#anyways u should draw her i think that would fill me with joy and i would jump and click my heels together

[cedricslover]

can you write a oneshot with wolfstars daughter dating george

Here you go bestie<33 thank u for requesting!!

As a wolfstar shipper and a George girl myself😌, I hope you like this bestie<33

Pairings: Sirius x Remus, George x Fem! Reader

Warnings: some homophobia at the beginning, teasing Sirius Black lmaooo

Word Count: 2.4k

“You want a future with me?”

“Hello dear” you turned around and saw one of your fathers, “Dad!” you jumped and hugged him, you just got off the Hogwarts express, this would be your last summer break since you’re going to be seventh year the next time you step at Hogwarts. 

“How’s my baby girl?” He looked at you as you broke the hug, you smiled at the sight of him “Doing great, where’s dad?” you looked around while he picked up your trunk, “Here!” you heard the voice of your other father and your heart jumped out of joy when you saw him, you ran to him and hugged him too. 

“Here’s a chocolate for our princess” he handed you a bar of chocolate, “Remus! You ruined my moment with her, you should show up at the exit, not here, you’re ruining my quality time with our daughter!” suddenly Sirius was having a tantrum, not likely a tantrum actually, he was just whining. 

“No” Remus answered and looked away while he bit into his own chocolate bar. You laughed at them, “Stop acting like kids” you said and linked your arms to theirs. 

“Excuse us?” They both said in unison and looked at you, their forehead creasing that made you laugh even more. 

“You may” you nodded while closing your eyes and your parents just looked at each other, and it seemed like they were blaming the other one as to why you are so sarcastic.

“Let’s just go home” you dragged them by the arms since theirs are still linked to yours. You giggled as you saw Sirius not even struggling while carrying your trunk and at the same time being dragged by his daughter, and giggled even more when you saw your other dad who was just eating his chocolate quietly while observing the surroundings. 

You three were just like a happy family, parents picking up their child that came from a boarding school, if it weren’t just the ugly looks the people gave you.

It seems like Sirius was also bothered by how people looked at the three of you, seriously? Can’t they just manage their own business. 

Remus on the other hand was like used to it, he didn’t show any bothered expression, he didn't want to feed their satisfaction. That is something you got from him, that’s why you just let the people be, but of course, Sirius being Sirius.

He removed his arms from your link and grabbed Remus' face and took a bite from the chocolate that was centimeters away from his lips-being that he was eating it, your eyes widened registering how did that happen so fast, your jaw dropped, and a smile slowly formed in your lips as you saw Remus turning scarlet. 

 “Gross” you removed your arm that was around Remus’ and walked past them, your smile didn’t left your lips as you see mixed reactions from the crowd at the station, some were smiling, some were confused, some were probably uncomfortable, and of course, the people who were obvious to be insulted or disgusted. 

Needless to say, Sirius is your father, so you flicked those people who looked openly disgusted by them, they were sneering, frowning, and rolling their eyes.

“Fuck off git” you mouthed as you walk, turning to them while your middle fingers were greeting them. 

“Good job princess” Sirius laughed and high fived you as you three arrived at the front of number 12 Grimmauld Place, you weren’t sure what was the good job for, is it for flicking those people off or for successfully apparating, you decided to shrug it off and just viewed the house, it was your father’s ancestral home, it was filled by terrible memories of his childhood but with you three living there, it was all buried deep down. 

You unconsciously stared at the beautiful house that was concealed in the muggles eyes. You felt nostalgic seeing your dads walking towards the door, memories from your childhood appeared in front of you.

A girl in a yellow flowy dress, around the age of four, was running towards two men with their arms open wide, expecting that the little girl would run to them instead of the other, but what they didn’t expect was the little girl would run straight to the space between them and both hug them from the necks. 

The little girl was giggling while her dads were teary eyed, that’s when they realized, she never had favorites, if she had the choice to not choose, she wouldn’t. 

“Y/N?” Remus called you from the doorstep, his head was cocking from the door. “Oh!” you ran to the door “call me before dinner yeah?” you told Remus as you removed your shoes. You raised your gaze to him with flashing eyes and maintained eye contact, waiting for his answer. 

“Alright” he replied to you, you felt sudden joy not even sure why but it did make you kiss him on the cheek. “Thanks!, Love you dad!” you shouted as you ran towards the stairs, 

“HOW ABOUT ME?!” you heard Sirius who was probably at the kitchen doing Merlin knows what, “I LOVE YOU TOO!” you yelled while you ran the stairway. 

“YOU BETTER BE NOT PREGNANT WITH THAT WEASLEY BOY’S CHILD Y/N!” Remus’ voice echoed and you laughed and stopped from entering your room and peeked down while holding at the stair rails.

“DON’T WORRY, I’M NOT PREGNANT!” you shouted back and you heard his sigh of relief, “YET!” you added and sprinted to your room and closed the door. 

You heard both of their voices shouting your name. You cackle while heading to your study table, your room was cozy, it was filled with different drawings you made when you were a child, there was your very first black leather jacket that Sirius gave you before he bought you a bicycle, it was hanging from a corner, properly displayed, he was expecting you to like motorbikes like he did, and you did, you like riding motorbikes. 

There was also your very first hair accessories that Remus bought for you, hair pins, hair clips, headbands, and many more. He was the one who likes to tidy you up, even before you make yourself dirty by running and riding the bike. Of course Remus struggled but thankfully, Lily did teach him a few hairstyles when they were teenagers, and the rest of his knowledge came from going to different hair salons just to ask how to style his daughter’s hair. 

An owl bumped on your window that made your brows raise and shift your head to that direction. 

“Errol?” you said the name of the owl and he dropped a letter to your hand before he headed to your table and lay down, acting very exhausted, of course to your utter panic you immediately got water and placed it in front of him. You sighed as he drank through the container, enough for him to drink. 

While he relaxed you opened the letter. 

Hello beautiful, 

                   I’ll arrive there at six, see you. 

Your husband, 

George

You bit your lower lip and smiled, then you forgot, you haven’t told your dads yet. Without wasting any time, you apparated to the kitchen. 

“Hey” you voice lingered behind their backs and they jumped, they turned their heads to you with wide eyes, “You don’t do that here” Sirius said while holding his chest, “I almost had a heart attack” he glared at you while you just tried to not laugh,

“You’re just getting old dad” you stated that made him glare at you more, Remus smiled very very sweetly at you, trying to bribe you to not say it “and you too” you smiled back, looking at their sour faces. 

“Enough” Remus raised both of his hands and shaked it, trying to shoo you. “I was about to say that George’s arriving at si-” you didn’t have the chance to finish your sentence when someone knocked at the door. 

“I’ll get it” you announced, you three were quite tensed as to who might be at the door, you weren’t expecting visitors this early, it wasn't 6 o'clock yet. 

You opened the door, ready to run back to the kitchen if something goes wrong, but what greeted who was something-or someone, who had a mischievous smile, his red hair shining because of the sun, and his brown eyes gleaming at you. 

“Hello dove” his smile became wider as he caught the perfect view of his girlfriend, her Y/H/C hair complimenting her skin, the eyes that were obviously shocked to see him, and the smile that slowly formed on her soft lips. 

“George!” you mentioned his name when you processed who was standing in front of you, he gave you a peck on the lips before he grabbed your waist and pushed you carefully to the side so he can walk, “hello Sirs” he cleared his throat and rubbed both of his hand on his pants before giving your fathers a hand shake. 

This would probably be their very first ‘formal’ meeting, they already met each other at Hogwarts, during the Triwizard tournament, but that wasn’t formal enough, unlike now. 

George was scratching the back of his neck and was being really nervous, you just surveyed them, and when you noticed something it was too late because your mouth opened before you can even think twice

“Dad, you’re the smallest” you told Sirius that made the three of them look at you, firstly George was shaking his head slightly, trying to tell you that it was not the right time, then Remus was also looking at you, he was trying his best to cross his brows but you can see the ghost of smile that was in his face, on the other hand, Sirius was there shooting daggers at you with his eyes like you’re not his child, then he slowly looked at Remus and George. 

George was obviously the tallest, but only an inch taller than Remus, while Sirius, he’s just not a six footer. 

“I-uh come George let’s prepare the table” even though it was still early, you reached for George’s hand, still feeling the stares of your father, you wanted to laugh, so hard, but he might not buy you your favorite cereal, so you chose to suck it up.

“Why’d you do that?” George started talking as you fetched his wand and used it to prepare the table using magic, “it was my mouth’s fault, anyway, you told me you're arriving at six, it's not six yet” you answered and watched the floating plates and utensils. 

“I was trying my best not to laugh dove, please don’t do that again in front of your parents, I might lose goodie points, and I meant six minutes not six o'clock” he chuckled as he hugged you from the back, wrapping his arms around your waist and laying his chin on the top of your head. 

“Even if you lose goodie points, I’ll still love you don’t worry” you faced him and cupped his face, his face that was always as perfect, those freckles that can make a constellation, his eyes that you would prefer to look at rather than the stars, and his hair that would always stand out. 

It was like a magnetic pull, your faces was slowly getting nearer and nearer, almost there, the finish line, his lips onto yours, inches turned to an inch, heartbeats getting fast, and you can feel his breath, then his soft lips was supposed to be next 

Not until someone cleared their throat that made you push George out of reflex. 

“No snogging in this house, you understand that angel?” Sirius crossed his arms and raised his eyebrows, “Yes dad” you replied, slightly embarrassed so you chose to continue to prepare the table while George can’t maintain eye contact with you or anyone in the room. 

“Sorry dad” you walked to Sirius who was still in the entrance of the kitchen, surprisingly he smiled at you, “Yeah that’s for bullying me” he wrapped his arms over your shoulder “But about that almost kiss? I’m not mad don’t worry, we all kiss someone at some time” he added like it was just common sense for him to not get mad.

“I love you” you said out of the blue while you two watched Remus and George laughing at the dinner table, you rested your head on his chest, “I love you more princess” you felt him kiss the top of your head. 

“Just walk with the boy outside while we clean here alright?” Remus looked at you and George, he tapped George’s shoulder before he turned his back to the both of you and be with Sirius who was still drinking wine at the table. 

“Come on” George called you and touched your back to guide you, your eyes were still looking at your parents, mesmerized by their strong bond. 

“Georgie?” you tried to get his attention while you two walked the dim lighted streets, only the flickering lamp posts and the moon were the sources of light. 

“Hmm?” he was busy playing your hand, touching every bit of it, and even comparing it to his. “You think we would be like them?” you stopped on your tracks, feeling the night summer breeze brushing your skin, "Like who love?" He stared at you, now holding your hand firmly, "Sirius and Remus" you answered and tucked the few strands of hair that was bothering your face because of the wind,  you looked at his eyes and saw amusement and adoration all over it.

“You’re asking me that?” a lopsided smile appeared on his face, you nodded slightly as an answer, “You’re thinking of marrying me?” he asked you again, now giving a full smile, you nodded again, “You," he pointed to you "want a future with me?” he pointed to himself, his eyes smiling the same as his lips, you nodded again, oblivious of how that made George’s inner monologues that was doubting what would happen with the both of you disappear, because who wouldn’t, you’re Y/N, raised by two amazing people, you’re beautiful, intelligent, bold, and many more that he would even consider you as perfect. 

And you’re here, saying that you wanted a future with him. 

Now, with the moon smiling at the both of you, the stars being your cheerleaders, your lips met, you hooked your arms around his neck while he cups your face with one hand and the other holding your waist. 

At this night, two teenagers shared a kiss under a lamp post, during the summer of 1995. 

[wreckofawriter]

Jelly Slugs

Pairing: Harry Potter x reader

Word Count: 2,278

Warnings: Swearing, a little angsty, still plenty of fluff

Song to Set the Vibe: broken ~ lovelytheband

Request: @mcluuvin666 hi could i request a harry potterxreader in which the reader & harry always seem to find each other in the hospital wing at the end of each year because of harry’s adventures & somehow she always ends up hurt in a funny/ironic way even though it wasn’t her intention to get caught in their messes if that makes sense? either way harry & the reader get really close throughout years of ending up in the hospital wing w the reader being frustrated w the trio bc they’re the “reason” why she’s hurt and she’s just kinda like “you lot are going to be the death of me” but harry and reader end up going out anyway. lots of fluff and maybe angst if you can? thank you so much!!

A/n: Once agian so sorry this took so long! It may not be completely edited, excuse typos, I wrote litteratly all of it tonight. I'm trying to burn through my requets, if u sent one I got it I'm just waiting to get to it

    At eleven years old you had already had far too many near-death experiences, for you that meant one. You hadn’t meant to do anything at all, well except grab some snacks from the kitchen after hours, but it wasn’t anything you hadn’t done before. On your way back your ears had picked up a sweet symphony and you had grown curious. 

Turning a few unfamiliar corners you found the room, its heavy door ajar. You pushed it all the way open, a pastry still stuffed in your mouth preventing you from screaming. A large three-headed beast lay in front of you snoring loudly. Before you could turn and run your eyes found a small wooden trap door at its feet. The phrase your mother often scolded you with echoed in your head, Curiosity killed the cat. You about turned on your heel but then the ending of the saying learned from an equally mischievous classmate came to you, But satisfaction brought it back. 

You dropped the food in your hands and walked hesitantly towards the large dog. You then quietly opened the door, cringing as its hinges squeaked and peered inside being met with complete darkness. You were going to close the door retrieve your treats then head back to your dorm but as you turned you met a pair of brilliantly green eyes and you let out a yelp before stumbling backward and plunging into the hole with a scream. You were soon followed by three of your classmates almost as confused as you were. 

You ended up getting your arm broken by a giant chess piece on your way to retrieve something you didn’t fully understand and what you believed to be a curse began. 

You sat up in a cold sweat the image of a white stone queen drawing her sword waking you with a start. You rubbed your eyes only to find your left arm in a sling and aching a bit.

“Oh, good you’re awake.”

You turned to your right to see a little boy in round glasses smiling at you. “What happened last night?” you asked eyes wide.

“It’s a long story, but I suppose we have time.” He shrugged, “Jelly slug?” he offered holding out a colorfully wrapped package. 

“Yes please.”

Second year began as normal as it should have but it was soon strange and dangerous, pearlized classmates and strict rules making the school feel less and less like a home. Of course, your luck being about as bad as it got, you where the last victim of the basilisk. 

You had been polishing trophies to serve detention which you got for supposedly bad-mouthing Snape although it wasn’t your fault Draco was a filthy snitch. You then saw a large pair of yellow eyes in the shining metal and everything went dark.

You woke up four days later body aching eyes feeling extremely dry as you blinked vigorously. You had a strange sense of deja vu as the hospital wing soon came into view. Head once again thumping as you tried to recall your memories. 

“Oh right, you're here.”

You turned your head to the right to see a wide smile, green eyes hidden behind round glasses as cuts riddled the boy’s face. 

“Merlin Harry, what happened to you?” You gasped taking in his battered form. 

He shrugged, “I fought Voldemort.”

You cringed at the name but said nothing of it to him, “Again?” 

He laughed, “Yeah, this time it hurt more though.” 

“I’m glad you’re okay.” You grinned at him.

His cheeks reddened a bit, “Yeah, I’m glad you’re okay too.” 

You fell into an uncomfortable silence before Harry reached to his bedside table and offered you a tissue-wrapped box, “Jelly Slug?” 

You nodded taking it from him

Third-year had been downright dreadful for you. You were finally a teenager which basically meant everything that had been easy and quick now seemed to take hours and far too much thought. Every little thing you did you were sure would be scrutinized, it didn’t help when a close friend of yours spread a nasty rumor about you and you found yourself skipping classes and opting to stay in bed. A serial killer being on the loose certainly didn’t help. 

The only sort of decent thing that happened was your friendship with Harry, after two times of healing in the hospital wing together you decided to be at least acquaintances. You held study sessions with the boy and occasionally his two best friends although all they did was bicker.  

You also happened to be outside reading when a rat lept on you and dove down your shirt leading to you being dragged into a tree by a dog who turned out to be a serial killer who turned out to be Harry’s godfather. But to be honest you didn’t really care.

You were absolutely livid, your leg was torn apart and for the third time in a row you had somehow been shoved into an adventure you most certainly didn’t want to take part in and you were bleeding heavily because of it. 

Oh yes, how could you forget? You were also almost killed by your professor, who had turned into a werewolf just in time to almost kill you again. 

When you woke up in the hospital wing with the golden trio surrounding you, you weren’t so pleasant.

A string of foul curse words, pointing fingers and yelling was shot at the three teens who apologized profusely insisting they did not mean to get you caught up in their business. 

You eventually calmed down and found out it wasn’t all that bad considering you got to see the suddenly very attractive dark-haired boy who made a point to spend all of his free time in the hospital wing with you as your leg healed. You shared a large amount of jelly slugs as you read muggle books and did your best to stay on top of studies.

Fourth year was much better than the last. You and Harry spent more and more time together and you felt a large crush on the boy who lived growing. Hermione knew about it instantly and Ron seemed adamant to tease both of you just for the joy of watching your faces flush. But good things never lasted.

You had a heart attack when Harry’s name came out of the goblet and found yourself taking his side in a sudden war between him and Ron. The bitch of a journalist Rita Skita also plastered you and Harry’s face all over the daily prophet when she caught you hugging him before his first task. You went with Harry to the ball although to both of your disappointment only as friends. And you ended up comforting Hermione in the hallway anyway. 

You also were almost drowned by your sorry excuse for teachers in the second task. Never one to back down from a fight you yelled directly at Dumbledor and Karkaroff saying how if your name wasn’t pulled out of that idiotic goblet than you shouldn’t have to almost die for the even more idiotic tournament. Of course, you did this with a very colorful vocabulary that landed you three weeks of detention. 

When Harry pulled Cedric from the maze you had cheered clapping along with the band until suddenly you heard the boy wail like a wounded animal. You raced down to meet him and helped pull him off of the elder boy’s body.

He was shaking the entire time and when you finally managed to drag him away he buried his head into your neck and sobbed. 

Harry was then dragged away by Mad-Eye and you were quick to follow, bursting in on the two just as Moody no longer became Moody. 

“Harry!” You yelled diving at the quickly transforming man who was holding him at wand point. 

Your body suddenly erupted in such harsh pain you thought you might throw up. 

“Y/n!” Harry’s yells fell on deaf ears as the unforgivable curse took all of your attention. 

By the time Harry was able to disarm the man, you had passed out from the pain. 

You woke up in the hospital wing three days later a disheveled Harry seated in a chair next to you his arms folded on your bed his head resting on them. 

When you tapped his shoulder lightly he jolted awake immediately engulfing you in his embrace sobbing out apologies as you pushed yourself closer into his chest. 

“I’m so so sorry y/n, I never meant for you to be caught up in any of this.” He choked out pulling away from you and cupping your face in his hands. 

“It’s okay Harry, I’m okay.” You spoke smiling weakly feeling extremely exhausted. 

“But he used an unforgivable cu-” 

“I don’t care, I’m just happy you’re okay.” You interrupted leaning into the soft circles his thumb was drawing on your cheek.

Harry’s eyes filled with an unidentifiable emotion and suddenly his lips were on your own. 

The second they connected he backed away blushing so heavily you were sure he was hot to the touch.

“I’m so sorry y/n, I don’t know what I was thinking and I-”

You only shook your head and wrapped your hands around his neck bringing his lips back to yours. His hands ended up on either side of you as you leaned back down on the bed bringing him with you. He hovered over you, your tongue slipping into his mouth as you played with the ends of his hair. He tasted overly sugary with a hint of fruit, just like a jelly slug.

You were interrupted by a cough followed by a low chuckle and Harry immediately pulled away from you and you turned to see not only your headmaster but Professor McGonagal and Madame Pomfrey all staring at you. 

Your eyes went wide and you felt so hot you thought you might catch the sheets on fire. You stole a glance at Harry who had paled dramatically, looking sick. 

“I’m glad you’re feeling better y/n.” Dumbledore chortled. 

You hissed in at the pain that shot through your ankle. Your head had also begun to pound causing you to squeeze your eyes shut and attempt to relieve the pressure by pressing onto your temples. Fuck Umbridge. You hopped that bitch was dead, as your eyes began to adjust to the sudden brightness of your surroundings you saw an all to a familiar sight. The hospital wing had become your home away from home and now in fifth year you, it made sense you ended up there once again. 

When your psychotic headmaster dragged you, your boyfriend and your two best friends out to the forbidden forest as she was attacked by a giant she managed to hit you with some sort of spell which effectively left you in your current state. Harry who was seated beside you wrapped his arms around your waist and placed a kiss on your neck.

“You okay?” He asked he seemed stressed, then again when wasn’t he?

“I’m fine.” You lied with a smile pushing his glasses back up his nose. 

“I think you should stay here y/n/n, I can’t have you getting hurt.”  He frowned. You then took notice of the group of teenagers was behind him. They were clearly about to leave. 

“I think history has proven that kind of unavoidable at this point.” You sighed standing up and drinking whatever was on your nightstand, it turned out to be a pain medicine that tasted the equivalent of dragon piss. 

“Y/n...” Harry spoke hesitantly.

You turned to look at your boyfriend, your face set in stone. “If you don’t take me with you I will find another way to that building.” 

Harry sighed biting down on his lip, “Fine. Alright, guys, let’s go.”

Your lips twitched into a smile just as you were about to leave the room you noticed a small half-empty bag on the table next to your bed, you stuffed it into your pocket and ran after the group you had fallen behind. 

You sat silently eyelids feeling so heavy you thought they might close at any moment. Your entire body ached, your headache coming back stronger than ever, but you didn't let onto your pain. 

Harry had his head buried into your stomach as you combed through his messy hair, his sobs were the only sound in the massive black room. Sand was scattered around you as you clung to your boyfriend your back up against a black glass wall as you stared blankly ahead of you. Dumbledore stood a few feet away, seeming almost as lost as you were. Part of you hated him for putting Harry through everything he had just been through, but you knew it wasn’t his fault. 

Harry adjusted himself so his head was buried into the crook of your neck, his arms wrapped around your waist. The movement caused something in your pocket to crinkle, catching your attention. 

You reached into your robe and removed a half-empty bag of candy. You smiled in spite of yourself. 

You tapped Harry on the shoulder whispering his name. He looked up at you his eyes rimmed in red, his face blotchy, the sight made your heart throb.

“Jelly Slug?” You asked your voice cracking.

The boy let out a mix between a laugh and a sob before lightly placing his lips onto your own. He tastes salty and bitter, like tears and blood. You found yourself wishing you were elven again when everything was simple, wishing that Harry still tasted like jelly slugs. 

Taglist:

(Realizing I forgot this last fic I posted, my bad)

@accio-rogers

@roslea

@k3nz-doodl3

@theseuscmander

Masterlist

[maybeimamuppet]

the best medicine

Cady is very worried. It’s almost noon and Janis still hasn’t answered her good morning message. She’s trying to calm herself; Janis is renowned for being a late sleeper, especially on weekends. But she wasn’t in school yesterday, and they haven’t spoken or even texted since Thursday night. Something must be wrong.

She decides to start doing some math homework to distract herself from her anxiety, pulling out her textbook and grabbing a pencil from the cup on her desk. She’s working on her fifth problem when her phone finally pings.

Jellybean: good morning butterfly

Jellybean: sorry it took me so long to answer i’ve been asleep all day

Caddy Cakes: It’s fine, darling. Are you okay??

Jellybean: i’m not great

Caddy Cakes: What’s wrong?? :(((

Jellybean: i’m sick. that’s why i didn’t come in yesterday 📷

Jellybean: doc says it’s strep. had to get swabbed

Caddy Cakes: Oh no, poor Jellybean 📷

Caddy Cakes: How long have you been taking antibiotics?

Jellybean: uh since yesterday morning i think ?? why ?

Caddy Cakes: If you’ve been taking them for more than 24 hours you’re not contagious anymore. Do you want me to come take care of you?

Jellybean: u don’t have to do that babes. i’m all gross rn

Caddy Cakes: I don’t care, lovey. I picked up lion crap as my daily chore for eight years, I can handle a sick girlfriend. I wanna take care of you 🥺

Jellybean: if u really want to, cads. my mom and jules are out of town, there’s a key under the ceramic frog in the garden

Caddy Cakes: I’ll be there in fifteen 📷️mwah! 📷

-

Cady puts down her pencil and closes her book, heading downstairs and grabbing everything she might need to help her sick girl. Two different painkillers, the recipe for the super-awesome-cure-all-wonder soup her family always makes whenever illness hits, some medicinal African herbs to make tea with, and some soothing lozenges for sore throats. That should be everything.

Once she grabs her phone, jacket, and charger, she takes her bike from the garage, since her parents took the car to some convention thing. She texts them to let them know where she’s going and heads out.

————-

She’s so distracted worrying about Janis she doesn’t even notice where she is until she arrives at Janis’ place, hiding her bike around the side of the house and taking the key from the frog.

She heads up to Janis’ bedroom, finding her in the dark, huddled under several blankets, and with Pancakes resting protectively at the foot of her bed. Janis looks half-dead, her skin is pale and flushed pink with the fever, and her eyes are glassy and fogged over. She’s clammy and burning hot to the touch, and clearly in a great deal of pain.

“Oh, mpenzi,” Cady breathes. “My poor love. How long have you been feeling so bad?”

“It hit me on Thursday when I went to bed. I woke up yesterday and my throat felt like it had shards of glass in it,” Janis croaks out a whisper.

“You poor thing,” Cady strokes a hand through her sweaty hair, Janis leaning into her cool touch. “Have you taken your antibiotics yet today?”

Janis shakes her head. “Haven’t had enough energy to get water,” she explains.

“Shh, Jellybean, don’t try to talk, you’ll just hurt yourself more. I’m guessing you haven’t had breakfast either?” Janis shakes her head again, wincing at the mere idea of swallowing anything. “I know, darling, but you still need to eat. I’ll make something that won’t hurt too bad, okay? I’ll be right back.” She tucks Janis in a little tighter and heads down to the kitchen.

The Sarkisians don’t have a lot in their fridge, but enough that Cady can scrape up a decent breakfast. She makes some quick scrambled eggs and grabs a banana, those are both healthy and easy to swallow. Pancakes hasn’t been fed either, so she fills his bowl with some food for him to find before she fills a cup with cold water and heads back up to her love.

-

Janis is now lying on top of all of her covers, the fever changing her temperature every minute. “Here, mpendwa. The other pills are just ibuprofen, it’ll bring your fever down and help with the pain,” Cady says as she pours out one of Janis’ antibiotic pills and some painkillers.

Janis swallows everything obediently, grimacing at the sensation in her throat when they go down. “My poor sickie,” Cady says sadly, handing Janis the plate of breakfast. She must be totally miserable, she would usually protest absolutely everything happening. Janis hates feeling useless. “Can I draw you a bath, Jellybean? It might help your temperature. It’d make you feel less gross, too.”

Janis nods happily, excited at the idea of a comforting soak. She takes a small bite of her eggs, wincing again as she swallows. Cady kisses her burning forehead gently and heads to the bathroom, spying a bottle of lavender bubble bath. She turns the tap, filling the tub with lukewarm water. If it’s too hot, Janis’ temperature will go too high, but if it’s too cold it will just be uncomfortable for her. She uses entirely too much bubble soap, causing a large wall of foam to rise above the water level. Oh well, Janis loves lavender anyway.

Janis is just finishing her meal as Cady heads back to her bedroom, nibbling slowly at her banana. “It’s ready whenever you are, Jay. Do you want me to stay with you or wait in here?” Janis points to herself. “Okay. Has the medicine started working yet?”

Janis nods, standing slowly and throwing her banana peel away. She tries to walk over to where Cady is waiting by the door, but her knees buckle just before she can make it. Cady lunges to catch her before she hits the ground, pulling her back upright again. “Hate this,” Janis grumbles weakly.

“I know, my love. You’ll feel better once those antibiotics actually start working, I promise. Um, I put in a little too much soap,” Cady mutters once she’s managed to half-drag Janis to the bathroom. Janis chuckles weakly at the tower of bubbles, slowly stripping off her clothes and stepping in.

Cady scoops some of the foam and rests it on top of Janis’ head, giving her a bubble hat. “You’re so cute,” she teases. Janis just huffs, pouting and crossing her arms under the water. “Yes, I know, you’re my tough punk protector. But you’re also adorable.”

Janis shoots her a look that says “I can live with that, but I’m not happy about it.”

“Let me go grab you a towel and some clothes to change into and then I’ll wash your hair, I know you love that. Try not to drown,” Cady jokes, heading back towards Janis’ room. She folds back the blankets to allow the sheets to air before she grabs some comfy shorts and fuzzy socks, a thin tank top, and a hoodie to go over it from her dresser.

She bursts out laughing when she comes back, finding her girlfriend with the bubbles still on top of her head sunk down into the tub so that only her eyes and nose peek out from the mound of foam. “Alright, sit up for me, lovely.”

Janis emerges from the bubbles slowly, as Cady lathers her hands up with Janis’ signature apple shampoo. Once she starts massaging it into Janis’ dark roots, her eyes flutter shut and she gives a contented purr. “You’re just like Pancakes. You both love having your heads scratched.”

“He doesn’t like baths,” Janis says quietly. “And he’s a little bitch.”

“Janis! He’s your son, don’t be mean. He was guarding you when I got here,” Cady chides jokingly.

“He bit my toes! I was napping!” Janis insists hoarsely.

“Okay, that was mean of him. Look up and close your eyes,” Cady says, tipping her chin up and scooping water to rinse the soap out of her hair. Janis gives a pleased shudder at the warmth cascading over her head.

She goes for the conditioner next, squeezing out a little more than she needs and warming it in her hands before stroking it through the blonde ends of her girlfriend’s hair. She works it up from the bottom slowly, the excess giving her a reason to massage Janis’ scalp again. Anything to make her feel a little better.

Once that’s done, Janis lowers herself back into the cooling water, exhausted just from holding herself upright for so long. Cady gives her a moment to rest, telling her some stories of things she missed during school the day before.

“Did you know the way the football team hazes new people is with a taser?” Cady asks, prompting Janis to pop an eye open curiously. “One of the guys who sits next to me in sociology was talking about it. One of the other seniors has one and they tase all the freshmen on the ass when they first join the team.”

They both start giggling at that, Janis in particular getting a vindictive joy imagining the same jocks who used to shove her in lockers getting their asses shocked.

“And obviously your natural instinct is to move away from it, and he said the guy with the taser just kind of follows them with it,” Cady says, making them both laugh harder. “Like, they keep leaning or running away and he just goes with them.”

“That’s great,” Janis whispers. She pauses and then says, “I’m cold.”

“Do you want me to come in with you?” Cady asks. “Or do you want to get out?”

Janis nodded at the first bit and points to her once she finishes speaking. All she really wants is to be held. Cady goes quickly to fetch another towel for herself, coming back and taking her clothes off. She ties her hair up so it won’t get wet and slides into the tub behind her.

“Ooh, it is cold in here now,” Cady says quickly, adding just a touch more hot water to boost the temperature back up. Janis leans back against her and turns her head to tuck her face into her neck, inhaling her comforting scent of rosewater perfume. “Is this better?”

Janis just nods, trying to relax and ignore the burning in her throat. “Another story?” she whispers quietly, glad she’s so close to her girlfriend’s ear and doesn’t have to strain her voice.

“Sure, Jellybean. Let me think... did I ever tell you about the time a lion broke into my tent?” Cady asks, running her fingers through Janis’ wet hair and gently separating a few tangles. Janis shakes her head. “I was nine, I think. Some new cubs had just been born on the reserve and I got to help with the newborns every now and again. One got really attached to me, followed me everywhere like a little puppy. She was kind of the closest I could get to a pet.”

Janis looks very interested in the story. She always does, she loves Cady’s Kenya tales.

“Anyway, one night I was asleep and I remember being a lot warmer than usual, like I had an extra blanket or something, and I couldn’t move as much in my cot. I woke up in the morning cuddling this baby lion. She’d managed to hook the zipper on one of her teeth to get the flap open and just plopped herself right in my arms. I was lucky her mom didn’t eat me. They’re very protective, but she was just laying outside waiting for the cub,” Cady giggles at the memory.

“That’s cute. What was her name?” Janis whispers.

“Louise. My dad named them. They were supposed to be named Lewis and Clark because they were the first ones that would be living in a new area of the reserve, like the first explorers. But they turned out to both be female, so we called them Louise and Clarke instead,” Cady says. “I miss them. I think those two were my favorite.”

“You’ll have to introduce me someday,” Janis mumbles sleepily. “Can we get out now please? I’m cold again.”

“Okay, Jay. Here,” Cady hands her the cushy towel and pulls the drain in the tub, helping her to stand. “Your clothes are here.”

She dries herself off quickly and tugs her old clothes back on, Janis trudging through her aches and fatigue to dry herself and pull on her clean clothes. Once she manages, Cady leads them back to the bedroom, preemptively taking a hold of her girlfriend so she doesn’t fall over again.

“Do you want lunch, Jayjay?” Cady asks, wrapping a towel around Janis’ head so her hair doesn’t get her clothes wet. Janis shakes her head, popping one of the lozenges Cady brought into her mouth before flopping back down on her bed. “Nothing? You have mac and cheese.”

Janis pokes her head up at that, apparently having reconsidered. She hadn’t eaten at all yesterday, so she’s actually quite hungry, despite the pain in her throat. “Okay, take your temperature while I’m gone. I’ll be back in a minute.”

————

Pancakes follows her back to the kitchen, and Cady gives him one of his ‘diet’ treats and some pets for helping to take care of Janis. “Good boy. But stop biting Janis’ toes, you little perv. She’s sick.”

She decides to make the tea with the herbs she brought to go with their lunch. Janis isn’t a big fan of tea unless it’s super fruity, so she adds a lot of milk and sugar to the mug to cover some of the earthy flavor. She also adds honey, having to psych herself into grabbing the bottle and squeezing the sticky stuff into the mug, grimacing at the goo on the bottle and washing her hands quickly afterwards.

-

Janis was apparently waiting for her the whole time she was cooking, lying on her bed watching the door with her sad brown eyes. “I love you,” she croaks when Cady comes back in.

“I love you too, my bluejay. What was your temperature?” Cady hands her the warm bowl and rests the mug on her nightstand. Janis shows her the thermometer, the little screen glowing yellow and showing 99.0. “It’s gone down a little, the bath must have helped.”

Janis reaches for the mug, taking a cautious sip of the warm tea.

“Good?” Cady asks, coming to sit behind her with a hairbrush and some hair ties. Janis nods.

“You put honey in it?” She whispers, sounding a bit pained. “Good job.” Cady struggles with certain textures to the point of nearly fearing them, honey being the worst. Imagining touching honey gives her almost the same reaction as imagining watching someone break a bone.

“I did. You owe me for that,” Cady teases jokingly, gently brushing out Janis’ damp hair and twisting it back into two Dutch braids, slightly challenged by her side shave but managing regardless. “Now your hair will be all curly like mine.”

Janis touches one of the braids, playing with the elastic at the bottom. She points to her desk, where Cady sees a notebook resting. She goes to grab it and a pen; Janis’ throat must be hurting too much to speak again.

“When did you learn how to braid like this?” Janis writes.

“I did it a lot in Kenya, and Damian helped me practice and taught me new stuff. He lets me practice on a wig he has. It’s fun,” Cady explains. Janis gives a nod of understanding. Cady realizes something after a second. “Hey, do you want to learn some more sign language? Now is kind of a perfect time.”

Another nod. “Okay, write down something you need or want and I’ll show you the sign for it.”

Janis writes, “Snuggles?” and blinks at her hopefully.

“Aww. Of course, mpenzi. That looks like this, by the way,” Cady says, making a sort of peace sign with her first two fingers bent back, resting it on the back of her other hand. Janis copies the motion, raising an eyebrow curiously. “Yeah, just bend your wrist back a little more. There! Okay, you can take some more medicine and come here.”

Janis swallows a few tylenol with what’s left of her tea before letting Cady pull her in. Cady lies on her back, pulling Janis to rest on top of her with her head on her shoulder and face tucked into her neck. “Comfy?”

Janis nods. “Will you read to me?” She mumbles shyly.

“Sure, my love. Which one?”

Janis leans over to grab Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children from her nightstand before cuddling back into her. Cady kicks the blanket up over them with her feet, tugging it tightly around her girlfriend’s shoulders as she opens the book.

“I had just come to accept that my life would be ordinary when extraordinary things began to happen.” Cady reads, Janis listening intently even though she’s read it several times before.

Cady kisses her still-warm forehead gently before continuing. By the time Jacob winds up in Wales, Janis’ breathing evens out and she can hear a faint whistling sound with every breath. She dog-ears the page (knowing that Janis is very pro-dog earing) and continues reading silently to herself as she eats her own lunch; it’s an interesting story. Once the light from the setting sun just barely starts stealing in through the window, Cady decides to get started making the soup.

She very delicately shifts Janis off of her and tucks her in again, Janis grumbling crankily in her sleep for a second at the removal of cuddles. Cady leans in and pecks her nose before she goes, giggling quietly as it crinkles like a bunny’s.

She pads down to the kitchen quietly to work on the soup, tiptoeing so as not to wake Janis. The Heron’s super-awesome-cure-all-wonder soup is actually just chicken noodle soup, but a really delicious homemade variety with some extra spices. Cady is lucky Juliana likes to cook, they have everything she needs except the chicken and vegetables.

She decides to check with Damian first, he lives closer than the grocery store is and she doesn’t want to leave Janis alone for too long.

africabytoto: Hey Damian, do you happen to have any chicken and carrots and celery at your place? Janis is sick and I wanna make her some soup 📷 all she has is dino nuggets and frozen peas

sashafierce: Aww poor Jan

sashafierce: Let me check. What did she catch?

africabytoto: Strep throat. She’s miserable, I hate to see her like this 📷

sashafierce: She got strep all the time when we were kids, she hasn’t had it in a while. Poor thing :(

sashafierce: You’re in luck little slice, we do indeed have your poultry and veggies

africabytoto: Oh yay thank you!!!!!! I’ll be over soon, I just need to write her a note in case she wakes up

sashafierce: Sounds good :))))

-

Cady scrawls “Went to grab some ingredients for your dinner, be back soon. Text if you need anything, love C xx” on a post it note and sticks it to Janis’ bedside table, kissing her forehead gently. She feels a little cooler now, so the medicine must have finally kicked in again.

She grabs her bike from and heads over to Damian’s house, finding him waiting for her on the porch with a bag of goodies. He stands from his chair when he sees her, coming to wrap her in a hug.

“How is she?”

“She’ll be okay. She’s really weak right now and still in a lot of pain, but she should be feeling a lot better by tomorrow,” Cady answers, peeking into the bag. Ooh, ice cream.

“Poor Jan. She got strep all the time when we were little. Turns out she just had giant tonsils, she had them removed the day after her mom finally took her to a specialist in second grade. She hasn’t gotten it since, until now,” Damian explains, letting Cady go.

“I hate seeing her like this. She’s so tired and weak. But she is extra cuddly today, that’s been nice,” Cady says sadly.

“She always is when she’s sick. The only thing that makes her feel any better is being held, and then she pretends like it never happened once she’s better. She has to ‘maintain her image’.” Damian says, doing air quotes at the end.

“Sounds like her,” Cady giggles. Janis’ punk image was checked at the door when they got together, but she still clings to it desperately. “I should get back before too much longer. Thank you for this, I owe you one.”

“No you don’t, just tell her I said to get better and give her a hug for me. See you on Monday, Cads.” Damian says as he hugs her one more time and hands her the bag, heading back into his house.

————

Once Cady has pedaled back to Janis’ house, she heads up to her bedroom to check if she’s woken up yet.

Turns out she hasn’t, but she’s tossed her covers away and is spooning poor Pancakes, who looks like he’s just barely tolerating the affection. Cady goes to give him some scritches when she spots the tip of his tail flicking in annoyance, trying to coax him to stay.

She pecks Janis on the forehead again, frowning at the heat she feels. She scraps the note she wrote now that she’s returned, writing a new one explaining that she’s downstairs if Janis wakes up and needs something.

-

She decides to do the dishes first, scrubbing out the plates and cups as well as the pan and pot she’s used so far today. She probably should have done it earlier, but Janis needed her more.

Once that’s handled, she starts prepping the chicken and veggies, cutting the vegetables into bite-sized chunks and seasoning everything with the various spices. It’s designed to have enough flavor to taste even through a stuffy nose, so it takes a lot of seasoning.

She seasons the chicken broth as well, adding in the noodles and vegetables to boil. Pancakes comes trotting down the stairs once she puts the chicken into a pan to start cooking, licking his fur back into place after Janis’ rather aggressive cuddle session.

“Hi Pancakes, did Janis finally let you go?” Cady asks, checking the time on the microwave. “It’s your dinner time, too, let’s get you fed. Not that you need it, chunky.”

She picks up his bowl and scoops some of his food out of the can, giggling as he brushes against her legs and purrs very loudly. “I’m going as fast as I can, calm down.”

He dives in once she puts his bowl back down, munching happily on his salmon and turkey paté. Gross.

Cady cuts up the now-cooked chicken into small chunks, adding it to the pot and giving everything a stir. Pancakes hops up on the counter next to the stove once he’s finished his meal, sniffing curiously at the steam coming from the pot.

“Get down, young man. You had your dinner, this is for Janis,” Cady scolds jokingly, scooping him off the counter and back onto the ground. “I’d give you some, but the spices aren’t good for your tummy.”

She ladles the soup into two bowls once it’s finished, cleaning the dishes she used right away since Janis is still asleep. She finds a tray in one of the cabinets, grabbing it so she doesn’t have to carry  everything up in her hands.

The soup is warm, so Cady gets some apple juice from the fridge so Janis can have something cold to go with it. She makes extra sure that Pancakes isn’t around her feet before picking the tray up and heading back up to her girlfriend.

-

Janis is still asleep, on her back now and shivering slightly. Cady frowns, resting the tray on her dresser and heading to wake her. She brushes her thumb against Janis’ cheek gently, leaning down to kiss her forehead a few times. Janis’ eyes flutter open at the attention, and she gives a pained sigh.

“Hi, lovey. How are you feeling?” Cady asks gently, handing her the thermometer to check her fever. Janis gives her the saddest look and a thumbs down, obediently sticking the thermometer under her tongue. “Worse than earlier?”

Janis nods as the thermometer beeps, pulling it out as it blinks red at her. 102 degrees. Cady frowns at it before shutting it off and putting it back on Janis’ nightstand.

“I made you soup, it’s my family’s secret recipe,” Cady says quietly, as Janis seems to be showing signs of a headache. Janis perks up slightly at the mention of soup, looking around for it. Cady goes to grab the tray, settling in next to her and taking her own bowl.

“This is good. I’ve never had homemade soup,” Janis whispers hoarsely.

“Never?”

Janis shakes her head. “I always got the canned stuff.”

“Well now you have me. I’ll make you soup whenever you need it,” Cady says, leaning over to peck Janis’ forehead. “You should take your hoodie off. You’re burning up, my love.”

“I’m freezing,” Janis responds in her notebook, having leaned over to grab it off the nightstand.

“Freezing looks like this, in sign,” Cady says, holding both hands out in front of her and curling her fingers slightly at the knuckles. “The soup will help warm you up, you’re going to cook yourself if you keep your shirt on.”

Janis pouts but pulls it off, being careful not to knock her bowl. Cady finishes hers and leaves to go get a cool cloth. It’s still too early for Janis to have another dose of medicine, so she’ll have to bring her temperature down a bit the old fashioned way.

Janis has finished her dinner by the time she comes back, sipping carefully at the juice and wincing slightly with every swallow. She perks up when she sees Cady come back, finishing off the glass and resting it back on the tray.

Janis does the sign for snuggles again, blinking sadly at her. Damian did say it’s practically all that helps.

“Let me go clean these dishes, and then I’ll come back and cuddle you, I promise. Rest this on the back of your neck,” Cady says, handing her the damp cloth. Janis takes it and stands, the soup having given her just enough strength to get herself to the bathroom.

Cady takes everything back down and rushes through scrubbing them clean, leaving them to dry in the rack instead of doing it by hand before hurrying back upstairs. Janis has returned by then, looking so small curled up under her blankets.

Cady crawls in next to her, and Janis shifts to sit on her lap and cuddle into her shoulder. Cady rubs her slightly sweaty back gently, leaning down to kiss her cheek and adjust the cloth on her neck.

They sit there for a while in peaceful silence, until Cady feels tears soak into her shirt and hears a quiet sniffle. “Oh, Jellybean, what’s wrong?” She asks sadly, holding her girl closer.

“Don’t feel good. Hurts,” Janis whines hoarsely, letting out a whimper of pain. Janis cries a fair amount, but almost never from physical pain. She must be feeling miserable.

“Oh, mpendwa, I’m sorry. I wish I could do more for you,” Cady says sadly. “My poor love.”

“Medicine?” Janis asks quietly with another whimper.

“You can’t take any more yet, it’s not safe. Just a little longer,” Cady tries to comfort gently. Janis chokes out a sob at finding out she can’t take anything more yet, and has to continue dealing with the pain on her own.

“Please?” She begs.

“I’m sorry, Jellybean. You’ll get sicker if you take more. Shh, lovey, you’ll make yourself feel worse if you cry, shh.” Cady squeezes her tighter, rubbing her back again. “Damian gave me some ice cream for you when I went to get the stuff to make your soup, would that help?”

“What kind?” Janis asks tearfully.

“That really good caramel stuff you like,” Cady answers, wiping her tears gently. “Do you want me to go get it?”

Janis thinks for a second, wanting the ice cream to help her pain but not wanting her Caddy to go. She nods after a minute, scooting off her lap with a sniffle. “Hurry back?” She whispers, blinking her watery brown eyes pitifully at Cady.

“Always, my love. I’ll be right back,” Cady insists, kissing her red cheeks gently and leaving again.

True to her word, she comes rushing back in no more than forty-five seconds later, brandishing a pint of non-dairy ice cream and a spoon. She sits down again, pulling Janis back into her lap and opening the frozen treat. Desperate to do what little she can to help her girlfriend, Cady scoops some onto the spoon and holds it in front of Janis’ lips.

A testament to her illness, Janis accepts the spoon feeding without complaint. “You’re really feeling sick, hm? You almost never let me feed you,” Cady says, getting her another bite.

Janis just nods and nuzzles into her, opening her mouth again. She’s exhausted, it’s nice not having to exert herself. They continue this for a while, until about a quarter of the pint is gone and Janis puts the lid back on it gently.

“Did the cold help at all?” Cady asks, adjusting her grip on her as she leans to put the ice cream down. Janis nods and holds up her fingers in a pinch sign, signaling that it helped a little. “Good.”

Janis shuts her eyes and tries to rest as best she can, held securely in her girlfriend’s arms. Cady starts rubbing her back again and gently humming a lullaby, something Janis doesn’t quite recognize. She just cuddles in closer, nuzzling into Cady’s neck. She can’t quite fall asleep because her throat and head hurt so badly, but she gets close and rests there quietly for a while.

Cady kisses her forehead softly after about a half hour, telling her she can have more medicine now. She heads to fill up a glass with water and put the ice cream back in the freezer, handing Janis another dose of ibuprofen and another of her antibiotic pills once she comes back. Janis takes them thankfully, immediately swallowing them all down.

“I’m amazed you can swallow those with a throat infection, they’re absolutely massive,” Cady says, shocked at the size of the antibiotics. “I never understood that. Surely they should be small and easy for people to take.”

Janis nods her agreement, huddling under her blankets in a desperate search for warmth. “Stay over?” She asks pitifully.

“If you want, my love. Let me tell my parents and borrow some pjs,” Cady says, texting her parents that Janis is still very sick and needs her to stay, before grabbing a large t-shirt and some thin lounge pants from Janis’ dresser and changing quickly. She comes back once that’s done, pulling Janis back against her chest and kissing her forehead. “Get some rest, Bluejay. You should feel better tomorrow.”

Janis falls asleep once the medicine kicks in, held safely in Cady’s arms.

————-

When Cady wakes up the next morning, Janis is already looking much better. Her temperature is almost normal and she’s gotten some color back. She’d woken up a few times in the night, needing more medicine for her pain before falling quickly back asleep, but it seems to have done its job well.

Janis’ brown doe eyes blink open after a few minutes, the fogginess cleared and the beautiful shine back. She grins upon seeing Cady looking at her, stretching and giving a yawn. “Hi.” Janis says, sounding much less hoarse and pained.

“Hi,” Cady responds, kissing her nose softly. “How are you feeling?”

“Better. Still not totally back, but better,” Janis says softly, protecting her recently returned voice.

“Good. I missed your smile,” Cady says. “I liked the extra cuddles though. That was the only good part.”

Janis chuckles. “Thank you for taking care of me. I know I’m annoying when I’m sick. I get so clingy. Whiny.”

“Love, you were absolutely miserable yesterday, you’re allowed to be clingy and whiny. I liked taking care of you, I just didn’t like seeing you hurt so badly,” Cady chides gently.

“I love you,” Janis cuddles back into her, kissing the spot on her chest she can reach. “You’re the best medicine.”

“I love you too. I’ll always be around to take care of you.”

-

thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed. please let me know what you thought!

first request fill is coming next week!

lots of love,

ezzy

[jlalafics]

i beg of u. on bended knee. please write peeta on bended knee. by which i mean proposing. to katniss ofc

You asked for it...and here you go--

______

The bar—per every Friday night—was hopping. Round tables were filled with customers, old and young, and the noise was deafening. However, that was exactly how the owners liked their customers—jovial, bawdy, and just there for a good time.

Katniss looked around before waving at one particular waitress before reaching her usual table in the middle of the room. As she pulled out a chair and sat down, another woman approached with a group of her girlfriends.

“This is our table,” she stated before looking to her friends who snickered in approval.

Katniss smirked, clasping her hands and placing them on the table. “No, it’s not.”

“I know the owner and he said that it was my table,” she persisted. “So, you can just move—there’s room for you at the bar.”

“I’m pretty sure that he didn’t,” Katniss stated plainly.

Agitated, the girl placed a hand on her hip jutting it out aggressively. “How do you know?”

“Because he’s our Dad and I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t say yes to someone who’s insulting the heir apparent to his business.”

A golden-haired waitress, blue eyes cool and strong stance, appeared before the woman.

“My sister has had this table reserved since she spit up on it as baby—not to mention, I’m pretty sure that she was conceived on top of it.” The waitress nodded her head towards the exit. “Now, beat it before you make the wall of people barred from Everdeen Spirits.”

The women quickly scurried away, and Prim snorted before turning to her sister.

Katniss stood up, hands on her hips. “Do you really have to tell everyone that story?”

“It’s gives the table a little more distinctiveness,” Prim responded easily. “Plus, I’m pretty sure our parents have had sex on at least one of these tables. I mean, I caught them making out behind the bar just last night.”

“Gross.” Katniss pulled her sister into a tight hug. “I’ve missed you!”

“Well, that’s what happens when you move to the city with your boyfriend!” They both sat down. “How is living in sin with Peeta going?”

Katniss frowned, resting back against her seat. “It’s been good—but lately, he’s been…different.”

Prim leaned in curiously. “How so?”

“He’s been working a lot lately,” she explained. “Then, there are mysterious phone calls where he hangs up right when I walk into the room and he’s been skittish.” Katniss turned to his sister. “We’ve known Peeta since we were kids—he has a tell. When he’s lying or doing something obviously stupid, he does this adorable thing where he scratches the back of his head…like he’s trying to come up with a good excuse for whatever he did.”

Prim look unconvinced.

“You’re right,” Prim replied. “We’ve known Peeta long enough to know that when he’s lying or hiding something, he’ll get caught.” She flashed her sister a smile. “The man loves you and you’ve been blissfully shacking up with him for a year now. Trust him.”

“And, you don’t think that he might be cheating on me?”

Prim reached, smacking her in the back of her head.

Katniss scowled. “Ow! What was that for?”

“Because you sound like a dumbass,” her sister retorted. “You love him?”

She sighed, nodding her head. “Yes.”

“Then relax, enjoy Thanksgiving week with our crazy-ass family, and get excited for karaoke!”

“Since when do we have karaoke at the bar?” Katniss asked with a smile.

“Since drunk people love to post videos of themselves or their friends singing ‘Don’t Stop Believin’ and tagging our bar,” Prim said. “I told Dad that it would be great for business and he agreed. Sometimes he even goes up there and sings—you know he has a voice of an angel.”

Katniss could see Darius, one of the head bartenders, setting up the microphone on the small makeshift stage.

“Oh yeah. Practically stole Mom’s heart with that voice.” Katniss smiled softly. “It’s nice to be home.”

Prim leaned over and kissed her on the cheek.

“It’s great to have you home. I’ll have Vick bring your usual.”

With that, her sister stood up and headed back to the bar.

++++++

Once karaoke got started, Katniss put her thoughts on Peeta aside. Prim was right; there wasn’t a bad bone in Peeta’s body, it was why she fell in love with him.

What was once a childhood friendship had turned into love during a middle school dance. After being dumped by her boyfriend, Cato, for a girl who looked like her but had bigger boobs, Peeta had come to her rescue and asked her to dance.

Then, under an overabundance of streamers and the sound of slow jams on the speakers, Peeta Mellark became her boyfriend.

Surprisingly to a lot of people, they had remained together from high school through college—attending separate campuses—up until now. She worked as a paralegal for Haymitch Abernathy, a prominent Manhattan lawyer while Peeta worked as a sous chef for famed chef, Beetee Latier.

They were content with their life together.

At least, she thought they were.

The volume of the crowd heightened when her father crossed the stage. Richard Everdeen, with his salt and pepper hair and kind coal eyes, became everyone’s dad as soon as they entered his bar and it was apparent in the appreciative applause as he took to the microphone.

“Hello darling!” Katniss turned to find her mother pulling out a chair across from her. They embraced before sitting down. “I would have been out sooner, but I was having a hell of a time dealing with these wine distributors.”

“It’s alright,” she told her mother. “You didn’t miss anything but a round of Journey songs and a really good rendition of ‘I Wanna Dance with Somebody.’”

“I really just came to the front for your Dad.” Her mother’s blue eyes went soft at the man on stage. “And you, of course.”

Katniss chuckled. “Thanks Mom.”

“Oh, you know I love my first-born baby!” She gathered Katniss against her. “But I’m always hot for my man!”

“And, you wonder why you two were never popular with the other parents,” she responded.

Her parents were great, but they were a little more…boisterous than the staid parents that often ran the events at the girls’ schools. That never bothered Katniss or Prim though as their parents were as supportive as any parents could be.

The girls were often the top sellers during fundraising events as patrons at the bar would buy anything to support the Everdeen girls. Or whereas a parent might run a cotton candy booth during the annual springtime carnival, the Everdeens were the ones who ran the dunk tank which often featured her father promising a free bottle of wine or soda for anyone who dunked him.

“Who needs popularity?” her mother said. “We have each other.” She looked around. “Where’s Peeta?”

“He should be along,” Katniss said. “Had to work late…but he should be here soon—I hope.”

Peeta had texted his apologies, but he was once again caught up with the restaurant. He spent less time in their apartment the more successful he became.

Her mother gave her shoulder a squeeze. “He’ll be here sooner than you think.”

Katniss nodded, turning her attention to her father.

“Anyway, thank you for coming in for this new thing we’re doing. My girl Prim’s idea—” The crowd whooped and cheered for Prim who did a curtsey from the front of the bar. “It’s a joy to hear all your beautiful voices—”

“SING!” someone called out from the crowd.

Katniss looked around quickly before turning back to her dad.

“I guess we’re getting a request,” her Dad said with a humble smile. “I’m going to dedicate this to my wife. Pearl, darling, this might be a little past our time, but I think you’ll enjoy for many reasons. Also, Katniss, my oldest girl, is back home so I think she’ll enjoy this as well.”

The familiar strains of the song began, and it was like she was 12 again—all legs and arms with no tits, but feeling the beginning of womanhood and the beginning of love.

 “Darlin' I, I can't explain

Where did we lose our way?

Girl, it's drivin' me insane

And I know I just need one more chance

To prove my love to you—”

 There was a scrape of a chair and suddenly Peeta was sitting right next to her.

“Peeta!” She beamed at him. “I can’t believe you’re here!”

Peeta pressed a kiss to her lips. “Sorry I took so long…Beetee is so panicked about making sure that the holiday menu goes as planned.” He turned to Katniss’ mother. “Hey Mrs. Everdeen.”

“Hey sweetheart.” She stood up. “I’m going to grab a snack for you two—”

“Mom, it’s alright,” Katniss assured her.

“No, no…” Her mother was already heading away. “Don’t worry, I’ll be right back!”

Katniss turned to Peeta, who took her hand. “I guess she’s giving us alone time.” She smiled at him. “I really am glad you’re here. Truthfully, I’ve been a little worried about us.”

Peeta frowned. “Why?”

“You’ve been so busy…and sometimes I feel like you’re keeping something from me,” she replied.

“I’m sorry.” Peeta gazed at her, earnestness in those blue eyes of his. “I don’t know why you put up with me sometimes.”

“Because I love you, dummy.” His mouth widened at her words and she slid her hand to his cheek. “Always.”

Peeta covered the hand on his cheek with his own. “Always.” He looked to Katniss’ father and nodded a hello. “Do you remember this song?”

“Of course,” she replied. “It was the first song we danced to—when I got dumped for being Miss No-Boobs.”

“Trust me, the boobs came and more than made up for the delay,” Peeta told her with grin. He stood up. “Dance with me.”

She looked around the crowded bar as everyone listened to her father singing the chorus. Some people were even singing along. “Here?”

“Yes. I want to dance with my girl,” Peeta insisted as he stood up, pulling her along. He wrapped an arm around her waist, drawing her close. “I remember being so nervous when I asked you.”

“You were my hero,” she replied as they began to sway. “Imagine I was thinking that I was so heartbroken over Cato when you were in front of me all that time.”

Peeta met her eyes, suddenly nervous.

“I’m really sorry if I’ve been neglecting you. It’s just that I realized something; I don’t want you to be my girlfriend.”

Her heart suddenly ceased to beat, and she pushed away from him, her eyes filling.

“Then you don’t have to be.”

Katniss turned but Peeta still held her hand. “Katniss—”

“Let go!” She was full on sobbing in front of everyone. “I don’t need to hear anymore.”

Peeta obliged her and let go.

Katniss pushed past the rush of people, wiping her eyes. She couldn’t believe that he was dumping her in her family’s bar, on Thanksgiving week—

“I'm gonna swallow my pride

Say I'm sorry

Stop pointing fingers the blame is on me—”

 Why the hell was Peeta singing?

She turned as the crowd parted and Peeta, mic in hand, walked towards her.

 “I want a new life

And I want it with you

If you feel the same

Don't ever let it go…”

 “What the fuck are you doing—”

Peeta stopped in front of her, falling to his knees, as he continued to belt out the bridge of the Boyz II Men ballad.

 “You gotta believe in the spirit of love

It'll heal all things

It won't hurt anymore

No I don't believe our love's terminal

I'm down on my knees begging you please…”

 “You really should get off the floor,” Katniss told him. “It’s disgusting.”

“Not until you hear me out,” Peeta told her.

Her dad was suddenly by their side and Peeta handed the mic to him. The music stopped and the whole bar turned silent.

“I don’t want you to be my girlfriend, Katniss, because you are so much more than that. You’re my best friend, my biggest supporter, my guidepost, and advisor…because I do some dumb shit sometimes—”

She scoffed. “That’s for sure.”

“And, just like that, you keep it real. You’re also my soulmate,” he continued. Reaching into his pocket, Peeta present her with a velvet box. “I’ve already mucked this up, but hopefully this will help you understand.”

Her hands shaking, Katniss took the box and opened it. “It’s a ring.”

Peeta chuckled.

“That it is. A pearl in the middle because you love them so much—and of course, it’s your mother’s name,” Peeta explained. “The two diamonds to the left and the right are for your father and Prim. If you look at the outside of the band, there’s a small engraving of the signet that I found when I was doing research about the Mellark family during our senior year and if you look inside—”

Katniss pulled the ring out and looked inside.

“Always,” she read out thickly.

“I don’t want you as my girlfriend. I want you as my wife,” Peeta told her. “So, I’m on bended knee—on this beer-stained floor—asking you if you will please…please…be my wife.”

From out of nowhere, her mother pushed her forward. “For God’s sake, Katniss, say yes to the boy!”

“Yeah,” Prim said from the bar. “That floor is so gross and I’m pretty sure he’s wearing Armani.”

“Will all Everdeens please shut up—” Katniss called out. She joined Peeta, going to her knees, and looking into his eyes. “—so I can say yes to the man who’s loved me since before my boobs came in?”

Peeta blinked back in shock. “You’re saying yes?”

“I’m saying hell yes.”

Katniss watched as Peeta slid the ring on her finger with trembling hands.

Standing up together, her fiancé pulled her close to cover her mouth in a deep kiss.

“She said yes!” Her father bellowed to the crowd. “Free beer for everyone!”

The bar erupted in cheers as Prim, wiping her eyes, dashed behind the bar to help the bartenders serve.

Richard held his hand out to his wife. “I guess we’re having a wedding.”

Pearl wrapped an arm her husband’s waist.

“Our daughter must really love Peeta,” she said, watching the newly engaged couple, lost in each other’s embrace. “Because with a voice like that—”

“Well, let’s just hope that the children don’t inherit his voice.”

FIN.

Song: “On Bended Knee” -Boyz II Men

[offintoorbit-blog]

Crack Out: Vegas

Overview:

An over stressed Jungeun requests for a vacation in hopes of some time alone with her girlfriend Jinsol but ends up with her source of stress coming along with her. Thanks to the youngest of Loona's thoughtful suggestion of Nevada being their destination, Jungeun is now to challenge herself to keep her cool.

Authors' notes:

Please support Crack Out, we're working hard !

-Lau (@OffIntoOrbit on all platforms)

Here’s the first chapter to a short story abt loonas adventures in vegas, hope u enjoy and continue reading!

-Marie (@Ochaowo on birdy app)

~~~~~~~~

Chapter 1: Baby Park

Part 1/2

“HYEJU COME GET YOUR FUCKING SOCKS OFF THE FLOOR BEFORE I THROW THEM AWAY, YEOJIN GET OFF THE FRIDGE FOR GODS SAKE, YERIM STOP CHASING HEEJIN WITH YOUR ROACHES!” Junguen screams at the top of her lungs as she sees her chaotic bandmates up to their usual antics. 

As the chaos around her continues, Junguen takes a seat on the couch and puts her hands up to her head and sighs deeply. 

“Hey baby, what's wrong” Jinsol, Junguen’s girlfriend of three years, asks as she exits the bathroom drying her newly dyed black hair. 

“This” Junguen gestures violently at the ongoing anarchy of the dorm. 

“Ahh it’s okay I got this, go rest up before practice.” Jinsol says as she motions her overstressed girlfriend towards a room in which four bunk beds are aligned neatly. 

“Are you sure? Last time I trusted you alone with them they had you tied down to a chair, forcing you to watch Twilight” Junguen recalls the day she walked into the dorm after a quick convenience store trip to fetch some eggs after Yeojin and Yerim had used them all up to egg Haseul’s tinder date’s car as he waited for Haseul to come down. Fortunately for them, as they like to say, saved Haseul from heterosexual activity. 

“I’ll have you know they let me choose between Twilight or Tall Girl, I think I made a bold choice. Now if you can, get some shut-eye, I can get everything under control.” Jinsol reassures her, sending her girlfriend into the clean bedroom (thanks to Vivi who cleaned before going to her part-time job) with a kiss on the top of her head and wooshed her away. 

After the door shut behind Jungeun, Jinsol turned to look at the girls with her hands on her hips and a towel wrapped around her damp hair. She dusted off her lemon print shorts and cleared her throat.

“Okay feral chihuahuas, I want you to listen and listen closely” Jinsol furrowed her eyebrows and straightened her back in an attempt to look authoritative. The younger girls stopped at their pace and took a puzzled look at Jinsol’s bad attempt of control, but listened anyway. 

“We’re feral chihuahuas? Then you’re a soggy, dusty, old Great Dane!” Yeojin yells out right away. 

Jinsol ignores Yeojin’s comments and begins connecting Hyeju’s switch to the living room T.V. 

“So who’s up for a Mario Kart tournament?” Jinsol asks with a smile as she holds up two Joy-Cons. 

The younger girls all scream in excitement and run to grab their respective controllers.Yeojin plops herself in the middle of the floor as Hyeju and Chaewon, who’s wearing one of Hyeju’s black hoodies, settle next to each other.  Jinsol smiles to herself as the younger girls begin setting up the game and chat animatedly, save for Heejin who pulls out her iPad and begins working on a new drawing. The girls all rush to pick their characters, Yeojin immediately exclaiming that she wants to be Waluigi. Hyeju laughs at the smaller girl as she picks Bowser, Chaewon having already selected Princess Peach. Yerim then has an extensional crisis attempting to choose the color of her Yoshi, eventually settling on the pink variant. 

“LET’S DO BABY PARK!” Yeojin screams out when they begin selecting maps. 

Hyeju ignores Yeojin’s shouts for Baby Park and selects Special Cup.

“HEY! THAT’S NOT FAIR! YOU KNOW I’M NOT GOOD AT RAINBOW ROAD.” Yeojin begins to protest until the game finishes loading and the first race of the cup begins, immediately grabbing her controller and focusing on the screen.

 Jinsol continues to smile as she watches the girls play while they giggle and shout. She gets up from her seat on the couch and walks over to check on her tired girlfriend. Jinsol’s heart warms at the sight of Jungeun passed out on Jinsol’s bed with her face stuffed in the pillow, still leaving space for her. Jinsol gently shuts the door and returns to the living room to see the girls finishing off their first race.

~~~~

The first three races all end similarly, Hyeju placing first, Yeojin falling off the map attempting to drift and ending up around 5th place, Chaewon around 2nd or 3rd, and Yerim in 7th while still smiling and giggling. Everyone was finally settling down and enjoying their time together, that is until the end of the final race of the cup, Rainbow Road. 

Just as Yeojin is finally about to place second (first still taken by Hyeju) she’s hit by a red shell while taking a turn, knocking her off the map. She shrieks and yells at Lakitu to hurry up and put her back on the map. Just as she's placed back on the map, she’s passed by Chaewon who is able to finish right before her. 

“ᵃˢˢᵃᵎ”

“CHEATER!” Yeojin exclaims at Chaewon who’s doing a victory dance. 

“I didn’t cheat, you’re just bad at the game!” 

“YOU’RE SUCH A LIAR, YOU SHELL THROWING ASS FACE!” 

“Hey!” Hyeju shouted and stood up, hearing Yeojin insult Chaewon.

Chaewon then moved behind Hyeju as she and Yeojin stood in front of each other, hurling insults. 

“Girls! Calm down! You’re gonna wake up-” Jinsol, who spoke up when she realized the two girls weren’t going to stop anytime soon, was interrupted by the door to their bedroom being slammed open, revealing an angry Jungeun. 

"I thought you said you’d have it under control?!" Jungeun glares at Jinsol. Jungeun bothered at the fact her mid-day nap has been interrupted by cursing teenagers. 

"I do! I mean, I did" Jinsol remarks afraid to look up to see her girlfriend fuming in frustration. 

As Jungeun is about to completely lose her cool, as if she hasn't already, the answer to Jungeun’s worries enters the dorm. 

"Hi! Guys! I'm home!" A girl with short black hair and a bright smile greets the girls. 

"Haseul!" Yeojin drops the controller she previously held running into the older girl's arms as if she hasn't seen her in decades, Hyeju instinctively reaches for the controller cradling it as if it’s in pain from the impact.

"The rest are waiting in the practice room, we should get going" Haseul smiles down at Yeojin, pushing up her sunglasses and shrugging off her leather jacket.   

"Last one there is a rotten egg!" Heejin exclaims.

With that Yeojin, Heejin, Yerim, and Chaewon Naruto run out of the dorm, Hyeju following slowly behind.  

"Go on Sol, I'll be there in a sec" Jungeun gives a strained smile. 

Jinsol smiles and then runs out the door to catch up with the other girls. 

"Is there something you want to talk about?" Haseul asks with a concerned look as Jungeun slumps onto the couch. Haseul follows and sits beside her. 

"I need a break." Jungeun sighs out. 

"You want to leave the group?" Haseul questions. 

"No, no, not like that. I just want to break the routines and live a little outside of this dorm" Jungeun admits. 

"Hmm…What if you ask management for a few days off?" Haseul suggests. 

Jungeun gives it a thought and nods. 

~~~~

Before heading to the practice room, Jungeun takes a look at the office right next to it, where their manager spent her days working away.

"Hello?" Jugeun hesitantly knocks on the slightly parted door. 

"Kim Lip! Come in!" Their manager smiles warmly looking up from her desktop computer. 

The manager's office was as neat as an IKEA model, filled with fake plants, this lady can manage 12 girls but not remember to water some plants. The only living thing was a succulent sitting at her desk that was a gift from Yeojin for accidentally covering her new car in toilet paper thinking it was another one of Haseul's potential boyfriends.

Jungeun walked into the lavender scented room taking a seat in front of her manager, playing with the slightly frayed ends of her flannel. The older woman waited for Jungeun to speak. 

"Umm... I was wondering, since we currently don't have an exact schedule, if we could possibly take a few days off and go on a trip?" thinking of spending time alone with Jinsol.

"Oooh like a vacation?" The woman chirps 

"Yes. Exactly, I just thought since-" 

"Oh that sounds like a wonderful idea, just pick a destination and I'll take care of the rest for all you girls" the manager gets up excited for the execution of the said vacation. 

"‘All you girls’?" Jungeun questions. 

"Oh I'm excited, let's spread the news and go tell them right now and we can get to picking!" the older woman says as she begins walking out of her office. Jungeun follows behind attempting to clear the confusion.  

"France would be great or Australia" the manager continues as she stops in front of the practice room.

Jungeun anxiously opens the door, revealing her members practicing as if they are entering a national competition. The girls stop as they hear the familiar voice of their manager calling their attention.

"Girls! I have some exciting news! Thanks to Jungeun, it has been brought to my attention that you all need some time off or as I shall say some time away." 

The girls looked at each other, some puzzled and some anticipating the news. 

"You all will be going on a small vacation!" The manager smiles. 

Jungeun looks around at her members’ reactions, seeing how happy they get makes her heart warm, especially the way Jinsol's smile reaches her eyes.

Maybe a vacation all together won't be so bad, Jungeun thought to herself.

[xxfanfiction-emo-trinityxx]

Safety Dance - Gerard Way x Reader

Request: So Gee is out at work or college or something and the reader goes over to his place to wait for him, and his room is in the basement so she goes down to his room and puts on some music like Tainted Love by Soft Cell or something and starts dancing, but like, unexpectedly and really like risqué. And then Gee also gets back early and stands in the door way and just watches her and she doesn’t know he’s there and he’s like wow u should dance for me more often and then it like carries on to fluff <3

Word count: 1 614

It was cold and grey outside and while you usually did not mind the weather being as unenjoyable as today, right now the wet, chilly winter atmosphere darkened your mood. You had been sitting by the window for a while now, trying to relax after the stressful day at college, but not even your favorite cup of hot chocolate was able to brighten the dark clouds that had sneaked from the sky outside into your head. You waited until the tingling in your legs got unbearable, then you stood up, and walked over to your closet, pulling out a warm, cozy pullover and a soft scarf which you wrapped around you before you headed out of the house.

The wind that had blown this morning had died down, the air was not really cold, but not warm either, and the dark, empty branches were still dripping from the shower of rain that had fallen while you had been on your way home.

The streets were mostly empty, except for a few people who walked their dogs, or hurried down the pavement, piling shopping bags in their arms.

It did not take you too long until you reached your destination. The house was tall, just like all the houses in this area were, and the old bricks looked especially dark from the rain. You rang the doorbell next to the tiny sign that read ‘Way’ several times, never receiving an answer on the duplex system, nor being let in by the electric buzzing of the unlocking door. So instead you pulled out your keychain and selected the small, silvery key that fit the lock.

You still remembered how Gerard had given the key to you. It had been long before you got together, long before your friendship turned into more than that. He had insisted on giving you this key in case you ever wanted a place to hang out at. You had shaken your head, and denied his offer, but he had been so insistent, that you had ended up taking the keys anyway. You smiled at that memory, and let yourself in; making sure the door fell into its lock behind your back.

The corridor was narrow, and two of the three lightbulbs broken, so the light was dim, and the fading daylight barely made it through the dusty window of the door. You gripped the railing of the staircase and climbed down into the basement, where Gerard had his apartment. Once again you fit the key into a lock, and the door sprung open, allowing you access.

The flat was dark, and the smell of coffee had grown cold, a sure sign that no one was not home yet. You turned on the light, and yellow beams streamed through the lamp you had helped Gerard choose. You kicked off your shoes and placed them neatly next to the pair of winter boots under the coat rack. The scarf was thrown over one of the coat hangers before you hesitantly advanced into the small kitchen.

You knew it was silly, feeling so reserved in a place where you almost spent as much time as in your own flat, but without Gerard in here you felt like you were invading his privacy. But apparently he did not think so; otherwise he would not have given you his keys, would he?

Carefully you filled water into the coffee machine, and added ground coffee into the filter, before switching it on. It immediately awoke to live, and started sucking water into the boiler. You took out two cups, and placed them on the little table so they were prepared for the coffee once it was ready.

You left the kitchen, and strode over to the bedroom. This room was the heart of the small flat. It was by far the biggest room, and the most decorated as well. A king sized bed stood under the small windows that lined one side of the room. Books and comics were piled on the nightstand next to it. A huge desk, covered in drawings and more comics faced the door. The wall opposite the bed was lined with bookshelves, these too filled to the brim with books and comics. The few spaces between were filled with action figures and little souvenirs. In front of these shelves stood a sofa and an armchair, both old and used, but cozy and familiar to you. You strode over to the radio that somehow was squeezed between the books.

In the kitchen the coffee machine was bubbling and puffing, filling the flat with the delicious smell of freshly brewed coffee.

The button of the radio cracked under your finger as you switched it on, and for a moment you were worried you might have broken the old thing, but then music started flowing out of the speakers. The volume was turned up pretty high, apparently Gerard had engulfed himself in the sound of whatever song had been on the radio the last time he had used it. Some eighties tune blared from the radio and filled the room.

You felt the tension that had weighted you down before, slowly fall off. Suddenly the grey weather outside was not bothering you anymore, not now that you were standing in your boyfriend’s bedroom, surrounded by his things, his smell, the coffee machine contently working in the room next doors, and some amazing music making you want to dance.

So that’s what you did.

You closed your eyes, and concentrated on the music, felt how the beat made your bones vibrate, how the melody fit so perfectly to the text. You started moving around with your eyes closed. You knew where the furniture was, even when you had spun around a few times. You moved your arms over your head, and moved your hips to the beat of the bass, while your socked feet smoothly wandered over the carpet. You knew it had been a good idea to come here, even if Gerard was not home yet. You always felt so safe at his place, so safe and free, so that was what you allowed your body to show with each movement you made.

Had you not been so occupied by the music, you would have heard how the flat door was unlocked again, and a tired Gerard entered his flat. He had heard the music from outside, so he was not surprised to find the lights turned on. Quietly he took off his coat and his shoes, and tip toed to the open door of his room. The music was still playing, the Star Trek lamp on the ceiling shed some warm light, and the windows over his bed were already dark. But his eyes were fixed only on you, as you moved through the room with such confidence and joy. He leant against the frame of the door, watching your every movement, how you jumped around and raised your arms. He smiled happily; proud to know that he was allowed to love you, all of you, because there was no one else he would rather call his, no one in the whole world. The music faded as the song came to an end, and the title melody of the radio channel played into the calming song.

Your dancing had stopped, and you stood next to the radio, breathing heavily.

“You should dance for me more often,” Gerard whispered, just loud enough for you to hear over the radio.

You jumped around in surprise, still unaware of his presence.

“You’re home,” you cheered and skipped over to where he was standing in the door, flinging your arms around his neck.

“Yes, I’m home,” he agreed and hugged you, his still cool skin against you warm one.

“I made coffee,” you told him, pulling away, intending to go into the kitchen to look after the progress the coffee machine had made, but Gerard held you in place.

“How about,” he whispered and carefully walked you backwards, his hands on your hips, “the coffee waits for a bit.”

He guided you to the bed on which he pushed you down once the frame was hitting the hollow of your knee. You giggled and pulled him down with you, connecting your lips softly with his when he landed on top of you. He kissed you for a while, his long lashes fluttering against your cheeks, and his breath hitching every time you gently bit down on his lip, but then he pulled away, his eyebrows knitted together in annoyance.

“Damn music,” he whispered and reached for the remote, turning down the still terribly loud music to a more tolerable level.

You giggled again before you pulled him back down by his shirt. You felt him smile into the kiss before he rearranged both of you more comfortably on the big bed. Your head was resting in the big pillow, and Gerard had pulled the warm Batman blanket over your legs so you would not get cold. You kept kissing for a long time before the day’s exhaustion demanded its tribute and you cuddled together closely.

Your head was resting on Gerard’s chest, and got moved up and down with every breath he took. His heart was beating firmly in his chest, and sometimes his belly glugged a little, making you smile tiredly every time. His hands were softly combing through your hair and he leant up several times so he could place a gentle kiss on it. It did not take long before you had fallen asleep, safe and warm in your lover’s arms, while outside the cold of another grey night flooded the streets of the city.

[rivertellsstories]

Case of the demon’s den Chapter #6

Chapter 6: Jack and Crutchie have friendly conversations with the walls.

Tumblr refuses to post these in the newsies tag, but if you are interested, you can find the whole thing on ao3.

David takes a deep breath as he navigates himself through the house. With his eyes closed, he searches for him. He knows he's fucking with him, knows he is playing him like a damn fiddle, but the fact that he's actually able to, is most worrying. Around him the walls constantly rearrange themselves, forming new corridors and rooms but he ignores them until a wall materializes right in front of him and on his right side, the wall opens up and reveals a cozy looking room.

It's filled with more pillows than he can count and the sight of it makes him smile. "Thank you Leah, but you and I both know that hiding isn't an option when he wants to play." The entire house creaks, signaling it has definitely heard him, but the door opens a little bit further anyway. The house's protectiveness fills David with warmth, but he doesn't have the time to dwell on it. He'd rather find him, than be found by him. The wall disappears and David before he continues his quest, he asks the house to lead Crutchie and Jack out. What's coming isn't pretty and he'd rather spare them the sight.

As Jack and Crutchie make their way down the ramp, the place starts changing again and Crutchie halts Jack by holding an arm in front of him. "I think it's better to wait until it's done changing. We might get stuck in a wall otherwise." As the room slows down again, there's only one way to get off the ramp. The left, right and back have been blocked by walls and Jack recognizes the door in before them as the front door.

"I take it we've got to go?" Jack utters and the entire wall with the door in moves up and down, as though it's nodding. "But it isn't even sundown yet", he says and tries to not sound too disappointed. The wall drops and Jack tries to read its facial expressions. It's kind of hard because it doesn't exactly have a face, but when the lights dim a bit, Crutchie catches onto what the house is trying to say. "It worries you", he states and the lights return to their previous brightness.

"What can we do?" Jack asks, determined to help even though he has no idea what's going on. The door swings open and Jack and Crutchie peer outside in confusion. "There's nothing there." They look at each other and Crutchie shrugs. "Maybe the house is a bit confused."

Jack screeches as something touches his back while Crutchie calmly turns around. The wall behind them moves slowly forward, pushing them towards the door and right in front of it, it stops moving. It's then that it clicks for Jack. "You want us to leave." The lights flicker and Jack has the feeling that he's thinking in the right direction, but hasn't said the exact thing the house means.

It's Crutchie who hits the nail right in the head. "You don't want us to leave, but we have to. It's dangerous for us to stay, but only now." The lights flicker enthusiastically and Crutchie claps with his hand against the wall. "Crutchie, what are you doing?"

"I figured the house would appreciate a high five." Jack covers up a giggle by bidding the house farewell. "Bye bye demon's den. You're a bit wacky, but I think it's swell. See ya tomorrow!" Crutchie keeps waving at the house until it's entirely out of sight.

The last thing Leah had told him, was that both Crutchie and Jack exited the house safely and after that message, her presence had disappeared completely? Nowhere in the now cold walls of the house can he find her and he knows that he's on his own now. Well, not completely on his own, but he thinks he would appreciate it more than the Red Lady who keeps pestering him.

"David dear, take off that godawful hoodie, would you? It's not becoming of you." She sounds so awfully ingenuine and patronizing. If he could, he'd make her leave the house, but there's not a lot you can do against a ghost who's stuck to a house. Some time ago, he probably could've exorcised her without batting an eye, but right now, he doesn't have that kind of power anymore.

"Your hair is kind of shabby over here", she says while tugging harshly on the curls at the nape of his neck and he tries to ignore her at all cost. "Fine, be that way. Maybe I should talk to those other boys, they seem nicer than you." Fully knowing that she's baiting him, he stops and gives her a glare. "Leave them alone."

"Boo, you're stingy", she drawls, "share your new friends with us, Davey. We're bored too you know? That Crutch boy? Friendly enough, do you think he'd be up to any games? I'd be funny to watch him crawl-" With the tiniest bit of magic, he draws a sigil on her upper arm. Barely any thought and furious intention combine themselves and with a high wail, she pulls back from him. With flaming eyes she spits out: "It's no wonder you're alone. I certainly wouldn't stay around you if I had the choice."

"Then leave", he brings out between gritted teeth and as they stare each other down. The air hums with magic and David thinks, no hopes it'll come to an explosion. Some part of him yearns for confrontation with the woman who has been pestering him for two years. But as she turns up her nose and comes floating closer again, he knows it's not for today.

"David, you and me, we're stuck with each other for a little while. But, don't worry we'll part ways soon. Though it won't be me who's leaving." David's eyes darken and before he can retaliate, she waves it off. "Come now David, we both know it's inevitable. Make the most of the time you've got left, I'd say."

He hates her, deeply so, but she's the liveliest and most talkative spirit in the house and she's all he's had for two years. The sudden arrival of a rowdy group of teens isn't going to change the fact that she's the only person he could talk to when the longing for companionship got the better of him. Even now, the almost desperate craving for someone to talk to wins over his hatred and he speaks to her.

"I shouldn't get them involved." Although he says that, he can't help but want to involve them. He wants friends, wants to talk to people who aren't dead yet, wants to know what has happened outside the house for the past two years, wants... Of course he also has other wishes, but they are so unattainable that he shouldn't even voice them.

Hanging with those teenagers will only increase his hope for his deepest wish to come true and he knows that he would not be able to survive the disappointment that would certainly follow. He needs someone to crush his budding hope and as he looks at the Lady in red, he knows that at least one of his wishes will come true.

"You are right, dear. It would be utterly selfish of you. Endangering innocent teens because you think us ghosts aren't good enough for you? Dear child, how selfish can you get?" He shoves his hands in his pockets and looks away. "I won't let them in next time", he mumbles and the Red Lady sighs impatiently. "It's too late for that, dumb child. You should've scared them off the very first day. Do you have any idea what you've unleashed unto those poor children?"

When he doesn't answer, she forcefully grabs his chin and looks him in the eye. "Where is your grimoire, David?" As his eyes widen in realization, she lets him go and pushes him backwards. As David stumbles to the floor, she brushes a red strand of hair behind her ear and looks down on him. "It has chosen a new owner. You know what that means darling."

"Also David", she pauses and smiles with pure joy. He doesn't like that expression on her face, because it usually means bad news for him. "Yes?" He tries to not sound too skeptical, but as he feels claws getting jammed into his ribcage, mercilessly piercing through his flesh, he knows he should've paid more attention to his surroundings.

As he gets absolutely bludgeoned and blood stains the plush carpet underneath him, he catches the high sound of the Red Lady's utterly amused laughter. He hates her, but it's still nice that there's someone there. "You've been found, darling." G-d help him, the sun hasn't even gone down yet.

Katherine Pulitzer stares at the locked door in front of her and debates whether she should kick it in or not. Jack had told her that he would be here after school, but she has rung the bell several times and knocked and yelled loudly, yet no one had come to open the door.

Kath: Where are you? Been yelling at a closed door for half an hour now.

After she sends Jack the message, she spots an open window and decides to let herself in through that. Without any difficulties she smoothly gets inside and lays eyes on what seems to be the living room. Her phone vibrates in her pocket and as she reads the message, the window slams shut behind her.

Jack-o'-lantern: Me 'nd Crutchie left like an hour ago? U should go home.

CutestKath: Lol, my entryway closed itself. I'm going exploring boy!

The last message doesn't get send, but Katherine shrugs it off. She's close to the woods, there's a big chance that the reception is a bit wonky over here. She walks further into the living room and smiles when she sees traces of different newsies all over the place. There's enough ingredients to make a few five course meals (Henry's stuff, no doubt), a stray slingshot (one of Finch's. Sniper has slingshots too, but she doesn't carve F's into them), a sewing kit (hello there, Buttons), a prayer rug (also Buttons') and Specs' shoes.

She pauses for a moment and picks up the pointes from the floor and puts them in her backpack. For someone who's very eager to break gender rules in the world of dancing (without injuring himself though, luckily for him, his ankles can actually take pointe work), he forgets his materials more often than not.

Wandering through the house, she wonders if she'll meet the David Jack keeps talking about. A teenager living on his own is worrisome enough, but as soon as Jack mentioned 'Davey' she can't shake the feeling that she's heard the name before. Almost immediately she associated the name with the smell of coffee way too late in the evening, black ink in a messy handwriting and strangely enough, Sarah. The harder she thinks about it, the more the fragments of David disappear.

As she enters the hallway, she stumbles over something and lands against the staircase. "Fuck!" she yells and when she notices what she tripped over, she whispers a quiet: "Oh fuck."

The other teenager is laying on his stomach, face downturned and despite the torn state it's in and the gruesome red stains on it, she recognizes the hoodie he's wearing as Jacks. Carefully she kneels down beside him and with shaking fingers, she reaches for his wrist. His cold skin makes her fear the worst as does the absence of a pulse. 'He's dead', she thinks until his fingers softly grab her own wrist. The grip is weak, but she lets out a breath she wasn't ware she was holding. "I'm going to turn you around, is that alright?" she asks and his grip tightens the tiniest bit and looses again. Katherine takes that as a yes.

Ever so slowly, she grabs his shoulders and turns him around. His hand drops weakly back to the floor and as he lays there unmoving, she fears that the movement might've been too much for him. But then he manages to open his eyes and tries to get up.

"Easy there", she remarks and moves to support his back. As something warm and wet touches her arm, she looks down at his torso. There are horrid scratches, stretching all over his ribcage. "Do you think you can make it to the kitchen? That needs bandaging." He looks doubtful, but tries to stand up on his own anyway. His knees buckle and immediately, Katherine has one of his arms over her shoulder as she hooks her own arm underneath his armpit. "I meant with help, dumbass."

The comment draws a breathy laugh from his lips and immediately after, he clutches his torso. "Ugh, that hurts." Katherine clicks her tongue in sympathy and manoeuvres him unto the couch in the living room. "Stay here, I'll get some water and towels from the kitchen."

As Katherine is filling a bowl with water, cold fingers wrap themselves around her wrist and thirteen years of self-defence classes kick into gear. Swiftly she delivers a quick jab to her attacker's solar plexus and raises the bowl in her hand to bash it to the side of his head. Luckily enough for Jack Kelly, she does not do that. Instead she calmly puts it on the kitchen counter, while Jack groans. "Jesus Christ woman, what was that for?"

"Valentine's day when we were still a couple."

"Look, I thought we weren't going to bring that up again. Also, don't act like our anniversary never happened, you know what you did."

"That's fair."

"Here take these." She presses a bunch of towels in his hands. "What are we doing?" He asks and follows her to the living. As they approach the room they hear a woman's voice talking and both of them stop to listen. "It's awfully rude to spy on people", Katherine remarks and Jack nods. "We totally shouldn't do it", he agrees but neither of them moves. They quickly exchange glances, spit in their hands and shake their hands.

"We're gonna listen anyway, aren't we?"

"Oh absolutely. Let's look too."

Katherine and Jack peek around the corner and watch as a ginger lady dressed in a red dress talks to David.

"I'm disappointed you know. The carpet's ruined thanks to your blood."

The sarcasm drips from David's voice as he answers. "Oh, I'm awfully sorry about bleeding all over the carpet. I thought for sure that you'd appreciate the red, since you've got the whole aesthetic going on. I'll stop bleeding right now."

"I hate you, boy."

"The feeling's absolutely mutual, Madam."

The lady sits down on the sofa and slowly drags her fingers over David's wounds. "David, David, you keep making everything harder. That poor girl had to drag you all across the hallway, because your sorry ass couldn't be bothered to get up. The sun has gone down by now and the house won't let anyone out until sunrise, you know that. You made her lose time and now you ruined her chance of getting out. The poor lamb is going to die because of you, darling."

Jack can't keep quiet anymore and casually enters the room. "No one's gonna die tonight, Miss walking period."

[squatlord-draws]

┗┃・ ■ ・┃┛

GOD ITS ABOUT FUCKIN TIME I CLEAR THE DOCKETT

hey everyone how yall been doin lol, been sittin on a lot of these nice messages for a while now

it’s okay take your time

anonymous asked:

I've never had any interest in Star Trek or (sci-fi in general tbh) and I figured I'd probably never watch it but like... Ur undertrek au... It's filling me with Temptation. Also I love love love how you portray Chara. Or well I love how you portray literally everyone tbh you're just amazing holy shit?? I hope you have a nice day

undertrek is such a self indulgent thing and i would absolutely LOSE it if someone started watching ST because of it. i mean let’s be clear here, the original show is such a vastly different beast than the following series’ (TNG, DS9, Voyager, Enterprise, STD) and im primarily a fan of ToS--though when i started drawing undertrek, i hadnt seen the original series? in retrospect i’d like to go back and change some of the toning, to leave behind the more grounded feel of the post TNG-verse, and do more of the romanticism of ToS

god what a choice fuckin ask, thank you for submittin this

anonymous asked:

Would chara ever actually admit that they actually real love sans and sees him as family?

they see him ...... as a real pain in the ass

anonymous asked:

God I love how smug charas and sans relationship is

they’re the actual best

anonymous asked:

I see charas and sans relationship like rons and aprils in parks and recreation

ron from aprks and rec: rat piss

grabnok-destra asked:

Are Chara and Asriel ever happy? :( I want them to be happy.

i’d say they’re happy a lot, actually

anonymous asked:

I would fight your chara in a darkened alleyway

god you’d fucking win

Anonymous said:

While chara is possessing frisks body where does frisk go?

spectral chuck. e. cheese ball pit

Anonymous said:

You are the squat lord, lord of those who squat

i am no lord. i am only a simple jock. i pump iron like everyone else, one arm at a time, at the same time

Anonymous said:

I'm so split against either having sans and chara get along because they are super similar or them hating each other because the "fuck that stupid ass skeleton" and "haha fuck u too :)))" trope is my favorite

you dont gotta be split . it can be both. you can have it all. we can all have it all

Anonymous said:

I've probably said this a thousand times in my tags but I just??? Love your style so much it brings a smile to my face every time I see it, the way each character looks is just absolutely fantastic and floors me every time, not to mention your oc's are so much fun to look at and I love them? And your humor is always so on point.... thank you so much for sharing ur art with us

OH I LOVE THIS THANK YOU !!! <33333

Anonymous said:

You are one of my favorite undertale blogs ily

thanks i have a comic where sans calls me a horny baby

@georgetheblob​ said:

You're one of my biggest expression inspirations. Your work is all so fun and entertaining and I hope to someday achieve what you do with your work with my own work.

this is so wonderfully kind of you to say ! it always makes me happy to know others enjoy my stuff < 33

Anonymous said:

love your awesome art by the way, alphys, sans is spying on you and gathering science information. trust me.

he’s stealing all your really good kissy cutie headcanons & posting them as if they were his own, the unforgivable bastard

Anonymous said:

God I love your chara they are so true to character it's scary

i was gonna make some kind of stupid joke to deflect how genuinely happy i get when people call my chara writing in character, but i’ve spent an embarrassing amount of time researching different veins of meta & also reading a ton of childhood psychology books, and there’s no amount of deflection that can erase that bizarre aspect of myself

Anonymous said:

I want your chara to brawl with a random pedestrian

good news there’s a guy in an alley that just fucking killed them

Anonymous said:

I always thought your username was squad-lord

what’s a squad to a lord?

Anonymous said:

I really adore your character designs dude. You use strong basic shapes in a way I don't see artists do a whole lot and their personalities (and the way you characterize them in your comics) just comes across so well, I'm a big fan of all of it.

im really glad ! it’s all a learning process and im really tryin to do what i can to have fun, and make (hopefully) good stuff

Anonymous said:

I will always see chara as a lovable shit head till the day I'm lowered in my grave

sans: why have you killed everyone

chara: im just quirky like that

Anonymous said:

Asriel!!! Is!!! A!!!! Good!!! Boy!!!!!

HEY HE’S A GOOD BOY ! I LOVE THAT GOOD GOAT BOY

marv0 said:

you...you talented...

you.... you thank you............

Anonymous said:

I would fight 10 grown men for chara

well there’s a guy in the alley & another guy who’s watching so you could always go fight them

Anonymous said:

Can I just say ur amazing

oh thank you !

Anonymous said:

your art is amazing and i really like it!!! i hope you have a good day/night!!!

Oh !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! two really nice ones in a row im diggin it lmao

grabnok-destra said:

Wait...did you ever make a Frisk for your Star Trek stuff?

hell yeah my dude, i love em. love to draw em someday

Anonymous said:

Mmmm those are some good toes squat, nice big ol Toes

i fucking know it’s you sans

@talifu​ said:

Your Chara is the best Chara I've ever seen (Also your expressions give me life)

THANKS I LOVE EM

Anonymous said:

Lord your depiction of Alphys is the absolute greatest no one else captures her quite as well

she’s really fun ! i feel like she’s the one ive improved the most on as far as her visual appeal, my stylization on her face wasnt ... like ... super great for a while there. im really happy with the general look ive got for her, though. she’s also super fun to draw as a ferengi too lmao

grabnok-destra said:

I actually would like to see Adult Frisk again. Maybe harassing Chara and Asriel by making them join family bonding time/doing healthy exercises or some shit. I dunno, you've always drawn Adult Frisk like they're a huge ball of positive energy and I'd like to see more of it.

it’s been awhile since i’ve drawn adult frisk, i just didnt realize that people care all that much ? tbh i dont really care all too much for them ... i like the design and all, but i just think kid frisk is a lot funnier, and i have more fun drawin their amorphous kind of shape anyways. 

im generally pretty insecure about what people think about how undefined all my art decisions are anyways, and adult frisk i always kind of assumed people thought was ... shitty ? maybe a bit too self indulgent ? i dont know. i should draw em again. they got great hair

Anonymous said:

You're a legend, you know that right?

did this ask get sent before or after i tweeted about sans suckin toes

Anonymous said:

I LOVE your Asriel, he is a good boy but also a bit snarky and has some flowey traits still, I love him

asriel as i like to write him is an asriel who wants to believe it was the flower thing that made him such a shit head, but he was always kind of a shit head, the flowey thing just sort of aggregated it

Anonymous said:

sans + blue belly

hey

Anonymous said:

I love how you draw sans as a shoe with a face

please do not ever email me pictures of your shoes because they sound horrifying

Anonymous said:

Can we see more flowey? I missed the edgy piss child

honest to god you are so right . why dont i ever draw him ? he’s literally perfect? he literally did nothing wrong, ever?

Anonymous said:

JESUS SQAUT.,,...every time you post a bunch of happy stuff I know it's a build up to some sads and I'm still never prepared when you post it

it’s like a mob psycho counter w/ posts about horny sans until i post a picture of chara’s horrible corpse bleeding out on the ground

@luptaccos​ said:

Toriel wearing a Snail! Heaven! Now! shirt is the most genius and in-character thing I've ever seen, congratulations I love you

i think probably toriel listens to a LOT of podcasts, and references them constantly.

Anonymous said:

I love the way you portray undertale characters tbh- you're really good at giving them a lot of personality in a simple looking style! Not to mention your take on them in general being A+ :D You've been one of my favorite fanartists since the fandom was young, and even though I'm not particularly active in it anymore myself, I still really enjoy the things you draw!

it’s gonna be like 5 years from now and im still going be drawin flowey sayin “piss” & i really am not going to have a good explanation for anyone for why its like this

thank u tho im glad you like it <3

@hadjiiembercolgatenerdmctillhawk said:

i accidentally misspelled your name as squadlord, is that okay

god there are so many missed connections goin on in my ask box its wild

also hell yah . i think im just essentially squadlord by proxy at this point anyways

Anonymous said:

In loving that spooky eye on the left

i took too long to respond to this so now i dont know what this was in reference to, so now im just, stuck with this eye mystery . eye just dont know what theyre talkin about

@maple-maypole said:

Aahh, your art is awesome. Please don't let that just slide, I mean it. You have one of the most unique and easily recognizable artstyles I've seen in the few years I've spent in The Webz(tm), so alive and stylized but also so grounded and sharp. Your lines are amongst the best I've ever had the joy to look at, they are without a doubt my favorite thing about your art, only coming close those simple and yet so great characters designs and shapes. I could go on and on. Thanks, really. Ur cool.

oh thank you so much !! one of the greatest pleasures ive had in my art up until this point is improving on my linework, and it always means a lot when people say they like it ! it’s so hard being an artist because i always want to draw in the style of other artists, so its always good to know that others like this weirdass style ive got lmao

Anonymous said:

Pom Farr Chara

ch... chara horny ....

actually i cant be all that sarcastic about it b/c star trek really DID just have it be a thing where vulcans gotta fuck or they die, like that’s a goddamn universal fact. chara is technically vulcan so i guess they also gotta fuck or theyll die

god undertrek is such a fucking good au

Anonymous said:

What's the kids favorite music??

chara: bad youtube edits of the hotel mario theme

asriel: paramore, paramore adjacent

frisk: also the hotel mario theme

Anonymous said:

Your glutes must be hella toned o lord of squats

i had pretty major knee surgery over the summer so a lot of my leg muscles atrophied pretty badly, actually :(

i’ve been pretty bummed about that. i’m able to walk now, but the strength still isn’t quite there. i’m at the point where i can get back into weightlifting, though, so i just need to actually sit down & write down my fitness plan for the week. 

i’ll be honest the name squatlord is partially ironic but i’m not kidding about how good, important, and helpful squatting is as an exercise. it really targets those major leg muscles that are vital for just about any physical activity we engage in as humans -- and since my goals are primarily strength training & some amount of bulking, it’s pretty important to have squatting as a major aspect of that training. it’s just been months at this point, though, and getting back into a regular exercise routine is always difficult. it took years for me to even have a schedule at all. totally worth it tho, i fuckin adore bein a full time jock lol

also “squat” is a god damn hilarious word and my domain IS this fuckin leg flexin, i was lyin before, i am absolutely the lord of this horrible sweaty realm, i fucking own these legs & i fucking own these squats

Anonymous said:

I love you're Azzy so much no matter how you draw him

i love him too i always feel so guilty im drawin him in a way people dont like lol ... i just want everyone to love my beautiful goat son, and his beautiful longface

Anonymous said:

i seen your twitter account. I know how deep the horny sans well goes.

[moonlitjiminn]

Bliss | Jimin, You

I am currently watching Yuri on Ice. And this is what came out of it

Nothing else has ever made my heart beat before you came along

Jimin took in a deep breath before opening his eyes to the flashing lights and the loud cheers, but most of all, the music he was all too familiar with.

His arms started moving to the flow of the song, his legs started to draw lines through the ice, exactly how he had practiced.

There he goes, our pride, our face, our role model, the commentators boomed. 3 time world champion of the under 30s figure skating annual competitions!

When the beat picked up, he started to push his skated faster into the ice, feeling his body remember the choreography before his mind did.

Looks like he’s going to do his infamous Biellmann spin, and there he goes!

Jimin smiled, accomplishing his first hard move.

Is that a flying jump he’s attempting? It is!

Jimin crouched before boosting himself up in the air, feeling the air blowing through this hair before landing into a spin. When his spin was finished, his free leg rising higher and higher, and he drew himself into a haircutter, bending his back so much that his head was missing for a few seconds, before he pulled it up and Biellmann spin.

For the last five seconds, he sprinted across the ice, his arms spread out wide, his head tilted back just slightly and his eyes closed. He felt the wind rushing through his hair and he couldn’t help but smile.

Looks like the performance is over, the commentator remarked.

This was Jimin’s favourite part of each performance, no matter where he was, or what competition he was in, the last bit of the song was solely dedicated to him skating a straight line, head back, a mix of emotions streaming through him.

I would have given him a 10/10 if I were judging, but is that a bit biased? I think out of all his moves that last final sprint was my favourite, it’s always my favourite.

Jimin finished when the music did, his arms in the same position as if was when he dashed through the ice, wide spread like an eagle’s wings. He grinned, feeling the rise and fall of his chest in great amounts.

The crowd cheered while he bowed before slowly drifting off to the exit of the rink.

“That was amazing!” Jimin’s coach exclaimed while he smiled at him, waddling to the TV stand. He knew the procedure, interview, skate, interview.

“Thanks coach,” he huffed, throwing an arm over his shoulder.

“Park Jimin!” the interviewer by the TV stand called when he saw him.

“Hello,” Jimin bowed humbly, show casing his practiced smile.

“That was an amazing performance!”

“Thank you, thank you,” he bowed again, his smile never leaving his face.

“Let’s check your score,” they turned around, the four judges’ names on the board, and next to them were the empty boxes which were to be filled with their given scores.

The first one flashed a 9.5/10

The crowd cheered, and Jimin couldn’t help but start beaming.

The second score was the same and Jimin’s eyes widened.

The third was a bit delayed but when it turned on, Jimin almost fell from surprise.

A ten?

That was an unthinkable dream he had had, getting a ten from at least one judge in his lifetime.

The last box flashed on, and again, Jimin winced.

Another ten?

The crowd’s cheers turned into screams, cries of joy.

“Thirty nine out of forty!” the interviewer boomed, “Wow! The highest score of the night, and also your own personal best, am I right?”

Jimin was frozen, his mouth hanging open.

“U-Uh yeah, sorry, I’m a bit flustered at the moment,” Jimin gushed, his smile growing and his eyes turning into small slits. The spectators gathered in front of them giggled and he nodded. “Yes, it’s actually my personal best, and honestly my personal goal. My goal had always been to get a ten from at least one judge, I can’t believe- I can’t believe I’ve actually achieved it.”

“Well, it’s not like you didn’t deserve it,” he said into the mic and Jimin blinked forcefully.

“Thank you,” bowing again, he turned to the audience, “Thank you so much.”

--

“I can’t believe it!” his coach threw his fist in the air, “I can’t believe it!”

“Me too, coach, honestly, I can’t believe I won.”

“No, that, I believe,” he shrugged, “You’re the best skater here, of course you were going to win.”

Jimin gave him an ‘are-you-serious-don’t-be-so-stuck-up’ look before he shook his head.

“You’ve gotta admit, there’s nothing that gets better than you.”

“Hyu- Coach,” he said firmly, “Let’s not get a big head.”

He smiled, walking closer and slapping the younger on his bare back, “This is why you’re my favourite skater.”

“Coach, I’m your only skater,” Jimin remarked.

“Anyway,” he said, and Jimin rolled his eyes, “I just can’t believe you got not just one, but two tens.”

“Same, I’m so happy right now.”

Jimin brushed the ice off his blades before setting them aside. After putting on a shirt, he heaved on a jacket and threw his duffel bag over his shoulder, and gripped his skates with the hand he hadn’t thrown over his coach’s shoulders.

“This means I’m going to internationals, doesn’t it?”

“Well of course!”

“And it also means you’re treating Hanwoo tonight, right?”

“Well of-” he stopped, narrowing his eyes at him, “Yah.”

Jimin chuckled, “Sorted then!”

--

The next day, Jimin had the day off, which was uncommon, considering he was in the skating rink 24/7. But he decided to cherish the day, it was one of his rare chances of exploring the city. Although he had been to Seoul countless times before, he had spent his whole time there in waiting rooms, locker rooms, and finally skating rinks.

He had never really been around the city.

So he decided to walk.

Leaving his hotel room, he took a cab, and asked the driver to take him to one of the remote places of Seoul. After paying him, he stepped out, skimming the place.

It was definitely less busy then where he was staying, in the heart of the chaos, but it wasn’t bare.

There were cars speeding past on the roads, and people power walking the sidewalks to get to appointments and to work, and he loved the busy, yet not busy life.

He started walking to his right, pulling the hood of his hoodie over his head and his hands buried in his pockets. Looking around, he took in the scenery, and man was it beautiful. It wasn’t just the tall sky scrapers that appealed to him, but the mountains in the distance, was gorgeous.

That was when he came across a large building complex and his eyes scanned it from top to bottom.

He knew what it was.

A small smile grew on his lips as he felt his feet start moving on their own to the entrance.

He knew he wanted to have a rest from skating that day, but, he couldn’t help his inner desires when they wanted to come out.

Looking around, he was surprised to see only one person on the rink. He remembered his childhood days when the skating rinks used to be filled to the brim with people, adults, and children. So it was weird that only one person was there.

But he was happy.

More ice for me.

Sauntering to the skates bench, he leaned over it, looking to see if there was anyone in.

“Hmm… that’s weird.”

Turning around, he thought he should ask the girl skating if there was anyone meant to be behind the bench, but what he saw made him speechless.

She was freestyling – or so he assumed – and her body was moving so freely with the music. He turns were perfect, and so were her jumps. Every time she prepared for a jump, Jimin felt him heave a sharp intake but when she executed it the way she did, his exhale came with some awe.

She was amazing.

She finished skating by sprinting in a large circle around the rink, which made Jimin smile, reminding himself of the way he always finished his performances.

But she stopped herself, the minute she saw Jimin, her blades immediately skidding against the ice.

“Oh! I’m so sorry, we’re not actually open today, I think I accidentally left the door open, I’m so sorry,” she skated closer and clung onto the barrier, just in front of Jimin.

He was waiting for her to make a remark about how he’s the most famous Korean athlete at the moment, and not the mention the youngest and most charming figure skating champion.

But when she didn’t, he continued.

“Really? Oh, sorry, I didn’t know that…”

“You can come back tomorrow at this time though!” she chirped, “We’ll be open then.”

“Oh,” his face fell and she furrowed her eyebrows at this, “I’m only going to be in Seoul today, I won’t be able to come tomorrow, but it was a nice visit, thanks for y-”

“You’re only here for the day?” she asked and he nodded.

“Uhm,” she bit her lip, looking at her watch. “Eh, I’ll lend you the ice this one time.”

“What? Really?”

“Yeah, why not,” she shrugged, coming out of the rink and walking into the back room before appearing at the bench. “So, what size?”

“Uh, 280,” he tried to remember.

“Alright,” she walked over to the shelves and pulled out the skates, “So are you a Korean or a foreigner? Because your Korean is very good.”

“I’m a Korean,” Jimin said, taking the skates, “I’m from Busan and I haven’t really been up here for leisure.”

“Ah…” she nodded before disappearing and coming out of the door again seconds later. “Well, I’ll let you skate, I’m going to go and lock the back doors.”

“Alright, thank you,” he bent down and put on the ice skates and stepped on the ice. He warmed himself up, skating the whole rink in circles over and again before he bent his arm up slowly, his other arm bending to the side, and he straightened his back.

Even without music his body moved on its own, and he found himself jumping into a triple spin, his arms bent in and then stretched out both arms, in a flourish as he finished, not forgetting his usual sprinting down the centre of the rink.

He closed his eyes, hearing the screams of the audience despite the fact that it was so silent in the arena that he could actually hear his skates skidding across the ice echoing through the whole place.

As he stood still, panting, he heard another pair of skates sneaking up behind him.

“You’re amazing!”

“No,” he smirked, “I’m Jimin.”

She raised both her eyebrows, “Was that a joke? Am I meant to be laughing? My dad has better jokes than that.”

He sighed, “I tried.”

“I’m Gemma,” she held her hand out to him and he shook it. “Jimin, that name sounds familiar, but I just can’t-”

“It’s a pretty common name,” he cut her off, not wanting her to dig deeper.

“Well, I guess it is,” she nodded, “But as I was saying, you’re so good at skating! You should join a figure skating class or something!”

Jimin stifled a laugh, “Really? Should I?”

“Yeah! You look like you’d be a star skater if you joined, to be honest!”

“Thanks,” he chuckled, “Maybe I’ll join one.”

“If you ever become famous, you’d have to thank me.”

“Oh yeah,” he nodded, “And, you were pretty good yourself, do you skate?”

“Huh? Me? Oh noooo,” she shook her head, “I used to skate, up until two years ago, but then I injured my ankle and, I was told I couldn’t skate ever again.”

Jimin’s heart sank.

He thought about the possibility of that happening to him and he hated it.

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” Jimin said, sympathetically but she shrugged.

“It’s okay, I’m over it, I just haven’t properly figure skated through those two years.”

“You should take it up again, you’re really good!” and Jimin knew it was true.

He never really found anyone good enough, not because his standard was too high, but because everyone else’s style was much too different to his.

But Gemma’s was different.

“You think?” she asked, skating circles around Jimin.

“Yeah!” he crossed her circle and started to skate side by side with her, “Can I come back tomorrow?”

He didn’t know where that came from.

Maybe it was the fact that this skating rink reminded him so much of the one back in his hometown. Or maybe it was the fact that he wanted to skate more freely like he was doing then.

But he knew, that he wanted to stay.

“I thought you said you were leaving?”

“Yeah, I’m meant to be, but I can be a bit rebellious, you see?”

Or was there another reason?

She smiled, “I don’t know if I should be encouraging this rebellion, what if you’re a criminal and-”

“I’m not a criminal, I assure you,” he said with a laugh, “But if you must know, I needed to go back to Busan to start my training, it’s nothing all that serious.”

Was it because he finally found another thing that made his heart beat, like skating did?

“Training? Training for what?”

“Oh, just this competition,” he waved it off, “My coach won’t kill me if he knew what I was doing.”

“Hm…” she rubbed her chin and Jimin loved it when she did this, it was a mix of mischief and genuine worry.

“I don’t even know why I’m asking for your permission,” he realised, “I’m coming tomorrow.”

With that, he stopped skating side by side with her and slid to the barriers, resting his hand on them and skating the perimeters with his hand still on the barrier.

Suddenly a loud tone started ringing through the hall and Jimin jumped, reaching into his pocket and seeing his coach calling him.

“Hello?”

“Yah, where are you? You’re not in your hotel room, where are you?”

“Oh, sorry Coach, I found this rink when I was walking and, I guess, I just started skating.”

“How many times have I told you to call me hyung when we’re not training, and you need to be back here for our train tomorrow morning.”

“Uh, hyung, about that,” he stopped skating and looked over at Gemma before looking back at the ice, “Can I stay one more day?”

“What?”

“Can I stay one more day? I really like the rink here, I just wanted to rest one more day, please hyung? And honestly, it won’t even be like resting, I’ll be skating all day, I promise.”

“Jimin…” his tone was warning, “I can’t-”

“Pleeeeease hyung?”

“Ugh,” his coach sighed, “Fine, just one more day, but you have to be back after that! The internationals in Seoul is in-”

“A month, I know, I know,” he rolled his eyes.

“Okay, Jimin, I’m going to see you in a day, right?”

“Yes, sir!”

He hung up, looking apologetically at Gemma.

“Where were we?” he asked and she shook her head.

“You were asking my permission to take the day off training tomorrow.”

[tothelasthoursofmylife]

“Tangled is the path…”

Countryside, England, United Kingdom – May 1845

~August~

 “Do not worry, August. Cloudia is a very sweet person,” Cathleen had told me the last time we had seen each other. And even though she had said this while smiling her warm, calming smile, I could not help myself but feel nervous.

Next month, I would be marrying Cathleen, and because of that, I wanted to get to know her extended family better. Even before our engagement, I had met her uncles and aunts and cousins, but that had only been brief encounters. I wished to get to know them just as well as Cathleen’s parents and sister. I had already spent time with all of them but one, and today, I would finally meet that cousin of Cathy’s which I had never seen before, which I only knew from her stories – and the stories of others.

Cloudia Phantomhive – the girl who rarely attended any social events or engaged with other nobles. The girl whose mother had once been a celebrated actress and opera singer, but now, she never left her chambers; whose fiancé, the current Earl of Phantomhive, was a mystery man, an enigma, and always present in conversations even if he was not there physically. I had asked Cathy if it was possible for me to meet Penelope Phantomhive or the Earl as well, but she had only shaken her head, apologised for it, and hoped that it did not disappoint or even anger me. It didn’t; of course, it didn’t. But while I couldn’t meet them, I could still meet Cloudia – and today, I would.

Cathleen had assured me that her cousin was very nice and kind albeit stubborn and harsh at times, that I did not have to be afraid to meet her: She was just another fifteen-year-old girl after all. No matter what the whispers said.

  “She is just another fifteen-year-old girl,” August mumbled while he waited in Phantomhive Manor’s drawing room for Cloudia to arrive. A few minutes later, her butler – a fair-haired giant of a man �� opened the door to the parlour, and Cloudia stepped inside. August stood up and mustered her – her facial expression, her posture, her clothing. And while she seemed just like Cathleen had told him, a fifteen-year-old girl like any other, there was something subtle in her movement and smile and eyes which did not quite fit into the picture.

  But it was nothing unpleasant. I had never listened to the whispers surrounding the Phantomhives; I had never found a reason to do so. I did not know what other people had to say about them – and, honestly, I did not care. I had always walked away, never listened. And this would not change in the foreseeable future or ever at all.

What I knew, however, was that the whispers were not pleasant, just like it was their nature. Cruel things were associated with the Phantomhives, but Cloudia only seemed as different as any other young girl. And this, in all honesty, took away some of my anxiety and made me breathe with much more ease.

  Cloudia approached August and said, “Welcome, Mylord. I am terribly sorry for my tardiness. Something came up which had to be handled straightaway and stole a few minutes of my time.”

August took her hand and bowed. “No need to apologise,” he replied and straightened up again. “And please just call me ‘August.’ We surely have no need for formalities.”

“Because we are going to be family soon?” said Cloudia and gestured for August to sit down while she took place opposite of him.

August nodded and watched the butler refilling his cup and filling Cloudia’s from the corner of his eye. This man was a giant – tall and broad – and did not look like a butler at all, but he did his job without any complain and without erring, and August wondered where Cloudia had found such a butler and what had made her employ him.

“How were the meetings with my cousins? My aunts and uncles?” Cloudia wanted to know, smiling at the butler when he was finished and went to stand by a wall.

“I know how they perceived these meetings – especially Constantia did not want to stop talking about it. But I am really curious what you thought of them. And don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone about this conversation, so you can be completely honest.”

August chuckled. “I genuinely think that every single one of those meetings was delightful, and I firmly believe that this one will be no different. However,” he started, absentmindedly taking a scone and splitting it into halves, “I could not think of any activity we could do. Miss Cathleen told me many things about your cousins and uncles and aunts beforehand so that I was able to plan my visits thoroughly beforehand. And while she, of course, told me about you as well, all she said was that you enjoyed reading and that I must not be afraid of you or nervous because of you – no matter what I might have heard of you before.”

Cloudia smiled at him from beyond the rim of the cup which was raised to her lips. “And what did you hear about me?”

“Barely anything, to be honest.”

“I see,” she replied. “But isn’t it refreshing and exciting to dive into something without knowing anything about it beforehand? To get to know someone with having heard next to nothing about them before? Not knowing anything or knowing only little prevents you to give yourself to expectations too high, too unfulfillable and to be disappointed afterwards. What do you prefer: to be prepared or to be caught by surprises?” Cloudia set the cup down, and August laughed. “Anyway, to return to your worry that our meeting may become too bland if we spend it in all its entirety in my parlour: Can I make a proposition?”

“Of course, Cloudia.”

“Then, I propose to go hunting,” Cloudia said playfully, and August blinked at her. “Pardon?”

“Hunting,” she repeated with a glow in her eyes. “You went hunting with Keegan and Ceara, didn’t you? Keegan may be a talented hunter but he finds no joy in it. I, however… Well, I have never gone hunting before so I do not know if it suits me at all or not. Barrington – I guess Cathleen has told you about Sir Barrington too? – is not very fond of the idea of me learning how to use firearms even if he once promised me to teach me. And despite my best efforts to defy him, I have never managed to find a way to learn it on my own.

“The request may seem odd,” she continued, making a short pause, “but if it doesn’t seem odd enough to you, is there a possibility for you to consider it?”

  Her proposition had come completely unexpected. Of course, ladies often accompanied hunting parties, but it did not happen very often that a lady actively joined one, but it was not unheard of either. I didn’t have any reason to decline her suggestion and I was more than happy and willing to take her hunting.

  “Of course, we can go hunting,” August said, amused. “But, unfortunately, we have to go without the usual: hounds, any kind of activity associated with hunts, etc. I hope you do not mind.”

“Oh, I don’t mind at all,” replied Cloudia. “I think it will be more fun like this anyway.”

“I hope I am not too terrible a teacher.”

“Don’t worry,” she said and her smile reminded him of Cathleen’s: warm and beautiful and making you feel as if everything would be all right – as if everything was all right. “I have the feeling that you will be a wonderful teacher.”

  ***

  Somewhere, England, United Kingdom – April 1848

 ~Cloudia~

 “Oy, girl, could you stop staring at me and be useful for a change and free me?” the man, Franklin, said, shaking Cloudia out of her thoughts.

“You couldn’t be any ruder, could you?” Cloudia replied, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

“Girl, just–”

“Cloudia.”

He frowned. “Please, what?”

She rubbed the bridge of her nose. “My name is Cloudia with an ‘o’ and a ‘u’ instead of an ‘a’ and a ‘u.’ I don’t like to be called just ‘girl’ as if I didn’t have a name.”

“We are in the middle of a deadly labyrinth, and you are making a fuss about how you are called?”

“Everyone has their priorities – also, didn’t you make a lengthy statement about your name a few minutes ago, Franklin?”

“That’s different. After all, what kind of name is ‘Franklin’ even?” he replied, annoyance dripping from his voice. “It’s such a terrible name. It does not sound pleasant at all. It sounds like you are belittling a Frank for his entire life. ‘Oh, little Franklin, come here!’” he exclaimed, disguising his voice so that it was shriller for a moment. “Is ‘Little Franklin’ a double belittlement, then? Do people really hate their children so much that they call them ‘Franklin’ of all names? It’s a horrible name. Nobody should be given such a name. Everyone who wants to call their children ‘Franklin’ should be punished. If my parents weren’t dead, I would still…”

  I wished that I would know whoever Phantomhive was the first to become the Crown’s Watchdog so that I knew to whom I had to direct my curses.

  “I understand that you hate your second name,” Cloudia interrupted him, not being able to listen to him anymore. “But how should I call you then? What is your first name? Do you like, at least, that one?”

“Why did they have to call me ‘Franklin’ all the time?” he continued. “That’s not even my first name. It’s only my second. Why did they always have to rub it in that I have such a dreadful second name? Did they…”

Cloudia snapped her fingers against his forehead. “What did you say about making a fuss about how you want to be called? If you don’t stop this nonsense right now and tell me your first name or how you want to be called instead, I will make sure that the name ‘Franklin’ will be branded into your flesh and everyone and their crickets will call you by that name until you get into one of those highly unpleasant asylums, do you understand? Of course, considering that I don’t decide to leave you here, bound and vulnerable, to die because I can’t stand listening to your whiny nonsense anymore.

“The last two weeks were already terrible for me, but today is the tip of the iceberg: I was kidnapped by an idiot playing witch or puppeteer or whatever and forcing me to be the prey in a silly hunt. I am sleep-deprived. I have barely eaten anything today or in the last weeks. I left four more idiots at my home which they are most likely wrecking right now because two of them always start a fight when you sit them in one and the same room. The third is an ex-convict, and the fourth is just an idiot. And the worst? They are perhaps the closest I have to friends. I am telling you: I am not going to spend the rest of this goddamn day listening to you being a hypocrite and then die at the hands of that moron Manon von Brandt.”

He stared at her for a while, bewildered, before he slowly said, “My name is Leon Melville.”

Cloudia rubbed her temples. Leon’s ramblings had only fuelled her already excruciating headache. “Melville like Herman Melville, the author of Typee: A Peep at Polynesian Life?”

Leon nodded. “Exactly like Herman Melville.”

“Before or after the ‘e’ was added?”

“After.”

“Good. And please remember that if you start talking about how much your second name again, I will break your arms and legs and leave you to be eaten by whichever creatures are lurking in his maze,” she said and went to kneel down behind him to unfasten the ropes.

  It would take less time if I still had the dagger. I hoped that I would have it back when it was time for me to cut out the Witch’s eyes.

  When Cloudia was done, she stood up, and so did Leon after stretching his limps. “Finally,” he exclaimed, moving his arms in circles.

“How long were you tied up?” she asked him.

“Since this morning,” Leon told her, rubbing his wrists. “Those devils attacked me in my sleep, tied me up – don’t ask me where they got the rope from –, and pushed me out into the labyrinth. I wandered around for hours, trying to find some kind of exit, but I only got tired and sat down, ready to die alone but not without cursing every single one of those demonic bastards. Then, you came.”

“What did you do that made them banish you? Let me guess: You packed out your ‘Franklin’ speech?”

Leon glared at her. “I didn’t do anything! Those people are crazy bastards! They were imprisoned by a madwoman, and they have become madwomen and -men as well. That creepy man, who always sits in a corner and smiles, even ate Ernest, Claude, and Vanessa! I am not exactly sure if I was lucky that they didn’t sacrifice me to him. What do you think is worse? Being eaten, most likely while you are still alive, or being killed or turning crazy by or because of whatever is running around in this labyrinth? Dying during one of those hunts?”

Pain crept up on her again when Cloudia wanted to answer and she had to hold her head and massage her temples for a moment.

  Breathe in, breathe out, everything would be all right.

  “I think that dying inside the maze is better than being eaten alive,” Cloudia said when the pain was gone again for the moment. “If you are held down and eaten, there is nothing you can do – you can only lie down and wait for it to end. But if the eating process will take too long, you will lose your mind before you lose your life. But if you are running around in a labyrinth filled with things, if you are part of a hunt, are a hunter’s prey, you can still hold on to your sanity because, even if it’s small, there is a chance for survival. Just like rabbits can sometimes outwit and outrun the fox, you can escape the hunter’s claws – or, if you know how, you could even turn the tables.”

“Aren’t you a grim lady?” Leon said, grinning – and while Cedric’s grins were always wide and playful, Barrington’s laced with something heavy, Cecelia’s sly and knowing, and Oscar’s cut out of nightmares, Leon’s grin was crooked and his eyes lit up. “Also, I really want to be there to see you trying to outrun the fox, Cloudia.”

“Oh, no,” she replied, grinning herself and wondering how it looked like. “I am not intending to run away – I am here to turn the tables.

“And now, Leon, what do you know about these hunts?”

  ***

  Countryside, England, United Kingdom – April 1848

 ~Cedric~

 Cedric’s eyes were still fixed on the frozen clock’s hands, the bureau still filled by the eerie echo of Oscar’s words. “Finally, today’s game time starts.”

And then, this suffocating tension was shattered when Cecelia clapped her hands together.

“Game time!” she exclaimed with a smile on her lips, the clapping and her voice reanimating the room. “Slightly better than story time, but not as good as murder time. Nothing beats murder time.”

Cedric was finally able to tear his gaze away from the dead clock and, now, he stared from Oscar to Barrington, Cecelia, and Thomas before looking back at Oscar and starting the circle again. The thoughts in Cedric’s head were spinning frantically – and with every spin, compatible parts clicked together.

  Every time, I had tried to leave the room, I had been held back.

By Barrington’s excessive storytelling.

More blatantly, by Cecelia’s hand.

The almost duel.

Barrington’s willingness to tell me so much about Cloudia and her family.

Cecelia and Barrington’s constant nagging.

Oscar’s unsettling words – “Finally, today’s game time starts.”

His smile.

The looks on their faces which were so different from the one which rested on Thomas’.

  “What have you done?” Cedric said, his voice at once angry and worried, shaky and tense.

Cecelia smiled sweetly at Thomas. “Mr Holmwood, would you be so kind to leave us alone again?”

“But Lady…” he began, but she cut him off with a wave.

“I told you to leave and not to talk back to me, Mr Holmwood,” Cecelia said. Her words echoed through the bureau, loud and powerful, even though she hadn’t raised it.

Thomas cast one last worried, puzzled glance at Cedric before leaving the Aristocrats’ Bureau, the door falling behind him into its lock.

“What have you done?” repeated Cedric, the worry slowly leaving his body and offering the space it occupied to burning anger.

“We heard you the first time,” Cecelia said, looking bored. “Not-Kristopher, I am rather disappointed that you didn’t suspect anything before Mr Holmwood burst through the door – which thing, that certainly does not involve any thinking, can you do that would be beneficial to the Watchdog?”

“I don’t care about any of your petty games. Where is the Countess?”

“A game is everything but petty if you are tangled in it and lives are at stake,” said Oscar and stepped in front of Cedric, looking down at him with these scarily opaque eyes of his. Something dark and twisted seemed to lie in them, something which, before you could catch it, could define it, was replaced again by indistinctiveness in a fracture of a second.

  And I did not know why, but there was something unsettlingly familiar about them.

  Under any other circumstances, Cedric might have struggled to hold Oscar’s gaze, but now with anger and worry running through his veins and mixing together, it was – almost – as simple as holding anyone’s gaze.

“A test,” Oscar continued, subtle amusement woven into his cold voice. “A game is often a test, and tests may often be seen as games. And in life, you are irregularly faced with both – and while, to me, this test is nothing but a game, to you, this game is nothing but a test. But, in the end, none of this is of importance as both tests and games are not desired to be lost and failed.”

Oscar eyed Cedric, let his eerie eyes wander over him – and Cedric wondered what he might think when he saw him, what he might see when he looked at him.

“And both have rules and purposes – just like this game or test, however you may want to call it.”

“And what are the rules? What is the purpose of this? What is the purpose of keeping me in this room? In endangering the Countess? In endangering her for the sake of some sick, twisted game?” replied Cedric, putting every bit of his strength into his words and voice.

Oscar’s wide smile made Cedric shiver, flinch even by the instinct to distance yourself from apparent danger.

“Just the same purpose as always: results.”

  ***

  Somewhere, England, United Kingdom – April 1848

 ~Cloudia~

 “Not much,” Leon answered, shrugging, and they continued walking through the labyrinth.

“The Witch doesn’t participate in the hunts herself,” he told her. “But I guess that’s obvious. She lets the two idiots, the gardener and the butler, hunt instead. However, they won’t kill anyone: They are supposed to hunt down the prey and bring it alive to the Witch so that she can slit their throat or something like that and feel all mighty while doing so.”

“And how do you know all this?” Cloudia wanted to know, raising an eyebrow.

“I sound really suspicious now, don’t I?” he said, looking absentmindedly into the distance and clenching his fists. “Don’t worry, I only know this because this is not the first hunt the Witch conducted during my stay here. And you have no idea how much I wish that I didn’t have to live with this knowledge and experience.

“There were two hunts; every time, she sent one of us into the maze and let them be hunted by her servants. The first one was Charles, a child, perhaps twelve or thirteen years old. He was a little bit chubby and practically emitted innocence. Very kind, very hopeful and always optimistic. Stephen – another prisoner if you haven’t heard of him before – and Charles were very close; he was devastated when Charles was murdered in front of our eyes. He didn’t say anything and barely ate the days after his death. If you ask me, the effect Charles’ death had on him was part of the reason why he followed Agnes into the maze after she ran blindly into it.

“The second was Sonya, never did much, never said much – it worsened after Isaac’s. I think she was his sister – Isaac hurried after Stephen, trying to get him back to the dungeon, but he died in the labyrinth just like the other two.

“Anyway, after Charles and Sonya were collected by the Witch’s servants, they were brought to the Witch to be executed. We others were forced to watch.” Leon looked around. “You mentioned being the latest prey? When those morons sent me into the labyrinth, I thought ‘at least, the Witch won’t kill me.’ A very small part of me was content with the thought of being ripped apart by whatever is lurking in this maze. But now, I can only hope that I will have the time to spit in the Witch’s face before she can kill me.”

“There is something I’ve always wondered about,” Cloudia began to say. “You all know that your abductor’s name is Manon von Brandt, and still you keep calling her the ‘Witch.’ But why? Is there another reason for it instead of just because she is, at least, a little bit evil?”

“We call her that because of Ava as she…” Leon suddenly stopped and pricked his ears. “Did you hear that?” he whispered, alarmed, and Cloudia concentrated on the sounds around them, but…

  …but there was nothing to hear. No screams, no footsteps – there was nothing to hear but the sound of our own voices.

  Cloudia walked back and forth while Leon observed her, wide-eyed and anxious. She jumped up and down, but neither the walking nor the jumps produced any sounds as if the ground completely swallowed even the lowest of noises. A shiver ran through her body.

“Leon,” Cloudia started, but before she could come any further, all of a sudden, Leon let out a scream, his eyes still wide, but now, not only anxiety was reflected in it but horror and fear as well while he stared to his right – his eyes fixed on something which was not there.

“Leon?” Cloudia said, carefully taking a step forward, her arms outstretched and her body and mind alarmed.

And then, Leon started to shake and made one clumsy step backwards, nearly tumbling back while his gaze was still fixed to his right, but he caught himself in time, tore his gaze away, turned around in one fast movement and started to run – right into Cloudia. They collided, but Cloudia managed not to let him and herself fall down.

Leon stumbled back from Cloudia and tried to circle her and hurry down the path behind her, but while he tried to go past her, she quickly turned to him and grabbed his arm before yanking him towards her and taking hold of both his arms before Leon had the time to try escaping again.

“What is wrong?” she demanded to know, burying her fingers into his arms to keep her hold on him and in an attempt to turn his focus to her – and attempt which was in vain as Leon kept on staring behind her.

“There is nothing here. Stay calm and tell me what is wrong,” Cloudia said. She was gradually losing her grip on him and the suddenness of her own movements had increased her headache.

“You and I are the only ones here. There’s nobody and nothing else in his passageway. So, look at me, shift your focus to me, and tell me what is wrong.”

Leon blinked one last time at the space behind her before locking his gaze with hers and saying, “It’s the monsters” – and breaking away.

Immediately, Cloudia moved to grab him again, but the ache in her temples blurred her vision, bringing her to a halt and allowing Leon to grasp her, whirl her around, and hurl her to the ground. When Cloudia had managed to struggle back to her feet, Leon was long gone and her headache significantly worse than before.

“Goddammit, Leon,” she mumbled and broke into a run.

  ***

  Countryside, England, United Kingdom – April 1848

 ~Cedric~

 There were only two words floating inside his head when Cedric ran through the manor and towards the stables. Two words which were connected in the most twisted way he could imagine: Insane for this entire situation; Cloudia for keeping him going.

  All of this – their insistence for Cloudia to go and for me to stay –, all of this for nothing but… not a game, not a test, but for Oscar’s amusement.

 And they had all played along. Cecelia who claimed that Cloudia was her friend – her only friend, her precious friend. Barrington who had known Cloudia’s father, who had been her father’s best friend, who had looked after Cloudia for years and would look after her for many years to come.

Barrington, who had averted his gaze, when I tried to look at him before I stormed out of the bureau.

They knew how troubled Cloudia was right now; they had told me about it while knowing very well that somewhere out there – wherever it was – she was in grave danger. They claimed to care for her, they claimed to like her – and still, they had allowed her to be used in Oscar’s play. Still, they had betrayed her without remorse.

  The sound of Cedric’s boots echoed through the manor while he hurried through the corridors and ran down the stairs to get outside.

  Let Cloudia be fine.

Let her fire them all afterwards.

  Cedric burst through the closest door outside – and momentarily stopped when he saw how close it was to sunset, and then, he ran again and rounded the manor. Thomas looked up from grooming and calming Cloudia’s horse, Falada, when Cedric approached him.

“Do you know what is going on, Kris?” Thomas asked, his eyes wide with worry and question.

“Not exactly,” Cedric replied, struggling to keep his voice even and leaning against the stable wall. “All I know is that it’s Oscar’s doing. The others were his accomplices.” He took a deep breath, trying to fight the anger inside of him. He wanted to destroy something, wanted to scream, wanted his anger to take over him – but it would not help. It would fix nothing. It would only waste time he didn’t have.

“All this – all this only happened, only happens, for Oscar’s amusement,” Cedric continued, pushing himself off the wall.

“I have always hated Livingstone,” said Thomas, his voice and gaze dark. Cedric had never heard his voice so full of venom, his gaze so shadowed in all the time he had known him. Thomas was usually quite cheerful, a bit of an airhead, and talking a little bit too often about horses whenever Cloudia was too busy for Cedric and Thomas offered to take him to town while posing as his footman. Thomas was the kind of person who expressed his dislike towards something or someone rather playfully – but it was only ever dislike and never hate. Now, however, it was clearly the latter.

“Sir Barrington was never happy with Lady making Oscar one of her Aristocrats,” Thomas told Cedric. “He tried to talk her out of this, but she wouldn’t listen. I tried the same, but she only dismissed me. Livingstone may be competent, but there’s also something seriously wrong with him.” His voice lowered but was still full of fire. “There are whispers in St Lacey, you have to know, whispers that the Phantomhives attract the oddest people. Lady attracted Livingstone, and if you listen closely to the whispers in the dark, you hear about…”

Thomas shook his head to cut himself off and perhaps to clear his mind as well. “That can wait. Lady can’t.” He looked at Cedric. “But what can we do?” He ran a hand through his hair. “Lady could be anywhere. The forest is huge, and we don’t even know if she is still inside it. Falada might be able to lead us back to the place where they were separated, but…”

  “Which thing, that certainly does not involve any thinking, can you do that would be beneficial to the Watchdog?”

  Upon remembering Cecelia’s words, Cedric instinctively put a hand on the place above his heart, the place where the skull pendant was hidden beneath his clothes and hummed softly against his chest.

“Thomas, do you know what I can do?” he asked, electricity filling his veins and determination his mind.

Thomas blinked at him, confused.

Cedric patted Falada and, in his head, he counted from ten downwards before mounting the horse. “Every Aristocrat was chosen because they can be of help for the Watchdog,” he started, turning Falada around. “Cecelia and Oscar can gather information and look through people – and I? I can find the Countess.”

  ***

  Somewhere, England, United Kingdom – April 1848

 ~Cloudia~

 The pain tried to pull me down into blackness like it had so often in the past. It pulled on my energy, my sanity, but I had to keep on going. I had to; I wanted to.

 Why had Leon tried to get away?

He had said that he saw a monster, but there had been nothing. There had been nothing behind me. In all the time I had been in the labyrinth, I hadn’t seen any monsters. Everyone kept saying that there was something wandering these paths, but the only thing I had encountered in his maze so far was Leon.

Even now as I was running through the maze in search of him, I didn’t cross paths with any creature.

  Not being able to go any farther, Cloudia came to a halt and slid to the ground.

  I was so, so tired, but I had to concentrate. There was something wrong with this maze. Something terribly, terribly wrong.

  She tucked up her legs and held her head, counting from ten downwards while keeping her breath steady.

  Ten.

The walls were too perfect, too flawless.

Nine.

There was no way to tell any path apart from another.

Eight.

The ground swallowed every kind of noise.

Seven.

Perhaps, the walls did it as well.

Six.

No, they had to do it too.

Five.

After all, the purpose was to make sure that nobody knew whether or not something dangerous was close.

Four.

The gardener, Axel Shade, and the butler were the hunters, but I hadn’t seen them until now.

Three.

There were dangers and monsters in this labyrinth, but nobody knew what they were exactly. I had never seen any of them either.

Two.

The prisoners had lied; what if everyone was lying?

One.

I had the feeling that I was forgetting something.

  Cloudia took a deep breath, the pain in her temples slowly decreasing. When she looked up again, Cloudia froze, unable to do anything else but to stare in horror at this creature, this thing, this person, this impossibility in front of her.

  Zero.

What if Leon had really seen something behind me?

What if I just hadn’t been able to see it?

  Cloudia’s heart raced in her chest and her vision started to blur when the little girl – the creature, the thing – in front of her mustered her out of dark blue eyes, curious and wondering, for a while before opening her mouth to say, “I am lost, can you help me?”

[presleybaggett-blog]

Sworn Enemies OC x OC

We all know the story about how vampires and werewolf’s are sworn enemies. This is a story of true love of sworn enemies.

One night a girl vampire named Midnight, got hurt trying to protect her sister from the alpha of the werewolf’s. Before she was about to go unconscious from too much blood loss one kind hearted werewolf saved her from getting killed by his alpha.

Midnight was stunned that a werewolf would turn against their own pack leader. The unknown werewolf said, “STOP DON’T HURT HER!” The alpha was angry and his face turned red. Midnight wanted to whisper, “What the heck are you thinking!” But she didn’t have enough energy.

The unknown werewolf asked Midnight, “You okay?” Midnight said trying to get the words out, “Y-yeah I’m okay.” But before she knew it the alpha charged at the rebel werewolf and yelled, “YOU WOULD PROTECT SCUM LIKE HER!”

That was it, the two werewolf’s were clashing blood going everywhere. After the fight, the alpha was beaten, then the alpha mumbled, “You’re banished.” After that, the unknown werewolf grabbed Midnight and helped her up. Midnight was so confused asking herself, “Why would a werewolf help a vampire, when they’re sworn enemies?” With confusion in her heart the werewolf supporting her said, “I’m Lucas sorry I didn’t introduce myself earlier.” Midnight was thinking I guess I should tell him my name and said, “I’m Midnight.” After she said that, her energy was completely drained, and from the blood loss from the injuries passed out. Lucas panicked and put her on his back and whispered, “Hold on Midnight I’m getting you help.”

Lucas went to the nearest vampire clan. Vampires turned their heads as Lucas entered their territory. They were about to pounce on him, when he he started yelling and screaming with worry, “HELP ME I HAVE A VAMPIRE AND SHE NEEDS A DOCTER!” Vampires started gathering around to see if they knew who it was, and they all screamed, “ MIDNIGHT OH NO!” Lucas filled with joy asked, “You know her?” One woman said, “Yes she is a resident here and we know her very well.” At that moment everyone knew they could trust him. After that, the men took her to a house to fix her up.

Lucas was pacing outside worried what would happen to Midnight, when he saw a little girl crying. He was wondering what was wrong, so he went up to this little girl and asked, “What’s wrong little girl?” She said while fresh tears ran down her face, “That’s my sister in there.” She started sobbing after she said that and started ranting, “This is all my fault sis went into the forest to help me!” Lucas comforted the little girl and said, “ It’s not your fault your sister went into that forest to save you because she loved you, and she didn’t want to lose you.” Midnight’s sister started to cry more and gave Lucas a hug.

The following morning Midnight woke up to her sister jumping up on top of her saying, You’re okay!“ Midnight smiled and said, “Who brought me here?” A unfamiliar voice at first said, “I did.” Midnight surprised jumped up in the bed and said, “Lucas you brought me here!” Lucas chuckling said, “Well I couldn’t let you die, and plus I’m a gentleman.” Midnight laughed at the comment Lucas made, but then she got this funny feeling in her chest. She wondered what that feeling was, but she had no clue.

After that Midnight and Lucas started talking and laughing. Men and women would hear them and say to each other, “Do you think they’re going to fall in love?” One women heard and said, “I hope so she needs to fall in love sometime.” “Midnight I’m so sorry I couldn’t get you here sooner.” Lucas said with despair on his face. Midnight said softly, It’s okay don’t worry about it.“ Lucas saw her smile so brightly and thought, “I’ve only known her a day, but I think I’m falling in love with her.”

The following night Midnight decided to go walk outside while everyone was in their houses, but what Midnight didn’t know is that there was a gentleman still awake at the midnight hour. “Hey what are you doing?” Lucas said and it startled Midnight. N-nothing just thought I’d walk for a bit and look at the moon. She said blushing then Lucas said, “You should be resting its only been a day since you got those injuries.” Midnight got frustrated and said to herself, “Why does he always have to worry about me!” Then she said angrily to Lucas, “You don’t have to worry about me 24/7 okay!” Lucas then came back with, “Well sorry for worrying because I’m a gentleman.” Then he walked off angry and frustrated, and there was empty silence.

Midnight saddened by the fight her and Lucas just had started crying,because she felt so angry with herself for starting that meaningless fight! She fell on the ground sobbing with tears falling from her eyes down her face. Lucas felt horrible for just storming off, so he went back only to find Midnight on the ground sobbing. Lucas then walked up to her;picked her up off of the ground and hugged her from behind. Then Lucas whispered into her ear, “I’m sorry Midnight.”

Midnight stunned about what just happened stopped crying because she had Lucas back. Midnight said to Lucas with her voice low, “No I’m sorry I started that fight; I’m just so glad your back. The ears of the other vampires in their houses was excitingly giddy because they knew that Midnight and Lucas were falling love.

The next day all the women vampires gathered at the water fountain in the middle of town trying to figure out a way to get Lucas and Midnight together. “We could do a midnight dance!”, the woman named Elizabeth said. “Perfect thinking Elizabeth!”, said a elderly woman named Matilda. All the other ladies agreed as well, and they set their plan in motion.

While the women and men in the village where setting up the dance, Midnight and Lucas where in the woods just on the outskirts of the village. They were just wrestling for fun just like lion cubs. Midnight had phenomenal techniques, but Lucas had awesome reflexes. So Midnight could only land a couple hits on Lucas. “Wow your amazing Midnight!”, said Lucas. Midnight was delighted that he was commenting on her techniques! She blushed and said, “Thanks Lucas!”

She let guard down, and without a second thought Lucas jumped up on top of Midnight. Midnight fell on the ground and Lucas fell on top of her. They both blushed and they both froze, and stared deeply into each other’s eyes. They were both thinking the same thing, but they didn’t know it. At that time, Midnight and Lucas were thinking, “I want to tell you I love you, but the words won’t come out.”

That moment was broken by Midnight’s sister Moon. “Sis Mrs. Matilda wants you to go see her at her house!”, Moon said. Then she saw Lucas on top of Midnight. Then she said, “Lucas what are you doing to Midnight?” Lucas blushed even harder and he said, “U-uh I just fell on her by accident!” Then he got up off of Midnight and held out his hand to help her up. Midnight said after she got up, “I-I better get to Matilda’s see y-you later.” Midnight ran at the speed of light, and Lucas was memorized by how her hair flew in the wind and how her eyes sparkled in the sunlight.

Midnight made her way to Matilda’s house with her heart still pounding hard against her chest. “Matilda I’m here!”, she said with her heart slowing down and her embarrassment fading. Matilda came down the stairs saying, “Oh yay your here come up stairs.” Midnight went up the stairs into the room where Matilda was. Midnight saw that she was holding a lilac dress.

“What’s going on Matilda?”, Midnight said confused. Matilda said with excitement, “Your going to a dance with Lucas!” Midnight was frustrated and excited at the same time thinking how she would blow Lucas away wearing that beautiful lilac dress, and said, “I’M GOING TO A DANCE!”

Lucas and Moon was staring to where Midnight had gone. Then Moon went up to Lucas and tugged at his t-shirt and said, “Let’s go Lucas we have to get you ready!” Lucas was confused and so he asked, “What do I have to get ready for?” Moon said chuckling, “You’ll see when we get to me and Midnight’s house.” Lucas was thinking, “I-I am going to M-Midnight’s house!”

When they arrived at Moon’s and Midnight’s house, Moon said, “Lucas come in!” Moon showed Lucas up the stairs and to Midnight’s room. Then she shoved Lucas through the door of Midnight’s room and said, “I’m not letting you out till you put on that tux!” Lucas then turned around to see a lilac tux hanging on the mirror, and thought, “What in the world is happening!”

“Yes you are!”, said Matilda. Midnight was freaking out she was nervous that Lucas was not going to love her back, if she told him how she felt. Midnight wanted to tell him anyway and told Matilda, “Give me that dress!” Matilda eyes lit up and handed her the beautiful lilac dress. Midnight took the dress and went to the other room. Midnight thought it was beautiful and she hoped Lucas would love it as well. While she was putting on the dress her heart was racing, and she was thinking how she first met Lucas. She still remembered the warmth while she was unconscious on Lucas’s back. She was hoping Lucas also felt the same way she did. Lucas was putting on the lilac suit, and wondering why he had to put it on. His heart was beating hard against his chest as he was standing in Midnight’s room. He was looking at her drawings on the walls, and he saw on particular one that caught his eye. It was a picture of her on his back, and it had a thought bubble that said “thank you”. He smiled and he never thought a girl would ever make him feel the way he did. He remembered the night they got into the fight, and how he got so frustrated but he felt awful and went back. Lucas remembered how it felt to have Midnight in his arms. Then he heard Moon knock on the door and said, “Are you done yet we have to go!” Lucas was wondering where they were going and said, “I’m coming out.” Moon was stunned because Lucas was so handsome and was glad for her sister, but then Lucas interrupted her thinking when he asked, What’s going on?“ Moon told him everything and said they had to go. Lucas was freaking out and said, “YOU’RE TAKING ME TO A DANCE WITH MIDNIGHT!” Moon said with excitement, “Yes now let’s go!” “Are you ready for Lucas to come walking up here?”, said Matilda. Midnight’s heart was beating so hard she felt it was going to burst! “ I’m not ready! I’m not ready!”, Midnight said while blushing. Matilda was smiling when she saw Lucas and said, “To late he’s already here no turning back now!” Lucas walked up to Midnight thinking of how pretty she was. When the music started playing Lucas said, “May I have this dance m'lady?” Midnight was blushing and said, “ Y-yes you may.” Lucas smiled and grabbed Midnight at the waist, while Midnight wrapped her hands around his neck. They were both blushing with their hearts going a million miles a second. Lucas spinned her around, and she was laughing. Lucas loved to hear her laugh when he dipped her she blushed and so did he. Midnight asked Lucas if she could talk to him privately, so she took him to the place where they first met. Midnight said, “Lucas I’ve only known you for a while, but I’ve been falling love with you!” She screamed it out so he would hear it loud and clear. Lucas was stunned he then wrapped her in his arms from behind and said, “I feel the same way Midnight I have since the night we had that fight.” Then Lucas turned her around and kissed her. Midnight had tears running down her face. She was so relieved he felt the same way. After the kiss they walked back holding hands.