#before adjusting my stupid curly short hair in the mirror

[feral-futch]

[JanetGoodPlaceNotAGirl.gif]

but like... that is so very Real And Same of you tbh

also sorry about the literal max amount of tags on this; I do think you will enjoy them though probably? 😅

I could get over anything as long as I have something new to be obsessed with

[spideyspeaches]

Gold Rush ↬ t.h

Gif by @parkeraul :)

A/N: I'm in love with that song 🙈 also here's my super late contribution of professor!tom 😋 cause I've been procrastinating on the wandavision au (in my defence though, it's taking a lot of brainstorming 😂) anyway here you go-

Wc: 2.6k+

Warnings: lemme know if you find one :)

Summary: He taught British History and you chastise yourself for not auditing for that subject earlier.

Pairing: Professor!Tom x Student!Reader

Masterlist || Taglist

Waking up with a start, you groan at the shrill sound of your alarm. With a sigh that was more of a grunt of annoyance, you tried to reach for your phone at the side table, hissing when you felt the corner of your elbow hit the table, pain shooting up to your shoulder. 

Great, you weren't even up yet and your day was already going shitty. You just hoped that your professor won't be grumpy about you being late for the millionth time this semester. 

You hated cultural architecture. You had nothing against the course, but You hated your professor with a passion and wished that you could burn your textbooks for all you cared, right in front of your teacher's eyes, watch him writhe in fear as you banished the very existence of your material. 

You were being dramatic, but in your defence, your professor was an old bastard who never left an opportunity to reprimand you, going as far as letting you know how uneven your margins were on your latest project. 

He wore birkenstocks with a three piece. You wouldn't trust him with your assignments. 

Getting out of your dorm room was work, hard work. But you got out, brushed your teeth and wore what you hoped were presentable clothing. 

"You look hungover." Your roommate, Stacy, commented, spitting in the sink as you scowled at her. 

She was straightforward, outspoken and somehow managed to look like one of those Victoria secrets models that you loathed, even at seven in the morning. You hated her. 

(You didn't.)

"Thanks, I hope I smell too. Want that son of a bitch- what's his name, Wilson, to suffer for giving me that C minus on my thesis." You grumbled, rubbing your hands through your hair to flat them out. 

"You really hate him, don't you." She snickered, popping off her shirt. You tried not to look, not wanting to come off as a pervert, but damn, she was fit. You contemplated her words, frowning at your own reflection. 

You looked disheveled, the dark eye bags under your eyes very apparent as you tried to mask them with foundation, setting your hair for the millionth time. Oh well, you were presentable enough. Sweatpants would have to do for your only class today, you could binge Netflix after this wretched class. 

"I do. I hope his third wife divorces him and he loses his thermos of coffee in the subway." You said, adding your look finally before wearing your shoes. 

"That's cruel, didn't know you had it in you." She snickered, patting your back and following you as you closed the door, "Well I have to go to my boring science lectures now so, see you later hun." 

"Yeah, enjoy your chemistry period with your boyfriend!" You cheered sarcastically, rolling your eyes and hugging her to tell her that you were only joking. Your relationship was this, of jokes and hugs and kisses. You considered her your best friend. 

Rushing towards the gates of your university, you hastily tightened your loosening hair tie, adjusting the straps of your bags. You were pretty sure you had broken your record of being late to your class. You may hate the professor, but you actually enjoyed the subject. 

Wheezing as you ran past the late comers, you nodded at the receptionist, hastily signing yourself in. You would blame your clumsiness for what happened next, because one second you were fixing your sande on the foot of the fountain, and next thing you knew you were crashing into a firm body, your nose hitting the random stranger’s chest.

"I’m so sorry! I’m kinda late to class and I wasn’t looking and- whoa, ow.” You rushed your words, groaning when you felt blood rush from your head to toe, nose throbbing with double vision, a reminder of your clumsiness. 

“Whoa, hey calm down, it’s okay, I wasn’t looking either.” The stranger said, his thick South Western accent snapping you out of your self pity. 

You felt blood rush to your cheeks instead, not anticipating your face in a flush this early in the morning, when you got a good look at the stranger. He was good looking, in his black high turtleneck and brown checkered pants. He had a small leather satchel clutched in his hands, face looking as flushed as you felt when you realised that you had been gawking at him.

He was probably no older than his mid twenties, making you wonder what he was doing in your university. He was too old to be a student, and too young to be a professor. But then again, you wouldn't judge him for joining college late.

Right? 

"S-sorry, you um, you must be really late, you should go." He stuttered, your heart fluttering at his dimpled chin and thick accent. His eyes were gleaming in the morning sun, captivating in a way that left you in awe. 

"Um yeah, I am." You nodded, composing yourself, hoping that you didn't look too sleep deprived or disheveled, "where are you going, if you don't mind me asking."  

"Um, the architecture wing?" He said, unconsciously stepping besides you.

"Oh, I'm going that way. Is it your first time coming here? Haven't seen you around." You asked, trying not to stare at his sharp jawline and the way the morning sun hit him just right, illuminating and accentuating his curly brown hair. 

"Yeah, it's my first lecture, so um, looks like I'm late too." He smiled. It was infectious, you noticed as you mirrored his expression. 

"Oh, you're a student?" 

"Actually, I'm a professor. Just transferred from UCL." 

So you were right, he was a professor. He looks so young though. You thought, nodding at him, your thoughts interrupted by his laugh. Looking at him with confusion, you raised an eyebrow. 

"Yeah, everyone says that. I started right after finishing graduation so, I guess I'm not much older than you." He smiled, kicking the small pebbles littered around the set grassy ground. It had just rained, the smell of wet ground still fresh. 

"I said that out loud didn't I?" You smirked, ducking your head to hide. 

"You did." 

Entering the building, you realised that you hadn't asked which subject he taught, crossing your fingers and hoping that he would replace the old bastard that taught you cultural architecture. 

"I forgot to ask, which lecture do you teach?" You asked, looking for your class in the end. The hallways were empty, it was way past your first lecture and all the students were already in the auditorium. 

"Oh, uh, British History." He answered. You didn't let disappointment show too much on your face, smiling shyly before gesturing towards the class, "that's you." 

"Oh, um thank you." He smiled, pursing his thin lips together as he walked towards the class. You could hear screaming of the students as you both neared the classroom, you still standing by the door, "I didn't get your name." 

His question snapped you out of your disappointed gaze, 

"Oh, it's Y/n. Y/n L/n." You said with a smile. 

"Pleasure to meet you Y/n, I'm Thomas Holland, but you can call me Tom." He said awkwardly, before turning back to his class, who had yet to notice him.

"The pleasure's all mine Professor." 

For the first time in your college life, you didn't feel like tearing your hair off during your lecture, your thoughts wandering around. You wanted to berate yourself for not paying attention, but your thoughts kept going there. 

It was funny, how you met him not long ago and he was already taking up residence in your brain. You could not control your feelings after all. Something akin to nausea or excitement eased into your stomach when you pictured his smile, his black turtleneck that accentuated his biceps and pectorals. The little rebellious eyebrow and the tiny scar above it. 

It made your heart flutter, everything seemingly seemed to stop around you. It scared you a bit, how You had managed to envision the little details of his face in your brain after such a short duration. 

You didn't realise that you were smiling until you felt a nudge on your side, making you nearly jump on your seat. 

"What?!" You hissed, scowling at your classmate. 

"Who're you thinking about?" She asked, wiggling her eyebrows as she leaned towards you. You had known her long enough to know her name but never bothered learning, and you were too scared to ask now. 

"It's none of your business." You muttered, glancing up to see your professor scowling at a student as they stood up. 

"Well okay, but did you hear about the hot new professor? Apparently he's teaching British History, I regret not taking that as a subject now." She said, her cheeks flushed with excitement. You furrowed your brows, feeling a pang in your chest at the realisation that you were probably just another girl with a stupid crush on the hot professor, that there were already girls who would die to feel his touch. 

"How do you know about him?" You asked, raising an eyebrow as you try to act nonchalant. You weren't being subtle, apparently, because you could see her snapping her bubblegum with a smirk, leaning forward as if trading secrets. 

"You kidding right? Everyone knows about him, you got a crush on him or something?" She suggested, scooting close enough to make you squirm. 

"I literally just met him, and ew, he's a professor, why would I see him that way?" You whisper, willing your heart to stop palpitating at the thought of said professor, your gut twisting in anticipation. 

"I don't know girl, he's hot and young and so much better than this bastard." She sighed, leaning on her palm with a fake dreamy expression. 

You went back to ignoring her after that, noticing how her notebook said 'Eloise'. At least you didn't have to ask her her name now. 

Your class went surprisingly well, or maybe it was because you weren't paying attention and thinking about him again. You really needed to get a grip on yourself. 

Walking out of your class, you decided to go to the cafeteria, your stomach begging for your attention.

Setting your things on a table, you took out your phone to scroll through Instagram, before switching it off and looking around the cafeteria. You didn't know what you were expecting to see, but your stomach was gurgling with hunger and nothing made sense when you were hungry. 

Walking to grab something to eat, you pick up your bag, hanging it over one of your shoulders before getting in the line. 

Just as you were about to turn with your bun and cup of coffee, you crashed into someone for the second time that day. Cursing your clumsiness, you heard a familiar British accent curse not very colourful words, making you stumble over as you tried to wipe off the hot coffee off his shirt.

"Hey, it's okay." He said, stopping your frantic gestures by holding your wrist with his to cease any movements.

"Professor Holland! I'm so sorry, it's like, I'm just clumsy. I have no excuse." You sighed in resignation, mentally facepalming at spilling your coffee at the hot professor. 

"It's okay darling, I've had much worse spilled on me." He smirked, his hand still holding on to yours. You had started walking away from the location, and yet his hand didn't let go, "You know, I used to babysit during my college days." 

"Oh, babysitting, right of course." You chuckled awkwardly, chest heaving with the sudden close proximity with the professor, dissipating the not quite PG thought that just occurred in your mind at his words.. 

"Sorry for-" You said in unison with him, chuckling. 

"You go first." He said.

"I'm sorry for spilling coffee on You, it must have hurt and I ruined your shirt and now there's a big splotch of coffee right in the middle!" You said, circling your fingers around your palm as you walked with your back to the exit as you walked out of the cafeteria, food forgotten and him following your pace. 

Before you could continue your awkward blabber, you were standing in the garden outside, leaning against a pillar with the garden in your view looking golden in the setting sun. He was standing in your view, the shadows around his jaw making it look sharp enough to cut glass. 

Taking a breath, you looked up at his smiling form with confusion when he didn't answer, instead leant onto the pillar next to you.

"You were... gonna say something?" You reminded, smiling awkwardly as you fiddled with your fingers.

"Oh? Oh! Oh yes yes, You know, I was kind of disappointed that you weren't in my class, Mister Wilson talks very highly of you." He said, folding his arms on his chest, it made his biceps bulge. 

"He does?" You looked at him with surprise, guilt panging in your chest when you remembered yourself bad mouthing the professor not long ago. 

"Yes, says you're a bright student with a bright future." He answered, leaning his head back so that his neck was exposed, Adam's Apple bobbing as he gulped, his hair falling into place perfectly against his forehead. The arch of his neck was beautiful, tracing it with your eyeballs as you imagined which other curves of his were as beautiful, immediately dismissing those thoughts, chastising yourself for thinking such a way of a professor. 

"That's… sweet of him. I've never heard him compliment me once in the two and half years I've been in his class." You chuckle, leaning your elbow on the pillar to get a better look at his side profile. 

"Hmm, he says he's hard on you because he wants you to do your best..." 

You stopped listening past that, your breath growing more erratic the more he talked, his smooth voice washing over you like warm honey with a squeeze of lemon. Swallowing a sudden lump in your throat, your heart leaping, leaving you nauseous and in a dream like trance. 

Tom noticed immediately, noticing your slouched posture as you stared at him with a small smile, the upturn of your lips so inviting that he almost dived in, wanting to know the feeling of them what they felt like against his. 

He wasn't the kind to date his students, in fact, he rarely dated after joining uni and becoming a professor. 

He strictly believed that student/teacher relationships should end in only a professional non romantic set up. That was all up until he crashed into you that morning. 

You had been in his mind all day, stirring him crazy as he imagined your smile, the way your eyes lit up when you talked about your subject of interest, the say your fingers fiddled with the ring you wore on your index finger. 

He wondered if this feeling would last forever or become a vague memory, an attraction of hearts that didn't last but felt good till it did. If he was rushing, or if you even felt the same way. 

He was smart, of course that's how he became a teacher, but he still couldn't place your feelings. 

So when he saw you staring at him, his heart leaping in his throat at your adorable smile, the only logical answer his brain gave was that you liked him too. Temporary attraction or not, he wasn't one to look a gift horse in it's mouth. 

Next thing he knew your lips were crashing onto his, your chest pressed against his firmly as your hands reached up to the base of his neck. 

Your fingers were soft, tongue swishing against his as he opened his mouth to let you enter. His hands automatically reach for your waist, holding onto firmly as he slammed you against the pillar. 

The sun was nearly down, the last of the rays hitting the garden, lighting you both up in a golden glow that left you breathless with a fire raging in your souls. 

"What do you say that I audit for British history? I'd like to learn more lessons from you, Professor Holland." You said, breathless against his chest, hiding your nose against his sternum, blood rushing to your ears as his warm hand burned against the bare skin underneath your shirt. 

"That would be great darling, anything to see your pretty smile every morning." 

A/N: let me know what you think! :)

[planetsano]

push and pull.

prompt: bakugou has been neglecting the reader because of work. she can't handle that because all she wants is love and attention.

warning(s): ceo!au, major sugar daddy vibes, aged up, hurt/comfort, f!reader, softie baku at the end.

pairing(s): bakugou katsuki x reader

You definitely felt like a spoiled brat. Walking around the Gucci store with a pout displayed on your glossed lips and nose held high like nothing in the vicinity was even close to being decent enough for you. Heels clicking lightly against the marbled flooring as you wandered around. This was such a drag. Your manicured finger lazily traced a handbag on a display table, it was probably worth someone's salary but you weren't interested. Your eyes were locked on the handsome blonde man pacing back and forth outside the big glass windows of the store. He was angrily speaking into the phone stopping ever so often to insult whoever was on the receiving end.

That— that stupid jerk is Bakugou Katsuki, your boyfriend, and he pinky promised to spend the day with you uninterrupted. Meaning no work calls, no emails, no boring paperwork— just you and him spending time together. He even promised to buy you that new handbag and the matching shoes you’ve been absolutely dying for but here you were in your current situation.

Recently, Bakugou has been incredibly busy with work but you couldn't exactly blame him. He was the CEO of a very successful multi-billion dollar company. But these  past few weeks felt like you could never catch him not answering a business call or typing some boring email. Attempting to get one kiss from him always led you to be met with a dismissive wave of the hand as he answered the call. You knew it wasn't wise to bother him any further because he did have a temper. You’ve seen countless people on the receiving end of his rage and you didn't want to be met with it. Though it was sexy at times, you never liked upsetting him so you just left him alone. Always feeling deflated and discouraged as you opened up a tub of your favorite ice cream. Stress eating. This happened on multiple instances over the course of nearly a month. Quite frankly, you felt unwanted and it was driving you mad.

Walking around this store, there were so many beautiful and luxurious things, but your heart wasn't in it. Shopping wasn't much fun without his hand in yours giving you his opinions about how a dress or shoes would look on you, helping you zip up your dresses and sneaking naughty makeout sessions in the dressing room. Don't worry, you knew you looked pathetic. All pouty and woe as me. My rich boyfriend isn't giving me attention, life is so tough… you could laugh at yourself right now.

You missed him a lot but you were understanding… as understanding as you could be. You wondered if it was selfish to feel this nasty feeling pooling in your chest and stomach. Was it selfish to feel.. neglected? Was it selfish to want to have him all to yourself for just a day?

Was he.. losing interest in you? Was there someone else? Surely work couldn't take up that much of his time.. Did you upset him recently and didn't realize? Feelings of anxiety and nausea started to bubble up within you.. You didn't feel well at all and started to get sick to your stomach the more you got caught up in your thoughts. You wanted to leave. Now.

You hastily exited the store to find Bakugou. It looked like he was just about to come back in to find you, but you stopped him in his tracks. Almost immediately he noticed how drained you looked. Like there was something bothering you. He thought maybe some had said something rude to you but before he could react you spoke.

“Baby, can we go home? I don't feel good..” You looked up at him with a frown, your dainty hand resting on his chest.

The car ride back was quiet. Bakugou noticed your sudden change in demeanor causing him to take more than a couple glances at you in the passenger seat. Usually you'd be so bright and talkative, ushering him to sing along to whatever shitty song you had playing but you were radio silent. Maybe you actually didn't feel good? He would make ure to have his assistant buy you some medicine.

Men are so clueless..

“You ready?”

Your eyes averted their attention from your reflection to the handsome blonde casually adjusting his cufflinks behind you. He looked absolutely stunning standing there in an all black suit accompanied with a red tie. It not only complimented his eyes beautifully, but it matched your sparkly red gown as well. It almost pissed you off how he could be doing the bare minimum and still manage to look that good. But now wasn't the time to oogle. You came up with the conclusion that if he wanted to neglect you then you’d give him a dose of his own medicine. You ignored his presence and picked up your favorite highlighter and a brush, dusting your collarbones lightly to make them pop.

Bakugou walked a few steps closer and you continued to focus on your reflection in the mirror. He leaned over to plant a single kiss on the end of your shoulder, then made a trail of light and soft kisses along your shoulder blade, to the base of your neck and finally to that sensitive part of skin just below your earlobe. It took everything in you, plus more not to give in to his affections, but you desperately wanted to melt under him. You were so incredibly touch starved, especially these days. You missed him, but at the same time you were so upset with him. You couldn't just give in the moment he realizes you exist again. Fuck him. You were supposed to be angry. Not needy.

“You look fuckin’ amazing..” His voice was deep as he whispered into your ear. You closed your eyes tightly and sighed deeply, quickly getting up from your vanity stool and brushed past him, not even looking in his direction. You didn't get far before Bakugou grabbed your wrist and pulled back towards him fully closing the gap between you two and secured an arm around your waist making sure you weren't going anywhere.

God, you could feel him staring a hole into your head as you looked off to the side avoiding eye contact at all costs. You just couldn't bring yourself to look him in the eyes. You’d break.

Bakugou grabbed your face with his free hand forcing you to look at him, temporarily squishing your cheeks and making your lips go into a kissable pout.  His harsh crimson gaze was locked onto your doe like eyes making you feel incredibly vulnerable and shy. You hated the power he had over you. Something as simple as eye contact making your ears and cheeks flare up in the color red. The thoughts and emotions from earlier coming back all at once threatening to make you sick all over again.

“What the fuck is your problem?” He asked bluntly, eyebrows furrowed in confusion and irritation from your behavior. He could see something was bothering you and it was pissing him off that you weren't talking to him.

“Nothing.. I promise..” You replied. “I'm happy! See?” You forced a smile on your face as Bakugou watched your bottom lip quiver and eyes water as you tried to pathetically convince him you were fine all while looking like a kicked puppy.

“You’re a shit liar. You're about to fucking cry.” Bakugou’s hand shifted to cup the side of your face. You leaned into the warmth of his hand

“Tell me what's wrong.” His voice was still blunt and expression still stern. He never wants to see you like this. Sure, you got upset or even bratty from time to time but he's never seen you in this state and it worried the fuck out of him.

“I-I.. I just-!” You struggled to find proper words to convey how you felt. His thumb rubbed your cheek gently somewhat calming you down and keeping you from hyperventilating.

“Breathe.” His voice and expression softened upon seeing you teary and vulnerable.

“I just miss you!” You blurted out. Bakugou looked down at you with his brows furrowed in confusion.

“You're so busy with work you seem to forget I exist, I don't say anything because I-I’m proud of you and I want you to be successful! I understand you're very busy but.. but is it too much to ask for thirty minutes of your time? Katsuki, I miss spending time with you-” Bakugou watched you pour out all your emotions and thoughts like word vomit.

Guilt hit him all at once like a fucking train seeing you crying because of him. He was the reason you felt like this and he wanted to punch himself in the face for not noticing how unhappy you were sooner. He did admit that work seemed to be the only thing he’s been about lately. Neglecting his love life, his friends, his family, maybe even his own health. Even holding you this close made him realize that he hasn't been.. this close in proximity to you in a while. He fucked up.

“I-Is there someone else? Is that it? My hair.. I can change it if you'd like. Do you still love me? I-” That was the final straw for him. He cut you off with a swift kiss to the lips. It surprised you but you almost immediately moved your lips into sync with his. The kiss was sloppy and too many emotions fueled it, but the most prevalent one was want.

Bakugou’s heart ached hearing your words. Of course he still loved you. Everything about you was perfect in every way, there was no way on Earth he would lose you over some random extra that probably only wanted him for his money and last name. The fact that you were so.. willing to change for him to make him happy because you were so in love seemed so... wrong. He thought that if anything he should be the one trying to make you happy. He couldn't give a fuck whether your hair was long or short, curly or straight, he loved you regardless. Your appearance was never a factor in his feelings for you. Only a bonus.

He pulled away from your lips suddenly and looked at you. Your eyes were puffy, mascara was running and your lipstick was smeared but you still looked beautiful. It was a look he particularly liked but, it was not under these circumstances. You were usually on your knees.

“Don't say stupid things like that.” Bakugou started.

“..I'm so shit at relationships..” He struggled with his words and you could see it in his face. He wasn't ever one to express how he felt.

“‘m sorry for treating you like a fucking stranger.. you know I love you. No one else could even hold a fucking candle to you, that shouldn't even be a thought in this pretty fucking head of yours.” He sighed.

“I don't fucking care about how your hair looks.. I only care about you.” He finished.

Your crying stopped at some point when he was speaking and you were only met with soft hiccups. Bakugou wiped the final few tears from your cheeks and left a kiss on your forehead.

“Stop crying over me. I'm not worth it.” He whispered against your skin. For some reason his words shocked you. Not worth it? You thought was worth all your tears plus more, what was he on about? Did he really think he wasn't good enough for you?

“You don't say stupid things like that either. You're worth all the good things in the world.” You said softly. Bakugou’s heart fluttered at your words and he almost felt himself blush. There was a comfortable silence before you spoke up again.

“Oh no,” You looked at the time. “We're going to be late to the event and I look atrocious” You looked up at him with a pout.

“Fuck it. They'll be fine without us. Those bastards are annoying as hell anyway.. Let's get dinner, yeah? You can pick where we go.” Bakugou proposed and you smiled.

“Let's go.” You stood on your tippy toes and planted a kiss on his lips.

a/n: I hope you guys enjoyed this! For only 2k+ words I feel like I took forever to write this. I just wanted it to be up to standard.. feedback would be amazing. Also, my requests are open! Thank you for 100 followers! ❤️

[wxlfstxrx]

i love your o’knutzy writing so much holy shit. could you write them cuddling/during a thunderstorm? who loves the rain and who’s terrified? does leo vibe with it or does he have hurricane ptsd? lol does it even rain in canada or just snow? 💕💕💕

okay so i think i kinda went off track, but i hope you like this anyway!!!! :)) thank you @shinymooncolor for the hiking idea!! <3

Seeing Logan wrapped up like a burrito with the thick duvet that they had lugged from Finn’s room, his curly brown fringe tumbling down over his forehead from under the thick cotton material wrapped around the back of his head, and his hands covering his eyes save for the small opening between his fingers for one eye to peek through was the single most funny and yet, adorable thing that Finn had ever seen.

He had actually chosen to completely forgo the snacks so he wouldn’t have to peel his fingers away from his eyes and, god forbid, see a close up of a zombie’s face on the forty-three inch television screen. Considering how tough and fierce he could be on the ice, he wasn’t the most lionhearted when it came to scary movies.

To be fair, he had vehemently protested against their choice of movie, but Leo and Finn had been wanting to catch Train to Busan since Kasey and Natalie had recommended it to them a couple of weeks ago. Try as he might, Logan hadn’t been able to put off watching the movie for another week. He never could say no to Finn’s puppy dog eyes.

As a result, he was huddled in between the two taller boys, who each had an arm around him as they watched an entire train compartment of passengers getting devoured by rampant zombies. Finn turned his head to look at Logan’s reaction, and subsequently snorted at the horrified look on his face. Logan mirrored his actions, turning his head with his hands still held out a few inches in front of his face.

Logan scowled. “Fuck you guys so much.”

Finn threw his head back in laughter, receiving a loud shhhh from Leo, who hadn’t even bothered to tear his gaze away from the screen. He looked over at the blonde haired boy adoringly as he stuffed his mouth with popcorn, before turning his attention back to Logan and bringing him into a headlock.

“Someone’s grumpy,” He whispered, still grinning. “Scared, aren’t you?”

Logan grumbled unintelligibly in French, and Finn leaned over, pressing a firm kiss to his flaming cheek.

“Awww, c’mon baby, don’t be mad,” He pouted, giving Logan his famous puppy dog eyes once again. Logan sighed and nestled himself further into Finn’s side, the duvet slipping off the top of his head and revealing his wild chocolate brown curls. He leaned his head on Finn’s shoulder, who let his cheek rest against the still slightly damp hair as he returned his gaze to the screen. 

They stayed that way for some time, Leo absentmindedly bringing his hand over to gently massage the tense muscles at the nape of his neck.

At one point, Finn heard the low rumble of thunder and started feeling raindrops on his right arm. He attempted to get up to shut the open window, but Logan clung tightly onto his arm through the blanket. He sat back down, frowning at Logan.

“It’s raining, Lo, ‘m just gonna close the window,” He told him confusedly.

“Mmmmph,” Logan simply buried his head in the crook of Finn’s neck and nosed at the soft skin there. Finn made a soft sound and acquiesced, nudging Leo with a sock-clad foot.

“Hmmm?” Leo looked away from the television for a moment, only then noticing the rain.

“Sorz babe, could you get the window? Seems like I’ve got a koala on me,” Finn drawled, trying and failing to adopt an Australian accent.

“Don’t pretend you don’t like it when I go down under,” Logan muttered under his breath.

Finn smirked, a comeback on the tip of his tongue, but Leo cut him off before he could say anything.

“Huh, Tremz, never knew you were afraid of thunder,” The tall boy commented offhandedly as he paused the movie, getting up to cross over to the window and shutting it tightly.

“No I’m not,” Logan answered immediately, and Leo raised an eyebrow at him. The brunette glared back, but a hint of fear in his eyes betrayed him, and Leo shrugged, apparently not wanting to push it further.

“Okay, if you say so.”

Finn laughed into Logan’s hair.Leo flopped back onto the couch, leaning back onto the armrest and crossing his ankles on top of Logan, who had to drop his feet to the floor to let Leo’s long legs rest on his lap. He grabbed the remote controller off the coffee table and resumed the movie, just as one of the girls fully turned into a zombie and lunged for the guy holding her in his arms.

Logan, who hadn’t had the chance to look away, let out a loud fuck as he jumped in his seat. Finn smiled in amusement, but wrapped his arms around him tighter as the movie continued playing. He gestured to Leo for the popcorn, who lifted the bowl off his stomach and handed it to Finn. Finn balanced the bowl carefully on his thigh, grabbing a handful of the popcorn and shoved them into his mouth. He scooped up a piece to hold in front of Logan’s mouth, but he didn’t respond.

He ducked his head in confusion, then, realising that Logan had squeezed his eyes shut, he let out a surprised laugh.

“Hey, baby koala,” He whispered softly into Logan’s ear, “Want some popcorn?”

Logan’s eyes flew open, gaze immediately landing on the popcorn in front of his face. He opened his mouth, and Finn popped it in, brushing his thumb over Logan’s lower lip as he chewed.

“Mmmm, thanks. Was getting kinda peckish to be honest,” He grinned bashfully. 

Finn laughed again. “Waiting for me to feed you, is that it?”

The corner of Logan’s lip curled up, and he leaned up to kiss Finn full on the mouth.

They jumped apart at the sound of Leo’s cursing. “Fuck, oh shit, oh my god, holy fuck,” Leo’s volume got progressively louder as he pushed himself into a sitting position. 

Finn’s eyes snapped to the screen as the antagonist, a middle aged businessman, threw the train conductor aside before clambering into the empty train, ignoring the other man’s screams for help. Logan threw the duvet over his head once again, hiding behind his hands and mumbling curse words to himself.

The rain outside got heavier, the wind howling and slamming against the windows, and Finn could feel Logan shaking his leg nervously as the suspense in the movie built up accordingly. He wrapped an arm around his waist in comfort, while Leo slowly ran his hand up and down Logan’s back, but Finn could still feel the fear radiating off Logan in waves.

At the exact moment a zombie appeared at the window of a train compartment, a flash of lightning and a loud clap of thunder occurred in succession, and the whole apartment went pitch black. Logan screamed, and Finn and Leo both jumped.

“Fuck.” Logan’s voice sounded hysterical. He curled in on himself, still tucked within the duvet. His loud inhales and shaky exhales started giving way to sobs, and Finn’s stomach dropped.

“Shit, Tremz, are you— C’mon, breathe, mon chéri,” Leo’s concerned voice pierced the darkness.

“Fuck, Lo, hold on,” Finn fumbled blindly for his phone, which had been placed on the corner of the coffee table earlier. He accidentally kicked his foot against the corner of the table, and he let out a strained curse as his toe throbbed. Finally, he felt the cool glass screen under his fingertips and he quickly turned on the flashlight, holding it above the three of them as he sat back on the couch.

“—in, and out, slowly,” Leo cooed softly. He had their foreheads pressed together, one hand around the back of his neck and the other intertwined with one of Logan’s trembling hands.

“Lo,” Finn’s eyes flicked between the two boys. “Shit, okay, hold on, lemme—”

He placed his phone back onto the coffee table, faced down so that the torchlight provided enough light for the two boys on the couch. He quickly made his way over to the circuit box in the hallway and fiddled with the circuit breaker panel carefully, his eyes starting to adjust to the near darkness. 

After a few moments, he heard a click and the television turned on again, casting a bright white glow on the rest of the living room. Finn flipped the light switch on as he returned to the couch, dropping onto his knees in front of Leo and Logan, the latter of whom was now seated on the former’s lap, ditching the duvet. Logan’s head was on Leo’s shoulder and his legs bent on top of Leo’s lap, and Leo was running his thumb over his cheekbone as he inhaled deeply over and over again.

Finn placed his hand on top of Logan’s where it was clenched atop his thigh and he curled his hand around his, gently prying his fingers away from his palm where there were now crescent shaped markings from how hard he had dug his nails into his skin. He brought his other hand up, playing with Logan’s fingers silently as he waited for him to calm down.

“‘m sorry,” Logan mumbled after a while, face flushed a dark red. “I— This is stupid…”

He trailed off, shaking his head. Leo pushed Logan’s fringe away from his forehead and leaned forward to press his lips to the skin there.

“C’est bon, mon amour,” He reassured. “Is there anything we can do? To help?”

“Non— Je ne sais pas,” He paused for a short while, contemplating something.

“I… When I was younger, much younger, my sisters and I went hiking, and I— I got lost. Don’t even know how it happened, really, just, one moment they were there, and the next I couldn’t find them. It— It started raining, pouring, and it was a bad thunderstorm. I was alone, and I was afraid I was gonna be lost… Forever, y’know? That my sisters would never find me, and… I don’t know, it sounds so stupid now.”

He sniffled, and Finn stood up, taking a seat beside Leo and wrapping his arms around Logan’s waist, leaning his forehead on his back.

“I remember being so terrified, there was lightning and thunder and I had nowhere to seek shelter or hide in. I just stayed where I was and hoped and prayed that they’d come back for me. They did, eventually. They felt absolutely horrible about it, they still do now.”

He smiled, a bit ruefully. “That’s why they’re so protective of me now. Love them for it, I really do, but I just… I can never forget. They’re… They’re the best, though. When I left for Harvard, they— we had a, uh, safe word of sorts. Whenever I texted them the word, they’d call me immediately, all three of them, regardless of where they were, or what they were doing.”

Logan chuckled, embarrassed but obviously with clear admiration and love for his sisters. Leo nuzzled his cheek, prompting him to continue. He looked up at both of them, eyes shining and biting his lip, before shifting his gaze to where Finn’s fingers were laced with his.

“I miss them. So much. They’re… They’re everything to me, y’know? We grew up close, and it killed me to leave them for Harvard, and even more when I joined the league. We call and talk often, but it’s just not the same. I think they— I think they know, or at least suspect something. I want to tell them, merde, I do, but what if— what if they never see me the same way again?”

His voice was small, and Finn’s heart squeezed tightly in his chest.

He let out a soft noise, and pulled him off Leo’s lap to sit between the two of them. Gripping Logan’s chin between his thumb and index finger, he tilted his face so they were looking into each other’s eyes. Finn’s gaze was unwavering as he told Logan, firmly but gently, “Lo, they’ll love you no matter what, alright? I’ve met them, and they’re really lovely. They’re wonderful, and they’ll love you just the same. Nothing is going to change that. Even if I hadn’t met them before, what you just told us, it shows how much they care about you. Fuck, a safe word, Lo. It’s the seemingly small things that show how important you are to them. You can’t possibly think that they’re not going to accept you for who you are and who you choose to love. Because I know they will.”

Leo nodded along as Finn spoke, silent but smiling slightly, rubbing circles on Logan’s back. He spoke up once Finn finished speaking. 

“Yeah, I mean, I get it. It’s definitely hard, and it’s definitely scary. Fuck, I was so fucking terrified when I came out to my parents. I couldn’t look them in the eye the whole week, though they told me they accepted me and loved me regardless. I— I was lucky. I was very lucky. But it still didn’t stop that fear churning in my gut, not for a long time. I was always… on edge, worrying that they were just, I don’t know, pretending to be okay with it. That someday, they’d just up and leave me, or kick me out of the house, or something. Until they gave me this,” He gestured to the rainbow bracelet looped around his wrist. “And they all had one too.”

“What I’m trying to say is, don’t deny yourself of the possibility— which as it seems, is pretty high— that the people you love will stand alongside you, accept you and tell you it’s okay, nothing has changed, you’re still you. If they’re as amazing as you and Finn make them out to be, you don’t have to worry, really. Take it from your resident worrywart here,” Leo gave Logan a cheeky smile, and leaned over to wrap both him and Finn in his arms.

“I love you guys, yeah? Very much. It’s going to be alright. Thank you for sharing this with us.”

Another loud crack of thunder made Logan flinch instinctively, but Finn and Leo held him tightly, soothing words of we’re here, you’re safe with us, we love you whispered in his ear, and for the first time in a while, Logan found himself relaxing, leaning into their embrace.

“Should we go to bed, or do you want to watch another movie?” Finn asked, his voice muffled a bit where he was speaking into Leo’s hoodie.

“Mmmmmm, The Breakfast Club?” Logan suggested, breaking out into a smile.

“Don’t you, forget about me,” Leo sang as he lifted himself off the couch, turning around and walking backward toward the television console, holding the remote as a microphone in his hand and pointing at the two boys, his smile blindingly bright in spite of the already lit room. 

“Don’t, don’t, don’t, don’t,” He punched a fist in the air, and dissolved into laughter, which was immediately joined in by Finn and Logan. He fiddled with the television for a while, and settled back onto the couch, snuggling close as the familiar instrumentals started wafting through the apartment, drowning out the roaring thunder outside their window.

[magicapandora]

Pre-Date Jitters

I decided to actually write about Rosie and Victor and thought it would be cute to show them being nervous about their first date so here

Rosie felt like they were gonna throw up.

They've been pacing back and forth in their dorm for the past 20 minutes now, constantly checking their reflection in the mirror and looking at the grandfather clock near the entrance. Those 20 minutes felt like an hour to them and they looked at the clock again.

10 minutes.

“What’re you doing?” A voice came from one of the beds in the room. Rosie jumped, letting out a small yelp and whipping their head to the voice. Rosie saw their black haired roommate, sitting crisscrossed with a book in her lap and several notes and papers scattered on her sheets.

Rosie pushed their bangs away from their face, tucking the extra hair behind their ears.

“Oh, hey Melds,” They gasped quietly, sitting down on their trunk and letting all of their weight down, slumping. Ismelda had gotten used to the ridiculous nickname their short roommate had given them and simply rolled their eyes, setting down the transfiguration textbook on top of the other scraps of paper.

“Okay, what's the deal with you? You're way too nervous, even for you.” Ismelda asked, tilting her head and staring at the curly haired individual. Ismelda knew Rosie had a date, since they never shut up about it all week leading up to it, but now it looked like they were gonna barf at any point.

“Oh, just pre-date jitters, that's all.” Rosie laughed dryly, rubbing their hands together and wiping the sweat from their palms. It was only fall and yet Rosie felt like it was 100 degrees in the dorms, which they found ironic since they're in the dungeons. Rosie hadn't felt this nervous since their first date during 5th year with Diego.

But this was different. This was someone Rosie actually had strong feelings for, not a puppy crush or anything like that. Victor made Rosie feel things. Good things. Things that made Rosie scream and yell into their pillow and annoy their roommates. Rosie didn't care, they were finally gonna have a real date with him and they're sweating like a sinner in church, and it felt like they were in hell.

“Rosie, I've seen pre-date jitters from Merula. You, however,” Ismelda said, getting up from her bed and walking over to the medium toned enby, bending down to their level, “are going into a borderline panic attack.”.

The black haired witch took out a white handkerchief from her pocket, handing it to the shorter one. Rosie looked at it, then quietly took it and thanked Ismelda. Rosie quickly wiped their hands and their face from any perspiration and handed it back to Ismelda.

“Nah, keep it for now. I don't want your weird sweat on me,” Ismelda grimaced, scrunching her nose at the handkerchief and standing upright. Rosie took a deep breath before standing up too, gaining some composure and walking over to their full length mirror next to their bed. Rosie smoothed out the soft and lacy fabric of their skirt and checked over themself one more time in the mirror.

“Do I look okay? Is this too much? I don't wanna over dress-WAIT, what if I'm under-dressing? Am I dressing appropriately? What if it starts raining? What-”

“ROSIE!”

Rosie flinched at the loud shout, seeing Ismelda from the reflection of the mirror stalk over to them and spun them around to face her. Ismelda had a dark look on her face, not angry or annoyed but...holy shit, was Ismelda concerned?

“Rosie Mayfield, you are fine. You look good for being the personification of a Rainbow Brite and My little Pony. No, it won't rain, I checked the weather. You two are just gonna go around Hogsmeade, so you aren't going anywhere fancy. If you can survive a murder attempt, Kidnapping, several dark Wizards and witches, and fighting a damn dragon, you can survive this stupid date. You are fine.``

Rosie's eye was wide, their mouth slightly agape. Ismelda sighed, adjusting Rosie's eyepatch slightly to make sure it was secure, then wiping some dust off that had fallen on Rosie's shoulders.

This was weirdly intimate, Ismelda the wannabe dark witch helping one of their housemates with a date. Rosie didn't hate it, they actually enjoyed having this quiet moment with Ismelda, letting the goth girl adjust their outfit and hair how she saw fit.

Ismelda turned the shorter one around again, this time much more gently and less abrupt. Rosie saw their reflection and sighed in relief. Ismelda had pushed Rosie's bangs forward, letting the curls fall in their face and frame it, but also tucking a bit of hair to show off Rosie's eyepatch, a dullish dusty pink with a black rose embroidered on the leather patch.

“There. You're ready.” Ismelda stated, the smallest smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. Before Rosie could say a thank you, Ismelda shoved Rosie near the exit and walked away, going back to where she was before. “Now go on that date, Rosie. Don't chicken out or I will curse you,” Ismelda said, sitting on her bed and opening up the same transfiguration textbook she had opened a couple of minutes ago.

Rosie looked back at her freckled girl, then smiling and running down the stairs, quickly shouting ‘Thank you!’ Before going out of the common room door.

Ismelda sighed, smiling a bit before going back to her notes.

Meanwhile, in the Ravenclaw Boys Dorm

“But do I look good?”

“Victor, for the 3rd time, you do, so shut up.” Talbott sighed, his attention mostly focused on his divination homework. His attention was then very abruptly halted when the taller ravenclaw snatched the book from Talbott’s hands and threw it to the other side of the room. “Hey! What the hell?” Talbott yelled, looking at his roommate, debating whether or not to punch him in the face.

“Tal, I know you're not actually looking at my outfit,” Victor sighed, putting his hands on his hips and raising his eyebrow at Talbott.

“That's because you're wearing the exact same outfit you wear everyday,” Talbott emphasized, motioning his hand up and down Victor's body. I mean, he wasn't wrong. Victor simply just put on what he has in his closet and thought it was acceptable. “This is a date, you weirdo. You gotta look nice for Rosie or else they'll think you don't care about your appearance.”.

Victor opened his mouth to debate, but then slowly closed it and realized that Talbott was right. He didn't have a lot of nice clothes and the ones he did have were mostly sweatpants, flannels, and hoodies. Not really ‘going out on a date’ material. He knew he should've just gone to Andre for help.

As if on cue, Andre was at the entrance of their dorm room and looked at his two roommates. He sighed and went over to Talbott’s closet, opening the mahogany doors and sifting through the few racks of clothes he had. Talbott quickly noticed this and stood up abruptly from his desk.

“Why is everyone touching my stuff today?!” He yelled in frustration, flinging himself and laying face down on his bed, groaning into the sheets. Victor laughed, leaning on the wall and looking over to his more fashionable roommate. Andre quickly pulled out a dusty pale blue turtleneck and a pair of black slacks with a matching belt, then with a pair of plain black boots. He strided over to Victor and handed over the clothes to him.

“It's a miracle that you and Talbott almost have the exact same measurements and height. Even if you're a bit broader with your shoulders and chest, the top has some elasticity so it'll fit,” Andre said, going over to his own desk and rummaging through some hair and makeup products he kept in case of emergencies like these.

Victor looked down at the clothes in his hands, quickly changing into the new outfit Andre had provided for him. He flattened the pants to make sure there weren't any creases and quickly turned around in front of the mirror-wait...oh right. Vampirism. He sighed, seeing the clothes but not his own body. He forgot that the mirrors at Hogwarts all had silver backings. He then went over to Andre's mirror, which was one of the only mirrors that was normal, having a plastic backing instead.

Andre pulled up a chair in front of his mirror and motioned Victor to sit down. Victor reluctantly did, fiddling with the cuffs of the sleeves, rolling them up and down constantly and feeling the knitted material of the turtleneck.

He felt Andre talk a chunk of his hair and pull it a bit harsh, making the pale teen wince in pain as Andre fiddled with his hair and styled it. He spread the short ponytail with his fingers and let the rest of his hair be as is, then messing with his bangs to have it frame his face.

“There, much better.” Andre said, admiring his work. Victor stood up and looked at himself in the full length mirror, He actually didn't look that bad.

He looked like a whole new person, but in a good way.

“Oh wow, you clean up nice,” Talbott said, leaning on his arms and looking at his fellow vampire. Victor chuckled a bit, hearing a compliment from his distant roommate was a bit flattering.

“Okay, you have a date you need to go on! So, c’mon! Get outta here!” Andre shouted, pushing Victor out of the dorms while laughing. Victor laughed too, running down the stairs quickly and jumping from the last 5 steps.

“Hey! Thanks! I owe you both favors!” He yelled, about to open the door to the common room before running back to his dorm and grabbing a black, blue, and silver scarf from his bed, then shouting another ‘thanks!’ Before Andre and Talbott heard the common room door slamming shut, making almost the entire house shake from the force.

“You think he’ll be alright?” Talbott asked, going towards the slightly damaged divination textbook from the floor and wiping the dirt off of it. Andre sat on his bed, picking up the latest copy of a fashion magazine and flipping to the first page.

“Eh, if he can survive us, I think he can survive a date with our favorite cursebreaker.”

[fivefeetfear]

Chp 3

I am so happy you guys love the story! Thank you for all your support!

..........................................................

It was nearly 1 o'clock pm and (Y/N) stood nervously in the crowd of her students. They all stood in a circle as they had a dance battle with one another as the speakers shook the room. Some did solo routines and others did groups, it was all in good competitive fun. Class ended earlier than expected since (Y/N) kinda breezed through the lesson completely thrilled to see the shy gem again! So her pupils decided to have a bit of fun before calling it a day. (Y/N) watched the entrances of the classroom waiting to spot Spinel. She couldn't get that cute gem out of her mind all day! With her spiky ponytails and big ol eyes! And the accent! Oh goodness, the accent! It made her very gem melt! The short gem dazed off as she fiddles with the ends of her locks, happily daydreaming.

"Ms. (Y/N) why don't you join in on the fun." A pink emerald student asked.

"Yeah! Show them how it's done!" A yellow sapphire encourages. (Y/N) shifts her (E/C) eyes to the two gems and flashes them an apologetic smile.

"Not today." She declines as she looked back to the time; three more minutes. The two students shrug as they went back to join the fun.

"Oh please, you’ll be on the floor once that spinel walks right through the door. You are sooooo predictable (Y/N)." Amber comments with a playful smirk on her face. (Y/N) playfully scowls the beefy gem as she crosses her arms over her chest taking a confident stance.

"For your information, I am not!" she sass while she walked to the enormous mirror that took up the front of the classroom and readjusted her hair. She put it in an updo to keep the locks out of her face while she was teaching her class. The curvy gem eyes scan over her outfit to make sure she looked presentable for her guest. She wore a loose shirt that showed her bando bra from the sides, cute shorts paired with some simple dancing shoes.

"Then why you trying to look cute for?" Amber quips making the short gem rolls her eyes.

"I am not, this is how I always dress." She informs.

"Mhm, I'd say your shorts are a bit shorter than your usual pair. I can almost see your-." (Y/N) whines loudly as she threw her head back. Goodness, she hated being called out especially by Amber. She wouldn’t stop bothering her until she gave up.

"Fine! I'm showing off a bit, sue me!" she conceded with her cheeks puffed out childishly. Amber chuckle as she places her hands on her hips and glances down at her friend.

"Well then, I would suggest you get a move on to the dance floor and show that spinel what she is working with because she is here." (Y/N) eyes widen as she looked at the mirror to the front door and sure enough, Spinel and Steven were here. (Y/N) felt her gem glowing on the back of her neck seeing how cute Spinel looked. She adored two low pigtails with a dark pink snapback placed on backward; a baggy magenta sweater and fitted black pants matched with dark pink sneakers. The (Y/G) chest tighten as she took in her appearance, oh goodness she so damn cute! The poor thing looked so nervous as she spoke with Steven with concern written all over her face. Oh, how she wanted to go up to her and just hug the poor girl. But her ego wouldn't allow her.

Snapping back to reality, (Y/N) held her head high as she walked into the middle of the dance floor ready to work her magic. She could hear Amber mumble "predictable" under her breath as she followed the small gem.

......

Spinel and Steven made it to the dance studio right on time, and as soon as they enter the room Spinel felt completely insecure. She cast her eyes over to Steven with her head low as she shoves her hands into the pockets of the hoodie.

"Are you sure I look ok? Do you think it's too much?" She asked Steven as she looked down at her new sneakers. Amethyst had styled her today and she felt completely comfortable and herself in it, but it was still taking her time to adjust to the new look.

"You look great! Don't worry about it. Now let's find (Y/N)." Steven hums as he looked over at the crowd of gems and humans cheering, he saw Amber waving them over. The curly-headed teen instantly grabbed Spinel's hand rushing through the crowd reaching the orange gem.

"Hey, Amber, where's (Y/N)?" The human boy asked. Amber simply points over to the dance floor with a cocky smirk. Both Steven and Spinel followed the direction and sure enough, there was (Y/N) dancing to the fast tempo of the song. The pink gem held her breath as she watched the short gem dance so...so....she couldn’t find words for it! Well, she could, but it just made her cheeks hot from embarrassment at the thought of them. Magenta eyes watched as the short gem move her hips in the same way that spellbound her yesterday. (Y/N) was moving fast, her steps are carefully and coordinately placed as she moved to the upbeat rhythm. She bends and sways her body in such a way that made Spinel mind wander. Amber glanced down at the Spinel and smirk as the pink gem drooled over her friend. It was so obvious she had a huge crush on the (Y/G).

(Y/N) felt her body temperature rises when she spots the vividly colored gem in the front of the crowd watching her. This only motivated her to keep going as she turned up the heat. (Y/N) calculated the space behind her before she did three backflips in a row; she bent backwards. She then brings her legs up in the air, her shirt slid down showing off her stomach and back as she positioned herself to a perfect handstand. Spinel's eyebrow arches as she noticed a large spot of discoloration on (Y/N) back. Before Spinel could fully investigate(Y/N) came back down to a straddled split. This made her students go wild as they cheered their teacher on. Poor Spinel nearly stroked out when she saw (Y/N) ass bounce when she landed on the floor; she really could not handle this. Her whole form was on fire and it took so much will power to not pass out right now. Was she fooling herself to believe she had a chance with a gem like (Y/N)?

The (Y/G) female breathes heavily as she was bombarded with praises from her students and friends. Her laughs rings throughout the room causing Spinels chest to tighten. That laugh, it was so beautiful; it sounded like bells. And that smile, it made her stomach fussy inside. The pink gem hopes to one day be the reason behind that smile and her laugher. (Y/N) was able to redirect her student's attention else where as she quickly walks over to Spinel and Steven, she beams a bright toothy grin while she wipes the sweat from her brows.

"Hey, guys how's it going? I didn't even see ya come in." She says coolly. Amber scoffs at her words, which earned a glare from (Y/N).

"Annnyways what's the plan for today?" (Y/N) asks Steven, the boy smiles as he wraps his arm around Spinel's shoulders.

"We are going to take Spins here on a tour of the town! We can show her all the hot spots of Little Homeworld." Steven said joyfully.

"Ok sounds good! Let me change real quick and we can be on our way!" The (G/C) gem states as she walked away to another room to change. Spinel shamelessly watched (Y/N) hips sway as she walks away out of view. The pink gem felt an odd mixture of disgust and satisfaction with herself. Disgusted that she couldn't control her eyes from wandering, but satisfied to have seen more of her beauty. Like her butt is soooooo round. It was hard not to look.

The sound of someone clearing their throat snapped Spinel out of her own head; she looks over at Steven to see him smirking knowingly at her. Spinel frowns as she covered her blazing cheeks with her hands, averting her gaze to the floor embarrassed she was caught.

"Not a word." She mutters as Steven puts his hands up.

"I was only going to say was, I'll be heading out now." Spinel's head whipped up lightning speed to look at her friend with fearful eyes.

"What? You're leaving me? Alone? With her?" She felt herself beginning to panic. She clutches the sleeve of his jacket keeping him close, her eyebrows knitting together. She didn't want him to go! He can't go! Spinel's breathing was coming out rapidly and unevenly as her body felt like it turned into lead.

"Hey, calm down Spins. I'm just going to be gone for a few hours and I'll come back to get you. I'm doing this for you to expand your horizons and meet new people. Besides (Y/N) is really nice." He explains as he places his hands on Spinel's shoulder trying to sooth. She was shaking in fear as she tightens her hold on him.

"B-but what if I m-mess up? Or s-say or d-do something stupid!? What if she d-doesn't like me?! You can't just leave me!" She cried out, anxiety consuming her body. The other gems and humans that were around tried their best to mind their own business, but witnessing Spinel having a meltdown was hard to ignore. Steven shushes her softly as he grabs her hands doing his best to comfort her. Her lower lip quivers as she stares at him with glassy eyes.

"Hey, I believe you won't say or do anything stupid. You are awesome Spinel, and I'm sure (Y/N) is going to love spending time with you." He promised as he slowly let go of the worrying gem.

"If you ever need anything, you can just call me on my cellphone and I'll be back. Can you just at least try?" he asks her softly, Spinel's eyes drifted away from his gaze as she offered a weak nod.

"Good! You'll do great and have fun!" And with that Steven walked out the studio, he gave her one final wave from the wide window before disappearing.

Spinel's arms slowly coiled around herself as she gritted down on her teeth. Would she be ok? Could she do this? Of course not! (Y/N) is a ball of energy and positivity and she is just...herself. How was she supposed to keep up with her? How was she supposed to make herself interesting enough for that perfect gem? Doubt rested heavily on her shoulders as her frown deepens. (Y/N) wouldn't stay with her once she finds out Steven is gone. She could see the disappointment on her face already when she’ll learns about the boy absence. The thought of the (Y/G) eyes filling with regret at spending the day with her made her choke.

"I can't. I-I can't do this." she mutters, her feet began to walk towards the exit of the studio. She swung the door open and steps into the outside world.

"Hey Spinel wait for me!" (Y/N) cries out. The pink gem turns around to see the short girl standing beside her. She wore a cute (F/C) dress with wedges. Her hair is up in a neat ponytail showing off more of her facial features. Spinel instantly noticed the presence of makeup on her face; her lashes look darker and thicker from the mascara. Here lips shiny from the coat of lip-gloss making her lips look plump. It wasn't much and hardly noticeable but Spinel could tell.

"Where are you going? And where’s Steven?" (Y/N) asks as she searched for the half gem boy. Spinel slouches her shoulders as she avoids eye contact with the girl.

"He left." She mutters. Y/N brows quirks up as she stood before the slender gem.

"So it will just be us?" She asks curiously. Spinel nods back in response afraid to speak. (E/C) eyes widen at the news, but her gem grew warm. She was going to be alone with Spinel? She will have this cutie to herself all day? The (C/G) had to remind herself to send a thank you text to the boy. (Y/N) couldn't help the smile that stretched over her face as she nearly bounced in place.

"Ok! Come on there is so much to see!" Spinel was taken by surprise by the short gems enthusiasm as she was yanked by the hand and rushed down the road. What? She actually wants to spend the day with her? Really? Why? The pink gem found herself again in a state of confusion; things weren't connecting for her. Why would she want to hang out with her and be her friend? Spinel understand she has friends, but it took a while for her to accept that it was real. But here is this beautiful gem, nose-diving into a potential friendship with her without a second thought. In addition, Spinel didn't have to do anything to entertain her or beg (Y/N) in any way. If anything it's (Y/N) trying to entertain her! No one has ever done that for her and...and it felt amazing. It felt so damn good that someone else was initiating the friendship first that wasn't herself. This concept was difficult for the pink gem to wrap her head around, she was about to dismiss her own theory. That all quickly changed when (Y/N) flashes a genuine smile, it brought Spinel to tears. She really did want to spend the day with her, she truly did. The fear and doubt that was manifesting insider her core subsided and was replaced with excitement. Spinel tightens her grip on (Y/N) hand as she too started to pick up pace as she raced down the sidewalk with (Y/N).

[christellaohwang]

The Call [Sehun x Reader OneShot]

Description: Sehun is married to y/n, however their relationship has lost its spark. He finds himself trapped in a lustful nightmare that can only offer him a brief escape from his unsatisfying reality.

Sehun's thoughts were more than cohesive. It's not that he was confused or anything. He knew perfectly well what he wanted. What he was uncertain about was what he needed. What if he made a mistake he would regret for the rest of his life? After all his wife wasn't stupid at all. In fact, he was stupid... For making the next step.

Sehun and Y/N weren't talking to each other anymore. They just stopped. Nothing specific happened. To him, it seemed like they grew apart. To her, it seemed as if he had stopped being in love with her. Sehun loved Y/N dearly. Lately, though, they repeatedly failed to communicate. He seemed to have forgotten how to touch her to show her his feelings. She felt as if he didn't care enough to listen to her anymore, even though Sehun was praying to listen to one word she had to say to him.

Maybe they had a problem and didn't dare to face it. Sehun thought it was because they wanted to protect their daughter that they always acted as if they had no problems. Problems need solutions and solutions need fights. On the other hand, love for Y/N was a double-sided knife. He desperately tried to grasp the long lost memories of excitement, adoration and tenderness when they first started dating. If mistakes happened along the way, they both wished they could turn back time to get them fixed. Only they did nothing more to make it come true.

At the beginning of their marriage, to them, everything worked perfectly. They both worked in the same field for almost half a day and sometimes Y/N left for she needed to travel to other places. Their relationship then became long distance for short periods of time, so they were both used to it and had adjusted their lives to make it perfect. And it was...

Sehun turned to his friends "I'll be right back".

He took a deep breath and started walking towards her. Her neck reminded him a lot. All the kisses he used to place on y/n's neck. Her tall, slim and curvy figure made him recall the first time Y/N approached him. He hadn't made the first step then, but he would make it now, because this time it wouldn't have been for love. He brushed her shoulder with his fingers. What an awful husband he would be...

"Excuse me miss", said Sehun in his soft and charming voice.

She turned around swiftly and her long pink curly hair locks almost touched his hands. She wouldn't have heard anything in the club. The music was too loud. Sehun smiled at her faintly and she did too. She excited him. Her similarity was exciting. She looked the same as the one he loved. Even though he knew his wife was at home with their daughter, she looked the same yet different. More childish and fresh. Just like Y/N was at first. It wouldn't matter if she didn't look the same in reality. In his eyes, she looked like his Y/N. And that would be the only way to ease himself into this...

"You are very beautiful..."

"Thank you mr...?"

"Oh Sehun... Call me Sehun..."

Her smile was frustratingly charming. He couldn't help but smile back for a moment. He felt something vibrating in his pocket and lowered his sight. The girl grabbed a bit of his shirt turning her focus back on her before she leaned against his ear and whispered. 

"Listen Oh Sehun... I got a little place nearly... Wanna go?"

Sehun slightly opened his mouth in wonder, but nodded nonetheless. He convinced himself he was about to go home, but she just stood in his way.

"Give me a moment..."

He briefly walked away from her and picked up his phone.

"Hello? Sehun?", asked Y/N.

"Hello? Y/N? Hi it's me, what's up baby? I'm sorry, listen I'm gonna be late tonight so don't stay up and wait for me, ok?"

"Where are you?"

"Wait wait say that again?"

"Hello?"

"You're really dropping out I think my battery must be low. Listen if you can hear me we're goin' to a place nearby, alright? Gotta go!"

And so he hung up and buried his guilt for not being loyal and honest to her for the first time ever. He grabbed his coat, bid his friends good night and followed her outside. Cheating was the wrong way, he knew this much, but he couldn't think straight anymore. He wanted back his wife, so hallucinations or not this would work just fine.

They started walking quickly. Her black dress hugged her figure perfectly. She took his hand and he was certain. She couldn't possibly be someone else. If he was hallucinating then he would only half cheat on her. Right?

"Do you mind if we stop by the supermarket Sehun?"

"No, it's ok, I can wait outside."

"No, come on, you should come with me!"

She let out a chuckle and playfully got in. Sehun started looking at the snacks. He had promised himself that he would buy Y/N her favorite chocolate before he returned home...

The lights suddenly started to go off. Sehun looked around for the girl but didn't seem to find her. He didn't like darkness at all. And the only thing that came to his mind at that moment was that if his wife was next to him right now, she would calm him down.

"How dare you think of your wife right now Oh Sehun? When you are about to cheat on her...", He thought to himself.

Someone touched his hair from behind and he turned instantly around flustered. The girl smiled.

"Are you ok? It seems there is a power cut. Come on..."

She paid for her stuff, exited the shop and started walking towards a big apartment block. The whole neighborhood reminded him of the good old '90s and that made him even more excited. A strong wind blew towards his face as they entered the tall dark building. Funnily enough, it looked like an old hotel, but people had the doors to their apartments wide open. Each and every one of them made him feel incredibly uncomfortable, as if he clearly didn't belong there. And oh they were so right.

Her apartment was at the far end of the hallway. Sehun glanced at all the people staring at him behind his back with disapproval but chose to ignore them. He sighed, entered her bedroom and heard the door closing behind him slowly. With his senses at peak, he smelled her fresh and flowery perfume in the air. She took off both of their coats. Sehun turned around to look at her innocent face one last time before he fell hard on her bed. She climbed on top of him and he closed his eyes waiting for her to touch him. She placed her thumb on his pouty lips and gave him a deep kiss.

She stole his breath and kept it safe in her heart. She touched his face one last time and leaned against his ear.

"Sehunnie?"

He finally heard the familiar voice and opened his eyes widely at once being in shock.

"Y/N?"

He stared at her face which bared a mixture of bitter disappointment and betrayal. Her tone quickly switched to show the anger his actions had caused her.

"Did you ever think I'm that stupid Oh Sehun? I'm sorry baby..."

She pulled out a knife from behind her back, raised it up to look at him one last time and pierced his heart with all the love and hate she could possibly master, letting out a sad cry of regret. Sehun gasped and looked at her aethereal trail before she stood up again, threw him one last glance and jumped off the open window and into the black night. The last moments of his life passed by. All the things he neglected and ignored just because he chose not to see them. Just as he chose not to see that it was her from the beginning. A real live picture from the past. Her touch was the same at the club too... He should have stayed there and danced with her. Again the safe option for a safe dream. What was he thinking...?

"Sehun? Sehun!"

His body was drenched in a nervous sweat. He opened his eyes not coming to the realization at once. Y/N stood above him touching his forehead.

"Sehun you are feverous..."

He jumped up anxiously realising it was all a dream and stared at her.

"When did you change your hair? Why is it pink?"

His mind must have been playing games with him, since now his wife looked identical to her doppelganger in his dream.

"Don't you remember me telling you that I would go to the hairdresser after work yesterday? Ah Sehun, I'm wasting your time even when I speak."

"It will get me killed in the end baby, don't worry, you outsmart me."

Sehun uttered those words in a low anxious voice and Y/N chuckled softly caressing his hair and looking bittersweet.

"Sometimes I do wish I could kill you."

"Maybe I wish the same thing Y/N."

"Well then maybe I should go ahead and do it..."

Her tone now was sarcastic and cold as she removed her hand and stood up from the bed. She walked to the dresser and stared into the mirror.

"And what will you do without me afterwards? Our child will be fatherless."

Sehun stared at her through the mirror with a vaguely serious expression, knowing full well it would get her mad. Y/N clenched her teeth and pierced him with her eyes.

"I'll make it seem like an accident, come on, I promise."

"Sure baby..."

Sehun stood up and walked towards her slowly.

"Go on baby. They say it's easier to kill if you feel hatred. I'm sure you'll feel relieved afterwards. But let's be honest, you wouldn't be able to do that even if your life depended on it, would you?"

"You bet I could Oh Sehun. There are multiple ways you can kill someone. One way is to stop loving them. Which you have for a while now. So why shouldn't I?"

She turned around and avoiding his harsh gaze tried to walk away frustrated. Sehun grabbed her wrist and pulled her back in front of him. He put his fingers on her chin to make her look up at him and ran a finger in between her shiny hair locks.

"Sometimes I think you are the smartest woman, but you occasionally act stupid my dear wife. What did you think? That I could just stop loving you?"

"You have, it couldn't be more obvious. You are just scared to admit it."

Sehun sighed and clicked his tongue defensively.

"No, I haven't. I just miss how things used to be initially. All the excitement of being in love, all the kisses and the touches that we no longer do, how we talked for hours. And I know you miss them too Y/N. I don't want to do them with anyone else. I want to do them with you."

Y/N looked deep into his eyes sad and disheartened. Sehun sat back down on the bed and pulled her on his lap. She hesitated but eventually relaxed and wrapped an arm around his neck. Sehun placed his one hand on her waist and the other one on her hips bringing her even closer. Y/N couldn't help but blush as she run her fingers through his periwinkle blue hair. Sehun leaned in and placed a tender kiss on her soft neck. Oh how he missed doing that, especially knowing she enjoyed that, seeing her shudder as a positive reaction. Y/N smiled at him and pulled him in for a deep kiss. It felt as if they hadn't kissed in ages. The truth though was that this was just a very different kind of kiss. A rejuvenating one full of adoration and passion. A moment between two soulmates who were at long last able to breathe each other again. And it felt rather relieving as Sehun realized that all he ever dreamed of was right there in his arms.

Author’s Note: This short story is a metaphorical depiction of how trapped unresolved issues can make 2 partners feel.

Sehun is my ultimate bias and I used to write fanfictions about him and me for EXO's Amino. I decided to patch up the only OneShot I have written so far and post it on here.

Also posted on Archives Of Our Own, AsianFanfics and Wattpad

[septnautical]

Hair Tails

It always weirded Zara out… the boys’ hair was always so well kept. Did they know what scissors were? Did they have any here? What about when they were little? Did their hair just grow wildly until they couldn’t stand it? Kinda like Marvin’s when she first saw him…

One day, while hanging out with Jackie, she couldn’t take it anymore. She had to know.

“Hey, Jackie?”

The reaper merman turned on his side from where he was laying on his stomach. Zara floats off with a giggle, since she was hanging on his back. She pokes his nose, making him twitch it sillily, then settles down next to him, resting on his hip.

“I got something weird to ask you,” She hums, reaching up and running fingers through his wild green locks. “How do you boys take care of your hair? How do you cut it? What did you do before you came to the Ocean Arms?”

Jackie blinks and then puts on a thoughtful face. “Huh… well- when we were first in our tank, the white suits would come in and shave our hair to all look alike. It was easier to test us that way, if they wanted to put like… those weird sticky squares on our head.

But, when we escaped, the couple of us with claws would try to cut everyone else’s hair! So, me, Anti and Henrik.” He laughs and sinks to the ground, a faraway look in his eyes but a small smile gracing his lips.

“Henrik always tried to use white suit tools… it freaked us out so we kinda stopped asking him after a while. Anti was the best at it- but he would tug and shove us to make us sit still and he wasn’t very patient… Then, I’m one of the babies- so it was hard for me to control my claws or mandibles to help. But, i was eagar and i tried my best! There were a couple messy jobs when we were small.” Jackie laughs again and Zara joins him, the image of little jackie too cute in her head.

...when Anti got taken and Schneep started to get a bit more.. Distant. That’s when I really learned how. I’m pretty good at it now~” The reaper grins smugly, wiggling an eyebrow at Zara. The girl chuckles then pushes her hair out of the way of her mask.”

“Maybe you should do me sometime!”

The merman pales and then laughs nervously, “Uh- how would you like a short haircut?”

Zara bursts into laughter at that, “Oh c’mon Jackie, you did Marvin’s hair just fine! He’s keeping it longer now isn���t he?”

Jackie hums in thought then smiles, “Oh yeah- longer than he did before that’s for sure.. But definitely not as long as it was! When we found him he was a mess! It was all curly and matted, and chopped in weird places….”

The blue suit winces visibly, “ah- part of that might have been Zeke… he got annoyed by Marvin’s hair pretty quickly and chopped some off to see his face…” She looks at Jackie apologetically.

He shrugs, “It might have been a relief for Marv. His hair was so crazy… and he wouldn’t let us touch it for a long time after he got back too.”

Zara is quiet for a bit, tapping her fingers on her leg as she thinks. Then, she perks up and taps Jackie rapidly on his tail. “Jackie! I just had a great idea!!”

Not that Jackie gets to hear it- Zara actually swims off before telling Jackie, leaving the merboy laying in the sand with a confused head tilt.

The raven haired girl swims around for a bit, looking around the sunny spots near the base on the reef. She brightens when she seems a familiar patch of purple and she swims down. Marvin is curled up on the sand, peacefully dozing. His head is resting on his arms, his tails curl up against him. With his mask, he looks so much like a sleeping cat Zara can’t help but giggle at the sight. The merman slowly opens his eyes and looks up to Zara blearily, blinking sleep out of his eyes. He yawns and stretches and Zara has to cover her mouth to not laugh again at how cat like it is. Marvin sits up and rubs at his eyes, tilting his mask sideways on his head.

“Zara…?” He croaks, sleep thick in his throat, “What’re you doin’ here…? Whatcha want?” He narrows his eyes slightly, studying her closely. They really haven’t had much time to hang out,so he wasn’t sure how to act around her. But Jackie trusted her, and she did help save him.

Zara studies Marvin right back, watching as the currents stir Marvin’s hair. It’s a light mossy green with hints of brown peeking through. It floats just past his jawline now, in a curly messy bob of sorts. When Zara first saw him, his hair was wild and went to his shoulders, bangs so long you could hardly see his eyes. Jackie had done a really good job of cleaning him up. But, Zara knew something that would help him even more.

She sits down next to him and he scoots back slightly, looking at her with big confused eyes. Zara smiles timidly then pulls something out of her pack. It’s a nice looking piece of blue green fabric- looking like it could be used in some of the ocean’s arms suits. Marvin leans closer to it and tilts his head, before looking back to Zara, “What’s that?” He asks quietly.

“Well, Jackie was telling me about something I was curious about. I wondered how you all keep your hair so nice when you don’t have tools like us humans do… and then i remembered that you were wanting to keep your hair longer- but it’s gotta be a little annoying right?”

Marvin feels through his hair and looks up as he thinks. “Yeah… i guess- It gets in my face sometimes when i swim… or in my mouth when I’m sleeping.” He sticks his tongue out and smacks his lips like he can still taste it. Then, he starts to twiddle his fingers slightly, looking away from Zara. “i… I like having it longer now though… it’s nice to be different from the others. It… feels good too? Now that it’s not so… you know.” He gets a darker, faraway look in his eyes. “And… it’s a reminder… of what i went through. That I'm stronger now than i was then.”

He looks back to Zara and then snaps out of his daze, his ears and cheeks turning a slight magenta as he stammers, “Ah- sorry that was… probably stupid- to be so… weird about hair…”

Zara quickly shakes her head, then lightly grabs Marvin’s hand, “It’s not weird! I think your hair is lovely- and the fact that it has such a good message for you is wonderful!”

Marvin knits his eyebrows together in confusion, “Then… why bring it up? I thought you were gonna tell me to cut it like my brothers do…”

She giggles and shakes her head again. “That’s something boys dont get- but, i thought i’d give you an easier way to get your hair out of the way when you need it!” Zara stretches out the ribbon in Marvin’s face then swims around to be behind him.

The warper merman stiffens slightly and Zara hesitates, not yet touching him. “...do you mind if i try something Marv? I won’t hurt you or cut it- I swear.”

He’s quiet for a second before squeaking out, “O...okay..” He tries to force himself to relax, twirling and untwirling his tails to distract him. Zara finds that kinda cute-

Taking his hair, she softly and gently bundles it up in her hands, grabbing some of his still choppy bangs and trying to merge it with the back and smooth it out. Then she twirls the ends so it kinda resembles a bun- he doesn’t have that much hair though- so by the time she ties the fabric around, it’s more of a small ponytail than anything. But, the blue suit swims away, satisfied. She reaches into her bag then pulls out a small compact with a mirror, showing it to marvin.

“All done! What do you think?”

Marvin blinks and takes the mirror, looking at it strangely for a second. He’s only seen his reflection in pools and glass windows before. But, as he adjusts to it he straightens and tilts his head around to see.

“Wow… Zara- this looks really good.” He mumbles, then feels up the back of his head. “And… feels good.”

Zara grins, “You should be able to swim with no problems now! And you can take the tie out whenever you want it loose! In fact, want me to teach you how to do it yourself?”

The warper looks at her with sparkling eyes, before timidly asking, “...c-can you…?”

The girl smiles warmly and plops down by him, pulling out a small purple brush that shines iridescently in the ocean light. She gives it to Marvin and then babbles excitedly, “Yeah! I can teach you all sorts of things to do with your hair! We can braid it- ohh! You would look so good with a dutch braid??” She moves to his back again, then waves a hand to him, “That brush is for you by the way! It’ll help you pull your hair back better- and so it won’t get tangled! It must be hard to brush with claws!”

Marvin looks to the brush with wonder, watching the color change as he twists it around in his hands. “.. t-thank you Zara…” Braids huh- Jack knew how to do those… but he never got the chance to teach Marvin how.

…..

Later that night, Marvin is getting ready to sleep in the cave, looking at the brush. Then he smiles and removes his mask, letting his hair down and starting to brush his hair, snuggled up against the wall.

Jamie swims over with wide eyes, and points to the brush with excitement. “Pretty!”

The warper mer smiles and pats the place next to him, and Jamie eagerly swims up and curls up to his side. Marvin then takes the brush and brushes Jamie’s soft teal locks. The cuddlefish merman’s eyes flutter and he smiles wide, nuzzling up more against Marvin. This reminds Jameson of Jack… playing with all their hair as they laid in a pile together.

Marvin grins mischievously then uses his new tie to mess with Jamie’s hair, who giggled and swatted at Marvin, his hair now sticking up in a straight ponytail like a pineapple.

Chase swims over to the commotion with a low chuckle, “What are you two doing?”

Marvin slips the tie out of Jamie’s hair then bundles his own hair back with it, a sly grin on his face. “Nothing~!”

The older brother cocks an eyebrow, “Is that so?” It was good to see Marvin joking again- playing games with his siblings. It warmed Chase’s heart. He floats down to them and then picks up the brush curiously while also eyeing Marvin’s new hair tie.

“Where’d you get this stuff Marv?”

The warper merman sinks against Chase with a soft happy smile, “A friend.”

Chase smiles back then ruffles Marvin’s hair lovingly, earning quiet protests from the younger brother. “You look good, kiddo. S’like a new you!”

Marvin hums and feels up to his ponytail again, his smile getting bigger. “Yeah… it is.”

[xmxisxforxmaybe]

How about fun sex tropes number 3 w sledgefu? 😊

3. sex on a countertop/tabletop/sink because we couldn’t wait to get somewhere with cushions

I wanted to do something with the quarantine, so this is a modern-ish AU. Also, hopefully you like my chosen hard surface! I love Sledgefu but do find it difficult bc the Sledgefu writers in this fandom are … pretty much actual gods.

I loved writing this though, so thanks for the request 😊

* * * * *

Gene was done.

Completely over it.

His classes had been cancelled for the remainder of the semester, and he was suddenly filled with a sense of purposelessness.

“Gene. If ya don’t find somethin’ to do, I’m gonna have to find somethin’ for ya.”

Normally, Snafu’s words would have been suggestive, dirty actually, except that he really was tired of Eugene acting like a Victorian dandy in distress.

He would sit down to read, then stand up with a dramatic sigh as he tossed his book back on the couch. He’d putz around the apartment, opening doors then closing them, like he was looking for something. He’d clean the bathroom, then the bedroom, grumbling all the while about Snafu’s dirty laundry being everywhere but in the hamper, and in Snafu’s defense, it was usually only an errant sock or maybe the shirt that he had just taken off for the day.

Sometimes, Gene would head into the kitchen and start cooking something, only to have some minor step in the recipe go wrong and the entire dish would be tossed in the trash.

That didn’t just annoy Snafu; he hated it. Food was not ever something to be wasted.

So, when Gene started pulling ingredients out of the cupboard, it was Snaf who snapped his book shut with a sigh.

“Stop, Gene,” he commanded while walking into the kitchen.

“You tooold me to find something to do,” Gene whined.

“Not waste food.”

“Fine,” Eugene snapped and began putting the strewn ingredients back into the fridge and the cupboard.

“Put ya overshirt on.”

“Why?” he said, crossing his arms and pouting in a way that made Snafu want to slap him or kiss him—when Gene was difficult like this, he wasn’t sure which option would actually make him feel the best once it was done considering he’d only ever tried the kissing.

Snafu ran a hand through his curls, which were bordering on wild thanks to the quarantine. Eugene had offered to give him a trim, but he had only eyed his boyfriend warily, thanking him, but deciding to wait for the barber to open.

Gene’s hair was longer than usual, too, but it suited him. Snaf loved to run his hands through it, pushing it back from his forehead and just feeling the way the silky, auburn strands fell from his fingertips as he pulled Eugene’s hair up and away from his face.

“Because I asked ya to.”

Gene huffed but made his way to the bedroom. Snafu grabbed a light jacket from one of the hooks near the front door and checked the pocket for the keys to his truck. Reaching back to make sure he had his wallet, he slipped into his shoes and waited for Eugene to emerge.

“Where we goin?”

“I’ll tell ya when we get there.”

Eugene frowned, but Snafu saw something come alive in his eyes, something he hadn’t seen since the first few weeks of the quarantine when Eugene realized that he was locked inside with his boyfriend without anything to do for days and days except make love.

It was wonderful, a damn near divine experience for them both until the days droned on into weeks, then months, and they both began to realize that something like this was going to alter life as they had known it forever.

Gene followed Snafu out of the apartment, doubling back to make sure the door was definitely locked.

They drove in a comfortable silence for the first hour, the radio quietly singing but not much louder than the sound of Snaf’s truck rumbling down the highway.

During the second hour, Gene started getting antsy: shuffling in his seat, resetting his seatbelt only to adjust it again in a few more minutes, opening the glovebox for no reason and shuffling through whatever Snafu had crammed in there.

Maybe this is worse than wastin’ food, Snafu thought as he watched Gene in his peripheral.  

When Eugene adjusted his seatbelt for the third time in a row, Snaf turned his head to look over at him and ended up smiling at the way his hair caught the last rays of the dying sunlight, looking golden at the edges, like a halo on a deeply ripened strawberry.

“Talk to me, Gene. Ain’t dat wha’ we do?” Snafu asked before reluctantly turning his eyes back to the road.

Gene said nothing for several minutes, and Snaf didn’t push; he knew how this worked, how stubborn Eugene Sledge could be.

After two more sighs and another snap of his seatbelt, Gene started talking.

He fumbled through his words at first, restarting his sentences and trailing off with a frustrated, “You know what I mean,” until suddenly, he found the right metaphor for what he was feeling and then he couldn’t stop talking.

Gene talked for the next hour of the trip, talked until his mouth was dry.

But god be damned if he didn’t feel better, like he had just purged himself of a gut full of rotten meat.

“Can we stop at the next gas station? I’m parched,” Gene asked, his voice raspy, but his tone light.  

“I think ‘bout a lotta those things, too,” Snaf said quietly as he slid his hand over to flick the turn signal, the ticking filling the truck in the silence after his statement.

“How—how come you don’t let it . . . eat at you? I feel like I’m just raw with worryin.”

Snafu was quiet for a moment, his eyes checking the rearview and the side mirror as he switched lanes to catch the exit.

“I jus’ figure as long as I’ve got you, nothin’ else really matters. Sounds stupid, don’t it?” Snafu said with a soft laugh.

No—no it was not stupid at all, Eugene thought, realizing he wanted to do nothing other than to kiss Snafu silly for saying the most brilliant thing he had ever heard.

And once the truck was in park, Gene did just that.

He tore off his seatbelt and slid to the center of the truck, almost smacking into Snafu as he turned to see what the hell had gotten into his boyfriend, but he didn’t have to wonder long because Gene planted his lips on him in a searing kiss.  

He pulled on Snafu’s lower lip with his teeth, sucking it into his mouth before he tilted his head and thrust his tongue inside, earning a moan of approval from Snafu.

Snafu’s tongue swirled around Gene’s, his mouth open wide, wanting to taste every inch of the man who meant so much to him.

Eugene was almost in Snaf’s lap when Snafu closed their kiss, gently pushing Gene away.

“Thought you was parched?” he panted.

“I am—but I guess not just for soda,” Gene grinned.

Snafu laughed and shook his head. “Come on. We got a long drive back. Let’s get some caffeine.”

Eugene clutched at Snafu’s shoulder. “This is . . . it? We’re not going anywhere?”

“No, cher. I jus’ needed ya to talk to me. Didn’t know how else to get ya to do it.”

Eugene’s face burst into the first genuine smile Snafu had seen in over two weeks.

“You sly sonofagun,” Gene said, still grinning.

“Gotta stay on ma toes with you.”

“I could kiss you.”

“Ya already have.”

“I could kiss you forever.”

“Genie, dat’s all I’m eva gonna need,” Snaf said, leaning over to press a soft kiss to Gene’s lips. “Come on—now I’m parched.”

Stocked up with drinks and snacks, the boys began their drive home, this time with Eugene sitting in the middle of the cab, leaning into Snafu’s shoulder as the conversation flowed freely amidst their glances and their laughter that now filled the cab, drowning out the music.

But after a while, it wasn’t enough for Gene to just lean into Snafu; he had started with his hand mid-thigh, an act of sweet affection more than sexual suggestion, but the affectionate gesture shifted quickly to the latter when Gene’s fingers began to flex, crawling up Snafu’s thigh higher and higher until the Cajun’s foot hitched on the gas.

“Wha’chu doin, boo?”

“Touchin’ you.”

“We makin’ poetry now?”

“Pull over ‘n we can sure make somethin,” Gene said, leaning over to capture Snafu’s earlobe between his teeth.

Snafu made a noise in his throat and took the next exit.

“There,” Eugene said, pointing to the sign that signaled a pull off for a nature preserve.

Snafu drove over the winding roads until he found a secluded turnoff, perfectly bottlenecked by tall, bald cypresses. He drove a ways into the clearing, cut the engine, and cracked the window.

“Nice out he—mmf,” Snaf began before he got cut off by a red head in his lap, squeezing between him and the steering column, the horn emitting a short beep, but neither of the boys caring as they kissed, intense and deep, lost in something they both had been badly missing.

“Want you so much. Need you Snaf,” Gene puffed out between kisses.

Snafu pushed Gene back a little, the horn again reminding them of their tight position.

“Think we need more room?”

“Ya gotta get off ma lap first,” Snaf replied with a smirk, giving Gene’s ass a light smack before he wiggled back to the middle seat.

After his feet plopped onto the dirt, Snafu pushed up his seat to pull out the sleeping bag he kept there.

“Gene,” Snaf spoke up before the red head could slide all of the way out of the cab.

He angled his curly head toward the glovebox, and Eugene popped it open, rummaging through it to find the tube of lubricant.

The boys settled in the back of the truck, and it was clear that Eugene needed to take control by the way he was immediately on top of Snafu, and it was clear that Snafu was open to whatever it was Gene needed by the way he was sighing underneath him.  

Popping open Snafu’s jeans, Gene reached in and palmed his hard cock, rubbing and twisting until there was pre-cum slickening his thumb.  

“I wanna fuck you so bad, Snaf. Bury my cock in you.”

“Do it, Gene. Miss ya so much.”

Popping the top off, Gene smeared lubricant on his fingers and crawled back over Snaf, spreading his legs with his knees and quickly working Snaf’s dick and opening with each hand. Eugene quickly jerked Snafu off, his hand flying over Snafu’s hard cock, twisting at the tip just the way he liked until he was spilling hot cum all over his stomach and Gene’s hand.

Before Snafu’s breathing had time to even out, Eugene slickened up his cock with the lube and positioned himself at his entrance, pushing slowly until Snafu breathed, “Fuck me.”

Eugene groaned, low and animalistic, and thrust into Snaf’s heat, both of their eyes squeezing shut at the intensity of the sensation.

“Gene,” he breathed, laying back on his elbows and looking up at the night sky, his throat bared and Eugene’s eyes raked over Snafu’s body, thinking he had never looked sexier.

“You’re beautiful,” Gene breathed as he began to move, slowly, caught up in everything that was Snafu.

Snafu’s cheeks flushed and he was glad it was too dark for Gene to see him blush. Countering the intensity of his own emotions, he bit out, “Tell me ya wan’ more. I know ya wan’ more.”

Eugene moaned and pulled out of Snafu.

“Hands and knees,” he demanded, watching intently as Snafu shot him a toothy grin that Gene could see perfectly under the night sky before he rolled over and got in position.

Gene pressed a kiss to the base of Snafu’s spine before he straightened and brought both hands down on Snafu’s ass, digging his fingers into his cheeks as he pushed into him again, the growl of satisfaction emitting from Snaf spurring Gene to really let go, to fuck him like he needed to fuck him.

Eugene admired the flexing of Snafu’s ass as he pounded into him, both of them groaning out their pleasure to the trees, to the stars, to the night itself until Gene finally felt like he had purpose again.

This man, so open and willing in front of him, was his purpose. How he could have forgotten that, he would never know, so he swore as his hips stuttered to a halt and he came inside of Snafu’s body, swore that he would never forget again.

Gene collapses on top of Snafu, pressing him into the bed of the truck, distracting the discomfort with the kisses he is peppering across every part of his boyfriend that he can reach.

“Wow,” Gene said rolling onto his back and releasing Snafu.

“I’ll fuckin’ say,” Snaf answered, rolling onto his back, too.

“Did I ever tell you you’re the best boyfriend this side of the Mississippi?”

“Only this side?”

“Well, we’re still young,” he joked as Snafu reached out to smack him. “Once this quarantine lets up . . .”  

They both laugh as they shimmy back into their clothes, sliding out of the truck bed and standing in the dewy grass.

“Thank you,” Gene said, pulling Snafu close to him.

“I love ya, Gene. Jus’ want ya to be happy.”

“I am happy. I really, really am.”

And when he leans in to kiss him, Snafu knows that Eugene means it.

[mischiefandspirits]

Parental Bonding: Chivalry

S01-E02, part 2 of 2: Trying to keep his dad from embarrassing him while facing off against a teenage girl in dragon form keeps Danny on his toes.

Last time on Living Phantom

“I don't understand why I have to wear this stupid thing,” Danny’s dad complained as his mom adjusted his tie.

The two were standing in the kitchen preparing for the Spring Formal. His dad was in his normal hazmat suit, though with a tie around his neck while his mom wore a black dress. Jazz stood nearby in her own dress, checking her purse. Danny was next to her, tugging at his own tie and occasionally glancing down at his phone.

“Because it's Danny's first big dance, Jack,” his mom answered. “If we're gonna chaperone this thing, we have to make sure we don't embarrass him.”

“How would we embarrass him?”

Jazz and Danny shared a quick look before their mom turned to them and came over to fix Danny’s tie as well.

“I think it's great when you guys do anything that doesn't have something to do with your sick obsession with ghosts,” Jazz said pointedly.

“Funny,” their dad said, eyes narrowed. “I don't even remember volunteering to chaperone the dance. It's all a vague blur.”

Danny’s shoulders crept up and he tried to push his mom’s hands away.

“By the way, Danny, just so you know, I'm on to your little secret.”

Danny jerked backward, nearly choking himself as his mom was still holding his tie. “What?! Wh-what secret?”

“The clumsiness, the nervousness. I can't believe I didn't figure it out before. You have a girlfriend!”

“I can expl-I-I mean, she's not my girlfriend. She's just going to the dance with me.”

“That's great!” their dad cheered, wrapping an arm around Jazz. “I can meet her and talk to her about ghosts!”

Jazz rolled her eyes and pushed his arm off so she could adjust her hair. “You better let her know your family's insane now, Danny. If you marry her and she finds out later, that's entrapment.”

The doorbell rang and Danny sighed with relief. “That’s Sam and Tucker. I’ll see you guys at the dance.”

Jazz took that as her opening and grabbed her purse. “I should get going too if I’m going to pick up Michelle and Robin in time.”

As Danny and Jazz slipped into the living room, he thought, Okay, so I'm gonna have to keep Paulina calm and keep my dad from embarrassing me. I can handle that.

He patted where the Fenton Ghost Fisher was hidden inside his jacket in its collapsed form then opened the door.

“Mr. Fenton,” a man in a suit greeted him. “I’m Donald. I’ll be your driver tonight.”

“Uh…” Danny looked past the man to see a limo -- a luxury stretch limo -- parked at the curb. One of the windows was rolled down to show a waving Tucker. “Right, thanks.”

He glanced up at Jazz as he followed the driver to see her staring at the car, floored. The driver opened the door and Danny slipped inside.

“Dude.”

“I know!”

“I thought you said Sam’s parents were taking us.”

“I thought that’s what she meant. I didn’t think she was going shell out for a limo!”

“There are sodas and juice in the mini fridge,” Donald said as he got in and started the limo.

“It’s all included,” Tucker said, grabbing an open soda from his cup holder.

Danny glanced at Donald, who nodded in the mirror. He grabbed a clear soda just in case he spilled then slid over to sit next to Tucker.

“You ready for your dragon date?”

Danny elbowed a snickering Tucker with a glare. “I’ve got it handled.”

“Uh-huh, sure buddy.”

Danny elbowed him again and Tucker elbowed him back.

The two chuckled and shoved each other until they pulled up next to Paulina’s house.

“Good luck,” Tucker teased, patting Danny on the back as Donald opened the door for him.

Danny flipped him off then headed up to ring the doorbell.

What to say? The heirloom idea is stupid. Maybe he could say it belonged to someone else? Someone like…

The door opened and Danny looked up. And up.

He blanched as he looked up into the angry face of a tall, muscular man. Nervously, he said, “Uh, hi! Uh, you must be Paulina's dad.”

“If you upset her, we're going to have a violent talk,” the man said, punching his palm.

“Papa?”

Danny blushed as Paulina stepped out from behind her father. Her curly hair had been straightened and half pulled up with a large glittering clip that was a soft pink color to match her dress.

It made the gold and green collar stand out all the more.

She smiled at him. “You're scaring him. Come on, Danny. We're going to be late.”

“Have a wonderful evening, baby.” Her dad kissed her cheek, then gave Danny a death glare. “I know where you live.”

“And I'm glad we had a chance to chat,” he chuckled weakly as Paulina took his arm.

She gasped as they turned to the street. “You got a limo?”

“Yeah, well Sam did,” he said, opening the door for her. “I-I thought we could all go together.”

“Hey, Paulina,” Tucker said a little breathlessly.

“There are drinks in the fridge,” Danny added as he got in and she grabbed a sparkling water.

“It’s nice,” she said once they were on the road again. “Really nice. How did she afford something like this?”

Danny frowned at her tone, but shrugged it off. “Her parents must have lent her the money.”

Paulina hummed disbelievingly.

He turned to Tucker, who clearly didn’t get it either. Yeah, it was a limo, but it couldn’t have been that expensive, right?

They pulled up to Sam’s house and Tucker got out, looking grouchy.

Danny focused on Paulina, giving her a smile. “You look really nice, by the way. I meant to say earlier, but your dad, uh…”

She chuckled and pat his hand. “That’s okay. I know I look nice, silly. It’s me!”

He nodded and glanced out the window.

His jaw dropped.

Sam stood on the stoop in the same black and purple gothic medieval dress that she’d been looking at when they’d gone shopping -- no way her parents bought that, he knew she wanted to come -- with artful dark purple makeup to match. Her hair was braided up her head then pulled into a flower-like bun on the top while roses had been shaved into the short side of her head.

She smiled at Tucker before pulling him down the steps.

A throat cleared behind Danny and he turned to see Paulina glaring at him. Her eyes were a bright red with slit pupils.

“S-sorry,” he said, raising his hands. “It’s just, uh, weird to see her all dressed up like that.”

“Your right,” she snorted. “She does look weird. What’s up with that dress?”

A frown tugged at his mouth, but her eyes had gone back to normal so he forced himself to keep smiling. “Right.”

~~~~~~~~~~B~~~~~0~~~~~0~~~~~~~~~~

Sam glanced around the gym thoughtfully. She was about to ask Tucker if he wanted to dance, just to give them something to do, when she spotted Paulina standing on her own. “Where’d Danny go?”

“What?” Tucker followed her gaze. “Maybe he went to get snacks?”

“Do you think it's safe to leave her alone.”

He smiled. “Well, I could always -”

“Tucker, Sam, we've got trouble.”

The two looked up to see Danny’s dad standing over them.

“We had nothing to do with it, Mr. Fenton. It was all Danny's idea.”

“Tucker, it's me. It's Danny,” their friend in his dad’s body huffed. “Sam, you need to keep an eye on Paulina. Text me if she starts looking angry. Tucker, watch my dad just in case I need to go deal with Paulina. If he starts talking to anyone, text me, got it?”

They both nodded and he left.

“This dance gets better and better with every passing minute,” Sam snorted and followed after Paulina.

It only took a few minutes before the popular girl started looking annoyed and Sam sent Danny a quick text before trailing after her into the bathroom. She hesitated in the doorway a moment before pasting on a smile and stepping in. “Hey, Paulina. I should have said before, but that's a nice dress.”

“Yes, and it goes so nicely with your necklace, don't you think?” the other girl asked, turning to her with a smirk.

Sam frowned. “My necklace? That's not my -- Right! Listen, my grandma gave me that, and -”

“Forget it, sweetie. I'm not giving up this trinket or your little boyfriend Danny.”

“My boyfriend?” Sam choked. “Haha! And they say pretty girls can't be funny. Danny is not my boyfriend.”

“He's not?”

Sam rolled her eyes. She and Danny had known each other since kindergarten. She’d slept beside him at a time when they could still share a room for sleepovers. She’d comforted him after he found out about his father. She’d been there when his family had gotten back from two years in California and he tried to convince the few middle school classmates they had that knew him in elementary school that he’d actually always been a boy and they were misremembering. She was the one to threaten those who didn’t buy it to keep quiet. She’d held his hand when he’d nearly begged their seventh grade English teacher to call him Danny, not Daniel, because it sounded too close to Danielle.

Sure he was cute -- especially when his hair fell into his face just right or when he and Tucker would let her put some makeup on them for Dumpty Humpty concerts -- and his ghost form was really sick looking, but they weren’t like that.

“He's my best friend. Maybe that's why I was so hard on you. I didn't mean to call you shallow.”

Paulina laughed. “What a bummer! I only agreed to go out with him because I thought I was stealing him from you.”

Sam froze, barely noticing as Paulina took off the collar and put it on her. She had… She had… to DANNY? Danny, who was too sweet for his own good and…

“Here, take your crummy necklace. I'm going back inside to dump your dorky friend.”

Sam’s fists clenched as she felt a blazing heat flow through her. How dare she? HOW DARE SHE!

“Shallow little witch!” she roared and everything went black.

~~~~~~~~~~B~~~~~0~~~~~0~~~~~~~~~~

Danny was grabbing a couple glasses of punch when he felt his phone vibrate. He pulled it out of his dad’s pocket to see Sam had texted him.

🕷Sammy-kins : Your dates ticked and heading to the bathroom.

Me: OMW

He opened a new message and texted Tucker.

Me: Going to deal with Paulina. Watch my dad

🎮TuckNo: 👍🏾

He slipped out of his dad and grabbed his phone. Invisibly, he flew over the gym, heading for the bathrooms. He tucked his phone into the pocket inside his jacket.

He paused as its weight disappeared the moment his hand left it.

He reached back into the pocket and his eyes widened as his hand kept going. “Oh my god, it’s a literal pocket dimension!” he whispered, pulling his jacket open so he could look inside. He reached in again, this time purposefully trying to grab his phone.

He found it immediately.

“Oh man, wait until I tell Tucker! Also, note to self, stick a thermos in here, just in case.”

A roar sounded, just barely audible over the music, and Danny’s eyes widened. He dropped down behind a trash can near the bathroom and transformed back.

“Paulina? Sam?” he called into the bathroom. When no one answered, he checked that everyone was looking away then slipped inside.

His eyes widened as he saw the destroyed wall and ceiling. He grabbed the fisher out of his pocket and turned back into a ghost. Once the fisher was stored in his -- Poltergeist Pocket? Pocket of Holding? Spectral Space? Yeah, that one! -- Spectral Space, he flew out to see the blue dragon soaring over the football field. Eyes narrowing as he saw the form held in her claws, he shot towards her and kicked her to the ground.

“Take it easy, Paulina. You don't want to hurt Sam,” he said, landing in front of the dragon. He looked at the girl and frowned when he realized Sam wasn’t the hostage. “Paulina?” He turned to the dragon as she opened her eyes to glare at him. “Sam?”

“Shallow girl!” she roared, standing.

“Yep, that's Sam.” He rolled to the side to avoid her fire. “Whoa! Sam! Two words: breath mints.”

He flew up to free Paulina, but Sam’s tail slammed into them the moment he got her free. They were knocked towards the bleachers and Danny turned them intangible before they could hit. Instead, they landed in front of the fence, spooking a kissing couple into fleeing. Danny set down Paulina just as his phone went off.

🎮TuckNo: Your dads heading towards lancer

Great, one short-term fix, coming up. Danny dove into the ground and came up behind the dragon. “I hate to do this, Sam.” He grabbed her tail then pulled her off the ground, swinging her around until he built up some force. He let her go and she flew off into the distance. “Heh, I made a dragonfly.” His eyes widened. “Oh, man. Dad!”

He bolted down into the gym and looked around. He spotted his dad standing over Mr. Lancer with a fierce glare and quickly dove into the jumpsuits man.

“Jack, this is Mr. Lancer from the parent-teacher conference,” his mom was saying, the second half in a whisper.

“Right, right. I'm sorry, it's just in this light I thought you were Vin Diesel. Isn't he sharp, Mom? I mean, Maddie,” Danny stuttered, trying to make his voice as low as possible.

He wasn’t sure if he was the only one who heard his normal voice, it seemed like it, but just in case.

“Well… Thank you,” Mr. Lancer chuckled.

“Now if you'll excuse me, I'd like to dance with my wife. That's what we adults do, dance with our wives.” Danny grabbed his mom’s hand and led her onto the dance floor.

He briefly wondered if he should dance normally or like a parent, but then just danced like himself.

He was trying to make sure his dad didn’t embarrass him, after all.

His mom sighed. “Doesn't this bring back memories?”

“If by memories you mean things you remember that I don't, then yes! Go ahead and remind me of stuff. I'll totally agree to remembering.” Smooth.

The song ended and Danny blinked as his fellow students started cheering for him.

Well, that’s one thing down.

He slipped out of his dad and flew back out of the gym.

Just in time, it seemed, as Sam was quickly approaching the school. He dove around the fireballs she shot at him and reached into his pocket. He brought out the fisher and extended it. He arced around another fireball as he swung the line towards her, catching it on one of the scales near her wing. Then he started circling her, dodging her tail and fire until he had her wings bound in the glowing wire.

As it turned out, ghost dragons did, in fact, need their wings to fly.

Or maybe it was just a mind thing? She did seem to hover for a few seconds and Danny stood by his assessment that those wings couldn’t support her weight on their own. If it was just a mental thing then -

Focus!

Sam dropped to the ground and Danny landed next to her neck. As soon as he pulled the necklace off, she shrunk down into herself. He stuck both the necklace and rewound fisher in his Spectral Space then ran up to Sam, transforming as he went. “Sam? Are you alright?”

“Wow,” Sam said, sitting up and holding her head like she had a headache. “Did I have fun at the dance?”

“Well, uh… Let's just say you had a roaring time.” She gave him a look and he blushed. “You somehow got the dragon necklace on you and, well, I think you can put the pieces together.”

“Paulina,” Sam growled.

“Yeah, sounded like she did something,” Danny said, helping her to her feet.

Sam opened her mouth, then closed it. She stared at him for a moment then shook her head. “Doesn’t matter. Come on, I think you owe me a dance.”

He smiled. “Sure, I'd love to.”

“Promise me you'll keep your pants up.”

“I'll do my best.”

~~~~~~~~~~B~~~~~0~~~~~0~~~~~~~~~~

“So how long until your parents get back?” Sam asked as Danny let them into his house.

“Mom said they had to stay until the end of the dance, so another half hour at least,” Danny said.

“I can’t believe I still ended up dateless,” Tucker huffed. “Couldn’t you have at least ditched Paulina in a way that left her open for me to swoop in for the rebound?”

“I didn’t ditch Paulina,” Danny denied.

“She ditched him,” Sam said.

“Yeah, when she came back into the gym to find you two dancing,” Tucker snorted. “She looked ready to breathe fire even without the amulet.”

“I didn’t see her,” Danny worried as he pushed open the door to the lab stairs. “Should we have waited for her? We were her ride.”

“Nah, she took off with Dash right after. Some A-lister afterparty. No worries,” Tucker said. “Anyways, what are you going to do about the amulet? Just chuck it through the portal?”

“I don’t know. I thought maybe -”

Danny paused and his friends leaned down to look over his shoulder.

Floating in the lab was a green-skinned ghost with long blonde hair and an electric blue medieval dress. She looked like she had been searching for something, but stopped when they came in.

“Uh, what are you doing?” Danny said, eyeing her and trying to push his friends back.

“My amulet! I must return with my amulet,” she wailed, tears in her eyes as she stood up from her crouched position. “But it’s nowhere to be found!”

Danny nodded. “You were the original dragon ghost, right? The one who wanted to go to the ball.”

She sniffled and nodded. “And you are the knight who fought me off.”

“Right.” Danny transformed and dug into his Spectral Space.

Danny didn’t see her eyes go wide, but Sam and Tucker did. “I thought I had imagined it,” they saw her whisper.

“Here,” Danny said, holding out the necklace. “You can take it, but only if you agree to go straight back where you came from. Deal?”

“Of course. I must return to my brother. I’ve been gone for far too long, but I needed my amulet.”

Danny hesitated. “Your brother, was he the one that hurt you?”

She took the necklace from him and put it on. “Thank you, Sir Knight.”

“It’s Danny. Uh, Danny… Phantom. You didn’t ans-”

“Thank you, Sir Phantom,” she said, giving a curtsy, then flew into the portal.

“I’m guessing that’s a yes,” Danny sighed. “I hope she’s okay.”

“She can turn into a giant dragon, I’m sure she’ll be fine,” Tucker said.

“Sure, except the legend says her brother can do the same,” Sam pointed out.

“Oh, yeah.”

The three watched the portal for a moment before Danny pulled the fisher out of his Spectral Space and tossed it on the table. “Come on, there’s nothing we can do. Let’s go get changed and turn on some movies.”

They agreed and the three trudged upstairs, their earlier post-battle excitement lost.

“Danny Phantom?” Sam said.

“I panicked. Besides, it’s kind of a pun. Phantom, Fenton.”

“You're a ghost called ghost,” Tucker snorted.

“Shut up, I’ll come up with something better.”

“Nope.”

“You’re Danny Phantom now.”

“No takebacks.”

“I hate you both.”

“Love you too, dude.”

~~~~~~~~~~B~~~~~0~~~~~0~~~~~~~~~~

Sorry for the late posting. I had to take my mom to the doctor's yesterday and didn't get a chance to post until it was too late. Next chapter should be on time as usual.

[the-weeping-author]

Hate To Love Chapter 4

A/N: hi guys thanks for reading chapter 4 I hope y’all like the Steve interaction part 5 should be up some time within the next week or so or maybe sooner. Just keep an eye out.

Warnings: cussing, if you squint hard enough low key cheating.

Word count: 1,411

Tag list: @ahoy-stevieboy @thehair-ington @galactic-kitten-nonsense @linkispink1995 @theworldisugly-22 @harringtown @phoebethepheebs @spiritsent @gardeniasandwhiskey @lxvesickreality @bluebellbrooke @harrington-ofhawkins

Please enjoy 😊

I’d be lying if I said I did not want to go to Steve's party but somehow I let Barb and Nancy convince me to go. I was sitting in my mirror finishing my hair when I heard a knock on my door.

“Here we go Sara, it's just one party, what's the worst that could happen?”

I sighed, I stood up walking over to my mirror adjusting my leather jacket along with my denim skirt poofing my hair up some more. I slipped on my velvet black boots then walked out my bedroom.

“Alright mom how do i look?”

She looked up from the book she was reading and smiled at me.

“Oh Sara baby you look so good who are you trying to impress?”

I smiled at her shrugging.

“Oh no one, I just want to look good.”

“Well Sara you could wear sleep shorts and a tank top and you’d look good.”

I smiled at her messing with my curly black chestnut brown hair.

“So you think I'm overdressed?”

She quickly shook her head at me putting her book down.

“No honey that's not what i'm saying you just look like you're trying to impress someone that's all.”

I nodded walking out the door.

“Alright mom i'll see you later.”

“Okay honey just please don't have too much fun. I've lost will I can't lose you too.”

I nodded then shut the door then I walked to Barb's car.

“Holy shit look at byers you look bitchin’.”

I let out a loud laugh looking at myself then at her while Nancy got in the back seat.

“Bitchin’ is that a new word to your vocabulary barb?”

She smiled at me nodding,

“Definitely especially if you start dressing like this more i mean come on who are you dressing for girl?”

I scoffed looking at her. Why does everyone keep thinking I'm dressing up for someone? Cause I'm definitely not.

“No one barb I just wanted to look nice.”

“Nancy you're oddly silent for someone who drug us along with you.”

She shrugged then looked at us both.

“I'm just thinking about things with Steve and I.”

When she mentioned Steve my stomach twisted in a knot and I had no idea why.

“What do you mean nanc?”

Barb looked over at me smiling widely.

“Oh nothing, Sara just her and Steve have been talking but they aren't officially dating yet you know dumb highschool stuff.”

I nodded while that strange feeling came back, I stayed silent the rest of the car ride which luckily wasn't long.

Barb stopped us before we even got to the door.

“You guys, I have a bad feeling about this.”

I stopped walking, I turned towards barb and nancy.

“I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels that way, let's get out of here.”

Nancy grabbed both of our arms pulling us towards her.

“Wait guys no please just stay I don't wanna be here alone please just stay for me.”

I frowned looking at barb then back at Nancy the loud music entering my ears.

“I don't know Nancy, I mean Barb’s right maybe we all should just go home.”

“Oh come on Sara, I know it took alot for you to convince your mom to let you come out with everything going on plus it being a school night.”

I looked at Nancy then at barb, barb shook her head at me practically pleading me with her eyes to side with her.

I sighed looking at barbara.

“Im sorry barb but she has a point i didn't go through all this trouble just to not show up.”

She nodded then looked at her shoes.

“I know Sara, it's just I don't want them making fun of us like they use too.”

I smiled softly at her wrapping my arm around her.

“Hey no ones going to make fun of us, if they do I’ll beat them up just for you.”

She laughed at me, we all three made our way towards the front door. Nancy knocked, it only took someone a few minutes to open the door, my stomach did a cartwheel when I saw Steve's face.

Then carol along with tommy popped up from behind him, my face stiffened then steve and i made eye contact. He looked me up and down smiling.

“Hey.”

I smiled, sending him a friendly wave.

“Hi.”

Steve opened the door letting us in when he shut the door he led us to the back where the pool was, I turned to look at all of them.

“I didn't know you had a pool. If I did, I would have brought my bathing suit.”

Steve flashed me a smile which made me weak in the knees. I quickly shook the thought out of my head. He's Nancy's guy, she's a friend of mine and I was taught that friends don't do that to one another.”

Steve's eyes lingered on me for a moment when Carol got our attention.

“So steve here swears your sara byers, tommy and i disagree i mean there's no way you could have gone from not to hot.”

I smiled at her double handed compliment while I grabbed a beer from steve.

“So is it true?”

I took a long swig of the beer then I looked at Tommy then Carol then to Steve.

“To answer the hot topic, yes, yes I am Sara Byers.”

I saw Carol's eyes widen a bit while Tommy’s mouth hung open.”

“Holy shit you'd think they saw a ghost.”

Barb said while she nurtured her beer I smirked at her comment quickly taking another drink of my beer. About three beers later I was starting to let loose. Steve had been up Nancy's ass all night not that I cared it was just annoying.

“Harrington, where's your bathroom, I have to pee.”

He stood up walking over to me.

“Come on i'll show you.”

I stood up and followed him inside his house. When we got inside I saw Nancy talking to barb. I turned towards Steve to see him halfway up the stairs. I quickly followed him, my boots making noise letting him know I was behind him.

“You know sara you look great tonight.”

I looked up at him for more than just a second for the first time tonight.

“Thanks but you’re with Nancy and I can't do that to her.”

He nodded at me, showed me to the bathroom.

When I was about halfway into the bathroom I heard him call my name, when I turned around his lips were on mine. I quickly pushed him out of the bathroom shutting the door in his face.

“Oh my god Sara are you fucking stupid thats your freinds guy and you just kissed him.” I sighed, running my hand down my face.

I thought to myself running my hand over my face, After I used the bathroom I washed my hands, I kept replaying what just happened in my head. I was beyond aggravated. I kicked his sink then recollected myself opening the bathroom door going back outside.

For some reason I looked in Carol’s direction and she was smirking right at me, my stomach dropped, I knew I was in deep shit.

As the night went on Carol was silent, I knew what she was planning. The little bitch was going to tell Nancy what she thought she saw. Me kissing Steve not Steve kissing me.

The night went on like it would have. I was trashed barb had somehow cut her hand, I went inside to get stuff to clean it then boom she was gone, at this point I was over it.

Nancy left me, now barb just up and left me which meant I had to fucking walk home. So here I was walking home at midnight dressed like some Led Zeppelin groupie.

When I saw barb in a few hours she was dead. When I finally got home everyone was asleep but I knew I was going to hear it from my mother in the morning and if not her then definitely Johnathan.

After I got inside my house without being too loud I went straight to my room grabbing some clothes then heading to shower. The shower felt great the hot water washing away the sweat, thoughts and alcohol in my system.

After I got out I brushed my hair climbing in bed with my pjs quickly falling asleep. That night I dreamt of Steve harrington.

A/N: thanks for reading hopes y’all liked the serve interaction cause I don’t think the next one will be nice.. stuff hits the fan with Nancy and Sara so keeps look out.

[greenninjagal-blog]

Bury the Body

I swear I’m gonna stop making new AUs one day. This is not that day. Based on these prompts from @sandersidesquotes right here: 1 2 3. 

Let’s go Serial Killer AU!

TW: Murder, blood, stabbings, arson, causal mentions of killing people

Words: 3854

Summary: Logan is a serial killer and he’s not the only one.

General Taglist: @felicianoromano @jemthebookworm @holliberries @stricken-with-clairvoyancy 

Read on AO3

To be honest the day had gone great. Exceeding so. He had gotten the promotion he had been after for the past year and received the nice raise that had come with the new position. He no longer had to sit in a tiny cubical and listen to Jeff from two cubicles over have phone sex with his secret girlfriend that his wife didn’t know a thing about. And, sure, the new workload was strenuous, but that made his nights out so much more entertaining, so much more fun.

It was a science. A science that Logan had perfected at sixteen. The more stress he had, the more the bat felt right when it cracked against the skull of his latest victim.

Logan had never been great at baseball, but people had stopped teasing him about it long ago. They had other things to worry about, like the funeral for the captain of the baseball team who passed away suddenly when his shed caught fire while he was out back underage drinking.

In the darkness, his victim when down heavy without even a chance to scream. Not that there wouldn’t be more time for that later. He had chosen her mostly at random from the bar, although the fact that she had been alone and her phone had died had been huge factors. Logan didn’t know if she was pretty or not, but he thought the red splatter on the edge of his metal bat looked a bit like art in the dull light.

Really she should have called an uber hours ago, should have brought a charger, should have dyed her hair brown and worn less make up. She looked too much like one of his sister’s Barbies.

Logan rubbed one of his gloved hands over the splotch of blood on his bat and wondered if she’d scream the way he always imagined the dolls did when he turned them into metal mounds of plastics. Logan felt his stomach flutter, the edges of his lips twitch into a smile at the idea of the lighter fluid in his jacket pocket, at the idea of the matches and the smell of smoke spiraling into the midnight sky.

Personally, Logan thought that arson was a rather beautiful way to die. She should be honored. It was a science, a specific ratio of gas to the victim, a detailed design that would swallow an entire building so completely without collapsing too quickly. She should be thrilled that Logan had deemed her the next one to go floating up to sky with his smoke.

“Oh, that’s not very nice!” A voice said some nearby.

Logan stilled.

He had been lingering in this alley for an hour, waiting for his victim to come out. He knew there was no one else here. So where had the voice come from? And why did it sound so happy?

Logan twitched to look at the mouth of alley where a figure was standing dressed in cargo shorts and a blue polo. He had a cardigan wrapped around his shoulders, and loafers on his feet. If he hadn’t looked so happy, Logan would have assumed he was a Dad running around after his kids.

If it hadn’t been nearing one in the morning, Logan would have assumed he was just a poor civilian in the wrong place at the wrong time.

“Not nice at all, kiddo!” The man said. “Don’t you know that could cause brain damage?”

“Who are you?”

“And she already has so many other problems with her brain.” The other strolled forward with a hop in his step, completely ignore Logan’s question, “I’m going to have to ask you to step away from her now, kiddo!”

Logan was not sure who this man was, or why he found the happy tone so annoying. It grated on his nerves. Logan held the bat out at him. “Stop,” He commanded.

The man took three more steps and hovered just outside the range of Logan’s swing.  Logan was sure if either of them leaned more than five inches they’d both explode. The part of him he kept buried deep inside sang.

The smog of the city blocked out most of the moonlight, but Logan had no issue making out the whites of his teeth, the forced edges of his smile that only looked natural at first glance. At this close Logan could make out how robotic and unnatural it is, how it didn’t meet his eyes, how the man before him was so fake he could have been one of the dolls Logan melted as a kid.

Logan’s lips twitched. Could this man keep up that stupid fake voice while he burned like one too?

“Kady Kay here has so many problems with her brain. Just like me!” the man said, “I’m gonna fix them all for her!”

Logan didn’t know what that meant. He didn’t care either.

Until the voice behind him spoke up. “There’s nothing wrong with you, Pat.”

Logan swirled at the sound, so close, so surprising. His victim was on the ground, and right next to her was another figure, dressed all in black, with an oversized hoodie that made him look like a child. He had a marker out, holding the limp left arm of the victim and drawing neat dotted lines at the intersection between her humerus and her radius and ulnar. The second man looks up at him, a shy smile on his face, a guilty smile, like a kid who was found with his hand in his cookie jar.

In the next second there was a skittering on the asphalt behind him. Logan remembered just a second too late that the other man had still been there, that he hadn’t been normal, that there had been a bloodlust in those twinkling eyes that Logan was so familiar with from all the times he had looked in the mirror before he left his house in the morning.

He threw an arm up just as the knife came jabbing at him. The motion was fluid and surgical, and it would have severed Logan’s carotid artery if it hadn’t plunged straight into his forearm.

The man smiled. “Oh?”

“He’s fast.” The other said.

Logan blinked at the blade protruding from his arm mere inches from his face. There was blood on it too, blood dripping down the metal edge and dotting the asphalt at their feet. He twisted his hold on his bat, so that it was easier to adjust his glasses.

“Oh, kiddo,” The man with the fake smile said, “There’s something wrong with your brain too!”

“Congenital Analgesia,” Logan responded.

“You can’t feel pain?” The other said. Logan thought he sounded disappointed.

“Precisely,” Logan said and then he folded his arm inward and broke the handle from the smiling man’s grip and flexed his fingers. Half of them don’t move. Something was severed, but Logan wasn’t worried yet.

“Kay feels pain.” The other said quietly.

“I want to make her smile!” The smiling man said. His hands danced in the air revealing more tiny knifes between his fingers, and slicing fluid motions in the air.

The other shrugged. “I just like taking things apart.”

“What makes you think I will allow you to take my victim?” Logan asked them.

They shared a look and then they give him a twin smiles: One small and shy like a kid who understood a joke an adult did not, the other bright and blinding and completely fake. Logan guessed they were brothers from the way their heads tilt, their curly hair twists into their eyes, and their mouths open at the same time.

“Because we called dibs!”

“How childish,” Logan sniffed. “I hit her first.”

“We’ve been watching her for weeks.” The man in the hoodie countered.

“And premeditated murder doesn’t make it to court unless you actually attempt to kill someone. What is your point?”

The other man’s smile wilted slightly, “Can’t we just….share?”

Logan and the other shot him withering looks, “No!”

“Please V? Pretty please! Please, Please, Please?!” The man said, “I want to see this man smile too!”

“I don’t!”

Logan was about to cut in when another noise cuts through the alley. The sound of trash bins being pushed over, and someone running, several screams.

“HELP!”

Logan found himself drawn to the next person throwing themselves down the narrow venue. A male, a teenager. In the dull light of the night, Logan could see the way he was stumbling in a panic and screaming for help, holding his side and his neck with his arms and the bubbling shining red that was spewing from between his fingertips.

“HELP!” The man yelled, “He’s right behind me! He’s got—”

Logan blinked and there was a long metal blade protruding from the man’s chest. The man gurgled, blood shot out of his mouth and then his eyes rolled back.

The body dropped to the ground with a wet splat and a new figure stepped into the limelight: He was dressed head to toe in white, a suit tailored to fit him perfectly. It would have looked flattering if it weren’t for the red wine hand prints and splotches and smears all over it. He held a katana in one hand and a red rag in the other.

“Twenty Seven!” He sang to them, with a dazzling gleam in his brown eyes that made them look like rubies. His hair was gelled back, and glitter dusted his cheeks just enough to make him look other worldly, “Hi! Give me just a moment and Emo Nightmare there can be Twenty Eight!”

“Hi!” the man with the fake smile said, “I like your clothes! They’re so pretty!”

“Why thank you, Twenty Nine!”

The man laughed, “I’d hate to make you sad there kiddo, but we can’t stay to play! Kady Kay needs to smile too! Come on, Virge!”

“Pat,” the other said, his marker jabbed at the man in white and red, “I want to take him apart.”

“Oh dear,” The man in all white said, “You’re going to mess up my count, Batboy.”

Logan flexed his stabbed arm again. The blood was making his gloves slippery. No doubt his blood was all over this crime scene. Most likely he was going to have to disappear in the night, pretend to be one of the several people to have gone missing in the past months. Oh what a shame, he had liked that promotion and the new money and all the gasoline he could have bought.

He waved his bat slightly, eyed his victim on the ground once more and wished that he had more time to hear her scream and watch the flames to consume her in the warmest hug this life could give her. Then he bolted from the alley while the others are distracted, escaping into the city he knows so well.

What a shame. What a waste.

Maybe one day he’ll see the others again, and he’ll melt them all too.

****

He didn’t leave the city. Not that night or the next.

He bought three stuffed animals from a toy store and lit them on fire on his fire escape. It wasn’t as fun, didn’t relieve as much stress as it should have. There wasn’t any screaming, wasn’t enough smoke, wasn’t the smell of burning flesh tickling his nose. He poured a pitcher of water on the mess and left it on the metal bars.

No police came to his door. And aside from a twenty seven victim murder spree by an unknown killer, there was no news that suggested he was going to have a difficult time. However, there was also no news about the three other killers he had seen.

The following day he took his smoke break twenty minutes earlier than normal. His arm was wrapped and in a sling and his coworkers were being extra nice to him after he told them he had been in an unfortunate mugging. Still it was rather annoying to see that three of his fingers refused to curl and instead hung off his palm completely useless.

He lit a cigarette, but didn’t bring it near his mouth. He didn’t smoke. Not like the others did. Instead he stood on the roof—the designated smoking area of the bank he worked at—and held the lit cigarette between his thumb and index finger while he stares at the flame of his lighter without any interruptions.

If he thought any of his coworkers had half a brain he would have been more careful about being caught so openly aiding his obsession. But as it stood no one in the entire city had put together that stiff, unmovable Logan Ackroyd was the same man who set fire to several warehouses and on one occasion a car in a deserted parking garage.

(That one hadn’t been fun. The flames had hit the gas tank too quickly. The man—or had it been a woman? He didn’t remember anymore—hadn’t had time to scream before they had disappeared into the warm embrace.)

Logan could feel the heat when he brought the light close to his face. It was the closest he got to physical pain.

The door behind him screeched open and Logan extinguished the flame with an irritated huff. He didn’t have to turn around to know who it was, and honestly it didn’t matter either. None of his coworkers knew how to do their jobs. It made sense that he wouldn’t be able to get more than five minutes of peace.

“Logan? Logan buddy you up here?”

“What do you need Jeff?” Logan coldly asked without turning around.

“There you are! You usually don’t take your smoke break for another twenty minutes and I was just—”

“Is there a point your disturbing me?” Logan cut him off. His eyes glared at the ash that floated off the each of his cigarette and dissipated into the wind so freely. The smoke tickled his nose comfortingly.

“There’s a couple guys here who need a withdraw—”

“The tellers are quite adequate at their jobs, Jeff.”

“They want $12,000. Per regulations we need to report any transaction over $10,000. And Janice is with someone right now so she can’t take them, and I was hoping that you would confirm their request and—”

“If you want me to do your paperwork, just say so, Jeffery.” Logan said, “I will happily do it, because that will mean it gets done correctly and I will not have to go back and fix your mistakes later.” Logan stubbed out his cigarette, somewhat regretfully, and then stormed past Jeff from two cubicles over to handle the clients.

The clients were twins, a surgeon and a therapist that were big named into those fields. Logan took one look at them and nearly slammed the brand new door of his brand new office closed.

“Oh, hi, there kiddo!” The man with the fake smile said brightly, “You look familiar. Have we met?”

“I understand you want to make a withdraw.” Logan said coldly as he sat down at his desk.

The two men from three days ago were sitting in the chairs opposite of him, a desk between them, but Logan was not stupid enough to think that provided any type of hinderance to either of them. As it stood, the smiling man was bouncing in his seat beaming, and Logan could see flecks of water dried on his glasses from a frivolous cleaning recently. The other was still wearing that swamped hoodie curled into the seat like he might be able to escape the light by folding in on himself. There was gauze taped to his forehead all the way to his left eye. He was silent, and although Logan couldn’t quite tell if the tense of his shoulders was from anger or just general childlike misery.

“Oh yes sir!” The bouncing man said, “We’re going on a trip!”

“Per regulations I must ask where,” Logan said.

“All over! But mostly to the Midwest!”

Desert area, Logan noted offhandedly. He glanced between them imagining the flat plain desert miles away from civilization and a bonfire so large a satellite might be able to pick it up. He imagined both of the others at the center of it, with their voices drowned out by the crackling of the unforgiving fire.

“I’ve always wanted to see the other side of the country! It’s so vast and big! Oh maybe we’ll get to see some Aliens!”

“Excellent plan,” Logan said distastefully, and even he didn’t know why it sounded so sour coming out of his mouth, “Now I need you to sign—”

“I’m going to bury a body.”

Logan stilled at the sound of the other’s voice.

The smiling man laughed. “Virgil you can’t just say that!”

“What’s he gonna do, Pat? Call the police?” The other snarled at his brother and then stared at Logan directly in the eyes, “We’re going to the desert and I’m gonna bury the body of a man I’m gonna take apart limb from limb.”

Logan found it rather hard to look away. He had no difficulty believing the other when he spoke. He tapped a pen in his right hand twice on his desk. “I wish you the best of luck, Mr. Sanders. Now please sign here and I will return with your money.”

“You should come with us!” The smiling man said. “It would be so much more fun than being in this stuffy office all day! We could go on all sorts of adventures! Oh! I can show you how to smile!”

He hummed dreamily leaning forward on Logan’s desk. The pastel of his sweater was bleached at the sleeves, like someone had worked very hard to get a dark color off of it. Logan felt his lighter in his pocket grow heavy—his brain was off doing math to determine how long it would take to turn that sweater and the man in it to dust before he could stop himself.

Two to three hours for that plastic smile to melt off his face, for his soft pale skin to turn to crusted ash, for Logan to figure out if he’d scream just like those dolls from so long ago. His fingers itched as he waited for the twins to finish signing the forms he provided.

“You clean up nice.” The man in the hoodie said. “Would you wear that to your funeral?”

“12,000 American Dollars, Mr. Sanders.” Logan handed him the money. “Spend it wisely.”

“Have you ever been on a train?” He asked, without counting the stack of bills Logan had handed him.

Logan replaced the cap on his fountain pen and gently placed them back in the cup next to his name plaque. “I have not.”

They gave him those smiles again, the ones that made him feel like they were vaguely teasing him. Bright and bashful, fake and deceiving: but it didn’t reach their frigid eyes. Logan imagined they were made of ice.

Ice melted so very nicely now, didn’t it?

“Goodbye, Logie!” The smiling man sang as his brother shoved him out the door.

Logan crinkled the papers in his hand until the two signatures were barely recognizable. He glared at it hard enough that it might have caught on fire had it been any other reality.

“I’m going on my smoke break,” He yelled to Jeff from two cubicles over and spent the rest of the work day on the roof holding his pocket lighter right next to his temple and watching the flames in the reflection of his glasses.

***

Logan found out he had a total of forty three days of paid vacation that his management was all too willing to give him.

“Go live a little!” They told him. “You’re still young!”

They didn't notice how he pulled the two credit records right before he checked out for the day. The kind lady on the phone was all too happy to tell him all about the reserved seats he had once she had confirmed his basic information.

“Bring me back a souvenir,” His sister said on the phone. “And it can’t be another ashtray. I don’t even smoke!”

Logan lit the jacket she got him for Christmas last year on fire and watched it burn until the night sky began to light again. The heat pricked at his unmoving fingers the sensation of something licking him, of something being not-right.

He did not put it out before he left.

***

He knocked on the door to the private sitting room. The shifting of the carriage had taken some getting used to, but he had always adapted to things so well. His mother had blamed the inability to feel pain, but she wasn’t exactly the smartest person he had ever come across. She wanted him to do more chores and less burning ants with his magnifying glass.

Even her screams got boring after the first hour.

“Might I join you?” Logan asked when the door slid open.

“The sign says private for a reason, Teach.” A voice said from inside. Logan raised an eyebrow at the man, at his plain white t-shirt and jeans that still have the tag on it. He was lounging on a full booth seat, with black boots sprinkling dirt on the other seats, and a phone in one hand. Even without that katana in his hands, he was easily recognizable.

Logan glanced at the twins who sit across from him, “I was under the impression you killed him?”

“Pat made me put him back together.” The man in the hoodie said, rather regretfully. He blew on his fingertips, crinkled his nose, and then went back to using his butterfly knife to scrap the purple nail polish off his nails.

“As if Johnny Depressing there could kill someone as amazing as me!” The other man scoffed.

“Give it four days, Princey.” He retorted, “The only reason I haven’t taken you apart yet is because its easier to transport you alive.”

The carriage filled with a booming laughter, “It’s going to be so much fun killing you, Twenty Eight!”

The smiling man held out his arms for Logan, like an offer of a hug if it hadn’t been for the knives in both of his hands. The toothy grin was too sharp to be flattering.

“I’m glad you came, Logie!” He sang. “I can’t wait to see you smile just like I made Kady Kay smile!”

Logan dropped his bag--a duffel that held a bottle of lighter fluid, a box of matches and three outfits— on top of the man’s black boots. ("Hey! Watch it!") His lips twitched.

“I do believe that you’ll try.” Logan told the smiling man. “However it will be difficult when you’re little more than a charred corpse in the middle of the desert.”

He settled on the seat next to the other serial killers, pulled out his phone, and began searching for an ashtray to send back to home to his sister.

(Chapter 2)

[charmed-asylum]

The Partners

The Partners, part one 

Summary: Finn Cox had everything boy would ever dream of a hot cheerleader girlfriend, loved by everyone, and caption of his hockey team. So why is since Camille Dawson step into his life he starts to have second thoughts about everything

FYI: This part was over 15,000 words so it is gonna be split into two. Something I will like to thank lack of sleep, energy drinks, and a KILLER PLAYLIST. Also if you wanna chat let's chat you wanna say how bad it is well let me know you wannabe tag let me know

tagged:   @weapinggwillowss​ @nottherightseason​ @strangerfictions​  @thewolfswriting​ @hauntors 

                                             2015

I look out again to the street, what to say. WHAT THE FUCK AM I GONNA SAY. Maybe that’s my problem. YOU GOTTA SAY SOMETHING BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE.

Let me be clear. Be honest with me and with you. This isn’t gonna be that moment I run out in the rain and throw some shit around and she comes running. No. Maybe if I wasn’t such an ass and didn’t hurt her again. How stupid can I be to do that, again? This isn’t some love story some yuppy bull shit story. Life never like that. Two people didn’t just meet and then it was happy ever after. No, it wasn’t like that. Maybe this is the reason why. Perhaps it’s things like that have people disappointed. Because the reality isn’t like that. At the end of the day, people only dream and wish that they at least have a moment like this. And for some that moment last a lifetime. I look back into the rearview mirror and imagine you that first day. That was when that moment started for us, 4-period Sociology.

2011

He walked into the school with a sense of pride. Everyone gosh over and even ivy him. All the boys wanted to either be friends or be him and the girls well almost all of them wanted him and the ones that didn’t choose him as there passed. He was immune to it all. Yeah, he enjoyed the attention but it felt safe normal. People around the school called him Trophy Boy. Another thing that didn’t faze him. They all love and knew Finn.

The teacher, young long strawberry red hair freckles and green eyes, came in right after the bell. She was in a rush as her skirt wasn't in the right direction. She looked at the class and wrote her name, Ms. Milton. Finn looks at her as she calls out everyone's name. He glances at his side. His boys were sleeping of course. Trying to catch up from last night's party. Then he turned back to his estranged girlfriend, Nikkei who was texting whoever. " Ok class. So because your teacher left for maturity. I will be taking over. The rest of the semester. I calculated all she has done and the rest will be easy and fun but only if you work hard" Ms. Milton started to say.

He could not even think about class his mind was way too busy thinking about practice and making out with Nikkei later. " Lastly before the bell rings. I believe in teaching and testing a person different. For the last couple of weeks, I ask you to come to see me and do a questionnaire which I then decided to make groups of two. You and your partner would do a project for the end of our weeks together. Based on what you learn in the class. It simple paper which one could do. Then a presentation. This whole thing would be worth a good 50% of your grade" Ms. Milton says. She started to read the names of the partners.

He leans back and looks at the ceiling while reading the list." Last but not least this one I really can't wait to see. Uh, Finn Cox and Camille Dawson" she said looking around the class for the two. Finn was confused and caught off guard. He looked around to figure who his partner was. The name why did it sound so familiar. Then there it was the look. There she was sitting in front of the classroom. Staring right at him with her dark brown Bambi eyes. As if she was in a trance. The bell rings but she didn't move. Finn looks away then glanced back. She was by the teacher now. Talking. Finn quickly got his stuff and went. He stops before leaving and glance back to her. She was about five two flat and baggy clothes. That was two sizes big. Complaining trying to get out of it. No, the teacher said. Camille shook her head yes and walk right past him. He could not figure out why he knew her name. Why it felt so familiar.

Sitting on the cafeteria table with Nikkei between his legs. He looks at her. " Remember class. How Milton was all hyper and shit. Do you know anything about my partner, Camille" he said looking at her. Nikkei smile and started to laugh. " That loser. The mute teacher pet wet dream" she said polishing her nails. Kevin sitting across from Nikkei's smile. " I had her in my math class last year when she came here. She is smart. Got me a B+. I would have probably got an A but I kept using my homework for paper for my weed. And I heard that once during gym class. A couple of guys saw her in her bathing suit. Man" he says holding his hands up to pretend to be a pair of boobs. Finn shakes his head in disbelief. Her name. He knew he was missing something but what.

By the time he got home, his dad was in the living room watching college sports drinking bud light. " Finn your home" a voice said from the kitchen. Finn smiles and goes towards the kitchen. A woman in her early forties with shoulder-length brown hair stood by the kitchen counter cutting up potatoes. He came in and kiss her on the check. " What up mom" he says grabbing some potato chips. She smiled and mess up his hair. " You know I don't even like that question. Taking it day by day" she said drinking some tea. He looks at her. " School was good. That's what you're wondering right  Or that practice was the same. Coach up my grill about being a better leader. Then put me on ice when I do what he asked. Oh yeah, some teachers gave me some big project worth 50% ma. With a ghostwriter as a partner", he said eating an apple. She smiled. She always wanted better for him especially a better girlfriend. After a little bit of time pass, he went to his room passing his dad still sitting down watching sports. With one thing now on his mind who is Camille.

Days past and still she was on his mind. Like a bad itch, he could not get rid of. They would be in class and she would be there but he wouldn’t. He would just look at her. Watch her talk just examine everything she did. The times when she knew something smart and she would smile to herself and move hair behind her ear. Even if there wasn't anything.

" Finn. Are you listening to me? It's been days and you just do nothing. What you on something" Nikkei says lending on his lap. He looks at her. He was outside his house on the grass. Smiling at her he says " Nothing. Just thinking. Mom not doing well. Just thinking". She rolls her eyes and looks at her phone. " So you're going to the party tomorrow right. I need you to come or I just look like a tease, Finn" she says looking at her makeup.

She was always about appearance the outer shell. He could never truly care about those things. The social system wasn't made by him. He was there and an active player. Was that what had him interested in her. She was as mysterious as a clear fog. She was part of this social system but she never allows that to make her. She did as she pleases and never mind a thing. Her group section table. But in reality, it wasn't just that.

She was by his locker in the boy's room. Standing there trying not to look at the guys walking around nude ignoring her. Finn smiled to himself as she stood there. She was dress differently than the other days plan black converse with big sweater black legs and her hair curly in a messy bun. Just waiting. He could not remember what they talk about though. She always had that effect. Most times he would just pretend to listen but it was like she was talking in English but he could only hear Korean. The short brief chat. Most he could get out of it was her apologize for being her. Him saying nothing. Of course. Meeting times. Then the number. She gave him her number. Then lastly the party. And just like that, she left. Mysterious.

Finn arrived at the party late. He felt out of place but still, he decided to go. He needed this party. Anyway, it was now more of a celebration of his latest win game he had. The idea of everything drifts off as the liquor and drugs settle in. He was finally his old self. Not a perfect child student and the obsessive of a ghost he was afraid he might become. Laying back he watches Nikkei dance with a few guys. He slowly fell into a high. " Yo Finn look at who here to see you. Looks like you got a stalker" a voice says. Finn opens his eyes time has passed. Nikkei was gone and he was chilling on the floor by people hanging. Getting up he walks over the balcony. It was her.

Out of her limit or comfort zone. Finn watches her. Looking around for him before he called for her. Again those brown eyes. She didn’t say a word but her eyes said it all" Surprise to see you here. Thought you be at some library" he said watching her walking closer to him. Trying to break the ice. Still, her eyes were on him. She didn't answer him. Those eyes. She paid him no mind and went to her bag to take out a pad and pen. Looking up to him not paying attention to what he said" Actually it took an hour of my Friday looking for the right house. Maybe playing loud music and having people trash outside could not have made it less noticeable" she stops and grabs out a tissue trying not to get a contact high " Anyway. If I have to do this to try to get you to work then so be it. Paper easy. I can do that all by myself but" she started to say. Finn cut her off." Look I know you're kinda weird and stuff but it's your kinda not invited. It's not for stalkers" he said scratching his nose still a little drunk. He could feel the frustration from her chest. She looks around trying to adjust what he said then look at him. Her eyes. Shaking her head she gets up. "I have better things to do too. You know what. I won't talk to a child. I was brought up not to judge people. At less not there face. Or the word from some twit. I... Drink this sober up and read the paper" she said then starts to walk away then she stops. She turned back around to him and got close, those eyes. " If you ever wanted to know who I was. Who I am. You could of ask instead of being the stalker yourself" she said then starts to walk away. And just like that, he felt the heavy load of crap. Stupid he thought to himself. Again he was hooked. He grabs at the paper, a bottle of water, and went to look for Nikkei.

When he finally found her she talking to some guy. She was laughing as the person she was talking to was her boyfriend and he was the watcher. He could hear himself arguing with her but he couldn't move. Anger rage full his body. He rushes over and punches the guy across the face. With blood on his hand, he got up and walked away. The Finn that keeps people talking to know not to mess with.

After that Friday night. She stopped talking to him. She even got it that the work she did was given to him by the teacher. He felt awful, no worst. What did she do? Nothing. He worried about her. I worried about the rumors that were going around. Worried if he was the cause of it. What if flowing around in his head. He tried every way to talk to her. Her locker making up a fake announcement. Nothing work.

After class, he decided to follow her around maybe find a way in. Somewhere she could not leave ignore him. After some snooping around some people informed him of one thing. One place he thought he would never go. He walked over to the guidance office. Last chance he thought to himself. Walking in was like walking around a library nude everyone's eyes was on you. He walked into the conference room. People were all sitting in a circle talking. She was there in the center listening. He slowly sat in the back. "So Camille. How did your assignment go a couple of weeks ago? Did it work? Were you able to interact with the partner" the guidance counselor said looking at her. She glanced at him. As if they were the only two that knew a big secret. Rubbing her hands on her knees. She looks around the group. " Well, when I got the assignment. I thought this can be my chance for trying to talk interact with others. Someone out of here. Of course. Try to get better. But all I realized is I was right with staying to myself. I did as you told me and went to the party. He was drunk. After a disagreement we had. I started to go. His friends were downstairs laughing at me. Chanting mean things then started pushing me around. Tugging at my clothes. Some even threw drinks at me. I was able to make it out but my phone died. I had to walk four miles home. All the time thinking. I tried. And this happened" she said still looking at him. He could feel her frustration. She leans back. Still her eyes on him. " Before you ask. No, it was the name-calling. Harassment. Even my phone died. What not that bugs me. Upset me. It never does. Or the fact this guy I never talk to calling me things. That is not true. But that I was able to move past it with no emotions. Numb to it. As an outsider, you see things the truth barefoot true. I still want to try thou again for my family and you guys" she said finally looking away. He was speechless. One girl looks at her. " What about for yourself" the girl asked. She looks at the ground then at him. " We see" she said. Everyone looks at him. Silence a few whispers. It was the first time they realize an uninvited stranger was listening in. She smiled. " But that what I said about gym class. Ms. Tyler, it's time" she said getting up looking around. Ms. Tyler rushes up from that deep story. They all hold hands together and pray.

He waited outside by the door for her. He didn't know what to do but he was running low on ideas. " Lost someone"a voice said from behind him. He turned around to see her standing there holding tight to her books. " Huh" he said surprised by the comment. She tilts her head and smiles. " Our group is for people that had lost someone. A tragic, broken heart, and so on. Some are lucky. The only person they lost is themselves" she said with a frown. He shocked his head. " I want to see you. Well, we saw each other in class but alone. I was an ass that Friday. Hate myself for what I did. I guess... I was just making sure we are still partners and say I'm sorry" he said looking away from her. He could not see her but he could feel the nod. " I lied in there. Finn. I lied. What you did hurt. We are told to treat others away we want to be treated. Give respect but you just... I forgive you. But this won't fix it. Thanks for following me to my locker reading the club board. I can see your effort. Just like how I did with you. I bet you didn't even read my paper. I gave you" she said and walk away. He stood there stunned by her comeback. She was right. He didn't try that much. He was more worried about the grade, not her.

Finn sat on the floor he pulled out the essay she wrote and started to read it. It was good no perfect. Stupid  Rushing back into the office. Ms. Tyler was still packing up her things. " Hi. Ms. Tyler. I was wondering if I can ask you something" he asked. She looks up at him. Her glass almost off her nose. " Yes. Mr. Cox. What is it today" she said. He looks down at the paper then at her. " Camille gave me her address but it is missing a house number. Can you give me her address, please? It's important" he said. It took a few more minutes of begging and sweet talk but he got it. His last try and this time it was all or nothing. 

[bloodandfire-kennyhickeyfanfic]

Chapter 3 Two Steps Forward, Three Steps Back

Seattle Washington, June 3 1994

"Ok Andi... you can do this. It's not a big deal just go in and tell Susan you're quitting... easy," I say to myself as I sit in my jet black '67 Chevy Camero outside Silver management offices in downtown Seattle.

I can't believe it's come to this. I remember the day that I came in here with Chris, determined to make a good impression and that I could handle working for her and Soundgarden, and now here I am ready to quit. It's crazy to think about everything that's happened in 2 years. I need to move on though and this is just another step in moving on. The big step would be filing for divorce but I'm not ready for that yet. I just don't want to deal with it or think about it anymore. I should've quit a lot earlier but it's better now than never.

I flip down the sun visor, check my make-up and my curls in the mirror, and step out of my car as the gentle summer breeze blows through, rustling my high waisted black flowy skull print skirt against my knees. I push my curls out of my face and head towards the front door, my black lace heel wedges clicking against the concrete. Once I reach the door, I walk inside and see Nina sitting at the reception desk.

"Hi Andi, how are ya?" She smiles sweetly at me as I walk through the door.

"Hey, good... I'm good," I smile back.

"You can just go right on back... Susan's in her office," She says sweetly.

"Cool thanks," I say and head down the hall to Susan's office. Once I reach her door, I look down at myself adjusting my white spaghetti strap tank that was tucked into my skirt and re-tie my sheer white button up shirt at the bottom. I let out a long breath and brace myself to knock on her door.

Andrea, you're ok,  just get it over with...

I knock on the door and hear some talking from the other side and then the door opens and Susan gives me a smile.

"Andi, hi... How are you?" She greets me sweetly.

"Hi, I'm good... I'm good," I smile.

"Well come in," Susan smiles and steps aside holding the door. I give a little nod and step through and just as I do, I thought I was about to fall over dead.

Sitting in the chair across from Susan's desk was Chris, taking the last drag of his cigarette before butting it out and exhaling the cloud of smoke into the air. I had no idea what to do or what to feel. I felt the whole world stop and my whole body felt like it was on fire.

"Well come in and have a seat, we'll uh... get to the paperwork," She says as she closes the door and moves back over to sit behind her desk.

I didn't even hear Susan say anything as Chris looks up at me with his short spiky, half curly hair wearing a faded red plaid shirt unbuttoned half way down like he usually does with his necklaces laying perfectly against his chest. His jeans , his Doc's, his perfectly trimmed beard and those gorgeous blue eyes that I always used to lose myself in.

"Hi," Chris says shyly but sweetly as his eyes quickly flick over my body. I couldn't even say anything as I felt frozen to the spot unable to even move over to the chair.

"Hi," I say clearing my throat and finally getting the courage to say something. There is no way I'm letting him think I can't be in the same room as him. I can do this. I move over to the chair and sit down, flipping my curls out of my face as I try to just relax.

"Ok so... Andi, called me to set up a meeting cause she wanted to resign but, Andi I really want you to stay working for me. The work that you've done just with Soundgarden alone  is such a weight taken off my shoulders," Susan says as she looks at me and then glances at Chris.

"I drew up a new contract so if you want to... I would like you to just work soley for me, stay on as a P.A and even move up with other bands as I take them on," Susan continues.

"Um... but what about the contract that I signed to P.A for... Soundgarden?" I ask quickly glancing at Chris desperately trying to put my personal feelings aside.

"Well that's what I was getting to. I have an agreement here to break the contract between you and Soundgarden which would leave you to just work freely for me. Kim Matt and Ben have already signed so we just needed you and Chris to sign and this was the only time I could get you both to sign, since Chris has been so busy..." Susan explains. I had no idea what to even say at this point. I really do like working for Susan and never in a million years did I ever think that I would. I'm honestly surprised that she doesn't want me to quit and that she's fighting to keep me on. Chris glances at me and all I wanted to do was just get this over with and get out of here.

"Um, sure yea I'll stay on," I say trying to keep myself from falling apart.

"Alright," Susan smiles and then reaches to the left of her desk and slides two folders to me.

"Ok, so this one just basically breaks the contract between you and Soundgarden. As you can see, I just need you to sign on the last page... you can read it over if you want to," Susan says as she opens the folder and hands me a pen. I quickly glance over the contract finding everything looks pretty standard, then sign on the last page and pass it over to Chris. I quickly glance at him as he takes it, glancing back at me, and quickly signs on the last page.

"Alright, and the second one there is just your basic re-hire form with a contract, it's pretty much the same as before," Susan explains as I read over the second contract, and notice that my salary increased as well. I hold in my smile to myself and flip to the last page and sign.

"Ok, I'll uh, just go make copies for you two and I'll be right back," Susan smiles taking the folders from us and disappearing out of the office leaving Chris and I alone.

It felt like an eternity sitting there with Chris in silence. Of all the things that I could choose to go through right now, sitting here is not one of them. I look down at my silver studded wrist cuff and gently twirl it around my wrist feeling Chris studying me with those blue eyes of his. I was doing everything I could to not look at him because if I do, I'm afraid I'll crumble into a million pieces.

"Who would've  guessed it would take this long to make copies," Chris smirks but I still say nothing. I can still feel him looking at me  and then I hear him sigh, leaning back in his chair and resting his leg across his knee. After a few minutes I glance over at him nonchalantly and decide to say something.

"The paper probably got stuck again," I say quietly and his eyes flick to me as I look away and at Susan's desk while the silence filled the room once more.

"So, um... how are you?" Chris asks gently after a while of sitting in silence.

"I'm ok...you?" I ask, glancing down at the arm of my chair and playing with the fabric.

"Same... just busy," He says glancing down, playing with the laces of his boot.

"Yea, me too," I say quietly and more silence ticks by.

"I saw that um... Black Hole Sun went to number 1... congrats," I say quietly glancing over at him and his eyes flick back to mine. Even though I wanted to run from the room and as much as my heart is breaking inside, I didn't want to be the one to give him the cold shoulder. He may deserve it but I'm better than that.

"Thanks," He grins shyly at me and even more silence ticks by.

"You still staying with Selena?" He asks looking back down at his boot and playing with the laces again.

"No, I uh, moved out a few months ago,"

"You still in town?" He asks

"Uh huh, not too far from here actually," I say as I fidget with the bottom of my sheer white button up shirt.

"You um... you seeing... anyone?" He asks with his eyes glancing at me after a few moments and I felt the floor almost drop out from under me. I thought about it for a minute, trying to decide if I should tell him about Kenny but I really don't need to. Kenny and I aren't even really a thing, we're just having fun. I'm just having fun. It's not even really Chris's business but then again, a part of me wanted to know if Chris was seeing anyone as well.

"No, no I'm not....You?" I ask flicking my eyes over his body for a moment.

"Nah.... no time to really," He says looking back down at his boot.

"Yea," I say and look back down at myself and more silence filled the room.

"You look amazing, by the way," Chris says quietly looking at his boot and then glancing back at me and it suddenly felt like my heart was about to burst through my chest. I glance up at him and give him a small smile, then suddenly feel my heart breaking into a million pieces just like I knew it would.

"Andi I -" Chris starts but is cut off when Susan finally comes back in the office.

"Sorry 'bout that, the paper got stuck in that stupid copier and it took forever for me to... uh well you know," Susan says and hands me a copy of my new contract along with the old one and hands a copy to Chris as well.

"Ok so Andi... I will see you sometime next week and we'll set something up," Susan smiles at me as I stand up from the chair and flip my curls out of my face.

"Chris, I'll call you once we figure out where to go with management and everything,"

"Sure, sounds good," Chris says sweetly as I head to the door and step outside, hearing Susan and Chris faintly speaking from the other side of the door. I walk down the hallway, saying goodbye to Nina and make my way to the front door stepping outside to the summer air of Seattle.

I wanted to get away from the building as fast as I could. I didn't want to relive my heartbreak even though I'm still going through it but seeing Chris there just re-amplified those feelings and I just wanted to run away.

Why does he have to look so fucking good? Why can't he just not, and then it would make it so much easier for me to hate him. But I don't hate him. I never hated him. I still love him, I just can't watch him drown himself in alcohol and have him continue to ignore me and the situation between us as if nothing happened. As if losing the baby never happened.

As I walk to my car, I wipe away a tear that started to make it's way down my cheek, the gentle summer breeze blowing through my curls. Once I finally reach my car, I climb in and close the door, setting the new contract on the passenger seat and placing the key in the ignition. As I wipe away another tear, I start up the engine when suddenly it just sputters and stops.

"What the - ?" I say to myself and try to start the engine again, but it just sputters for a few seconds and stops again. I take the key out completely confused and put it back in, the dashboard lights not indicating anything is wrong and I gently try to start the engine again. Once again it sputters and stops.

"Come on baby don't do this now, please," I say to myself and try the engine again but it just sputters and stops. I suddenly just couldn't handle it as I try to start the engine but it just wont turn over and then pound my hand against the steering wheel and lean my forehead against it, then start to cry.

Of all the times for this to happen, of course it would right now. Just as soon as I think I'm feeling better, there's always something to kick me back down. I take in a deep breath, trying to stop my tears and lean back against the seat. I thread my fingers through the roots of my hair trying to think of what to do. I could just walk home and call for a tow truck but I really didn't want to walk in these heels. I drop my hands from my hair and wipe the rest of my tears from my cheeks and notice Chris walking out of Susan's office and into the parking lot where I was.

"Ok, no you have to start... please just start," I say as I sit up quickly and turn the key in the ignition but still it sputters and stops. I try a few more times with no luck and I see Chris walking towards me and all I wanted to do was just hide under my car. Maybe have it run me over, oh wait it won't start, fuck sakes!

"You alright?" Chris asks, walking up to my car door his eyebrows pulled together looking concerned as I practically fight with my car. I flip my curls out of my face and quickly look up at him, then shrug as I try to hide the fact that I was just crying.

"Yea... no, I don't fucking know," I say frustratedly as I reach for the key again and try to turn the ignition but once again, it sputters and stops.

"You outta gas?" He asks me as I slump back in the seat.

"No, I think the battery is dead maybe... but my dashboard lights aren't indicating anything," I say as I look at the dashboard.

"Here, give me a second and I'll give you a boost," Chris says and walks away towards his pick-up truck, the same one he's had since I met him.

"Pop the hood!" He yells climbing out of his truck now with a cigarette between his lips and 2 jumper cables. I pull the little lever and he lifts up the hood connecting the jumper cables from my battery to his. After a few minutes he tells me to start it up and once I turn the key again, it sputters and then comes to life.

Oh thank god!

I give a few reves of the engine and then step out of my car.

"I'll uh, just let it run here for a few minutes," Chris says as he exhales a cloud of smoke, squinting his eyes from the rising smoke of the cigarette.

"Ok.... thank you," I say as his eyes flick over me again while I flip my curls out of my face. Suddenly I'm reminded of the time when we took a trip to hike up in the mountains just before we were leaving to head on the GNR tour and the truck broke down on the side of the highway. It's funny to think of it now but man he was pissed. I smile to myself at the memory and start to giggle while Chris looks back at me with a smirk.

"What?" Chris chuckles exhaling a cloud of smoke.

"Nothing... just... nothing," I say shaking the memory away while Chris still looks at me with those eyes. After a few moments, he puts the cigarette back to his lips looking away and pulls the jumper cables off my car, closing the hood.

"You should be fine now... you might just have to give a good run on the highway before you head home though," He says as he takes the jumper cables off his truck and closes his hood.

"Ok," I say quietly as he throws the cables into the passenger side of his truck and walks back over to me butting out his cigarette. We lock eyes for a few moments and I suddenly started to feel the heartbreak creep up again, reering it's ugly head and reminding me just how much I need to get out of here.

"I should get going," I say breaking the moment between us and looking away from him as I push a few curls out of my face from the breeze blowing through.

"Yea, yea... sure," Chris says blinking a few times and shaking his head and I turn and climb back into my car. Chris watches me for a minute and then walks around to the drivers side of his truck, giving me a small wave as I pull out of my spot. I wave back and fight the urge to cry, feeling my bottom lip tremble for a moment and take in a deep breath and exhaling quickly as I pull out of the parking lot, heading out towards the highway to give her a good run before I head home.

[rileythefool]

The Button

You can change your appearance however you would like, at any time, as much as you want. However, if someone compliments your appearance you will be stuck that way forever.

I looked from the blue button to my friend’s eager expression with unveiled scepticism.

“I’m serious Jacob! It’s the real deal, I promise!” Brooklyn held the button out to me again, practically forcing it into my hands. 

It looked like the stupid “easy button” from the old 90’s ads, and old enough to be from then as well. 

“It says something different for everyone, you can twist the top to get a new choice but I don’t know how many times you are allowed to pass before it stops working." 

I could hardly understand her as she blathered on but I took the plastic button from her anyways, being careful not to press it as I turned it over.

"What does it say?” She practically held my own hands up to my face to get me to read it to her.

“Can’t you read it?” I looked over the plain white text, still half expecting some soul-less business slogan rather than something a genie might say.

She was practically bouncing in place as she seemed to expect me to mirror her enthusiasm.

“I can’t! It’s different for everyone! Tell me tell me tell me!”

I read it again, paraphrasing as I went. “It says if I press it I can shapeshift but if someone compliments me i’ll be stuck forever.”

“Thats awesome!" 

I grimaced, displeased that she could somehow be more hyper and over-enthusiastic. 

"Usually the downside is far worse– like, people die worse.”

I suddenly felt worried about what that implied about when she pressed it. “What was yours then?" 

Her smile faltered as she opened her mouth to reply. "If I tell you it goes away.” She seemed to realize how flakey her explanation was because she began to plead with me as I handed the button back.

“Come oooonnnn. You’ve got nothing to lose! It will be awesome, I promise.”

“If it will get you off my back…" 

I immediately felt guilty for being so curmudgeonly but she didn’t seem to care. She squealing in delight as I pressed the button. 

Nothing happened.

"Happy?”

Brooklyn nodded, still bouncing in excitement as she let me give her the button back, surprisingly it was blank now but that hardly seemed like an effect impressive enough to prove the button was real.

I shook my hands out and steadied my breathing to see if there was anything to notice.

But again, nothing happened. 

“Yeah, I don’t know.” I shrugged, surprised to find I hoped to feel something as well. 

“Try wishing something was different about your appearance. Out loud.”

I rolled my eyes. “I wish I had red hair.”

Brooklyn’s eyes went the size of saucers and I couldn’t help but doubt her theatrics as she scrambled to pull her phone out. In no time she had taken a picture and handed it to me. 

Red hair…

A spark of excitement grew in me but I pushed it down, hastily checking my reflection with my own phone just in case she had used a filter.

Red. Fucking. Hair.

“Holy shit." 

Brooklyn nodded. Her lips clamped tight and she slapped a hand over her mouth too as she looked at me in awe.

"Okay, okay, wow. Uh…” I started to feel a bit lightheaded as my mind raced with possibilities. I could look however I wanted.

“I wish I had perfect skin." 

Brooklyn looked ridiculous as she did a little happy dance in front of me.

"I wish I had dark brown hair again, curly brown hair”

I eyed my reflection, feeling increasingly vain as my hair poofed up a bit in dark curls.

“I wish I was five foot four.”

I felt dizzy for a moment as I shrunk, now looking up to Brooklyn as she raised an eyebrow in confusion.

“Fantastic." 

I paced as I thought further about what I could try. I felt a few changes begin to happen automatically, but as I expanded my possibilities I paused. I looked at Brooklyn, still watching me in awe as I experimented.

"Not a peep.” I tried to sound serious, scared of how she would react to my next idea. 

She mimed twisting a lock and throwing away the key and nodded, curiosity plain on her expression as she waited.

I didn’t have the heart to say it but I could tell I was thinking it loud enough as the most drastic change began. I felt a stretching sensation on the soles of my feet as they shrank in my shoes, followed by the rustling of my jeans as my legs turned smooth and redistributed fat. the feeling of my jeans changed the most, growing tighter around the pockets and thighs as the belt loosened the slightest bit again. Already loose from my height loss, they now fit horribly on me. My chest swelled slightly, noticeably filling out as my shoulders narrowed. The sleeves of my hoodie fell over my fingertips but beyond that I felt the soft lining on my skin rather than just brushing the hair on my arms like it had before. I looked at my hands as the bones shrunk slightly, looking subtly more delicate as the remaining hair vanished and my joints shrank. Finally I felt my hair fall in waves near my shoulder as my jaw ached momentarily. 

I ignored the muffled high pitched squeals of shock from Brooklyn as I looked at my reflection on my phone. I pushed down my confused feelings as I took it in. I liked it. A lot. Probably as much as I thought I would.

I felt like a red flashing light was going off in my head as I looked at myself. I wasn’t supposed to like this. Was I? Boys don’t wish they were girls but wouldn’t any straight guy be attracted to their own gender-bent appearance? This feeling wasn’t attraction but that difference hardly mattered. I had a superpower that other guys didn’t have so I dismissed the distinction as meaningless. 

I resisted the urge to ask Brooklyn what she thought, I could already tell she was repeating “What the fuck” over and over in her head.

“Cool right?”

Her eyes were still wide as she nodded.

I took a few more pictures before putting my phone away and focusing on changing back. I grew back a couple inches slowly which helped my jeans fit again but besides that, not much changed. I tried focusing on my hair. But even after a few tries the style was always pretty much the same butch femme look. I tried to make my boobs go away but they only shrank to be hideable. My hips and butt would only shrink so much as well. Brooklyn’s confusion mirrored mine as I continued to tweak my appearance, some things that I changed just flat out wouldn’t stick. I grew a thin beard but the moment I lost focus it disappeared to perfectly smooth skin. My breasts grew back to a small but modest size while I wasn’t paying attention and my height seemed to shrink back toward 5’ as I became increasingly flustered.

“What’s wrong, Jacob?” Brooklyn spoke slowly and carefully, graciously screening for anything that could be perceived as a compliment as I paced.

“I don’t know! the button said I could change however I wanted but I can’t seem to change back!”

My voice lifted as I spoke, becoming slightly shrill as it rose to a more feminine register. I growled in frustration, blushing as it came out stereotypically femme. 

“Do you want to go back to looking like a guy?” Her voice came out as a suspicious whisper.

“Of course I do!” My voice deepened for an instant before rising again, prompting another frustrated groan. 

I felt more scared than anything as I looked at how my appearance had progressed. Every proportion, every detail looked utterly agreeable, not like some photoshopped model but just like a real girl. A girl so completely different from my former appearance that I could never claim to be more than my own sister. I scarcely could pretend I was my own fraternal twin.

 "Are you sure?“ Brooklyn spoke even softer as tears blurred my vision.

"Of course I’m sure! I was just curious is all! I’m supposed to be able to look however I want! Why can’t I change back?”

“You only get to look how you want though…” Brooklyn’s calm demeanor was off-putting in contrast to her earlier hysterics.

I cowered a bit as she held my shoulders. Her eyes seemed to pierce me to my core. 

“I…” I stammered. A dark part of me wanted to lash out, to blame her for showing me this button and throwing me into this predicament, but the truth stunned me silent. “I might want to be a girl but I have to be a boy, I need to be a boy…”

She made gentle shushing noises as she brought me into a hug. “It’ll be okay. We’ll figure this out.”

“But what if there is nothing to figure out? What if I can’t bring myself to want anything but this?” I hid my face in her jacket, it felt weird to be so outwardly distraught, sure I’d had breakdowns before but they felt more like I was coiling up and packing things down. Falling apart like this felt like a dam breaking and I was wildly unprepared to cope with it.

“It will be okay…” Brooklyn trailed off and It occured to me that she was still screening her words to help me. I felt a warm appreciation but I found myself latching back on to my panic and shame automatically. 

I followed that fear to its source, behind the weak concerns about adjusting to a new body I found the real terror. I would be known. I had spent my whole life tailoring my presentation for other people and now in a few short minutes I had thrown that all away. People wouldn’t see what I wanted them to see. They would see me.

I felt the leather of Brooklyn’s jacket bunch up in my hands as I held her tighter and I nearly choked as she hugged me closer in response. I felt grounded by it. It was only one example but I still had a friend, my best friend, who still loved me. 

I felt a bit of the whimsical excitement from before return as I stepped back. There was a pinch on my ear as a piercing appeared and I felt a settling sensation as I returned to the presentation I wanted for me. 

I couldn’t help but smile as Brooklyn wiped away my tears. I could see sincere concern in her expression. The same deep and loving care I had always known. 

Butterflies tumbled in my stomach as I made up my mind. The finality of the decision brought me a perverse comfort as I arrived at something to be sure of.

“How do I look?” I managed a smile, amused at her silent face journey from panic to understanding and a sort of pride beaming down at me.

“You’re beautiful.”

[starlit-scifi]

Chapter 1

Next

It’s dangerous, you think.

Not just the whole being on a starship far away from your home planet on the edge of possible interstellar war thing. Not just the huge pile of homework hanging over your head. No, the real dangerous part in all this is that you don’t know how you feel about her, besides this weird tight feeling in your chest when she passes by.

So very, very dangerous.

Her name is Lorina Estevna. Born in a tiny colony on a desolate planet, somehow good enough for the military program here, taking her first required cross-program collaborative class this term, somehow and oh so unluckily paired with you for the rest of your years on this ship.

She has a reputation for being a no-nonsense hard worker, as tough on her underclassmen as she is on herself. Her grades and her PT scores reflect that: she’s at the top, or nearly there, in nearly every respect among your year-mates. But she also has an arguably bigger reputation for breaking hearts: you know she’s been with a lot of your year-mates, and then some. You know it never lasts long; she’s quick to move on for reasons that rumors can only guess at. But you've also heard that it’s never because her partner isn't satisfied, and you can only wonder…

You shake your head to banish the thought, and walk faster to catch up to her.

“Hi!”

“Hello.” It would have sounded like a question mark belonged there if she was a less confident person. Her pale brows make the shape that she has trained so painstakingly out of her voice.

“I was thinking,” you say, struggling to keep up with her pace in the crowded hallway, “Maybe we could meet after—”

Those brows snap together. “Can’t, busy.”

You laugh, a little shocked by her bluntness. “I didn’t even say a time or date,” you point out. She comes to a halt and turns to face you, icy grey eyes regarding you coldly.

“If it’s any time this week, my schedule is packed from waking to sleeping, and then some.”

“Oh. Well—”

“Sorry, I have no time and do not reciprocate your feelings. Have a nice day.” Mechanical, precise, and engineered to drop your heart to your stomach, which it does. She turns neatly and strides away as you’re left reeling from the impact. But then you realize exactly what she said, and run back to her.

“I really, really think you misunderstood my intentions,” you say hurriedly, and there’s more than a little annoyance in her expression now. You try your best to smile. “I’m your partner? I was assigned to you? For Colab?”

Those eyes light up and oh your heart is pounding

“Ah! Sorry. I didn't mean to make such a bad first impression. That ball that’s coming up? It seems like every suppie in our year is trying to get me to go with them. We really should discuss Colab though. Are you okay if we sort things out right now? This is pretty much the only time I’m free today.” You nod quickly and she gestures towards the empty bench you’re standing by. You sit as gracefully as you can, and she settles down neatly beside you and activates her airscreen. “So, you are...” Her grey eyes cut through the electric glow, and you’re captivated for a moment before you realize what she’s asking.

“Aurora Delenz. Third year, of course; Biological Archiving and Interplanetary Relations.”

Cue eyebrow. “Those are two very different subjects.”

“I’ve got it under control,” you lie. “It’s really interesting!” That second part isn’t a lie, but most nights it really, really doesn't make up for the first part.

She smiles a smile that lets you know she sees right through you, and gets it. “I bet,” she says. “Lorina Estevna, third year, Computer Science… not quite so impressive, I know.”

“It’s… I know a couple Comp people, they’re nice…” She shrugs good-humoredly, and you feel an intense urge to be anywhere else but there. The best place to hide is behind your airscreen, of course, if you could get the stupid thing to turn on. Finally it flickers to life, and you cast the screen so it hovers next to hers. “Um. So. Do you have time in your awfully busy schedule for, say, working on that classwork together?”

Just like that she’s all business again. “That’s meant to be part of my schedule, yes. Give me your info and we’ll work it out.”

You nod and quickly tap out your airscreen keycode, and raise your hand. She presses her palm to yours and in a moment you hear the ding of your information request going through. You both scroll through your schedules. She’s so organized, and you have pretty much nothing but your classes and a few office hours in your schedule.

“The… seventh hour on the twelfth?” It’s the first blank slot she has, and you don't have anything planned… not that you ever plan for anything.

“That's fine with me,” she says, and sticks a box in the appropriate slot. You watch intently as her fingers tap out your surname, and her lips move, mouthing something silently.

“Do you. Um. Need anything else?”

She fiddles around with her screen for a moment, flicks away an event with a girl you’re pretty sure was, at one point, her girlfriend.

“I think I have everything, thanks. I’ll get in touch with you if anything comes up.”

“Okay. Do you, uh, need my—”

“You shared your school screenname, yes. By the way, your lower school one is still listed. You should probably get rid of that.”

You frown and check; she's right. You quickly delete the info and look up at her. She’s watching you intently, stony grey eyes and thin pale lips.

“Well,” she says after a few seconds, “If that's all?”

“Yes! Yes, it is. Um, thank you, Ms. E—”

“Just call me Lori,” she says quickly. “After all, we’re going to end up seeing a lot of each other.” She looks at her airscreen again, making a few more adjustments. “It’s going to be a long year,” she mutters.

“But hopefully a good one,” you add hesitantly. She looks at you, and for a long, long second you’re not sure what she thinks at all. But then she smiles, briefly.

“I hope so. I have to go, see you later.”

“See you…” you say, trailing off. She’s already gone.

---

After the excitement of the first week’s new classes and old friends, your third year begins to grind on just like any other. You sit beside Lori in Colab now, which is a relief because you could tell from the first lecture that the instructor’s lecturing style would be completely incompatible with you. You take notes as much as you can, and make sure to nudge her awake every once in a while—it won’t do to have two sets of incomprehensible notes.

Your workload is heavy, but that’s only to be expected. The fact that you chose this burden for yourself doesn't make you feel any better about it. Still, you know you’re capable. It’s just a pain in the butt.

After your daily meditation on exactly how much of a pain in the butt it is, you gather the energy to face the day. You drag yourself out of bed to take a shower. Your thick, curly hair was your mother’s pride when you were little, but now it’s a bit of a burden, and slicked back and put up in a bun it doesn't even matter how pretty your curls are.

You get dressed quickly. You’ve never not had a uniform, from when your parents dragged you away from your online lessons at ten years old all the way through secondary school. Now, though, it’s a real uniform, with rules that matter more than what color cardigan you wear. It’s still not as strict for suppies as it is on the mil side, and you’re grateful, because yours is some sort of “traditional throwback” and the collar never lies right and the skirt fits everyone oddly (And skirts as part of a uniform? In this era? Really?). You try to tug it into place anyway, with moderate success.

Moderate success is all I’m gonna get, you think, double checking yourself in the mirror.

You unplug your airscreen from your big projector, pop the headpiece over your hair, and put the control bracelets on. The computer itself goes into your bag, along with your stylus pen and the collection of data chips that has all your books and notes on it. Some of your classmates laugh at your insistence at having hard copies of things, but when the network gets bogged down during exam weeks, you suddenly find yourself making new friends.

You check the time once more. You’re okay, since really it takes less than ten minutes to get anywhere on the ship, but you still don't want to cut it too close.

As you step out of the elevator from the suppie dorms, you join the crowd of your fellow students. Whether heading to classes or just returning, going to the library, grabbing an early lunch, or simply going to relax and stargaze a bit, everyone’s paths cross in one big central space. When you go through the center, you’re basically bound to run into several people you know on your way to anything, which would happen anyway considering that there's only about a thousand of you. It was overwhelming as a first-year, and to be honest it’s a bit overwhelming even now, but you’ve learned to handle it. Mostly.

You follow the flow of people heading towards the classroom zone, pausing to wave at or have a short chat with several acquaintances on the way. Your second-year roommate, a lab partner, someone from that composition class you had to take… it’s always a whirlwind of half-familiar faces.

And one face, one that’s growing more familiar with each passing day.

Lori waves at you through the crowd, and you wave back. You make your way over to her.

“Morning!”

“Morning. How are you?”

“I'm okay. You?”

She shrugs. “Fine. Tired. Not looking forward to the quiz.”

Your heart nearly stops. “Was that today?”

“Day after tomorrow,” she says, clearly amused by your reaction. You sigh in relief as she continues. “I’ve been trying to get ahead on studying, and it’s not looking great.”

“Yeah. This class is… yeah.”

“Very much so,” she says with a sideways smile. “If you’d like to meet up and study tonight, I should have some free time.”

You nod quickly. Honestly you hadn’t even thought about studying yet. She pulls up the study room reservation page while you both settle into your seats.

“You’re okay with a small room?” She says in a low voice as the instructor walks up to start the lecture.

“Um, sure.” You know which rooms she’s talking about: they really are meant for one person, but Unity was built with a smaller population in mind, so it’ll have to do.

Even if you’re sitting elbow to elbow all night long.

You fidget with your stylus pen as the lecture begins, and definitely zone out for the first few minutes until Lori nudges you and points at something in her notes. You mouth “I don't know” and she shrugs and turns her attention back to whatever’s going on.

Focus. You can't fail this class.

Mostly because you’d lose a year, but also because Lori might be left without a partner, in which case she would also lose a year, and possibly her best shot at a decent career.

You steal a glance at her. She’s taking notes diligently, her pale lips shaped in concentration as her fingers work at the virtual keyboard. Whatever her reputation, however blunt she seems or how busy she is, she’s your partner from now on. You both have a responsibility to work with each other, and to help each other succeed.

She deserves the best I can give, you decide.

She catches your eye; you give her a tiny smile and she returns it for a moment before looking back at her notes.

And in that moment, warmth blooms in your chest and you decide that you do know how you feel about having her as a partner:

Happy.

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