#blair grumbles

[sapphic-outlaw]

RDR2 to-do lists are absolutely insane when they have no context

[wereverine]

visual representation of how it feels to get hit with a really bad cramp or really bad intestinal pain out of nowhere

[waterhousse]

Invisible String

pairing: college!ellie williams x reader

summary: a week in your life where someone leaves you an anonymous note and you also meet a cute girl in one of your classes.

author’s note: this is un(necessarily) LONG, so take your time to read it. i hope you still enjoy it !! <3

• • • •

monday

you were in front of your dorm, digging for your keys in the mess of your backpack when a high-pitched voice yelled your name. of course, it could only belong to you best friend, blair. you prepared yourself to receive one of her bone-crushing hugs.

“there you are! i sent you like a million messages!”

“everything okay?” you asked before pulling away.

“yeah, i just have a little proposal.”

you narrowed your eyes at her, “what are you scheming?”

“you see, my gorgeous boyfriend is throwing this massive party on friday—”

“immediately no.”

“oh, c’mon!” she grumbled. “it’s been like five months since the last time we went out together. i miss my drunk little partner,” she pouted, pinching your cheek.

you let out a laugh, softly pushing away her hand out of your face. “i’m not exactly in a party mood, blair. i’m sorry.”

you made a poor attempt to avoid eye contact, but the weight of her stare was a difficult one to ignore. you looked back at her, already defeated.

“it’s nothing serious, but i’ve just been feeling a little insecure. and i’m okay,” you were quick to clarify, “i just want to stay in my dorm and watch a movie or something. it’s only temporary, i’ll feel better soon. you know i always do,” you opened the door and waited for her to inside first.

“how many times do i have to tell you you’re gorgeous for you to believe me? look at you!”

“blair—”

“i’m serious.”

“i know you are. thank you,” you replied softly. “forget about it, let’s just go inside. i’m tired and i wanna sleep.”

your friend had a worried look on her face, but decided to drop the subject, “still no roommate?”

“nope,” you grinned, closing the door behind you. “i’d invite you to live with me but you’re too busy staying at your boyfriend’s,” you teased her.

“can you blame me? his apartment is the size of a million of these dorms combined,” she exaggerated. “besides, he’s the sweetest man to ever exist. he’s every girl’s dream.” she sighed dreamily as she threw herself on the unoccupied bed. you raised your eyebrows at her, to which she rolled her eyes. “if he were a girl you’d be after him, too.”

after your friend bragged about her boyfriend for a few more minutes, both of you ended up falling asleep, totally drained from your long, boring classes. you woke up two hours later thanks to blair’s boyfriend who called her wondering where she was.

“wanna go grab some coffee? he’s paying!” blair offered with a big smile, which you returned.

“maybe he is every girl’s dream after all.”

you and blair headed outside shortly after, gossiping about people you didn’t even know. suddenly, your sleepy eyes spotted something strange on the door, more specifically, on the whiteboard you had outside. someone had left an anonymous message on it.

the prettiest girl on campus (and of everywhere else too) i wish i could come up with the courage to talk to you. guess i’ll just admire you from afar

ps: not in a creepy way

ps2: seriously sorry if this is creepy

you stared blankly at the message, reading it over and over again.

“did you do this?”

“hold on, i’m looking for that one tweet i saw. i’m telling you, she’s cheating on him—”

“blair!”

she finally looked up from her phone, “what?”

“did you do this?” you pointed at the board.

her expression comically changed from confusion to extreme excitement, eyes widened and mouth hung open. an over exaggerated gasp left her lips before she grabbed you by the shoulders.

“oh my god! you have a secret admirer!”

“no, i don’t. that’s probably not for me. someone must’ve mistaken my dorm for somebody else’s.”

“your name is literally on that board. besides, you are the prettiest girl to ever exist, so, i’m pretty sure they’re not mistaken.” blair kept looking at the note, meticulously analyzing it. “let’s pray it’s not a man who wrote this. imagine if he confesses his feelings for you in person. he’d be in for a very awkward rejection.”

you tried to downplay the situation by telling blair it was probably just a joke, but on the inside you couldn’t stop wondering who did it. as you walked down the hallway, you discreetly checked the whiteboards from the other dorms. all they had were random doodles and people’s names, nothing else.

tuesday

you were currently sitting under a big tree, admiring the sunset. birds chirped softly at the distance, adding even more magic to the beautiful scenery in front of you, but even the peaceful atmosphere that surrounded you wasn’t enough to calm your racing mind.

the anonymous note was certainly the most interesting thing that had happened to you in a while, but you were a serial overthinker. besides making you feel extremely curious about the identity of the person who wrote it, it had also made you spiral about the way you acted towards strangers.

being content with your small circle, you never put any effort in starting conversations with someone you didn’t already know. you felt as if you didn’t need anyone else in your life, but was that a mistake? what if the mystery person tried talking to you but you acted uninterested? what if they attempted to make eye contact but you were too busy staring down?

the most important question spinning around your head was how many special bonds had you lost simply because of your behavior?

as your silent crisis continued, the sun began to disappear on the horizon until it was fully dark. your eyes quickly found the moon, with the sky being clear, you could see her perfectly.

you took out your phone to take some pictures of the satellite, as well as everything else around you. the trees, your coffee cup, an empty bench and an orange cat that was laying next to it.

just as you were taking photos of the cute animal, someone crouched down next to him to pet him. that was the moment you saw her. a girl you had never seen before, but who managed to catch your attention right away. she was simply beautiful. many people, places, art pieces and more had been described with that adjective, but in your mind, that unknown girl was the first being in history to be worthy of it. you were completely mesmerized.

you put down your phone and watched the sweet moment develop in front of you. you could tell she was speaking to the cat, who seemed to really enjoy her company. the girl got up after a few minutes, giving the cat one last scratch between his ears before leaving. a frown instantly appeared on her face the moment she looked away from the animal, making you chuckle. she looked absolutely intimidating, the total opposite of what you had just witnessed.

your eyes followed her until she disappeared from your sight, but her image stayed on your mind for the rest of the day.

wednesday

you were having one of those days when everything that can go wrong, goes wrong. you had slept through your alarm, didn’t have time to have breakfast, couldn’t find your books and forgot your jacket on your way out. one may think it couldn’t get worse, well, unfortunately, it could.

you felt your soul escape your body when the, feared by many, physics professor laid his demonic eyes on you. you were certain you looked insane; hair a total mess, completely out of breath and slightly shaking from your nervousness.

“class started ten minutes ago,” his strident voice echoed in the big classroom. you didn’t even need to look to know everyone’s eyes were on you.

“i know,” your voice pathetically quivered. “sorry.”

“for your information, if you have somewhere to be you wake early enough to make it on time. it’s not rocket science, all of your classmates did it.” when he got no reply from you, he sighed. “there’s only one more seat available at the back. lucky for you, you’ll be sitting next to one of my best students. maybe you could be friends, she could teach you how to get here on time.���

with your eyes glued to the floor, you walked straight to where the professor pointed to without making a sound. you tried your best to ignore your classmates’ stares, but they lacked discretion.

fortunately for you, a nice surprised awaited you. the student the professor mentioned was none other than the girl you had seen the day before. she was even more beautiful up-close, which wasn’t exactly a good thing. she had just witnessed your most embarrassing moment. still, her eyes radiated kindness.

“this guy’s an idiot. you were only a few minutes late and didn’t even miss much. he was just struggling to turn on the projector the whole time,” the girl whispered at you once you sat down.

you were ready to reply with just a ‘yeah’, but the crisis you had the day before stopped you.

“he’s the worst,” you replied instead. “i always feel on the verge of puking whenever he looks at me,” the regret you felt after saying that was immediate, fearing it was too much information.

you felt yourself relax at the sound of her laugh, and of course it had to be the most heavenly sound you had ever heard.

“i’m ellie williams,” she leaned in, reaching over for your hand. you introduced yourself as your brain started mindlessly picking up details about her, like the fact that she had many freckles scattered all over her face.

you held her gaze for a few seconds before looking back at the professor, who had begun talking about punctuality. he sent you multiple looks during his whole speech, you found it hilarious. he looked like as if his eyes were about to pop out of his sockets.

trying to act as normal as possible, you grabbed your water bottle and took a sip in an attempt to calm down. you realized that was a huge mistake once you glanced at ellie, who was trying her hardest to hold in her laugh. you almost spit out your water when she made eye contact with you, causing you to choke.

“shit, you alright?” she leaned in, now fully laughing, and patted your back.

“yes— yeah,” you managed to say in between your coughing and laughing. you looked around, noticing how quiet the classroom had gotten. yours’ and ellie’s voices were the only thing cutting through the deadly silence. “sorry, i choked on water— sorry,” you apologized to the professor, who was impatiently tapping his foot on the floor.

“may i continue, ladies? is that okay with you two or should i wait for you to be done?” neither of you answered, so he let out one of his classic sighs. “as i was saying…”

the moment he looked away, you covered your face with your hands, trying to muffle the giggles that were escaping your lips. ellie was in the same state as you, which only made things worse.

“if he didn’t hate me before, he sure does now,” you whispered, eyes sparkling with amusement. “why does he have to be such a dick? it’s not like a choked on purpose. i could’ve died,” you dramatized.

actually, it’d be very rare to die from choking on a liquid, ellie almost said, but she didn’t want you to think she was a smart-ass. instead, she just kept laughing.

silence grew between the two of you as you came back to your notes and tried to pay attention to the class. ellie’s eyes inevitably fell on you again, trying to come up with something to say to keep the conversation going.

“you know, i, personally, wouldn’t take advice from a person like him, but i think he’s right about us being friends.”

“yeah, i think he is,” you warmly smiled before looking down at your notes again, unable to hold her gaze.

having fun in physics class seemed impossible at the beginning of the semester, but it had actually happened. you and ellie talked the whole time, which made the minutes go by faster than expected and also annoyed everyone around you.

“see you next wednesday? try to be on time, though. i don’t want him to kill you in front of the whole class.”

you laughed at ellie’s words and nodded, “see you next week.”

i really hope it’s sooner than that, the thought appeared in your mind without warning. you watched ellie go, a shy smile appeared on your lips when she glanced back at you and caught you staring.

the rest of the morning felt boring and uneventful in comparison to physics class, so you were really excited to finally be back at your dorm. your tired eyes fell on the whiteboard, no message from the mystery person. you tried to ignore how weirdly disappointed you felt and went inside, telling yourself it had been, probably, a one time thing.

thursday

shyness had never been a problem for you but, still, socializing wasn’t really your thing. if there was a chance for you to avoid interaction with strangers, you took it, so it was certainly weird seeing ellie at the dining hall and feeling an intense need to say hi. good thing she wasn’t exactly a stranger, right?

she was sitting alone in one of the most secluded tables, eyes focused on her phone. without giving it much thought, you walked towards her, but you began second guessing your decision once you realized she probably wanted to be alone. your steps became more hesitant the closer you got to her and just as you were about to turn around and leave she looked up. her surprised expression quickly changed into a delighted one.

“hey,” she greeted as she took off her headphones.

“hi,” you smiled back as a feeling of panic started setting in. you had absolutely no idea of what to say to her.

“you can sit if you’d like,” she offered, gesturing to the seat in front of her.

“you’re not busy? i can leave if you alone if—”

“no way,” ellie shook her head and, with her foot, pushed the chair towards you before looking up at you. “c’mon, sit.”

the moment you sat down, she leaned forward. you, instinctively, leaned back, but kept your hands just a few inches away from hers. you bit the inside of your cheek, trying your hardest to hold her gaze.

“so, how you’ve been? had any nightmares about our beloved professor yelling at you?” ellie asked, amused. you internally thanked her for starting the conversation.

“i can see his spit flying at me in slow motion whenever i close my eyes,” you replied, making ellie laugh. “that was definitely the last time i’m late to class. i hate attention, if i have to go through something like that again i’ll just die on the spot.”

ellie’s smile hadn’t faded since the moment she saw you, “just try not to be late to any of his classes, he’s the only one who gives you shit for that,” she adviced. “i knew he was insane because i’ve heard about it, so i tried to get on his good side by always being early. i considered sitting at the front, too, but that was too much.”

“you always sit at the back?”

“yeah, i don’t like having people behind me. for some reason, it really freaks me out knowing someone is staring at the back of my head.”

you hummed in response, mind deep in thought. you never looked at the back when you entered the classroom, in fact, you kept your head down, but ellie had always been there.

how many special bonds had you lost simply because of your behavior?

“hey, my friend’s boyfriend is throwing a party this friday, i was wondering if you’d like to go.”

“cool, yeah, of course,” ellie quickly replied.

“yeah?” you beamed, biting down your bottom lip.

“yes,” she nodded, the corners of her mouth quirking up again, “can i bring a friend?”

“sure,” you smiled. you took out a pen and a post-it from your backpack and wrote the address before sticking it on her hand. your eyes wandered further and ended up on her watch. without a second thought, you grabbed her wrist and pulled her closer to you, tilting your head to see the time. “shit, i gotta go to class, but i’ll see you friday?”

“see you then,” ellie said, but she didn’t want you to leave, and you didn’t want to go either. she hesitated before calling your name, making you turn around. “can i walk you to class?”

the question lingered in the air as you processed it. it had caught you completely off guard, which ellie could tell just by seeing your expression. fearing she messed up, time began moving slower and slower to her until you finally accepted her offer with a huge grin on your face.

ellie released the air stuck in her lungs before catching up with you. anyone with a pair of working eyes could see how nervous the two of you were, except yourselves. you were too busy focused on not to embarrass yourself by tripping and ellie was trying to regulate her breathing. neither of you dared to talk because it would make it too obvious, but ellie finally broke the silence once you stepped outside, asking you what class you had.

you had always hated small talk because you feared there’d be a point in which you wouldn’t know what else to say, but that moment never came with ellie. the conversation flowed smoothly between smiles and chuckles from the both of you.

“oh, look!” she suddenly said, casually grabbing you by your shoulder as if she had done it a thousand times before. you followed her line of sight and gasped when your eyes spotted a familiar orange cat. it was the same one you had seen ellie pet when you didn’t even know her yet. “wanna go say hi?”

“how is that even a question?”

ellie was the first one to approach him, crouching down in front of him. you copied her action a second later, already eager to pet him.

“his name is orange. original, right?” ellie sarcastically asked, gaining a laugh from you. “i didn’t name him, by the way. he has a tag with his name.”

“hi, little guy,” you pouted, scratching the back of his head.

“he must live nearby because he’s always here,” ellie told you. “he’s missing an eye, but he’s still cute, right?” she glanced over her shoulder.

you two were close. closer than a simple girl like ellie could handle. your perfume was all that she could smell, you were the only thing she could look at and her own heartbeat was the only sound she could hear.

“he’s the cutest,” you chuckled.

you stayed there for a couple more minutes. ellie told you about the first time she saw orange and you told her about the pets you had back home. it was such a sweet conversation, both of you using soft voices to not scare the cat away.

“alright, let’s go. i don’t want you being late to another class,” ellie told you as she stood up. “see you later, dude,” she waved at orange. surprisingly, the cat meowed back. “we’re best friends,” ellie jokingly bragged as both of you began to walk again.

“do you think he’ll accept me as a friend, too?”

“oh, absolutely. he loves you already.”

you ended up getting to class just in time, but you wouldn’t have cared if you were late. if it were for you, you would’ve skipped it just to keep hanging out with ellie.

“see you tomorrow, then?” you asked, hopeful.

“see you tomorrow,” ellie confirmed as she took a few steps back in your opposite direction, her eyes never leaving you until she fully turned around.

friday

it had been a while since you’d last chosen an outfit with someone in mind, wondering if they would like it. it took a while, but you finally settled on one. it was neatly laying on top of your bed.

“she’ll totally fall in love when she sees you in that,” blair’s voice cut through the silence, startling you.

“i’ve no idea who you’re talking about,” you obviously lied.

“maybe the girl you’ve been talking to me about since you met her?” blair guessed, “or is it the mysterious person who left you that note on monday?”

“it’s not weird that i still think about who could it be, is it?”

even if you had many other things to think about, the identity of the secret admirer, as blair had called them, was something that you were still curious about. it was difficult not to overthink every interaction you had with strangers, especially those who you’d catch staring or were friendlier than normal with you.

“are you kidding? if i were you, i would’ve asked every single person on campus if they knew anything about it,” she sat down on your bed, next to where your clothes were and handed them to you with a wink. “both ellie and the secret admirer will die when they see you tonight.”

a pathetic giggle escaped your lips on the way to the bathroom. you quickly changed into your chosen outfit, a rare feeling of exciment growing on inside you.

once you arrived at the party, you wasted no time and started looking for ellie. there were many familiar faces in the already drunken crowd, some of them even waved at you, but you didn’t even notice. between the lights and the loud music, you could barely pay attention to your own thoughts.

“what was she like again?” blair asked you, trying to help you find her.

“hot,” you replied, still scanning the room.

“right, thanks. that really helps.”

you laughed, “she’s—” your description was cut short when you suddenly locked eyes with her across the room. there was someone by her side, a girl who looked familiar but you couldn’t pinpoint where you knew her from. “she’s here.”

ellie leaned into her friend’s ear to say something, but her eyes never left yours. you tried to remain calm as you watched her walk towards you, looking annoyingly attractive.

“hey, there you are,” she greeted once she was close enough for you to hear her.

“hi! you came,” you beamed. “this is blair, my best friend. blair, this is ellie.”

“it’s really nice to meet you,” ellie shot a quick glance at your friend before glueing her eyes on you again.

knowing that that was her cue to leave, blair gave you a squeeze on your arm, “if you’ll excuse me, i have to go find my boyfriend. enjoy the party,” she wiggled her eyebrows at you before disappearing into the crowd.

“shouldn’t you call your friend over?” it was a genuine question, not wanting ellie to ditch the person she was with for you, but you also needed to know if she was really just a friend.

ellie looked over her shoulder and let out a chuckle, “i think she’s pretty busy.”

confused, you looked behind her. all of your doubts were cleared once you spotted her, she was making out with some girl.

she was definitely just a friend.

“oh,” you let out a short laugh. “good for her.”

ellie nodded at your words before looking back at you again. you were still distracted by the show ellie’s friend was giving and were completely oblivious to the spell you had put her under.

“you look really good,” she blurted out.

you broke into a sweet smile at the sudden compliment, “oh, thank you. you do too. really, really good.”

the fluttering of your heart made you want to burst into giggles, feeling extremely giddy. it was obvious how flustered you were, but seeing ellie in the same state as you made you feel slightly better. you would’ve never guess she’d be the type of person who blushes.

“wanna go for something to drink?”

you nodded at her question before reaching for her hand with the excuse of not losing each other on the way to the kitchen. ellie’s fingers quickly intertwined with yours as you started to lead the way. you offered many apologizes to the people who you accidentally bumped into, the place was absolutely packed and it was difficult to move. the kitchen was no different, you had barely any place to walk.

you grabbed two beer bottles and handed one to ellie, who looked a bit flushed from the previous interaction.

“next time someone doesn’t move after i say ‘excuse me’ i’ll just hit them on their ribs,” you furrowed your eyebrows. “where did they put the bottle opener?” you muttered to yourself, but ellie seemed to have heard you.

“here, let me help.”

you passed her the bottle and watched as she opened it against the table, taking the top off immediately.

“impressive,” you praised her before taking a sip. you grimaced at the taste.

ellie leaned back on the kitchen island, keeping her eyes on you. there was an amused smirk on her lips, “you don’t like it?”

“not really. i mean, it’s not like i hate it, but i only drink beer when there’s no other option,” you shrugged your shoulders. “i think there’s more to drink over there but there’s too many people and i don’t feel like getting trapped between sweaty drunk dudes.”

ellie swept her gaze over the kitchen before walking towards one of the many cabinets. “there’s gotta be something else in here,” she said as she opened every single door. “there it is!” ellie turned around and your eyes fell to her hands, she was holding a bottle of vodka. it was almost empty. “shots, anyone?” she offered.

a guy who was at the kitchen cheered, “hell yeah!”

ellie frowned, disgusted. “not you. go get your own bottle.”

a laugh escaped your lips at how disappointed the guy seemed to be, he immediately left after ellie’s words. “that was kind of mean,” you chuckled lightly.

ellie couldn’t tell you that she actually blew him off because of how shamelessly he checked you out the moment you entered the kitchen, so she just shrugged her shoulders. “he didn’t find it. open up,” she commanded you, placing a hand on your chin. you opened your mouth and felt how ellie poured the liquid down your throat.

“gross,” you wrinkled your nose. you grabbed the bottle from her hands and copied her action, softly grabbing her by her chin. she drank what was left of the vodka and you left the bottle on the counter behind her.

ellie smiled at you as she swiped her fingers across the corner of her lips. she gave you one last glance before walking past you. you watched her open more drawers and cabinets.

“psst, come here,” she called you over.

“what did you find?”

ellie looked around to check no one else was listening. you laughed at how secretive she was being. “look,” she whispered, she had found a box of chocolate covered strawberries. “shall we?” she offered, eyebrows up.

“absolutely,” you accepted, laughing. “but not here. let’s go to the balcony. it’s closed but i know where they keep the keys.”

ellie pushed herself off the table she was laying on and grabbed your hand, “i’ll lead this time, i know where it is.”

you stared down at your hands, blindly trusting her to guide you.

“how do you know where it is?”

“well, i kind of looked everywhere for you when i got here,” she admitted. “thought you stood me up.”

“sorry, i took forever to get ready,” you apologized, embarrassed.

“don’t worry, it was totally worth it,” ellie shot a quick glance at you as she said that, knowing it would mess you up. her personality changed from shy to flirty in a matter of seconds, so you didn’t really know what to expect of her.

you let out a sigh of relief once you were on the balcony, grateful for how muffled the people and music sounded from outside. “i remember why i haven’t gone out in months now,” you rolled your eyes.

“not a party girl, huh?” ellie let out a chuckle, leaning against the wall. she offered you a strawberry, which you gladly took.

“not lately,” you replied after taking a bite.

“so what made you go out tonight?”

you shrugged, “it was an impulse,” your answer was honest, but it was missing the rest of it.

because i wanted to see you again.

“it really helps you’re here, though,” you clarified. “actually, it doesn’t only help, you’re the only reason i’m enjoying this.”

“same here,” she smiled at you before looking up at the sky, she got lost in her thoughts for a moment before speaking up again. “it sucks that city lights don’t let us see the stars properly.”

you scoffed at her words, “i know, but hey, at least we have the moon,” you pointed at the satellite. “she never disappoints.”

there had been a few times were you felt as if the universe was on your side, somehow listening to you. that night was the moment you confirmed your theory because, coincidentally enough, the lights went off in what it seemed to be the entire city. a collective scream was heard from inside the apartment, along with multiple curses.

you took out your phone and turned on your flashlight, accidentally pointing it at ellie’s eyes.

“ow!” she let out, squinting her eyes. you couldn’t help but laugh, to which she complained.

“sorry, didn’t mean to blind you. especially now,” your excitement was enough to spark ellie’s curiosity.

“what do you mean?”

“come with me,” you grabbed her hand for the third time that day, knowing you’d miss doing that when the night came to an end. you still hadn’t gotten used to the weird, almost electric feeling that tingled in your palm whenever you touched her.

you guided her through the disappointed multitude, letting out apologies every now and then and also pushing those who didn’t move after you politely asked. you couldn’t blame them, though, they had used the darkness to their advantage and were shamelessly making out.

the air was ten times colder on the terrace than it was on the balcony, but neither of you cared because once you looked up you forgot about everything else. well, except maybe each other.

the view was completely breathtaking. without the light pollution, the sky looked straight out of a painting.

“it’s like looking straight at space,” you whispered, eyes sparkling with excitement. you had only seen the stars like that once in your life when you were a kid. it was as magical as you remembered, and the person you were sharing the moment with only made everything more special.

“i know,” ellie gazed at you before looking up again. “it blows my mind.”

as the night went on, you talked about many different things whilst laying on the floor; how your lives back home were, your friends, your families, favorite movies and songs and of course, with both of you being astronomy students, space-related stuff. you two were interested in each other’s point of view about everything, so you discussed many different subjects, enjoying the freedom to be incredibly nerdy about it.

“our lifespan is way too short. i mean, think about it. look at how many things have changed and advanced in only a hundred years. can you imagine how the world will change in, like, a thousand years?”

“maybe in fifty more years scientists will discover the key to immortality and we’ll be able to see everything,” ellie shrugged her shoulders. “or we could try to discover it ourselves once we graduate.”

you let out a laugh, “such an easy thing to do,” you sarcastically said. “i’m in, but maybe we could try with something easier, like, finding extraterrestrial forms of life, perhaps?”

“apparently, they are already here,” ellie pointed out.

you turned your head at her, “we’ll be the first to make friends with them, then. we’re pretty nice people, they’ll warm up to us.”

“deal,” she smiled at you, inevitably glancing at your lips for a second due to the proximity.

you kept enjoying each other’s company. there were moments in which neither of you spoke but, surprisingly enough, you didn’t care. even silence was fun with her.

neither of you had experienced a connection as strong as the one you had, especially in such a short amount of time. you didn’t question it, thought, it just made sense.

after a while, the power came back. the city was illuminated and the music from the party was back on. you two sat up, a little saddened that you couldn’t stargaze anymore.

“it was fun while it lasted,” you commented, ready to return to the apartment. you picked up the beer bottles from the floor, along with the empty box of chocolate strawberries.

“we can always go camping,” ellie suggested. “the sky will look even better than tonight.”

“i have zero survival skills, so you’d be in charge of everything. i can interest you with some random facts, though.”

“sounds good,” she laughed as she stood by the door and opened it, waiting for you to go inside first. the walk to the apartment was quiet, hating the fact the that night was coming to an end.

the loud music welcomed you again, people were even crazier after having to wait half an hour for the power to come back. it surprised you to see the same amount of people, apparently, none of them had left.

“i know it’s a friday night but, how the fuck has your friend managed to not get kicked out yet?” ellie leaned into your ear.

“this building is mostly occupied by other students, so they are probably at the party, too,” you explained, raising your voice a little so she could hear you.

everyone was euphorically dancing, making up for the lost time. you glanced at ellie before grabbing her hand and dragging her to the improvised dance floor. she instantly followed you, completely mesmerized.

“oh my god, there you are! i thought i was imagining things when i saw you earlier,” a familiar voice said from behind you. it was tara, you shared some classes and had been partners in a project once. “you look so good.”

“oh, hey, tara. this ell—”

“yeah, hi,” she interrupted you, only glancing at ellie for half a second. “could you walk me to the bathroom? i– i don’t know where it is and i feel pretty sick.”

your eyes flickered between the two girls. you obviously wanted to stay with ellie, but tara had put you in a really awkward position.

“uh…” you hesitated, “where are your friends?”

“they already left,” she frowned. “c’mon, babe, come with me? please.”

the nickname she used echoed in ellie’s mind.

“i can’t, i—”

“you should go. i should check on my friend, so…” ellie’s lips were in a straight line, but she forced a smile when you looked at her.

“why don’t you come with us?”

ellie would’ve agreed if she hadn’t seen the nasty look tara had given her. she wasn’t intimidated by her in the slightest, but the thought of being a burden and indirectly forcing you not to leave her alone was enough to let you go, even if she didn’t want to.

“no, really. i need to go see if she’s okay. i’ll find you later.”

you didn’t have time to respond, because you had already been dragged away from there. tara started chatting your ear off about stuff you didn’t care, you could only think about ellie.

“do you want me to call you an uber or something?” you asked her.

“why would i wanna leave?”

“you said you were sick and you’re pretty drunk, you should go home.”

“oh, no, silly. i live in this building, maybe you could walk me to my apartment?”

you refrained from rolling your eyes in front of her and realized that the sooner you got rid of her, the sooner you could go back to the girl you actually wanted to be with.

“c’mon, let’s go,” you said. on the way out you messaged blair to find ellie and tell her you’d be right back, to which she answered she was on it.

you took the elevator to her floor. you could tell tara wanted you to initiate a conversation by the way she was looking at you, but you couldn’t care less about her. she hadn’t noticed, apparently, because she started talking about god knows what as you walked behind her, completely zoned out.

“wanna come in?” she asked you once you were outside her apartment. her intentions were crystal clear but, as flattered as you were, you couldn’t help but feel completely uncomfortable.

“uh, no, thanks,” you awkwardly said.

“you sure? i’ve got—”

“yes, tara, i’m sure. i gotta go, i’m sorry. you’ll be okay, though, right? see you around,” you took a step back with each word you said, by the end of the sentence you were in front of the elevator. you heard tara let out a very confused ‘bye’ before the doors closed.

you impatiently tapped your foot against the floor, wondering why was the elevator taking so long. once you were back at the party you immediately searched for ellie, but she was nowhere to be found. instead, you saw blair, who had a worried look on her face.

“hey,” you approached her. “did you talk to ellie?”

“i couldn’t. i saw her leave with that girl she was with like a minute after you texted me,” she grimaced. “what happened? why were you with tara?”

you sighed, “i’m so stupid,” you groaned. “tara found me and she put me in this really difficult spot, so i had to walk her to her apartment because she was pretty fucking drunk and feeling very sick, or at least that’s what she told me, and i did it as fast as i could, but—”

“okay, okay. stop. why don’t you text ellie and—”

“i don’t have her number.”

“try instagram?”

“i tried finding her on instagram the same day i met her and i couldn’t,” you awkwardly confessed. “she probably thinks i blew her off for stupid tara.”

“hey, calm down. i’m sure you’ll see her soon.”

sadly, that soon never came. saturday, sunday, monday and tuesday went by painfully slow. there was no sight of ellie.

wednesday

you were a hopeless romantic, even if you didn’t admit it out loud. deep down, you knew that meeting ellie wasn’t a coincidence. it could’ve happened at any given moment due to being classmates, but it did when you needed it the most.

it was unexpected, but as said before, you felt as if sometimes the universe was on your side, listening to your deepest desires, the ones you didn’t know needed to be fulfilled.

you had never felt a connection as genuine as the one you had with her. everything seemed easy with her, making you feel you’d known her for longer than a week.

that doesn’t happen often, especially to you, so you would do anything in your power to fix things.

you were currently in physics class, counting down the minutes for it to end. you had to fight the urge to look at the back to see if ellie was there.

the thought of her being mad at you for practically abandoning at the party you invited her to made you sick. you also feared she didn’t care at all, which was a hundred times worse.

once the class ended you waited for her outside, trying to calm down your racing heart. the majority of students had already come out. you had just started to lose hope of seeing her when you finally heard her voice. she was saying goodbye to the professor.

“hi,” you nervously smiled when she was in front of you. her looking as good as always didn’t help you calm down at all. “i’ve been hoping to see you since friday. i wanted to apologize—”

“oh, you don’t have to do that. i get it. i saw you leave with that girl, tara, was it? it’s okay, you don’t have to explain anything—”

“no, no. i didn’t leave with her,” you clarified. “she wasn’t feeling good so she asked me to walk her to her apartment, which was in that same building, and i only did it to get rid of her. i know i sound like a major dick, but i wanted to go back to you as soon as possible,” you confessed, heart beating a hundred miles per minute.

“you did?” there was a smile hiding on her lips, you could tell by the tone she used. she was amused and obviously enjoyed seeing you flustered.

“yes, and i told blair to find you and tell you that i’d be right back, but when i did you had already left and i had no way of communicating with you, so…” ellie was quiet, so you continued. “i’m sorry.“

it felt like an eternity until she spoke again. “i’m sorry i left.”

“it’s not your fault,“ you mused. “it’s tara’s.”

“it so is,” ellie let out a chuckle. “i’ll fuck her up.”

you laughed, which made ellie’s stomach flip. both of you became numb to your surroundings as you stared into each other’s eyes, dumb smiles plastered on your faces.

“hey, about that paper that we have to do on electromagnetism. would you, maybe, uh, want to do it with me?”

“yes, i’d love to,” you grinned. “we could meet at the library tomorrow. do you have any classes in the morning?”

“just one, it ends at 10.”

“see you at 11?”

“yeah,” ellie nodded.

“oh, i almost forgot,” you said before taking out your phone. ellie curiously watched you type something before you handed it to her.

an adorable smile formed on her lips when she saw you were asking for her number. you had already typed in her name with the alien emoji next to it.

“thank you,” you mused when she gave your phone back to you. you instantly sent her a text so she could save your number on hers, too.

“see you tomorrow :)”

ellie looked up from her phone, mouth upturned. “see you then.”

tuesday

“the library’s closed,” ellie announced the moment she saw you.

the lights were turned off and there was a sign on the door that read ‘closed for reparations’.

“awh, man,” you complained. “why didn’t they tell us sooner—”

“actually, they did. i just checked and they sent us an email about a week ago, we just don’t check our inbox,” ellie interrupted you, grimacing.

“oh, our fault then,” you shrugged your shoulders. “um, maybe we could go to my dorm? i don’t have a roommate so nobody will bother us,” you offered.

“woah, i’d give everything to have my dorm all to myself,” she groaned, tilting her head back. “why don’t you have a roommate?”

you didn’t realize you had already started walking together, mindlessly leading the way to your dorm.

“i had one at the beginning of the semester, but then she dropped out or something. they told me i’ll probably get one next semester, so i’m enjoying it while it lasts,” you explained.

ellie huffed, “my roommate is a music producer. she’s pretty considerate but sometimes she has to listen to her songs without headphones,” she rolled her eyes. “i think i’m gonna find a job and move out to an apartment.”

“you totally should. i’d do it too if i were capable of balancing work and college,” you told her. “you’re welcome to stay at mine’s for as long as you want and whenever you want, by the way.”

“really?” she grinned. “you’re already asking me to live together? i haven’t even met your parents, yet.”

you rolled your eyes, a playful smile growing on your lips, “fine, my offer is off the table, then.”

“oh, no. now it’s too late. i’m moving in tomorrow morning.”

ellie spent the entire walk planning an itinerary for when she moved in with you, which basically consisted in eating breakfast together, go to class, come back and have lunch together, have more classes, come back and have dinner together then have a sleepover every night.

“sounds fun, huh?”

“super fun,” you chuckled as you opened the door for her. “guests first,” you stepped aside, inviting her in.

“hey, this is practically my dorm, too, now,” ellie joked, curiously looking around as she scratched the back of her neck. she was trying her hardest not to show how nervous she actually was, but the fluttering on her stomach made it really hard.

you were in the same state as her, trying not to freak out. your eyes discreetly checked every corner of the room, making sure everything was in order and there was nothing embarrassing laying around.

ellie chuckled to herself when she noticed the ceiling was decorated with a bunch of stickers that glowed in the dark. stars and planets were placed all over.

“i know they’re childish,” you wrinkled your nose, visibly cringing.

“are you kidding? i love them. these will be the first thing i’ll buy for my new place,” her gaze fell from the ceiling to your eyes, a genuine smile spreading across her lips.

ellie kept looking around your dorm, grabbing stuff that caught her attention. it was funny seeing her ask for permission each time, looking back at you and pointing at the object she wanted to check out.

you took out your laptop from your backpack and sat down on your bed. it immediately bummed you out when you remembered that you had to do an assignment and weren’t just hanging out for fun.

“i’m gonna create a google drive file so we can both edit it later in case we don’t finish it today,” you informed her.

“yeah, that’s a good idea,” ellie replied, focused on a bracelet she had found on your desk. then, she continued snooping around your things, sometimes mumbling cool and i’m going to borrow this.

you checked the questions you had to answer and immediately sighed, “i’m completely lost.”

“want me to explain it to you?” she offered and you obviously accepted. ellie looked at the big whiteboard behind her and grabbed a marker from your desk. “okay, so you know that the earth’s core is mainly composed of liquid in the outer core and solid iron in the inner core?”

you tried your hardest to keep your attention on what she was saying, but the task turned impossible. her voice sounded muffled and you could only focus on how good she looked. you let out a few yeahs and rights when you thought it was appropriate, but the truth was that you didn’t know what the hell she was talking about.

“and this field has existed for at least three billions years, which is nuts, right?” you ears managed to make out of all the things she was saying. you saw how she laughed, clearly enjoying talking about the subject. you probably would too if you could be capable of actually listen and process what she was saying.

you watched as she continued to write and draw stuff on the board at the same time she explained something to you, but you couldn’t keep your eyes off of her.

“that’s about it, got it?” she asked, turning around.

“uh…” you let out, not being capable of forming an actual sentence.

ellie chuckled, amused, “you alright?”

“yes, it’s just—”

“was there something you didn’t understand? i can go over it again,” ellie kindly offered, but you could hardly hear her over the loud beating of your heart.

you weren’t really planning to, but you stood up. it was as if you were on autopilot, there was something else controlling your body and you couldn’t do anything to stop it. you walked closer to ellie, who looked confused.

“if i’m being honest, i didn’t listen to a word you said,” you confessed, smiling guiltily. “i swear i tried to, but there was something else on my mind.”

“what’s that?” ellie asked in a whisper, eyes scanning your face. you were extremely close to her.

“i don’t think i can go another minute without kissing you,” you softly confessed, looking up into her eyes. her pupils were dilated and a light blush had started to color her cheeks.

“no one is stopping you,” she replied, wholly captivated by you.

not even a second later, you crashed your lips into hers. ellie joyfully giggled, but that didn’t stop her from hungrily kissing you back. her hands found their way up to the sides of your face while yours ended up tangled in her hair.

ellie broke the kiss first, but your lips were still touching. “i’m still deeply disappointed you didn’t listen to my physics lesson.”

“i’m sorry,” you chuckled. “i heard some parts, you were great. i learned a lot.”

ellie smiled before leaning in again, bringing you impossibly closer to her as she gave you a breathtaking kiss. you melted against her, already eager for the kiss to end just so you could do it over and over again.

“this would’ve happened sooner if it weren’t for tara,” ellie joked, reaching over to grab your hand.

“i’ll kill her next time i see her,” you were standing so close to each other that you replied with a whisper.

ellie frowned, “you’re not seeing her again.”

“oh? i would’ve never guessed you were the jealous type,” you teased her, placing your arms on her shoulders again and bringing her even closer to you. ellie looked even better than before. her lips were reddened, her hair was a mess and her eyes had become even more hypnotic.

you could’ve stayed admiring her for hours, but a glance over her shoulder was all it took for you to wake up from your trance. you walked past her to take a closer look at the whiteboard she had used. it wasn’t what she had written that caught your attention, but the handwriting itself. it looked incredibly familiar.

your mind quickly came up with a crazy theory, which ellie’s expression confirmed the moment you looked back at her.

“you were the one who left me that note on my door?”

ellie’s confident and teasing demeanor was long gone. she looked panicked. her heartbeat accelerated significantly and she felt as she was running out of air.

“oh my god,” your mouth fell agape, a smile creeping up on your lips. “you did!”

she covered her face with her hands, letting out a groan, “you weren’t supposed to know that.”

“why?”

“it’s embarrassing! we didn’t even know each other when i did it. it’s weird—”

“it’s sweet!”

“it’s weird,” she repeated, not being able to look at you.

you smiled fondly at her, reaching for her hand and giving her a squeeze, “it really helped me, you know? it was as if you knew i needed it.”

ellie grimaced, “well, i actually kind of did…”

“what do you mean?”

she sat down on your bed, making you sit next to her. you didn’t let go of her hand. instead, you played with her fingers in an attempt to calm her down.

“i visited my friend that day, her dorm is across the hall. i was just about to leave when i saw you coming. i panicked, so i hid and accidentally overheard what you were saying to your friend,” she admitted. “i meant what i wrote. i’ve thought that way about you ever since i first saw you. it seemed like the perfect moment to tell you, at least indirectly.”

“but why didn’t you tell me in person? or at least, talked to me sooner.”

“i’m not as brave as i look and you’re fucking intimidating.”

you let out a laugh in disbelief, “me, intimidating? look at you!”

“no, look at you. you’re way to beautiful for me to just come up to you and tell you that. who could have the guts?”

“oh my god, shut up,” you hid your face in your hands, feeling how your heart fluttered like crazy at her words.

“i couldn’t tell you after we began talking, either. we were just getting to know each other, it would’ve been weird,” ellie stared down at your intertwined hands. “it’s still kind of weird,” she mumbled more to herself than for you to hear.

not being able to take it anymore, you succumbed to the urge of throwing yourself at her, leaving many kisses all over her face. the sound of her laugh made the butterflies in your stomach to fly all over the place.

“you’re the sweetest girl i’ve ever met.”

“don’t say that about me. i have a reputation to maintain,” she jokingly rolled her eyes. “so, be honest, you don’t think it was weird?”

“of course not. i think it was fate.”

“fate?”

“wait here.”

you quickly walked over to your desk where you had left your phone. you immediately searched for the picture you had taken of her last tuesday and almost ran to show it to her.

“is that me?” ellie grabbed the phone from your hands and zoomed in the picture.

“yup,” you nodded. “this was the day before we first talked. i was taking pictures of orange and you appeared, out of nowhere. you looked as you’d beat the person who dared to speak to you,” a laugh escaped your lips. “i thought about for the rest of the day and hoped to see you again, and guess what? i did. see? it was fate.”

ellie warmly smiled, she caressed your cheek with her fingers before bringing you closer to give you the softest kiss ever given, “i guess it was.”

[doctorbitchcrxft]

Malleus Maleficarum | Supernatural Series Rewrite | Dean Winchester x Fem!Reader

Pairing: Dean Winchester x Fem!Reader

Warnings: angst, smut (MDNI 18+ ONLY), recovering from a sexual assault (heed this warning and take care of yourself, lovie), heeaavvvyyy discussions of Dean's deal/death, canon violence, canon gore, witches and things, an apparent suicide/discussions of it (pls be careful bbies)

Word Count: 5157

A/N: These gifs from @shirtlesssammy are my reason for living

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Now that Christmas was over, Dean wanted to get back to hunting as quickly as possible. He stumbled across a case where a woman’s cause of death had been bleeding from the mouth after all of her teeth had fallen out. 

As a result, you and the Winchesters were posing as members of the CDC to interrogate the deceased’s husband.

Nothing of interest came from you talking to him, but Sam discovered a hex bag under the woman’s bathroom sink; the room she was murdered in. 

“Aw, gross,” Dean whined while you walked down the street beside him and his brother.

“Yeah, there are bird bones, rabbit's teeth. This cloth is probably cut from something Janet Dutton owned,” Sam explained, picking through the hex bag. He handed it to you for you to examine as well. 

“So we're thinking witch?” Dean prompted. 

“Well, duh,” you replied. “But this is, like, serious witch stuff. Old World black magic for sure.” You ducked down into the car. 

“I hate witches,” Dean grumbled, slamming the door as he sat down in the Impala. “They're always spewing their bodily fluids everywhere.”

“Aren’t you…?” you trailed off, a smirk playing on your lips. 

“Oh, ew—” Sam chuckled while his brother glared at you. 

“It's creepy, y’know,” the older brother continued, “it's down right unsanitary.”

“Yeah, well, someone definitely had it out for Janet Dutton,” Sam added. 

“Yeah, someone who snuck into that house and planted the bag. So what are we thinking, we're uh, looking for some old craggy Blair bitch in the woods,” Dean suggested. 

“Could be anyone, man. Witches are literally the girl next door,” you replied. 

“Great. How do we find 'em?” 

“This wasn't random; someone in Janet Dutton's life had an ugly ax to grind. We find the motive—”

Dean cut Sam off. “We find the murderer.”

Sam nodded, and Dean pulled the car away from the Duttons’ house. 

*** All you and the brothers could think to do was continue to stake out the surviving Dutton’s whereabouts to see if another attack happened. Sure enough, as Dean pulled into the diner parking lot you’d followed Paul Dutton to, he collapsed to the floor outside of his car. 

Before Dean could stop the Impala, you were hitting the ground running toward the man.

“Check the car!” you heard Dean yell while you tended to Paul. 

You hauled his choking body up from the gravel and positioned yourself behind him to perform the Heimlich maneuver. You knew with a witch after him, this was likely futile until Sam could get the hex bag and burn it. “Sammy!” you yelled. 

“I know, I know!” he replied. 

“Got it!” Dean shouted, and Paul soon stopped choking. 

You let go of Mr. Dutton and turned to the burning hex bag on the ground. 

“You okay?” Dean asked Mr. Dutton. 

“What the hell is happening to me?!” Paul exclaimed. 

“Someone murdered your wife and now they're trying to kill you, that's what's happening to you,” the older brother answered sternly. “That's impossible! There's no way—”

“If we hadn't been following you, you'd be a doornail right now. Now, who wants you dead?” Dean pulled no punches, and you loved that about him. 

Paul explained to you that he’d had an affair with a young woman named Amanda, and he broke it off with her about a week ago. 

Immediately, the three of you set off to the girl’s house; as Mr. Dutton had given you her address thanks to Dean’s insistence.

When you opened the door to the house, though, you found Amanda covered in her own blood on her altar. 

“That's a curveball,” Dean commented. 

With the barrel of your gun, you nudged where you thought the source of the blood was: her wrists. Sure enough, three vertical gashes on each wrist came into view. “Jesus,” you breathed out, wincing in discomfort and a twinge of compassion. 

The smell of rotting food and blood in the room was overwhelming, and it was beginning to catch up to you. You buried your nose in the crook of your elbow to try and get some relief. 

Sam said, “Looks like she was working some heavyweight evil here.” You turned around and jumped back suddenly, startled by the fact that you nearly walked into a rabbit corpse hanging from the ceiling. 

“Oh, god!” Dean exclaimed when he saw what happened. “Fuckin’ witches! Seriously man, come on!”

“Guess we know where she got the rabbit's teeth from,” the younger brother grimaced. 

“Poor rabbit,” you whined. You took out your pocket knife and cut the ropes hanging him from the ceiling. 

“Well, Paul sure knows how to pick 'em, huh? It's like Fatal Attraction all over again,” Dean commented. He turned to you gently laying the rabbit on the floor and covering him in a blanket nearby. “And why does the rabbit always get screwed in the deal?! The poor little guy.”

“You know what I don't get, Dean?” added Sam. “If she was so bent on revenge, why do this?”

“Well, she got Janet Dutton, thought she finished off Paul, decided to cap herself and make it a spurned lover's hat-trick,” he shrugged. 

Something about that didn’t seem right to you. “But where’s the knife she would’ve killed herself with? She didn’t alakazam those cuts on her wrists.”

Sam looked under the table Amanda laid on. “I think she’s onto something, Dean. Look.” He pulled a hex bag out from under the table and tossed it at his brother. 

“Another hex bag? Come on!” Dean groaned. He tossed it on the table and took out his phone. “Looks like we got a hit, huh? A little witch-on-witch violence?” He held his phone to his ear. “I'd like to report a dead body, 309 Mayfair Circle… My name? Yeah, sure my name is—'' and then he clicked it off. You had been counting to make sure he stayed under the forty-second limit to avoid the call being traced, and were just about to cue him that he was running close on time. 

“Why are witches ganking each other?” Dean continued. 

“I don't know, but I think maybe we got a coven on our hands,” Sam said. 

***

Later that night, you and Dean laid together in your shared bed; fortunately, in a separate room from Sam. 

Dean kissed up your neck back to your lips, and you sighed contently into him. When he began to trail his hand down to your panties, you flinched. 

“What, what’s wrong?” he asked, immediately breaking the kiss. 

“I don't know,” you replied. “I, uh, I haven’t been having any problems recently, I don’t know why this is happening.” Panic began to grip your chest. 

“Sweetheart, it hasn’t even been a year yet. I’m not expecting you to be completely over what happened to you,” Dean said. His understanding was frustrating you, for some reason. 

“Dean, you only have a few months left,” you huffed, sitting up to face him. “We don’t have time for…” you gestured to yourself, “this! I cannot fucking believe the timing of this, man. And I’m fed up with it!” You got up from the bed and began to stomp around in your tank top and underwear. “I can’t have sex with the guy I’m in love with who’s gonna die in fucking three months because of some asshole that decided to rape me right around the same time you made that fucking demon deal.”

“Whoa, why does it sound like you’re angry with me?” Dean questioned, getting up to join you across the room. 

“I’m not, I’m not! I’m just—” you ran a hand through your hair and sighed, closing your eyes. “I’m pissed off in general. I- I don’t wanna keep… doing… this.” 

“What do you mean ‘doing this’? Don’t tell me—” 

“No, Dean, no. I’m not breaking up with you,” you assured him. “I don’t wanna keep freaking out on you when we try to have sex. And I don’t understand why I can’t— I mean, we’ve had sex since then! I don’t fucking—”

“(Y/N), (Y/N), baby, slow down,” Dean said, gently grabbing your wrists. “Listen, it’s okay! I’m not upset!”

“I know you’re not, but I am,” you sighed. “And before you ask, I have no idea what you can do to help. I’m just pissed.” 

Dean sighed, looking a little puzzled. “I’m sorry this is happening to you.”

“I’m sorry this is happening to you,” you responded. “I mean, it’s your last fucking year on earth. I’m sure you wanna fuck, like, all the time— I know you, dude, don’t look at me like that— and my fucking vagina and body are out of commission because I can’t get out of my own head. And, god, I wanna fuck you so bad, but I just… I don’t understand what’s wrong with my body.” By the end of your rushed admission, you were crying. 

“I’m not gonna let you talk about yourself like that,” Dean replied gruffly. “No fucking way. There’s nothing wrong with you, dammit. I’m not upset with you! So let yourself off the hook, please! Practice getting out of your own head with this, okay? It’s fine. We can just… go to bed. It’s okay.”

“You sound upset, though,” you said meekly. 

He turned back around to you. “I’m upset that you’re going through this; not with you. It takes everything in me every day not to hunt that fucker down for what he did to you.”

This pulled a small smile from you, and you wrapped your arms around him and buried your face in your chest. “I love you,” you told him. 

“I love you, too,” he replied easily. 

You pulled away from him. “You do?”

“What?” he smirked down at you. “I’ve said it before.”

“I know, but you always seemed, like, pained when you’ve said it before. You didn’t that time,” you grinned lopsidedly. 

“Yeah, well. It’s never pained me, you’re just the first person I’ve ever said it to,” he admitted. 

“Aw, Dee.” You pulled him against you, hugging him tightly to thank him for his understanding. 

“Shut up,” he growled, pulling you closer with his arms wrapped around your waist.

***

The next day, the boys decided you would be the best person to subtly interrogate the women you’d determined were friends of Amanda’s. In fact, the four women had a book club they’d formed over the last year or so. 

With a casserole in hand you’d bought from the supermarket, you walked over to a woman named Elizabeth who was gardening. 

“You’ve got quite a green thumb,” you said. 

“Excuse me?” she questioned, turning around to you. 

“These herbs, I mean. Growin’ ‘em out of season like this; it’s impressive,” you noted. “Sorry, where are my manners? I’m Christine Nicks. I just moved in a few houses down.” You held the casserole out to her. 

“Oh! Thank you,” she replied, brushing off her hands. “So, uh… how are you liking it so far?”

“It’s nice!” you paused, feigning thoughtfulness. 

“What is it?” she questioned. 

“Nothing, it’s just… I heard about this girl who… committed suicide? Just recently?” You watched her reactions to your words carefully, and her expression subtly changed when you mentioned the death. 

“Yeah, yeah,” she sighed. “Amanda was her name. She was, uh, a friend of mine.” “Really? I’m sorry to hear that,” you told her. 

She nodded. 

“Elizabeth? You all right?” you heard a voice ask from behind you. 

Y0u turned toward two other women who’d walked up. 

“I'm fine, uh, Renee, this is Christine. She just moved into the neighborhood,” Elizabeth introduced. 

“Pleasure,” the woman named Renee said. “Renee Van Allen.” She drew her name out as if it was supposed to be of any importance to you. 

You eyed her curiously. “Oh, uh, nice to meet you. Were you… friends with Amanda, too?”

Renee seemed surprised by the fact that you knew about the deceased. “Yeah, we all were. It’s been really hard for all of us.” “Yeah,” the other woman spoke up. “I mean, you think you know a person.”

You nodded. “Well, it was nice meeting you ladies. Have a nice one!” You shuffled away, keeping up your girl-next-door character even as you faded from their view. 

***

Later that night, you and the brothers drove down a darkened road. 

“You should’ve seen it, guys. Belladonna, wolfsbane, mandrake— and she flinched when I mentioned Amanda’s death,” you explained. “I’m sold on Elizabeth at least. 

“Well, she's definitely had a good run lately,” Sam added, reading through something he’d tabbed in a notebook, “gone up a few tax brackets; won almost too many raffles. Kinda thing a little black magic always helps with.” He continued, “I don't think she's alone either. Looks like 'Renee Van Allen' has won almost every craft contest she has entered in the past three months.”

“Yeah, a regular Martha Stewart, huh?” Dean chuckled. “Except for the devil worship, I'm thinking that was the coven you met back there, minus one member.”

“Amanda was clearly going off the reservation. What do you think, they killed her to keep up appearances?” Sam questioned. 

“Definitely an ‘appearance’ kind of crowd,” you noted. 

“If they killed the nut-job, should we, uh, thank them or what?” Dean questioned, quirking a brow. 

“They're working black magic, too, Dean. They need to be stopped,” Sam replied simply. 

“Like, ‘stopped’ stopped?” you prompted, intrigued to see what Sam’s answer would be.

Sam looked at you as if to say, “Of course.”

“They’re human, Sam,” Dean reminded his brother. 

“They’re murderers,” he stated. 

“Damn, I’m proud of you, Sammy,” you remarked. 

Dean’s eyes flicked to yours in the rearview mirror. You could see the smirk pulling at his lips. “Burn, witch, burn.”

Suddenly, the Impala stuttered and choked, the headlights flickering. 

“What the fuck?” Dean questioned.

The vehicle stopped in front of a figure standing in the road. 

“Ruby,” Sam breathed out. 

You grabbed the Colt from your duffel bag. 

Sam had gotten out of the car before you and Dean, and you nodded to Dean in silent communication as you stowed the Colt in your jacket pocket. 

“Sam, listen to me,” you heard the demon saying, “there's no time.”

“For what? What are you talking about?” Sam questioned. 

“You have to get out of town.”

Within your jacket’s pocket, you aimed the Colt at Ruby. 

“Never had the pleasure,” Dean deadpanned.

The blonde ignored Dean’s flippance and cut her eyes at you. “Whatcha got there? Just happy to see me?”

“Sure,” you glared. 

“Point that thing somewhere else,” Ruby instructed. 

Dean laughed coldly. “Yeah, right.”

“Sam, please. Go. Get in the car and don't look back,” Ruby begged the younger brother. 

“Why? I don't understand,” the brunet worried. 

“We can take care of a few kitchen witches, thanks,” Dean commented. 

“I'm not talking about witches, you jackass. Witches are whores,” she spat. 

“Can’t argue with you there,” you muttered. 

“I'm talking about who they serve,” the demon finished. 

You were confused for a moment, but it soon dawned on you. “Demons.”

Ruby nodded. “Yeah. And there's one here, now.”

“Oh, what, you mean, besides you?” Dean barked. 

Ruby continued to ignore Dean, which you could tell was beginning to aggravate him. “Sam, it knows you're in town, and it's gonna come after you, and it’s way more than you can handle.”

Dean turned his attention to his brother. “Oh, come on, what is this, huh? Please tell me you're not listening to this crap!”

“Put a leash on your brother, Sam, if you wanna keep him,” Ruby cooed without looking in his direction. 

“Watch your mouth,” you warned, cocking the gun. 

“Guys, look, just chill out,” Sam pleaded. 

“No! No! She's messing with your head; god knows why, that's who they are!” the older brother answered. 

“I'm telling you the truth,” the demon insisted. 

“And I'm telling you to shut up, bitch.”

“I'm sorry, why are you even a part of this conversation?!” 

“Oh, I don't know, maybe because he's my brother, you black-eyed skank!”

Ruby scoffed. “Oh, right, right. You care about your brother so much. That's why you're checking out in a few months, leaving him all alone?”

“Shut up,” you hissed. 

“At least let me try and save him, since you won't be here to do it any more,” she replied, ignoring you. 

“I said, shut up!” you screamed. Just before you could fire at her, she disappeared. 

You turned back to Dean and Sam, who were both looking at you strangely. Sam looked like a lost puppy, and Dean just seemed angry at this whole interaction. You just stormed back off to the Impala. 

***

Back at the motel, you and Dean joined Sam in his motel room to find out what exactly had been going on with him recently. 

“What the hell were you thinking?” Dean questioned angrily, stomping into the room behind his brother. 

“What?! What the hell was I thinking?” Sam shot a glare at you. 

“Don’t look at me like that,” you answered. “She’s a demon. We can’t trust her, man. They want us dead; we want them dead.”

“Oh, that's funny; I remember that demon chick in Ohio, Casey? Dean didn't want her dead,” Sam argued. 

Dean took the opportunity to defend himself. “Yeah, well she wasn't stringing me along like a fish on a hook.”

“No one's stringing me along!” Sam declared. “Look, I know it's dangerous, that she is dangerous, but like it or not, she's useful.”

“No! We kill her before she kills us,” Dean said. 

“Kill her with what? The gun she fixed for us?” Sam scoffed. 

“Whatever works.”

“Dean, if she wants us dead, all she has to do is stop saving our lives.”

Dean headed over to the sink to turn the water on and splash it on his face. 

“Look, we have to start looking at the big picture, Dean, start thinking in strategies and– and moves ahead,” Sam finished. “It's not so simple, we're not— we're not just hunting anymore. We're at war.”

“Listen, I agree with you to some degree,” you sighed. “I’m just not sure how much I like the idea of working so closely with a demon.”

“Are you feeling okay?” Dean asked his brother while he dried his face off. 

Sam sighed. “Why are you always asking me that?” 

“Because you're taking advice from a demon, for starters. And by the way, you seem less and less worried about offing people. Y’know, it used to eat you up inside,” Dean reminded him. 

“Yeah, and what has that gotten me?”

“Nothing, but it's just what you're supposed to do, okay? We're supposed to drive in the fucking car and fucking argue about this stuff. You know, you go on about the sanctity of life and all that crap.” Dean rubbed his stomach with a grimace. 

You looked at your partner in concern as he moved to sit on the bed. 

“Wait, so– so you're mad because I'm starting to agree with you?” Sam laughed. 

Dean shook his head. “No, I'm not mad, I'm— I'm— I'm worried, Sam— I'm worried because you're not acting like yourself.” 

“Yeah, you're right, I'm not. I don't have a choice,” Sam stated. 

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“Look, Dean, you're leaving – right? And I gotta stay here in this craphole of a world. Alone. So the way I see it, if I'm gonna make it, if I'm gonna fight this war after you're gone, then I gotta change.”

You heart sank, and you couldn’t bear to look at either of the two brothers. 

“Change into what?” Dean grimaced. 

“Into you. I gotta be more like you.” It almost made you smile bittersweetly at how much Sam admired his brother. However, you liked Sam for the fact that he was Sam. You agreed with Dean that Sam was supposed to be the morally gray one, and Sam changing under these circumstances made you sad. 

Suddenly, Dean groaned in pain. 

“What’s wrong?” you asked worriedly, rushing to Dean’s hunched over form. “Baby, look at me.”

Dean clutched at his stomach, seeming hardly able to force words out. “I don't know. Oh— (Y/N), something's wrong— bunch of knives inside of me—”

“Dean?!” 

His head was almost between his knees by this point. 

“Son of a bitch—” Dean cursed, hissing. 

“Dee, hey—”

“The coven, man, it's gotta be the coven.”

You immediately rushed to the bathroom and threw open the cupboards below the sink in search of the hex bag. You threw things about frantically; opening boxes and dumping their contents out. 

You heard Dean choke once more, and your heart nearly stopped. You ran to him to find him lying on the floor next to a puddle of blood he’d sputtered up. 

“Did you find it?!” Sam asked frantically. He’d torn the covers off his bed and sliced the mattress open with his knife. 

“No!” you replied. 

Dean’s coughs got weaker, and he was quickly fading as you shifted to lay his head in your lap, facing you. 

You saw Sam grab the Colt from your bag. “Sam, what are you doing?”

He moved toward the door wordlessly.

“Sam!” you called. 

“I’ll be back soon,” he told you, and the door slammed shut behind him. 

You kept Dean’s head in your lap, unsure of what to do. Dean continued to grunt and shift painfully, and you just tried to keep him as comfortable as possible. “Stay with me, Dee. Please, baby.”

All you got was a groan in response, but you knew he was trying. 

Suddenly, the door to the room was kicked open. 

You kept Dean cradled against you. “Stay back, bitch.”

Ruby shoved you aside harshly without replying to you and hauled Dean up by the collar. She forced his mouth open as Dean used his diminishing strength to try and shove her away. 

You tried to pull her off Dean, but it was no use. She dumped some sort of dark liquid down his throat, getting you off her easily. 

Dean was still struggling, but she soon got off him. 

“Stop calling me ‘bitch’,” Ruby panted. 

“Why did you save him?” you asked, slightly in awe and slightly apologetic. 

“I don’t have to explain myself to you,” she replied. 

“Okay, jeez,” you scoffed. “But… thank you.”

“Don’t mention it,” Ruby said. “Next time you point that gun at me, I'm not gonna just disappear, understand?”

You nodded and moved to help Dean clean the blood and Ruby’s liquid cure off his face. 

“What was that stuff? God, it was ass. It tasted like ass,” Dean groaned as you wiped around his mouth. He gently brushed you off him and took the towel from you to do it himself. 

“It's called witchcraft, short bus,” she deadpanned. Ruby turned and walked out of the room. 

“You're the short bus... short bus,” Dean grumbled. 

***

As soon as Dean had enough strength to move, you and he were off to find Sam. You knew he’d gone to the Van Allen house where the women held their “book club,” and Dean sped there in a stolen car. 

You burst through the front door of the house with a sawed-off shotgun in hand. When you did so, you discovered the demon possessing one of the women you’d met, and Elizabeth standing frozen in fear.

Before you could make a move, you were thrown back against the wall. 

“Three for one,” the demon smirked. “Lovely.”

“Wait,” you heard Ruby say. She walked in with her hands raised in surrender. “Please. I just... came to talk.”

“You made it out of the gate,” the other demon smirked. “Impressive. That was a bitch of a fight, wasn't it?”

“Doors out of Hell only open for so long,” Ruby shrugged. 

“What do you want, Ruby?”

“I've been lost without you.” Ruby continued to advance on the other demon. “Take me back. That's why I led the Winchesters and their pretty little plaything here.”

Dean looked furious, as were you, and he mouthed, “I told you so” to Sam.

“They're for you,” Ruby continued, “as a gift.”

“Really,” the demon deadpanned. 

“Let me serve you again. I've wanted it— I've wanted you— for so long,” she said. 

Dean lifted his eyebrows at the flirtation between the two demons. You would have slapped him if you weren’t being held to the wall. In all honesty, though, you were intrigued, too.

“You were one of my best,” the demon smiled.

Ruby glared and tried to take her knife out to stab the other demon, but said demon caught it in mid-air. 

“But then again, you always were a lying whore,” said the demon. 

The two demons struggled against each other as you and the Winchesters were powerless to help or hinder. Elizabeth was cowering in fear behind the couch, and Renee’s dead body laid limply on the floor. 

The demon-possessed witch stood with a hot poker in her hand. “You're really telling me you threw in your chips with the Animaniacs here?” 

Ruby tried to stand, but the demon hit her across the face with the poker. 

Elizabeth suddenly stood to move to her altar and began to dump pins onto a cloth littered with demonic symbols. 

“Come on, get up!” the demon roared. 

Ruby panted, unmoving, with blood coming out of her nose. 

“I said, get up!” The possessed witch hauled Ruby up by her jacket. “We've been here before, haven't we?” She chuckled to herself and turned to Sam. “She didn't tell you? Pretty mortifying, I guess. She was one of mine. I turned her out a long, long time ago. Ruby here was a witch. Of course, that was when you were human.”

You were surprised by that, honestly, but shouldn’t have been given the work she’d done to help Dean. 

The witch threw Ruby back down onto the debris of the bookcase she’d been nearly put through. 

“Didn't want your friends to know that all those centuries back, you sold yourself to me? Embarrassing, I guess. But don't worry, love, no secrets where you're heading, remember?” The demon taunted. She began to chant in Latin, and black smoke began to curl out of Ruby’s mouth. Suddenly, she began to cough, and you realized Elizabeth was chanting under her breath at the altar. 

The possessed witch stumbled and coughed harder, and her weakened powers allowed you freedom from the wall. You slid Ruby’s discarded demon knife over to Dean as the demon killed Elizabeth, and Dean took the demon’s distraction as an opportunity to kill her. He stabbed her in the back quite a few times to ensure the demon was truly dead. Your partner dropped the body to the ground, and he moved to help Sam up. 

“Go,” Ruby ordered, looking slightly embarrassed from her position on the floor. She wiped the blood away from her mouth. “I'll clean up this mess.”

You stood between the two brothers, and the three of you helped each other toward the door. You could feel the Winchesters turn to take one last look at Ruby, but you kept your eyes forward. With your urging, they continued walking. 

***

Somehow, the three of you made it back to the motel safely. You and Dean were outside of your motel room, just sitting on the hood of the Impala and talking, when the neon lights of the motel’s sign flickered. 

Dean jumped off his car, shielding you with his body protectively. You turned to see Ruby standing in the shadows a few feet off. 

“So, the devil may care after all; is that what I'm supposed to believe?” Dean asked her. He led you toward the demon. 

“I don't believe in the devil,” she replied, arms folded. 

“Wacky night,” he commented. “So let me get this straight, you were human once, you died, you went to Hell, you became a…” The blonde nodded, turning to leave. 

“How long ago?” Dean asked, stopping her in her tracks. 

“Back when the plague was big,” was her simple reply. 

“So… all of you guys— you were human once?” you questioned, slightly worried for the answer. 

“Every one I’ve ever met,” Ruby shrugged. 

“Well, they sure don't act like it,” Dean scoffed. 

“Most of them have forgotten what it means, or even that they were. That's what happens when you go to Hell, Dean. That's what Hell is— forgetting what you are,” Ruby explained. 

Dean, of course, kept up his plucky attitude. “Philosophy lesson from a demon. I'll pass, thanks.”

Your breath, however, had caught in your throat at Ruby’s description of Hell. 

“It's not philosophy. It's not a metaphor. There's a real fire in the pit. Agonies you can't even imagine,” Ruby continued. 

“No, I saw ‘Hellraiser’. I get the gist.”

Ruby turned and started to walk away. “Actually, they got that pretty close. Except for all the custom leather.” Suddenly, she stopped in her tracks again. “The answer is 'yes', by the way.”

“I’m sorry?” Dean asked. 

“Yes, the same thing will happen to you.”

You could’ve sworn your heart stopped. 

Ruby continued her torturous explanation. “It might take centuries, but sooner or later, Hell will burn away your humanity. Every Hell-bound soul— every one— turns into something else. Turns you into us. So yeah. Yeah, you can count on it.”

Dean tried to keep his head held high, but you knew him well enough to know he was beginning to break. “There's no way of saving me from the pit, is there?”

Ruby sighed. “No.”

“Then why'd you tell Sam that you could?” you asked, finding the ability to speak. 

“So he would talk to me. You Winchesters can be pretty bigoted. I needed something to help him get past the—”

Dean cut Ruby off. “The demon thing? It's pretty hard to get past.”

The blonde laughed. “Look at you. Tryin' to be all stoic. My god, it's heartbreaking.”

‘She’s not wrong,’ you thought. 

“Why are you telling me all this?” Dean questioned. 

“I need your help. Yours, too, (Y/N).”

“With what?” you asked. 

“With Sam. The way you stuck that demon tonight— it was pretty tough,” Ruby addressed Dean. “And (Y/N), I’ve seen you in action, too. Sam's almost there, but not quite. You need to help me get him ready for life without you. To fight this war on his own.” She walked away again. 

You were unsure why she was talking as if you wouldn’t be there to help Sam as well. 

“Ruby!” Dean called, making the demon pause. “Why do you want us to win?”

She turned back around. “Isn't it obvious? I'm not like them. I don't know why. I– I wish I was, but I'm not. I remember what it's like.”

“What what's like?”

“Being human.”

Dean looked at the ground, lost in thought, and you stared at Ruby while she disappeared from view. 

Series Rewrite Taglist: @polireader @brightlilith @atcamillanorrman @jrizzelle @insomnia-bookworm @procrastination20 @mrs-liebgott @djs8891 @tiggytaylor @staple-your-mouth @jesstherebel @rach5ive @strawberrykiwisdogog @bruhidkjustwannaread @mxltifxnd0m @sunshine-on-marz @big-ol-boat @mgchaser @capncrankle @chervbs @simpingdeadcharacters @nesnejwritings @stillhere197 @tearsforhan @take-it-on-the-run @iloveyou2mia @maxinehufflepuffprincess @ohgeehowdigethere @seninjakitey @berarenado @s0urw00lf @princessleahorgana @quarterhorse19 @isla-finke-blog @silverdoragon @karacaroldanvers @gayandfairycore @examishbookwyrm @star-yawnznn @real-sharena-h @fandomloverrr @metalmonki @onlyangel-444 @yu-winchester @benniwiththefanni @daisychaingirl @immagods @missmieux @yoongi-holland @littledebbieinabigworld

[propertyofwhitney67]

Never heard of it

M!Whitney x GN!Reader

Words: 512

Tw: none

Note: Happy Halloween!!

This didn't turn out spooky but that's ok, just watching some scary movies with Whitney

I could hear kids screaming happily outside and music downstairs while I scrolled through netflix, trying to find a scary movie to watch with Whitney. Nothing was really sticking out to me, there haven’t been any good movies lately but I’m sure he’ll find something when he comes back with food.

His parents were having some kind of party that he wanted nothing to do with, so he demanded I come over to watch movies with him. I’m sure he has other ulterior motives but I’m not complaining, I rarely get to watch movies and I wouldn’t mind a good fuck.

Whitney came in, slamming the door shut behind him. “Shitty fucking music.” He grumbled about the party downstairs, setting down the food and drinks he brought up on the bed. He pushed me over before sitting down next to me on the bed, “Gimme that, I don’t trust you to pick a good movie.” He took the remote from me and began to scroll through netflix.

I rolled my eyes and leaned back against the pillows, not bothering to try to take the remote back. “Nothing good on here anyway.” I grabbed the bowl of popcorn and began to eat, “What’s that?” I asked, pointing out a movie I haven’t seen before. The art and tittle seemed interesting, something about a witch.

“You don’t know what the blair witch project is?” He asked, sounding dead serious and offended that I’ve never heard of the movie.

I shook my head, “No, never heard of it.” I was staring to feel like a bit of an idiot for not being well versed in pop culture. It wasn’t my fault I didn’t have access to the internet and other things like every one else.

Whitney sighed, sounding disappointed in me. “Now we have to watch it, it’s a classic.” He clicked through and played the movie, text popping up on the screen. “In october of 1994, three student filmmakers disappeared in the woods near Burkittsville, Maryland while shooting a documentary.” Oh, this must be some kind of found footage movie.

Settling in, I leaned against Whitney and did my best to pay attention to the movie. The beginning was slow going and a bit boring but I know Whitney would be annoyed if I didn’t pay attention. 

I did my best to ignore him and enjoy the move but it was hard with him pointing out when his favorite parts were coming up and spoil them. I knew there was no watching a movie normally with him, he’s just that kinda guy. He interrupts all the time and can be annoying, he’s lucky I love him. 

“What did you think?” Whitney asked once the movie was over and the end credits were rolling.

Besides all the spoilers and interruptions from him, the movie was pretty good. Although I am a bit biased since I love a good found footage film. “I liked it, did they make a sequel?” 

He grunted, looking for another movie to watch. “Yes but we’re not watching it, it’s shit.”

𝘔𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵

𝘒𝘰-𝘍𝘪

[thoughtsfromlayla]

☾ The Prince of Stories and his unbridled ability to avoid all possible clichés.

Summary: After an unsuccessful hunt of a rouge nightmare with your new teammate Dream of the Endless, the two of your find solace in a inn. It doesn't go to plan, nothing ever goes to plan.

Notes: ~1.5k words, we love you Meowpheus we all say in unison

Warnings/Tags: Dream x MonsterHunter!Reader, mentions the Blair witch, Morpheus is one dense motherfucker

Main Masterlist | Series Masterlist

Previous <==> Next

You’re wet. And not in a fun way if you’re allowed to complain about it. You’re drenched, head to toe in late-night London rain, your hair stuck to your scalp. Your clothes are starting to turn itchy against your skin as you bring your hands to wipe away the accumulation of rainwater that clung to your face. A horse-drawn carriage runs past the two of you and drenches you further in mud and water. Great.

You risk a peak at Morpheus, who does not seem at all bothered by the rain. If you squint your eyes, you can see that the rain doesn’t even touch him, rather the water droplets simply pass through him. 

The inn you walked in was warm and dry, perfect for your tired and aching bones. It takes you no time to spot the innkeeper and you drag your soggy shoes over to him, placing your hands on the table with rushed desperation.

“Room and board, please,” you ask. 

The innkeeper looks between you and Morpheus, noting the disheveled state, and nods. “One room left, but… single bed, not suited for non-marital couples.” 

“Yeah, whatever, give me the key,” you don’t even bother to think on it, you are not going back out there. You slam down a silver coin and snatch the metal key from the innkeeper.

Your footsteps are heavy on the stairs and everyone else will think you are the most undesirable young lady of the ton, but do you care? No! This dress is damn heavy when it’s full of rainwater and your boots are soggy and muddy and your corset is digging into your ribs and this cloak was starting to overstimulate you like no other. 

After arriving in the room and tossing the key onto some old dresser, you head straight for the bathroom, ridding your clothes with desperate haste. The clothes stick to your skin and it’s like trying to separate the fruit from its syrup in the jar. Slow, antagonising slow as fitful and you’re on the brink of tears. From under your dress, you pull out the small crossbow, and whip, and silver bolts, and—huh, when did you snatch this stake? Your monster hunting equipment is the only thing you take care of as you gently place them on the bathroom counter. 

Dream, meanwhile, stands in the middle of the room like a shadow that came from no light. He is perfectly dry and warm, not that something as trivial as weather could affect him. Your footsteps had left wet footprints all over the floor and he simply watches them dry while you finish your bath. 

“I needed that,” you sigh as you come out. “You can bathe now, if you need it.”

“I do not need to bathe,” Morpheus says slowly. 

“Okay, gross, but that’s your decision, I suppose,” you grumble. It’s now that your attention draws to the bed. The singular bed in the room. It was large enough for two, if two people were pressed up against each other chest to back. “One bed…” you observe out loud. 

“As the innkeeper mentioned.” Morpheus’ voice comes out like a mocking reminder. You weren’t really paying attention to what the innkeeper was saying. 

“It’s…” you sigh deep, your bones are tired and you just want to sleep. “It’s fine, I’ll sleep on the floor. Wouldn’t want your royal highness to sleep on something that hard.” You continue to mutter to yourself as you grab one of the pillows and setting it in front of the fireplace. 

“No need,” Morpheus says slowly, stopping your actions. “I do not sleep.”

A beat of silence passes between you, the goose feather pillow still in your hand as you give a confused look to Morpheus. “You’re Dream of the Endless. You personify the sleeping mind, the unconscious, the dreams of humankind.”

Dream nods once.

“And you don’t sleep?” You probe further, the very notion baffling to yourself. 

Dream nods again. 

“Okay, whatever, good night,” you mutter to yourself. Maybe if you were more awake and less beaten down by the weather you would ask more. But, for lack of a better term, you don’t give a fuck right now. 

Your tired body slips easily into the bed, the sound of the fireplace cracking and the water slamming into the window with distant thunder easily lulling you to sleep. Except for the towering figure standing in the middle of the inn room. 

You sit up, gripping the wool blanket in your hands. “Can you… I don’t know, not do that?”

“What?”

“Stand in the middle of the room when I’m trying to sleep. Act more human, you’re in the human world now.” You look at him, tired eyes raking his figure up and down. 

“What would a human do?”

“Sleep, but you don’t so go downstairs and drink or—”

“I do not partake in alcohol,” Morpheus interrupts.

“Go shopping then,” you offer instead.

“I hold no monetary properties, they are useless to me.” 

“Oh, my God.” You want to scream into your pillow but instead, you take a deep breath. “Go stand in the corner or something, shit!” You sneer, feeling impatient, and fall back onto the bed, turning away from him. 

You take another deep breath, trying to ease the frown that’s etched onto your forehead. You’re going to get wrinkles before you’re 50 at this point. The floorboard creaks slightly under Morpheus’ footsteps as he does as he’s instructed, standing in the corner of the room. Still, he watches over you as you drift off into his realm.

He doesn’t probe, despite his growing desire to do so, knowing that the day you’ve experienced was hard and demanding indeed. He gives you no dreams, letting you simply sleep and rest. Hours pass and he remains in the corner, vigilant as ever.

A particularly harsh and loud boom of thunder wakes you up, the sound close enough to rattle the window panes. You wake with a start, your heart racing in your chest and your fingers wrap around the dagger you kept under the pillow. You swallow as you realize there was no immediate danger, that it was merely the storm. 

Morpheus was no longer standing in the center of the room, much to your surprise. You wouldn’t have been surprised if he didn’t listen to you at all. What you find isn’t any better and a scream that you let out is covered by another boom of thunder. 

His figure, black and nightmarish extends like tendrils that crawl along the brick walls of the tavern. His eyes are set on you, not even reacting to the way you screamed at him and when you look back on this moment, you’ll remember that he even rolls his eyes, but in the presence you’re adrenaline is only telling you to get out. 

“It is Morpheus, simply,” his voice is quiet and calming against the storm. 

At his announcement you stopped your scream, dropping your head into your hands at the realization. His actions remind you of another supernatural creature you hunted a month ago. The Blair Witch was one of your most terrifying adventures and you weren’t even successful in eradicating her. To this day, she still hunts the forest of Blair, her silhouette follows you everywhere you go. 

“You scared me,” you swallow your beating heart. 

“You instructed to stand in the corner,” Morpheus reminds you, his voice rumbles just like the now distant thunder. After seeing the sweat coating your hairline, he lets out a small huff. “It was not my intention.”

“Can you… turn around or something? Staring at me is weird and… creepy,” you grimace. 

After a few moments, Morpheus turns, his shoulder sagging as he turns his back to you. After another few silent seconds, you click your tongue. “Never mind, that just makes it worse. Somehow.”

You lay back down on the bed, a grunt leaving you at the force. You stare the the rotting wood of the support beams of the roof above you. Tracing your eyes over the natural swirls and rings in the logs but that doesn’t bring you sleep. You’re acutely aware of Morpheus’ presence in the corner and your mind recalls to the Blair Witch. You got a few hours of sleep, it’s fine, you’ll live. 

“Mrrrp?” A trill interrupts your dooming thoughts and a fluffy black cat eclipses your vision of the roof. 

“Morpheus?” You ask quietly, his paws pushing down on your arm and it felt like the weight of the world on both of those legs. 

Morpheus bunts his head against your cheek in confirmation before making himself a spot between your side and your arm, curling in on himself. 

“I can work with this,” you sigh, feeling your muscles relax. Your hand rests on his side, feeling the silky long fur and the slow rise and fall of his breathing. Morpheus purrs, the sound cradling you back into sleep.

As always, thanks for reading :)

♡ Yours, Layla

Main Masterlist | Series Masterlist

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[concentrateandpush]

Request/idea fiction: an intimate scene of only the couple homebirth, where pushing is long? Thanks

We met around a year and a half ago and as a lesbian couple, nobody expected us to announce our pregnancy at our wedding which happened a year after we met. I guess we just both knew what we wanted and figured waiting would be pointless.

My wife is carrying, I’m desperate to carry too, but she’s slightly older and so, we compromised. What we didn’t compromise on was the delivery. Blair wanted a very intimate delivery, just her and I. I’ve given birth before, a long time ago, back when I was young and stupid but rest assured, my son went to a perfect home.

It’s 1am and we’ve just eaten our weight in pizza and spicy noodles, we’re watching TikTok in bed and Blair turns to me with a look of concern. “Lena, how much pain is too much pain for just a twinge?” she asks and I look back with curiosity. “I guess.. I mean-“ I stop and laugh “Baby, has it started?” I ask. “I think.. I think I’m having labour pains” she says nervously.

We didn’t want anything fancy, just the bath for water, the bed with a towel and the coziness of our cottage.

“Okay, you’re okay” I nod “let me get you a hot water bottle and I’ll get you comfortable” I smile reassuringly. “Don’t you dare leave me” she says stubbornly and I roll my eyes “come here” I whisper as she rests her head on my chest, whimpering quietly. “Shh, shh, shh” I whisper “you’re okay, everything is going smoothly” I add.

The contractions are dull and achy but I see the struggle she’s having, so at around 4am, I suggest us both sleeping, which at first, she absolutely refuses to try, but after a few back and foot rubbies, she agrees.

It’s not until 10.30am that I wake to her rubbing her belly in her sleep, moaning relatively loudly, but not even waking herself up. “Okay, okay sweetheart..” I nod and take over the rubbing as she opens her eyes slowly. “You’re doing great mamma” I smile reassuringly. “Mmm, baby” she moans “it hurts, it’s hurting me” she grumbles as she reaches down to touch herself. “I’m not wet, so my waters are still intact” she says almost trying to convince herself she’s got ages to go.

I sit up slowly and kiss her forehead before throwing my hair up and I climb between her legs, resting my head on her thigh. “You look sore” I sigh, looking at her tummy. She just nods before reaching for my hand “it’s coming” she whispers and I nod, stroking her thigh gently. She paces her breaths perfectly as she takes the contraction in her stride. “That’s right, in and out, slowly and gently” I nod. I can tell it’s intensifying because she’s moaning with out even realising on an out breath.

“Baby I need..” she mutters “I need to get in water” she says quickly and I nod reassuringly before heading out to run a bath. I know it won’t be long now, I can just feel her getting closer.

As the bath finishes filling, I go in and take both of her hands, steadying her before guiding her into the bathroom and lowering her into the bath. I take a cup and pour it on her bump, taking it all in because it’ll be the last time. “I want him out so badly, but I’ll miss this” she sighs and I laugh “you’ll miss the sickness? And the heartburn? And the fact I’ve not been able to touch your boobs for 9 months?!”. “Oh baby, you know what I mean” she laughs, knowing I’m teasing.

“Mmmm” she moans, going ridged “I..” she starts before humming a low pitched tone, cradling her perfect bump. “Let it out, good job” I whisper. “Ba-baby!” She screams as I see the water turn cloudy. “Was that-“ she starts and I nod “yep”. “So, my waters have gone?” She asks to clarify and I rub her leg, excitedly “mhm, baby’s coming”.

I find my hand between her legs and resting on her opening before sliding a finger in and grinning “sweetheart, you’re almost ready to push” I say, surprised. “N-no” she shakes her head but I chuckle “I’m here, I won’t leave your side” I say calmly. “You’re doing it, you’re bringing him into the world” I smile.

As she feels a contraction, I see her grip the handles of the bath ready to push and I rub her back gently. “You ready?” I ask and she nods before taking a deep breath and pushing her chin to her chest. She’s silent, completely silent, but focused and with every second that goes by, her face gets redder. I can tell she’s stopped pushing because she lets out an exhausted release of her breath. “Ngah.. I.. I can’t” she shakes her head and I reassure her “you can, you’re doing it”.

“N-no water” she shakes her head and I get up, slowly helping her out of the bath and back to the bedroom. Every step gets harder and as we get to the foot of the bed she stops “again” she mutters and I get down, letting her lean on my shoulders. Her legs shake as she gives a big, long push, letting her inhibitions go as she squeals at the end. “Good job baby, let’s get you comfortable” I say calmly as I lay her down.

“Okay, you’re doing well, we’re going to stay here and just work baby out together okay” I say softly as she opens her legs and I sit cross legged between them. “What if I can’t?” She asks and I give her a cheeky wink “if anyone can, it’s you”.

A few minutes go by and she looks up, her eyes begging for me to help as she grips the back of one leg. “Pull this back and push down for me” I say softly as I watch her begin to birth. She nods and grits her teeth as she bears down, her stomach tightening and her legs spreading further. “That’s it” I smile as the head slowly peaks, until she stops, spluttering and trying to get herself together.

I think it hits her here, because she starts to pant and breathe faster, trying to get rid of the pain. It doesn’t take long until she’s hard at work again, pulling both legs this time and scrunching her face up as she gets frustrated, pushing with all her might. “Why isn’t he coming?!” She cries out. “He’s coming, it’s just the staying that’s hard” I explain.

“Pillows” she says bluntly and I prop her up so that she’s almost sat with her legs opened up in front of her. She’s beautiful. She takes sips of water as she rubs her bump gently. “Ready to go again?” I ask and she nods, taking my hands and pulling as leverage. “Gaaah” she grunts before panting and going straight in again, trying everything she can to get the strength to push. “C-come out” she grunts through gritted teeth, pushing and pushing the hardest she can muster.

“Okay, we’ve got a bit of head” I smile “but I think we need to get some rope, you can pull on that” I say before getting a dressing gown tie and looping it around the headboard. “Here we go, pull, as hard as you need as you push” I say with a reassuring smile.

She holds on and waits until the next contraction before taking a deep breath and this time, letting it all out. It’s almost a growl more than a grunt, there are fluids pouring around the head as she edges our baby closer and closer, her lips going white with the stretching. “Keep that coming mamma” I coach. She takes a deep breath and screams as she pushes again, this time bringing herself to a full crown.

“Baby you’re doing it” I cry “you’re crowning” I mutter. She’s panting, wriggling in pain as she holds this giant head between her legs. “You see him?” She checks and I nod, bringing her hand down, letting her feel him as he enters the world.

She starts to get up and I know by her movements she’s getting on her hands and knees. “Easy” I remind her before she gets into position.

“Get ready” she mumbles into the pillow as I see her hand reaching up between her legs to keep contact with baby. The scream she lets into the pillow is so loud and I can feel the strength she’s pouring in but the head doesn’t budge. “Harder baby” I tell her and she cries “I can’t” she whispers. “Of course you can, try for me” I say with a little reassuring stroke of the leg.

She lets out a low, grunt that last forever and during that forever, the head pops out with what seems like litres of water. The panic and change in Blair’s breathing shows the effort she made and I just climb up to hold her into me. “You’ve done the hardest, baby, you’ve done the hardest bit” I say with excitement but equal amounts of compassion.

“Ready to meet him?” She asks me and I nod, watching her reach behind her legs and pull them back with a grunt like moan. “Work with mama” she mutters as she pushes. “Come on, puush baby” I whisper as I see movement. “Gaahhhh!” She cries out. “Baby, you.. you did it” I sob as I pick up our newborn, bringing him straight to her chest.

“You did it” I cry, just taking it all in as I nuzzle into them both. “I did.. but you’re doing it next time” she says with a laugh

[studentinpursuitofclouds]

hey, since i saw your requests were open again, i was wondering if i could make a request based on a previous one you already did?

it's the "x character with gentle giant farmer", but with other marriage candidates: could you make one for more RSV/SDV bachelorettes, those being Blair, Irene, Corine, Haley and Abigail? totally okay if not!!

thank you, take care!!

Sure thing, dear anon 😊 Thank you for your ask and have a great day as well 🫰💕

Abigail, Haley, Irene, Blair and Corine with the Gentle giant!Farmer:

Haley:

Haley may not say it out loud, but her rosy cheeks give her away. "They're huge...."

To be honest, Haley was afraid of them at first, so she tried to avoid them.

Who'd have thought Farmer had a heart of gold and will become her partner beloved lover?

In a romantic relationship with Farmer, she feels like a princess.

Her gentle giant is so caring, hardworking, and kind, and- *hee hee* Haley's "naughty spoilt brat" sugar wrap melted instantly.

They will always help her open jars! So strong!

Never forgetting to praise Farmer and brag to her friends about how perfect her partner is at everything.

Abigail:

Farmer and Abigail are basically a power couple.

Constant forays into the Mine have become routine, because Abigail knows her giant partner will always protect her. But also, the amethyst lover is very fond of their tender side.

She can't help but awe when her partner plays with the little chickens.

Piggyback, piggyback, piggyback!

Loves her partner's strong yet cosy embrace. If it were Abigail's will - she would cuddle with them all day long, because it feels so good and she feels loved and safe.

Even if her partner is a giant, she would defend Farmer with all her fury if someone dared to insult them.

Blair:

"Wow, they have such big-" Blair, please. "So big-" Blair, I swear to Yoba- "So-" Blair! "... big hands~" That woman, I swear...

Loves to hide behind Farmer's huge back to scare their interlocutor.

Formidable on the outside, but a real sweetheart on the inside! Farmer is Blair's love at first sight.

She has a hard time hauling a big catch of fish to home? Farmer can carry both the fish and her (and even has time to buy her favourite meringue at Pika's).

Loved sitting on their shoulders to get a good look at the concert performance at the Ridgeside Village event.

Irene:

*Squeak* every time Irene's gentle giant takes her in their arms.

*Squeak* every time Farmer's huge shadow falls over her.

*Squeak* every time they help her carry heavy bags of groceries to Amethyne Manor.

But all these squeaks are because she's in awe of her strong and kind giant Farmer, not because she's scared.

Irene is constantly spoiling them with delicious meals, insisting that they need to eat well to stay as big and strong as they are.

Oh Yoba, Farmer is so cute playing with the kids and farm animals! *Squeak!*

Corine:

Even though her beloved and gentle Farmer looks outwardly formidable and is quite capable of taking care of herself, Corine will still protect them if anything.

She radiates "Excuse me, they asked for no pickles" energy.

Very surprised at those who were frightened of Farmer? "They're a real sweetheart, won't hurt a fly!"

At first grumbled at her father because he didn't trust the Farmer, as being huge, they were intimidating.

Now she grumbles at her father who "is now confident that his daughter is safe with them." Hey, Corine can take care of herself!

(Though always happy for the care of her gentle giant Farmer).

[secretobsessionstuff]

i have a little set of blair/dakota scenes in my head i wanted to put in a request for please!! one night, they come home after a big dinner, overstuffed and cuddly. blair has indigestion but kota helps get the burps out and they go to sleep. but the next morning, blair is still bloated... and she realizes all that old food is about to be burped right back up. (maybe onto the blanket? toilet? cup by the bedside table?) ty ty!!

Hi anon! Thanks for the beautiful request and your infinite patience. 💙

-------------

The only reservation they could make was at 9pm. It was a little late for Blair and Dakota’s liking since they both had work early the next morning, but they booked it anyway because they were craving sushi and conversation with each other after a long day at the office. 

The sushi was cold and refreshing, while their conversation was warm and relaxing. Dakota and Blair reminisced over their first few dates while eating sashimi, spicy salmon salad, and sushi pizza. Blair laughed but enjoyed the Canadian invention of making sushi mimic pizza. A fried rice patty acted as the bread, with avocado, crab meat, mayonnaise and wasabi acting as the toppings. 

They didn’t linger in the city for long after dinner. Their bed was calling to both of them by the time they cleaned their plates. Blair could have fallen asleep at the table, with the big meal rumbling in her belly. She got that sluggish over-stuffed feeling from all the food. After taking a swig of water to help her stomach digest, she burped deeply into the empty glass. She excused herself with an embarrassed laugh. 

Together they stumbled up to the front door of their home, drunk on the lethargic feeling of eating too much. The growing nausea also reminded Blair of late-night drinking. Her cheeks felt hot and the fatigue in her bones made her wobble like an alcoholic. 

Blair let out a heavy sigh as she fell onto the bed next to Dakota. Rubbing her full belly she said, “This is why I don’t like eating too close to bedtime. There’s no way I’ll be able to fall asleep like this.” She was all bloated and squirmy, wiggling on the bed to find a comfortable position. 

Dakota pulled her in close, seemingly determined to make her comfy. “I can rub your belly until you fall asleep.” He supressed the urge to say that he would rub something else and glide his hand passed her belly button, because he sensed that she was feeling more than a little full. Her tummy grumbled loudly, and she curled in on herself. He could feel the organ moving beneath his hand. Gurgles and light vibrations tickled his palm. 

Blair pushed her back up against Dakota’s chest so that he spooned her. “Will you rub in big circles like you did the last time? Felt good.” 

“Sure.” Dakota chuckled softly into her hair, then shooed the strands away that tickled his nose. “You fell asleep fast when I did that.”

“Let’s hope I do this time.” She burped into the pillow. “Mm, it’s late. I don’t like feeling so full.” 

“Shh, just focus on the feeling of my hand on your tummy. Nothing else.” Dakota flattened his palm against her midriff. He circled all the way up to ger ribs and down to the waistline of her pajama pants, occasionally using his fingertips to add a light touch. 

Blair must not have found his touch so light because she started to burp as soon as he made one circle around her middle. Her stomach tensed with each build up and release of gas. She shivered, tasting the memory of spicy sushi in the back of her throat. She was glad to be facing away from her boyfriend. 

The belches just kept coming. Some were long and deep; others were quick but painful. It didn’t matter the size or intensity in the burps—nothing was making the indigestion go away. Dakota must have sensed her frustration because he gave her tummy a good push. The burp rumbled up from the pit of her stomach and splashed the back of her throat with a something spicy and unpleasant. She immediately shot up into a sitting position, slapping a hand over mouth. Acid reflux and nausea crawled up her throat. 

“Sorry, honey.” Dakota pulled his hand back fast. The sound that gurgled in her throat made him worry that he nearly just made her puke. “Are you okay? I didn’t mean to make it worse.” 

Blair waited a beat before answering. Her throat moved as she swallowed down the close call. “I’m okay. It kinda helped.” 

Blair’s pale face and wide eyes gave Dakota a moment’s hesitation. “You sure? It looked like you were about to be sick.” 

“For a second I thought—but no I’m fine.” She shook her head to shake off the lingering nausea. It was true, she did almost lose her dinner all over the bed, but then everything settled down just as fast. The massive belch at least helped to bring up the trapped air. She could feel the indigestion losing its grip. 

“Really?” he asked, still on high-alert and propped up on his elbows. He abandoned his comfy spot when Blair jumped up. 

“Yes, really.” She placed her hand on his chest, easing him onto his back again. “I might be able to sleep now. But to make up for scaring me, I get to lie on your chest.” She was already beginning to find a soft spot between his shoulder and pec, and avoiding his collar bone that sometimes dug into her cheek. After many many nights of sleeping this same way, she knew what would feel best. 

“Come here.” Dakota nuzzled his face into her neck and pulled her as close as he possibly could, just short of letting her sleep inside his skin. 

• • •

Blair awoke the next morning to the absolute worst taste in her mouth and dried drool on her pillow. She peeled her face off the pillow with squinting eyes that were still adjusting to the sunlight coming in from the window. She felt like she had the flu or something. Her stomach ached as if it were pumped full of rotting food—in a way, it kind of was. It seemed her stomach hadn’t done any digesting while she slept. It simply let last night’s dinner soak and marinate in stomach acid. On top of it all, her belly was still bloated and gurgling painfully. 

Dakota must have gotten up earlier because his side of the bed was empty. Blair hoped she could shake him awake, but clearly that wasn’t going to happen. She could hear him moving around in the kitchen. 

Shouting for him was not an option when her mouth began to fill with saliva. All that food from last night was coming up now. She didn’t have to time to throw off the blankets before a deep belch burst from her mouth. Blair gagged from the taste that coated her tongue—fishy and spicy, and not something she ever wanted to experience again. 

Thick strings of saliva dripped off her lips as she continued to burp and gag. 

Dakota’s whistling came clearly from down the hall. Blair was happy to have him near when she inevitably puked everywhere, but she was sorry that his first look at her that morning would be of her hunched over, hugging her belly, and gagging on the bed. 

“Baby?” Dakota knocked on the ajar door. “What’s that sound? Are you—Oh shit.” Dakota scrambled for something to do as he watched Blair burp up a wave of old, clumpy sushi onto the blankets. 

The sick fell like mush past Blair’s lips. The texture alone was enough to make her heave again. She choked up another mouthful of vomit onto the bed. She held onto the duvet so tightly that her knuckles turned white.

“Fuck honey,” Dakota said gently as he came to sit on the edge of the bed. He helped her sit up straighter and rubbed her back. Big circles. Big circles between her shoulder blades and on her lower back until she was able to catch her breath. 

“Ugh, I’m not done.” she sniffled and wiped the bile that dripped from her lips. “My belly’s so full still.” 

“Do you want a bucket or—” Dakota began but was cut off by Blair belching up another stream of puke. “Oh…nevermind.” He sighed and continued to rub her back. “That’s alright. Get it all up.” 

Blair burped up all of last night’s meal until she felt like there was nothing left in her tummy. The organ still ached and groaned even when she brought up the last small wave of partially digested rice and yellow bile. She coughed and sniffled like a mad woman until falling forward and letting her head hit Dakota’s chest. 

He quickly enveloped her in a hug. “Oh Bee, that’s not a good way to start the day. Your poor tummy,” Dakota cooed as he slipped his hand under her shirt. With the softest touch, he let his hand fall back into the rhythm of big circles. 

Blair allowed herself a few moments to contemplate death inside the hug, until she scrunched up her nose and pulled away from her boyfriend. “Ugh Kota, I have to get up before the smell makes me puke again.” 

“What smell?” 

“Shut up, this is fucking disgusting.” 

“I haven’t a clue what you’re talking about.” 

Blair shoved him off the side of the bed. It was nice of him to pretend like nothing was wrong, but she really would spend the entire morning dry heaving if she didn’t start cleaning. The one good thing about this whole mess was that her stomach would start feeling better now that it was empty; she just had to get away from the puke that was soaking into the blankets. 

Dakota helped her wrap up the blanket, ensuring that nothing spilled. Afterword they had the unavoidable debate over whether Blair should attempt to go into the office. It was no surprise that Dakota argued strongly for her to stay home. 

“Baby, you’re going to be shaking and nauseous all day. I know you.” He said adamantly. “I promise you’ll be refreshed and ready to girlboss tomorrow if you take the day to feel better.” 

“But I’m not even sick sick.” 

“You threw up at least three times. By my count that sick sick sick.” 

Blair sighed at his ridiculousness. “Why are you like this?”

“It’s a long story.” He took her hands and dragged her back to the bedroom. “It’s going to take all day to explain so get comfy.” 

[sapphic-outlaw]

I have such an irrational hatred of the fact that nobody bothered to clean the broken glass up from Arthur's room in Shady Belle

[inourselveswetrust]

What would ROs think if MC came home later than usual, and they weren't in good condition per se? Not drunk, but they're in a noticeable amount of pain, and they're trying to hide it? (they hide it astonishingly well until the 'mask' slips)

I hope you're doing well btw!!

I wrote this at 3am so consider yourselves warned. I hope you're doing well too! 💙

“I don’t understand why you would try to hide this from me,” August grumbles, their expression one of frustration. Their voice is brusque, their body tense yet their touch is gentle, they tend to your wound with gentle care. “While you sit here and do nothing, you can tell me all about how you got hurt,” August says tersely.

“It was just a small accident,” your reply, casually shrugging. 

“A small accident?” August repeats, bewildered. “I shouldn’t let you leave the house again if you think this is small.”

“It is small!” you exclaim, gesturing at the scrape spread across your calf. “It doesn’t even need stitches.”

“Anything that hurts you is big to me.” August protests, their voice desperate. Desperate for you to understand. “Whatever you did to get hurt, you’re never allowed to do it again.” 

“What if I fell while walking?” you counter, feeling prideful to have beaten August at their own game.

“I’ll carry you everywhere if I have to,” August replies without hesitation.

___

The silence is suffocating. Blair seems deep in thought, miles away in their mind. Despite this, they assess and care for your injury as if it’s the only thing that matters. As they secure a bandage to your arm, they pull away and simply stare at their handiwork for a few seconds.

Finally, they shatter the silence. “Did I do something to make you uncomfortable approaching me about this?” They ask, not tearing their attention from your wound.

“What?” you respond, confused and dumbfounded by the question.

“You tried to hide your pain from me,” Blair says, their eyes shifting to meet yours. “Why?”

You struggle for a response, your mouth opening and then closing as your mind tries to think of the answer. You settle for “I don’t know.”

Blair swallows dryly, before dropping their lips to your bandage and placing one, tender kiss on the material. “I’ll do everything I can to earn your trust, especially when you need me most.” 

___

Wren’s hands shake as they tend to your injury with tender care. They’ve avoided your eyes, and you’ve pretended to not hear their sniffles. They don’t say anything to you until almost an hour has passed after they finished bandaging your injury. You’ve remained quiet too, giving them time to work out whatever it is they need to say.

“Why would you hide this from me?” Wren asks, their voice laced with emotion. “Why didn’t you want my help?” 

Wren stares at you with wide, pleading eyes. Begging you for an answer and rousing your guilty conscience. Unable to hold your gaze any longer, they begin pacing an anxious path as they desperately withhold tears. They gasp for air: their breath unsteady and their limbs shaky.  

“I’d come to you if I needed help, I wouldn’t think twice about it,” Wren says, their voice trembling with each word. “I’d always go to you because I trust you with my life. And until now, I thought you saw me for who I am.” 

Their tears escape, and your heart drops with every tear. 

___

“How did you get these cuts?” Neve asks as they disinfect the numerous injuries scattered across your body. You hesitate to answer, though you’re not entirely certain why. Neve doesn’t seem to take your secretiveness personally, rather, they seem to have expected it.

“I only ask because you may need a tetanus vaccine, especially if you have not had one in five or more years,” they explain. “I suggest you speak to your physician within the next day or so, I believe we would both prefer you avoid infection.”

“You’re not upset I didn’t tell you?” you ask cautiously, watching Neve as if they may explode any moment. For once, they appear calm and that has planted seeds of doubt within you; doubt they’re okay, doubt you’re okay.

“I trust you can handle every situation you find yourself in,” Neve answers without delay. “You are more than capable of making your own choices, and you have no obligation to inform me of those choices.”

Neve begins putting the unused items back into their first aid kit, still alarmingly undisturbed considering you’d come to them a bloody mess.

“I do, however, feel quite… satisfied… you confided in me. While you do not need to come to me, I want you to know I will always be available should you need me,” they add as an afterthought, directing a somewhat awkward, yet genuine, smile towards you.

[sc0tters]

https://www.tumblr.com/sc0tters/745505606619824128/httpswwwtumblrcomsc0tters745504832939556864?source=share

Oh Trevor is basically almost silent when Blair finds him after the game, and he's never quiet so Blair is immediately worried but Trevor is just feeling so insecure and starting to think Blair is going to just drop him if she ever gets bored

This was their first really argument "what are you doing back here?" Blair furrowed her eyebrows seeing Trevor sat in her chair "you really used to fuck him?" His question was straight forward and she instantly knew what JT had said to him and she made the mental note to kill the older boy.

All she could do was nod as she crossed her arms leaning against the wall behind her "so that's all you have to say for your fucking teacher in this all?" Trevor groaned as he pinched the bridge of his nose "you into some weird shit or something where you took what he did with you and you do it to me?" He added making her then laugh.

It irritated her "firstly what I used to do with him is none of your business and trust me I am not handcuffing you or running an icecube down your body." the later parts of her sentence made his cock throb thinking about how it would have her squirming.

But still all he could do was grow more upset "when you're gonna spread your legs for a hockey player like that-" she raised her hand to cut him off as she sent him a glare "you and I both know that the only endings to that sentence will get you into trouble so be a babe and shut the fuck up." Blair didn't often warn him like that but they both knew that he was close to a dangerous line.

Yet as anger clouded his mind he didn't care "can't get upset if I call a slut when I see it." Trevor thought that he had been picked because JT wasn't available and he never wanted to be just an option to her.

In that moment Blair felt her heart break and he could see it by the way her eyes went glassy "get out." She grumbled shaking her head "get the fuck out of my office!" her voice was louder as he froze this time being enough to get him to move on.

The door to her office shut with a slam and tears began to roll down her cheeks as she began to wonder if a man had ever made her feel that bad before.

[layce2015]

Supernatural (Dean Winchester x Female!Reader)

Malleus Maleficarum

Masterlist

"She was so scared. I couldn't help; I couldn't do anything to stop it. And I've talked to the police, and I've talked to the medical examiner and no one can explain it." Mr Dutton said to me as Dean and Sam search around the house. "Well that's why they put the call in to us, Mr. Dutton." I said to him.

"But the CDC, that's disease control right? What do you think; it's some kind of virus?" he asked me, confused. "We're not ruling out anything yet." I said. "Mr. Dutton, did Janet have any enemies?"

"I'm sorry?" he said, confused. "Anyone that might have a reason to hurt her?" I asked him. "Wait, what are you saying? That somebody poisoned her?" Mr Dutton asked, slightly panicked. "I'm just saying we have to cover every base here." I said. "Well, I mean, what kind of poison? You think a person could have done this?" Mr Dutton asked.

"Would anyone want to?" I asked, curiously. "What?! No, no, there's just no one that could've--" Mr Dutton started to say but stops as Sam and Dean open the bathroom door. "Mr. Dutton?" I said and he looks over at me and shakes his head. 

"Uh, everyone loved Janet." He said and I look over at the boys and they nod at me, letting me know they were done. "Okay. Thank you very much; I think we've got everything we need. We'll get out of your way now." I said to Mr Dutton and the three of us began to walk out.

We walked out of the house and the rain poured down on us as we made it over to the Impala. "That guys seem a little evasive to you?" I asked the boys. "Don't know I was under a sink, pulling this out." Sam said as he takes a hex bag out of his pocket and hands it to me as we stop. I take the bag from Sam and open it.

"Hex bag." I grumbled. "Awww gross." Dean said, disgusted. "Yeah, there are bird bones, rabbit's teeth. This cloth is probably cut from something Janet Dutton owned." Sam said as Dean and I look back at the house for a second and turn back. I hand the bag to Sam and we start walking towards the Impala again.

"So, we're thinking witch?" I asked. "Uh, yeah, and not some new age wicked water douser either. This is old world black magic guys, I mean, warts and all." Sam said as we get into the car. "I hate witches." Dean exclaims, making Sam and I chuckle.

"They're always spewing their bodily fluids everywhere." said Dean. "Pretty much." Sam said. "It's creepy, you know, it's down right unsanitary." Dean said. "Yeah, well someone definitely had it out for Janet Dutton." I said.

"Yeah, someone who snuck into that house and planted the bag. So what are we thinking, we're uh, looking for some old craggy blair bitch in the woods." Dean suggests. "No it could be anyone. Neighbor, coworker, man, woman that's the problem Dean, they're human, they're like everyone else." Sam said.

"Great, how do we find 'em?" Dean asked, annoyed. "This wasn't random; someone in Janet Dutton's life had an ugly axe to grind. We find the motive-" I said then Dean finishes the sentence for me. "We find the murderer." he said.

"Yeah." Sam and I said, in unison, then Dean starts the Impala and pulls away from the curb, driving off in the rain.

Throughout the day, we followed Paul to see if there were any hints of witches near him or if he was somehow involved with his wife's death. At first everything seemed normal, nothing out of place, but then at one point he was sitting in his car, eating. It was a few minutes after sitting in his car, the door opens and he crawls out, coughing. The boys and I run over to him and we see that he was coughing up maggots.

"Check the car!" Dean yells at me and Sam. We began to search under the dashboard and steering column as Dean tries to help Paul. "Guys!" Dean yells just as I found it. "Got it!" I said as I get up and remove the hex bag while Dean pulls Paul up from the pavement. "Come on." Dean said and I light the hex bag on fire and drop it to the ground as it glows with blue and green flames

Moments later, Paul recovers from choking and leans back against his car. "You okay?" Sam asked him. "What the hell is happening to me?!" Paul asked, panicked. "Someone murdered your wife and now they're trying to kill you, that's what's happening to you." Dean said, firmly. "That's impossible! There's no way-" Paul exclaims but I speak up.

"If we hadn't have been following you, you'd be a doornail right now." I said and he looks up at me with worry. "Now who wants you dead?" I asked him.

"I-uh..." Paul stammers but Dean speaks up. "Come on think." He said. "There's a woman-uh..." Paul stammers. "A woman, okay?" Dean mutters. "An affair--a mistake, she was un-balanced, she was blackmailing me and I put an end to it a week ago." Paul replied.

"What's her name?" Sam asked him. "What could she have to do with--?" Paul asked but Dean talks over him.

"Paul, what is her name?" he asked and Paul looks between us.

Later, Dean picks the lock and we enter Amanda's house, our guns drawn. We enter the room and I switch on the light, only to find Amanda's lifeless on the table covered in blood. "That's a curveball." Dean said as I let out a sigh. "Yeah." Sam mutters and we approach Amanda's body.

Dean lifts her right arm with the barrel of his gun then looks at the other as well. "Three per wrist, vertical. She wasn't foolin' around." Dean points out as I put my gun in the back of my jeans and bend down to look at the scattered remnant of the altar, holding my nose to the smell of the burnt rotten food.

"Yeah, looks like she was working some heavyweight evil here." I said. "Yup." the boys said as Dean turns around nearly running into the hanging body of a rabbit. "Oh God! Freakin' witches! Seriously guys, come on!" Dean yells as Sam and I look at the rabbit.

"Guess we know where she got the rabbit's teeth from." Sam said. "Well, Paul sure knows how to pick 'em, huh? It's like Fatal Attraction all over again." I said. "Yeah." Sam mutters. "And why does the rabbit always get screwed in the deal?! The poor little guy." Dean said, upset. 

"You know what I don't get, boys? If she was so bent on revenge, why do this?" I asked them. "Well, she got Janet Dutton, thought she finished off Paul, decided to cap herself and make it a spurned lovers hat-trick." Dean replied. "Maybe." I muttered as I start to look under the glass table that Amanda is on.

"I mean, this doesn't exactly look like the TV room of a bright and stable person, you know?" Dean said. "No, but then..." I said as I reach around and pull out another hex bag that was tucked under the table and stand up tossing it to boys, Sam catches it. "There's this." I said and Dean looks over his brother's arm to see the hex bag.

"Another hex bag?" Sam said, shocked. 

"Come on!" Dean shouts as Sam opens the bag to find similar contents of the bag we found in Janet's bathroom and he tosses it on the table while Dean reaches for his phone. "Looks like we got a hit, huh? A little witch on witch violence?" Dean said. "I guess." I said, shrugging, as Dean dials the phone and hold it up to his ear.

"I'd like to report a dead body, 309 Mayfair Circle. My name? Yeah, sure my name is..." Dean said and he clicks the phone shut, cutting himself off.

"Why are witches ganking each other?" Dean asked us. "I don't know, but I think maybe we got a coven on our hands." I said and the boys share a worried look.

"You must have a green thumb." Sam said to this woman after we walked up to her driveway while she was turning the soil of her garden. "Excuse me?" She asked as she turned to us. "Getting these herbs to grow out of season like this, quite impressive. I'm sorry; I should have introduced myself first." Sam said and he reaches on the pocket of his suit jacket and takes out a badge. "I'm uh, Detective Bachman, this is Detective Turner and Detective Thornton." Sam introduced as Dean and I take our badges out of our jacket pockets and flash it at her.

"Hi-ya." Dean greets.

"Afternoon." I said, smiling.

"We're following up on Amanda Burns' death, going around the neighborhood and talking to neighbors and stuff like that." Sam said to her and she looks between us, nervously. "But didn't she- I mean she killed herself right?" She said. "Maybe, maybe." Sam said.

"We heard you were friends with the deceased right?" I asked her. "Yeah, I guess so." She replies. "Did you have any idea about her practices?" Dean asked her. "I'm sorry, what kind of practices?" She asked. 

"Well see, her house was littered with satanic paraphernalia." I said. "A regular Black Sabbath." Dean added. "No, the- but she was an Episcopalian." The woman said. "Well, then we're pretty sure she was using the wrong bible." Dean said then a couple of footsteps come up to us and we turn and see a couple of women coming up to us.

"Elizabeth, you alright?" the dark haired woman said. "I'm fine uh Renee, these are Detectives. They say Amanda was- she was practicing-" Elizabeth stammers then her friend, Renee, turns to us. "I'm sorry Detectives; you can tell that Elizabeth is a little bit upset." She said, a bit rudely honestly. "Of course, Miss...?" Dean said.

"Mrs. Renee Van Allen. Would you like me to spell it for you?" she sneered at him and I narrow my eyes a bit at her. "We'll get by, thanks." I snapped and she turns to me. "This Amanda business has been hard for Liz, for all of us." She said then her friend speaks. "Yeah, I mean, you think you know a person."

"Well, I guess we all have secrets, don't we?" Dean said as we stare between the three women. "Well, thanks, um, we'll be in touch." Sam said after a few moments of silence. "Have a nice day." I said and the women tell us goodbye.

"Well, I'm already sold on that Elizabeth chick? Did you see that victory garden of hers? Belladonna, wolfs bane, mandrake, not to mention that little flinch she threw when we mentioned the occult." Dean said as we drive down a foggy country road. "Well, she's definitely had a good run lately, gone up a few tax brackets; won almost too many raffles. Kinda thing a little black magic always helps with." Sam said as he reads over some files. "Yeah." Dean mutters.

"I don't think she's alone either, look like Mrs. Renee Van Allen has won almost every craft contest she has entered in the past three months." said Sam. "Yeah, a regular Martha Stewart, huh?" I joked. "Except for the devil worship, I'm thinking that was the coven back there we met minus one member." Dean said and I shrugged.

"Amanda was clearly going off the reservation, what do you think they killed her to keep up appearances?" Sam asked. "Seems like an appearance kind of crowd, don't you think?" Dean asked. "Yeah." mutters Sam.

"If they killed the nut-job should we uh, thank them or what?" I asked. "They're working black magic too, (y/n), they need to be stopped." Sam said. "stopped like stopped?" Dean asked as he and I look over at Sam, a bit shocked. Sam gives us a look that says of course.

"They're human, Sam." Dean said. "They're murderers." Sam said. Dean and I look at Sam for a second, with doubt, and then resign ourselves. "Burn witch, burn." I remarked as Dean continues to drive when the Impala stutters and starts to choke up.

"What the hell?" Dean said, confused. The head lights of the Impala flicker on and then back on again as it slowly comes to a stop in front of a blonde woman sanding in the middle of the road.

Sam gets out of the car first and Dean and I follow. "Ruby." Sam said. "Sam, listen to me, there's no time." She said. "For what? What are you talking about?" Sam asked her. "You have to get out of town." She warns.

"So this is Ruby, huh?" Dean asked then he raises the colt and aims it at her, cocking it. "Never had the pleasure." Dean said. "Dean!" Sam shouts at him. "I was hoping you'd show up again." Dean growls.

"Point that thing somewhere else." Ruby said after rolling her eyes. "Hahahaha, right." Dean chuckles as I placed a hand on his arm. Ruby ignores him then turns to Sam. "Sam please, go, get in the car and don't look back." She begs. "Why? I don't understand." Sam said.

"Hey, hot stuff, we can take care of a few kitchen witches, thanks." Dean said. "I'm not talking about witches, you jackass, witches are whores. I'm talking about who they serve." She said and the boys and I look confused for a second, but then it dawns on me.

"Demons, they get their power from demons." I said and Ruby nods. "Yeah, and there's one here, now." She said. "Oh, what, you mean besides you?" Dean asked but Ruby ignores him. 

"Sam, it knows you and your friend here are in town and it's gonna come after you two and it's way more than you can handle." Ruby said as she gestures to me. "Me?!" I said, confused. "Oh come on, what is this, huh? Please tell me you're not listening to this crap!" Dean yells at Sam and Ruby turns to Sam. "Put a leash on your brother Sam, if you wanna keep him." She ordered. 

"Dean, look, just chill out." Sam pleads as I turn to him. "No, no! She's messing with your head, God knows why, that's who they are!" Dean yells. "Dean, honey, calm down!" I said.

"I'm telling you the truth." Ruby said, firmly. "And I'm telling you to shut up bitch." Dean growls. "I'm sorry, why are you even a part of this conversation?!" Ruby asked, angrily. "Oh, I don't know maybe because he's my brother. And now you're saying my girlfriend is in danger too, you black eyed skank!" Dean shouts.

"Oh, right, right. You care about your brother and girlfriend so much, that's why you're checking out in a few months, leaving them all alone?" Ruby sneered. "Shut up." Dean growls. "At least let me try and save them, since you won't be here to do it anymore." Ruby said. "I said shut up!" Dean yells and he moves to fire the colt at Ruby.

"Dean no!" Sam screams as he pushes Dean's arm away from Ruby as he fires the colt, and Dean tries to fight against Sam's hold and they lock arms. "Boys, stop!" I shouted as I try to fight their hold. Then we look to where Ruby was standing to see that she has vanished.

Dean gives Sam a look of disappointment and goes back to get in the Impala, as Sam looks around in vain for Ruby. I sigh then follow Dean to the car.

Later, at a hotel, Dean walks in first and switches on the light and Sam and I follow right behind him. "What the hell were you thinking?" Dean shouts at Sam. "What?! What the hell was I thinking?" Sam yelled. "She's a demon, Sam, period alright. They want us dead, we want them dead." Dean yells.

"Oh, that's funny; I remember that demon chick in Ohio, Casey? You didn't want her dead." Sam said as I just look between them. "Yeah, well she wasn't stringing me along like a fish on a hook." Dean argues. "No one's stringing me along. Look, I know it's dangerous, that she is dangerous, but like it or not, she is useful." Sam said. "No, we kill her before she kills us." Dean growls.

"Kill her with what? The gun she fixed for us?" Sam asked. "Whatever works." Dean grumbles and I sighed. "Dean, if she wants us dead, all she has to do is stop saving our lives." Sam said and Dean turns away from us and goes to the sink turning on the water.

"Look, we have to start looking at the big picture Dean, start thinking in strategies and- and moves ahead." I said as Dean splashes water on his face and Sam nods. "She's right. It's not so simple, we're not- we're not just hunting anymore, we're at war." Sam said as Dean turns off the water and looks at Sam in the mirror above the sink, grabs a towel to dry off his face and turns back around to us.

"Are you feeling okay?" He asked Sam. "Uh, why are you always asking me that?" Sam asked as he sits on the foot of one of the beds in the room, and Dean moves back toward Sam. "Because you're taking advice from a demon for starters, and by the way, you seem less and less worried about offing people, it used to eat you up inside." Dean explains. "He's got a point, Sam." I said.

"Yeah, and what has that gotten me?" Sam asked. "Nothing, but it's just what you're supposed to do okay? We're supposed to drive in the friggin' car and friggin' argue about this stuff. You know, you go on about the sanctity of life and all that crap." Dean yells. "Wait, so- so you're mad because I'm starting to agree with you?" Sam asked, confused.

"No, I'm not mad, I'm- I'm- I'm worried, Sam." Dean said as he moves and sits down on the foot of the other bed in the room. "I'm worried about you too, Sam." I said and Sam looks at me. "Because you're not acting like yourself." I  added. "Yeah, you guys are right, I'm not. I don't have a choice." Sam said.

"What is that supposed to mean?" I asked him as Dean looks up at him. Sam sighs then looks at Dean. "Look, Dean, you're leaving right? And (y/n) and I gotta stay here in this craphole of a world, alone. So the way I see it, if I'm gonna make it, if I'm gonna fight this war after you're gone, then I gotta change." Sam replied and I noticed Dean has been looking increasingly uncomfortable during Sam's last speech, and is now clutching his stomach in discomfort and leaning forward slightly.

"Change into what?" he asked. "Into you, I gotta be more like you." Sam said and Dean tightens his face in pain, and leans further over still clutching his stomach and side with his left hand. "Dean!" I said, worried, as I go over to him.

"What's going on with you?" Sam asked as  Dean moves around in pain still clutching his stomach, and he can barely force words out. "I don't know. Oh- guys something's wrong- bunch of knives inside of me-" he groans then Sam moves off the bed and kneels in front of Dean, who is now leaning all the way forward with his head almost between his legs.

"Son of a bitch-" Dean groans and my eyes widen and I turn to Sam. "The coven, it's gotta be the coven." I said and he gets up and rush into the bathroom, opening the cupboards below the sink looking for the hex bag as Dean groans in pain and lies back on the bed, his face still twisted in pain. "Hang on, baby." I said as Sam pulls things out of the cupboard throwing them aside.

Dean leans back forward falling to his knees in front of the foot of the bed, spitting out blood, choking and sputtering. Then I get up and start to look around the room for the hex bag but couldn't find anything. Sam and I pull off the covers to the bed tearing back the sheets and I slice the mattress open with my knife but still cannot find the hex bag

"Dean, we can't find it." I said, worried, as Dean falls over sideways and looks weak and hurt and still in pain. "No." Sam mutters. As Dean continues to cough blood more weakly now, Sam rummages through his bag and pulls out the colt and opens it to make sure there are bullets in it.

"Sam, what are you doing?" I asked him as Sam gets up and moves toward the door. "Sam." I called out but Sam leaves closing the door behind him. "Sam!" Dean and I shout but he was gone.

Dean was leaning over a pool of blood he has spit out gasping and coughing blood as I try to think of what to do. Suddenly, there were quick footsteps outside and the door is kicked open and Ruby steps in. I pull out my knife, get into a stance and step in front of Dean. "You wanna kill me? Get in line bitch." Dean sneers.

Ruby ignores him and looks at me. "Do you want to keep him alive?" She asked me as I look at her. Then I look at Dean. "(Y/n)..." he groans and I look back at Ruby then step aside for her. "Better not make me regret this." I growled as Ruby goes over to Dean and pulls him up by the collar tossing him on the bed. She leans over him and forces his mouth open with her left hand as Dean tries to push her away.

Ruby sprays a black liquid into his mouth from a bag at her side with her right hand while Dean still struggles under her hold. Ruby stands up as Dean chokes on the liquid and spits some back out. "Stop calling me bitch." Ruby growls and Dean starts to look better and I go over to him and check him over then clean the blood and black liquid off of his face.

"Next time you point that gun at me, I'm not gonna just disappear, understand?" Ruby said as she tosses a sawed off shotgun over to me as Dean was back to sitting on the foot of the bed. "You saved my life." Dean said to her. "Don't mention it." Ruby said. 

"What was that stuff? God, it was ass, it tasted like ass." Dean grumbles. "It's called witchcraft shortbus." Ruby replied as she turns and walks out of the room closing the door behind her and leaving us. "You're the shortbus...shortbus." Dean grumbles and I shake my head. "Come on, we got to go after Sam." I said to him and we start to head out.

We make it to Elizabeth's house and run in with our shotgun drawn and see Sam was held up against the wall by an invisible force. And a woman with short dark hair was standing in from him. We draw our guns at her but she turns around easily and throws us over the sofa. We get up, but she pins us to the wall behind us.

"Three for one, lovely." she said, smiling. "Wait." Ruby shouts as she walks in with her hands raised in surrender. "Please, I just came to talk." She said as she puts her hands down. "You made it out of the gate, impressive. That was a bitch of a fight, wasn't it?" The woman sneered. "Doors outta hell only open for so long." Ruby said.

"What do you want, Ruby?" the woman asked. "I've been lost without you, take me back. That's why I led the Winchesters and (l/n) here." Ruby said and Dean looks angry, and mouths I told you so to Sam while I sigh and roll my eyes.

"They're for you, as a gift." Ruby said to her. "Really?" The woman asked. "Let me serve you again, I've wanted it, I've wanted you for so long." Ruby said as she walks closer to her. "You were one of my best." The woman said as her and  Ruby look at each other, until Ruby pulls her knife out and tries to stab her, but the demon catches it in mid-air.

"But then again, you always were a lying whore." she said and the knife is thrown sideways out of their hands across the wood floor. The two fight for a bit until the demon throws Ruby into the TV, but Ruby gets up and kicks her and goes to run past her, and the woman clotheslines Ruby causing her to fall flat on her back.

She pulls Ruby up and throws her into a bookcase and gets a fireplace poker from the stand on the hearth, looking at Elizabeth who was cowering from, before the woman walks back to Ruby with the poker in her hand.

"You're really telling me you threw in your chips with Abbott and Costello here?" the woman asked, nodding towards us, as Ruby tries to get up, and the demon hits her across the face with the fireplace poker. Elizabeth then runs out of the room.

"Come on, get up." the demon growls while Ruby is panting and not moving, with blood coming out of her nose. "I said get up!" she yells as she tosses the poker aside and crouches over Ruby grabbing her by the jacket and pulling her up. "We've been here before, haven't we?" She chuckles to herself and looks over at Sam.

"She didn't tell you?" She asked then she turns back to Ruby and continues. "Pretty mortifying I guess. She was one of mine. I turned her out a long, long time ago. Ruby here was a witch. Of course that was when you were human."

The three of us look at this surprised even though we are still both pinned to pur respective walls. The demon throws Ruby back down onto the debris of the bookcase she crashed through and stands up. "Didn't want your friends to know that all those centuries back you sold yourself to me? Embarrassing I guess, but don't worry love, no secrets where you're heading remember?" She said and she begins to chant and black smoke rises out of Ruby's mouth curling and hovering inches above her mouth.

But then she begins to cough.

As she coughs harder, Dean and I were dropped from the wall and fall forward. Sam also falls from the wall and drops to the floor as I look up and see the demon brings her hand up to her mouth. She coughs up a handful of long pins into her hand, her mouth bleeding in the process. She looks at the pins and raises her right hand and clenched it into a fist.

Dean then comes up behind her and stabs her in the back repeatedly with Ruby's discarded knife. The woman dies as well as the demon that was inside of her and she falls to the floor. Dean looks at Ruby and goes to help me and Sam up and they move toward the door and stop to look at Ruby.

"Go." Ruby said as she looks at us slightly embarrassed and wipes the blood away from her mouth. "I'll clean up this mess. Dean and I start to walk toward the door, helping Sam on his way. "Come on." I said but we stop and look back at Ruby one more time. Ruby turns her eyes black and glares at us. "Go." She orders and we walk out the door.

Dean and I were walking outside of the hotel, together, as the lights flicker, we look around, and then back to where we originally was looking and see Ruby standing there in the shadows of the hotel parking lot. "So the devil may care after all, is that what we're supposed to believe?" Dean asked her as we walk up to her. "I don't believe in the devil." She replied.

"Wacky night." I remarked then I look at her. "So let me get this straight, you were human once, you died, you went to hell, you became a..." I started to say and she nods. "Yeah." she said and she turns to leave.

"How long ago?" Dean asked her. "Back when the plague was big." Ruby reply as she turns back to us. "So all of 'em, every damn demon, they were all human once." I said. "Every one I've ever met." Ruby said.

"Well, they sure don't act like it." Dean remarks. "Most of them have forgotten what it means, or even that they were. That's what happens when you go to hell, Dean. That's what hell is, forgetting what you are." She said. "Philosophy lesson from the demon, I'll pass thanks." Dean growls. "Its not philosophy, it's not a metaphor. There's a real fire in the pit, agonies you can't even imagine." She said. 

"No, I saw Hellraiser, I get the gist." Dean said. "Actually they got that pretty close, except for all the custom leather." Ruby said. Dean and I look at her thoughtful and Ruby stops her departure, and turns back to us.

"The answer is yes by the way." she said as she looks at Dean. "I'm sorry?" Dean said, confused. "Yes, the same thing will happen to you. It might take centuries, but sooner or later hell will burn away your humanity. Every hell bound soul, every one turns into something else. Turns you into us, so yeah, yeah you can count on it." She said.

"There's no way of saving him from the pit is there?" I asked her. "No." she replied and I close my eyes and take a deep breath. "Then why'd you tell Sam you could?" Dean asked her. "So he would talk to me, you Winchesters can be pretty bigoted. Same thing for you, (l/n). I needed something to help him get past the-"

"The demon thing? It's pretty hard to get past." Dean growls. "Look at you, tryin' to be all stoic. My God it's heartbreaking." Ruby said. 

"Why are you telling us all this?" I asked, a bit annoyed. "I need your help." she said. "Help with what?" Dean and I said, confused. "With Sam. The way you stuck that demon tonight, Dean, it was pretty tough. Sam's almost there, but not quite, you two need to help me get him ready, for life without you, Dean; to fight this war with you, (y/n)." Ruby said and she turns and walks away again.

"Ruby, why do you want us to win?" Dean asked her and Ruby turns back around to face us. "Isn't it obvious? I'm not like them, I- I don't know why, I wish I was, but I'm not. I remember what its like." she replied. "What what's like?" I asked. "Being human." She replied and Dean looks down lost in his thoughts.

I give him a worried look and placed a hand on his shoulder. He looks up at me and places his band over mine then we look up to see Ruby has disappeared leaving us alone in the parking lot.

@rach5ive @kitsun369 @itzabbyxx @cevans-winchester @ellie-andthemachine

[gary-goldstein-law]

Pushes you in the direction of Blair (wherever they are right now)

It’s not healthy to avoid topics so sit down and talk!!

Gary grumbles but allows himself to be pushed towards @hatchet-bakery .

Fine- Blair? Can we talk, honey?

He looks nervous to ask, but he'll be damned if he doesn't do better with this relationship than all of Blair's exes combined.

[idunnoanymore7]

Warming Up

Description: You and JJs looks at each other keep getting longer. What happens when you need him to warm you up?

Content: bad writing, JJ Maybank x fem!reader, friends to lovers, fingering (f!recieving), reader wears a bikini

Authors Note: Lowkey planned this with a super smutty part 2 in mind…thoughts??

—————————————————————

You didn’t want to go camping.

You are not a fan of bugs and outdoor toilets, and were perfectly comfortable with the idea of never going. 

But when your parents overheard your friends asking about it, it was all over for you. Soon enough, you found yourself in the back of the Twinkie trying to decide whether to cry or scream.

“C’mon y/n/n, it’ll be fun!” Pope says, gently slapping your shoulder.

“You were just warning us about the dangers of hypothermia Pope!” You respond.

“Yeah, that’s not gonna help anyone feel better,” says Kie.

“I think it’s important everyone knows preventatives! Drying out clothes, conserving body heat-“

“That sounds like the start of a porn,” JJ chuckles in the passenger seat.

You cant even laugh.

“Anyway, we’re here for you,” Kie says. 

“I didn’t want to go on my first trip either,” Sarah chimes in.  You smile at them.

“Thanks, guys. Just don’t want this to end up like Blair Witch or any other camping movie.”

“I’ve been to this campsite a million times,”

John B says as he turns the wheel. 

“Because my family owns it,” Kie rolls her eyes. “It’s barely in the woods.”

“Totally flat,” JJ says around his blunt. “Can see hot people from far away.”

“Very crucial,” you say dryly.

The conversation shifts away from you to the failed camping hookups. You think over your friends’ words in your head. Especially JJ’s.

You turn to look out the window at the passing trees. Your eyes catch JJ’s in the sideview mirror. He winks at you and you smile back, not quite reaching your eyes.

He spins back in his seat and calls your name. “You want a hit?”

“Yes please,” you say, needing any escape from your brain you can get. You reach forward and take hold of the smoke, careful not to touch his hand; you had enough going on right now.

“Damn JJ, thought you were saving that weed,” John B said to the rear view mirror.

You pause before your inhale.

“It’ll help calm her nerves man! Get off my back,” JJ retorted.

You smoked the blunt and secretly let Kie have a hit before John B had stopped whining about JJ not giving him any. 

You had handed it back when the van rumbled onto the gravel parking lot of the campsite. 

“Fuck, you had a lot,” JJ said looking at it.

“Sorry. Lots of nerves,” You grin sheepishly. 

“Let’s go!” John B hollers, jumping out of the van and walking around to open the door for sarah. They kiss and the rest of you make gagging noises.

“Aww you’re just jealous of how much body heat we’ll have,” Sarah says.

“Ewwww”, we chorus back. 

JJ has already lifted the trunk, tshirt blowing in the breeze. 

He hands you your backpack first, but when you go to thank him he’s already moved on.

You shake your head and stick with Kie to follow her directions on setting up your shared tent. Sarah and John B also shared, Pope had his own, and JJ insisted on sleeping outside.

“How often do you see the stars like this, baby?”

“He’ll be crawling in my tent at the first breeze,” Pope grumbled.

With everyones stuff packed away, it was time for the beach. You struggled getting on your swimsuit in the cramped tent, but succeeded and laid out your towel to read on the sand. 

“Whatcha reading?” Sarah says, her sunglasses pushed up on her head.

“Beach Read,” you reply with a grin, showing her the cover.

“Nice,” she smiles back before john b hauls her up and runs toward the water. 

He checks if she’s okay before jumping in, the shallow water coming up to their calves as they laugh. Your mouth bitters from jealousy.

“C’mon y/n/n! I’ll race you in!” JJ raps your shoulder.

“And freeze to death tonight? I don’t think so.” You tease.

“I’ll keep you warm, m’lady,” his sharp canine appearing under his smirk.

“You better keep that promise,” you grin and allow him to grab your hand and pull you  into the lake. 

The warmth traveling up your body from the connection only vanishes once JJ pulls you both fully under.

You come up, gasping. “Fuck you,”

“You wish!” He splashes water above his head and you smile at the joy on his face.

Soon enough, you’re all in the water. 

Your friends call out to start a game of chicken, and you call dibs on JJ as fast as you can.

“Come on!” Kie groans.

“Hey!” says Pope indignantly. “I can do it!”

You shrug at Kie and smile. “I’m just being strategic,” 

“Ouch baby, I thought you just wanted to tug my hair,” JJ says.

“You’re the most intense about chicken,” you refute.

“Really it should be called ostrich or something-chickens are too short for this,” JJ says.

“Guys let’s go!” John B calls with Sarah already on his shoulders.

JJ squats down. “You ready?”

“Yup!” you pull your bikini up on your hips and place your hands on his shoulders. Sliding your right leg over, then your left, you timidly place my hands on his head, flatly.

JJ shakes his head at you. “C’mon y/n/n you gotta grab on! That’s how we win!”

“Okay jay, okay,” you say, getting a better grip on his hair. You tried not to think of the implications, grabbing his hair as he-

“We’re ready!” JJ says, getting a better grip on your thighs. That doesn’t help you focus, but you try to keep calm as you look at the competitors: Kie on Pope, Sarah on John B.

You lean down to speak quietly into JJ’s ear.

“John Bs still got that right forearm from that fight with topper-if we push sarah that direction he won’t catch her.”

He grins and looks at you. “Dirty. I like it.”

You pat his shoulder and sit back up, getting situated. JJ bites your knee and you laugh.

Kie and Pope finally stop bickering and Sarah claps her hands to start the game. 

“And…go!”

You clamp your feet harder on JJ’s back.  He moves towards John B and Sarah, trudging through the water. 

JJ and you share a smirk as you divert to John B and Sarah’s left side. You immediately lock arms with her and began to shove. 

“I’ll get you!” Sarah squeals.

“C’mon y/n get her!” JJ says.

With a final shove, you send Sarah reeling back into the water. She squeals as she goes down, John B scrambling to keep her on his shoulders.

“Our turn!” Kie challenges you.

JJ turns to her and Pope.

“We got this,” you say.

“Hell yeah we do,” JJ replies, bouncing on his feet.

Kie and Pope lunge at you, but JJ sidesteps the attack. You grab Kie’s shoulder and tug to the left. Pope squeaks and they topple over. 

You raise your arms and cheer as the other four begin to grumble. It was a group of sore losers, but it was hard to care when you came out on top.

“Okay, game over.” John B says, rolling his eyes. 

“What, don’t want to lose again?” JJ teases. 

You whoop again to be annoying. JJ chuckles and leans down to let you off. 

You turn to him. “We did it!”

“We did it!” He repeats, and wraps his arms around your waist to swing you around. “Dream team!” He screams.

“Dinner time!” Kie yells and splashes to the shore. You all follow her, the heat of JJ still lingering on your back and down your legs. 

After dinner, we sit around the fire and drink JJ’s cache of warm beer he forgot to put in the cooler.

Everyone slowly breaks up: Sarah and John B heading to their tent with their hands all over each other, then Kie heading to your shared tent, and Pope to his. 

Soon, you and JJ are the only ones left.

“Losers,” JJ says. 

“Both in chicken and in being teens,” You say, taking a swig.

JJ chuckles and shakes his head. “Like, what now?”

You jump to your feet. JJ looks at you confused as you place your beer can down.

“Screw them. Let’s go night swimming.” You reach out your hand. He grins and grabs it, standing up.

“Like, skinny dipping?”

“Up to you!” You giggle, running towards the shoreline. 

“What, really?! Wait up!” 

You’re already pulling your shirt over your head when JJ reaches the water. 

“Jesus christ,” JJ says, eyes trying not to look at your bikini top.

“I wore this earlier,” you laugh.

“Yeah, but I was focused on winning..damn…”

You pull your shorts down your legs. “You coming or what?” you ask. 

“Yeah yeah working on it,” he said, crossing his arms to pull his shirt over his head. You try not to look as his abs appear, a happy trail down the bottom. You wade in instead. 

“Oh fuck it’s cold!” You yelp as your toes touch the lake. 

“Don’t be a chicken,” he said, now in just swim trunks. 

“Oh yeah?” you retort. 

“Oh yeah. I’m jumping all the way in.”

“Then i will too!”

“Okay, 3, 2-” JJ dives in before finishing the countdown.

“You dick!” you yell, running to jump in after him.

Unable to see anything in the dark water, JJ catches you completely by surprise when he jumps out and pushes you in.

You scream when you hit the ice cold water.

“Fuck!”

“Yeah, it’s fucking cold. You were right,” JJ says, shaking water out of his hair.

“You think?!” you say, trying to be angry but just laughing in the end. 

He smiles in agreement. “Yeah, I think.”

“Ok we’re gonna get hypothermia…let’s get out.”

“We’ll be fineeeee,” JJ responds. 

“Maybe you will, you living furnace, but I’m cold.” 

“I’ll keep you warmed up,” JJ gives you a toothy grin. “C’mere,”

“What?” you say, getting closer.

“Just c’mere-” suddenly he jumps forward, pushing you in again.

“You ass!!”

“What, you like it?” he turns to show me his ass.

“Hmmm lemme take a closer look,” you say. He backs up and you shove him.

“Fuck!” he resurfaces, looking at you with big hurt eyes. You can see the gears turning in his head on how he can get you next, so you end it there and head back to shore.

The two of you giggle and whisper on your way up the beach. But when you peek inside your tent, Kie is sprawled out asleep across both your sleeping bags. You groan to the sky.

“What’s up?” JJ says.

“Kie’s all over my stuff and I don’t want to wake her up.”

JJ leans in beside you and grimaces. “Yikes.”

“The fuck do I do now?” You say, already beginning to shiver in your wet clothes.

“There’s room in my sleeping bag, and body heat and all that.”

“What?”

“I said i’d keep you warm-sleep with me,” JJ replies.

You could feel my skin begin to buzz at the idea of being so close to him. “Are you sure? I don’t want to intrude…”

“Yeah totally,” he shrugs. “These stars cant be appreciated alone.”

“Okay, but feel free to roll me out if i’m a bad bag-mate,” You say. 

He laughs. “I don’t think that’ll happen.” 

I grab my pillow, which Kie thankfully had not gotten on. “Thank you so much…Popes hypothermia talk has got me freaked out.”

“I won’t let you die, babe,” JJ says, unzipping the sleeping bag. Your heart pounds at the nickname.

JJ pauses once the bag is open.

“Are you sure about-“ you start.

“Yes, i am,” he cuts you off. He climbs inside and lays on his back, shuffling to the side.

You approach slowly, until he pats besides him.

“Roomy! 5 stars!”

You laugh. “Is there room service?”

“Whatever you request, milady.” You feel your face getting warm as you slide your legs in next to his. He was right-there was a good amount of room for a sleeping bag. That didn’t mean you weren’t in incredibly close proximity.

You sit on your elbows to put your pillow down.

“Oh good, I forgot to bring a pillow,” he says.

“JJ. What? How?”

“See! This arrangement works for both of us.”

“Did you plan this just to steal my pillow?” you tease.

“Oh, absolutely,” he responds. You both shift to get comfortable, putting your heads on the pillow. Whatever space the sleeping bag may have granted is stolen away by you both resting your heads on the same small pillow. 

Your breaths fan over each other as you lay there. 

“Thanks for helping me win chicken today,” he says quietly, looking into your eyes. 

“Thank you for getting me my first ever victory,” you smile back. Before you can stop yourself, you drag a piece of his hair behind his ear.

He freezes. 

You scramble to apologize but he stops you. He slowly reaches his hand up to brush your hair behind your ear. His hand doesn’t move, instead resting on your jaw.

Your knees knock. 

You can feel the heat building between your legs, and try to squeeze your thighs tighter.

“Y/n,” he whispers.

“Yeah, jay?” your eyes dip to his lips, and he lets out the smallest whimper.

His fingers weave more desperately into your hair. “Can I kiss you?”

“Yes, please.”

He groans and pulls your heads together. You moan into the kiss, hands going to his hair and gripping it harder.

It was everything you had imagined and more. You could feel him wanting you just as desperately as you wanted him. The lake water still lingered in his taste.

When you pull back to breathe, his eyes are on yours immediately. His thumb traces your lower lip, sending shivers across your face. You trace his cheekbones.

“I lied earlier,” you say.

“About what?” he says, concerned. 

“I did pick you in chicken to tug on your hair,” you giggle.

He groans again and kisses you harder. His open mouthed kisses expand to your jaw, and your breathing gets heavier.

His breath gets raspy. “Do you know how I felt seeing you in that bikini?”

“You can see as much of me as you want,” you reply breathlessly.

“Not here.” He kisses you again. “It has to be right.” 

You don’t get a chance to respond before his lips are on yours again, hands grasping you desperately. You slip your hands under his shirt to feel his stomach, almost gasping when you feel the hard lines of his abs.

“Jesus, JJ, fuck..”

He took advantage of your gasp to slip his tongue into your mouth, exploring you with fervor wherever he could reach.

“Please, JJ..”

“What, baby?”

You moan softly at the nickname and the intensity of his eyes. “Want you..wanted you for so long,”

“Me too, baby, me too,” he kisses you. His hands grip at your breasts, their sensitivity making you arch closer to him.

“Fuck, love,” you mumble, scratching his scalp.

You lean to his neck, wanting to leave a mark of you on his skin. His hands slide up and down your torso as you work on the bruise, his pinky sliding along the hem of your bikini bottom.

Your buck your hips, and he takes the sign to slip his hand lower. His palm slips over the hair there and reaches your clit.

You groan into his neck, trailing your hands from his abs over his shorts to palm his cock. You took him in your hand but he stopped you. 

“Sorry, I should’ve asked-“

“No no just…let me take care of you,” he says, sliding your hand back into his hair. 

“I knew you liked your hair tugged,” you grin. 

“I knew you liked thinking about me in bed.”

“I-I didn’t-“ you’re cut off when his thumb circles your clit.

“What was that?” he smiles.

“I-okay, I did,” 

“What did you think about?” his middle finger begins to gather the slick around your hole, as his thumb continues its rhythm.

“I-if you-“

“If what?”

“If you liked praise-if you-if you’d let me sit on your face-“

He groans into your neck. “Yes and yes.”

He slides his middle finger inside you, curving it to hit your spongy spot. You groan.

“God J, you’re a dream,” you babble.

“Oh yeah?” he says, beginning to pump his finger. 

“Did you - think about me?” you ask.

“All the time,” 

“What do- do you want to know?”

“I wanted-“ he trails off.

“Tell me, please,” you moan and grab his bicep.

“I- fuck- I wanted to know what pretty sounds you make, if you’d let me get you  cockdrunk, what you taste like-“

You moan and kiss him again. He pushes another finger inside you and you break, cumming over his fingers.

You feel his strangled gasp beside you, and a wet spot on your thigh.

“Fuck, JJ, did you come too?”

“Yeah,” he says sheepishly.

“That’s so fucking hot,” you groan, shoving your lips into his again.

He pulls his fingers up and holds them between you.

“Look at this mess you made,” he teases. He puts his fingers in his mouth and groans, tasting you.

“God you’re perfect…I knew it. Taste yourself.”

He puts his fingers in your mouth, and you swirl your tongue to get every taste of you and him combined.

“Did I keep my promise?” he asks.

“Definitely. I am very warmed up.” you smile.

The sleeping bag is much more comfortable once you wrap your arms around each other, and you fall asleep tired and smiling. 

[horrornvnfan]

To Need Another Person

I wrote yet another Restart Heart Fanfic! This is a sequel to The First Night, and takes place on the morning of Day 2 of the game. This is starring my MC, Maria Dust, and Ezra and Steph.

This fic is a re-write two scenes from the game put together, so canon lines/events/actions are used here or have been edited to fit the characterization of Maria Dust, but credit must go to the original. Please check out Restart Heart and support the dev here @restartheartvn, the game and the story are really amazing!

If you're interested in Maria in the context of this game, click here.

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You woke up to Ezra's limbs intertwined with yours. And the sound of vibration.

Reluctantly, you open your eyes. Your body felt so sore you thought you were going to crumble into pieces. You feel like that was an injustice, considering all the nonsense you were already going to have to go through from here on out, with cancelling an entire wedding and dealing with your family.

At least you got to experience some kindness yesterday. Ezra, Sammy, and Blaire's trip to the cafe and beach was more pleasant than you expected, considering your emotional state and your status of just being their acquaintance at the time. And then last night, with Ezra… he was so understanding. He even made you laugh.

You were grateful for it. But now that you were awake, there was no slipping back into a comfortable sleep with Ezra by your side.

You tried to move only to get a groan of displeasure from Ezra. He did not want you to leave and in the moment he reminded you of a cat. He grumbled, "Your phone has been going off for the past like, 10 minutes."

You blushed hard as you heard his voice in your ear, deep and mildly annoyed. His voice was normally pretty deep, but this was just insane. And you don't know why you didn't expect it to sound so close. You were cuddling.

Maybe you should stop cuddling. Act cool, for a change.

"How much has it been going off?" You ask as you carefully attempt to wriggle away.

Before he could respond, your phone started buzzing again. You let out a soft groan and reached over to grab the vibrating device. It was a text from Steph. Unusual. You opened the notification to see what the fuss was about.

Steph: [I'm outside, open the door in 10 seconds or I'm breaking it down.]

"Oh, it's just Steph," You yawned. "They're outside."

The gears in your head, previously turning painfully slow in your tiredness, sped up tenfold. Both you and Ezra jolt up and look at each other awkwardly. You couldn't help but stare at Ezra for a moment before quickly jumping out of bed, only for your legs to falter momentarily. What happened to your plan to act cool?

Before you could fall like a tragic baby deer, Ezra's arms shot out and caught you. An oddly tender moment passed as they looked at you a warm blush dusting their cheeks. However, the banging on your front door took precedence.

Embarrassed, you flung yourself from Ezra's hold, and shouted, "STEPH! Stop it! Give me a minute!"

You fumbled out of the bedroom, Ezra trailing behind, and as you swung the door open, still in pajamas and your hair a mess, you came face to face with Steph, who stared at you in disapproval.

"Why the fuck didn't you answer your phone??" They demanded, more cross than you expected.

"I just woke up!"

"And who is that?" Steph glared past you, somehow offended by Ezra's presence in your apartment.

Before you could turn around to introduce them, you felt Ezra gently place his hand on your shoulder. "I'm Ezra, I kept sugarsnap company last night."

You were about to turn to Ezra to nod in confirmation and continue the introductions, but Steph's reaction right in front of you kept you from looking back. They were shifting uncomfortably. And it was strange. Steph was practically never intimidated or made uncomfortable by someone else.

Feeling awkward, you gently nudged Ezra out of the way and stepped aside. "Come inside! I'm sorry for not waking up earlier, y'know how it is."

Steph nodded absentmindedly as they stepped into your apartment. For a moment you just stared at them, the fogginess of sleep and the sudden adrenaline of running out of bed starting to wear off. Steph was here. In your apartment. After what felt like ages of ignoring you or being too busy to even text. Your heart felt tight. And with Ezra here as well, already having comforted you last night over completely different emotional issues, you felt painfully awkward.

Steph wasn't looking at you when they said, "Yeah… did you mean to leave your window open?"

"Huh?" You followed Steph's gaze to your open living room window. "Oh! No, my roommate, Chris, usually leaves our windows open. No idea why, never got the chance to ask." You quickly moved to the window to slide it closed. "I wish he wouldn't, though. I know most bugs are dead or gone this time of year, but I really don't need to risk an infestation right now."

Steph turned back to you and smiled nervously. "Well, how are you feeling? You didn't text me much so I thought you might have… had a bad reaction to what happened."

You didn't like how they said that. You did text them yesterday. You called them multiple times the night of the party, when you were drunk and crying and Chris had to get you home. And now Steph was being vague?

Ezra spoke then. "No need to beat around the bush, I know what he did."

Oh. Right, Ezra being here was why Steph wasn't being direct. There wasn't another reason, like Steph not caring. You needed to stay calm. Steph was here.

And you could see Steph's growing discomfort. "Can I talk to you alone, Maria?"

"Yes," You said too quickly. Sheepish, you smiled at Ezra. "Ezra, Steph and I will be in my room for a bit. You can make yourself comfortable, or eat anything in the fridge."

Steph grabbed your hand and hurried you into your room as Ezra watched.

You felt tumultuous. Steph was here, and that was so important to you. You'd missed Steph so much for so long, and finally, they were here. You needed them. You had no idea how to say it. How to not burden them or make them want to distance themselves from you again. But this was a good first step, you could ask Steph to grab dinner with you, or watch a movie, just a time where you could talk, and--

Steph was scowling at you. You froze, surprised. You'd gotten into your head a bit for a second there, but why were they upset? Steph stared at you incredulously. "Are you serious, Maria?"

"I-- What? What do you mean?"

"While I get what happened really fucking sucked, what the hell was that?" They were pissed at you. "A fucking stranger? Really?"

Shit. You completely forgot about how this would look to Steph, having Ezra spend the night. Your body felt cold, and you gripped your arm tightly. "Ezra isn't a stranger. We're friends now. And we didn't have sex. They just sleptover."

You glare at the ground for a bit, resentment bubbling in your gut. Why did Steph accuse you of that? It's not like you, and they know it. And it wouldn't be fair of them to be angry if you did sleep with Ezra anyways. Your sex life was not their business. "What does it matter?" You continue. "It's not like you were here. You decided that work was more important than my wedding shower."

"Are you KIDDING me?!" Steph scoffed at you, causing your gaze to meet theirs. It was a bit of a low blow, and you knew it. Steph's schedule had always been a point of contention with them, but you were mad. And you were hurt.

They said, "You know I would've rather been there than at work, but I can't exactly quit my job for a fucking party, Maria!"

"It's not just a fucking party," You said through a clenched jaw. "It was one of the most important events in my life and you couldn't take off a single day."

"Well, I'm here now, aren't I?" Steph countered flippantly.

Your face was getting hot, and your impulse control was dropping. So you asked them something you'd wanted to know for months. "Steph, why did you never RSVP to my wedding?"

A deafening silence fell over the room. They were still displeased with you, but there was a new emotion there now. They hesitating. "Do you really want to know?"

"Yes."

Steph's unwavering gaze made you squirm a bit. "Alright. I didn't RSVP because… I didn't want you to marry Kenneth."

Your mind went blank, astonishment temporarily replacing your anger and pain.

They went on. "In fact, I hate Kenneth. Even before all of this shit came to light."

"What?" Your mind was racing. They hate Kenneth? Since when? College? High school? Not younger, couldn't be before then, not for all this time. How could they be saying such earth-shaterring things so blandly, like it was something casual?

They said, "I know that if I came to your wedding, I would not be able to stop myself. So I decided, for your sake and your happiness, to not go."

You rasped a question. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"I did."

"No." You said so harshly that Steph took a step back. "No, you really fucking didn't, Steph. You were always supportive. I can't think of a single time that you didn't support this marriage. You even helped him pay for an engagement ring!"

"Yeah, because he couldn't even remember your favorite fucking color, Maria!" Steph snapped defensively. "He didn't know what kind of jewelry you liked, and just assumed the gaudiest, most expensive thing would work! He thought you wanted all this extravagant, outlandish, and down right stupid stuff for the proposal."

Steph went on, unloading their feelings as if they'd been holding in a secret and were relieved to breathe again. "I helped him so much because I didn't want you to be sad. I didn't want him to fucking fail. Yet even with all that fucking help I gave him he still went and got your little sister pregnant."

Your heart was hammering. You couldn't hear much else besides the blood roaring in your ears. Steph showed up two days late after your life was ruined. Steph had scolded you for finding company in someone else when you were vulnerable. Steph had been avoiding you for months. Steph never even thought you should marry Kenneth to begin with. And now Steph was talking like that fact was their burden all this time.

Your voice came out strangely calm, teetering on the edge of fury, when you asked, "You know I was with someone who couldn't even remember my favorite color, and you just let me stay with them?"

It was like something clicked in Steph's head, and they faltered. "I just… I--"

The steadiness of your voice wavered only slightly, still holding back to bulk of your anger. "No, you knew how little he cared and you just let things stay that way? You let me stay with him?"

"Maria, I--"

Unable to hold back any longer, you shouted, "You didn't think to say, 'hey Maria! In case you were doubting the biggest decision of your life, here's proof that you're not crazy! You really ARE going to be miserable if you marry him because Kenneth doesn't give two shits about you!'"

Steph's eyes were wide, and they almost looked hurt. "You thought you were going to be miserable?"

"Of course I thought that!" You snapped. "I never asked for this marriage! I was doing it for my family!"

Steph definitely looked hurt now. You didn't know if they were guilty or if they pitied you, but it didn't matter. You were so, so angry. And you couldn't stop yourself from crying as you ranted on. "You are my best friend! I listen to you more than anyone! I would've heard you out of you just TALKED to me! Instead, what, you shut me out entirely because you thought I was an idiot for marrying a man like that?!"

"No, Maria--"

"Or maybe it IS all my fault!" You were hysterical. "Maybe I should've tried even harder to talk to you, and to stop the marriage sooner! But you're just pretending like you care when I called you the night it happened, and when I texted you yesterday morning and night, to no response."

A long silence went on after that. You weren't looking at Steph. You couldn't. You furiously rubbed at your face to force yourself to stop crying.

Distantly, almost monotonously, you heard Steph say, "It's my job to care about you. And I do. It's not pretending, Maria."

Bitterly, and uncaring if Steph heard you or not, you muttered, "You've done a poor job of it lately."

You heard a strained intake of air, and knew that you had hurt Steph saying that. Maybe it was deserved. Maybe it wasn't. Maybe you were both huge fuck-ups who needed each other, and maybe you needed to be apart. You couldn't entertain any possibility right now. You could already feel your overwhelming emotions starting to shut you down. With your face still covered by your hands and sleeves, you could vaguely see Steph's shadow on the floor, and that they were reaching out for you, but stopping just before contact.

"I'm sorry." They said quietly, and you saw their shadow move away. The floorboard creaked as they got close to your door. "You have my number if you need me."

You listened as they left your room. You listened as the front door clicked open and shut. And you crumpled onto the floor of your room.

You held yourself tightly as silent cries wracked you, willing the pressure to be enough to calm down already. You always hated crying, feeling so helplessly out of control. You didn't know why you yelled at Steph like that. You shouldn't have. You said way too much. You didn't say nearly enough. But you were so frustrated with everything, and so hurt, you couldn't stop yourself.

Hot tears streamed down your face as soft footsteps drew near. Deliriously, you thought it was Steph, but as warm arms enveloped you into a hug, you recognized instantly that you were wrong.

Fucking hell Maria, you actually forgot that Ezra was here. That's another tally for you being a rotten friend. Still, you let yourself settle into their embrace and let out a soft sob. Here they were, comforting you yet again, when you didn't really deserve it. Their body was warm, their hug gentle yet firm enough to help you feel a semblance of security. You needed to push down your shame for now, and focus on your breathing.

Ezra's voice was muffled against you as they said, "It'll be okay, sugarcube."

They let you cry for a while, before moving their hands to cup your face and look at you. You flinched at the sudden touch, and while they paused, they didn't move away, holding you so lovingly -- if you could even use such a word -- that it was almost cruel. With their thumbs, they wiped your tears, and your body relaxed further, very unused to such contact, but unwilling to reject how soothing it felt.

Once again, you had far too much you needed to say, and far too few words to do it. You let out a sad sigh. "Ezra…?"

"Yes, sweetness?"

"I'm sorry if this--"

"No. Don't apologize. I know what you're going to say. 'I'm sorry if this is a lot to handle since we hardly know each other.'" Ezra's hands moved down to your arms, rubbing softly, and they leaned foward to press a small kiss onto your forehead, making you jolt with surprise. Ezra leaned away again and stared into your eyes with a kind smile. "Please don't fret too much about them. You texted them and they never responded… What kind of friend does that?"

Your face fell and you looked away from their gaze. You didn't want to talk about Steph right now.

Ezra carried on. "I'll be here for you whenever you need me, okay?"

You nodded silently as Ezra helped you into a stand, before pulling you into another hug. Distantly, you wondered if maybe it would be fine to rely on Ezra a little more. They had been nothing but patient and genuine with you, supporting you through chaos despite not knowing you well at all. And their hugs were nice, so unlike physical touch with other people you don't know well. Maybe… Maybe it would be okay.

You suddenly felt a gentle bite on your shoulder, and you let out a surprised yelp, reeling back with a bewildered expression.

Ezra who gave you a playful smile. "Sorry, you're just really cute…"

Baffled, you said, "I'm cute enough to chomp??"

Ezra gave a short laugh and buried their face into your neck, squeezing you tighter. "Yeah. You are." Their face felt warm against your skin. Were they… blushing?

Before you could ponder this interaction further, you heard a phone buzz, and Ezra pulled away from you. You watched as Ezra pulled his phone out of his pocket and began reading the notification, then he re-read it. Their face fell, and he stood up suddenly. "Sugarsnap I am so sorry, but I really have to go. Eliana -- my little sister -- needs me."

Before you could say anything or even stand up, Ezra grabbed his stuff and was already halfway out your front door. However, he quickly gave you a tightlipped smile as he shut your apartment door behind him.

You sat on the floor in stunned silence, bizarrely calm again, with streaks of dried tears on your face, wild hair, and a terribly hoarse throat.

What on Earth were you going to do today?