bloodshot eyes fixed on you as you climbed higher, his lips pressing into a thin line as he watched you nervously.

You didn't hesitate for a second.

'Hi,' you said brightly, seeing his pain. You didn't know how to help him, and your eight year old brain couldn't imagine the gravity of his troubles. All you were sure of was that he was there, and he was upset. 'What are you wishing for?'

'Nothing.' His lie was blunt, and his eyes flitted away from you as he sniffed hard against his tears. He drew his heels in under himself as he perched on the thickest branch, his arms wrapped tightly around his knees while he shivered.

'Oh,' you said softly. 'I was going to wish for help on my test tomorrow. It's a science test and I suck at science. But, if you want, I can wish for whatever you were wishing for? It might help to have more than one person wishing for it?'

He scoffed, his deep brown eyes looking you over quickly before returning his hard stare back to his purpling fingers.

'A science test? Why didn't you just study?' he asked, his voice low. His hard shell seemed to crack as he glanced back at you a few times.

'I got distracted,' you admitted. 'A lot. Focussing is kind of hard for me, my mom says I have attention problems, but my dad thinks I'm just making it up to get people to feel sorry for me.' You leaned against a branch, tugging awkwardly at the sleeves of your pale blue hoodie. 'Sometimes my brain goes too fast though, and I can't read or I say stupid things that I don't mean. It's embarrassing.'

'Like offering a wish to a stranger?' he said, a snip in his voice. The words cut through you, stinging as you digested them. Your lip jutted out in a pout as you felt your gut twisting from his insult.

'Yeah,' you nodded sadly 'I guess...'

Your turned dejectedly, wishing silently for the boy to learn some manners, and grabbing the branch to lower yourself down.

'Wait,' he called. Your head snapped back to him, seeing him staring at you. 'I'm sorry, I didn't mean it.'

You smiled weakly up at him, and after a brief pause, you made your choice. You scaled the branches and hauled yourself up to his level. As you reached him, you sat on the only other branch that stays steady under your weight, just above him in the dying leaves. The cool breeze rustled through the leaves, a few coming loose and drifting around you while the sky above darkened.

'I'm Y/N,' you said, pulling your hood up to protect you from the chill. Your introduction sounded eager, like you were asking for something. Mentally you kicked yourself, but he seemed receptive.

'I know, I've seen you at school,' he told you, shifting slightly to face you. He chewed the inside of his lip while he wiped his sleeves over his face, trying to erase the traces of his tears. No matter how hard he wiped, there was no way for him to erase the hollow sadness in his eyes. The moment you saw it, you knew there was more to this boy than he let on.

'I've seen you too. You're in Miss Forson's class, right?' you asked. You watched him nod slowly.

'Yeah. My name is Noah. You've probably heard it being yelled down the street enough times...'

'That's your mom, isn't it? The one who stands on the lawn yelling?'

Noah nodded, his cheeks flushing red and hanging his head. He clenched his fists and sniffed again, tears welling in his eyes.

'Yeah, that's her.'

'You're hiding from her, right?' you prodded.

'Yeah,' he said, his voice thick as he swallowed down the pain welling in his chest.

'Do you do that a lot?'

He nodded again, unable to look at you now. Your face fell, watching him picking at his nails and seeing his lip quiver.

'If you want, my mom would probably let you stay at my house? We could play my playstation for a while?' you offered. 'But, you gotta help me with my science test, just for a little while so my mom thinks you're not just there to distract me.' You giggled when you saw the corner of his lips lift into a smile. A sad one, but a smile nonetheless.

'Are you sure?' he asked timidly, looking at you with a glint of hope. 'I'm not really good at science...'

'That's okay, I'm not really good at playstation,' you told him.

A fat raindrop fell through the branches and the leaves, landing smack dab on your head with a pronounced 'plop'. You reached for your hair, feeling the wet spot and giggling more.

More raindrops fell, slowly turning the sidewalk below into a picture of grey polka dots. Noah followed your gaze, seeing the drops colouring in the concrete.

'I guess it's better than being out here in the rain,' he agreed, finally releasing his knees from his vice grip and stretching out to reach the branch below him to begin his descent. You smiled at him, following his lead and dropping off your branch.

Once you were on solid ground and you had a moment, you looked at him. Shaggy brown hair hung in his warm hazel eyes. A light dusting of freckles covered his nose, and a gentle smile lifted his pink lips. He stood only just taller than you, maybe an inch? An inch and a half at most.

You offered him your hand, leading him down the street towards your house. He walked slowly, letting the raindrops fall on the both of you. Normally, you'd run for home to get out of the rain, but something about him made the rain less intimidating. You felt safe with him the moment you saw him in that tree.

What you didn't know was that he felt safe with you too. A stark contrast to how things were at home. Noah had a strained relationship with his mom, and he never told you just how bad things were, but you knew it was worse than he let on.

He found solace in you and your home. Your mom welcomed him in, knowing exactly who he was and who his mom was. Noah's mom was known around the street, and a few of the parents in the neighbourhood were familiar with Noah's hiding spots. They would all keep a quiet eye on him whenever they saw him near their houses, knowing that someone had to.

When you brought him home to your mom, she didn't question anything. The two of you stood on the front doorstep, dripping and cold, and all your mom did was laugh and find you two the biggest fluffiest towels in the house. She brought you inside and found you a change of clothes, letting Noah have one of your oversized pokemon t-shirts and a pair of your dad's old gym shorts.

Your dad wasn't happy about it, but your mom shut him up. Never in front of you or Noah though. She wouldn't dare fight with your dad in front of the two of you, but you didn't miss the pointed glares she would shoot at him over the dinner table when your dad would make a remark.

Noah became a staple in your house, feeling safer there than at home. You liked having him there too, he was a lot smarter than he let on, and he was funny. Plus, he was really good at the playstation, he could help you beat the tougher levels. He even completed Crash Bandicoot for you when you got stuck on the hog riding level. And yes, he helped you with your science test, and you passed.

Some nights, Noah would sneak in through the dog door in the laundry and creep into your room. The first time he did it, it scared the hell out of you, but you got used to it quickly. Those nights were hard. He would wake you up in tears, but he would never tell you why. And when he did, you would simply scooch over and let him into the bed, rubbing his back while he cried himself to sleep.

Your dad would always ask who left the dog door open. Your mom never admitted it, but there were a few nights that you caught her unlocking it before she went to bed.

You two grew up together. Joined at the hip, you went everywhere together, did everything together...

And then high school happened. The first year was supposed to be exciting, you were meant to be enjoying life and all the perks that came with being high schoolers. Instead, your parents got a divorce.

Noah held you while you cried, fearing that your dad would try and make you move to Topeka with him. He mourned the breaking apart of your family with you, and he kept you distracted by playing video games with you or by hiding in the wishing tree with you.

Your mom gave him a key to the house the day your dad moved out, telling him he didn't need to sneak through the dog door anymore. He hugged your mom, unable to find the words to thank her. She even cleared out your dad's study and turned it into a bedroom for him.

Then came the awkward "talk". Your mom sat you down on the couch one day when Noah wasn't there, telling you that while she understood you two were close, that sex is a big deal and if you're not ready, then you can always tell him no.

She didn't judge, but she taught you all about protection, and asked that you wait until you were sure.

You laughed at her, telling her that there was no way you'd ever have sex with Noah. He was your best friend, and you told her you didn't feel that way about him. She just smirked at you, nodding and saying 'okay.'

But when you went to bed that night, you couldn't help thinking about it. You felt weird as you laid in your bed, staring at the ceiling with the images of Noah on top of you flashing through your mind.

Maybe you did feel that way, but you would never dare tell him.

That night, when Noah crept into your room, you comforted him and you felt butterflies as you held him. Silently, you cursed your mother for making you think about him that way, but you didn't let on that anything had changed.

At school, you joined music class with Noah, and he found something in himself. You watched him beam whenever he touched a keyboard or picked up a guitar. Lyrics seemed to flow from him like a fountain. He was magical.

You wished you were as good as him. But through music, he found his friend Nick. Nick was nice, and he hung out with you guys at lunch, but at the end of the day, Noah would come home to you. You tried to like Nick, but you couldn't help that teenage bubble of jealousy as he and Noah bonded over something that you just couldn't do.

And then Noah left. He just stopped coming to school.

The first day, you texted him and asked him where he was. He was blunt, telling you he wasn't coming. You assumed that he was just sick, or skipping for the day. But one day turned into two. Two became three. Three became a week. A week became a month.

After that, you knew to just let him sleep when you got up in the mornings. At least he was still in your room, still with you.

He got a job to fill his days, working at Nick's family's tattoo studio. Noah wasn't the art type, he couldn't really draw, so he never picked up a tattoo gun, but the money wasn't bad. He would bring you little trinkets and gifts sometimes. He even saved up to buy himself a car. It was an absolute piece of shit, but it ran, it got good gas mileage, and it had a stereo.

Then came the nights where you would drive around aimlessly, discovering more and more of Richmond as you belted out the words to any song you knew. Sometimes Nick would come with you, but you liked it better when it was just you and Noah.

He was growing up, and you loved seeing who he was becoming. He was still the awkward introverted boy you knew, but he was blossoming into a musician. Your mom even bought him a guitar one christmas, making him cry. Because he could finally practice again, he found his way into a cover band. You were their number one fan, and your mom was a close second. She cheered him on in any way she could.

You kept going to school though. You didn't have a choice, you weren't good enough at anything to take the creative path. Every day you wished Noah was there, but you did your best without him. Class was harder without him. It had been years of the two of you side by side, Noah helping you to understand the questions that didn't make sense to you. He would even read the questions aloud to you if you needed it. Now, your grades were slipping. You didn't have your support system, and no one else seemed to believe that it was that hard.

He would help with your homework, but it was getting harder. He'd never learned the subject matter, so he could only do so much. You'd let him read your textbooks, but sometimes neither of you understood what the hell the textbooks were talking about.

One night, a particular project had overstressed you. He held you while you cried, running his fingers through your hair while you tried to compose yourself.

'I can't fucking do this,' you choked, your arms around him while he rested his chin on your head. When did he get so tall?

'You can, it's just your brain,' he shushed you, his voice soft and his arms strong as he held you together. 'There's too much going on in there, isn't there?'

'There always is, you know that,' you told him, letting him sit you down on the side of your bed.

'And what do we normally do about it?' he asked gently, holding your hands and squeezing lightly. As he sat in front of you, you found yourself staring at him, your mouth hanging open while you panted through the tears.

He had the beginnings of a sleeve colouring his arm, the ink peeking out under his three-quarter sleeves. A shiny dermal piercing sat in his cheek, glinting under the low light of your bedside lamp. His warm brown hair hung down almost to his chest, always a layered mess.

But his eyes, those warm brown eyes. They were still the eyes of that boy from so many years ago, searching for comfort in yours. Offering you comfort with him. In them, you could see how much your pain hurt him, and how hard he tried to hide it.

'I don't know if can talk about it,' you whimpered, your gaze shifting to his hands. His long, slender fingers, wrapped up in your shorter, pinker ones. His thumb grazed over your knuckle supportively.

'There's nothing you can't tell me,' he said, both gently and firmly. 'What's different now?'

'Everything.'

'Y/N...' he whispered, shuffling closer. His hands ran gingerly up your arms, and you couldn't help flinching. You closed your eyes, holding your breath as heavy tears blurred your vision. You were thankful, you didn't want to see the pain in his eyes as realisation dawned on him.

'Why?' he asked. You knew he knew. It had been a while since you'd done that. You'd been clean since your dad gave up on trying to move you to Topeka. You hadn't needed it...

But school, the projects, the frustration of your brain not working right...

You hadn't felt good enough in a long time. Like something in you was broken. And even though you could normally talk to Noah about these things, Noah had found his people. He found his thing, the thing he was good at. You didn't have that. You were convinced he wouldn't understand anymore.

'I'm not right. I can't do the things everyone else can do,' you whispered. 'My grades are going to shit, and everyone thinks I'm just being lazy, but I just can't fucking do it. No one believes me-' you tell him, crumpling in on yourself as your voice breaks. 'I'm fucking def-fective,' you coughed.

Noah grabbed you, pulling you into his chest and holding you tightly, whispering into your ear.

'You are not defective. You are not lazy, or broken, or any of that bullshit. It's not your fault,' he told you, swaying you back and forth in his grip while he buried his nose in your hair.

'I-' you tried to start, but he shushes you, knowing whatever you were going to say would be negative.

'No, you are the kindest, smartest, most hard-working person I know,' he told you. 'You care so fucking much about other people. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't be here, that's for sure. It's not your fault that you can't always figure out what the fuck those textbooks say. They're stupid fucking books anyway, written by snooty old guys with nothing better to do than write rules about how numbers should work or brag about how war is great when you win one.'

'Noah-'

'Nope, I'm not done,' he stopped you. 'You don't need to think like them. You think like you, and the way you think is magical. You are so special, and that's what matters. You might not be great at science or math, but you make the most amazing paintings I've ever seen. You write the best stories, and you sing better than half the guys who auditioned for my band. Don't you ever doubt yourself, okay?'

His arms lock tighter around you as his voice hitches in his throat. You nod against him, your arms around his narrow chest. His width had yet to catch up to his height, he was still skinny as anything, but he still gave fantastic hugs.

'I'm sorry-' you try to say, but again, he stops you.

'You. Are. Incredible,' he tells you, punctuating each word as he finds your face and looks at your bloodshot and puffy eyes. 'And you are everything to me, got it? Please, don't ever take yourself away from me like that. I care about you way too much to lose you to that.'

You nod, releasing an arm and wiping your face with your sleeve.

'Y/N,' he breathes, 'I mean it. Please, don't go anywhere.'

Your heart breaks as his firm voice slips, instead pleading with you now.

'I promise,' you tell him, swallowing hard past the lump in your throat. 'I care about you too much to leave you behind.'

'Good.'

Pulling you back into a tight hug, he doesn't tell you that he meant more with those words than you understood. He had for a while. And so had you. Both of you caught in the limbo of what you each thought were unrequited feelings, and neither one of you brave enough to tell the other about the butterflies in your bellies. Neither of you dared to speak the three words that your hearts yearned to say.

I care about you?

No.

I love you.

More than life itself.

Noah made a point to be around a lot more after that night. Sure, he was always around, but he slept in your bed a lot more after that. He watched as your long sleeves became tank tops, always checking to make sure the scars stayed scars.

He even offered to get Nick to tattoo you to cover them up, going as far as asking your mom if she would let you. To your dismay, your mom was against that idea. She let you get away with a lot, but an underage tattoo was toeing the line.

It didn't stop you from getting a tattoo though. It just meant you put it somewhere your mom wouldn't see it. You got Nick to tattoo it on the front of your hip, somewhere even a bikini would cover it.

A little tree, just like the one at the end of the block. Noah held your hand while the needle dragged across your skin, the bony parts hurting the worst. Nick chuckled while you squeezed your eyes shut tight and grimaced at the worst of it.

Finally, senior year rolled around. The best and worst year of your life.

Finally, someone believed you. At school, there was a new counsellor. She recognised something in you that no one else had. You called Noah the second she told you about the letters that changed your life.

ADHD.

That's why you had been struggling so much. That's why things never made sense the first time. Noah celebrated with you when you got home that afternoon, and he went with you to talk to your mom about it.

Your mom was just as excited for you to have an answer, agreeing to help you seek treatment. She couldn't get on the phone to your doctor fast enough. Finally, something made sense. A chance at normalcy...

Noah took you for a drive that night, the two of you sitting in the front seat of the car and screaming along to all the songs on your shared playlist. He drove you out to a lookout and the two of you watched the stars, talking about how different things could be.

He told you about his side project from his cover band, Man Vs Self. He was excited about it, and Nick was getting involved too, and Vincent. You weren't completely familiar with Vincent, but from the few encounters you'd had with him, he seemed nice enough.

He showed you some of the things he was working on for the band, and you had to admit, it was good. Not that you expected any less from him. Noah couldn't make something bad if he tried, it's like it was against his nature.

While you two sat there, you googled everything you could about ADHD, learning more about how your brain worked. A part of you mourned how your life could have been if you had been diagnosed earlier. Things could have been so different, so much easier..

But without the struggle, you never would have found Noah. And you wouldn't change that for the world, and neither would he.

If only things could be so simple forever.

But time marches ever onward, and life goes on.

Noah's band picked up. And after a while, you noticed him withdraw. There was something there, something he didn't want to tell you. Whenever you asked him what was bothering him, he would shy away from the topic, trying to change it quickly.

After a few weeks of pushing, you finally got the answer. He was leaving.

He cried as he told you, telling you he had been seriously considering backing out so he could stay with you. Knowing how much you needed him, it was killing him to choose between making this demo in Jersey or staying with you.

So you chose for him. You told him to go. You told him how much he would hate himself if he didn't try; that if he didn't go for it, he'd never know how far he could go.

You asked him how much time you had left. He told you that you had a month, and that he had no idea what would happen after. For that month, he worked his ass off on that demo, doing everything he could to have it ready to record, but he spent every night with you, promising you that this wasn't goodbye.

The night before he left, the two of you sat in the wishing tree and talked all night. He carved your names into the branches that you'd been sitting on when you met. He held your hand tightly, promising you that he'd come back.

And then he left. You and your mom stood on the driveway, sending him off with a bag of snacks and the tightest hug the two of you had ever shared before your mom came in with a group hug. She told Noah that she was proud of him, a phrase that brought tears to his eyes.

As he drove away in that cramped car, your mom kept her arm around you. The pair of you waved goodbye, watching him disappear down the road. You were thankful he didn't see the tears in your eyes as he disappeared around the corner.

Your mom held you together while you cried for most of the day. And that night, you snuck down to the wishing tree. You scaled its branches, climbing to the high branch that you sat on the day you met Noah and pulling your knees into your chest.

Silently, you whispered to the universe, making yet another wish.

You wished for his success, for him to be brave, and to push through anything this industry could throw at him. But most of all, you wished for him to come back.

Weeks passed, and the end of the school year drew closer. Promposals were exchanged at school, but no one asked you. Your friends all had dates, while you debated if you even wanted to go.

You told Noah as much on one of your nightly calls. You had fallen into a rhythm with him, waiting for him to call you when he was going to bed. Sometimes you had to call him, now that you had a job to fill your time.

It wasn't much, just stacking shelves at the local record store, but it paid better than fast food or waiting tables did.

As prom drew closer, you found Noah egging you to go. He even dared you once. You knew you couldn't say no to a dare, and your mom was more than willing to take you dress shopping.

She found you a beautiful dress, and it cost a small fortune, but she was adamant that you needed to go. Something about a 'rite of passage for a young woman' and 'regretting if you don't go.'

So you did. You went to prom, alone, in your beautiful forest green dress. The colour of the leaves on the wishing tree. And you hated every second of it. You stood in the back of the room, watching all the couples slow dancing while you sipped at a plastic cup of spiked punch.

Until a hand graced your arm.

'Care to dance?' he asked you. You turned, hope blooming in your chest.

But it wasn't him. It was someone else, Jacob? Joshua? You never learned this guy's name. He was a theatre kid with cropped black hair and too-tight skinny jeans. Sure, he was nice, but it wasn't Noah.

So you shook your head.

'Thanks, but I'm good. I was thinking I might head off.'

He just nodded at you, wandering off in search of a different dance partner.

And you did. You left, wandering out of the school gym and through the halls. You didn't cry, even though you really wanted to. You kicked your heels off and scooped them up as you walked through the quiet halls, the music echoing behind you as it seemed to taunt you.

Outside, the cool night air sunk into your skin, a welcome change from the stuffy air of the gym.

You were about to shortcut across the grass to get to the parking lot where you had parked the car. Your mom had loaned you hers for the evening, and you figured if she thought you were out for the night, she wouldn't mind if you went for a drive, as long as you put gas in it before returning it.

A car came careening into the lot as you stepped onto the wet lawn, grass sticking to your bare feet as you moved. The car came to a stop, and the engine silenced. His voice rang out across the parking lot, your head snapping over to him the moment you heard it.

Noah.

He slammed the car door, running over to you as fast as he could. Your heart stopped as you looked at him. He was dressed in a white button down with the sleeves rolled up, a black vest, and a skinny tie hanging from his neck.

You grinned, tears pricking at your eyes as you ran at him, throwing your shoes on the ground. You threw your arms around him and sank into his grip, feeling him hold you like his life depended on it.

'Were you leaving?' he asked as he squeezed you tightly, a hint of a laugh in his voice.

'I didn't have anyone to dance with,' you told him with a shrug. 'Plus, it's kinda crap in there, the music isn't even that good. You came a long way for nothing,' you joked.

'Definitely not nothing,' he told you, pulling back and looking down at you. You missed his eyes, and the way he smiled at you. Your heart fluttered as he grinned down at you.

'Oh?' you asked him, 'so what really made you come back? If the renowned draw of prom night sex wasn't the reason, it must be really good.'

He smirked as you teased him.

'Well, there's this girl I really like, and while I was gone the guys told me I should really talk to her and tell her how I feel about her. They had a point, so I was kind of hoping you could help me out with that?' He asked nervously.

You could feel his hands trembling as he laced his fingers with yours. You didn't dare let your smile falter. He couldn't know how much your heart was breaking at the idea of there being someone else.

'I mean, I can... but you've gotta tell me who she is before I can help,' you said, trying to keep that teasing tone in your voice.

Noah shook his head, chewing the inside of his lip nervously.

'She's probably the kindest, sweetest, funniest girl I've ever met. Y/N, I think I'm in love with her, I've just been too scared to tell her because I didn't want to lose her.'

'Noah-' you breathed, stepping back. You wanted so desperately to be right, but you needed to hear it from him. You watched as he took a deep breath, locking his eyes on yours.

'I love you, Y/N. So much.' he finally said, pulling you back to him and lifting his hand to your cheek. Your breath hitched in your throat at his touch.

All those nights of picturing what it could be like, the tingles at his touch, the thoughts you had tried to squash, it all came flooding forward. There was no denying it now. You were desperately in love with him too, and you didn't need to hide it anymore. The butterflies were free, no longer being squashed down and digested. You felt like you could float as he drew nearer.

Your breath quickened, your hand running up his chest and resting over his heart. You could feel it hammering beneath your fingers as you smiled up at him. In his eyes, you could see his fear while he hung on every breath, waiting for your answer.

'I love you, Noah. You have no idea how much I love you.'

A relieved laugh left his lips, and he leaned in. His lips brushed yours. At first it was tender, learning how you felt, how you kissed. After a moment, the kiss became confident, your arm wrapped around his neck while his hand rested on your lower back, holding you to him.

His taste intoxicated you, and in seconds he became the addiction you knew you would never be able to break. He felt the same. He knew he would never be the same, in that moment you became his air.

A hissing sound broke you apart, and the pair of you looked around. You were still alone, and there were no obvious signs of where the noise was coming from.

Until the sprinklers started, the cold mist spraying over both of you. You squealed, jumping in his grip and feeling him pull you in tight against his chest as the two of you cried out.

He was the first to laugh, and you followed close behind. You had met in the rain, it was only right that you confessed your love for each other the same way, even if the rain wasn't real.

'My shoes!' you cried out, looking behind you to where your heels glinted under the haze of mist.

'I got it!' he told you, releasing you and running through the brunt of the spray. You couldn't help but laugh as his hair deflated while he scrambled across the slick grass, grabbing for the shoes.

He scooped them up and turned to run back to you, but you had other plans. Instead, as he turned, he crashed into your drenched form and his arms wrapped around you again.

Your lips crashed to his, putting all the feeling you had been holding back for years into the kiss. He kissed you just as passionately, and both of you giggled as the water soaked you both to the bone.

'When I said you're everything to me, I meant it,' he told you, his forehead resting on yours as he smiled at you.

'I wish I had said something before you left,' you said, letting him sway you gently.

'So do I. But, we're here now, and that's all that matters.'

'We should probably go and clean ourselves up though. My mom will kill me if I catch a cold from running around in the sprinklers.'

Noah chuckled, kissing you again before finally releasing you. He took your hand, leading you through the water and over to the car.

'I'll meet you at home? I have to take mom's car back.'

'Okay, but after that, I have somewhere I wanna take you, if you're up for it?'

You agreed, parting with a kiss and practically floating back to your mom's car.

The drive home was agonising, and the lights were all off when you got there. Your mom had gone to bed, expecting you to be out late. You entered the house quietly, tiptoeing across the tiles.

You left the keys on the kitchen counter, grabbing a change of clothes from a basket in the laundry and the two towels from all those years ago. They didn't seem as big or as fluffy anymore, but your mom had embroidered your names into them for you. She knew an origin story when she saw one, and she was sentimental, so naturally, she took it upon herself to hold onto memories for you.

You met Noah outside, clambering into his car and handing him the towel. He grinned like a little kid when he saw it, remembering everything with you.

He wrapped the towel around his shoulders before setting off. The whole drive, all you did was talk. He told you about the demo, you told him about work and school, everything felt so normal. Normal, except for the buzz of adrenaline in the pit of your stomach, the cool rush that you felt every time he took your hand in his, kissing your knuckles.

After a while, he pulled into the parking lot of a hotel, grinning as he turned the car off.

'I figured that most people have some kind of after-party, why shouldn't we have our own?' He said, a sheepish grin on his face.

You laughed, shaking your head at him. He lead you from the car and through the hotel, the two of you looking dreadfully out of place in the gilded lobby in your drenched clothes and fuzzy towels. The concierge even giggled quietly as she watched you get in the elevator.

The room itself was fancier than any hotel you'd ever stayed in, and you wondered how he paid for it. You didn't ask, deciding to just enjoy it. As soon as the door closed, Noah tugged you close to him again, gazing down into his eyes with the sweetest smile on his face. If he kept looking at you like that, you knew you could die happy.

'Say it again?' You asked him quietly, your lips hovering just in front of his.

With a soft chuckle, he happily obliged. 'I love you, Y/N.'

'I love you,' you whispered, letting the space between you disappear again.

He was gentle when he stripped the dress off of you, draping it over a chair to let it dry. You were just as gentle about unbuttoning his vest and his shirt. Together you found your way to the shower, letting the warm water erase the chill from your bones.

Being naked in front of him felt strange, but his tender kisses made it easier. For a while, you stood under the water, wrapped in his embrace. Your head tucked perfectly under his chin, and every now and again he would nose into your hair, leaving feather-light kisses on the skin of your neck. If the water hadn't gone cold, you might have stayed there forever.

He wrapped you in your towel before finding his own. Your heart pounded as you watched him, looking over his growing collection of tattoos and the scars on his back. He caught you watching, and stepped closer to you with a look in his eye.

He reached for you, his fingers running over the scars on your bicep. Together, you were beautifully broken, and together you could build a whole new type of perfect. As you stepped into his embrace, you felt safe. You felt loved. You felt whole.

You were the one who lead him to the bedroom.

He was just as nervous, and both of you giggled as the towels came off. Neither of you had done this before, but it felt right to be doing it with each other.

You paid heed to your mother's warning, thankful to be on the pill, and you were sure you were ready.

He laid you down on the bed, and Noah positioned himself between your legs, slowly pushing himself into you, groaning as he felt your body accept him.

You breathed through the feeling, a sting burning through you as he froze in place and waited for your signal.

'You okay?' He asked as he saw your face screw up in discomfort.

'Mhmm,' you hummed, 'just getting used to it.'

'For what it's worth, you feel so much better than I ever imagined,' he breathed, kissing your collarbone and up your neck. His words reverberated through you, making you clench around him.

He smirked, taking your face in his hand. 'You like dirty talk?' He asked, surprised and fascinated to learn about what turned you on.

'A little,' you admitted as you held his bicep.

'So if I said something like...' he smirked, dipping low and hovering his lips just next to your ear, his voice barely a whisper, 'you're mine. Only mine. This pussy? It's mine, and I won't stop until you're out of breath and the neighbours know my name.'

He grinned, sucking in a sharp breath and feeling your muscles contract around him, lusciously squeezing him.

'You're so tight, baby, and so wet. Is this all because of me?'

You couldn't help the soft moan as he spoke, beginning to roll his hips against you. The feeling was heavenly despite the stretching feeling. You'd been warned that the first time could hurt, and it was easily bearable.

'Noah,' you whimpered, running your fingers across his skin.

'Does it feel good, baby? God, you feel so good,' he continued, rutting into you slowly. His thrusts were firm, exploring deeper than you'd ever been able to with your fingers.

You dragged his face back to yours, kissing him deeply. Noah happily followed your lead, letting you swipe your tongue over his as you moaned into his mouth.

'Fuck,' you hissed, your back arching. You wanted more, but you were too scared to show him what you needed. You didn't want him to feel inadequate, or think he was doing something wrong, but your clitoris screamed for attention. Your hand kept inching lower, but you couldn't help the anxiety in your stomach.

'Tell me, baby,' he purred, always able to read you. 'Show me.' He took your hand, guiding it between your bodies and resting his fingers atop yours.

You began to draw timid circles over the little nub, feeling Noah trace your movements to learn how you liked it.

You whined his name, and you felt his dick twitch inside you.

'Noah, please,' you begged, 'I think I'm close.'

'Me too, Y/N,' he panted, his cheeks red and his forehead slick with sweat. 'I want to watch you come. I wanna see how good I can be to you.'

The tingles started small, but the more you circled your clitoris, the stronger it became. Whines and groans left your lips, Noah mirroring the sounds.

His gasps were almost enough to have you, but what broke you was the way he said your name. His breathy cries for you as he sped up and reached his peak, sighing and closing his eyes while your body tensed around his.

He emptied himself into you, and you eked it out of him. You'd heard that it was rare to experience an orgasm during your first time, let alone a mutual one, but it happened, and it was so much better than using your fingers.

Noah laid on top of you, breathless. His eyes fluttered closed while he gasped for air, his panting tickling your nipple as he laid his head on your chest.

'I love you,' he told you between deep lungfuls of air.

'I love you,' you repeated, grinning and exhausted, running your fingers through his still wet hair.

If only that night could have lasted forever.

Fate was cruel like that. Fate, and Sumerian Records.

Man vs Self, then called CHLDRN got signed, becoming Bad Omens... You were ecstatic, celebrating with him and Nick and Vincent. Part of you was less thrilled, knowing this meant he would be gone again.

He promised you it wouldn't be for long, only a few weeks at a time. You believed him. But weeks didn't stay weeks.

Weeks became months, and months became moving to LA.

He promised you that he would come home and visit. He swore to you that he would pay to fly you out and you could stay with him. He would text you every day and call you every night, telling you how much he missed you and how much he loved you.

No matter how much you wanted it to be, nightly phone calls and texting weren't enough. Every time it rained, your heart ached for him. You missed his touch, his embrace.

And then the contact started to wane. You would lie awake, waiting for him to call or text you after a show, and some nights he would, but those nights grew further apart.

You would text him first, and you'd be left with no answer.

Your mom watched your heart break in real time. She understood the pain, and she missed Noah too. She felt like she had lost her son. She did all she could to help you cope, but you just felt hollow, like barely a shell of yourself.

Every now and again you would hear from him, and it would tear open that wound again. Finally, you had to call it what it was.

Dead.

You called him, knowing that this phone call would be the hardest call you'd ever had to make. You told him that no matter how much you loved him, you couldn't handle the heartache. His home wasn't with you anymore, and you couldn't have a home with him. Not right now.

He begged you to reconsider. He told you he'd throw it all away for you. You told him he was being stupid, and that he would never throw it all away, and if he did, he'd miss it too much. He'd regret it. Sure, the words sounded pretty, but he would never be able to walk away. Not fully. Nor would you ever want him to.

You told him that he was too talented and too good to walk away. He needed to stick with the band. So he did. And he hated it for a while. He wrote songs about how much he hated it, but none of those ever made the albums.

Well, one did.

It was embellished, sure, but you knew which lines were about you. And you hoped against hope that no matter how much he wanted to, that he wasn't watching you from afar. You knew his heart couldn't take that strain. He'd already been through so much. He needed to move on and live for himself now.

You found yourself in the tree one night, wishing he would be okay. You never wished for yourself anymore, but any wish you could make for him, he had it. Success, stability, love, you wanted it all for him. You could make do on your own.

So you did. It killed you when his name came up on your socials, seeing the articles about the band, and about him. You missed him more than anything. But you forced yourself to continue on with your life. The ADHD medication made it easier to function, so when you decided to go to university, you managed it a lot easier than you thought you would.

There were still nights that you wished he was there to read the questions to you. Or nights that you broke down in tears because the pressure was too much. Every time you reached the end of that rope, you remembered your promise to him, and you stepped away from the medicine cabinet.

Noah came to town once. His long hair had been cropped short, and his once spindly build had filled out. You thought about going to the show, but you couldn't bring yourself to go. Your mom even asked if you should go together, but you told her that if you did you'd only have to start the healing process over again. She was understanding, but you knew she wanted to go. She missed him too, after all.

More time passed, whizzing by in a blur of study, work, and long nights. Your mom watched your heart heal and break again every time his name was mentioned on the radio or in a news article.

One night, she sat you down on the couch like she had that night she gave you the "talk". Her skin had begun to sag, and her hair was greying, but you still saw the same look in her eye. That knowing look, the one that knew all your secrets.

'Y/N, honey, you've got to do something. You're not getting over him,' she told you. 'It's been almost two years.'

'I know,' you told her pathetically, curling into her side like a child. She rubbed your arm, comforting you.

'I have an idea that I wanted to run by you,' she said, her tone soft and warm. 'I'm almost ready to retire, and I think I want to retire somewhere sunny. I like the rain, but I'm ready for something new...'

You looked at her, an eyebrow cocked as you caught that mischeivous smirk on her lips.

'Mom...' you said slowly.

'I found a nice house, and with what this place is worth, we could easily afford it if we sell. You're almost finished with school, and there's plenty of job options for you-'

'And you want to move to LA?' you asked her incredulously, sitting up and searching her face for a hint of a joke. You found none. She was completely serious. 'Mom, this isn't some small move down the street, you're talking about moving across the country.'

She nodded, laughing at you. 'I know, sweetheart. But I mean it. I want something new, I've lived in this house for too long. I know it's your home, but once upon a time, it was mine and your father's. We bought it shortly after we got married, and there are days that I still expect to see him sitting on the couch when I get home from work. I still feel like he's here, even though he's been gone for so long. I need to move on from him, and I don't think I can do that here.'

You chewed your lip, looking at your hands. Sometimes it was easy to forget that your mom was a person too. She had her own life, her own story, her own feelings. It had been a long time since your dad left, and it was easy enough to forget that your mom had spent nearly twenty years with him. He was her Noah. Sure, in the end, he turned out to be an uncaring ass, but there had to be something there that she'd loved in the start, and now she couldn't let go of it. Just like you couldn't let go of Noah.

'Okay,' you told her. 'Show me this house?'

She did. She showed you the house, and it was perfect. A quaint little three bedroom townhouse in a quiet community, a thirty minute drive from the city. You fell in love with it the minute you saw it.

Things moved quickly after that night. Your mom put the house on the market, and when you weren't working or studying, you were packing. You found so many memories as you boxed up everything you owned. It didn't take long for the house to sell. It wasn't until the sold sign adorned your front yard that it finally sank in.

You were saying goodbye to your childhood.

The place looked strange without all your things in it. You remembered all of the nights you spent with Noah in your room, whispering about stupid things to make each other laugh. You remembered the sound of his guitar drifting from the room that was once his, even though he almost never slept in there. You had to patch the hole in the wall from when you had tried to slide down the hall in your socks and you slipped, coming crashing down through the plaster.

You remembered sitting around the dinner table, telling your dad about the picture you had drawn at school that day. Or showing off how much better your grades had gotten since Noah started to help you with your homework.

Most painful of all, you had to say goodbye to the tree.

For old times sake, you hauled yourself up into its branches, searching for the carving of your names on the trunk. You had labelled your branches, but after the night in the hotel, Noah joined your names in a heart on the trunk where the two branches met.

For the last time, you made a wish. You weren't sure you believed in it anymore, but that childish wonder in your heart refused to let go of the possibility. You whispered your wish, letting it go with the wind that rustled the leaves.

And then the frenzy began. The movers took all the boxes, packing them into a huge truck with all your furniture, and you got in the car. You told your mom to fly ahead, not wanting her to drive across the country. She was too easily worn out for such an adventure, and there was too much to do, you needed her to save her energy for unpacking and setting up.

So you drove across the country alone, just you and your mom's car. You sold the beater you had bought with your money from the record store. It wasn't going to make the trip, and you could find something better when you had a new job.

You stopped at motels, sleeping more fitfully the closer you got to LA. Your mind spun with possibilities. What would you do? Would you call him? Text him? Would you even reach out?

What if he had a new girlfriend? What if he hated you for ending things? What if he wasn't your Noah anymore?

Each night you tossed and turned, and each day you tried desperately to drown out the noise in your mind with music and podcasts. Finally, after nearly a week of non-stop driving and gas station sandwiches, you reached the exit for Los Angeles. Your new home.

You followed the GPS to your new house, seeing your mom outside with the moving truck. She was helping to take boxes into the house, even though the movers brought the couch in first for her to sit down. She insisted on helping, but that was what your mom was like.

You parked on the street, getting out of the car and stretching your weary legs. Who would have thought sitting still for so long would be so exhausting. The sun had started to dip in the sky, bathing the street in a warm golden glow. You took in your new surroundings for a moment, noting the difference in the smell of the air, the warm breeze, and the lack of trees. There were only a few trees in the street, most of them small. One house had a large tree in the front yard, and it reminded you of the wishing tree. Smiling to yourself, you were glad something felt like home.

Your mom had told the movers to put your bed in first, which you were thankful for. You made your way to your new room, stretching out on the unmade mattress and letting your spine decompress for a little while.

It took a couple of weeks to set up the house how you wanted it, and it took a few more weeks to find a job, but soon enough, you were an official LA working girl. You had a desk job, you paid stupid amounts of money to park fifteen minutes away from your office, and you thrived on coffee, but you were doing it. You were living.

You still hadn't called him. You wanted to, but fear got the better of you every time you typed in his number. Your thumb would hover over the green button for stupid amounts of time, and then you would lock your phone and put it down.

You never thought it would go the way it did.

You came home from work one cloudy afternoon, climbing out of your mom's car and heading to the mailbox. A cool breeze nipped at your arms while you sifted through the mail. While you sorted the bills from the junk, a large black pickup pulled into the street. It was the first time you had seen it move since you moved in. For the last month it had been stationary on a driveway a few doors down.

It crawled past your house, slowing down as it passed by. For a moment, you tensed, ready to run or fight, whatever you needed to do, but then it moved on. It rolled into the driveway you had become accustomed to seeing it at, the house with the large tree in the front yard.

The loud rumble of the engine ceased, and as you were about to turn and head inside, a voice called out to you.

'Y/N!?' the deep voice bellowed, echoing down the street.

You froze.

His footsteps approached, his sneakers pouding against the asphalt as he crossed the street and stepped closer.

'Y/N...' he breathed, stopping a few feet away from you.

You looked up at him with your heart in your throat. His hair was still short, but it had grown out since you last saw him. A hint of stubble graced his chin and his lip, making him look so much more grown up than the weedy little teenager you remembered from prom. And his muscles...

He truly was a man now.

'Noah,' you whispered, your voice gone as you stared at him in disbelief.

He seemed to be having the same problem, stammering as he inched closer to you. 'You're... you're here?' he asked, his tone bewildered, asking the how and why without the need to say them.

'Mom retired, she wanted to get away from the memories of dad,' you told him with a shrug. You could barely bring yourself to meet his eye. Your throat tightened as you got a glimpse of the warm brown that you had missed so much. 'She missed you too, I think that's why she came here.'

'I miss her too,' he said sadly, 'she was the only parent I really had.'

Bit by bit, he stepped closer, closing the distance between you.

'I'm sure she'd love to see you,' you offered quietly, 'if you're not busy?'

'I don't think I'm busy,' he told you, smirking. Your stomach backflipped, and your fingers itched to know his skin again.

Closing your eyes, you took a deep breath. You knew you needed to rip the band-aid off and just say it.

As you finally blurted out the words, his voice melded with yours.

'I missed you,' you both said.

Pausing, you looked at each other. You finally met his eyes. In that warm gaze, you saw all the love you had seen when you were young. All the longing that you felt was mirrored in him. His cheeks flushed, and you became aware of the heat in your own face as the pair of you laughed.

'I'm sorry,' you told him, taking a step closer to him. He was within reach now, you could have easily brushed his hair from his eyes, or taken his hand.

'For what?' he asked, closing the distance further.

'For ending things. I thought it hurt to miss you when I had you, and then I didn't anymore... I've never felt so alone... I should have just waited-'

'No, Y/N, you did what you needed to. And it would have only gotten worse from there anyway. We didn't get a break for years. With or without you, I never would have seen you.'

He lifted his hand to rest on the bare skin of your arm, admiring the tattoo that covered the scars on your bicep. Your body tingled under his touch, your resolve weakening.

'I'm glad to see that chapter is closed,' he said softly. 'It is, right?'

'Yeah,' you assured him. 'I got close a few times, but I remembered what I promised you and I just couldn't.'

'Good,' he breathed.

You were so close now, his head tilted down to look at you, and you could almost feel his breath on your skin. A cool breeze blew over you, making you shiver. The sound of thunder rolled across the sky, and you couldn't help but laugh as a heavy raindrop smacked on his head, making him flinch.

'Why is it that every time we find each other, it rains?' you mused, grinning up at him.

'Or there's sprinklers?' He added with a smirk.

As the rain fell in slow, fat drops dotting the sidewalk, you felt your heart twist. His hand moved, raising to your cheek. Your eyes welled up, too many emotions filling you.

'I never stopped loving you,' he told you. 'I missed you, and I thought about you every single day.'

'So did I,' you admitted. 'I couldn't stop.'

'And now, here you are...' he said.

'Here we are.'

His lips finally touched yours, and thunder cracked overhead. The sky opened, the rain falling faster, masking the tears on your cheeks as you melted into him. In a matter of moments you were drenched, but you didn't care.

'Never let me go again,' he begged you between heated kisses.

'Never.'

Your arms wrapped around his neck, holding him to you. Your hearts pounded against each other's as your chests pressed together. There wasn't enough of him, you needed everything he could give you. You wanted to wrap yourself in him and never let go.

When the thunder seemed to be overhead, he released you, grabbing your hand and dragging you to the front doorstep of your house. His beautiful smile set something in you alight, a fire you thought you had lost a long time ago.

He rang the doorbell, holding you close to his side, his fingers laced tight in yours. After a moment, your mom appeared at the door with a broad grin and the two towels in her hands.

'It's about time,' she said, handing the large fluffy towels over to you, ensuring you each had the towel with your own name embroidered on it.

'You were watching out the window, weren't you?' you asked her with a laugh.

'You were taking forever to get the mail, I was curious,' she told you innocently, 'but Noah? It is so good to see you, honey.'

She opened her arms to him, asking him for a hug. Noah hesitated for a moment, looking down at his sopping clothes.

'Honey, it's water, get over here,' your mom demanded, pulling him into a tight hug. Noah grinned, revelling in her hug. He was home. You could see it on his face, tears pricking at his eyes as he squeezed her tight. He was finally home.

Noah stayed the night with you, having missed your mom's home-cooked meals and sharing a bed with you. He texted his housemates, telling them that he would be with you. Nick was excited to hear that you had moved out to LA, and you had to promise that the three of you would hang out together soon, but for the moment, all you wanted was Noah.

You spent the night tangled up in him, your legs entwined while he cradled you close to his chest. Every now and then he would kiss you wherever he could reach, often on the forehead or on your lips.

You giggled together in the dark, listening to the storm outside and reminiscing on all the nights you'd spent huddled under the covers back in Richmond.

'I love you,' he whispered to you as you both drifted closer to sleep.

'I love you too,' you told him, brushing your fingers across his cheek and smiling tiredly.

In the morning, your mom handed him a key as you sat down at the table with your coffee. She told him that he always had a home with the two of you. He tried to hide it, but you saw him getting misty eyed as he hugged your mom.

You had to leave for work, but Noah was free to sit and catch up with your mom. You left them together, smiling at the scene as you said your goodbyes.

Noah rushed after you, chasing you to the car with a smitten grin.

'Hey,' he called out, holding the car door open, 'you forgot something.'

'Oh?' you asked, raising an eyebrow.

He leaned into the car and kissed you, not caring that some of your lipstick was on his face now.

'I love you,' he said with a smile, 'okay, now you can go.'

This became a routine. As long as he was in town, the two of you shared a bed. Sometimes you slept in his, but most of the time you slept in yours. He would kiss you goodbye every morning as you left for work, and if he wasn't in town he would send you some kind of message.

The distance became bearable now that he would always come home. You missed him while he was on tour, but at least he would end up back with you at the end of it all instead of on the other side of the country.

It took some getting used to, but you adjusted.

Months passed, and there came a day when you were both free. He was excited, wanting to take you out somewhere, just the two of you. You agreed, seeing him so happy there was no way you could tell him no.

In his black pickup, you drove to the outskirts of town. He wouldn't tell you where you were going. You let him lead the way, trusting him.

He pulled up and parked the car, finally letting you see where you were. He'd taken you to a forest trail. For a minute, you didn't understand, but you let him guide you. He lead you down the trail and to a little clearing where you saw it.

A tree, just like the wishing tree back home.

You couldn't hide the smile on your face. He raced with you to the tree, both of you dragging yourself up through the unfamiliar limbs and branches. Noah had to help you a few times, pulling you up to a higher branch that you could sit on together.

And as you sat, you found yourselves grinning like little kids.

'I figured a little bit of home was a good thing,' he told you, taking your hand. 'But my home is wherever you are.'

'Noah,' you giggled, leaning into him and shoving him gently with your shoulder.

'I'm serious!' he told you, his eyes crinkling with his laughter. You loved the sound, never tiring of his voice. He could read a dictionary out loud and you would listen to him happily.

'How did you even find this?' you asked him, letting him hold you steady on the branch.

'I used to go hiking during quarantine. It was all I was allowed to do, and it got me out of the house for a while.'

You nodded in understanding. Those years had been insane.

'But, there's a reason I wanted to bring you here,' he said nervously. You shifted, turning to face him and swinging your leg over the branch to straddle it. Noah mimicked your movements, your knees touching each other's as he took your hands in the space between you.

You searched his face, seeing a hint of fear in his eyes. Your throat wanted to close at the sight, but you forced yourself to breath through it, squeezing his hands reassuringly.

'I know it hasn't been long since we found each other again, but I don't ever want to lose you again,' he said, sucking in a deep, shaky breath. 'I wish I had told you earlier than I did, I wish we could have spent more time like this. I loved you before I knew what it meant to love someone. You helped me when no one would, and you never wanted anything from me but a friend. I don't know where I'd be without you, but I wouldn't be here.'

As he spoke, your eyes began to water. Your fingers tangled tighter into his, your heart twisting in your chest.

'I don't want us to ever go through what we went through ever again. I want to always be with you, to look after you. I want to kiss you good morning every day, and I want to be the last thing you see when you go to sleep. I want to bring you coffee, and read your books to you, and run through sprinklers with you. My world starts and ends with you, and I want to be there while you build your world into whatever you want it to be. And I hope that whatever that is, it includes me...'

He released your hand, sliding his fingers into his pocket and retrieving something. A deep red velvet box. He opened it and turned it to you, holding it carefully in the palm of his hand.

'Y/N, I love you, more than anything. I wanted to do this in our tree, but this is the closest I could get us,' he chuckled, smiling nervously and looking at the box in his hand. The ring glittered under the light spilling through the canopy of leaves above you. 'Marry me? Please?'

You couldn't find words. Your body was a cacophony of emotion, tears spilling down your cheeks while your heart pounded in your chest.

'Noah,' you whispered, testing your voice. You could see how nervous he was, and you wanted to put him out of his misery. You nodded, smiling back at him. 'Absolutely. I will absolutely marry you.'

He couldn't get the ring on your finger fast enough. He couldn't kiss you hard enough, or hold you close enough. The pair of you were an emotional wreck, smiling and laughing while tears spilled down both of your cheeks.

Before you left the tree, Noah carved your names into the branch, scrawling a date under it. He helped you get down, and he caught you as you lowered yourself from the last branch, spinning you in a circle and kissing you fiercely.

'I love you,' he said, 'and I'm gonna say it until you hate it.'

'I could never hate it,' you told him, your arms tight around his neck.

When you got home, your mom was thrilled. She couldn't be more excited, demanding to see the ring and telling Noah it was about time. She immediately launched into wedding planning, promising to finance whatever you needed. She was overjoyed to have Noah be a part of the family on paper.

She helped you over the next few months while you picked dates and guests and everything there is to do with a wedding. You debated on inviting your father, but decided against it. He had never been warm to Noah, he didn't need to be a part of this celebration.

Noah had to travel a little bit while all this was happening, but it gave you plenty of chances to find a dress. And he would call every night wanting to know what you and your mom had found or planned.

You weren't sure who was more excited, you or Noah.

And as the days passed, the day finally came.

You walked down the aisle with your mom, surrounded by friends and family, but the only person who mattered to you waited at the end of the aisle with the biggest smile on his face and a glimmer in his warm brown eyes.

He took your hand and held it tight, silently swearing to never let it go. You swore the same. It had always been the two of you (and your mom) against the world, but now you got to declare it in front of everyone.

What you weren't prepared for were Noah's vows.

'Y/N,' he began, 'our history has been a long road of ups and downs. We've known each other longer than I've known anyone else. And I can't think of anyone else I'd rather take on the world with. You have always been my rock, my biggest supporter, and my best friend. You came into my life when I needed someone like you, and I know I was mean to you, but I was embarrassed.

'I was embarrassed because I had seen you in that tree making wishes. I wondered if maybe it was magic, because it always seemed to work for you. I never told you what I wished for that day, but I think by now you've earned the right to know.' He paused, squeezing your fingers and lifting them to his lips, his eyes glistening with tears as he cleared his throat. 'I wished for someone to love me. And not a minute later, there you were, wanting to wish for a pass on your science test. But you offered to wish for something for me, caring about me from the minute we met. I got my wish.'

'But, as I got older, I learned something. The tree wasn't where the magic came from,' he said, smiling at you, losing himself in your gaze. 'The magic was you. You granted every single wish, one way or another. You pushed me to be better, to succeed. You gave me everything you could. You protected me when I couldn't protect myself, you gave me a home when I had nothing, and you loved me when I couldn't love myself. So here I am, vowing to you, that I will always, always, protect you. I will love you when you can't, and I will give you everything I can, and I will always be your home. I vow to keep your magic alive, and to grant every wish for you that I possibly can, because you gave me all of mine.'

You knew he was good with words, but he had you there. By the end of his speech, you were a mess of tears, your own vows forgotten. You wanted nothing more than to throw yourself at him and never let him go.

When you were finally pronounced man and wife, you met Noah with the deepest kiss you could, pressing your body into his and wanting to hold your breath forever so you could stay locked in his lips.

Your guests cheered and wolf-whistled, and Noah dipped you, giving them a show. When the need for air overcame you, you grinned up at him, hanging on to him tightly.

'I've got you,' he assured you.

'And I've got you,' you smiled back up at him.

He spun you back onto your feet, holding you to him as you left the ceremony together. You had to go and take pictures, but you really just wanted a moment alone together.

You lead Noah to the room where you had been getting ready before the ceremony started, closing the door.

'Are you okay?' he asked you, taking your hand. You nodded, thumbing over the band that adorned his left hand now.

'Yeah,' you told him, swallowing hard. 'You just blindsided me a little.'

'I'm sorry-'

'Don't be. Noah, I am so sorry for what you went through, but also I am so thankful that out of all the places it could have lead you, it lead you to me. And I am so thankful that I get to be the one to love you.'

'So am I,' he told you, stepping closer until your chests pressed together. 'I meant it, you're everything to me.'

'And you're everything to me.'

The reception was filled with celebration, jokes, cheering, speeches, and some very unfortunate dancing. And naturally, at the end of the night, LA was subjected to a massive thunderstorm. Your guests hid inside, but you and Noah ran out into the rain, knowing you couldn't break tradition now. The pictures ended up immortalised in your photo album, displayed on the mantle in the house the two of you bought shortly after your honeymoon.

You got lucky, you managed to find a house just a few blocks from your mom. The house had a big yard, but it was missing something...

Noah came home from a tour with the answer a few months after you had settled in.

'I don't know if this is legal, and I have no idea how to do it, but we're gonna try,' he told you, opening a secure compartment in his suitcase and presenting you with a box.

It was an old amazon prime box, about as big as a shoebox, but as thick as a matchbox. You shot him a look, raising an eyebrow.

'Just open it,' he told you, rolling his eyes.

So you did.

A bundle of branches sat in the box, wrapped in wet paper towel.

'You went to Richmond?' you asked. He nodded.

'I did, and I brought some of the wishing tree home. If we do it right, we can have our own wishing tree, right here in our yard. It will take years to grow, but I can't see a reason not to.'

You smiled, shaking your head and placing the branches on the table.

'I love you,' you told him, looping your arms around his neck and kissing him.

'I love you more.'

Together, you propagated the branches, and you successfully planted a tree. And over the years, as that tree grew, the two of you grew. Your love grew, your family grew, your happiness grew. And one day, you and Noah will get to tell your daughter all about the wishing tree, and take her back to your wishing tree.

But for now, you and Noah get to watch her, seeing the magic you made together grow.

THE END.

[holycatsandrabbits]

On this day in 1977, Jay Anson published The Amityville Horror, and a launched a whole new generation of haunted house stories.

But before the movies, before the book, before the revelation that it was all a hoax, the house at 112 Ocean Ave, Amityville, Long Island, New York, was the scene of a real horror: the murder of six people.

Ronald DeFeo, Jr., 23, killed his parents, two brothers, and two sisters with a rifle on Nov 13, 1974. If you’re familiar with the Amityville Horror story, you know of claims DeFeo was hearing voices that told him to kill his family. This part is surprisingly real— at least, according to his defense. The jury was unmoved, however, and DeFeo was convicted of mass murder. He died in prison in 2021. It is also true that motive remains elusive: DeFeo might have been after life insurance, and there was tension between him and his father. But nothing was ever said about evil spirits before the murders. 

Of course, living in a house where six people were murdered by someone they loved has got to be a little freaky. But one family claimed there was a lot more horror going on. George and Kathy Lutz and their three children lived 28 days in the house at 112 Ocean Ave, starting in Dec, 1975. Interviews and a 1977 book by Jay Anson told the story of a terrified family who barely escaped with their lives. However, later fact-checkers found, well, no facts at all.

So we’re left with an odd contradiction: a false tale that got a lot of publicity for being “true,” but which remains, at its heart, a really good ghost story (which is why it led to many more books and movies). And here on Weird Wednesday, writing good ghost stories is our aim, so let’s see how horrifying the tale really gets!

Check out my Weird Wednesday blog post for the whole story and some horrific writing prompts, such as:

A Foolish Man Builds His House Upon the Sand. You’ve got a few choices for character fates in a haunted house: unscathed escape, injured or traumatized escape, death, or perhaps most horrifying, becoming part of the house forever. We often think of characters who die passing into a safe paradise, but in the horror genre, that avenue of escape is often blocked. So what does happen to those people? Perhaps the inside of the haunted house is just a form of Hell, where a character is stuck with a bunch of demons. Or maybe they’re alone, which is also not a great eternal fate. Maybe they really do become part of the house, part of its walls and floors, and can only move on when the house finally rots or burns down.

Or maybe haunted houses/places also exist in another world, invisible to the mortal eye, where a character can go traveling. Maybe if you die in the Amityville house, you get a visitor’s pass for the Lincoln bedroom or Borley Rectory. Are there demons pursuing these travelers? Do the newly departed make friends with other ghosts? Can they ever pass back into the world of the living?

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[everest-is-dead-now]

The Serpent — Eight

[chapters:] one | previous

this chapter contains smut, references to (sexy) cannibalism, religious trauma, and an anxiety attack.

~4.9k words

note: this series is still on hiatus as of now, but i have some residual chapters i wanted to put up

—

Eight

He dreamt that he died.

He never woke up from sleep. Anson found him in the room, wearing his gorgeous velvet robe, his face painted like a skull. He was a demon, thus he did not mourn the loss of Abel’s pathetic human body. He gave the corpse a smile, but it was cold.

He crossed the room, dragging behind him his long cloak that consumed his bedroom, hung from the walls, covered the ceiling. A room of black velvet surrounding them. Anson straddled his corpse, running his hands over his cold skin, his still chest. It felt like nothing. His fingers dug into his sternum and tore open his ribs as easily as a cardboard box. Abel heard his bones splitting open, cracking, breaking, but he felt no pain. Just warmth.

Anson dug his hand inside him. It felt like pure pleasure. His warm fingers grasped around his frozen heart, tearing it from the veins and ripping it out of his chest. He kissed it slowly, blood smearing on his face, lips staining red. Thick blood poured from his hands as squeezed it. He bit into it like an apple, blood gushing over Abel’s body, splattering over his face. It felt like lava. Anson looked down at Abel’s face with indifference. He spit blood on him.

“Devour me.”

Abel woke up in a cold sweat. Anson was wrapped around him like a sloth, head buried in the crook of his armpit, his enormous horns rising in the air and digging into the pillow. Abel breathed hard, clutching his chest. His heart was still beating, rushing and rushing blood.

“Did you have a nightmare, love?”

Abel glanced at Anson whose eyes were closed.

“Are you awake?”

“I don’t sleep.”

“So you were… Waitin’?”

“Yes.”

His eyes blinked open, meeting his gaze. They stared at one another for a moment.

Anson said, “I guess I was mistaken.”

“What?”

“You’re hard.”

Abel’s eyes widened. He sat up, causing Anson to untangle from him.

“I…” Abel was lost. He could not reconcile his dream with his current state of arousal. “What, um, what time is it?”

Anson propped himself up on his elbow, blankets falling from his shoulder. His hair was slightly messy from lying down.

“Four.”

“In the mornin’?”

“In the evening.” He tilted his head.

“I slept ‘til tomorrow?”

“We had a long night.”

Abel shook his head, checking his phone, confirming that it was in fact the next day. His dad had texted him, telling him to let him know if he needed anything. He was, in the eyes of everyone else, still a priest under the weather. Not the sinful man who dreamt of demons and woke up with erections. The man who had lost it all in the course of, as Anson put it, a long night. At some point, he had to return to reality.

Anson suddenly wiggled himself under the covers. Abel watched him, stumped. His enormous horns caught the comforter and dragged it with him, leaving Abel exposed down to his waist as he felt Anson maneuvering between his legs. Then, he felt it. A warm, wet sensation at the tip of his dick.

“Anson…?” His voice stuttered. He untangled the sheets from Anson’s horns and threw them off. He saw Anson’s forked tongue on either side of his tip now leaking with pre-cum.

“I can’t resist.” Anson grinned. “Just lie back. I’ll make it worth your time.”

Abel was frozen in face. He watched his dick completely disappear in Anson’s mouth, and it felt wondrous.

Perhaps the world could wait another day.

A moan escaped him. He laid back, stared at the ceiling, and allowed Anson to make him feel good. He shut his eyes, feeling nothing but the sensation, nothing but his mouth around him.

Anson’s mouth moved so expertly he almost could not believe it. As if he was incapable of making a single mistake. Even with fangs he only felt the flesh of his lips and tongue. He gripped his thighs, kneading them with his fingers as he worked. He felt his nails poking his skin. He wondered how sharp they were.

His dream came back to him. He wondered if Anson could cut him open with his nails. He wondered how they would feel piercing his heart, his flesh. Blood filled his brain. Blood on him. He imagined it dripping from the walls, his mouth…

Abel flinched harshly and came into Anson’s mouth, releasing a startled moan, his arms and legs locking stiffly. He pressed his hand to his mouth, riding through his high.

There was something deeply amiss inside him.

Abel released a long sigh, disturbed by his own imagination. Anson crawled over him, blocking his view of the ceiling.

“What’s wrong?” He asked earnestly.

“I… I don’t know.”

Anson settled down to lie next to him on his stomach. He raised his head to look at him. “Did you not like it?”

“No, that’s… That was nice.” His head fell to the right, looking at Anson. “There might be somethin’ wrong with me.”

Anson raised his eyebrows in gentle inquiry.

“I keep… Picturin’… Stuff.”

Anson nodded encouragingly.

“Um… Blood…?”

“Ah, you mean when you were saying to devour you.”

“I don’t… Know… Why…” He said slowly.

“Abel, you lost your virginity. You’re entering a whole new world of sexual knowledge. I think you just discovered something you like.”

“What?” He felt mortified. “That’s… Gross.”

“Not at all.” Anson grabbed his hand. “It’s normal for humans to find out these things about themselves. I made you bleed with my orgasms, and you really liked it. I liked it, too.”

Abel played with Anson’s fingers, anxiously fiddling with them.

Anson said, “Is that what you dreamt about?”

Abel nodded, looking away. “You ate my heart,” he said quietly.

“That is arousing,” Anson smirked. “But I would never kill you. Not even for that.”

“Are you… Um, into that?”

“Abel, I’m into everything. I invented kinks.”

Abel furrowed his brow. “Even the weird ones?”

“Well, I suppose it depends on my partner.”

“You’ve had other partners?” Abel suddenly felt insecure at the thought.

Anson leaned down and kissed his shoulder. “I was born with the dawn of time, my darling. I am love and lust. I have encountered many humans who I’ve intimately engaged with. There have only been a handful who know my true form. You are one of those few. Please know that you are the sole human I love at this moment in time. For the rest of your life, I am yours.”

Abel had many mixed feelings all of the sudden. “Why me?”

“You are one in trillions of others. I saw you suffering, I wanted to help, and I fell for your pure and tortured soul.”

Anson squeezed his hand. Abel sighed. “This is a lot.”

“How can I make it easier for you?”

Abel smiled, his heart warmed. He considered the many curiosities he had about Anson. “Could you tell me… Y’know… What’s with the snake?”

Anson smiled mischievously.

In a blink of his eye Anson was gone, and the heavy body in his place was the longest and largest snake he had ever seen. Abel yelped and jumped out of his bed.

The snake must have been over thirty feet long, coiled and lounging all over his entire bed. It was as dark green as Anson, with no other pattern on its body.

“Anson?” Abel asked the beast.

The snake’s mouth opened in what seemed like a smile, exposing its long fangs. Its forked tongue flickered out of its mouth.

“Now you see my truest form,” The snake said with Anson’s voice.

“Holy shit.”

“Don’t be scared, I won’t bite. Though it certainly wouldn’t hurt,” he said slyly. Abel sat back down on the edge of his bed. He felt cold without any clothes.

Anson slithered over his shoulders, wrapping slowly around his arm and chest. His scales were smooth to the touch, and felt strangely soothing to his skin.

“What are you doing?” Abel asked. Anson continued, wrapping his body around his other arm, his wrist, snaking down around his legs, until suddenly, Abel was lying down and unable to move. He struggled against him, but the snake was strong.

Anson’s head appeared in front of him.

“Anson? Tell me what you’re doin’…”

“I want to love you in every form.”

“I don’t know about doin’ this with a snake,” Abel said quickly, perturbed by the thought.

“Then, have sex with the Serpent,” He replied. His long body maneuvered its grasp to split apart his legs and hold them up in the air. Abel felt utterly exposed in such a compromising position.

He felt the tail of the serpent probing his asshole.

“My God, Ans—“

He interrupted himself with a squeak, feeling Anson enter him. It started small, but quickly felt big and stretched him open in some uncomfortable yet erotic fashion. His limbs tensed against the hold of the snake, but he was unable to break free. It felt strange. It was strange. It burrowed inside him, brushing some previously unknown and sensitive area that made his cock react.

“Anson, this is so weird,” Abel whined, watching as his own erection grew with the sensation. The snake had an unchanging expression, watching him closely. He did not like it staring at him. Anson thrust in and out of him, perfectly hitting that delicious spot he had just come to discover. It made his legs shake fiercely. The size was painful, but he was quickly becoming accustomed to the feeling.

Anson moved faster. Abel gasped. His fists clenched and he again fought the body of the snake. It did not budge.

“Anson—“ Abel whined again. “Please…”

Then Anson the demon appeared before him, pinning down his wrists, his legs still forced in the air by Anson’s shoulders, his snake dick somehow still inside him. The size was different, but filled him in a more satisfactory and comfortable way. Anson smiled, “Are you okay, my love?”

He looked at him, his eyes unfocused. “I don’t wanna make love with a snake.”

“You already are.”

Anson gave a few thrusts to make a point, which made Abel melt with the feeling. “Aah… Mm… But at least… I can see your face…”

Anson kissed him deeply then, powerfully moving his body with the snake, rolling his hips into Abel. The bed shook with them. Abel moaned in his mouth. It was his first time getting fucked, and he loved it. He did not even need to wonder what it would be like if Anson had a penis; This felt perfect.

Abel watched Anson, who looked at him with half lidded eyes, even as they kept kissing. He suddenly dove for his neck, to which Abel readily rolled his head aside to give him access to. Anson licked his skin, sucked it, nibbled it, and Abel was gratified. The sensation was minute yet erotic. A small thought crept through his mind, an inkling of imagination. One that saw Anson unfurling his fangs and sinking them into his neck, blood squeezing out of him like an orange, tearing him open like a candy wrapper. To watch his Lord lose all control and murder him as he was fucked hard.

“You’re thinking about it again, aren’t you?” Anson grunted between thrusts.

Abel nodded, opening his eyes to see him. The yellow suns were narrowed, the pearly fangs revealed.

“I’ll give you a taste,” He whispered hotly.

Anson returned to his neck, and Abel flinched, anticipating something gruesome. But Anson was only teasing him. He moved slowly down his neck to his chest, then his shoulders. Abel anxiously awaited his next act, but nothing came. Not to mention how he was continuously distracted by the sound of his grunts and the feeling of the snake writhing and thrusting inside him.

Anson sank his teeth into his shoulder.

Abel moaned loudly, whether it was in pain or pleasure he could not tell. The further his teeth went into his skin, the more Abel was overwhelmed by some unidentifiable feeling. His body shuddered violently, and he came.

Anson brought his face up to watch him, his lips tinted red with blood. Abel watched in slow motion as his own expression changed, blinking slow, mouth parting, and then, like lightning, the snake left him empty and filled his thigh with another bite.

Abel was still on the tail end of his orgasm, and something strange happened to his body. He jolted harshly, and another pathetic stream of precum leaked from him like a broken fountain, followed by a dribble more of cum. Abel’s head spun like a dime. His bedroom felt miles away. He felt like he was cumming for hours.

Abel was left gasping, his body feeling weak. Anson was lying on top of him, still kissing his neck lazily, humming gently. Abel, with his hands freed at last, wrapped his arms around him comfortingly.

“Anson,” he sighed contentedly.

“Mm. Are you okay?”

“Yeah.”

“I love you, Abel.” Anson raised his head to look at him. His face was tinted dark red, which Abel found cute. “I want to do everything for you.”

Abel buried his head in the crook of Anson’s neck shyly. He mumbled, “Thanks.”

“Are you hungry, my love?”

“Um…” Abel breathed in his skin, never wanting to leave their embrace. “…No.”

“Liar. Humans need to eat frequently.”

Abel shook his head, holding tightly.

“Fine. I’ll take you with me.”

Anson suddenly slipped his arms underneath him, lifting him from the bed. Abel automatically wrapped his legs around his waist just as he was hoisted into the air.

Abel found it cold without his clothes. Anson put his hands on his ass, which delighted and embarrassed him to no end. When he gave it a squeeze, Abel squeaked in surprise.

“You’re perfect.” Anson chuckled.

He walked them to the kitchen and set Abel down on the counter, taking a moment to just smile at him. Abel looked away self consciously, leaning over and putting his arms between his legs for some semblance of modesty.

“You didn’t let me put my clothes on,” he complained.

“I wanted some eye candy.”

“I’m not the prettiest guy you’ve ever seen,” Abel joked awkwardly.

“You’re gorgeous,” Anson kissed his forehead, leaving him blushing, then spun around to open his fridge. “Damn, I’d forgotten you have nothing to eat.”

“I usually go grocery shopping… Uh, two days ago.”

“Let’s go then,” Anson declared.

Abel locked his fingers together. “My legs feel a little useless right now.”

“Just walk around, you’ll be fine. You need to get to the shower anyway.”

Abel looked down at the dried cum on his stomach. “You brought me over here,” he said in exasperation.

“I’m sorry,” Anson was in front of him again and swiftly picked him up like he weighed nothing. “I’ll take you to the shower.”

Abel squealed like a child. “Put me down! I can walk!”

Anson laughed, ignoring him until they reached the bathroom. He turned on the shower and set him down inside just as the water warmed. Abel blushed, thankful and embarrassed at the lengths Anson was caring for him.

Anson stepped inside with him, his towering frame pressing into him in the box shower. His horns bumped the shower head.

“Earth was not made for me,” He mumbled. Abel smiled. He reached up and touched his hair, then held his horns in curiosity.

“Do these grow? Like hair?”

“Yes. Took me a long time to get them this big.”

“They seem like an inconvenience.”

“But they are magnificent, aren’t they?”

Abel nodded, then pressed his face against Anson’s chest in an embrace. He liked the feeling.

“Come now, my love. You must wash yourself so we may get you more food.”

Anson separated from him, then turned and fiddled with his shampoo bottle until he got some to come out. To his surprise, Anson started scrubbing his hair.

“What are you doing?”

“I can’t help it. I just want to worship my little human.”

Abel’s brows furrowed, but the head massage and scratches were quickly softening his response. His nails felt surprisingly good against his scalp.

Anson tugged out his hairband, letting the small ponytail of hair loose. Anson tilted his head at him and said. “You never wear your hair down.”

“It gets in the way.”

“You have so little to even put up. Why not cut it shorter?”

Abel shrugged.

“Well, I think you look cute regardless.”

Anson pushed back his bangs with the shampoo and giggled. Abel frowned.

“Don’t make fun of me.” He pushed past Anson to get to the stream of water and rinse his hair out. He was sure then he resembled a wet and shaggy dog as his bangs fell over his eyes. Anson was even more amused.

Anson did not shower except to rinse himself off. Abel had many questions about that, but Anson was so insistent on going to the story as soon as possible that the inquiries died in his head.

Abel stepped out of his house for the first time in nearly a week. The sun was hanging low in the sky, but it was not quite sunset. It cast long shadows across his neighborhood crowded with trees, all creeping over his lawn. All except where he stood, where the sun beamed directly into his eyes.

He looked around at the houses around him and a pit formed in his stomach. He started to wonder if his neighbors had heard or seen anything. They knew who he was, a man of Christ. Anson walked in and never walked out. They could assume. They might know. How thin were his walls? How much did they pay attention? Someone could have told his father. Someone could have told the church. Abel is not sick, he’s bedding a man. A demon. He is no holy man, but a whore. Look at him outside for the first time in days, leaving with—

Abel whipped around and saw Anson as a human, smiling, walking out his door. Abel walking out with a man. After days of seclusion. He is no man of God. He is a man of whores, a homosexual, a slut. He felt the eyes looking out the windows, the shifting of the drapes, the all-knowing gazes on him. Everyone knew he had lost his virginity. Everyone knew he was in love with a demon. Everyone knew he turned his back against God. He felt the weight of judgment bearing down on his shoulders. He could not breathe. It crushed his lungs.

“Abel?”

Anson focused within the scope of his vision, a ring of light at the edge of his features from the low sun. He looked like an angel. And a demon. Everyone saw him for what he was, and Abel would be condemned for it.

Feeling nauseous, Abel rushed back inside his house, slamming the door behind him, leaving Anson outside. He made a dash for his bed, hiding underneath the covers, afraid of the eyes that would see him.

There was a gentle touch on his shoulder. Abel chose not to look.

“Abel, it’s okay. I’m right here.”

Abel shook his head. “I…” His voice was thick with tears, but he had not realized he was crying until he tried to speak. He cleared his throat. “They know.”

“What do they know?”

“About us.”

“They don’t.”

“How do you know?” He felt the tension in his throat as he tried not to sob.

“I promise you that you are okay.”

Abel shook his head again, still hidden under the covers. “I don’t know what to do. I can’t stay here forever.” His voice broke with the last word.

Anson tugged at the covers, his face sideways as he bent over to see him. He was a demon again. His eyes were warm with comfort.

“It’s okay, my love. Nothing bad will happen to you with me.”

“What do I do?” He wailed, turning his face away from him. He felt utterly pathetic, a full grown man breaking down in front of a demon. It was not even the first time.

Anson threw the covers up and disappeared inside with him. He wrapped his arms around him, which Abel was relieved to feel. Instantly he felt soothed. He was still wearing his suit; The one he wore as a human.

“I can’t tell you what to do. But I will be here with you for eternity, no matter what you decide.”

They stayed like that for a long time, thoughts chugging through Abel’s head like a steam train, trying to think through the problem. He had been anxiously mulling over this decision for a long time, and now, he wanted the choice to be over. It was about time he pulled himself together. At some point, the words had marched on from his thoughts to his voice.

“I think I need to keep being a priest.”

Keeping his job was important for his social and financial status, even if he was afraid that he would crack under the pressure of hypocrisy. Even if everything came crashing down around him, it was best to give it a try before things went to Hell anyway.

“You don’t want to.”

“I don’t,” Abel admitted. “But this is how it’s gonna have to be. It won’t feel good, but at least I can keep my dad from disownin’ me.”

It was a joke, a weak one, but after saying it out loud Abel dreadfully thought about the possibility.

“See? You already knew what you wanted to do.”

Their previous conversation came to mind, about how Anson seemed so convinced of Abel’s conviction long before he was. Only yesterday, or maybe the day before. These last few days had been a blur of sexual activity with Anson.

“You’re full of it.”

“I’m not.” Anson chuckled. “Maybe I just had faith that you did.”

It was stuffy and hot under the covers, so Abel flipped the edge and let cooler air fill his lungs. Anson met his eyes. Abel buried his head in his chest again. He did not believe Anson knew his decision before he did.

“What’s the deal with you, Anson? I thought only God was omnipotent,” he mumbled against his skin.

“That is true. But angels, and by extension, demons, have an extrasensory attribute that humans don’t. Not quite like God, but we do have more knowledge about the things than humans.”

“Can you tell me about God?”

“The only time I’d ever come into contact with Him was when I was, in a sense, born. God is almost as mysterious to us as He is to you.”

“Why? ‘Nd What about Heaven and Hell, how’s that work?”

“I love you, Abel, but you don’t want to know these things. You can’t comprehend them until you one day die.”

Abel frowned. “Sounds like you’re full of it again.”

Anson laughed. “If I tell you, things will be worse for you in the end. I’ll tell you anything you want to know about me, though.”

His thumb grazed over his pec, studying his green skin. “Uh… Can I ask about the snake again?”

“What about it?”

“…Why…?” he tried, not knowing how to phrase his question.

“Well. If you’re wondering, I came first, then the animal. Adam was first created with a woman named Lilith, whom I seduced. She gave birth to what you know as snakes. She was the only woman I was ever able to impregnate. After God made Eve, I suppose He made it so I could no longer procreate with humans.”

“Okay. Hm…” Abel let his words sink in. “But what about… Why… It’s there…”

“That was Lucy’s design, you’d have to ask Him. I looked nothing close to this as an angel.”

“What did you look like?”

“There are no words in this language I can use to describe it. Perhaps ‘radiance’, but that undercuts it.”

“…Could you show me?”

“I lost my vessel when I was stolen.”

“Oh. Sorry.”

“It’s okay, my love. I am at peace with who I have become,” Anson lightly stroked his hair, gently digging into his scalp with his claws.

“Do you ever go back?”

“Hm?”

“To Hell. Or Heaven.”

“Demons can’t get to Heaven. And I haven’t gone back to Hell since Eden.”

“Why not?”

“Why would I? I am neither angel nor demon. Earth is where I belong. I love humans.” Anson kissed his head. “Right now, at this point in time, in this bed, I only love you. There is no other place for me except for with you.”

Abel sighed contentedly. His kind words were like a soothing caress to his anxious brain. He had Anson. He would always have Anson.

“I love you, too.”

Anson held him a little tighter. Warmth seeped through his skin like water.

“Thank you,” Anson murmured against his head.

Abel had disappeared into the loving arms of his demon, holed up in his house, wanting to stay in comfort for as long as he could. They had sex, they cuddled, they had more sex, they were never apart. Anson had snuck out one night to get him more groceries, which he was grateful for. Another two days of infinite darkness and pleasure passed them. It was their Eden. Neither needed clothes. Neither needed to worry. It was only them.

They were in the kitchen, it must have been late afternoon by the way the sun filtered through the blinds. Abel was sitting on the counter, his arms thrown around Anson’s neck while he was kissing his chest and pounding the snake inside of him. Abel moaned openly, loving the feeling, coming to desire it so often. He never wanted the snake to leave him, to be empty. The way it twisted in him, the way it slid deeply, the way it fit perfectly. He needed it.

Anson nipped him roughly with his teeth, but he was careful to not use fangs. Not unless Abel asked, which he had a few times. One on his shoulder, another on his ass, three on his thighs. Being bitten by Anson was heavenly. Abel became closer and closer to being devoured, and he loved it. He loved the blood. He loved the pleasure. He loved thinking of nothing but Anson.

“Anson…” he moaned pathetically. Anson hummed in response, the low rumble vibrating in his lips. Oh, how he could die this way.

Then, there was a knock on the door.

They both froze. Abel thought he had imagined it until he saw Anson’s confused expression. The knock sounded again.

Abel groaned as Anson slipped out of him, then quickly covered his mouth in fear. He was naked, sweaty, his hair was a mess, his lips had to be red from kissing.

Anson suddenly handed him his robe, which had previously been hanging in the bathroom. He took it gratefully, not questioning how it had gotten in his hands. He quickly hopped off the counter, slipped it on, and as he turned to Anson again he found the room was empty.

Another knock. Abel slowly opened the door.

“Hey, son.”

His father. Abel swallowed thickly, trying not to panic or overthink his appearance.

“Hi.”

“You doin’ alright? Haven’t heard from you in a while, just wanted to make sure you weren’t dead.”

He wondered when the last time he looked at his phone was. Then he anxiously remembered that he had been avoiding his life.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Still a little under the weather, but, uh, I should be okay soon.”

He noticed his dad’s eye catch on his shoulder. Terror zapped through him like lightning, realizing his bite mark was visible. He quickly and casually shrugged his robe closer around him, shifting his stance and angling the door shut more.

“I’ll be in next week,” Abel said quickly. “But you shouldn’t stick around, in case you catch it.”

He coughed for effect. His dad glanced at his face, blinking a few times. Finally, he smiled, which put Abel at ease. Perhaps he had not noticed after all.

“Alright, yeah. Next week, okay? No more shirking off responsibility.”

With that Slyvester turned and left. Abel shut the door quickly, trying not to slam it. Anson stood behind him.

“Lord,” Abel clutched his chest. “Quit scarin’ me, I’m worked up enough as is.”

“My apologies.”

“That was weird. He usually tries to stick around a little longer…” Abel said worriedly. “I think he saw the bite mark.”

Anson looked out the window, then down at Abel. “You’d think he would have said something.”

“Yeah, but…”

Anson walked closer to him until he was pressed against the door. He stooped down to kiss his cheek gently.

“Anson…” Abel complained.

“I wasn’t done yet,” Anson murmured near his ear, sending chills down his spine. His hands slipped inside his robe, letting it drop to the floor. He touched him gingerly, his hands slipping down his back.

He lifted him up and held him against the door, returning to kissing his neck.

“I don’t know if I’m still in the mood.”

“Your body begs to differ, my love. I can taste your arousal in the air.”

Abel blushed. He was still horny. He felt the absence of the snake inside him, and he craved it deeply.

“He’s gone, I swear,” Anson whispered.

“…Fine,” he relented.

He felt the snake already against his asshole, and he felt himself twitching in anticipation. He moaned as it slithered inside, his arms tightening around his shoulders. His face rested above Anson’s, his lips on his forehead, smelling his hair deeply. It was intoxicating.

Another day of escape would not hurt.

Or more.

~

[chapters:] one | previous

[neyafromfrance95]

So spapel has absolutely consumed my brain. I can't stop pleading to the snw gods to apply a canon fix-it because the idea of them permanently breaking up and Christine being tragically in love with her emotionally unavailable ex forever is too heartbreaking. Like, I'm already tense waiting to see how it all goes to hell this season (Christine's commitment issues combo with Spock not being able to reconcile acting on love vs. logic is my current guess) but whatever happens, the state of them in TOS with the new context of SNW is purely awful, and I don't want it for either of them!

anon, i understand you completely! i think we all do!

but the thing is, we do not know the future of spapel's relationship post-tos!movies, so there can be hope for them. after all, christine is still madly in love with him in tos and an added context from snw could hint that spock loves her too, he simply surprises his feeling for whatever reason.

besides, i have always thought that we had to fill in a lot of blanks in tos when it came to the characters' personal lives since unlike snw, tos was more plot-based than character-based, imo.

that being said, snw and tos are two different productions. just like there is no way pike is going from looking like anson mount to looking like jeffrey hunter in 5 years, snw!spapel's relationship won't ever grow into exactly what their dynamic was in tos.

snw presents their dynamic as that of the soulmates, not simply the first loves bc i believe spock loves t'pring and surely christine has had loved others in her life too. but to our knowledge, christine is the only one for whom spock decided to feel his vulcan emotions and spock is the only one with whom christine wanted to have a strings-attached relationship.

their relationship has been developed exceptionally well so far. i believe that it will have equally satisfying, but hopefully open-ended conclusion in snw. my only fear for now is that they will rush the breaking up storyline, rather than pushing it for much later.

what is interesting to me, is how often the intensity and the danger of vulcan emotions, the very emotions that spock let loose for christine, are emphasized. so i bet that's done for a reason. spock has already let his feelings for christine get in the way of his duties as the first officer - punching a vulcan man, almost starting a war, endangering his own life during the mission...

and listen, i love all of this as a shipper, but if i lived in the federation, i would be seriously pissed by the fact that my life may depend on a high-ranking starfleet officer who is so compromised.

it would be just so bittersweet, if the reason why spapel broke up is that a love like theirs wasn't compatible with being the starfleet officers, and it would be so much more impactful if christine was the one to act logically by breaking away, and maybe that's why spock is the way he is in tos, bc he hasn't quite forgiven chapel for leaving him.

i just hope i'm not massively setting myself up by having such grand, high-romance expectations.

but well, nothing in canon gets in the way of us imagining that 70 years old spock and christine got reunited and restarted their relationship anyways, haha!

[heartpascal]

I'M EVEN MORE DEVASTED NOW 😭 (i just watched the new mandalorian ep and i'm not gonna say anything anymore) AND THEN YOU POST THAT 😭 I AM SO DEPRESSED AND DEVASTATED 😭

i'm gonna add more to that thought and what if— joel or tommy was awake?

"Look at me, kid. LOOK AT ME!" "Open your eyes, please!" "NO!"

AND MARIA NO! MY MOTHER! 😭 HER BEING IN DENIAL AND TELLING TOMMY TO TELL HER THAT IT'S NOT TRUE! MY HEART 💔🥀 AND WHAT IF LIKE THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO HAVE DINNER TOGETHER AFTER THE PATROL AND IT JUST GOES— MARIA ASKING WHERE SHE IS AND TOMMY JUST—

"Don't you dare say that." "Tell me it's not true. Tell me it's not fucking true, please!" "...Maria."

I AM DEVASTED! JESSE! 😭😭 (he's probably gonna see her soon but we ain't gonna talk about that) ELLIE AND JOEL 😭 joel and maria just lost another child and i can hear that one song going "i told you once, i can't do this again, do this again, oh." AND THE WHOLE FAMILY JUST AVENGING HER WITH TOMMY GOING FIRST 😭 I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE! 😭

songs that makes me devasted about this:

• as the world caves in - matt maltese

(i can absolutely see this as the title name if you ever expand on it and just know it's gonna break my heart 💔)

• hold on - chord overstreet

• you said you'd grow old with me - michael schulte

• fourth of july - sufjan stevens

(am i bringing this back? yes, yes i am. specifically; "the evil, it spread like a fever ahead. it was night when you died, my firefly." and "the hospital asked, 'should the body be cast?' before i say goodbye, my star in the sky.")

• walked through hell - anson seabra

• remember me - coco

• sorrow - sleeping at last

• touch - sleeping at last

• it's quiet uptown - hamilton

(this song is making me fall apart—)

THE LAST OF US PART 2 SPOILERS

i am currently just putting that as like a blanket warning and then gonna do keep reading thingys so hopefully people who don’t wanna see don’t see!! ( THIS WAS BEFORE I WROTE… ALL THIS. )

omg yes shhh i’ve only watched episode 1 of season 3 so far oopsies. i have so little time for mando AGH i wish i had more >:( but i also neglected sm homework last week oops so my own fault really

no because if JOEL was awake? and he watched that happen? i genuinely don’t know what he’d do. there’s two options, one of which we heard of after sarah died, and the other being he goes mad for revenge. (let’s pretend abby didn’t use like. a fucking shotgun on his leg and it was recoverable, shhhhh)

TOMMY. he’d be so torn. i don’t know what he’d do either!!! they would just be so fucking despondent. like what is even the point if r is gone? what are they meant to do now? and if he had to watch? if he watched, and wasn’t able to do anything? can you imagine the pain he’d be in after locking eyes with r, wondering if r would ever forgive him for this? tommy would absolutely blame himself. would blame himself for letting reader on patrols at all, for helping abby, for trusting this group that they didn’t know, for doing nothing when reader needed him to do something, anything, the most

you saw how tommy reacted in part 2 when abby threatened ellie, how he fucking yelled and screamed at ellie to leave. can you imagine how much he would yell and scream at abby to just leave reader alone, to just stop, please, don’t do this to her, she didn’t do anything

can you imagine how tommy would react if he found out why abby did it? how joel would react? how ellie would react?

lets think about this for a minute actually, because ellie would NEVER forgive joel. she wouldn’t. because she already hated him for what he did at the hospital, she was just barely coming to forgive him for it, and now not only did he take that away from her, but his actions also led to reader being killed. joel would never ever forgive himself, but neither would ellie.

hell, if joel went to seattle for revenge, i don’t think he’d be coming back no matter the outcome. it has to be said. what does he have left, anyway?

my dear, sweet maria. she would be so torn after her initial denial, because god does she want to avenge reader, she wants to tear them all apart for what they did to her, but then there’s this baby who needs her. tommy would be long gone, by then, anyway. she couldn’t orphan her child. but what about you?

and the blame she’d have for joel, too, if she found out?

joel would be having the absolute WORST time.

your dialogue for maria’s reaction is so so accurate too, and you can really see tommy just looking at her, saying her name, because there’s nothing else he can say.

and when tommy and maria’s son grows up, and he’s wondering why his dad left, and he doesn’t understand because he can’t remember reader. he doesn’t remember her looking after him, only has the names on the chalkboard that’s still set up on the mantle of the home he shares with his mother only. because maria wouldn’t welcome tommy back after he left. couldn’t. a part of her resents him for not saving r too, although she’d never say it out loud.

i wanna talk about jesse more but this is already long i’m sorry HAHAH so i will move on to my favourite thing. SONGS!!!

as the world caves in — i’m an awful person for immediately thinking about how joel’s world litch rally caved in (via the golf club to r’s head…) OK BUT FOR REAL NOW. i love this song. it hurts so bad. for all of them, the world had already ended. they’re living in post apocalyptic times for gods sake. but this… this is worse. this is their actual world falling apart before their very eyes.

i cant talk about hold on because i think i will actually break down in sobs and cries. but agreed. that song hurts so bad

you said you’d grow old with me — these lyrics hurt particularly bad if you relate them to jesse i think. and ellie actually. “we had plans, we had visions, now i can't see ahead” i’m crying and sobbing. they’d both be so empty. they wouldn’t know what to do with themselves. and they’d remember so many things they forgot to tell reader :( “you've got your peace now, but what about me?” SOBBIIIIINGGG. actually look at all of these lyrics because they all fit so well and they ALL hurt.

fourth of july — may i just also add “what could i have said to raise you from the dead?” because it makes me sad. and as you SHOULD bring this one back. it hurts. also the repeated “why do you cry” hurts so bad because not only will all the characters be sobbing but also r didn’t want to die :(

walk through hell — all of you go and look at EVERY single song lyric here. because ouch. like i’m in pain rn listening to this

remember me — “remember me though i have to say goodbye” yelling crying screaming sobbing. and also “remember me each time you hear a sad guitar” joel coded joel coded joel coded. he never got to teach r how to play even though she wanted to learn (shhh) and that would haunt him forever i think. or however long he lived..

sorrow — OUCH. all of this just hurts and then you have this especially joel coded line “slowly, then all at once / a single loose thread / and it all comes undone” sobs he lost everything. also i think this song really fits with how like. lost and unsure everybody would be going forward like “i feel out of focus / or at least indisposed” TBE MORE I LOOK AT THE LYRICS THE MORE I COULD PICK OUT THAT FIT SO WELL. howl you know what you’re doing. i should be mad. i should be.

touch — “all i want is to flip a switch / before something breaks that cannot be fixed” need i say more? no. i needn’t. but i will. “predicting god as best he can / but god i wanna feel again”

it’s quiet uptown — howl im gonna need you to stop using hamilton against me please and thank you. but this song is maria coded. THERE I SAID IT. it’s maria coded! “you hold your child as tight as you can / and push away the unimaginable” her with her son after tommy leaves too. she’s so stuck on the fact that she couldn’t protect r that she worries she won’t be able to protect him either. she can’t lose a third child. AND MORE IMPORTANTLY. “i spend hours in the garden / i walk alone to the store” TO READER’S STORE!!! TO THE POTTERY SHOP!!! imagine the pain maria would feel when all the flowers outside have wilted away, unreplaced, and then she has to throw them away. she’s alone. she’s so alone. i’m in pain. with everybody off avenging r who’s their to mourn her? everybody forgets about your shop soon enough, except for her. she cleans the shop, sends her son to be looked after by someone she trusts, only for a little while. she can’t manage long. AND THEN THE SECOND PART IS TOMMY CODED. “if i could spare [her] life / if i could trade [her] life for mine / [she’d] be standing here right now / and you would smile and that would be enough” …… i’m going into hibernation actually. howl HOW COULD YOU.

[50calmadeuce]

Ch. 7 Competition Training Day

Disclaimer: This is a work of fan fiction using characters from the Top Gun: Maverick world, trademarked by Paramount Pictures Corporation. I do not claim ownership of the characters and the world that I am borrowing.

The story and situation I am creating are a work of my imagination and I do not ascribe them to official story canon. This work is for entertainment only and is not a part of the storyline.

I am not profiting financially from the creation and publication of this story, but I do hope it gives you happy thoughts.

These stories are my own, so please do not take them and use them for yourself without my permission. If you see them somewhere else, please let me know. :)

You woke up the next morning and headed to the San Diego Lifeguard headquarters.

"Good morning," Lieutenant Jaason Anson said when you reached the building. "You're looking a little tired this morning."

You looked at him. Jaason stood about six feet with the typical surfer blonde hair and blue eyes, that were currently hidden behind a reflective pair of aviator glasses.

"Long weekend," you respond.

"When aren't you busy?" he asks as the two of you walk in to the building.

You had met Jason during swim practice last semester and he was the one who convinced you to apply as a lifeguard.

"Between you and Finley, I don't know who says that the most."

He had tried asking you out a few times, but you politely declined and the two of you became good friends. Then when he told you about the lifeguard competition, because he knew you would get the lifeguard job, he started helping you train for it.

You stop in front of the women's locker room and look at Jason.

He smiles. "It's going to be a great training day. I can feel it!" He yells.

You roll your eyes, open the door to the locker room and go in.

Fifteen minutes later, you walk outside in a black TYR one piece swimsuit and a black swim cap in your hand.

Jason was already outside holding a red rescue can and he looks at you from behind his aviators. "You ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be." You answer as the two of you walk to the first lifeguard tower.

"Let's start with a slow jog down the beach. Nothing too hard. I think, no, I know you've got this. Just like I knew you'd get this job. You're a smart girl, Y/N. Shit. You have to be with your jobs."

You smile. "True."

You reached the lifeguard tower and Jason placed the rescue can on the deck. He then proceeded to take off his t-shirt, revealing his well built chest and abs, and placed that on the deck.

"You ready?"

"Yup. Let's do this."

The two of you started a slow jog down the beach.

Jake stepped out of his red Ford F-150 that he parked in the beach parking lot and looked at his watch. It was nine o'clock. He didn't want to make it seem like he was stalking you.

He was wearing black board shorts, a Navy workout tank, black sandals and a pair of Ray bans. He leisurely walked up towards the beach when he saw Y/N run out of the water and past a blonde lifeguard in red trunks and a white lifeguard tank.

The blond yelled something and he saw Y/N get so excited that she jumped into his arms and they hugged excitedly.

Jake slowly walked closer.

"Y/N! You're going to break a new record if you do this!" Jaason exclaimed. "I knew you could do it!!"

Jaason looked into your eyes and you stepped away. Out of the corner of your eye, you swear you saw Jake. You turned your head. It was Jake.

"Jake?" you question yourself and Jaason looks at you, confused.

"Jake?" he asks as you start walking towards Jake, but still standing there.

"Jake? What are you doing here?" You ask when you get near him. You feel Jaason right behind you.

"Finley said you'd be here. Why didn't you just say something? I would've understood."

You sigh. "I think it's time we talked."

"Y/N. You okay?" Jaason asks.

You turn around and look at Jaason. "Give me fifteen minutes."

"Sure. I'll be at the tower," he says and walks away.

"Come on. Let's walk."

The two of you start to leisurely walk down the beach.

"My life is hectic and complicated," you start to say. "My parents died right before I graduated high school. They left me enough to pay for college and I lucked out that my dad was a veteran, so that helped me pay for college. Along with a few grants. I'd always known I wanted to be an aquatic vet, and I worked hard to get here. I was a lifeguard and rescue diver back home and that also helped to pay for me to get here, but during that time, I met a guy." You paused a second. "I should've known, but he said all the right things, but then the right things started to become wrong. I figured out he was abusing me mentally at first and then the physical started. He was rich. His parents had money. He told me I needed to stop what I was doing and just become a trophy wife. I didn't want that, so I left one night and headed here." You paused again. "The message I got yesterday was from him. He'd found me. He probably hired a private investigator." You stopped and looked at him. "You don't want to get involved with me."

Jake stepped closer and cupped a hand on the side of your face. "Y/N. You are the most intriguing person I've ever met. Also the first to make me feel like I'd lost my dating game."

You chortle.

"I think I'll make that decision," he said as he pulled you close and his mouth was on yours. Sweet and caring. He had a calming smell of beer and leather, but you sensed a side of toughness and cockiness.

When you parted he looked at you, his green eyes caring. "I've been wanting to do that since yesterday at your truck."

You grin.

"HELP!!" You hear someone yell and you quickly look out at the water.

"HELP!!" You hear again and then you see a person pointing towards the water and then see Jaason running towards you with a rescue can.

"Let's go! I called it in!" he says as you grab the rescue can and leave Jake standing there as you run towards the water.

You and Jaason run into the water, leap into the waves, and towards the area you saw the person pointing at. When you get there, you look at Jaason.

"She's gone under. I got this." You take a deep breath and dive.

The water here was probably about ten feet deep. Thankfully the current wasn't too bad today and the water was pretty clear.

You spotted the girl slowly sinking to the bottom and quickly swam to her. You grabbed her under the arms and started swimming back up to Jaason's feet. When you broke the surface, you looked at him.

"She's out. Let's go."

The two of you started swimming towards the beach and as soon as you hit the sand, you laid the girl on her back.

The rescue team was on it's way.

You check her vitals. "No pulse and no breathing. Starting CPR," you say and give the girl two breaths and then start chest compressions.

The rescue squad arrived and a male guard ran up to you with an AED machine. You check for a pulse again.

"Still no pulse," you say as the guard starts taking out the pieces on the machine.

"Stand back," the male guard said as he pushed start on the AED machine.

"My baby!" a female voice yelled and you saw Jaason get up and head towards the voice.

You started concentrating on the AED machines directions. You gave the girl another two breaths of air and the machine shocked the girl.

All of a sudden, the girl spit out water and started coughing.

"Pulse detected," the machine said.

"Mommy!" the young girl said.

"I'm right here, Amelia." A woman's voice responded.

"I got this, Y/N," the male from the rescue squad said.

"Thanks, Vince." You get up and walk over to Jake. "I've got to do the report and then I'm done for the day. You can leave if you want."

"I'm staying right here," he responds.

You shrug. "Suit yourself. Let me finish this up and I'll be right back."

"Take your time. This is your job."

You smile and head back to the scene.

Jake had waited patiently outside after the near drowning and also after you wrote your report in the building. You walked out of the building back in regular clothes with Jaason next to you and he points to Jake when you get outside.

"So, are you going to introduce me to your friend?" Jaason asks.

"Jaason, this is Jake. Jake this is Jaason," you say to the both of them.

The two of them shake hands and Jaason looks at you again.

"And how are you two related?"

"I'm Y/N's boyfriend," Jake responds quickly.

Jaason raises and eyebrow. "Boyfriend? I didn't think..."

"It's a long story, Jaason," you respond.

"Well, you'll have to tell me about it sometime. Other than that, I think you're good with the competition next weekend." He looks at Jake. "Will you be there?"

Jake smiles. "Of course. I wouldn't miss it for the world."

"Well, it was nice meeting you." He looks at you. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yup."

Jaason walks off and you turn to Jake. "Girlfriend?"

"What Hangman wants, Hangman gets," he responds with a sexy grin and you laugh.

[lifewithchronicpain]

Thousands of people in pain are urging the Drug Enforcement Administration to scrap plans to further reduce the supply of opioid medication in 2024.

The DEA recently announced it would cut production quotas for oxycodone, hydrocodone, codeine and other opioids for the 8th straight year, despite complaints from pain patients and healthcare providers that the medications are already in short supply and difficult to get at pharmacies.

The DEA invited people to comment on its plans in the Federal Register. Over 2,400 have so far – many with heart breaking stories to share about not being able to get the pain medication they need.

“I was finally able to establish a reasonable pain management routine but that was disrupted when my regular pharmacy was no longer able to supply my medication (a moderate dose of Norco) and not a single other pharmacy was willing/able to fill my prescription,” said Jessica Ericksen. “One pharmacy supervisor screamed at my doctor on the phone when he called in to try to get my prescription set up with them. I now have a 1.5 hour round trip drive to get my medication, which is particularly challenging for a disabled person who is unable to drive.” “I am one of the many that has had my life destroyed by the government regulations on pain meds. I haven't been able to get my medications for the better part of a year,” said Paula Perry. “I'm now basically bedridden and praying for death. Stop doing this to people, we are dying and you guys make it worse every year.”

“Most of us in pain have gone through all of the other drugs to treat our pain and these are the drugs of last resort. The opioids don't totally treat our pain but allow us to function,” said Heather Larson. “The DEA needs to stop playing doctor and let the doctor decide what is right to prescribe. If production is cut anymore, people will commit suicide or go to the street for pain medication.” “I have already had to jump through numerous hoops just to be prescribed my meds, but now have to call pharmacy after pharmacy monthly to find my meds, because they are out of stock at every pharmacy around me in a 10-mile radius,” said Jill Bartruff, who suffers from scoliosis. “I also had a surgery in September 2023 and could not find a pharmacy to fill my post op pain meds. I was in immense pain and was unable to advocate for myself to get my meds filled. Imagine being cut open and discharged from the hospital with no pain control.”

“Why do you continue to cut supply when legitimate patients cannot obtain their medications? Many are already out of their meds for weeks on end,” an anonymous poster wrote. “You should be able to see you're making the situation worse.” Are you a U.S. pain patient with an opioid prescription? Please take a few minutes to complete PNN’s survey on how opioid shortages are impacting pain care. It will help us document how serious the problem is. Click here to take the survey. (Read rest of article at link up top)

I've taken the survey, it's a few minutes long and easy enough.

[urrockstar-xe]

snow day - marauders x gn!reader

posted december 15th, 2022 2:35 am

hints of jegulus/jily as well as wolfstar <3 I also couldn't find a GIF for this one - xo

masterlist

word count: 0.5k

When the Potters so graciously opened their home to their son’s friends not a single one of you hesitated to take them up on the offer of spending the holidays at James’

Sirius was the one who suggested going out in the snow that had covered the front yard. James of course was the one who threw the first snowball, catapulting the whole group into a full-on war.

Which put you where you are now, behind James’ fence with Remus and Peter, shielding you three from James and Sirius’ attacks. “EAT SHIT” You heard Sirius yell, just before you saw Regulus get hit in the face with a massive snowball. “I WOULDN’T WANT TO DEPRIVE YOU OF YOUR DINNER” Regulus shot back as he ran to get behind Lily. 

“Peter, what’s James doing?” Remus asked, making a snowball of his own. 

“Staring at Reg and Lils like a moron,” Peter replied, smiling when you laughed. 

“So he’s distracted?” “yes” Remus wasted no time in aiming and firing at James’ head causing him to stumble back into Sirius who had been sitting in the snow. 

You laughed, watching as James unintentionally took down Sirius while he fell.

Remus and Peter practically hollered at the scene, quickly revealing that they had thrown it.

In a hushed voice, Lily told Regulas to hide and they went running off in separate directions laughing as they rushed. 

You turned to look at James and Sirius as they stood up and swiped the snow off their faces. “You guys are fucked” you whispered to Peter and Remus, who had already been creating a pile of snowballs. 

Remus looked at you, about to respond when; “moooonyyyy” Sirius’ sing-song tone had all three of you panicking. “Where’d you go, love?”

“Bloody merlin, I did not think this through,” Peter mumbled. “You’re too far in now-” Remus was cut off by James this time.

“Come on out, wormtail, let me see how those beautiful blue eyes look by the snow” 

“Is he flirting with me? Hell, I am in for it.” Peter said, a mortified look covering his face as he thought of the unknown. 

“Guys? Do you hear them moving?” you asked in a hushed tone causing both boys to shrink down closer to you while hurriedly shaking their heads no. “They’ve gone silent,”

“The double act never goes silent,” just then a pile of snow was dumped on top of the three of you, causing a chaotic stream of swears to fall from your mouths as you jumped up, attempting to get snow out of your clothes. 

“I didn’t even help them!” you shouted, watching as James and Sirius doubled over in laughter. 

“Collateral damage,” Regulus said, smiling at the scene in front of him. “We’re gonna have to go inside and get you three changed before you get sick,” Lily said looping her arm with yours. With a frown, Peter shook the snow out of his hair, “I’ve had enough snow for all of next year.”

[squireofgeekdom]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love 💗

oh this was tricky. if you ask me next week the answer will probably be different XD I tried to narrow it down by limiting myself to complete works that were also standalone

From most to least recent:

when you’re gone we won’t say a word (but you know that’s okay) Star Trek Strange New Worlds, S1E10, Alt Future Pike, Pike&Spock, 10.9k, Dec 2022

"“Time is, uh, is complicated. But the monks showed me something simple. Every time we change the path, he dies.” - alternate future Christopher Pike, ‘A Quality of Mercy’ “I wanted a voice that sounded like it had given up a little bit after lots of emotional turmoil. So I thought, what would my voice sound like if I had spent a lot of time sobbing and screaming? - Anson Mount, about playing the alternate future Pike in ‘A Quality of Mercy’ What took a Christopher Pike back to Boreth, and back to convince himself to accept his fate? What did he see?"

I knew I was going to end up writing this like, within hours of watching the episode. Time travel fridge horror, how could I resist? I struggled with how to end it and the bittersweet note I hit on made me cry the most.

Ghosts in Your Head, Ghosts in My Head The Flash, Pacific Rim AU, Cisco & Harry, Cisco and Eobard, 33.9k, Sep-Nov 2022

"We can vanquish the impossible if we can learn to trust again. - Guillermo Del Toro they're so drift compatible it's!?!? i'm JUST i might be Compelled to write this - me, June 20th, 2021 --- Harrison Wells has no intention of ever entering a Shatterdome again, determined to leave the ghost of the tragic loss of his co-pilot and wife from his last time piloting a jaeger firmly in the past, to focus on raising Jesse. Cisco Ramon is a jaeger engineer, not a pilot, focused on retrofitting a badly damaged Gen 3 jaeger, keeping the ghost of his one and only drift, and the truth of the tragic accident in his Shatterdome, close to his chest - and hidden behind his goggles. But some things don’t stay buried - or in the basement - forever. And to cancel the apocalypse, they may both have to face their own ghosts..."

This was published between September and November of 2022, so you can tell from the quote in the summary (from talking with my canoe buddy @philcoulsonismyhero, who helped turn this from rambling into a fic and was a fantastic first reader) it was a while in development. This was my 100th fic on Ao3 and I really wanted it to be that milestone because I love it, I love the concept, and I feel like I really captured a huge chunk of what keeps me coming back to writing about the Flash, and specifically Cisco and Harry and Wellsobard/Eobard. I think I managed to make it something that's readable if you don't know the Flash while something that has a lot of interesting adaptations and twists from the Flash if you do know the source material. I also had a fun time tweaking and playing with the world of Pacific Rim to fit the narrative. And also just. Cisco and Harry are so drift compatible, y'all. They just. Are.

Blank Slate, Artificial Boxes Murderbot Diaries, Aggressively Arospec Week 2021, 2.2k, Jun 2021

"“I’m probably the one who has the best chance of getting it, anyway.” I rolled my eyes at the ceiling. “Because you're augmented?” The difference between an augmented human and a murderbot is like … the difference between a chihuahua and a cyborg wolf-construct with cloned organic components. Or something. “Because I’m aromantic.” That… shouldn’t have been surprising, actually. And it was something we had in common, as much as I was loath to admit having something in common with Gurathin. And - well, it did have something to do with this. “That has nothing to do with this,” I said."

It was *really* hard to pick a fic for this slot - two days ago I might have gone with More Than This, an older aro-centric fic about Obi-Wan Kenobi that I also love very very much and definitely gets an honorable mention. But something that stands out about this fic is that I was trying to hit a very distinctive writing and character/narrator voice, and I think I really did.

conquest of spaces Pacific Rim, Post-Uprising Fix It, 27.1k, Apr-May 2018

"It takes a Shatterdome to save two people the Precursors have tried to destroy, and to help them put the pieces back together in the aftermath. A story about liquor and ice cream, donuts and decaf coffee, kaiju-blood rocket boots, and, in Pacific Rim tradition, the power of science and people too stubborn to give up on each other."

I have fanart for this fic from my dearest alex (who I also spent extensive time discussing this fic and drift and precursor hivemind mechanics with) over my desk, it's not a hard call to put it in the top 5 :D (Honorable mention to Hold, a fic from Cass's run as Batgirl that I have art over my desk for) This fic is tagged The power of friendship and THE POWER OF SCIENCE, it is very Me. :D This also introduces Kay and the neuroscience team, a collection of OC's who you'll see many other places in my fics :D

What You Can't Run From The Flash & Supergirl, Cisco Ramon & J'onn J'onzz + Eobard Thawne, 7.4k, November 2016

Or: Martian Manhunter vs the Reverse Flash When Cisco is kidnapped by the Reverse Flash and ends up sending them both to Supergirl's Earth, it's up to J'onn J'onzz to kick some ass and do some rescuing. But that might require going further into Eobard Thawne's head than he ever wanted to go, and dredging up some of his own memories...

I periodically go back and reread this fic and yall. It slaps, as I believe the kids say. It's an early crystallization of my love of weird mindscape & unreality tropes. It hits on a lot of feelings about Cisco and Eobard that I would end up going back to over and over (and continue to) in many different angles and variations. It has confrontation and foils between DCTV's two 'glowing red eyes mentors who are not who they seem'. It has J'onn and Cisco bonding. What more could I ask for from past me.

[thesearchforbluejello]

We've been seeing your reblogs of SNW on our feed, and we gotta ask... Thoughts and opinions? Is it good? Would you recommend watching it to a trekkie who hasn't watched any of the new trek properties since the first few episodes of Discovery?

Oh man oh man oh man. I have a lot to say. If you don't want to read all of it, there's a TLDR at the end.

✅ episodic format: It's SUPER different from Discovery, so if you prefer the older episodic shows over the newer serialized format, it'll definitely check that box.

❌ season arcs: even though the older episodic shows have two partners and/or small (or large) season arcs, SNW doesn't really... There's one that connects the end of s1 to the beginning of s2, and it's a big deal, but it's not drawn out. I'm not even married to season arcs, but I do think that if they're doing silly filler episodes, ten episodes is too short for a season and thirteen would have been better for them. I LOVE silly filler episodes, so let's get that straight, but they're better when it's not taking up literally a fifth of the season.

✅ space hijinks and the risks of exploration: It oscillates wildly between silly and dark, sometimes between episodes and sometimes within the same episodes, but I see that as one of its strengths. It gets really goofy in a fun way, but it's also bloodier than older Trek... mostly just because they actually show blood. The crew commits so many hijinks and they're all friends and fun to watch together.

❌ character development: the actors are really carrying the characters alone for this one. The characters are all lovable and for the most part the actors are doing a great job, but frankly this is my biggest complaint about the show. We get very, very little development for any of the characters even over the first and almost complete second season. They're just still not well established. The writers seem to think "trauma" is the same as characterization... which like obviously it's not, so. I get very irritated (which you've probably seen in my tags) about the fact that there's often "development" for the characters that builds on a foundation that's basically just toothpicks. It still takes them a step forward, but it's always a stumble imo. I know some folks who are casual watchers who don't mind this though (I'm just neurologically incapable of casual watching). This is also apparently an unpopular opinion, but (spoiler alert) I also think Kirk is in it too much. He'll have been in at least 4/10 of the season 2 episodes, but he's not even posted to the Enterprise. I LOVE Paul Wesley's Kirk like he's my favorite Kirk nobody @ me but the show is about the SNW crew, not Kirk. They're struggling to even develop the seven major SNW characters, so constantly throwing Kirk in constantly is kind of annoying me. They also don't do full ensemble episodes, so often some of the major characters will only show up for one or two scenes and someone else will be the focus. This isn't my preferred format, but I don't hate it-- that being said, some characters are being seriously neglected because of it, but I won't fully rant about that.

✅/❌ Discovery tie in: you don't need to have seen Discovery to watch it. I watched s1 without having watched Discovery. HOWEVER, it will spoil the ending of Discovery s2 in SNW 1x01, just be aware (as in it will totally obliterate one of the big reveals in Disco).

✅Anson Mount: I say this as someone who's literally never seen him in anything else, but he brought his A game every episode and he's the absolute MVP of the series. Really great performances and he makes Pike an incredibly lovable character but also a really great captain.

❌ Discussion of disability: I have a lot of thoughts regarding the treatment of disability as a horrifying thing and equating it with death. Like, fear of physical injury is a very human thing because it's literally a survival response that's wired into us, but there's both some sloppy writing that equates physical disability with death and just a failure to actually explore what a disabled future means for a person. It's kind of hard to explain what I mean without obliterating an entire episode of Discovery and the whole first season of SNW if anyone else reads this, so I won't go into it but I will say this-- I didn't find this weak point to be bad enough to stop watching, and it involves TOS canon that they can't escape, so they're not doing something that's deliberately offensive and disrespectful, but they're not doing it particularly respectfully either.

✅ special effects: there aren't as many REALLY alien characters as Discovery, so there has been less major prosthetic design on display, but what there has been has been good and the CGI is great.

✅ Old school nods: there's so much campy scifi in this show. They do the bridge impact lean and shake thing and they have cool props and the uniforms are a little silly but also so well designed. The ship design is really 2020s and not classic Trek but there are still elements of that design and it's still cool as hell. Also, like, it's the fucking Enterprise, so I'm going to be feral over it regardless.

❌ CO and XO: Listen, this is such a personal taste-based opinion BUT I'm mad about it so I'm going to COMPLAIIIIIIIIIN about it. One of my favorite things about any Trek is the CO/XO relationship, whether it's on a ship or a station or whatever. I just find that a really fascinating dynamic, and it's so different every time. This show has a FASCINATING CO/XO dynamic and the actors have really cool ideas... but developing this at all would require the XO to ACTUALLY BE IN THE FUCKING SHOW. She's in every episode but often not for long. I have some major opinions on this, in case that wasn't obvious. They've done 17 episodes and this relationship hasn't been developed very much. We've had some good scenes and a good plotline, but my complaint still stands for reasons I won't spoil unless requested.

❌ Strange New Worlds: there are barely any new worlds, nevermind strange new worlds. Half the time it's just Star Trek: Doing Stuff in Space and the other half it's Star Trek: Hey We Found Something Weird in Space and Are Investigating It. Not a big complaint, just... not quite what it says on the tin.

TL;DR I love SNW a LOT. It's fun and it's silly but it also confronts the big philosophical questions of existence and morality that are central to Trek. I do have a lot of complaints, but honestly one of the reasons I have so many complaints is because I love it so much.

It's definitely Trek in flavor and it doesn't demand high commitment to watch it. Someone will inevitably yell at me for this, but it actually reminds me most of Voyager-- it's silly and the relationships of the crew are prioritized, but they do some really messed up episodes along the way too. It's a very different vibe to Voyager though, to be clear.

If you decide to watch it, let me know! I'd love to hear what you think :)

[the-lone-writer94]

High Voltage

Sam Axe (Burn Notice) x female character 

A reimagined fic based on Sam Axe from the TV show Burn Notice - set during early season 6 of the show, may contain spoilers from the show. 

Rating: 13+ (Steamy make out scene and strong language) 

Word Count: 3,491

Summary: When Sam and Jesse hit an obstacle on a new job, they require the assistance of a hacker. Meet Cassandra, she’s tough and hot tempered, can she and Sam work together with the sexual tension that lingers between them? 

The ice cold mojito slid down Sam’s throat, he took several more sips before setting the glass down and sighed in pleasure. Sam had chosen the outdoor seat at his favorite bar, which was practically his second home. His sun kissed bare arms laid under the bright shining afternoon sun, as he peered down at his wristwatch, he awaited Jesse's arrival, growing agitated with every passing second. Recently, it seemed as if it were only him and Jesse. With Fiona in prison, and Mike spending every waking hour trying to hunt down Anson, their dream team had declined in numbers. Sam could certainly understand. If the tables had been reversed, and the love of Sam’s life had been locked up, he would do everything he possibly could to save her. 

Moments later, Jesse appeared and stalked towards Sam’s table. “Sorry man, got held up,” Jesse announced, as he took the seat opposite Sam. 

Sam placed a file in front of Jesse. “I’ve got a job,” he began, as he watched Jesse take the file into his hands. “An old buddy of mine, Marc works at a security firm, ran into trouble with this fellow, Walter Allen. Walter here is running a little operation of his own. He robs the clients once they’ve worked for them. Marc found out, and threatened to blow the whistle, but Walter is smart. He’s altered records to point the finger to Marc if he doesn’t do as he’s told.” Sam explained. 

Jesse continued flipping through the file, “A little blackmail,”

Sam nodded his head. “Marc’s hands are tied,” he said then took another sip of his mojito, “Walter has a big score planned. He’s going to target entrepreneur Nathaniel Garcia-”

“Let me guess. We help Walter, thinking he’s going to get away with it, and then boom! Prison for Walter, and Marc gets to live out his life without Walter hanging something over his head.” 

“That’s right.” 

“So what, we join Walter’s team? Sabotage his operation.” 

Sam shook his head. “Walter is paranoid and careful. He’s not going to let any newcomers join his team,” Sam explained. Jesse’s brows furrowed as he listened intently to Sam’s plan. “Nathaniel is hosting a fundraiser at his home this Saturday, it’s when Walter and his team will strike.” 

“With a room full of people. More suspects. Smart.” 

“That’ll be where we come in. Walter wouldn’t even know what we’re up to.” 

“Alright. So we sabotage his plans. Walter goes to the safe thinking he’s Mr. Big Shot. Easy peasy.” 

Sam scoffed. “Not that easy,” he said, then reached over to the file and flipping the pages, until he opened out a blueprint of a safe. Jesse’s eyes widened as he inspected the intricate drawings, his fingertips tracing over the lines and curls. “Check out Garcia’s safe. It probably makes the safe at City National Bank look like a cardboard box.” 

“This is-” Jesse began then paused, completely flabbergasted by the drawings before him. 

“The safe is connected to a state of the art software system. We’re going to need a hacker in order to even understand what this thing can do.” 

Jesse sat back in his chair, rubbing his chin. He sighed. “We’re going to have to call Barry.” 

Sam sighed. “I was afraid of that.” He huffed, then reached into his pants pocket and drew out his phone. He tapped onto Barry’s contact details then pressed the phone against his ear. Within several seconds of ringing, Barry’s voice emerged. 

“Listen, Barry- it’s Sam here. We got a little proposition for you-” Sam began. 

“No. No. Whatever it is, I'm not getting involved.” Barry argued. 

“Oh come on- it’s simple we just need someone to hack a state of the art safe.” Sam explained nonchalantly. 

Silence. 

“I’m not even going to begin to try to argue that.” Barry said, then sighed, “look if you need someone- I have… let’s say an acquaintance of mine, that owes me.” 

“Can we trust them?” 

“Yeah- her name is Cassandra, she kinda has a temper. Just don’t leave her alone with any sharp objects.” Barry said. 

Sam narrowed his eyes. “I’m sure we can handle it.” 

“I’ll let her know.” 

“Appreciate it Barry.” 

“Yeah, whatever.” Barry responded sarcastically, then the line went dead. 

-------

Somewhere across town in a boxy little cafe with no air conditioning Cassandra typed away at her laptop. Sweat had matted against her skin, her tank top clinging to her body. With the back of her hand she wiped the sweat away from her forehead. There were perhaps only three tables inside of the cafe, followed by a beat up counter in the corner, that rested an old coffee machine that was reaching its end of life. Most people did not dare enter the cafe, but for Cassandra she would rather give her money to struggling independent business owners rather than sit in a Starbucks listening to fucking Katy Perry tunes on repeat.

On the exterior Cassandra could probably pass off as a college graduate student, typing away at her computer writing a short story. But the reality was, she was working on writing the codes for a malware virus. Technically Cassandra was a hacker, although she preferred the term, computer expertise. She never actually did anything illegal perse, her targets were usually corrupt individuals and organizations. In a way Cassandra was a vigilante, minus the cape and the mask, she was certainly no fucking Batman. 

As she typed away, lost in her own thoughts, her phone flashed. Reaching for her phone she clicked on the encrypted message. She had set her phone to erase any outgoing and incoming messages once they had been read. It certainly challenged her memory, but it was better safe than sorry. 

To her dismay, the cell phone number remained hidden. She groaned, as she immediately realized it was the one and only Barry. To say she disliked Barry was an understatement. He was a slimy weasel, and she hated herself for owing him a favor. Clicking on the message, she knew that he had checked in on that favor. After Cassandra had read the message, memorizing the cell phone number, she dialed it into her keypad, waiting for it to connect to Sam Axe. 

--------

From afar, Cassandra assessed the situation. She had gotten instructions from Sam Axe to meet him at a local bar downtown. These types of places certainly weren't Cassandra’s scene, she was more into dimly lit bars with questionable hygiene ratings and preferably playing music such as Korn or Slipknot. 

It was moments like this that Cassandra had ever regretted agreeing to something like this. Just what exactly would she even be walking into? 

Cassandra clutched onto the strap of her messenger bag, then adjusting her studded leather choker necklace. Her eyes scanned each and every figure in the bar. The bar was buzzing with energy, after all it was a Friday evening. A layer of voices thickened in the atmosphere drowning out the faint sound of techno beats that hung in the air. Her brief conversation with Sam had been… fascinating. The way Sam spoke had both a nonchalance but with a twinge of firmness. After she had finished her call with Sam, she had then immediately tried to fish out details about him. She had found out he was a former Navy SEAL, most of his records were classified, which did not offer Cassandra much about Sam’s characteristics, however she had managed to get a hold of his bank and phone records, which indicated that he didn’t have a whole lot of money in his account, whatever cash he had had seemed to be spent in this place. A lot. The other thing about him was he liked to make a lot of phone calls to one or two numbers, particularly at night. 

Nonetheless, Sam Axe was still a mystery to Cassandra. 

In the distance, something caught Cassandra’s attention. Sitting by a round table in the far corner was a man in his late fifties, he wore a bright Hawaiian shirt that almost blinded Cassandra paired with cargo pants and loafer shoes. The familiarity finally struck Cassandra as she realized it was Sam Axe, comparing to  the photograph she had seen on him when she managed to dig up his files during his Navy SEAL days the present Sam had much more graying hair, with lines that had appeared on the side of his eyes and a much fuller figure. Beside him was another man, with a shaved head and a toned up body frame. Cassandra predicted he was perhaps in his late thirties. They were both deep into their conversation, as Cassandra slowly  approached them. He sipped on a mojito and noticed her presence. 

“Sam Axe,” Cassandra said firmly. 

Sam turned his attention to Cassandra. “Let me guess, Cassandra.” 

“Bingo,” she said, then took the empty seat across from them.

“I’m Jesse,” he said. 

Cassandra simply nodded. “So what’s this job about?” She asked then crossed her arms over her chest. 

“Straight to it, huh.” Sam commented, then drew out a thin brown file from the edge of his seat. Placing it before Cassandra, she took it and opened it. 

“Wow,” her eyes widened as she studied the blueprints of the safe, “this… is something.” 

“Can you crack it?” 

Cassandra scoffed. “Of course… but why should I?” She asked, then locked her stare upon Sam’s. 

“Does there have to be a reason?” Sam responded.

“Yeah- I need to know that I’m not helping out some asshole that’s going to use whatever is inside this safe to start fucking World War III.” 

Sam smirked. “I never pegged a hacker with a conscience.” 

“I prefer the word computer expertise,” Cassandra challenged, then added, “plus- I don’t do what I do to hurt innocent people.” 

Sam and Jesse stared at each other for several seconds before returning their attention to Cassandra. “Well, you’ll fit right into the team.” Jesse commented and flashed a smile. 

“Barry said we could trust you,” Sam began, “I’m hoping that’s true.” 

Cassandra held her stare with Sam’s as she awaited his explanation. 

Then, Sam proceeded to explain to Cassandra about the details of the job. Starting from the very beginning, when Marc had approached him. Once Sam had finished, he took another sip of his mojito as Cassandra absorbed the information. 

“So the plan is to create a code for this Walter person, so he can think it’ll disable the safe system, but for it to backfire and have the system turn back on?” 

Jesse nodded. “Yeah, that’s pretty much what we’re hoping for.” 

Cassandra’s brows furrowed. “It won’t be that simple for this trick to go down. This is a very complicated system that’s set on this safe. For starters, I don’t think I’ll even be able to programme it if I’m not within the radius.” 

“So, what you actually need to be there for this to work?” Sam asked. 

Cassandra nodded. “It’ll also need two people to simultaneously log into the system before I can copy the codes. Once I’ve got that, I probably have about ten seconds to transfer those codes onto a malware, which we can then give to Walter. But that drive is also a timebomb. You’ll have another two minutes tops for him to use it before the safe system changes those codes, and nothing will be able to work.” 

Sam and Jesse listened to Cassandra intently. “I guess we could also get you into the party.” Jesse added. 

“How exactly?” Cassandra asked in confusion. 

“Well, Jesse will pose as one of the waiter staff. And you can be my date.” Sam said and smirked. 

Cassandra’s eyes narrowed. “Oh yeah, grandpa- why do you have to be my date?” 

“Because this party is gonna be filled with older rich men with their beautiful young girlfriends. No one would even bat an eye at us.” Sam said.

Cassandra raised her eyebrow to that remark. 

--------

Cassandra felt like an idiot. 

Dresses certainly were not her choice of fashion. Frankly, there were moments she even wondered why she was doing this. Then reality had sunk in. After hearing the story about Marc, she couldn’t possibly sit back and allow an innocent person to take the fall for crimes they did not commit. She also couldn’t deny that she often thought of Sam after their meeting. He certainly wasn't the type she went for, but there was a certain charm to him which she was deeply attracted to. 

Hurriedly, Cassandra made her way out the taxi, stumbling on her high heels, as she was then joined by Sam. He wore a tuxedo and held out his arm for Cassandra. 

“My lady,” he said and smiled. 

Cassandra released a chuckle, then hooked her arm into his, allowing him to guide her towards the entrance of the party. After they had been scanned by metal detectors from security, they crossed the threshold and entered the main foyer of the party. 

“You certainly clean up well.” Cassandra commented. 

Sam spun his head and smiled. “Do you like it?” 

“Well, it’s better than those hideous Hawaiian shirts you wear.” 

“Hey, those are a classic and chic look.” 

Cassandra scoffed. “If you say so.” 

“You clean up nicely too,” Sam commented, looking Cassandra up and down. Cassandra blushed as she realized his gaze traveled across her body. “You might still look a bit like Elvira.”

Cassandra playfully slapped Sam on his arm. 

A sea of bodies snaked across the foyer before them. Occasionally a waiter would slip between crowds of people offering them either a drink or hors d’oeuvre. 

Sam’s gaze scanned the perimeter. He lowered his head slightly and whispered to Cassandra, “the safe is located in the study in the East wing.” He explained, then his fingertips pressed down on his left ear which had a small earpiece inserted, he  quietly said “Jesse, are we clear?”

Unable to hear Jesse’s answer, Cassandra watched as Sam nodded. 

Slowly, Sam and Cassandra made their way through the crowds as they approached their destination. Cassandra’s heels clicked against the marble floor, but was drained out by the string quartet that had been stationed in the corner of the hall. They reached the end of the hall, where Sam made a left turn that brought them to a hallway. Realization struck that Cassandra’s arm was still linked with Sam’s and she felt hesitant to remove her arm from his. They strode down the never ending hallway before Sam made a right turn. Before them was a large mahogany door, behind it was Nathaniel Garcia’s study. Sam pushed open the door and he held out his hand and allowed Cassandra to enter first. 

Sam followed her on his heels, closing the door gently behind him. Once the study came into view, Sam whistled. “This guy is seriously loaded.” He commented, as he checked out the oil paintings that were hung around the study. 

“Yeah, yeah,” Cassandra muttered, as she crossed the study. She stepped around the large marble desk and pulled the painting that hung above it, freeing the safe that was concealed. 

“How did you figure it’ll be there?” 

Cassandra spun, placing her hand on her hip. “Please, they always have the safe in a wall behind the most big ass painting.” 

“Alright,” Sam said and added, “so how do we do this?” 

Cassandra drew out two phones from her purse. She attached several wires and a small brick port adapter with a USB flash drive inserted. The wires all connected from the phones and then to the safe. Then she handed a phone to Sam. “Seeing as security is always up to our ass in these places, I figured bringing a netbook would draw too much attention to us. So I reprogrammed these phones to act as the netbook.” 

Sam’s eyes widened. “Impressive.” 

“Now, all we have to do now is log onto the system at the same time,” Cassandra explained, “once it’s done the codes will be on the flash drive. Then we give that to Marc.” 

“Sounds simple.” 

Cassandra’s brows furrowed. She held the phone in her hand and watched Sam. “And… go.” She said. Immediately both Sam and Cassandra pressed down on the enter button on each of their phones, they watched the screen flash with an endless row of numbers and letters. It flashed so quickly that the text before them resembled some of the shit you saw in The Matrix. 

“Sam…” Jesse said into Sam’s earpiece. “We got a situation… Nathaniel Garcia is heading your way..” 

“Shit,” Sam cursed. 

“What?” Cassandra flipped her head to him. 

“Garcia’s coming our way.” 

“The codes aren’t done yet.” 

“How much time do we have?” 

Cassandra shrugged. “I don’t know.” 

“Guys… guys, you better get out of there.” Jesse said into the earpiece. 

“Can’t you stall Garcia?” Sam argued. 

“I literally tried to force feed him hors d’oeuvre but the guy will not take it.” 

Seconds later. The screen paused. They watched as the USB flash drive radiated red on the end. Cassandra ripped the wires from the safe and drew out the USB. 

“It’s done.” Cassandra exclaimed. She shoved the phones and wires into her purse, then pushing the painting back into its place, she crossed around the desk and back towards Sam. 

The door handles rattled and they knew they were cornered. Panic struck them like a bucket of ice water being thrown over their heads. There was no way out. Trapped like a couple of rats. 

Suddenly, an idea clicked inside of Cassandra. She grabbed Sam by the neck and jumped up so her legs wrapped around his waist. Taken aback Sam stared at her in confusion. 

“Kiss me.” Cassandra ordered, then added, “like you mean it.” 

Cassandra’s lips collided with Sam’s. Moments later, her lips parted and Sam’s tongue slipped into hers, their tongues danced against each other. Cassandra, completely captivated by Sam, deepened the kiss. Her hands reached up to his hair and her fingers laced through his now graying hair. Their heartbeats each palpitating, as they gasped for air. Sam spun and laid Cassandra down onto the desk, as Cassandra’s legs tightened around Sam’s waist. She moaned against him, as he pressed himself down onto her, she felt the bulge in his pants. Sam’s hands draped across Cassandra’s bare skin, tracing along the edge of her breasts. Cassandra moaned deeper against him, as their tongues continued to slide against each other. 

“Oh Sam,” she moaned. 

Sam’s left hand gripped down onto Cassandra’s thigh as he slid the silk black dress higher up revealing her beautiful legs. Then his fingers danced in her inner thigh and Cassandra moaned. 

Suddenly, the sound of someone clearing their throat emerged and both Sam and Cassandra were thrown back into reality. 

Sam drew himself away from Cassandra, and Cassandra sat up. 

Nathaniel Garcia towered over them, with his entourage of bodyguards behind him. A smirk flashed across his face. “This room is off limits.” 

Immediately Cassandra and Sam strode towards Nathaniel and laughed nervously. “We’re so sorry- just needed a room,” Sam said, “you know how it gets with the Misses. Am I right?” 

Nathaniel smiled. 

Sam raised his hand. “Charles Finley,” he said. 

Nathaniel shook Sam’s hand and said, “Nonetheless Mr Finley. I’m afraid you will have to return to the hall.” 

“Yeah, course- sorry.” Sam said once again. 

When they reached the hall, they were greeted by Jesse. Cassandra slipped him the USB drive and Jesse stared down at it, before his gaze jumped between Cassandra’s disheveled hair and Sam’s untucked shirt. His brows furrowed and he asked, “How did you guys get out of that?” 

“It’s best if you didn’t know.” Cassandra said and smirked. 

----------

The job had been a success. Walter had fallen for the bait. Implanted the USB drive into the safe, where he had a moment of victory, only to be shot down when the system had locked itself and sounded the alarm. To which he would be facing prison time. 

Cassandra strode towards the boxy cafe where she would meet Sam. In the distance she watched as Sam pulled a face as he tried to the cup of coffee, then fanned himself with his hand. Cassandra chuckled to herself before she strode towards him. 

“Why did you pick this place?” Sam asked, as Cassandra slipped into the seat opposite him. 

Cassandra shrugged. “Maybe because Mr and Mrs Ahmad are trying their best to keep this place open and to provide for their family.” 

Sam’s eyes narrowed. “Boy, I still can’t figure you out.” 

“That’s because you can’t.” She said, then commented, “I see you’ve reverted back to your usual attire.” She gestured to Sam’s Hawaiian shirt and cargo pants. 

“It’s my signature look.”

Cassandra cocked her head to the side. “I guess I could get used to it.” 

Sam raised an eyebrow. “So… I’ll be seeing you again?” 

“Maybe.” Cassandra teased. 

[t3kandson]

Friendship in Turmoil

Wordcount; 2, 543

Fandom; Monsta X

Pairing; Reader X Yoo Kihyun & Reader X Lee Hoseok aka Wonho

Characters; Yoo Kihyuk, Lee Hoseok, Lee Minhyuk features Lo Hoting aka Anson Lo and mentions of Son Hyunwoo.

Warning; Jealousy, Heavy flirting, Angst & Cheating.

Notes; Chapter 7/8 of part one of Youth of No Regrets, earlier Chapters found here.

The brush of his lips on your hands has you blush, not quite getting use to the fact you was now dating this good looking man. His eyes search for Hoseok’s car and when he finds it absent, he pulls you in. Lips pressing against you, he kisses you one final time before your last minute practice. “We need to tell him,” you say watching his smile turn into a frown. “I know,” he says sombrely looking at the wheel. “He will be ok right?” You asked needing his reassurance earning a fake smile in return. “Well he did give us permission remember,” he replied in an attempt to reassure you as he pressed a loose hair behind your ear. You was both startled, when the roof of the car was thundered on as Kihyun’s eyes zoomed through the glass screen at Minhyuk.

“What are you doing here?” Kihyun growls as he pulls the window down. “Me, what about you?” He smirks in reply as if he can read the chemistry between you both. “Last time I checked we was friends?” Kihyun said rolling his eyes. “Last time I checked she wasn’t talking to you,” Minhyuk said amused clearly not believing your story. “What ever,” Kihyun groaned before turning to you with his usual serious face, his side of his lips facing you slightly twitching into a smile to let you know he was trying to be less cold. “I better go before Hoseok moans I’m late,” you said excusing him. His eyes twinkling as your eyes glanced one last time before Minhyuk slipped into your empty seat.

Upon entering Hoseok was stood there, his eyes looking hurt and lost at you. “You and Kihyun sorted it out then?” he asked, his smile not meeting his eyes. You simply nodded as you brushed past him as he held your wrist. Eyes falling on him, your heart breaking apart at his pain staked face. “Are you two,” he paused breathing in deeply, “together,” he added. He pursed his lips bracing for your response, but all you could muster was to nod, words having lost you. “You not going to say any actual words?” Hoseok said looking hurt. “What do you want me to say,” you said a little harshness in your tone. “You told me to be with him, you told me you didn’t want me,” you said bitterly hating every second your words was spilling. He looked hurt as he released his grip letting his hand fall, your heart hurting every second at his expression, that you had to get away from the guilt pursing through you.

Hoseok had been quiet during practice, but even so more during your promotion show. His expression momentarily engrossed with you on the stage but the second the song ended, his quietness sapping back as he packed to go home that evening.

You couldn’t wait to throw yourself in Kihyun’s chest the second he arrived from his own practice. “Did you miss me,” he chuckled as he kissed your crown. “You know I did,” you said pressing your lips to his as he pushed you against the wall. “As much as i want to enjoy every inch of you, I’m hungry, for real food,” he chuckles gently pushing you away.

You was quite content wrapping your arms around his waist with your head tilted on his collar bone as he was busy cooking. “You seem quiet, I’d normally complain but it’s too quiet even for my liking,” Kihyun chuckled as you tightened your hold on him. “Just a long day that’s all,” you said snuggling your head into his neck to press kisses up it. “I take it your feeling guilty for hiding us from Hoseok,” Kihyun said as he swirled the spring onions. “He knows,” you said lowly that it was almost a whisper.

Kihyun turned the dial off on the pan to turn to face you, his face full of confusion. “Huh?” He said tilting his head your way. “He saw us this morning, he knows,” you replied as he looked to the floor deep in thought. “Sorry,” you added snapping him from his deep thinking process. “Why you saying sorry for?” Kihyun asked cupping your face. “Because I know you wanted to be the one to tell him,” you replied. “No, no I’m just happy he knows now, even if I know it’s hurting him,” he said looking a little concerned as you hugged into him, your head resting upon his chest. “He will be ok won’t he, because he looked really hurt,” you said biting your lip with concern. “We’re eat up and I’ll go meet with him, I’m sure he’ll be fine eventually,” he replied reassuring you as he released you to focus back on dinner.

The following day the tension wasn’t easier as Kihyun had hoped, Hoseok was noticeably irritated. He made harsher tones of comments on dance mess ups. You thought he would go easy on you, but his Glances your way was daring you to mess up so he could release the emotions he clearly was bottling up. He didn’t wait long before you tripped on your own feet tumbling to the floor. “Y/N really? We have another show in less then a couple of hours, we haven’t got time for your crap, get with the programme,” he growled a much more harsher tone then he had with the others.

He stormed from the room leaving the icy and confused tension in its wake. “What the fuck is his problem,” Heejin scoffed, “love trouble I expect,” Soyeon chuckled, her eyes brushing over yours with an momentarily accusationing glare. “He wouldn’t risk that,” Heejin squeaked in shock. “Well Y/N you would know as you spend plenty time with him,” Soyeon accused her eyes narrowing at you. “I’m close with Hoseok because I’m friends with his friends, not because I’m dating him or anything,” you said shaking your head with annoyance.

“Well I don’t think Soyeon was accusing you she was asking as his friend, what’s he up to?” Heejin said a little less quizzingly. “Look I don’t know because he’s been working hard here, he’s probably in a mood because he’s stressed,” you said scowling at the gossiping couple. “What ever,” Soyeon said walking out the room after rolling her eyes at you. You needed to be careful around Soyeon, she seemed to have been watching your relationship with Hoseok a little too close for comfort.

“Right I need a little more sexual,” Hoseok said to the group of you standing in the room, while you was all dressed ready for the days promotion. “So eye glances a little more deeper, a little more emotion,” Hoseok ordered. You looked towards Hoting your Hong Kong dance partner, knowing that you would have to be a little more into your routine with him. He smiled blushing your way, you knew that there was a part that was rather risqué.

“Remember more sensual, eye contact is the key,” Hoseok reminded you as you walked out for the practice run of the days promotions. The routine going well as you remembered everything he suggested. Even if Hoting’s more lust filled glancing looks made your heart thump more then normal. The brush of Hoting’s hands on your hip made you gulp, you had been use to it before, it was a part of the original choreography.

But you could see Hoseok’s grip on Soyeon’s hips not far from your eye frame. The way he held her was more theatrically aggressive then normal as she backed into him further. Looks of heated chemistry they gave to each other felt like a sharp sting in your heart.

The glossy eyes of Hoting mirroring in yours, reminded you of your own performance. As your hand slid down his face, eyes widening as you twirled to the grip around your wrist to spin you back in. Such a short part of the routine yet you felt as if it was some form of killer part if your melting heat had anything to say about it.

As if possible Hoseok was more annoyed, his eyes refusing not just yours but Hoting’s eye contact as he stormed out the building. “What is his problem?” Hoting scoffed as you looked at him shrugging.

“You said he was ok but he doesn’t seem to be,” you was moaning down the phone to Kihyun who was snowed under at work with his own comeback. “He’s probably stressed with the comeback that’s all,” Kihyun tried to pacify you. “And what’s with the extra sexiness?” You continue to vent. “It’s his Wonho alter ego, he does sexy remember, it’s why you went there,” Kihyun chuckled making you feel as if you was over reacting.

“Look if it makes you feel better I’ll speak to him ok?” He said in an attempt to comfort you. “Whatever,” you pouted, acting very divaish. “Look I got to go baby, speak soon I promise, please don’t fret get some sleep ok,” Kihyun said hanging off before you could respond. You rolled your eyes and sulkingly stormed off to your room.

“Right change of plans,” Hoseok said arms folded looking at you all. “You all did amazing yesterday, but we’re having a switch around,” he said walking alongside you all standing in a line. “Soyeon and Y/N your switching partners,” he said as Soyeon groaned. “But Wonho I did well didn’t I?” She whined as your face fell realising you would be dancing seductively with Hoseok yourself. “You did but your more suited to Hoting’s pace, we can’t have two fiery dominance dancers now can we,” he winked at her that made a jealous bite you didn’t want to acknowledge. “Where Y/N needs to step up hers, let’s call it a helping hand in seduction,” Hoseok said making your nose flare with annoyance. “Right so more seductively, you got that right?” He said to you, his eyes widening daring you to defy him.

“What the fucks going on Hoseok?” you said storming over to him as the practice ended. He spun to face you looking a little shocked with your outburst before a small grin arose on his face. “Your boyfriend said you was upset being made to dance with Hoting so I sorted it. I’m sure your more comfortable with me right,” he said his eyes blown as he awaited your response. Of course Kihyun rang him, and of course Kihyun focused on dancing with Hoting seductively more then the fact Hoseok was clearly acting out. “I wasn’t upset with Hoting,” you scoffed. “What is it then?” Hoseok said holding your shoulders to face him closely that you felt your cheeks heat.

“Are you worried your soak those panties,” he whispered in your ear making your mouth become agape. “No,” you growled. “Well maybe some extra, you know tena lady’s or something,” he chuckled winking. “Fuck you Hoseok,” you hissed letting his smile fall. “And for the record Y/N it’s Wonho at work not Hoseok,” he said with furrowed eyebrows, before walking to leave the room. “Asshole,” you muttered out, “don’t you forget it,” Hoseok said over his shoulder clearly having heard you.

Your hips stung when his finger tips clung into the flesh of your hips, but what had you gasp was when he brushed his pelvis into your ass, his soft bulge clearly felt beneath the clothing. The way his eyes glossed over you like you was the most delicious food he had ever seen was having your thighs damp. But the swirl as he pulled you in his arms as if he was totally in love with you made your heart thud like crazy. You was sure you was making a mess of the whole routine, your mind slightly dazed from the smell of him. Once again he ignored you following the days promotion. But the way he had held and looked at you remained engraved in your mind.

However, Kihyun’s expression in your view of the changing rooms, had you realise he too knew the effect his friend was having on you. “Baby,” you said anxiously as you made your way to him. “Don’t, we’re at work remember,” Kihyun said a little cold. “Kihyun you took the offer to come,” Hoseok said just a little too pleased with himself. “Yes how could I turn it down, you did well, yeah,”, “sexy hot right,” Hoseok cut him off smiling with pleasure. “I took care of your issue, it’s ok she’s safe with me,” Hoseok chuckled a little too much for your liking. “Can we talk somewhere a little more private,” Kihyun pleaded with him. “Of course but your have to wait, busy person right now,” he smiled as he walked straight off while Kihyun looked seething mad. “Baby,” you softly said as his eyes snapped to you. “Work remember,” he snapped back angrily, “sorry,” you said looking to the floor feeling a little overwhelmed. “No I’m sorry, look we’re talk later ok, just let me sort this asshole out first,” he said more softly smiling when you looked his way.

As the weeks went each show was more seductive then the last, Hoseok’s coldness off stage to be extra hot once on. The way his eyes looked at you seemingly more alluring each day. Each touch of his hand more arousing then the last. Kihyun was seethingly jealous, each evening was spent with him enraged down the phone to you or ranting in person. You barely spent time as a couple as if Hoseok had consumed most the time you had.

However, as you finished with your last promotion, the excitement of the wrap up party filled the coworkers in the changing room, you walked to find Hoseok in discussion for his tour. “Well has to be Y/N no one’s as good as she is,” he said to his manager. “Yes but isn’t she dating Kihyun,” he gasped in reply. “He’ll be fine, he sent her to me to help her career not hinder it,” Hoseok scoffed in reply. “But three months away is a long time Hoseok. Hyunwoo’s already complaining that there some atsmophere between you and the guys, This isn’t the image we want to progress with,” the manager scolded him.

Three months away? Kihyun couldn’t even cope with the promotions and spending evenings with you. Three months away would drive him crazy and Hoseok’s manager was right even you could feel a storm brewing. The whole point of not being with him was to give him a clean image and his emotions around you right now wasn’t helping.

After hiding in the changing rooms your mind swirling before writing down on the paper beside you. You made your way back finding his manager as you pulled him aside, slipping the note into his palm as he looked at you confused. “That’s my resignation,” you smiled as his eyebrows furrowed. “What,” he choked but before he could respond further, you dashed to make your way to the outside air.

However, in your view had your heart drop more then Hoseok’s words ever could. Soyeon’s hands around some familiar shoulders, her lips pressed against the lips of her suitor.

That suitor was your boyfriend Yoo Kihyun.

Previous Chapter. Next Chapter

Masterlist

[nightguide]

get new friends

don't bring your exes back.

walked through hell - Anson Seabra

his dickography

'what if' is now plural followed by the leader crawling up to the yummy pink sweet thing on the right, like Finn has no neck (case of situation)

Ned (Pushing Daisies) infamously carries a sweet legacy, so the piemaker has a crippling sensation for Harlem Lima (now Chuck) who made it all up (Doctor Who) that made no sense to River Song til now, like she does not care anymore hence Tree Trunks is the only mammal in the Candy Kingdom served the Queen Bubblegum become River Song's legacy to the Marvel universe (yes, it's gone global but dare i mention the blind lawyer and y'all flip your minds). Tree Trunks is Ned who went on a cryo-sleep via his own powers to meet River Song in 'another life' (he's an experimentalist in his own universe connected to PB via Olive Snook)

Jesse St. James before he became Rogue (like he has an arc of his own on Hocus Pocus but that was time where Pushing Daisies has an ulterior effect on what sarcastic kids can do if they grew up and trust me, i loved CN more than anybody to be a heartbreaker rn like that is easily said and done if you seen my face at some point in time like you knew me x2)

damn, Candy Kingdom is made out of River's true personality that even celebrities are in on this which is why River shows up like a ghost in between the party, like fuuuuuuuuccckkkkkkk. Keanu Reeves

screenshotting a pfp nowadays is what is called a cartoon reflex so is an autistic person's narrative inside their head the entire time if 'talk or you're dead' and you're making sure intuition travels faster than the speed of light that even common sense is now awarded to someone who dares to think straight, like that is a narrow minded altruistic thinker in a cartoon in his own world asking about a death of a Creme Puff for a thought he can never have so that was Princess Bubblegum he tried to 'slay' but he never had it so a zombie apocalypse happened in an intuitive breakdown happened twice and who actually won it? so applied my cartoon physics, the bright colours display what the autistic bunch don't have (their happiness) so eating cartoon (the candy kingdom) is them eating it by roasting the VA for Finn for delaying his personal promise to Princess Bubblegum as much as Ice King carrying it on, so Finn delayed everybody elses dreams except his own toxic masculinity cuz he dreamed poorly and let everybody down that even PW hated being on the show himself (hence why he voiced LSP) who is actually true to his character much like his life being swapped for the GoT and HotD being the same direction as Daemon Targaryen (Finn in real life) ending a situation if he never had the chance, so for the first time, Shada actually made it up and let the creators (CN public) write on his honour of being a people pleaser (rule of the influencer via wealth which is why creators were let down in CN to make valid toons made for the human mind than heart for being (evidence) than making a throne for death on the mind (actually serving a mental God (Keanu Reeves) than taking the shahada for the first time than seeing everybody else get happier with a thought than a feeling (why i roast Selena Gomez too hardly is that she cannot even sing yet provides shitty reasons to exist than reason her acting pointless (AT drama of the same asexual relationship for the same person who denied them the first time with reason with everybody liking 'the hero' for squat. they don't exist and they are shitty people in real life, get new friends or dump ur ex-narc on ur mobile rn

the guy next to the boombox is Keanu Reeves, music is considered unholy in the CK til Reeves wanted to hear it for himself, which is why everybody is surprised all of a sudden and Finn denied it, so ultimately, his thought-radius on the Matrix was all just an Adventure Time fan-fic

0010100101010101010010101001010101010

8181881818181818181818811818188181818181818181881811818181881

he does not get it the first time hence his denial and hence my blog cuz i know he's intuitively reading it rn

my juicy ass and yours. Nbe

do you know how tarot is made? yeah, you seen yourself get beaten up for a reason (hence why Spanish lore has it if created then offer it to children and not to old men because they will find conversation in anything that it is so hard to ignore a laughing saviour at the end) so question why everything is created before meeting your curse

'find out about what Finn'

and you knew why

why the eyes have alternate smiley faces on a alpaca pinata is why you're blind to belief, so you did it now, Finn and now you're alienated for the same reason why you met the devil in tissue paper (like you did not need to harm the unreasonable world of creation before realising that world is physically real) like there is no real realisation in why hearts break after thinking about the world in believing you're the same in wonder or thought so that was personal on everybody else after the voice actor leaves the booth, there is no 'OK boomer' in everything if you think your demons leave it better than you or than for the society you really wish to eat, so stop harassing the situation on the no and let go

dead candy is a date fruit

the answer is a masturbation technique, so he has to think before he acts before breaking a simple question made up to give a clue to the viewer so a spanish lead (Selena Gomez) could actually raise the bar by being pretentious about the same thing (my Dad likes a mathematician) which is how answers are found intuitively for Shada to give a shit (actually broke the Muslim royal code of honour in real life, womp womp) broken by a spanish musician speaking english he never asked for (his type) so why?

Justin Bieber is a better mathematics guy than any celebrity can be (his hidden talent) says his Mom, royally

write your angel numbers backwards, you're onto something

Pendleton Ward has his name on the Nobel Prize for nuclear physics on alternate travel elsewhere (teleportation techniques not even assholes (witches of horror for the faint hearts) can access) so Selena, 🖕

lies are accessed without Selena's proven type (someone who can actually tell her off for existing and it works) so she needed a math brat with no heart to reject ill pain by abusing the poor to get nothing back because it was somebody else's work (they created the world she lived in before getting kicked out) so Selena lived in OOO royally before pissing off Princess Bubblegum off since men cannot die living the same way before orgasming off to a lady (men can never be a cat but women always are) like dogs men are to the bone which is how Islam forbids her to break Gomez's plans off in a family circuit of all (her family lives in OOO for free since she wanders off in her own shit show scenario in theory, so i got Shada back on Earth for Gomez doing it to Bieber twice (internet feud with Hayley) and had her teleported to OOO for... free, resident body hosted is how video games meta-universe can relax now (Wreck-It Ralph knew too much about her hate mail that they made it up to create the hero working day and night for everything she never had (one woman knowing for all humanity)

that's Shada's realisation (second time) orgasm. men can't. literally never since bubblegum guards throwing flames was purely immaterial for sugar to melt caramel so decently that even powder physics lie for shellac to burst into flames (chinese animators doing it for the sake of science which is how Shada let Muslim women grow up for the girl of his dreams making sense of animation physics bio-metrically for other scientists to believe in me (parent fashion following)

'4444' before realising an answer back to black is hyper-dynamo to create 'talking is real' without fear taking you over, so you doing science with PB is animated layout to peaceful adventuring alone with friends you made up along the way (objects in canon expression denotes similarity to your life as omnipotent elsewhere)

she abused magic, so add another 4 followed by written 4 on the chalkboard to create the decorpsinator serum, so always add the users 4 to imitate life as beauty upon peace so it's 4444444 (7 numbers per angel number is cartoon network, so you're always alive inside and out for a spanish demon to be locked in, hence why the end times signs were too much on the autistic bunch- Neurodivergents are live now since they were the dead angels talking)

her answer is 4.18 (new circumference on the circle adding inches on the clock according to the round table physics via Lancelot)

focus on the bee and not the butterfly if Pendleton Ward wants you to figure out his grandmaster equation (the Queen's Gambit) is how you outrank him on world championships on the intel-psylocke X-Men radius he calls Rogue.

you found the guy who has been shortcutting your TV license joke from Lee Evans in your algorithm by now for the last fck to give in the UK, now residentially evicted

i dont see Britney Spears making a London residence than seeing your tonal outbreak happening in your occultist practices in your seance concerts you now call Sea-bra for Seanc-bra

go figure your cringe elsewhere

[everest-is-dead-now]

The Serpent — Six

[chapters]: one | previous | next

“Abel Stokes, a priest in the small town of Static, Tennessee, encounters a strange man who would lead him down the path of temptation.”

This chapter will contain anxiety and religious guilt.

~2.2k words

Six

Abel awaited the next night anxiously. His mind neurotically jumped back and forth again and again, between embracing Anson or letting him go. Now, he was no longer concerned with heaven and hell, knowing his final destination, but preoccupied with the judgment of his earthly father.

But after the day before, Abel’s heart longed for Anson more than ever.

After mass he waited in the confession room, watching the clock as if it would freeze when he looked away. At 11:37, he turned to see Anson walking in the room.

Abel stood to meet him, but his words died in the back of his throat. Anson looked disheveled, worried. He wore an expression Abel had never seen on him before. “Anson?”

“I love you,” Anson said, looking harrowed. “And you need to know the truth about me.”

“Okay,” He said slowly, sitting down and staring at him in confusion.

Anson ran his hands through his hair, looking around the room, glancing out the door. He mumbled something to himself, then they locked eyes.

“Please, don’t panic.”

In the dark room with only a dim light to illuminate him, Abel thought he was imagining it: Anson’s skin darkening, his eyes changing color, his silhouette distorting. But there was no illusion. In horror, he watched Anson’s skin turn as green as a forest and his eyes as yellow as the sun. Horns appeared atop his head, growing backwards like that of a goat’s. He noticed then a spaded tail swishing frantically behind him. His body was the same, his face was the same, but Anson had undeniably transformed into a demon before his very eyes.

Abel was too frightened to scream. He thought it was a nightmare. Anson held his hands out defensively, and said, “I’m sorry.”

He could only stare in fear, Anson standing between him and the door.

“You—You— All along— I—“ Abel babbled, standing suddenly, the pieces forming in his mind. “You led me to sin! Tempt— Led me— Led into temptation!”

“No, Abel,” Anson replied calmly, his eyebrows knit in concern. “I found you at random. Honestly, I only wanted to make you happy.”

“You’re lying!” Abel screamed. He was hyperventilating, trying and failing to convince himself that none of this was real.

“Abel—“

“Stop it!” Abel felt, embarrassingly, tears prick his eyes. “You tricked me into turning my back on my faith! I’m going to hell because of you!”

“Abel, I need you to trust me,” Anson stepped towards him. “I love you. When I found you, all I wanted to do was help you.”

“A hell of a lot of help you’ve been,” Abel snapped. “All you did was make things worse! I was fine on my own!”

“You were unhappy.”

“Well… Well, everyone else was happy!”

“Doesn’t what you want matter?”

Anson closed the bridge between them, gently grabbing his shoulders. Abel went rigid.

“I wanted you to admit to yourself that you were living a lie. That you were headed down a path of self flatulation and depression. Is that really what you wanted for the rest of your life? To repress every part of yourself for the sake of everyone else?”

Abel could not speak. Anson’s hands ran down his arms, then grasped his hands.

“I couldn’t bear the thought of seeing you go down that path.”

His timeless eyes seemed to glow like small candles. Abel searched them for comfort. He saw devotion. Adoration. Genuine emotion. And he just could not bring himself to believe it. It was, in the end, a demon looking back at him.

“You’re lying to me,” Abel squeaked out quietly.

“I never lied to you.”

“You told me you were some kind of journalist.”

“No, I told your dad that. All I ever told you was my job could be done anywhere.”

“You’re a demon…!”

“I never claimed to be human,” Anson smiled at him, revealing suddenly his long, sharp fangs. Abel shrank back at the sight. Noticing, Anson’s face fell.

“There may have been a handful of times I lied. But you lied to me too.”

“I admitted it…”

“I’m admitting it now.”

“How do I even believe you?!” Abel grew frantic, ripping his hands away from Anson and pushing against his chest. Anson did not budge. “You chose to go against God and lure people into sin!”

“I didn’t.”

“What? Now you’re gonna tell me the Bible is wrong? Try ‘nd convince me you’re in the right?”

“No. I’m going to tell you that I didn’t choose to fall like the others. I was stolen from heaven.”

Abel was stunned into silence, more confused than ever. Anson took a step back, then sat in the chair across from him. Curious and emotionally drained, Abel sat too.

“I’m sure you’re familiar with Lucifer’s fall from grace, as well as his crew,” Anson sighed, resting his chin in his hand. “I wasn’t a part of the rebellion. Lucy stole me a little later and turned me into a serpent to do his dirty work in Eden.”

Abel’s eyes widened. Anson smiled sadly, “Yes, it’s what you’re thinking. My name became—“ Anson spat out a word that did not sound like human vocal cords could replicate it. “—essentially, one sin, first sin, whatever. Anson is as close as it gets in English.”

Abel burned a hole in the ground with his gaze. “…This is nuts.”

Anson nodded in agreement. “I know.”

“If that’s true… If you’re really an angel… Why’d you do it…?”

“I’ll spare you the details, but there’s a reason people avoid hell,” he laughed forcefully. “I used to be an angel of love, but I was, essentially, corrupted into lust. I was made to invent sex. There was nothing I could do to change that, and nothing I can do now either.”

“I… I…” Abel was quickly becoming overwhelmed by knowledge, by indecision, still by a paralyzing fear that none of this was real. “I don’t… I don’t know how to believe you.”

“Have faith in me.” Anson gave him another sad smile, slowly moving to stand again. He knelt in front of Abel and gently placed his hand over his. “Please. I’ve never lost my power of divine love, and now I want to give it to you.”

Abel hesitated.

Anson pleaded, “Abel, you know who I am. I only ever wanted to help you. You know that.”

He had no words. In front of him was a demon on his knees, begging for his love. Perhaps it was an angel, or perhaps it was a rouse. His head felt heavy with information. All he wanted was the Anson he had before, the one who made him feel safe, the one that made sense.

Abel retracted his hand.

“Please get out.”

“No, Abel—”

“Even if I did believe you, this is all too crazy for me to get right now. Just leave. Please.”

Abel was desperate for the demon to leave his presence. He was terrified, in fact, of making him angry.

The demon looked at him with deep melancholy. Glowing, velvety drops like lava pooled then fell from his eyes, running down his face. They made it look as if his eyes were melting out of his skull—but Abel knew the look of crying. His eyebrows pinched upwards, his lips twisted down, his face fell. No anger to fear from him. Just the devastating look of heartbreak.

Anson stood, turned away, and vanished out the door.

Abel went home that night and did not leave his bed. For days he did nothing but sleep, eat, and ponder, mourning the loss of his purity, his virtue, his love.

At some point during the week he contacted Father Quincy and told him he was under the weather. It was not a lie; Abel suffered an ailment he could not identify, but one that started in the heart and spread like roots through his body. His life was losing meaning. Breaking down. A demon had stolen his very soul.

Days after the demon had revealed himself and a day after he had contacted Quincy, he heard a knock on his door. Swaddled in the nest he had accumulated, he ventured forth, anticipating his guest being someone he did not want to see.

It was his father, toting a plastic grocery bag.

“Hey, dad,” Abel mumbled as he cracked open the door. He squinted at the light; his house had been a void of darkness for days.

“Hey, bud. You doin’ alright?” Sylvester’s face was written with concern.

“I’ll be okay.” The answer came naturally, even if he had no idea when he would ever be okay again.

“Well, I know you’re not a kid no more and you can take care of yourself, but just in case I brought you some medicine,” Slyvester handed him the bag. “Do you need any food or anything?”

“No. Thanks, though. You probably shouldn’t hang around long, I don’t want you to catch whatever it is.”

“Alright,” He shifted awkwardly, shoving his hands in his pants. “Well, I hope you feel better. If you need anything at all, give me a call.”

“Okay.”

“I love you, bud.”

“Love you too,” Abel mumbled, already retreating back inside. Seeing his dad made his heart twist painfully.

Crawling back inside his bed, Abel started weeping. He had spent his life trying to appeal to his father, who so clearly loved him still, and it felt as if it were only a matter of time before he broke and his dad found out everything. Losing his father’s love and respect would hurt worse than anything.

Even if he now suffered for losing Anson’s love.

He began praying for guidance. Abel was lost, and he wanted back that sense of knowing what was right, the correct path for him to choose. He used to think priesthood was his calling, but Anson’s warnings rang in his ears. The realization that he was unhappy with what he had become. That it was not passion that drove him but fear.

That somehow, his happiness mattered.

And as his thoughts turned to Anson his prayers were given to the demon, now shamefully asking Anson for help in choosing. Anson seemed to know him better than himself, if the twenty-nine years worth of poor decisions were anything to go by. Somehow he felt more comfort than he did with asking God. He felt like Anson would listen if he were there. He suddenly felt that God had been ignoring him all these years instead of helping him, because how could he be so miserable for so long if that were not the case? How could he be this way? Perhaps Anson had been looking out for him after all.

“Abel.”

He opened his eyes and jumped in fright. In his doorway stood the demon himself, wearing a velvety dark robe adorned with a gold trim that hung off his shoulders. Beneath, he wore a black sleeveless shirt which had a hole in the chest, showing off his dark green skin. His horns, large enough to scrape the top and sides of the doorway to his bedroom, were crowned with gold chains and dazzling gems. In such garments, he looked unearthly. He was, after all, a being of divinity.

Abel clutched his chest, his heart having raced with adrenaline at the sudden intrusion. He sat up, sitting at the edge of his bed. “Good Lord, you frightened me. How’d you get in here?”

“Now that you know I’m not human, I figured I no longer need to give you the illusion that I travel from place to place.”

“Why are you here?”

Anson stepped in the room, dragging his long robe behind him. It was practically an ocean the way it filled the room with inky black fabric. “You called.”

“I di—You heard?”

“Not many pray to me. Your voice was loud.”

Abel’s cheeks burned. He mumbled offhandedly, “Why are you wearing that?”

Anson smiled. Despite the dark room his teeth shone pearly white.

“These are my clothes.”

Abel drew up his legs, wrapping his arms around his knees. He sighed with the weight of an autumnal rain, bearing down on dead leaves, nourishing no plant with its unforgiving pour. “I don’t know what to do anymore.”

“You’ve already made up your mind,” Anson said.

“No, I haven’t.”

Anson stepped closer, kneeling on the ground in front of him. The floor disappeared under his robe. He placed a hand over his. “Do you want to continue being in the priesthood?”

Abel looked into his glowing eyes and shook his head.

“Do you want to pretend and keep doing the job?”

Again, he shook his head.

“Then you know what to do.”

“Just ‘cause I know what I want, doesn’t mean I know what to do ‘bout it.”

Anson’s face lit up.

“I know what you want to do now.”

Anson stood. Abel leaned back, falling into a lying position on his bed, propped up by his elbows. Anson moved to hover over him. He planted his knee next to his hips, his arms on either side of his head. Abel swallowed nervously as Anson looked at him hungrily.

“Tell me what you want, Abel.”

“I thought you knew.”

“I want to hear it.”

For once, his nerves felt good. Having Anson desire him so flagrantly set that hellfire loose in him again, but it felt right. Anson felt right. The loyalty he had been slowly losing for God poured into the demon above him.

“I want your love.”

—

[chapters]: one | previous | next

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