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popculturebuffet · 4 years ago

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Final Space: And Into The Fire Review or Now with 110% More Homoerotic Telepathy

Welcome new and old to my first Final Space review! If you’ve never seen the blog before, and given this is the first “new” series i’ve covered as it come out in some time that’s probably quite a few of you, welcome. I’m Jake, I do recaps and reviews of various animated shows and comics, mostly just stuff I want to do, often on comission (5 dollars an episode if theres any episode of the first two seasons of this show or any episode of any other show you’d like tos ee me cover), or for my patreon patreon.com/popculturebuffet. And it is my utmost honor to add this show to my rotating roster of shows I cover as they come out.

I friggin love Final Space. I was intrigued by it back when TBS released the animatics alongside Close Enough (Wth the two shows ironically finally together on HBO max as of earlier this month), for their doomed block. I heard a lot of good things about season 1.. and let it get away from me, not watching it till Season 2. But both seasons had more than enough to pull me in with intriguging characters, even greater jokes and a truly unique idea for a premise involving giant monsters, an edltrich god and lots of cookies.

So while it took an extra year given Covid, I’m super friggin pumped to get into season 3 at long last after the hell of a cliffhanger, especially since ironically last night I saw Steven Yeun’s oscar nominated performance in “Minari”. Now i get to watch him play a cat teenager again too.. and in a few days Mark friggin Grayson. It’s a good week to be a fan of his is what i’m saying and a good week in general.

Previously on Final Space Yo!: Since it’s been a year and while the series provides a recap , I’m going to be doing these anyway so:

Our heroes finally got all 5 dimensional keys and freed Bolo, and in the process also freed Avacato from Invictus, the horrifying entity controlling final space. Meanwhile Tribore got Sheryl to stop being a selfish prick and she joined the team trying to be a better mother from now on. But freeing Bolo came at a high cost as Nightfall sacrified herself as the sixth key (KVN was natrually both Gary and Bolo’s first choice, but was inllegible. ) So we ended the season with our heroes entering Final Space and Gary reuniting with Quinn.... while Invictus loomed. So over a year later we finally get some answers so join me under the cut for spoilers, recaps, and homoerotic text ahoy.

Something i’m doing since both the roster keeps changing.. and as I correctly guessed from the trailer, and the general tone of the promos for this season, that everyone won’t be all together all season.. or even in one piece.. i’ll be doing a silver age style roll call to let us know who all we have on the Team Squad for the episode Roll Call: Gary, Quinn, Avacato, Little Cato, Ash, Fox, KVN, HUE, AVA, Sheryl, Bolo, and Tribore

So we pick up right where we left off, Gary tearfully reuniting with Quinn, with Quinn wishing he hadn’t come for her, and Gary being Gary naturally having ignored that, and actually been more determined since that made it forbidden which made it extra tempting and him want to extra do it. God I missed this glorious idiot let me tell you.

So things are quickly interrupted by invictus, who turns out to be a giant flaming head.. thing... and chases them and the crimson light, which has to start speeding with our heroes tethered to the outside, Quinn holding onto Gary.

So we get one hell of a thrilling chase as the Crimson Light outspeeds the demon head and runs into two titans, but Bolo shows up to take out one, with Mooncake trying his dimension shattering blast thingy on Invictus.. and naturlaly g ven this is the big bad we need to show off how horrying they are, and it does NOTHING. But Gary catches his little buddy so we’re alright.

Sheryl also shows off her badass bonafieds by LIGHTFOLDING THROUGH A TITAN... granted she still has some parenting skills to learn as “lightfolding while your son is hanging out the back through an edltrich god” really isn’t a motherly thing to do.. but neither is trying to murder your child several times or blaming him for how shitty your life turned out so ANYTHING is a step up for her.

But.. it’s not enough. While she does manage to kill ONE the Crimson Light is too badly damaged to go on and we get two tragic deaths in one go... The Team Squad is forced to abandon the Crimson Light.. and AVA is too damaged to Upload into HUE. “I’m Sad” “For who?” “For you.. and for us. “ God damn Tom Kenny is amazing. You don’t need me telling you that, but sometimes you need a reminder.

So our heroes end up on a desolate mystery world, stranded in final space with no ship, no suplies and no hope. The only thing to do now is survivie and hope they can continue the mission at some point.

ONE MONTH LATER

Things have not gotten any better, as naturally , our heroes have only found weird cartoon eyed worms that regrow their heads when you bite them off. So while this means unlimited food, it’s also disgusting and Garry hates it. “This may be a head but it tastes like a butt”. Quinn and Tribore are with him and Quinn hasn’t been ready to talk about her experiences trapped in this hellscape and still isn’t but being a good dude, Gary dosen’t push her on it. Though the weird red veiny thing on her arm tells me maybe one of you should speed that up before she explodes or gets cronnenburgy. Just saying. I’ll also say i’m not huge on the one month time skip, as while I feel they probably have a reason for being that specific i’ts a bit TOO long and I question why have that long a period of a jump, not the longest but still long enough for things to happen with nothing changingin that time? Still it’s a minor nitpick in an otherwise fantastic episode so I can let it go, I just don’t get it.

What we do get is some Gary Corpses dropping and Invictius puppeting them... i’m with gary that is bowel openingly scary. I also do like how despite the FAR more dire circumstances, they still get in the requisite shenanigans this series requires. I’ts not to the network mandated subplot levels where it distracts, but it’s enough to help ease the terror of the situation and isn’t around for situations like the opening where it really SHOULDN’T be. As the series always has when something big happens, the bollocks goes away. Once we’re in between we can get back to literal pissing contests, KVN leading a crowd to their deaths and HUE in a pimp hat like god intended.

So yeah our heroes have to outrun the horrible horde of Gary’s, though Little Cato catches on something’s wrong as Tribore makes gary cary him as foreshadowing for later and Sends mooncake down to asssit. Our heroes escape.. but a cave in happens.

After the break, Gary wakes up confused with the party now split in two: Gary, Quinn, KVN, Tribore and HUE on one side and Avacato, Ash, Fox, Little Cato and Sheryl on the other. So Gary does the logical thing... and take his shirt off telling Avacato to feel him.

I mean I didn’t even ship them before this scene but... Gary claims because of their bond he can telepahtically connect with Avacato. That’s normal Gary shenanigans.. except not only does he shrug off his girlfriend asking why they can’t do that.. but it WORKS. We have a scene of the two telepahtically talking in a wheatfield that is so homerotic I guarantee there only wasn’t the Careless Whisper sax because they couldn’t afford it.. or their saving it for later this season. Look sometimes you don’t ship a ship because you just.. dont’ care that strongly one way or another and sometimes you just need an incredibly gay scene to see the light. Same thing happened with Weblena same thing here.

Fox also says “that was glorious to watch” same man. That was freaking art. So our heroes split up into three plots. As usual for me

Team Gary: So yeah... Triobore’s pregnant. No way to really softball into that. He’s been pregnant this whole time. So we get a stupid and mildly horrifying gross out sequence with Gary having to look Triobore in teh eyes and Quinn having to “uncork him”. Which is code for ... you know what i’m not going to say it. If you’ve seen the episode you know and if not your better off not visualizing it trust me. Point is this whole sequence is dumb and the worst part of the episode by far. And the series CAN do good gross out. While Olan Rodgers regrets it, the pissing contest was one of the funniest scenes of season 2, and managed to make a gross idea on paper actually pretty damn funny. This.. this is just “Haha males giving birth and tribore’s an asshole”. There’s no joke here just a .. plug. .. gah.. the vomit is rising let me tell you.

We do get something good out of this nightmare, Tribore’s son who hatches as the army of gary’s dig their way in, Quanstranstro, who rapidly ages into a stylsih spanish speaking adult badass. He is fucking awesome and a great addition to the team and the sheer.. oddity of his birth is wonderful even if the actual birthing was not. Then the climax happens so before that.

Team Avacato:

Avacato and Co come across a sleeping giant robot cyborg .. thingy. Naturally Fox wakes him up. Little Cato remains not suprised. It occelates between panicking over it’s legs being gone and amenisa and is pretty damn funny. It’s voiced by John Dimagio. But it gets serious as we find out nothing has ever made it out of final space, and things.. change the longer there there. And Quinn’s been there several months if not a year. Whuh oh. This part is much better both due to better jokes and plot advancment.. though again Quanstrano is still fucking amazing.

Team Bolo: Bolo meanwhile returns and fights a titan, and has mooncake help him rather htan join the others, but looses, hitting the planet with his body.. I mean he might not get back up.. but the impact shatters the caverns and causes an explosion. Everyone but Gary, Quinn, KVN and HUE are MIA, as our remaining party find earth floating overhead.

TO BE CONTINUED>

Final Thoughts: A decent start to the season. Like I said the whole birthing sequence can die in a fire and reminds me of the terrible comedy subplots adult swim wanted grafted onto two episodes.. but otherwise it’s a tense stark opener that sets up the bleak tone while still keeping the series rediciulous shenanigans in tact. It’s the perfect welcome back after so long. I mean the gay telepathy alone would make it a winner.

Next Time on This Blog: We dive into a little history with HIsteria. See you at the next rainbow.

#final space #gary goodspeed #avacato #little cato #quinn airgon #ash grayven #fox #KVN #HUE #AVA #invictus #bollo #sheryl goodspeed #tribore menendez

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official-weasley · 4 years ago

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The Irreplaceable Charlie Weasley: Pt. 3, Ch. 8

PART 3: THE YEAR OF QUIDDITCH & MAGICAL CREATURES Chapter 8 - A Very Nova Idea

Bill

A knock on my dormitory door woke me up. I groaned as I looked at my roommate who was still sleeping. I swear there's not a noise in the world that could wake him up.

I yawned and went to open the door.

“Charlie? Are you okay, why are you knocking on my door this early in the morning?” I yawned again.

“It's a beautiful Saturday and Nova and I were talking and you seem to be inside your room quite a lot lately, so we decided to take you down to the Lake.” He beamed at me. “Or drag you, you know, in case you wouldn't want to come willingly.”

I was surprised that my little brother noticed anything unusual about my routine when all he could talk about were Dragons and his Care of Magical Creatures class. However, I must admit I was rather touched that they were worried about me.

They were right about me being inside a lot. These days it seemed that the only time I left my room or the Library was for food or classes. O.W.L.s were approaching fast and I was getting more nervous by the minute! And as if that wasn't enough I had my Career Advice Meeting this Monday and I can't tell you how many nights I didn't sleep because of that and if I did manage to fall asleep I was dreaming that Professor McGonagall told me I would never be a Curse Breaker and that there's an open position as Filch's assistant and that I might get that job.

I would rather admit to my mother that I had a crush on Emily Tyler than be Filch's assistant.

“Hello! Bill, did you fall back asleep?” Charlie snapped me out of it.

“Huh, yes! I will go with you. Some air will do me good. Let me just grab my books.” I was ready to turn around and go to my desk when Charlie stopped me.

“No, books. You need a break, mate.” He grabbed my hand and dragged me down to the Common Room and through the Portrait Hole where Nova was waiting for us.

“Good morning, Bill!” She was wide awake and grinning.

“Hi, Nova. How are you?” I smiled back, though not as enthusiastically as her.

“The question is Bill,” she grabbed my other hand, and together with Charlie they started pushing me down the stairs and through the corridor, “how are YOU?”

“I...I'm fine.” I was beginning to get confused as to why they cared so much about my well-being all of a sudden.

“Oh, really?” Nova narrowed her eyes. “Did you know that I said hello to you yesterday at the Library and I didn't get as much as a sound back?”

“You did?” I couldn't recall that happening.

“Uh-huh. Do you know what that means?” Charlie spoke now even though I think he didn't have anything to do with the Library scene at all.

“That I was too deep in my studying to say hello?” I guessed.

“Yes, and it also means you need a break from it and stop obsessing over your Career Advice Meeting.” Nova added.

“Why do you care so much?” We suddenly stopped and they both turned to me.

“Because you're my brother and believe it or not, I do care about you.” Charlie frowned at me as if he couldn't believe I was questioning their motive.

“And you're my friend,” Nova spoke now, “you helped me with my Quidditch situation with Charlie and you have such dark circles under your eyes that even Tonks noticed and you know she's oblivious to these things.”

They didn't let go of me until we got down to the Lake. They placed a blanket on the ground and made me sit. Nova sat on my right and Charlie sat on my left side, making sure I wouldn't escape.

“So...” I scratched the top of my head. “What now?”

“Now, we are going to sit here in peace, and then you will tell us everything that is on your mind and all your worries.” Nova grinned at me.

“But why? I am fine, I promise.” I looked puzzled.

“You are not fine, Bill Weasley. Your roommate told me you barely sleep at night, that you have nightmares and that you keep talking in your sleep about being Filch's assistant and if that isn't a cry for help, I don't know what is.” I have never seen Charlie so in command. I was the one usually lecturing and scolding him for doing stupid stuff. And how did my roommate know any of these things if he was fast asleep every night?

“Okay, MUM!” I ruffled his hair and got punched in the ribs for mocking him.

“So, Mr. Weasley,” Nova corrected her imaginary glasses, her voice very official, “how is the studying for O.W.L.s going?”

“I am doing pretty good with Defense Against the Dark Arts. Penny started helping me with my Potions last week and we are having a study group for Charms and Herbology.” I rubbed my chin, trying to remember more subjects.

“Professor Kettleburn told me that I have nothing to worry about when it comes to his subject. But I haven't started with Ancient Runes or History of Magic or Astronomy or...” Nova must've sensed the panic in my voice as she put a finger on my mouth to make me stop talking.

“Bill, you still have time to study for your O.W.L.s!The fact that you did so much for so many subjects already is a good start. You're going to do fine.” Nova squeezed my shoulder.

“And what are you so afraid of anyway? You are smart and on top of the class in most subjects.” Charlie added.

“I know. But you'll see the amount of pressure this is when you get to your Fifth Year, especially since you two are like me and you know what you want to do already.” I tried to explain.

“How well do you have to do on your O.W.L.s to become a Curse Breaker?” Nova seemed to share my worry now.

“I will find out more in my Meeting with McGonagall, but I can imagine that I would need at least an Outstanding or Exceeds Expectation in Defense Against the Dark Arts, Charms and Transfiguration. I would have to do good in Arithmancy as well and in Ancient Runes and you do need both.” They were listening to me very attentively. I can't deny that it felt good talking about this with someone.

“Aren't that your grades already?” Charlie seemed confused.

“They are, indeed.” I said rather proudly. “Last year I got an O in Defense Against the Dark Arts, Charms, Ancient Runes, and Transfiguration. I got an E in Herbology, Arithmancy, Divination, Care of Magical Creatures, Muggle Studies, and Potions, thanks to Penny. And I got an A in History of Magic and Astronomy.” I counted on my fingers.

I looked at them and they both had their mouths open.

“How can you take so many subjects? How are you managing that?” Nova was perplexed.

“That is a secret between Professor McGonagall and myself.” This was true as she gave me a time-turner in order for me to take all the classes but she made me swear not to tell anybody, not even my family members.

They both narrowed their eyes in suspicion but decided to let it go.

“So if you have such good grades, what are you worried about?” Charlie still didn't seem to understand.

“O.W.L.s and final exams are not the same. Final exams only consist of what you've learned in that year while O.W.L.s have questions from all the past years. Besides, you can get tricky questions during the practical part of the examination and you have to think quick on those.” I explained.

“Bill, knowing you, you will ace all of these subjects like you do every year. I really wouldn't worry so much about it.” Nova bestowed me with a warm smile. “We might be the same in two years and you're going to sit here, giving us a pep talk but we just wanted to see if there is anything we can do to make this easier on you.”

“To be honest, just talking about it makes me feel better. All of my classmates are so busy studying and panicking like I am that we simply don't have the time to chat.” I admitted.

“See, that's why you have us, mate.” Charlie patted my back.

“Now, to a more interesting topic.” He smugged. “What's up with you dreaming about Filch?” Nova giggled at his question.

“Oh,” I blushed and ignored it, “what I am really worried about right now is my Career Advice Meeting on Monday. I know McGonagall will ask me what are my reserve options in case my O.W.L.s won't be up to Curse Breaking standard and I don't have another option. I wanted to be a Curse Breaker for a while and I haven't given much thought to other careers.”

“You have to have other options?!” Charlie was the one panicking now. I couldn't help but laugh. If anyone didn't have a second career option it was definitely him. He has been talking about being a Dragonologist since he could talk.

“I am sure you're going to do just fine.” I ruffled his hair.

“So you don't have a second option, perhaps McGonagall can help you with that.” Nova thought out loud.

“I guess.” I gave it a second thought. “It's just scary to think so far ahead and to think I could do good with my O.W.L.s and my N.E.W.T.s and then fail at my job interview is even scarier.”

“Grades aren't enough to get you the job?” Charlie's voice started to rise again in panic.

“Far from it,” Nova answered for me, “especially for Curse Breakers. They have tough training and a lot of newbies can't take it. My dad told me he was training them last year and he said that out of 20 they only took 4 of them.”

“Oh, sorry Bill, didn't mean to scare you.” She quickly added when she saw my frightened look.

“See, that's why I am panicking about other careers because despite having good grades I can still not make it as a Cur...”

“I have an idea!” Nova interrupted me. “Why haven't I thought about this before!” She stood up at once.

“What are you talking about?” Both Charlie and I asked.

“I can write to my dad and ask him if he has any advice for you to be better prepared when you have your initiation. That way you have almost 3 years to practice and prepare for your job interview!” She started walking towards the Castle.

Charlie and I got up, grabbing the blanket, not even bothering to fold it.

“Where are you going?” I asked as we caught up to her.

“I am going to the Owlery to write to my dad at once.” She smiled, being proud of her idea.

“You would really do this for me, Nova?” It warmed my heart to have such an amazing friend.

“Get off it Bill, of course, she would!” Charlie answered on her behalf.

We followed her to the Owlery where she wrote a rather long letter to her dad. She explained that I wanted to be a Curse Breaker and that I was panicking a lot about my O.W.L.s and the fact that I don't have a second career option, something I reckoned she could've left out of the letter. She told him all about my grades and she asked him if he has any tips for me and what can I do to start preparing for the job.

She carefully folded the parchment, took an envelope from her bag, which made me smile because I taught her to always carry a few in her bag, put the letter inside, and gave it to Pip.

Pip hooted excitedly every time he was given a job. We all patted him on the head and he was on his way.

I decided that Charlie and Nova were right and I should take it easy. It was only March and I had more than enough time to study and didn't want to get burned out so I decided to spend my entire day with them and their friends.

Funny enough Penny started nagging the lot about their exams the minute we sat down for dinner. I haven't the slightest what their grades would be if she wasn't so persistent all year round.

I even took the time to just sit in front of the fireplace in Gryffindor Common Room and stare at Emily Tyler and daydream about being her boyfriend.

On Sunday morning I decided to speak to my roommate about the fact that he knew so much about what's going on in our dormitory at night. It turned out that he was just as nervous as I was about our O.W.L.s and that he secretly studied when I was sleeping.

We made a pact to study together as we both needed as many O.W.L.s as we could get since he wanted to become an Auror.

The next day was the Career Advice Meeting day. I hoped that when McGonagall is done with me I will stop having nightmares about it.

I had breakfast with Nova and Penny and Nova hasn't received an answer from her dad yet. I then joined my classmates in front of McGonagall's office where we were called in one by one to have our evaluation.

“Mr. Weasley, I understand you want to become a Curse Breaker.” She looked at me through her squared glasses.

“Yes, Professor.” I nodded.

“Well if you do as good on your O.W.L.s as you are doing in your classes so far, I don't see why that couldn't be achieved.” Her lips curved a little.

“You would need,” she continued, “an Outstanding in Defense Against the Dark Arts, Arithmancy and Ancient Runes. Having an O in Potions wouldn't be so bad either but I can see that that is not your strong suit.” She was looking at the parchment with my grades on it.

“An E in Charms and Transfiguration would be very desirable, along with Herbology as it can come in handy.” She was now looking at me again. I was sitting still as a statue and my heart was beating faster than when I see Emily in the Common Room.

“If you get an A in everything else, you should be fine. Just try to get an O in Potions as Professor Snape doesn't except anyone below that level for his N.E.W.T. studies.” She stopped and pursed her lips. I still didn't move. I nodded, however.

“How about your other career options?” She sounded exactly as in my nightmares.

“That's the problem Professor, I don't have any.” I bowed my head. I knew she was going to be disappointed in me. I was a Prefect, had good grades, and was always well-behaved but didn't have a second career option.

“You know, Mr. Weasley, sometimes having just one option is the best option.” My eyes almost fell out as I couldn't believe her answer as it was completely different than the one from my dreams.

“I'm not sure I follow, Professor.” Was all I could manage in reply.

“When we only have one goal, we tend to focus more on it and will do everything in our power to achieve it.” She smiled warmly. “If we know we have another option, we might not put all of our attention into the primary goal as we know we have a cushion to ease our fall.” She did make a good point.

“I don't think I ever thought about it that way before.” I was being honest.

“Mr. Weasley, try to cut yourself some slack and get a whiff of fresh air here and there. You are one of my best students and I do not doubt that you are going to do just fine.” She smiled and gave me a little nod.

“Thank you, Professor. This helped me a lot.” I stood up, smiled back, and exited her office.

I don't think I could've shown it more that I was having a good day when I entered the Great Hall and sat down next to Charlie, Nova, and Tulip.

“Someone's in a good mood.” Charlie said with a mouth full of food.

“So how did it go?” Nova stood up from where she was sitting on Charlie's left side and sat down next to me and shook my shoulder.

“It went really well. McGonagall said I have nothing to worry about. Perhaps I could do a bit better with Potions but other than that I think I'm good.” I grinned.

“Eh, nothing Penny can't fix.” Tulip smiled.

“We told you you overreacted, mate. Really good news, though.” Charlie put his spoon down to pat me on my back.

“Speaking of good news...” I turned to Nova who was shaking as she couldn't wait to tell me something.

“Guess who came back today?” She said without waiting for me to ask what the news was. I rubbed my chin, thinking for a second who could it be. Then it dawned on me.

“Pip?” I asked hopefully. She nodded and pulled a letter from her back pocket and handed it to me.

I opened it and started reading.

My dear pumpkin,

there is simply too much information to discuss this over a letter.

I am in charge of the Internship Program we are having this Summer and if Bill doesn't have anything else planned I would be glad to put him on the list. The Internship is on me, so he needn't worry about paying as I would be glad to have him on my team and we can discuss everything then!

Defense Against the Dark Arts and Ancient Runes are very important so he should be focusing on these two subjects along with Charms and Arithmancy but I am sure he is already aware of that.

And a piece of advice: tell Bill to stop worrying too much. With the grades as you described, he is more than qualified for the job already and I am sure he is going to do fine. And besides, he is not only your friend he is also my best friend's son, meaning I will be sure to put in a good word for him.

If he decides to take me up on my offer for the Internship, he will already have an advantage when we pick our new Curse Breakers!

Send Pip back with his answer and say hello to Charlie and the rest of your friends!

I miss you my little pumpkin!

Love, Dad

“He...he is offering me a Summer Internship?!” I couldn't believe what I just read so much that I started reading the letter again.

“So, I am assuming Pip should send a yes back to my dad?” I looked at Nova, her head was leaning on her hand and she had the biggest grin across her face.

“Nova, I...I don't know what to say.” I was speechless. “Do you know what this means for my career?”

“I do! And you don't have to say anything! I heard about the Internship last Summer and was going to convince dad to take you in with or without your nightmares about being Filch's Assistant.” Tulip almost spat out her juice, laughing so hard, when she heard about my dreams.

“Thank you, Nova. You are an amazing friend!” I pulled her into a tight hug as I was lost for words. I couldn't believe she was already thinking of asking her dad to get me in for the Summer Internship. I don't recall anyone doing something so nice for me before.

Now I understood why mum wanted her in the family.

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thechangeling · 4 years ago

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Night blooming

Ok so remember when I said I was gonna write another wlw one shot about my OC and Thais Pedroso? Well I finally finished it. This is a sequel to Only Love. I reccomend you read that one first. It's on my Ao3. Also there are two Buffy references in here. If you catch them you get a cookie.

She was beautiful. Utterly stunning. Like a shining becon of angelic radiance and power. But what honestly made Thais so alluring was her kindness and selflessness. She was the kind if girl who held her heart out before her for everyone to see. You could see it in her smile, hear it in her laugh, you could see it reflected in her paintings.

Janessa was the kind of girl who had thought she had given up on the goodness of humanity a very long time ago. She had seen how cruel people could be first hand during her human life and even now as a vampire. Only now she had power to protect her and a dangerous appetite that was never full.

In theory maybe this was a bad idea. Maybe in theory a lot of Nessie's ideas were bad ideas. But after that kiss in her room. After Thais had slept in her bed and asked Janessa to sing to her. Nessie couldn't lie to herself anymore.

"So where are we exactly?" Thais asked, stepping of Janessa's motorcycle, eager to be done riding it. Janessa hadn't had a helmet available since she never road with one. Thais was shocked when she told her.

"Don't you need one?" She had asked her.

"Nope I'm dead remember? Plus vampires are pretty much indestructible unless-"

"Unless you get them in the heart," Thais had chimed in. She sounded as if she was reciting something taken directly from a textbook.

She probably was.

It was a little unsettling.

They had pulled up to what looked to be an abandoned building. It was dark and worn down, with crumbling broken edges.

"It's a surprise," Janessa answered playfully. Thais rolled her eyes good naturedly. Janessa laughed.

"Come on angel, dont you trust me?"

Thais deliberated this for awhile then finally nodded. "Ok fine, lead me to my death." She held out her hand for Janessa to take.

If Nessie was alive, her heart would probably be racing. She smiled in spite if herself and took Thais's hand.

Thais instantly tensed up. "By the angel you're cold!" She complained. Janessa rolled her eyes fondly.

"I am once again, reminding you that I'm a vampire," she pointed out. "Come on."

She led Thais towards the entrance of the building. Thais seemed to notice something of to the side and gasped excitedly.

"Look!" She pulled Nessie towards what appeared to be a patch of flowers. "Jasmines! They're night blooming!" Thais let go of Janessa's hand to pick one and handed it to her.

"Just like you."

A shadowhunter had just given Janessa a flower. A pretty girl had just given her a flower. Janessa needed oxygen. She didnt need to breathe but somehow she felt like she was suffocating.

Janessa felt really strange. She had been for weeks whenever she was around Thais. There were all kinds of new emotions that she wasn't really prepared to deal with. Nor did she want to.

Janessa shook it off. She reached forward and took the flower from Thais. Nessie felt her shiver slightly when their fingers touched. Thais was smiling at her, her expression was open and warm the same way it always was. Janessa wished she could be the same way.

She wished she knew how.

Janessa made an effort to stop gaping and smiled. "Thanks angel. It's beautiful." Thais shrugged.

"I know your probably not a flowers type of person-" she started, ducking her gaze shyly. Nessie shook her head adamantly.

"No shut up, I like my flower!" She protested jokingly. "And I actually am a flowers person, it's just that no one's ever given me them before." Thais smiled at her shyly, lifting her hand to push Janessa's hair back behind her ear.

"Me neither," she admitted. Nessie found herself instinctively leaning into her touch.

She was warm. Janessa grinned unselfconsciously for a moment before realizing she was showing her fangs. "Sorry!" Janessa exclaimed. But Thais appeared to be unfazed.

She shook her head smiling. Thais's eyes were shining like bright beautiful obsidian stones. Her fingertips felt soft against Nessie's skin. She gulped.

"I didn't even notice," Thais whispered.

Janessa held her gaze for a moment then remembered why they were there in the first place. She shook herself out of her stupor.

"Come on let's go inside." She took Thais's hand again and guided her towards the building. Thais groaned reluctantly, but still followed.

"I swear this is how horror movies start Nessie," she grumbled. Janessa laughed.

"Well if there's anything big and bad lurking in the shadows angel I promise to protect you," she teased.

"Oh please I'll be the one protecting you. I'm the one with combat training."

"Yeah but I'm the one with the scary teeth," Janessa countered playfully. Thais rolled her eyes and allowed Nessie to lead her into the building.

It was crumbled and run down with weeds growing out in every direction, but when they finally made it down to the center wall, Thais gasped.

The entire wall was covered in street art. More specifically street art like looked like it belonged in Brazil. At least according to pictures Janessa had seen.

"Oh by the angel, it's beautiful!" Thais exclaimed. "It looks just like the stuff in São Paulo!" She traced her fingers across the bumpy cement. "I used to paint like this sometimes."

Janessa raised an eyebrow. "You mean spray paint?" She asked skeptically. "I have a hard time picturing a shadowhunter doing graffiti art for some reason." Thais laughed and it made Janessa want to laugh as well.

"Yes I could see why you would think that," Thais admitted, the smile leaving her face. Shadowhunters usually aren't encouraged to pursue the arts. But I love it." Thais turned away from Thais and continued tracing the outline of one of the drawings. Nessie followed her as she walked.

"When I was a kid, everytime I would be super excited and happy and have a ton of energy, I used to run around and destroy the house by drawing all over the walls. At the time the consequences, or the concept of right and wrong, wouldn't faze me," Thais explained. She sounded a little nervous to be telling Janessa this.

Janessa carefully walked up behind her and placed a hand on her shoulder, gently spinning Thais around to face her. "Why not?" She asked.

Thais looked haunted. "Because I didn't realize what I was doing at the time. I didn't know and I don't know why. Sometimes I have these moments where I just get really depressed and heavy for no reason and I dont leave my bed for days and other times it's like I'm on top of the world and I feel like I'm floating on clouds until I run out into traffic and nearly get run over," she murmered. She was avoiding Janessa's gaze.

Thais shook her head as if she was clearing dust from it. "Anyways the point is, spraying and painting has always helped me feel better. More human. One of the things I hate about shadowhunters is there's so much focus on death and violence and war," she said bitterly. "We're trained that our emotions are distractions. To feel is to be weak, and stuff like art, music or dancing, they're made from feelings. I think that's why shadowhinters are persuaded not to pursue them."

Thais sighed, glancing back over to the wall of street art. Janessa stayed silent, allowing Thais time to think.

Thais turned back to look at Janessa her eyes were shining again as she smiled slightly. "But I mean, who wants to live in a world without feelings?" She asked, stepping closer to Janessa.

Nessie was suddenly hyper aware of Thais's proximity to her. Her lips were curved and full and soft looking. She could remember their first kiss quite vividly, the way Thais tasted, the feeling of her warm body pressed against Janessa's.

The smell of Thais's blood overwhelming her.

Nessie reached out and cradled the sides of her face, rubbing her thumb against the edge of Thais's cheekbone. "You're right," she whispered in response to Thais's earlier statement. "There's nothing without feelings." Janessa lowered her head so that their lips were almost touching, paused for a moment to see if Thais would back out, and when she didn't, Nessie kissed her slowly.

Janessa heard Thais's heart sped up the same way it did the first time they kissed. She smiled slightly and deepened the kiss, pushing her tounge against Thais's as she felt Thais grip her arms tighter, pulling against the buckles on Nessie's leather jacket. She continued to kiss her feverishly pushing Thais's hair back. It was incredibly thick and curly, so Janessa couldn't really run in fingers through it very well.

Nessie ran her arms down Thais's shoulders to her waist and Thais made a squeaking type noise and jumped back.

"Cold Nessie!" She cried out. Janessa laughed.

"Aw I'm sorry angel. You're just gonna have to get used to it," she cooed. Thais playfully rolled her eyes.

She was silent for a moment then, studying Janessa carefully with her dark eyes. "You know it's interesting," she mused. "I used to believe that vampires couldn't feel things like love and compassion." Janessa narrowed her eyes.

This was a strange thing to be admitting on their first date but sure, why not?

"But then I heard you sing," Thais continued. "I heard you sing and it was so beautiful. Not just because you're good, because you are very good. But because you sing with so much passion and emotion," Thais exclaimed. "And that's when I knew that I was wrong, and that I care about you."

Janessa couldn't help but grin. "God you are so cute," she giggled.

Thais shrugged. "I'm not that cute. Also another thing happened that night when I saw you perform that I thought you should know about," she said innocently.

Nessie was curious. "What?"

Thais smirked in a way that was very not angel like. "I'll tell you once we get back to the institute." Janessa bit her lip to avoid letting out a moan.

"Well fuck then snap some pictures of the wall and let's get out of here," Nessie exclaimed, rushing towards the exit. Thais laughed and raced after her.

"Its fine. We can always come back," she pointed out. "Maybe this could be our special place."

Janessa felt another overwhelming rush of feeling overtake her. She tried not to let it show.

'Yeah," she answered, feeling light and fluffy and on top of the world, just like Thais had described before.

Just be careful, a voice inside her said. Make sure you don't go running out into traffic.

Keep your guard up Nessie.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Just for frame of reference, this is my idea of Janessa.

@eutony-in-whisper @swordwifes @ti-bae-rius @dianasarrow @stxr-thxif @thelandunderthehilll @magnus-the-fabulous-entp-bane @talia-lightwood

#twp #the wicked powers #tsc #Kaitlin's oc #Thais Pedroso #wlw #kaitlin'swriting

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stabletwooriginals · 4 years ago

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CHAPTER TWO: Equestrian Wasteland

Panic attack! A surprising, yet well described reaction LittlePip has to the vastness of the great outdoors. The little ghost story about the outside just being a black void also comes back one final time.

The prospect of finding Velvet shrinking dramatically phases LittlePip surprisingly little. Instead she just kinda starts looking for her by seeking a high vantage point. This pro-active attitude and little time spent on feeling sorry for herself is endearing, as well. I think this is gonna change at certain points, considering all the stuff that is going to happen to her. But maybe I'm confusing my memories with Project Horizons, in which the main character spends quite some time feeling sorry for herself. (And considering what happens to her, I don't really blame her.)

I love the light emitted by a terminal described as "the soft green glow of a poisoned apple". Horse gonna think of apples.

LittlePip remarks on the sturdiness of the StableTec terminals, looking new while everything around it decayed in some form. I think this actually has a (horrifying) explanation in lore. But we won't get to it for a while.

On it, we get a message from Velvet asking, or rather pleading the reader not to look for her. LittlePip's enthusiasm is curbed by it, but not her plan. While she is considering her options she gets distracted by a light in the distance. So, uh, the issue that Velvet doesn’t want to return just gets shoved to the back row until it has to be confronted again at a later date. Seeing as finding Velvet is the bigger issue anyway, that's not very hard to accept for now, at least.

Oh and there is a encrypted message on there too. We don't learn anything useful about it and LittlePip downloads it for the heck of it. In my opinion, a weird place to stick this beat, as it draws attention only to get pushed aside immediately again and the payoff it has at the end of the chapter brings a minor revelation at best. This information could have been given later as well.

Now I was forced to admit how foalish that vision was.

Reading FoE made me realize they say "foalish" in the original show too. At least in season 1, which is all that existed during the time FoE was being written. Isn't that wild? Discord gets a mention very late into the story, otherwise all the world building is propped up on lore that existed *before* the fandom really reached it's peak!

And LittlePip runs straight into a slaver trap. I appreciate the effort to have her not recognize the shotgun and how the details of the situation slowly unravel until the dreaded clarification "They're slavers, you idiot". Makes it relatable that she fell for their trap.

Thinking about the slavers LittlePip mentions her "repertoire of colorful metaphors". Interesting to tell us about it instead of letting us see for ourselves later. Because, well, she undoubtedly does have quite the repertoire of colorful metaphors.

I absolutely love that the description of the music the Spritebots makes captures the song Pinkie Pie uses in the episode "Swarm of the Century" to remove the Parasprites perfectly. Even the first time reading I had that song in my head at this point.

LittlePip being a swift learner is yet another endearing trait on display when she sees one of the slavers fire his shotgun at the Spritebot and notices how the weapon works. Let's hope there is some kind of fight soon where she gets to implement this newfound knowledge!

I wonder why the raiders decided to attack the slavers. The slavers clearly didn't anticipate this and I doubt LittlePip or Montgomery Jack (the other slave) are such evidently high-tier cargo worth stealing. But hey, I got my wish for a fight and establishing LittlePip's talent with a bobby pin and screwdriver to unlock her shackles is already paying off too.

This kinda leads into a larger question of what raiders are and what they want, but I'll save that for later. Once we met a lot more of them.

Well, seeing how the raiders are beating them up, that probably wasn't why they started the fight either. Also, like with the slavers before, they throw in a threat of sexual violence against LittlePip that feels kinda cheap to me. Like, yo, enslaving her and/or threatening to kill her apparently isn't enough to paint them as bad guys? I understand that this is mainly a taste thing, as some people don't mind a story that is painted this dark this casually. I just feel like the story would not lose it's tone without them, while being more upsetting than it needs to be with them. At least here, in Chapter Two.

LittlePip’s first fight is awesome. It's scary, it's fast and has a few surprises. The biggest one probably being that the question of killing others hasn't come up yet. If we are familiar with Fallout (at least 3 and onward) this shouldn't be a hard question to answer, but LittlePip tries to avoid it here.

Montgomery, like a more experienced Fallout player however, finishes the raider off and starts to loot them. Showing LittlePip the ropes of the game. How nice of him. Then he robs her. That's not how I play Fallout, but the games pride themselves with their choice of options, I guess.

That he instructs LittlePip to check the bodies, she therefore has to puke into the river because of it and sees Montgomery's shotgun reflected in the water behind her head is just great dramatic storytelling. I can just see the movie version of this in my minds eye.

However, LittlePip actually manages to get out of this with a little luck in finding the raiders shotgun next to her (which is a combat shotgun, unlike the regular one the slaver had and Montgomery is holding now) and by packing everything she learned about the two weapons into a convincing argument. Making her win the fight before it started, which is just genuinely bad-ass.

Finally LittlePip makes it into Ponyville -- pursued by a sniper. Can't catch a break!

No, she or he could just wait until I came out.

Something that might not be very noticeable yet is how FoE has kind of a inverted societal structure when it comes to gender. MLP had this too, to a degree, as it was targeting young girls. Here, we can see it transform the order pronouns are used in a common phrase. It might read as a typo or error but we will see that female characters tend to enjoy higher privileges and hold the highest positions of power. Of course that would affect their language as much as other phrases are transformed due to them being horses. See: "What the hay?"

A pile of torn-up cloth rotted in a corner, smelling foul, like ponies had urinated on it repeatedly.

Nooo, Rarity's work and art :(

Finally, we get to read the encrypted message from earlier. It's Applebloom’s final words to Sweetie Belle, letting us realize that at least some of the Apple Family has been in Stable Two when it closed and it's first Overmare was Sweetie Belle, Rarity's younger sister. That’s cool to know, but doesn’t affect much of our understanding of anything yet.

Level Up! New Perk: Horse Sense. As we saw, LittlePip is a swift learner. I usually feel like whatever LittlePip learned in the chapter influences the perk she receives at the end. But shouldn't a perk only affect her after she got it? The allusions to RPG mechanics kinda fall apart a little bit when you think too hard about them.

Since they are a "Footnote" I'll just imagine that LittlePip leveled up and received the perk sometime *during* the chapter. Ah, now the world is right again.

#fallout equestria #my little pony #fan fiction #reading #reread #littlepip #ponyville

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kpurereactions · 5 years ago

Text

Love Shot

CHAPTER 1

A/N: Hello lovelies, Ive been working on this piece for quite a while now and im finally ready to post it. This was inspired by one of my favorite fics of all time, Good Girl, but given my own little twist. I hope you all love Love Shot as much as I do.

Pairing: Exo x Reader

Rating: Drama, Angst, Smut, Fluff

WARNINGS: Language, Eventual Violence, Lots of Smut Later on

Chapter | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |

I let a smile touch my lips before taking a deep breath in, nodding once at the crisp evening air before turning to lock the door of my new combined studio and apartment. It was the first day where fall really felt like fall. The scent of rain lingered under the dense clouds and the sun was already halfway gone. I had moved back to Seoul only three months ago after being gone for only a little under a year. I had originally came to Seoul to get my masters in painting and painting theory, though I quickly gained enough local fame and connections that no one could quite understand why I left. So I came back.

I stood on the side of the road, my arm outstretched as I wait for a cab. My closest friend from school in the city was opening his gallery tonight and from the posts on my snapchat I could tell a lot of old classmates were already there. Song Mino was the first friend I made when I first moved here. He was talented and refused to fit into the art box the professor tried to force all his students into, as if art should be something someone else tells you to do. It should be your own thing. We had that in common. My style is simplistic. Aesthetic. Easy to look at, but the more you look the more you see behind the top layer. We both strived to challenge the viewer, and because of that we grew really close in our attempt to stick it to the man.

The first show is always the biggest event of an artist's career, and knowing I was seconds away from Mino’s brought another smile to my face as excitement seemed to run through my toes. I couldn't believe how hard he had been working, despite him refusing to let me see anything he had made to showcase.

The gallery itself was breathtaking, I couldn't help but note the obviously more ‘manly’ stain he had chosen for the wooden columns that broke the continuous glass of the front of the gallery. I was the one who helped him make his mind up. I took it in as it was its own work of art before I even walked up the short staircase to the front doors. The tall white walls were similar to my own space, but his had matching wooden floors and walls that were scattered around the room that broke your vision from seeing everything at once. I gave myself another smile as I noticed familiar faces of old classmates and Professors.

It didn't surprise me when I first walked in that I was being asked about the past year and how I’ve been. I was hard to miss, not just because I stood taller than a majority of the women in the room. The constant questioning reminded me why I chose to fail at reaching out when I got back. I made a point to keep trying to catch eye contact with Mino, who only seemed to mask the chuckle from escaping his lips, choosing to leave me to struggle with the boring repetition of the conversations I was having. I finally found the opportunity to excuse myself and all but power walk over to Mino, pretending not to see anyone else I recognized.

“American style!” He said excitedly, pulling me into a hug.

“Don't you ever leave me to the wolves like that again” I whispered in his ear before pulling back. “Mino this is awesome, I’ve only seen a few pieces but im so proud of you!” I said covering up my mild threat before hugging him tightly again. He chuckled with bright eyes before giving my arms a squeeze. His eyes widened as he remembered the man standing next to him.

“Y/n, this is Junmyeon. He is a curator who graduated a few years before us. I've been telling him about your work.” He said as my attention moved to the slick haired man.

“You were talking about me at your own opening?” I said reaching for his hand to shake it.

“I actually asked specifically about you.” Junmyeon said with a soft smile that slowly grew.

“Oh, wow.” I tried to get out past the sound of my heart fluttering at his radiant smile. “Its very nice to meet you then.”

I was informed that Junmyeon was planning on stopping by my studio in the next few days, which brought on a new wave a nerves I've never experienced before. It wasn't until Mino placed his hand on my back to excuse the two of us could I finally breathe.

“Jesus, why is he so intimidating?” I said looking back over my shoulder as he dipped his chin to take a sip of his drink.

“If you think he’s intimidating your crazy” Mino said, leading me over to the first piece he wanted to show me.

“Did he asked to buy any of your work?” I asked before he could change the topic.

“All of it.” Mino said with a big smile.

“All of it?!”

“Yes. He’ll probably buy a lot of your stuff too. It’s more his style anyways.”

“Oh my god.” I said shaking my head.

I let Mino take control of the conversation as he began to explain the clay molded figure in front of us. I spent the rest of my time there following Mino around, while sipping on my wine and listening to him talk. Even though, as much as I was paying attention, it was hard to get your mind off of Junmyeon.

“Promise me you wont sell this one. I know you promised everything but see if this one could be an exception. I want to buy it.” I said pointing at a tall, organic figure of a woman. The memory of when Mino had made it flooded back as it was my first time to ever pose for another artist.

“Ill ask.” he said smiling before taking my hand and leading me to the next piece.

I tried to stay as late as I could. Mino was off somewhere talking art leaving me once again to be interrogated by my former classmates who all seemed to be very smug about the fact that I had yet to have an opening. It didn't matter what valid excuse I would give, they only cared that it hasn't happened yet. Thankfully I must have looked as uncomfortable as I felt since a hand wrapped around my arm to pull me back. I was just about to thank Mino for coming back and saving me when I turned to face Junmyeon.

“You didn't look too excited about that.” He said looking back over to the three girls who were all staring with confused and almost jealous looks in their eyes.

“Good to know it was obvious.” I said taking a sip of wine. Just as I was about to say something else Mino walked up.

“I think I'm going to head out. I have a pick up early in the morning.” I said, trying not to make it sound like I was at my ropes end with the girls who had added whispering to their staring. I smiled and quickly kissed Mino’s cheek softly before turning to Junmyeon and shaking his hand again, trying to do so without having to hear a protest from Mino.

The air outside sobered me up a little, and because of how nice it was outside I couldn't help but smile and start to walk down the sidewalk. Mino’s studio wasn't that far from mine, just a few blocks down and a horseshoe turn away, so I placed my hands in my coat pocket and began to walk. I let my eyes wander from the fashion that was passing me to the way the lights reflected off the puddles left from the rain that morning. Just as I was really starting to enjoy my walk the sky opened again, soft raindrops falling from the sky.

I sighed, of course this would happen. Clocking where I was I dipped into an alley, deciding the fastest way to get out of the rain in my heels would be to cut through the alleyways. Usually this idea was fine. I would maybe run into one or two strangers, but they were usually restaurant owners who were taking the trash out or sweeping their areas so the sound of voices deeper in the alley didn't really bother me.

“Kai come on! Oh my god no.” I heard a man laugh deeper into the darkness of the alley. But as I got closer to my studios back door I realized the figure I could hardly make out at first were men. Multiple men. Usually this wouldn't bother me but as I got closer the feeling of fear in the pit of my stomach started to deepen and deepen.

I took a deep breath when I started to pass them, my heart beating a million miles a minute while trying to keep a poker face to seem unphased so they wouldn't pay me any mind. Until they did.

“Hey wait!” I heard one of them call. I quicken my step slightly. Not to show I was scared, but just incase. “Wait, where are you going? I’ll walk you home.”

I looked up to see a half lit face walking backwards in front of me. I squinted slightly to try to get my eyes to adjust to what was under the ball cap he wore, but there was no use.

‘Shit’ I thought. I was staring too long. I looked away and quickened my step again.

“Oh come on! At least tell me your name!” He shouted after he stopped, his voice now behind me.

I was able to breathe again once my key was in my door, officially sure he stopped following me. But still the shape of the man's mouth was enough to stay in my brain as I flicked the lights to my gallery on and made my way upstairs to my bed.

___

“Mino I swear they were so scary.” I said pushing my denim painting shirt up past my elbows before wrapping my hands around the coffee cup that sat in front of me.

“I just don't understand why you didnt call a cab when you left.” He said sitting back in his chair, obviously taking it out on himself for not seeing me off safely.

“I just wanted to walk. I didn't plan on going through the alley.” I grumbled. I hated when Mino tried to school me. He was only a few months older than I was, and although I knew here it meant something different, he also knew that where I’m from it didn't.

“Do you at least remember what they looked like?” He asked, noticing my mood change.

“Um.. kind of. There were like five or six of them, but I only got a good look at one of them. He was a little taller than you, pillow lips… he was wearing a hat so I really didn't get a good look at his eyes. But he had to have been an athlete of some sort.” I said, my words getting quieter as I realized I would have had nothing to go off of if something bad had happened.

The coffee date ended with Mino once again scolding me, which I knew I deserved, but there was only so much I could take without pouting all the way home. I couldn't help thinking about the man in the hat. Why he was there in the alley with his friends. Why did he follow me, but then give up so easily? It's not like his friends were calling him back. If he was going to bother me in the first place, why give up? The more I thought about what had happened the more I worked myself up. They probably saw me unlock my door. What if they showed up in my studio? What if they came back with more people?

I half thought about texting Mino, but knew there was no point. He would be more worried about it than I was and he had better things to do then baby sit me in my own home. So instead, the moment I got inside I turned my windows down, making sure no one could see inside my studio incase they were passing to see if I was there. It was weird, though, this new set fear was enough to put me into overdrive. My inspiration hit me in my face and I couldn't pull a fresh canvas out fast enough to get the blurred images of last night down.

———

Music played loudly as I was lost in my own world. A galaxy of light and dark colors swirled and blended into one another across my canvas creating the confusing, but exciting pattern that seemed to get better with every stroke.

I was pulled out of my own head when the sound of someone's voice yelling over the music made me look up. I smiled to see Junmyeon and two other men trailing him into the room.

“Oh! One second please!” I said trying to press pause with the clean part of my palm. “Sorry, I didn't realize how loud that had gotten.” I said wiping my hand on my shirt before shaking Junmyeons hand.

“Its fine, good to see your working so hard because I brought with me two potential buyers.” He said gesturing to the two men on his left. “This is Byun Baekhyun and Kim Jongin.” He said.

I smiled shaking Baekhyun's hand, but the moment I met Jongin's eyes I felt my body stiffened slightly. He was familiar. Almost to familiar. I forced the feeling to be shaken off though, there was no reason why he would have possibly been brought into my studio if he had been hiding out in the alleyway behind the building the night before. Or at least I had hoped. But there was something about the way he smiled at me that made me feel like he knew it too. That he had seen me the night prior too.

I tried hard not to think about it. If Junmyeon was there, I was safe and if he was the man he probably wouldn't try to do anything with two other people there to witness. I turned my attention back to Junmyeon who asked if he could look through my paintings.

“Oh of course. And the racks on this back wall have more in it. I rotate them so the ones that are up are only there because they have a similar theme.” I said before trying to smile as normal as possible and turning back to my easel.

My drive was gone. I was too busy focusing on Jongin, who stood there supporting his chin in his hand as he listens to Junmyeon explain why he liked a certain piece. I took this opportunity to text Mino. Now if any would be a good time to alert him.

Mino, I think the guy from last night in the hat is in my studio with Junmyeon. I don't know what to do.

“Y/n, were looking to fill a room. Do you have any others with these same earthy tones?” Junmyeon said, pulling my attention away from my phone.

“Oh, yes. There over here.” I said smiling, slipping my phone into my back pocket before leading the men over to the opposite wall. I walked them through my color schemes, explaining to them the way I had everything organized just incase they changed their mind on a color or style they wanted. I was surprised Junmyeon and Baekhyun were able to distract me from the thoughts swirling in my head for the rest of the time they were there, but it helped that Jongin stayed behind us, obviously not trying to chime in.

“Y/n, thank you once again for taking us in on such short notice. We will take the one on the wall and the two that have been stored if they are not already spoken for.”

“Of course, Ill wrap them for you so they’re ready to be taken.” I said turning to make a mental note as to which ones it was.

“Thank you again. We will be in touch.” He said, bowing his head slightly before taking my hand in a soft, yet firm hand shake.

“Thank you.” Baekhyun said sweetly as he took my hand next.

“Good to see you again. I hope to see you in the future as well” Jongin said with a small wink before taking my hand and giving it a firm shake.

The moment his hand touched mine my heart dropped. There couldn't be a way that was really him. The moment the door closed I reached for my phone again only to see Mino hadn't responded. It didn't stop me from quickly typing out another message, though.

It was him. It had to be him. Why else would he tell me it was good to see me again before winking if it wasn't him?

I looked up to see their backs bending one by one to get into the large black vehicle they came in, and once I was sure the door to the vehicle was closed and they weren't looking I quickly walked forward and locked the door again before backing up to my easel where I desperately tried to finish my work before deciding to just give up.

I couldn't focus. Not while finishing, not while making myself dinner, and not while I was laying in bed trying to fall asleep. I rolled to my side and reached for my phone. 3:00am. I sat up, swinging my legs over the edge of my bed, taking my blanket with me and wrapping it tightly around my shoulders. I made your way up to the railing of my room slowly which allowed me look down onto my gallery. I wrapped the blanket closer over my shoulders before letting my elbows rest on the railing so I was more comfortably looking out the window. I smiled to myself finally feeling calm again. I loved how quiet the streets were at night. How all the colors of the lights around seemed to mix together on the rained on asphalt that laid below them.

It felt calm. But as my eyes were scanning I couldn't help but see two figures standing across the street. I squinted my eyes to try to catch a reflection of who the people were only to realize it was Jongin and Junmyeon. I stared at the two in shock as they talked across the road. They seemed to be laughing. I tried to calm myself down, telling myself they were probably just out getting drinks and just so happened to be standing across the street from my apartment. But then I remembered what the time was. I couldn't stop myself from panicking, and just as I was about to turn to hide myself, my eyes met with Jongin’s.

I didn't know it was possible for my heart to drop even further into my stomach as he gave me a devilish grin and wink. I scrambled back to my bedside table where I quickly reached for the remote that controls my space, knocking it off the table before I was able to press the button that made my windows go solid.

Chapter 2

#exo #exo fic #exo mafia #exo smut #exo reactions #exo drabbles #Junmyeon #Suho #Minseok #Xuimin #Baekhyun #Lay #Yixing #Jongdae #Chen #Jongin #Kai #Sehun #Chanyeol #Kyungsoo #DO

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nblesbianbenhanscom · 4 years ago

Note

71. “Me and the boys will handle it.” No particular ship, just the Loser's Club.

Read it on AO3

Sighing, Eddie leaned back on the pillows. He was sitting between Bill and Richie, their bodies warm pressure against his sides, keeping him still. In Eddie’s lap sat a bowl of popcorn and they were drinking soda, all of them talking loudly as they waited for the others to get there. Bev had shoplifted a copy of Aliens and they were having a slumber party.

Bev wasn’t supposed to be there though, something about six boys and one girl and it not being appropriate, but Bev was coming anyway. The irony of Bev having to sneak out of her house and into Bill’s was not lost on Eddie.

There was only one problem with the night. Eddie did not want to watch Aliens. He’d seen Alien and it had scared the shit out of him, and Aliens was supposed to be scarier.

Everyone ignored his protests though.

“B- B- Bev got this f- f- for tonight. She almost got c-c-caught,” Bill said. Eddie frowned.

“If you're worried about getting scared, sketti, just remember you can hold my hand,” Richie said and winked at him. Eddie blushed.

“Shut up, Richie,” Eddie said. He helped himself to some popcorn. Stan, Ben, and Mike came thundering down the stairs, talking loudly.

“Peanut M&Ms are the superior candy,” Ben said. “They are sweet and crunch and have a good mouth feel.”

“A good mouth feel?” Richie asked. “I can give you a good mouth feel.”

“Beep beep, Richie,” Eddie said even as the others laughed.

“Oh, lighten up, Eds. I was just kidding,” Richie said. He squeezed the back of Eddie’s neck and Eddie shuddered.

“Lay off,” Eddie said and pushed him away.

“Aww, babe, you jealous?”

Eddie blushed and shook his head, busying himself with the popcorn, bouncing the bowl a bit so the kernels bounced before taking a handful and shoving it in his mouth.

“Richie, are you already picking on Eddie?” Bev asked as she tossed down her bag from the open basement window. She jumped down lithely after it.

“Nah, Eddie is just being a jealous bitch,” Richie said.

“Oh, so jealous.” Eddie rolled his eyes and got up, shoving the popcorn into Bill’s lap. “Bathroom.”

He plowed his way past the others and shut the bathroom door behind him. He closed the toilet and sat down, taking a few deep breaths.

“You’re ok, you’re going to be fine,” he told himself. A few seconds later, he flushed and washed his face. He went back to the others and took his place amongst his friends.

They had this down to an art. They built a blanket fort and Bev would sit in the back of it so if Bill’s parents came down they wouldn’t see her. The boys lay in a fairly consistent lineup. Stan slept closest to the stairs because he always woke up first. Mike came next, then Bill, Eddie, Richie, and Ben.

Lately, Ben had stopped being quite in line with the other boys. He and Bev had started dating a few months back, and they liked to hold hands while they slept.

Eddie would watch them sometimes, wondering what it would be like to fall asleep next to Richie knowing Richie liked him back like that. As it stood, Richie was usually all over Eddie in their sleep, as if Eddie was his own stuffed animal. Eddie pretended to care, but he loved it and would put up with all the scary movies if it meant Riche would hold him close.

The movie started slow, the opening credits long and boring. Eddie giggled as he watched Richie give a quick reenactment of the first movie which included the chest bursting scene and Richie even threatened to take off his pants so his portrayal of Ripley fighting the alien in her underwear would be more accurate, but then Ripley appeared on the screen and the others made him sit down.

When Ripley had the dream where the alien burst out of her chest, Eddie jumped and popcorn spilled everywhere.

“Eddie!” Everyone groaned. Someone paused the movie while they cleaned everything up.

Bill took the popcorn from him, but Eddie didn’t complain, just pulled his blanket closer to his chest. Richie kept reaching over him to get popcorn, which Eddie pretended to find annoying, but really he welcomed the distraction.

By the time the crew got to the planet where the colonists were in danger, Eddie was starting to really enjoy the evening and even didn’t mind the first couple of loud bangs.

Just as he was begging to think the movie was actually going to be pretty boring, that the rumors weren’t true and then they got to the room where all the colonists had been gathered.

The Losers fell quiet as they watched the action unfold. Eddie squirmed and bit back the worst of his screams. None of this was lost on Richie who just let Eddie hold his hand tightly under the blanket.

Eddie’s breathing was a little erratic but under control until they got to the scene where Ripley and Newt were locked inside a room with a small, fucking creepy alien, and no one could hear their pleas for help.

“This is so fucking lame,” Eddie announced, his heart pounding in his chest. The others glanced at him.

“You g- g- good, Eddie?” Bill asked.

“I’m fine,” Eddie growled and got up. “My asthma’s just acting up and this movie’s just fucking stupid. I don’t know why we’re watching it.” He pulled himself free from Richie and went to the bathroom, grabbing his fanny pack on the way.

Still grumbling under his breath, Eddie closed the door and turned on the light. He opened his pack to pull out his inhaler and his chest tightened when he saw it wasn’t there. He dug through the small bag, dumping out it’s contents onto the bathroom counter. Pill bottles, bandages, and various other first aid supplies bounced around.

It wasn’t there.

His fucking inhaler wasn’t there.

His mom was going to kill him.

Without turning off the light or picking up his stuff, he opened the bathroom door and rushed to his backpack. The others watched as he fell to his knees and began tugging things out, throwing them all around the room.

Someone paused the movie.

“A- a- are you o- o- okay?” Bill asked.

Tears filling his eyes, Eddie ignored him and he kept searching. When his back was empty, Eddie looked over at his friends.

“What are you looking for, Eddie?” Bev asked softly.

Chest heaving, Eddie struggled to get the words out. “I can’t find my inhaler.” Richie got up before the others could move and went to Eddie’s side.

“Did you check your second fanny pack?” Richie asked as he grabbed Eddie’s bag. He tugged all the pockets open.

“I don’t use my second fanny pack when I have my backpack, asshole,” Eddie snapped.

“Eddie, it’s going to be ok,” Stan said. “Just- just try and breathe.”

“I fucking can’t, jackass,” Eddie groused. He couldn’t believe Stan of all people was being so fucking stupid.

Stan opened his mouth to say something, but Mike elbowed him and he fell silent.

“L- l- let’s g- g- go g- get it,” Bill said.

“If I go home, my mom won’t let me leave. She’ll- She’ll make me-” Eddie hated this. He wanted to go back, wanted the night to return to the levity, but the others were still watching him. There was no salvaging the night.

“It’s ok, Eddie,” Bev said. He looked over at her. “Me and the boys will handle it.”

“If you get caught-” Eddie started to argue, but Bev, Mike, Bill, Stan, and Ben were already getting up looking for shoes and coats.

“We won’t,” Bev said. “It’ll be ok. We’ll be right back.” She looked at Richie who hadn’t moved. “You got him?” Richie nodded. “We’ll be right back.” She and the others slipped out the window Bev had come in.

When they were alone, Richie looked at Eddie.

“You’re going to be ok,” Richie said. Eddie nodded. He tried to take another deep breath, but his chest was so tight.

He hated this, hated how his body betrayed him when all he wanted to do was have a fun night with his friends. True to himself, Richie talked non-stop, but Eddie wasn’t really following what he was saying. Richie didn’t seem to mind. He just kept talking.

Eddie didn’t know how long the others were gone, but it didn’t feel like long before the others were slipping back in.

Bill handed Eddie his inhaler and watched him take a couple puffs. Eddie finally relaxed when he felt his chest start to ease up.

The others talked quietly, and Eddie watched Ben pull the movie out of the VCR and select another from a stack near the TV. Eddie blushed but let Richie put an arm around his shoulder. Stan picked up Eddie’s belongings while Bill and Mike went upstairs to get more drinks and popcorn.

Eventually they all settled back into their places, someone hit play. They fast forwarded through the trailers for other movies until they got to the MGM logo. Eddie settled into Richie’s side, the other boy’s arm still around him, and Eddie smiled when the Spaceballs title popped up on the screen. Eddie loved Spaceballs.

The embarrassment Eddie had felt was melting away as his friends laughed at the movie, quoting their favorite parts. And Richie kept his arm around Eddie, holding him close. None of the others said anything, just like no one had said anything when Ben and Bev had started holding hands before they officially started dating.

They stayed up late watching movies and laughing loudly until Bill’s mom came down and told them to be quiet or they would never be allowed to sleep over again.

It was incredibly late, so Stan put on Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. The others settled around them, and Eddie wrapped his arms around Richie’s chest. Eddie lay there listening to the others talk and Richie’s breathing.

The night had been so up and down, but Eddie smiled into Richie’s chest because the night was certainly ending on a high note.

#reddie #richie tozier #eddie kaspbrak #prompts #this got away from me #it was supposed to be a drabble #but idc #also #i rewatched spaceballs after writing this and remembered there was a reference to alien at the end #whoops #ahahaha #dysregulardyke

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lxiewrites · 5 years ago

Text

hey there ghouls, it’s ya boys

Ao3

Summary: Keith and Lance try to contact the dead... and it kinda works?

Thanks to @gigili-jiggly for letting me ramble about the boys and ghosts and @bleusarcelle for being such a STICK IN THE MUD with Halloween! Xp

Lance laid on his back, rhythmically throwing this little stress ball he found in the air. It was in the shape of a star and spun when it reached its highest point. He more or less tuned out Pidge and Hunk's scientific ramblings or whatever they were doing, he had no idea what they were talking about anyway. He was in the zone with throwing and catching the squishy yellow star, up and down, up and down. It actually was pretty soothing.

"What are you guys doing?"

...Aaand soothing relaxing time is over.

He scowled over at Keith, tummy turning over. What was he even doing here? He didn't think that Keith would be the type to stay after school. Probably thought he was too cool to join a club or a team. Always a broody lone wolf, with a giant stop sign over his face saying 'don't talk to me'. Okay, something is weird with those metaphors but whatever! It's his own thoughts! He can do what he wants!

"What's it look like, Mullet?"

"Lance," Hunk admonished before turning to Keith with a smile, ignoring how Lance threw up his hands in a massive 'what?!' gesture. "We're just here for robotics club, we're, uh, a little shorthanded right now but you can join if you want?"

Keith's brows furrowed, eyes darting across the three of them. Hunk with his big smiling face hands fiddling with wires and a thing to strip the color from them. Pidge with their smarmy little grin sitting in a circle of discarded parts giving him a short salute and… Lance. Obviously the most brilliant and handsome and charming of the group who's obviously supervising from his position on the couch but whatever. Details.

"This is the robotics club?" Keith drawled, eyes going directly to him.

Instantly something inside Lance prickled, stomach all spikey and annoyed. "Yeah, got a problem with that?"

He could hear Hunk using that mother-hen tone with him again and he knew for sure Pidge was rolling their eyes and he could look over and throw the star at them or something, take the prickly pressure off of him, but he kept his eyes locked on one Keith Kogane. Watching how those weird purple-blue eyes--honestly it really depended on the lighting (not that he spent a lot of time wondering at the color of Keith's eyes or anything)-- narrow, head tilting as those indigo (the lighting wasn't the greatest so it was closer to indigo) eyes flickered around the room, no doubt taking in the cobwebs and black and orange streamers. "No, but... isn't this the art room?"

"Technically," Pidge piped in, pushing their glasses up their nose. "But it's not being used for anything today and the shop room is being used for a car or something. I don't know but it's a mess."

"Oh."

Keith shifted a bit on his feet, almost squirming under their stares, his thumb running over his knuckles wrapped around the strap of his bag.

"If you want you can join us," Pidge said. They looked around and shrugged. "It's a little messy but you could probably find a space."

"Yeah!" Hunk agreed, "Just sit anywhere, dude, we're pretty chill."

Hunk looked over at Lance, eyebrows raised, trying to communicate via facial expression. Which Lance pointedly ignored. They specifically left the couch alone and he called it and he was having a nice and relaxing time with his--oh fine!

He sat up, moving his legs over to give Keith room, embellishing the move with a wave of a hand.

Keith made his way over, carefully avoiding small parts and pieces scattered over the place. They definitely did some rearranging before they completely took over. The tables were all shoved to one side of the room, pressed up against the wall displaying the best work and portraits, nearly impossible to work at unless you wanted to sit on top of the tables. And while he's all for anarchy those tables have been around since the eighties he did not trust sitting on one of them. They left the paint-splattered couch in the back alone to actually sit on while Hunk and Pidge scattered their work across the floor. Delicate pieces of machinery and wires laying out where anyone could step on them along with tools and various nuts and bolts.

Keith finally made past the minefield and the way-too-old couch sagged under his weight. Lance shuffled even more to the side until his arm brushed against the art cabinets, fiddling with the stress star in his hand.

"What are you doing here, Keith?" Hunk asked as conversational as ever.

Keith shrugged. "My ride isn't coming until later. I didn't think anyone would be here."

"Ah, sorry for interrupting your alone time, dude. Do you come to the art room often?"

"Sometimes."

Eloquent as always. He peeked over, noting how stiff he was. The couch was old but it was comfortable and plush, but Keith looked like a statue, backpack on his lap like a shield. He was going to wear through the straps with how much he was rubbing the course fabric between his fingers. Silently, Lance tossed him the stress star.

Keith fumbled, lips pulled into a small frown and turning to look at him. Lance was carefully keeping himself sitting forward and occupying himself with his cuticles, biting off a section of dead skin. He fought down a satisfied smile when he heard the backpack hit the ground.

"Well, it's a nice place.” Hunk continued, oblivious, hands and mind preoccupied with the device in his hands. “My friend Shay comes here a lot. She's really good." Hunk nodded to the artboard barricaded by all of the tables.

Pidge scoffed, "Yeah, sure, friend." Their hands leaving their robot part to put up air quotes.

"She is!"

Lance laughed as Hunk sputtered, his deep rich brown skin turning ruddy and red. "Buddy, you went on and rambled about her for, like, an hour."

"I just respect her as an artist!"

He could feel Keith relax into the couch, back slumping, hands rhythmically squeezing the star, tracing his fingers around the letters printed on the side... He could even see a little smile.

"Maybe we should make a truth detector," Pidge teased, hazel eyes glimmering, smirk in place.

Hunk groaned, "Guuuyyyss, I'm serious! She's just a friend!"

"For now!" Lance had to add, just to see his friend blush so hard he could almost see the smoke burst from his ears.

"What are you guys working on right now?"

Lance turned to see Keith star at the different parts scattered around the linoleum floor.

Pidge lit up, brandishing her piece into the air like how Rafiki did to baby Simba. "My greatest creation!"

"It's going to be a recon offline virtual encryption radar or ROVER for short. It's basically a droid."

"It's way cooler than that!" Pidge insisted, glaring at Hunk for his betrayal of their creation. "It's going to be able to scan a surrounding area and break any encryption code that might be present. It's going to be able to send signals into space and pick of distant radio chatter and…"

This is usually the part where Lance tunes them out. They start getting into the details and using terms he doesn't know. All he knows is that it might be slightly illegal and probably could've helped Nicholas Cage steal the Declaration of Independence. The more technical mumbo jumbo and his brain decides to vacate.

He could practically feel his eyes glass over as they start feeding off of each other, looking over to Keith to see if he got anything from their ramblings to find him staring at him with a confused look on his face. It almost struck Lance at how much... cuter he was? Instead of a permanent frown and a 'don't mess with me or I'll punch you' attitude he looked a lot softer. One eyebrow higher than the other, mouth softened into something that wasn't a smile but it wasn't an angry scowl, his head was even tilted to the side like a confused puppy.

Deflect, deflect, deflect. He cleared his throat and shrugged with an 'I don't know' sound.

They looked back at the two on the floor who somehow got to arguing about some sort of thing and doing it once or twice? Whether it was safer or unneeded? Listen. He doesn't know crap about robots or what they're talking about he's just here to test stuff out.

God. He could just feel the awkward descend on them. Should he say something?

He shifted, the silence uncomfortable and heavy in the air, he blurts out, “So what are you doing for Halloween?”

Keith’s brow furrows when he looks at him, “Halloween?”

“Y’know, trick or treating, pumpkins, costumes, ghosts?”

Slowly Keith shakes his head, brow still furrowed in confusion, like Halloween isn’t this national holiday that is beloved by all. “I don’t really celebrate Halloween, it’s kind of… boring?”

Lance reared back like Keith just bitch slapped him. ”Boring?” Lance turned to face Keith fully, he looked mildly suspicious but otherwise impassive as Lance smacked himself in the chest. “Halloween is my lifeblood. How dare you.”

Keith’s lips twitched, scooting around to rest his arm along the back of the couch. “It’s just another holiday that’s capitalized by the candy companies.”

Lance stabbed a finger in the air between them. “You earn that shit. It’s in fun shapes like fangs and eyeballs and you go around in costumes and scare the shit out of your friends.” Both hands come up, clenching in the air like he could grab the spirit of Halloween and shove it in Keith’s face. “It’s hanging out with your friends and getting candy, and it’s watching scary movies and all of the spooky stuff.”

Keith is completely unconcerned by how Lance is so close to tackling him and shoving candy corn down his throat. “Yeah but you can do all of those things at any time of the year. The candy is just candy but in different wrappings, you can technically wear a costume at any time, and all the spooky and scary stuff can happen any day of the year. Ghosts and hauntings can happen at any time not just Halloween.”

“Okay, point, but the aesthetic. All of it is amplified by Halloween and ghosts are more likely to come at Halloween because that’s when the veil is thinnest and they have an easier time coming to Earth or something.”

“You guys believe in ghosts?” Pidge scoffed, face scrunched up in amused disbelief.

Lance gave her a funny look. “And you don’t? I would’ve thought out of all of us you would.”

They chocked on their laugh. ”Me? Why?”

“You know, like, like,” he waved his hand in the air like it could physically keep his thoughts going, “all that energy has to go somewhere, so the souls or whatever become ghosts or spirits.”

“Lance,” Pidge said, “there is no scientific proof of a soul. And if the argument is energy then it would just be the electricity in the brain keeping vital organs alive until it runs out. No ghosts.”

“Okay, but there are so many weird things that happen with no scientific explanation. Why can’t here be ghosts?” Keith chimed in.

“Can we just, like, not talk about ghosts? Is that a thing that can happen?” Hunk smiled a queasy smile, shoulders shuddering.

“Hunk! Not you too!” Pidge cried.

Lance leaned forward, an evil smile creeping across his face. “Our school is built on an old cemetery you know.”

Keith leaned forward; eyes gleaming smile tugging at a corner of his lips. ”Really,” he said, not quite a question.

He grinned. “Years ago the old cemetery was too full and there wasn’t enough room. So they decided to move it but they only moved the headstones, not the bodies.” He tapped his foot on the floor. “Corpses are rotting under us right at this moment.

“LALALALALA,” Hunk shouted, fingers in his ears. “Nope! Nope! Nuh-uh, we’re not talking about this.”

“Oh my god, there’s no such things as ghosts!” They shouted over Lance’s laughter. “Ghosts aren’t—“

The lights turned off, shrouding them in darkness.

“—real.”

Lance’s heart jumped when he heard a scream, matching it with his own, two more joining his. Leather wrinkled under his fingers, as he blinked his eyes to adjust to the dark. He could just make out the shape of Hunk’s hands covering his mouth. He relaxed his grip. “Hunk!”

“Sorry! Sorry!” His hands waved in the darkness. “My bad!”

“Can I have my jacket back?”

Lance jolted at Keith��s voice right next to him. As in right next to him. “Fuck, uh,” he released his hold on Keith’s jacket, haltingly smoothing it out, “sorry.”

Lance didn’t hear his response, or if he made one in the first place because Hunk decided to screech again, sending the hairs on Lance’s arm straight up.

“Oh god, I felt something brush against me!”

Lance felt his pulse in his wrists and his cheeks, his nerves getting twitchy as adrenaline started pumping. “Hunk, please tell me your joking.”

“I’m not, man! Something brushed against me! And it felt cold!” A dark shadow that he was hoping, praying, that it was Hunk stood up. “What if it’s a ghost?! What if it’s one of the people in the cemetery that really doesn’t like art or robots or something?!”

Lance stood up, squeezing his hands into fists to get rid of the unsteady feeling in his limbs, heart starting to pick up. “Okay if there is a ghost I say we just book it.”

He felt Keith stand up next to him. “If it’s a ghost they probably need help, to, like, move on or something. We should try to communicate with it and help it.”

Lance turned to look at him, only wishing that Keith could see the incredulous look on his face. “Keith, buddy, I don’t know if you have seen any horror movies but that never goes well.” He punctuated the syllables in never to drive the message home.

He winced at a bright light that blinded him, blinking away the black spots that appeared in his vision.

“Yeah, except it’s not a fucking ghost you dumbasses,” Pidge said behind their phone light their tone the definition of “done”. “It’s probably a short fuse, c’mon, Hunk, we’re the only ones that are gonna be able to fix it. I don’t trust these two yahoos.”

Hunk whined, head tipping back. “But there are ghosts. And we shouldn’t split up! That’s just spelling disaster in horror movies! We’re going to be picked off one by one!”

“Would you rather sit in the dark?” They rolled their eyes at Hunk’s whine, moving behind him to push him to the door. “Come on big guy, I’ll protect you. Ghosts can’t hurt those that don’t believe in them.”

The last thing Lance heard was Hunk whining down the hall. A fading, “They’re the first one’s to go!”

“Why are they going to fix the fuse?” Keith said behind him, making him jump. He almost forgot he was there the guy was so quiet.

“The maintenance guy, Coran, is sick or something. I think he said slipperies but I have no clue what that is.” He nodded to where his friend’s left. “They help him a lot. I don’t think the school even knows, pfft. That good ‘ol school funding!”

He felt a little shot of pride at the little huff of laughter but immediately tensed when something crashed. A scream in his throat he whipped around, eyes darting around in the darkness seeing nothing.

His muscles jumped, throat closing, when a hand wrapped around his upper arm, a bright beam of light illuminating the wall before them. His arm hurt where Keith’s fingers dug in, his lip nearly white from how hard he was biting it, eyes intent as he looked to see the source of the crash.

Lance drew closer, arms brushing but Keith still didn’t let go, eyes settling on a brass corner sticking out from behind one of the tables. Relief came but it didn’t stay, muscles still poised in fight or flight, heart pumping and insistent against his chest. “It’s fine,” he croaked. “A painting just fell.”

“Did you mean what you said about the school being built on a cemetery?”

“Maybe,” Lance cleared his throat, ignoring how it cracked, “My older brother Marco told me, he had to move to this school when they rebuilt it here, like, twenty years ago.”

“Maybe the ghosts need help moving on, like, if they receive closure on their resting ground being disturbed.” Keith’s voice was just above a whisper, hushed.

Lance’s skin fucking crawled. He whirled on Keith, his dark, dark eyes wide and serious. “How do you supposed we do that?!” A harsh whisper that scraped through the air like nails on a chalkboard.

“We communicate with them,” Keith whispered back, not nearly as harsh. It was actually annoyingly even. “An Ouija board. We can write it out on a piece of paper and use a necklace or something to hold above it as a pendulum or cut out a circle.”

“How do you even know this?!”

“…I watch a lot of paranormal videos.”

“Jesus Fuck.” Lance scrubbed his hands against his face. “How do you know we’re not going to contact a demon or something?”

“I don’t.”

“Fuck, fuck, no.Absolutely not. Not happening, nuh-uh, no—“

Ten minutes later he was sitting on the ground in a little circle of discarded robot parts—were these parts like… body parts of robot pieces? Ugh, okay, no thinking that—across from Keith, a piece of paper between them and Keith’s phone light next to the paper casting shadows across their faces.

“I hate this. I want you to know I hate this.”

Keith only gives him a noncommittal hum, finishing cutting out the circle with safety scissors they found. At least if they’re killed by a poltergeist it won’t be by overly sharp scissors.

Keith slaps the circle on the paper, eyes narrowed and determined. “Are you ready?”

“No.”

But he sets his hands on the paper anyway, fingertips brushing Keith’s as they start to slowly slide the improvised Ouija thingy over their improvised Ouija board. They aimlessly slid it around the letters, the paper sticking to itself slightly.

It was silent between them. Which was new. They’re almost never quiet with each other, someone—usually Lance— saying something. It felt heavy. Weighed down. Like another presence in the room. Like a gho—

There was a lump in his throat as he tried to ignore the silence. His attention expanding all at once like someone turned the dial in his brain up to an eleven. And somehow that was better and worse than the silence. Every tiny sound from the wind rattling the windows to the minute creaking of the room, amplified by the silence between him and Keith, loud enough that it was distracting. The darkness so black there was color.

He squeezed his eyes shut and focused on the soft shh shhhof the paper. Ignoring the shuffling sounds in the walls his brain conjured up. Focusing on the soft huffs of breaths between them as his heartbeat took center stage as a rapid beating drum in his inner ear. Reminding him of how all those victims in horror movies could hear their blood pumping as they died. Pushing down that voice in the back of his head reminding him of all the stupid horror movies he watched like Paranormal 3 or The Ring or The Conjuring—

“So how are we supposed to contact them or whatever?!” Lance said, a little too fast, a little too loud, trying to drown out the voice and images flashing across the forefront of his mind.

“I don’t know, don’t you just shout at the spirits to make contact and they… just… do?”

“Why are you asking me?!” His heartbeat was loud as he looked at Keith, fuzzy with black at the edges as his eyes adjusted again.

Keith’s jaw and eyes were tense, little lines creasing at the corners as he stared down that their hands. “I don’t know! I don’t like this any more than you!”

“You know, if we were smart we would just leave.”

“Yeah, but that wouldn’t fix anything!”

“We’d be fixing our lives, Keith!”

“That doesn’t make any sense!”

“You know,” Lance brought up his hands, clapping them together, mouth pressed in a straight line, “this is a bad idea. We should go and leave and come back in the morning.”

“Fine. You go, I’m staying.” Keith crossed his arms, mouth firm as he stared at Lance.

Maybe another time Lance would have left. Shouted something at how he was just being plain stupid. Which he was! But he could see the rapid pace of Keith’s jugular in his neck. How pale he was, his fingers rubbing together. His normally pink and plush bottom lip thin and white as he bit it.

He sat back down.

He really wanted to find his friends and leave, and while he knew somewhere deep down they were not being haunted a bigger and louder voice was telling him there was a chance. A slim chance but there was this big, gaping possibility. And he would never forgive himself if Keith got his guts ripped out by a ghost if this possibility happened to come alive.

“Fuuuck, I hate this.” He glared at Keith who looked at him with relief, the tension between his eyes a little less stressed, his shoulders relaxed away from his ears. Lance could feel his heart kick up a notch and he didn’t think it was because of ghosts this time. He intensified his glare. “I hate you.”

Keith smiled at him. “You ready to contact the dead.”

Lance shook his head. “Jesus fuck.” Put his hands back onto the paper circle.

“Spirits,” Keith called out, eyes darting to the corners of the room. “Please. Let us help you.”

They waited a beat. He doesn’t know what it’s supposed to feel like to use an Ouija board, if there was supposed to be a pull or a tug or, hell, an electric shock or something. But he was getting zip. He looked at Keith who just shrugged.

Keith called out again. “If there’s anyone here, please say something.”

This time Lance closed his eyes, who knows maybe the ghost was shy or something. He let his hands slide side to side with Keith’s, not feeling a particular pull but—

Fuck

Lance shot his eyes open. Heart beating fast and this time it definitely was not because Keith had a cute smile or pretty eyes. He heard something.

That shuffling from before. In the walls. It wasn’t in his head but he could hear it. In the room. Around him. And once he heard it heard it he couldn’t un-hear it.

“Keith,” he whispered. “I think I hear something.”

Keith looked at him with wide eyes, so wide he could see how his purple-blue-indigo irises were nearly engulfed by fear, the pupils only leaving a thin rim of color surrounding them.

“What,” he whispered back.

The sound traveled. Started at the back, right behind him and the couch and moved. And if his body wasn’t fucking paralyzed it would be shaking because that’s how his insides felt. Organs trembling as the rest of it locked up tight.

He didn’t look, didn’t want to look. Looking only makes it real; he’ll see whatever is there and get his face eaten off by a fucking demon. But he could still hear. Hear how that scrabbling turned to scratching. And by now, with him being so quiet, barely breathing, Keith could hear it too.

They locked eyes, both hearing it. Adrenaline starting a slow course through his veins, muscles twitching, heart jumping. He could see how Keith’s eyes slowly slide from his and he squeezed his fingers bringing them back to him.

He mouths, “I don’t see anything.”

Lance squeezes his eyes shut until colors flash in a kaleidoscope behind his eyelids, the scratching sound even louder, getting closer. Nails on a chalkboard, nails at his throat.

It was a ghost. It was a fucking ghost and he and Keith were gonna die and their corpses were gonna be found in the morning because of course Halloween was on a school’s day—

He felt a ghostly hand brush against the small of his back and he fucking leaped—

Straight into Keith's lap screaming. Keith’s hands fisting in the back of his shirt shouting in his ear so loud it was going to be ringing the next day— if he lived.

Heart in his throat he waited for the ghosts to do some shit where they pried him off of the newfound lifeline he had grasped in his arms, pulled around the room and shook like a doll.

And all of a sudden it was bright. Bright, bright, bright, bright. And all he could think of was ’do ghosts glow?’before he heard.

“What the fuck is wrong?!”

He shot his eyes open, black dots and bright light blinding him for a second before he could see Hunk and Pidge in the doorway eyes wide with panic.

Throat sore, he stopped screaming Keith quieting down soon after though both of their chests heaved as they tried to catch their breaths.

“What. The fuck. Is wrong?!” Pidge shouted again.

No ghost. The light was on. His friends were here. He dropped his head to Keith’s shoulder and breathed. Arms tightened around him.

Not looking up, he declawed his hand from Keith’s back, waving it at his friends. “Wanna explain, Keith?”

He felt a similar press of a forehead against his shoulder, the sigh fanning across his collarbones. Keith murmured something into his shirt.

Using his body he shook them both. “Come on, Keith, tell them what your idea was.”

Another sigh. “ We tried to use an Ouija board to contact the spirits.”

“Eh, eh, eh, it was Keith’sidea! All his! I wanted to leave!”

“You would’ve left without me?” Hunk said, pouting. He placed a hand on his chest. “Buddy, I’m hurt.”

Lance reached a hand towards him. “No, no, buddy! I would’ve found you first and then booked it!”

Hunk thought for a moment before nodding. “Accepted.”

“I told you guys there were so such things as ghosts,” PIdge said, exasperated.

Keith finally let him go to turn around. “But we did make contact with the ghosts!”

“Yeah!” Lance nodded, fervently, backing up what Keith was saying. “There was a ghost and it touchedme!”

Pidge squinted and looked between them while Hunk’s face screwed up in horror. “How did this hypothetical ghost make contact?”

“There was a lot of scratching noises, like it was in the walls and, again, it touched me!”

Pidge's suspicion fell from their face, expression blank. They smacked their lips together and looked at Hunk. The big guy losing the horrified look on his face, lighting up in relief and understanding. Pidge blinked slowly before bringing up a hand to rub at their forehead, pointing their other hand toward the cabinet doors. “I found your fucking ghost, morons.”

As one, Keith and Lance turned to look and found a little mouse cowering in front of the cabinet. It paced in front of the doors, little claws scrabbling at the wood, trying to find its way in.

Lance felt blood rush to his face and shared a look with Keith, who was also red from the tips of his ears to where it disappeared under the collar of his shirt. He cleared his throat, tearing his eyes away from Keith to look at Pidge and Hunk sheepishly. “Oh.”

“Yeah. Oh.”

“It’s a good thing you got the lights going,” Keith piped in, cheeks still red.

Hunk’s nose wrinkled. “Actually, we didn’t.”

“What do you mean?” Lance asked.

“When we got there everything was fine. Nothing looked out of place and we didn’t know what to fix, so we just left and were going to tell Coran in the morning.”

“The lights came back on when we were walking back and heard you yahoos screaming,” Pidge finished.

Lance took a deep breath. Nerves fried and muscles sore from being so tense. That entire fiasco might have been a mouse but no. Just no. He’s not risking it. He got up and helped Keith up, a single-minded mission to get the fuck out of dodge.

“Okay, we’re all leaving.” He grabbed their backpacks and tossed them to their owners and started shooing them out the door despite Pidge’s protests and Hunk’s comments about cleaning up. “Let’s go.” Next to them another painting from the art wall fell. “NOW!”

A/N: okay, yes, it might be a day late for Halloween but in my defense I got sick and my body snuck up on me and hit me over the head with a club

#lexwrites #klance #keith #lance #ghosts #spoopy #Halloween #supernatural #high school au

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the-fixation-zone · 4 years ago

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HELLO EVERYONE, below is the 6th chapter of The Boys Crack Open A Cold One and It’s an Underground Crime Organization!! sorry it’s been so long, life happened. there will be another break between this chapter and chapter 7 as i’m going to be (trying) to do NaNoWriMo! this chapter was, as usual, co-written with @queenspinoodle and illustrated by my co-writer. we learn a lil more about the boys in this one! comments, reblogs, etc appreciated :)

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Zucchini is in a far corner of the campgrounds, practicing his bending forms in an attempt to ground himself. His usual tight control is shot to hell and, in this emotional state, he’s not sure if he can control the fire that’s begging to spark from his fingertips. He’d thought being as far away from anyone else was best. As he goes through the moves all he can think to himself is, what is Sock’s problem now??

Sock, having spent most of the late afternoon searching for Zucchini, finally finds him in his secluded spot. He can read the tension in the lines of Zucchini’s body as he goes through his bending forms, but he approaches anyway, stopping at a safe distance and standing awkwardly. After a few moments of watching, he speaks.

"...Hey."

Zucchini, caught off guard, whirls around and snaps, “What?” When he realizes it’s Sock, he eases out of the fighting stance his body had automatically adopted and says, a bit gentler, “Oh. Hi.”

Sock takes a step back when Zucchini snaps at him but quickly regains his composure. He’s here for a reason and he can’t lose sight of it. "Um… my sister kind of hates you now."

Zucchini snorts. “No kidding. I don’t think she had a very high opinion of me before, anyway.”

"You have to understand that from her perspective, she was supporting me. She only knows you as the guy who's always picking fights.” Sock squares his shoulders, readying himself to defend his sister.

“Sock, I honestly don’t care what Katt thinks of me. If she wants to hate me, fine. She has her reasons.” Zucchini shrugs. He really couldn’t care less about Katt. “What I want to know is what you think about what we’re doing. Did you take her side because it was easier, or because you really think we should help get that graffiti artist arrested?” He stares hard at Sock, feeling annoyance rise in his chest.

"I don't know, there was a lot going on," Sock tries to explain. "I never realized how different our morals could be, or our cultures."

“And now?” Zucchini presses, “with nothing else going on, what do you think now?”

"I think…" Sock pauses, picking his words carefully. "I think we need to talk about it. Talk about everything."

Zucchini lets out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. “Okay. Okay, yeah, I think you’re right. We need to make sure we’re on the same page, rather than assuming we are and jumping in.”

Sock sits down on the ground, settling in. "First things first: what is a punishable crime in your opinion?"

“Physically harming innocent people,” Zucchini answers immediately, sitting down next to Sock. He takes a moment to review what he’d said, then nods, finding it acceptable. “You?”

"That's it?” Sock is surprised by Zucchini’s quick answer, but gives his head a shake and pushes on. “Okay, um, I feel the same way about that. Um, I guess it all comes down to respecting people and their property. In my opinion, nobody should do anything to anyone or their property without permission.” He pauses, thinks that over. “Well… in some cases it's okay, like if someone's starving and they steal some food, I guess."

“Hmm.” Zucchini takes a moment to think. “I wouldn’t say that what I said is all I think should be punishable, but it’s the top one. I can understand wanting to respect people’s property but, like you said, there’s a big grey area in there. Can we, or anyone, really judge people without knowing their circumstances?” Zucchini puts his hands down on the soft grass behind him, leaning back on his arms and looking up at the sky. “I hadn’t thought about it until we fought the Fanned Fiend. You taught me that sometimes we don’t see the full picture. I think it’s the same with this graffiti artist. Like, they’re using their city as a canvas. Sure, the canvas doesn’t technically belong to them, but there’s probably a reason why they’re not doing it at home. With art of such high quality there has to be a reason they’re resorting to back alley wall art. Right?”

"I honestly don’t know." And Sock doesn’t. It’s not something he’d thought about before and, even after the argument between Katt and Zucchini earlier in the day, he’d been too caught up looking for Zucchini to give the issue much attention.

“Neither do I. But I want to. Do you?”

"Do I want to know why they’re painting on buildings?"

Zucchini rolls his head to face Sock, giving him a side eye. “Yes, Sock.” "I guess, but it’s not like we can find them to ask." Sock wants to point out the reason they didn’t know, but holds back.

“Why not? Hasn’t the plan been to find them anyway? Sure, we didn’t end up gathering info today, but we can always go back. What’s stopping us from asking them once we find them?” Zucchini levels a confused look at Sock. “It’s literally one extra step, similar to what we did with the Fanned Fiend.”

"If you really want to."

“I do. Do you? You don’t sound very...into the idea.”

"I mean, I don't really care about this guy's reasoning," Sock says, "but if you do, then we can go find him!"

“...Fine, that’ll have to be good enough. I didn’t particularly care about the Fanned Fiend’s reasoning, but you’re the one who made me see it mattered. Maybe you’ll have a change of heart, too.” Zucchini looks to the sky and observes the setting sun. “Let’s head out first thing tomorrow and see what we can find out.”

Sock nods. "Okay." He sits silently for a moment. "So, cultural differences."

“Right.” "Where exactly are you from?"

Zucchini’s mouth tightens, then he seems to force himself to relax. “I’m from...a city, quite a few miles east of here. It’s called Titania, if you’ve heard of that?” "Maybe? Is it a big city?"

“Pretty big, yeah. It’s surrounded by smaller towns, but Titania is the main city. People travel there to work and exchange goods.”

"I think I’ve heard of it before. Is Kurray one of the towns near it?"

“Yeah, I’ve never gotten to go, but I’ve heard it’s pretty nice.”

Sock nods. "It's okay."

“And you?”

Sock considers how to explain where he’s from. Most people don’t know much about the two southern tribes, so he keeps it simple. "I'm from the South."

Zucchini gets a far off look in his eye for a moment before snapping back. “Oh, like past the mountains? Which town? There’s only, like...two, right?”

"Well… they're not exactly towns. They're tribes. I'm from the southernmost tribe."

“Oh, right, sorry. Been a while since my map studies…” Zucchini shakes his head, seeming a little disappointed in himself. “That’s a long ways away. It’s the Makaroon Tribe right? How’d you find yourself all the way up here?”

"Our land was invaded and we had to leave. Katt and I got separated from the group. We've been traveling by ourselves since then. Well, before we joined the circus."

Zucchini goes still when Sock says “invaded”. “Invaded...by whom?” he asks, his voice barely above a whisper.

"I don't know who exactly, but they were northern soldiers."

“I see.” Zucchini clears his throat. “So, what was it like down there? I’ve only read about it in books and, uh, they weren’t very...reliable.”

"Cold."

Zucchini snorts. “Yeah, I knew that much. We’re supposed to be exchanging cultural information, right? I’m going to need a little more than that.”

"Alright, let's see…" Sock thinks about what to share. "We hunt for most of our food. We eat a lot of sea animals, so we have boats and stuff."

“Cool, cool. We’re pretty much landlocked with some rivers passing through, so the only time I’ve been on a boat big enough for the sea was when I came out here. The ocean is...beautiful. What was it like growing up near it?”

"It was pretty great, in my opinion. I did almost drown once, though."

“Really? What happened?” Zucchini turns to look at Sock, fascinated.

"I fell through the ice while playing with the other kids. It was really scary because I couldn't find where I had fallen through once I was in the water. Our father saved me just in time." Sock smiles as he remembers what happened next. "After he got me out, one of the other hunters came over and asked if I saw any seals down there."

Zucchini snickers. “And did you?”

"Nah, and even if there were any I was too busy trying to not die to notice."

“That is...entirely fair. That sounds terrifying, honestly.”

Sock shrugs. "You learn to laugh those things off. You gotta have a sense of humor if you're gonna live in one of the most inhospitable places on Earth."

“Yeah, I can see that. Living in the city, I didn’t have too many near death experiences like that...well. There was one time I nearly fell off a five story roof.” Zucchini chuckles to himself. “Honestly though that was incredibly stupid and not a common occurrence.”

"What were you doing that high up?"

“Oh, you know, exploring. Seeing the sights, getting out of the house. That sort of thing.” Zucchini says this with a straight face but at the last moment he breaks into a grin.

"Sounds safe!" Sock jokes. "You said you had studied maps. Was that on your own, or a part of your schooling?"

“A bit of both. I had a tutor growing up who made sure I knew as much about the outside world as possible. It sucked at first but, after a while, I started studying on my own. Once I’d learned all I could from books, I...I wanted to get out there. To see it, with my own eyes. So, uh, here I am. Seeing it.”

"Oh… I see. So you had your own tutor, huh? You must have been rich!" Zucchini’s right eye twitches. “Yeah, something like that.” He shrugs. “It wasn’t all that great, really.”

Sock nods. Clearly a sensitive subject, got it. "I'm mostly self-taught." “Oh? What did you choose to study?”

"Whatever I could get my hands on. I'm currently reading about geometry." Zucchini makes a face. “Not really my favorite subject but, if you want, I think I’ve got a couple books on it back in my tent I could lend you.”

"Would you? That's really generous, thank you!"

Zucchini blushes and looks away. “Like I said, geometry isn’t really my thing. It’s no trouble. Keep ‘em as long as you like.”

"Where did you get geometry books, anyway? I haven't been able to find too many books on math at the library."

“Brought ‘em from home.” Zucchini shrugs awkwardly. “I guess I thought they’d be...useful. They haven’t been, really, except for now.”

"Well, if you have any other textbooks you don't want, you can always give them to me! I'm always ready to learn a new subject!"

Zucchini gives him a soft smile. “Right. Sure, I’ll dig through my trunk and see what I’ve got.”

Sock realizes they have gotten a little off topic. "So are we going after violent criminals only then?"

“They seem to be what we agree on. So, for now, I think that’d be a good idea. I just…” Zucchini hesitates, as if weighing his words, before ploughing on. “I just feel bad, you know? I wish there was something we could do for the people who’ve turned to a life of crime because they have no choice. Some way to...to fix their circumstances, or something.” He shakes his head as if to clear it. “But, honestly, that’s way beyond us right now. Forget I said anything.”

Sock gently pats Zucchini’s shoulder, wanting to broadcast support.

"Sock! Come eat your dinner!" Katt's voice rings out from somewhere in camp.

Sock turns his head toward her voice. "Well, I guess I better get going." He gets up.

“Alright.” Zucchini stays on the ground. “See you later. I can get you those books after dinner.”

"Thanks. You can just leave them outside of my tent. See you tomorrow!" With that, Sock heads back into camp. “That went surprisingly well.”

#the boys crack open a cold one and it's an underground crime organization #zukka au #circus au #crack fic #fix writes with friends #sokka #zuko

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suicidalcatz · 5 years ago

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DOG DAYS ARE OVER : CHAP 11

Pairing : Jake Kiszka x reader

Genre : College AU

Previous parts : Prologue ; Chapter 1 ; Chapter 2 ; Chapter 3 ; Chapter 4 ; Chapter 5 ; Chapter 6 ; Chapter 7 ; Chapter 8 ; Chapter 9 ; Chapter 10

Masterlist : here

AN : It is wednesday, my dudes! This part and the next ones are like 90% fluff, 10% angst... like bittersweet. You’re still heartbroken but try to keep your friendship with Jake, while doing all of your homework... A lot to handle. Actually I had to cut the chapter in half because it was too long (9-10 pages). I really hope you’ll like this chapter because I liked writing it! Feel free to tell me what you thought of it, send me dms or questions, and thanks for reading me x

Chapitre 11 : Would you cook for me ?

Ignoring Jake's texts or avoiding him was useless. But hanging out with him was a challenge I wasn't ready to handle, never asked for, and yet was pushed into. Pretending I didn't see him when we crossed paths in the hallways, or that I didn't receive any of his texts was petty, there was no point in doing so. I couldn't avoid him without giving him any reason, and I couldn't tell him why I needed some time far away from him either because it meant revealing the truth and 1) I wasn't ready, 2) he'd be the one avoiding me like the black plague if I did. It brought me to the conclusion that I would simply pretend nothing happened at all. Jake hadn't noticed the whole situation anyway, so to him it'd already be like everything was normal, just like it always had been between us. It was the best I could think of. For him, for Josh, for anyone. For me ? Not so much. Of course I was still heartbroken, of course it'd take me some time to get over him, and staying by his side would be like rubbing salt on a wound while demanding for it to heal. But I wouldn't risk to break our group's dynamic for selfish reasons. So I sucked that in, everything. The sadness, and painful pang of my chest every time I saw his face, while repeating myself it was for the best.

That aside, I had some other things coming. For the worst. My useless self got so into self-pity and deprecation that I had totally forgotten about homework... And my drawing teacher would be less than pleased as we were all supposed to hand her five new portraits on Monday. Realization hit me during breakfast with Josh who had slept here, when I saw Mandy pack her things and idly noticing out loud that I wasn't carrying a lot of stuff for once. This. This was the cue. But it was too late now, I thought as I walked down the halls by their side. On our way to the amphitheater we saw Jake, waiting in front of the door for the teacher to come. Other students were here too, chatting and yawning with their backs against the walls or sitting on the floor. Josh looked at me like he wasn't sure if he should greet him but the brunette was the one spotting us, gesturing us to come join him. My eyes were probably still a bit puffy but with the makeup it could pass for lack of sleep. Of course he knew Josh stayed at our place last time, I had made sure the boy texted him, and the jerk had taken this opportunity to ask his brother to bring him all his school supplies, backpack included. Unbelievable.

- Your stuff, said Jake handing Josh his bag.

- Who's the big brother again ?, I jokingly asked with a raised eyebrow.

- He's 5 minutes older, replied Jake.

- You'll never live it down !

We all chatted quietly, and I never felt more conflicted in my entire life. My heart didn't know if it should beat faster or hurt like hell, so it seemed to do both, making me feel weird just by being next to Jake. My body was in total contradiction with itself. I couldn't hold back the smile that crept across my face, but at the same time wouldn't meet Jake in the eye, disguising it by cracking joke after joke while my stress level kept rising the more time passed. My thoughts were running wild. In a few hours the drawing teacher was going to yell at me in front of the whole workshop and I couldn't handle it. I'd surely burst into tears and feel even more ashamed. I'd probably-

- Hey, you alright ?

A soft touch caressed my back and I involuntarily jerked forward, out of its grasp, before realizing and suddenly feeling bashful at my reaction. I could tell Jake was surprised by it but it lasted only a second before his face showed concern.

- Yeah, I just didn't finish my work on time... That witch is gonna murder me and ask the others students to draw a perspective of my corpse I'm sure.

I heard his chuckles before the tutor cut him off, passing by us with the keys in hand to unlock the door, separating the sea of students in half like an artsy Moses. Jake was at the other side when the crowd engulfed through the small door, letting us no choice but to keep our bodies to the walls.

- Do you wanna sit together today ?, asked Jake above the loud stomping noises.

Because of the students between us I couldn't really see his face, but was glad because it meant he couldn't see mine whitening. Josh and Mandy on the other hand were just next to me and clearly witnessed my expression change. To think that a week before I would've been on cloud nine being able to sit next to him for two whole hours... Oh how things could change fast.

We were now the three last people left outside and Jake held the door for us, continuing speaking.

- You guys are always exchanging notes, we should just, ya know ? Sit next to each other and... quietly chat.

As backup to his words, he murmured the last part in a very exaggerated fashion, in a failed attempt to make me smile. I couldn't just say no to him without looking weird because I had no reason to. Even if I knew he wouldn't push the matter, there was no way he wouldn't question it, right ? Josh came to the rescue, playfully elbowing him.

- But then where's the fun in that ? Right girls ?

Both agreeing, we rushed to our usual seats, letting a dumbfounded Jake close the door behind him. In their habitual fashion, Mandy and Josh threw paper balls at each other, while I was for once too focused on the lecture to participate in their shenanigans. I needed to get my mind to focus on something and right now Gilgamesh sounded like a good deal, so I took as many notes as possible. A task proven even more difficult because in the corner of my eye, I could see Jake staring at me.

Saying my drawing teacher killed me was a little bit of an understatement. She scared the shit out of me with her scolding. To be fair, even in a normal mood she was a scary woman. The already quiet class went completely still and silent when she barked at me, admonishing me with charming names such as « useless », « disappointing » and the timeless « lamentable ». A classic. Truth to be told it hurt much less than I previously anticipated, mainly because I was already half dead inside, with the emotional range of a cactus, and my self-esteem nearly reaching zero. Nothing much to attack, really. Nevertheless, she demanded that I hand her all five portraits plus the five others we had to do this week by the next monday. Meaning I had ten to do in a week. It physically hurt just thinking about it, and I could hear a quiet « oof » escaping some of my classmates' mouths. It's with a huge relieved sigh that I found my bed this afternoon once school was over. This day had been a catastrophe so far, so there was no other thing I wanted to do more than put on my Pjs, put some music on, and slowly work at my desk, thinking Tuesay will be a better day.

Tuesday was not a better day. Wednesday either. All my homework slowly started piling up on my desk to the point where it was starting to be difficult to keep track of it. And sleeping four hours a night wasn't doing my mental health any good. I knew I had two possibilities now ; sleep less but do my work, or skip some classes to work. It was beginning to get ridiculous, skipping classes so I could do my homework. I knew art schools were difficult, awfully so, but like most people I hadn't realized until then, in this very moment, standing in front of my desk completely covered in paint, canvas, my computer, sketches, inks... some brushes had fallen on the floor, staining it in their passage. My laptop was so dirty it wasn't in its original color anymore. There were blotches of paint, ink, and charcoal here and there that I couldn't remove the harder I had tried to, forcing me to give up. At some point I got so tired I put my paintbrush into my cup of tea/coffee, mistaking it with the goblet of water.

- ...Are you alright ?, enquired Mandy on Thursday night.

One look at my face and she had her answer. Bless her soul, she didn't need any more to bring me an energy drink from the fridge.

- I still have five portraits to do. Four pencil ones, and one painting. They all have to be from different angles, and I can't find any models, I complained while throwing my hand in the air in an act of pure desperation.

Mandy knew better than to sit at the edge of my risky desk with her designer clothes, so she leaned on the doorframe, slowly nodding her head in a pensive manner while I kept explaining the situation.

- All week I couldn't find anyone because they all had homework to do, and now most of them are skipping tomorrow's lecture to go home early so nobody's available !

My rommate crossed her arms, thinking hard. I already did almost all my paintings, asking for both her and Josh's help. Both of them were glad to help and even more so to figure on a monochrome painting on a canvas.

- Can you draw the same person multiple times ?, she finally asked.

- Actually... I don't know. I don't think that would be a problem as long as the work is done ?

Hopping on her feet, Mandy lifted an eyebrow before dragging a chair to sit on.

- Let's get into it then, we only have one lecture tomorrow, you can skip it I'll take notes for you.

Having a good night of sleep never felt this good. No. Waking up at 8, slowly realizing everybody was sitting on a lecture except me, and then getting back to sleep was way better. I sketched poor Mandy two times last night but the results were good, and she looked pleased herself. I didn't have time to redo any of these anyway, I still had other work to do. Waking me from my well deserved nap, my phone vibrated under the pillow, the screen blinding me despite the sun peaking through the curtains.

« The boys asked where you were. Told them about the portraits situation. Jake wants to help. Couldn't stop him. »

If the beginning of the text made me smile, the end completely shook me awake, making me sit hurriedly on the bed, rereading the words multiple times. Scratching my face, I quickly glanced at the hour. They were out in a few minutes. My fingers tapped the next message as soon as they could, asking her how and when, while I ran to the showers with my towel, soap and toothbrush in hand. At this hour, and a Friday, they were all available. The other residents were all either drunk as hell and passed out in their room, or in their hometown with their family and friends. The buzzing of my phone vibrating reverberated against the shower walls and it almost got drowned in the sink when I caught it to look at the screen. It was Mandy.

« They kinda invited themselves over to eat. Josh's idea.»

What the hell Joshua we're not your moms ! Throwing my phone to the nearest flat surface, I jumped on some discarded overalls and put on a sweater, wet hair dripping everywhere on the floor, table, but mostly on my clothes, making me sneeze in the process. The whole week I was so overwhelmingly busy with work that not only did my fingers hurt but I didn't have any time to see the Kiszkas let alone think about them since our shared lecture on Monday. I even skipped the Lunch Club in order to get back to the dorms and work on my assignments. Which thankfully saved me a lot of time, but I still had 2 pencil drawings to do and one painting. Once I had put on some makeup, I took a moment to look around me. Our place looked like a dump, no less. Clothes and art furniture were everywhere, the trash was overflowing with empty cup noodles and fast food leftovers, it smelled like perfume and soap mixing with rotten food, paint and cold tobacco. It was terrible, and made me shocked that I even got used to that. A life achievement of some sort. Everything on the floor I put it on a trash bag, running in the stairs to throw everything outside with the others'. My phone vibrated in my pocket, a new notification popping on the screen.

« They bought some stuff at the store, they wanna cook us something. Jake's idea. »

Okay, time to clean the kitchen.

By the time they got here, I looked even more tired than before, owing my guests looks of concern. If was funny, how they put on the exact same face while seeing me. It was like I just mirrored a picture. Their similar features would never cease to amaze me.

- Mama you're very pale.

- Did you not sleep well ?

- I did, don't worry, I dismissed their concern. Had to clean up a bit.

Mandy bit his lip, knowing damn well the place had been a war field when she left. Unaware of anything, the boys put the bags of groceries on the table before apologizing for intruding. We all sat around the table to have a pleasant talk, my friends always making sure I wasn't next to Jake to avoid any brutal peak of awkwardness / sadness. But some habits died hard, I realized when Jake asked if he could have a tour of our dorm. Ignoring glances, I stood up and gestured for him to go first, into the biggest room, were Mandy and I's workshop and beds were. The boy let out a low whistle that flattered me. He looked impressed by everything around him, touching odd looking brushes and browsing illustration books. I knew better this time, and had put his painted portrait under my bed, wrapped in an old sheet. Just as his brother did, he liked to take in his hands everything that came by, caressing it with his fingertips or idly lifting the weight of it in his palms like he was discovering an unknown world. Unmoving, I let Jake do his little tour, watching the street view by the window, sitting on my disheleved bed, jumping slightly to make the mattress bounce like he was testing it before buying.

- So this is where you're gonna paint me, he said, pointing at a chair between my desk and me.

My pale face grew some colors at the thought of it before I nodded quickly, in a childlike way, caressing the wooden chair's back.

- I'll try to be fast so you won't get bored, I assured without looking him in the eye.

It was this moment Josh chose to appear at the corner of the doorframe.

- Jakey we should start cooking or the potatoes will never be ready on time. Come on, doll.

He took me by one of my overalls' straps, pulling me inside the kitchen, making me laugh and pushing my shoulders so I stayed on my seat. Mandy and I gazed at them with awe as they poured us drinks while Jake asked where the spatula was, and Josh was washing the vegetables, already familiar with his surroundings.

In silence, I looked at Jake removing every one of his rings to put it on top of the fridge where no one could kick them, before tying his hair in a tight ponytail. Maybe it was because I only ever saw him with long brown locks framing his face, but he looked even better than usual. If he caught me staring, he didn't adress it, only smiled at me, turning his back to us to help his brother.

- Do you need any help ?, I asked while showing them where the frypans were. You guys are our guests it doesn't seem fair...

Of course the kitchen wasn't a real one, there was only a microwave and some hotplates fixed to a cabinet by the sink. Putting more than one person behind the counter was impossible without bumping into each other, and I could smell the accident from afar when Josh maneuvered the hot water filled pan at the same time Jake opened up a cupboard right above his curly head. Curiously so, probably because they had way more cooking experience than I thought, the boys handled the situation neatly, and Jake was the one preventing me from bumping into his brother.

- Go sit and relax, we've got this, he said while turning me around by the shoulders.

Watching boys make lunch had got to be some sort of ASMR because just watching the muscles of their back move while they were chopping onions and peeling potatoes had some real therapeutic effects on me. We continued chatting together, all the while answering their questions on « Where are the knives ? » and « Where do you keep the salt ? ». Kind of surprised that Josh had the permission of holding a kitchen knife, by the way, this part made me feel the absolute opposite of ASMR but he did a pretty good job, from what I could see. Mandy put on some music on the speakers, argued with Jake over the sound of it as to what was acceptable or not music-wise, and Josh made a show of crying because of the onions, yelling about becoming blind until Jake gently slapped the back of his head. It was all laughs and good conversation, like we've been friends for years, and at the same time I couldn't shake these feelings I had towards Jake. There was something extremely erotic about seeing a dude wearing a dishcloth on his shoulder. Or was it just Jake wearing it really well ?

They refused to tell us what we were eating, muttering to themselves and sometimes asking if we were allergic to this or that, only announcing it while putting the plate on the table, with Josh making grand gestures as usual, using his best waiter voice.

- Crêpes au zucchini accompanied by a fresh salad decorated with feta and its apple slices, ladies.

- Bon appétit, added Jake.

The table was already set because it was the only thing we were allowed to do, so at least the boys could now rest. It looked really good. Way less fancy than what Josh had announced of course but it smelled wonderful, the sweet scent settling in all of our dorm. And the taste, oh Lord. Everything melted in my mouth, the onions they fried were just crispy enough to add something to it, and I learned this day that cheese and apple were really good and refreshing together. A new snack idea I'd keep for my sleepless work nights at the desk. And as dessert, the boys brought beers. Of course.

#gvf fic #gvf x reader #gvf imagine #gvf fanfic #jake kiszka x reader #jake kiszka fic #jake kiszka imagine #josh kiszka fic #greta van fleet fic #greta van fleet imagine #greta van fleet #jake kiszka

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intheheartofthematter · 5 years ago

Photo

TFBM "Lioness" (Source: Flickr/ exodus-travels)

Photo by Gramps, Nov ‘68, 4th birthday, Knott’s Berry Farm... Knott’s first every visit for little cars, farm animals, horse rides.

TFBM 2016 “Happy Birthday, Dad! I love and miss you! (I sang Happy Birthday, too) First birthday since...” ❤️

TFBM 2013 (Three months after my grandpa died, his dad) “Today is my Dad's birthday. I called him and he's really sick again, and sounds so depressed. He says he's getting old and he's so tired of being in pain and stuck in a wheelchair and in a nursing home. He doesn't want me to visit him today, but said maybe tomorrow. As usual, he let me go quickly, said he needed his pain shot and then said, I love you, through tears, almost sobs and hung up. It's so hard and I don't know what else I can do for him. I just needed to say something, think out loud.”

TFBM 2014 (Bill Eppridge—LIFE Picture Collection) “In late 1968, not long after famously capturing Robert Kennedy's assassination, Bill Eppridge spent two healing months among wild horses in the fabled landscape of the American West.”

youtube

This share is not about the main lyrics...

Sent to me shortly before he died, ‘So you won’t forget me’ I never could. I will remember you throughout eternity! ❤️

A couple of my Grandpa’s late years ‘wild horses’ paintings *card size prints in an album

Tonight! Tuesday Tuck In

One tradition passed down from my grandparents & dad💕 My baby at Knott’s riding horses there like me when little. And, just like me, didn’t want to get off when time was up.

Currently watching...

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I’m hoping to find photos showing how different Knott’s was when I was little. I’d like to point out my favorite memories. The farm animals area had a mascot dog, Queenie, who was always a tail-wagging greeter. She was the first one I wanted to go see and hug and get face-licks from. Just like Lassie, they were brilliant in naming each same breed dog Queenie over the years, when one would pass. Later, Knott’s Scary Farm and Knott’s Merry Farm came into existence. T likes to go to the Halloween Haunt every year. I used to go all the time, too. Since my birthday is just two days after Halloween it’s usually celebrated in some Halloween combination. I remember when I went to Knott’s Scary Farm with my friends for my 16th birthday and I couldn’t wait to visit the farm. “Farm?” Yeah, it’s still here although not a main attraction now. I went home with a Red Satin bunny. I named her Pumpkin.

An oil painting by my grandpa. A couple of detail shots...

I couldn’t avoid the lighting on it in my room...

I have a small oil painting of cats, given to me when I was a little girl, and three of his pen etchings; a fox, a rabbit, and my favorite of a tree. I also have two paintings of flowers I asked for. All used to be up on the walls in my homes. T has a few of them in my stored belongings at their place, as well as my piano. I hope they don’t get damaged at any point. There’s a sad story about a lot of my grandfather’s work, and who has them, who avoided me after the funeral. My family out there say they will try to figure out a way to get them back, but I know they won’t, or can’t. This woman is wealthy and thinks she’s entitled. Anyway, it’s not important. My family who have paintings of his offered them to me, to take them down off of their walls (of course I couldn’t take them)... this woman avoided me at all costs, with several excuses, until I had to leave. I don’t know why they’re so important to her! Anyway, this painting was one that my dad loved. He had it hanging in his homes for years. When he became paralyzed, he pleaded with the doctors to let him go home again. Once he pushed through physical therapy and proved he was strong enough to do it, they released him. But, sadly, his roommate came home one day to a tipped over wheelchair, blood (and more) all over the walls and floor, and my dad missing. Thankfully, a neighbor heard him cry out and called an ambulance. We had no idea which hospital he was taken to. By the time I found him, walking into the ER room sectionals, the nurse across the way told the others, his DR says he’s DNR. I looked over and saw that it was my dad... too many details to tell it all, but I said, “No he’s not! Resuscitate him right now!” Who are you? - His daughter. What doctor said that? He’s fired. And I had her call my dad’s Internal Medicine doctor, who agreed to become his primary doctor. Too many details, but even after all that happened, they didn’t insert the tube correctly, and I pointed that out, because they were saying it was useless that he was going to die. So, they rushed him to x-ray and found out I was right, and corrected it. Everything was a nightmare. There’s so much more. He had a raging staph infection. His skin was discolored throughout his entire body, looking leopard-like. They said he wouldn’t recover from it... just like when they wanted me to pull the plug and he fully recovered. It goes on and on... too much to think about, really. But, that’s when the doctor did the dirty work for me and told him that he had to go back to a nursing home. Anyway, this painting, and some of my dad’s other belongings (when I moved him out of that house with his roommate), was kept in the warehouse where I worked. When I finally got my piano and the other stuff out of there only a few years ago, I planned to bring this painting to my dad and hang it in his room at the home. He was looking forward to it, but then his health took a turn, and he died before I could bring it to him. So, it’s been sitting in my room since... painting side against the wall, to protect it, braced by other things. If I could get my own place, I would hang them all again. I think at this point, we’re stuck here until spring, losing more money to rent, medical, meds and all in the meantime. I just hope that nothing changes by spring and we can still make this happen before I won’t be able to contribute anything or do for myself in that way. We’ll see 🙏🏻

Oh! I almost forgot! Look what I came across yesterday: baby...

I noticed my photos program created this video this August. It’s mostly of Aiden (T’s Make-A-Wish kitty) one of the last times when he was real sick, and I’m also trying to connect on Skype with T for him in the video, lol... It helped him a lot. We finally managed to get through to each other. They Skyped daily a few times... he was anticipating it in the one shot. It was awful how he died. Just like my dad. Neither should have gone through what they did. I can’t let that happen to Marozi. Everyone needs to brace themselves soon. Neither my aunt or T are ready to have him put down, and I talk about it all the time, but both keep saying he’s better in between... For what? Half a day? Anyway, dreading it, too. But I can’t experience more like that. I just can’t. It’s too much for me. I’ve seen and been through too much already. The flashbacks of both of them are hard. And, not just of them... of the children I watched die in the hospital, of all of the medical stuff I saw with my kid, my dad, Alex, others and my beloved animals, too. I just can’t. But, here’s the video... strange... the music doesn’t fit either. And, although Aiden looks awful in these photos, it’s not so bad that I wince and cringe and feel that deep emotional pain. Just sharing to get it out, I guess:

vimeo

Currently watching, The Last Airbender, on our new 55″ TV. Not bad. Theater sound. Our old TV went out two days ago. Waiting to hear if T & Alexandria are coming over for AHS. I have the house to myself for a few hours. Relaxing now... Trying to get my symptoms to calm down. Hours late on meds. Still can’t go without them. I guess I need Prednisone this time. I don’t think life will ever be easy for me. Ever. Nothing new. I have to accept that, and have, and will. (Wed. 1:45pm)

(Art by willow-s-linda) - 9/26/19 2:18-2:42pm

Oh! You want to know what’s happening...

Well, T & Alexandria came over last night, but didn’t stay as late as usual. In part because my brother had to drive them home and needed to get up early today because he went to Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights. It must be nice to receive disability and health insurance and spend most of your time watching TV or playing video games or constantly going to amusement parks... Bitter, who me? And, I wasn’t feeling well, with my head foggy, so I didn’t feel like talking about any plans or progress on their part and they didn’t bring it up either. But, today, feeling worse I wrote to T. No response yet, but classes and work, etc. I’ll just paste screenshots. I left one little part out that is a little too personal to disclose publicly. Even if no response really, just knowing someone cares and listens is comforting (and I might delete a few later, but leave one that gives the gist for reference remembrance). I have to fwd them to be able to add here. I need a few. OK, here we go:

Maybe I said too much and it will just be skimmed again. But, I text, sent a detailed email before, and talk in person when I see them when I can and it doesn’t seem like I’m getting through to them. T tends to go into denial about the seriousness of a lot of things. I think it’s a coping mechanism. Like with Aiden and Marozi. Anyway, I noticed a few typos, too. Whatever. And, I typed loops instead of hoops (make you go through), but it feels more like loops, so it’s fitting, lol. I’m propped up in the living room chair with my support cushions and pillows, since my brother’s not here to take over the chair, and just made myself Double Spice Chai in my Stitch mug, and hope to find a movie to distract myself with for the time being. Hope your day is going smoothly! :)

Currently watching. Nothing else on... Previously known in person, but I’ll take it as a refresher on these types.

youtube

TFBM (Source: thinned-skin via -thefixisin)

New listing townhouse. I went ahead and sent the link, saying that if we could get a different lender and a little more offered (not much more) this would be ideal. Coupled with my subtle joke, the funny part was in the real estate wording, trying to make it sound like an automatic chair was a big selling point: “What a deal!’’ (I don’t think they thought it was funny.)

Hard to see, but the stair chair is to the right, top of stairs.

TFBM

Peppermint tea and lights off, darkening blinds closed, diffusing a mix of Frankincense, Eucalyptus and Rosemary for the first hour. Next, I’ll add Peppermint and Lavender. The baby wants in with me so bad. He keeps rattling the doorknob and meowing in such a sorrowful way. He leaves and then comes back. It’s mid-afternoon. He can cat nap on the cat tree.

Putin will try a few scare tactics, through his cronies, but will let it go, not really caring. He has other tactics to gain his end, but I don’t think he realizes just how outdated most are, lol. It’s kind of funny to watch. But, on the serious side, it’s scary.

Frankincense, Eucalyptus, Rosemary, Peppermint and Lavender is an odd combination. I’m mostly smelling the Frankincense and Eucalyptus now. The others must have brought out those two to the forefront. Frankincense helps boost the immune system and reduces inflammation. Eucalyptus stimulates the immune system, relaxes sore muscles, helps with depression and fatigue, sinus and allergies, and mental exhaustion; per science.

Chewbacca (Source: aleriydraws)

One

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Nine

And Saved

Just a gist :)

#FBF This goes with the Knott’s stuff (Camp Snoopy)

WAIT! Something’s happening behind the scenes, like... I hear whispers and see many faces and finger pointing... what is it? WHAT IS IT? This pinned tweet is a distraction, a place holder, something people will stay with mentally, his signal to the alt right? I can’t tell. It’s a signal but for what? To who? Something’s going on. I hope it’s not something devastating. Stay vigilant whoever you are. I need to tune in, focus to see. WTH Trump? (Fri 9/27 8:45 pm)

ahem

I’m using this song to help focus...

Yes, I can. You underestimate me. Give it to me. IT, explosion, something missing. OK, blocking with energy.

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I Am Lion

+ Still no response from T even after I wrote again today... I gave them a percentage of the original lender offer to deposit into their savings account to show we had at least that much for a down payment. Since it’s taking so long and doesn’t seem like it’s going to happen I’ve repeatedly told them both I need that money back to either use to afford moving/living expenses on my own, or medical if I’m without insurance much longer (part of the reason to move out of state), or to redeposit into the account it came from before the end of the year, if we move but not until spring, so I don’t get penalized for taking out too much this year without investment or proof of other mentioned.

Lemongrass tx alone right now, might add a few others.

Cliff Burton has a few things to say in my last personal post. I’ll be adding them soon… lending his energy. Thanks for reminding me Faith No More. And, get well, James… I’ll be with you soon in energy. too. You’ve been through enough. And you’ve remained one of the nicest guys I know. Remember. (Yeah, I sound crazy. Who cares. I know what I’m doing.) Here’s this for now, live footage, from “Ride The Lightning” =

For Whom the Bell Tolls (9/28 4:24)

(5:23) Are you listening to the bass too?

Orion

The Call of Ktulu

The Four Horsemen

And, what do you know... I got a response, finally. It looks like I possibly can get insurance through them. Will be checking out the link sent to me soon. Fingers crossed.

Lemongrass tx, now with Teatree, Lavender & Cedarwood too.

OK, I’ll admit it, I’m slow because I haven’t been feeling well. We got part of it figured out... I used a “green” light, “green” in the Metallica song... money is “green”... Trump is suddenly receiving a lot of money, so they say... a golf course is “green”. IT, Intelligence Test, [What is an IT raid? IDK] (IT, Institute of Technology; IT, In Training...) Thank God for energy in the meantime... still need more.

Ohhh!!! IT, Income Tax [raid]. “Green” is money, and sudden donations, tax evasion… Trump! OK, we’ve gotten a little farther… oh, this is good. OK, golf resorts are “green”, too. Whispering on the “green”. Those who can do are you listening? Do the math… you’ve got this! There’s more. I’ll keep on, too.

I keep getting Moscow. Not Russia. Not Putin. Moscow. I don’t understand.

Even though T gave me info, and said they could give me the money back, nothing more was said. I told T to hang onto it for now and explained no rush, but by mid December at latest to redeposit if we don’t move before spring or if I need it sooner for medical expenses. Asked what they’re thinking at this point and an important question to be able to get the insurance too. I think they’re upset with me. But, come on... I’ve been more than fair and patient until now, when I have pressing matters. It’s sad and sucks. Everything.

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neverwatchedonepiece · 6 years ago

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619: "Running Wild! Invincible General Franky!"

Pirate King, eh?

You know what? I’m almost apprehensive to leave Punk Hazard behind.

It was such a fun arc and ticked lots of my personal boxes (Caesar is absolutely awful and a treasure of a villain, I have decided). This apprehension is only because I don’t know what’s coming next. Judging by the plot threads Oda has set up so far, it’s fingers crossed I’ll enjoy Dressrosa as much as Punk Hazard.

This episode seemed to be split in two: the fond farewell to the arc and looking forward to the next. In one particular scene, both merged very effectively.

And Now, We Wait.

The Strawhats waiting for Usopp, Chopper and Brook was definitely a tying up of loose ends. The final piece of the puzzle of Punk Hazard is complete. Now, they only need to escape.

I love this shot. While the others were clambering onto Law’s truck, desperate to escape the lab caving in about them, Luffy and the other Strawhats calmly sat facing the door, unwilling to give up hope until all hope was lost. Because Luffy waited, they all stood by him and did the same. ;_;

The Strawhats definitely have Usopp to thank for guiding Chopper and Brook to safety. “50 meters to go! The Gate is closing. Slide in!” The gas really was gaining at that point but Brook kept everyone’s spirits up. “It’s only over when you give up.”

Chopper, Mocha and the G5 guys burst through first, followed by a very narrow scrape through by Brook and (frozen) Kinemon! Luffy was relieved. You could see the sweat beads on his forehead. But he never gave up hope and his faith in his crew paid off. (But it always helps to have someone like Usopp around, so credit where it is due.)

Another clue that the Strawhats might actually capture Caesar is that Usopp retrieved the cuffs from the Minions. They were so grateful for what Usopp had done for them that they fought to hand over their cuffs.

The only slightly bad thing was that Brook accidentally let slip that Kinemon had been caught by the gas right in front of his kid.

Don’t think Momonosuke will be happy his dad is dead.

Is he dead, though? The other minions and G5 guys were left behind but why would Brook bother to bring Kinemon, if he couldn’t be revived? Unless it’ll be an honourable samurai funeral situation... ;_;

Actual Knife Energy

Meanwhile, outside at the Sunny, the Mega Mecha Air Battle between Franky and the Baby 5/Buffalo team was definitely looking to the future (specifically, the future battles and rivalries between Doflamingo and the Strawhat pirates).

As Baby 5 and Buffalo retreated from Franky’s firestorm of laser bullets, they hovered at a safe distance and had a “wtf is that?” moment. An old kung-fu movie style sequence of increasing close ups followed (I laughed). Then, without warning, Franky unleashed a General Left.

Baby 5 and Buffalo were sent reeling again. It was interesting they recognised Franky’s “pacifista” weapons straight away, and that they briefly considered Franky was one of Caesar’s inventions before realising Caesar has no interest in “human” weapons. I guess Caesar’s more a biochem kind of guy.

Well, whatever Franky was, Baby 5 said, if it wanted a fight...

She fired a ton of bullets in Franky’s general direction and thought she’d got him until the smoke cleared and a flash of glowing yellow cyborg eyes said, “Nope. Not even close.”

Then Franky injected a bit of humour into the firefight. Dat General Shield that was way too small. Dat Boomerang! xD

His dumb delaying tactics annoyed Baby 5 into changing form. Now, I am guessing Baby 5 and Buffalo have eaten those types of fruits that let you transform into objects (kind of the opposite of Funkfreed). Would those be Zoan fruits, or something else?

At any rate, their teamwork is pretty good. Buffalo knows how to support Baby 5 and set up her attacks. She transformed into a blade first (Espada Girl), then a missile (Missile Girl). It’s just a shame they’re up against Franky because he is armed to the teeth. Literally. Like, I would not be surprised if Franky has weaponised his teeth.

What probably threw Baby 5 and Buffalo was when they accused Franky of not letting them recover Caesar. Buffalo reminded Baby 5 that Doflamingo said “immediately” regarding Caesar’s recovery. (That itself is interesting. It shows Doflamingo’s orders are not to be defied.) Baby 5 transformed into a missile and yelled, “We’ll take Caesar with us!” and Franky was like, “Wtf are you talking about Caesar?”

I had an “uh oh” moment. Franky just wants to defend Sunny. Baby 5 and Buffalo want to recover Caesar. There is a tiny danger that all three will have a chat and agree to let everyone get what they want with no further conflict. Then Caesar will have escaped. Franky knows what Caesar did to the Strawhats, so I don’t think it’ll happen. But there is always a chance!

And speaking of Caesar...

The Centre of Alllllll the Trouble

I wonder if this guy knows just how much trouble he’s caused? I wonder if he knows his knowledge alone can turn the OPverse upside down? That Doflamingo sent two members of his team to retrieve him and was willing to sacrifice Monet and Vergo to do so makes it blindingly obvious.

Considering how egotistical Caesar is, he probably knows fine well and absolutely loves it.

Well, I say that. As of 619, he has no idea Doflamingo has sent anyone to rescue him. He’s currently flat out and convinced he’s going to die.

But, Caesar cannot stop being Caesar. He felt about in his coat pockets, found Smoker’s heart in a box and decided to enact some scorched earth, nuclear revenge. I mean, if he’s gonna die, right?

The scary thing about Caesar is the sheer glee he feels whenever he does something awful. “I’ll take Smoker to hell with me!” he whispered. “It’s a shame I can’t watch him die. He’ll open his eyes, vomit blood and suffocate in no time. I’m excited just imagining it!”

Okay, Caesar. You do you.

He’s also the kind of guy who keeps shanks on his person. Holding it above the heart, he grinned and said, “It’ll cause fear and panic in all those he’s with.”

That’s Caesar in a nutshell. He develops biochem weapons. He’s a serial killer. He loves causing fear and panic. Punk Hazard really was a paradise for him and he manipulated everyone else around him into believing it too.

I don’t think Smoker will die. Mostly because Law is around and he might be able to fix any heart-stabbin’ antics with his Room Plus Medical Powers.

Still, I wonder what will be next for Caesar? If he goes back to Doflamingo, it’ll be business as usual, I guess. If Luffy and Law succeed... what the hell will they do with him? Luffy hates him. Will Law take him on?

I have no idea. It could go any way, really. I suppose it depends on how devoted Caesar is to Doflamingo. Whether Caesar is willing to go down with Doflamingo (I’m assuming this’ll happen because Doflamingo is a villain and Whole Cake Island comes after Dressrosa.)

RIP, Monet and Vergo

This sequence of scenes was very cool. Lots of beautiful art too. The most interesting thing here was Monet and Vergo’s devotion to Doflamingo. That they were willing to die to help accomplish his goals. Doflamingo must either have some hellish power, hellish charisma or a hellish combination of both.

The action briefly cut to Dressrosa, where Doflamingo was taking a call from Monet. He couldn’t believe she was alive. (Neither could I. How she recovered from being halved is still a mystery.) She told him Vergo had been beaten. Caesar too. Doflamingo said not to worry. Baby 5 and Buffalo had been sent to retrieve Caesar.

Notice the lack of “and also retrieve you and Vergo.” Monet did notice... and she was fine with it.

“Oh, that’s good to hear,” she said.

Doflamingo apologised. “It’s all because of my misjudgement. I feel bad for you all but I want to make sure to wipe out all those squirts now.”

Translated: I feel bad that you and Vergo are gonna die but I need this thing done.

He wanted Monet to push Caesar’s Big Red Button, the Big Damned Bomb that was also responsible for leveling Punk Hazard. “With just the push of a button, there will be only one survivor on that island and that is Caesar.”

Jeez. That’s harsh. He just straight up told her.

“You don’t have to say anything, Joker,” Monet answered. “I was just going to do that, anyway. I’m right in front of the triggering device. The explosion will ruin the tanker. You’re gonna lose a tanker. Is that okay?”

“I need you to perish along with everything else.”

“Yes, Young Master.”

What the actual? Monet, this is your LIFE and you are worried about this guy’s TANKER? Doflamingo has crazy control over these people. The scariest thing is that it is not just fear. These people admire him as much as the Strawhats admire Luffy.

And the weirdest thing? Doflamingo seems to want to claim the Pirate King title.

That’s only Monet’s word, but why would she lie about something like that?

I always thought Doflamingo was dismissive about all the Old/New Era stuff. Now I’m wondering what his deal is.

Doflamingo at least had the grace to call Vergo for one last chat. Vergo was still in bits strung along the railing (it’s kinda gruesome, when you think about it.) He apologised to Vergo, said he had known him for the longest time and thanked him for all his work. Vergo smiled (in fractions). Like Monet, he was totally fine about dying, as long as Doflamingo said the right words.

Then, just before the island went KABOOM, Toei inserted a quick series of flashbacks. The G5 guys who sacrificed themselves with the thumbs up, the kids, the minions, Vergo, Monet, all the Strawhats, Law, Smoker, Tashigi, even Doflamingo perched on his window seat in Dressrosa pinching the bridge of his nose like, “Gawd this was a disaster...”

Now I think about it, it really was. Punk Hazard was a proper death-fest. Caesar gleefully murdered minions left, right and centre, he experimented on kids and nuked an entire island. Doflamingo is asking people to die for him. G5s sacrificed themselves. Though no one on the level of Whitebeard and Ace died, a lot of people bit the big one on Punk Hazard and it was worse in a way because at least in Marineford, they were all fighting for something. In Punk Hazard, people just died because Caesar/Doflamingo’s business.

Everyone’s fighting to survive right now.

Except Luffy. He’s riding a truck through a rapidly collapsing tunnel.

That’s his idea of a great day out.

Bye, Punk Hazard! It’s been an absolute pleasure.

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spartanguard · 6 years ago

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something in the water, part 7

Emma is sent to investigate a mysterious sea monster appearance in her hometown. Thankfully, her family there knows her secret: that at night, she transforms into a swan. And she knows that whoever the universe thinks her soulmate is, as dictated by the tattoo on her side, won’t be there. Though maybe she was wrong to assume that. And when did a merman start hanging out in the ocean near Storybrooke?

A/N: So much happens in this chapter, y’all. I really hope you like it because some BIG stuff is in here. One more chapter after this...eee! As always, thanks to the organizers of @cssns for organizing this, and thanks to you readers for sticking with it!

It didn’t matter how long she sat floating on the water; the same thought played over and over, but she still couldn’t believe it: holy shit, Killian is a merman.

Once the initial shock wore off, she first had to question her sanity, or at least current mental state—maybe she’d been thrown against the dock harder than she thought?

But then his rain jacket washed up against her with the incoming tide, and the cuff he always wore was peeking out of the pocket. That had clearly been intentionally placed, and she knew he wouldn’t just take it off.

So it was real: he was a merman...and possibly her soulmate.

Honestly, now that she thought about it, the signs were all there: his sheltered childhood, his appetite for fish, the weird way he acted when she started asking after books about mermaids, and especially his aversion to getting wet despite living on the water and owning a boat—it all made sense now. (Maybe giving her the romance novel had been a test?)

As the clouds gave way to a starry sky, she cursed herself for not trying to see if his mark had been visible. Though, she had been a bit preoccupied—it was the second-greatest shock of her life, after her first transformation, so her focus had been elsewhere.

(She did get a good look at his collarbones, though...damn...and the bit of chest hair she’d seen, plastered to his skin, gave her some very un-swan-like thoughts.)

It got more believable the more she repeated it to herself—the merman part, at least—but the fact that he might be her soulmate was still giving her pause. What if he still rejected her after he saw her transform? Or worse—what if he still wasn’t hers?

But then her gaze fell on one of the constellations he showed her—Cygnus—and she remembered how it guided him here. She obviously wasn’t big on cosmic signs but she had to admit, that one was pretty glaring.

She was both excited and uncertain about everything, and needed to calm down, because her current train of thought wasn’t helping her with anything.

The constant rise and fall of the waves didn’t help, either—she didn’t know it was possible for a swan to get seasick, but she was starting to feel nauseous. That could have just been a side effect of her emotional state, but calmer waters would definitely help.

The wind was nearly gone so she took off back towards home; again, she’d have to worry about her car tomorrow (or today, or whatever time it was). The pond was smooth as glass when she landed gracelessly, shattering the surface with ripples and splashing a bit louder than planned. Oh well, the horses could deal with being woken up; those big babies probably hadn’t slept through the storm, anyway.

Not long after she landed—during which time she hadn’t relaxed at all—a sleepy voice called out from the dock. “Emma? Is everything okay?”

Snow was standing at the end of it in a parka and leggings, stifling a yawn with her hand.

“Why are you awake?” Emma answered, avoiding the question—mainly because she still didn’t know how to answer.

Snow shrugged. “You know how my sixth sense works.” In addition to being able to talk to birds, she could also tell when one was distressed, and more than once had gone traipsing through the woods to bring some poor injured dove or robin to Dave’s vet practice. “What’s wrong?”

Emma sighed, though she knew it came out more like a hiss. “I’m...not even sure how to start,” she said, swimming closer as Snow took a seat. “It’s...complicated.”

“Is it Killian?” Snow asked, her casual tone indicating that she already knew it was but wanted to hear Emma say it.

“Yeah,” she confirmed. “I’m guessing you heard Ruby’s news?”

“Mhmm; she told me after school.”

“Okay. So then you know what she found out about her soulmark?”

“Yeah...ohhhhhhh.” Snow’s eyes grew wide when she made the connection. “So you think your soulmate is a merman?”

“I...I think so.”

“And not Killian?” She sounded disappointed; Emma wondered how many hours she’d already put into planning their hypothetical wedding.

“That’s the thing: it might be.” She knew she probably shouldn’t tell Snow what she’d seen earlier—Snow was notoriously terrible at keeping a secret—but this was one thing she was usually good with, so she went ahead and gave a play-by-play of the past couple days, starting from when he unknowingly divulged that he had a secret, her thought process after Ruby’s revelation, right up until he disappeared under the surface with a fan of his fin.

“Oh, Emma! That’s so exciting!” Snow said, clapping enthusiastically. “So what are you going to do now?”

“I have no idea!” she hissed back. “How the hell do you tell someone, ‘Hey, I was spying on you while in my secret other form and caught a glimpse of you in your secret other form and I think we might be soulmates’?”

“I mean, you could do it just like that,” Snow suggested, unhelpfully.

Emma groaned. “You know it’s not that easy. I mean, how did you and David know?” She hadn’t found out they were soulmates until after they were engaged, but Snow had long held her sisterly stamp of approval. The details of how they found out had never fully been revealed to her, though.

Which may have been intentional, judging from the sudden shift in Snow’s gaze to anywhere but Emma. “Are you sure you wanna know?” she asked, almost wincing.

“You acting weird about it only makes me want to know more.”

Snow huffed. “Okay, but I warned you: Remember when we broke up for a bit?”

“Yeah; David was miserable.”

Snow nodded. “So was I; that was why we decided to get back together. And...there might have been some makeup sex, during which he found the mark on my side.”

Emma was speechless—not so much at the thought of them getting it on (she had ears; they weren’t as quiet as they thought they were) but more that it took them so long to realize it; they’d been together probably a year at that point, and she knew David had wondered it, considering his mark was a snowflake, but she was surprised he’d never noticed hers until then. “It really took you that long?”

“Well, it’s not like we usually had the lights on or anything,” she explained. “But yeah. I had thought the sex was great because he was just really good. But then when we came back together—when we chose each other for good—it was like coming home.”

Emma ignored the part about her brother being good in bed and focused on the last part: Killian really had been the best lover she’d ever had; she figured it was just Killian, but maybe there truly was more to that.

“Oh my God, did you guys do it?” Snow whisper-yelled.

“How could you tell?!” Emma protested (and clearly failed at).

“Because you were thinking about it. Otherwise, you’d have been complaining.”

Damn her intuition. “Okay, yes; we did and it was amazing.”

“So then what the hell are you waiting for?”

“I’m scared, okay!” Emma heard herself blurt out. “There’s…there’s a lot that could go wrong and I don’t...I can’t lose him.” It was the first time she’d really admitted that, even to herself, but she couldn’t deny it anymore—the fact that she was this concerned about things with him just proved that she was into him way more than she’d ever been with anyone before. She might even put the L-word on it, but didn’t want to push it that far yet.

“Look, I get it,” Snow said, softer. “It is scary. Terrifying, even. And I know why you’re worried. But you and I both know Killian, and we know that he’s nothing like Neal. You can trust him.” Leave it to Snow to always be an eternal optimist; but, honestly, Emma needed to hear that right now. “Because you deserve a happy ending, Emma. And happy endings always start with hope.”

She was completely right, Emma knew. It was hard to overcome those ingrained emotional walls and instinctive responses, but he’d somehow managed to knock them halfway down while letting her do the same to his; it would be up to her to overcome the rest.

“So do you know what you have to do?” Snow asked quietly.

“Yeah, I do,” Emma replied. She didn’t quite know how yet, but thankfully, she had some time before their date to figure that out. Odds were likely she’d stumble over her words, but hey, not everyone could be an eloquent librarian merman.

“Good. Now, it’s freezing and I’m sure you’d rather be inside where hot water and your clothes are. Come on.” And not waiting another moment, Snow scooped Emma out of the water, hugged her close, and carried her back to the house.

Normally, Emma would complain at being carried around like a pet, but right now, she was glad for it: she was shaking, but wasn’t sure if it was from the cold or her nerves. Because, holy crap: she was probably going on a date with her soulmate tonight...and she was actually, finally excited for that.

Hours later, she woke up—warm in her bed, after spending the rest of the night in a hot bath until she shifted back—to a brief buzz coming from the nightstand. She cracked an eye open and saw the screen of her phone lit up, so she fumbled for the device and blinked her bleary eyes to read it.

Killian 💙 Good morning, luv. Can’t wait for tonight! See you then 😘

Sleepily, she grinned at the screen as her heart skipped a beat. In her early-morning muddledness, she just couldn’t wait to see him again; it hadn’t even been 24 hours, but that was much too long as far as her foggy brain was concerned.

But then she glanced at the time and realized it was much closer to lunch than breakfast, and everything else settled in—and she remembered the weight that this evening was going to carry. Her giddiness waned a bit, replaced by more than a little bit of anxiety, but her eagerness surprisingly didn’t falter.

That was good, right?

Her stomach rumbled then—either from hunger or nervousness, she wasn’t sure—so that was her cue to get up and get moving; the sooner she did, the sooner she’d see Killian.

She slipped into Granny’s once she was dressed and somewhat presentable—a harder task than anticipated, given how sore she still was from the waves’ beating last night. She glanced around, instinctively hoping she might find Killian here, but no such luck. He hadn’t yet replied to her responding text of Same! 😘 so she had hoped that meant he was eating; evidently not.

More dejectedly than she’d care to admit, she found her favorite stool at the counter and took a seat, by herself. Wow, she’d become a sap pretty damn fast, hadn’t she? Well, she could fully blame that on her brother and sister-in-law...and probably a bit on the cute couple in front of her.

At the other end of the counter, Ruby was grinning at and whispering with another adorable brunette, both looking completely smitten as they stole kisses over a milkshake. Normally, she’d roll her eyes at a display like that, but knowing what it was—and how happy it made her friend—she could only smile at it.

She didn’t want to interrupt them, but Ruby noticed her sitting by herself and waved her to come sit down by them. “Emma, this is Dorothy,” she introduced, completely lovestruck.

“It’s so nice to finally meet you,” Emma gushed, completely sincerely. As they chatted over lunch, it was easy to see that Dorothy was completely lovely and absolutely perfect for Ruby. And seeing how totally in love they were just firmed Emma’s resolve: for the first time in ages, she wanted that for herself—and it was actually within reach.

They were laughing at a story Dorothy was telling about growing up in Kansas when something made Emma pause. The doorbell rang and and chill ran down Emma’s spine, freezing her in place. Something dark was there.

She turned to look at who’d just entered: Cruella, followed by a man she’d only seen in pictures: Gold. What the hell was he doing in Storybrooke? And why was he with her? She could feel the darkness rolling off him in waves; she’d gotten used to the feel of a witch or wizard from hanging out with Regina and could recognize the aura of magic that they all held, but his was something much darker and more sinister than she’d ever encountered before.

“Ems? You okay?” Ruby tried to pull her back into the conversation, but Emma couldn’t help but follow Gold with her eyes; whatever he was doing here wasn’t good, especially given the town’s concentration of the supernatural and the mysterious disappearances already connected to him.

“Yeah; sorry,” she apologized, but still shivered when Gold and Cruella took a seat at the table behind them. But she didn’t say anything because she didn’t want to raise any suspicions and cause Gold to run. She did, however, slip her phone out to text Regina, letting her know he was here.

It worked out that Dorothy needed to head out and Ruby had to get back to work, leaving Emma alone to drink her hot chocolate and listen in on the newcomers.

“You’re positive it’s a merman?” Gold said quietly in his Scottish accent; even his voice sounded kind of evil. Shit—was he the friend Cruella had talked about?

“Completely; I know they wouldn’t lie to me,” Cruella answered, sounding somewhat sober for a change. What the hell was going on?

He scoffed. “I still can’t believe you used them; she’s been getting too close to me as it is.”

Emma was surprised they were speaking so candidly; did they not see her sitting here? Or maybe the fact that she’d worn a blue jacket today was disguising her; the red one was still in her car.

“It’s not like they’d suspect anything of me, darling; you’re fine. Now what?”

“Now, I do a bit of fishing. Mermen, in my experience, tend to be...slippery.” He chuckled menacingly at his own bad joke. “I have to act fast if I want to add him to my collection.”

Emma’s heart stopped. In all the chaos of the last 12 hours, she hadn’t once thought of the ramifications of telling Cruella about the merman—she hadn’t even considered that it might put Killian into harm’s way. She’d been too jolted by the revelation to get that far, but now? Fuck.

(Also: did Gold just reveal the fate of the others who’d gone missing?)

He continued, “I’ve got my men on a fishing boat, trawling the cove right now. If it’s as I suspect, the creature uses an enchantment to walk on legs, but needs to return to the water at some point to survive. We’ll catch him sooner or later.” Then he chuckled—an evil thing that gave her goosebumps. “Hope he gets on with the mermaid I’ve caught, too; it would be a shame to not have a matching pair.”

Shit shit shit. Killian was usually in the sea after dark, but if they had plans tonight, then he was probably there now—thus why he hadn’t answered her text. Dammit, she had to warn him.

As quickly and surreptitiously as she could manage, she placed some cash on the counter and slipped out before Cruella saw her. Once out on Granny’s patio, she called Killian. “Please answer, please answer, please answer,” she muttered as it rang, but it went to voicemail.

Frustrated, she hung up. She couldn’t let him know that she knew in a voicemail message. Dammit, she’d just have to get over there herself—but she had to let Regina know what was going on.

Emma snuck down the alley next to the diner and thankfully, Regina answered. “Emma? What’s going on? Is it Gold?”

“Yeah,” she breathed. “He has the mermaid and he’s going after Killian—the merman,” she corrected. “You were right: he’s gathering them; I heard him say he has a collection.”

“Fuck. Okay, I know who to call; you...don’t to anything stupid, but try to stall him.”

“Will do.”

“Just don’t get hurt, okay?”

“I’ll try but no promises,” she sighed. “I...I can’t let him get Killian,” she blurted.

Regina was silent for a moment, then said, “I expect you to tell me all about him once you make sure he’s safe; got it?” Emma could hear her boss smiling over the phone.

“Got it. Talk later?”

“Yup. Good luck.”

She hung up and Emma pocketed her phone, then started to run towards the street. But was that really the best way to get to Killian’s? And what would she do then—jump into the icy water and catch hypothermia trying to warn him?

No, that wasn’t going to work. There was really only one thing she could do now. She just hoped it worked.

Instead, she redirected and snuck in the back door of the diner to a little-used storage room. Quickly, she locked its door, stripped, opened the window, and then focused on her swan form like she’d done the other day. She’d honestly never tried to do this during the day, but she had to give it a shot.

And she thanked whatever higher being was listening when she felt the tingle of her transformation. She focused on nothing but that until it was done. It felt awkward, like wearing clothes that didn’t fit properly, but it seemed to be holding so she wasn’t going to complain.

Not wasting another minute, she took off out the window and across town, making a beeline to the cove. She still didn’t have a plan of action, but she could figure it out on the fly. She just hoped she wasn’t too late.

When the cove came into sight, it wasn’t hard to miss the fishing trawler, sitting uncomfortably large in the center. And to her horror, it was pulling up something in its net—something much too large, and with too many limbs, to be just a fish.

Killian’s panicked cries could barely be heard over the ship’s engine, but her ears were tuned to his voice and the sound sent a pang to her heart as she circled, figuring out her next step. Instinct told her to go free him, but she knew that wouldn’t work as a swan.

A man was standing near the helm operating a device not unlike the controls for one of those claw machines. The arm on the boat that held the net was slowly swinging over the deck under his guidance; if she had any chance to free Killian, it was there.

The guy had no idea what was coming when she divebombed him, forcing him to stumble backwards away from the controls. He took a swing at her, but she flew at him again, sending him overboard.

She landed on the panel, slipping a bit as her feet found purchase, but got enough balance to locate the button labeled “RELEASE” and pecked it with her beak. It took a few tries, but finally, she hit it hard enough and Killian fell a few feet to the deck, groaning when he hit the surface. She’d apologize for any bruises later.

She flitted over (as much as a 25-pound bird could flit) to try to help him out of the net, though he really didn’t need her—she just wanted to.

He tugged it off his face and sat up, giving her a good look at that wonderful chest of his—damn, it was even better than she imagined, with his strong pecs covered in that perfect dusting of hair and—was that a tattoo over his heart? Or was it something else? Now was not the time to be thinking about that, though, especially as he then looked over at her and grinned. “Well, hello again; how did—?”

“You!” A roaring voice interrupted Killian, and from a cloud of smoke that appeared before them, Gold stepped forward. “I should have known it’d be you here. Steal anyone else’s wives lately?”

“Bloody hell,” Killian cursed under his breath. “What do you want, Gold?”

“Well, I had planned on adding you to my collection,” he sneered, “but that seems like too good a fate for the man that destroyed my family.”

“You did that yourself!” Killian shouted back, while desperately trying to shake his tail free of the net. “Milah didn’t love you; she loved me! And you just couldn’t deal with that!”

Oh, shit—Milah was Gold’s wife?

“I lost everything because of you!” Gold continued. “I lost her; my son left me—all because you seduced her!”

“Maybe your son wouldn’t have left you if you hadn’t killed her! She was her own person with her own free will; I did nothing—”

“You didn’t leave well enough alone!” Gold roared, all arguments against him falling on deaf ears. “I should have finished you off when I had the chance...and I think I just might now.”

With another swirl of dark red smoke, a harpoon gun appeared in Gold’s hands and Killian immediately flinched. Fear shone in his wide eyes, and he was trying to move himself away but his tail was still caught in the net; almost literally, it would be like shooting fish in a barrel for Gold.

But not if she could help it. The wizard had hardly lifted the weapon to aim when she took off right at him, throwing her full weight into his shoulder and chest to force him to drop the gun. It clattered to the deck and he with it.

Hoping Killian would take it as a chance to get the hell out of there, she continued to attack, letting her swan brain take over as she flapped her wings, hissed, and pecked at the man. He tried to shove her away but once she’d given her avian instincts control, they wouldn’t let up—this man equalled danger and she wouldn’t stop until he did.

She was so enraged that she barely noticed the ball of white light forming in his palm until it was shooting out at her, catching her left wing and sending her spiraling across the ship. She slammed against the railing on the other side and slumped to the deck, seeing stars and gasping for the breath that had been knocked out of her. Fuck, that stung.

Struggling, she managed to get back on her feet to see that Killian had freed himself from the net and was moving towards the opposite railing. Good; at least he’d be able to get out of here. She was going to have to come up with something quick, though, because Gold was also upright and staring at her with a reptilian grin that made her skin crawl.

“Oh, what do we have here?” he wondered aloud. She tried to flap her wings to get away, but suddenly couldn’t move at all—which, given the way his hand was stretched toward her, was his doing. “You’re no ordinary bird, are you?” He started moving in her direction, and she could see a scaly texture taking over his skin as he used his magic; now she understood why Killian had called him a crocodile. “Perhaps I will be making an addition to my collection today after all; I’d quite like to study you, dearie, and take some of your magic for my own.”

Shit—that was what he was doing? No wonder he was going after the fairies. But she didn’t want to end up a lab rat for some Frankenstein wannabe—she needed to get out of here, and fast.

But the hold his magic had on her wasn’t letting up, and the more she struggled against it, the harder it became to breathe, to think, to even focus on anything—

Until Gold let out a sharp howl of pain and she was let go, wheezing to breathe and figure out what the heck had just happened. Then she noticed the harpoon sticking out of Gold’s foot, slick with an oily substance on it that was too dark to be blood, and followed the angle of the bolt for its source: Killian, still lying on the deck with the weapon in hand.

Gold continued to screech in agony. “What have you done? You’ll pay for this—I’ll see to it!” Despite the pain he was in, he still held up his hand, clearly trying to summon his magic, but nothing came. “What?” he stammered, looking in terror at his palm and waving it about in various ways. Still, nothing happened, until he apparently gave up and huffed out, “This isn’t over!” and waved his hand one last time with the same result.

“Actually, I’m afraid it is,” a female voice said out of nowhere. In a poof of glitter, a woman appeared, dressed all in blue and with a severe look on her face; it was also impossible to miss the sparkly blue wings on her back. “You’ve done enough damage for several lifetimes, Mr. Gold—or should we call you Rumplestiltskin?”

Gold, or whatever his name was, was cowering in fear from the fairy.

“For your crimes, you will be put to trial by the High Fairy Council and punished as we see fit. And as I’m sure you’re aware, we aren’t a forgiving group,” she sternly warned. Then she glanced between Emma and Killian. “Thank you for all your assistance; we’ll take it from here.”

Another whirl of blue magic swept both Gold and the fairy away, leaving a bit of glitter hanging in the air and a few very bewildered individuals (the boat operator had climbed back aboard and seemed to be the most confused of the three of them).

Killian shook his head and blinked, clearly trying to figure out whatever the hell had just happened. He didn’t seem to have completely figured it out, but was recovered enough to tell the driver, “Right; have a good day, then,” before grabbing onto the railing and pulling himself over it back into the sea.

Emma took that as her cue to head off, too, despite the awful ache in her wing from getting hit by Gold’s magic. She flew off the boat and settled in the water, near Killian’s dock so she could make sure he was okay, and watched as the ship sped off and out of the cove, likely breaking some speed limits or wake rules or whatever but no one seemed to be around to complain.

Just as the boat disappeared from sight, Killian’s head popped up not far from her. “There you are; thank goodness,” he sighed, then swam towards her. “The man is insane, but he was right about you—you’re not the average swan, are you, lass?”

She so desperately wanted to tell him the truth, but what if he couldn’t understand her? No, it was better to wait until later.

He didn’t seem to think anything of her silence, though. “Whatever you are, you’re definitely one thing: my savior.” And to her surprise, he reached out and stroked the feathers of her back. The movement let her see a bit more of his chest from where it had been submerged, but not enough to see the mark she’d noticed earlier. Again, they could worry about that later.

What worried her now was that she could feel her adrenaline falling, and with it, the tingle of her transformation; should have known she wouldn’t be able to hold onto this form indefinitely. Thank goodness her car was still over here.

She didn’t want to just fly off on him again, though, so she placed a light peck with her beak on his cheek; just a tap, but hopefully he’d understand somewhat. And then she took off to where her car was hidden, focusing entirely on making it there lest she fall out of the air as a naked woman—which definitely wasn’t the way she wanted to tell him.

Her arm was still killing her when she shifted back to human, and was probably exacerbated by how quickly she dressed before getting behind the wheel. She was cold, sore, and tired as she drove back across town, but also relieved and eager for what the day still held.

She needed a hot bath, some Aleve, and probably a nap, but then: she had a date to get ready for. And though she knew that this one was going to change her life, for the first time in forever, she couldn’t contain her excitement.

After the aforementioned hot bath and a longer nap than she’d intended, she was finishing getting ready when Killian texted again.

‘Twas a busier day than expected; is it alright if we stay in tonight? I’ll cook 😁

“Long” was putting it lightly; and she could never turn down his cooking. She texted back that it sounded lovely, brushed back a strand of hair that had come loose from her ponytail, and then headed downstairs.

She shouted out to Dave and Snow that she was leaving and not to wait up, grabbed her red leather jacket off the coatrack and slipped it on over the frilly white blouse she’d borrowed from Snow, and finally headed out to her car and into the dusk.

As she drove, she wondered what lay ahead. She was feeling uncharacteristically optimistic, despite all that she knew that could go wrong—he might not be her soulmate, or he might get freaked out about her alter ego (alter eagle? How had she never thought of that one before?), or any other number of scenarios could play out. But damn Snow and her damn hope had rubbed off, and Emma was ready to take whatever next step or leap or soar or swim came next.

He greeted her at the door with a tired grin—she could see the weariness in the crinkles around his eyes—and an overdue kiss; it may have only been 30 hours or so since their last, but so much had happened in that short span of time.

Their lips broke apart, but their foreheads stayed connected as they leaned into each other; fatigue clearly had a hold on them both. “I missed you, Emma,” he said softly, wrapping his arms around her. “I...had a long day, and I’m so glad you’re here.” His admission sounded almost like a confession—though, after the day they had and the memories she was sure it had brought up for him, she understood. Even for her, there was something grounding and reassuring about being in his embrace.

For a long moment, they stood there, just holding each other in the entryway, until Killian’s chivalrous side woke up, apparently. “My apologies; I’m not being much of a gentleman. Here; let me take your coat.”

She turned in his arms to let him slip the jacket from his shoulders, but winced a bit when it slid down her sore arm. “You alright, love?” he asked, and glanced down at the limb, no doubt seeing the bruises that had formed up and down it.

“Yeah, just sore; I...had to fight off a predator today.” It was the best she could come up with; she wasn’t about to reveal everything while standing in his foyer.

“One of those wolves go after the flock?” he asked as he hung her jacket in the closet.

“Uh, yeah.” Thankfully, he came up with that one for her.

“I’m going to assume you won.”

“I had some help, but yeah; that thing won’t be bugging us again.” Sometimes, she hated how good she was at double meanings; but with any luck, she wouldn’t need them with him anymore.

He escorted her into the kitchen, where she could smell something divine cooking. “Mm, what is that?”

“Just salmon, with a garlic-brown sugar glaze. How’s it sound?”

“Amazing.”

She poured wine while he finished prepping dinner and told her about his day—where she found out he was a terrible liar, making up a tale about storytime gone awry for the cause of his exhaustion. Good thing she wasn’t going to hold it against him.

As he plated their meals, he told her to go pick out another movie. Alone in his living room, nerves were finally starting to build; she thought she’d be able to wing it, but now that she was here, she had no idea how to tell him everything. Blurting it out seemed anticlimactic, and she wasn’t the wordsmith Killian was. But then a DVD caught her eye, and she had an idea.

When he came into the room, Empire Strikes Back was ready to play, and they settled into it and each other, scooting close in the middle of the couch.

The food was divine, as usual, but even better was just being with him. Like last time, they cast their empty dishes to the side when they were done and curled up even more impossibly close, Killian’s arm around her and her head on his shoulder. It was a testament to how worn out they both were that neither was jumping the other’s bones.

Not far into the movie, it had gotten to one of her favorite scenes—and Killian’s as well, it seemed. “Scoundrel? I like the sound of that,” he said at the same time Han said it on the screen.

He grabbed her hand and mimicked what was playing out between Han and Leia. She was blushing too hard to really play along, but he apparently wasn’t having that.

“You like me because I'm a scoundrel. There aren't enough scoundrels in your life,” he continued when it got to that part.

“I happen to like nice men,” Emma finally caved.

“I'm nice men.”

She couldn’t refute that, and skipped Leia’s next line right to the kissing part, grabbing the collar of his button-up to pull him close. His hand found its way into her hair as he deepened the kiss, lasting much longer than the one on screen, until they needed to break apart for air. And even then, she stole another peck.

They settled back in to watch after that, occasionally exchanging kisses, but mostly just huddled together. He draped a blanket over them when she shivered, and between the warmth of that, the familiarity of the movie, and his soothing scent, she soon found herself fighting to stay awake for the part she really wanted.

The next thing she knew, the room was dark, the movie was over, and the alarm on her phone was going off from where it sat on the coffee table. She jolted up blearily, reaching for it to shut it off on instinct, and then cursing. “Dammit.” She totally missed the part of the movie she’d wanted, hoping Han and Leia’s admissions of love would have helped her out. So much for that.

Killian shifted next to her, also waking up. He stretched, inadvertently distracting her with the way his shirt moved with him and over his muscles, until he flopped back against the cushions and blinked dramatically. “Do you have to leave?” he asked, audibly sad.

“I…” Her original plan may have been foiled, but maybe there was another way to tell Killian everything. “No, I can stay,” she told him. “But...can we go outside?”

“Of course,” he replied with a sleepy smile, then moved to stand. “Let me go grab your jacket.”

“Uh, no,” she stammered out. “I—I don’t need it.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah,” she breathed. It had been so long since she’d done this, and those old feelings of hurt were threatening to rise. Neal’s voice echoed in her head again—Who could ever love someone like you? But she swallowed it down; she didn’t have to worry about that anymore. Regardless of how this went in regards to the soulmates thing, she trusted Killian with this and wanted to fully let him in. She stood up, maybe not as confidently as she wanted to, but still held her hand out to Killian. “Come on.”

There was a slight furrow in his brow; he could tell something was up. But still he took her hand and let her tug him up, and then followed her outside. The air was definitely cooler than it had been earlier, and goosebumps formed on her skin immediately—though they weren’t entirely caused by the temperature.

“Emma, love, are you sure you don’t want your coat? I’ll go—”

“No,” she cut him off. “I’m fine. Just...give me a minute.”

They walked hand-in-hand to the end of the dock, looking out over the calm water where the sliver of moon was reflecting. It was so peaceful now; it was hard to believe that only hours earlier, it had been so chaotic, even if it was only for a moment.

The faintest tingling started in her spine, so that was her cue. Quickly and carefully, she slipped off her boots and socks, then started tugging at her jeans.

“Emma? What...what are you doing?” Killian had a hand stretched out as he watched her strip, but he clearly had no idea what else to do. It was adorable.

“Bear with me,” she said as she she shimmied her jeans down and stepped out of them.

She reached under the blouse to unlatch her bra, then slid the straps down her arms (wincing again as she moved the left) and tugged it off from under her shirt. The tingling had picked up; she had maybe another minute. So she swiftly took of her underwear and then stepped back from the edge of the dock, standing so her right side was facing Killian.

Slowly now, she grabbed the hem of her top and started to pull it up. Killian audibly swallowed as she moved, but then she heard the hitch in his breath when her soulmark was uncovered. She tugged the top over her head and tossed it to the side, then looked over at him. He was biting back a grin, and tried to school his features when he saw her looking, but was unable to.

Smiling, she faced the end of the dock again and took off in a sprint just as the transformation took hold, and a second later, she was flying over the surface of the water, gliding on her wings.

She arced back quickly, landing on the surface as smoothly as she could, and then floated at the end of the dock, watching for Killian’s reaction.

Understandably, he looked shocked—eyes wide, jaw slack. He took a faltering step forward, but then paused again, just staring at her. She could almost see the wheels turning in his head as his eyes narrowed at her, no doubt piecing everything together. But her nerves were back—had this been a mistake?

Just when she was starting to debate flying off and never coming back, a huge grin took over his features. “Emma, that’s really you?” he said, coming forward to take a seat at the end of the dock.

She still wasn’t sure if he’d understand her by talking, so settled on nodding and fluffing her wings.

His grin didn’t falter. “It’s been you...this whole time.” He chuckled and, to her surprise, started unbuttoning his shirt. That was an odd transition; was he going to join her in the water?

But he’d barely gotten to the end of the row of buttons when he was shoving the fabric to the side, revealing the right side of his chest—more specifically, the mark she’d seen earlier but couldn’t figure out. She paddled forward to get a better look at it, and was shocked she hadn’t noticed it then.

He leaned over so she could see, and right over his heart, low on his breast, was a birthmark in the distinctive shape of a swan.

A swan. Just like her.

Holy shit.

Despite all the hoping, despite what was drawn on her own side, despite already having chosen him, she was still completely shocked. These things didn’t happen to her—life rarely went in her favor; not since her adoption.

But here she was, staring at the man she adored—her soulmate.

It was like something had clicked into place in her life—a Killian-shaped piece finally snapping in where it was supposed to be. All those fears and worries disappeared in an instant, leaving her with nothing but relief and, because she could finally admit it: love.

And all she could do was sigh.

(Goddammit, why didn’t she have lips right now?)

As she stared and let the truth sink in, Killian had finished taking off his shirt, revealing his solid, toned upper body, and stood up to undo his jeans. He glanced around for any onlookers, and, finding none, slid both pants and underpants off in one smooth, inexcusably hot motion.

He sat back down, dangling his bare toes (bare everything) over the water, and started toying with his leather cuff. But then he looked up at her through those thick lashes and smirked. “I suppose you already know this part, so it’s not much of a reveal; yet I can’t help but be nervous.”

Not knowing what else to do, she encouragingly headbutted his shin; hopefully, he’d get the message.

“Aye; you’re right,” he replied. “And you definitely had the harder reveal; it’s not fair for me to hold back.” He took a deep breath. “Here goes.”

He slipped the wrist off his cuff and almost immediately, his legs glowed with a dim white light—brighter than his pale skin but not so much as to blind or draw attention.

And when it faded, there was his tail—brilliant blue, shimmering and sparkling in the tiny bit of moonlight; it drove her swan brain crazy.

A moment later, he carefully pushed himself off the dock, silently sliding into the water with the quietest splash and falling below the surface. But he came back up a second later, brushing the hair from his eyes and coming closer.

It was like she was finally seeing him in his element. She’d been too shocked last night and too distracted today to really take it in, but damn, he was so perfect as a merman: the way drops of water clung to his lashes and beard, the way it pooled in his collarbones and plastered the hair to his chest, and the way his sea blue eyes seemed to echo the color of the water around them. He was just...stunning.

And somehow, he seemed just as taken with her—she knew swans were one of the prettier birds, but the reverent way he was staring at her made her feel flushed in a way she didn’t realize she was capable of in this form; if he kept it up, she was sure to look more like a flamingo soon.

Tentatively, he raised his hand and slowly, softly brushed the back of his fingers along the feathers of her neck. She shivered and leaned into his touch; it felt amazing. He smiled and continued, venturing further up until her head was cupped in his palm.

His eyes flitted over her, studying, but he found her gaze again. Smiling, he said, “I guess now I know why I couldn’t keep my eyes off you in either form. Should have known these marks would be literal.” His easy grin cut those adorable dimples into his scruff, and she just couldn’t stay silent anymore.

She didn’t know if he’d understand, but she had faith that this soulmate thing wasn’t so cruel as to prevent her from communicating with him. So she swallowed and confidently told him, “I love you, Killian.”

His eyes grew wide in surprise and his grin got impossibly larger, but then he answered, “I love you, too, Emma.”

She couldn’t help the excited flutter of her wings then, which made Killian jump back, laughing. But she quickly regained her composure and swam back to him, bumping into his shoulder and placing a light peck with her beak on his cheek. He reciprocated by wrapping his arms around her body and holding her close.

To any onlooker, it looked at best awkward, at worst...well, she wasn’t going to go there. But as they floated there next to the dock, she couldn’t help but feel that everything was just as it should be.

eeeeeeeeee, I hope you liked that!!! Thanks for reading! tagging @kat2609 @thesschesthair @optomisticgirl @fergus80 @xpumpkindumplingx @shipsxahoy @selfie-wench @mryddinwilt @cocohook38 @annytecture @wingedlioness @initiala @fairytalesandtimetravel @word-bug @pirateherokillian @bleebug @its-imperator-furiosa @queen-mabs-revenge @flipperbrain @sherlockianwhovian @laschatzi @ive-always-been-a-pirate @jscoutfinch @nfbagelperson @stubble-sandwich @killian-whump @lenfaz @phiralovesloki @athenascarlet @kmomof4 @ilovemesomekillianjones @whimsicallyenchantedrose @snowbellewells @jackieorioncat @bmbbcs4evr @branlovesouat @jennjenn615 @jaiabean @therooksshiningknight @a-faekindagirl @technicallysizzlingcloud @deathbycaptainswan @superadam54 @unworried-corsair @dreadpirateemma

#cs ff #cs modern au #swan!emma #merman!killian #cssns #something in the water

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jessethejoyful · 6 years ago

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the art school au no one asked for

I decided I wanted to try writing a carry on fic and they say you should write about what you know so - read it here or on ao3

Baz is a painting/drawing major, Simon is an animator, and much problem ensues.

BAZ

At the end of every spring and fall semester, the art school hosts a student showcase, so we can gain experience with exhibitions and the like. I thought about entering a piece, one of my paintings, but I deliberated long enough that I missed the deadline. Which is absolutely fine, because everything from this semester felt like garbage to me anyways. I was trapped somewhere in my own headspace - but, anyway.

I wander through the student show, my eyes passing across the canvases and sculptures. Mentally, I have to keep my nose from wrinkling at some of them (how did these kids get into an art school? Is there actually any criteria, or do you just have to toss paint on a slab and say please?). Some of the students are standing next to their pieces, obviously brimming with pride. There’s one boy stopping anyone who is unfortunate enough to glance his way, and asking them a barrage of questions. (“How does it make you feel? Which one is your favorite? How much would you pay for this?”) I avoid him carefully, giving him and his creepy multi-face painting a wide berth.

It’s something of a surprise when I come across a laptop, set up on a podium by itself. That’s not art. But when I wander up to get a closer look, I realize it’s an animation reel. I’ve come up at the tail end of someone throwing a ball at a wall, which looks nice but is rather boring. I’m about to turn away when it changes to another clip.

The shot begins on a girl, curled in on herself, and a moment of her finger tapping the white space beneath her. And then she shoots up, arms flaring wide, head tilting back, and I’m blown away by the style of it. It’s not normal 2D animation, but a sketchy, wild style that somehow carries a lot of emotion just in the chaos. The video follows the girl, a ballerina, through a routine that I imagine would be heart-wrenching if it had music with it. Even without, I feel a pull in my chest, watching the obvious pain that flits across her shadowy and angular face.

I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s beautiful.

The scene ends with the girl knelt down again, her back heaving as she breathes heavily, and I realize I’ve been holding my own breath. It comes out in a rush as the reel changes again. I expected something just as amazing, but instead have my eyes assaulted by an ugly, gritty-looking clip of two stick figures beating the shit out of each other. I feel the scowl rise on my face and narrow my eyes at the name attached to the podium.

Simon Snow - who the fuck would name their kid Simon Snow? Sounds like the heroine of some sappy young adult novel. Maybe it’s an alias for a less idiotic name.

I straighten and adjust my jacket, eyes flicking back to the screen in the hopes that the ballerina clip was back, but instead it’s moved on to some boring clip of fish leaping from a river. My scowl deepens, and I move on, refusing to return to the laptop. Anyone who would put such a stupid video in a showcase deserves no more of my attention.

The name Simon Snow flits through my head now and then over the summer, while I serve coffee at a small, artsy shop near campus. I wonder if he ever comes in, but no one claims the name Simon for their cup, and eventually I forget about the reel, and Simon Snow, entirely.

Until the start of the new term, when I’m carrying my supplies into the art building, my heavy bag hung painfully on one shoulder. A girl’s voice shrieks, “Simon!” and I’m nearly bowled over as she dives by me, and I register a mane of frizzy red hair and warm brown skin, similar to my own.

“Sorry, Basil!” she squeals as she barrels away, and I’m startled enough that it takes me a moment to reply.

“How do you -?” But she’s already gone, down at the end of the long corridor and throwing her arms around a tallish boy with wild bronze hair, freckles so numerous I can see them from here, and a laugh that reverberates through the hall.

That’s Simon Snow?

Shit.

SIMON

Penny surprised me in the art building, but I was glad she did - she’d been gone all summer to study in Italy, and I’d missed her like I’d miss my left hand. She spent nearly two hours chattering to me about the different sites she toured, the museums she visited, the food she’d eaten, and I listened happily, grateful to have her voice filling up our cozy flat again. It had been far too empty without her.

I don’t know how she does it, but Penny is double-majoring in art history and sculpture. She’s dead brilliant at both of them. I was royally fucked in my own mandatory art history class until she started helping me. We’ve been friends since high school, so she knows I’m shit at studying, but I managed to brush by with her help. Thank God - I wasn’t eager to repeat that class. The professor nearly fell asleep at his own lectures, I don’t know how Penny can stand him, and he’s her faculty advisor.

Despite the heavy course load I signed on for this semester, I’m glad to be back at it. I spend summers feeling off-center, like I lose my sense of direction for a few months before wandering back from the wilderness in September with leaves in my hair (it’s a feeling that’s kind of hard to describe).

Animation is a lot more work than anyone outside of the field realizes. I don’t think I even realized it when I started, but now I couldn’t imagine myself doing anything else. Watching my pieces come to life on a screen is like a drug, a high that’ll never come down.

But it’s exhausting.

During the semesters, I spend more time in the computer lab than out of it, making use of the huge tablets and desktops provided by the school. Penny will come hang out now and then, but I get so scary focused and quiet that she usually gets bored and wanders out after a few minutes. She fell asleep there once, half-off her chair, and I let her sleep, waking her up around two when it was time for us to walk back to the flat.

Now we’re only a few weeks into the new term, and I’ve already fallen back into the habit, chatting up the lab’s student assistant before I claim my spot in a corner, ready to work until I pass out.

I try to keep an eye on the clock, but I get so into my work that hours pass without my notice. When I realize I’ve been there for coming on six hours without a break, I force myself to drop my pen and sit up, feeling my back creak in the process. I think I’ll go heat up one of the frozen meals I’d thrown in the student fridge last week; I can feel the hunger creeping up in my stomach.

It’s so late, just past midnight, that barely anyone is around. I’d work at home if I could, but the equipment is so expensive that I can’t really afford my own, with only a laptop and a shitty knock-off tablet that I use for personal stuff. The cord is fraying and half of the time won’t connect, but it does what I need.

I’m shocked when I amble into the student lounge to find a guy digging through the fridge, the room around him so dim that the bright white light makes him look pale, like a vampire. But when he closes the door and stands up, I realize he’s got almond brown skin, and grey-green eyes like a deep lake. And he’s scowling at me.

“Can I help you with something?” he snarls, clutching a carton of cream, and I’m immediately caught off guard by the aggression in his tone.

“Yeah mate, you’re in front of the fridge,” I say slowly, pointing. His cheeks darken and he steps away, heading to the counter where there’s coffee brewing. Neither of us says anything for a long bit, while I pull my food out and chuck it in the microwave.

Out of the corner of my eye, I observe him, trying to take stock. The half-up bun and long sleeve black button-up seem about right, but I’m surprised by the massive black combat boots, giving him an easy extra two inches in height.

Finally, because the silence is deafening, I say, “Working late, then?”

His answer is abrupt. “Yes.”

I try again. “My name’s Simon.”

“I know.”

I furrow my eyebrows at him, fed up. “Want to tell me yours then, or are you just going to keep being a dickhead?”

This clearly startles him, looking at me with wide eyes and saying his name, two quick syllables. “Bas-il.”

“Bazzzz-il,” I drawl, dragging out the z sound present in that ridiculous name. His lip curls, actually curls, and I’m almost impressed before something occurs to me. “Wait. Not Basil, as in T. Basilton Pitch?” There’s no way there’s multiple people in the world with a similar name, let alone this school.

“The very same.” I’m floored. This is the prat whose art I always notice in the halls? Every time I see an impeccable figure study or a breath-taking oil painting, the name ‘T. Basilton Pitch’ is always attached underneath.

Five minutes ago, if you had asked me who I thought was the most talented in the building, I would’ve said Pitch immediately. But now that the arse is standing in front of me, antagonizing me, I’m not about to give out any compliments.

“Oh. I’ve seen your work in the cases.” The microwave beeps at me, and I fiddle with it before saying grumpily, “S’ pretty nice.” Damn. That sounded more sincere than I’d meant it to.

“I’m flattered, I’m sure,” Basilton says sharply, before loudly dropping his mug into the sink and disappearing out the door. I throw myself down at one of the tables and start shoveling mashed potatoes into my mouth, annoyed now.

T. Basilton Pitch.

What a tit.

PENNY

It’s 3 am when Simon finally wanders in, squinting even in the darkness, dragging his feet like he’s left lead in his shoes. He always does this, pushing himself to the edge of exhaustion and probably ruining his eyes in the process.

And then he has the audacity to try and lecture me. I’m reading by a soft lamp when he comes in, and he snaps at me about damaging my eyes, by reading in such dim light. I raise my eyebrows at him and flip the book shut. “Who spit in your tea tonight, Simon?”

He glances at me apologetically, dropping his bag onto the floor before throwing himself down on the couch beside me, head resting on my hip. “Basil,” he growls, as I absentmindedly run my fingers through his curls.

“Oh, met him, did you?” Simon sits up and looks at me sharply.

“You know him? How?”

I shrug. “He was in my Drawing II class. Put the rest of us to shame, with his drawings and his shit attitude. The professor told him to shut the fuck up once when he made a girl cry, and he just sneered at him. It was quite a scene.”

It had been a real scene. I make a point not to be friends with assholes, but I remember I couldn’t help being a little bit fascinated by this tall dark prat, who looked ready to throw hands every time the professor said anything. And it hadn’t really been his fault that girl started crying - we were in the middle of a peer critique, and Baz told her in somewhat harsher terms that her anatomy was way off.

She’d just started bawling. It was embarrassing for everyone.

I tell Simon as much, and he seems genuinely intrigued. “Maybe he’s just an asshole to people he doesn’t know,” Simon says slowly. “Maybe if I’m nice to him, he’ll be nice back.”

“Simon, not everyone’s like you. Like if a golden retriever became a human.” He looks almost offended at this. “Baz is endlessly contrary. I wouldn’t put money on even you being able to befriend him.”

“Penn, come on. Everyone needs friends.”

I’ve got a bad feeling about this.

BAZ

Three days after I officially met Simon Snow, I’m still kicking myself for the whole thing.

Seeing him up close had just been too much. This dead handsome idiot, standing over me at nearly one in the morning, staring at me with his mouth open - far too much for my sleep deprived brain. I’d gone and made a complete ass of myself.

It was the first time I’d left my studio that day, just looking for a coffee, and my brain had stayed behind.

Honestly, though, it’s probably all for the best. I’m too fucking queer to have a guy that good-looking around on a regular basis. (What is up with all those freckles? He looks ill. I want to draw the constellations on his face.)

When next I see him, it’s thankfully from a distance again, far across the campus green. He’s got two girls with him. I recognize one of them, short and stout with that mad frizzy hair, but the other is a complete stranger. Even far off, I can tell she’s beautiful, even to my gay ass. (I’m gay, not blind.) She’s the kind of beautiful you can’t help but notice. Waist-length honey blonde hair, a perfect figure, expensive-looking clothes and high-heel ankle boots, though they still don’t make her as tall as Simon.

Too late, I realize I’ve completely stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, gaping at them across the lawn. My eyes lock with Simon’s, and suddenly he breaks out into this enormous grin.

I might be a little fucked.

Simon is saying something to the girls and then jogging toward me, and my time to escape has fled. Not that I could’ve - that smile was so much I think it rendered me briefly immobile, gluing my shoes to the pavement.

“Hey, Basil,” Simon greets me sheepishly, stopping before me and rubbing the back of his neck. He looks so carefree, in loose jeans that somehow look good, and a graphic tee partially covered by a paint-stained hoodie. He rips the green beanie off his head and shoves his hands through his orange curls, making them stand on end. And he’s wearing these massive circular, wire-framed glasses, and I’m mesmerized.

“...Hey?” I say, cursing myself for letting it come out sounding like a question. Simon doesn’t even seem to notice, his smile smaller now but no less painful to look at.

“Look, I wanted to apologize for the other night. I was completely knackered, I’d been in the lab for hours and was feeling a bit grouchy.” To say I’m startled by this apology is putting it lightly. I’d been rude first, what is he apologizing for? Defending himself?

Maybe just this once, it would pay to play nice. I glance over Simon’s shoulder, where the two girls were still watching their interaction, waiting. “Er - it’s alright. I’m - sorry as well. I was barely functioning that night.” Simon’s face lit up at my mostly friendly response, and I think I might be barely functioning now.

“Penny and Agatha and I are going off campus for a bite, you wanna come along?” Agatha must be the other girl. I vaguely remember the name Penny, some distant memory from second semester. But there’s no way I’m up for that much social interaction today; just this interaction has nearly killed me.

“Ah, I’ll - have to pass,” I choke out. “I’ve got a date.” Simon looks surprised before I finish, “With my studio.”

There’s no way it’s relief that flashes across Simon’s face at that amendment. No fucking way.

“Oh, right, then,” he says. “Another time, then.”

Weary now, I try to smile, but I think it must look like more of a grimace, before I stride away.

“Basil!” Simon calls my name and I turn back to look. Now that I’m looking at him, he seems not to know what to say, his hand pulling awkwardly back to his chest like he’d been reaching out. “Uh - good luck with the painting!”

“Cheers,” I reply, walking away then without looking back.

SIMON

I’m wandering back to the computer lab that evening when I notice the light on in the studio labeled T. Pitch. It’s pretty late, already after ten, and while I’m not surprised Basil is still here, I’m a little curious. I’d grabbed a few scones from the bakery Penny works at before coming back to campus, with a mind to eat them later - but maybe Baz would like one. I’d heard Penny call him Baz, and I can’t blame him for the nickname. I wouldn’t want people calling me Basilton either.

I wonder what the T stands for? Could it be something worse than Basilton? Is that possible?

I knock twice on the door of the studio before turning the handle, surprised to find it unlocked. Baz is clearly shocked to see me, jerking his hand away from canvas he’s working and yanking his earbud out.

“Christ - ever heard of knocking?” All this guy seems to know how to do is snap and snarl. I’m already bristling.

“I did knock.”

“Well, you’re supposed to wait for me to say come in.”

“You’ve got headphones in.”

“Exactly.”

I force myself to take a deep breath, before I hold up the pastry bag. “Thought I’d bring you some food. You seem the type to get sucked in and forget to eat, am I right?” I can tell by the defensive look on his face that I am. “Look - don’t say anything. Just take this, alright?” I take the wrapped pastry from the bag and toss it too him, and he’s not too bewildered to catch it. “Have fun, yeah?” I back out the door before Baz can say anything else and snap it shut.

I don’t know what I expected. Some declaration of gratitude? I’d never expect that of anyone, let alone that prickly bastard. That’s not why I do things for people.

But fuck, was it too much to even be civil? I don’t think I’ve ever met someone so grouchy. He’d seemed to quiet earlier, soft, almost. Shy. Maybe he’s bipolar. It wouldn’t surprise me whatsoever.

Or maybe he’s just an asshole.

I continue onto the lab, spinning my chair so the back touched the desk, and straddle it, resting my chin on the cushion. Penny yells at me that I’m going to ruin my back sitting like this, but it’s comfortable, so I always ignore her.

I’m struggling with a frame I’m working on, unable to get the flow right between shots. It makes me blink out sometimes, when I get really stressed by something that isn’t meshing. Normally I’d take a walk, but I’m not so sure tonight. What if I run into Baz? I’m pretty sure I’d deck him at this point, I’m so worked up.

I should probably just call it a night. I look at the close - 2 am. Yeah, I’ll just call it a night. I flick the light off as I leave the lab, letting the door shut behind me.

As I walk by the private studios, I notice Baz’s light is still on.

I keep walking.

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2-for-a-penny · 6 years ago

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A Name or an Apartment Number- Chapter 1

This is my first fic so please be gentle with the criticism. I’m just a smol child that wants to write about her gay children.

Includes: JackxDavey, Newsbians, SpotxRacer, ElmerxAlbert, SpecsxRomeo, and some other assorted pairs

Rated: M for the fact that I might attempt to write some “steamy” stuff. It will not be good though.