#ben just came to mind because o feel like he uses his hands the most when speaking

[solotriplets]

Been having a lot of thoughts about Ben learning ASL lately?

Thoughts?

[mrsmctominay]

nsfw alphabet w ben chilwell? ^^

NSFW Alphabet- Ben Chilwell

A = Aftercare No matter what the sex was like, your needs come before his. It doesn't matter if you want a bath run or if you simply want a cuddle, he will do it. The feeling of his soft skin against yours is enough to cure you for a lifetime.

B = Body part He loves your collar bones. He likes leaving bruises and hot kisses on them. The way they pop out when you arch your back in pleasure or simply the way they glisten with sweat.

C = Cum He likes to pull out in time to cum on your chest. As I say, he loves your collar bones so the sight of them with his cum on them is just, ugh *chefs kiss*.

D = Dirty Secret He wants to try handcuffs, be it you handcuffing him or him handcuffing you. Either way he wants to try it.

E = Experience He's not overly experienced, but Ben often fantasizes about what he wants to do to you, so that gives him some confidence in knowing what he's doing.

F = Favourite Position He likes cowgirl. He enjoys the feeling of you riding him along with the feel of you burying your face into his neck, marking your territory. He also gets a good view of your boobs so why wouldn't he love it?

G = Goofy Often, you would let out the occasional giggle or give him a smile just to let him know that it's okay to put down the wall of seriousness. He has a habit of being serious (sometimes too serious, to the point you feel put off, but this just comes from his past experiences..), so this just lets him know that it's okay to have a laugh.

H = Hair Ben is not completely hairless down there, but he may as well be as it's practically non existent...

I= Intimacy Looking at him, you'd expect him to be soft and romantic but my oh my can he be rough... Scratching, biting, choking, slapping.. You name he will *probably* do it. Obviously, like anyone, he has is boundaries but he's down for most things.

J = Jack Off He doesn't mind masturbating. This is the time he usually has these fantasies I mentioned earlier. it's the perfect time to plan what he wants to do to you the next time you have sex.

K = Kink Ben has a huge praise kink. He enjoys being told when he's doing a good job, he especially likes being told he's a good boy. Something about those words coming from your mouth drives him insane.

L = Location He likes having sex in the bath. He's never said why but he always finds a way to join you when you're in there on your own, the rest tells it's own story...

M = Motivation As I mentioned before, he likes being praised. So anything you say that's praising in the slightest way will really get him going. Or, when you wear blue. When you wear his colour. Something about it is so so sexy to him and he can never control himself when you do wear it.

N = NO Ben doesn't want to blindfolded. He would blindfold you no problem. But not being able to see you during sex? No thanks.

O = Oral Oh my does that boy enjoy some good head. Head in the shower? Give it to him. Head when he's driving? Yes please. Head whilst he's playing games with the boys? Stupid question. Of course he wouldn't say no if you asked for head, but he would rather receive than give, most of the time..

P = Pace Whatever you want, he doesn't mind. He can go as slow as anything or fast enough that you cum within a minute, it's all up to you.

Q = Quickie Nothing wrong with a quick-quickie is there? Usually they happen at team dinners in the bathroom, the times were you both look good as fuck and you just can't resist. You think that the two of you would learn to fuck before leaving but no why would you.

R = Risk You aren't exactly the biggest risk taker but you did like to take him by surprise every now and then. Rubbing your hand over his cock under the blanket when his friends are round is a personal favourite of yours.

S = Stamina If you'd had fast, rough sex, he wouldn't last as long and wouldn't be able to go for as many rounds. But if you were having slow, passionate sex... Oh boy could he go all night.

T = Toy You have a vibrator but that's it. He will use it on you every once in a while. Usually when he's feeling like treating you and solely wants to pleasure you is when the vibrator will get used.

U = Unfair There's times when Ben will rub his cock against your wet folds just to hear you whine and groan, or he will insert only the tip to see you push the rest in by yourself. He will kiss up and down your thighs and belly for minutes before he puts his mouth to your pussy.

V = Volume The grunts and groans that came from his mouth was music to your ears. Even just the hums of pleasure that vibrate around your mouth when he kisses you as he fucks you slowly.

W = Wild Card Ben likes to use ice in the bedroom. Seeing you quiver when the cold cube touches your clit unexpectedly is a sight he would like to see everyday of the week. Or him placing it directly on your nipples and watching them melt it, licking up the water that dribbles down your torso.

X = X-Ray Ok so he's a grower not a shower. He's a good 7.5-ish inches when fully erect though...

Y = Yearning You were the instigator more often that he was, but not by choice. He could be horny as fuck and still wait for you to come onto him, just because he likes to say that 'he's not the horny one' in the relationship.

Z = ZZZ Almost every time after you had sex, he would fall asleep first. Which you don't mind because he's cute when he sleeps.

[just-a-creep-babe]

Kinktober Day 1

BEN Drowned: Silly Sweet Sex

Gee gOLLY I am so not used to super fluffy smut, idk how this turned out lmfaoo

This one isn’t super smutty just cause I’m not sure how to go about writing sweet sex, but I hope ya can enjoy what I came up with regardless uwu

Also!! Since kinktober = a lot of fics (seriously, sO many hours went into making these, I’m 💀💀) I wasn’t able to make them all as long as this one :”) Some are decently lengthy, others are short and others are even shorter. They’re definitely not my best works either, but I’m super glad I was able to challenge myself like this either way :>

But without further ado, I hope y’all enjoy this lil month filled with smut <33

~Requests are closed~

Masterlist: x

Any tips are greatly appreciated! 

“(Y/n), I’m bored~”

The blond throws his arms around your form and nestles his face into the crook of your neck

“Wait, I’m—I’m so close—“

Your fingers work furiously against the controller as you chew your lip, brows furrowing in concentration

He huffs, blowing warm air against your skin, and then his lips slowly curl into a devious smirk

You should’ve known by then to kiss your sweet, sweet progress goodbye

Because he suddenly yanks you back and you’re sent toppling over and out of view of the high definition screen above the bed

“N-no, BEN!”

You shriek his name, frantically mashing buttons in a last-ditch effort to save your dying character

But you’re all-too late as the obnoxiously familiar Game Over music sounds out

“I was so close” you whine

You squirm in his grasp and pout, letting the controller fall from your death-grip and onto the floor with a lame thunk

He has the audacity to “awh” at you

“Don’t worry, you’ll get it next time,” he reassures, “But right now, I wanna hang out with my lovely girlfriend whom I love oh so very much~”

He smooches your forehead and it has you rolling your eyes, a reluctant smile tugging at your lips despite yourself

“Yeah, yeah—ok, whatever. What do you wanna do then?”

You shift on top of him and manage to pull yourself up into a sitting position, with your legs now straddling his thighs

He grins, satisfied with his victory, and props his head up into his hands

“Mmh, I dunno, baby. What do you wanna do?”

“I wanna finish my level~” you tease

He groans, sitting himself up as well, and you giggle at the way it almost has you falling off of him

He wraps his hands around your waist, tugging you closer to him so his lips are inches from yours

And with a content hum, he places a chaste kiss to your bottom lip—not nearly enough contact to satiate your sudden urge for more

“First you make me lose my game and now you try to tease me” you huff

He laughs, pulling away, but not before giving a quick “boop” to your nose

“You’re so adorable, how could I resist?~”

“I am not adorable! I live in a mansion full of demons and serial killers. I’m a menace to society”

There’s a brief injection of silence as the both of you stare one another down

And then the corners of his mouth twitch, his lips quirking, and you can tell he can’t hold back any longer

His composure breaks, shattering in a fit of boyish giggles

You’re about to say something but he reaches for your sides to tickle you and it has you shrieking our his name again

“You’re too cute, (y/n)~”

You fall back, forced into a burst of uncontrollable laughter as his fingers mercilessly run up and down your soft spots

“O-ok! Ok—I give up! You win!!”

You manage to wheeze the words out between yelps and giggles, tears already springing to your eyes

“Nuh-uh! Say you’re cute! Say that you’re a cutie and I’ll stop!”

“Ok! I’m cute!! I’m a cutie—s-stop it!!”

His onslaught finally relents, leaving you breathless with your hands pressing to his chest as you try to regain a hold on yourself

And, of course, he chuckles at how flushed you look beneath him, his canines tantalizingly sharp and pearly white beneath his lips

One of his hands encircles your wrists and he plants a kiss just below the inside of your palm

“Aw, see? That wasn’t so hard to admit, was it?”

You stick your tongue out at him

He laughs, and then he’s nuzzling into the crook of your neck and sighing

“Y’know, I think I thought of something I wanna do”

“Yeah? What’s that?” you hum, fingers absent-mindedly brushing through his hair

He slyly rolls his pelvis into you—and you can feel his hard-on pressing between your legs

When he hears your breath catching in your throat, he pulls back to look at you, grinning wolfishly

“You wanna play with my Master Sword, baby?” he croons, his brows wriggling suggestively

“You’re such a dork!”

You give him a light smack, and he gasps in feigned offence before that damn smirk returns to his annoyingly pretty lips

“You’re just jealous of me, baby”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah”

You tilt your head to the side

“And what exactly am I jealous of, hm? I thought I was the cute one”

“Mmm…” he bites his lip, smiling “you’re right—you are” he gives in, kissing your nose before adding, “But I bet you’d look even cuter riding my dick~”

You roll your eyes, bringing your hands to his chest, which has him moving away to let you sit up

“Alright, you win. Again” you sigh a little too dramatically

His face cracks up into that damn smile again, and you really can’t help but give a quick kiss to his cheek

He doesn’t hesitate to tug his shirt over his torso—briefly fumbling as his head gets trapped halfway through the material—before emerging with a stupid grin on his face and his hair all tussled up

“Dork” you laugh

You push him down and settle on top of him, this time parting your legs so that his growing bulge is settled neatly right where you need it the most

“Mmh, you loooove me~” he teases

You roll your eyes again

And then you lean down, capturing his lips, savoring the kiss and the way he quietly moans against you—how warm and soft his mouth feels before parting and letting his tongue taste you entirely

He wraps his hands around your hips and guides your body to move in tandem with his, all while keeping your mouth busy with his own

Nimble fingers tug at the hem of your shirt, so you pull away to slip the material off, and when you look back down at him, he’s got a big, stupid grin on his face

“What?” you ask

He shrugs

“Nothing”

Your gaze narrows, a knowing smile at your lips

“I��m not gonna take my bra off if you’re gonna be a doofus about it”

His lips part in shock, feigning innocence

“What do you mean?”

“You know exactly what I mean”

He tries, very briefly, to keep the act up, but the look you’re giving him has him laughing openly again

“Ok, ok, I swear I’ll behave”

You shake your head, biting back a grin as you unclasp your bra and let it drop from the swell of your tits

He bites his lip, eyes darkening as he stares at your chest and grinds up into you

“Y’know, I like your pants, too. Were they on sale? Cause they’re 100% off at—“

You slap a hand over his mouth

“I swear to god, you absolute dork, you’re not getting any action tonight if you finish that sentence”

You can feel his broad grin beneath you hand

And just as you’re about to remove it, you feel the warm, wet flat of his tongue as he licks a long stripe up your palm

“BEN!”

You shriek his name, and as you’re caught off guard, he moves up and traps you beneath him

He chuckles, kissing up your neck

“What’s wrong, baby?” he laughs “You didn’t seem to mind my tongue a few seconds ago when it was in your mouth~”

Your face flushes

“I-I just wasn’t expecting it!”

He laughs again, but then he’s back to nipping at your neck, and you’re whining beneath him, and his hands are fumbling with the zipper of your pants

He helps you wriggle your way out of them before tossing them to the floor

Then he looks back at you, grinning widely

“100% off at my place!!”

You don’t have time to answer before he’s cutting you off with another kiss, to which you groan against him but don’t bother pushing him away

He pulls your panties to the side, exposing your slick, throbbing cunt to him so he can lazily stroke up and down your slit, making your hips buckle up into him

“A-ah, BEN~”

Your back arches as he dips a finger between your puffy folds, your entrance already tightening around him, relishing his digit dragging along your sensitive nerves

You clamp your teeth down on your lip, gazing up at him through furrowed brows

And it has him adding a finger, twisting them both so your fluttering walls are wrapping even tighter around him

“God, look at how cute you are, (y/n)~”

Your face flushes at the way he looks down at you—like you’re a goddess at the beckon of his fingers—and the attention is almost embarrassing

“W-will you just shut up and kiss me again?”

He chuckles, no doubt enjoying how flustered and riled-up he���s already gotten you

“Anything for you, little cutie~”

[everyothermouse]

Hmhm I love you I love the au u made I need the p l o t but I don’t want to bother you uhhh was yea ok <:)

ok!!! Basically there are 2 plots that converge, a silly lil camp in the woods and a fae love story! Let’s go under the cut for this cus I’m gonna be explaining them for a hot minute lol

I’m gonna make a breakdown of all the individual characters in a minute but for now here’s a chart I just finished so u know whos where in all this

(Eros not on here but he’s a forest folk) So I’ll give u an expo on both of the plots (feel free to come ask questions as ur reading or after ur done, I would Love to talk abt this au as much as possible)

The fae side: Eliana here’s from two of her townsfolk (the twins) that there are fae in the woods. All her fellow townspeople say they’re just being pranksters again (the amount of times they’ve tried to convince the town there’s totally a werewolf just outside of town is too many for them to be a trustworthy source- and as aspiring nightwalker hunters of course they’re trying to spot fae in every leaf and under every rock), but Eliana, curious, decides to sneak off one night to investigate. After all if there’s a fae out there, it’s her responsibility to ward it off from her town! what she finds though is not a silly lie from the twins or a terrifying manipulative monster- in A flower patch she sees her, the most beautiful charming looking fairy she’s every seen, all alone weaving a flower crown in the woods. He spots her, and although she’s scared at first and wards them with her axe, she can’t bear to attack him. they hit it off really quickly, and Shirley shows her the beauty of the hidden parts of the forest, lit up by the magic of the moon, as opposed to the normal sunlit forest Eliana is used to. She returns home at dawn with promises to come back the next day. Meanwhile Shirley goes home to his ghost husband like ‘omg I just met the prettiest lady evr, she’s coming back tomorrow can we keep her’ and Thomas is like ‘bro we already have jr‘ and Shirley is like ‘no but I want to kiss her 🥺 and hold hands 🥺🥺🥺 and trap her in the fae lands forever with me 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺’ and Thomas is obviously slightly jealous but he’s like ‘yeah whatever’ bcus he knows if Shirley does try and make out with some daywalker he’s prolly gonna kill her by accident anyways jdgfufndkc. so Eliana starts going out every night with the excuse that she’s choppin down wood, (ninas suspicious of this excuse but Michael tells her eliana wouldn’t lie,) and Shirley keeps trying to get her to stay forever and eat all their food and introduces her to Thomas and jr and stuff, and it’s nice and all but shirleys making her stay for longer and longer, and he can’t handle letting her go for even a second. Eliana doesn’t mind tho, she’s totally blind with love, and eventually she’s tells the town abt Shirley but that he’s totally not like other fae and definitely cool and there’s mixed feelings, some ‘awwww Eliana finally found a girlfriend, so sweet 🥰’s and some ‘they’re not different ur just being manipulated, we should go kill him’s and even some ‘huh, wasn’t that the name of the guy Harley was crying abt not being able to remember, lol crazy coincidence, Emerson let’s go bully harley’s.

yeah but Shirley has fucking crazy attachment issues and horrible death magic, so eventually one morning he does get REALLY upset abt his girlfriend leaving, like the whole tree (Thomas and Shirley live in a treehouse) is dying around him and Thomas is holding jr begging him to calm down, and Elianas finally like ‘hmm. Maybe this was a bad idea’ and that’s about where we are rn with that whole thing.

CAMP TIME: so as shown from chart above, there’s some ppl living in a lil forest camp together :) emi and graci moved there because they wanna learn how to hunt nightwalkers >:) there was a reason for it a couple years ago but they kind of forgot what it was (cough Shirley disappearing cough) but they’re still dead set on it! And lucky dink, as they’re moving to camp big Harley comes home to visit his brothers and ends up joining the camp for a bit since all 3 of his brothers are there! Camp Side of the story doesn’t have a ton of plot, mostly Harley low key having a crisis abt how busy his life at his actual home is and how everything feels so horribly off here even though hypothetically things haven’t changed much since he left and the twins fucking around and causing trouble around camp. Hallow thinks it’s funny that the stupid kids wanna hunt night walkers cus he is one, so he gives them the tip that theres a vampire in camp and they become dead set on it being Jane. All the kids like playing with Ben like he’s a whole ass jungle gym, he thinks it’s cute. kibi gets dragged around by emi and graci while they try to find the werewoof at the edge of town (sadly they only find Andy, darn, but he plays them some songs so not a total waste. also yes Andy is obviously the werewolf the twins are just stupid GDSHDSJD.) charlotte sits around crying and the other kids and counselors like to play a game where they all take turns trying to make her laugh (the first time the twins came to camp Emerson made her giggle, belle and Ben were so happy they were just sitting there sobbing bcus their girl finally smiled again, so Charlie quietly suggested they make it a new daily game because he hadn’t seen Ben and belle that hopeful in years :,) ). jr and Maria go around biting peoples ankles and collecting sticks. After hearing emi and graci talk abt town, Jane decided she wants to go visit town, Danny‘s super hesitant but the other 3 camp counselors all agree that since she’s 16 now she’s definitely old enough to go where she wants. While shes there she goes to a festival and meets Andy (17) and it’s nice :) also hallow has ero Boyf who visits sometimes and Danny’s got husb Sébastien who he and Jane visit a lot.

ya that’s pretty much all the plot stuff for now! there’s some more backstory stuff abt thomas dying with Charlotte watching and Shirley going missing and what not but yea that’s pretty much it :D

[spookybreadstick]

Hullo! I was hoping to request something. Idk if you know or heard of Kenny McCormick from South Park. If you don't then a little summary on him is that he's basically cursed with dying almost daily but coming back to life the next day. Nobody remembers him dying but Kenny does remember and also remembers the pain he felt when he died. I don't know if you have a character limit or not but if it's too much then you can choose what characters you'd like to do. How would Jeff, BEN, Liu/Sully, Masky, And Hoodie feel about the reader having the same kinda curse as Kenny?

I know absolutely nothing about South Park, so I’m just going off of what you described to me. I hope you like this and I’m sorry this took a minute. This was really fun to write, so thank you for the idea <3 

💖💞💖💞💖💞

🔪 Jeff with a s/o that dies and comes back to life each day 🔪

🔪 Jeff wouldn't believe you if you told him. 

🔪 Honestly, he'd be pretty upset that you'd “lie” to him like this and it would cause a fight. 

🔪 You'd eventually make up but he still wouldn't believe you. 

🔪 When people die, they're dead. That's it. End of story. 

🔪 Of course, there are some special cases. EJ didn't exactly die but he didn't not die. He was technically "reborn" as a demon. BEN and Sally both died, but they came back as ghosts. If you died but came back, you'd be a ghost-person, not a human-person. People don't just bounce back after they die, he of all people knows that. 

🔪 Your curse? Impossible in Jeff's mind.

🔪  It would take you a long time to convince Jeff that your curse is real. 

🔪 Once he does discover that you were telling the truth, he'll immediately be filled with regret. Why did he yell at you for “lying” to him? Why didn't he believe you?

🔪  He feels really bad about it, which is saying something because Jeff doesn't usually regret a lot of the things he does. 

🔪 He tries to make it up to you by protecting you the best he can. He will be by your side 24/7, ready to fight whatever comes your way trying to kill you.

🔪 If the curse persists anyway, he will go to Slender to ask for help breaking the curse. 

🔪 This is a big deal for Jeff, who hates to admit that he can't do something (in this case he can't protect you from the curse) and he hates to ask for help. 

🔪 He will do it for you though, because he loves you. 

🔪 You're one of the few people in this world that he actually cares about, and he doesn't want you to have to live with this curse anymore. 

🎮 BEN with a s/o that dies and comes back to life each day 🎮

🎮 BEN would think you're pranking him at first. 

🎮 You'd have to really convince him that it's not a joke, you're actually being serious. 

🎮 Once he realizes that you aren't kidding about this, he'll feel terrible about ignoring the seriousness of the situation. He might even cry. 

🎮 BEN remembers, although very faintly, how he felt when he died.

🎮  It breaks his heart to know that you're dying every single day and there's nothing he can do about it. 

🎮 Unlike Jeff, BEN doesn't believe that he can protect you from the curse.

🎮  His method of helping you is to hop on to the internet as soon as possible, so he can search for any information on your curse and what can be done to break it. He's going on a deep dive to the dark corners of the internet to get this info, and he'll spend hours researching if need be. 

🎮 BEN will then do whatever it takes to get whatever he needs to try out these methods of undoing the curse.

🎮 Depending on what he finds, he may actually be able to break the curse himself.

🎮 If he can't break the curse himself, he won't hesitate to ask Slender for help. 

🎮 BEN loves you and he doesn’t want you to have to live like this anymore (in all honestly, he’d rather have you join him in the after-life than continue to die and wake up as a living person each day). 

🧣 Liu/Sully with a s/o that dies and comes back to life each day 🧣

🧣 Liu would believe you right away, but Sully wouldn't. 

🧣 Sully is naturally skeptical about everything, while Liu is much more trusting, so this isn't really a surprise.

🧣 There are two different ways that you could go about explaining your curse, and it all depends on who is fronting at the moment. 

 If you explained your curse while Liu was fronting: 

🧣 You would get a very concerned Liu for a few moments, asking you every relevant question he can think of. 

🧣 Then Sully would front, and you'd have to put up with his passive aggressiveness. 

🧣 He doesn't believe you for a minute, and he'll make sure you know that with his attitude. 

🧣 Eventually you'd just have to give up and wait until Liu fronts again. 

🧣 Once he does, Liu wouldn't waste another minute before he goes running around the mansion looking for anyone who would have any more information on your curse. 

🧣 Liu doesn't know Slender and wouldn't feel comfortable asking him for help, but he'd do it for you if that was the last option.

 If you explained your curse while Sully is fronting: 

😈 Be prepared for him to yell. 

😈 He'll be angry because he thinks you're lying to him, and also making fun of their trauma in a way. 

😈 Liu was very close to death from the, uh, "incident" and Jeff even believed that Liu had come back from the dead when the two of them met again. So Sully thinks that you're making some sort of joke out of what Liu went through. 

😈 Yelling at you is his way of getting you to admit that you're “lying” about the whole thing. When you don't break down, he'll storm off for a while. Let him be. 

😈 Liu will front eventually, and he'll come running back to you. 

😈 You'll have to go over everything one more time, but then he'll be ready to help you however he can. 

😈 Sully, the next time he fronts, will apologize to you in his own way by being more affectionate than usual to try to make up for his earlier outburst (and to try to protect you as best he can. Liu doesn’t think he can protect you from this curse, but Sully does). 

🎭 Masky with a s/o that dies and comes back to life each day 🎭

🎭 Masky would be concerned for your mental health. 

🎭 He knows you wouldn't lie about something like this, nor would you joke about it with him (he certainly wouldn't find it funny) so this must mean that you're losing your marbles. 

🎭 He would make you go to EJ to be checked out. 

🎭 Once EJ gives you the clean bill of health, Masky would sit down with you and ask you to explain yourself. 

🎭 After you explain the situation, Masky will take you directly to Slender for help. I'm talking like as soon as the last words leave your mouth, he's dragging you by the hand towards Slender's office. 

🎭 There’s no hesitation on his part once he gets a clear picture of what’s going on.

🎭  He’s not going to just wait around for you to die again, he wants this to stop right now. 

🎭 You mean everything to him, and he can’t bear the thought of you dying each day while he is helpless. No, he needs to get Slender involved right away so that this curse can be broken. 

❓Hoodie with a s/o that dies and comes back to life each day ❓

❓ Hoodie would believe you right away. 

❓ He would know that this isn't something you'd joke about, and he'd take you seriously from the start. 

❓ He would first alert Masky to the situation. 

❓Better to have two people looking out for your safety than just one. 

❓ Next he would go to BEN to ask him what he knows about stuff like this, and he would apply any useful information that he'd get from BEN to your situation. 

❓ If that doesn't work, then he has no problem going to Slender for help with breaking the curse. 

❓ Since the two of you are in a relationship, in Hoodie’s mind that means his problems are also your problems and your problems are also his problems. 

❓ So this curse of yours? 

❓ You’re both in this together, and he’s not leaving your side.

~~~~

Note: If Slender can’t break your curse on his own, he would most likely be able to give you some kind of help, even if it’s just the name of a being who might be able to help you. Even if there’s nothing he can really do, all of the boys would do whatever they could to break this curse on their own. They’d never stop trying to save you from dying, they’d never stop looking for ways to break the curse, and they’d do whatever it takes to find somebody that could help you. 

~~~~~

[forthecoloredgirl]

HIS ANCHOR | BRUCE WAYNE (BEN AFFLECK)

For the past couple of months you watched silently as your boss became closer with a woman unfamiliar to you. She had first been a date Bruce had returned with one night, but she slowly started becoming a constent guest in the household. Of course you being the live in maid you couldn’t tell Bruce how you really felt about the woman’s presence or how you felt for him.

When you first started your job at the Wayne estate, you had only came in on the weekends, but that was until you found out about Mr. Wayne and his secret hobby. One night you were just about to leave, but you had forgotten your umbrella in the house so you had ran back in to grab it, but instead of finding your umbrella, you found your boss bleeding out onto the carpet. To you, you really did not have a choice, but to help him, so you immediately sprang into action and as a result of your quick thinking you saved his life.

Since than you were switched from just a weekend part time maid to a full time live in maid, that way you could help both Mr. Wayne and Alfred with Mr. Wayne’s special hobby. It had felt good to be in the loop and aiding in ultimately saving the city of Gotham, but you started to slowly fall for Mr. Wayne. You couldn’t understand how though, because after that night he began being very cold towards you. You would think after you saved someone’s life they’d be a little more grateful but no, not Mr. Wayne. He took a complete 360 with you. He would no longer greet you, but only nod your way. If you ever had any ideas for a mission he’d stare at you so intensely it would shut you up within a matter of seconds. You felt as if he didn’t want you there at all and that is what confused you the most when it came down to your feelings. How could you be so interested in a man whole barely paid you no mind and treated in such a way. 

However, for you it had been like your mind and heart would completely forget the times he was like this to you and wonder off into a day dream of one being something more to him. They started when you began looking at Mr. Wayne i a different light. You would watch how he’d throw himself into work, especially when it came to saving the city. How he cared for his city and the people in it made you admire him, but what really attracted you to him was his consistency. In whatever he did or said he’s be focused giving a constant like energy, which always required the utmost of his attention and his hard work. No matter how small or large it was for him he would complete it and made sure he did it to his best capacity. 

You would find yourself stuck in these day dreams of one day being that woman for Mr. Wayne, whenever you’d catch him stuck in trance trying to figure out how to solve a problem. All in all it was his heart that attracted you to him, but for you the only woman you were for him was a maid. A maid who was currently too busy in her own world of thinking to notice his baring glare. 

“Y/N.”

He growled, shaking you out of your trance. If it hadn’t been for your dark skin he would’ve been able to visibly see the heat that were rushing to your cheeks.

“Sorry Mr. Wayne. How may I be of assistance?”

“Could you please pay better attention? Miss. James here has been asking for a glass of water.” “Oh! Of course miss. My apologies to you both.”

You quickly sucrried off to fetch Miss. James glass of water, but on the way into the kitchen you accidentally bumped into Alfred. Saying a quick apology you tried to side step around Alfred, but her caught you by the arm.

“Y/N is everything alright? Master Bruce has expressed some concern.”

You were kind of shocked at that statement, seeing a this was the first time you ben caught up. Usually you were always on your toes as expected and did all you were required to do with grace. So to think of Mr. Wayne going to Alfred to complain kind of offended you, but you kept you cool and only smiled up at Alfred.

“No, nothing’s really wrong Alfred. Probably just sleepless.”

You said trying to convince him more than tell him. He only gave you a look before nodding and heading towards the bat cave. As soon as he wa out of site you went to get Miss. James her glass a water and returned to Mr. Wayne’s office. The only issue was that once you had returned Miss. James was gathering up her things.

“The glass of water is no longer needed Y/N. Miss. James is heading home. Might want to be quicker next time.”

You had to bite down on your tongue and catch yourself because the words that were going to escape from your mouth would be no good for anyone. So you just smiled and apologized to the both of them. After doing that you returned to the kitchen, dumped out the glass, and began to wash it. Once it was washed and dried you put away the glass in it’s rightful place and started your retreat to your room. However, Mr. Wayne had come from his office asking for you. Of course you obliged and followed him into his office. You didn’t know what to expecte upon entering his office, so you stayed silent and just stood in front of his desk as he took a seat.

“Y/N have you been sleeping well?”

He asked as he shuffled through some papers. Confused you nodded, it he didn’t look up so you spoke up.

“Uh, y-yes sir.”

“Are you telling me yes or asking?”

He responded, now looking striaght at you. Now that his eyes were fully on you, making you feel slightly uncomfortable. You were use to his looks, but this look was emitting anger and it was confusing you, because you weren’t sure if it was towards you and if it was towards you, why.

“Telling, sir.”

You said more confidently now.

“You sure about that? Because you haven’t been quite present these days.”

“My apologies sir, that you feel that way.”

Yes, you were obedient, but you weren’t going to take him trying to tell you that you weren’t doing your job over a simply delayed glass of water for his hoe. You didn’t fully know what he was implying, but you knew it was egging you on as you clenched your knuckles behind your back.

“Excuse me?”

He asked, wanting you to elaborate on your answer.

“I said, my apologies sir. Sorry that you feel that way.”

“And what way to I feel Y/N?”

“That I’m not present, as you’ve recently stated.”

Uh-oh. You could see him visibly tense and his jaw clench, but you weren’t taking any kind of bull from him at the moment. Yes, you were secretly in love with the man, but that wasn’t going to excuse his behavior towards you.

“Ok Y/N since that is how I feel-“

“Actually Mr. Wayne we’re done talking about how you feel. Time to talk about how about I feel and I feel that you should know I quit.”

Calmly you took of your apron and gently placed it down on his desk. Taking a deep breath you gave Bruce a small polite smile and quietly took your leave. You didn’t now if you were making a rash decision, but what you did know was that your heart was too confused for more hurt to keep attacking it. So you made the best choice for your sanity and left. Leaving his office you returned to your room, pulling out the old suitcase you first arrived with. Laying the suitcase down onto the bed, opened up, you began to neatly place your belongings into it. However, you didn’t get to place even two shirts into the case before Bruce came barging into your room.

His sudden entrance startled you, causing the garment of clothing to drop from your hands. He paid no mind to the fact that he scared the mess out of you and quickly made his way over to the bed closing the suitcase shut. He had closed it with so much force you thought the poor item was going to break.

“Mr. Wayne are-“

“No! You don’t talk!”

He roared, causing you to take a step back from the now heaving man. Was he okay you thought. You didn’t know quitting would cause such an issue, you thought you were finally relieving him from a “not present” employee.

“How can you think you can just leave?! Like all of this isn’t anything to you!”

“If you think I’m going to tell-“

“I SAID NO TALKING!”

Yeah that shut you up real quick. Especially now that he was no longer pacing and standing right in front you. You could see the fire in his eyes as you slowly back away from him, but he followed your steps up until your back hit a wall and he finally had you caged in. You looked around to avoid his burning glare. You were utterly confused and couldn’t think straight. Bruce was unpredictable at the moment and your emotions were everywhere.

All that could be heard was the heavy breathing between the both you. If you weren’t confused before, but now you were more confused. You didn’t even know how to react and Bruce was no help, he wasn’t saying anything. He was only staring at you, but you couldn’t decipher his emotions. Was he mad at you, if so why?

“Y-you can’t leave.”

He finally spoke up. Now he was looking down and he couldn’t face you.”

“Please don’t leave.

He said after another pause.

“O-okay Mr. Wayne. I think you just need to it down and think about-“

“I’ve already thought about it. You’re an anchor, my anchor and I’m falling in love with you.”

You had to run that back in your head a couple of times in your head, because nothing made sense. You could feel your heart pick up in pace and sweat start to form all over your body. You couldn’t believe it, you thought when this moment came you’d be over the moon, but it felt as if you were about to pass out.

“Okay I think I need to sit down.”

**NOT MY GIF**

**If you would like to repost my work please give credit**

**Part 2?**

tag/requested by: @allthingsgay007

[ur-not-reddie]

I have a request!

So, the losers all go to a cabin for the weekend, they’re all like NO BANGING GUYS, Mikes family owns it or something. Richie and Eddie have been together for a while, and the losers know, but Richie and Eddie are SUPER private. Like, one time Ben caught them kiss, but that’s it. Richie gets jealous because some cashier or something was flirting with Eddie. Eddie’s like “you know what Richie whatever” and he tries to ignore Richie, but Richie makes it very difficult (yknow, yknow). They end up fucking and whoever’s bedroom is next to theirs can hear them, and Eddie limps out the next morning all covered in hickies and everyone’s like sheesh what the fuck happened.

a/n: for context, this takes places after their first year in college and going back to derry that summer to meet up with the rest of the losers again :)

word count: 2.1k

-

All the Losers pull up to the cabin that Mike’s family is letting them use for the weekend. They all climb out of their cars, grabbing all of their belongings, bringing them inside as they all stumble through the front door. Everyone starts to look around, taking in the scenery.

“Before we get settled,” Mike says, getting everyone’s attention. “There are a few rules.” 

“Rules?” Richie asks in a mocking type of tone. 

“Yes, rules.” Mike says sweetly, flashing a genuine smile before explaining. “They’re fairly simple: clean up after yourselves, don’t ruin anything,” Mike glances quickly at Richie. “And lastly, no banging or hooking up!” Richie and Eddie exchange looks, a look that says ‘challenge accepted’. 

The Losers all grab their belongings and split off into separate rooms. Mike in the main front bedroom, Beverly and Ben in one room, Stan and Bill in the other, while Richie and Eddie take the last back bedroom. Eddie opens the door, Richie following in after him. Richie shuts the door, snaking his arms from behind Eddie and pulling him close. 

“Eds,” Richie whispers in Eddie’s ear, pressing soft kisses to the back of his neck. Eddie closes his eyes, letting out a pleased hum as he leans back into Richie. Eddie’s about to lose himself in Richie's touch when Mike’s words start ringing in his ears. 

“Richie, we can’t.” Eddie says as he gets out of Richie’s warm embrace and turns to face him. “Remember what Mike said?” 

“Oh, I remember.” Richie smirks as he grabs at Eddie’s hips, pulling him close again. “That doesn’t mean I’ll follow them.” 

“I know, because you never do.” Eddie gives a soft laugh as he backs up again, heading to the door. “But later…” he winks terribly as he exits the room. Richie rolls his eyes playfully, shaking his head as his mind wanders off to all the things he wants to do with Eddie while following after him. 

They meet the rest of the Losers in the living room where they’re watching a scary movie while eating homemade pizza and sitting by the fireplace. Richie and Eddie grab plates, getting slices of their own and joining the others who are sitting on the floor. And Eddie, who’s the most scared, occasionally jumps, hiding his face in Richie’s arm. Richie so badly wants to put his arm around Eddie, hold him tightly as he tells him it’s all fake and just a movie, but Richie refrains. 

The thing is with these two is that they are secretly together even though it’s not so much of a secret to the others. They’re such a tight knit group, and they know each other so well that they can read each other like a paperback book. Thankfully, they’re all respectable and don’t pressure Richie and Eddie to come out. 

After the movie is over, they all take care of their dishes, help clean the kitchen before they all split off into their rooms. Richie grabs at Eddie, pushing his back into the wall as he traps Eddie’s lips with his own in a needy kiss. Eddie kisses back, standing up on his tiptoes, entangling his fingers in Richie’s thick, dark hair. Richie then slips his tongue inside Eddie’s mouth, exploring a little harshly.

“R-Rich,” Eddie says against Richie’s lips, giggling as he breaks the kiss. “What’s gotten into you?” Eddie lets out a few more giggles. 

“What do you mean? I just want you like always.” Richie smirks with a purr.

“I know, but it’s more than usual.” Eddie says, eyes going wide as he realizes how that could possibly be taken the wrong way. “I don’t mind it, trust me, I really don’t.” Eddie bats his eyes at the other. Richie sighs, his smirk slightly fading. 

“It’s just, before we came here, I saw the cashier looking you all up and down like you’re some fucking three course meal!” Richie exhales heavily in frustration, rubbing the back of his neck. 

“Richie,” Eddie can’t help but let out even more giggles. “It means nothing. I like you and I want you... In every way all the time.” Eddie runs his hands over Richie’s clothed chest. “Those other people can look at me however they want, but I only see you.” Eddie says sincerely. 

“Fuck,” Richie exhales as he cups Eddie’s face, smashing their lips back together. Eddie lets out a surprised squeak, but kisses back just as intensely. 

Richie picks Eddie up and lays him down on the bed, settling between Eddie’s legs as he hovers over him. He keeps the kiss intense, exploring a bit more before Richie starts kissing along Eddie’s jaw and down his neck. Eddie lets heavy sighs escape past his swollen lips, tilting his head to the side as Richie slides his hands under Eddie’s shirt. He takes it off of Eddie and lets it fall to the floor as he starts sucking dark bruises along Eddie’s neck and collarbones. 

“Oh god, Richie.” Eddie lets out a deep moan, covering his mouth with his hand as he keeps thinking of the rules that Mike talked about. 

“I’m hardly touching you, baby. Just kissing and sucking and you’re acting like a bitch in heat.” Richie teases with a growl, his already dark eyes growing even darker with lust. Eddie’s cheeks burn bright red, his eyes shifting downcast for a second, then meeting Richie’s gaze again. 

“I’m sorry,” Eddie says sheepishly causing Richie to chuckle. 

“Don’t be sorry, baby, I love how desperate you get for me.” Richie kisses at Eddie’s lower belly, still keeping eye contact with him. He then takes off his own shirt before popping the button on Eddie’s jeans and slowly. 

“Please,” Eddie begs. “Please don’t tease me.” Eddie lets out a whimper. 

“Alright, baby, I won’t.” Richie hums honestly as he slides Eddie’s jeans off of his legs and lastly his boxers. “So stunning,” Richie exhales, he never fails to compliment Eddie; never failing to make him feel as good as possible. 

“No, no, I can’t be the only one who’s naked.” Eddie raises an eyebrow, giving Richie a testing look. Richie hums, also raising an eyebrow as he finishes undressing. 

“Hands and knees,” Richie orders gently. Eddie does as told, leaning down to press the side of his face against the mattress. 

Richie runs his hands softly over Eddie’s ass, massaging and squeezing gently. Eddie closes his eyes, smiling at the soft actions. Richie repeats this for a bit before suddenly spreading his ass wide open and licking a slow stripe at his entrance, Eddie letting out a surprised and loud squeal. 

“Wow, baby.” Richie chuckles. 

“I… I wasn’t expecting that.” Eddie’s words are muffled, burying his whole face in the pillows, feeling way past embarrassed. 

“I know, we haven’t done this in a while, huh?” Richie smirks, making Eddie uncover his face. “I want to see your beautiful face twist and turn as I eat you out,” 

Richie spreads Eddie’s legs more, making him all wide and open before he licks back at Eddie’s hole. Eddie bites down on the pillow, gripping the sheets so hard his knuckles turn white. Richie then starts to swirl his around, occasionally poking his tongue inside. 

“Rich!” Eddie’s moans are muffled, Richie growling, grabbing the pillow and throwing it to the floor. 

“I want to fucking hear you!” Richie growls louder, smacking Eddie’s ass harshly, causing him to squeak. Richie then starts working his tongue harder and faster, making Eddie anything but quiet. “That’s it, good boy.” Richie pulls back, sucking in his fingers briefly before sliding one inside of Eddie. 

“O-oh fuck!” Eddie mewls, eyes rolling in the back of his head. Richie pumps his finger slowly at first but is not satisfied when Eddie hushes his sounds, so Richie picks up the pace and adds a second finger. 

“Richie! Richie, please!” Eddie’s voice quivers, nearly in tears as his cock is leaking desperately. 

“Please what?” Richie asks in faux innocence. 

“Oh, fuck you! You know what I want!” Eddie groans in frustration as he turns over and lays on his back to face Richie. 

“God, you’re pushing it. You’re lucky we’re at where we’re at or you’d so be punished.” Richie’s eyes narrow down at the other. 

“Oh we truly are lucky, aren’t we?” Eddie keeps testing the water, trying his best to hold back his devious smile. 

“That’s it,” Richie says, grabbing Eddie’s ankles and pulling him down, Richie having Eddie wrap his legs around his waist. “When we get back home, you are in major trouble.” 

Eddie lets out a nervous laugh, knowing he is in absolute trouble when they do get back home, but he doesn’t show it. Instead, he cups Richie’s face and brings him down with a rough kiss, Richie returning the action as he teases his cock against Eddie’s aching hole before pushing all the way in. Eddie breaks the kiss, gasping as he throws his head back, back arching as he digs his nails into Richie’s shoulders. 

Richie thrusts at a rapid and somewhat aggressive pace. He pins Eddie’s hips to the mattress as the tip of his cock rubs against his prostate causing Eddie to be anything but quiet. Eddie opens his eyes, panting heavily as he scrapes his nails down Richie’s back, Richie hissing in gratification. 

“Are you going to cum?” Richie asks in a low, husky tone that sends shivers down Eddie’s spine. 

“Yes! Please, please?” Eddie whines, eyes starting to glaze over. 

“Go ahead, baby, cum for me!” Richie demands, grabbing Eddie’s dick and pumping him in the same rhythm as the thrusts, Eddie cumming almost immediately, hole tightening around Richie’s length, causing Richie to cum inside of Eddie uncontrollably. “Fuck,” Richie moans, exhaling a shaky breath, heart punching at his chest. “That was so fucking good.” Richie whispers as he rests his forehead against Eddie’s. 

“It really was,” Eddie smiles, giving Richie an eskimo kiss. “Am I… Am I still in trouble when we get back home?” Eddie asks, batting his eyes, hoping Richie changed his mind. 

“Oh, most definitely.” Richie smirks and pulls out of Eddie, both cleaning themselves up before cuddling up into each other and falling asleep. 

The next morning, Richie is the first one awake. He turns over, looking at Eddie and smiling, thinking Eddie resembles a soft angel, although he would probably never tell him that. Richie grabs gently at Eddie, pulling him close to his body. “Good morning,” Richie greets in a sing-song type tone. Eddie shifts around, mumbling sleepily, eventually waking up. 

“Good morning,” Eddie says back, giving him a weak and tired smile back. 

“How’d you sleep?” Richie asks, raising a hand up to Eddie’s cheek, his thumb stroking gently. 

“Like a rock,” Eddie stretches and yawns. “How about you?” 

“Also like a rock,” Richie stretches well, before sitting both of them up. “We should get dressed and head out for breakfast, I think everyone else is in the kitchen.” 

“Okay,” Eddie says as he gives another yawn and stands up, taking a step and noticing how sore he is. He starts to get dressed, throwing on a clean shirt and a pair of sweats before looking at himself in the mirror, noticing that his neck is covered in hickeys. “God dammit, Richie!” Eddie raises his voice, running his fingers softly over the bruises. 

“Whaaaat?” Richie chuckles, standing behind Eddie and pressing small kisses to the top of his head. “Let’s go eat,” Richie says as he also throws on some comfy clothes. Eddie starts walking to the door, having a slight limp with how sore he is. 

“I’m going to need your sweatshirt, I don’t want them to see…” Eddie turns to face Richie, giving him puppy-dog eyes. 

“Of course,” Richie smiles as he grabs Eddie’s favorite hoodie of his. Eddie grins, taking it happily and throwing it on, covering his hickeys almost perfectly. “Okay,” Richie kisses Eddie’s head again before they walk out the door and into the kitchen. 

The rest of the Losers are in the kitchen, conversing until they see the two walk in, the chatter ceasing. They notice that Eddie is wearing Richie’s sweatshirt and limping, but they decide not to comment on it. They all know Richie and Eddie are together, but don’t pressure them to talk about it, they want the two to tell them on their own terms. The other’s greet the two, grab plates and start dishing up breakfast. That’s when Stan pulls Richie aside into another room, smacking him hard upside the head. 

“What the fuck, Stan?!” Richie raises his voice, rubbing the back of his head. 

“I could not sleep all night because of you two!” Stan groans. “All I heard was Eddie moaning and the headboard banging against the wall,” Stan rubs his temples in mere disappointment. “Look, I won’t say anything to anyone. Just, for the love of-” Stan cuts himself off. “Just please, follow the rules at least sometimes?” Richie laughs at Stan’s request and heads back out into the kitchen, joining everyone else again as they enjoy the rest of their time at the cabin.

[toothpastecanyon]

Dreams That Walk, Nightmares That Talk, Chapter 7

Ben's been visiting the Mindscape every day since he was born. Once he brought something back, and twenty years later, Marie García is still picking out the pieces.

See most updated version on Archive of Our Own.

______________________________________________________________

                Another time. Marie would admit she’s never been able to choose a good moment; she’s not really sure what that even means. She’s gonna have to say it at some point, so

                “Hi Marie!”

                                why not

                “Sorry I’m late, had a… rough summons. Ready for chess?”

                                                right now?

                “I need you to go into my mind and fix whatever’s wrong with it.” Marie gets out the chessboard, hesitates, and looks up at him. “What?”

                “Wh-what?” He’s staring at her like she’s grown a second head. “What do you mean?”

                “Like you offered before. You can still do that, right?”

                “Go into your head?” Alcor rubs his eye. “I mean, yeah, but… sorry, this is just kind of sudden. I thought you didn’t want me to-”

                “I didn’t forget, I know what I said.” She snaps, and then makes a face at his flinch. “Sorry. That came out harsh, sorry.”

                Quietly, Alcor takes a seat next to her. She can feel him watching her set up the pieces, can sense him waiting for her to go on. It takes a second, and then:

                “Look, I… I don’t like… I don’t like admitting when I need help.” She lines up the castles. “But I think I do, and I think you’re the only one who can. Help me, that is. God knows I’ve tried getting it from anywhere else, but half the time it doesn’t work and half the time I can’t be honest without getting Ben hauled off by demonologists.”

                “Sorry,” Alcor says, and she gives him a strange look.

                “What do you mean-? Oh. Oh, I wasn’t talking about you, I was talking about…” Marie stops herself. She sighs. “Well… that’s why I didn’t want anyone rooting around in my head. Obviously I didn’t want you at first because I didn’t trust you, but... I don’t want anyone in my mind. I don’t want anyone rooting around in my secrets. I still don’t.”

                “That’s understandable.”

                “But this isn’t sustainable. Not for Ben.” She picks up the king, runs her thumb down the grain. “I’ve been going in circles my whole life, I’m used to it, but after… after Ben ended up in the hospital, I promised him I’d get help, I’d get better, I’d stop pinning everything on him, or…” She hesitates, grips him tight. “He’s the only thing that matters to me. I can’t lose him. So I have to do this.”

                “Are you sure?” Alcor leans forward. “It, uh, really doesn’t sound like you want to do this. You don’t have to do this for Ben.”

                “Well, if Ben ends up cutting me off, there’s not much point carrying on. So I guess that means I’m doing it for me too, right?”

                Marie chuckles at that, but the look on his face tells her that didn’t come off as a joke. She clears her throat.

                “No, that’s not - I was just exaggerating. Don’t worry about it.”

                “Marie-”

                “Look, I’m not saying I don’t want to do this. Believe you me, I’d love to fix whatever’s wrong with me too. It’s just that, well, I have a lot of things I’d rather keep to myself. I mean, I like you, but there’s things I’ve never told Ben.” She places the king, then the queen. “Or Santino.”

                “Santino?”

                Marie looks up sharply at that, and then lets out a dark chuckle. “Yeah,” she says, and shakes her head. “You don’t know anything about me. Maybe that’s why you seem to like hanging out with me, right?” She keeps chuckling. “And then I let you in, and you’ll know better, right.”

                She trails off, and for a moment it’s all too quiet. Then there’s a sound: Alcor places a pawn. Nothing’s changed, but Marie feels something shift, like the air got a few degrees colder, the silence got a little bit more unsettling. Alcor places a pawn, and the sound is jarring.

                “There’s a lot you don’t know about me either.” He looks up at her with the same eyes she’s gotten used to, speaks in the same, casual tone she’s heard before, but underneath that is something… else. Something that sends a shiver down her spine. Alcor places a pawn, and she notices there’s dried blood under his claws. “Whatever you’ve done, Dr García, trust me when I say that I can’t judge.”

                Marie can only nod to that. It seemed when she first met Alcor, it’d be impossible to forget what he is, but the more she gets to know him, the more… unsettling it is, to be reminded.

                “Right,” She says, and clears her throat. “Well. It’s good to know that. So… will you do it?”

                “Of course I will.”

                “What would you like in return?”

                “What I’d like?” He looks at her… and then cracks a smile. “Do you want to play this game first?”

                “That’s it?”

                “I mean, I just came from some demonic weirdness; I’d rather take a second before diving into the next one. If you really want to do it right now, though-”

                “No, no, that’s okay. We can take a break.” She rose to her feet. “Do you want some tea? I was going to put the kettle on.”

                “Oh, yeah, thank you! And-”

                “Extra sugar?” She snorts as he nods. “Yeah, figured. I’ll get that going.”

                “Thanks!”

                “Thank you, Alcor.” Marie gives him a smile. “Thank you.

                They didn’t play one game; they played several, and then ended up on the couch together watching one of Alcor’s strange pre-transcendence movies. Marie isn’t really a TV person, but she did notice how he hadn’t been joking around so much today. It seemed like he really did need the break.

                (And of course she asked him on a bad day. She really couldn’t pick a moment, see?)

                Even though she isn’t focused too much on the movie, she does feel pleasantly warm and sleepy; her eyes are drooping, and she sinks into the couch and lets them. The dialogue dissolves into a distant murmur, the action into a gentle glow against her eyelids. She might even have started leaning against Alcor because she feels something like fabric against her cheek, but she can’t bring herself to mind. She drifts off, drifts away…

                “Do you want to do this now?”

                It’s a gentle voice, almost like it’s afraid to wake her. She opens her eyes, and suddenly she’s a little surprised about how awake she feels. She sees Alcor standing in front of her, blocking the television.

                “Oh, I’m ready if you are.” She frowns. “Don’t you want to finish your movie, though?”

                “Eh, you already fell asleep.”

                Marie blinks at that, and then looks around. Suddenly it strikes her how grey everything is, and when she looks down she feels a jolt at the sight of herself still resting on the couch.

                “Wha-”

                “Don’t panic!” Alcor holds his hands out. “You’ll wake yourself up. Everything’s okay.”

                “Is this my mind?”

                “No, no, I wouldn’t do that without your permission. This is just the Mindscape.” He gave an awkward smile. “I promise there’s a difference.”

                “I… see.” Marie looked down, and saw herself floating a little ways off the ground. Her leg was clipping through the couch. “Interesting.”

                “Yeah, it takes some getting used to.” He reaches out a hand. “Are you ready?”

                Marie nods. “I am,” she says, and takes it. “Let’s go.”

                She watches him close his eyes, and put a hand on her head. Nothing happens for a moment, then there’s the distinct, unsettling feeling of his hand sinking into her forehead-

                But only for a heartbeat. Marie blinks, and now Alcor’s standing beside her, and she’s somewhere else.

                Somewhere… dead.

                Ash rain is all Marie can make out at first. A thick cloud of grey surrounds her, settles on her, kills any sound but for the beating of her heart. It’s hard to move through, like the air is made of syrup, and Marie imagines that staying still for too long would bury her under this, that she’d reach a point where she couldn’t move at all, couldn’t see, couldn’t scream-

                “Let’s get moving.” Marie says.  She looks for Alcor, and finds him waist-deep in the grey. “Alcor? Do you need help?”

                He says something, but she can’t make it out. She grabs his arm and starts pulling him up.

                “Come on, Alcor. We need to get to my mind.”

                “This is wrong.”

                “What?”

                Alcor looks dazed, scared. The ash is up to his neck.

                “What is it, Alcor?”

                Slowly, he turns that expression on her, and she feels a shiver go up her spine.

                “This… is your mind.”

                “Okay. Is this not normal?”

                “Not normal? There’s nothing here!” He gestures, and shreddings of her mind follow the wake. “I don’t - I don’t even know how you’re alive right now! I feel nothing here, no thoughts, no memories… n-no soul!”

                That strikes a chord in Marie, but she tries to keep it contained for now. “Huh,” she strokes her chin. “But you felt souls within me. They have to be somewhere.”

                She looks down at Alcor, sinking into the ash, and then at her own feet. They’re a little buried, and she can feel a… warmth, the further down she lets them go.

                “Hmm.” She glances over at him again. “I think you have the right idea.”

                Alcor doesn’t reply; she can only see the top of his head now, and as she watches it’s swallowed up into the sea of ash. That left her standing there, trying not to extract herself as she sinks down to her shins.

                “Just do nothing. Let it happen.”

                Marie stands there for a moment, staring out into the grey. With nothing to do, she can pick out vague, dark shapes; a little unsettling, and the ash feels slightly… sharper, than she first thought.

                She wonders if this is a good idea, and that’s when a hand grabs her ankle. Marie jumps and kicks herself free… and finds herself right back on top of the ash. She pauses, then frowns.

                “Huh. This is literally my own mind playing tricks on me.” She kicks at the ash. “Fuck you, let me through already.”

                The ash is barely falling now, and she rolls her eyes.

                “Great. Maybe there’s another way through.” Marie starts pacing. “Or I could ask Alcor for help… would summoning work here? I wonder where he even went.”

                There was a mumbling from the ash. She looks down, and sees Alcor surface.

                “Marie!” He looks relieved. “There you are! I thought I’d lost you!”

                “Yeah, some mind guide you’ve been so far.”

Alcor makes a face. “Sorry. I was just… shocked.” He reaches out a hand. “Come on. You’ll want to see this.”

                “Something tells me I won’t, but sure.” She takes it. “Lead o-”

                He dives beneath the ash, and she manages only a gasp before- darkness. Worse than darkness: stillness. She breathes the weeks she spent wasting away in her bedroom, feels the stale air and stale thoughts scratching across her whole being. And it’s getting worse, getting hotter, getting to those nights when the air conditioner wasn’t enough and the sun was glaring down at her through the blinds and still she couldn’t even summon the energy to kick the fucking covers off of her-

                Light. Blinding light. Marie stumbles forward, eyes squeezed shut, and it’s all she can do to hold onto Alcor. She can feel his arm raise up to point.

                “Look.”

                “A little, little warning next time, thanks…” She blinks open her eyes, and then frowns. “Okay, I’m looking. What is it?”

                It is coming out of the centre of this narrow chamber. It is thin and narrow, pitted with holes like a termite mound. It has a dark, rocky hide to it, but small fissures reveal something underneath, something pink, something pulsating, something alive. She looks to Alcor, and sees he’s gone sheet white.

                “What is it?”

                “It’s…” He takes a step closer. “You. Your mind. Your soul. Everything that you are.”

                “Okay. How do we fix it?”

                “Wh- Marie, I-” He runs a hand through his hair. “I’ve been asked to heal souls before, but this is…” Another step closer, and he’s eye to eye with its peak. “I’ve never had so little to work with.”

                “Well, you’ve still got something to work with. What’s the first step?” She rolls her eyes at his bewildered expression. “Come on, Alcor. Walk me through how you’d usually treat something like this.” A pause. “Well?”

                “I’m sorry, I just…” His voice is faint. “No wonder I can barely feel your aura. I don’t know how you’re talking to me right now, I- Ow, you pinched me!”

                Marie draws her hand back. “Okay, the first step is to stop panicking. Now that you’ve done that, can you tell me what you do next?”

                “I, uh…” He tries to gesture to the mound. “Well, usually I’d step inside their mind to figure out what’s wrong, but-”

                “Okay. Is that possible?”

                Alcor pauses. “I guess… size is a lot less defined in the mind.”

                “It’s worth a shot, then.”

                “Yeah. Yeah!” He moves towards the mound, and shoots her a grin. “You’re good at this!”

                “At not panicking? It’s half my job.” She nudges him forwards. “Let’s go.”

                Alcor nods, and then lifts up his foot. He’s taller than the mound, but he steps his leg into it and seems to fit into one of the tiny holes. He offers his hand to Marie, and she takes it.

                “Ready?” He says, and she nods. “Alright. This is it.”

                He leans down, and Marie feels the world shrink around her as she’s led into the hole. She looks behind her, and there’s no opening where they came through. Before them, though…

                “Huh.” She raises her eyebrow. “It’s the old hospital I used to work at.”

                And it is… mostly. It’s the same mint green hallways she’d worked in for years, but there’s definitely something off about it. There’s no sound. The lights are dimmer. When she tries to read the room numbers, the words shift and twist and refuse to make sense. Stranger still, there’s something long and thin and red nestled against the baseboard, trailing into the darkness.

                “Doesn’t look so bad.” Marie turns to Alcor. “What do we do from here?”

                He looks uncomfortable. “Marie…”

                “What?”

                “It’s… I just…” He hesitates, and then shakes his head. “I’ll ask you later. What did you say?”

                “Where do we go from here?”

                “We, uh… well, we find where the extra souls are.”

                “I see.” She eyes the blood vessel as it gently pulsates. Cracks have formed around where it’s dug itself in. “Anything we should be cautious of?”

                “Doors are common mental representations of memories.” He makes a face. “Probably shouldn’t go around opening them, if we can help it. Or anything else that looks... significant.”

                “No, we shouldn’t.” She takes a step forward, and then motions for him. “Come on.”

                “I’m coming, I’m coming.”

                They walk forwards, keeping an eye out for anything unusual. There’s far more crossroads here than there are in the real hospital, Marie notices; it feels like every five steps they come across another path, and, for lack of a good reason to turn, they go straight every time. As they continue, she can pick up a faint hum… or a beep.

                Beep, beep, beep.

                                beep, beep, beep.

                                                one two three.

                The blood vessel in the corner branches off at the next intersection; they look like they’re going in all directions at first, but she blinks and-

                                                right right right

                The right path. The only path. It’s covered from floor to ceiling in hot wet viscera, and she feels her heart skip a beat.

                                                right right right rightleftright RIGHTRIGHTRIGHT

                “I guess we know where we’re going, huh?” She can distantly hear Alcor’s nervous chuckle. “You okay?”

                “I’m fine.” Marie takes a step forward with her right foot. “I’m fine. I’m fine.”

                Make it right. Now that she hears the beeping it’s deafening; now that she notices the right path, it compels her to go that way every time. They take three more rights, and she can start to feel Alcor’s worried eyes on the back of her head like she doesn’t know that she’s just leading them in circles now. She’s not an idiot.

                Another intersection comes up, and she eyes the path straight ahead. She’s not an idiot.

                                (shes-(shes-

                She steps forward, and suddenly the beeping is screaming, the ground is shaking, the walls are pressing in around them. She can hear Alcor shout something as her feet give way beneath her and she’s falling, falling, falling…

                “Hey.”

                Marie feels a hand on her arm. She recoils.

                “Are you okay, mi cielito?”

                “I…” She stares at the kettle she’s reboiled five times now. “I don’t know. I don’t know.”

                “Okay.”

                “I look like an idiot, don’t I.”

                “No, you don’t.”

                “I do. Of course I do, I-”

                “I’ve never thought that once.” She can feel him standing next to him, thinking. “Is there anything I can help with, today?”

                “I… I don’t know.” A chuckle. “You could boil this for me over and over again, heh… no.”

                “I can’t help you do that to yourself.”

                “I know.”

                A pause. Marie blinks, and looks at her hand. It’s smooth, devoid of wrinkles.

                “How about if you go to the living room, and I make you some tea?”

                “Santino?” She watches his eyes disconnect from her, wave at where she once shuffled around the corner. She backs away. “This isn’t real, this is - memory. I need to get out of here.”

                “Is there anything I can help with, today?”

                That came from Santino. Her head whips up, and he’s picking out a mug. No one else is in the room.

                “What?” She steps closer. “Santino?”

                A heartbeat later, she feels something grab the back of her scrubs and pull. She stumbles back into the hospital, and Alcor breathes a sigh of relief.

                “I found you!” He laughs nervously. “Again. Are you okay? Everything kind of broke apart for a second there.”

                Marie nods. “I’m… okay. I-“

                “Oh, whoa.”

                She watches his eyes go wide. “What?” She asks, and follows his gaze to…

                The doorway. Or doorways - it looks like it’s duplicated inside of itself, and the frame’s taken on a W-shape. Right in the centre, fitted like a keystone, is something small, something glowing, something that makes her heart skip a beat.

                “A soul,” she breathes. Through the doorway, she can see Santino taking a mug of tea into the living room. “What happens now? Alcor?”

                Alcor steps forward, and with one hand he reaches up to the soul. She can see him frown, and then before she can speak again he steps back and tries to yank it out; a pain shoots through her temple at that, and her blood runs cold.

                “St- stop! Stop!” She pushes his arm. “You’re gonna break me, stop!”

                “Marie!” There’s hands on her shoulders. “I’m so sorry! Are you okay?”

                “I’ll be… fine.” She rubs her head. “As long as you don’t start yanking parts of me out again. What was that for?”

                Alcor makes a face. “I’m sorry. I thought it’d work - souls don’t exactly like being in close proximity to each other.” He sighed. “I’ve never… I’ve never seen this. I don’t know how it got integrated into your mind, but you’re right. It’s not going to come out easy.”

                Marie stares at the soul. She reaches up, touches it, feels along the edges. There’s a definite seam there, but it’s thin.

                “Huh. I wonder…” She looks over at him. “Scalpel.”

                “What?”

                “Hand me a scalpel.”

                He raises an eyebrow, but he digs in his pocket and draws one out. Marie positions herself over the soul, and gently traces the blade along the edge. When nothing breaks, she slides it in a little deeper, and feels the soul loosen.

                “Forceps.”

                “Huh?”

                “Forceps?” Marie looks down at him. “Oh, just hand me some tweezers or something, I don’t want to drop this.”

                She feels him slip a pair into her hand, and she gently holds the soul in place while she runs the scalpel down the other edges. It’s very, very loose when she’s done - just the slightest tug, and it comes away.

                The soul is gently glowing between her forceps. The door before her shifts in her absence, straightens into a regular doorway. She looks at the memory, and it’s from her point of view, in the living room. She looks up at a gentle knock, smiles as Santino comes through with a cup of tea.

                She looks down at the soul cupped in her hands. It’s warm, and she feels a tap on her shoulder.

                “You did it.” Alcor smiles. “Give it to me.”

                “What are you going to do with him?”

                “Don’t worry, I won’t hurt it. I just want to release it back into the cycle.” His smile shrinks a little. “It’s where it wants to go.”

                Marie hesitates, but she can feel a sort of restlessness to the soul; little arms of light are trying to worm their way through her fingers. She holds him out, gently places him into Alcor’s hands, and watches him blow on the soul. He fades away, leaving nothing behind.

                “There.” Alcor dusts off his hands. “It’s at peace now. When there’s enough of it back in the cycle, it can reincarnate into someone new.”

                “I see,” she says, quietly. She stares at his hands a moment longer… and then tears her eyes away.

                Turns to look at the hallway of embedded souls stretched out endlessly before them, glittering like the night sky.

                “I see.” She says. “I have a lot of work to do.”

                “Marie-” There’s something in Alcor’s tone that makes her glance at him. He won’t look her in the eyes. “I… uh… listen, I don’t want to pry, but…”

                “You want to know how this happened, don’t you.”

                “I just - I’m sorry I was… less prepared for this, than I made myself out to be.” He stared at the hallway of souls. “Truthfully, I’ve never seen anything like this. I don’t want to make you feel weird, like saying you should be dead or something, but- you should be dead. I’ve only seen damage like this in ancient ghosts and - I don’t know, souls I’m halfway through eating.”

                He barks a laugh. It isn’t a funny sound.

                “So I guess I can’t lie, I wanna know what happened. If you want to tell me.” He blinked. “And I mean, if you even know. Do you?”

                Marie pauses, and gives a grim smile. “Oh, of course I know what happened.” Her eyes trail back to the door, to Santino sitting with her on the couch. Her expression darkens.

                “The time I killed my husband. I could never forget.”

[just-jordie-things]

Hot Dream - Richie Tozier

word count: 5467 warnings: swearing, it’s not smutty but there’s like.. themes of boning ya feel summary: (y/n) has a really steamy dream... about the person she’d least expect.  And when Richie finds out it’s about him, he can’t help but tease her a bit ___

You hummed into Richie’s mouth as his hands traveled lower, just barely ghosting the curve of your ass, as his slender fingers slipped under the hem of your shirt, and tracing with a feather light touch to the dip of you back.

You shivered, and instantly arched your back, pressing your chest and hips further against him.  You could feel him smirking against your lips, and he broke the kiss.

He was an excellent kisser, it was like he could anticipate your every move, and sensually kiss you in sync.  His mouth was hot against yours, the perfect contrast to his freezing fingers on your skin.

“Are my hands cold, baby?” He asked in a teasing voice before gripping your hips.

You shivered again, but you giggled as you nodded your head.

“You want me to let go then-?”

“Don’t you fucking dare” You muttered before he could take his hands off of you.

He chuckled, and fully pressed his lips against yours.

Finally, he knew how to put that mouth to good use. ___

“Wow…” Beverly monotoned.  “That’s… actually really dirty”

“I know,” (y/n) grumbled, putting her face in her hands.  “It came out of fucking nowhere”

“I can’t believe you had a hot dream about Richie”

“Please don’t talk so loud,” (y/n) muttered, eyes wandering the library to make sure no one could hear them.  “Bev, I need your help here, what am I supposed to do?”

Her dream last night had been… really good.  Really good.  But she’d never even looked at Richie that way before, so to have such a… dirty dream about him was turning her inside out.  They’d been friends forever, and she’d always liked him, as a friend, or so she thought.  But sometime in high school he shot up like a tree, and the features of his face became a little more defined, his voice deepened, and the other girls at school were starting to notice Richie Tozier’s sudden… hotness.  (y/n) wasn’t immune to it, she could see clear as day that her friend was attractive.  But she’d never really had a second thought about it until last night.

The red head giggled, shaking her head.

“I don’t know, girl.  You’re the one with a trashmouth kink,” (y/n) glared at her, while she burst into laughter.  “Maybe you have a thing for being called baby? I mean, how many times in that story-”

“Okay, I’m done, you’re no help at all”

(y/n) gathered her things from the desk and shoved them all into her backpack haphazardly.

“Alright, I’ll be serious, don’t leave,” Beverly said quickly.  “Come on, maybe it’s simple”

“What do you mean?” (y/n) sighed dreadfully.

“Maybe you just have a crush on him” She said with a shrug. ___

It had been a few days since her dream, and since telling Beverly about it.  And (y/n) was on edge.

She barely hung out with the Losers all together, not when Richie was there, anyways.  She still studied with Bill, Stan, and Eddie, and she still spent most of her free time with Beverly, but if they were doing something that Richie would be at, she made up an excuse and hid at home.

There was no way she was going to risk seeing him.  She knew that she would inevitably embarrass herself, and then he would tease her, and she just couldn’t have that.

Not to mention, for the past week she’d been dodging him in class, in the halls, at lunch, it was starting to become noticeable.

Richie would wave at her while she was at her locker, and she would turn the other way and race to class.  He’d ask to partner up for a lab and she would lie and say she already had a partner, only to do the entire project by herself.  And when he walked into the cafe for lunch, she made up an excuse about needing to study, and ate lunch alone in the halls.

And Richie was starting to catch on to her peculiar behavior.

If he couldn’t track her down to tell him what was up, he’d just have to go to the next best thing.

“Beverly,” He gave the girl a cheesy grin, and leaned up against the locker next to hers all too casually.  “How ya doing sweetheart?”

“Whatever the hell it is you want, the answer’s no” The red head told him, not even looking in his direction as she grabbed her books.  

“I’m not up to anything,” Richie said, putting his hands up innocently.  “Promise”

“Right,” She mumbled back.  “What is it then?”

“You’re (y/n’s) best friend, right?” He asked, and she nodded her head, but gave him a confused look.

“Why?”

“Because, she’s been ditching me all week and I want you to tell me why”

“Sounds like that’s you business with her, not me,” Beverly said with a smirk.  “Just man up and ask her yourself”

“See, I would, but you must’ve missed the part where I said she won’t talk to me,” He said, voice thick with sarcasm.  “So could you help a buddy out and just spill? Because I know she’s told you why-”

“I’m not gonna gossip about my best girl to you,” Beverly told him, shutting her locker and narrowing her eyes at the boy.  “Why don’t you just figure it out and talk to her,” A knowing smirk tugged on her lips.  “I’m sure that’ll go over well”

Richie’s brows furrowed as she licked her lips and walked away.

What the fuck does that mean?

Maybe he’d have to try the next best thing. ___

“O-oh, yeah, she’s r-really ignoring you” Bill said with a chuckle.

He’d decided that if he couldn’t get the information out of who (y/n) spills to, he’d get it out of who Beverly spills to.  And sure enough, Bill knew what was up.

“I know that, what I wanna know is why the fuck she is!” Richie shouted, making heads turn as the other students in study hall glared at him for his loud mouth.

“More like w-what you d-didn’t do” Bill snickered, only furthering Richie’s confusion.

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

“It m-means,” Bill leaned closer to speak quietly to his friend.  “(y/n) h-had a dream a-about you”

“So?” RIchie asked, still at full volume.  “That’s not that fuckin weird, and it’s definitely not an excuse to ignore me-”

“A hot dream” Bill clarified, voice void of his usual stutter.

For once, Richie was speechless, and Bill was laughing as he went back to doing his homework.

Well, that was certainly an interesting piece of news. ___

(y/n) had been minding her own business in the school’s library, copying the chem notes that she was lucky enough to get from Ben since she’d started skipping the class entirely.  It was just too risky.  It felt like Richie was always looking her way trying to get her attention, and it was distracting.

She didn’t like skipping classes, it made her uncomfortable, and she really didn’t want to get detention, but maybe detention was the lesser of two evils here.

Bill Denbrough wandered up to her, and took a seat across from her.

“Hey,” He greeted, with his always-so-pleasant smile.  She smiled back, silent as she went back to her notebook.  “S-so some of us are g-gonna go to the arcade.  F-for food and games a-and stuff”

“Sounds fun,” She hummed, setting down her pen.  “Who’s going?”

He knew she was going to ask that.  

“M-me, Bev, and M-Mike,” He said.  “M-maybe Eddie t-too.  He’s n-not sure yet.  B-but Ben had a l-lot of homework, St-Stan’s grounded and Richie said h-he wasn’t up f-for it”

“Okay,” (y/n) shrugged.  “When should I head over?”

“Seven-ish, w-we’re waiting until Mike’s done with his s-schoolwork”

(y/n) gave a half smile, feeling bad that Mike was always doing schoolwork.  Being homeschooled and having to work on his grandfather’s farm was hard on him.  But at least he could hang out with them tonight.

“Sounds good, see you then” ___

Bill Denbrough was a no-good-mother-fucking-liar and (y/n) had never wanted to hurt the sweet boy before but dear god she wanted to hit him with a car right now.

When she walked into the arcade, there, sat at the table, were her friends.  Bill, Beverly, and Mike, as promised.

And then there was Richie fucking Tozier.

He looked up at her as she approached the table, a smirk on his face.  As though even he knew he wasn’t supposed to be here.

“Finally! You made it!” Beverly said excitedly, and gestured for her to sit.

But both sides of the booth were full.  Bill and Bev on one side, and Richie and Mike on the other.

“I’ll grab a chair-”

“Nonsense, you can sit with me” Richie spoke, and the next thing she knew he was tugging her to sit next to him.

She was pressed up against him completely, and his arm was wrapped around behind her to keep her from falling off the seat.  Before she could object and go find a chair to pull up to the table, Mike went back to talking about something that happened on the farm.

(y/n) tried to listen, she did, but it was hard when Richie consumed every single one of her senses.  From the way he held her tightly against his side, to the smirk on his lips every time he looked down at her, and fuck he smelled good.

She kept herself occupied by stealing cheese fries off the large plate on the table, and doing her best to listen to what Mike was saying.

She made it about ten minutes before Richie was pestering her again.  His fingers were tapping on her shoulder.  It was just a little beat at first, and then it was a constant tap, and now he was rubbing circles.  She thought it was just him being his usual nonstop-moving self.

It was driving her crazy, and she shifted in her seat, trying to put a little distance between their bodies.  Not that it was possible without falling out of the booth.

Richie’s arm dropped to wrap around her waist, his hand firmly holding onto her.  He lowered his head so that when he murmured only she could hear.

“Something wrong, baby?”

He said it so casually, in a voice so low that a shiver went down her spine, and he smirked when he noticed.

(y/n’s) eyes shot up to look at him, taken aback from the pet name.  Richie never called her that.  It was always toots, or hotstuff, or sugar.  The only time she’d ever heard him call her baby was in….

Her eyes widened.

“N-no” She stammered back, and his smirk only widened.

“You sure? You look kind of pale”

She swallowed and nodded.  Her voice was untrustworthy.

In fact, she didn’t talk much the rest of the time they were eating.  And everyone noticed.

Except Mike, who wasn’t in on the gossip to know what was going on.  As far as he knew, Richie was just being his weird teasing self as usual.  Nothing to even question.

He didn’t notice Beverly’s knowing grin, and Bill’s eyes constantly wandering between the cuddled up pair.  Hell, Mike was sat right next to Richie, and still couldn’t see the drastic change in his  and (y/n’s) demeanor.

It made for an amusing evening for Richie Beverly and Bill.  (y/n)... not exactly.

When Bill suggested they play games, she practically leapt out of the seat, shoving Richie’s hand off of her and making her way to the arcade as quickly as possible.

“You’re stupid” Beverly said to Richie discreetly with a shake of her head.

“Y-yeah, what are y-you trying to d-do, seduce h-her?” Bill asked.

Richie just rolled his eyes, shaking his head and standing to follow after (y/n).

“Wait, what?” Mike asked, looking at the remaining two friends.  “Does Richie have a crush on (y/n)?”

Bill and Beverly burst into giggles, only furthering Mike’s confusion.

“Does everyone know something I don’t?”

“Yep,” Beverly said, popping her lips.  “Richie’s just messing with her cause she had a sexy dream about him”

Mike’s eyes nearly popped out of his head, and his jaw dropped open.  He looked more shocked than Richie had when he’d found out.  

“Are you serious?”

The others just laughed at him, and made their way off to play games, despite Mike’s begging for more answers.

Richie was talking to (y/n), as expected.  She was at the change machine, trying to get her dollar smooth enough that it would read it, while he leaned over her and tried to convince her to play Street Fighter with him.

“I have a high score to beat” She muttered back, intently focused on rubbing the dollar over the side of the machine to smooth out it’s wrinkles.

“Oh really?” He chuckled, and she nodded her head.  “I don’t believe you”

She glanced over at him, only intending to do so for a second, but his eyes were so concentrated on her that it was hard to look away once they met.  His brows were furrowed a bit, as if he were studying her.

“Fine” She mumbled, licking her lips which suddenly felt very dry, and finally slid her dollar into the machine.

Richie grinned, clapping his hands once, very loudly, enough that she jumped a bit.

“Excellent” He said, and leaned in to kiss her cheek, and squeeze her hip.

She practically whirled around when he pulled away, watching him confusedly.

“I’ll go save the machine, baby” He said, and headed off without another word.

She grabbed her change from the machine, and then stormed over to where Beverly and Mike were playing skee-ball.

“You told!” She hissed at the red head.

“What?”

“You told-” Her eyes wandered to Mike, but then shook her head as if to say fuck it, and continued on anyways.  “You told Richie that I had a dream about him!” Her hushed scream was embarrassed, but the blush on her face already told her that.

Mike began to laugh, while Beverly shook her head.

“No I didn’t.  I mean… I didn’t tell Richie…”

“What?” (y/n) squeaked.  “Who did you tell then?”

Beverly winced, and glanced over to Bill where he was playing Pac-Man.

“Bill?” (y/n) groaned.  “That’s just as fucking bad! He’s Richie’s best friend-”

“So?”

“So,” (y/n) stressed the word.  “He probably told Richie”

“So?” Bev repeated.  “Is that so bad?”

(y/n) blinked, and that was enough of an answer.

“Come on.  He’s been flirting with you all year, and he’s been all over you tonight.  You’re loving it”

“I’m not”

“Well I didn’t exactly see you pushing him away,” Beverly said with a smirk.  “(y/n/n), I know you, and I love you.  If you didn’t want his hands on you then you would’ve punched him in the face-”

“Okay okayokayokay” (y/n) shut her eyes and shook her head before Beverly could say anything else that would embarrass her.

“Just go bang one out” Mike said simply.

(y/n) sputtered, and she swore she could’ve died right there.  Right on the skee-ball ramp.  It was a pitiful way to go, sure, but at least she’d get out of this conversation.

Beverly was giggling, but only because it was strange to hear Mike say something so… vulgar.  

“Go on.  We’ll leave you alone,” She told her friend, pushing her slightly towards the Street Fighter machine.  “And have fun” She murmured in a low voice, giving (y/n) a wink before going back to skee-ball.

As (y/n) made her way back to Richie, she mulled over her options.

Beverly… wasn’t wrong.  She did like the attention, the touching, the pet name… she got a little lost in thought as she recalled the events of her dream and what happened at the table.

Richie did have a nice looking face… and… body…

“What took you so fucking long?”

Her brows drew together as she stared at the boy for a moment.

She wondered if he was as good of a kisser as she’d dreamed him up to be.  And she certainly would like to find out.  But she wasn’t 100% sure that he even knew about it.  He might’ve just been messing with her just for the sake of it.

“I was talking to Bev,” Her answer was delayed, and she shrugged a shoulder.  “You didn’t have to wait up for me”

“Had to make sure some punk kid wouldn’t hog the game,” Richie said, putting his quarter in.  “That one over there was eyeing it for a while”

(y/n) slid her quarter into the slot before glancing over to where he gestured.

“Richie,” She giggled, “That kid looks like he’s six years old-”

“Yeah, a six year old that’s gonna try and beat my score” He said, looking over at her seriously, except for the smile on his face.

He was very close, the game wasn’t that big so they were already standing side by side to play together.

She quickly and bashfully turned her head away, picking her character on the screen.

“Are you gonna keep staring at me or are you going to choose your fighter?” She asked, and it took every ounce of confidence in her to glance up at him, raising a brow.

He smirked at her, before turning his attention to the game, and choosing his fighter.

The first round was over fast, because (y/n) had started it early and beat him quicker than he’d ever been beaten before.  He called her a cheater, but she told him she was just practicing her trade.

“Your trade?” Richie repeated.  “This is my game”

“Maybe not anymore” She said playfully with a shrug, and landed a few punches on his character.  

Richie just laughed, and beat her in seconds.  He let out a victorious laugh, and she narrowed her eyes at him.  He returned the look, and then continued on to round three.

“Want to put a little wager on this one?” He asked, in a tone that made goosebumps crawl over her skin.  “Since we’re tied”

“What kind of wager?” She asked, and then cursed when her fighter got knocked down.

“Like… if you win, I’ll do your chem homework for a week” He suggested.

“And if you win?” She asked.

“Then you have to fess up to why you’ve been dodging me all week”

(y/n) thought for a moment, losing her focus on the game as she weighed her options.

“Do my homework for two weeks” She bargained.

“Fine,” Richie shrugged.  “You’ve got a deal, baby”

And there was that word again.  And made her stomach drop and her heart beat a little harder in her chest.

She had to win this round.  There was no way she could look Richie in the eyes and lie to him without him catching her, and there was definitely no way she could tell him about-

Oh no.

The machine made a little depressing tune as her character was knocked out, and Richie beat her.

Oh no.  No no no no no.

“I win” He said, like she didn’t already know, and give her a big grin.

She stared at the screen a minute longer, in denial that she’d really lost that fast.  And when it faded to black, and then to the Start Game page, she knew her fate was sealed.  When she looked up at Richie, he was still grinning, and tugged on her arm so she’d walk with him.

“Come on, I’ll beat you at skee-ball too”

She was grateful that he at least didn’t cash in on what she owed him right away.  But maybe if he already knew the reason, then he was smart enough not to ask her about it while they were still in public.

She tried to calm her nerves, even her breathing and ignore the rapid beating of her heart while they played their next game.  But she was so goddamn anxious that she was failing to get any of the balls into the rings, and they all slid up the ramp and into the pit.

“(y/n), I don’t mean to be cruel,” Richie spoke when he finished his game next to her, because he’d actually played it.  “But you really suck at this”

She laughed shyly, shaking her head and picking up her fourth skee-ball.  He could see her hands were shaking as she rolled it up the ramp and it plopped right into the pit again.

“Alright, this is pitiful, you’re breaking my heart” Richie chuckled, and walked over to help her out.

He came to stand right behind her, close enough that she could feel his chest against her back.

“Alright, first of all, take a deep breath,” He said into her ear.  His hands smoothed down her arms slowly, calming her a little bit.  “Why are you so tense, baby?” His voice dropped to a whisper.

She almost pushed him away, starting to feel too hot.  But she liked his closeness too much to shove him off, so she didn’t say anything.

“It’s not that hard,” Richie said, grabbing her next ball, and placing it in her hand.  “You’re just not swinging hard enough, and your release is too early”

He could see her swallow while he whispered the instructions into her ear.

“Got it?” He hummed, and she nodded.

One of his hands slid around her waist, the other taking her wrist and swinging with her so it would roll up the ramp, and into the ring.  300 points wasn’t all that much considering the high score was 10,000, but it was her first win, so she cheered quietly anyways.

Richie found it adorable, and then they went through the motions again, until she was out of balls, and actually had some points.

She turned around in his arms, a proud smile on her face that softened when she looked up at him.

As soon as her eyes met his, she lost any sense of what she was going to say, and she was just standing there, staring at him, silently.

(minus her heart, which she was so certain was going to burst out of her chest any minute now)

Her eyes wandered down to his lips, and she subconsciously set her hands on his arms for support.  He was still loosely holding her waist, and just watching her with amusement while she debated kissing him right now.

Richie could almost see the gears in her head turning as she thought about it.

And suddenly, she cleared her throat, and side stepped out of his hold.

“I’m gonna- um- go buy a uh… a soda.  Yeah, a soda” She coughed and walked off before he could have the chance to say anything.

She made a bee-line for the counter, grabbing Beverly by the arm on her way, and making her walk with her.

“Woah, slow down,” Beverly said, stalling in her steps so they could walk at a normal pace.  “Are you freaking out again?”

“Yes, I am clearly freaking out again!” (y/n) seethed.  “Help me Bev, I need your help” She added in a quieter whiny voice.

“I don’t understand why this is so hard for you,” Beverly said, rubbing her friend’s back as they walked up to the concessions counter.  “You like him, he’s clearly showing an interest in you, it’s not rocket science”

“But I- I don’t know if I like him like that” (y/n) whispered.

“You want to bone him?” Beverly asked, with no care for the volume of her voice.p

(y/n) shrugged as she thought about it, but ultimately nodded her head.

“Yeah I- I guess-”

“No, sweetheart, you already know,” Beverly said with a small giggle.  “And… you enjoy his company?”

“Yeah, I always have”

“And you think he’s nice? And funny?”

“Of course-”

��You like him” Beverly told her nonchalantly.

“But I-”

“If you think he’s genuinely funny, then honey, you’re already in deep for him,” Beverly said genuinely.  “Besides.  You check him out a lot.  I’ve seen it”

“I do not…” (y/n) tried to deny, but as she thought about it… “Oh my god I do…”

The red head laughed again while (y/n) paid for her drink in a trance.

“You do,” She confirmed.  “So stop stalling and just go get it fucking over with!” Beverly said, and took off to play games with Mike and Bill.

(y/n) sighed, being left alone at the counter.

Her eyes caught Richie’s, while he was talking to Bill.  He smirked at her for a minute before saying something to Bill, and walking up to her.

“Better?” He asked, shoving his hands into his pockets as he eyed the drink in her hands.  “You took off real fast there”

“I- was really thirsty” She answered lamely.  But it amused Richie, because he let out a laugh and his smirk was back on his face.

“Right,” He hummed.  “So you weren’t just avoiding me again?”

She could feel her face and neck go hot as she shook her head.

“Well good,” His smirk turned into a smile.  “I don’t like when you do that”

Her brow furrowed, and her head tilted to the side.

“Richie, I didn’t mean to…” She trailed off, unsure of what to say that wouldn’t make her embarrassment flare up.  “I was only…”

“What?” He mused, patiently but eagerly waiting for her answer.

Her mouth opened, but his eyes were staring so intensely into hers that she got nervous again and shook her head.

“Nothing,” She sighed helplessly.  “It’s nothing”

Richie hummed, and then he smacked his lips and looked around.

“I need a smoke,” He told her.  “When you’re ready, you know where I’ll be”

He raised his brows for a moment, and then left the arcade.

(y/n) sighed, watching him leave.

She couldn’t believe that this was so hard for her.  But the embarrassment kept weight down on her shoulders and confusing her.  She didn’t know what she wanted to do.

What she did know, was that she really wanted Richie.

So she gathered what little courage she had, and followed him outside.

The smoking area was really just an alley between the arcade and the bar, with a large trash can topped with an ashtray.  At least her and Richie were the only ones out there, so she didn’t have to make a fool of herself in front of an audience.

Richie had just pulled out his cigarette, and almost lit it when she came out the door.  He was surprised she’d come so soon, or at all really.  He thought maybe she’d sneak out and go home, and avoid him the rest of their lives, but here she was.

“I was embarrassed,” She announced, and took a deep breath right away.  “That’s why I was avoiding you, I’m sorry”

Richie smirked, and stuck his cigarette back into the box.

“Apology accepted,” He told her, and walked up to her, until her back hit the brick wall of the bar next door.  

Her breath caught in her throat as he leaned ever so closer, towering over her with that dumb smirk still on his lips.  Her eyes flickered between his quickly.

“Wh-what’re you doing?” She stammered.

“Just waiting for you to tell me the rest, baby,” Richie said expectantly.  “You know, the good parts”

“The good parts?” She repeated, breathless from her shallow breathing.

“Yeah,” He said.  “The part about you having a dream about me, you know, the one that sounded really hot?”

“I- I don’t-”

“Bill already told me,” Richie said before she could make an excuse to get out of it.  “So which is it, was I so good that you were too nervous to look at me, or were you just scared that it wouldn’t live up to your expectations?”

“Richie,” (y/n) breathed, and her eyes fell shut so that she didn’t have to look at his taunting face anymore.  “I-”

“Listen,” He murmured, and leaned in closer until his lips brushed the shell of her ear.  “I promise I won’t disappoint, baby,”

She let out a sigh, despite trying to hold it back.

“You’ve got a bit of a kink for that don’t you?” He teased, pulling back just enough to look at her.  She was biting down on her lip, and he could see her chest moving with every deep breath she took.  “That’s kinda hot”

One of his hands held tightly onto her waist, while the other trailed up her arm, over her shoulder, and then slid behind her neck.

“Richie-” She mumbled, her nerves choking her up again.

“Tell me to stop,” He said softly, in the sweetest tone of voice she’d heard from him all night.  “And I will”

She swallowed thickly, and then gently shook her head.

“Please don’t” She whispered back, a small smile playing on her lips.

And that was all he needed to hear before crashing his lips down against hers so hard that she was shoved back into the wall.

(y/n) wasted no time in throwing her arms around his neck to pull him closer, hungrily kissing him back, like it was the end of the world and this was her only chance.  Her hands cupped his face, and then dove into his hair, and then held tightly to his shoulders- she couldn’t stop touching him.

This was hardly her first time making out with someone- but it was certainly the first time where she felt like she just couldn’t get enough.

Without warning, his hands reached down to wrap under her thighs, and without breaking their lips he managed to lift her right up and shove her right into the wall again.  She gasped at the impact, and Richie only took it as an invitation to shove his tongue haphazardly into her mouth.

They slowed down at their tongues tangled and he leisurely explored her mouth, and then did it again, as though mapping it to memory.

When his lips trailed along her jaw, leaving short wet kisses over every inch of skin he passed, (y/n’s) eyes fluttered open, looking up at the stars while he was busy marking her neck.  Sucking and nipping at her sensitive skin and eliciting delightful little whimpers.

He smirked against her neck, and pulled away to look at her.

She was a mess, a hot mess if he did say so himself.  Her hair in tangles and pushed all over the place, her lips swollen and eyes half lidded with lust as she looked back at him.

He set her down, but still held tightly to her hips so her legs wouldn’t buckle underneath her.  She staggered only for a moment before he caught her balance.

“Why’d you stop?” She mumbled, already pulling his lips towards hers.

He had to chuckle at her desperation, but he only gave her a short kiss.

“I had to look at you,” He told her when he pulled back much too soon for her liking.  “Baby” He added, almost as an afterthought.

“You’re going to have to stop calling me that in front of our friends” She told him seriously, but her volume was low, almost a whisper.

“Why’s that?” Richie asked playfully, pushing her strands of hair out of her face and behind her ear.

“Because I’m gonna want to kiss your face everytime you do it”

He smirked at her, and she reached up to kiss him quickly.

“Why not, then?” He mused, and she pulled back, brow furrowing.

“Because…” She said slowly.  “I don’t think our friends would like that we’re… um…” She licked her lips as she tried to find the right words.

“You don’t think our friends would like you to be my girlfriend?”

“G-girlfriend?” (y/n) choked on the word, and Richie laughed softly.

She hadn’t thought that this was heading that way at all.

“Y-you want me to be your girlfriend?” She asked quietly.  “You don’t just wanna… like… mess around?”

“I don’t see why we can’t do both, that sounds pretty fucking good to me,” Richie said with a lazy sort of grin.  “What do you think?”

She smiled back at him, nodding excitedly as her hands reached up to lay across his cheekbones.

“Yeah?” He asked, and she kept nodding.

“Yeah, yeah that sounds good,” She hummed.  “Really good” She added before pulling him in and kissing him patiently.

“So,” Richie sighed, “What else happened in this dream of yours?”

It was finally her turn to smirk at him.

___

xoxo ~ jordie

[starr-fall-knight-rise]

Humans Are Space Orcs, “Black Hole.”

I was walking, I tended to do that when I had to think, and today was a thinking kind of day. I’m not exactly a thinking kind of guy if I am being honest. Most of the time the inside of my head is a wasteland of song lyrics, movie clips, and microwave noises, but right now I had to try and figure some things out.

First and foremost I had been thinking about the spiderlings  a lot lately. It hurt e all over to think the things I was thinking now, but it had to be done. 

The spiderlings, when it came right down to it, were just kids like toddlers. They were still learning how to interact with people, they were still growing up, and admittedly, I wasn’t doing a very good job at parenting. First and foremost, however, was the fact that they shouldn’t even be on the ship in the first place. Children weren’t allowed on UNSC ships unless there was  rescue mission going on, or they were being transported for some reason.

No one else on the ship would be allowed to take their kids with them, so why should I. It sort of wasn’t fair if you thought on it for a little bit.

Number two, it wasn’t exactly fair to the spiderlings either. They needed some sort of education if they wanted to live in this universe as it was, and right now I didn’t have time to sit them down and teach them anything. I honestly couldn’t really do anything for them at all know that I thought about it. I was horrible at discipline and even worse at teaching them  the things they should know.

They needed a preschool or something where they could learn how to read and write, though I had no real idea where to do that.

I had been thinking about this a lot lately based on some of the things I had come to realize while I was gone on leave, the number one being that I took too much on my shoulders. N o one here except for me was expected to father and run a ship at the same time.

If anything I was doing the spiderlings a disservice by keeping them here.

It hurt me to say all of that because the aggressive controlling part of me doesn’t want to admit that I can’t do all of it all by myself.

But I can’t.

However, I do know someone who potentially could if she was going to do what she said she was going to do.

A part of my, however, didn’t want to contact Eris.

We hardly knew each other and to ask for favors would be a bit much. Arguably the adaptids were older than she was, meaning that choosing her to help me in this endeavour wasn’t fair to her either, but who else was I going to get to take care of them.

One thing is for sure, they needed a lot of things that I just couldn’t provide, and that meant I was going to ave to let go.

Made me sick to my stomach but there you had it.

I admired it.

I Can’t do it.

I turned the corner onto the bridge my mind made up. I would have to Call Eris when we were out of warp and see if she would take another couple of hybrids.

I made myself feel a little better by promising I would call and visit as often as I could, though it hurt me to think how the spiderlings might respond to me just up and leaving them.

I tried to remind myself that I wasn’t up and leaving them, I was doing what any other father in the UNSC would have to do and that was find them a place to stay and learn and grow and all of those other things, but a part of me still felt horrible.

To take my mind off of that decision, I turned my head towards  one of the bridge crew members, “Grab a tablet and follow me.”

They did as told, bot up and followed.

It honestly still surprises me when people follow my orders. Like I expect to have to explain or justify my reasoning to them, but instead they sort of just get up and walk over like that was supposed to be how it worked.

I  wasn’t totally convinced.

I motioned them to follow and together we walked down the hall.

I took my first stop in the medical bay where  Krill and Katie working quietly to deep clean the med bay while there were no patients to work on.

Krill looked up and his antennae buzzed slightly when he saw me. A frown crossed his face as he looked me over, expecting some sort of injury. I have him a smile and almost winked but then remembered that when you have one eye winking just looks like blinking.

Katie straightened up, “Good morning Commander.” She said with a wide smile.”

That would always surprise me to, when your friends call you by a title.

“Morning Doctor.” I responded in kind walking over with my assistant at my heels.

Krill seemed to relax, “how may we help you this morning, commander.”

I took a seat on the edge of one of the beds and bounced my foot up and down a bit as i thought, “I was just thinking about the ship and how it’s run.”

They looked at each other.

I held up a hand, “Don’t worry it’s nothing like that. I just realized the other day that I don’t really know how things work on my own ship despite trying to control everything all the time, so I am going to go around to all of the departments get and idea of how they work, and what they do, and how they might need my help if anything.” I motioned back towards my assistant, “Lt. McKinnon is going to take notes for me, and then later on I am going to meet with the Jedi council, and we are going to decide how best to delegate and meet the needs of the ship more effectively.”

Katie raised an eyebrow, “The Jedi council?”

“Yeah, that’s what I am calling it, and you can’t make me decide otherwise.”

She rolled her eyes but smiled and I smiled back.

If they thought my idea was dumb, they at least humored me.

As far as my involvement, there really was none, though I had to make sure that everyone was up to date on their medical evals and vaccinations, which was probably a job I could delegate to someone else, or at least give Katie and Krill the power to do, so I would have to look into that later.

I stood from there and together me and my assistant moved to the other departments before slowly coming around to the rec hall where I knew I might find a particular grou pf of people.

Cannon was there as I expected he would be playing pool with a group of other Drev.

Cannon was a good shot while the others were a couple seconds away from poking each other in the eye with the cues, but they were laughing and talking rapid fire in drev, fast eough that I was having trouble understanding just exactly what they were saying.

Cannon leaned over the table and took a shot sending one of the balls into a corner pocket with a satisfying clatter.

The other Drev groaned and he raised his fist in triumph.

I approached once Cannon won the game, and the big guy saw me coming  raising the pool cue in greeting like he might raise a spear. The other Drev did the same 

“Zhad tsak Hajee lasan jirhaat.”

I raised my hand and returned the greeting.

May your spear be sharp or something similar.

I kept the conversation mostly in Drev for the sake of the clan, “Cannon how are you this morning?”

He lifted his head to me, “Won seven duels and tested some of Chalan’s new weapons.” 

I smiled, “Ben busy than I see.”

“I always try to keep it that way.”

Cannon was the defacto clan leader. Technically it was either sunny or I, but Sunny wasn’t reall the clan leading type and I had everything else to run so that gave Cannon most command over the Drev, which is why I was here.

“Just coming in to make sure you guys have everything you need and see if there is anything that you guys need done. Cannon obviouly you are on the jedi council, so you’ll figure this out later, but I want to make sure eveyrthing is running smoothly. Is there anything your clan needs to discuss.”

Cannon tapped his fingers agaisnt his carapace beore pulling me aside by the arm.

“Tatazan is…. Pregnant so, what should I do about that?”

A ton of bricks for Commander Adam Vir.

I blinked blindsides by that afformentioned rockslide, “I uh…. Hmm that is complicated.”

I turned to look at the floor. I suppose it should ahve occured to me that when we took on an entire Drev clan that we were also taking on mated pares. Now the UNSC guidelines about being in relationships didn’t cover the Drev considering that their battle partners were always thir significant other so hiring a Drev would be impossible if the rule was followed.

But I had failed to recognize the ‘mated’ part of a mated pair.

“Well shit.” I muttered 

“This isn’t exactly ideal.”

Cannon nodded, “I think it might be best if the child is raised off the ship on Anin.”

“I tend to agree with you there.” I leaned in a bit, “I have been thinking about the same things for the spiderlings.”

He nodded knowingly.

“A ship is no place to grow up.”

I agreed no matter how much child me would have disagreed.

“We can discuss that in meeting tonight, though as clan leader you have the most say in this.”

He nodded his large head, “Where is my sister?” He wondered looking around for where she might be.

“I sent her off to play with making new weapons.”

“Sent her off?” Cannon chuckled in amusement

“Yeah, I think she worries about leaving me on my own, like I am going to set something on fire or something.”

“Have you set anything on fire/” He wondered wryly.

I smirked, “No but I’ve been thinking.”

“For you, that is actually worse than setting things on fire.”

The two of us laughed and I patted him on the arm as I returned him to the pool table and a second round of him kicking everyone’s ass.

Cannon was a good clan leader and had thrown himself into the work wholeheartedly. They respected him, and he got along with them. Not a day went by that you didn’t see him leading the Drev in some new sort of activity to broaden their horizons. I sortof wished Sunny would join them more often.  I think it would be good for her to speak her own language and have friends er own species, but I get why she tended to distance herself.

These Drev were from the same clan that mistreated her entire life, and memories lie that were difficult to forgive at times. Still, they had to be better than me, and I worried about her.

Sure spending her time being beautiful and nobley aloof all the time gave her an heir of…. Hmmm how shall I say…. Excitement and intrigue, but still…. I wanted her to be happy.

And as much as the greedy part of me wanted my friend all to myself I recognized that probably wasn’t a good thing.

I’d talk to her later about it I decided.

“Commander Vir to the  bridge, commander Vir to the bridge.”

I motioned my note taker to follow, and we hurried back to the bridge taking our seats. The captain’s chair was familiar at this point, but I still couldn’t shake off that tiny moment of thrill as I sat down.

“Report.”

“Warp ends in five minutes, commander.”

My heart pounded nervously in my chest. This was it, this was the big moment scientists had been waiting for forever. A real live real time picture of a black hole. Now it was important to keep away from the edge or risk time dilation, spegetiffication, and instant death. 

The kid in me was about to pee himself in excitement, but the Commander in me was intent on not letting everyone die.

I picked up the com on the rest of the ship inviting them to prepare for warp exit, and then told them to get their asses up to the observation deck to see something awesome.

When I put the mic down I was back in commander mode ordering the crew to ready themselves for this moment.

My eyes were fixed straight ahead.

This was going to be insane.

If we came out of this wrong, we could be caught in the event horizon and be…. 

Goners.

“Exiting warp in ten.”

I prepared to take manual control of the ship breath held trying not to imagine what would happen if we appeared at the edge of the event horizon sailing on a dust cloud of light as we plunged towards our death, a black pit of nothingness.

“One”

The warp drie disengaged, and we jolted violently as the air warped around us.

I slammed back in my seat taking immediate control of the ship waiting for any warning bells to go off signaling extreme  gravity,

I took a relieved sigh when there was none and lifted my head to the viewing window.

‘“Ho-ly shit.” I muttered 

The rest of the crew gasped.

It was…. Well it was wow.

IIf you guys have ever seen interstellar, I would go so far as to say that was pretty accurate.

From this distance the thing didn’t look so big, but the very marrow of my bones knew what it meant. The massive disk of light and dust that surrounded it slowly spiraling inward towards a pit of nothingness.

The halo ring of light that surrounded it glowed upward as unbelievable gravity refracted the back of the black hole towards the front.

It was like a dark eye in the middle of space staring outward at us unblinkingly as it lurked in the darkness...

This 

Was the center

Of the Milky Way. 

[marvelslut16]

I Promise

Pairing: Stanley Uris x Bowers!Reader (young) 

Request/synopsis: “Hi! If you’re still writing Stanley Uris, could you write a little childhood piece taking place during the first movie where the reader is one of the bullies’ little sister and hates what her brother and his friends are doing to the losers and starts to hanging out with them and the boys make fun of Stan because it’s obvious that he likes her and one day they’re walking and end up on the kissing bridge and he just starts rambling to her about something he saw and she interrupts him by kissing him”

Word count: 4,390 I think I got carried away

Warnings: Swearing. Mentions of attempted murder? Use of the term flamer, it means flamboyant gay, Stan is called that by Patrick in the books. Mentions a lewd act that happens in the book as well. Violence from a brother. Bullying. Some angst? Pennywise, that should definitely be a warning lmao.  Blood/gore/violence, typical for the IT fandom. Sort of mentions character death.

A/N: Sorry if this wasn’t exactly what you wanted, I tried to do this request justice (since it was my first! Thank you to the anon that asked for it!) but I definitely took it on an angsty ride lol. I definitely focused more on Henry and the time in the sewers than I originally planned.  Sorry this took so long as well, I wasn’t sure how to fit all of my ideas together. I really like how this turned out, but it’s also like two in the morning so there could be typos. 

Do you like being Henry's little sister? Of course not. Siblings or not, Henry treats you like shit too, at least he has the decency to keep it behind closed doors. On top of that, everyone avoids you, expecting you to be just like your brother or Greta. Greta is relatively nice to you, or as nice as demon spawn can be, she never makes fun of you or bullies you, she even tries to include you in her shit. Thinking, like everyone, that Henry actually likes you; and this way she can make a good impression and he can finally ask her out. 

You walk out of the front doors of the school on the last day to see your lovely brother and his idiot friends teasing Stan and his group of friends, stealing the curly-haired boys kippah. Richie, being his typical self, starts screaming and insulting Henry, making him angrier. Henry takes said anger out on Stan, pushing him to the ground and pulling his leg back to kick the smaller boy in the side. 

“Hey!” you scream and rush over to the scene, before you can realize what you're doing. 

“Come to defend your boyfriend?” your brother sneers before laughing like a lunatic. 

“Back off Henry,” you glare at him, stepping between him and Stan. You can hear the poor boy behind you struggling to stand up.

“Or what?” Henry leans in, face inches from yours. He has never made his dislike for you public, even his friends are shocked by his actions. “You gonna run home and tell Dad?”

“Tempting,” you push him away from your face, mindful that your father is on duty somewhere in the ocean of students. As he’s distracted by the shove, you yank the kippah free from his grasp. “You want them, you go through me.”

“That can be arranged,” he grits his teeth, gesturing for his friends to grab you. 

They look shocked for a second, before Belch wraps his large arms around your middle to hold you back. Your brother smirks at you as he advances on Stan, preparing to punch him. Your pleas for him to stop advancing on the loser’s, as they’re dubbed, fall on deaf ears. 

“Let go of me you creep!” you yell at Belch, before slamming your foot down on his. He lets go of you before bouncing around in pain, like a stupid cartoon character. You run between Henry and the Losers, but not before he can shove Richie to the ground. “Go home Henry,” you shove his chest again. 

“You can’t make me,” he flips open his switchblade as he advances on you. The rest of the world seems to still and all you can think is will Henry really hurt you? You hear the muffled cries from the boys behind you get louder with each step your brother takes towards you.

“What’s going on here?” your dad's voice cuts through the haze, Henry backs off and hides his knife before Dad can see. 

“I was just offering her a ride home,” Henry scowls as he turns to your father.

“And I was telling him that I was going to go hang out with my friends,” you use your thumb to point at the boys behind you. Your Dad eyes them wearily before ultimately coming to the conclusion that they’re a harmless group of nerds. He nods at you and sends Henry a small glare that if you blink you’ll miss before heading back the way he came. 

“Watch yourself,” Henry warns before making his way to Belch’s car, friends in tow. You let out a sigh as they drive away, shoulders slumping as your adrenaline wears off.

“I think this belongs to you,” you smile at Stan, handing him his kippah.

“Thanks,” he breathes, he looks like he wants to continue speaking but no words come out. As he grabs the kippah from you, his fingers brush against yours and a blush creeps up his cheeks. You grin at how adorable he is. 

“Are you guys okay?” you glance between him and Richie. Stan just nods and Richie rolls his eyes at the doe eyed look his friend is giving you. 

“I’d say we didn’t need your help, but Stan the man here certainly liked being your damsel in distress,” Richie smacks a hand on Stan’s shoulder and laughs, you soon join in. Stan smacks the boy with the glasses harder than you think anyone realized he could. “Ow, that fucking hurt” Richie whines, rubbing his arm and sulking off to Eddie. 

“D-do y-y-you wan-nt to go-o to the qu-qu-quarry wi-with us?” Bill asks and Richie smirks at the idea.

“I should go before Henry gets even more mad,” you play with the hem of your shirt. “But thank you for asking.”

“Please,” Richie clasps his hands and blinks dramatically at you, sticking his bottom lip out in an over dramatic pout. 

“Why not?” you grin at the losers, but at Stan the most. 

--

Over the following weeks you grow closer to the boys; Bev, Mike, and Ben too when they join the losers club. One day the eight of you are at the quarry trying to ignore the whole killer clown thing. Stan looks nervous about jumping into the water, even though you’ve seen him do it multiple times already. So you decide to grab his hand and pull him down with you withput warning. He lets out a high pitched screech that you almost can’t hear over the wind whipping past you. 

Once you and Stan, the last two to jump down, break the water's surface Richie grabs Eddie repeatedly screaming the word chicken and shaking the smaller boy. Bev grabs Ben’s hand to which he grins at. Richie and Bill share a look before the stuttering boy wades over to you. 

“W-w-will you b-be my par-pa-partner?” Bill smiles at you, his eyes sparkling in the sunlight. 

“Of course!” you smile at your friend, happy that the group accepted you quickly even though you’re a Bowers. You don’t see the glare Stan is sending Bill as he pairs up with Mike. Richie smirks at the rest of the group, you and Stan oblivious to the looks they send each other and their plan to make Stan so jealous he tells you how he feels. 

--

“So Stan,” Richie sings.

“No,” Stan says, watching you and Bev ride your bikes to your house for a sleepover. Her dad was worse than normal lately and she needed an escape, and you loved the escape it created from your brother. 

“I never asked my fucking question,” the boy with the coke-bottle glasses pouts.

“Because nothing good ever comes out of your mouth,” Stan deadpans, finally turning to look at his friends. You rode past the curve at the end of the road effectively taking you out of Stan’s line of sight, so he had no reason not to look at his friends now. 

“You were holding hands with (Y/N),” Eddie speaks up from Richie’s side. “Which is just fucking disgusting! Do you know how many germs-”

 His voice is cut off when Richie slaps his hand over the smaller boy's mouth. The look of terror on the hypochondriac’s face is one that Richie won’t stop laughing at for years to come. 

“She pulled me off the ledge,” Stanley rolls his eyes, suppressing a blush as he remembers how soft and warm your hand was. “It meant nothing.”

“And big Bill doesn’t fucking stutter,” Richie rolls his brown eyes, which look like googly eyes since they’re magnified by his glasses. 

“What?” Stan asks looking at the road in front of him, not wanting his friends to see how red his face and ears are. 

“I thought we were coming up with obvious lies,” Richie shrugs. “You’ve been in fucking love with her since you two got paired up at the beginning of the damn school year.”

“Have not!” Stan tries to lie, but his face darkens three shades deeper. The red instantly gives his obvious feelings away to his smirking friends. 

“It’s that or you have rosacea,” Edidie looks up at the Jewish boy with mock innocent eyes. “Because your cheeks are bright red every time you're around her.” Stan doesn’t respond because he knows they’re right, so he just walks away from them.

--

“Do you like Stan?” Bev giggles at the sleepover. The two of you had been talking about her and Ben prior to the question. 

“Yeah,” you mumble, looking down at your hands resting in your lap. “He’s so nice, and so sweet, and so caring. Plus, he went out of his way to help me when I was confused in class this year.”

“Yeah-” you cut off the redhead. 

“And the way his curls fall in front of his eyes when he’s leaning forward, so he has to angrily huff at it to try to blow the curl away. And the way his face scrunches up all adorably when he’s concentrating on a hard problem.”

Before you can continue fawning over your friend, your door slams open. It hits the wall behind it with a loud crack, where you later find a hole in the wall the handle created. In the doorway is a pissed off Henry, steam practically shooting out of his ears. 

“I thought I told you to stay away from him and the rest of those fucking losers?” he shouts, you’re dad isn’t here to hear him. “And now I hear you talking about that damn flamer with the schools slut no less.”

“Funny that you call Stan a flamer,” you smirk at your brother as you stand from the bed, subtly stepping in front of  Bev so she’s behind you and away from your brother's wrath. “When Patrick gave you a hand job.” 

“How the fuck did you hear about that?” he slams his fist into the wall beside him, knocking off a framed photo of a bird Stan had sketched for you during the school year. 

“I saw it with my own two eyes, dumb ass,” you sneer at him. “Next time you want to get a hand job from your boyfriend, don’t do it at the dump.”

“I’m gonna kill you,” he roars, closing in on you. Bev lets out a small gasp behind you, you feel bad she has to witness this. Especially when she came here to get away from her dad.

“Go ahead, then run off to get your oral from him,” you laugh. Before Henry can do anything else, the front door opens and your dad calls for you two. You sigh in relief as your older brother storms out of your room. You and Bev never bring up what was said or what just happened. 

--

You got separated from Stan while in Neibolt, but luckily Bill was with you. The horrors you all faced in that run down house will forever haunt each and every one of you. You’re shaking slightly as Stan and you cling onto each other as the two of you walk out of that horrendous place. 

You gasp loudly and hide your face in Stan’s chest as Bill punches Richie in the face. Your body starts to shake slightly without your permission, being taken back to when Henry punched the wall a few days prior. Bev pulls you into her side as Stan and Mike help Richie up. Bill goes for Richie again, but Ben holds him back. Richie yells back in retaliation.

“Stop,” you whimper, body trembling worse. Visions of your dad and Henry yelling at each other and shoving one another flash through your mind. A memory of Henry punching the locker beside your head when you were the last two in school floats to the forefront of your mind. “Please.”

Stan immediately rushes over to you and pulls you into his chest, you don’t care if he finds out about your feelings anymore as you grip onto his striped polo. He’s an anchor in the storm of your mind. Even when Henry isn’t around, he’s still lurking in the back of your mind making sure he can hurt you. The rest of the group stops what they’re doing for a minute to glance at the two of you before walking in two separate directions. Bev gives your shoulder a reassuring squeeze as she leaves. 

“How about I walk you home? Stan offers, rubbing his hand in a calming motion on your back. 

“Can we go on a walk instead?” you ask nervously, pulling away slightly. He keeps his arms wrapped around you as he studies your face. He keeps his arm around your shoulder as you walk through the park. 

You and Stan take a seat in front of  the giant Paul Bunyan statue, soaking up the summer sun and the sounds of the birds singing. For the next several hours you and Stan lay side by side on the grass as he points out different birds and tells you about them. Your heart pounds every time your fingers brush against each other as they lay in between you. Your body and heart are aching to slip your fingers through his, but your mind is telling you no. You ultimately listen to your mind, feeling dissatisfied with yourself at the awkward wave he gives you as he drops you off at your house. 

--

The days where the losers are fighting rush by, each of them spent doing something with Stan. before you know it, it’s nearing the end of the summer and Pennywise is gone. You reluctantly take part in the blood oath, wanting to leave this town as soon as you turn eighteen and never look back. But you would do anything for your friends, even risk your life for them again. As you're hugging Bev goodbye, you can’t believe she’s really leaving, Stan comes up beside you. 

“Will you go on a walk with me?” Stan asks timidly, not meeting your eyes. The puffy bandages around his face make your heart lurch at the thought of how much pain he must have endured. 

“Sure,” you nod even though he’s staring at the ground in front of his feet. Bev gives you a smile and a slight shove in encouragement. You give her one last smile as you start off down the trail, Stan taking long strides to catch up. 

“What happens now?” Stan asks, his fingers brush against yours as you walk side by side. 

“My aunt’s moving here, so I’m staying,” you don’t turn to look at him, scared to face more disappointment. 

You stop walking when you two reach the kissing bridge, not that you expected anything to happen, but it was a nice view. You look down to see the small S inside the heart you carved earlier in the year, it sits near Richie’s R + E. You absentmindedly rub your wrist, Henry had grabbed you so hard he bruised you when he caught you with his missing switchblade. But it was worth it, in twenty or thirty years from now those markings would still be there, your own little mark on history. 

“I’m glad,” Stan says it so quietly he doesn’t think you’ll hear him, but you do. You glance up at him and immediately frown as you get a better look at the bandages wrapped around his face. It takes you back to the day in the sewers, the day he yelled at you. 

“Stan!” you scream in fear as you wade through the grey water. Your heart is pounding in your chest, this can’t be happening! You can’t lose him, not Stan. One minute he was with the group and the next he's gone. “What if IT got him?” your voice shakes in fear.

“You can’t think like that,” Richie says firmly, but you can hear the fear in his voice. 

Before you can respond you hear a scream, one eerily familiar to when you pulled Stan off the ledge at the quarry. “Stan!” you scream again as you run past your friends through the dark smelly sewers to find the curly haired boy that you care for. 

You reach the closed door at the end of the tunnel, opening the rusty metal on your own thanks to the adrenaline rush. Your friends' screams of Stanley get louder as they catch up to you. All six of you rush through the door and look for Stan in the large underground room. You walk around and come face to face with the creepy women from the painting he hates eating his face. A strangled sound somewhere between a gasp and a whimper escapes your mouth, alerting your friends that you found him. 

“What the fuck is that?” Richie asks as Eddie shines Stan’s discarded flashlight at the thing. The multiple rows of teeth finally let go of Stan and the lady looks at the lot of you.

“Get off of him!” you scream, reaching down beside you and grabbing a rusty pipe. You chuck the metal at the creature smacking it in the middle of the face, it opens its mouth and hisses at you before retreating. 

You all breathe a small sigh of release, until Pennywise peeks his head out from behind the corner. All six of you let out high pitched screams, but all you can think about is Stan’s safety not your own. As Pennywise hides behind the corner again you run and drop to your knees at Stan’s side, the rest of the boys quickly following suit. You reach out and touch his arm, muttering his name in a soft calming voice, but all he does is scream in terror. 

“Get off me!” he pushes six pairs of hands off of him as he scrambles away from you and the rest of the losers club. “You left me! You took me to Neibolt! You aren’t my friends!” 

“Stan, we were looking for you. We were so worried, I was so worried,” your hand gently touches his cheek, trying to see how much physical damage IT had caused.

“Get away from me!” he glares at you as he smacks your hand away from him. “You're no better than Henry! Worse than him! You tricked me into being your friend just so you could hurt me!”

You rip yourself away from the curly haired boy so fast you fall flat on your ass as you try to move away. You gasp and tears fill your eyes, Bill’s hand gently squeezes your shoulder. He had been with you at Neibolt, he saw that your fear was Henry. Your feelings for Stan were obvious, so the accusations made the rest of the boys angry at Stan for hurting you. Tears fall quickly from your cheeks as you stand and back away from the group. You need to get out of there, away from Stan, away from the pain. 

The rest of the losers back away from their friend and get ready to search for their favorite redhead. You all find Bev quickly, and you smirk as Ben kisses her to wake her up. Pennywise soon appears, attacking Bill first, the rest of you try to fight the clown but it doesn’t work.

“Let him go!” Bev’s plea reminds you of yours from earlier. 

“No, I’ll take him” IT shakes its head with a grin. The killer clown explains to the group how it will eat your flesh as it feasts on your fears. “I’ll take him and only him,” IT offers. 

“Leave,” Bill begs the losers.

“I’m gonna have to kill this fucking clown,” Richie complains. “Welcome to the losers club asshole!” he screams, hitting Pennywise in the face with a discarded baseball bat. 

Chaos erupts, everyone grabs for a weapon to fight the clown with. As everyone starts attacking IT with the garbage they found, IT manages to slip away. You all decide, stupidly, to split up and look for Pennywise. 

“Good morning sunshine,” Henry’s annoying voice whispers into your right ear, dialogue straight from an incident where he almost seriously injured you. “Dad’s not home.” You can hear the smirk in IT’s voice.

“This isn’t real! You aren’t Henry! You aren’t real!” you scream, the losers stop their search for the clown and watch on nervously. 

“It’s time to play sis!” IT laughs like a maniac as he walks in front of you, you're forced to stare up into IT’s eyes. Pennywise steps closer so you step back, which you do again and again. A replica of Henry’s switchblade pops open and is pointed directly at your gut. “Daddy dearest isn’t home to stop me!”

“Go through with it! Do it! Do what the real Henry never had the guts to do!” you scream at your brother- well Pennywise. He has you backed into a wall, switchblade dully pushing into you just above your navel. Your chest rising and falling rapidly as you pant, angry tears mixing with the heartbroken ones from earlier as you stare defiantly at the thing that had been after you and your friends all summer.  

IT backs away slowly, your brothers-Pennywise’s- head tilting to the side as he studies you. A grin too large to be humanly possible splits across Henry’s face, rows of teeth on display as IT laughs in delight. You see your friends inching closer to you and the clown, you make eye contact with Richie giving him a slight shake of your head. He sighs in defeat, grabbing both Stan and Eddie pulling them back, the rest of the losers halt when they realize what the trashmouth did. 

“You were easy to crack,” IT giggles loudly, shifting back into a clown. IT lifts a hand up, finger tracing your cheek down to your throat, stopping directly over your artery.   

“Take me and leave my friends alone!” you glare up at IT. 

As the clown goes to open its mouth, Ben comes out of nowhere and stabs IT right in the back. The rest of the losers start attacking IT again, the clown shifts from fear to fear in hopes of getting one of the losers to stop. It shifts to Bev’s father, so she stabs a rusty rod right down IT’s throat in order to make him go away. The clown convulses and backs away from the group. 

“That’s why you didn’t kill (Y/N) and Bev, because they weren’t afraid of you!” it’s the first time you’ve ever heard Bill not stutter. “We aren’t afraid of you. Now it’s your turn to be afraid, because you’ll starve.” IT flips itself into a hole that leads lower into the sewer system, letting go and disintegrating before Bill can whack IT with a pipe. 

You all stare in shock for a few moments before making your way out of the sewers and towards your homes. The losers all talking amongst themselves, all but you. you’re ahead of the group, wanting to put as much distance between you and Stan as you possibly can. Eddie too, he had already asked what you meant while Pennywise was still Henry. Two conversations you definitely didn’t want to have. 

“(Y/N/N)? You okay?” Stan’s distant and worried voice breaks you out of your memories. “Where were you just now?”

“I’m fine,” you lie and he can tell by the flash of pain that crosses your face. “Just thinking about the other day.”

“I didn’t mean what I said,” Stan frowns, turning away from the carvings on the wood to face you fully. “I wasn’t in the right head space-”

“It’s fine,” you murmur, fingers gently running over the S carved into the wood.

“No it isn’t,” he says firmly, you look at him with wide eyes. You weren’t expecting him to get so serious about it. “IT messed with my head, made me see things that weren’t true and I took it out on you.” 

“Stan, I get it. IT knew how to hurt us most,” you reach over and lightly wrap your hand around his in a reassuring gesture. He stares down at your joined hands for a moment, ears turning a vibrant red, before continuing with his explanation. 

“He showed me a vision of you and Bill kissing,” Stan flips his hand over and laces his fingers with yours. 

“What-” you’re eyebrows furrow as you watch his face grow from pink to red. 

“I like you, (Y/N). A lot. And when IT showed me that it broke my heart. Deep down I knew it wasn’t real, but it felt so real. I’ve liked you since the beginning of the school year, and I never had the guts to tell you. Because why would you like me? You could have any guy, how could you ever possibly want me-” you cut him off by gently pressing your lips to his. It’s a soft and fast peck, but you still pull away smiling. “What?”

“I like you too, you loser. For just as long, I was scared to say anything because of Henry,” you giggle at his shock, mouth open and eyes wide. “Close your mouth or you’ll catch flies.”

“Speaking of Henry,” Stan’s mouth snaps shut before his lips pull into a deep frown. “What did you mean back in the sewers?” You sigh, not wanting to admit it allowed. Stan pushes a strand of hair away from your face before cupping your cheek gently. 

“Henry thought I broke his Atari, so he screamed at me endlessly and threatened to kill me,” you admit softly, rage and sadness battle within Stan’s eyes as he takes in the information. “It wasn’t the first time he threatened that, but it seemed different that time. My dad had no idea, he only heard some of the yelling, which he screamed at Henry for doing. So that made Henry even more mad at me. But anyway, it turns out that it was Belch that broke it.”

“(Y/N),” Stan says softly, pulling you into his embrace. “I’ll never let anyone else hurt you.”

“Promise?” you ask hopefully, could you really finally be happy? 

“I promise,” he kisses your forehead softly. “I know this isn’t great timing, but will you be my girlfriend?”

“I’d love to,” you grin at him, gently caressing the bandages as you pull him in for another kiss.

tags: @crimson-knuckled-queen​ @rexorangecouny​

[klbwriting]

The Sparrow and The Rogue - Part 1

Fandom: The Umbrella Academy

Pairing: Ben Hargreeves/ female!Reader

Warnings: some fighting, a touch of fat-shaming

Summary: The Umbrella siblings arrive back in 2019 to discover that Ben has no idea who they are, their dad wants them all dead, and they are once again in way over their heads

Notes: I’M AT IT AGAIN.  Another series because I’m a glutton for punishment and I can’t resist my love for Ben Hargreeves.  A few actual notes now.  Note 1: In this I refer to Ben as Number One because I feel that is who he seems to be in the Sparrow Academy and also once Reginald learned of the others I don’t think he would allow personal names ever again.  Note 2:  I have named the reader in this as Number Eight because I feel its ambiguous that you can infer yourself as a reader into the shoes of someone just called a number.  Note 3: I am really trying to portray the characters well so I hope you enjoy!  Please like, reblog, but most of all COMMENT send asks about it or just reply with something or use fun tags.  Thank you!

Klaus couldn't process what he was seeing.  Ben, his brother, his dead compadre, the one person who was always there for him (except when he was on something, and that one time he just abandoned him in a bar), was right there in front of him with a bad boyband haircut and hate in his eyes.  It was a scene that was both tragic and beautiful for Klaus.  Vanya felt similar feelings rise in her.  Ben had been the one to truly save the world, had been the kindest of her siblings when they were kids, the one who seemed to actually love her and here he was looking at her like he wanted to unleash the horror on her right in the living room that she used to call home.  Diego recalled easily how Ben when he was possessing Klaus had hugged him so tight and he had felt the love he missed from his baby brother, but now he had the distinct feeling that Ben would take him out without a second thought.  None of the other four had had any moments with Ben recently but they were feeling similar things, happiness at the fact that he was alive, but confusion over how different he seemed.  Klaus finally opened his mouth to say something when Reginald stepped in.

"These are the morons I told you about Number One, they have come to usurp your group, they are what I have trained you for," he said.  The Umbrella siblings turned to face their father, faces a mix of rage and hurt.  Ben frowned looking at the motley group in front of him.  "Well Number One?  Lead your team against these frauds."  He was conflicted, he had rarely attacked anyone who didn't deserve it and he didn't really know what these guys did to deserve the wraith of his father, but before he would make a move the front door of the academy burst open, shattering to the ground as several figures entered the room.  Leading them was a familiar face.

"You dummies going to just stand there?" Lila asked as she entered the room ready for a fight.  The Umbrella siblings looked back to the Sparrow siblings to see them now all around Ben, masks on, and ready for attack.  Surprisingly however, none of them looked anything like the Umbrella siblings, they were all completely different, except for Ben.  

"What are you waiting for Number One? ATTACK!" Reginald yelled. 

  "Shut up dad," a girl standing beside Lila snarked to Reginald.  He glared back at her.

"I see you've grown yet again Number Eight, getting bigger by the day," he snarked back.  She snarled at him.  

"O come on, fat-shaming?  That's a little much," Klaus said.  Then he caught sight of Lila's expression.  "O right, escaping."  He followed his siblings and the two women out as the others with them were left behind to fight with the Sparrow siblings.  They got a few blocks away before stopping for breath.  

"Number Eight?" Five finally spat out at the unknown woman.  She shrugged. "I was Number Eight for five years before Lila here came along and sprung me," she explained.  Diego looked confused.

"You look exactly the same as you did in the 60's how is that possible if you raised another peron?" he asked.  Lila smirked.

"A lady never reveals her secrets.  O I missed you love," she answered, gripping Diego's face in her hand.  He rolled his eyes but didn't pull away.  He missed her too if he was being honest even though she had tried to kill him, a few times.  "Now I see you have met your new counterparts."

"Why is Ben leader?" Luther asked.  The rest of the siblings looked at him as if to say 'what the fuck dude?'  He held up his hands shrugging. 

"Because Ben as you call him is the strongest in that crop, at least in terms of powers, channeling a being of destruction in your abs can get you a lot if you try," Eight responded.  "But he can be sympathetic and good most of the time."  She reddened some at the confused looks on the siblings faces.

"You'll have to forgive sweet little Eight here, she has a bit of crush on Number One there," Lila said, putting an arm around Eight that the woman immediately shrugged off in annoyance.  "Anyway, now that you've returned to the present I should catch you up shouldn't I?  Come on, to our little hideout, the others should be getting there by now since our little distraction and extraction worked."  She turned without getting a response and headed down a flight of stairs that had construction blocks in front of it, disappearing underground with Eight following her.  The others looked at each other and one by one they followed the women into the ground.

---------------------

Number One found himself wondering several things after the scuffle had ended.  One, why had his father spent so much time talking up this group of siblings like they were evil incarnate?  He didn't see any sign of anger or threat from any of them.  Two, why did Eight always have to show up with Lila?  It drove him crazy to see her, especially now after their last one on one fight that didn't exactly end with a normal take down unless Lila was teaching unexpectedly kissing as a new technique.  And three, where the hell had they gotten the name Ben from?  He racked his brain for a time that he was known as Ben and he couldn't recall one.   "Dad, what was all that about?" he questioned as his siblings watched at dinner that night.  Reginald sighed deeply, hating to be questioned, especially with Pogo and Grace in the room.

"Number One, I have told you before, the Umbrella Academy is a rival, a group who wants to destroy us and what we hope to achieve," he said as if One was a small child.  

"I understand that's what you told us but that is not what I saw in them today, they looked sad, and confused," he said.  "If they were a threat then why didn't they seem to know us at all?  Why did they call me Ben?"  

"Enough Number One, if you cannot listen properly then you are dismissed from dinner and are to go study Lord Byron again, maybe you will learn something finally," he snapped.  One gripped his fork tightly but stood and did as told, just like always.  He was the leader and needed to set an example.  He heard the whispers from his siblings before they were silenced by their father.  He felt Number Three poking around in his mind, trying to see what he was thinking, trying to put a thought into his head but he shook it off and headed upstairs to his room. 

He shut the door and let out a breath, finally relaxing for the first time that day.  He stripped off his uniform and got into comfier clothes, before laying down in his bed.  He laid there, actually taking out Lord Byron and reading some before he heard the last of his siblings go to their rooms.  Once he was sure that the house was completely locked down and everyone was at least pretending to sleep he put the book down and rolled over, feeling behind his bed for the loose brick just below his box spring.  He pulled it out and from it he pulled out a crayon drawing and a cell phone.  He put the picture back into the hidey hole before powering up the phone.  He smiled at the message that was waiting for him.

'It was nice to see you today even if I almost had to kill you' 'You couldn't kill me if you tried' 'Ya, you're probably right, but you couldn't kill me either One' 'I know Eight, I know' 'Maybe we can find a way to have a fight tomorrow?' 'I do have some time scheduled to patrol between 9th and 15th street aroud 5 pm' 'I'll be sure to vandalize a building or maybe rob a warehouse on say 12th?' 'I'll be there to stop you' 'Can't wait, goodnight One' 'Goodnight Eight, o and what dad said, you look amazing the way you are' He didn't get an answer but knew she'd see it in the morning and hopefully it would make her smile.  He put the phone and brick back and drifted off imaging her smiling at his message.

[love-bean]

Spectacular - Part 4

alright duckies, this is going to be the final part before the epilogue, which is quite short (might end up uploading that tonight). let’s go!

wk: 1597

-o-o-o-o-o-

On the eleventh of April that year, Benedict began formally courting Anastasia. Having spent countless days together, it was to no one’s surprise when he asked for her hand in marriage not one month later.

Benedict paced nervously across the length of the drawing room.

“You are making me nervous, friend,” Alexander sighed. “What could be so important that you have summoned not only my father, but the four of us?”

Benedict paused, looked at the five men in front of him, and resumed his pace.

After a few more minutes of watching the Bridgerton pace, Arthur stood up.

“If you do not have anything to say then I shall be going.”

“Wait!” Benedict said, eyes pleading.

“Well?” Arthur challenged.

“I-”

The words were caught in his throat. He could not bring himself to stand before these five men and ask their permission to whisk away their most prized jewel.

“If you are going to ask us for permission to marry Anastasia, you have come to the wrong place.”

It was young Augustus, only one year older than Anastasia, who had spoken up.

“Pardon?” Benedict squeaked.

“You would like our sister’s hand in marriage,” Augustus stated.

“How did you know?” Benedict gasped.

“It is obvious,” the younger man laughed. “You have gathered nearly the entire family, excluding the one you favor. You have been relentlessly pacing in front of us for nearly fifteen minutes, trying to figure out how exactly to ask. But you are in the wrong place.”

“I- I do not understand,” Benedict stuttered.

“We know better than to answer for our sister,” Andrew scoffed. “She was raised with only us around. Surely you are not foolish enough to think she should be confined to our opinions when she has so many of her own.”

In hindsight, Benedict knew he was right. It was foolish of him to think that he needed their permission to marry her.

“Mr. Bridgerton,” Lord Mackenzie said, rising from his chair. “Our permission is not necessary for your marriage. If Anastasia wishes to marry you, she will. And we will support her in all of her endeavors.”

“Does… Does that mean I have your blessing?” Benedict whispered.

“You certainly have mine,” Lord Mackenzie said before turning to his sons. “And I would think you four foolish to disagree.”

The young men agreed and with a gracious thank you, Benedict was off to tell his mother of the wonderful plan he had.

By the next afternoon, Benedict had everything planned out. On the coming Friday, he would promenade with her, take her riding, have a romantic picnic, and end the evening with a dinner at which he would stand up in front of their families and confess his love.

Every detail was planned, and yet he never reached that day.

The day never came because the evening after Benedict asked the Mackenzies for their permission to marry Anastasia, the pair were out for another late adventure. However, instead of walking to Mr. Granville’s studio, they simply had a picnic under the stars in the Bridgerton garden.

“I wonder what it’s like up there,” Anastasia mused as she stared at the sky.

“Dark, I would presume,” Benedict quipped. “Dark and very, very cold.”

“What do you think they’re made of?” she asked, ignoring his tease.

“Light.”

She swiveled her head toward him. “Can you be serious for one moment?”

He sighed and scooted closer to her, peering up at the sky above him. “I think it would be beautiful up there. You would be able to see every single aspect of our world without being completely immersed in our society. It would be so quiet, so peaceful. As for the stars…”

He turned his face toward her, studying her features.

“As for the stars, Ana, I would think you should know what they are made of.”

She furrowed her eyebrows. “What are you saying?”

“I believe they are made of every beautiful aspect of life. Kindness, strength, grace. Every star has the courage to shine and give us light in the dark, but the mercy to not obliterate us with one look.”

She hung on his every word, silently begging for him to continue.

“I would think you should know what they are made of, because I see the very same characteristics in you. In fact, I believe I see a bit of stardust hanging in your eyes,” he smiled, tipping her chin up with his fingers.

Despite her racing heart and baited breath, she teased, “Do you say that to all the girls you flirt with?”

“Only the ones whose first names begin with A and surnames begin with M,” he hummed.

She smirked. “I suppose Amelia Mayberry swooned as well, then.”

“That is not fair,” he objected. “I don’t know anyone who would say those words to Amelia Mayberry.”

Anastasia laughed and shook her head. “You are too much, Mr. Bridgerton.”

Before he could say another word, she stood from their blanket and slipped off her shoes.

“Have you ever felt wet grass beneath your toes?” she asked.

“Not since I was a child,” he hummed.

“Come,” she said, offering her hand. “Dance with me.”

Once he had taken off his shoes and rolled the bottom of his trousers up, Benedict stood and took her waiting hand. Anastasia laced their fingers and pulled him into the dew-covered grass. The sound of her melodic laughter echoed through the garden as they swung each other around.

“A jig!” she giggled.

The pair lost track of time as they danced. They only stopped when Anastasia lost her balance on a particularly slippery patch of grass and stumbled into Benedict, sending them both flying to the ground.

“You clumsy girl!” he teased, body shaking with laughter.

Once they had both calmed down and caught their breath, they fell into silence as they realized just how close their bodies were. Anastasia had landed with half of her body on the ground and half of it on Benedict’s shoulder. Their faces were inches apart, forcing them to share a breath.

“I am quite the clumsy girl,” she murmured, peering at him through her eyelashes.

He stared up at her, mind and heart racing. Before he could get his thoughts in order, his mouth opened.

“Marry me.”

They were both taken aback by his words, but he quickly relaxed. There was nothing in his life that felt more perfect than that moment. In that one single second, everything made sense.

“Ben,” she whispered as he sat up and forced her with him.

“You said I should propose when I felt the time was right,” he breathed. “And I feel the time is absolutely impeccable.”

“It is the middle of the night,” she laughed dryly. “Only you would pick the strangest time to ask for my hand in marriage.”

“Ana, when my mother speaks of my late father, she always says that he was her perfect love match. I used to think those didn’t exist. Surely it was not possible for two people to be made for one another,” he said, cutting himself off with a deep breath. “Until I met you.”

She softened, near tears already.

“I want to-” He dug around in the pocket of his trousers before pulling his hand out. “I wanted to give you this.”

He opened his hand, palm up, to reveal a dainty ring. The band was silver and the flower’s petals were made out of shining blue stones.

“Oh my god,” she gasped.

“It was my mother’s. My father gave it to her a very long time ago. She wishes for each of her sons to bestow one of her rings on their wives, as a sort of heirloom. I have chosen this one,” he explained. “The blue symbolizes fidelity and loyalty, which she believes are some of the most important aspects of a true match.”

He took another deep breath.

“Anastasia, I love you. I have always had a soft spot for you, even when you were a child. The older we got and the closer we grew, I realized that it was the beginnings of love. And now that I have spent all this time with you…” he trailed. “I was absolutely devastated when I heard of your engagement to Lord Weston. I thought I would never have the privilege of loving you wholly, openly, for the world to see. When you returned to London, I knew I could not let you slip through my fingers again. So, if you’ll have me, I would like you to wear this ring and be my wife.”

His words hung in the air around them, thick and weighing. He almost began to regret them as he received no reaction from his beloved.

But then, as if the stars above them had aligned, a bright smile curled onto her lips, lighting up her features.

“Of course I will have you,” she whispered, taking his face in her hands.

“You will?” he gasped.

“Of course I will,” she breathed. “I love you.”

He jumped up and pulled her with him, immediately wrapping his arms around her in the tightest hug he could muster.

“I love you,” he whispered into her hair. “I love you, I love you, I love you.”

She laughed as his breath tickled her skin. “I love you too.”

He pulled away and slid the ring on her finger, his hands shaking with nervousness.

“It’s the perfect fit,” she whispered, tilting her hand back and forth to watch the tiny petals glimmer in the moonlight.

“It is meant to be.”

-o-o-o-o-o-

does anyone read these notes? idk, it’s fine. roughly edited, y’all already know. it’s been a few days bc i’ve been swamped with work (8 days straight babyyyyyy). as i said before, this will be the final formal part with the epilogue coming soon and perhaps the bonus part with eloise simply bc i think it’s really funny (no one appreciates my funniness). have a good day/night my dears!

[caprina-mints]

Hi again, can I please have an headcannon of (Masky, Hoodie, Kate the chaser, Slenderman, Laughing jack, Jason the toy maker) with a y/n that has a fetish for emotionally and physically, mentally pain (a pride sadistic)

Warning : People who are sensitive to the Topic of self harm and Being inflicted with Pain should NOT read this because it may trigger you and I don't want that to Happen. Violence is also present in this Head canon so again if you're uncomfortable with that don't read this because this is a low key dark head canon. Stay safe everyone.

Slenderman :

❅ Hew as genuinely NOT expecting this from you at all.

❅ At first you were the perfect motherly figure everyone needed for a sense of comfort in their lives.

❅ and everyone sees you that way too..

❅ Until One day.... You had a mental breakdown about a topic you were dreading and everything went from soft and kind to red and violent.

❅ Slenderman was petrified when you suddenly brought up the topic about being tortured infront of everyone saying it was 'Fun'

❅ Now.... Everyone in that mansion enjoy the thought of 'Torturing' but they never even have the thought of being ' Tortured ' because judging by how those victims scream it wasn't pleasant.

❅ But here you are talking about your wildest fantasies of torture . How you described every single detail of how you want to be hurt.

❅ Slenderman had to drag you away and confronted you about that but after seeing that look on your eyes he knew you were somehow fucked up in a way he won't understand for now.

❅ And soon after that little incident you suddenly had urges to 'have fun' and seeing the chainsaw in the basement was somehow tempting you.

❅ " What if... I try cutting some of my skin with a chainsaw? " You suddenly blurted out when you were with slenderman inside he's study room and he immediately paused.

❅ He thought you were joking but when he found you in the basement with the chainsaw a but too near for comfort he lashed out and it ended with you pouting and 2 of slenderman's tendrils cut off.

❅ And after that day You were Monitored in every way possible may it be slenderman or his brothers or if none of them were around the creeps would watch over you because you might attempt something you shouldn't do.

❅ You were never alone and you were only permitted to go in that one bathroom where everything is covered with rubber and nothing sharp or hard way around... Even the mirror was unbreakable for some odd reason.

Kate the Chaser :

✲ Obviously there was something wrong with you when you came home with bruises with a cut on your lip and a bloody nose.

✲ Kate tried asking you about it but you just used your Boxing classes as a cover to your injuries.

✲ She was very concerned and felt anxious every time you left the mansion.

✲ She tried following you with every attempt she had but somehow you had this weird knack of disappearing once you turned to the corner and poof you're gone.

✲ Of course she never dropped this subject and became the main source of all your arguments.

✲ But the CCTV in town showed exactly what you were doing. Kaye asked Ben to hack one of the Cameras in town

✲ It clearly caught your figure purposelu provoking thugs near the alleyway and when they did beat you up. You didn't do anythi6 but provoked them even more.

✲ That was the Last straw for Kate.

✲ When you got home Objects were sent flying your way and a raging Kate was the cause of it.

✲ Let's just say the argument lasted the whole night and nobody got any sleep and slenderman grew wrinkles because of all the furniture and objects he had to replace.

✲ In the end you clearly explained to her about your issue and she was surprisingly reasonable as long as you wouldn't get into random fights just to get beat up.

✲ Kate was fine with that but the two of you did find another way to pleasure your requests. ;).

Laughing Jack :

✗ Since the beginning Jack already knew of your fetish for pain and he thought it was very convenient for a partner considering the fact that he was a sadistic clown himself.

✗ at first he was skeptical since you looked like the type of person who gets straight A's in school, Helps old women cross the road and Feeds stray Animals on the street.

✗ But When You two 'did it' for the first time. All his doubts were washed away when you provoked him into fucking you to next week.

✗ How you only angered him just to make him hurt you, taunting him to mark, bite and scratch your body and how you'd moan in pain every time he'd sink his teeth onto your skin tearing through your flesh.

✗ Though he'd never admit he liked this freaky side of you, he did change some of his ways so he could get it inside your head that you'll only be needing this clown for both pain and pleasure.

✗ He started being rough with you and he won't hold back at all, if your said something he didn't like he'd choke you and slap you.

✗ if you did something he didn't like, he'd punish your hands to the point it'll start to bleed.

✗ There is a safeword for you incase he went to far but you have never ever used it up till now.

Hoodie :

❀ You were very open about this and told Hoodie everything from the start and he didn't know how he should feel to that.

❀ He only thought it was a mild case of masochism but boy was he wrong.

❀ You were really riled up on this certain fetish of yours it made him worry for your life more than Anything in the world.

❀ You'd break glasses and squeeze the shards for the sake of enjoyment and one time you chucked a knife right through your leg just to get off of work and that honestly terrified him to a great extent.

❀ He wanted to talk to you about this but he didn't know how to. He forced himself to talk to you when you nearly got yourself killed after trying to hang yourself to see if it was ' fun '

❀ you two had a long talk about it and even though you were reluctant, you promised him you'd stop but... Let's be honest here... It didn't stop you at all.

❀ Hoodie was on the edge and he needed to do something about This fetish of yours . So he hid every single object in the house that could possibly kill you... Hell... Even a teddy bear is dangerous when you're around.

❀ and after that he handcuffed you and placed a fucking collar around your neck so he's literally just dragging you around the house like a dog.

❀ You had mixed emotions of excitement and annoyance.

❀ Well at least Hoodie fulfilled your wishes during your time on the Bed ;) and when you see yourself on the mirror after your tickets session you knew he fucked you up good.

Jason the ToyMaker :

✮ Jason is Naturally protective (and possessive). So when he found out about this fetish of yours he was against it with every single fiber of his being.

✮ He started lecturing you about it and how it would hurt him very much if you even tried to hurt yourself.

✮ You grew up with this odd fetish and you never stopped it or even attempted to restrain this urge of yours but seeing Jason so upset about it made you stop hesitantly and it was driving you Nuts.

✮ Even though you knew he was just Manipulating you by the use of guilt. Yes you knew and you loved how this tormented you day and night. If you can't hurt yourself physically might as well break yourself mentally.

✮ But the more your restrained yourself the more serious it became. So you did something you never thought of.

✮ You wanted Jason to Hurt you. But if you straight up tell him you knew he'd immediately decline after hearing the first sentence

✮ So you did it in a discreet way, You started off by Not going to his place after you're done with your daily deeds of the day.

✮ You started sleeping at your friend's house which irked him very much and you purposely disobeyed and fought with him just to make him snap.

✮ He was blind of what you were planning but something about the look on your eyes gave him a hint.

✮ All logical thinking left him the moment you suddenly blurted out that you wanted to leave him.

✮ He was more dangerous that a Bear high on drugs. He immediately choked you raising your figure off the ground and slammed your body on the walls with threatening words escaping his lips if you were to ever leave him.

✮ He squeezed your cheeks harshly and slapped you multiple yelling at you to say it again but when a moan escaped your lips he immediately knew your intentions.

✮ He was fueled with anger at how you managed to have this effect on him that he took it out on you on the bed ;) he made sure you were left in a daze, legs shaking and body trembling with bruises, marks and obvious scratches left on you ;).

Masky :

✦ He had the most ridiculous expression when he found out about it and he obviously didn't know what to do because hey... None of his victims ever said ' Hurt and Torture me ' more like begging for their lives.

✦ And the shocking thing was.... His s/O was sthe one who told him that and he didn't know what to do so he turned to hoodie for advice.

✦ and like hoodie he did attempt to talk you out of this and stop you but you were too darn stubborn .

✦ He won't admit it but after finding out it awakened the sadistic demon inside him and it turned him on big time.

✦ He still monitors you like the stalker he is and when you tried shooting your foot with his gun shit was about to go down.

✦ Yes he punished you, and I'm talking about Whips, Over stimulation, Shaming, Slapping, Spanking, Choking, Edging .

✦ He was determined to break your body as well as your mind and he was doing a good job at it and with your tauntings it only made him rougher with you.

✦ Your Body littered with bite marks, red whip lashes, bruised neck and lips, bloody cheeks and a throbbing body he managed to claw out the inner masochist in you.

✦ In the end you were sweaty, cum covered, bloody and filled with cuts, bruises and a few wounds here and there as well as dark hickies surrounding almost every inch of your body.

✦ You have met your match and Masky felt the same way.

[bobfloydssunnies]

would you believe me if i said it originally was supposed to be happy but then about halfway through i changed it 

A Feeling

Pairing: Poe Dameron x Reader

Rating: PG nothing crazy just a little sadness I guess 

Summary: What if Poe was force sensitive or could use the force but only told a few people 

Word Count: 2.6k

Note: This is my first work for Poe (please be kind). I don’t know if I really love this also idk if i like how i write but I’m trying to keep everything gender neutral so no one feels left out also this came out a lot longer than I originally planned 

It started with the force tree that was planted in the backyard of his house when he was young; he just remembers being drawn to it, which turned into his parents explaining what that meant. He was young at the time and didn’t fully understand what it meant, but his mom told him it means he’s special and that once he’s older, he can learn how to use it and use it for good. He remembers Leia or Luke being around for a while and teaching him a few little things when they’d come to visit his parents. But once Ben came along and once Luke started his Jedi academy, the visits slowed before stopping altogether. So Poe took to learning alone and trying to remember things he had seen Luke and Leia do or even talk about so he could at least understand and use the gift he has. Around the time Poe turned 10 or 11, he remembers his dad asking him if he wanted to go off to train with Luke, which he said no to not wanting to leave his dad alone after just losing his mom a few years before. 

So as Poe entered his teen years, he stopped practicing anything related to using the force and focused on flying, knowing he wanted to be a pilot like his mom was. Once he could, he went off and joined the new republic navy, worked hard, and became a commander and found bb8 along the way. But as Poe was raising ranks in the navy, the first order was rising to power as well. At this time, Leia reached out to Poe, asking him to come and join the resistance. He said yes, knowing it was what his mom would have done, so he left the navy and headed off to help save the galaxy and make his mom proud. 

Once with the resistance, Poe quickly became the “poster boy” as well as the one Leia trusted the most for solo missions. Of course, no one within the resistance beside Leia and bb8 knew Poe was force sensitive and could use the force to an extent because if too many people know it becomes dangerous because you can never know who to trust in the time like this.  While out on missions, especially with others, Poe tries not to rely too much on the force, but sometimes it’s hard to avoid the pull when he can feel it tug him away from danger or warn him before something happens, and he can prevent it. There are times where he can feel it calling out to him and helping him along the way. Poe won’t lie and say it’s not great for little mind tricks every once in a while or moving objects when need be. But like with every good thing, there’s always a downside which Poe tries to make sure it doesn’t get to him but, it’s hard sometimes because it’s not always something he can see coming no matter how many times it happens. The worst thing is that once you are connected to someone in any way and gain a connection with them through the force, you can feel them, which means losing that person hurts a lot more.

  “I felt it you know” he had said randomly while the two of you were laying in bed one night “felt what?” you asked confused by his sudden outburst “the day my mom died I felt it,” he said quieter, you sat up watching his face you could see the range of emotions he was going through “Oh Poe I’m sorry,” you said grabbing his hand, you could see his eyes start to get glossy “ I - I just miss her so much sometimes and like I can’t forget what it felt like when it happened,” he said holding back tears “Poe, babe I can’t imagine having to go through that, and I will never know the pain you went through,” you tell him trying to soothe him the best you can “ I just want to make her proud but it’s so hard to feel so together all the time when I can feel so much” he said rubbing his eyes “Poe no one is excepting you to always have it together” you tell him pulling him towards you, you running your hands through is hair lightly scratching his scalp trying to calm him down “But Leia needs me to do all this stuff and I can’t let the squadron down” he mumbles into your neck “Baby no one is expecting you to always be so put together you also don’t have to suffer alone I’m always here for you and you know beebs will listen to you too” you say into his hair because pressing a kiss to his tempt, you hear him sigh “I know but” “no buts we are here for you no matter what” you say cuttting him off, he moves so that his forehead is resting on your should “i love you” he whispers “ i love you too flyboy” you say back quietly this a smile on your face. 

The First Order had pulled a final play Palpatine was back no one knew how but he was back and the first order spy said you had 16 hours to figure out how to stop him before the Final Order would rise. Rey decided this meant she was to figure without alone because she felt it was her job to finish what Luke started but she forgot how stubborn her friends could be which is how you, Poe, Finn, Chewie, BB8 and Rey all ended up on the Falcon together going off to search for a wayfinder. 

Things were not going well. Each planet brought a new problem and also fixed a previous on all at the same time.

On Pasaana, after thinking it would be easy, you were chased by stormtroopers. Rey and Ren faced off after Chewie was put onto a transport ship that Rey then destroyed. You also all realized the only way to get the information out of C3PO was to find someone to break into his system and bypass the block set in place. Then on Kimiji, you were brought you face to face with some old friends of Poe’s that seemed to have it out for him. C3PO losing all his memories as a result of us bypassing the block because he knew it was the right thing to do to help his friends. Then Ren finding us again, but Rey sensing Chewie was still alive and on the destroyer Ren brought. 

Getting into the destroyer was easy. Poe’s “friend” had given him a medallion that would give him the clearance to board the ship and allow us to come in and rescue Chewie. Once running the halls, Rey stopped and said she would find the blade leaving you, Poe and Finn to find Chewie. It was going all well and smooth till Poe got grazed by a blaster shot coming around a corner. Soon surrounded by stormtroopers and cuffed, you were lead to some general, and he gave the orders to execute you all. Hux was told to see to it along with four stormtroopers; you were lead to a room “I’m sorry” Poe said looking over at you “For what” you asked him “Bringing you along” he said “Poe you wouldn’t have been able to stop me” I told him. Your backs where to Hux and the troopers when you heard Hux say he wanted to do it himself, and you could hear him take the gun from whichever trooper handed it to him, and you braced yourself. The first shot came quickly, followed by three more, but you all realized you were still standing. Turning around you saw all the troopers on the ground “I’m the spy” Hux quickly spit out “I knew it” Poe said “No you didn’t” Finn said “Why” You asked “I don’t care if you win I want to see Ren lose” he said as he quickly released your binders. He led you to the Falcon and then said one of you needed to shoot him in the arm, Finn shot him in the leg instead as you, Poe and Chewie ran to the ship.  As quickly as you could, you got the ship ready and waited for Rey. 

Crash landing wasn’t the best, but the landing gear was shot, and you had no other choice. You were met by locals who lived on the planet after Rey pointed out where on the wreck of the death star she needed to get to in order to retrieve the other wayfinder. Jannah, you later learned, was extremely helpful when it came to fixing up ships, and Finn and her seemed to have a connection. You heard beebee roll in “what do you mean you haven’t seen her” you heard Poe say before running out of the falcon with Finn and Jannah quickly behind them; you followed only to catch the end of the conversation that Rey had taken a skimmer out onto the rough water. You could hear Poe and Finn arguing, “well, I’m not Leia” you heard Poe spit out, “That’s for damn sure” Finn spit back before stalking past you. beebee beeped next to you. “You do help them on the falcon; I’ll take care of Poe, buddy,” you tell him. You walked down the hill, some to where Poe was sitting. “Hey,” you say, “Come to yell at me too,” he asked, “No, I came to see if you’re alright, jerk” You speak with a slight grin “Sorry,” he apologized. “Hey it’s okay we are all running a little thin and the time deadline isn’t helping maybe we sit here for a minute and cool down,” you tell him “We gotta fix the falcon,” he says “Alright then let’s go do that,” you say holding your hand out to him. 

Finn and Jannah set out across the water and slowly got smaller in the distance, and the rest of you set to work fixing the falcon or at least getting it flyable. Its been some time of you all quietly working and the only noises coming from tools, bb8 and d-o or the occasional grunt from Chewie or Poe. You had stopped for a moment and looked over to Poe just to see how he was doing when suddenly you could see a change on his face something happened. He felt it and whatever it was it hurt you could see the tears building up in his eyes “Poe you okay” you asked, he looked up and gave a weak smile before wiping his eyes “Um yeah I’m fine” he said quietly before turning back around to continue what he was working on.  You couldn’t figure out the best time to ask Poe what had happened because you also didn’t know if he wanted to talk about it. Finn and Jannah returned after a while with the news that had found Rey, but she was fighting Ren. 

Once the Falcon was back up and running as a group, you decided to leave Rey, but with a promise from Jannah if she needs them to come back to contact you guys. Shortly after taking off, you had convinced Poe you needed his help with a repair you could do while flying “Poe what happened earlier” you asked him, “What the argument with Finn, that was nothing” he said. “No Poe, that’s not what I mean; I mean, what did you feel earlier while we were working on repairs,” you asked, “Um, it’s nothing,” he said, trying to move away from you. You grabbed his hand holding him in place “It wasn’t nothing I saw the tears Poe just let me be here for you,” you say taking your free hand to move the curl that was covering his eyes “It’s Leia” he whispers, your heart dropped you knew what he meant “She…” “Yeah, I think she did it to help Rey, but I don’t know but kriff it hurts” he chokes out, he pulled you into his chest you could feel the tears land on your head, but you just kept holding onto him and rubbing his back “It’s like I lost my mom all over again” he mumbled into your hair “I’m sorry, I wish I could make it better,” you tell him “This helps you being here helps I’m sorry for not saying anything earlier,” he says “Poe I don’t expect you to tell me everything right away especially when it’s something like this and it hurts as much as this does but, I want you to know I’m always here for you no matter what,” you tell him 

Arriving back on base was hard knowing what you were walking into; you grabbed Poe’s hand as you both followed after Finn. “We need to talk to Leia,” Finn said, walking the familiar path to where she and Rose usually were. You could feel Poe tense up and make a small noise, “What” Finn asked, turning around looking at Poe. Poe opened his mouth to speak when you heard Rose yell in the distance “There you guys are it’s Leia something happened” She says as she gets closer “Maz is pretty sure what she’s done, but she wants to talk to Poe first” Rose said leading you back to command central. You felt Poe squeeze your hand like it was trying to make sure you were real. “Poe, you should know Leia made you the acting general,” Rose said as Poe pulled you along with him to where he knows Maz is, “Alright um when I get back we’ll talk more,” he said trying to keep his emotions in check. 

You soon found yourself outside the room you knew Maz and Leia were in, Poe took a deep breath “I can wait out here if you want I don’t want to invade on this” you tell him hanging back a little. “Please don’t,” he whispered, holding your hand tighter “Okay,” you reply softly; you let him lead you in the room. Maz was standing there waiting, Leia laying on the bed covered in a sheet you felt tears threaten to spill over, and Poe’s grip on your hand got a little tighter. “I know what you felt Poe and I think you know why she did it” Maz spoke, Poe nodded “She still believes in him, and I know it’s hard for any of us to understand why but this is her wish” Maz continued, Poe sat down next to Leia pulling you with him. He let go of your hand and held his hands in front of his face. “I don’t know how to do any of this,” he spoke. “How am I supposed just to take over the whole resistance and know how to handle it all?” he continued. “None of us knew what we were doing,” a new voice said, looking over you saw Lando come into the room “Luke Han Leia none of us knew what we were doing, but we knew people believed and that if we had them, then we could do it.” he continued, Poe looked over at him. Lando gave him a soft smile “She believed in you to take over it’s time to believe in yourself.” Lando said before disappearing again. Poe sat there silent with tears running down his face “whatever you decide to do, I’ll be right beside you flyboy,” you said before grabbing his hair again and squeezing it.  

permanent taglist:  @poesflygirl​ 

[stones-x-bones]

Classic Blunder || Ben and Bex

TIMING: Current PARTIES: @professorbcampbell and @inbextween SUMMARY: Ben finds Bex reading alone in the hallway and decides she’s quite a remarkable find. CONTENT: Brief Domestic Abuse mention

Being back at school was a strange feeling. Bex was eager to be back, she did love learning after all, but the strangeness of it came from sitting through hour long lectures about modern law and criminal justice systems, because despite trying to convince herself that she could still do this, she really didn’t want to be doing this. There was a meager acceptance as she sulked through her mandatory classes of the day, only to give herself the gifts of her electives-- A Timeline Of History Before Humans and, of course, Professor Beck’s class, Our Monsters, Ourselves: Recognizing the Other in Speculative Literature-- after them. She always came away feeling refreshed from them, especially now more so that she was living at Morgan’s. Going home to a place that didn’t feel...suffocating was nicer than Bex had ever imagined. But, that still left a lingering fear in her-- because, ultimately, she’d have to go home one day. And it was probably going to have to be someday soon. So perhaps the strangeness was more a feeling of bittersweet, because despite the bruises now fading on her skin, and the cuts closing up, the things that brought her joy also reminded her of the fact that they would not last. They simply could not. 

Morgan’s class had ended a while ago, but Bex still lingered in the hallway. She was reading one of the books she’d borrowed from Morgan’s library, about Ancient History and how the stories of the past influence modern literature. There was only one bench in the hallway and she’d curled up on it, letting the masses of students wander by, not paying much attention to them and they paid little attention to her. But she remained even after the halls had cleared and more classes had started, lost in her book. She didn’t even notice the footsteps in the hallway, or the man approaching her.

Shutting his attache case with a final sigh, Ben stood up from his desk and shut the door to his office. It had been a long day of grading, office hours, and a department meeting, but it was worth it in the end. Making the right appearances, maintaining a good work flow, ensuring that his end of semester feedback responses were just where they needed to be-- it was all a balancing act. And it was an act he excelled at. Locking the door behind him, Ben made his way through the winding hallways of his building towards the exit. As he made his way through the halls, his forehead creased as caught sight of a young woman lost in a book. “I hope you don’t have a class to be going to,” Ben commented loudly, slowing to a halt in front of the girl. “Not that I’d tell on you-- this isn’t high school, after all.” He said with a conspiratorial grin. “What are you reading?”

Bex nearly jumped out of her skin when the man spoke, snapping her book shut out of reflex. She looked up at him, trying to shake off the jitters that had suddenly crawled into her hands. “O-oh, no! I don’t! I just got out of class, I pro--” she stopped herself mid sentence and shook her head, “I just got done with my last class of the day, I just like, you know, the atmosphere here sometimes cause it gets real quiet and there’s usually no one around in the halls, so reading is easy, but I--” she needed to take a breath, to calm down-- “sorry. Sometimes I talk a lot when I get nervous. Not that I’m nervous! You just kind of...caught me off guard.” But he didn’t seem too perturbed by her frantic rambling and he looked like one of the nicer professors, unlike most of the ones who had permanent furrows in their brows. She looked down at the book in her hands. “Oh, um…” held it up to him, “it’s something Professor Beck lent to me. A-about the history of storytelling and how it influences modern literature and media. Do you, um, know her? Professor Beck? Are you in the lit department, too?”

Slipping his hand into the pocket of his trousers, Ben listened to her ramble with a patient smile on his face. She was one of those students. The anxious, over-eager, not yet self-assured children. Ripe for the picking. And his little gatherings, they were long overdue for a fresh face, for fresh blood. “I was only joking, I’m sorry for making you nervous.” He said with a laugh and apologetic shrug that he didn’t mean. “Or rather-- not nervous.” Ben corrected himself. Watching as she held up the book, his eyes flicked across the cover. It seemed… exactly like the kind of drivel Bitchy Fucking Beck would have in her personal collection. Modern literature and media-- what sort of study was that? Were her students analyzing movies? Or, he shuddered to think, TikToks? Disgusting. But, his expression remained politely intrigued, “Ah yes, Morgan and I are well acquainted. And no, I’m not a member of the literature department, but we work within the same college. I’m a professor of the Classics and not,” Ben let out a wry chuckle, “Literary classics. I teach Greek and Roman classics. I’m sure your book includes some references to the old mythologies and tales from back then.”

“Oh, no, it’s okay! Really! It was mostly my fault. I’m really bad at paying attention, sometimes. Especially when I’m reading a book.” Bex gave her best attempt at a reassuring smile, finding that innate part of her that needed to please adults surfacing again. She perked up a bit when he mentioned knowing Professor Beck. “You are? She’s great, don’t you think? I mean, I’m kind of struggling in her class, but it’s because I’m really bad at creative writing and critical analysis of literature, but I enjoy it! It’s interesting and I like learning new things.” She watched him eye the book before setting it down in her lap again, fiddling with the cover. “Oh, you teach the classics? That’s so cool. I’ve always been interested in studying them academically. I’ve read a lot of books on them-- like, a lot-- but I’ve never taken a class for it! And um, it sort of does, obviously! Story-telling was often used as the only means to pass on history and culture and it was such a large part of both the Greek’s and Roman’s society. I know it’s kind of typical, for people to enjoy Greek mythology, but there’s a reason it’s so popular. But, um, I don’t really have to tell you that, do I?” She chewed her lip anxiously. “Sorry, uh-- I’m Bexley, by the way.” Stood up, holding her hand out. “Professional rambler.” 

“Nothing wrong with getting lost in a good book,” Ben said with a nod, “I’m guilty of that particular crime myself.” Among other, actual crimes. But, that was neither here nor there. Watching the way her eyes seemed to light up at the mention of Beck, Ben offered a reassuring smile. She was one of these foolish children who preferred fiction to fact, hm? But, as the girl continued to speak, perhaps, he thought, not. “Ah, regardless of performance, the pursuit of knowledge is a wonderful thing. That’s why we’re all here, right?” He said. Listening patiently as the girl’s words took on a meandering, if anxious, quality, Ben regarded her with a practiced eye. She was young, she hardly looked old enough to order a drink. There was a nervous anxiety that practically bubbled over from within her-- he could see it in the way she played with her book, how she bit her lip, the skittish way she moved. Interesting, very interesting. “Oh no, I’m always happy to hear what fellow lovers of the classics have to say.” He said and shook her hand firmly, a broad smile on his face. “Ben Campbell. Professional Rambler of the Classics. If you ever have the misfortune of attending one of my classes, I can assure you, I have you beat in the rambling department.”

“Oh, do you like reading books, too? What kind? Do you have your own library? Professor Beck has a huge library at her place. She lets me pick whatever I want to read.” Bex gave the professor a genuine grin as he took her hand to shake. He had a firm grip, and she remembered all the times her father told her a man could be judged by how firm his handshake was. She still didn’t understand what that meant. “I’m trying my best, and, really, that’s all I can do right now, right?” Even if that fact still made her feel poorly. She hoped her inability to keep the waver from her voice wasn’t a dead giveaway. She shook it off and readjusted. “Nice to meet you, Professor Campbell! And, well, I mean-- who wouldn’t ramble about the Classics? There’s a lot to say about them, and a lot to, you know-- know.” She wasn’t sure she was making too much sense anymore, but the lack of sleep was getting to her. She really needed to sleep. Rubbing her eyes, she looked around the empty hallway. “Have you taught here long? This is my first year at UMWC so I don’t know a lot of the professors. Or a lot of the staff. Or...students.” She knew Mina, and she knew some of the weird kids in Morgan’s class, and she knew Frank. But that was about it. She really needed more friends. “Sorry! If I’m keeping you, you can go. You probably don’t wanna be stuck talking to some awkward student who’s not even in your class.”

With an amused smile, Ben replied, “Yes, I do. I have a rather large collection of books at my home, as well as in my office. Most of the ones I keep here are related to my classes, but my personal library at home is a bit more diverse. Still, I’m rapidly running out of room in my collection. A pretty common struggle for your average bookworm, I suppose.” He said with a chuckle. “Of course! And I’m sure your professors understand that. What are you majoring, if you don’t mind me asking?” He asked. She knew Beck-- quite closely too, it seemed. But, she’d also said she wasn’t the creative sort. Hm. So how did she know her? “It’s nice to meet as well, Bexley.” He beamed. “I’ve taught here for the past ten years. First as an adjunct but I’m now an associate. Though I doubt you wanted to know that-- suffice to say, I’ve been here for some time. How are you finding your classes? I’m always interested in hearing what students think of the matriculation process.” He said before waving off her concern. “Ah, no, I’m done for the day. Like I said. I value what our student body has to say about the university.”

Bex’s eyes lit up at his words. “You have a library here?” she couldn’t help but ask, not thinking much of it, really. She wanted to see it. Books were her only escape for the longest time. It sounded stupid and cliche, but when you were locked up in a room for most of your life, adventure was where you made it. In hallways, in blanket forts, in books under the bed. She couldn’t help the curious glow in her eyes. “Oh, yeah, I totally get that. Most of the books I have at home are stuffed in my closet, but my dad’s library is pretty big. Though, he really only has law texts and old books on, like, world wars and stuff. I never understood the appeal of them, but I guess some people just like different things. I, uh-- I’m majoring in law. Well, pre-law, but, you know.” She shrugged. “Ten years? Wow, that’s a really long time. You must know this place well.” She wondered if he knew about all the hidden secrets White Crest had. He seemed so normal. But, then again, she seemed normal, too, didn’t she? Sometimes? “Oh, no worries! I don’t mind! Tell me whatever you want, I’ve been told I’m a good listener and I never mind learning more about people. But, uh-- classes are fine! They’re-- I was out for a bit, cause I was um...sick,” she scratched at the back of her neck, “but I’m catching back up, I think. It’s nice to know a lot of the professors here care so much about the students. Penn State felt very...different.” And yet she missed it. Missed the freedom. “That’s where I transferred from. I actually grew up here, but I don’t ever really feel like I did, since my parents sent me to private school.” And there she went, oversharing again. She bit her lip. “Sorry, that was probably more information than you wanted from someone who’s not even in your class.”

“Library is a strong word to describe my office, it’s just a wall with some shelves. But, it’s rather comprehensive, if I do say so myself.” Ben said with faux modesty. Always better to play the bashful professor than to yammer on about how much time and money and effort he had put into his collection. Particularly the money. There were first editions in his collection that librarians dreamed of. “I can’t say I understand the interest in the world wars either, but again. I’m a professor of antiquity. Anything beyond 6th century AD is too new for my tastes. It’s a wonder I can even use a smartphone.” He smiled at his own little joke. “Pre-law, that’s got quite the courseload. How are you finding it compared to Penn state?” He asked, shifting his weight so he could stand more comfortably, his body language relaxed and open as he listened to her ramble. “No, no, it’s quite alright. I grew up in town as well, but I went to college elsewhere, so I can understand that sentiment.”

“Wow,” Bex breathed, “I’m a bit jealous. I think it’s my dream one day to just have an entire room full of books. I...guess that’s really just a library, but they wouldn’t even need to be shelved. Stacks on stacks would be nice. I would shelve the nice ones, though. I’m not a heathen, I take care of my books!” In a way, Professor Campbell almost reminded Bex of Morgan. Less wiccan, though, and more scholarly. “Oh, really? What’s your favorite period? And, well, smartphones can be confusing, but really they’re just small computers. If you ever need help, I can probably show you. I had to show someone else recently how to use her smart phone cause she couldn’t figure out how to change the background wallpaper.” She swallowed, nodding maybe a little too eagerly. “Yeah, yep-- heavy course load. Lots of reading and citing and making sure everything is exactly word for word. My whole family is lawyers and they’ve all got degrees from Harvard, so you’d think it’d come naturally to me, but I guess I didn’t get the right genes. I’m trying my best, though, you know? And UMWC is...smaller than Penn, but I guess it feels...cozier? I liked the freedom I had at Penn state, but it was really high pressure. A lot of the kids in my program here just seem really bored, though. This isn’t a top school for pre-law so you have to get really high scores in order to even think about getting into Yale or Harvard or Princeton, so I think a lot of them are resigned to just going to second rate grad schools. Where’d you go to college?”

“Sounds like the dream of a fellow scholar,” Ben said, voice kind and understanding. She seemed young, impressionable. Eager to learn, eager to please. Interesting. How very interesting. “I’ve gone through the stacks of books phase myself, I know how that is. But, having shelves just really ties a room together. There’s nothing quite like seeing all the spines laid out, the titles staring back at you. It’s a wonderful thing.” He said with a nod. “I’m quite a fan of the first century of the Roman Empire. Marcus Aurelius, his works still hold to this day.” At the girl’s offer, he let out a small laugh, though internally he wanted to roll his eyes. He wasn’t inept. “I appreciate the gesture, but I think I’ll be fine. Thank you for the offer, though!” He said. As she continued to speak-- on and on, about her family, about her inane observations of what the campuses were like-- Ben continued to mentally measure and weigh her. This Bexley girl, she was new to the university, still trying to find her footing. She didn’t know many people, students or staff, she’d admitted that herself. She seemed as though she was struggling with that critical jump that all students experienced when they entered college. And who was he to withhold aid from a student in need? “Ah, I went to Princeton actually. For both undergrad and my doctorate. But, UMWC is still an upstanding school-- it’s no Ivy League, but I can assure you, faculty here are providing just as rigorous of an academic experience.”

“Well, I mean, that would be nice,” Bex sighed, “I don’t think I’d mind teaching all too much, but I’ve already got my future career all planned out.” Not that she was all too excited about it, and she was more than sure that it was getting harder and harder for her to hide that fact. SHe laughed it off and gave a smile. “I can’t wait to have my own library, it really does sound like a dream come true.” Her eyes perked up. “Oh, that’s a good one! The rise of the Roman Empire really is one of the most incredible things to read about. I’ve always wanted to go to Rome and see the remains of the old empire. Have you been?” She smiled up at him again, shifting in her spot. :Ah, right, of course. I just kinda-- like to offer to help. I like feeling like I can help, you know? And, wow, Princeton! That’s a pretty prestigious school. I think my parents really want me to go to Harvard. Did you like Princeton? And yeah, totally! I-I know this school is pretty great and there are a lot of wonderful professors, it just usually helps being at an Ivy League if you wanna get in somewhere like Harvard. Or Princeton. So I’ll just have to, you know, try harder. Which is fine! I can do that.” And hopefully not run herself too ragged in the process.

“As cliche as it is, I can’t help but quote John Lennon-- Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans.” Ben said, shamelessly using the quote. It was very “motivational poster-esque” but it resonated in students, for one reason or another. “So who’s to say what the future holds? I never thought I’d be a professor either, but I fell in love with academics during my undergraduate degree. Once I figured out that I wanted to teach the coming generations, who all shared my passion? I never looked back.” He replied. “Oh yes, I spent the third year of my doctoral program across Europe, assisting in archeological digs. I must say, I was jealous when I heard they uncovered the tomb of Romulus last February. I would have given anything to see that.” Ben let out a sigh and gave a shrug. As she continued on, babbling away, Ben was beginning to put together a nice little picture of her life. Overbearing parents, who wanted her to be something that-- well, he couldn’t quite tell if she wanted to be that. But, there was a hesitation to her that seemed quite promising. “I enjoyed my experience there quite a bit-- the environment, my peers, the professors… All of them were incredibly influential on my professional journey. And I owe my success to the university.” He smiled, though it faded as she mentioned trying harder. Eyebrows knitting together, he replied, “You know, rest is a very critical part of growth. It never hurts to take a break from time to time.”

Bex felt her immediate reaction bubbling up her throat-- John Lennon was such a problematic man, but of course a white cis man would think his quotes were profound-- but she swallowed it back down, smiling sweetly. “Sometimes cliche is true, though. They’re cliche for a reason, right?” She didn’t like the implication of it, though. Was she so transparent? That she didn’t want the life her parents had laid out for her? She rubbed her arm absently. “I know that, though. That I should stop and enjoy life. But what I want is kind of irrelevant. My family has been lawyers for centuries and every daughter has always taken over the business. So even if I don’t wanna do that, I don’t really have a choice.” But her grievance was immediately dismissed. “Wait-- you’ve been on digs? Like real, actual, digs!? Where you found stuff and you got to-- you got to see it first hand? Which digs? Where were they? What did you find? Oh, god, I nearly cried when they found Romulus’ tomb! What an amazing discovery! Can you even imagine being there for that? Or the new tomb they found in the Valley of King’s? It always feels like we’ve discovered so much, but then we just keep finding more and it’s amazing.” She couldn’t help the sparkle in her eye or the shine in her voice-- this was her true passion and the worst part about being a lawyer was that it made it impossible to chase. “Wow, Princeton sounds amazing. I haven’t done a campus visit yet, but I’ve heard good things about Harvard. If I make it in.” She withdrew a little at that. “I-- I know. And I did! Take a break. Sort of. It was an unintended break, but a break all the same.” If being in a nightmarish dreamscape counted as a break. 

“Indeed.” Ben said affably, eyes still analyzing her every move. The way she shifted in place, the way she rubbed her arm, the way her smile seemed a fraction less genuine than it had before. It seemed she wasn’t one for John Lennon. Suited him just fine, the Beatles were vastly overrated and John Lennon was a musician, what bearing did he have on anything that mattered? “I’m just a professor, so… please, you don’t need to take this to heart. But, life is meant to be lived, is it not? And what’s more important to life than choice? The freedom to live as you please and to live without wondering how things might have been different, it’s incredibly important.” He said with a firm nod before easing back slightly, his eyes losing some of their intensity. It seemed as though his mention of his field work had piqued her interest though, which was something else he made note of. If they met again-- and he would make a point of meeting her again-- he would have to bring that up. “I did. Truly incredible, the discovery they made there was absolutely groundbreaking. Literally, given how the dig went.” Ben joked. “History is absolutely like that. Just when we think we know it all, our ancestors surprise us.” Glancing down at his watch, Ben raised his eyebrows, as though startled by how much time had passed. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to keep you. It’s not everyday I meet such a remarkable student like yourself, though.” Reaching into his jacket, he withdrew one of his cards and handed it to Bex. “If you’re ever interested in talking more-- about archeology or the Ivy Leagues, please feel free to contact me. I also have office hours on Thursday and Fridays, my door is open to you.” He said with a bright, toothy smile. 

Bex went still when he started explaining. It was the same things Morgan always told her, that her choice mattered, her wants mattered-- but it wasn’t as easy as all that. She had duties, she had responsibilities. Leaving that life just wasn’t an option. Her parents had made sure to drill that into her from a young age. This was her life, this would always be her life. She had no choice. Her eyes sank to the floor, she no longer felt brave enough to look him in the eye, even as he described his incredible experience of being part of a dig, being a part of history itself. It should have made her heart flutter to hear about it, but something inside of her told her to stop letting herself believe that one day she might get to have something like that, too. She nodded slowly. “No, it’s fine! You didn’t keep me,” she said, trying to keep the smile plastered to her face as she glanced up enough to take the card he was offering her. She stared at the neatly typed words pressed onto the paper. Benjamin Campbell. Professor of the Classics. His information was included below the title. “Remarkable?” she repeated, unsure if she’d heard that word right. “But I’m not even--” in any of his classes. But as she looked at him, she knew the offer was genuine. Her smile came a little easier this time. “Thank you. Really. For-- for this.” She pocketed the card. “It was really great to meet you, Professor. I’ll um-- I’ll see you around. I usually tend to read here most days so, you know.” She chewed her lip before grabbing her bag. “Thanks. A-again.” She needed to stop saying thanks, Mina would kill her if she knew. “I appreciate you taking the time to talk to me.” And then with that, she scurried off, the business card, and a million questions, burning a hole in her pocket. She couldn’t wait to talk to him again-- maybe things really weren’t as bad as they felt. Maybe she could have a good life here.