#burn me alive and call me satan cause i be playing with some feelings ;)

[wickedwitch1997]

Katara, of the Fire Nation - Chapter 18

Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Chapter 8, Chapter 9, Chapter 10, Chapter 11, Chapter 12, Chapter 13, Chapter 14, Chapter 15, Chapter 16, Chapter 17

The meeting with the Earth King goes well. Though it started quite roughly, with the earth king weary of the new Fire Lord, but thanks to Katara, Zuko has the promise of an ambassador arriving in the Fire Nation within the month. 

The earth kingdom smells sweet as the pair exit the palace to find that the skies have opened up and started to rain.

“There’s a nice ice-cream parlour around here,” Zuko says, not quite wanting to return to the group just yet, “Care to join me?”

Katara smiles and takes Zuko’s offered arm, as they step out into the rain, Katara bends the water above them, making a little shelter that they can walk under and keep themselves dry.

“Show off,” Zuko smiles as he looks up to Katara’s small dome over his head.

The pair walks to the ice cream parlour, though to anyone else, their ‘walk’ seems more like a stroll two lovers would take.  *;)*

Zuko holds the door open for Katara and she walks into the cold shop.

“It’s beautiful,” she breathes, looking around the shop.

“You sit,” Zuko orders with a smile, “I’ll get the ice cream.”

Katara does as she’s told, she sits at a table for two and crosses her legs, watching as the Fire Lord buys her ice cream.  

“Choc mint?” Zuko says, returning to the table and holding out the cone for Katara.

“You remembered,” Katara laughs, taking the cone.

When the two of them were kids, Zuko would sneak Katara ice cream every now and then, all different flavours, and chocolate mint was always her favourite.

“Of course I remembered,” Zuko smiles, as he licks his own cone.

Katara smiles and lets the flavour explode on her tongue.

“Can I ask you a personal question?” Zuko asks after a moment.

“Hmm?” Katara answers as she licks a dribble of ice cream off her hand.

“What’s the deal with you and the avatar?” Zuko asks before taking a bite from his cone.

Katara looks up to Zuko and purses her lips.

“He likes me,” Katara says, crossing her legs, “I know that he does, but I don’t like him, not in that way, anyway.” Katara pauses to take a bite of her ice cream, “He kissed me once, on the day of black sun, before the invasion, he kissed me and I felt nothing.”

Zuko watches Katara, forgetting about his ice cream and letting the cold desert drip onto his hands. Katara’s lips quirk into a small smile as she bends the ice cream back onto the cone and chills it so it won’t drip.

“I don’t know,” Katara sighs, “I’m sure he wants us to be more than friends, but… I don’t know. I felt nothing when he kissed me, not like when…”

Katara looks to the Fire Lord across from her and her cheeks redden as she clears her throat.

“He kissed me the second time,” she finishes, covering herself from embarrassment, “Then I was just, pure anger.”

Zuko huffs and they finish their ice creams and leave, walking back into the rain.

“So,” Katara sighs, bumping her shoulder with Zuko’s, “What’s the deal between you and Mai?”

Zuko just sighs as a response as the tea shop comes into view. Mai is waiting for him and as he changes his clothes again, she watches him and talks at him the whole time.

Meanwhile, Aang confronts Katara out on the balcony.

“I thought you’d be going back to the water tribe,” Aang says, as he approaches Katara, she shrugs her shoulders in response and then she hears him suck in a breath, “So what now?”

“I’m Zuko’s advisor,” Katara says, rubbing her arms, “I’m going back to the fire nation.”

“What about us?” Aang asks, the hair on the back of Katara’s neck stands on end as Aang moves closer to her.

“There is no us,” Katara responds, uncomfortable with the small distance between her and the avatar.

“What about the day of black sun?” Aang asks, his eyes not hiding the pain behind them.

“It was a kiss, in the heat of the moment,” Katara says, moving out of Aang’s reach, “I’m sorry, but I don’t feel for you as you do for me.”

Aang is upset, he tries to take Katara’s hand but she pulls out of Aang’s reach again.

“Don’t do this,” Aang says, “We can be happy together.”

Katara shakes her head at Aang.

“I wouldn’t be happy with you,” Katara says, walking away from the conversation.

The next afternoon, Katara returns to the Fire Nation with Zuko, Mai and Kiki. Iroh stays behind, wishing to stay with his tea shop, where he feels the most at peace.

Katara farewells her brother and Suki, both of whom plan to return to the southern water tribe.

“I will see you again,” Katara says, hugging her brother with tears brimming her eyes.

“Kick ass, little sis,” he says, kissing her cheek.

Aang leaves on Appa, not even bothering to say goodbye, he takes off into the sky and is swallowed by the clouds.

“Are you ready?” Zuko asks, waiting for Katara by his airship.

Katara nods her head, she hugs her brother one last time before following Zuko onto the ship with her head held high.

As soon as they land back in the fire nation, things begin to progress quickly, Katara and Zuko are pulled all over the palace, attending meetings after meetings.

Katara is moved into the room down the hall from Zuko, the only thing separating them is an office which they share. The office has doors leading to both rooms for convenience, though the doors are hard to find at first and blend in with the walls, Katara assumes it’s how past fire lords would sneak their affairs into their rooms without being caught.

Katara barely has time for herself and that’s how she likes it, because before she knows it, six months have passed since the war and the nation is still going strong.

Katara can keep up with the fast pace, it’s in her blood, but Zuko has a harder maintaining his schedule.

On one particular morning, Zuko doesn’t get out of bed, no matter how many times Mai pokes and pushes him.

“Zuko isn’t getting out of bed,” Mai announces, striding into the throne room where the council gathers, “I will speak for him today.”

Katara looks to the other councillors and then back to Mai.

“Did he tell you to speak for him?” Katara asks.

“No,” Mai says through gritted teeth, her glare is enough to unsettle the other councillors in the room.

But Katara isn’t afraid of Mai, she clears her throat and then shrugs her shoulders.

“Well then, meaning no disrespect,” she lies, “you aren’t part of the council and you aren’t the Fire Lady, so unless Fire Lord Zuko specifically anoints you as his speaker, you have no right to speak for him, and no right to even sit with the council.”

Mai’s face turns red as the rest of the council agree with Katara.

“I will go and try to wake the Fire Lord,” Katara says, standing to her feet and nodding to the council, “I’m sure he won’t be long.”

Katara takes a guard along with her, should Zuko say anything on Mai speaking for him, she will need a witness to testify.

Katara knocks softly on Zuko’s door, calling his name before opening the door.

“Zuko, the council is waiting,” Katara says, walking further into the room.

“I already told Mai,” Zuko grumbles, rolling over and burying himself in his blankets.

“Told her what?” Katara asks, frowning as she looks at the guard.

Zuko just grumbles and reaches behind him, he grabs a piece of paper and holds it out to Katara.

Katara takes the paper and reads Zuko’s messy scrawl of writing, once she reads it she passes it to the guard and he reads it over too.

“He’s anointing you regent?” the guard gapes as Katara looks over the Fire Lord.

Katara cannot see much of Zuko, he is wrapped in his blankets with only the mess of his hair peeking out the top, Katara wishes she could see his chest, to check on the blister, but she doesn’t wish to disturb Zuko so she turns and leaves with the guard, taking the paper from him as she goes.

“You’re still here?” Katara says when she notices Mai still lingering in the council room, “Why?”

Mai just huffs and storms out as Katara places the paper in front of the other councillors.

“He’s anointed his advisor as regent,” one of the men says, reading from the note.

Katara nods her head and then sits back in her place.

“Shall we begin?” she asks, the men all look at her and then at each other, “What?”

“When a regent is in play, they sit on the throne,” one of the councillors says, his eyes flicking up to the Fire Lords seat.

Katara looks to the sheltered throne, she then looks back to the councillors and the ambassadors in the room before standing and making her way up onto the dais.

Once she takes a seat on the throne, the meeting begins.

Zuko doesn’t get out of bed all day, so it is up to Katara to fill his shoes. After the last meeting, Katara is exhausted, she pinches the bridge of her nose as she stands and finally leaves the throne room.

“He’s asking for you,” Mai says, waiting for Katara in the hall, her arms are crossed and there is a tight scowl on her face, which Katara ignores as she heads to Zuko’s room.

“I don’t know who you think you are, but Zuko loves me,” Mai says, “I see how you look at him.”

Katara ignores Mai as she walks into the Fire Lord’s chambers, his door already open.

“Zuko,” Katara whispers, approaching the bed, “Are you alright?”

Zuko is still tucked deep under his blankets, but at the sound of Katara’s voice, he rolls over and looks up at her.

Not much of the Fire Lord’s chest is exposed, but Katara can see irritated skin poking out.

“Shit,” Katara curses, she pulls down the blanket and finds Zuko’s blister red and raw, Katara looks to Mai, who is standing in the doorway, “How long has it been like this?” Katara asks.

Mai makes a vague ‘I don’t know’ sound and shrugs her shoulders before leaving.

Katara hasn’t checked Zuko’s wound for at least six months, he’s never complained about it so Katara assumed it was all fine.

“This was supposed to be healed by now,” Katara breathes, bending water to her hands.

Zuko isn’t fully conscious, but he groans out as Katara touches the blister gently.

“Oh, Zuko,” Katara sighs, she places the water to Zuko’s chest and he whimpers her name as the water begins to glow.

“Kat,” he breathes, he grips onto Katara’s arms, keeping her healing water on his chest for longer.

“It’s alright,” Katara soothes, not flinching at Zuko’s hands.

The pain Zuko has been feeling has probably been keeping him up all this time, never letting him have a peaceful sleep for six months.

When the water loses its glow, Zuko’s grip relaxes on Katara’s arms.

“Kat?” Zuko rasps, finally opening his eyes.

“Hey,” Katara smiles, she puts the water back into her pouch, “Hey.”

Zuko sighs and then opens his eyes fully.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were in pain?” Katara asks, sighing as she sits on the edge of the bed, “This should have been healed by now.”

“Sorry,” Zuko groans, sitting himself up with a grunt, “I just, lost time.”

Katara sighs and then looks over Zuko’s chest, moving closer to get a better look at the wound.

“This is going to scar really badly,” she notes, but before she can say another word, she feels Zuko’s hand reach out and caress her cheek, “What are you doing?” she asks, her eyes flicking up to meet his.

For a moment, Zuko doesn’t say a word, he pushes Katara’s hair out of her face and tucks it behind her ears, his eyes taking in every aspect of Katara’s face.

“Beautiful,” Zuko says, his voice soft as a whisper as his fingers brush against Katara’s cheeks.

Katara’s heart skips a beat as Zuko’s thumb brushes against her lip, a whole new swell of feelings enter her chest, making her heart race with excitement.

“Zuko.” It is the only word Katara can manage to get out, it slips past her lips in a silent breath as her chest tightens.

Zuko’s eyes are staring right at Katara’s lips, his breathing is steady and strong, just like his hand, which caresses higher until his fingers tangle in Katara’s soft, brown curls. Katara’s nose fills with the smell of sandalwood and wood smoke, Zuko, her nose fills with the smell of Zuko.

“Stay,” he says, his voice still a hushed whisper as he looks back into Katara’s eyes, “Stay.”

Katara’s heart is breathing so fast, she fears she may have a heart attack.

“I… I can’t,” Katara says, her voice equally soft, she pulls back and Zuko lets her hair slip from his fingers, “I’ll send for Mai.”

Katara bows her head to Zuko and then leaves, but she pauses by the door to look back at her Fire Lord.

“I’ll come check on you in the morning,” she promises, she nods her head again and then adds, “Good night, Zuko.”

Katara leaves, she rushes to her own room and closes the door behind her, pressing her back on the wood as her heart thunders in her ears, begging her to return to Zuko’s side. Katara shakes away her thoughts and then undresses.

When she wears nothing but her skin, Katara finds herself caressing her cheek, her fingers dancing over the place where Zuko’s once was, her skin still tingles at the thought.

Katara touches her lips tenderly as she walks over to her mirror that sits over her desk, she stands in front of the mirror, watching how her fingers dance over her skin, imagining that they are someone else’s.

Slowly Katara’s fingers trace lower, tracing invisible lines over her neck before curving down over her collarbones. Her fingers trace back up, she rolls her head to the side and her fingers hold around her neck.

Katara’s eyes flick to her reflection, through her hooded eyes, she imagines the fire lord, standing behind her with his lips to her cheek, and his arms wrapped around her body, one arm around her waist, the other across her chest, with his hand around her throat, holding her with a mild amount of pressure.

Katara snaps out of her imagination, Zuko’s reflection disappears from behind her and Katara’s hands cover her mouth.

“What are you doing, Katara?” she asks, looking at herself in the mirror.

Katara turns away from the mirror and tries to convince herself that her feelings aren’t real, that the wetness between her legs is not because of her Fire Lord.

Katara crawls under her covers and ties to get some sleep, hoping that tomorrow will be better. Unfortunately, Katara’s mind keeps drifting to another subject, thinking of things other than sleep, on more than one occasion, Katara has to stop herself from grinding against the pillow that is hugged to her chest.

“Fine,” Katara huffs, rolling onto her back as midnight approaches.

Katara closes her eyes and her hands trace over her skin, dancing lower and lower until they pass through the soft hair between her thighs.

She tries to think of someone else, anyone else, other than the Fire Lord two rooms over. Katara slowly start circling her clit with a finger, her breath starting to hitch at the contact, but it doesn’t feel right, not when she is thinking about someone else.

“You can’t escape me,” Zuko’s voice seems to echo in her mind and Katara can’t help but imagine that his hands are between her legs, slowly teasing her clitoris with one finger.

Katara’s breathing becomes shallow as she applies a little more pressure, her eyebrows knit together as she imagines Zuko laying against her.

“More,” Katara breathes, her voice so sultry that she hardly recognises it.

She imagines Zuko chuckling and then she adds another finger.

“Fuck,” she whimpers, toying with herself not yet finding her sweet spot.

“You can’t deny me,” Zuko’s voice echoes in her mind again and she can see his face in her mind’s eye, she can see every detail of his face, from his ink-like hair to his pinkish scar.

Katara’s breathing becomes more ragged as she draws her knees up and dips a finger inside of herself, slowly and gently as she imagines Zuko would.

Katara lets out a rough breath as she imagines him, his face lowering between her thighs and his tongue dipping into her, tasting her.

Katara hums to herself as her fingers withdraw and return to her clit, Katara starts to slowly rub herself, she pulls water out of the bowl by her bed and turns it into a fast pulsing jet.

“What’s my name?” Zuko’s voice whispers into her brain, his phantom hand's grip at her thighs as her back arches off the bed and her other hand runs through her hair, “Who is it that you want?”

The name is right on her lips, pulsing between her legs increases and the name falls out of her in a silent whisper. Katara’s head tips back, her neck becoming exposed as her climax builds, a soft grunt follows the name and then the pulsing quickens.

“Fuck,” Katara hisses, her orgasm rips through her, her body convulses as Katara keeps the pressure for only a moment longer.

Katara lays back, she takes the pressure off and then her knees draw together as the wave of passion rolls over her once more before leaving her in the afterglow.

Mai came to bed as soon as Katara left, she walked into the room and crawled into bed without a word to Zuko.

Zuko remained awake, sitting against the headboard, his chest tingling, and this time it wasn’t in pain. Zuko can’t sleep, so he decides to go into his office and shuffle through papers.

As midnight approaches, a groan from the other room startles Zuko from his work, he looks over to where the door to Katara’s room hides, Zuko stands and moves over to the door.

On the other side of the door, he can hear Katara, her breathing is shallow and fast, Zuko fears she may be having a nightmare, but before he can think to open the door and sneak inside, another sound comes. This sound is different, it’s soft, almost like a purr, the sound is enough to stop Zuko in his tracks.

‘Is she with someone?’ he thinks to himself as Katara’s moans could only be described as lustful.

Zuko listens as Katara’s breath hitches and she moans out quietly.

‘She’s trying to be quiet,’ Zuko notes, his palms press against the door, and he presses his forehead against the wood. He can’t hear anyone else in Katara’s room, no noise that she makes indicates that there is another with her. He lets out a soft sigh of what seems to be relief.

‘Am I jealous?’ he asks himself, but he cannot think more on the question as Katara’s moans out again, this time her breathing is quicker and rougher.

Zuko’s cheeks flush and he takes his palms off the door, he shouldn’t be listening to this, he shouldn’t be invading her privacy.

“Zuko.”

He becomes frozen in place, his back tenses as her soft voice simpers out his name.

‘Does she know I’m here?’ he wonders, unable to move.

But Katara doesn’t say his name again, instead, she grinds out a sweetly foul word and her breathing quickens yet again. From the other side of the door, Zuko can hear Katara moan again, it’s loud and sultry, and he swears it’s the best sound that he has ever heard.

Zuko presses his palms against the door again, wishing he could see through it, to see what Katara looks like at this moment, after completion and continuing to whimper softly.

Zuko lets out a silent breath and then hangs his head, looking down at his stiff problem that strains beneath his pants.

@squishysuho @the-weird-fob-fangirl@thegaang6@pepewntz@solidaritree@waitingtillthesmilescomeback@miraculoushipping@auzlon@tiernanka@lovelylittleladyl@standby-reality    @beealexageek @danielslilangel

[nalu4emily]

The Unexpected Reward - Chapter 18

Summary: Natsu and Lucy go on a job together, but what they bring home is something neither anticipated. Forced to make a life changing decision, they have to adapt quickly, but that's never easy, especially given the circumstances. As they work together on their toughest adventure yet, they find themselves drawn to one another, in ways they never realised.

Rated mature for a reason. Although this chapter is all fluff.

With one last glance in the mirror, Lucy eyed herself closely in the reflection. Her eyes followed the movement of her manicured hand slowly drifting down the length of the lacy bodice, smoothing over a few creases in the skirt before finally resting under her bump. She studied the silk material carefully, appreciating the way it flowed off of her curvaceous body and delicately trailed along the floor behind.

It was beautiful, unlike the enormous meringue-like frock her friends had so graciously picked out for her. Gone were the days of wearing intricately designed, overly priced, princess dresses that left little room to move, let alone breathe. No, the one she'd picked out was much more flattering, less poofy, and delicately sat in just the right places. It clung to her every curve and emphasised all the parts Lucy liked about her body, whilst also accommodating her growing bump. Her silky blonde hair had been loosely pulled back and curled, decorated with small gem encrusted pins throughout. And her make up had been left minimal, giving her a simple but elegant finish—the look she favoured nowadays.

Her hand began rubbing small circles were it lay, a recent thing she found herself doing, a comfort to her racing heart as it pulsated through her body, echoing the erratic movements of her unborn baby.

She was anxious; who wouldn't be? But she knew that her guild mates would never allow such a day to go badly, they'd all put too much effort into planning it to allow for such folly.

As for Natsu… well, the boy didn't know what'd hit him once the guild found out. He had no idea what getting married really entailed, and figured, like she, it would happen much further into the future than it had. Their friends, however, had given them little choice in the matter, and within a month of the proposal, she was standing in her dream wedding dress about to make that lifelong commitment to the man just as clueless as she was.

In some ways, it all seemed rather convenient. If Lucy didn't know any better, she would've put her fateful coupling down to destiny, but those were the delusions of a small child who'd grown up alone in a big mansion, destined to marry some self important aristocrat and play housewife for his money.

A different life entirely.

Her meeting Natsu had changed all that; he'd opened her eyes to what life could really offer. She'd concluded, after many years as a member of Fairy Tail, that destiny really could be burned to ashes, that fate stood no chance against the likes of her friends, and that she was no different. It had been her choices that'd lead her down this path, and that she had always been in charge of her own future.

So getting married was no longer some massive event that held such great importance in her life, for she had found her true happiness. Married or not, her feelings towards the dragon slayer would never change, her heart belonged solely to him and had done for much longer than she'd ever admit to.

Instead, the wedding would be used a day of celebrating their long lasting friendship, their deep bond and most importantly, the love they'd shared so unconditionally for one another. They'd been through so much together; the pain and heart ache; the cheer and laughter and everything in between; every memory was precious and every moment from now on, even more so.

The longer she thought about it all, the more her eyes began to prickle with unshed tears, threatening to streak down her powdered skin, "Ugh… Stupid feelings..." She whispered, using her finger to wipe up the wetness.

"Aw, Lucy, you don't have to cry! Save it for the actual ceremony, you'll ruin your make up otherwise." Levy was quick to take out a clean tissue, dabbing away at her friends eyes whilst trying not to ruin her masterpiece. "Thank goodness for waterproof mascara, huh?"

"Sorry Levy, I don't know what came over me." She just couldn't understand it; where had all these emotions come from? "It must be my hormones…"

"Nope, I'm pretty sure it's because you're about to get married, Lucy. I imagine lot's of bride's get a little teary on their wedding day." Mira began, offering some words of encouragement. "And besides, Natsu will be just as emotional, I bet."

If memory served correctly, Natsu would be, no doubt, still in his boxers, piling food into his face alongside Happy and Haru, with not a care in the world. It was just a gut feeling, but somehow, Lucy was pretty sure their morning had gone very differently to hers. "Hmm… I don't know. Are we even talking about the same person here? I mean he's probably not even dressed yet."

Mira chuckled lightly, although Lucy saw right through it. She knew that if her words were true, the barmaid wouldn't hesitate to go full Satan-soul on the slayer's ass, ripping him a new one. But the woman said nothing more about it as she reached up to place the veil atop of Lucy's head, before standing back to marvel at the beautiful bride, "There. I have to say, Natsu's one lucky guy! You look good enough to eat, Lucy!"

"Um… thanks, Mira." Blushing, Lucy turned away embarrassed, knowing exactly what the take over mage was inferring, "How much longer until we're ready?"

"Twenty minutes. So we need to pick up the pace or we'll be late." Erza's thunderous tone came sharply from the doorway as she entered the room, her athletic body filling her own, full length dress out in ways Lucy felt slightly envious of. "And the bride shall not be late to her own wedding. We've all waited far too long for it to be ruined now."

Lucy chose to ignore that last bit, never one to dwell on what her guild mates inevitably spoke about behind her and Natsu's back. She quickly put her heeled shoes on and made her way to the door, "Is Anna here yet? She's supposed to be walking me down the aisle."

One of the few decisions Lucy had been allowed to make about her wedding day was who she wanted walking her down the aisle. In replacement of her mother and as someone who meant a lot to both her and Natsu, Anna had been the perfect choice that no one could really argue with.

"I'm here, Lucy!" Anna called, waving her hand as she entered the room, awestruck by how radiant the bride looked in her glistening gown, "Wow! Don't you look stunning! Then again, the Heartfilia gene has yet to fail us." She winked and smiled, "Let's hope this baby follows the same path, hmm?"

Chuckling, Lucy smiled for the first time that morning, feeling a sense of comfort and relief with Anna around. She shared the same kind disposition and caring nature her mother once had; maybe it was a Heartfilia thing? But if Lucy closed her eyes for just a moment, she could almost trick herself into believing Layla was standing right there with her. Maybe, in some weird way, she was, and that's all the young blonde could hope for.

"Time to go!" Erza bellowed, shooing them all out of the door, "We have a wedding to attend!"

On the other side of town, up on the hill where the small cottage stood, a very different story was unfolding, one of complete bedlam, and no one, not even Lucy, should've expected any different.

"Dammit! Why do I have to wear this ridiculous thing anyway?" Natsu grumbled, pulling at the tie around his neck, unhappy that he'd been forced to wear it instead of his beloved scarf. "It's tryin' to choke me, I swear!"

"I don't think it's alive, Natsu…" Happy uttered, having watched his friend battle the urge to destroy the thing for the past ten minutes.

"Yeah, but if it was, I'd totally beat it and burn it to the ground!" Fisting the air in triumph over his imaginary brawl with the inanimate object, the fire breather sniggered.

"You could just burn it now."

The fire mage's smirk turned into an all out evil grin as he went to summon his fire, reaching for the offending material dangling over his shirt.

"Although, I doubt a certain scary lady in armour would be too pleased… Not after everything she went through to get you to wear it in the first place."

And then it all came crashing down again, his need to set fire to it dissipating. He knew better than to go against something Erza had chosen and groaned obnoxiously, throwing his head back onto the pillows in a huff, causing hot smoke to seep from his mouth, "Stupid tie… Stupid Erza…"

Hearing a thump next to him, his eyes rolled to the side, his neck twisting in turn, only to find that Haru had slumped down onto his back as well.

His large blue eyes were fixed on his father's mouth and his lips were pursed slightly as he continued to stare. Then, with a look of determination, he blew with all his might, over and over again in the hopes of forming his own puff of smoke.

Unable to keep his amusement in, Natsu turned over to observe the baby closer, intrigue furrowing his brows and fascination lighting up his face when an untimely idea came to mind.

"Hey Happy, d'ya think Haru might be able to learn magic soon?" He contemplated the thought for a moment as he sat himself up, pulling the little one up with him.

Stopping to think about it, the exceed scrunched his nose up in disbelief, not entirely sure if now was really the time to be having such thoughts, "Really? But he's only just learnt to walk."

"I know, but look at him. He seems to want to." Natsu wasn't sure if he'd even be able to teach him how to breath fire, not without the use of dragon slayer magic and that was off the table. But then again, that wasn't the only thing he could show him. "It'd be kinda cool to see, don't ya think?"

"Uh… I'm not sure now is the time, Natsu… you don't wanna be late." Happy erred on the side of caution, but after one look of his friends scheming face, he was quick to give in, "Then again, it would be pretty cool to see what he does, I guess."

"That's the spirit! We got some time to kill before that Snowflake gets here anyway, so might as well have a little fun." Natsu grinned wickedly, ideas of how to go about it swirling around in his head. "Hey little guy, come 'ere! Daddy's got something to show you!" Igniting his palm, he watched excitedly for Haru's reaction to his magic.

The little boy, although startled at first, stared in wonder at the tiny flame so close to his face, and watched it flicker with the slight movements of his father's hand. It was captivating to be within reach of such burning hot fire, even if he'd seen it so many times before. Although the bright heat was something he so readily associated with Natsu, being this close to it was a first for him, and that made it all the more thrilling.

"Fire!" The child exclaimed, using the springs of the mattress to bob up and down in his excitement.

"Heck yeah, it is! And now that it's just us, we can be awesome fire dragons together, right Haru?" Natsu sniggered like the mischievous imp he was, and brought the kids hand up next to his ignited one.

But after taking one look between his and his father's hands, the little boy pulled away again, a sad expression adorning his sweet face as he stared into his empty palm, "No…" He mumbled, his bottom lip jutting out and his eyes filling with tears, "No!"

"I don't think he understands, Natsu." Happy interjected, not convinced the boy was anywhere near old enough to fully grasp how to handle magic.

"'Course not—not yet anyway. But he will one day, and it's gonna be the best!" The slayer kept his smile as he guided the little boy onto his lap, ruffling his thick hair affectionately to cheer him up again, "Chin up, kiddo! It takes a long time to learn how to wield magic. But with some practice, you'll be the toughest little dragon around, you'll see."

Listening to that calming tone, the child glanced up at his adoring parent, comforted by the big grin that always managed to reach his eyes, a gentle touch that embodied the very bond they shared. The mood was infectious and with a little coaxing, the small boy couldn't keep his lips from curving upwards, brightening the room around them once again.

With newfound courage, he reached his arm back out, placing it near to Natsu and waited expectantly, "Oh, so you do wanna be a dragon, huh? Alright then, but ya gotta give me your best roar first!" Natsu smirked, proud to have taught his son the 'non-magical' version of roaring (aka shouting really loudly) at the very least. And he did just that; at the top of his voice; no encouragement needed, "Whoa! That was super awesome, little guy! Now let's see how you handle this!"

"If you're about to do what I think you're gonna do, then I hope for your sake, Lucy never finds out." Happy warned, not wanting to take any responsibility for what was inevitably about to happen.

"Hey! I'm not stupid enough to burn down my own house. What do you take me for, an idiot?" The answer was yes, but Happy's restraint held strong, knowing he'd be heard even if he'd muttered it under his breath. Natsu, on the other hand, took no heed and brought both hands out this time, taking hold of the chubby little ones waiting for him, "Are ya ready?"

Igniting the flames once more, Haru watched the blazing magic slowly seep onto his fingers, a gentle warmth tingling his flesh, enough to make him flinch as it encased each tiny fist. After a few unsure moments, and the opening and closing of his palms, his blue eyes lit up with a wonderment only children seemed to possess, his very soul shining just as brightly as the flames he'd been gifted.

"Daddy! Daddy, fire!"

Natsu chuckled, as he leant back on the bed, using his now fireless hands to prop himself up, "Haha! I knew you had it in ya! Now you get to be just like a real fire dragon, and as long as you play with it on me, you can't burn anything, either." It was fool proof, he was certain of that. And with the look of sheer astonishment on that cute little face in front of him, Natsu could hardly contain himself.

"Yeah, right! Like you're one to talk…You're the first person to destroy things. It's why we never have any money." It was true and Natsu knew it, but that didn't stop the unimpressed glare he sent Happy's way.

"Why else do you think I put him in my lap?" The slayer tilted his head, his annoyance short lived, "He can't burn me so it's fine, and he's not really wielding fire, it's just pretend." He added, his infamous grin returning, and attention now fully diverted from the child he was supposed to be watching, "They'll go out before long."

"Sure, but, uh… I think Haru may have different ideas…" The exceed said, quietly gesturing to the boy in his lap.

"Huh? How so?" The fire mage asked, but by the time he'd turned around to see, it was already too late, "Haru!"

With one touch from the child's fingers, the fire caught on to the covers they were sitting on and spread like a fuse to a bomb.

"Get out of the way!" It lit up the entire bed in a flash, giving Natsu only seconds to get Haru off of it in time before they both landed in heaps on the floor.

It'd gone up so quickly; such was the destructive nature of those flames, and now his and Lucy's bed, the very bed they slept in every night, was a pile of smoking ash on the floor, the fire extinguished along with it.

Silence. All that could be heard was the silence…

"I… I-I'm dead… I'm so dead…" The dragon slayer's voice was barely a whisper, and his horrified expression said it all. The crushing weight of impending doom loomed over him and no amount of blinking was going to bring back their disintegrated bed, no matter how hard he tried.

What was he going to do? He'd been in control of the situation; he had a plan and it was fool proof. Not a few seconds he'd peeled his sights away from the child—just a few damn seconds and now...

And what about Lucy? She'd be furious, no… outraged by it all! He'd be seeing her in less than thirty minutes from now; how could he look her in the eyes, say their vows, then tell her she'd be sleeping on the couch?! That was a conversation that ended badly no matter what way he looked at it.

"You were saying?" Happy teased, covering his mouth with his paw, the rare look of mortification on his friend's face was priceless.

"Lucy's going to kill me!" His gaping sockets could barely keep his eyeballs from falling out, and his mouth hung low enough he could almost lick the ash off the ground.

"Daddy fire! Daddy fire!" Haru cheered, clapping his hands together while laughing, unaware of the chaos he'd unleashed, seemingly impressed with himself.

"Y-Yeah..." The young man slumped back against the dressing table, the feeling of dread taking over him the more he played out in his mind how he was going to tell his new, and very pregnant wife of the unfortunate news, giving him zero hope for survival, "You're gonna be the end of me, kid!"

"Like father, like son!" It was all too funny for the little exceed, who was attempting, but failing, to stop the flow of cackles escaping his mouth.

"Hey! Stop laughing would ya! It's not funny!" Natsu snapped, the sound of Happy busting his guts slowly grinding away at him.

"But it is! You should've seen your face! Shame Reedus wasn't here to draw the picture!" Happy continued to shriek with laughter, infecting little Haru as well.

"Not you, too!" Natsu complained, but his voice held no real consequence. After all, it was his idea to let the one year old play with fire, and it would be his sorry ass to own up and take responsibility.

"What the hell is going on in here?!" Startled by the unexpected but familiar voice, the trio of boys twisted their heads to see an out of breath Gray standing in the bedroom doorway.

"Oh, it's you… Don't you know how to knock?" Natsu dead-panned, apparently more annoyed by Gray's intrusion than the burnt bed.

"Never mind about that, I ran all the way here 'cause your house is smoking! What did you do this time, fire breath?" Glad to see everyone was fine, the ice mage sighed in relief that it appeared to be nothing serious.

"Hey! Why do people always assume it's me? Maybe it was Happy?"

"But it was you, Natsu."

"Shh! I'm trying to make a point here!"

"It was obviously you, idiot! You're the only pyro here!" Gray shook his head, hardly believing that this was the guy about to get married. "Anyway, we need to get going, or Erza will have our heads."

"But… but what about the bed?" Natsu whimpered like a child, pointing to where it once stood.

"Wait… You burnt down your own bed?! What is wrong with you, Dragneel?! Of all the days to be a bigger idiot than normal, you pick today?" Gray smacked his palm over his face exasperatedly. He hadn't even noticed that it was the bed that'd been burnt, but now it was clear to see where all the smoke was coming from.

"Come on, numbskull! We don't have time for this!" Grabbing hold of the still-in-shock Natsu by the collar, he used his ice magic to freeze all of the ash lain bare on the floor, effectively halting the smoke and yanked his rival out of the house, determined to get to the cathedral on time, "We'll deal with your stupidity later, but right now, you gotta get married and I'm prepared to drag you all the way there if I have to."

Lucy could feel the blood pulsing in her ears, her hand clutched at her belly as the sickness she'd been suppressing all morning finally reared its ugly head. She felt sticky and clammy from the extra adrenaline coursing its way through her body—and was now an appropriate time to say she needed to pee… again!?

"Take a deep breath and try to relax yourself." She heard Anna whisper into her ear as they both stared at the large cathedral doors. "When you walk down that aisle, remember its only you and Natsu that matters, no one else, okay?"

Giving a shy nod, she inhaled deeply, as if that was going to be her last breath and tried to calm herself down.

"Are you ready?"

Bowing her head once more, Lucy could hear the guests grow silent behind the large doors, the loud creaking signifying they were opening. Planting one heeled foot over the threshold, the blonde looked up to everyone that was waiting for her entrance, and it was in that moment time seemed to stand still.

Among the gasps and gleaming faces; the decorated pews and hard stone floor; hazy, chocolate eyes scoured the ancient hall. There they all were; her friends; her family; every single person that held such importance in her heart. It made her happy, ecstatic even, that this joyous day could be celebrated with the people closest to her, the people that'd accepted her for who she was and nurtured her into the person she was today.

She hadn't even realised she'd stopped breathing until her lungs began to ache, forcing her to inhale a large breath of air as her legs began to slowly, and shakily, walk forwards.

Her dress glimmered in the dim light of the medieval building, capturing the eyes of the crowd, lighting up the very aisle as the long train behind her rippled with each step she took towards the altar.

But nobody, not even the keenest of dragon senses could see the pure beauty the way he did. With heat pooling in his belly, he watched the girl he loved make her way towards him, dazzling as brightly as the stars she wielded. His mouth ran dry, and his heart skipped many beats, making him question whether it was just his imagination. She appeared before him within a blink of an eye, and it was all to easy to just wash the others away.

"She's all yours, Natsu." Anna said, releasing her arm from Lucy's firm hold and winked at them both, gladly stepping back to let them take centre stage.

But neither mage heard her as their eyes connected for the first time, too enraptured by what stood before them, too absorbed in their own little world, and nothing could penetrate it.

"You… You look beautiful, Lucy." Natsu wasn't easy to fluster, but the pink tinge on his cheeks told her she'd succeeded. "Really… really beautiful…"

Her own bashfulness became evident too, her eyes soaking in his glorious form as if she'd been starved of him, "You're looking pretty good yourself, Natsu." She studied him up and down, her gaze becoming hungry for more. It wasn't very often she got to see his exceptionally toned body in something so formal, and she was totally going to make the most of it.

"T-Thanks..."

The playful wink and cute chuckle only served to make the pink on his cheeks grow darker, as if this was the first time she'd ever paid him a compliment.

‘Wasn't Lucy the one that usually reacted like this?’ He wondered, unsure why his face was suddenly feeling so hot.

“Although, I have to say, it’s still a little strange seeing you without your scarf on.” She admitted, unable to take her eyes away from his slender neck. Usually it didn’t come off until he was ready for bed… or other, less innocent things.

"You can thank Erza for that! She stole it from me and made me wear a damn tie instead." His petulant tone had the blonde sniggering into her hand, his instant annoyance enough to quash any tension left between them, "She even made Haru wear one."

Lucy glanced over to where Haru was sat in the crowd, who, although dressed in something entirely impractical for a toddler, was happily waving to his mother with the biggest grin on his face, "Poor guy…" She said, waving back, "He does look super cute in it though."

A loud cough from the front halted them in their tracks, finally breaking them out of their little bubble, "When you're quite finished." A loud voice echoed through the cathedral walls, making both mages stand to attention and face the front like naughty school children.

An older gentleman with a bald head and long beard stood before them, his bushy brows making it hard to see where his wrinkles stopped and his eyes began glared impatiently at the pair, tapping his fingers on the book he held in his hands, "Now, let's begin."

With an exaggerated sigh, his voice traipsed along the pages of his book, an aged tone that said he'd spoken these words all too many times before, had read those same lines, and joined countless lovers together in matrimony over the years. He was practised and poised, an elegant and poetic speaker, able to captivate his audience…

Unless they were Fairy Tail, of course, and more specifically a pink haired, impulsive dragon slayer, who's attention span rivalled that of a five year old. He'd zoned out the moment the old guy had started rambling, too interested in getting to the good bit—eating food and kissing Lucy, obviously.

It all sounded like drivel, mindless, unnecessary drivel, that seemed never ending, and the hall was so deafeningly quiet, which, was unnerving to say the least when trying to distract oneself.

Well, except for one faint noise, that was.

Thanks to his excellent hearing, he could hear little Haru babbling from the pews. He was being ever so quiet about it considering his lack of awareness for what was going on, and the sudden urge to turn around and take a peek at what he was doing seemed almost too much for the fire mage.

With the slightest quirk of his head, he glanced back to see the small boy playing with Happy's tail, minding his own business, perfectly content without him or Lucy there.

Satisfied to see the infant playing so calmly, Natsu went to turn back around again when a loud 'Daddy!' stopped him in his tracks. The small boy, who'd not been aware of his father's peeping only a moment ago, was now trying to scramble over the blue exceed to get to him.

"No Haru, you gotta stay there. Stay with Happy!" The desperate fire mage whispered, pointing to the cat as a sheepish grin took over at the chaos he'd caused. "Daddy will be over in a minute, kay?"

"You're making it worse, Natsu, turn around!" Lucy whispered rather loudly, never looking away from the old man still talking as she leaned in.

"Sorry Luce, but I could hear Haru talking to himself. I just wanted to see what he was doing." Natsu explained, rubbing the back of his head in habit, "Not my fault he caught me looking."

"You looked at him first, of course he was going to notice you." She said a little louder, enough that the people sat closest to them could hear.

And that was all he needed for the small smirk to creep its way onto his lips, "Oh, so you were watching, too?"

"N-No…" She stuttered, giving herself away, "I wasn't…"

"Liar."

"Okay, fine. But why do I have to listen to this and you don't? I'm just as bored as you are." She admitted, her whispers getting louder the more irate she became, "Do you know how many times I've had to keep myself from yawning? And I really need to pee, too!"

As important as she knew this part of the ceremony was, it didn't half drag. Couldn't they just say 'I do' and be done with it already? Who cared about some God when her feet were starting to hurt!?

"Well, aren't you full of surprises… Maybe you should've gone before." He sniggered, knowing exactly how to push her buttons, relishing in the glare that had imminent death written all over it.

“It’s not like I’m carrying your baby or anything…” She huffed, crossing her arms.

"Alright, if your that desperate, I could always make him go faster." His face lit up with the most mischievous grin, igniting a small flame on his pointer finger.

"Natsu! You can’t do that! You’ll get us kicked out!” She rolled her eyes, though she appreciated the sentiment.

"Aw, come on! Not even a little singe?" He pointed his fiery finger towards the man in front of them, edging it slowly closer on purpose, "His brows need taking back a bit, don't you think?"

Lucy chortled at the thought, highly amused by the man's enormous brows being set on fire and couldn't stop the giggles that followed, her restraint finally caving, "Maybe just a little bit!"

"Will you two pay attention and turn to face each other." The old man grumbled, none the wiser to their little inside jokes. "Present the rings."

The blonde continued to chuckle as she turned to face her partner in crime, her steady heart picking up pace a little now that they were staring right at each other.

His unwavering smile and silly behaviour was something she had always admired. His ability to lighten any situation, regardless of how grim it may seem, instantly had her smiling along, too.

"Now, Natsu, please say your vows."

Inhaling a deep breath, the young mage knew he'd never been good with words. Lucy had always been the speaker, the writer, the one able to talk her way out of most situations, and although the vows he'd prepared were not long like sappy love letters or poetic or book worthy, they came from the heart and that's all he could offer her.

"Luce… I gotta admit, I never saw this coming." He chuckled, his hand tangled into the hair at the back of his head, "And I know for sure you didn't either, but that's okay because no matter what happens, we'll always be Natsu and Lucy, and we'll always be partners."

Without looking away, he held her shaky hand and slipped the precious ring onto her finger with ease, her delicate skin soft against his loving warmth.

"I've always known you were special to me, it just took a while to realise how much, I guess… And apparently adopting a kid with your best friend isn't normal, so…" He shrugged nonchalantly, never giving it much thought, but earned a giggle from Lucy in return. "But I knew you'd put your all into being the best Mom you could, just like in everything you do. You're a super kind person with so much love to give, it's why you're so precious to me, and I wanna protect that with everything I've got. So, that's my promise to you, Lucy, I will protect your heart, so long as it continues to beat."

She gasped, feeling the air leave her lungs as if she'd been winded. It was short and to the point but those sweet sounding words of his, the very meaning behind them were enough to make her knees tremble. She stared, mouth agape at the man that stood before her, blown away by his promise, astounded that he'd once again found the perfect things to say.

A few unplanned tears escaped as she looked over to the little boy in the pews, then peered down to her rounded tummy, feeling the butterflies and the baby's movements fluttering around inside. So much had changed, and this would be a whole new chapter to add to their never ending adventure, an overwhelming thought that seemed all too much for her to get to grips with.

Feeling a warm hand cup her cheek she looked up to the sweet smile of her lover, the person that meant everything to her, and felt this fingers wipe away her tears. He always had a way of filling her with encouragement, even, it seemed, with just a single gesture.

"Thank you, Natsu. Now Lucy, you may begin." The old guy uttered, his gruff voice quieter than before.

Placing her free hand over the top of his, she brought them both to rest on her belly, her smile reaching her eyes as the small kicks poked at their skin, making them both chuckle.

"Natsu, there are so many things I could say that I admire about you; I could also find an equal amount of things that annoy me, too." His sudden pout made her giggle once again, along with the rest of the guild members, "But that doesn't matter, because that's the person I fell in love with. You're loyal, brave and strong; your silly, impulsive and like to fool about, but you also bring smiles to everyone around you, an ability that only you seem to possess.

I can't remember how many times you've shown me the light, lifted me up in my time of need and carried me until I could stand on my own two feet. Your presence and comfort has always been my safe place, somewhere I can call home. You're such a beautiful person, and I'm so lucky to be able to call you mine."

Tears began to fill her eyes again, and she was sure his had become a little watery too.

"So, in return for all that you do for me, and us as a family, I promise to play with your hair when your motion sick and rub your back when you eat too much." Natsu's cheeks lifted up to his eyes, scrunching them closed in amusement as she, too, grinned back at him.

"I promise to love you with all of my heart, to lift you up in your time of need and put a smile on your face when your feeling down. I promise to be loyal, brave, and strong for you, too; to fool about and make you laugh, and to always be there to stop you from going overboard.

I'll forever stand proudly at your side, and hold your hand through whatever life throws at us. You've shaped me into the person I am today, and if it weren't for you, I wouldn't have this wonderful life, such amazing friends, or a family to call my own." The tears that welled began to spill down her pink stained cheeks, but the smile that had been there all along never wavered from her lips, "You're my everything, Natsu, and you will be until the day I die."

A single tear drop slowly trickled down and dripped off of his chin as his breath hitched in his throat. As time once again stood still, it felt like he and Lucy were the only ones present; no longer able to see the guild watching their every move, or hear the grumpy old man scold them for not paying attention. Lucy was his sole focus and without waiting for the final lines to be read, the young groom impatiently pulled her in, and welded their lips together in a display of affection that had the crowd wooing and whistling for them in celebration.

"Congratulations to the happy couple!" Mira mewled, throwing confetti and flower petals over the two still very much consumed by one another.

"Can you believe it? After all these years, they're finally married!" Levy squealed in her excitement, deafening poor Gajeel in the process.

"Who'd have thought our boy, Natsu, would've ever settled down?" Wakaba stood from his seat, cigarette at the ready.

"Yep! It seems like only yesterday he was pulling pranks and starting fights with the other youngsters." Macao smirked, his arms crossed cockily over his chest.

"That's because it was yesterday, Dad! Natsu hasn't changed that much…" Romeo shook his head at the two old farts, but smiled when he looked back to his idol, "Then again, he does have a family now. I guess getting married just kinda made sense."

"Nothing they do makes sense, kid. You only have to look at 'em to see that." Laxus spoke from the pew behind, his thunder legion companions sat right along with him.

"Yes, but they have made their pairing work. As a team, they're like clockwork and as a couple, they're impenetrable." Erza's smile brightened her face as she glanced on at the two newly weds, proud of her friends and of how far they'd come.

"Alright guys, let's move this to the guild! I wanna get my booze on and the bar is waiting!" Cana yelled, drink bottle already in hand as she, along with most of the others filtered out of the cathedral, not wanting to spoil the couples moment.

Natsu and Lucy, however, were in a bubble all of their own; where soft, tinted lips met hot, firm ones in a passionate battle that neither wanted to lose. But the need for air was far stronger, forcing them to separate and stare into each others eyes as they caught their breaths.

"You know, you're supposed to wait for me to pronounce you husband and wife before embracing like that." The bushy browed man said from behind the altar, glowering at the couple he had no hope of controlling.

"Oh… uh, sorry about that… Kinda got swept up in the moment." Natsu grinned sheepishly, chuckling to ease the tension, while Lucy just hid herself behind him.

"Hmm… Well it doesn't matter now. What does is that you are legally bound. Good luck to you both."

"Thanks!"

They watched the man take his leave, only then noticing that the hall was empty, "Huh… Where'd everybody go?" The fire mage was sure the hall had been filled just a moment ago.

"So you guys finally came up for air, huh?" Gray walked over, he and Juvia, along with Happy and Haru the only ones left. "Everyone's gone back to the guild to wait instead of watch you both suck face. Seriously, how long can you hold your breath for?"

An oblivious Natsu only shrugged, but a blushing Lucy was quick to hide her face from Gray's knowing smirk, turning the opposite way to where Juvia was standing with the little baby in her arms, and the blonde's face lit up instantly, "Oh, look at him! Isn't he just the sweetest? And he didn't cry once throughout the whole thing! What a little sweetheart!"

"Yes, Juvia is quite surprised herself that he stayed quiet. Juvia can't say he does the same at night though." The water mage chuckled through her tiredness, a look Lucy was all too familiar with, "But Juvia doesn't mind, not when Gray is so willing to get up with him."

"Aww, Daddy Gray to the rescue, huh? And here I thought you were worried about the whole thing. Looks like you're doing just fine to me!" Lucy said, turning her attention to the ice mage standing there.

"Worried? Who said I was-?" And then it clicked, "Natsu! You told Lucy what I said? That was just between us!" Gray turned to the fire mage, who, had since recovered his own son from the pews, walking him back to where they were all standing.

"Yeah, I know. That's why I only told Lucy, duh!"

"Don't 'duh' me, you weren't supposed to tell anybody, and that includes Lucy!" If he could've smacked his head on a wall, he would've… Or better yet, smack Natsu's!

"But I tell Lucy everything…"

"Oh, you do, do you? That's funny, because I'm certain there's something you haven't told her yet, right?" The look of fear that flashed across Natsu's face was enough to make the ice mage drop his annoyance in favour of revenge.

"Not told me what? Did something happen?" Lucy cocked her head as she looked up from the cooing baby, her sights flickering between the squabbling duo scowling at each other.

"Should I tell her, Natsu?" Gray's smirk was almost sickening, his own pleasure outweighing the consequences.

"Don't you dare, Popsicle!" The fire mage bit out through gritted teeth, "Or I'll rearrange your face with my fist!" If looks could kill…

"Is anyone going to tell me what's going on?" The curious look on Lucy's face quickly turned to frustration the longer she was kept waiting, "Natsu?" Slowly she traipsed her way over, backing him against the rows of benches.

"Uh oh! Looks like hell is about to break loose..." Happy sniggered from his perch on the altar, high fiving Haru as he began to giggle, too.

"Oh dear… You may have started something there, Gray dear." Juvia said, passing the sleepy newborn over to his father.

"Nah! Natsu had this one coming." He sniggered, shushing the baby back to sleep.

A vein popping on her forehead, Lucy's irritation had just about reached breaking point, "Speak!"

Swallowing thickly, the young man looked up to his very new, very pregnant wife, just like he knew he'd have to and wished momentarily that the ground would swallow him whole, "Well… Uh… I-It's kind of… Um…" What was he supposed to say? "I-I was playing with Haru this morning and, u-uh, stuff happened and our bed is now… gone."

Raising a brow, the girl looked even more confused, "Gone? What do you mean, it's gone?"

"Gone… As in it was there… and now its not." He really wasn't doing himself any favours.

"Natsu..."

"Happy did it!" He panicked.

"Hey! No I didn't, you burnt it! You let Haru play with your fire, not me! I warned you it would end badly, but you wouldn't listen and now-"

"You did what?!" Her eyes were blood red as she glared at the suspecting dragon slayer, her hair reminiscent of a certain Satan soul mage. “You burnt down our bed?!”

It was in times like this he was glad that she couldn't out run him, especially not at the moment, as he pegged it for the exit.

"Natsu Dragneel! Just you wait 'til I get my hands on you!"

Her yelling from behind reminded him of all the times he'd found himself in this exact predicament, whether it be from destroying a building or their bed, it brought a smile to his lips at just how familiar it all felt. It seemed as their evolving relationship and family changed and grew, his vows rang true, they would always be Natsu and Lucy, and that would forever be the same.

With one solid push of the large cathedral doors, he opened them wide, allowing the natural afternoon light seep into the old walls. Readjusting the boy in his arms, and with Happy flying over head, he chanced a small glance back at his livid wife stalking her way over to him, and grinned mischievously, sealing his already doomed fate with his final words, "Come on then, Luce! But you'll have to catch me first!"

Thanks for reading! 

[darkdevasofdestruction]

When You Become A Fallen

(( This premise is about reader being one of the Seraphim, and she was/fell in love with one of the brothers, which made God shun her from the Celestial Realm, and thus, how each of the brothers helps her through her transformations to a Demon and her new lifestyle. ))

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LUCIFER

Quite frankly, he took it the hardest, as he too was a Seraph back in the days, God’s most beloved angel, and the descend changed him a lot, even if he doesn’t want to admit.

When he saw your broken form on the ground, he cradled your body close to his chest, feeling fear and panic just as when Lilith almost died, so he went to plead to Diavolo to allow you permanent stay in the Devildom as well, saying that he’ll do anything for this favour, just like before.

Centuries passed since he descended, and while he still has nightmares of what happened, the pain and transformation were something that he forced himself to forget, at least for his own pride and ego, but seeing you in such excruciating pain was an even worse torture than before.

He knew there was little he or anyone else could do regarding all this, but he will be there by your side for the whole duration of it, no matter how long it took, be it days, weeks or months, he wouldn’t be pried away from you.

For the most of the day, Lucifer had you sit on his lap, both of you wearing light sleeping wear, so you could feel each other’s body heat, thinking it would help ease the pain, even by a little.

However, as soon as your 3 pairs of majestic, pure white wings started blankening, while one of the pairs also started burning, feather by feather, you became unreasonable, as you couldn’t even think or speak properly because of the agony surging through your every artery, vein, capillary and nerve in your body.

You were desperately clinging to him, scratching his back and arms, screeching for forgiveness, begging him to kill you already and end this pain, questioning what you did wrong, except have pure and unwavering  feelings of love for someone, and all Lucifer could do was hold you tightly, a had on the back of your head, putting your face on the crook of his neck, while the other was on your back, putting you glued to his chest, trying to keep you still and potentially causing yourself more damage.

“WHY, GOD, WHY?! WHAT HAVE I DONE SO WRONG TO FALL OUT OF YOUR GRACES?! IS IT REALLY FORBIDDEN TO FOLLOW YOUR HEART AND FEELINGS?! CURSE YOU! CURSE THE CELESTIAL REALM! CURSE ALL YOUR FUCKING ANGELS! YOU ARE A MONSTERS!” you kept crying out, cursing the skies, and Lucifer, in his head and heart, was yelling the same thing as you were.

His own heart was crying out in despair seeing his beloved like that, and for the first time since Lilith, he shed tears of pure sorrow, cursing God, the Celeastial Realm and all the angels there, and more, cursing himself for allowing both of them to become lovers back when they were angels, because his act of rebelling against God only brought you intense suffering.

There is nothing Lucifer wouldn’t do for you, no matter how impossible it seemed, but you are the only person he ever had such a connection with, so he treasures you as much as his own brothers.

He knows how difficult it was for him to completely accept he was a Demon and blend in to this new place, but he will be there for you to guide and teach you with every step you took, always holding you hand, always giving you genuine and tender smiles to help you feel more at ease, and of course, he will make sure you room with him so you won’t ever be alone and afraid again.

---

MAMMON

He freaks out so bad at first, questioning you out loud a thousand questions, while fidgeting from leg to leg and looking around for help.

Why were you here? Why were you injured? What happened? Are you alright?

Of course you weren’t alright, damn it! Stupid Mammon! Do something!

He picked you up and brought you to Lucifer, crying desperately and asking what the hell he was supposed to do, because he had no idea what the hell happened and why you were the way you are, and for the first time in ages, Lucifer didn’t yell at him, nor did he insult him - He actually helped him as much as he could, because he knew what was going on, and his heart broke at seeing his beloved little brother crying like that.

In his room, you wouldn’t stop crying and holding your head - You had migraines, your scalp was burning, your whole skin felt ablaze, you felt akin to a witch being burnt alive, and poor Mammon was crying along with you, not knowing if he should touch you, in fear of hurting you more, or holding you tightly and letting you cry away everything that hurt.

Mammon tried to kiss your tears away, put on music to help you keep your mind away from the pain, tried to tell you silly stories from his failed plans, or from his brothers to make you laugh, but in the end, nothing really helped, and he felt that the sky fell on him.

That is, until he turned away from you, gripping his hair in despair as he was running out of ideas to help you and his heart was being ripped apart more and more...But you gripped on his jacket and pulled him in a tight embrace from the back, resting your forehead on the blades of his shoulders, making him stop dead in his track, stiff as a board.

“Mammon, it hurts...Mammon, don’t leave me, please...Please keep on staying me me. Don’t leave me again. I missed you so much...So much that I didn’t even realise that the whole Celestial Realm knew I was in love with you ever since you were an angel...Everyone knew, except for me...But I missed you so much...And they said it’s forbidden. But I can’t live without you.” you sobbed, your fingers and nails digging into his chest as you confessed your sin and the reason you got in this position, which frankly, it made Mammon feel both guilty and even more head over heels with you.

Honestly, nobody ever expressed their feelings to him the way you did, unless it was Stupid Mammon left and right...But you...You were being so genuine and pure...You were real...You loved him...And now there was no barrier between you two...

He cursed himself for being happy with what happened, despite your agony, but he was a greedy man, and he craved your affection more than flowers need the Sun, so he continued to try to put a smile on your face and make the transformation easier to bear with.

Realising that your horns were beginning to grow, he transformed into his demon self and taking your hands in his gingerly, he put them over his own horns, reassuring you that everything will be okay, that they will grow pretty fast and all the agony will go away soon.

When the transformation was done, he was extremely overprotective of you becoming a student at RAD, dragging you with him everywhere, but he tried to be more responsible this time, as he had to take care of you and he couldn’t risk some angry witches or other demons attacking you to get to him.

--- LEVIATHAN

Kinda like Mammon, he was panicked beyond belief, not understanding how the hell did you get yourself in that position, but instead of freaking out, he kinda looked at you, stunned, unmoving, until he finally managed to snap out of it and carried you to his room, while calling Lucifer and telling him the gist of it.

Levi knew that his room was incredibly aesthetic and relaxing, having an aquatic theme, so hopefully, it will help you bear with the transformation and adaptation to this new life-style easier, and hopefully, not have any problems with blending in, especially since he will be there for you at every step you took.

And if that wasn’t enough, since Levi barely leaves the room, he would shelter you like a mother would her little baby, coddling you, wrapping his tail around you protectively, helping you take slightly cold baths to get rid of the burning and itching sensation of your horns and wings transforming, and showing you Henry 2.0 and promising you that he will be your best friend too.

However, the transformation for you wasn’t as bad as the spiraling and paranoia that seemed to completely engulf you, which made you quite hysterical for a while, and no amount of video games and anime could prepare Levi for this mess.

“Levi, what if they come after me? What if they aren’t happy with me being alive? What if they take me back and try to torture me to death? I don’t want back there again...Levi, I’m afraid, please protect me.” you clutched his blouse while sobbing in his shoulder, and all he could do was hold you tightly and promise you that everything will be okay and he would let nobody touch you again.

He would then start telling you about TSL and how The Lord of Shadows will always be there to protect his Henry, which is when you asked him if he would be your Lord of Shadows, and his face started blushing like crazy, and he vowed to himself that you, his most precious person, will never ever have to feel any kind of pain ever again, and he will be there for you no matter what.

Levi understands what’s like being afraid, nervous, anxious, which is something he often feels himself, and thus, the reason for preferring to take online classes rather than going physically to a classroom, which is something that he will ask for for you too, and thankfully, Lucifer approves of it, understanding the situation.

His hectic sleeping schedule is always messed up by his love for binge-watching and binge-playing, something you often partake into as a way to keep the intrusive thoughts away from your head, and it is rather effective.

However, on the occasions that you’re having a mental breakdown and start spiraling once again, no matter what hour of the day or night it is, Levi will be there to tell you how he loves you, how you’re safe with him, that nobody would ever dare cross Diavolo’s rules on his own domain, and that those angels up there were shitheads for prosecuting you for something as pure as loving someone.

--- SATAN

Out of all the demon brothers, he is obviously the only one who didn’t have to go through the whole metamorphosis ritual, because he never was an angel to begin with.

He knows, however, the excruciating pain that you’re going through, as him and Lucifer share some of the more powerful emotions and memories he used to have, and so, he has an idea, backing up all the stories he heard from 3rd parties, from his brothers and from books.

Satan will make all of his brothers send him thorough voice messages to explain what they went through and how he could help you, and thus, he would be pampering and taking care of you every second, without a second thought.

He couldn’t believe that you truly fell for him after just one year of spending time together, during the exchange-student program, when you came to Devildom...I mean, he was a demon, and while yes, he too fell for you, he was in shock hearing that such a pure and perfect being such as yourself would ever harbour such feelings for him, a demon, and the Avatar of Wrath nonetheless...

“Satan...Why...Why is it such a sin to fall in love? What have I done so cruel...So unforgivable...That I deserve to go through all this pain...All this agony...All I wanted was to be happy...Is that so selfish of me to ask? Am I not allowed to live the rest of my life with someone that I genuinely cherish so much...?” she cried with so much self-hatred that it made Satan want to burn the whole Celestial Realm and torture and rip apart every feather, every limb of those stupid angels and flay them alive, letting the lesser demons eat them.

The pain you’re being subjected to is exhausting you so much, but if you stand still, it feels like it’s hurting tenfold, so you try to keep yourself moving around the room, until you collapse from over-exerting your already frail body.

Satan would only look at you in pity, as he tried to hide the burning rage he harboured in his heart, along with all the death-threats he wanted to throw away at God and all the stupid angels who dared do this to you, so he picks you up gently, putting you on his bed, puts a light blanket over you and goes to prepare a cup of calming tea that has somnolent effects, hoping that it would help you heal faster and regain some of your strength through resting.

He would hold you close to his chest, kissing your forehead, stroking your hair, trying to keep you drowsy and calm, while also reading you one very interesting book, Harrison Porter, as it had lots of magic spells and he could show you the spells, to fascinate you, and try to keep your thoughts away from the pain.

Of course, he would be researching all remedies, spells and treatments to help ease the pain, so he would be rubbing creams with and lotions on your back and on your wings, to calm down the pain, would put spells on you to give you sweet dreams every night, and would always hold you tightly and promise you that nobody would ever come with any ill-intent towards you, and that he would kill anyone who dares even look at you the wrong way.

Since he has always been a demon, he is very popular and sociable, so blending in would be much easier with him by your side, as he would take you as his date everywhere - Be it a sports game, a theater play, an opera play, a ballet, a social gathering, a ballroom dance, a drive-outside cinema, or colour festival, a concert...Or literally anything.

---

ASMODEUS

No matter how dramatic and extra Asmo loves to be, this was no joking matter, and the person he knew he could always rely on, and that was his eldest brother, Lucifer, the only being that he ever looked up to, that he ever admired - Lucifer, the one who used to be a Seraph, just like you.

He wanted to understand what Lucifer went through, because sure, Asmo knew the physical transformations his brother went through, but he couldn’t know of the emotional trauma, or how different it was for him, as he was, after all, the highest-ranking angel in the Celestial Realm.

He then correlated with how disgusted he remembered both himself and Lucifer felt when looking into the mirror and realising they weren’t the divine beings from before, but a wretched abomination, and how long it took them to come to terms with the idea, and finally try to find the specks of beauty that others saw in them, despite the changes.

It was true, you went through a lot of pain, exhaustion, mental breakdowns, trauma, all because of how agonising the transformation was, and Asmo was there for you to brighten up and ease you through everything, not wanting you to be alone, like they were, so seeing his gorgeous and loving smile always seemed to make the corners of your mouth tilt upwards, even by a little bit.

Asmo would cuddle you and pamper you with an infinite amount of kisses, and of course, would give you frequent back rubs, wing massages, scalp massages, knowing that those were the most painful and affected areas, and thankfully enough, all the beauty products he used on you were cool and had calming and painkilling effects, so at least was better for you.

When it was all over, however, the horror didn’t end, as you saw yourself in the mirror and fell to your knees shrieking at your new appearance...That wasn’t you...It couldn’t be you...This...This abomination...This tainted thing...

Your desperation and self-hatred were so through the roof that you punched the mirror and clutched the shards in your hands, not even feeling any pain, because everything was ablaze anyway, and not even your tears could pull out the fire inside you.

Asmo was devastated seeing you like this, it made him want to sob, to pull you to his chest and cry out, telling him how he hates seeing you like this, that you remind him of himself, that deep inside him, despite all the narcissism he puts on display, he is also still a bit insecure and wishes he had the same appearance as before...But what hurt him the most was seeing you hating yourself so much, and having ended up like him, just because your heart chose the wrong person to have such intense feelings for.

“This is not me...This can’t be me...Asmodeus, what the hell is wrong with your mirror, it’s broken...It’s cursed...This isn’t me, this isn’t how I look...It can’t be...My wings...My feathers...They are all black...And these horns...And this gem...And the markings...This new outfit...What is this...Why...Why me...Why...?! Why am I being cursed for being in love?! Is this how ugly, tainted and abominable my soul is?! Is that why I look like this?! Is that WHY I became this?!” you tore away at your hair, as Asmo could only fix the mirror quickly, to avoid you getting more injured, and cradled your smaller form to his chest, whispering reassuring words and compliments.

He would do all his beauty routines with you, would compliment you endlessly, would make you try out a thousand and more outfits that he bought for you, showing you off, taking pics of you and boasting with you on DevilGram, since you’re the most gorgeous babe alive and he’s lucky to have you in his life, and now, you and him are the most beautiful couple ever to exist, without a doubt.

He would never tell you all the emotional trauma and self-hatred he went through, because as long as he could make you smile and help teach you how to love yourself again, and see the beauty in your new appearance, Asmodeus was happy and didn’t need anything else.

--- BEELZEBUB

For poor Beel, this was the whole Lilith problem all over again, blaming and hating himself for letting her die (sort of), and now, here you were, a Fallen, broken, lost, depressed, all because you loved him, and he loved you, but he rebelled and now you were caught in the crossfire.

No matter how kind and sweet he is, this is the second time the Celestial Realm crushed his heart and stomped on his feelings, hurting the people he loves most, and this was too much...He would never be able to forgive them, no matter what...And especially not his Father for being so cruel with the angels that loved him so much and were beyond devout to him.

For him, the changes weren’t as painful, and that may be because of his built, and how he finds it easier to deal with physical pain, rather than the emotional one, as he feels like he’s getting blow after blow in that aspect, but he must be strong, for you, for Belphie, for Lilith and for his brothers too.

Beel knows he’s very physically strong, even by demon standards, so he will be a bit afraid at the beginning to touch you, fearing that he will make you hurt more than you already do, but as soon as you nestle yourself in his embrace, he can’t help himself and he puts his arms around you, making you feel safer, protected, and you can deal the agony better, even by a bit.

If he could, he would take away all the pain that you’re feeling, he would go through all that agony a thousands times, just so he could spare you all this pain, he would volunteer to get his wings burnt, grow a new set of horns, would even let himself go through all the paranoia, the nightmares, the burning feeling of your skin...Even the incapacity to eat demon food...Only to spare you of all that horror...

But that wasn’t possible, unfortunately, so all he could do was stay by your side through all of it and try to make it more bearable, because, after all, he still had Belphie, so he wasn’t alone, and neither will you be.

He completely forgot how, at the beginning, for quite a long time, his body refused to digest demon food, so he would get sick and vomit every time he would try to eat something, but was quickly reminded when you made a sprint to the bathroom and he could only hold your hair as you puked your guts out, crying at the pain.

“Why do I have to go through this...God...Why...The wings...The horns...And now, I can’t even eat? Am I supposed to just starve to death...? Is that what you want, Father? Is this the Divine Punishment I get for wanting my loved ones to be safe? That I wanted to see you and tell you how much I care for you, because I never got the chance when you were still an angel? Is that how angels should really be? Hateful of others? Then I’m glad I don’t have to associate myself with such cruel creatures like you, Father!” you growled in anger, frustration, pain, hatred and agony, letting out all your feelings that have been bottled up for so many centuries, but at least now, Beel was there to hold you tight and tell you that everything will be okay, and you still have him.

He would completely stop eating around you, because despite being the Avatar of Gluttony, he couldn’t possibly tempt you with food and make you feel worse, so every so often, he would bring you some light human food, like crackers, water, milk, some vegetables, toast, to help you get some nutrients for your body, so you won’t collapse, at least, even though it was obvious you were becoming paler and skinnier, which worried Beel a lot.

Even so, Beel was always by your side, carrying you if you felt weak at some moment, helping you eat bit by beat, making sure you get a healthy portions, and just the right foods, integrating some little bits of demon food, and before you knew it, you were completely able to have a proper demon meal, and were getting better.

From then on, you will always sleep in his bed, either cuddling or holding hands, because both of you are afraid of losing the other, of having through go through all that torture again, but at least the day was much brighter and you could inally go out together and live your life as a normal student in Devildom would.

--- BELPHEGOR

The Avatar of Sloth has so much pent up rage and hatred, that he may need to take over the title of Avatar of Wrath before long.

First, hating the whole human world, because of Lilith’s death, hating demons because of the misunderstanding with Diavolo and Lucifer, and now, wanting to burn and torture to death the whole Celestial Realm for shunning you like that, letting you to rot, broken, on the ground, as if you were worth less than a vermin.

It took every ounce of self-control Belphegor had to stop himself from unleashing his hatred on the world, and get you to his room to tend to you, hoping and doing his best to make sure you are alright.

He is going to force Beel to keep him awake, because, due to his Avatar Sin, he is prone to falling asleep quite easily, which would only be counter-productive and he wouldn’t be able to sooth your pain and fears this way, so he’s going to sacrifice days and nights of sleep just to make sure you’re not crying anymore.

No matter how harsh his speech is, it does a complete 180 when it comes to you, he will speak in the softest voice possible, would look at you with the most tender look on his face, would give you lost of reassuring gentle kisses, would stroke your hair soothingly, while also humming an old lullaby that Lilith used to sing to him, and would brush away the hair from your face, to see your gorgeous eyes sparkling.

He hates seeing you in so much pain, but every time he curses the angels in his head, he’s just going to hug you tighter, as a way to stop himself from crying at your misfortune, because you’re too pure and kind, you don’t deserve to go through all this pain, it’s just not fair...

What was worse is that, after all this physical mess ended, the emotional and mental one only began, as you weren’t able to get a wink of sleep, because of all the nightmares plaguing your mind all the time, waking you up, making you cry and scream, tremble in fear and anxiety, while all Belphie could do was to hug you tightly, turn on the light, and tell you the same generic reassuring words because...What else was there for him to even say anymore?!

“I’m scared, Belphie, I’m scared...I’m afraid that if I fall asleep, I’m just going to get more nightmares, and maybe I won’t even wake up after that. I’m afraid that if I wake up, you will be taken away from me...Or that they will drag me back to the Celestial Realm to torture me for treason...I’m afraid I’ll have to go through all that over and over and over again...Belphie, I’m exhausted, I’m losing my mind...I just want to have one fucking night of proper sleep...Just one...Is that too much to ask? Am I really that undeserving of feeling rested, just because I fell in love? Is that how things are for those perfect frauds up there?!” you sobbed, clinging on Belphie, as he could only curse them together with you, giving you approving words, and cuddling with you, you try to fall asleep on his cow-patterned pillow, lights still on, drinking a cup of hot milk with honey, thanks to Beel who went to prepare some for the both of you.

Even for him, who has been a demon for so long, nightmares never ended, but at least they weren’t as frequent as yours, so to help you out, even by a bit, he started looking around for remedies, spells, drinks, to get you into a deep sleep with no dreams, at least for now, to help you regain even a bit of your strength back and not be a zombie anymore.

Belphie would get incredibly passive-aggressive and protective of you, growling at anyone that may be considered a threat to you, that approaches you, and wouldn’t let you alone for even a second, in fear of somehow losing you - You’re either with him, or with one of his brothers, or in yours or his room, and frankly, you’re happy knowing that you can finally feel a sense of security after so long.

[kerie-prince]

We're Worlds Apart (2)

Draco Malfoy x American No-Maj!reader

series m.list | general m.list | previous chp

warnings: light cursing, mentions of death, angsty Draco

summary: Draco Malfoy is a pureblood wizard. Magic runs through his veins and has been since his birth. You're a Wiccan No-Maj; a non-magical being with ordinary blood through your veins, but practices what you call magick. And this very practice upsets your neighbor.

(gif not mine)

The surrounding neighbors have been very nice; one elderly couple walked up to Draco’s door with an apple pie, quite the American staple, and he seemed to appreciate it. They seemed normal and sweet. Much unlike the feeling he had for his neighbor. Y/N. He hasn't made any attempts in the month that he's lived in the small suburban neighborhood to see her. He avoided her like she was a deadly plague.

Albeit, it was probably harsh and extremely childish. The whole point of him becoming a new person was changing his views he had been taught in adolescence. Or else why did he help Harry Potter all those years ago when he swore he hated him?

It was currently around 3 in the morning, he was standing in his backyard and made sure no one would be awake as he sent his owl to send a letter to his best friend, Blaise. He was the only person who still contacted Draco on a regular basis besides the occasional letter from Theodore. Gregory cut all contact with Draco after the Battle, especially since Vincent had died that night in the fire in the Room of Requirement. Pansy was living her life somewhere, and although the Golden Trio had forgiven Draco for his actions, it didn't start any friendships. But Draco was fine; Blaise and Theo had been there for him in more ways he cares to admit.

He never mentioned a word about Y/N to Blaise until now when he asked what Draco’s American neighbors were like. Majority of the letter contained contents of how work has been, the differences in not only culture but also how things are called, and just his own well being. He did say something short for the elderly couple, but when it came to Y/N he had a lot to say.

These muggles are far different from the ones in England, Blaise. They know things about the magic world but input a fantasy in their heads. They believe they can actually practice witchcraft and wizardry, calling themselves “Wiccan” or whatever rubbish it is. Bloody hell, they even have films and tv programs of them. My neighbor is one of these and she does the most ludacris things in her house. Quite laughable, really. If Salazar was alive today to see this happening, I’d bet he’d curse the whole lot.

She had been lingering in his mind since that day of his discovery. It was annoying him. Every night, he would catch her in her room doing whatever the hell she was doing and he felt as if the universe was mocking him. This is what people think what you really are was the message he got from it all. Draco never thought something like this would make him feel like a freak. But he did. This act of hers was an indirect insult of what he was capable of. And she had no idea.

—

It was a fine autumn morning. The shop was closed today, so you had lots of time at home to catch up with cleaning. You stood over your bathroom sink brushing your teeth and saw from the reflection of your mirror your cat stretching herself before walking into the bathroom to rub herself on your legs. “Good morning, Aurora,” you cooed at her. She purred in response and ran off to her tower in the living room.

After getting changed into some comfortable clothes, you walked up to a closet in the hallway that had collections of crystals, oils, sage bundles and more. “Let’s see, where did I put the angelica root?” you asked out loud to yourself. Going through the shelves, you pulled some sea salt, ground lemon balm, ground angelica root, and a feather. You carried the items outside in a bowl to your backyard and set them at a small garden table. Walking over to your garden, you pulled some elderberry flowers and started your cleansing spell.

You sprinkled the salt onto a censor dish and placed a charcoal dish on it and lit it up. In the bowl you had used to carry the items out, you started mixing the herbs together as you waited for the charcoal to burn red. Once it did, you sprinkled the herbs on top, creating a cleansing incense. You picked it up from the bottom of the censor dish, picked up the feather and made your way steadily to your front door, lightly wafting smoke towards it. Reaching your front door, you drew a pentagram over it with the feather and smoke,

“Be gone negativity,

Here now blessed be.”

You repeat your incantations throughout the house until you have finished and walked back to your living room, drawing one last pentagram. You placed your feather and censor dish on the bare floor, stood up and tapped your foot three times,

“By my will, so shall it be.

Sealed now shall this cleansing be.”

You sat on your couch and turned on the television, waiting for the incense to burn out so you could scatter it around your backyard. After a couple of hours of watching a guilty pleasure of yours, you decided to get some actual cleaning done. First thing was to do some trimming and gardening outside, so you grabbed some gloves and headed out back to your yard.

Before grabbing your garden scissors, you looked up and saw something rather strange. There was an owl in your neighbors yard. In broad daylight. From the backyard, you heard a car pull in and peeked over the fence to see that it was your neighbor coming home. You ran to the front leaving a dirt trail in your house and ran out the front door.

He hadn’t walked in yet, so you started waving your arm, “Hello! I’m Y/N!”

He had just nodded his head and walked a straight line to his door. Not wanting to lose this chance of having a conversation with him, you yelled for him one more time, “There’s an owl in your yard!” His eyes widened and without a word, he ran into his house in a panic. From a distance, you heard him say 'shit' before closing the door.

Building up confidence, you walked up to his door and knocked a few times and patiently waited. You fixed your hair and stood surprised as he hastily opened the door. “H-hi! It’s so nice to meet you, I'm Y/N,” you stretched your hand out to shake his hand. He looked at it and had a displeased look, causing unease within you. Looking at your hand, you noticed you still had your gardening gloves on with dirt on it.

“Oops, sorry!” you chuckled as you took it off and reached out again.

Again, he just looked at you with a straight face for a couple of seconds before finally speaking, “Look, I’m really busy, so if you don't mind.” He shut the door without giving you any chance to say anything back. You stood there in shock, replaying his British voice in your head. And as you stood there, you wondered why it is that he doesn't want to talk to you. The Charles couple across from your house were able to introduce themselves, and even got a smile from him. But for some reason, you could never get the same treatment.

—

Ian had proposed to Draco a housewarming party during lunch. Of course Draco had never been to one, much less hosted one.

“It’s alright, boss. I can fix all the arrangements up. All you gotta do is relax,” Ashley proposed. To say that Draco is extremely happy is an understatement. He had friends that actually enjoyed his company and not his influence. Not that he had much of that anyway.

America was really working out for him; work was great, people were nice, and the area he lived in was peaceful. Yes, he didn't like his neighbor, but she wasn't ruining his life in this new country. He just didn't like what she did.

“Thank you, Ashley. And you know you can just call me ‘Draco’.”

“I know,” she replied. Ashley grabbed her Blackberry phone and started drafting up an email, asking for his address so she could let people know where it would be. “Is this Friday a good time?”

“Yes, that should be fine. I don't have any plans that day.”

“Great, it's sent out to everyone in our department. Now if you'll excuse me, I have an attending to watch over for a surgery. See you guys later!” Draco, Blaine and Ian waved at Ashley as she left.

Blaine left soon after, leaving Ian with Draco. “Alright man, how’s it going on your street? Are you finally settled in?”

“I finally got the last of my things delivered from London yesterday. I was a bit nervous though. That mugg— I mean No-Maj neighbor of mine saw my mum’s owl in my yard. Thankfully, she didn't ask any questions,” Draco said as he cleared his lunch tray.

“Wait, you still use an owl? Ha, I didn’t think people still did,” Ian chuckled. “Well, of course I do. Do you not?”

“No, most wizards here in the States just use the usual ground post that No-Maj’s use. Things are a bit more modern around here. Speaking of your neighbor actually, have you ever spoken to her?”

Draco shrugged nonchalantly and said a simple ‘No’ when he really wanted to scrunch his nose and eyebrows in disgust and say ‘Fuck no.’ Ian, however, is gifted in Legilimens. He heard what Draco really meant but kept to himself. I guess things are different in the UK he thought.

—

“Hello my dear baby, I just wanted to call and give you a heads up; your brother and I are coming for Thanksgiving. He’s bringing Stephanie so do me a favor, please no witchy stuff.”

The voicemail played out loud in the kitchen. Please no witchy stuff. Your mother had repeatedly explained to you that she was okay with ‘it’ all, but growing up you never really got on the same page with her. And you knew it was because of your practice. Your younger brother would say comments every now and then when you grew up, but he always stood up for you when other people called you a ‘satanic freak’. But never once did you regret starting the Craft. You enjoyed it and it made you feel whole.

It had been a week since your encounter with your, now known British, neighbor. It bothered you a lot that he didn’t seem to want to get to know you. You were lost in your thoughts that you almost didn’t notice the doorbell going off. You answered the door and saw your neighbor.

“Hi dear, do you think you could help me and my husband with something?” Mrs. Charles smiled sweetly at you. “Of course, what can I do for you?”

“My grandson is coming in from Vermont, would it be alright if you could give us a ride to the airport? I’d ask Draco but he’s always busy at work and I don’t want to be a bother.”

Draco? “I’m sorry, who’s that?” you had a confused look.

“Our new neighbor, dear. I thought you had met him already. You two are the same age after all,” she informed you. Draco. How unique. You instantly recognized the name from the star constellation. It was nice to finally put a name to a face. Distracted again, Mrs. Charles waited for your answer, “Y/N? Can you do it?”

“O-oh, sorry. Of course I’ll help. Frankie was his name, correct?”

“Yes, it’s Frankie. Thank you so much. His flight comes in on Friday. I’ll see you then,” you wished her a good night and looked out your window to make sure she crossed the street safely. The rest of the night consisted of you and and your cat laying on your couch watching TV, but what was on the screen didn’t have your attention. Draco did. And you had no idea why.

—

“Dude, why do you not have a TV?” Blaine looked around Draco’s house and studied the arrangements he had. It was quite plain, almost minimalistic. Looking around, Draco couldn’t help but think how different it was from the Manor back in London. Instead of grand chandeliers, moving portraits of the Malfoy’s before him, and intricate designs on the walls, he had simple white walls with just one moving picture of him, Blaise and Theo a couple minutes before a Quidditch game against Ravenclaw. He had a bookshelf full of old school books from Hogwarts and some small relics he liked from the Manor.

“I’ve never had one growing up, and once I moved here I just never gave any second thought of it. Besides, what would I even watch?” Draco replied. Despite having one letter off from being the same name as his best friend, Blaine reminded Draco of Theo. They were both funny and outspoken. He would’ve loved for them to have met. They’d probably get on.

A few moments later, Ashley and Ian knocked on Draco’s door. The door was unlocked for them to be able to open the door. They looked around the living room before settling onto the couches. “Okay so I was thinking that we can just have some trays of snacks and desserts with some champagne. Does that sound good to you guys?” Ashley suggested. They just nodded along to whatever she said. She had gone to the store with Blaine to get everything prepared before the party tonight.

Ian looked at the pictures of Draco with his friends and one of his mother that laid on top of a chimney. “Do you still have lots of friends from Hogwarts?”

Draco thought about it, “You know, I actually didn’t have a lot of friends back in school. Back then, I only hung out with probably six people. But now it’s just two.” He sounded a bit sad, but figured that two were better than none.

“Do you think of what happened a lot?” Ian implied about that day at Hogwarts. He had been the only one that Draco trusted enough to tell. “Sometimes,” Draco gave a short reply. The action of opening up was still new to him, but he knew he shouldn’t wallow in it. Plus he’d rather have a friend instead of a doctor to talk about it.

Ian really felt bad for Draco. It must have been really traumatizing for someone to go through something like that at just the age of 17. Sure, Draco wasn’t the best person at the time. Who is he kidding, he was probably the biggest git in the whole school. It didn’t necessarily mean that he had to go through what he did. He lost one of his friends in a fire, and one left him after said friend died. Another left for no apparent reason. And another wanted something different in her life. Those things affected Draco, and probably will for the rest of his life.

He didn’t pity Draco, but was feeling sympathetic. “Well if it makes you feel any better, I don’t have much friends from Ilvermorny. It sucks now, but hey, down the line you get new ones.” Ian held a fisted hand out, waiting for Draco to bump it. It made him laugh as he bumped Ian’s fist.

Outside, Ian looked out to see a certain neighbor walk to her car. “Hey, is that that chick you were talking about?” Draco looked out the window and saw you grab some things out of your trunk and into your house. “Yeah, that’s her.” Ian never really pressed on Draco to explain why he didn’t like his No-Maj neighbor like he did the elderly couple across the street.

“Well, I gotta say. She’s a sight for sore eyes for a weirdo.” She’s a what? Beyond the nightly activities he had caught you doing on occasion in your bedroom, he never really looked at your face. Or really just at you. But now that Ian mentioned something, he started studying you. She’s not so bad looking— wait, what are you thinking?

By accident, Ian snorted at the words Draco thought. “Did… did I say that out loud?” Draco asked with suspicion in his voice. “No, I’m sorry. I don’t really mean to be invading your mind or anything. It runs in my family,” Ian laughed nervously.

“It’s okay. My godfather was also good at Legilimens and Occlumency. I’m pretty sure he’s heard worse during his classes. Come on, I’ll give you a full tour of the place.”

“If the other rooms are anything like the living room, I’m sure I’ve seen the whole place then,” Ian joked.

“Piss off.” As Ian walked towards the bathroom, Draco looked back outside to see you again. He watched as you helped the Charles couple in your car and drove off to Merlin knows where.

—

The party was rather fun. It lasted until almost 1 in the morning. He thanked Ashley for handling everything and spent the night talking and laughing with his colleagues. Once everyone left, he changed into comfortable sweats and a plain black t-shirt. Out on his bedroom window was Blaise’s owl with a sealed letter. He quickly opened the window, grabbed the letter and looked out to make sure no one was watching. Your room was dark and it seemed as the drapes were down. He guided his friends’ owl with his hands to a small, make-shift owl post against the fence that separated your yards. It had food and was enchanted to be at a comfortable temperature. His owl laid on one side of the post, resting as Blaise’s owl joined it.

Draco opened the letter and read its contents to himself.

Well mate, I’m glad you’re having a good time in America. There’s not much going on here in London. I’m just working at Gringotts until something opens up at the Ministry. Not really sure what I want to do, but I’ll figure it out. Anyways, I think you’ll be pleased to hear that Theo and I are going to be joining you for the holidays. Theo got a hold of a couple American muggle films and he figured that if the women there were as fit as the actresses, then you must be living the best life and he wants to join. As for that muggle neighbor of yours, I can’t wait to see her in person. We’ll see you, Malfoy.

From the corner of his eyes, he saw lights turn on in your room and your shadow walk around before turning off once more. Sorry Blaise, but there’s no way in hell you’ll meet her.

—

Frankie’s flight was delayed, causing you to get home so late. You were extremely tired and your feet and back were sore. Usually, you’d take a bath with some salts and oils to relax yourself, but tonight you were really lazy. So lazy that you just shook your shoes off and plopped yourself on the bed.

The second you hit the mattress, you dozed off. Your mind was wandering and found yourself dreaming.

You sat in your backyard in a pretty sundress. There was a slight breeze in the air and you held a cup of coffee in your hands. Someone sat at the chair opposite you and blocked the sun’s light in your face. You looked next to you and saw your friend smiling at you.

Draco.

—

next chp

(っ◔◡◔)っ taglist: @beiahadid @malfoy-styles-wife @fivenightslaughter @juneballoon999 @leydileyla

[silvermahogany]

Talking about a few songs I associate with my favourite aonoex characters bc i enjoy shoving my music taste in people's faces and analysing the shit out of nothing <3

Recent chapter spoiler warning lessgo, also mentions of suicide tw

THE MAIN MANS HIMSELF

Still feel - Half•Alive

"I am not a slave, so pick me from the dark and pull me from the grave"

In my mind, this is his themesong without a doubt. Its reached the point where wherever i hear it it makes me really happy because I associate it with him so strongly :,D might just be because I found it while getting back into the fandom when Ren was kinda transitioning to my favourite so they came up together but either way, absolute banger. The bit at the end when everything drops and the lead singer belts his heart out, I always love to picture Ren doing the same in the illuminati uniform with Yamatanka building around him and I've never wanted to learn how to animate more in my life cause my GOD he's so cool.

My favourite song for my favourite character <3

Preach - Saint Motel

"Oh im down on my knees, mercy"

Its so happy and bouncy?? And the vibes are immaculate?? Matches well with the themes of religion as well, this one definitely shows his flirty loverboy side more, it gives the impression of some lovestruck idiot stumbling over himself every time his crush does anything and honestly, sounds like something he'd do. Good song makes me go :))))

Your Love (Deja Vu) - Glass Animals

"You eat us up, you live like you're on camera"

I feel like this one captures his spy side a little more than the others. The lower notes in the main verses give a secretive feel, like he's halfway through a mission and trying trying stay silent. But it's also flirty in a more smooth way than wholesome crushes like the rest. The lead singer has such a gorgeous voice too i'll praise glass animals until the day i die 🥺🥺 God tier song god tier vibe 1000000/10

Do It All The Time - IDKHOWBUTTHEYFOUNDME

"Now we're so young but we're probably gonna die, it's so fun we're so good at selling lies"

Now THIS is a song for a spy working for a secret deadly organisation, all about world domination and having a great time doing it. Renzou is a free spirit and loves the freedom of his job, and this song really captures that for me. He knows he's in danger, but he's living his best life and he's having a great time doing it baybeeee B)))

Sweet Talk - Saint Motel

"You could yell 'piss off won't you stay away!' And still be sweet talk to my ears"

Ren is a persistent little shit when it comes comes crushes and this song shows it, a song about a guy who's so infatuated he doesn't care if he's hated or laughed at, he just loves hearing their voice. I see this as a bit of a yukishima anthem tbh, I feel like in the early stages of their relationship it would be pretty one sided with Shima trying to win him over and Yukio shutting him down so this matches that pretty well :>

Cant go five minutes without talking about them can i-

Honourable mentions-

Talk too much - COIN - very flirty and cheesy considered it as his themesong for a while

Toxic - Britney Spears - self explanatory :)

Razzmatazz - IDKHBTFM - everything they make shows his spy side imo, good for daydreaming

Van horn - Saint Motel -honestly anything by Saint Motel or Half•Alive reminds me of him, great bands :D

YUKIO MY BELOVED

Yukio was weirdly a lot harder for me to find songs for. For Renzou i have a giant playlist I add to over time, supreme comfort playlist egegegeheh, but Yukio's is a lot shorter for some reason. I guess his vibe is a little difficult to get down but a while scrolling through my main playlist and I think I have a decent few that at least match his character development and plotline.

Stressed Out - Twenty one Pilots

"Out of student loans and treehouse homes we all would take the latter"

Pretty self explanatory really, mans was forced to grow up and mature way faster than he shouldve had to, having a high stress job by the age of 13 studying for two meister all while studying to be a normal doctor as well. Not much of a surprise he has so many mental issues by the beginning of the story. I dont listen to much TOP but the few songs I know seem to fit Yukio pretty nicely :)

Oh Klahoma - Jack Stauber

"Those aren't meant to bend, no those arent meant to bend"

Another song based on depression, but with a much quieter feel, much lower energy. I feel like this one more links to his tendencies of delf destruction, and how alone he feels as he faces his battle. Like he's singing into the void hoping for something to reply, but nothing will. Man :(

The Fall - Half•Alive

"I'd jump off and into your arms but i cant trust the fall"

I feel like this one highlight his story to Rin in a really realistic way. Yukio has a good heart, he's kind and wants to love his brother and open up to him he wants to get better. But he's so deep in his pit of depression and conflicting feelings over his brother that he can't bring himself to, he sees no way out. God I wanna write an analysis on his character so bAD-

Baby Hotline - Jack Stauber

"Numb, I've been burning with haste and I'm realising now it's a terrible waste"

We just keep getting darker huh, didn't pick very pleasant tunes for this boy did I. A bouncy, happy song about a girl calling a suicide hotline, lovely. But i feel like it describes his mental state pretty well, outside he seems ok. Sure Rin picks up that somethings off, but once Yukio assures him he doesnt really persist above asking him a couple times. But below the facade he's really reaching his breaking point, and I love how this song contrasts those two tones in a scarily natural way. Absolute banger

Fireflies - Gorillaz

"And if you say goodbye too many times, the sentinels will find me and switch me off this time"

One of my absolute favourite Gorillaz songs by far. The melody is so gorgeous, melancholic in the best kind of way. For Yukio I feel like it signifies how trapped he feels as Satan's son, he's hit his lowest point and he doesnt know how to start moving back up. But the song also has a hopeful feel to it, as if even though he feels lost, he will get better. In the recent chapters we see a moment of reconciliation between Yukio and the people around him, with Suguro forgiving him and tye two brothers finally getting a chance to to things out. Before everything went to shit lmaoo. But with that i really hope that after all the fighting is done, Yukio will finally get the chance to see how bad things have gotten, and reach out to get better. And this song shows that for me :D

Honourable mentions!!

Creature - Half•Alive - the first song I ever added to his playlist, there for sentimentality tbh

Cane shuga - Glass Animals - the plonky noises make the happy chemical go buckwild, not sure why it reminds me of him it just kinda does really

I Earn My Life - Lemon Demon - mans is overworked give him a break :( ngl i don't associate it with him much but i wanted to edge a lemon demon song in somewhere-

Dead inside - Younger Hunger - whenever I hear this I always imagine a really cool animation of him and it always plays out the same way and MAN I wanna animate so baDD

Absolute wordvomit woohoo, hypervocused on this instead if doing the assignment due this evening I'm a fantastic student. This was kinda fun tho!!! I might do other characters at somepoint, these guys are my favourites but i have a bunch of playlists for other characters like Amaimon and Shura, recommendations are welcome too!!

[bunnys-beetlejuice-blog]

bangs pots and pans together loudly FIC UPDATE COME GET YALL SOME JUICE

Apparently the vital, missing component to enjoying school was having a friend there. Go figure.

He and Kevin only have that first period class together, but they make the most of it, passing notes back and forth between the two of them, the teacher too tired that early in the morning to notice, or care. Lunch isn’t depressing anymore. They sit together under the shade tree, and Kevin does seem to also appreciate the view. “Can you even imagine working up a sweat, on purpose?” Betelgeuse pats his gut. “You know I can’t.”

“I can’t believe how little the track shorts are. That’s obscene. You think I’d look good in them?” “You join track and I’ll come to every meet, an’ it won’t be for th’ love of th’ sport.” He doesn’t think normal friends talk to each other like this, but he doesn’t actually know. Does everyone flirt with their friends? Are friends just cool people you wanna fuck but haven’t yet? Is it demon hormone bullshit, making him read into everything? Unclear.

It’s all going so good, until it isn’t, suddenly.

One lunch, two months into being there, Kevin pulls a huge and impressive old book from his backpack. “Look what I goooot,” he sing songs, waving it in Betelgeuse’s face, and he sneezes in response. “Smells old.” Emily and Lydia would love it. “It is. It’s very old,” Kevin confirms, and he moves so he’s sitting next to Betelgeuse, shoulder to shoulder, both their backs to the shade tree. “It’s about demons.”

Betelgeuse loses interest immediately, and focuses on not going pink at their shoulders touching, instead. “Z’at so?” he grunts. Kevin doesn’t seem to pick up on his moodiness, though. “It talks about all these ancient beings,” he explains, flipping pages. “Their summoning circles, their aspects,” he gives Betelgeuse a nudge at that, “all the things they can do for you, and the boons they grant.” He feels uncomfortable. “What’s with this? You obsessed with me, or somethin’?” He tries to play it as a joke, but that glint in Kevin’s eyes is back, and he doesn’t like it. “Of course, who wouldn’t be obsessed if they learned all this shit is actually true? It’s like there’s a whole secret world behind a locked door, and I’ve got the key.” Kevin looks back up at him.

He gets the feeling he’s the key. It’s not a good feeling.

“Where’d you even get this fuckin’ thing?” he lifts a finger, and the book slams closed in Kevin’s lap. His friend huffs. “Internet, of course.” “No, I mean… why were you lookin’ for somethin’ like this?” “I want to learn more. Don’t you?” Kev presses, and reopens the book. “I mean, what if there’s something amazing you can do, and you just don’t know, cause you’re not bothering to try?”

“So I’ll never know, so what?” Betelgeuse feels like this is a losing argument, but he tries anyways. “What’s so great about bein’ weird? You’re lucky you’re human.” “Dude, don’t even start with that. You can fly.” “So can humans,” he points out. “Wh- A plane and fucking levitating for fun are not the same, and you know it, BeetleJerk.” Kevin honestly can’t understand why he’s not excited over this. “I just mean… I’d rather be human, than this.” He blinks at his own words, because he’s never expressed that out loud before, ever. But it doesn’t feel untrue. “You’re out of your mind, more so than usual. Every human alive wants to feel special, and do the stuff you can do. Why are you acting like it’s so miserable all of a sudden? You use your powers all the time, I’ve seen you literally teleport five feet because you’re too lazy to walk.”

“You don’t get it.” He’s feeling sullen now, and he wiggles a little away from Kevin, and crosses his arms. “BJ, come on-” Betelgeuse teleports away to under the bleachers, and he eats his lunch there, until the bell rings.

He’s waiting for Emily after school, not feeling particularly friendly, when Kevin approaches. They stand there awkwardly. It feels tense, and weird, and he waits to see what the breather does. “Don’t be mad,” Kevin says, finally. “M’not mad.” “You sound mad.” “You know what mad on me looks like,” he finally turns to look at his friend, amber eyes burning with irritation. “First hand.”

Kevin looks down, and kicks at a rock that might not actually be there. “I thought you’d be excited. BJ, come on, I don’t wanna.. Not be friends over this.”

Betelgeuse signs, and scratches at the scruff on his chin. “It’s not like that,” he relents after a moment. “I just, I don’t care about that stuff. An’ I don’t wanna sit around, focusin’ on it. I don’t exactly like feelin’ different. Yeah, I do tricks an’ use my magic an’ stuff, but it’s hard to control. I lose my temper once an’ I could seriously destroy somethin’, or hurt my family. It doesn’t exactly feel good, knowin’ that. No one else my age can stand me, cause they can tell I’m weird. Before you, it was fuckin’ lonely, Kev.”

He feels a familiar pressure, because Kevin has taken his hand, and the human gives it a squeeze. He accepts it, melting a little against the other boy. “Still friends?” Kevin asks, and Betelgeuse purrs in response, resting his head on Kevin’s shoulder.

It’s not till later, at home, that he realizes Kevin never actually apologized.

```````````````````````````````````````````````````````

It’s like that, for a while. He knows Kevin still has the book. He knows he’s reading it, and sometimes Kevin will bring up demon stuff, but Betelgeuse has almost exactly a minute and a half of patience for answering questions or hearing about it. Still, Kev doesn’t stop. He might feel angrier if the breather wasn’t so god damn cute.

The air is starting to go cold, and leaves are beginning to fall. October is settling in, getting comfortable, and mom’s starting to break out the Halloween décor. It’s the middle of a kind of gloomy, Autumn day, when things get weird.

Kevin has the book open, much to Betelgeuse’s annoyance, and he’s blabbing away about a demon that supposedly grants wealth- “Do you think you could do that?” -when Betelgeuse looks down at the book, and sees Juno looking back at him. It’s not really her, it’s an illustration, but he’d recognize the bitch anywhere. She’s ink, glaring up from the page, those same age lines etched into her face, confirming his private theory that she’d been an old hag even when she was young. The slit neck is prominent, and as he stares, he sees smoke billow out of it. Oh, fuck no.

He grabs the book and slams it shut, startling Kevin, and then he teleports it directly under them, a mile down in the rock of the earth. Kev blinks for a moment, confused, before looking at his friend. “Wh.. Dude, WHAT?”

“Possessed book,” he croaks out, feeling tense, because he can smell cigarette smoke. “And you’re afraid of it? Why? You are also a literal fucking demon!” “That’s why I’m not messin’ with it!” Betelgeuse stands up, uneasy. The ground around the tree feels weird, now. He doesn’t like it here anymore. “Cause I actually understand why it’s a bad fuckin’ idea! God, you should have instincts that tell you not to mess with this stuff! You’re deficient, Kev, seriously.”

“Me deficient? Seriously?” Kev snaps, which hurts in a new, unexpected way. “Whatever, asshole. Give me my book back.” Kevin stands up, too, but he’s not uneasy, he’s angry.

“It’s better off where it is.”

“Which is where?”

Betelgeuse glances down. The grass around the tree is starting to wither. Kevin follows his gaze, but doesn’t seem to notice the dying vegetation. “You buried it? Come on!”

“Leave it, Kev.”

“This isn’t just your cool secret, anymore, it’s mine too!” Kevin glares at him. “You can’t keep me out of it, BJ. That’s not fair. God, at this point, I know more than you! You should be listening to me!”

He feels his volatile temper flare.

“Ex-fuckin’-scuze me?”

He waits for Kevin to take it back. Instead, his friend doubles down. “Demons have to listen to humans,” Kevin crosses his arms. “If they’re summoned. It’s in the book.” “Nobody summoned me,” Betelgeuse snarls, letting his real snake eyes show, an intimidation tactic that works for about half a second. Kevin’s too used to him, at this point. “I’m up here on a deal.” “Bet I could do it. I bet I could summon you. Then you’d have to listen to me.” “Yeah? Well, good luck without your stupid book!” He storms off, leaving Kevin standing there.

```````````````````````````````````````````````````````

The rest of the day sucks. He’s moody all day, annoyed in the car, grumpy in his room. He cranks metal and wishes he’d learned to play a guitar instead of his rinky, happy sounding ukulele. The instrument isn’t going to produce the noise he wants to express himself, right now. He throws it across the room, into a wall, where it smashes, and reforms a minute later, because… it’s still his favorite, after all. Even if it’s no good for expressing his teenage angst.

He can hear shuffling, and talking, outside his room, though he can’t make out what’s being said over the music. After a moment, though, there’s a knock at his door. “Hey, Bug?” Emily calls. “Can you come give me a hand with something?” He wants to tell her to piss off, go away, to leave him the hell alone, but.. It’s Emily. The CD player lets out a strangled choke and suddenly stops, and the door swings open, all without him moving from his flopped position on the bed. “Sup, ma?” he grunts. Emily peaks her head into the room, and smiles when she sees him, the expression radiating warmth and adoration and.. Oh, God/Satan, bless his sunbeam of a mother. “Just wondering if you’re free to do a little decorating?” She reaches behind her and grabs a fake severed bloody limb from the box he assumes she’s dragged into the hallway from the attic. “Don’t you worry it takes away from the “wow factor” to do Halloween twice a year?” He asks, standing and stretching, before apparating in the hallway behind her, and giving the decor box a nudge with his boot. “What? No way, there’s never enough Halloween!” Emily grins. “Get that, please.” The box floats along behind him as they head downstairs. They pause in the entryway, as Emily thinks out loud. “So, maybe the kitchen should be-” “Functional as a kitchen, please,” Charles calls from the living room. Emily rolls her eyes. “Okay, fine! Spoilsport! We’ll focus on the entryway for now,” she decides. “You wanna put up cobwebs in the rafters?” She gets on tiptoes to reach into the floating box, and he lowers it a bit for her, as she grabs the fake webbing. “I could just instantly decorate the whole room,” He takes to floating next to the box. “Could make sure it’s all normal human stuff, too,” He adds, before she can respond. “I know you can… But I like decorating,” Emily says brightly. “It’s not about getting it done quickly. It’s about, you know, doing it together.” “So why are dad and Lydia slacking?” Her smile doesn’t falter, but becomes softer. “It kinda felt like you needed some mom time, today,” She says simply. God, she can read him easier than Kev can read his stupid book. “We got in a fight,” he admits. She hums at that, because he only has one friend. It’s not hard to guess who he could possibly mean. “I’m sorry, Bug. What over?” He hesitates. So far he’s not let any of his family in on this book business. He’s been sort of hoping it could just go away on it’s own, and not be a thing. Kevin’s made it into a thing, though, and not telling even his mom feels… bad.

“He’s really into demons. Like, really, really into em,” He rasps, floating up and beginning to put up the spiderwebs, as his mother takes down the usual, sort of spooky wall hangings and trades them for her very intentionally spooky Halloween ones. “He’s got this book, an’ it’s all about demons an’ like, how to summon them, an’ their powers, an’ stuff… Sometimes th’ way he talks, it’s like.. Are we friends cause we’re friends, or friends cause you think I’m gonna be... useful?”

Maybe that doesn't make any sense, but that’s how it’s been feeling, like there’s an invisible shoe hanging midair, and it’s about to drop. His mother waits until he’s finished before looking up at him. “And you fought over that?” She prods. “Not exactly.” How the fuck can she even tell that, though? Damn her mom powers. He really, really didn’t want to talk about this, not to her, but… “I saw Juno. In th’ book,'' He lowers back down to the floor, and digs through the box, pulling out fake body parts. Back up he goes, to stick these in the fake webbing. “It was just a drawing of her, but it started like.. Billowing smoke-”

“From the neck,” His mother remembers, suppressing a shudder.

“Yeah. I could smell the smoke. So I got rid of the book, buried it in th’ school yard, but Kev got all pissy about it. He thinks he’s an expert on this shit, an’ he’s gonna mess with somethin’ big if he keeps this up.” “I’m sure you’ve told him that.” “He doesn’t listen. He gets this look in his eye, like it’s a game, or like… I dunno. Feels sometimes like he thinks he’s…” He searches for the words. “Like he thinks he oughta be the boss a’me, or somethin’.”

He rubs absentmindedly at the moss on his nose. It clings, stubborn as ever, same with the patches by his hairline, and he’s found it’s easier to just add another little layer to his glamour than try to do anything about it.

Maybe that’s indicative of a bigger problem. It’s easier to do a bit of magic and make everything look better than to actually fix the underlying problem. Ugh, introspection, how absolutely miserable. He wants to keep thoughts like that locked away tight, but they have a habit of slipping past his mental defenses and making him feel worse. Absolutely no one can make him feel shittier than he himself can. He sinks to the ground, going purple, and he’s instantly wrapped in his mother’s arms. “It’s okay, Beetlejuice,” Emily has both her hands on the back of his head, and he pushes his face into the crook of her neck. “I just.. I’ve only got the one friend,” he groans. “I don’t wanna stop bein’ his friend, but.. Fuck, ma.”

“I know.” Her voice is a soothing balm. She works her hands through the mess of purple hair at the back of his head. “I know, sweetheart. I know it’s lonely at school, but school isn’t forever,” she tries to assure him. “If your friend is treating you this way, well.. He’s not a very good friend. Do you want to be around someone who makes you feel this bad? Does it feel worth it, to you?”

He knows the correct answer is, “No,” but he’s not sure if his self esteem is high enough for that.

“I like him a lot,” He grumbles, and she hums again. “He’s handsome,” She says, and then pulls back far enough to pinch his nose. “But not as handsome as my son, of course,” and it’s silly enough to help knock away his mood, so that’s something, at least. “What should I do?” He doesn’t pull away from her, just soaks up the mom energy for as long as he can. “I think you need to have a talk,” Emily tells him. “Lay out how you’re feeling. Try to get his side of things, and make sure he hears your side, too. Then, at least you both tried, you know?”

It’s such a mom type answer. He groans again.

“I was worried you’d say some shit like that.” She fuzzes his hair, and he feels the tingle in his scalp that means it’s changed colors. Back to green, he assumes. “You know your moss changes color along with your hair? And your creepo-stache?” “Leave the stache alone, it’s tryin’ it’s best,” He pretends to be defensive.

“It makes you look like the founder of a forum for people who marry their cars,” Lydia offers, from the bottom step of the staircase, where she has apparently been just chilling and listening.

“Wh-! Mom, it’s not that bad, right?” Emily tilts her head to the side and gives what can only be described as a condescending smile. “Oh, you’re both in for it now.” He brings the various decor items to life to terrorize them, and then Charles joins his side, sympathizing with his son vis-à-vis bad teenage facial hair, and by the time the whole squabble is over, hardly any decorating has gotten done… But he does feel better. His family’s good like that.

```````````````````````````````````````````````````````

Monday rolls around, same as it always does, but there’s a weird feeling in the air. Halloween is a week away, barely missing getting a weekend date, but there’s some big Halloween bash the school is apparently throwing. There’s fliers for it everywhere, plastered all over lockers and bulletin boards. He’s not much of a participator, though, and his reaction to his locker being plastered over with invites to a party he doesn't care about is to snap his fingers. All the fliers on all the lockers up and down the hall, all instantly fall loose at once, littering the floor. A few students jump back, but no one looks his way, because why would they?

He’s grabbing his history textbook when he feels a tap on the shoulder, and when he turns, it’s a girl he recognizes, but her name is absolutely lost on him.

“You’re BJ, right?” Miffy askes, and he nods. “Yeah, s’right,” and Margo seems to wince at how gruff his voice is, before continuing. “Um, you and that guy Kevin, you’re like…” Milicent trails off, waiting for him to finish her thought, but sorry, baby, he can barely finish his own. “Like…?” He says, with his gravel voice copying her tone and inflection, and she huffs. “Together?” Marge asks, “Like, all of the time?”

He cocks his head, and squints at her, hands t-rexing at his sides, as Lydia likes to say.\

“Usually,” He concedes, and he gets the feeling he’s dragging this out much, much more than Mango clearly wants, because he spies a group of girls a little ways off, waiting for her. One of them is staring intently, more focused on him, but he pushes that thought aside.

“Look, okay, he’s gonna be out for a few days, and I’m just trying to see if you can take him his homework,” McGrubber has grown tired of having to stand here, talking to the chubby goth loser, apparently. “I’m a student aid in the office and they’re trying to make me do it, but I have track practice!” Thaaaat’s where he knows her from. She looks different, not bouncing and sweating and also not half a football field away. “Sure, fine, I’ll make sure Kev gets his work. Wouldn’t want you to miss out on running in a fuckin’ circle, Maria.” Her face sours. “It’s Blair.” So close. “Who fuckin’ cares,” He replies, and turns back to his locker. He can hear her rejoin her friend group, all of them fawning over her harrowing experience of having to speak to him in public. The last thing he hears from Blair is, “He’s just so goddamn weird,” and then the group rounds the corner.

He closes his locker harder than he maybe needs to.

Kevin isn’t in class that day, or the next, or even the one after. The shade tree has withered and died completely, it’s color sapped and gone, and even walking near it makes him feel uneasy. His new lonely lunch spot is under the bleachers, which feels even more voyeuristic of a spot to watch the track team, but even that activity feels tainted, somehow. He’s back to being lonely.

He can’t stand being lonely.

It gets so bad he contemplates sitting, wait for it, on the bleachers, and maybe even trying to strike up a conversation, but he’s too chicken shit. He’s been going to school with these kids for the past three years, and no one’s wanted to talk to him or chat with him in all that time. He can’t imagine that’s about to change.

Still, on Thursday, miserable and lonely, he gives it a try.

Sitting up here sucks. It’s just a hard metal seat on a gloomy day, and when he’d ventured up and sat down, other people had slowly moved away from him, until he was sitting by himself, all the breathers huddled in a different area, away from him. He'd tried talking, but hardly had a "Hey, how ya doin'?" grated out before the migration began.

Figures.

He finishes eating and lies on his back, resting his hands on his chest, eyes closed, and after a while he feels someone standing over him, and something laid over his hands. He opens his eyes. There’s the most beautiful girl staring down at him. She’s got long, bleach blonde hair, darker at the roots, which is hanging down in a halo around her face, and the biggest, clearest blue eyes he’s ever seen. He glances down, to see she’s placed a daisy over his hand. He looks back up at her, amber eyes questioning.

“You looked so still,” She smiles. Her voice is like music. He thinks he can hear harps. “With your hands folded like that. Kind of like an open casket.” He’d been forgetting to breathe, apparently, which happens sometimes. She thought he looked like a corpse, and she placed a flower over him.

“Sorry, if that’s weird. You’re.. BJ?” She asks, and he picks up the daisy, sits up, and nods. “Yeah, you’re…” “Barbara,” she fills him in. “You’re not so good with names.” “Mmm. Buffy tell you that?” He recognizes her now, from that group of girls. Barbara sits next to him, which makes zero sense. “It’s Blair,” she corrects him gently, but not without a giggle in her voice. “Oh, right.” Her name could be fuckin’ Moonpie and it’d make the same amount of difference to him, but he’d agree with anything Barbara said, if it meant she kept sitting there, talking to him. “Are you going to the Halloween party?” She asks. “Supposed to be pretty killer. It kind of seems like your scene.” “I’m not exactly a social butterfly,” which is the understatement of the god damn century, honestly, but she laughs and nudges her shoulder with his. “Well, I think you should come. I bet you’d have the coolest costume. Maybe think about it?”

“I guess, maybe..” He says lamely, because his brain is short circuiting from that small touch.

“Barb, come on!” someone calls to her from a ways away, on the track. Lunch is nearly over. She stands, and smooths down the long skirt she’s wearing, which is modest but flattering. “Later, BJ,” she smiles, and just like that, she’s gone, like an angel going back up to heaven in a beam of light, off to rejoin her friends. He can hear what she says to them, though. “You guys are mean, he’s not so bad. Just shy.”

He keeps the daisy in a little glass of water on his dresser, and strums love songs on his ukulele.

```````````````````````````````````````````````````````

Thinking about Barbara and her smile and the way she nudged him is a fun distraction, at least for a little while, but when it’s Saturday, and he still hasn’t heard from Kevin, he decides it’s time to demon up and see what the fuck is happening with him. He’s been just teleporting Kev’s homework inside his room, and he’s sure it’s falling into a pile on the floor each time and startling him, but no one ever said how he had to deliver it. Today though, emboldened by the pretty girl on the bleachers, he appears at Kevin’s front door instead, holding Friday’s work, and he knocks. It takes a moment, but Mr. Loh answers.

Betelgeuse hasn’t had much chance to interact with Kev’s dad. He looks like a normal, tired dad, wholly unimpressive, and kinda short. Chuck could wrestle this guy to the mat, no problem.

“Oh, BJ,” Mr. Loh says, and then glances at what’s in his hands. “Kevin’s homework? Thank you. He’s holed up in his room… won’t come out.. Maybe,” and he suddenly looks hopeful. “You two are friends. Maybe you can try talking to him?”

Well, that’s what he was there to do anyways, so sure. “I gotcha, Mr. L,” he nods, stepping inside, and heading up the stairs and down the hall to Kevin’s room. The closer he gets to the door, though, the weirder he feels. Something stinks, figuratively and literally. It smells like… It smells like the waiting room. It’s that same, veil is thin type air that he can smell on Halloween night, but how the fuck is he smelling it here? He bangs on Kevin’s door. “Hey, Kev, it’s the B-Man,” he calls, trying to keep his tone playful, but he feels like he’s doing a poor job. What the hell is going on? “Come on, man, open up!” He tries again, when he receives no response. He thinks he can hear a shuffle behind the door. “Dude, I will bust this fuckin’ door down,” He growls, all the play gone from his tone. “You know I will. Better yet-”

He appears inside the bedroom, just in time for Kevin to slam shut the closet door. Kevin turns to look at him, back pressed to the wood. There’s a beat, both teens staring at each other, wide eyed, Betelgeuse in that weird way he does, and Kevin looking frazzled. “What,” the demon grates out, “the fuck, are you getting up to in here? It smells like the netherworld, Kev.” Unfortunately, that makes Kevin’s face light up. “It does? Oh my god, that’s perfect! It must be starting to work!” He crosses the bedroom, going to his desk, where an old book is sitting open. It’s not the same one he took from his friend, it can’t be, that book is still a mile down in presumably solid rock. “Another musty ass tome, great,” he growls, but Kevin ignores him, flipping through the book.

He hates feeling ignored.

A black and white striped arm sprouts from Kevin’s desk, and slams the book shut, which makes the breather turn and glare at him. “Get out of my room, BJ,” is all Kevin says, and Betelgeuse ignores that, instead crossing the floor to get a look at that book. “Where th’ hell do you keep finding these fuckin’ things?”

“This one I bought from a one armed man living out of a 1973 Oldsmobile Delta 88 Royale,” Kevin recites. Betelgeuse squints at him, top teeth over bottom lip. “You’re too gay to know what that means,” he says, plainly, and Kevin shrugs. “He wouldn’t stop talking about his stupid car. I now know more about that antique than I know about geography.” It feels fun, for a second, like this drama isn’t happening, and they’re just having a conversation. It doesn’t last, though. He can’t let Kev off the hook.

“So you bought a second cursed book, this time from some amputee homeless guy, and you’re just, doing the rituals inside of it? And this seems like a super good idea to you?”

“I’m practicing,” Kevin replies.

“So what’s in the closet, Kevin?”

“Get out of my room, Betelgeuse.”

The way Kevin says his name is weird. It doesn’t feel like how it normally feels when a breather says the full thing. He shakes it off, and gives his friend a defiant look, before waving a hand and throwing open the closet door. There’s a cleared spot, in the middle of the closet floor, and a fucking summoning circle in what smells like, “Pig’s blood? Couldn’t get human?” He turns to look at Kevin, who is glaring at him intently. He matches the look.

“Betelgeuse Shoggoth, get out of my room.”

That gets his attention. It feels like an invisible hand is pushing him, and he stumbles back out of the room, confused. “W-what?” Kevin is just standing there, staring at him, and Betelgeuse stares back, eyes wild. “You motherfucker,” he hisses, eyes in snake slits, teeth sharp, claws extended. “You wanna do that “real name” bullshit with me? That the choice you’re makin’ here, Kev?”

Kevin doesn’t even look phased. “I’m working on gaining a bit more control, but looks like that works, for now.”

“You’re cracked!” Betelgeuse growls, absolutely furious. “You’re really tryin’ to summon me? Are you out of your head!?”

“You’re wasting your powers,” Kevin storms forward. “You’re a supernatural being, and you go to school and play your stupid ukulele, and don’t even try to do anything bigger. You could be stepping on everyone under you,” his former friend is going red in the face. “You could be leading, you could be ruling, but you just jerk off in your room and play pretend at being human. But someone might as well profit, here. Why not me?”

“I thought.. I thought we were friends,” is all the demon can say, lamely, and Kevin’s smile is the meanest thing he’s ever seen on a breather. “Once you’re fully listening to me, we can be friends again. Betelgeuse Shoggoth, get out of my house.”

He feels that same invisible pull, and he thinks maybe if he was stronger he could resist it, but a demon’s true name is like a lead on a dog, meant to control them, and unfortunately, Kevin has a tight hand on his leash. He makes it to the front door, and stumbles out, covering his face until he can calm himself enough to reapply his glamour.

Shit, he thinks, straightening up, and staring up at Kevin’s bedroom window. He is so fucked. ``````````````````````````````````````````````` Posted this chapter and another over at Ao3. You can read it right here

[fly-flower-fanfics]

Just....Friends...

Aziraphale x Male Reader

Warnings: None

Thank you to @sinningissuprisinglyfun for being so so patient while I had a depression episodes and computer troubles. Thank you so much. I hope you like this.

~~~~~~~~~~~

“Doctor!” I called out in a sing-song voice. I knew Crowley was home by the low growl coming from the living room. 

“I’m not a bloody doctor,” he replied as I plopped next to him on the couch. I glanced over and met his eyes, his yellow snake eyes. They always looked like they were judging me, which they probably were, but that was beside the point.

“I swear you were an actor back in the day,” I said, referring to one of my favorite TV shows. He grumbled something under his breath, but I didn’t need to hear it to know what he said. I was never a damn actor.

“Azira still at his bookshop?”

Crowley glanced over toward me, raising his eyebrow. “Isn’t he always?”

“So why aren’t you with him?” I asked. I knew the two were usually together, but that didn’t mean they always were. It was just when they were apart nowadays, something usually happened. I hoped nothing did. Crowley — as soft as he was — knew how to hold a grudge.

“Muttered something about how the bookshop kept reorganizing itself and practically threw me out.” Crowley shrugged. “Might let you stay, though.”

I laughed. “Crowley, there isn’t a difference between you and I.”

Crowley just smirked and snorted softly, but didn’t say anything. He swore up and down to Satan himself that Aziraphale was interested in me. Of course, I didn’t believe it. I hoped, however, but I didn’t believe it. I was only me, and he was an angel. Literally.

“So why’re you just sitting here?” I asked the demon, trying to change the subject rather quickly.

“Must I a reason?”

“I suppose no,” I replied, shrugging lightly. “Just figured you would have something to do.” I pushed myself up and ruffled the demon’s hair, which made him yelp in shock. “I should go annoy Azira now. See ya later, Doctor.”

As I closed the door behind me, I heard him shout, “I’m NOT a doctor!”

I chuckled to myself as I walked down the street. My thoughts turned to the angel again. I knew he wouldn’t mind the fact that I was pansexual. He was, too, in a way. He didn’t really like to label himself. But it just meant he wouldn’t have a problem with another man. I just knew that ‘other man’ couldn’t be me.

I opened the door to the bookshop; the little bell tinkled in response to let Azira know I was there. I heard a soft groan, a “good heavens,” and hurried footsteps. The frustration on Aziraphale’s face faded as he realized that it was only me.

“Oh, Y/N. Hello.” He smiled, his soft, round features filling with a warm happiness.

I couldn’t help but match his smile. “Hey Azira. Crowley said you were having trouble with the old shop.” I gave one of the wooden shelves a gentle pat. “Thought I could help?”

Aziraphale hesitated, but I knew why. He had a specific way of how things were supposed to go. A way that was meant to confuse people and keep them from actually buying any of the books he had managed to collect over the years. But I also knew that his bookshop was slightly sentient, just like Crowley’s Bentley and the shifting of the books drove Aziraphale mad.

“All right.”

A smile appeared on my face. “Thank you. How are you organizing them, so I know how you want me to do it.”

Azira started talking, but shamefully, I wasn’t paying attention. My eyes watched his lips move, but there didn’t seem to be any sound coming out from them. My eyes traced his face like I was trying to engrave it into my mind, even though it already was. His gentle blue eyes, his soft blond hair, the slight curve of his nose. All of it was already inside my head in a perfect picture.

God, I was in love.

“Y/N?” This time, Azira’s words did break into my thoughts. “Do you understand?”

“Yeah, yeah, sorry. I blanked for a couple seconds,” I replied with a light chuckle. I was known to do that often. “But yes, I do understand.”

I turned on my heel and went to the back of the bookstore and began to organize the books absentmindedly. Whatever Aziraphale has said stuck in my head as I watched his lips because once I knowingly tried to do anything, I couldn’t place a single book.

So I allowed my mind to wander.

I thought about Crowley and how close of friends we had become. I thought of Aziraphale and how I desperately hoped that he would love me. I then thought about how I was only me... a human whom aged. A human whom would die long before Azira or Crowley since they couldn’t die at all. I sighed softly to myself. That’s why I knew Azira could never love me back. I was a human. He wouldn’t want someone that would only be around for a handful of years. In another thousand, I would just be a whisp of a memory, if I was even lucky enough to get that. I didn’t want that... I didn’t want to lose them.

I paused and leaned my head against the bookshelf, realizing my throat and eyes burned with the familiar sense of needing to cry. I squeezed my eyes shut and let out a soft breath. It was only now that I realized I had gotten midway through the store, and I could hear Azira’s soft voice.

“-of your mind, Crowley.”

“Oh, for heaven’s sake, angel.” I heard Crowley gag, which made me stifle a laugh. “I can’t believe you made me say that. The point still stands, no matter what I say.”

“We’re just friends. Y/N and I are just friends.”

I paused, book in hand, as tho I had become a tableau. Just friends. I mean, I didn’t expect anything more, but it killed all my remaining hope of Aziraphale reciprocating my feelings.

“Y/N?” Crowley’s voice broke into my head, causing me to look over.

The two had moved to the row I was in. Aziraphale was frowning lightly; Crowley was as stoic as ever.

“Hey. Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt. Just try to figure out where to put this book,” I said, gesturing to the item with my eyes. “I’m sorry for any disruption I caused.”

“No, no, dear, you’re fine. I’ll take that and put it away,” Aziraphale said.

I placed the book in his outstretched hand and offered a soft smile. “Do you need anything else? Well, I know you didn’t need me in the first place, but is there anything else you want me to do or am I free to go?”

“You’re allowed to leave if you desire.”

I smiled once again and nodded toward Crowley to acknowledge him. “All right then. See you two later.” With that, I headed out of the bookshop.

I shoved my hands deep into my pockets with the familiar burning sensation in my throat and eyes. Crying seemed to be stupid right now, but I could stop my tears this time. Aziraphale wouldn’t love me — not in the way I desired — so why get all worked up over it? Stupid. It’s stupid. I cursed myself softly, wishing I hadn’t gotten so attached.

Once I reached my front door, I opened it and headed inside, directly for my couch. I decided that I might as well let myself cry it out and work with it tonight so I’d get over it faster. Although I hated to cry and felt silly, burying the feelings would make it hurt more. A small part of me encouraged me to be overdramatic about it, to overhype it all in hopes it wouldn’t seem so bad tomorrow morning.

I decided to follow that part of me.

I got some cookies dough from the refrigerator and plopped myself down onto the couch. I let myself have a cry-fest, ranting about how he didn’t even love me as a friend and how dumb I was to even imagine it all working out. After that, I put on Doctor Who. My stomach hurt with all the cookie dough I had eaten, but that didn’t stop me from still eating more as my favorite TV show played.

I suppose I had fallen asleep on the couch because the next thing I knew, the TV was not playing the same episode I had last remembered, it was dark outside, and my phone’s clock read 4:32 a.m.

I shrugged and got myself up, stretching out and making an obnoxious but very necessary sound as I did so. I knew I probably should’ve just gone to bed, but I found myself going towards the front door instead.

It was a crisp morning; the wind bit at my naked arms. I paid no mind to it. In a way, it was comforting. It reminded me that I was still alive and that I could still function.

Instead of going to my normal spot by the trees by Crowley’s house, I wound up outside of Aziraphale’s bookshop. A small smile spread over my lips as I sat down on the steps.

After about ten minutes, I heard, “Running from something or waiting?”

My eyes jerked toward the noise, and I saw a smiling Azira walking towards me.

“Shouldn’t you be in bed?” he asked.

“Maybe,” I replied, ignoring his first question. It seemed to more be like him grabbing my attention than looking for an actual answer. “But here I am.”

“Why my bookshop?” He walked up and took my hand, pulling me up. Immediately, he frowned and hurriedly opened the front door, pulling me inside. “My dear, you’re frozen!”

I tilted my head, feeling a little like a confused puppy. I didn’t feel cold, but I didn’t feel numb either. “I’m all right, Azira, please don’t fret.”

That did not stop him from fretting.

I sighed softly and allowed him to do so, simply because I had no other choice. In a handful of minutes, I was sitting in his office with a cup of hot cocoa and a blanket around my shoulders.

Silly bastard. God, I love him.

“Anything else you wanna do?” I teased lightly.

Aziraohale paused, thinking about it. I suppose after six thousand years, he still hasn’t picked up on what sarcasm is yet.

“No. I’ve done all I can, I believe.”

I laughed, rolling my eyes and taking a sip of my cocoa. “This is why I love you.” I nearly choked on my drink when I heard myself saying it. But now it was out there.

“I love you too, my dear.”

I felt flustered, my hands trembling. “I’m sorry, I didn’t really—”

“I know.”

“It’s just I can’t help it,” I rambled.

“I know.”

“I fell in love with you so long ago and—and it hurt to keep inside.”

“I know, my dear.”

I hesitated and looked up at him curiously. “You’re not mad?”

“Why would I be mad when I, too, am in love with you?” A light blush dusted his cheeks. “I always thought you knew...”

I let out a gentle laugh, shaking my head in disbelief. The man I loved for so long had always loved me back. Call me the oblivious one.

“I love you,” I repeated, more surely.

“And I, you,” he replied, smiling

Aziraphale took a seat next to me. I used my free hand and hesitated a moment before going for it and grabbing his hand, lacing our fingers together. He turned to look at me, a small grin on his face as he leaned in and kissed me.

Once he pulled back, I still felt like I’d gone to a more pure heaven.

“You taste like chocolate,” he whispered.

I snorted. Of all the things he could’ve said, that was what he chose. “I love you so damn much, Azira.”

“I love you, too,” he replied, looking slightly confused.

“I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you, however long that may be.”

Aziraphale gave me a small smile, a smile with a hint of sadness, knowing that he would outlive me.

“To us, Azira. To us and our future,” I whispered, pressing a kiss onto his cheek. I didn’t want him to be sad right now.

“To us,” he said, capturing my lips in his.

[rayofsunas]

red – choi san

A/N: sorry for the long absence y'all, but I plan to be writing a lot more. thank you for being patient, and to those who have stuck around or kept reading my works! <333 This took me close to 3 hours, but I honestly had so much fun writing it. I used Grammarly to edit this and went over it as well, it's 1 am though so sorry if there are typos. I'm sure you're all itching to read something so here you go, lol! stay safe and be kind to one another! (no gif because the one I was going to use wasn't loading properly) 

Pairings: Choi San x Fem! Reader

Summary: There was always this beautiful, but horrifying, place where you would always travel during deep slumbers. You were never sure if it was based on your fears, maybe wishes. If it even existed or not. But turns out, you weren't as scared of the place as you originally thought.

Warnings: Swearing, god/angels/heaven (mentioned), devil/demons/hell (mentioned), supernatural lore, dream walkers (supernatural), dark humor, sarcasm

Words: 1,509

requested by @ShadsKpop on wattpad

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The sky was red, the air was heavy, smelling like something metallic, and another scent you couldn't decipher, the environment around you made you feel trapped, yet secure at the same time, scared but also filled with a curiousness that seemed to block it all out.

This place, whatever it was, definitely wasn't like anything you'd seen before. If you could guess, it was something that closely resembled what one would think hell would look like. Red sky, black trees, vines, and flowers that seemed withered and pretty much dead. Not even a water source of any kind, but still there were what looked like life if you could say those mimics of life were alive. They looked pretty dead to you. As you ventured further into the world you know for sure you've seen many times in your dreams, you realized that there was definitely luring you in. Maybe it was your own curiosity, but you definitely felt another presence, calling for you, almost reaching out for you.

Why were you here? Where were those monsters you saw in one of your dreams? Why were you conflicted? Feeling both terrified, yet not tremendously keen on returning home to the real world just yet.

A wisp of air being blown in your ear caused goosebumps to rise along your chilling skin, something you had felt a few times after waking up from nightmares. "You're finally here. I've been waiting for you."

Gasping, you couldn't help but jump from the sudden scare. Whipping around, you found yourself facing a young man with dark raven hair and a red outfit with a silver chain necklace, it seemed to represent his muscly body incredibly, from what you could see from his toned legs. Considering the place you were in and assuming it was something like hell or maybe even the dark place itself, you weren't sure he'd find the name 'God' enjoyable. But he did look like a beautiful creature that God had created, and it astonished you greatly.

He didn't look familiar, though but his aura felt identical to the presence you kept feeling in your dreams, almost every time they occurred. What the stranger did too, blowing in your ear. That action was familiar, a habit even for him.

His head cocked to the side, and his eyebrows knit together, he looked just as lost as you. Completely puzzled.

"Your aura doesn't feel like the prophets said it would," He muttered. "Stupid angels, once again wrong."

You just eyed him suspiciously, mouth still agape from the jump scare earlier. Speechless was definitely an understatement as to how you felt, you truly were lost in an abyss. You didn't understand what he was saying, you couldn't even think properly.

"Are you going to speak or what?"

You stared at him in disbelief watching as he sighed loudly and walked over to a blackened 'tree', where he plopped against a large boulder.

"Great, another slow earthling, who happens to be a dream walker, isn't that just great."

Anger bubbled with your bones.

"Am I going to speak?" How inconsiderate of him, expecting you to be able to speak actual sentences that made sense, while he was throwing confusing concepts at you. Stomping over to him, he held a smirk on his face as he watched your own become reddened by the growing anger and annoyance. Asshole. "I am beyond confused and you're just going to be rude to me?! Maybe if yo-" Something shiny on the young man's right pinky finger had caught your line of sight. Snatching his wrist, you held the surprisingly burning body part in front of your face, ignoring. "Wait!" You snapped.

It was ruby red, with a silver band of sorts. It looked incredibly simple, yet sharp, and unlike any other jewel, you'd seen before. You hadn't seen many as beautiful as this one, ever.

The sight of it just confirmed what you were already assuming.

"So you were the one in my dreams," You pointed out, he nodded, seemingly glad you were catching on. "That was me!" Your eyes squinted at him, dropping his wrist distastefully and pointing your pointer finger at him. "You were watching me."

"Sure call it what you want. I was just observing the girl who apparently will do great things here on hell." He waved it off nonchalantly.

So, this was hell... That didn't explain anything though, except as to where you are.

"You're a stalker." You concluded.

"I was told to look out for you." He tried to redefine stalker. It wasn't going to work for you.

"Correction, stalk me." You couldn't count how many times he'd appeared in shadows, never showing his face, obviously toying with you, but showing specific parts or doing things like blowing in your ear, that would be recognizable in the future.

He shook his head abruptly, jumping to his feet. "Watch over you!"

You rolled your eyes. "You're a stalker, end of story," he rolled his eyes, approaching you with long strides. "Since I now know you were the one who's been stalking me, it's safe to assume you were the asshole who kept blowing in my ear."

"Also me," He took credibility proudly, despite it not being something to want to claim proudness over. "Definitely not the asshole part, that couldn't have been me." You huffed. "It was. The asshole part included, I wasn't even bothering you in the dreams. You were just doing it because you're an asshole."

"I'm a demon, I like playing around with clueless earthling-dreamwalkers," The nameless being, now known as a demon, shrugged his shoulders.

"So, what exactly is going on here, asshole-stalker."

"Well, clueless, earthling-dream walker," you scoffed, annoyed that he managed to one-up you by one more nickname. "Welcome to hell, my name is San, son of Satan, the most powerful demon, outside out of my father of course," San carried on. "You're here because you're the Red Queen we've been waiting for, and you're going to unite heaven and hell."

"Unite heaven and hell?" He nodded.

"Isn't that... weird?"

His head shook, "Why would it be?" You deadpanned. "Um, I don't know, how're good and evil supposed to co-exist together, like that..."

"Easy! Once those pissy angels are under the control of Satan, coexisting won't be a problem!"

"We'll be in control."

"So what do you expect me to do, annex them?"

"Exactly!" You shook your head at the demon's excitement.

"No thanks, I don't want any part in this." He snorted loudly, calling bullshit on your statement. "That's what they all say! But you're the Red Queen, it's your destiny."

"Red Queen, huh? I have no special abilities, I'm from earth, and apparently I'm an idiotic dream walker, whatever the hell that means!"

"That's why I'm here, as the second most powerful being in the world, it's my job to help you awaken your powers."

"No, I want no part."

"It's in the prophets Y/n!" You could tell San was growing more and more frustrated. But what bothered you was that he knew your name and you hadn't even gotten that far as to tell him. Why were you even shocked though? He was a stalking asshole.

"I'm not from here, it's not my job." he looked furious, and you were so sure he was going to snap at you, yell some more. But he didn't, instead, the young man shook his head and stepped back with a sharp glare.

"You're selfish." You frowned but immediately replaced it with a scowl.

"You're still an asshole." He wasn't phased by the insulting nickname, not right now at least. Maybe another day.

"It's what's right. Angels have been capturing demons and taking their demonic grace, many of my people have gone missing over the years. They seem to think they're so high and mighty after the last battle between angels and demons,"

"It pisses me off, that they think they can just get away with it. My old man says their time will come when the Red Queen arrives."

You ignored what he had to say about the Red Queen prophecy, not wanting to feel pressured anymore into taking up on whatever troubling offer he had up his sleeves "There was a battle?"

"Of course there was a battle!" San's eyes rolled, "It was bound to happen."

"On this very Island actually, what a coincidence."

Looking around suspiciously, you frowned in confusion. This was an island? Where was the water then... "Island?

"Yeah, island," he looked annoyed once again as if he wanted to flick your forehead. "We're on one of the old battlefields. It broke off a couple of thousand years ago when the angels and demons went to war."

"Who won?" You questioned curiously.

"Evil always wins." He gloated.

You couldn't help but snort and shake your head. Clearly he hadn't seen the movies where hero's had always beat evil. "Not true. Where I come from, the hero's in stories always come out victorious."

"Maybe on earth where earthlings can make up fake characters based off of their wishes and fears,"

"Here where I come from? Satan and his demons always win. Evil wins every time."

[spicexcoated]

1 am| Tsukishima x Fem!Reader

Reupload from my wattpad account! tsukki and (name) sneak out in the middle of the night

--

The small dark room was illuminated by the Moon shining through the gap in between the curtains and the fan buzzed on low, on even in the winter night. The duvet was wrapped tightly around your body and you slept peacefully. Well, you were until you heard a loud 'bonk' come from your window. Once, then twice, and then a third time. You finally got up out of your blanket sanctuary and stared at your window, the only thought in your mind being, "what the fuck" and "please let this be some dumbass bird and not a murderer". You slowly shuffled to the window and peaked through the gap in the curtain seeing a tall dark figure underneath your windowsill.

You froze and stared at the figure for a minute, and then finally decided to grow some balls and open the window. Subconciously, you knew it wasn't a good idea to yell at your potential murderer, but whoever woke you up in the middle of the night deserves to have a stern fucking talking to.

"Oi, what the hell are you doing," you probably would've yelled, but seeing as your dad was terrifying, you didn't want to wake up him in the middle of the night with a strange man outside your window. (priorities I guess)

You heard a snicker and immediantly relaxed as you realized who it was, and then went back to whisper-yelling at the now-known figure.

"Tsukishima-fucking-Kei I swear to God and Satan himself if you don't explain yourself I'm breaking up with you." You weren't particularly mad, but it seemed like a good idea to yell at him.

"You're so stingy, is it a crime to want to be with my girlfriend?" You could hear the smirk in his voice, and that combined with the use of the word girlfriend it made you face burn slightly. 'Thank god it's dark', you thought embarassed by the heat of your face. You just stared at him incredulously waiting for him to elaborate until you realized he couldn't see you. You let out a hold on and turned to turn on the lamp on your desk.

"Okay actually, why are you waking me up at-" you checked the alarm clock on your bed table. "-1 in the morning, it's a school night you know! Are you insane or just sleep deprived and lonely?"

You watched as he looked away from the window and looked at the grass in front of him. He shoved his hands in his pockets and said "I already told you I wanted to come and see you, what's the big deal anyway?"

Now it was your turn to smirk, and you made sure he saw it. You laughed a bit and said, " Okay, so what are we planning on doing, go to the park and play around like two toddlers?"

You heard silence and realized 'yes, that's what your very mature boyfriend thought you should do'. You laughed saying "gimme a sec," and closed the blinds, taking off your shorts and putting on wool leggings and layering sweatpants on top. You threw off your shirt, grabbing a sweater and tugging that on your body, and then zipping up a puffy winter jacket on over it. You quickly layered on two layers of socks and shoved your boots on, grabbing your phone and a blanket, and raced to turn off the light.

You headed to the window and whisper-yelled out, "Kei?" no response

You cussed him out in your head and said in your normal vioce, "Kei."

"(Name)" He said condescendingly, which annoyed you to no end causing you to throw the blanket at him.

"You idiot answer me when I call you, I thought you left, anyways catch me-" You maneuvered your body out of the window and projectiled yourself onto him. He yelped very manly-like and you landed with the a thud and the both of you on the grass.

"(Name) what the- eck get off christ- fuck is wrong with you?" He looked at you incredulously and you laughed it off getting up and dusting yourself off, purely for theatrics.

--

After a bit of convincing, Tsukki was now holding the blanket under one arm and your hand in the other. His hand literally cradled yours and acted as a heater for your colder hand.

By the time you had gotten to the park it was around 1:15 and you were getting pretty cold, both you and Tsukki could see your breath when you breathed out. Despite the cold you both raced towards the swings and swung for a while. Eventually, you got tired and dragged him by the hand to the two attached little kid slides, making him lay in the one next to yours (He almost didn't fit). You took the blanket and laid it over you both and laced his fingers with yours, this time both hands were cold.

You both talked softly and the converstion guided itself to the constellations above you. You asked about certain stars and Tsukki pointed out what formations they were apart of. You both joked around a bit more, poking fun at eachother like you were in elementary. Everytime you laughed he squeezed your hand, and cliche as it was you swore you felt a jolt every time he did. He laughed at the stupid space jokes you learned for him, and you adored the way his free hand came up and covered his mouth when he laughed too loud.

Eventually, you were both drowsy and decided to be responsible and go home, and even though you were both tired, you both felt a kind of alive you could only feel walking down the street hand-in-hand at 3 am on a school night.

[7-wonders]

The Weight of Us

Summary: Dinah’s potion goes to work as Michael ponders his decisions and his relationships with those he cares for.

Word Count: 4333

A/N: An extra long chapter to make up for the length between the previous chapter and this one! Hi friends, happy new year and welcome to another chapter of Mad Love. The prior chapters will be linked below, so if you haven’t had the time to catch up, now’s your chance! Thank you so much for sticking with me on this ride; feedback, likes, and reblogs are very much appreciated if you enjoyed.

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12 | Chapter 13 | Chapter 14

If Michael’s in agony from merely watching the effects of Dinah’s potion on you, he can’t imagine the agony that you’re experiencing. Although the voodoo queen had mixed a powerful sleeping draught in with the hopes of making the process easier, Satan’s power can easily overwhelm even the strongest of magic users. It’s engulfed Cordelia Goode, Supreme of the witches, as well as Dinah. Michael, too, has found himself bowing to his father’s whims like a flimsy tree branch in a summer storm. For you, a mortal with no remarkable powers, removing Satan’s magic from your mind and body is especially difficult.

There are periods where it looks as if you’re peacefully sleeping, but those are few and far between for the twelve hours that you lie unconscious. Michael refuses to leave your side, even when it seems his heart is being physically torn from his chest from your agonizing screams that pierce the air and the way you thrash on the bed as if tormented from a nightmare that you can’t wake up from. He wants nothing more than to take your pain away, and it tears him apart to know that he can’t. It especially hurts to know that he’s the cause of this pain: not only because you’re his wife, but because he’s the one who got fed up and went to Satan in the first place. Michael doesn’t even know what’s truly going on in your mind, Satan’s wards still clouding any of the thoughts that were once so easy for him to pick up on. 

Somewhere, deep within the recesses of your mind that Satan was not able to lay claim to, you note that you’ll have to thank Dinah for the potency of her potion. You also decide that, if you survive this, you’re going to march yourself down to Hell and give Satan the beating of a lifetime. Although there are times where you are genuinely asleep, they are rare. All you feel is pain. A blinding pain that makes it feel as if every nerve in your body has ignited into flames that are persistent, yet slow-burning. 

Being burned alive from the inside out, however, doesn’t compare to what you’re sure is your brain tearing itself apart. The potion and Satan’s influence are waging a nuclear war in your mind, attempting to restore your psyche and mold it to the will of an foreign entity, respectively. It’s almost like you’re a ragdoll that’s being tugged between two petulant children, nearly losing an arm while having no say in what’s going on.

There are times where you almost believe that you can hear Michael crying, pleading with you to come back to him. While it’s a nice thought, the Antichrist begging, you believe it to be simply a pain-induced delusion. After all, the demons that dance in your head and burn you at the stake, the seven-headed monsters rising out of the sea and devouring you whole, the inky blackness that envelops you and leaves you blind to find the source of the deep, otherworldly laughter that rings in your ears for hours and hours; those are delusions, mere imagination working your pain into farcical scenarios. What’s more farcical than Michael Langdon crying and begging?

Just as suddenly as you were pulled into the waves by the sharp pain in your chest, you’re thrust back onto the shore with one last jolt of pain. Your eyes open slowly, cautious of any of the creatures that your mind had conjured up journeying with you back to the land of the living. The first thing that you notice upon your vision clearing is Michael.

He’s sitting in a chair next to you, head down on the mattress and hands clasping tightly onto your left hand. It looks as if he’s asleep, but he immediately sits up upon feeling your fingers flex within his grip. His eyes are wide and glassy, dark circles under his eyes completing the look. His beautiful blond locks are disheveled, and you would make a joke about interrupting his beauty sleep were it not for the confusion you’re experiencing right now.

“(Y/N),” Michael breathes, not believing his own eyes. “How--how are you feeling?”

“I’m...I’m feeling,” you’re about to say ‘okay,’ but the unexpected lurching of your stomach erases that thought, “like I’m going to throw up,” you gasp, sheer will keeping you from puking all over the blankets on the bed.

Thankfully, Michael does not think twice before producing a bucket out of thin air and placing it in your lap. You clutch at it like one would clutch a life preserver while bobbing in the middle of an ocean, your knuckles going white from the strain as you lean over the bucket and proceed to lose the contents of your stomach.

As Michael keeps your hair pulled away from your face with one hand while using the other to rub circles on your back, you’re struck with the similarity between this and the occasion where you threw up just outside of the Murder House’s property. You’re still invariably confused, but the comfort of Michael’s presence helps to ease the confusion as you continue to throw up until you have nothing left.

“I’m sorry,” you mutter between gasps of air, looking at Michael with a flushed face and watery eyes.

“This is a good thing. It means that your body is fully rejecting any sort of hold that Satan has over you.” 

Once it seems that your vomiting has stopped, with nothing left in you for your body to expel, a simple wave of Michael’s hand is all that it takes to send the now-ruined bucket back to wherever it came from. He helps ease you back against the pillows, pressing a damp cloth to your forehead to help cool your burning skin. 

“Michael,” you ask, “what happened?”

He chooses to ignore your question, instead handing you a water bottle. “You need to drink some water.”

You comply, considering you’re actually very thirsty and your throat burns from the bile that crawled its way up. Drinking half the bottle in a few quick seconds, you look expectantly at Michael. “Happy?”

“I am now.”

“Tell me what happened.” It’s difficult to try and force Michael to do something that he does not want to do, and you almost think he’s going to change the subject once again before he places his hand on top of yours.

“What’s the last thing you really remember?”

“Going to your Cooperative event. After that, everything just feels like some weird, vague dream.” Dread slowly seizes at your heart. “You’re scaring me. What happened at the event?”

“It...seems as though Satan managed to influence your mind. You had left to go and get some air, although I don’t know if you remember that.”

“Vaguely.”

“While you were out there, a waitress, who was possessed by my father, gave you a drink that he had, for lack of a better word, poisoned. It’s my fault; I should have been more vigilant, especially after what had happened with Satan making his displeasure obvious to you.”

“What did he do to me?” Your voice comes out as a mere whisper, and you’re a little worried that you might throw up again.

“He,” Michael’s voice breaks, and he takes a moment to compose himself, “actually, you know what? Say something mean about me.”

You can’t help but look at him like he’s crazy. “What?”

“Say something mean about me! You already do it unprompted, so this shouldn’t be an issue now.”

“Okay, first of all, I would hardly say that they’re ‘mean.’ I prefer to call them well-timed, mini-masterpieces of the English language. Second,” a slow grin spreads across your face, “your sleep deprivation must be affecting more than just your looks, because I’m pretty sure you’ve officially lost all of your marbles if you’re asking me to come up with verbal barbs.”

With a choked laugh that sounds like it’s mixed with a sob, Michael lunges onto the bed and wraps you in his arms. Somehow, you’re even more confused than you were when you first woke up, but you welcome the change in his demeanor.

“Aw, you finally learned how to hug.” Michael squeezes you tighter, and now you’re laughing too, although you’re not sure why either of you are laughing.

“I’ve never been so pleased to hear you make jokes at my expense.” He pulls away from you while still keeping hold of your arms. “(Y/N), Satan took hold of your mind. Basically, for lack of a better term, he slipped you a glorified love potion.”

“A...love potion?” He nods. “How did you find out?”

“You were very affectionate, and originally I had assumed that you had consumed too much alcohol.”

“That does sound like something I would do when drunk.”

“It was only when you, um, attempted to seduce me and subsequently confessed your love to me that I figured out that something was wrong.”

“Oh no, did we--”

“No! No, we did not.” Suddenly, the odd scenes from what you originally thought to be an unexpected dream, flashes of hands tugging down the strap of your dress and soft lips pressed against your skin, make sense.

“But we made it to second base.”

“We...didn’t play baseball?”

“Oh my god, you are actually going to kill me.” Rolling your eyes, you sigh heavily. “Second base is--” Michael’s wide, innocent eyes make you feel like you would be the dirtiest person alive for saying that second base is groping, so you choose to mime groping invisible breasts with your hands.

Predictably, Michael turns red. “Oh. Then yes, second base, but no further. Before we could...make it to third--”

“Stop with the baseball innuendos,” you groan.

“After I had removed your bra is when you very passionately told me that you were in love with me. That’s when I stopped.”

There’s so many questions running through your head, but you can’t fully decide on where to start, so you just nod. Michael can tell that you’re attempting to get a grip, and blessedly gives you time. He silently pushes you to drink more water, which you absentmindedly do as you pick at a stray thread on your blanket before finally figuring out a good starting point. “How did you snap me out of it?”

“I called in a favor from a friend of mine.”

“Wait, Dinah Stevens wasn’t just a figment of my imagination?” That was one of the more fanatical parts of what had convinced you was a wild dream. After all, a daytime television queen showing up in the middle of the night has to be something made up.

“No, she was not. Dinah also happens to be the voodoo queen of New Orleans. She made a potion to help counteract and remove the poison that Satan had given you. As of right now, it looks like it worked.”

“Hopefully. I feel like me.” Michael, always able to tell what’s on your mind, remains silent. “Michael?”

“Hmm?”

“Why did you call Dinah in the first place?”

“I’m not nearly as powerful as my father, and Dinah has extra power and preternatural beings at her disposal. Think of it as a loophole past Satan’s powers.”

“Okay, that’s cool, but also not what I meant. You...you’ve wanted me to be as in love with you as you are with me since the day we met. According to you, we’re fucking soulmates. You got what you wanted! I mean, according to you, I loved you unconditionally. Why did you give that up?”

“You’re right. I finally had everything I wanted. And I will admit to you that, before I realized what my father had done and you were telling me that you loved me, there was a moment where I was just so thrilled. It felt like all of my dreams were finally coming true. But when you looked at me with your eyes, clouded with the haze of what I’ve come to know as my father’s hold on unwilling subjects, I just--” Michael cuts himself off, standing up from your bed and running a hand over his jaw as he walks towards the opposite wall.

“Michael.” Your voice comes out softly, and you shakily stand up from the bed to check on him. “Hey, it’s okay. You can talk to me.” He flinches when you put your hand on his shoulder, but otherwise doesn’t move.

“You weren’t you anymore.” He whirls around, and you can finally see just how broken this experience has made him. Michael’s eyes are rimmed red, like he’s been crying on and off for a while now. His hair is frizzy, as if his hands have ran through it one too many times. You notice that his hands shake when he holds onto your arms; all signs of an extremely haggard Michael. “All of the things that I love about you--your spirit, your devotion to the people and things you care about, your wit that somehow manages to simultaneously piss me off and endear me to you even more, and how, no matter what, you don’t give up--those were taken away when Satan meddled with your mind.”

“It’s not your fault, Michael.”

He doesn’t hear you. “You’re the only thing in my life that doesn’t have to do with my father. You’re pure, in that aspect. He couldn’t touch you, and I think that’s what made it so easy to fall in love with, not just the idea of you, but the real you. The version of you that my father believes is perfect for me--some Satan-loving bride who lives only to please me--terrified me. It wasn’t you. I’ll take you barging into my office and calling me ‘Mikey’ over what I saw last night every time.”

Not a single word comes to mind as Michael explains his reasoning to you. You can’t decide if you should hit him for getting you into this mess in the first place or if you should thank him for getting you out of said mess. Overwhelmingly, however, you’re struck with the realization that Michael, who has been controlled by Satan his whole life, deliberately went against his father’s wishes. If this would have happened at the beginning of your marriage--if the bonding ritual the night of your wedding would have worked--there’s no doubt in your mind that he would have been ecstatic. Most likely, you would still be under whatever thrall was meant to be put on you then. Now, the dynamic between you two has changed immensely, and you’re not quite sure if that’s good or bad.

“You…” you trail off, swallowing thickly. “Thank you.”

Michael awkwardly clears his throat, not used to sharing vulnerability with anyone. “You should lay back down. You went through a lot, and you need to rest.”

“But I--” A buzzing sound cuts you off, and you glance around the room in confusion.

“Oh!” Crossing over to your nightstand, Michael holds up your charged phone. “Your phone’s been going off pretty often. Obviously, I wasn’t going to check your notifications or respond to any messages, but I did see that your friend Mallory had texted a couple of times.”

With no choice but to crawl back into bed (an appealing option, if you’re being honest), you take your phone from Michael and begin to scroll. You don’t really care about the social media notifications, but you have a shocking amount of texts. There’s a couple from your mother, complimenting your dress from last night and asking if you had fun. You’ve been as vague as possible about Michael, but couldn’t resist showing off how beautiful the dress was. 

The majority of the messages, however, come from Mallory and Kate. You let them know that you were going to an event as Michael’s strictly-platonic date and, naturally, they had freaked out. Up until you had been poisoned by Satan, you had been diligently providing them with the requested updates. Naturally, going completely silent had driven your two friends crazy. There’s at least ten messages from each, and that’s not to mention the group chat. 

“Are you hungry?” Michael asks, once again doing that weird thing where he senses your needs before you even know what they are.

“Yes, actually.”

“I’ll go see what the staff has made.” It feels a little strange to be alone for the first time in almost a day, so you busy yourself with responding to the group chat instead.

“Sorry for not responding, I ended up eating something bad and getting food poisoning :( Thanks for checking in on me, though.”

It’s barely a minute later before Mallory responds to you, “so...no kissing?”

While you definitely did a little more than kissing last night, you’re not going to tell them that. Before you can text back, Kate replies, “lmao why does that remind me of the guy who says ‘so no head?’”

“No, no kissing,” you text.

“Well shit.”

“Are you feeling better, though?” Mallory asks.

“I’m getting there.” You feel bad for having to be so ambiguous with two of your closest friends, but it’s dangerous for them to know any more.

“Do you want us to come by? Friends are the best cure for food poisoning.”

You let the text go unanswered, setting your phone down next to you as you think about Mallory’s offer. While you would love to have your friends come over, you can’t help but to wonder if inviting them over would invoke more questions than answers. You haven’t exactly told them that you’re living with Michael, and they would inevitably end up freaking out about both that and the size of the home in which you are now living.

Michael pushes the door back open, holding a tray with two steaming bowls on it. “There was soup downstairs, I hope that’s okay.”

“That’s perfectly fine.” He hands you a bowl before sitting down next to you with his own.

“You didn’t miss any important messages from your friends, then?”

“No. It was easy enough to tell anyone that asked that I had food poisoning.” You take a sip of the soup, cursing the kitchen staff for their amazing cooking skills that they most likely acquired after selling their souls to Satan. “But…”

“Yes?”

“Kate and Mallory want to come over to see me.”

“I don’t see a problem with that,” Michael says, a clueless look on his face.

“For starters, they don’t know that I live with you. They already think I’m hiding a relationship with you, and the fact that we live together would only solidify that in their minds.”

“You can just tell them that the rent on your apartment was going up, you were in a tough spot, and I offered my home to you,” Michael smirks. “And don’t worry about the size of the home. After all, I am in line to take over my father’s successful business, remember?”

“It won’t bother you that some people know where the Antichrist lives?”

He hesitates. “While that could potentially cause an issue, I don’t see why they would figure out my true lineage just by visiting.”

“So you’re fine with them stopping by?”

Michael sighs, “yes.”

“It’s a good thing the pentagrams and Satanic imagery are all restricted to the rooms that you frequent.”

“Yes, because however would we hide those pentagrams without any sort of supernatural help?” Michael dodges the pillow you throw at him with ease, smiling as he stands from the bed. “If you believe they’re trustworthy, then by all means, invite them over.”

You send the two a text with your address, along with a message warning them that “you guys are going to freak out, but please reserve it for after you get here and I explain some things.” They each respond almost immediately, confirming that they’ll be over in a few minutes. There’s nothing to do but finish the supper that Michael is pointedly staring at in a silent attempt to get you to eat, so you do as requested while engaging in your other favorite activity with Michael: playing iMessage games. 

An hour later, the doorbell rings. Since Michael had sent the majority of the staff home when Dinah arrived last night with strict instructions to not come back until Monday, he offers to go and let your friends in. Michael returns with your friends, Mallory with wide eyes and Kate with a grin on her face.

“Do you need anything before I retreat to my room, (Y/N)?” Michael asks.

“No, I’m fine.”

“Alright,” he smirks, glancing at your awestruck friends. “Text me if that changes.” Michael closes the door as he leaves, and Kate and Mallory immediately jump onto your bed with you.

“You have a lot of explaining to do!” Mallory exclaims before pausing. “Only if you’re feeling better, though.”

You roll your eyes teasingly. “Of course I’m feeling better, or else I wouldn’t have invited you and Kate over.”

“Good.” You’re sandwiched between the two, backs against the headboard as Kate and Mallory settle in beside you. “First things first: you’re living with Michael now?”

“Yeah, what the hell happened to your apartment? And your cat?” Kate asks.

“Okay, my cat is perfectly fine; she just likes Michael more than me now and is currently following him around,” you explain with a laugh. “The reason I had to move is because my landlord was converting the apartments into condos, which meant my rent was going to go through the roof if I stayed there.”

“So where does Michael come into the equation?”

“I wasn’t able to find an apartment in my budget, and he lives alone in this huge house that his father basically gave him. He offered to let me rent from him for less than what I was paying for my apartment, so I took it.”

Mallory cocks an eyebrow. “I know you’ve mentioned it before, but we were also a little drunk that night. How the hell does Michael’s dad have all that money? I saw the black Ferrari in the driveway when we pulled up.”

“I...don’t know.” Not exactly a lie. “His dad’s in business that I couldn’t begin to figure out--”

“Mafia?” Kate interjects.

“No. It’s like, finance or investing, something similar to that. He does lots of buying and selling, from what Michael told me.”

“And he just gives Michael anything he could wish for?”

“I know it seems like he’s just some spoiled rich boy, but he works really hard. His father’s really tough on him, he’s training Michael to take over the business once he steps down.” Again, you’re not lying, but you’re not telling the full truth. You’re not proud of it, but it’s what needs to be done.

“But there’s nothing going on between you two,” Mallory says with a sly smile. 

Leaning back, your groan turns to a laugh as Mallory and Kate both sling an arm over your shoulders. “I know what it seems like, but I promise we’re just friends! I was in a tough spot, and Michael offered to help me out. That’s all it is.”

“Does the mystery man who your earlier problems pertained to,” Kate references the advice they had given you after your movie night meltdown, “ and who, although he sounds a lot like Michael, isn’t actually Michael, know that you’re living with another guy.”

“Yes, and he’s fine with it.”

“You two are totally going to kiss.”

“If they haven’t already,” Mallory chimes in.

You visibly cringe. “You guys are making me wish I was still in the throes of food poisoning.”

“You wouldn’t puke on us! You love us too much.”

“Doesn’t change that I would absolutely puke on you if you talk about me and Michael like that again,” you retort. “Aren’t you guys supposed to be making me feel better?”

“We are!” Kate says in a sing-song tone, sticking her tongue out at you before grabbing the remote off of your nightstand and handing it to you. “I bet a heaping dose of Gossip Girl would help cure you.”

“I think you’re right.” Queueing the show up on Netflix, you pick one of your favorite episodes before settling in for quality bonding time with two of your closest friends.

It makes Michael smile to hear the giggling and talking emanating from your room for the rest of the evening. You deserve to be carefree and enjoying time with your friends, especially after what he’s put you through. He knows that he’s going to be in deep trouble with his father, and is honestly shocked his consciousness hasn’t been snatched to Hell yet for a conversation with daddy dearest. He also wonders about how he’s going to tell you that it was he who first sought out Satan’s advice on the matter, and nearly carried out the original plan. Those are worries for tomorrow, though. For now, you’re alive, and living with free will. That’s all that Michael could ever want for you.

Still, he can’t shake the feeling that something’s off. Everything seemed alright after you had finally woken up, but he can’t shake the dread that sits heavy in his chest. Maybe it’s because he’s waiting for the other shoe to drop, or because there’s complete strangers that haven’t been vetted by the Cooperative in his house. 

Whatever the reason, Michael’s anxiety seems to stem from one of your friends-Mallory, he remembers you introducing her as. Something about her seems off, as if there’s a safe surrounding her head that he can’t seem to break through. The energy around her reminds him of energy he’s only felt when faced with Cordelia and her gang of witches, but your friend doesn’t seem to possess any sort of magic that he can feel. It’s troubling, and while Michael trusts you completely, he’s still determined to figure out what Mallory is hiding.

//

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[xfanfics]

Destiel Fic Rec List Part 2

Last Updated in October 2014. Posted in May 2020 for posterity.  Listed in no particular order - the total rec list will have ~250 fics. Header graphic used with permission.

This part of the list contains: 35 fics.

Other Destiel Rec Lists: [1]. [2]. [3]. [4]. [5]. [6]. [7].

—–

Kiss and Make it Better by annehiggins E | 9k

Both the forces of Heaven and Hell are after Dean and Castiel, but sometimes a kiss really does make it all better.

Sweet little loving and bonding fic.    

Retreat into Silence by annehiggins E | 16k | Fluff,  Angst,  Alt!Canon

Written for this prompt by deceptivechasm on the no longer exists LJ simon_says_dean: “Something very traumatic happens to Dean while he's with Sam (or Sam was away) which causes him to stop talking, *again*. Sam didn't know about the first time, and has to ask Bobby (or John) about what happened after his mum died.”

Sweet, adorable, and really schmoopy with added angst.    

I Know What You Like by JinxedAmbitions E | 4k | Pornstar AU, Bottom!Cas

Castiel agrees to help Gabriel out by being a production assistant at his porn company. However, when porn star Dean Winchester comes onto him on set, who is Cas to say no, especially when Dean seems to know all the things that turn Cas on most?

Hnnnghgggg.    

Consort by Valyria E | 139k [WIP] | Angst,  Medieval AU, bottom!dean

When King John of the West Saxons forms an alliance with a neighboring Christian kingdom, his eldest son Dean ends up playing a role he never expected.

Valyria's fabulous (currently WIP) Medieval AU is a must-read. Definitely a slow burn fic--includes very bad/painful sex, but with a great payoff.

What Was Lost Still Leaves Its Mark by shieldmaiden_of_celestial_intent E | 4k | Hot, Alt!Canon, Sub!Cas, Demon!Dean, Dom!Dean, Praise Kink

Demon Dean captures Castiel and tries to force him to play out a few of his fantasies. Cas soon finds himself willing because Dean still retains some of the good qualities of his human life. It starts out with dubious consent but consent is given later. There is a confrontation where Dean makes Cas strip. If you love Dean's panty kink this figures prominently. This is from Cas' POV and gets romantic and hopeful toward the end. This is canon compliant up to the season 9 finale. Castiel is powered down and has human drives like sex and sleep. Dean dominates him but does not hurt him.

I'm not usually a huge fan of subby!cas because it usually feels ooc to me, but this is. I'm. This is just... Yes. Really hot. Warning for dubious consent at the beginning.    

Words with Friends by betty days E | 22k | Human AU, Sub!Dean, Dom!Cas, BDSM |

"Dean Winchester is as straight as an arrow. He’s a lady’s man of epic proportions: the king of the one night stand, the messiah of the friends with benefits paradigm, the emperor of perpetual bachelorhood. Except, apparently, when it comes to his best friend, Castiel Novak. Wherein a longstanding acquaintanceship leads to friendship, then best friendship, then sexting, then dirty talk, then mutual masturbation, then, inevitably, fucking.

Smoking hot and full of feels.  

Little Motels by Lovely_Phrase E | 238k | Human AU

After John's death, Dean must travel to California to find his estranged brother and deliver the bad news. He takes Castiel with him, despite the newness of their relationship, and finds himself falling in love while staying in a series of little motels. What he discovers after arriving at Stanford is enough to destroy what's left of him, but Dean isn't willing to give up what they have together that easily.

Wow. This was RIDICULOUSLY long and I can't really believe I finished it. Regardless of the intimidating length (heh), it was a captivating story. Though it edged near soap opera levels of drama at times, the plot was sure, the characters grew and developed, and the writing was excellent. Very good read--highly recommended. Perhaps not for the sensitive (in regards to Drugs or abuse). Also not for john!stans.  

Dragon Healing for Pleasure and Profit by whelvenwings G | 6K | Fluff, Wizarding World AU, wizard!dean

When Cas, a zoologist and aspiring author, moves into the house next door, Dean can't help but go over and say hi. He hadn't reckoned, however, on Cas' determination to discover whatever it is that's living in the nearby woods. Dean should follow his instructions and send the guy away, and yet there's always something stopping him. After all, whoever said a muggle couldn't heal a dragon?

OMG AMAZING!! Wizarding World AUs are the best, and this muggle/magical person romance is super sweet.  

A Fine Frenzy by the_gabih E | 8k | A/b/O AU, omega!dean, alpha!cas

The rest of Dean's family have these romantic, almost fairytale stories of how they first met their mates. Dean? Not so much. But he's okay with that.

Super hot. Apparently an abandoned WIP, but it's mostly porn so that doesn't really matter.    

The Vessel by chellefic E | 7k | Alt!canon, body sharing

When his vessel goes missing, Castiel turns to Dean for help.

I love this fic! Vessel fics/sharing bodies is always a fun and sometimes sexy trope. This definitely delivers on both of those fronts.    

There's Only One Sure Thing That I Know ❤ by leah k E | 20k | Fluff,  Alt!Canon

Dean doesn't even get halfway through explaining before Bobby starts laughing. When he lets himself think about it for more than five seconds, Dean can almost see Bobby's point: he's faced down demons, witches, vampires, werewolves, ghosts, angels, and Satan himself and now he's been defeated by the God damn Midwest.

This fic was AMAZING. I want to wrap it up in a blanket and cuddle it. Maybe hump it or something. Idk, I'm flexible.    

Unusual by Yosei E | 12k | ABO AU, omega!dean

Now that Sam was in college half-way across the country, Dean needed a roommate in order to keep the spacious apartment (with his own room!) that he'd come to love and call home. With Sam's non-stop worrying, he finally convinces Dean to meet a possible roommate. Who knew that it would be the beautiful dark-winged archangel with a PhD., Castiel Novak?

Come a Little Undone by  FagurFiskur E | 3k | Fluff, Teacher AU, Bottom!Dean, Top!cas

"Well?" Cas prompted, turning his face to the side to look up at Dean. "Are you going to get started?    Something about the annoyed tone in Cas' voice, as if he were the one doing Dean a favor and not the other way around, pissed Dean off enough so that his better judgment took the backseat for just a moment. Unfortunately, that moment was long enough so that by the time it ended, Dean was already straddling Cas' thighs. Written for this prompt: Cas and Dean are teachers. It's the end of the year. Cas is stressed out with grading. How does Dean help?

Short, sweet, and hot. Pining!dean and massages yay.    

Sex 101 by betty days E | 50k | Hot, Dancer AU, Alt!Canon, Slow Burn

or: That Time Castiel Asked Dean to Teach Him How to Have Sex. "I want to have sex," Castiel announces suddenly. Dean chokes on his gulp of Baha Blast. Wherein Dean teaches Cas how to have sex, and Cas teaches Dean why to have sex. This fic is filled with music, literature, fluff, angst, smut, feels, and glitter. Lots and lots of glitter.

This AU will just suck you in. God, I love dancer!dean. It started out with some super hot vouyerism, and progressed to self discovery and more super hot things. Yay.    

Dean Winchester Is a Gay Virgin by betty days E | 79k | Hot,  Angst,  College AU, Mafia AU, Gay Panic

"Dean Winchester has a grand total of two big secrets: Secret #1 is that he’s a virgin. Secret #2 is that he’s gay. Dean Winchester is a college junior, a full-time mechanic, and a baseball superstar. He's so far in the closet, he can't find a way out. Then he meets Castiel Krushnic, the totally dreamy President of the LGBTQA Alliance at school, and finds out that Cas has some dark secrets of his own.

Wow. This is not what I thought I'd be getting into by the title. I was expecting a nice college AU and then there was unexpectedly the mafia, gritty angst, and family feels. What a ride. If this were a book, I would buy the fuck out of it.

Learning to Breathe by underneathitall E | 114k | Fluff,  Angst,  Hospital AU

Dean Winchester was just admitted to the Psychiatric Ward for minors at Lawrence Hospital after a car accident that killed his father but left him alive. When he finds out his roommate is a kid he used to go to school with, Castiel Novak, they start to make a hesitant friendship. At first, Dean's only focus is to get out as fast as he can without any attachments. Soon after that, he discovers that making friendships with other patients in the hospital and developing feelings for Cas might be what he really needed to get through this all along.

ahhsgahahhHhhh I loved this so much! It manages to be weirdly fluffy and feel-good even though it deals with majorly angsty stuff (mental ward, hello).    

Just Kisses by tiptoe39 E | 2k | Hot, PWP

Castiel's not ready for anything beyond kisses. So Dean just kisses him. Everywhere.

Hot and sweet.    

Tales from the Bunker of Domesticity by teaandjumpers M | 17k | Fluff,  Alt!Canon

Moments of domesticity between Dean and Cas (and occasionally Sam) in the Men of Letters bunker. Essentially, this is a story about the boys building a home together.

NnoOoOooOoOooo this was so domestic and lovely!    

The One With Dean's Anal Beads by triedunture E | 1k | | Hot,  PWP, bottom!dean

Complete PWP: anal beads, multiple, dry/painful orgasms, & dirty talk.

Nnnghhhh    

Landing by ladyzanra T | 3k Angst,  Canon!verse

“You think in terms of days, Castiel, but there are no days in Heaven,” Hannah tells him, before he leaves. This, Castiel understands, is the reason she does not stop him.

Fuck everything I'm in PAIN.  

Simple As That by ashwinchester4 M | 2k | Canon!verse, First Kiss, First Time

Dean Winchester is not very good at doing things in the proper order. That includes his relationship with Castiel. After Cas becomes human, things begin to change slowly, simply, easily. Until everything is different.

Gorgeous. Simple as that.  

Let Your Grace Guide You by angel_kink E | 24k | Alt!canon, wing!Kink,

After Castiel heals Dean at Stull, the hunter finds himself with unexpected abilities. He becomes determined to use his newfound powers, with Castiel’s guidance, to rescue Sam from the cage. In order to ensure that their venture to Hell is successful, they are forced to team up with Crowley, who has his own agenda regarding what’s locked up in the pits of Hell. During the course of their alliance, secrets come out, feelings bubble to the surface, and Dean finds himself once again facing an impossibly dangerous situation in an effort to save his brother.    

Napoleon in Rags by linzeestyle E | 42k | Alt!canon, fallen!castiel

“So,” Dean says eventually, breath ruffling Castiel’s hair. “You gonna tell us about this place? “I don’t have to,” Castiel says, pushing himself up on his elbows. “If I’m right, it’s nearby. Near something called Tucson.” Dean looks at him incredulously and Castiel scowls. “I was hiding an invaluable relic, not purchasing real estate. There's no such thing as a hunter retirement plan.

Amazing!! Canon compliant from 8x17 and diverges from there :D    

Kryptonite in Shades of Blue and Green by Annehiggins E | 12k | Superhero AU

Dean is the only member of the Winchester family without super-powers and has lived with the threat of being used against him all his life. When Dark Angel finally makes threat reality, Dean ends up trapping them together for two months. A lot can happen in two months. Written for this prompt on the spnkink_meme. Technically Dubcon.    

Chasing Cars ❤ by ratherbehere E | 45k | Fluff,  College AU, Stripper!dean, demisexuality, Slow Burn

After an awkward accidental encounter at a local strip club, Castiel discovers his college roommate, Dean, has a secret career as a stripper, and their relationship begins to change and a bond begins to form. They face the joys and challenges of life together and discover along the way how deeply they've come to care for each other.

THIS WAS AMAZING! So much UST, Demisexual Cas, which is my favorite, and a long, slow burn romance where they are best friends primarily. Love it.    

A Weekend Project by narrativeimperative E | 16k | Lawyer AU, a/b/o, Omega!cas, alpha!dean,

Castiel Novak is a lawyer for an important firm. He’s also, to his chagrin, an omega. With the help of heat suppressants and some serious denial, it’s not a problem ... until he meets Dean Winchester. And then it’s very definitely a problem.

Literally the best.    

Viva by crowleyo E | 38k | AU, Stripper!Dean, doctor!cas, accidental marriagE |

Dr. Castiel Novak swears he will never let his sister talk him into a surprise trip again. Now he has just woken up in Las Vegas with a hangover, an unknown ring on his finger and a beautiful man next to him. It gets even better, though, when Castiel's last memory from the night before is seeing this man up on a stage in a skimpy cowboy outfit. Now, Castiel has to learn to live a cliche.  

Hush by Braceyourself & dresden E | 105k | College AU

He'd heard all he needed to know about Dr. Novak, really. Straight-laced academic, prioritizes punctuality, favours the smartest students; it doesn't bode well for Dean.

Wow, so great! Dommy!Cas, teacher/student AU. There is rape in it, but not between Cas and Dean.    

The Seraph by Hywar E | 135k | Creature AU, Dub!con, Dom!cas, Sub!dean

Ever since the seraph were discovered, there's been one rule society has had to adapt to: stay out of open water. Powerful, determined and aggressive, the octopus-human creatures are in a league of their own and have no qualms with taking what they want and attacking what they don't. Now, children learn to swim in man-made lakes and beaches are deserted save for researches and the fool-hearted. Dean Winchester is neither of those things. But a hunt has brought him and Sam, his brother, to one of the many abandoned beaches, where Dean is left with no choice but to take refuge in the water. He should be safe, he thinks, he doesn't go too deep - just deep enough to hide himself and to deter his pursuer. He forgot just how fast the damn things could be, and how determined they were once they had their eyes on something.

AMAZING. Love love love! Dominant!Cas who just wants to take care of his willful, human mate. Also tentacle sex. Be warned for dubious consent (because Cas is very convinced he's doing what Dean wants/needs but Dean is not so sure).    

Contact by clotpoleofthelord E | 16k | Alien AU, Tentacles

When aliens land on Earth the first time, Dean ignores it. When they land a second time, he's a little curious. When the third landing happens in his back yard, his life gets very complicated, very fast.

Taking Wing by riseofthefallenone E | 44k

Dean frowns around the cave, his head spinning as he tries to make sense of what he’s seeing with his eyes and his echoes. The smell doesn’t hit him until he’s already staggered to his feet, claws clicking on the stone floor. It’s the scent of another bat; different than any kind he’s smelled before. It’s not exactly unpleasant, but it does strike home a realization that turns his stomach inside out. This place belongs to another bat and Dean has pretty much just basically invaded their home.

This is adorable. I didnt know I could get so attached to two gay anthropomorphic bat people.   

Rain by The MigratoryLane E | 2k | | Hot,  Canon!verse, PWP

The fact that Dean Winchester was a strikingly handsome man had not eluded him. But the low burn of arousal that now flowed through his veins was entirely foreign not a month ago. Where as an angel the mere sight of Dean’s neck elicited no greater response, now Castiel found that he wanted nothing more than to trace his lips across the stubbled flesh beneath his jaw—to lick and kiss and suck at it until Dean moaned with the sensation.

CASTURBATION!!    

Cheers, Angel Eyes by wannaliveindeansdimples E | 20k | AU, bartender Dean, Cop Castiel

Dean Winchester is a bartender. He's noticed a new semi-regular and even given him a nickname. Pretty soon he and "Angel Eyes" become friends. Dean wants more, but is secretive, awkward Castiel ready to give it?

As the author's tags say, no matter the universe or circumstance they always find each other and act all schmoopy.    

A Little Slice of heaven by authocracy E | 5k | AU, bottom!cas, wing!Kink

Welcome to A Little Slice of Heaven, where angels stationed on Earth can come, relax, and enjoy themselves. Dance your cares away at our nightclub, or treat yourself to our world-class spa treatments with staff specially trained in the art of wing maintenance. Let our experts turn your stress into pure pleasure. The War is over, and Castiel finds himself bored and lonely in Heaven. He runs into Gabriel, who remembers him from the battlefield and offers to give him a tour of the best places on Earth. The archangel introduces him to his friend Dean, a masseur with magic hands. Castiel, a little self-conscious and shy, doesn't know what Dean means by "extra services" but is eager to spend extra time with him regardless.

Long Time Coming by authocracy E | 13k | Hot, genderswap au

For the prompt: Okay, so in my head, girl!Dean likes her anonymous hookups, likes her slutty biker look and her oversized flannel shirts and skinny jeans. Granted, she's getting a little old for the club scene, but she's always been more of a bar girl. And maybe Sam kind of despairs of her because he's all "RESPECT YOUR BODY AND YOUR MIND DEAN(NA?)" but Dean's never really bought any of that - she likes feeling close to people, and it's hard to with her lifestyle. Plus, there's something powerful about being hot enough to attract as many guys as she does. Thing is, she's not that easy to get off. It takes her time and effort when she's on her own, let alone when there's some guy expecting things of her. And let's be real, a lot of guys in the kind of places she goes to don't really know how to get a girl off. Maybe she's never even come during sex with a guy. Enter Cas.

I love my genderswap fics, and this one is um... really hot.    

[crantzypants]

Crowley and Aziraphale accidentally raising the Antichrist together sounds like an amazing and equally hilarious idea.

This started as a “haha what if i write down a few thoughts” and ended up as a full story outline ohhhhhh boy!

It’s wild. Crowley doesn’t want the baby that is being swapped to just be abandoned, who KNOWS what Satanic Nuns would do with it! But OOPS somehow with three babies, the Antichrist is the third baby.

But then, because this is now their child, they raise him in a semi-normal way? They don’t have a need to drag their child to the side of good or evil, because they just want their kid to be happy (and teach him how to do pranks. He has to know that gluing coins to the sidewalk is funny, angel). 

And really, a young boy should be able to have fun, and the city is no great place to raise this kid, especially when heaven and hell KNOW Crowley and Zira have been camped out their for centuries now. Why not just…live in Tadfield? Share time between a small cottage that no one but them knows about, and keep their places in the city to keep thwarting evil and appearances? 

They know that the Warlock, the supposed Antichrist, needs to be raised, so simply take positions as tutors. A nine-to-five, and switching off days so that someone can stay at home with Adam. As he grows up, Adam catches on to the fact that his parents are Something Else, but is just as happy to have two parents that love him, and friends he can spend time with.

Every now and then, Adam does something odd because of his powers as the Antichrist. Both Crowley and Zira never catch on about who their son is, and questions if their presence or powers can rub off on humans. They’ve hung around humans for a long time, and none of them started developing powers. 

Both are fools and don’t connect the dots.

They figure out that a Hellhound should be coming for the Antichrist, and Crowley agrees to go to Warlock’s party, while Zira stays back at home and sets up something for Adam’s birthday but please please Zira just call for help if you set the kitchen on fire again. 

And then Crowley calls, while Adam is out playing with his friends in the woods.

Zira: Hello dear, did, did Warlock turn away the Hellhound?

Crowley: …No.

Zira: Oh no, this is not good.

Crowley: The hound never showed up.

Zira: Excuse me, what?

Crowley: Wrong child.

Zira: Wrong child.

And while Crowley drives back to their house to concoct a plan, Adam and his friends walk in, Dog right behind them. Zira sees Dog, and suddenly he starts seeing the math around his head as it dawns on him that maybe he has been raising the f*cking Antichrist all this time. 

Crowley gets home, and right off the bat thinks they should go to the Old Hospital, because where did they go wrong? To which Zira responds with, “Oh, did you know that our son found a dog today? Apparently, Dog just FOUND HIM. WHILE PLAYING IN THE WOODS. THIS AFTERNOON WHILE YOU WERE WAITING FOR THE HELLHOUND.” And Crowley nearly discorporates. Heaven and Hell are going to be coming for THEIR SON. THEIR SON, WHO IS SUPPOSED TO END THE WORLD. He was a little rowdy and a bit brash, but his heart has always been in the right place, and was always kind. Their must have been a different mix-up, right? 

But they can’t question Adam about anything, because he’s off with his friends, apparently going witch-hunting. But they need to figure out if he is the Antichrist, and how to stop him if he is without tearing their family apart, and then, THEN, if they are able to do that all successfully, how to deal with the fact that Heaven and Hell will come after the two of them for messing up the Big Plan. 

Of course, by this point, Hell is realizing that Crowley might have bungled the whole job, and is coming to find him. Crowley takes off to London in hopes that he won’t place Zira and Adam in the line of fire, so to speak. 

Zira avoids Heaven’s calls at all cost, and knows that it is only time til they find him and drag him to Heaven. But without Crowley around, he doesn’t have that extra help he needs, and decides that maybe the supposed Witch that moved to town could be the real deal. There were witches, once, and maybe some of them and their offspring survived. 

Zira meets up with Anathema, and she is a wonderfully kind host, and from their conversation, she is also looking for the Antichrist. She avoids how she knows he is HERE in Tadfield, though, and by the end of their tea, Zira has not learned much else. Zira offers that his house is always open, but to make sure that the salt and sugar are not swapped. That’s Adam’s favorite prank when company is over.

Crowley risks driving home to Tadfield, because it IS his son’s birthday and he would actually like to SEE his son today, and picks up Zira who seems to be taking a thoughtful stroll. The two discuss what they’ve found, and Crowley tries to calmly say that he needs to be back in London later. That some “work related things” have popped up from Hell. They make it back home just as Adam and Dog do, and Adam proudly shows off his new pet to Crowley.

Crowley, being a demon, INSTANTLY can tell it is a Hellhound. He tries to brush it off at the moment, set on having a nice birthday dinner, and hoping that this isn’t going to be the last of them.

Zira makes sure that Adam is in bed, and wishes Crowley well on his way back to London. Anything could happen at this point, and Crowley just wants to make sure his family escapes this nightmare alive. Zira stays up all night searching through prophecy books, but nothing here works. He had shifted his most beloved and precious books to Tadfield, but maybe he had left one or two at the shop. Without a second thought, he flies quickly to his shop, hoping that it is ok to leave Adam alone at the house. 

Nothing, there are no books left in the shop that are helpful. Zira sighs, but opens up an old briefcase to bring some books back home with him. He had been ever so slowly moving books out of the shop and into Tadfield, bringing some back to the safety of his shop when Adam had learned the true power of scissors. There is a knock on the door, and honestly it is three in the morning so who on earth?

Two angels walk in, demanding to know where Zira has been the past few days, and how dare he ignore head office to frolic across London with a demon. There are rumors that the two have been seen recently, with a CHILD no less! Zira must cut ties with both immediately, or else face dire consequences. Zira stammers, backing up across the floor, over a rug hiding a sigil. With quick work, he vanishes the carpet and tricks the two into being brought back to Heaven. But if he was found, wouldn’t Crowley have been found as well? Was he in danger too? Zira hurries to Crowley’s apartment, but only sees a smoldering puddle, with a thermos laying still next to it. 

Crowley, really, is very quick to think. Simple work, to place holy water on a door entrance, and see a demon walk into the trap. He’s able to escape, but he has to flee home, and fast. They knew about his time with Zira, and that they were in TADFIELD. This was all adding up to a catastrophic ending for all of them, and if everything was ending, he would much rather be with his family then in Hell or dead, thank you very much. Luckily, at this time of morning, the roads would be pretty empty, so he could make it home quick.

When he gets home though, the only ones there are Adam and Dog. Would Heaven be so open to breaking in and taking Zira? But why not take Adam too? Crowley tries to wait up all night, but doses off on the couch. It being summer, Adam gets up early to play with friends, and runs out the door before Crowley even wakes up. 

Zira, for a good chunk after finding the spilled holy water, mourns. The world is ending, but he had rather hoped that even if it had to, that Crowley would be next to him. But it is morning, and the radio in Crowley’s apartment turns on to odd reports. A Kraken. The sky raining fish. Earthquakes and tornadoes. He has to get home, to Adam, and stop this. He has to sit Adam down and tell him everything that is happening. If he knows he is the Antichrist, knows the destruction he could cause, maybe his son would not go through with it.

The M25 is burning, and all Zira can do is hold onto his hope that him and his family will come out on the other end of this alive as he flies through. 

When Crowley wakes up, Zira is still not home. Based on the dirty plate left in the sink, Adam had left in the morning with Dog and his friends. There is a knock on the door. Wearily, he answers it to find a young woman and a man, Anathema and Newt, asking if they knew where Adam had gone to. Crowley figures he has gone into the woods, but he knows this is the last day. He can feel it in his being, hear distantly the cries of Hell, begging for the beginning of a useless war. Anathema says she had to find him first, that they all had to go to the airbase, but would like a lift to where she needed to enter. Crowley agrees, and they all jump into the Bentley, and he drops the two off at an opening in the fence before heading off to the actual entrance on his own. 

He gets there, and walks up to the guard to let him in. As Crowley is being told to walk away, bicycle bells ring out, and the Them ride on by. Adam shouts a quick hello as he rides by, and Crowley is in total shock. From above, there is an odd whistling noise, something like a meteor is plummeting to the ground, right near them. Crowley figures out what is happening too late, realizing that the meteor is Zira, and that his Bentley is in the impact zone. The Bentley is crushed under Zira’s force, and Crowley runs over to check on him. Miraculously, he is more or less fine, a touch on fire and a bit bruised by the fall, but hey, his hoping was strong enough to get him through the fire mostly unscathed. Zira stops before they run in, holding onto Crowley and starting to cry. He had thought– had seen the puddle on the floor– what would he have done without him? 

The two rush in, and see their son facing off against the Horsepeople, and Death giving a final statement before vanishing. And then Gabriel and Bez come in, filled with rage because not only are their incompetent workers on earth here, thwarting the Apocalypse, but it seems that the boy they have been raising was the Antichrist the whole time. “Yeah, my dads are a bit weird, and don’t make a lot of sense, but they seem to care about me and the world, so why shouldn’t I care about the world too”

And to that, both Gabriel and Bez are FURIOUS. This boy should be kicking off a WAR, not siding with traitors about how the earth is GOOD. Bez goes to head office, and before Satan joins the party, Crowley freezes time. Both he and Zira run up to Adam, glad that he is safe and alive, that he did not end the world. Adam is ready to face off against Satan, and basically yells at him that he’s a shit dad and was never there for him anyways (ya know. like in canon). 

Satan vanishes, and all that is left is the Them, Anathema and Newt (who had come out of the base after stopping the attacks) and Crowley and Zira. Zira tells them all to go back to their houses, or he will inform their parents that they broke into a military base. The three bike away, now with more questions about Adam’s dads than before. Anathema and Newt ask for a ride back into town, a little sheepishly on Newt’s part, to which THAT isn’t happening, with the current state of Crowley’s car. They are all forced to walk back into town, exhausted after such a terrifying ordeal. 

Zira and Crowley know they need a plan, that unless they can personally scare off their head offices, Heaven and Hell will be all over them. They figure out how to swap places, and then Zira gets a phone call about his shop. “It’s ok!” the woman on the other end says, “We had paperwork claiming that your shop had burned down, but someone clearly made an error, because when we checked this morning, it was completely fine. When you get the chance, please check on your shop.”

This is the perfect staging, of course. Maybe the call was made by one of their offices, maybe just a coincidence, but they stay swapped while going to investigate. They leave Adam at home, because he would be safer left behind, and also could end anyone that came to abduct or kill him. Both are taken when they take a stroll in the park, and both are able to come out the other side alive and well, and proving their point to not be played with. They might have been on their own side for a while now, but now they were finally free to say it. When they make it home, they are greeted by Adam and Dog, and for once, don’t have to look over their shoulders, and can just be a family.

[prettyyoungandbored]

You and I {DouglasBooth!Nikki Sixx Chapter Six

Pairing: DouglasBooth!Nikki Sixx x Reader 

Summary:There was a time when all Y/N and Nikki had were themselves and Nikki’s dreams of creating the next great band. What happens when the dream comes alive?

Taglist: @fandomshit6000 @cosmicsskies @tashy-bear@versaceismehoe@thissongitsaboutyou@prettysureimgayxo @divaanya @yoinks-i-dont-feel-so-good @evrsncnewyork @technicallyvirtualmilkshake @keepcalm-and-beyou @itsametaphorbriansblog @tarahell @scarecrowmax @queen-introvert

A/N: Sorry this chapter is late - my puppy has been sick the past couple days and has been in need of some extra loving today. He’s all good now though. This chapter is going to be a little shorter, but I promise next chapter will really get shit moving. Also, I had to make some changes from stuff that happened in the movie. I hope you guys understand. As for the taglist, if I missed you PLEASE do not hesitate to let me know! I am trying to keep a list going and I’m trying to be as organized as possible and want to include everyone who wants to be tagged!

Previous Chapter                 Next Chapter

One Year Later...

“Mötley Crüe, no strangers to controversy, are under fire once again for their latest Satanic song ‘Shout at the Devil’. The group brushed off the accusations, claiming it’s shout at the devil, not with the devil. Parents, be warned, the group continues to play the song on tour with the Prince of Darkness himself.” 

Y/N shut off the television and took another bite of her toast. “It’s amazing what selective hearing can do to a person, let alone a group of people. What’s even funnier is that they don’t realize they’re the inspiration behind it.”

Doc, sitting across from her at the table, chuckled. “You got them talking which is good not just for the band but for you.” He glanced over his shoulder, as if to check something. “Don’t tell Nikki, but I’ve got offers from other record labels wanting you to write for them.” 

“Won’t Elektra be pissed?” she questioned, reaching for her coffee mug. 

He waved his hand. “They’ll live. Besides, it’s not like you signed a contract to write for them exclusively, right?” 

She shrugged. “I’m not sure to be honest. I know Nikki fought for me to get paid for helping them write songs but that’s it.” 

“I’ll have Tom send me a copy to look over. In the meantime, you should consider it.” 

Y/N furrowed her eyebrows and wiped her hands. “Humor me for a moment - what do you get out this? This whole you taking an interest in me. What’s in for it you?” 

Doc made a face. “I’ve been a manager for many years. I’ve watched talented people make mistakes and ruin what could’ve been a great career for them. I’m tired of seeing it and I don’t want to see it happen to the boys and I don’t want to see it happen to you. You walked by a group of people burning some records and calling rock n roll the devil. You took what you saw, took their words, took their emotions and put into a song - a goddamn rock ‘n roll, heavy metal song. One that is currently causing people to feel something - good or bad. That’s a gift you shouldn’t waste.” 

Y/N’s lips curved into a smile. She couldn’t remember the last time someone other than Nikki or the boys showed interest in her work. 

“Also,” Doc began clearing his throat, “you and I are gonna be on the road together a lot and I have feeling we’ll be teaming up to tame the hooligans.” 

She laughed and nodded. “I do have experience in handling drunk Nikki and will be happy to give you tips.”

“I’ve seen enough shit to know how to handle drunk musicians with dark pasts.” 

Y/N tilted her head. “Nikki is not like other artists. Believe me.” 

Doc sighed. “I won’t argue that.” He paused. “You ready for the concert tonight? First one of the tour.” 

The release of the “Shout at the Devil” album made Mötley Crüe a household name. Suddenly, it wasn’t just LA that wanted a piece of them - the world wanted them. Tonight marked the first night of their tour and it was to take place at the Forum. 

She grinned, taking another bite of toast. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”

Hours later and Y/N found herself rubbing Tommy’s back as the kid puked into the trash can in his dressing room.  

“Fuckin’ shit,” he grumbled. 

Just as Y/N grabbed a water bottle to hand to him, Tommy grabbed a beer bottle. Y/N threw her hands up in the air.  “Really?”

She walked out of Tommy’s dressing room, despite his pleadings, and went into Nikki’s. Nikki had been pacing the room, but stopped when Y/N came in. 

“How’s Tommy?” he asked. 

“Still puking his guts out and yet still wants to drink beer so not terrible.” 

Nikki let out a soft chuckle. Y/N furrowed her eyebrows as she came closer to him. “You alright?” 

He sighed. “Just nervous, that’s all. Feel like I’m gonna pass the fuck out or something.” 

Y/N took his hand and set him down on the couch before taking a seat beside him. Her hands gently combed through his teased, jet black hair. He put his head on her shoulder. 

“You’ve earned this,” she told him. “You’ve earned this tour, you’ve earned this recognition, you’ve earned all those thousands of people out there. This is your moment, ok?” 

“What if it all crashes and burns?” he whispered. “What if we just bomb out there and then no one likes us?” 

Y/N fought back her grin. “That’s not gonna happen and you know it.” 

He curled his head toward her. “You still gonna be there if this turns to shit?”

Her hands moved to his cheek. “I’m not going anywhere.”

His head turned towards her. “You’re my person.”

“You’re mine too.”

He leaned in and kissed her. His body turned towards her as his lips continued to attack hers hungrily. He moved on top of her before pulling his lips back. His hands moved up the hem of her little black dress. 

“What can you do in ten minutes?” he whispered. 

She grinned. “Let’s find out.

Standing backstage with minutes until showtime, Y/N, Nikki, Tommy, and Doc stood there in anticipation. Mick peeked out at the curtains and then turned them. 

“We’re gonna fucking die out there,” he grumbled as he made his back toward them. 

Nikki sighed as Y/N rubbed his arm soothingly. Just then, Tom entered. 

“Boys, on behalf of Elektra Records, I just wanna wish you good luck tonight.” He eyed around. “Where’s Vince?” 

“Just saw him in the dressing room getting ready,” Doc answered reassuringly.n

“Well this is your first big show, and there’s 18,000 people out there tonight so please don’t fuck this up.” 

Y/N would’ve killed Tom for saying that last bit, but instead she smiled. “You should look for Vince,” she suggested. 

Tom nodded and went off looking. Y/N glanced over at Nikki. “Just so happen Tom’s skanky date is also nowhere to be seen so put two and two together.” 

Nikki sighed. “I’m gonna fucking kill him. “ 

“Hey,” Doc said, “Fuck all that stuff Tom said. You guys just do what you do.”

Tommy, now excited by Doc’s words, dropped his stick. “Fuck.” 

Doc and Y/N chuckled as Nikki pushed him towards the stage. 

As Nikki and the others got set up, Doc and Y/N stood by one another. She then saw Tom come back to them with his skanky date. A few minutes later Vince, ran past them and made his way to the stage. 

“Think they’re gonna be ok?” Y/N asked Doc, worriedly. 

Just then, Tommy leaned over the rails and puked one last time. Doc chuckled. “Yeah, they will.”

Y/N then dashed to the risers and pulled Nikki away from the huddle he and the boys were in. She cradled his face in her hands and pressed her lips against his. She then pulled back. 

“Knock ‘em dead,” she mumbled, only loud enough for him to hear. 

He pecked her cheek as she ran back down to Doc. 

“You guys are SUPER cute! ” Tom’s date cooed. 

Y/N gave her a smile before whispering to Doc, “Please keep her away from me and Nikki.”

“Ladies and Gentlemen, from Los Angeles, Mötley Crüe!”

The crowd went wild as the boys appeared on stage. Sparks from the stage flew out.  Vince went up to the mic as Mick played the opening chorus to “Shout at the Devil”.  

Shout shout shout

Shout shout shout It shout at the devil

He's the wolf screaming lonely in the night He's the blood stain the stage He's the tear in your eye Been tempted by his lie He's the knife in your back, he's rage He's the razor to the knife Oh lonely is our lives My heads spinnin' round and round But in seasons of wither We'll stand and deliver Be strong and laugh andShout shout shout Shout at the devil Shout shout shoutHe'll be the love in your eyes He'll be the blood between your thighs And then have you cry for more He'll put your strength to the test He'll put the thrill back in death Sure you've heard it all before He'll be the risk in the kiss Might be anger on your lips Might run scared for the door But in seasons of wither We'll stand and deliver Be strong and laugh and Shout shout shout Shout at the devil Shout shout shout Shout at the devil

Shout shout shout Shout at the devil Shout shout shout Shout at the devil

Shout shout shout Shout at the devil Shout shout shout Shout at the devil

Shout shout shout Shout shout shout Shout shout shout Shout shout shout Shout shout shout Shout shout shout

Y/N could feel tears form in her eyes as she clapped along with the rest of the audience. Nikki’s dream had come alive. 

[darkdevasofdestruction]

Day 31 : Not Lonely Anymore - Obey Me! Brothers

"Why the gloom face, Kat?" Mammon asked as I stared blankly at my phone, playing a game absent-mindedly. "...I'm just tired, I guess." I muttered, not wanting to look at the white haired man. "Haven't slept enough, huh? Well, c'mon, maybe you just overworked yourself with studying again. I mean, chillax a bit, you're just like Lucifer sometimes, but I can't take care of you all the time...Wait, actually, I can...Huh..." Mammon caressed his non-existent beard, almost as if he just had a revelation. "Well...I and Lucifer are very much alike. Sometimes it's scary when I realise just how very alike we are. I'm sure you, of all people, realised that, haven't you?" I sighed, dragging my hands down my face in exasperation. "Yeah, 'course I did! That's what worries me, sometimes! But, hey, at least you ain't got some sort of unhealthy obsession with Lord Diavolo...You don't, do you?" Mammon's eyes widened in mock shock, and I got to my feet, signaling for the man to come to dinner with me in the dinner room, where we met the other brothers.

"What are you all doing these days?" I asked, pushing around my food with a fork. "I'm going to sleep." Belphie spoke, as Beel munched on food, as usual. "I'm cooking and have a reservation at Hell's Kitchen and a match soon." "I have some friends inviting me on a trip, and Asmo's coming with me since there are clubs there." Satan pointed out simply, barely lifting his gaze from his book. "I have work to do...Gotta repay some debts...And Lucifer is burried in work as usual. And Levi ain't here 'cause some new game appeared and he hasn't left the room in 3 days already." Mammon explained for the older brothers, and I could only look down and nod in agreement. "Seems like y'all are incredibly busy during this time of the year...Oh, wait, my phone's ringing...? My human world phone...?" I muttered, getting up and walking around the room. "Yeah, hey, how are things?" I asked softly, not really wanting my conversation to be heard by the demons."Oh, hey, well...I wanted to tell you that I can't come to your birthday anymore. I know, I know, I promised you months ago that I will come, but, uh...My boyfriend made a reservation to the mountains for ski and I couldn't refuse...Y'know, I didn't just want to stay home like a lonely depressed loser on New Year's." the self-proclaiemed best friend of mine said in a whiny voice, but it was obvious she couldn't care less about me and she had her priorities set since the second she got together with the guy. "...That's alright...There's always next year...Or the year after...And so on. Have fun on your trip. Bye." I told her, hanging up the phone and staring at the screen, gritting my teeth in betrayal, disappointment and anger. "Like a lonely depressed loser, huh..." I muttered to myself, robotically exiting the room and going to mine, getting on my laptop to unwind a bit by waching "The Real HouseSuccubi of Devildom", only to receive a text from the other friend who was supposed to come to my birthday, only to say she didn't realise my party was on the 2nd, not on the 3rd, as is my actual birthday, so she couldn't come anymore, as she was too busy with many other parties. 

Great.

Guess they're right.

I really am the only lonely depressed loser from all groups of so called friends that I have.As tomorrow is December 31st, and I had to do some New Year's and Birthday shopping, I packed my laptop and other gadgets and made my way to Diavolo's Castle, only to be stopped by Lucifer, as we bumped into each other in one of the many golden corridors. 

"Did Lord Diavolo request a meeting with you too, Katrina?" Lucifer asked, but I could only shake my head, not feeling up to chatting. "No. I want to tell him to get me home for a week. No big deal, really." I shrugged simply, knocking and walking together in the Demon Prince's office, and telling him my request, which he accepted, but his eyes showed a bit of concern and skepticism that I chose to completely ignore. "That's right, I believe humans celebrate New Year's every year, correct?" Lucifer asked, widening his eyes in realisation. “...Yeah.” I nodded, hoping to have this interrogation ending already. “I suppose you’re going to gather around with your friends and celebrate, correct? That’s what humans do with these kinds of festivities, from what I gathered.” the brunet continued, which made me sigh and roll my eyes in exasperation. “Yeah. That’s if you have friends. If not, you’re a lonely depressed loser who spends every festivity at home, alone, watching crappy TV shows, drinking cheap alcohol and eating pizza and ice cream until you can’t eat anymore. Fun, isn’t it? Now, can I go, already? Yes? Thank you, bye.” I gave them a sarcastic, overly exaggerated grin, waving a bit before stepping into the portal and finding myself back in my world, inside my apartment. “...Welcome home, bitch.” I muttered to myself, taking a deep sigh and opening all windows to get fresh air in, while I’d go and order a shit ton of alcohol and cheap frozen pizza boxes.

This is absolutely tragic and miserable, and I absolutely hate it. Not that I’m surprised, really. Not even one bit. If I’m fated to be forever alone and living in ultimate misery, might as well do it in style like doctor Gregory House - Drinking booze, all alone, eating snacks and watching the Real Housewives of whatever bitchin’ U.S. state I can find, starting with Beverly Hills.

Episodes passed by fast, seasons as well, and bottles and boxes were discarded to the floor at an indefinite rate, since I completely extracted myself from real life, choosing to turn off my phones and keeping them in another room, and I had no wall clocks, so the only way to estimate time was the darkness outside... And considering the drapes were closed and the only lights from the house were coming from the big Smart TV and the mini disco ball I had from the year before, that I had placed in the middle of the living room table, that, if you were to look at the rapidly moving, colourful dots from the walls, you’d get high as a kite without even having to snort a white line.

Gosh, this is boring.

Oh, hear that, it’s midnight already, they’re shooting fireworks outside -... Ah, right, I forgot to buy some myself. Well, doesn’t matter, ain’t like I can enjoy them with anyone.

What was that quote...

‘There’s always next year’

That’s what my grandparents would say when I was little and they didn’t want to come to see me on my birthday. 

There’s always next year.

But there was no next year since then, because they disowned me and my parents because of some petty fight.

How great life without a family is.

There’s always next year...To make new friends, to get a boyfriend, to find a purpose in life that isn’t simply overworking yourself until you collapse on the spot, that isn’t...Being a lonely depressed loser...

And, ideally, not being such a pity-wallowing idiot, like I am now. 

I had no idea how long I stood on the couch, lounging around, the thin blanket over my head and watching, without paying much attention, tv TV show, I head a loud pop and suddenly, the lights got turned on in my apartment, making me squeak and put the blanket over my face so my eyes wouldn’t be burning anymore.

“Is that how humans celebrate? Pretty lame if you ask me.” the familiar voice of Asmodeus was heard, and I could only groan in annoyance. “Well, I’m SORRY for offending you, Queen Bee, but not everyone is liked by all the people in the world, and not everyone has FRIENDS! Yes, this is fucking pathetic, but what the hell am I supposed to do anyway? This is what all my celebrations look like since all my friends got boyfriends and they clearly don’t give a flying fuck about me. Why are y’all here anyway? Get the hell back to your stupid work, I don’t need everyone to see how much of a lonely depressed loser I am.” after my angry outburst, I hid back in my blanket, covering my face, hoping that my form wouldn’t be trembling like a sad and angry chihuahua trying to be intimidating. “Wait, hold up, didn’t you say you were having a birthday party in a few days? With friends and all that?” Mammon asked, dropping on the couch next to me. “Yeah, well, I cancelled it. Everyone’s too busy to come. They got boyfriends. Even if they promised to come, I’m nobody’s first option and I’ll never me. I’m resigned to that, I know I’ll always be the lonely depressed loser, as my friends called it, so there’s that. Now, if you’ll PLEASE leave me the hell alone and weep in self-pity, I would be really grateful. Bye.” I emphasised the word that was supposed to make them understand and bugger off, but, instead, the other 6 brothers plopped down on the couched, squeezing each other and crawling all over me. “Well, they aren’t real friends, are they? The Lord of Shadows would never treat Henry so terribly! The Lord of Shadows stay by Henry’s side through all the good and bad moments without fail!” Levi preached, making me chuckle slightly, despite the tears that were welling up in my eyes. “Besides, you kinda became our family, so no matter what, you are our first priority, even if we don’t really show it.” Belphie smiled softly, taking off the blanket from my head and stroking my hair. “You are a special person and you deserve to be treated as such. Perhaps humans are too narrow-minded and blind to see it, but we do. You’re always so sweet, quiet and kind, that when you can’t hold your emotions anymore and they got too bottled up, it shows how miserable and stressed out you are. I get it. And you at the dinner table...You were really sad.” Satan spoke from one of the couch arm rests, hoping to make me feel better. “Not to mention, when we were in Diavolo’s room, you were really on the edge. We may have things to do, but they’re all pretty usual and mundane, so they can be put aside for a later time. Humans don’t live as long as we do, so we take time for granted, but when you should cherish every second you’re alive, living with such depression isn’t the right way to go.” Lucifer smiled like a kitten trying to reassure me. “Yeah, even Lord Diavolo got worried when he heard you speak, Lucifer said, and wanted to make sure you’re okay, so he had Barbatos bake some sweets for you.” Beel grinned, pointing to the tons of cakes placed on my table. “You’ve been more cheerful whenever you were in the Devildom, but here, it feels like you’re always so sad, and I hate seeing you like this. You deserve so much better than the way they’re treating you, Kat!” Asmo hugged me tightly, and I could only scoff. “Yeah, that’s what I hear all the time from everyone. You deserve better. Good, then why don’t you treat me better?! If I truly deserved better, you would treat me better! ...Everyone’s such a hypocrite nowadays...It’s impossible to find anyone genuine here.” I complained about my shit experience with people. “Well, y’know, people suck, right? Looks like they suck more than demons do, and we’re all sins, damn it! Anyway, you have as now, Kat, so who cares about them? You belong with us, at least we care about you even when we’re pissing you off. And we’d never abandon you like that, ‘specially on your birthday! Hey, Kat look at me...Now, smile. Yeah, like that.” Mammon told me to smile, but he pinched my cheeks and forced a wide and kinda painful grin on my face, only to make me chuckle nonetheless. “...Thanks, guys. I owe you.” I muttered, looking down and trying to hide my face a bit, but the guys hugged me, making me finally feel happy and warm. “You owe us nothing, Katrina, just to try to find happiness in other places other than this miserable Earth.” Lucifer advised me, and I couldn’t help but smile and nod. “Yeah...I will. I’m sure I will. Everything’s better when demons are involved.” I joked, shrugging my shoulders dramatically, as the others laughed at my comment, and finally, we could start a proper party with deafeningly loud music, dancing and hella on point food.

Who’s the lonely depressed loser now, bitch?

[magaprima]

Do you know who exactly is Madam Satan in the comics? I know she's someone completely different from the tv series character, like Edward's former lover or something like that but what about her backstory? Something in common with Caos Lilith?

I do, but not because I’ve read the comics myself. I’m not a big comic person in general, but I did look into CAOS comics, because I wanted to know whether we’d get more info than from the show, but then I realised it was so different that it was essentially pointless, haha. And that is how I found out who Madam Satan is and also from other people who have read the comics. 

I’m actually not a fan of Madam Satan’s story. The idea that after she gets spurned by Edward (when he chooses Diana over her, for his own reasons, but that’s by the by) she throws herself into a pit and all her motivations are over this bitterness at being rejected. Like the woman’s entire narrative is driven by her worth being defined by a man and I am not here for that. I get people love the comics, and I’m not judging that, it’s just for me personally, the story is not my type of thing at ll. 

I mean she commits suicide because a man doesn’t choose her? She throws herself into a pit of lions and is eaten alive. Like seriously, woman? You don’t need no man, go find yourself, go have some single lady fun. She’s then in Gehenna for ages (special hell for suicides because religion decided that was a torment worthy act) until she’s accidentally released. So even her being freed is not her own action, it’s something that happens to her. She then kills Edward (he’s trapped in a tree rather than dead in the comics...until she burns him) and causes Diana torment where she’s in a mental asylum (whole other story there as regards Edward and Diana) and then poses as a Ms Porter, a teacher, to get close to Sabrina for the sole purpose of punishing all the Spellmans simply because she was ‘spurned’ by Edward. 

To be frank I feel like Lilith would look at Iola (Madam Satan’s real name) and roll her eyes heavily and utterly dismiss her, because the woman is all about a man. And we’ve seen how Lilith reacts to those doing everything for a boy. She can’t roll her eyes hard enough.

I, personally, much prefer the series version of ‘Madam Satan’ (even though as I said in a post how I believe Lilith now resents that title, and I personally always call her Lilith), because her character in general is more interesting to me and more likeable, and also I’ve always loved the Lilith myth and folklore, and I really enjoyed them bringing that into their mythology (and as I’ve said many times, had their Lilith not be pure-evil-end-the-world and also not be played by a freaking 20 year old), so very glad they deviated.

[theworkofxanderking]

The Originals: Bad Blood (Alternative Season 5)

Episode 9: 731 Days

Warnings: I do not own the original content to “The Originals”, “The Vampire Diaries” or “Legacies” or any of the characters from the television shows.

15 plus, displays of Violence, Gore, Torture, M/M, F/M, F/F.

Day 14

Rebekah had Augustus tied to a cross in Saint Charles Church located within the ghost town turned prison world Helton his body heavily bleeding and cut and bruised in several places while Rebekah taunted him with a knife she was holding as Nathaniel walked into the church.

“You do realize you’re just going to torture him to death and then the day will repeat itself and he’ll be alive again.” Nathaniel told her while walking towards her.

“True but then I’d literally have nothing else to do.” Rebekah responded before plunging her knife into Augustus’ chest causing him to scream in pain. “I am curious to why a church has so much torture equipment.”

“In fairness Rebekah you turn everything into a weapon.” Nathaniel replied while ignoring his father’s screams.

“We’ve been here for two weeks now and your yet to tell me anything about this little town of yours.” Rebekah said to him as she pulled her knife out of Augustus’ chest and slit his throat causing him to bleed out within seconds and silencing his screams in the process. “I’m beginning to work this place out for myself slowly, but it would be far easier if you just told me.”

“This place used to be a home a long time ago until it wasn’t.” Nathaniel admitted clearly hiding something from his friend.

“A clearly satanic church, a rundown hotel which we are forced to call home and woods which whisper. This is not a normal town is it?” Rebekah asked. “What’s in the woods? The spirits of your zombie friends.”

“Woods which whisper if only you could hear yourself Rebekah.” Nathaniel scoffed. “It’s just a normal town that got abandoned like many other towns.”

“I will find out what your hiding Nathaniel and for your sake it better not be another Malus witch or a long-lost bloody sibling of mine.” Rebekah stated making her intentions clear.

Day 182

It had been half a year since Nathaniel, Rebekah and Augustus first found themselves trapped within the ghost town of Helton and luckily for Augustus Rebekah’s attentions switched from torturing him to uncovering the secrets of the town in which her friend Nathaniel and her brother Henrik once called home.

She knew there was something especially eery to Helton some reason to why it had become a ghost town in those six months she researched in the rundown library, scoured the woods endlessly and turned every abandoned home upside down numerous times but it wasn’t until she went deep within the woods that she uncovered something she never knew existed within the ghost town she had been forced to call her home.

Rebekah went deep into the woods deeper than before until she came to the end of the woods and found herself staring at a small farm with an even smaller home on the land instantly sending her chills down her back and that was before Augustus walked out the front door of the farm home.

“182.” He shouted at her as he began walking towards her and her towards him.

“What the bloody hell are you shouting about?” She asked him while continuing to look around the abandoned farm.

“182 days it took you to finally find this place.” Augustus replied to her. “I had you finding it sooner, but those woods do tend to play tricks on the mind.”

“What is this place anyway?” Rebekah quizzed the Malus witch.

“You really do know nothing about this place.” Augustus responded with a laugh. “You can’t blame my son he gets his distrust from me.”

“He gets it from running from you for a thousand years.” Rebekah snapped at him.

“This little farm is my home or at least at one stage in my life it was my home although it wasn’t here when Nathaniel lived here or at least the second time he lived here.” Augustus revealed to her before out of nowhere Rebekah and Augustus found themselves in the woods once again. “And I guess it’s gone once again.”

“What the bloody hell is with this town?” Rebekah asked while looking around the woods in confusion. “I thought we’re cut off from all magic.”

“We’re not talking about magic when it comes to this place we’re talking about pain, loss, rage and death the four most powerful forces in the world.” Augustus revealed. “Helton really puts the ghost in ghost town the land itself is cursed by the blood of my wife.”

“The Other Side is gone how is that even possible?” Rebekah quizzed knowing the answers would just make her more confused.

“This is where I murdered my betrothed and it’s also the land in which several terrible acts were committed not just by me but by your brother and my son. I may have cursed this land, but they made sure the curse was never broken.” Augustus explained to her. “My wife was a powerful witch who feared her own death at my hands and bound herself to this land before I killed her only, she didn’t just bind herself she bound everyone who died to this land for centuries.”

“So, this place is freaking haunted by a curse that’s not broken by the whole no magic deal?” Rebekah asked.

“It may have started as a spell, but it grew into something far worse it grew into Malus.” Augustus admitted. “This town is the source to our power this is where the Malus witches were slaughtered by me after my wife’s death and this is where they remained. Malus was only meant to be a magic opposite to nature to keep a balance however I manipulated it to my own gain to possess unseen power but now there’s no magic in place draining the land we are left with just ghosts very angry ghosts.”

“The whispering woods are the spirits of people you killed.” Rebekah realized.

“People myself, Henrik and Nathaniel all killed yes although mostly me.” Augustus revealed to the original vampire turned human by their prison.

“Why are you telling me all this?” She asked clearly not trusting of a man she believed was more monster than man.

“Without magic I am as human as you are and since you’ve stopped torturing me…” Augustus began to say.

“You’re lonely,” Rebekah scoffed while rolling her eyes. “Imagine how lonely it would be on the run for a thousand years.”

“Imagine how lonely it would be being possessed by darkness for a thousand years.” Augustus told her and, in that moment,, Rebekah began to see a man within the monster who had made her friend’s life hell for so long a man within the monster who had made his own son’s life hell for most of his life.

Day 243

8 months had passed in Helton and things weren’t getting any better for the three remaining residents Rebekah Mikaelson had managed to form a wedge between herself and Nathaniel due to her newfound and reluctant alliance with his father Augustus but despite how much she long to repair her fractured friendship she wanted to return to her family more and Nathaniel wasn’t willing to help leave this prison he had helped create for them all.

Nathaniel Malin would’ve loved to leave Helton behind and find Henrik once again, but he knew that would mean allowing his father back out into the world and that was not an option for him. He knew if they remained within the ghost town his father nor himself would cause anymore harm and that they’d both be free from the darkness that lured their lives. That never stopped him worrying about the man he claimed as his son but deep down he had faith in Elijah being able to save Henrik from himself.

Augustus Malin was a story that witches told their children in the night a tale of too much power leading to destruction of oneself. He was considered a monster and rightly, so the man killed his coven, murdered his own wife and hunted his own son for a thousand years all in the name of claiming more power. However, without that magic, without the darkness corrupting his very soul he was just a man who did terrible things which now weighed heavy on his soul. Augustus sought out redemption but neither Nathaniel nor Rebekah were going to give that to him easily.

Nathaniel sat on his rocking chair with a blanket around him outside of his run down cabin that was placed just before the Helton woods as he watched the flames burn on the large bonfire he had built when he noticed his father Augustus walking towards his home.

“Unless you’re here to provide yourself as kindling for my fire then I suggest you walk straight back around.” Nathaniel warned him.

“I proposed to your mother around a bonfire just like this one.” Augustus revealed to him.

“You don’t get to mention her name you lost that right when you killed her.” Nathaniel snapped at his father as he stood up to face him.

“She was a remarkable woman, stubborn, brave and fearless just like you.” Augustus continued while walking closer towards his son.

“Oh, I was filled with fear for a thousand years wondering each day if it was my last if my father was going to kill me.” Nathaniel admitted to him. “You took my mother from me and then you took my life from me. My entire existence has been outrunning you and nothing else.”

“I’m not using this as an excuse of any kind but once the Malus takes a hold as you know there’s this undeniable darkness that consumes you. I didn’t have that darkness before I killed my own wife nor my coven on this very land however I was consumed by it by the time I began hunting you.” Augustus told his son. “How else do you think a baby managed to escape me? Because I let you go to a witch who hid you from me knowing one day, I would no longer feel that love and only the darkness.”

“So, what? You expect me to be grateful because you couldn’t kill me as a baby?” Nathaniel snapped.

“You have a million reasons to hate me for the rest of eternity Nathaniel and no-one would ever blame you, but I have a million reasons why I love you my son.” Augustus explained to the son he had spent most of his life hunting. “You lost your mother at my hands, then you lost the family that raised you and spent your life on the run and yet you still managed to love you still managed to find yourself some form of family.”

“Because I’d never allow you to beat me.” Nathaniel replied with pure hatred in his eyes for his father.

“I admire that more than you could ever imagine even when I had no emotions, I admired that.” Augustus told him. “I wish I could rewrite our history; I wish I could stop myself from killing your mother and my coven. Your mother truly was remarkable just like you.”

“Then why kill her?” Nathaniel asked with tears forming in her eyes. “Why on earth would you kill her?”

“She was a Malus witch too, a beautiful raven-haired woman with skin so pale it was like it had never been touched by sun, her lips blood red. Her name was Clara.” Augustus said while revealing Nathaniel’s mother’s name to his son for the first time. “She had a vision of well I guess me becoming the monster I am today and she wanted to run with you I never meant to kill her but I was fighting to keep you and one thing lead to another and…”

“You killed her.” Nathaniel said as her voice began to break. “She was your first taste of Malus power.”

“And from then on I needed more and more until it consumed me.” Augustus admitted much to his own disgust and his son’s horror.

Day 365

An entire year had passed, and Rebekah was still trapped in Helton alongside warring father and son Augustus and Nathaniel although a lot had changed in four months.

Rebekah had found her friendship with Nathaniel fully restored which was far from easy considering she did kill him that one time but risking eternity in a prison world for him proved to be quite the deal breaker even if Nathaniel didn’t like her growing friendship with the man who murdered his mother and tried to kill him.

Rebekah was still adamant there was a key, trick or loophole in which she would find that would lead her out of the ghost town once and for all refusing to give up on her family and striking up an unlikely friendship with Augustus in the process.

Augustus was far from the monster he once was he showed care for Rebekah and a longing for reconciliation with his son although Rebekah denied her care for him out of respect to Nathaniel who avoided his father like a plague and in a small town like Helton his avoidance was rather impressive.

Augustus without Malus was just a normal man who had done monstrous things and although neither Rebekah nor Nathaniel would admit it, they had begun to see the man within the monster.

Nathaniel stood in front of the rundown Helton Hotel within the town center of Helton looking at the building with a sense of reminiscence the building clearly meaning a lot to him with a history running deep into his heart.

“Out of all the places I catch you lurking around here this bloody hotel tends to be your number one spot.” Rebekah said to him while walking up to him from behind having walked from the direction leading towards the Helton woods.

“And I always find you either coming in or out of the woods.” Nathaniel replied while turning to face his friend. “How many times has it led you there?”

“A few times not before it kicks me out it tends to kick Augustus out too; I figure you’re the one it wants to visit not us.” Rebekah revealed to him.

“I know I’m a Malus witch and with that comes a certain level of macabre but even I am not willing to visit the scene of my mother’s murder at the hands of my own father.” Nathaniel admitted.

“Trust me I understand that,” Rebekah replied before looking at the hotel. “So, what’s the deal with this place? I know your big on secrets but one little slip up is hardly going to be the undoing of this bloody prison world.”

“The hotel once belonged to me in one of my many attempts to live a human life,” Nathaniel said with a sigh of sadness. “I didn’t know the land was cursed at first or that it was the town in which so many of my kind were slaughtered by my father.”

“What happened here why was this place abandoned?” Rebekah quizzed him.

“It wasn’t abandoned the townspeople still reside here they just reside among the dead.” Nathaniel explained to her. “I was under the illusion Henrik and I could live a normal life here my worshipers told me of a land my father never dared step foot and so we moved here. I was genuinely happy here running this little hotel and dealing with the miserable townsfolk but like it does so many times disaster struck as Henrik’s darkness grew stronger.”

“He slaughtered the entire town I guess mass murdering really does run in the family.” Rebekah responded.

“Not all some survived his violent outburst but I couldn’t let them escape Helton flee and then spread word of what had happened after all we were in hiding so I murdered the remaining survivors and buried their bodies in the woods with a cloaking spell.” Nathaniel revealed. “It was big story back then how an entire town vanished from out of sight becoming something of an urban legend until it started to slip from people’s minds. Ironic how I made them disappear and now we’ve disappeared with the town itself.”

Day 425

Two months had passed since Nathaniel’s bloody revelation to Rebekah and their friendship had grown stronger than ever because of it.

Rebekah revealed her loves and losses over the years to him while he admitted he had only ever loved one man truly and that was her brother Klaus Mikaelson. She told him of the near calls and horrors of her own father hunting her while Nathaniel shared his own father horror stories. Rebekah complained about the many struggles of being Klaus, Elijah and Kol’s sister for a thousand years while Nathaniel admitted to the burden of playing father to the mass murdering Henrik.

It was as if a thousand years had never passed and Rebekah and Nathaniel were as close now as they were back in their human years if not closer. However, Nathaniel remained distant from his father until one day he went deep into the woods.

Nathaniel was reluctant at first but after many conversations with Rebekah he decided to go into the woods and continued to roam until he found himself out of the woods and on to the run-down farm that Rebekah and his father had previously visited.

He had no memory of the place in which he was born and yet he felt a connection to the place as he walked towards the farmhouse he began having flashbacks of a woman running across the field holding a baby covered in cloth the woman looking terrified while trying to soothe her crying child only for Augustus to appear as if from out of nowhere right in front of her.

“If only I saw the monster within the man sooner.” The woman said to Nathaniel as she appeared in front of him and was no longer in his flashbacks.

“Mum,” Nathaniel said to her as tears formed in his eyes. “How is this even possible? This place is free from magic I had a powerful witch see to it myself.”

“The afterlife holds a very different magic to that of witches.” She revealed to him. “As to why I’m here instead of finding some peace well that answer lies within my own blame. I’m trapped here for as long as your father walks this earth because of a spell I was foolish enough to believe would help me be around for you somehow.”

“I always wondered what you would look like what you would be like if you regretted having me.” He cried. “I mean it’s because of me that you died if you weren’t trying to save me you would never have died that way.”

“Oh, my darling Nathaniel you hold no blame in any of this you were just a baby born to a cruel world filled with malice.” She explained to her son. “If I knew what your father would become if I knew what giving birth to you would lead to I’d do it all over again because you got to live and that’s all a mother wants for their child.”

“But I’ve not lived mother not really I’ve spent centuries on the run longing for a life but never really getting one because of him.” Nathaniel admitted. “And now I’m trapped here forever but at least I’m finally reunited with you.”

“You’re not trapped here forever,” Clara revealed to her son while placing her hand on his cheek to comfort him in his time of need. “There’s always a loophole when it comes to any spell and it just so happens, I know how you and your friend can leave this place behind forever and finally get to live your life however you choose.”

“How?” Nathaniel asked clearly eager to know the answer.

“The spell was created to hold your father and therefore can be broken by his death.” Clara made clear to him.

“But Rebekah killed him a bunch of times and he just came back the next day.” Nathaniel told his mother.

“A Malus witch can only truly be killed by a Malus witch they made sure of long before even your father’s and my time.” Clara confessed. “For you and Rebekah to be rid of this town and be free you’re going to need to kill your father.”

Day 547

The First year in Helton had been and gone and Rebekah, Nathaniel and Augustus were nearing their second with only six months to go.

Rebekah had found ways to pass the time she spent in this ghost town turned prison world as her reluctant bond with Augustus took an unexpected passionate turn beginning a sordid affair they both knew to keep hidden from Nathaniel knowing he’d feel betrayed for many reasons; one being Rebekah was his only friend and another being Augustus was well Augustus.

Augustus knew Rebekah had no feelings for him and he had none for her but their time together they both cherished making them feel anything other than completely and utterly alone.

Nathaniel was not one for helping anyone feeling less lonely having struggled in recent months after being told by the spirit of his mother he had to kill his father which surprisingly to him he had found himself not wanting to do. His hatred for the man had dwindled as he started to see him as another victim of the all-consuming Malus which he too possessed.

Nathaniel felt guilty towards his mother for not particularly wanted to kill the man who murdered her, furious with his father for making himself more human to him and even more guilty towards Rebekah knowing how much she wanted to be reunited with her family but not willing to make the sacrifice needed for her family reunion this time around.

Rebekah climbed off Augustus’ naked body before falling to the floor of the abandoned church, so she was lying next to him with nothing but a sheet covering their sweaty naked bodies having quite clearly just having sex.

“I can’t quite decide whether torturing you or sleeping with you is more enjoyable.” Rebekah joked before kissing Augustus passionately. “Definitely the torture part.”

“Well I certainly prefer one to the other however both don’t require much sleeping.” Augustus said with a smirk before kissing Rebekah once more.

“Oh, bloody hell,” Rebekah groaned as Augustus began kissing her neck. “Nathaniel is going to kill us both.”

Day 730

Two years had officially gone by and Helton was still the only place Rebekah, Augustus and Nathaniel called home unable or unwilling on Nathaniel’s part to break the curse that kept them in the ghost town turned prison world.

Nathaniel had grown rather fond of the peace and quiet and took his time to read several books from what remained of Helton’s library and would often attempt Rebekah’s hand at reading some literature leading to a book club of sorts being formed between the two and Nathaniel quickly noticed Rebekah’s only genre of literature she had any interest in was that of romance perfectly fitting for the girl who normally fell in love too easily.

Nathaniel sat on a bench just outside the decaying building which was one a store within the town center while reading “Wuthering Heights” the book itself looking as old as when it was first released in 1847 which is when Nathaniel more than likely purchased this book.  He was so engrossed within the story he hadn’t noticed his father Augustus walking up the street towards him until it was too late, and Augustus was in front of him.

“I’d be careful about seeking out all consuming passions they tend to consume you in ways not written in books.” Augustus said to him as Nathaniel closed his book and stood up to face his father.

“Ironic that the king of consumption wants to advise me on that particular topic.” Nathaniel replied coldly.

“Your snaps are getting less sharp my son either your growing lazy or your starting to hate me less.” Augustus responded with a smile.

“Don’t worry father my hate for you grows stronger with every day that goes by.” Nathaniel said to his father, a statement which neither of them believed.

Their altercation was quickly interrupted when they saw Rebekah walk past them holding a sledgehammer looking like a furious woman on a mission forcing them both to follow her in a quest to find out what she was up to.

Nathaniel and Augustus continued to follow Rebekah step for step right through the town center and towards the road leaving Helton knowing she couldn’t be trying to leave having given up with this method within the first weeks of being trapped there.

They continued to follow Rebekah right up to the Helton graffiti-ed sign with nothing behind it but woods and forestry before she began screaming frantically as she wielded the sledgehammer at the sign multiple times leaving the sign dented in the process before Nathaniel and Augustus managed to walk over to her, Augustus taking the sledgehammer off the furious Mikaelson woman.

“I hate it here!” She screamed. “I hate this miserable little ghost town; I hate the infuriating spirits who never bloody show themselves. I hate everything about this god forsaken town, and I want the hell out right now!”

“I know how to break the spell.” Augustus reluctantly admitted.

“You do?” Nathaniel asked, shocked to know he wasn’t the only one with the answer.

“Are you serious?” Rebekah questioned while attempting to pull herself together after her recent outburst. “Well do tell us.”

“The spell can only be broken by Nathaniel he has to kill me.” Augustus revealed much to Rebekah and Nathaniel’s shock.

Day 731

“Are you sure about this?” Nathaniel asked his father while he held a knife in his hand as the two of them and Rebekah stood within the ever-moving Helton Farm, the same farm in which Augustus had taken the life of Nathaniel’s mother.

“I took a magic once known only as opposite to nature our witches drew from death which is a natural process. I took that magic and I bastardized it to make myself more powerful at first, I only wanted to keep you but once I got a taste of true death I became addicted and therefore created the Malus in which we practice. I cursed this land by my own actions, I took your mother, your coven and your family.” Augustus admitted to his son. “It’s only right that my permanent death will not only free you to live a wonderful life but will restore the natural balance well and truly.”

“I’ve been running from you for so wrong I lost count of how many times I wished you dead and now I’m struggling to do the deed.” Nathaniel replied as tears formed in both his and his father’s eyes. “I do not blame you for the all-consuming darkness that consumed you, but I do thank you for your sacrifice. I wish you had a chance to be my father.”

“I do too,” Augustus revealed making tears form in Rebekah’s eyes. “I may have never been a father to you, but you have always been the most amazing son I could ever have asked for.”

Nathaniel lifted his hand that was holding the knife before cutting his father’s neck open with it harshly and quickly forcing him to fall to the ground and bleed out as tears fell down Nathaniel’s cheeks. Before Rebekah had a chance to comfort her grieving friend both her and Rebekah found themselves on a dead-end road with nothing but trees and forestry behind them.

The exact same spot in which Hope, Klaus and Bonnie stood two years and one day ago.

“Nathaniel,” Rebekah shouted as she looked down to see her belly which had what looked like at least a six-month pregnancy bump. “What the bloody hell?”