#but I forgot my book in my room :( oh well to enjoy the sun regardless is a pleasure

[theblob1958]

everybuddy shut up. new carly rae jepsen. be at peace with the world

[elysianslove]

hi! how have you been since the hell that ensued after halloween is?

also could you do a batboys college au? like their major and how the reader would meet them and all that jazz? 👉👈

-🐥

hi anon!! i’m not sure what ur talking about @ the halloween stuff hvsdhjs but! here are the batboys hc’s! i’m not very familiar with duke thomas’s character enough to write about him tbh, so he’s not included here :( but if you want me to add him let me know!! i hope you enjoy!!

dick grayson

out of all the batboys i really didn’t know how to choose a major for him

but

i think he’d do law tbh, specifically criminal law 

his main motivation to become a police officer in bludhaven had been to be able to help people in any way he can 

i forgot if it’s canon or not but he does realize how corrupt it is and he quits but that’s another thing we won’t get into that lmao 

anyways yes let’s just stick with law 

meeting you ! 

he shares one or two courses with you

one that’s really early in the morning 

and one that’s later on in the afternoon 

dick is like a magnetic okay

anywhere he goes people are just attracted to him

like literally he will breathe 

but someone call the ambulance there’s a person that’s passed out bc of how beautiful he is

but this is an 8 am class 😃

so there’s no way ur awake enough to notice him

coincidentally he sits next to you one time

and this is the one time

you decide

yeah lemme just fkn sleep is uni even worth it 

dick definitely notices right away but he doesn’t say anything 

he thinks you look so cute passed out on your desk like this 🥺

when the professor signals the end of the class, he watches as people file out and then he just leans over and nudges you slightly 

you nearly punch him bc he scared you ❤️

he just laughs and goes “class is over” 

you just sigh like the guilt starts to hit you and your heart begins to sink

and he sees your disappointed face and just goes 

“i took a lot notes. i can share them w you?”

lifesaver in every single way dick grayson 😻😻😻

you had another class that you had to run to and you were rushing

he was like “dw i’ll just give them to you whenever i see you next” 

and you 🏃🏻‍♀️ outta there

imagine ur surprise when u enter class at 12 pm and he’s there in all his glory 

after the lecture is over, he walks up to you as you’re packing and asks if you want to go to the coffee shop nearby 

to take his notes of course

and you finally register just how handsome he is 

so obviously you say yes wtf

and the rest is history 😼

he asks you out, properly, pretty early on tbh 

so unfazed lmfao 

now you take naps on his shoulder instead of the desk 💞💞💞

soooo into pda 

kisses u when he first sees you

when you’re parting ways

when he feels like it

straight up cuddles w during lectures i’m not even joking 

it’s disgusting how cute you two are 

gets you coffee for all those 8 am classes u have w him hehe

study dates always turn into karaoke sessions somehow don’t even ask lmao

jason todd

english literature 

this is a collective agreement right? 

right

definitely english literature 

i dont even think he wants to go to uni but he’s going to waste time plus this is bruce’s money 😏🤑

your major doesn’t necessarily have to be english literature as well

but you share one class

and my god 

you two disagree on everything

like every little thing

at this point if he says something and you slightly agree internally you’ll still say some opposing shit 

that’s kinda what draws you to him 

at first you genuinely had nothing against him

but then this kind of rivalry developed for no specific reason 

but it was fun

and he was hot

so seeing him get flustered or angry made him even hotter somehow 

but then

but t h e n

you’re not sure if your professor like ships you or something

so you’re assigned a debate topic on one of the books you’d discussed in class/one of the books you’ve read outside, and within each group are the two sides for and against 

not only were you in the same team as jason, but you were on the same side as him

so you had to work with him

the audacity of the professor omg 

but jason needs this course 

and 

well you don’t but it’s too late to back out now 

you two meet in the campus library after deciding on a book with the other two of your team

and 

honestly??? 

you two work so well together 

like insanely well

during the debate you destroyed the other team 

spoiler alert 

doing so well with jason kinda made you like hot and bothered 

seeing him in his zone

sexy <3 

what i mean to say is

you both end up making out in some storage room lmfao 

or hate sex 😏

professor has a phd in matchmaking 🤔😻

i think you two don’t admit you like each other

bc you’re both stubborn as fuck

but eventually you’re literally on his lap on his couch and it just hits you

and you lean back and go

“wanna go out w me” 

and he just shrugs and goes “sure” and pulls you in for more kissing hehe

he’s not v good at the boyfriend thing tbh

you have to chase him around and be like “sir!!! did u forget about me huh!!!”

he doesn’t mean to i promise

he gets all blushy and flustered once he realizes 

only ever into pda if he’s insanely jealous 

will straight up make out w u regardless of where u are or who ur with lmfao 

he’s still getting used to the little intimacies and all 

debates in class are so much more fun now cause he finds it so hot when u get all riled up hehe

that eng lit professor is so happy for you two omg

tim drake

okay i also couldn’t really decide for him

but maybe he’d study something like physics (or maybe computer engineering/computer science) 

idk u have to have a death wish to wanna major in physics so tim’s major it is

i’m not sure how it works for every other uni but my uni requires 6 credits of sciences to graduate 

so let’s say for the sake of this hc u take like just the first level of physics to get 3 credits 

and 

you’re struggling 😃👍🏼

so you like approach your professor with a few questions before the quiz 

but tim is also there

and he kinda makes small talk while you two wait outside the office

and he asks why you’re here

you show him

and he’s like “oh i took this course w the same professor as well, i could help?” 

it’s like an angel had descended from the heavens for you personally 

you take his number and decide to meet up with him after a few hours 

he’s of so much more help than your professor would’ve been, even if ur prof is a really nice and smart person 

and he’s super like

patient with you? 

also he pays for all the coffee and snacks you’re getting after you already get them 

ur like bruh i didnt 

dont pay pls

and he’s like no im loaded let me 😼

swooning <3 

and guess what!! 

you ace the quiz out of some miracle

first thing you do is text him and he congratulates you 

and then

bc ur not blind and tim is so fucking cute

you’re like “can i take u out to thank u” 

tim’s brain stops working but ! 

he does say yes eventually 

he becomes your designated physics tutor + your amazing boyfriend

being with tim is so like

chill

it’s a very relaxed time 

lots of study dates! and cafe dates! all hours of the day whether the sun is up or not 

into pda but to a certain degree 

like yes of course have a kiss pretty baby 

but also it will only be a small peck

any time anyone passes by like common rooms you two will be there snuggling on the couch, one or both of you completely passed out 

damian wayne

business major 100% 

or a bsba econ major, which is basically the business side of economics 

he has to take over his father’s company one day duh 

also i genuinely think damian would excel in this field 

he’s a very keeps to himself kinda guy in uni

like you only ever see him in your common classes and then he just

disappears 

anyways there was this party that everyone was going to, and damian wasn’t planning to

but dick accidentally read some groupchat’s messages and was like are u going

damian went 🏃🏻‍♀️

but dick was like go and try to make friends !!!! 

and dames cant say no to his big bro 🥺 so he goes

stays in a corner on the settings app the entire time

like half an hr in he just leaves and is walking home/back to his dorm when you come like rushing up to him 

you’re zooming 

and then you just latch onto his hand and lean up to press a kiss to his cheek, whispering in his ear “this person’s been following me for like 15 mins just please go along w this” 

he kinda stiffens but when he does notice that there’s a person eyeing you he slips his arm around your waist and just carries on walking

he walks you to your home/dorm and is like

so awkward 

but it’s okay ! ur a people’s person enough for the two of you 

you thank him so much over and over 

and then you’re like 

“can i take you out on a real date?” 

and then he becomes ur real boyfriend hehe

is still super stiff but it’s only bc he’s so hyper aware of how attractive you are

and i’m super positive he doesn’t have that much experience with dating so 

you hold the reigns 

but he’s a great boyfriend all in all tbh 

super attentive, super protective, and so loving 

isn’t into pda especially on college campus but he does like subtle pda

things like linking your pinkies or giving you his hoodie to just parade around campus hehe

end note; i’m sorry if these feel rushed or anything like. i used to be an avid writer for the batboys, but i just haven’t been feeling it lately. i still love to write from them bc i know these boys so well eeeeppp. anyways feel free to request some more!!

[arcturusreads]

Hi are you still accepting prompts? if you do here’s one: Hayes doing something special for Meredith’s birthday.. No pressure though take your time writing you are such a great writer💕

Celebrate - Merhayes

Thank you so much, that means the world! Hope you enjoy x

Meredith Grey had never been one to celebrate her birthday. Ellis had never bothered with birthday parties for her little girl, the day was never made a fuss out of. By the time Meredith had moved out and one to college, she didn’t see the point in celebrating it. It was only after meeting Derek that her own birthday began to have special memories attached to it. He’d pestered her for months about when her birthday was and was mortified when she at last told him and had found out that he was two months late. The date was now permanently etched into his brain and he made sure that regardless of how lowkey the celebration might be, Meredith would always celebrate another turn around the Sun. Ferry boats, dinners and long drives had become the tradition and Meredith found herself looking forward to it.

Since her husband’s passing though, Meredith had stopped bothering again. Whilst she made sure she went all out for her kids, she would stop her sisters and friends from doing anything that resembled celebration for her. Maggie had put her foot down and yelled when Meredith tried not to accept the present that’d been gifted to her though. Her kids would bake her a cake with the help of their aunt’s, with homemade cards and presents and Meredith thought it was perfect. That was all she needed for her birthday. That and a good surgery.

After six months of dating Meredith and having celebratedhis own birthday with her, Cormac was beginning to get curious as to when Meredith’s was. When he had asked her once before she just laughed it off, saying that he would have to find out himself. So, he’d een on a hunt to figure it out. It seemed that Meredith had briefed the entire hospital staff on not letting him know her birthday.

Hie’d asked both Amelia and Maggie multiple times but neither of them would let up. Amelia seemed to enjoy watching Cormac’s torture over not knowing the date whlst Maggie seemed pained that she couldn’t say anything, reminding Cormac every time he asked that she was not willing to face her sister’s wrath .

Cormac and Maggie were stoof across each other in the OR when he tried one more time. “You know, I wouldn’t let her find out that you told me…”

Maggie knew exactly what he was on about without having to ask. She just shook her head as she continued to work. “I’m the first person Meredith would come to if she found out that you knew. She knows that I’m terrible at keeping secrets. Remember when you two told me you were dating.”

It had be pure tiorture for Maggie not to say anything to anyone else. She was fit to burst with happiness for her sister but she hadn’t been allowed to say a word for three months. She’d spent way too much time ranting to Ameliia about why she wasn’t able to understand the reason that Cormac and Meredith wasnted to keep their relationship a secret. When the couple had finally told everyone, Maggie had felt a weight lift off of her shoulders and Meredith wsa pleasantly surprised at how well her sister was actually able to keep a secret.

“Why are you so desperate to know about her birthday, anyway?”

Cormac gave her a flat look, “She’s my girlfriend, Pierce. I feel like it’s something that I should know.”

“It’s not like you’re going to be able to do anything with the information. You know that she doesn’t like to celebrate.”

Cormac gave her a knowing look, “That’s because you’ve always given her an option.”

After a touch-and-go surgery, Cormac headed up to his office to grab some files before a consult. As he stepped into room, he felt shoe slid against something on the floor. Not the usual grip the carpet would give him. Looking down, he saw a small sheet of paper. As he picked it up to take it to the bin he saw some writing on it.

‘September 19th but I didn’t tell you -M’

Cormac smiled, he owed Maggie big time. Making a mental note of the date, Cormac knew it wasn’t one that he would forget anytime soon, he scrunched up the paper and tossed it into the bin. Plans began to form in his mind as he went about his day. He had two weeks and that was more than enough.

***

When September 19th rolled around, Meredith was treated to breakfast in bed courtesy of her kids with a side of birthday cake. Meredith arched a brow at the cake and looked at Amelia who just shrugged.

“It’s your birthday, you can have cake at 7am!” She defended quickly as the kids crawled up on the bed next to Meredith.

After opening her cards and presents and sending the kids off to school, Mer headed straight to the hospital. She had a whipple at 9 AM that she was looking forward and a fully booked day of surgeries after that. There was nothing more that she could have wanted for the day.

The entire day had gone by and Meredith thought it was strange that she hadn’t even caught a glimpse of her boyfriend. Even on their most busy days, they would end up finding time to at least have a coffee together but he hadn’t even messaged her. A younger Meredith would have worried that something had gone wrong, that he was angry with her for some unknown reason but these days, she was able to be a little more rational, if not completely. He must just be busy with consults and surgeries, or maybe the boys had something on that had slipped her mind when he mentioned it. Whilst Cormac didn’t know it was her birthday and she wasn’t planning on celebrating, it would have been nice to see him for a minute.

After getting changed back into her street clothes and grabbing her bag, Meredith made her way out of the hospital, ready to get home. She was a few steps away from her car when she felt a arm slip around her waist and a kiss pressed onto her temple.

“Sorry I haven’t had a chance to see you today,” Cormac’s Irish lilt immediately ebbed away any tiredness she had been feeling as she leaned into his side. “Forgot I had a meeting with Bailey this morning and then had back-to-back surgeries.”

Meredith took a second to breath in familiar scent of her boyfriend. It never failed to make her feel safe. “Was everything okay?”

“Mostly, got a 10-year-old boy in the ICU right now but Schmitt will page me if anything happens.”

Meredith suddenly realised that during the course of the conversation, Cormac had veered them away from her car. “Uh, my car is back there.”

Cormac have a light squeeze to her waist, “I know but I haven’t had a chance to see you today so let me take you home.”

“My car though…” She trailed off, not really bothering to put up a fight. Meredith had missed him wasn’t going to say no to being able to spend a little time with him on the drive home.

“I’ll pick you up tomorrow and you can take it home after your shift.”

“As long as you don’t mind…”

Cormac rolled his eyes at her, smiling, “I wouldn’t offer if I did, come on.”

As Cormac drove away from the hospital, Meredith leaned her head back against the headrest and closed her eyes for a minute. She slowly opened them as she felt Cormac’s hand rest on her thigh and gave him a smile.

“Wait, where are we going?” Meredith looked out the window to realise that this wasn’t the usual route home.

Cormac grinned at her quickly before looking back at the road, “Just thought we would take a detour.”

“A detour where?” She asked, slightly sceptical.

When Cormac didn’t reply, she decided to continue pressing for answers. “You know I have kids at home? Alone, right now?”

“Well, I know that’s a lie because I saw Winston before he left two hours ago who said he was going to your house to keep an eye on the kids.”

“Hmm…” Meredith both admired and hated how Cormac had an answer for everything. It was infuriating at the best of times but he was one of the only people she knew that could match her toe-for-toe.

After a while, Meredith saw that they were out of the city limits. “You know, if you don’t want to be with you just have to say, no need to drive me into the middle of nowhere to kill me and dump the body.”

“Oh ha ha,” Cormac laughed drily, “Like you would ever make it easy for me to kill you anyway….”

Meredith smirked at him, a wicked glint in her eye, “As long as you know.”

The car had now left the main road, and trundled along a dirt road, the only source of light coming from the headlights of the car. Meredith had no clue where they were or what was going on.

“Seriously, Cormac, where are we going?”

“Seriously, Meredith,” he jokingly mocked, “Can you be quiet?”

“Fine,” she muttered, crossing her arms over her chest.

It wasn’t later when Cormac turned the car engine off and turned to Meredith. “Come on,” he jumped out of the car and jogged over to her side to open the door.

Taking his hand to step out, she looked around. “Whe-“

“Don’t even finish that sentence,” He grinned at her, stopping Meredith before she had the chance to say anything else. “Just trust me.”

Meredith let Cormac take her hand and guide her. She wasn’t entirely sure how he could even tell where he was going in the dark.

“Are you taking me up a hill?”

Her question found no answer and all that there was left for her to do was to huff out a breath and follow Cormac. Eventually she saw some light up at the top of the hill and squinted, trying to make out what was going on. When they were finally close enough to make out what was going on, Meredith stopped in her track to take everything in. Trees were sparsely dotted around with fairy lights hanging from all of them. In the middle was a black pickup truck. The bed of it was covered with pillows and blankets with a picnic basket nested in the middle. Stretched between two trees was a canvas sheet, projected on it were the opening credits for ‘Maid in Manhattan’, one of the few movies that Meredith was able to time and time again.

“What is all this?” She turned to look at Cormac who had a sheepish look on his face.

“Happy birthday, Meredith,” his voice was a gentle whisper.

“You did this for my birthday?”

“Look, I know you don’t like celebrating it and I know you really didn’t want me to know but,” Cormac rubbed the top of his head, “You’ve survived so much, Meredith Grey, and that deserves to be celebrated. I deserve to have the chance to celebrate you. So, you can’t yell at me about this.”

Meredith stepped towards him, wrapping her arms around her neck, “How can I argue with that?” She grinned at him before pulling him in for a kiss.

[cutiepisenpai]

Dear Stranger Series Ch. 3: Sleep is Important(Spencer Reid x Female OC)

Chapter 1 

Chapter 2

Warning:Fluff, mentions of anxiety, previously implied sexual experience.

Spencer wakes up with a cramp in his neck and soreness in his legs. Falling asleep on Melinda’s couch was not the best idea. It’s still dark out but there is no clock in site. He would reach for his phone but Melinda is still sleeping peacefully on his chest. He tries to shift into a slightly more comfortable position but his movement causes Melinda to stir. She rocks her head back and forth rubbing her head into Spencer’s chest trying to figure out why her pillow is so uncomfortable. It isn’t until she lifts her head and makes eye contact that the memories start to piece together. “You are not a comfy pillow.” Melinda says in a groggy voice. Her comment makes Spencer chuckle. “ Sorry about that. But if we are talking about uncomfy things, your couch is definitely one of them.” Melinda hums in agreement, with a deep breath she groans and pushes off of him. “Alright, lets go.” “Go where?” Spencer says confused. “To the bed. You said the couch is uncomfortable and you’re right. And you’re too tall to try and sleep on the couch c’mon.” “Uh.. Um are you sure that’s a good idea.” Spencer says hesitating to follow. “ I don’t kick in my sleep. And I’m sure I would have already noticed if you snore.” Melinda says as she walks down the hall towards the bedroom. Spencer waits a moment before walking hesitantly towards her bedroom. He stops at the door when he looks in and sees her already laying in bed. “Are you going to come and lay down? Or am I making you uncomfortable?” Spencer walked over to the other side of the bed not yet sitting down. “ No, I just don’t understand how this doesn’t bother you.” “I don’t feel like you’re a stranger. Even though we have just met in person we really have known each other for years.” She says with a smile. Spencer can’t argue with her logic it makes sense. He has in the last four years shared the details of his life with her. He finally gives in, pulls back the blanket and lays down. He looks so nervous as Melinda watches him climb into the bed, she reaches over to tuck stray hair behind his ear. “Just get some rest, there’s nothing other than sleep going on here tonight.”

The next time Melinda awakes the sun is just now peering through the window. Spencer is sleeping peacefully beside her, she decides it's best to let him rest. She enjoys sleeping herself but she has always gotten up with the sun regardless of whether she wants to or not. Letting out a deep sigh she climbs out of the bed and closes the drapes and heads out the room closing the door lightly behind herself. A habit she had gotten into in her early teens is that when she can’t sleep she bakes. She finds it calming so she puts on a pot of coffee and tries to decide what would be the best breakfast pastry to make. She decides on blueberry muffins and gets to work gathering ingredients. An hour later the muffins are done and cooling. She still hasn’t heard anything from Spencer but she knows from their letters that he doesn’t get enough sleep normally. She sets her path for the living room cup of coffee and muffin in hand. She turns her music back on setting as low as possible while still being able to hear it and gets back to work on the bookshelves while enjoying her breakfast.

When Spencer wakes up he looks over for Melinda who is nowhere is site. The room is dark, darker than it should. Darker than when they came in before no outside lights shining through the window. He listens to see if he can hear her moving about but there are no sounds to be heard, for all he knows he could be here alone. When he opens the door he sees the rest of the apartment lit warmly from the sun coming through the windows in the living room. As he heads towards the living room he notices the boxes from last night are gone. Melinda is sitting on the couch with her back to him book in hand. Spencer walks up behind her trying to figure out what she is reading. Once he is standing directly behind her reading over her head, she tilts her head back, “Good Morning sunshine.” “Um. Good Morning “ he says back voice still raspy. "There's muffins and coffee, I could go grab for you if you like." Spencer nods, " Thank you I appreciate it." Melinda goes to the kitchen to grab a cup of coffee and a muffin for Spencer coming back into the living room having a seat beside him. "Thank you again. How long have you been awake that you got all those books put away?" He asks while picking up the coffee. "Ah just about 2 hours or so." "2 hours? You could have woken me up." Melinda pulls her knees into her chest just placing her head onto them. "You need to sleep and more than just a few hours. Sleep is important, evidence suggests that sleep performs a range of vital functions, including restoring damaged tissues, boosting learning and memory, and flushing toxins from the brain. Sleeping too little can have serious long-term health consequences, increasing risk of obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. You know up to seventy million Americans have a chronic sleep disorder such as insomnia or sleep apnea." Spencer was speechless, when he rambled the team always seemed to get lost or would be bothered with the endless facts. But hearing her rattle on endlessly about why people, him specifically, need to sleep. He doesn't realize he is staring until he sees something fly by his face. Focusing he sees it's Melinda's hand trying to get his attention. "Did I lose you there?" "Oh no. I've just never heard anyone else ramble on like I have a tendency to do." She smiles, " Well you're not the only genius around anymore." While Spencer finishes his coffee and muffin they discuss their plans for the rest of the day. Spencer is going to go home to shower and change and pick Melinda up for a lunch date.

Once Spencer has left Melinda waits exactly ten minutes to have her minor freak out. People have a tendency to return within ten minutes thinking they forgot something and the last thing she wants for him to witness is her slight meltdown. Once the time has passed she is pacing back and forth in her living room. Had she lost her mind last night, she kept it cool in the presence of others fueled partly by her training with Interpol but mostly from anxiety. She had never done anything like that before, she had only ever spent the night with one other guy and only the one time, much less innocently. And now here she is in crisis mode because she really likes Spencer and hoped that hadn't been a bad impression. Trying to calm herself but failing she throws her body onto the couch face into a pillow yelling out a loud groan. "Okay, okay, okay, this is fine, I'm fine, it's all fine….Right?....Ugh" and she flops over onto her back pulling the pillow into her face. She stays like this for another fifteen minutes trading between yelling into the pillow and muttering to herself. Finally overcoming one obstacle of the morning, it's time to tackle a more important issue: what the hell is she going to wear today. And searching through the boxes of clothing and shoes that have yet to be unpacked. "Okay. You've got this." Melinda tells herself.

At noon exactly Spencer is waiting outside Melinda's waiting for her to answer. Once the door opens the site before him is breathtaking. Melinda is wearing a forest green, knee length dress accentuated at the waist, with billowing sleeves open from shoulder to wrist, nude pumps and matching crossbody bag. "Wow", the word slips from Spencer's lips. "Good to know this was a good choice." Medina says with a giggle. "Sorry you're just so beautiful." "Thank you. " She steps out to lock the door behind her. "So, where are we headed?" "There's this great Indian place, they have the best chicken tandoori." "Sounds good." She says with a smile as they step into the elevator. At the restaurant they make pleasant conversation discussing different facts about the history of India and the cuisine. After lunch they decide to just walk around enjoying each other's company.

[patrickstargang]

A Date With Destiny (Owl House fic)

Chapter 1: A Big Confession

Chapter 2: Dating Advice from the Owl Lady

Chapter 3: A Little Help From My Friends

Chapter 4: What I Really Wanted

Final Chapter: Goodnight

Time was inching closer to six. Luz was starting to scramble to finish preparations. In a small basket, there were numerous sandwiches (made from Boiling Isles foods that she still didn’t know what they were except that they were safe for human consumption). Next to it was a thermos, filled with a red kind of drink that she at least knew wasn’t apple blood, but tasted similar to apple juice.

The only thing missing was a blanket. In Luz’s mind, it had to be a checkered pattern blanket if it was going to a real picnic date, but everyone that she found had strange patterns instead. She was searching all over the house for something that looked somewhat ordinary, but to no avail. The most average pattern she could find was a repeated pattern of flaming eyeballs. Eda watched as she was observing the pattern, wincing at the design. Luz turned around to face Eda.

“Do you have any blankets that look more..,” she paused for a moment. “Normal?”

Eda stared blankly.

“Describe normal to me in human terms.”

Luz didn’t consider that this was probably a pretty normal design for the Boiling Isles, but it was still hard not to be taken aback by it. She draped the blanket over her shoulder and picked up the basket.

“Alright, I think I’m ready!”

“Wait just a minute!” an anonymous voice shouted.

King scurried into the room. He started to scratch his chin inquisitively as he observed Luz.

“Before you go I need to do a quick quality check. Alright so, a basket full of sandwiches?”

Luz opened up the basket to reveal the freshly made sandwiches.

“Check.”

“A drink?”

Luz pulled out the thermos from inside the basket.

“Check!”

“A blanket for the basket and accompanying drink?”

“Check!”

“Alright, last thing. A one hundred percent certified cool girl?”

Just then, Luz and King did a quick finger gun action.

“Double check!”

“Alright, your good to go!” said King doing an enthusiastic double thumbs up.

Luz smiled, but there was still some panic in the back of her mind about how it’ll go. But regardless, it helped to know she had family and friends who had her back.

Just then, there was a knock at the door. Panic revved up again, but Luz was able to hold it in as she walked to the door. She opened the door to find Amity on the other side. She was surprised to see that she was just as nervous as Luz was. But a lot of the initial nervousness subsided.

“Hey Luz” said Amity with a shy smile.

“Hey Amity” said Luz with a slightly silly but sincere grin.

After a moment, Amity took notice of everything that Luz was carrying.

“Wow, you really went all out for tonight.”

“Well why wouldn’t I? It's a special night!”

Amity hid her face as she blushed at the comment, but trying to hide it just made it more obvious to Luz. Eventually, Amity turned back to face Luz, accepting the embarrassment with open arms.

“So, where we heading?”

“Oh!” said Luz as she pointed near the forest behind the house. “It’s not too far away, I’ll show you!”

They started walking before Luz turned to wave goodbye to Eda. She waved back.

“Have fun you two!” said Eda. “And Amity?”

Eda pointed at her stopping her dead in her tracks.

“Try not to break my kid’s heart, alright?”

Eda gave a joking smirk. Amity chuckled at the request but answered with a nod. Eda then gave her last wave before going back inside.

Amity stood there for a second before she felt Luz grab onto her hand. She turned to face Luz, looking at her with an enthusiastic smile.

“You ready to go?” asked Luz.

“Absolutely.”

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

Luz and Amity were reaching the ends of the wooded area. The path somehow seemed familiar to Amity. It was like she was here before. But once they finally stepped out of the woods, she realized why.

It was an open spot near the cliffs. The cliff surveyed the ocean of strange purple liquid. The sun was almost beginning to set, but even though the time was different it was still obvious. This was where Luz and Amity fought side by side for Grom Night. This spot wasn’t just chosen for its view. It meant something more than that.

Luz found a spot, a safe distance from the cliff’s edge but also close enough to see the ocean. She draped the weirdly patterned blanket on the ground and placed the basket in the middle. She patted the space next to her, an invitation for Amity to sit with her. She sat down, not realizing the massive smile on her face.

Luz opened up the basket, which was filled to the brim with sandwiches. She handed one to Amity. As she took her first bite, Luz was slightly nervous about the quality of it. She was still uncertain about how something that more resembled human food for someone that never lived in the human world. But her worries dissipated as Amity’s eyes lit with curiosity and delight.

“This tastes great, but I would have never have thought of this combination.”

Luz shrugged, a little bit of joking pride in the gesture.

“Well for me it tastes like a PB&J, though I’m not sure what the ingredients are supposed to be...”

Amity would have questioned what a PB&J was, but she was too busy being transfixed by the taste of this imitation. Luz laughed as Amity became more mystified with the food, it was nice to see how quickly the initial nervousness had worn off between the two of them.

“I’m really glad we’re doing this,” said Luz.

“Yeah,” said Amity as she looked over at the horizon. “Me too.”

They shared a comfortable silence as they enjoyed the food and looked over the ocean. For once, there seemed to be a peaceful air to the Boiling Isles. But during this moment of quiet, Amity noticed that her hand was close to Luz’s. At first, she was nervous that she might notice, but for once it crossed her mind that maybe she would want her to notice. She slyly moved her hand on top of Luz’s hand while she was still looking away. Amity thought she would turn her head, but instead, she grasped her hand firmly.

Amity stared at Luz. She would usually turn away by now, but without the worry of embarrassment, she could enjoy the moment.

“Thank you, for everything.”

Luz finally turned her head around. Her face suddenly changed, a worried expression as she noticed Amity was close to tears. She turned to face her, trying to comfort her.

“Hey, hey, its okay….” said Luz as she gave her a hug.

Just as Luz said that Amity started to chuckle between light sniffles. She wasn’t sure what was going on.

“I’m not crying because I’m sad, I…” Amity paused for a moment. “I just haven’t felt this happy in a long time.”

Amity wiped her eyes with her sleeve.

“I guess I’ve just been so focused on making it to the top that I forgot why I was even doing it in the first place. Now the more I think about it, it wasn’t what I really wanted. It was just what my parents wanted.”

She focused herself back on Luz, holding her hand.

“I never really got the chance to decide for myself. I guess I needed to think about what I really wanted. And that's when I met you.”

Luz became wide-eyed and awestruck. She felt a swelling feeling in her chest, she was starting to cry too. But her tears weren’t as majestic as Amity’s. She noticed Amity getting worried, but she smiled.

“It’s ok! These are happy tears too!”

They both laughed, trying to compose themselves from the sudden emotional wave. After a moment, they went back to the sandwiches. But in between bites, Luz decided to ask a question.

“Do you ever feel….sad when you're at home?”

Luz couldn’t think of a better way to phrase it, but it seemed that Amity got what she was asking.

“....A lot. Sometimes I wonder how I would be if I had different parents. Parents who cared more about what I wanted, rather than some stupid family-name business. I….I always felt more like family when I was with you guys at school.”

Luz didn’t know how to answer at first, but after a moment of silence, she knew what to say.

“You know, you're always welcome at my place if things get rough.”

Amity smiled, knowing how much Luz really cares.

“Thank you, Luz.”

“And if you don’t want to stay, can you at least let me walk you home?”

“Oh, you don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

Just then Luz pouted, crossing her arms.

“But I want to…”

Amity laughed at the response but eventually nodded.

After a moment of settling down, the sun was beginning to set. Amity pulled out a new Azura book. They were already half way through it and they decided now would be a good place to continue. They lied down with the book between them.

“Now what page were we on?”

[romance2d-otomegame]

The Route Thief

Sumary: Everybody used to tell me to stop playing those games, but what can I do? An otome game is pretty addictive and specially if is one like Wizardess Heart. This game is my life! Wait, I didn't mean literally... Then, why I'm suddenly inside on my game!? Is that Hiro and Zeus? When I said this game is my life I didn't mean to want that this game BE my life!

Pairing: Hiro x Marian

Chapter 2

It's been three days since I woke up and find myself in a totally different place. Regardless to say that I haven't get up from bed since then, and I just stayed here in a fetal position whit the covers over my head. I've been waiting for me to really wake up but... This not seems to be a dream. Times pass just like a normal day of 24 hours, I sleep, feel hungry and get thirsty just like the real life. The food got taste, I can feel pain and touch the staff like always. This... Doesn't feel like a dream anymore. Whatever happened to me on that airplane, it took me to this enchanted place. But... Not any place, I've been joining points and... It seems that I'm in a place identical as is describe on my favorite otome game, Wizardess Heart. Apparently, I live at the Kingdom of Queensblade, and of course, when I asked, there's actually a neighbor kingdom named Gedonelune. The Queen of this kingdom is named Sherazade. And... It does exist a place called Gedonelune Royal Magic Academy. Now you know why I've been waiting to actually wake up, but, three days have been enough, I think, I finally have stared to accepted. I probably die on my past life and now I was reincarnated on a character of a game just like those animes where you're hit by a truck and then send to another world so you can fight a demon lord whit a sword and the help of a useless goddess.

"Young lady? Are you awake?"

I don't know anymore.

"Please rise, breakfast is ready. Then, you could... Take a bath perhaps?"

I lazily took off the soft covers and sit. This young maid is Clarisse, she attends me. She cleans and brings food an medicine for me. Is not that I've been treated bad, they actually treat me like a princess. A bath uh? When I said that I haven't left bed on three days I wasn't kidding. Take the count whit the three days I spend sleeping after falling from the horse. Yeah, probably Clarisse is worried for me. A bath wouldn't be that bad.

"I think I'll take a bath. "

I get up from bed and went to the bathroom

"I - I'll get ready your clothes then young lady!"

You don't have to sound so happy you know. A bath surely do wonders, I feel so refreshed. I took a look of myself on the mirror, long blond hair, eyes so blue like sapphires, perfect pink lips... This is, my new look uh? Is not that bad. I look cute. Clarisse handed me a beautiful blue dress whit a military stile and a blouse underneath. She brushed my hair and put a ribbon on it. She also do my make up.

"okay! I'm done! Hehe, it finally seems that the young lady is back!"

She laughed and I look myself on the mirror. Wait that is... Really me? Oh my God! I look SO CUTE! What is this!? This is how I look right? I look like a porcelain doll!

"he hehe heh... "

"You-young lady? Are you felling well?"

She snapped me back to reality and I felt embarrassed that she saw me admiring myself on the mirror.

"ah! I-I'm fine, I'm sorry I make you feel worried. "

"Ah! No! If the young lady feels nice enough to laugh then I feel happy for you. "

You said that but you definitely thought I was crazy right?

"if the young lady feels better today, then why don't take a walk by the garden after breakfast? A little sun will do you good. "

Since I'm not a prisoner here and probably this is my new life then why no?

"Okay, I'll do as you say. "

I eat my breakfast and then I went on a round for all the mansion. This place is like a castle! Big chandeliers hanging, beautiful paintings, golden vases and marble floors. Through a crystal door I saw the outsides shimmering whit beautiful flowers.

"Oh my god that place look so beautiful!"

I was so lost on myself and the walk, that I totally forgot that I was living another life. There were flowers and trees I've nerve saw in my life. A gorgeous fountain was sending a fresh breeze. And that pergola on the middle if the garden is just like something out of a dream, I always thought on how cool it be to have one, you can sit here whit a set of tea and a good book and relax. Everything was so gorgeous!

"Hehe, are you enjoying your walk young lady?"

"Eh? Ah, of course. This place is beautiful, I've never been in a mansion this huge!"

"Uh, so, did you not, remember something?"

Ah, I see, she make me do this walk to see if I can remember something. I guess, I can't tell them that I'm not lady Marian. And even if they believe, I doubt they'll treat me good.

"Well... "

"For your own good you better remember. "

A severe voice surprise us. It was that woman that was yelling at me the other day. Later I knew she was actually... Marian's mother.

"Thanks goodness that at least you finally leave that room and look decent today. "

That's the nicest thing you can say to your daughter?

"We are going to have visits today, so you better behave understood?"

"Visitors? Who is coming? A noble?"

"He is more that just that. He is your fiance. We couldn't hide from him that you had an incident, and since he's on Queensblade on vacations, he have to come and see you. I hope that you'll remember something from your interaction whit him."

"Oh, I see. "

So now I have to act like a lady perhaps? Uh?... Wait a moment...

"Wait, did you said fiance!?"

"Oh heavens! Keep your voice low! A lady shouldn't scream like that. "

"But you really said fiance? I have a fiance!?"

"Of course you have. And that's why you must behave in the best way. And keep in secret that you lost your memories, we don't want the son of the House of Brundle think of you like you're defective. "

She leave saying no more. My mind went blank for a moment, Did I hear well?

"Did she said House of Brundle?"

"Yes young lady, that was what she said. "

"Wait, then, what's the name of my fiance?"

"His name is Zeus young lady, Zeus Brundle."

"... "

"... "

"Hold on a second!!"

I grab Clarisse shoulders

"Kya!"

"Are you talking about Zeus Brundle!? You know, tall boy, light brown skin, bluish hair and eyes that have the attitude of a peacock and always wears a stupid scarf!?"

"Wha- What? Co-Could it be... Do the young lady remember young master Zeus?"

You're kidding... You're kidding right? I dropped my hands from Clarisse shoulders and let myself fall on the ground.

"Yo-Young lady?"

This is impossible... Do I'm really on the world of Wizardess Heart!?

To be continued...

[fanfictionandmore]

The Kreizler Institute | The Alienist + Mphfpc

[Chapter Two | Tales of the Peculiar] 

Jade's POV:

The dinner with Caleb Carr and my uncle was lovely last night. I got to get to know one of my favorite authors, and he gave me great writing tips! After our guest left my uncle and I were up until midnight washing dishes as well as cleaning the kitchen. So it wasn't a surprise when both of us slept in a little late.

I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and stretched before getting out of bed. Once I got dressed I walked downstairs to find my uncle just starting to brew a pot of coffee. "Good morning, Jade. I hope you slept well." He said with a small smile. "Good morning. I slept great. I don't think I woke up once during the night; I must have really been tired." I replied with a slight laugh.

He decided to cook breakfast and I looked out of the kitchen window, which overlooked my uncle's small flower garden in the back yard. The sky was a beautiful blue with fluffy white clouds floating around. A golden sun was shining brightly as well, making everything really look like spring. The best part was that the temperature was a little warmer than yesterday.

'Maybe Alfius will want to join me on a walk today or something.' I thought inside of my head as I noticed the coffee had finished brewing. I poured both of us a cup before I sat down at the kitchen table where I are dinner with Caleb Carr last night!! I honestly don't think I'll ever get over that as long as I live.

"Could you go and get the newspaper off of the doorstep, please." My uncle said, taking me out of my thoughts. "Sure." I replied. I walked over to the front door and opened it to find a rolled up tube of newsprint laying on the doorstep. When I reached down to pick it up I suddenly got the strange feeling that I was being watched. So I looked around to see if I could spot out anyone in particular that was looking on my direction.

After a few seconds or so, I realized that I didn't see anyone really watching me. Everyone was going on about their daily business; but I still couldn't shake the feeling that someone or something was watching me. I pressed my thoughts to the back of my mind before I stepped back inside and closed the door behind me. When I entered the kitchen breakfast was ready. So I filled my plate and joined my uncle at the table to eat and make small talk.

"So... what do you think we should do today?" I asked him curiously after a few moments of comfortable silence. "We could go for a walk. I'd love to show you around the city a little, especially since it's such a nice day." He replied with a small smile. "That sounds wonderful." I replied happily. After we finished eating I chose to get ash the dishes as he read the newspaper.

When everything was cleaned and put away, I quickly brushed my teeth before we got ready to head out. This was my first time in New York, so I was feeling excited and a little nervous as well. I wasn't entirely sure what to expect. The only thing I've seen so was is Stuyvesant Park and the inside if an old book store. What happened yesterday suddenly came flooding back to me.

The memories of meeting Caleb Carr completely pushed the events of earlier that day out of my mind, until now. I remembered the young man in Victorian clothing who was standing in the window of one of the houses on East Seventeenth Street. 'Wow, I can't believe I actually remembered the street I was on.' I thought to myself as I got into my uncle's car.

To be perfectly honest, I thought I'd be seeing New York through the window of a cab. But I didn't mind having the privilege and comfort in being in a private owned car. He took me all over the place. I got to see the most touristy spots as well as the more local gems that get ignored by visitors. Alfius was my own personal tour guide, which made me feel a bit special. I got to see some things that only a handful of tourists ever get to see.

For lunch we stopped at Cafe Lafayette, which was quite fancy. It put me out of my comfort zone but the owner seemed to know my uncle, so I kinda understood why he chose to eat here. We got a table that was secluded from the other patrons as well. I didn't much appreciate all the sideways glances I was getting from the customers. They were all dressed in expensive clothing while I was wearing a Marilyn Manson t-shirt and a pair of ripped jeans. Not to mention the worn looking combat boots.

Alfius introduced me to the owner and explained that it was my first time in the city. He said that he would tell the chef to make something extra special for the occasion, which gave me anxiety. Extra special sounded like extra expensive to me. I might be an author, but I don't sell enough books to live the high life. I'm more of a bare bones sort of person when it comes to that kind if stuff.

I like to live comfortably not extravagantly. But there wasn't any way I could protest against what was happening. I was the one paying for the meal, and I didn't want to come off as rude since my uncle is friends with the staff. So I just sat there and sipped on my glass of water. "What do you think of New York now that you've seen most of it?" My uncle asked, breaking the silence.

"Oh, I really like it. It has charm and beauty." I replied with a small smile. "Good, I'm glad you like it." He said happily. Eventually a couple of waiters came with out meals, and we dug into the delicious looking food. After we ate my uncle spoken to the chef and owner of the joint. I just sort of lingered in the background... watching. The pair of them gave me great ideas for characters in a book, but I tried not to think about that too much.

Especially when the characters started to resemble some characters I've already written about. 'I wish I could get some inspiration for new characters.' I thought even though I knew I wouldn't be able to write anything. The writers block seemed as if it was here to stay, and it scared the hell out of me. Nothing is worse when you can't create when creating is you're everything.

"Alright, you have a wonderful evening. I'll see you guys sometime later this week." My uncle said, taking me out of my thoughts. He had paid for the meals and it was time for us to leave the cafe. We got into the car and I suggested a walk around Stuyvesant Park. I found it absolutely beautiful, and I wanted to appreciate it now that it wasn't cold and raining.

Since the weather was nice there was a bunch of people milling about. Some were playing with their dogs, others were watching their children have fun, and a few were reading books or newspapers. I was there to enjoy the park and people watch. I also hoped that the ducks I saw last time were there again today, which they were. When we decided to head home I spotted the house I noticed the last time I came to the park.

"Alfius, what can you tell me about that place?" I asked him when we had to stop for traffic. I wasn't sure if he knew anything about the house, I was just sort of hoping he did. "Number 283, East Seventeenth Street. Well, it belongs to my good friend Caleb... actually." He replied. "It does? Is... is there anyone staying in the house?" I asked with slightly furrowed brows. My first thought was that he had to have someone staying in the house if I saw someone inside it. Unless he has squatters.

"No. He gave up trying to rent it out a long time ago. I think it's because the locals think it's haunted." He said with a very serious look on his face. Usually I'm the only one who believes in spirits and ghosts, but I guess that's something I inherited from Alfius. It seemed like he too believed the house was haunted. "Does Caleb think it's haunted?" I asked. "Well... not exactly. I mean... he thinks something is there, but he doesn't believe that it's ghosts." He said, giving me a sideways glance.

Chills ran up my spine as we began to move again and headed back to his place. I'm not sure why, but I got the feeling that he wasn't telling the whole truth. I didn't wanna mention what I had seen yesterday and something told me I didn't have to, because he already knew. But if the house is haunted then why try to hide it? I pressed my thoughts to the back of my mind as we got closer and closer to our destination.

When we got home he parked his car in his garage and I headed upstairs to my room. Now that I had some time to myself I decided to check out that book I bought at the second hand book store yesterday. I took the book off of my bedside table and opened it. The pages were elegantly illustrated with flourish and gold foiling. The page after the title page had 'To Alma LeFay Peregrine. Who taught me to love tales. - MN'

Then there was a quote in a language I didn't understand. At first I thought it was Latin but I could have been wrong. But what was the most chilling and interesting was the forward that was printed just after the table of contents page. It said:

"Dear reader,

The book you hold in your hands is meant for peculiar eyes only. If by chance you are not among the ranks of the anomalous --- in other words, if you don't find yourself floating out of bed in the middle of the night because you forgot to tie yourself to the mattress, sprouting flames from the palms of your hands at inopportune times, or chewing food with the mouth in the back of your head --- then please put this book back where you found it at once and forget this ever happened. Don't worry, you won't be missing anything. I'm sure you'd only find the stories contained herein strange, distressing, and altogether not to your liking. And anyways, they're none of your business.

Very peculiarly yours,

The publisher"

I sat there for a few minutes wondering if this was some kind of joke the publisher decided to put at the beginning of the book, or if it was true. 'Am I peculiar?' I wondered curiously to myself. After a little while I decided that I was going to read the thing regardless. After all, I spent money on the thing and I was curious to see what tales the book held inside. What were a few strange and unusual tales going to do to me? Besides, I myself am strange and unusual.

So I continued reading and found the first three tales very interesting. Especially the tale about The Splendid Cannibals and The First Ymbryne. As I began to start on the fourth one, my uncle knocked on my door and asked what I'd like for dinner. "It doesn't matter." I replied. "If that's the case, grab your jacket, I'm taking you to the best pizza joint in town." He said, which made me smile.

I sat my book aside before I got up off of my bed and slipped my jacket on. I was heading out of my door before something told me to hide the book underneath my pillow, and so I did. "I hope you weren't writing anything. You're on vacation, you need a break from work." He said as he locked up the house.

"I wasn't writing anything. I was reading." I replied. When we got into the car my stomach churned like I was going to be sick. But it soon faded away as we headed down the street. I desperately hoped I wasn't coming down with something.

++++++++++++++++++ A/N: Thanks for reading!!

[maikatc]

Black Sun Tale | Crimson Capture

Things are calm before a quiet storm, let’s just say that. 

Remember this is only a first draft and has minimal edits, but enjoy! Comments and reception is always appreciated!

-

“Are you actually going to talk with them anytime soon?” 

Oliver’s cold skin snuggled up against blankets; he read a book off of his shelf. “I’m trying to do homework, excuse me.” He frowned. 

“It’s been a week, Oliver. They probably think that you already rejected them.”

He turned a page. “It’s not that I rejected them… I already looked through the situation but I still don’t know.” 

Vittorino raised a brow. “And what did you get from looking through?” 

Oliver ignored the question first, skimming through the dull read he grabbed. Though his thoughts blocked the pages the more he went on. 

He sighed and closed the book. “I didn’t really get that much out of the interaction. But out of anything I can tell that Annette isn’t actually that involved with the group since she’s with busy with having an actual life. That and the two’s relationship is probably complicated since Annette doesn’t really try to get Ayu out of bad habits and they argue at little stuff like crazy; But at the same time, Ayu may have simply cared enough about not messing with Annette’s work after he screwed it up before, and didn’t want to bother her with something that’s technically unnecessary for him. Regardless of anything though, they’re completely inefficient as a team because their able-ness is terrible and Ayu’s right about not getting hopes up.” Oliver rambled words out in the matter of seconds, zoning out into his thoughts in the process. He took a breath at the end. “I can tell they have good intentions, but yeah they’re pretty much useless.” 

Vittorino crossed his arms together with a grin, muttering, “You can definitely talk like em…” He emerged next to him. “You’re smarter for your age, I must say.” 

“I just have good memory.” Oliver opened up his book again. “Doctors say I have a larger hippocampus than most. But I’ve been lacking in recent years compared to when I was little.” 

“Yeah, yeah, makes sense,” Vittorino nods, “but either way, your friends will be- interesting to you at the very least. Trust me.” 

Oliver scoffed, “I already know they’d be entertaining. It’s just that they’ll probably end up like all the rest. I already told you.” 

“Okay then. Let me tell you in a different way then,” he groaned. “They’re not gonna be like the rest.” 

A buzz rang from the corner of the room. Both Oliver and Vittorino turned towards the sound, Oliver quicker than the other. Oliver stumbled out of bed to check his phone. All there was another message from Annette, the third one of the week. 

Yo Oliver, Ayu and I are hanging out in the alley again if you wanna join us (12:13pm)

“God, damn it,” the boy said under his breath. His fingers tattled at words, typing up that he was busy making new chord melodies.  If it weren’t for someone interrupting him, he would’ve sent. 

“Go with them for once,” Vittorino told him, “You’ll have better days that way.” 

“… Will you stop talking if I do?”

“Obviously.”

Oliver’s face went flat. “You’re decent.” He edited the message:

I actually can today, but I was about to work on making some chord melodies so I’ll just bring my ukulele with. (12:15pm)

***

Oliver carried his worn-up uke strap over his shoulders. The day blistered in heat unlike the chills of before, though it didn’t stop him from wearing a thin coat. 

The walk to Ayu’s still made his eyes go blurry from the distance. His legs gave in as always from another long week as they screeched in pain. He mumbled to himself with a deep breath, “Just don’t pass out in front of them.” 

He clenched onto his ukulele strap as he stood back up from his slouch. The turn was straight ahead of him, and his predictions for what he would see was something he still couldn’t guess yet. “They won’t be that bad,” he figured. 

“YOU MOTHER OF FUCK- HOW DID YOU DO THAT?” Oliver could still hear the same raspy voice from before in the distance. 

“Hopefully,” he cringed. 

Oliver walked into the alley, reluctantly knocking the wall for entrance. Annette and Ayu sat in front of one another, cards in their hands and scattered on the floor. Annette turned her head while Ayu looked over his own cards. “Oliver! Hi,” She stumbled up to greet him. “You came sooner than I thought. We’ve been playing Ono for a bit but you can join in if you want.”

“Ono…?” Oliver peeked across, sighting at the colorful cards closely. His eyes squinted at Ayu’s array of cards in his hands. He also peeked down towards Annette’s cards quickly to see her deck of five. He can literally just pull a yellow two. A grin curled up on his lips. “So, this is what a ‘gang’ does, huh?”

Annette’s eyes leaned toward the side, “Well, we usually goof around when there aren’t any attacks. It’d be too hard to track down when there’s only two people scouting. Right, Ayu?”

They both looked back to Ayu, and both found him fumbling to switch cards form the collector’s deck. Ayu blinked at them as he peeped his eyes in return, then groaned, placing the previous cards he had back to his hands. 

“Goodness…” Annette sighed. “We sometimes play board games and figured today should be a game-day since you were coming over.”

“This was only Annette’s idea,” Ayu reminded. 

She chuckled, “You’re even more competitive than me. Be quiet.”

Annette continued to ramble on to Oliver as he spaced out in the middle. He only interrupted her after a minute by saying, “Okay yeah, I’ll play. Get me some cards.”

Oliver beat them both by a landslide, Annette left with nine cards, Ayu left with thirteen. 

“Oliver, how the heck did you do that?” Annette read over all the cards. 

“Don’t worry about that,” he smiled, “You’ll learn how to use the right strategies at some point.”

“This is Ono! There are no strategies.” Ayu threw his cards over his head as he slumped to the ground.

“You out of anybody won’t figure it out.” He wasn’t even sneaky about cheating. 

“Try me.” Ayu sat up with a smirk. 

“Ayu, you don’t even know how to strategize on anything,” Annette laughed. Oliver played around with his case’s zipper until she asked him, “So you play ukulele, right.”

Oliver reluctantly nodded.

“I know some friends who have ones, but I barely see any guys with ‘em.” She waddled over to Oliver and his uke, arms swaying towards the case. 

“Uh, yeah,” Oliver nodded, his smile curving, “No guy in my class can actually sing or do that stuff, so my class thinks it’s cool…  but I was thinking of starting up guitar or piano though since it’s more practical-” 

“So, you don’t just do tabs?”

“Uh, yeah.”

In the corner of his eye, Oliver caught Ayu scurrying off to a sketchbook and pencil. 

“Can you sing a song for us? I wanna see how good a ten-year old is,” she giggled. 

I’m tired though. “Sure.” 

Oliver opened up the case, showcasing a small instrument. The paintjob was chipped off. The vibrant pattern that original shined was worn and blurred. Oliver picked it up, plucking and tuning with the scratched-up nylon. Tuning only took the matter of ten seconds. 

Just a breath was fine for the young boy. His decision on the song gave him the memories of interrupted practices. Though with the plucked introduction, he began his song. 

“Oh, my Red Maria. How long has back then been?” 

A classic ballad. Oliver observed as Annette rang up with her ears with excitement in her face. Ayu tilted his head, in curiosity, his attention off the book. 

“My life’s been dull without your blushing face.”

The chords and tabs slid through Oliver’s fingers like writing his own name. His eyes captured their expressions. While Annette’s face blurred in with every other he’s seen, Ayu had a calmed smile, everything else was unreadable. 

“When we meet again, we can reach the stars as always…” He stumbled at a stop. Man, I forgot to figure out the short-stop. “The rest is just repeating so that’s about it.” 

“That…” Annette stammered, “That was actually more than I expected.” 

Oliver shrugged, leaning on his ukulele. “It isn’t that hard of a song.” 

“I can’t play anything for crap,” she grinned, “Why are you just ten?” 

“He’s turning eleven this week though,” Ayu corrected. 

“Barely a difference!” 

Ayu stuck his tongue out towards her. He gestured to Oliver. “I liked it.” 

“Ah, thanks.” The responses were mindless and repetitive. “I usually don’t have people to listen so this is a nice-”

A ringtone began buzzing, stopping all the other noises crowding the alley. 

Annette raised a finger, “Hold on a second.” She picked up her own phone from a small bag, raising it to her phone to answer the call. “Yo Jaiden, what’s up?... Oh lort- I forgot about that!” 

“What do you think this is about?” Ayu moved over next to Oliver’s floor-seat. 

“What do you mean?” 

“She forgets extra stuff a lot, so it’s nice to pass time guessing what it is,” Ayu explained. 

Oliver chuckled, “You really don’t have a lot to do, don’t you?”

“I’m betting a group project.”

The boy’s scent still wrinkled in Oliver’s nose. “Maybe it’s just…? I can’t think of one.” 

“Well, she’s pretty predictable so I don’t think there’s that much to bet about anyways.” He pulled on his hoodie’s lace.

“Right…”

She combed her hair with his fingers. “I told you to remind me!... Okay fine, yeah this is a me problem,” she sighed, “I’ll get them today then we can work afterschool tomorrow, okay?... Okay, see ya.” 

She groaned in her hands, but whisked back to Oliver and Ayu from behind. “Okay so I screwed up a bit,” she exclaimed, “and I have to go to the mall to get stuff for a project due on Friday.” 

“That you forgot about?” Ayu eyed. 

“Yeah, yeah, silence yourself,” she hassled. “Um… I don’t want to go since you’re here,” she darts Oliver. 

“We can always come along,” Ayu said. 

“Oh,” Annette hands opened up. “That’s actually a good idea. Oliver, do you wanna come with us?” 

Do I really want to…? 

“Do it,” Vittorino’s voice rang in Oliver’s head. 

Damn it. “Sure.”

***

Shop lights blinded all around. Every store passed with its rows of sales and mannequins. Oliver walked along the outdoor mall, the sunny day in the Fall blazing onto his dimmed skin. The music echoed with aggravating speakers and pop ballads, and the sounds of voices rang through Oliver’s ears by the heavier crowd. 

I can get through this for a bit. She won’t be long, he told himself. He clenched his fists as volumes went at screeches. 

Annette hummed as she led both Ayu and Oliver, her walk swaying along with the music. All the while, Ayu’s hood covered over his head as he walked with his head down. Though looking down wasn’t that strange for Oliver, he’d done the same alone. 

“It’s burning out here. How’re you in that hoodie?” He asked. 

Ayu tilted his head towards Oliver. “I’m usually cold. Today’s not that bad but it’s still kinda cold.” He shrugged. “Besides, I can always bump into somebody and they can see my eye easier and I won’t get as bad of a sunburn.” 

“Sunburn…?”

“My skin’s pale enough to get burned easily,” he raised and showed his boney hand, “not albino or anything but just sensitive.” 

“I see.” Oliver’s brows furrowed. Damn… 

“Okay!” Annette jumped. “You guys can do whatever you want. I gotta deal with the supply stuff.”

She grabbed her phone. “Oliver, I’ll call you when I’m done, alright?”

“Yeah,” Oliver nodded. 

“Alright, then see ya!” She waved off before dashing away. Muttering of items got caught in Oliver’s ears as she ran. 

“So…” Ayu kicked his leg, “You wanna do anything?” 

Oliver stammered. Where would this guy even wanna go here? He shrugged. “Just somewhere quiet is fine, what about you?”

“Quiet,” he pondered, “I guess that could work… Here, let’s go.” 

Ayu pulled on Oliver’s sleeve, dragging him to a map of the area. He asked, “Do you know where the bookstore is on here?” 

“Ah,” Oliver’s attention zapped back, “It’s right there I think.” He pointed at the very corner of the mall. 

“What’s it called?” 

“Ferns and Hamlin’s?” It’s right there on the sign… 

“Oh yeah,” Ayu gasped. “When was the last time I was even there?”

He gave a small grin, walking off from Oliver to a turn. “Come on,” he nodded off. 

“Come on, kid,” Vittorino echoed. 

Oliver followed. 

***

“Even with clairvoyance, you’re terrible with directions,” Oliver groaned.

Ayu scoffed. “I can’t use it for anything other than monsters,” he looked away, “and that sucks too.” 

Oliver brushed off Fall dust. “Regardless of whatever you have, that took us longer than needed.” 

“Shouldn’t you know this place?”

“No,” Oliver answered, “I never go here. I go to Fair Woods and even that’s rare.” 

“… How much do you go out?” 

“Less than normal,” Oliver quickly replied. 

“Sounds about right.” Ayu eyed Oliver’s hands. “You look pale even with your tan. Paler than before I think too.”

Well that’s for other reasons… 

The two entered the shop together. Oliver immediately silenced from the soft music. The change of atmosphere contented him considering before. The aisles stacked with books barely held anybody else around as the cashiers only stood in patience. 

“They’d have comics here, right?” 

Oliver hiccupped once Ayu queried him. He only nodded off while reading over the signs. “Probably.”

Ayu stepped pass. “I think I can find it on my own,” he muttered, leaving Oliver at the front. 

Oliver stared at space as the boy walked off, debating on what exactly to do. 

“How’s it going so far,” Vittorino asked. His stature standing right next to Oliver right after Ayu’s leave. 

Oliver’s face scrunched up. “They’re… fine, just like before. But that was the first time anyone’s ever mentioned me being paler than usual.” 

“They’re people who can see a lot more than others can, remember?”

“I didn’t think that that’d matter in my case,” Oliver exclaimed. His legs began pacing through to the novel aisle. All that the aisle covered were teen-pandering novels involving the Wonder Chronicles and other stories that made it to film. As Oliver grabbed a book left in the corner, he turned around to find Vittorino already gone. He shrugged. Grabbing a book with a familiar title. “Heard this was good…” 

Reading the sections, Oliver strolled to the comic area of the shop. The brightness of colors beaming from the graphic novels. In the corner, Ayu sat curled up with his knees, starting up a comic book from the very first page. 

Oliver sat next to him, crisscrossed with a steady back. “Whatcha’ reading,” he asked. 

Ayu perked up, his ear twitching. “Huh? Oh,” he closed up his book and pushed the cover straight at Oliver’s face, “It’s a Crimson Capture comic. I remember loving their old cartoon when I was younger so I’m giving it a shot.” 

Crimson was unmistakable for Oliver. With their dashing velvet cloak and drawn-out, dark hair, they’d dash through cities to fight crime with only the power of their wits. All that could be known of their identity was hidden by their signature masquerade mask to run through the night.

While Oliver found the idea interesting, he could never take the vigilante seriously to most of his classmates’ dismay. So, all he replied with was a, “Cool.”

They both read with soft pop playing in the background. Minute by minute Oliver passed through pages. Though throughout the read, all Oliver could think of was, cliché. 

It’d already turn to a good half-hour once Oliver slammed his book shut. “Lazy writing,” he muttered to himself. 

He settled the book to the side, taking a breath as he grew self-aware in the atmosphere again. He shifted his attention back to the boy next to him.

Glancing for a second, Oliver could tell Ayu had only finished a decent quarter of the comic. His eyes held focus on the words as he continued to squint repeatedly. 

“How come it’s taking you so long to read?” Oliver asked without thinking. 

Ayu blinked, facing away from the book again. “Oh, it’s usually hard for me to read. Usually in stuff in small words.” 

Oliver paused, processing the words Ayu had said. “You haven’t been at school for a while, haven’t you?”

“Nope,” Ayu laid his book down, “Stopped at around eight. Even back then I was bad, but they didn’t care as long as I had fun.” He chuckled at his own words. 

Oliver hummed. “I was never like that.”

“Really?” Ayu’s voice grew deadpanned. 

“I skipped a grade when I was younger for how fast I was learning, so everyone expected me to do everything well and didn’t worry.” Oliver patted on his ukulele case. “After skipping though, I started falling behind because of- this one guy… Do you know anybody named Faustus?” 

Ayu blinked and scrunched up. “Who the hell names their kid Faucet?” 

Oliver studied his reaction only to find confusion written on his entire face. He sighed, but chuckled from the name confusion. “He… was a weird kid. Popped up out of nowhere and talked to me whenever he was bored.” He chuckled to himself, “He looked like a tween emo-head too so that didn’t help anything.” 

“Reminds me of stuff,” Ayu muttered. 

“I liked him, though. He was fun, in a strange way.” Oliver pulled his chin up towards the cabinets, searching for words of memories. “He was kinda judgmental back then when I talked with him. Not sure why, but it could’ve been from either him being surprised of how smart I was for my age… or streets-dumb. I can’t tell.” His mind basked at the thoughts he had as a kid. The interactions he had with the white-haired kid baffled him for how unknowing he was. 

Then sights of someone walking away and disappearing came before his eyes. Oliver nodded his head down again in expectance of what to come from the flashback. “He told me he had to leave right before I turned seven. Gave me something and went off. Haven’t seen him since.” 

Ayu asked, his tone reluctant, “What did he give you?”

Oliver paused, biting his lip gently so it wouldn’t bleed again. “I can’t remember. I threw it away a bit after I’m pretty sure.”

A ring came from Oliver’s pocket. He picked up his phone, Annette’s name flashing at the front for a call, and flipped it open. “Are you done?” 

“Yup. Luckily, it didn’t take that long so that’s good. I’m right by the food court so you guys can come up here.”

Fuck, we have to figure out how to get there. “Sounds good. See ya then.” He hung up, informing Ayu of what Annette told him. 

Ayu groaned in response. “Why the food court?”

“I dunno, she just said to be there.” 

Ayu wrapped himself around his arms and knees. “That’ll kill my stomach,” he muffled. 

Oliver rolled his eyes. 

They stored away their books together, not bothering to put them in the right place out of laziness, and exited the shop. As they walked, the crowd noise grew to Oliver’s ears once again. 

“Fuck…” Ayu muttered, tugging on his hood. 

“What?”

“I forgot about how loud this place is.”

Oliver tilted his head. “You’re bothered by it too?”

“More than traffic,” Ayu spat, “at least I got used to that one, kinda.”

Oliver smiled. “I have sensitive ears too. Sucks, doesn’t it?”

“Completely.”

Don’t worry about it. Mine’s probably worse than yours. 

“No, mine’s worse…” Ayu mumbled to himself. 

Oliver’s sights turned to the boy again. Did he just- 

A hand pushed Oliver by the chest. He flinched as similar motions of back then popped back into his mind. The boy whipped his head around to see who gave him the money in his hands again. And all he saw was a man in a trench coat. 

“What the hell, Vittorino,” Oliver spat. He ignored Ayu, who walked off without noticing a thing from what Oliver could decipher. Though as soon as he asked, Vittorino was already gone in a blink.  

Oliver stared down at the money, the intentions unclear. He then shoved it in his pants-pocket and dashed off to catch up with Ayu. 

The walk took shorter than the last, thanks to multiple bright signs directing towards the area.

As Oliver walked up steps to the court, he was immediately welcomed to the aroma. Though to his distaste, he passed it off. 

“Dear God, that smells amazing.” Ayu purred, a slip of drool falling so slightly on his chin. 

Well too bad for you, we don’t have any money- oh. A click formed in Oliver’s mind. He fumbled grabbing Vittorino’s money. “I have money if you want some food.”

“Seriously?” Ayu batted his head. His eyes shined despite one with dull grey. 

Oliver nodded, opening up his hands to show his change to the boy. “It’s enough for the two of us. I’m pretty sure Annette can get herself food too.” 

“Thank you,” he gasped. His smile was crooked but Oliver read it clearly. 

“It’s really nothing,” Oliver exclaimed. “Here, I’ll call Annette right now.” 

He dialed her number without looking at the phone and placed it against his ear. “You called?”

“Hey uh, Ayu actually wants some food here so I was thinking that we can eat together. I have money for him, don’t worry.”

Ayu shied away in the corner of Oliver’s eye. He fumbled with his hoodie’s aglet.

“That sounds great! I’ll get us a table and text you guys where. You get your food, he must be hungry.”

“Okay, I’ll talk with him about what he wants first off. See ya.” Oliver hung up to check up on Ayu again. 

“You really don’t have to do this, you know,” Ayu swallowed. “I don’t need to eat.”

“No, it’s alright,” Oliver said, “Just tell me what you want and I’ll get you it.” Besides, I have no clue what else to do with this cash.  

Ayu pouted but his stomach stopped him with a growl. He sighed and pointed, “Can we go to the Asian place over there?”

***

Ayu carried over his stacks of a meal while Oliver stared in a baffled state of mind. He himself carried only a small plate of food. 

How was there fifty-dollars in there? Holy shit. 

“My God, this smells delicious.” Ayu licked over his chapped lips. “Where did Annette say she was again?” 

“Right there,” Oliver pointed out. Annette stood tall against her surroundings with her bright face. She waved as soon as her face met with theirs. 

Oliver and company sat at a small table. Multiple families and friend groups surrounded them as they chatted about whatever. Steam and smoke from each and every store came seeking out throughout the entire area while toddlers cried for ice cream they wanted. 

“So how did shopping go for you?” Oliver played around with the pork dish he ordered, taking small bites every two or three minutes. 

“Not all that hard,” Annette answered, “Jaiden was yelling at me left and right about what to get though.” She chuckled while nom-ing a burger. 

Ayu never entered the conversation the two were having. Majority of the time his face was stuffed with sushi rolls and salmon grills. Oliver glanced over the note. 

Annette and Oliver continued conversing as Annette ate her meal. Though, as time went on, Oliver realized that there really was no use for him to get anything. He checked up on Ayu, who was almost done completely in the matter of minutes. His and Annette’s talking finished so he went and asked. 

“How were you able to finish that much fish?”

Ayu chewed as he spoke, “I just really like sushi. Seafood in general…” He gulped. “Fish.” 

“Enough to have that much?”

“I was in the mood. Plus, I feel like I’m starving so that’s for one thing.” He took his last bite, falling down on his seat as soon as he swallowed. “That was amazing. Thanks.” 

Oliver eyed down on his plate and shoved it towards Ayu. “You can have mine too. I’m not that hungry so-” Ayu snatched the plate and wolfed it all down immediately. Oliver froze in response, shaken by the speed. “Damn.” 

Annette laughed as she glanced off her phone. Though Ayu thanked Oliver again as he opened his first bottle of water. 

Oliver sat next to him in slight disbelief. The animalistic tendencies being both interesting to watch yet questionable all the same. However, all he could make up in his head was, It’s alright. Don’t discredit the guy. You do the same stuff sometimes too. Just- worse… 

All Oliver could read from him was a childish smile. 

***

Four o’clock in the afternoon and the street bustling was as high as ever. 

Oliver walked along silently, following the two ahead of him. He waited for anything to interrupt the dragging moments. An accident, Vittorino, him passing out, his expectations for something loomed throughout his mind. 

Ayu and Annette chatted in front of him. They talked about some sort of show or story, just something Oliver had no knowledge of. Though from what Oliver could read, all the passion seeped out of Ayu’s weak voice as he talked. However, the conversation stopped at a halt as Ayu himself fell to his knees. 

“Ayu,” Annette gasped out. She kneeled down supporting him. 

Ayu began to shake, placing a hand on his right eye. He stammered whispers until he was able to form words. “Ende Street. Down the road. They’re over there.” He pointed with a dragged-up hand, weak enough to fall at any second.

“That’s so close,” Annette said, “Is it fine for you to stay here?” 

“Yeah, yeah,” Ayu breathed out, “I’ll be fine, don’t worry.” 

She nodded and stood up, throwing the shopping bag she held to Ayu. She gestured at Oliver. “Come with me,” and she ran off. 

Oliver stepped forward, but hesitated. He turned back to see Ayu again, down on his luck. The child clenched onto his ukulele strap unsure of whether to give it to him or not. Though in a rush, he dashed his way around still holding onto his instrument. He can look inside.

Catching up to Annette, he asked her, “Is he gonna be okay?”

“Don’t sweat it,” Annette assured him while running, “This happens all the time.”

As soon as her sentence ended, Oliver’s eyes stopped upon a gate entrance. Annette slowed her pace as well, signaling him with a hand and whispering, “Be quiet, it’ll be trickier for it to notice us.”

Oliver nodded. He took steps he himself could hear faintly. His case rustled against his back in inconvenience. From a distance, Oliver caught the sounds of deep grunts and breaths that grew louder as he drew closer to a clear view. 

Annette whispered to him again. “Once you see everything, don’t freak out. I’ll deal with the monster for you.” 

Oliver gulped. A realization crossed his mind. The scent that he picked up strongly in the area was of a familiar crimson liquid. 

Taking a turn to the door took Oliver’s breath away. Bodies filled the bloodied floor with punctures in their chest. Their skin was grey like so many before. Their faces held frozen in shock for the rest of their time. A sick hole formed in Oliver’s stomach as his throat lumped together. Not again.

At the corner of his feet was that of a little girl and her family. Her rosy cheeks draining from her as her blood trickled down from her body. Oliver’s own skin turn cold. He bit down against his lip. This is just-.

“There.” Annette nudged Oliver, breaking him out of his trance. Her head faced upwards, causing Oliver to follow on his own still shaking. Though, what stood above was as unearthly as himself. 

The creature was hunched, cradling its lean, sharp claws over its stick hands. Its skin was almost nonexistent, as a black mist surrounding formed its indescribable shape. Darkness was all you could sense from the monster. That, and the blood stained over its arms. 

Oliver stepped back as the monster tilted its head over to them. Its face drooped down to an uncanny horror. Mists of white and red formed the eyes and fangs. The eyes stared directly at the two as Oliver held his breath. 

“Stand back,” Annette commanded. Oliver stood frozen in his spot, gazing at his surroundings. 

Annette drafted her feet closer to the monster. Their distances meeting in a confrontation. A breath suppled her movement as she planted her legs apart in an assertive stance.

“Isn’t he going to attack us,” Oliver whispered. 

“Don’t worry.”

A hand drew from her side, locking itself into midair and fingers spread wide. “You need patience for aim,” she said softly.  Though, the soft voice turned into a loud radiance. “Hey, Jumbo!”

The monster turned around in slow agony at her. 

She yelled, “You wanna go back?” 

A squeal was heard from the monster, crying in tone. Its bloody hands and legs pounced in a scream. But before it could form a dent on her skin or a creep of her blood, a silent blast distorted the monster from Annette’s hand. Twists and turns misshaped the formless beast down to a single sphere in the air. The monster cried before the little sphere was left, and it tortured Oliver’s ears and mind. 

Once the screams stopped, Oliver pulled up his head again to view what was left. And the sphere was gone as soon as it appeared to him, as its remains flew away in black fragments.

Annette huffed, dropping her arm down. “That’s how… you kill a monster.” 

She then crouched down to sit, taking her hands to a prayer. She turned her head back to Oliver, who only began to process what had happened for the previous two minutes. She told him, “You can join if you want, but I’ll be quick.”

Oliver’s expression softened as he was reminded of the true results of what happened in the place. For him, it was dead silent. No traffic, no chatter could be heard. All that rang through the two of them was the silence of the innocent. 

He walked next to her and took a knee down to sit as well. And they prayed together for the lost lives.

***

“It’s a bummer we couldn’t get anybody today,” Annette sighed. “We were so close to it too.”

“I’m…” Oliver traced his words. “I’m sure the next time it’s close, it’ll be fine.”

Annette giggled. “Nah, this is normal for us. So, we kinda just go for effort.” She kicked a can out of her way, though it barely moved. She dawdled over her steps. “Ayu should be where we left him. He’s probably fine but now.” 

They took a turn to the street where Ayu was left. The city-noise returned to Oliver’s ears as time went on. It would’ve only taken them 5 minutes’ time to get back to the alleyway afterwards. 

“You know,” Annette started. Oliver turned to find her in a small smile. “You better get your powers soon. Speed like Ayu could be really helpful for the job!” 

Oliver huffed a response. “I’d figure.” He followed his own steps, thoughts rambling throughout his head. But he was cut short by a familiar black-haired boy standing in front of him 

“How’d it go,” Ayu asked. His hands were shoved into his pockets as he held a numb expression. 

“We weren’t able to get anyone again,” Annette answered behind Oliver. “But at least Oliver didn’t panic first thing.” 

“Oh yeah, how did it go for you?” Ayu shifted to Oliver. 

“It was… alright, I guess.”

Ayu raised a brow. “Weird. I thought you’d be more scared.” 

Oliver avoided eye contact. “Don’t worry about that. It’s fine.” 

Together, they all went back to the alleyway. Its messy composition remained unchanged. 

“So, this was a… decent meeting day.” Annette grabbed her things while talking. “Oliver, don’t get too worried about the entire monster thing. Or at least- don’t feel too bad about it.” 

“Like I said, it’s fine,” Oliver swatted out. It’s not the worst. He glanced the time on his phone. 

“Well, I’m about to leave myself as you can tell.” Annette waved with cards in her hands. “Are you gonna do fine for the rest of the day, Ayu?”

He shrugged. “It’s like any other day so yeah.” 

“Then just don’t die.” Annette jumped after grabbing up her shopping bag. She took a step out of the alley and waved to Oliver and Ayu. “See y’all whenever.” She walked off without a trace. 

“See ya,” Ayu replied. 

Oliver didn’t say a word. His throat itching at the memory of the area death. I’m gonna be thinking about that all day, aren’t I? 

“So, you’re going too?” Ayu sat down as he asked. 

“Oh,” Oliver cut his thoughts short. “Yeah. My mom’s probably gonna come back from work soon.”

“Ah, well, have fun with her then.” He grabbed his sketchbook into his hand, starting to write with the pencil inside. 

Oliver nodded. He dipped down his head in thought. “I may not be here for the next few days. So, see you eventually.” 

“See ya,” Ayu said without facing him. 

Oliver left. His small feet paced back home without any thoughts in his mind. 

The door clicked, Oliver’s head poking out as he entered. The living room had no change since the previous year. He took his steps towards the couch in which he tossed his ukulele to a small pillow. Immediately, he lunged his body down to the cushions afterwards. 

“God damn, this was a long day,” he groaned. 

His eyes would barely lay open. His mind slowly grew hazy as his entire body went heavy. 

“Not today,” he muttered. In a sigh, he pulled himself back together with the minimal energy he had. Stumping back, he opened his ukulele case and grabbed an item from an inner pocket. 

A voice rang in his ears, not of Vittorino, but of a vivid reminder. “Don’t be afraid of what will come.”

Did you expect me to follow that? 

He stumbled with his head down through the hallway. His stomach cried in pain. 

“Just wait,” he told himself. “Just wait…” 

He locked himself in the bathroom, facing himself against the sink mirror. The boy stared at his own deathly eyes. 

I’m not gonna make it again, aren’t I? 

-

Ten Dollars | Bread and Water | Red Eye | Next>>>

[evesbeve]

One Of These Nights (Ben & Klaus Bonding)

Hello TUA fandom!!

So I’m trash for this show, and of course I had to write about it. 'Cause that's what I do to cope, I write fanfics.

Anyway, it's quite obvious by the first few paragraphs, but this takes place the same day they turn back time.

If you enjoy this, please share this around or leave a comment, it’s greatly appreciated - oh, and if you have any suggestions, feel free to drop them at my inbox!

Hope you enjoy!!

___

Title: One Of These Nights

Franchise: The Umbrella Academy

Summary: In which Ben Hargreeves forgets how to fall asleep. Literally.

Word count: 1,682

(This is also on AO3 + FFN!)

___

Ben had forgotten what it felt like to be alive.

And not in the sense of a sappy, cheesy one-liner. Ben Hargreeves had literally been dead for the past thirteen years and was just brought back to life due to time travel, of all things.

It was only logical to be tired after regaining all of your senses in a split second's time, not to mention reuniting with your family after all these years. Ben's family wasn't exactly known to be quiet, nor predictable.

Ben could actually lose stamina when he walked, and he would get hungry with the passage of time. He would never forget the aching pain in his stomach when he smelled the food his mom was preparing. The satisfaction of eating, not one, but two entire steaks for dinner still hadn't went away.

It all seemed surreal to Ben. How the floorboards creaked beneath his feet when he took a step, or how the breeze entering the window tickled his hair. All these new old things were too much to take in at once.

So of course, by the time the sun had set, Ben was exhausted.

After saying goodnight to his siblings, he entered his room with the intention of sleeping for the first time ever since he had died.

Ben changed into his pyjamas - the very same ones he used to wear when he was thirteen - and couldn't help but look at himself in the mirror.

His pants were blue and tight, but spacious enough. Similarly, his lilac shirt fit him just fine, and there was a silly design of a penguin sleeping on it.

It felt so weird to be a kid again.

Ben extended his arms forward, merely to feel the sleeves of his shirt stretch. Had he chosen his pyjamas again now, he would have gone for a more baggy look, preferably in darker colors.

He had changed so much over the years, hadn't he? In a way, he felt upset that his childhood's innocence was long gone, but there wasn't enough space in his worrying plate to add up to it.

Eventually, Ben looked away from his reflection and headed towards his bed. He tucked himself under the soft covers, and the soreness on his feet seemed to lift. He turned off the tiny light he used to read, and lay down on his pillow, and then…

Nothing.

Ben sat there with his eyes closed for what felt like hours, yet no matter how much he tried, he could not fall asleep.

He tried changing sides, hugging his old plushies, even covering his entire face until he couldn't breathe anymore. He became so desperate he started counting sheep and mumbling songs to himself.

Once again, there was nothing.

He felt so stupid just lying there not knowing what to do, so he figured he'd go to someone who did.

Klaus.

Ben did not bother putting on his slippers, regardless of how cold the floor was and how much he hated walking barefoot. He felt as if he was losing brain cells, and couldn't bother to search for the slippers in the dark.

Careful not to make a sound - and failing quiet spectacularly - Ben made his way outside his brother's room.

He knocked two times, and it took exactly two seconds for Klaus to tell him to come in. Ben entered, and closed the door behind him, glancing at Klaus.

His brother was tucked underneath the bed covers, but was sitting up, reading the thickest and oldest book Ben had ever seen and he just couldn't believe it.

"Well hello, my dear young brother. What brings you here?"

"Yeah, well," Ben said, averting his gaze from the book - was it an encyclopedia? - and looking into Klaus' eyes. "I don't think I can sleep."

"Oh, same," Klaus said, throwing the book on the floor, and Ben felt just slightly annoyed by the way he treated it. "So much on my head, you know?"

"No," Ben shook his head. "It's not that, I literally can't sleep. I don't know how, I forgot."

Klaus blinked once before burtsting out laughing. He hit his head against the wall and it made a thud that indicated it should have hurt, but Klaus had no reaction. He just kept on laughing, and Ben was too salty to bother shushing him.

He'd better be greatful that Ben spared his life on that moment.

"Are you done?" Ben asked when the laughter died down. It was a miracle Diego hadn't screamed at him to shut up.

"Well, Ben-io," Klaus said, "I don't know about teaching you how to sleep, but you're welcome to spend the night here."

Ben thought about it for a second. He didn't want to be depended on Klaus anymore, but yet again, it was only his first day back. After all, Ben knew Klaus probably needed the company too.

Ben didn't verbally respond, just walked next to the bed and got underneath the covers as soon as Klaus made space for him.

He felt the warmth surround him again, only this time, it felt more familiar. It felt safer.

They both turned to their sides, facing each other. Klaus reached out for Ben's hand, and their fingers tangled together. It felt better than Ben could have imagined. More comforting than the covers. He couldn't help but smile, looking down to hide it, just like a little kid.

He had missed this so much.

"You don't mind the lights being on, right?"

Ben shook his head. He loved the vibe Klaus' pink colored lamp gave the room. Something about it was just so aesthetically pleasing, and relaxing.

"I saw you were reading a book," Ben said.

Klaus groaned quietly, yet didn't try to hide it. "You told me to read it," he said. "You seemed passionate about it so here I am!"

Ben's smile left his face, confusion replacing it. When had he ever given a book like that to Klaus? He shook it off though, as he was tired. Perhaps he had just forgotten. It had been a long day.

"How are you liking it so far?"

"It's shit," Klaus admitted. "Ben, who even reads a book about the history of train engines?"

"What now?"

Okay, Ben was sure he wasn't the one that had given Klaus that book.

"Don't act surprised, no one cares about that crap! You said I was going to like it and that it took place in a magical kingdom!"

"Klaus, that's not the book I suggested you read."

Klaus' brows fell. "It's not?"

Ben felt his smile return, and knew it was his turn to burst out laughing. He felt his body shake and his sides tickle, and no matter how much he tried, he just couldn't quiet himself down.

"Hey, that's not fair, you were mad when I laughed before!" Klaus complained.

"No," Ben said in-between his giggles, "I was mad because you made fun of me!"

"Isn't that what you're doing to me right now?"

"Maybe."

"You're such a shithole, Ben," Klaus chuckled, giving in. "You did say to take the book on the desk though, and that was the one."

"It was?" Ben asked, having calmed down a little. "Are you sure? The book I was actually referring to is still in my room."

"Wait, you were talking about your desk?"

Ben watched as realisation poured on his brother's face. He leaned back, and mumbled something under his back.

"Yes? Klaus, where did you get this from?"

"The living room, Ben, where Dad likes to read!"

"Oh my."

This time, both of the siblings broke into laughter. They were both spazzing out, struggling to breathe. Klaus' grip on Ben's hand tightened in effort to hold himself together, and Ben was too occupied to be fascinated by the sensation this time.

It took them more than five minutes to calm down.

"Ben?" Klaus asked, letting go of a last chuckle.

"Hm?" Ben mumbled, still smiling.

"Remember when you used to cover your mouth when you laughed?" Klaus asked.

The question caught Ben off guard. He hadn't thought about this in years, and why would he? It used to be a reflex of his, something he never questioned or thought about.

Ben shrugged. "Yeah?"

"And do you remember what you told me when I asked you why?"

"I do," Ben smiled, and Klaus looked at him with a look that was asking him to keep talking. "When we were little - like, actually little - you made a joke about me laughing so hard that I could summon the horror through my mouth if I didn't stop, so I started covering it, as if that would stop it if it actually happened. At some point it became a reflex, so even when I was old enough to realise you were full of bullshit, I kept covering it."

"And then you died and I taught you how to smile again!" Klaus joked, and Ben rolled his eyes. "I thought you were joking when you first told me, but well, tiny Klaus was a bitch, so fair, I guess."

"Nah, you're good," Ben said. "Klaus, where are you going with this?"

"It's just, I realised I've never seen you genuinely laugh as a kid, you know?"

He felt that feeling on his chest, as if someone was wrapping around his heart a little bit too hard. Ben was standing on the fine line between comfort and uneasiness. Klaus' realisation was bittersweet, and Ben didn't know how to feel about it.

"Till now, that is. Tiny Ben's smile is cute," Klaus yawned, shaking Ben off his thoughts. "Think you're ready to sleep now?"

Ben was surprised Klaus even suggested sleeping. Usually his brother would do everything in his power to avoid it, but apperantly the day was long even for him.

"I think I am."

Klaus smiled, finally letting go of Ben's hand. Ben would have been lying if he said he wasn't disappointed. His hand felt empty after all the contact, as much as he didn't want to admit it.

"Come here, stupid," Klaus said, opening his arms.

Ben took a moment to realise what Klaus was suggesting. He felt the excitement rush through his veins and did not waste a single second to wait. He snuggled against Klaus' chest, and it only became more cozy when Klaus covered them better and wrapped his arms around him.

Ben couldn't remember the last time he had felt so comfortable in his life. He couldn't remember the last time he had felt so safe.

It was at that moment that Ben knew he was right where he was meant to be.

As if a switch had flipped inside of him, he allowed himself to be taken over by his dreams, all while a small smile decorated his face.

[theonetrueotaku]

Just Another Game

Chapter 1 Part 1 - Aftermath

Yoongi/everyone | Canon Compliant | Mature 

Series summary: Set in 2019, after their world tour and after Answer’s release.

Min Yoongi’s career has put him in bisexual hell: living with six hot bandmates who think it’s really funny to flirt and get handsy with him and with each other all the time. Between constant struggles like not knowing whether he and Jimin nearly made out while drunk, to bed sharing with Jungkook every other night, to not being sure how to stop imagining what it’d be like to kiss Namjoon, it’s only a matter of time before he loses his mind as he realizes he’s in love with six perfect but very straight boys.

After Yoongi drunkenly comes out as bi, he can’t remember the confession the next day. Taken by surprise, the boys lightheartedly start a competition to see who Yoongi finds the most attractive in the group. The objective is set to getting a kiss from Yoongi before he finds out about the competition. Though they mean well, things go downhill fast for all of them. As they each realize they are attracted to Yoongi, they start taking things too far beyond what they’d signed up for.

Chapter Summary: Yoongi wakes up the day after his confession only to find out that the team is acting weird around him.

Hobi walked into Yoongi’s room with a hot tray of rare food, rare because he’d prepared it himself. Normally, he left cooking to the other hyungs or to a maid in the hopes of making sure they would all eat well rather than eat his food. Yoongi, however, would likely have to settle for having Hobi’s mediocre food or immediately feeling ill as he woke to an empty stomach.

Not trying to think about what exactly it was that Hobi was looking to protect him from, he simply enjoyed the heartwarming sight of Yoongi wrapping himself into his sheets even tighter as if that would help prevent being woken up. Hobi began doing a jig though his rational mind knew that Yoongi couldn’t see him through the sheets.

“Wake up! The sun is out so you should be too,” he sing-songed at the hungover blob under the comforter.

“Let me sleep.”

“It’s 2 in the afternoon. It’s time for you to wake up.” He set the tray down on the bedside table and removed his shoes. He stepped onto the bed and started jumping, deciding to have a little fun so he could pretend nothing had changed. “We have to be at the company tonight,” he huffed each word out between jumps.

Yoongi let out a quiet whine that made Hobi melt a bit. Min Yoongi was a grown man, but an awfully adorable one. He peeked his head out from under the sheets to see the tray Hobi left on the bedside table. Yoongi licked his lips.

“It smells good,” he mumbled quietly.

“Sure,” Hobi answered sarcastically, feeling like Yoongi was teasing his terrible cooking. Yoongi pulled himself out from under the covers and reached for the bowl on the tray. With the metal chopsticks provided, he began scarfing down the food in the bowl as if he hadn’t eaten in days. He let out a quiet moan with his mouth still full. Hobi laughed. “Don’t pretend to like it.”

“This is so good,” Yoongi said with his mouth still full. “Did Jin cook it?” Hobi stared at him with a hint of surprise in his gaze. Like any good best friend, Yoongi could read his reaction like a book. “What ?”

“I cooked it.”

“That is a surprise,” he teased back before going back to eating. “Thank you for bringing this. You’re so good to me.” Hobi wondered if Yoongi knew he was echoing his words to him from the night before. The memory of Yoongi on his lap resting felt so distant now.

“What happened last night?” Yoongi asked. Hobi didn’t even know how to answer that.

“We sang a few songs,” he said, dodging the question with a minimally detailed answer. “We found out Jin’s non-girlfriend dumped him for being a trainee.”

“What?”

“You really don’t remember any of this?”

“I don’t remember anything that happened last night." Yoongi swallowed, a bit nervous. "Was I okay?” Hobi froze a bit.

“You were fine,” he lied in a way he thought was smooth. Yoongi groaned and rubbed the back of his head.

“Oh no. What did I do?”

Hoseok faked his best smile. “You’re just a terrible singer sometimes.”

“Oh,” Yoongi breathed out with a quiet laugh. He seemed pained as he rubbed his head but he practically inhaled the food in front of him, reaching for the tray when he was done with the bowl. “My head hurts so much,” he choked out as he picked up the cup of juice on the tray. “You’re so nice.”

Just like that, Yoongi scarfed down as much food as he could without pauses, only ever mumbling compliments at Hoseok for being kind enough to bring him the food. Hoseok stopped him with a quick gesture, reaching out a hand from his pocket. Yoongi extended a hand only for Hoseok to drop two pills into his palm. “Painkillers.”

“You’re a saint,” Yoongi noted with a small pout. “Why are you being so nice to me?” Hoseok felt guilty but he shrugged and did everything to conceal his reaction as he sat next to Yoongi. Yoongi put the tray back on the table and then pulled his arms around his bent knees. He hiccuped.

“You ate too fast.” Yoongi scrunched up his nose in reply before mirroring Hobi’s smile. “You are such a child, Min Yoongi.”

Yoongi watched his face curiously for a second. The stare was long enough that it made Hobi nervous, feeling as though maybe he’d been caught. Then, he suddenly reached a hand into Hobi’s hair. “It’s so long.”

Though down loose right now, Hobi’s hair had grown long enough that he could easily tie it in a small bun on the back of his head. He’d had a hair stylist trim at the ends here and there before but it was generally untamed. He was a little self-conscious about it but that didn’t ever prompt any criticism from the boys. However, since no one talked about it, Hobi wondered if they were all trying to hide that they didn’t like the new look.

“I need to cut it sometime, right?” he conceded.

“No. I love it like this,” Yoongi mumbled as he fascinatedly ran his hand through it one more time. He tucked a strand behind Hobi’s ear.

Pulling away lightly, Hoseok did everything in his power to control the blushing smile that danced across his features. It was hard to stay concerned when Yoongi was in this kind of mood. Yoongi retreated his hand when he noticed Hobi backed off, and Hobi instantly regretted that he hadn’t just accepted the affection when he knew that he was enjoying it so much.

“You should keep it like this,” Yoongi suggested carefully. “But only if you like it too.”

Hobi smiled as he kept his gaze on the floor. “I really like it,” he said thoughtfully. He pulled a hidden hair tie out off his wrist from under his sleeve. “Tie it for me?” It was more of a peace offering than a favor to ask. Regardless of everything that had happened in the past day, Yoongi’s warm smile and quiet giggle made him feel like it was all going to be alright as he pulled Hobi back by his shoulders and carefully wrapped the long strands into a ponytail.

“I like it like this too. You look very handsome.”

“You’re too complimentary today. All I did was feed you,” Hobi joked. He reached a hand onto Yoongi’s hands and took one of them with a light, casual grip of his fingers. “Do me a favor, Yoongi?” he asked with a lot of thought to his words. He didn’t mean to interrupt a comfortable silence like this but it was time to talk about the truth, even if it wouldn’t be direct. “If anyone acts weird around you today, just tell me.”

Hobi’s thoughts drifted to the night before as Yoongi spoke up.

“Was I that bad last night?”

“No. I think everyone’s just in a weird mood,” he lied. “Don’t let them take it out on you.”

“They can’t. I’m too intimidating.” Yoongi put on the haughtiest face he could just to make Hobi giggle faintly. His thoughts were somewhere else, no matter how much Yoongi was trying to keep him present.

“He was joking,” Jin said once they realized they couldn’t get Yoongi to willingly wake back up. In this state, he wasn’t going to be giving any explanations.

“What if he wasn’t?” Tae rebutted.

“He was. He was joking so there’s nothing to worry about. No problem.”

“What is there to worry about if he isn’t joking?” Hobi snapped back, his tone suddenly very bitter.

“Hobi, don’t misunderstand,” Namjoon insisted through his own shock.

“I’m not misunderstanding. I want to know exactly what problem it would be.”

“That’s not what I meant-” Jin started.

“Just stay away from him,” Hobi insisted suddenly, drunkenly stumbling to his feet and shooing Jin away from Yoongi. “I’m taking him to his room.”

Jimin stood up and started helping Hobi, which Hobi only accepted because Jimin hadn’t said anything insensitive.

“Don’t be like that, Hobi,” a still drunk but terrified Namjoon called after him only for Hobi to keep walking. “Come back!”

Hobi bit his lip before seeing Yoongi’s concerned expression through the fog of his own thoughts. He snapped out of it. “Sorry, I was just realizing I forgot to get a tea bag. I’ll go right now.”

Read the rest of this chapter on AO3.

Follow this Tumblr for extra scenes. Send an ask to be put on the tag list when I update.

[arazialotis]

Back of A Cop Car

Word Count: Around 4500 

Pairing: Dean x Reader

Summary: The reader meets Sam in her last year of high school and is head over heels for his older brother Dean. When they finally get a moment alone, it is short lived and they both end up in more trouble than they signed up for.

I can’t credit for originality on this one. Heavily based on/ inspired by the song Cop Car (Keith Urban/Sam Hunt take your pick) and I apologize if other writers have done the same, but I wanted to share my take on it. And if y’all like it, I may continue it where the reader leaves off, so let me know your thoughts.

Warnings: Language

This is purely for a hobby and my enjoyment. Maybe some of you will enjoy it too. I am by no means a writer so I apologize in advance for any mistakes or grammatical/spelling errors. I appreciate any feedback or suggestions!

Art by the fabulous @atc74 Thank you so much darling for putting this together. You continue to amaze me with all you do!

@misguidedconqueress also deserves a big shout out for always double checking stories before posting! Thanks so much hun!!!!

You has just turned 18 when the Winchesters first came to town. Sam and you had an instant connection in your AP American Literature class. He was so shy, it was completely adorable. You invited him to a study group at the library after class. Of course, you forgot to mention the group only consisted of you. Regardless, you hit it off right away. Studying everyday after school for weeks. In hindsight, you realized his subtle hints of not being around for long.

With Sam, conversation was so easy. You could talk about anything; politics, philosophy, theology. You worked on college applications together. You applied for a local university, but Sam sent in applications everywhere. He was initially on the fence for Stanford and Yale, just applying mainly for state colleges, but you encouraged him to do it. After all, there is no harm in trying. And if anyone in this small white-picket fence town could make it, it would surely be him.

Sam’s brother, on the other hand, was not so easy to talk to. He was too old for school but you saw him every day when you and Sam left school together. Dean was his name, and every afternoon he’d be leaning against that classic Chevrolet. You’d part ways with Sam, always looking his brother up and down until he would glance your way. Every day, you’d pull your books in closer, quicken your pace, and pray to God he didn’t realize you were staring. You loved Sam but you were infatuated with Dean. On your walk home, you would feel the engine rumble past as you imagined driving off in it with him.

Sam and you trotted down the steps of the school. Today Dean was wearing his leather jacket. The sun brought out his freckles and you swore you could pick out gold flecks in the jade eyes. You unconsciously licked your lower lip.

“So, I’ll see you tonight?” Sam asked.

“Yeah, my mom usually has dinner ready around 6:30, if you want to come around then.” You confirmed. “Don’t forget your copy of Catcher in the Rye.” You reminded him.

“Homework on a Friday?” Dean scoffed.

“We have a joint report due Monday.” Sam came to your defense.

“All I’m saying, these are the prime years of your life… Live a little.” Dean advised as he looked you up and down. “Isn’t there a party or something happening?”

You looked at Sam and chuckled. “Nerds like us don’t get invited.”

“A girl like you doesn’t need an invitation…” Dean flirted.

“Oh really? In that case I’ll be ready at 10.” You emphasized the sarcasm by rolling your eyes. “See you later Sam.” You began walking off.

“Hey sweetheart.” Dean called after you. “You want a ride?”

You turned around, seeing a mischievous smirk on his face that was driving you wild. “No thanks, I’m just a few blocks down.” You pointed near the direction of your house.

“I wasn’t talking about the car, babe.” He winked.

You instantly turned around and picked up the pace, faster than usual, embarrassed because you couldn’t deny desiring his offer.

Sam shoved Dean on the shoulder. “Fuck off man, leave her alone.”

Dean raised his hands defensively. “Hey, if you want dibs go for it but uh.. She’s definitely into me.” “You don’t know…” Sam looked at him confused.

“You can tell she’s thinking about it right now…” Dean’s gaze wandered to you. “She wants it so badly, considering giving into her darkest urges. She’s not just holding her books, she holding herself. Insecure, never being that open to anyone but the way she swings that ass tells you she may just be confident enough to follow through.”

“You are repulsive.” Sam spat.

“Oh, we have a hair flip.” He called Sam’s attention back to you. “Now the secretive glance back… wait for it…” You completed Dean’s prediction, looking back over your shoulder. “Oh! And finally the tugging at the shirt.” You followed his words again. “She definitely wants it.” He smiled with glee. “Damn, I miss high school.”

“You don’t know her. Trust me you’re not her type.” Sam argued.

“Sam, I know all girls and she’s a dead giveaway.” He smirked before jumping into the Impala.

Sam patted the hood of the car and sighed joining Dean in the car. Just one more year of this, and then he’d be off on his own.

Dean reached over and shook his hand through Sam’s hair trying to lighten the mood. “What’s with the hair Rapunzel?”

---

“So, you got the car tonight?” You greeted Sam at the door.

“Yeah, it was like pulling teeth, but I got it.” He spun the keys in his hand.

“Well, come meet the family… if you dare…” You teased with a wink.

“Hey. Y/N…” He stopped you before entering. “I just want to apologize for my brother…” “Sam, you don’t need to apologize. You are not your brother.” You assured him as you played with your necklace.

“I know. He can just be a real dick sometimes.” He vented.

“Seriously, it’s okay.” You promised. “Come on, dinner’s ready..”

By the time dinner was over, Sam was wrapped around your father’s finger. You were actually surprised he didn’t offer a dowry. The two of you studied in the living room. Your book was filled to the brim with post-its. You compared notes and worked on typing your joint report, occasionally checking Sparknotes to make sure you were on the right path.

Sighing as you laid on the couch, you put the book over your face. “I can’t take anymore of Salinger.” You complained. You flipped over facing Sam. “You want to watch a movie or something?”

Sam set his book down, stretching and looking at his watch. “Shit. I forgot, I have to help my dad out with a project tonight.” He quickly started gathering his things.

“You can’t just help him out tomorrow?” You asked.

“Nah, he needs it first thing in the morning… for his work.” Sam explained.

“Okay.” You understood, but didn’t hide your disappointment.

“Hey, but we’re still on for tomorrow, yeah?” He questioned.

“Yeah, I’ll be there around 3. We can finish this lame project up.”

“Sweet. See ya Y/N.” Sam left in a hurry.

Your father entered the living room. “What’d you do to scare him off so quick?” You rolled your eyes. “Nothing, he just has some family stuff going on tonight.”

“You know, your mother and I were talking… We think he should come around more often.” He suggested.

“We’re just friends, Dad.” You refuted.

“Well, he’s a nice boy.” He stated as you turned to go to your room.

“Wait til you meet his brother.” You muttered under your breath.

An hour or two had gone by as you passed the time listening to music and doing your nails. You immediately stopped singing along the moment you heard tapping on your window. Your heartbeat accelerated and you started taking shallow breaths while wondering if you should go get your parents. After another set of taps, you built up the courage to pull back your curtain only to find that handsome devil with the green eyes.

“You gonna let me in?” He asked, his voice muffled through the glass.

You unfroze, unlocking the window and pushing it up.

“Jesus, I’m glad I guessed the right room. It might have been a whole different conversation.” He commented as you undid the screen.

“Shh.” You scolded as he stumbled in. “What the hell are you doing here Dean?!” You whispered.

“Well, I know I’m a little late, but we had a date for 10 if I recall…” He slyly smirked.

“You can’t be serious.” You called him out.

He raised his eyebrows. “Deadly.”

“So a party then?” You suspiciously asked.

Dean sat down at the edge of your bed. “For two.”

“We can’t stay here…” You warned.

“I’m still new to town, got any ideas?” He questioned.

“A couple…” You thought. “Let me get changed first.” You started looking through your closet. “Do you mind?”

Surprisingly, he respectfully turned around. You sauntered out of pajama bottoms replacing them with jeans and throwing on a white tank top. You quickly glanced in the mirror, smoothing out your hair.

“How old are you again, Y/N?” He asked.

“18.” You confirmed, slightly annoyed behind his hidden reasoning. Turning off the radio and lights, you straddled your window. “Ya coming?”

“Hell yeah.” Dean exclaimed, stunned by your eagerness.

He followed you down the trellis and onto the street. “Where’s your car Winchester?” You teased.

He twirled a set of keys in his hand. “I got stuck with Sam’s beater tonight…”

You scoffed. “Sam does not have a car.”

He opened the passenger’s door to a 1983 Ford Fiesta. “He does, he just doesn’t want anyone to see it…”

You chuckled and hopped in.

“Piece of crap…” Dean muttered as the gears grinded together. He finally was able to get it started. “There we go… So where you taking me?”

You directed him to the old quarry that had since been filled with water. “Pull over here.” You instructed. “We’ll walk the rest of the way.”

Crickets chirped, as you rustled through an informal trail, used by you and other kids. Dean analyzed you, trying to figure you out, believing his preconceived notions had been wrong. A cross around your neck continued to throw him off. The path led to a chain link fence with a clear ‘No trespassing’ sign. You pulled away part of the fence as Dean hesitated.

“Chicken?” You teased him, tongue peeking out. You knew that the property had been abandoned for years, there was no reason to worry.

“Yeah right.” He waved off and followed you through.

You continued to lead the way around the quarry to an old, rusted structure. It overlooked the lake and was the best view of the city. Even though it was only three stories, it managed to capture your little world. Most of the lights in the city were off, aside from the street lights, giving the atmosphere a dullish glow.

“Wow.” Dean whispered when he made it to the top.

“Now’s your one and only chance for a Leo reference.” You giggled.

Dean didn’t hold anything back. “I’m King of the world!” He yelled with outstretched arms.

You hollered along, causing you both to buckle over laughing.

“So, welcome to the party.” You said as you sat down on the ledge.

“Some party.” Dean sat down next to you.

“Well, you’ve only just arrived… we’ve got games.. Truth or dare, would you rather…” You continued when Dean didn’t jump on those. “We have music, dancing if you're lucky.” His eyebrow raised as his intrigue grew. “We’re clean out of food and drinks, we’d have to make a run if you are interested in that. And we have a pool.” You stretched your hand out to the quarry. “Although, I would advise against swimming… It’s haunted.” You warned in a hushed tone.

“Oh really?” Dean asked skeptically.

“Oh yes.” You assured. “Where do I even begin… the drownings… or the miners even before that.”

“That doesn’t make it haunted.” Dean debated.

“It starts with the faint whisper in your ear, the shiver down your spine, to alert your senses of something you can’t see. Then the sound of wet footsteps or perhaps a smell of smoldering metal. That’s your signal to start running.” You improvised.

“No such things as ghosts.” Dean denied, knowing fully well you were just playing with him.

“My friend actually saw an apparition once… said it was reaching out to her, asking her to come join it in the water…” You gritted your teeth and looked around. “Okay, enough, I’m creeping myself out.” You snuggled up closer to Dean as he chuckled.

“So uh, back to party games… you don’t happen to know 7 minutes, do you?” He questioned, swallowing thickly.

“Only 7? We play it much longer around here.” You nipped your lip as your focus darted between his luminescent green eyes and his lips that were growing ever closer.

Both your attention was cut off by the flashing blue and red across the quarry. Dean’s desire had flushed replaced with concern.

“Oh, there’s a road over that way,” You pointed in a general direction. “They’re just making a shortcut.” Except the lights become brighter and another car entered the quarry.

“We gotta go.” Dean stood up.

“There’s no way they can see us up here…” You rationalized. “Beside, we’re young, they’ll let us off with a warning.” You turned around but Dean was already halfway down the ladder.

You sighed but followed suit. Once you reached the bottom, he grabbed your hand and guided you through the brush. You could have sworn he discarded something along the way but the world was going by in a blur, you didn’t get the chance to see what it was.

Your heart was pounding out of your chest and you were struggling to keep your breath. But soon you heard sirens closing in.

“Shit!” Dean yelled, quickly before halting to a stop to avoid crashing into a fence.

He immediately hopped up to realize the top was covered with barbed wire, he could suffer through it but didn’t want to leave you alone. He let go, and grabbed you to crouch down covered by the shrubbery. He placed his fingers to his lips. You nodded your head and tried to hold your breath. Soon, the sirens stopped wailing even though to could still see the lingering blue and red. You eventually heard voices and flashlights started scanning the area. One of Dean’s hands held onto yours as the other rubbed his brow. Sighing out of guilt, you squeezed Dean’s hand reassuringly. He glanced up to find you contagiously smirking, and he couldn’t help but smile back.

You nodded to the police car. “We’re going to get caught either way.” You mouthed.

“Okay.” Dean agreed.

With one pair of hands still interlocked, you slowly started to stand up with your hands raised above your head. Flashlights focused onto you, with police yelling in the distance. One officer, shone his light in your eye. Instinctually you blocked the light with your free hand.

“On the ground, now!” A voice ordered.

You rolled your eyes. “We were just on the ground…” You muttered under your breath.

But both of you cautiously got onto your knees and then laid flat, placing your arms for compliance with cuffs.

“Hey man, easy.” Dean pleaded as they slapped the cuffs on you.

Dean was cuffed as well, a little too tight. They brought both of you over to the hood of the cop cars and patted you down.

“Guys…” You started. “Really? We’re only a couple of kids, you know.. Having a good time…” You tried to imply.

An officer sternly looked at you but remained silence.

“We just wanted to get some space away from my family, so we could be together…” You continued explain.

You met Dean’s eyes across the hood of the car. Damn you wished you had been faster to kiss him. He mimicked your smirk thinking the same thing. Another officer started reciting the Miranda rights.

“Okay, this is fucking ridiculous.” You squirmed in the arms of an officer. “We weren’t doing no harm. Who the fuck owns this anyways? It’s been abandoned for years! Everyone uses it for their hook up spot!” You rambled out excuses. “I wanna talk to Officer Stevens!”

“Don’t worry, you’ll get to talk to him down in county.” Someone assured you as they escorted you into the back of the squad car.

They pushed your head down and shoved you in, as they did the same to Dean. “You gotta light?” You asked with poison in your eyes.

“Shut up.” The officer ordered before slamming the door.

Dean started chuckling as his door was shut too.

“What?” You demanded, anger still fuming.

“There’s no chance in hell you smoke.” He continued giggling.

“... I could.” You responded embarrassed. “Besides if they are going to treat me this way, I might as well give them a little fire back.” You deeply sighed the weight of your consequences finally bearing down.

It hit Dean too. “My dad is going to kill me.”

“I’m so sorry… Seriously, I’ve come out here countless of times, no one ever seemed to care.” You tried to reconcile your guilt.

“It’s not your fault.” Dean assured.

You attempted to break the heaviness. “At least it will make one hell of a story.” You smirked.

“You got that right.” He looked you up and down.

You sighed, closing your eyes and leaning your head on his shoulder. He couldn’t help but grin gazing down at you. Had his hands been free, he would have reached over to tuck the loose strand of hair back behind your ear. The blue and red lights danced off your skin disorienting time and space. You matched Dean’s deep and steady breaths soaking up each feeling of infatuation as just the two of you existed in that moment.

The trance was abruptly ended as an officer forced his way into the driver’s seat. You kept your head against Dean’s shoulder but peaked an eye open to analyze the officer. He was staring directly ahead, refusing to speak yet glancing back occasionally through the rearview mirror, most likely awaiting orders.   

You lifted your head to get a better view. He was young, quite young. Quickly deciding to change tactics, you flipped your hair back, pursued your lips together, and leaned forward giving him an optimal view.

“Say uh… you don’t really need to take us down to the station do you?” You smoothly questioned in a breathless voice. The officer looked back through the rearview mirror and his eyes widened. “Because you know, I’d do almost anything just to be let off with a warning.” Dean pinched his lips together and looked out his window in attempt not to burst out laughing at your overly exaggerated attempt to flirt your way out of the situation.

The officer cleared his throat. “You know, it’s nothing personal sweetheart. I’m just following orders.”

You huffed instantly sulking back into your seat. As the cop pulled out of the quarry, you chewed on your lip infuriated by the situation. It wouldn’t matter anyways. Soon you’d be at the station and be able to talk to Officer Stevens. He was friends with your parents and you often ran into him at school drives and volunteering events. He would be able to speak of your character.

Your thoughts were broke as Dean purposely nudged his knee against yours. He was grinning like a child. You couldn’t help but silently giggle. “What?” You whispered.

He shrugged his shoulders. “Nothing.”

God, you should have taken your chance. You kept thinking over and over.

It wasn’t long before you arrived at the station. Both of you were fingerprinted. You were guided over for mugshots.

“Hey Winchester.” You yelled as he was still getting the inked wiped from his fingers. “Bet’cha can’t do better than this.” You pouted your lips and popped an eyebrow.

The cop rolled her eyes.

Dean was next. “Who do you think invented blue steel, sweetheart?” He asked, immediately going into the pose for his shot.

You couldn’t help but laugh even while being escorted into the one holding cell together.

After silence grew and officers dissipated, you nuzzled closer up against Dean. “So, tell me everything.” You gazed into his eyes with fascination.

He laughed, surely not going to give you the truth. You were still too naive for that. “Where to even start…” He thought.

“At the beginning, I mean, we got all night.” You encouraged.

And he did. Well, leaving out the details about demons and monsters. He told you about life as a kid, when his mom died, what life was like growing up on the road and how much a nuisance Sam could be especially when he was younger. He told you about his hopes and dreams but that he would most likely go into the family business. You sighed, being able to pick out that same tone of resentment you heard from Sam.

“But enough about me, what about you?” He asked.

“I’m going to be a cop.” You teased giggling. Dean lightly chuckled. “I’m serious, tonight has inspired me.” You played with profound conviction. “No, but seriously…” The next person who walked through the door, broke your train of thought. “Oh, thank God.” You whispered and stood up to gain his attention.

“Y/N?” Officer Stevens called from across the room. “What the hell…” He trailed off into a whisper walking closer to the cell. “What in God’s name are you doing in here?” He noticed Dean looking him up and down.

“Listen, we were just at the quarry, minding our own business and not doing any harm… you know everyone goes up there on weekend nights and it’s never been a problem before.” You pleaded your case.

“Jesus Y/N.” He rubbed his forehead. “I should call your father.”

“I’m 18.” You sternly reminded him, slightly panicking not wanting your parents to find out.

“Which means you could be tried as an adult.” He warned. “What’s gotten into you? You should know better.” “Like I said… no one's ever cared about the quarry before.. So what’s going on?” You asked him. Another officer called him over. “Just give me a minute… I’ll be right back.” “So that’s your guy?” Dean clarified.

“Don’t sound so pessimistic… he’ll get us out.” You assured, unconvinced yourself.

A few more minutes passed and Stevens came to unlock the cell. Both of you started to walk out.

“Just you.” He ordered and Dean sat back down on the bench.

He guided you over to his desk in which you sat across from him. “So I shouldn’t be telling you this… Well, first I need your alibi for Wednesday night, around 9:30…”

“I already told your partner during processing…” But he still stared at you blankly. “You’re my alibi… we were both helping clean up at the job fair…”

“Oh, right right right…” He remembered. “You’re not the problem anyways. It’s your friend’s..” “Dean.” You corrected.

“Yes, it’s his story that is not adding up.” Stevens explained.

“Why do you need our aliblis anyways?” You asked.

He sighed. “Like I said, I shouldn’t be telling you this. And you have to promise not to spread this around.” You nodded your head in agreement. “There’s been a string of murders around the tri-county area. We are keeping it out of the media as much as possible, not wanting to cause panic.”

“Like a serial killer?” Your eyes widened.

Stevens nodded concerned about worrying you.

But you loudly scoffed. “And Dean is a suspect? Yeah, right!”

“We can’t confirm his alibi, and his prints were found at one of the scenes.” The officer explained.

“Have you tried his brother Sam?” You asked.

“Sam?” Stevens recognized the name.

“We go to school together. His number should be in my phone, wherever your partner threw that.” You suggested.

“Okay, we’ll check into that but for now you are free to go.” He sipped on a cup of coffee.

“I’ll stay.” You stated, looking back at the cell.

“Y/N…” He warned.

“No, I want to stay with Dean. I got him into this, so I’m going to stick it out until he’s cleared. Call my parents or whatever, but I’m staying.” You demanded.

After a few more minutes of convincing, your stubbornness pushed through and you were escorted back to the cell. For a brief moment you hesitated, swallowing a lump in your throat concerned you may have just locked yourself back up with a murderer. But that was ridiculous, you laughed it off.

Hours continued to pass. Both you and Dean were growing weary. You tried to keep his spirit up by cracking jokes but eventually fell asleep leaned against him. It was dawn when you woke to the sound of the bars opening. Both of you had finally been cleared. On your way to the lobby, you noticed a man with dark hair and a salt and pepper beard. You could see the anger practically radiating off of him.

“Fuck.” Dean muttered under his breath.

It must be his dad, you deduced, even though you had never seen him before. The man turned and walked out the front door as a police officer handed over your confiscated belongings. Both of you made your way to the front door. The Impala was waiting at the curb. Dean’s jaw and fist were clenched.

“Hey Dean,” You rubbed his shoulder trying to soothe him.

He turned towards you and for a second you saw fear in his eyes. You leaned up and pecked him on the lips, attempting to distract him and yourself from your impending fates. He instantly smiled and drew you back in, his arms wrapped around you while deeply pressing his lips against yours. You became lost in his world until a passing officer cleared their throat. You pulled back embarrassed and ashamed, remembering the trouble you had gotten him into.

Dean lifted your chin to meet your eyes. “Hey, I wouldn’t trade last night for the world…. Whatever happens, remember that…” You nodded, thinking the same. “Let’s do this.” He grabbed your hand and lead you out the front doors.

….

Ten years later you sat behind the sheriff’s desk with your newly hired deputy across from you.

“My point is, we all make mistakes, that was one of my biggest, but look where I am now. Yeah, you screwed up, but it’s not the end of the world.” You encouraged.

She looked at you wide eyed. “But what happened afterwards?” “That’s… that’s… I was trying to reassure you that everything was going to work out.” You stated confused.

“Yeah, yeah, I understand and you have been a great support through all of this, but I need to know what happened.” She persisted.

You sighed and took a sip of coffee. “I was grounded for two months and my parents made me participate in community service even though there were never any charges.”

“And Dean??” She demanded.

“I never heard from him again. I texted Sam a bit. But that weekend they left town supposedly due to their dad’s job. I asked Sam to come live with us so he could finish out his senior year in one place but that after that his phone was disconnected.” You tried to explain as emotionlessly as possible but it still stung.

“What about the murders?” She continued.

You smirked, that’s why you hired her in the first place, she had the potential to be a great detective. “Another murder happened the night we were locked up. Eventually that’s what cleared Dean to go free. They stopped after that. Police at the time determined that the killer had committed suicide.”

“Wow, that is crazy.”

“Mmhmm.” You agreed. “The town hasn’t seen anything like it since.”

“Until now.” She corrected.

“Until now…” You repeated, looking at the files of recent murder victims sprawled across your desk. 

-----------

Continue to Part 2

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[bonca03]

Thank you so much for your patience @kitkatwolfy I was your natsuyuu secret santa! I’m sorry for the wait, there was so much I wanted to do for this AU that I just couldn’t get around to...either way, I still hope you enjoy it <3 if you have an AO3, I’ll be uploading this on there as well so I’d like to gift it to you if possible

@natsume-ss I’d also like to thank you for waiting, I just love pushing deadlines

This is basically an AU where Natsume never went to live with the Fujiwara’s and he’s meeting Tanuma and Taki later on as adults. Natsume’s also managed to get himself in trouble with Matoba, who has found out about the Book of Friends.

Title: For As Long As You’ll Have Me

Rating: G

Pairings: Established Tanuma/Taki, not sure if it comes across that well but the intent was to allude to future Tanuma/Natsume/Taki

Words: 1864

When Tooru opens the shop, she expects it to be a crazy day. Crazy how she’s not sure but, it’s Christmas Eve so it will either be crazy busy or crazy slow. Or perhaps crazy with spiritual energy. Years of working with Tanuma has taught her that youkai, just like humans, love the holidays.

She prepares herself but Tooru doesn’t expect it to be crazy crazy.

(Oh, how mistaken she was.)

Tooru and her boyfriend of a few months (and friend for many years before that) decided to open a shop together. Neither one had known what they wanted to do with their lives but with Tanuma’s spiritual ability and her books left to her by her grandfather in a town as strange as theirs, they decided to open an Onmyōdō shop. Business isn’t booming but it’s steady enough and they tend to catch up a bit more during festivals. They even have a few semi-regular customers, including an exorcist Taki had hired when she was still in school after accidentally crossing a malevolent youkai. To pick up the slack on the spiritual side of pay, however, they also sell hot drinks and a few small pastries.

It’s a strange business they run, but it’s theirs and although they opened it more to buy time to decide what they want than anything, they seem to have inadvertently found exactly what they wanted.

Christmas Eve rolls around as it does every year, although this is only their second one in the shop. Taki goes through her morning routine as usual. She counts the tills, fills the display of sweets, and flips the sign to open. Then she leisurely goes around the shop cleaning and organizing the various books and talismans they sell. Tanuma helps his father at the temple in the mornings so she simply bides her time until then.

It’s around noon and Taki has decided it is going to be a crazy slow day when the bell on the door jingles.

She sets her broom aside and moves back towards the front to greet who she assumes to be her boyfriend only to find a disheveled man about her age instead. His hair is shock white and overgrown, barely covering his pale green eyes that are darting about the room fervently. He is panting heavily and just based on all the dirt on him, he’s been running through the forest.

Concern washes over Tooru like a cold shower.

“Is something wrong?”

He jumps in response and steps aside, out of view of the window.

“Do you have any information on exorcists?” he’s blunt and to the point but he is quite visibly forcing himself to sound pleasant.

Inside her head, alarm bells sound. Very rarely has she had customers straight up ask her for an exorcist. Usually, they buy some charms and if that doesn’t have the desired effect, they ask for the contact information of their semi-regular exorcist customer, Natori Shuuichi. In her two years working at the shop, neither she nor Tanuma has had someone ask so soon or so desperately.

“I can get you in contact with one if you’d like,” she offers, already behind her desk in search of Natori’s card.

The man flinches. “No, no, I just need information. Do you know anything about the Matoba Clan?”

That makes her pause, she’s only heard rumours and vague comments from Natori but…

“I don’t have any records of them, but from what I understand they are a powerful group of exorcists.” she offers. Tooru doesn’t know what trouble this man is in, but those sad and desperate eyes make her want to help him. “Their leader is supposedly quite young but determined and a hard worker. I’ve also heard some unsavoury things about their exorcism methods though.”

He nods but doesn’t look all that affected by the information.

The clang of the bells startles them both as Tanuma enters the shop.

“Sorry I took so long; there are some shady people in town right now so I took the long way around.”

Tanuma’s eyes land on the customer. “Sorry, am I interrupting?”

Again the white-haired man avoids a question and jumps right in with his own. “Where are they? The people in town I mean.”

Tanuma rubs the back of his head, he never did like being put on the spot. “Up the road a block or two? There's maybe three of them that way wearing traditional clothes,”

The customer’s head hits the wall as he leans back and releases a frustrated sigh.

“What’s wrong?” asks Tooru. “If there’s anything we can assist with, we’d be happy to help,”

The man glances around the shop briefly and then he turns back to her. “I, uh, don’t suppose you allow loiterers?” he asks hesitantly. “I won’t be long, I just need to wait for the people in town to leave,”

Tanuma’s eyes widen. “What’d you do to get on their bad side?”

The stranger looks down at the ground. “They want something very important to me,” is all he says.

Tooru and Tanuma glance at each other nervously. They’re used to dealing with the supernatural, that is easy territory to navigate; people problems, however, are not their strong suit. They have few close friends and their strange business tends to isolate them from the rest of the community. They may not be as immersed in the world of youkai as people like Natori or the Matoba Clan, but for them, it’s what is familiar.

Regardless how they feel, however, neither one of them has ever been good at turning down someone in need.

“You can stay here,” Tooru reassures, gesturing to one of the tables, “Have a seat, I’ll bring you something to drink,”

The man waves his hands. “I’m fine, thank you,”

“Don’t be stubborn, you look exhausted! I’ll be right back,” with that, she scurries off into the kitchen.

Tooru wastes no time pouring tea for the three of them, as well as piling a plate full of various snacks for good measure. She brings them back out to the tables where the two men sit together awkwardly. Tooru rolls her eyes and walks over to break the ice.

She sets the tray of food and drinks at the table. “I’m Taki Tooru by the way,” she says gently. Tanuma tenses. “And this is Tanuma Kaname, my awkward boyfriend,” she teases because, of course, he forgot to introduce himself.

The white-haired man smiles. “Nice to meet you, I’m Natsume Takashi,”

“Nice to meet you,” they chorus.

Everything is silent for a moment. “So what brings you here? Do you have family you’re celebrating with?” Tanuma asks.

“No,” he’s still smiling but Tooru gets the feeling that it’s not genuine. “I think I have relatives in this town but I’ve never met them. I...got lost,”

“Do you need directions?” Tooru asks. “For after the men leave obviously,”

“Not really, I’ll be fine,”

You got lost but you don’t need directions? she wants to ask. Wants to, but doesn’t. He looks so skittish, Tooru fears poking holes in his story or asking for more details will cause him to run out the door as if he had never been here at all. Despite the fact that he is a total stranger, she isn’t willing to risk scaring him off when he is clearly in danger.

“I see,” is all she says instead.

Silence reigns over the shop once more. The longer it persists, the more anxious she finds herself. How can she get her feelings across to him and let him know how worried she is?

“This is a nice store,” Natsume comments, glancing around at the various books behind him. “What inspired you to open a place like this?”

Beside her, Tanuma looks visibly relieved at the topic change. “My father’s a priest and Ta-Tooru comes from a line of Onmyōji,” he explains.

Natsume smiles and is silent for a moment. It almost looks like he’s physically arguing with himself when he asks, “So can either of you see youkai?” he grimaces at his own question.

One look at his face convinces Tooru not to brush it off. “I saw one back in high school,” she says. “I can’t see them normally but I used a circle that allows people to see them.”

She decides not to mention the fact that the youkai had cursed her and any whose name she spoke. Everything turned out fine--thanks to Natori’s hired talents--and it’s in the past. Considering the anxious nature of the white-haired man, Tooru decides it to be a minor detail that would be best left out.

Tanuma follows her lead and answers honestly, “I can’t see anything clearly, but I can make out shadows. Usually I get headaches from it though.”

And suddenly it feels like it’s actually Christmas Eve. Natsume’s eyes light up brighter than any fairy lights on the block and a small, dorky grin overtakes his previously hesitant smile. The entire shop seems to warm up as if the man before her is the sun itself.

Tooru’s breath is taken away. Out of the corner of her eye, she can see her boyfriend’s jaw drop. He seems just as starstruck as she is.

He seems to notice them staring so Tooru quickly interjects before he can feel too awkward. “What about you, Natsume-san?”

Which is apparently the wrong question to ask. A tense air radiates about him and he has to take a deep breath to settle himself.

“I see strange things that other people can’t,” he says cautiously. “It’s a secret though.”

Tooru nods. Over the years, things like this have lost their shock factor. It’s almost something she’s come to expect what with all the craziness of the life she and Tanuma have built together.

“Are you an exorcist then?” asks Tanuma.

“Oh, you did ask about the Matoba Clan earlier,” the blonde remembers. “Do you work for them?”

Natsume shakes his head. “I’m not an exorcist, I just have bad luck getting involved with them,” he explains, smiling tightly.

Realization dawns on Tooru. “Are the Matobas the people in town who are after you?”

The white-haired man looks down, shielding his eyes with his too-long bangs. “I don’t want to cause any trouble,” he explains. “But I can’t let them get what they’re after.”

Looking at him, Tooru can clearly see how tired he is. He does a good job of hiding it but she can see and she knows Tanuma can too; Natsume is on his last legs. She finds herself wondering how long he’s been running.

“We’ll help you,” Tanuma says earnestly. “You can stay here as long as you need,”

“As long as you want.” Tooru corrects.

He looks up at them both then, wonder shining in his eyes and that soft, infectious smile on his face once more.

Tooru can’t help but smile back, can’t help the bubbly feeling that blossoms in her chest. She feels deep inside her that this is the beginning of something beautiful.

She glances over at her boyfriend, seeing her own smile mirrored on his lips.

“As long as you want,” Tanuma agrees

[findthefuninlife]

The story is about a boy who found himself at the edge of a cliff. What drove this man to come so close to the rim of sacrifice and near insanity is where we start.

He lived a regular life, a constant, repetitious life. Wake up, work, reads, eats and sleeps, in that order, never different. He rarely strayed from the routine. If he did, again, incredibly rare, he would contemplate doing it for days before slightly altering the daily, comfortable routine he’d committed too for so long. Days blended into weeks this way. Weeks often blurred to months, even disguising years passing. He knew his routine, wake up, work, reads, ears a bowl of soup and sleeps. In that order, never different.

In working the fields one day at work he noticed something. There was a hole in the ground, a tunnel to somewhere. Out of all his years he’d never seen it, curiosity starting to plant its seed in his head as it always did. He would always be curious about “other” things but he’d never commit to doing them because every time he did he either found himself in dismay or the endeavor being more of a nuisance than enjoyment. He knew his routine was best, wake up, work read a book of poetry, eat a bowl of soup and sleep.

After months of considering taking this tunnel to wherever it leads, he found himself working around the area, still working, but just working near it to see if anything came out or if anyone went in. One day he was working as he always did and noticed a spark, an ember flash by the tunnel and then dim.

Another week and I’ll do it. The man decided today, even if he hadn’t seen an ember since. He crawled down the tunnel taking it, winding down and curving deeper into a place he’d never been. A mile or so down he started to shiver the cold intensifying. He woke up this day, went to work the fields and took a path down a tunnel.

At the end of the tunnel was a bright, beautiful crystal blue woman. He was taken by her, the shine in her, the coolness he felt in his chest at first, however momentarily the feeling was. She had the same gems he’d move in the fields in her hands, shimmering off her body light.

“Are you a worker too?” What a stupid question? Of course she was...

She smiled, “Yes, I just work a different shift.” She winced slightly, quickly but he noticed.

Play it cool, play it cool. “So— like what do you consume?” What do you consume? Who in the 8 worlds says that? Mind head slap.

She chuckled and looked at his quizzically. “I ‘consume’ fruits, apples... berries... pineapple. What do you ‘consume’?”

She’s mocking me— great. “I eat soup.” He said rubbing his arms, it was getting colder. He let off his heat a moment to warm himself.

“Aaaand?” She asked staring, gems still in her hands. She started to tug on her finger. What looked like water droplets started to form on her elbows.

“Eh, w-what?” The question had come so quick he was thrown off. “Uhm, just soup? It’s the same soup I’ve always had, I dunno really?”

She’d laughed and continued to mock off of his nervousness and interest in her. Strange, but he’d begun to unwind and forgot his routine tonight. Wake up, go to work, go down the tunnel, eat berries? and ——

“Where do you sleep?”

“I don’t sleep til the sun rises.” She’d said a little embarrassed.

Oh that’s right, opposite shifts.

And he’d slept when she did, in the mornings.

Not before long he found himself in a new routine with her. Wake up in the tunnel, eat berries, sleep, work with her and sleep. He’d noticed though the more days he spent with her the more they would mix. He found himself not before long, he found himself getting a rush from her, finding new things to do during the day after work, new things to eat. He found himself losing a routine and enjoying the lack of routine. He let go, slowly, of his comfortability. The scars that decorated his arms and back seemed to dissolve over the next few days. His resolve changed, he felt himself being more of himself than he knew was there. He found himself wanting to see this person everyday and every second. He found himself staring at her like crystals never existed, like gems of the world were put together in the most perfect way and formed her face. He found himself laughing genuinely, feeling genuinely, being genuinely happy with change.

They’d gone to the outskirts of the area and picked the best fruits. The only way to these fruits was via the tunnel. Go figure he’d never had fruit before.

They’d dip their feet in the caves pools and laugh about stupid observations blown out of proportion.

When they came together it— wasn’t all good though.

“Are you hot?” A deeply concerned look on his face was there as it always was, growing more serious everyday. He was at the back end of the tunnel and she was at the other.

“No, really it’s fine.” Having swept away a whole puddle from her face and arms. Her legs shaking weakly.

He thought to himself that he wasn’t even trying to burn today. When they first met he’d burned to keep warm but after noticing what it did to her he constantly tried to snuff it out. After a few days constantly with her no matter what he did, she’d melt away regardless how much he would emanate his heat. It tore him up inside, a thought creeping in the back of his head he didn’t want to think about.

“When you came through— this stupid tunnel— when you came through you marked a path. When you leave and another comes, it shuts for that person forever. You won’t allowed to come through.” This was all that was said that night weeks ago. It always woke him up like an alarm clock.

“So only herbalists can make your medicine”

“Yes”

“And they have to be down here to do it?”

“Yes”

“And you haven’t had your medicine since I came?”

“No”

“And you say you don’t want it”

“Yup”

“But you need it”

“There are better things to need”

“Like not melting from fire?”

“Like fire itself.”

“So what you’re saying is—“ he’d started.

“So what I’m saying is pass the damn fruit.” She’d said with a smile cutting him off.

What you’re saying is, in order for you to get better, I have to leave, in order for you to get better you need someone that’s not me here. In order for someone else to come, they’d block my way to you.

The thought cut at his throat some nights as they talked across the tunnel. There were a few days they were able to sleep together after he couldn’t take it wanted to be close to her and she’d agreed. At first it was bliss, indescribable, the sleep he got, the smile he woke up with was everything to him. After one night he’d nearly melted away her arms he never slept with her again. The sight of her losing a piece of her broke his heart.

I can’t be without you and I refuse to hurt you, even if it might taste great in our mouths, I can’t.

“I’m sorry...” Naturally cheerful and full of glee, this solemn tone through her off.

“Why’re you sorry?” She stared at him across the room laying down, a stern look on her face.

“I-I can’t stand doing this to you. I can’t be here. N-no ma-matter how much I want to be here, be with you, everything about this is just so wrong.” The words stung in his throat.

She couldn’t argue. She knew that the time was limited. One way or another they’d be without each other.

“Do you remember months ago, before this, before us, before you came down here. Did you notice a light in the tunnel during your working, just once?”

“I do, actually... what were you doing anyways? That was the middle of the day, you should have been sleeping.” He’d never considered this before.

“Well ... I was curious about the outside, I’d heard you working the fields once upon a time and wanted to see who it was. Little did I know you’d fall for me so hard. I paid some attention on my long nights watching you work. So, without actually showing myself, I knew when you’d do your ‘forever contemplating’ and I shined a gem from the sunlight coming through the tunnel.”

“Sooo what you’re saying is you were into me.” He smirked at her then listening to this confession.

“Actually no, I just thought you’d come see me once and leave. Little did I know you’d make yourself at home and stay like you owned the place.”

He thought back to the first night that they’d lay together. How he found himself staring at every inch of her just because she was there. He’d never had something so precious and delicate in his arms. He’d never wanted to break someone in his arms but when he had her he just wanted to pull her so tightly to him just to prove, beyond a doubt this was real.

After a few moments they found themselves standing in the middle of their night, staring at each other. They both started forward and then at a full on sprint. Before contact he told her to jump. As she did he opened his arms and caught her, her legs wrapping around his waste. Clashing of fire and ice.

For the first time in weeks they’d touched and even more so embraced each other. That night they laid together like they used to.

He woke to a wet back and a shiver down his arms. She was nearly all water, a pained look on her face. He was horrified, disgusted and hated himself for his selfishness. The scars on his body felt reopened.

She woke in less pain than she was in before. She reached out reflexively for a hand that wasn’t there. She got up and looked around but didn’t see anyone, just a vile of medicine on the table closest to her and a note.

“I can’t be everything for you that I want to be. I was with you on borrowed time and I couldn’t stop myself from being greedy til it nearly tore us apart. If I lost you I wouldn’t, couldn’t forgive myself. Believe me, not ever having you again is just as much a torture as losing you. I can attempt to heal from one of those though. You will always have a smile though topside. I know I can see you from my house on the hill by where we got fruit. I’ll always be there to see you and when the winds are silent and kind some days I might just be able to talk to you. No amount of words written here can express the knife that’s stuck in my chest right now as I say this. In another life I know I was a herbalist. I know that I keep you alive and loved you like I want to. I just know, in some universe you and I are an ending somewhere. I know that somewhere, some-where, you are my routine. Somewhere you and I are together, like we should be now. P.S. I will miss you, I will always look after you and I’ll love you til I don’t, whenever and however long that takes.”

The story is about a boy who found himself at the edge of a cliff only able to watch as the woman he loves is so close yet unreachable. Maybe the fates were cruel, maybe it was just not meant to be his routine, maybe asking too many questions got him here in the first place. But for a time he loved, felt love, was in love but not all love stories are happy endings. Right now the boy remembers what it was to have it and that’s all that matters. We move forward and that’s all we can do. Maybe the fates will reward him later with a chance to have her again or maybe they’ll reward him in giving her someone that makes her even happier. Maybe the fates can seem cruel but we can only work with what we have, try all that is around us and enjoy all that we can in moment. When it stays we need to be considerate enough to make it a bed. Stare a while, take it in, let them have my food, my hopes and dreams, be my ambitions for a while. When it leaves be on good enough terms to leave the door open so that maybe it might walk back through again.

[theglassyhick]

Whose the Real Monster?

Don’t ask me ;w; It has been too long since I posted and I dun wanna talk about it ;w; Nothing bad, I am just lazy. BUT FIRST 

WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT?!?!?! Tis the character in this story, by the name of Michael.

Commission was done by my good friend @bluerainst0rm Go commission her, she is great. She also provided the prompt for this, so enjoy!

Words: 7083

Genre: Romance, Acton

Contains: Fluff, Violence

Setting: Fantasy World

Prompt: "Please stop! I'm not a monster!"

Demons descend on a small town. The only people who can defend it work with each to save as many as they can.

“You are out of chalk dust again?” The woman asked. Such a common and basic ingredient should be more well stocked. But when everyone needs it on a nightly basis…

“The Harvest Moon is tonight. Everyone says the more the merrier.” The shopkeeper said with a shiver as he scurried around the shop. “Here, I’ll find you what I can.” He turned around and pressed a burlap sack into her arms. “You are a wizard yes?” The woman nodded. “Good. These are dried Angel Petals.”

“Don’t you need holy water to make these? Where did you get so much?” The young wizard reached into the sack and pulled out the white rose petal. The edges were gold. “I… I have only worked with young ones. These are fully mature…”

“I’ve been growing them for years. Seven years, to be exact.” He smiled proudly. “with such a powerful ingredient, I had a feeling even a young wizard such as yourself could make a powerful warding pot.”

The wizard was too in awe to smile. “I-I need salt. And, and Hawthorne berries soaked in holy water, and spring water! There is a cauldron in my house!” She jumped a little. “And the blood of the spotless lambs! Come on, the warding pot we make will last for weeks!”

“But… The Harvest Moon...” The shop keeper stopped her. “You know how active they get. The Demons will be hunting for us. If you are right, then we need to get you somewhere safe. Stay with me and my wife.” The shopkeeper was walking back to the counter. “Just come back before the sun sets, alright?” The young wizard nodded as she left the store, clutching the Angel Petals to her chest. The shopkeeper cleared his throat. She blushed as she turned around and handed the sack of petals back to him.

“I’ll see you tonight!” She called over her shoulder. She strolled out of the shop and into the cobblestone street with a skip in her step. After all, Angel Petals were rare. She was holding diamonds. With those petals, a whole array of potions and enchantments were now open to her experimentation. Now, her research into celestial spirit summoning would skyrocket as well! “This truly is a red-letter day.” The wizard hummed as she walked to the tavern to buy herself a celebratory drink. “So, I will treat myself~”

She had arrived at her destination after ten minutes of walking. The tavern formed the center of the town. Five other roads spread out from the tavern. Most of the buildings lining the roads were homes, but a few had signs to indicate some sort of service. The town was a bit big for their isolated location, and well populated. Farming fields were outside with a few scattered homes. The wizard lived in a squat tower on the other side of town, towards the fringes. She opened the door and stepped into the tavern. Her smile fell. The tavern was empty, making the wizard frown unhappily. She was looking forward to a bit of boasting, a bit of teasing, and a lot of fun. She scanned left and right, then smiled as she saw there was someone at the bar. He was tall and slim, with a tarnished white cloak lined with black fur, and long black hair.

She looked down, adjusting her rich purple cloak so it was more of a cape. She fluffed her hair out so the long, strawberry blond locks cascaded down her back. Finally, she brushed the salt and chalk dust from her blue skirt and unbuttoned the top her red-dyed blouse. She was in a good mood. She wanted to have fun with the man.

“Clara, nice to see you tonight.” The barkeeper said with a smile. “Or, well, anyone.” Clara smiled back at him.

“They are just worried about the Harvest Moon. I almost forgot about it. I was so busy perfecting a spell, what day it was day slipped my mind.” She admitted with a bit of a chuckle. “May I have some wine please? And, who is he?” Clara didn’t want the stranger to know she had her eyes on him. With a wine glass in hand and full, she took a sip and listened.

“Don’t know.” the burly man shrugged as he rested his elbow against the counter. “He came in a few days ago. Doesn’t say much.” The young wizard smiled softly.

“Thank you~” The barkeep smirked as he got the message and made his way into a back room. The other man was sitting on the corner of the bar, sipping some water. The Wizard stood from her seat and walked over to the stranger, taking a seat beside him. The cup was raised to his lips was placed down as he noticed his company. “Hello sir! I don’t think we have been introduced. I am Clara, of the Starry Field.” She offered her hand. The man stared at it. Clara remembered the more formal academy greetings were not used in this town. However, he caught her fingers and brought them to his lips.

“Michael, of the Empty Void.” He introduced himself. “I didn’t expect to find someone invested in celestial magic so far from a library with star charts.”

“Nor did I expect to find someone well versed in void magic.” Clara smiled softly as she tilted her head. “Quite the unknown field.” Michael snickered a little bit at the pun. However, he did not turn to face her.

“It’s funny, cause the void is often empty, or referred to as ‘unknown’.”  He smiled as he turned to look at Clara. The celestial mage smiled as well, but covered her lips as Michael turned away in embarrassment. “R-Right… explaining a joke ruins the fun… Uh, sorry.”

“It’s okay.” Clara reached out and touched his hand. “It was a little unclear. I am glad you found it humorous though.”

“Let me get you a drink.” Michael rose his hand to order. Then realized the tavern keeper wasn’t here. And she already had something to drink. He lowered his hand slowly. “Um, I guess that is unnecessary…” He stopped talking when Clara giggled softly. Their eyes finally met, and she realized his were red. Despite the odd color, the eyes were still vibrant enough for Clara to smile at him. She reached out and stroked his cheek.

“Your eyes are beautiful. They are the same color as spring roses.” Michael’s only response to the compliment was a blushing face. He looked down at his hands. For a moment, Clara wondered if she had gone too far.

“Thank you.” The void wizard looked to the star mage with a small smile and with red cheeks. “I… I don’t get a lot of compliments, e-especially from such a beautiful woman.”

“Well now aren’t you a charmer?” Clara wrapped her arms around his, leaning against his side and pressing her soft chest against him. With the upper buttons undone, it was quite easy to see her breasts. Michael’s eyes widened and his cheeks matched the shade of his eyes.

“O-Oh…” Clara was well aware of where his gaze fell as she leaned further against him and looked up at his face. Michael’s eyes had to dart between her ocean blue ones and her exposed cleavage. He found both as desirable sights. He couldn’t decide which he wanted to burn into his memory.

“If I might make a suggestion, I would say the eyes,” Clara smirked when Michael’s mouth opened a little to express his confusion and his panic. “You remain a gentleman. And I would much rather spend the night of the harrowing Harvest Moon in the arms of a gentlemen.”

“Well, then uh, I guess I only have to pay attention to one amazing feature.” The compliment, while smooth, was not nearly as elegant as it could be. Clara still smiled at the compliment regardless.

“Do you imply I only have two amazing features?” The wizard batted her eyes shyly up at Michael. Yes, it was a cruel tease. But this Michael was so cute when he was flustered!

“N-No!” Michael’s eyes were wide as he shook his head quickly. “Not at all! It is just, well, you have many attractive qualities,” A shy laugh accompanied his assurance as he rubbed he back of his head.

“Dawwww, you are so cute,” Michael smiled at Clara’s compliment. “Don’t worry about messing up. I find your shyness absolutely charming.”

“O-Oh?”

“Yes. Usually strangers are so grim and tight-lipped. But you seem friendly,” The wizard watched with a supposedly kind smile as Michael became more and more relaxed over the course of their conversation. He was falling right into her little trap. The trap was further added to with the occasional tankard of beer Clara bought for the shy boy as they spoke.

“Tell me about your grimoire!” Clara’s eyes were lit up as she reached into her cloak, “This one is mine. Thanks to my neat hand writing, I can fit many spells in this lil thing,” She presented a leather-bound notebook. It was big enough to fit in just one hand, and not nearly as cumbersome as some of the massive Grimoire’s other wizards had to carry around. The wizard opened the book with a tipped her head back and a smile, happy to display her work. He thumbed through the pages and quickly eyed each neat line of text.

“What about your grimoire?” The strawberry blond wizard eagerly rested her elbows on the counter after he set her grimoire down. “I would love to see what kind of unique spells litter those pages~”

“Well, it isn’t a book.” Michael reached down and plucked at his cuff.

“Wait, you don’t mean to say…” The wizard trailed off as Michael pulled his sleeve back. Various ruins and spells were inked onto his arm. “You are a demon hunter.” She mused. Michael looked away.

“Folly, I know. But- “

“Heroic is the word I would use!” Clara’s hands clasped over her chest as she closed her eyes. “Oh, you go out in dark of the night, spells etched into your arm with a blade in the other hand. You track down the monsters who torment us, and do you best to protect us! It’s so romantic.” Clara smiled up at Michael. “Why, if I was staying at my home tonight, I would offer you a bed just for that.”

“W-Wait, you mean you… Uh you are- I mean are you trying to say that…” Michael blushed as he trailed off as he rolled his sleeve back down.

“So cute.” She smiled and stroked his cheek. “But the moon is rising, and I really must get to the shopkeeper’s. He offered to let me stay at his place with his wife.” She stood from her stool and brushed the dust off her blue skirt. “It was a pleasure to meet you, Michael of the Empty Void.”

“The pleasure was all mine, Clara of the Starry Field.” Michael’s jaw was hanging a little, staring at Clara as she walked away. He was surprised she offered to spend the night with him. Clara was waiting patiently as she neared the door. “Wait, Clara!”

“Yes?” Michael called to her just as Clara had planned. He approached her with her grimoire in his hand.

“You left this on the counter.” He offered the book to her. Clara feigned a surprised look before she accepted the notebook.

“Thank you very much.” She rested a hand on his chest. Clara pushed Michael gently until he was walking in the direction she so wanted.

“Well, I mean, w-who wouldn’t? R-Return it I mean!” He noticed Clara’s almost predatory gaze. Michael’s legs collided with something. Her gentle push sent Michael toppling backward into the booth, and she followed. As his back crashed onto the seat, Clara’s lips crashed onto his. It was a simple peck, followed by more and more kisses. The woman had her hands on Michael’s chest as she straddled his waist and peppered him with soft kisses. “C-Clara, I…” he trailed off as she held the kiss for a few extra seconds to silence him.

“Thank you~” She muttered against his lips. Her eyes gazed into his. She relaxed while Michael was stiff. With each kiss, Michael’s body softened. She ran her hands over his chest; beneath his shirt was quite a firm body, probably due to his occupation. Michael returned the favor by slowly raising his hands and stroking Clara’s back. She moaned lightly into the kiss and let Michael know she approved. The gentle and intimate contact and stoking only lasted a short time. Clara bit Michael’s lower lip, surprising him. He opened his mouth to say something but Clara simply took advantage. She deepened the kiss. Her tongue slipped into his mouth and graced his with gentle strokes, running over his teeth and the roof of his mouth. She moaned more to reward Michael’s firm strokes to her back. Clara gasped when his hands slipped to her rear and gave a squeeze. Michael leaned forward and pushed his tongue into her mouth now and took over the kiss.

Clara submitted, letting his tongue move around her mouth. She moaned as she felt his tongue swiping over her teeth as they two intimately kissed. Clara slowly pulled away, a small strand of salvia connecting their lips. She let out a muffled noise as Michael quickly leaned up and captured her lips again as he continued to massage her rear. Clara stroked his chest and groaned as she felt his teeth scrape against her lip. Her hand slid around his neck and pulled his head closer as she rocked her hips against his. The shy demon hunter below her groaned in response. She pulled away and pushed herself up, looking down and still gently rocking her hips.

“Thank you so much for returning my grimoire.” She purred before sliding off his lap. “If you are still in town tomorrow, you should really find me. We can continue this then~” The wizard gave a small wave to the confused young man. She left the tavern, quite proud of her work on him. She outdid herself.

The shopkeeper lived in a house attached to the back of his shop. Clara walked for another fifteen minutes till she was there once more, and the shop keeper greeted her kindly. The house was a simple place, just a sitting room with a double bed in the corner. A few windows completed the setting. The shopkeeper’s wife was kind and welcoming. Clara was soon sipping tea with the couple. All was well and good, and the wizard was starting to relax. She looked out a window and shivered though. The demons were descending upon the town.

They were all strange combinations of humans and other various animals. There were two kinds of demons: Major and Minor. The minor ones were all similar. Body of a human, goat legs and hooves, clawed hands, forked tongues. Lidless, beady eyes and wild hair. All of them raving mad as they hunted for anyone foolish enough to have not put up the basic defenses. The major ones were more terrifying. None of them resembled each other, and all barely resembled humans. Their eyes shone with an intelligent light as they stalked down the cobble stone streets and searched alongside their minor counterparts. The chalk circles around each house kept the demons from accessing the people hiding inside. Normal chalk wouldn’t work, but this special chalk was blessed by a preacher. They all stopped at the circles and hissed and spat as they refused to cross over the line. Clara smirked.

A demon turned to look at her through the window. It was an ugly thing who walked on four legs. Those legs were the same as a bear’s, while the body resembled a lion. It’s neck and head was a thick snake, and a scorpion’s stinger replaced the tail. The demon stepped closer and closer to the window. It sat on its haunches and continued to stare at Clara with those lidless eyes. Clara smirked and raised the cup of tea she was drinking.

“Cheers~” She told him. The shop keeper was staring at the demon oddly.

“Dear, um, how far away did you make the chalk circle?” Clara looked to the shopkeeper. Worry sprang onto the wizard. The shopkeeper looked to his wife as he awaited the answer to her question.

“Oh, quite far away.” She was smiling at the demon who was looking in the window. “But of course, the chalk isn’t blessed. It’s just regular chalk. I swapped out the bags.” The wife chuckled as she tilted her head. Her face shimmered as a glamour was lifted. The wife’s eyes were glassy and blank. She rose her arm to reveal scars had been cut into her. Ancient runes made this half of the spell label her as a puppet. The teacup shattered as it fell from Clara’s hands.

Clara pulled out a knife from her cloak and slashed her finger tips.

The Demon rose its arm and had the other half of the spell etched into his flesh. It said master.

Clara pulled her grimoire out of her cloak. She flipped it open to a well memorized place in the book.

The demon reared up and slammed his arms against the wall. It creaked and groaned. The windows fractured.

Clara swiped his fingers along the pages. The runes glowed with arcane energy and collected on her finger tips.

The demon reared back to slam against the wall.

Clara smirked.

The arcane energy flew and hit the wall. The demon was blasted back with the debris. Clara rushed forward and leapt through the new hole. She dragged her bloody finger tips over another five spells conjured five orbs of energy. They condensed into one orb in her palm and fired into the demon and blew his head apart.  She looked around and bit her lip. Demons were attacking the houses now. Upon seeing the major demon do it, they quickly realized it was safe. With nothing to hold them back, the town was quickly falling apart. Clara watched as Demons dove through windows and shredded doors apart. Families ran from their home and away from demons, while a brave few fought back with varying success. She needed to reach her house. She could make a warding pot and drive the demons away.

Clara leapt off the demon’s body and ran. Her feet pounded the cobble stones and made her presence clear. A demon dove at her with, its visage fierce and its arms spread wide. She flipped to a page in her grimoire, spread her blood along a spell and flung it at the demon. The spell exploded in a star burst pattern and dissolved the demon into dust. Another ran up to her. This one charged low at her legs, with blood-streaked hands. Clara already had another spell ready and flung it at the demon. A cluster of bright lights launched from her finger tips. They formed spears id flight and pinned the creature down. It shrieked and cried, but Clara left it behind as she charged down the street. Clara came to a stop in front of the tavern. She paused as the red light surrounded her. Everything burned around her. Lanterns must have been knocked over as people tried to escape. She took a deep breath. She had priorities. The demons had to be removed. The lives had to be saved. Then, the fire put out.

Clara ran forward and readied another spell as a group of seven demons burst into the square. One of them pointed out her and barked. The others followed with howls as they rushed her, some on all fours, some on two feet. She fired off a ball of compressed gas. It exploded into hot plasma and scorched the demons. Their screams were drowned out by the sound of the air roaring as it was heated then cooled. The demons were not the only danger to Clara. The fire was spreading. The smoke was robbing her of much needed oxygen. Her legs ached and burned. Each heavy foot fall sent pain through her foot to her calf. But adrenaline helped to keep her legs moving, despite how sloppy her run was becoming. She smiled as she spotted her house, which had three stories and there was taller than the other buildings.

Not all was well. Sitting in front of her door was a large, Major Demon. It was a beast of a creature, with scaly human legs, a bear’s body, and the long thick arms of an ape. The head was a lion, with massive tusks as well. The demon looked to Clara and smirked as it approached her. The wizard smirked back. She quickly turned around and dove through the broken window of a burning building. She flipped through the pages of her note book as she pressed herself against the opposite wall.

The demon charged the building, crouched low, and swung his head and arms up against the weakened wall. It shattered and the debris was sent flying at Clara. Her spell was ready. With a flick of her wrist she sent the glowing energy out to the flying debris. It was a pea sized ball of compressed gas and energy. The ball exploded out and sent all the splinters right into the demon. Shards of glass and wood embedded them self into the demon as it flew back. Clara ran out through the hole, flipping to another spot and swiping her blood laced fingers over the spell. She directed the energy to the demon, and what appeared to be a star from the sky itself fell onto him with the speed of a lead ball. It smashed into the demon and exploded into a bright, burning light.

“Thank you so much!” Clara said as she ran past the splat of gore on the ground. “I’ve been wanting to test that!” Clara collided with the door to her tower and shoved the key into the lock. She tumbled past the threshold and pulled the door shut behind her. The base floor of her house was empty of any sort of furniture. It was filled with shelves, and racks held dried or preserved ingredients. A stair case lea to her sitting room on the second floor. She rushed forward ad grabbed her first ingredient for the warding pot, which was a jar of Hawthorne berries preserved using holy water. Clara slammed the bottle against the inside of her cauldron. She moved to the next ingredient and pulled out flecks of glass from her hand.

The door was broken as a lesser demon forced his way into the house. Clara turned around, pulled her knife from her cloak, and threw it with a deft hand. The small surgical knife embedded itself in the demon’s throat. Clara quickly pulled her grimoire out and flipped open to the middle page and flung a bolt of light at the demon. It screeched in pain as the bolt bored a red hole in its chest and blasted it out of her house. Another ran in past it, only to be blasted apart by Clara. Her next move was to run to a different rack and thrust her hand past the dried ingredients to grab what she needed. She threw it over her shoulder and into the pot. There was a sigh of relief as the pot clanged.

“Next ingredient, next ingredient… ARGH, what was it?!” She growled as she darted to several hanging herbs. She snatched off several herbs, dropping them in the pot as she passed it. Five large frozen toads were thrown in next. Clara barked a quick sentence in an ancient language and set the wood beneath the cauldron alight.

A fist slammed into her chest and sent Clara flying through a rack. Jars shattered and bags burst. A demon bared down on Clara. He was slashed with jagged claws. The wizard held up her sleeve. The claws tore into the sleeve and caught on the fabric, which made the demon struggle to pull his hand back. The wizard below the demon began to recite a long spell. The creature lunged to bite her neck. She thrust her arm forward. Shark teeth met her bones.

“AHHHHHH!!” The ancient mutterings continued as energy built up on her finger tips. It exploded from her hand as she shouted her last word. The demon was blasted away, but rose to his feet and snarled. Clara dived for her grimoire, flipped to a specific page, and swiped her blood along a spell. The demon leapt again. Clara rolled to her back and released the ball of energy on her palm. It collided with the demon. The creature bloated before exploding into a shower of blood and drenched her and the notebook. She covered the grimoire with her arm, which kept the blood off. Clara picked some of the glass out from the back of her legs, her red shirt much darker than it originally was. She reached up to grab a leather bag of holy water and poured it into the cauldron. Her eyes cast to the door, where several demons were approaching.

She should have finished this warding pot by now. It had dragged on for too long. Clara pulled out her grimoire and winced. There was still glass in her leg. The four demons tried to crowd in. Clara prepared another spell, but never had the chance to use it. A scaled arm capped with a clawed hand grabbed one of the demon’s head from behind. The head was crushed in a blast of gore. As the body dropped, another clawed hand reached in and dug its claws into a second demon. Clara could clearly see the way long, hooked claws dug into the demon’s chest. The clawed hand wrenched the demon back, tearing the chest open and flinging it over the owner’s back. Clara finally saw the new demon’s head. It was a raven’s skull, with glowing red eyes.

The other demons turned to screech at the newest monster. The Bird Skull lunged forward and opened it’s sharp, hooked beak. It dug into a demon’s stomach and disemboweled the fiend, leaving it to screech in terror and pain. The final one leapt to slash at the Bird Skull’s eyes. Bird Skull’s arm shot forward and slammed into its head to pin it to the ground. Upon second glance, it was not just an arm. A thick, black, leathery membrane was attached to the arm making it a wing. Using the wing arm, he slammed the demon’s head into the ground until there was a crack. Bird Skull finally walked into the house, through the hole Clara had made. She gaped.

The demon stood well over seven feet tall. She could see more of him aside from a horrid head and leathery wings. His body was covered in some sort of leathery hide. Bones sat on his skin and were armor for him. An entire ribcage protected his chest, while spinal segments protected his back. His arms were coated in dark scales and his hands were tipped with sharp claws. It had a tail, long and prehensile, and tipped with an arrow shaped, sharp looking bone. It was long enough to drag along the ground, and was probably used for balance.

The Bird Skull Demon looked down on Clara as his wings settled onto his shoulders and covered his body to be a leathery cloak. He tilted his head as he looked down on her. With the moonlight flowing in behind the demon, his black scales took on a bluish sheen. He had a belt with a bundle of three rods hanging from it, as well as a sword with a long and curved blade. Most demon’s used claws and teeth. Clara thought to herself and tried to formulate a plan. She had a spell ready. She rose her hand, and the demon did as well. She paused.

“If you can keep the demons away from me, I can make a warding pot.” The wizard let her hand lower, and the determined glare on her face melted into a friendlier smile. The demon breathed slowly, then nodded at Clara’s statement. He ducked his head to leave, and Clara turned her attention to her warding pot. She just needed to finish it.

Bird Skull towered above the other demons at seven feet six inches. They had noticed by now something was off about one of their stronger kin. The lesser demons formed a circle around him barking and gnashing their teeth. Their ransacking of the village evolved to silent tension. A few burnt buildings crackled, but no one flinched. A beam fell from the rafters and crashed into the ground. The ceiling followed.

A lesser demon flung itself at the Bird Skull demon’s back. Bird Skull’s wing extended from his back and slammed into the demon. The lesser Demon hit the ground with a thump. Bird Skull stepped up and stabbed his talons into the lesser demon’s chest, digging them into the demon and crushing the ribcage before pushing the bone shards into his lungs and organs with a stomp.

Another Demon leapt at Bird Skull. Using his talons, Bird Skull grabbed the demon beneath him and spun around, throwing the body at the leaping one. They collided in the air. Bird Skull rushed forward and snatched the still living one from the air by the arm. He grabbed onto the lesser demon’s shoulder and tore the arm off with a loud ripping noise. It screeched in pain before being slammed to the ground. Bird Skull dug his claws into his throat and tore the soft flesh as he stood.

The rest descended on him, tired of this silly one at a time game. Bird Skull drew his sword in a clean stroke and slashed open a lesser demon. He whipped around to his right and slashed another one before ducking under a third’s swipe. His sinuous slash continued and severed the legs of several demons. As the arc ended, Bird Skull flipped the blade around to a reverse style. He rose to his feet as he spun and slashed at those around him in a circle, forcing the lesser demons to back off and give him some breathing room. He pulled the bundle of three rods from his belt. Several demons charged at him. Two to his right, one in front, and the fourth leaping at his back.

Bird Skull stepped forward and sunk his sword into the Lesser Demon’s chest and released it. The one about to land on his back was smacked away by his wings. He twisted to his right and faced the two lesser demons. The first slashed with his claws, only to have Bird Skull smash his rods against the lesser Demon’s hands and shatter the bones with a crunch. Bird Skull’s empty hand grabbed onto the demon’s hand and quickly slammed it against the demon next to him. The demon was knocked to the ground, allowing Bird Skull to slash his throat out with the talons on his feet. The one in his hand stared up at Bird Skull, who slowly raised the rods in his hand. The demon got a much better look. Three heavy looking, metal rods, each two feet in length. One rod was capped with a long, rectangular ruby. He slammed it against the demon’s head.

THWUMP

Again

THWUMP

Again

CRACK

Bird Skull let the demon fall with its head cracked open and leaking brain matter. The circle around Bird Skull widened. They all leapt on him. Bird Skull dived away from the pile, reclaiming his sword from a corpse. He jumped as soon as his hand was around the hilt, his wings sending him flying into the air as he landed on the roof of a house. The demons howled as they scrambled up the house to him. Bird Skull took a deep breath. He released a few latches on his bundle of rods. With a simple spin, it extended into a single staff. He connected the staff to his sword and formed a scythe.

The demons were on the roof now, leaping at Bird Skull from all angles. With speed and precision, each was cut down mid light. All who tried to approach him for a tackle were easily decapitated before Bird Skull would deftly swing his scythe and slice another demon into two pieces. Body parts, organs, and limbs piled around Bird Skull in a morbid circle, as not a single demon managed to reach striking distance.

A roar alerted Bird Skull to the approach of two more larger, more powerful demons. Wolf walked on four scaled, wolf-like limbs, yet had the body of a lion and the head of a wolf, as well as a pair of wicked horns. The Major Demon moved lithely from roof top to roof top in a subconscious display of skill. The other was a lot simpler. Stalking along the streets was a behemoth with the legs and head of a bull, but the body of a bear. Scales protected the beast’s chest and arms. It was nigh nine feet tall, and so wide it barely fit in the streets.

Bird skull rose his hand and drew a long cut down his arm. The cut ran beside a series of runes etched onto his scales. As the blood coated the runes, arcane power filled the etchings and made them glow with faint light. Wolf snarled loudly at Bird Skull

“Kin!” The Major Demons roared as it stalked along the gables. “Why do you slaughter your own kind? Is it not the humans who hate us without cause? Is it not the humans who have violated our sacred lands and branded us as demons? Speak, o’ traitor, and perhaps you may be reconciled. I understand that you may be one of our more…” Behemoth bellowed as he tossed his head back. “… Less organized ilk. But, you are still one of us,” Wolf sat on his haunches. His ears were perked, and his head tilted down in a posture of non-aggression. Bird skull seemed to think for a minute. A line of runes glowed on his arm as he threw his wing arm out. A tendril of darky, inky matter flew from the membrane.

Wolf jerked to his feet to leap away to a nearby roof, but the matter hit his hind legs and wrapped around them. He crashed against the edge of a roof, claws digging into the tiles as he tried to pull himself up.

Bird Skull dashed forward, wings propelling him through the air, and cut Wolf in half with a single slash of his scythe. Wolf’s entrails landed alongside his legs with a plop, his upper half soon following as the life drained from the demon. Behemoth bellowed in agony as he charged at Bird Skull. The treacherous demon leaped into the air with a flap of his wings, watching the massive demon miss and demolish the wall he had thrown himself into. As Bird Skull landed, more runes glowed on his arm. Behemoth turned on a dime and lashed out with a round house kick to Bird Skull. He didn’t expect the brute to turn so quickly, and was hit right on his shoulder and catapulted away. Bird Skull kept a tight grip on his scythe as he rolled across the ground and stood up, growling. Behemoth charged again, lowering his head to ram Bird Skull with his horns and tusks. Bird Skull charged back at the same time.

At the last second, Bird Skull dodged to the side and swung his scythe at Behemoth’s shoulder. The blade dug into Behemoth’s shoulder and allowed Bird Skull to use the scythe as a hook to spin around the demon’s body and landed on his shoulders. The blade was now under behemoth’s left arm, with the staff across his back. Bird Skull thought he had won as he yanked on the scythe to slice Behemoth apart. His scythe didn’t budge from its spot. Behemoth reached up and grabbed Bird Skull, throwing him through the air. He crashed into a burning building and bounced off the wall.

Bird Skull landed on all fours and darted off, running as a four-legged animal runs. Behemoth who roared and stepped forward with hopes of crushing Bird Skull under foot as the smaller demon closed the gap. Bird Skull dove to the side to dodge the stomp. He dug the claws on his wing arm into the ground as a set of runes lit up on his arms. Due to how big Behemoth was, Bird Skull nimbly ran between his legs as he made a line in the dirt underneath him. Once he was behind the larger demon, dark tendrils burst from the line he had just created. They wrapped around Behemoth and restrained him, at least for a while. Bird Skull kicked off from the ground and flapped his wings for the extra bit of force. He landed on his opponent’s shoulders and rose a taloned foot, kicking his scythe and freeing it from the tough scales of the massive demon. Bird Skull kicked off Behemoth’s shoulders. He caught his scythe out of the air and spread his wings, darting out of Behemoth’s reach and landing on the roof. He stood up and held his scythe at his side. Behemoth charged and swung his arm at Bird Skull.

Bird skull leapt off the roof and hit the ground with a roll. He spun out of the roll and slashed at Behemoth’s leg. A long streak of red followed the glistening blade as the beast’s tendon was severed. Behemoth twisted around and slammed his fist in the ground where Bird Skull used to be standing. Instead, Bird Skull had dashed under his legs and was already behind Behemoth. With another deft slash, he cut apart the Major Demon’s leg once more. Behemoth collapsed to his hands and knees. Bird Skull leapt up onto his back as more runes along his arm lit up. A ball of some sort of energy formed in his palm. It was black, and even though it was round, it appeared to be a flat circle of black energy. The edges seemed to be unstable and constantly tearing. Bird Skull quickly passed the energy to his scythe. It coated the blade as Behemoth reached up to grab him once more. Bird Skull slashed Behemoth’s arm off. He bellowed in pain as Bird Skull swung again, cutting Behemoth’s head off in a single clean slice.

There was enough blood to form a small stream as the body fell to the ground, Bird Skull smoothly stepping off. More demons circled him as the black energy faded from his blade. He held it in both hands. His hands shook. He coughed and retched. The scythe dropped from his hands as he fell on all fours. Bird Skull retched and hacked as he felt strength leaving him. He was not the only one to suffer this effect. The minor demons were retching as well as they ran away.

Clara was walking up, the cauldron floating by her shoulder as she walked around town. She planted it beside her, not noticing Bird Skull as the demons fled. The town’s people returned as well, spears, knives, and pitchforks in their hands as they killed any demon caught in the scent of the warding pot.

“There! A Major Demon!” Clara looked over and covered her mouth. It was Bird Skull, retching and hacking as the warding pot sapped his strength. The potion was stronger against major demons, which was why he had yet to escape. The townspeople were grabbing him by the arm and hoisting him up. He coughed more frantically. No… he was… speaking.

“No!” His strangled voice was hard to understand. “S-Stop! Please stop! I’m not a monster!” Clara felt a pang in her heart. She should look away. Demons were crafty. Yet, he had saved her, and defended her from demons so she could create this potion, knowing it would affect him. It was a selfless act. That, and his eyes. His voice. Clara’s eyes widened as she saw the tattoos on his arm. She rushed forward, shoving people out of her way. There was a man pressing a knife to the demon’s throat as he struggled weakly. He tried and speak again, but he was silenced. The blade was drawing blood.

“CEASE!” Clara grabbed the man by the shoulder and pulled him away, shoving him behind her. She rose her hand to her mouth and bit her finger till blood dripped from it. She reached out to draw something on Bird Skull’s forehead while chanting. When she finished, the bloody rune glowed red before the blood seemed to merge with Bird Skull’s skull, leaving the blood rune in place. She looked at the people around her.

“This demon is MY familiar now! He is under MY command, he is MY responsibility, and he under MY protection!” The towns people seemed to bristle, but the mumbles spread across the group. After all, she had saved their town and their lives. “Now BACK away from MICHAEL!!!” Blood was staining her teeth and dripping from her fingers. The demon at her side slowly stood… and began to change. As Clara turned around, she found herself face to face with the same black-haired man from the tavern. He looked down at her with tear filled red eyes.

“Y-You want… you want a demon like me?” Michael asked her gently. His arms were stiff at his side. He was in his usual clothes, but his cloak was gone.

“Half demon.” Clara corrected as she reached up and stroked his cheek to wipe away a tear. “Otherwise you wouldn’t HAVE a human form. And of course, I want you. You saved my life.” Michael sniffled a little, but smiled. “And…” She pulled his head down and pressed her lips to his. Michael’s eyes went wide. His hands lifted and landed on her shoulder. After a second pulled her closer. “You are a great kisser.” She whispered with a playful light in her eyes. Michael smiled down at her.

“And I REALLY need help cleaning my house.”

[lavila27]

Beauty & the Beast- a movie review by Lauren Avila

I’ve just returned from seeing the live action remake of Beauty & the Beast for the 2nd time within a week. I have so many thoughts about this movie but in a nutshell: I LOVED IT!!

Let me begin by saying that I’m extremely biased because I’ve been a lifelong fan of this movie. I was born in ‘89 and this movie came out in ‘91. We haven’t long existed without each other. As a child, this was the first obsession I ever had. Obviously, I’ve since become obsessed w/ many movies, tv shows, books, places, people, and yes, ships. It all started with B&TB though. I could go into greater detail about all the merchandise, the endless hours of rewatching, the pic of little Lauren w/ the characters, etc. but I think you get it. I love this movie. So I’ll move on. Regardless of my favoritism, I tried to watch this movie with a clear head. I would be lying if I said that I didn’t have high expectations. I’m really not kidding when I say that I’ve had the countdown on my phone for the release of this movie for 900 days or so. In all that time, I’ve had my fair share of ideas and fantasies of how this could turn out. I had high hopes right from the beginning.

While driving to the theater on the night of March 16th, my sister asked me: Are you nervous? And I said “No, I’m excited. Unless they stray 100% from the animation, I know I won’t be disappointed.” I was right. It was basically impossible for me to be disappointed. In fact, even though it turned out quite different than I imagined, I was very pleased with it. Having said that, I would like to discuss the movie in my honest opinion. I could fangirl all over it and say that it was the best thing I’ve ever seen. However, I do have some slightly critical things to say. So let’s start.

***SPOILERS AHEAD***

The moment the movie started with that iconic opening music, I swear I stopped breathing for about a minute and a half. I appreciated that it began with the castle, the rose, and the first few lines that we know from the animated classic. The changes started right away. I didn’t mind this Prologue at all though. It thoroughly explained the Beast’s curse and even gave us the first step into greater detail than the cartoon did by mentioning the memory curse. I love that this version gave so many direct nods to the animation. Just to name a few: scratching out the Prince’s face, the opening of Belle, Belle about to leave after the Wolf scene, the Transformation, etc.

For some reason, there’s something about the village scene that bothers me. I’m not sure if it’s the ensemble that just seems like an under-rehearsed community theater group. Or if it’s that the library has like twelve books inside. Or if it’s because Emma Watson’s voice is dripping w/ autotune. It’s really too bad because I can tell that Emma’s voice is just fine the way it is. But I’ll discuss this more later. Anyway, I really adore all the costumes in the film. Belle’s blue dress looked great to me. It really suited the provincial look and Belle’s simple style.

Now would be a good time to talk about Luke Evans. When I heard the casting as each member came onboard, Luke was one of the few I had never heard of. Oh my goodness though, he really makes Gaston his own in an impressive performance. Plus, his singing is fantastic! He is arguably the best singer in the whole cast. But that is seriously up for debate. Of course I should also mention the perfect casting of Josh Gad as Lefou. I mean, perfect casting. That’s all I can really say. While on the subject of casting though, should we discuss the equal opportunity employing going on with the horse. 90’s kids know that Philippe is famously played by a brown horse and is now played by a white horse. I’m just going to leave it at that.

Back on subject, I want to note some more changes in the movie. They planted the seeds of a deeper back story for Maurice and Belle by bringing up her mother right away. Maurice sings a tender, new song while creating a music box as a tribute to his late wife. I got emotional quickly as this scene began because I didn’t realize how much I wanted to hear about Belle’s mother until this scene was unfolding in front of me. When Belle asks, “Please, just tell me one more thing about her.” It cuts like a knife. You’re reminded that Belle knows as little about her as we, the audience, does. “She was fearless” seems to have a great weight to it in a foreshadowing kind of way.

This version had all the beloved songs from the animation, but sadly no songs from the stage musical. That’s alright though because they added a few really lovely, new songs. I did notice that they hinted at songs from the musical here and there. The first scene between Belle and her father had the exact setup of “No Matter What” but no song. Later, in “Days in the Sun,” Belle sings a line “a change in me.” She also refers to the castle as home when they leave Paris. This, I think, is a shout out to “Home.” I believe there was one other reference in the movie but I can’t recall it right now. I also noticed that a few songs had been altered and musically rearranged as well. “Gaston,” “Be Our Guest,” and “The Mob Song” had lyric changes and additions. I really love the new songs but my favorite is probably “Evermore.” I’ll talk more about it soon.

Kevin Kline as Maurice was excellent. He was funny and endearing. The bond that Kevin and Emma had was very believable. I like the way they changed Belle’s sacrifice. It seemed that the Beast was kind of impressed with her decision to take her father’s place. Quite the opposite however, I did not like that they had Lumiere and Cogsworth give Belle a bedroom. That’s the first bit of kindness the Beast shows Belle in the ‘91 movie. It plants a seed in their relationship. Not only this but they took away another opportunity too. When the Beast gifts Belle his library in the animation, he knows how much it will mean to her. In this version though, it’s so blase. He’s so passive about giving it to her. I don’t know. It takes a little getting use to.

Sidenote: I’m sorry but I couldn’t help but get a few Harry Potter feelings during the movie. Yes, I know Emma is not eternally Hermione but Belle is very similar: smart, strong, and compassionate. The villager who couldn’t remember what he forgot. Gaston’s dark magic reference. And something about that crazy wardrobe makeover in Belle’s room reminded me of a Potter movie. Belle’s parents’ apartment reminded me of the Shrieking Shack. And also of apparating. Emma Thompson working with Emma Watson. I don’t know. An HP fan’s mind can never roam too far away from the movies.

Be Our Guest was quite the number. At first I wasn’t a fan of it. I suppose I was expecting something really big and stunning. I still feel like something is lacking a little but I did enjoy it much more the second time. I expect it will appear better and better every subsequent time. My first impression was that the singing was flat, the set was underwhelming and the mix between real and computer animated objects was distracting. I know it’s hard to live up to a cartoon that has spoons swimming, candlesticks bending in line, and forks doing a kick line but what can I say? I’m a huge fan of this scene. Upon seeing this scene again though, I warmed to it pretty quickly actually. With a new perspective, I decided I really like the new arrangement of the song and some elements of the “show.” I’ll definitely say it’s exciting and doesn’t disappoint in the end. In fact, I’m the one who led the applause on opening night right after the number. The whole theater joined in too! I just wish I could put my finger on what’s missing though. Oh well. C’est la vie.

Let’s talk about another dance number. “Gaston” turned out great. Yes, they changed a bunch of lyrics but overall I was happy with it. You ain’t seen nothing like the stage version but I digress. I thought that the added elements were funny such as the “I just realized I’m illiterate and never had to spell it before” line from Lefou at the end of the song. Luke Evans’ Gaston had a certain charm to him. Even though he was doing horrible things, he was so set in his own convictions, it didn’t seem to bother him. The whole audience I was with at the opening gasped when he punched Maurice and left him for wolf bait in the woods.

The wolves were great by the way. The whole battle with the wolves seemed so real. I also really liked that when Belle went to help the Beast she said, “I need your help. You have to stand.” (Or something like that.) It indicated that they can help each other through teamwork and must literally lean on each other. It was the first time they connected. He saved her life. She tended to him and showed him compassion. It broke down their barriers. I’m so happy they kept their little spat intact. You know the whole, “You should learn to control your temper” talk. This scene also lended itself more toward backstory. We learn that the Beast lost his mother as a child and his father twisted him into a selfish prince. I thoroughly enjoy little details. At the very beginning of “Days in the Sun” we see that the Beast has a tear or two in his eyes after dreaming of his mother. I really like the whole song. Furthermore, I love the side of the Beast we begin to see when he heals. The Shakespeare conversation they have and then the “Some of them are in Greek” joke in the library… so adorable. It’s also really sweet that he wants to sit by her during “Something There.”

The addition of the magic book from the Sorceress was an unexpected but pleasant surprise. It was a heartbreaking scene but I think it was a great investment in Belle’s emotional journey. However, I feel it opened an unnecessary window into a whole chapter we will never know more about. Granted it answered a question that the character of Belle had, it created an added element that felt like a bit of a tease. We only got a few minutes with this magical book and know so little about it. I almost feel like there could be a whole other movie about it. I love the symbolism behind it but I can’t help but feel so curious about it. Can they still use this book now that the curse has been broken? Where would the Beast like to go to? So can it transport in time? If so, did the Beast use it to see his mother? Did Belle ever use it without the Beast? Could she have potentially used it to visit her father? Can the Enchanted Objects use it too?

Moving on. Let’s talk about Belle’s iconic yellow dress. I’ve heard many people say that they’re not a fan of it and I can understand why. Surprisingly, I really love it. Even when I saw the trailers for the movie, I didn’t hate it. I was cautiously optimistic. Then I saw the movie and fell in love with the soft and romantic look of it. It floats gracefully when Belle moves and dances. I love the layers, the glimmers of gold, the simple but beautiful style especially keeping in mind that this is probably the prettiest thing that this poor village girl has ever seen. I adored her hair, her jewelry, and I’m sure her shoes were great too but we didn’t see them. I loved the whole look and would definitely wear it myself. I could practically feel the fabric through the screen. I may be the only person to defend her dress, but I give it my stamp of approval.

The dancing scene was perfect! Both times I’ve seen it, I’ve cried. I’m so thankful for all the moments they kept from the movie especially the camera pan up to the ceiling (loved the instruments playing!) and down to the Beast spinning Belle to the side. I also really enjoyed the bit where he picks her up and spins her amidst twinkling lights. Have I mentioned yet that adding the organ sound of Cadenza to lots of pieces of the score was an awesome decision?! I really loved this ballroom scene and felt the love for the project, the love between the characters, and the love toward the original creation all oozing out of this scene.

Coming out of the movie, I think the part that I can’t stop thinking about is “Evermore.” I am obsessed with the new song and I’m so in love with this scene. It completely gutted me both times. The lyrics and melancholy yet so beautiful. Dan Stevens, ladies and gentlemen. First of all, I am fascinated with his Beast talking voice but his singing voice has captivated my B&TB-loving heart. He sings with such passion, I was surprised to find out that he “learned” to sing for this movie. I would’ve guessed he had a prior career in the West End. But I’ll stop gushing now. Bravo to all involved in the making of that scene including the brilliance of Alan Menken and Tim Rice!

I dare say I loved “The Mob Song” more in this film than I did in the animation. I’ve already mentioned how impressed I was by Luke Evans but it’s worth noting again. There was something about this scene that really felt right. The singing was on point and they added a fantastic new line for Lefou too! He says that there is definitely a beast but the wrong monster has been released. Awesome addition! It’s probably just the Menken Maniac in me but it had an epic parallel to “Savages” from Pocahontas. By the way, did you all catch the Darth Vader theme in the battle scene in the castle? Am I mistaken?

Boy was the finale dramatic! Gaston shot the Beast three times. Three! Belle’s wrestling w/ Gaston’s gun. Everyone’s making risky jumps on the rooftops of the castle. You’re on the edge of your seat the whole time. My favorite part of all this was the line, “I am NOT a beast.” Too bad Gaston couldn’t leave well enough alone. It’s doom and gloom for him. Speaking of gloom, the transformation of all the Enchanted Objects into ordinary objects was the saddest scene in the whole movie. I cried both times. It had such hopeless finality to it. You would have to have a heart of stone to not feel something.

No matter what form I see the end in: animation, stage, live action, I just love Belle and the Beast’s tearful goodbye and new beginning. Emma did a phenomenal performance as she said “No! Please don’t leave me. I love you.” Tears falling out of her eyes and her pleading voice… oh my goodness. I couldn’t handle it. Then the beautiful and goosebump-inducing transformation. It was exactly like the animation and I loved that!! Although I was hoping to hear Belle say “It is you,” this wordless scene still left me completely satisfied. Dan and Emma have wonderful chemistry. Not many couples could pull off a vital scene without dialogue. Fortunately, Dan and Emma conveyed so much with their eyes and expressions… and lips.

I was very happy with the end including the choreography of the dancing, the lovely Audra McDonald singing, the beastly beard joke, and especially with Belle’s white dress. Gorgeous!! The Prince looked quite handsome as well. I even liked the credits. Both times I’ve seen the movie, I’ve stayed for the entire thing. It’s wonderful to hear Celine Dion sing in B&TB credits again. I’m really happy with the way John Legend and Ariana Grande sang the title song too. I’m a longtime fan of Josh Groban so to hear his version of “Evermore” just adds a cherry on the sundae. Though I must say, I think I prefer Dan Stevens’ emotional rendition of the song. Visually the cast credits are well done too.

If you’ve read this far, thank you for your patience. Obviously, I have a lot of thoughts on the movie. I hope to go see it again before it leaves theaters. So I think that goes to show that overall I really loved it. There were a few things I’d tweak a bit but again, I’m generally happy with the whole film. I was pleased to see it at my Cinemark theater that has comfortable reclining loungers. They also had souvenir popcorn tubs and cups. I just had to get those too. And so readers, I would most definitely recommend Disney’s 2017 live action Beauty and the Beast! Now playing in theaters nationwide. And once you get your B&TB movie fix, maybe venture to some chain stores that are currently selling fun movie merchandise. Plus, Disney Parks are promoting the movie pretty heavily these days as well. I might just check it out. Stay tuned for more!

[blueneonlightshow-blog]

In Your Dreams

"...What...?"

"What?" Star asked innocently with her arms behind her back. She tilted her head adorably as she stood in front of the Diaz household… or what's left of it.

A few pieces of rubble here and there, embers scattered on the lawn, a couple of walls still standing, and water spraying from where the bathrooms should be. "It's… not as bad as it looks?"

Marco wasn't sure if he should be mad, shocked, or laugh. He rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't hallucinating or having a heatstroke from the summer sun. Thinking back, he probably should've expected something like this to happen. After all, he did ask Star to watch the house for an entire week while he went to karate camp. An entire week... "How did this happen?"

"I was baking a cake."

"A cake…" Marco looked back at the house. "...Star, I understand that ovens can blow up, but it doesn't destroy an entire house!"

"I kind of forgot how to use it."

"But you bake brownies all the time."

"I was also a bit sick…"

"Sick? Well, are you feeling better-"

"Your parents should really hide that special soda someplace else."

"THAT'S WINE, STAR! I TOLD YOU, YOU CAN'T DRINK THAT!"

Star turned away, embarrassed at her actions. "Heheh… Yeah, you did…"

He glared at Star before letting out a sigh. "...Well at least you're okay… but the house!"

She looked back at the mess behind her. "Ummmm… I can fix this."

He hesitated, unsure if he should trust Star's spellcasting- wait, what is he talking about? The house was already destroyed. What could she possibly do that would cause more damage? "Just… don't make too many changes."

"Okay!" The princess turned and pointed her wand at the house. Without uttering a single word, a transparent pink beam enveloped the area, pulling back chunks of debris and infrastructure together to recreate the house. After several seconds, Star lowered her wand and smiled back at her friend. "All done!"

Marco stared in disbelief. "Wow… You actually did it. You're magic is getting better."

"I try my best."

"Good job, Star," he said as he dragged himself inside, carrying his luggage with him. The princess watched him walk in a zombie-like manner, exhausted from his intense week of training. The two entered through the door and saw that everything was perfectly back to normal. No chips, no cracks, no discoloration. She managed to replicate the house perfectly. Impressive… Marco yawned. "I'm gonna take a nap. I'll see you in a few hours." He headed upstairs, letting his duffle bag scrape against the brand new stairs.

Star frowned and leaned against the railing as she watched her friend slowly ascend with each step. "A nap? But… you promised we would go see that new movie about the thing and the person and the place!"

As vague as she sounded, Marco knew exactly the movie she was talking about. "I'm sorry, Star. It's just that I'm really tired and my entire body is aching. Do you think we could see it tomorrow?"

"But what about school?"

"Star, the last day of school was a week ago. Why do you think we haven't been there?"

She thought about it for a moment before finally understanding the concept of a summer vacation. "...Oooohhhhh… So that's how Earth school works…"

"Anyway, I promise we'll go tomorrow. Is that okay?"

Star frowned, but nodded. "Okay…"

"Aaannd I'll also make some of my super awesome nachos later."

She gasped, her eyes lighting up with joy. "Really!?"

"For the princess? Of course."

"Awwww thanks, Marco!" She smiled and twirled herself around, performing a curtsy to the boy. "I await your return!"

"Uuuuuuugggghhh…" Star moaned in boredom. Painful, torturous, agonizing boredom. She slumped on the couch, flicking through the channels, trying to find something to watch as she changed positions periodically. Eventually she found herself lying upside down with her head hanging off the edge and her legs over the couch. She let out a frustrated sigh. "Soooooo….. Booooorrrreeeed…" She looked at the time.

Five thirty-seven. Exactly seven minutes since Marco came back.

"Who knew seven minutes could get so boring…" She looked back at the TV, hoping something would catch her attention. Criminal shows, zombie shows, sports shows, kids shows… Sometimes she wished she never had dimensional scissors. She visited so many other exotic and exhilarating places, that these TV shows seem rather lackluster. That is unless Marco's there to watch with her, in which case, things were much more fun. She wasn't sure why though. Maybe it was because of Marco's enthusiasm for these shows. Or maybe she just simply enjoyed being around him. Regardless of the reason, he wasn't here which means the show is boring.

"Guess that's the end of this distraction," she muttered as she turned off the TV. "Marcoooo, sleep faster. I want to have fuuuunnnnn…" Maybe she could visit Father Time and skip forward a bit. Although, messing with time is never a good idea. Besides, she'd never hear the end of it from her parents… or Marco… Maybe she should also take a nap. Sleep the day away. Her dreams had to be more exciting than waiting around for Marco… wait, dreams…?

Star quickly sat up with a new, fun idea. "That's it! I'll just jump into his dream!"

She grabbed her wand and ran upstairs to Marco's room. Star quietly opened to door and peeked in, seeing Marco sleeping soundly on his bed. She tiptoed her way to the boy and pulled up a chair next to the bed. His chest slowly rose and fell as he rhythmically breathed in his sleep. He seemed so peaceful with his relaxed expression on his face. Like nothing could ever break his tranquility. Star giggled at the sight of how relaxed and calm he looked. "So cute." She pulled out her wand and tapped it to Marco's forehead. "I'm sorry for invading your privacy again, Marco," she whispered before chanting a spell, creating a glowing link between his head and the wand. She then tapped the wand against her own head and felt her eyes become heavier. Her head fell forward, landing next to Marco's side. She tried to keep her eyes open, but the sudden wave of fatigue was too much, forcing her into a deep sleep.

Star opened her eyes to find herself in the middle of a hallway. Blurred faces of people walking around with books in their hands, some looking as if they were conversing with each other, but all she heard was the generic babble of multiple people talking at once. It was impossible to ascertain what they were saying. It seemed like it was just background noise to fill in the gaps left in the dream. She explored a bit, recognizing the layout of the building she was in.

"C'mon Marco, school? You couldn't have dreamt of something more fun?" she muttered. "Marcooooo! Where are youuuuu?" She squeezed through the crowd of imaginary people blocking standing around. "Marcooooo!"

"...and that's why I didn't think we needed one."

"That's pretty crazy, if you ask me."

Star's ears perked at the sound of fully formed sentences. That must mean Marco is nearby! She quickly ran towards the voices, pushing through the crowd. As she made her way into a clearing, she saw Marco talking with… Tom?

"Yeah, totally. But I gotta hand it to you, Tom, those portals are pretty useful though."

The demon smiled. "That's why i'm the best."

Marco rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Anyway, I'm gonna go meet up with Star. I'll catch you later!"

"Alright, don't have too much fun. Otherwise I'll burn you to a crisp."

"Still jealous, huh?"

Tom shrugged. "I'm just saying, you two seem to get along reeeaaaal well together. Not a fan of that."

Marco simply shook his head. "Will you get outta here?"

"Hmph. Fine. See ya, Marco." With that, the two went in separate directions, but the demon instantly vanished as soon as Marco turned around.

Star scratched her head with the wand, letting out a small grunt. "Tom's at our school, huh? Dreams are weird… Wait, Marco's going to meet me? Oohhh! I wanna see what the other me looks like!"

"What are you talking about, Star?'

"GAH!" Star jumped, spinning around and pointing her wand at the person behind her. "What- Marco?"

The boy smiled. "You sure are jumpy today."

"But- but- how did you- I just- you were…."

"You okay, Star? You're not going through another heat stroke, are you? I told you, it gets hot around here."

Star took a moment to collect herself. She let out a sigh and muttered, "Right, right, this is a dream… weird stuff happens in dreams…"

Marco tilted his head. "What did you say?"

"Oh, nothing…" Now what? She didn't actually expect Marco to come talk to her. She just wanted to watch what happens in his dreams, but now she's apart of it. Wait, does that mean she took the place of dream Star? Is dream Star still out there somewhere? Could she affect the dream just by thinking about things? "I wonder…"

"You're acting kind of strange…"

Well, since she has his attention, she might as well play along. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Hey, let's go on an adventure!"

"We can't just ditch school, Star."

"Psh, why not? Janna does it all the time."

"Janna is a bad influence on you."

"Says the 'misunderstood bad boy'," she teased, nudging his arm.

He sighed. "Yeah, yeah. Look, let's just go to class, alright?"

Star raised her finger, about to argue back, but the environment changed before she could say a word. She looked around at the familiar classroom that she dreaded so much. "Great. Now I'm bored in a dream."

"Star Butterfly?"

She looked at the front of the classroom to see Ms. Skullnick with a clipboard in her hands. "Uh… here?"

"Yes, I know you're here. Why aren't you at your seat?"

"Uhhhh…" Star looked around to see everyone staring at her. Rather than going to her usual spot, the princess smiled and shrugged. Time to make things a little more interesting. "That's a great question, Skullsy."

"Well, I'd appreciate it if you'd sit down, Star."

"But, how can I sit down… if there's a giant monster over there!" she exclaimed, pointing at the corner of the room. While nothing was there at the moment, Marco quickly turned around, and his subconscious filled the gaps, producing a large insect-like creature in the classroom. The kids began to scream and run out the door while Star pulled out her wand. "So that's how dreams work… Alright, Marco! Let's do this!"

"I-I don't know, Star! This one is kind of big for just me to handle!" he protested as the monster approached them.

"Psh, please, Marco. Your wand is just as powerful as mine."

"Wha- My wand?"

"Yeah, you know, the wand you always keep in your- uh... back pocket!"

Once again, the boy's subconscious filled the rest of the details in, creating a new wand in his pocket. He reached behind him and to his surprise felt the magical object in his hand. "What?" He held it in front of him. It wasn't all too different from Star's wand. The only thing that set it apart was the color scheme of red with white trimmings and a blue star in the middle. "Since when did I-"

"Narwhal blast!" The monster flew back against the wall. "You gonna stand there, Diaz, or are you gonna use that wand of yours?"

Marco seemed utterly confused, but went along with the situation. "Um… Narwhal blast?" The wand shot out a spell, the recoil making Marco fall back onto the ground. The spell hit the monster again, this time making the creature disappear from existence. "Woah!"

Star put her hands on her hips, smirking at her friend. "Not bad for a beginner."

"Thanks. I… learned it from you?" he questioned himself more than to Star. "Man, this is all so weird…"

"I know, right? Dreams make no sense."

"Dream?"

"Oh, don't worry about it." She took a look around the room. "Hm… looks like that monster scared everyone off… c'mon, let's see what else we can do around here now that you have your wand."

"Uh… alright…?" The two exited the classroom and walked down the hall through the crowd of people. "So, where are we going?"

"I don't know. That's up to you. I just want to see what we can do in this place!"

"But we've been going to school for an entire year, now. I'm pretty sure you know what goes on around here."

Star giggled at his cluelessness and pat his head. "Oh, Marco. I'm only beginning to learn what we can do. Liiiike…." she looked at the empty space behind Marco and gasped. "Wow! Look at that magical lightning bug behind you!"

The boy turned around and the once empty space now had a small, flickering bug with glitter flaking off of it as it floated by. "Aw, hey little guy."

"Heh. Yeah, I've seen these things on Mewni before. They're pretty rare. They, uh… they… give you the most delicious food ever!"

"Really?" Marco held out his hand and just as Star expected, the bug produced a hamburger from thin air. He took a bite of the sandwich, making his eyes widen. "This… is… amazing!"

"I know, right?" Now that she was getting a grasp on how to manipulate Marco's dream, she wanted to see what else she could mess around with. "So where's your Glossaryck?"

Marco tilted his head in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"You've got a wand. That must mean you also have a spellbook. And that means you have your own Glossaryck, right?"

"Uhhh... I... don't know. I have my own Glossaryck?"

"Sure! You uh… showed me, remember? She was pretty cool." Star hoped that the information would be enough for Marco to imagine another being.

"Um- yeah! I think I do remember! I'm sure she's nearby somewhere…"

Star pointed at nothing behind the boy again. "Look! There she is!"

He turned around and discovered a magical being floating behind him. She was just as small as Glossaryck, but her skin was pale white with black tattoos over her green eyes. She had a scheme of black and white robes. Instead of a gem on her forehead, she carried a black and white staff with a green crystal on top. She approached the two and huffed. "You know, I look away for one second, expecting everything to be all calm and orderly, but nooooo. I come back and see everyone in a panic. Great job, Marco. The hero of the day award goes to you."

"Hey, at least we stopped that monster- ow!" The little fairy creature thing hit his head with her staff. He rubbed his head and glared at the small being. "What was that for?"

"For being irresponsible, that's what. You let a monster sneak up behind you and you didn't even use the spell I taught you. What's the point of me teaching you how to use your wand if you never use it? I mean, really Marco. You- Oh, hi Star!" Her expression changed immediately from annoyed to joyful at the sight of the princess.

"Oh, heyyyy... you…" Star said in hopes not to offend the magical being.

"You don't remember my name, do you?"

"No no no no, I remember your name! Your name is… um… yeah, I don't know. I'm sorry."

The small woman pouted. "Hmph. No one ever remembers me. Just because Glossaryck gets the spotlight all the time doesn't mean I'm any less important."

Marco approached her, attempting to cheer her up. "Don't worry. I remember your name, Indexia."

"Indexia?" Star repeated to herself.

The fairy crossed her arms and turned away. "Yeah, but you're supposed to remember my name, num-nuts. I'd be even more disappointed if you forgot."

Marco rolled his eyes. "Gee, sorry for being nice."

"Yeah, yeah. Anyway, you're lucky to have Star around. She saved your butt."

"I could've taken care of myself!"

"Suuuure you could. That's why you need me to teach you magic, right?"

"Yeah, definitely. And you're a great teacher, by the way," he said with just as much sarcasm as he flicked the fairy away.

Indexia growled at the boy's action. She flew up to Marco shoulder and zapped him using her staff. "Why thank you, my grateful student." The two were face to face as they glared at each other.

Star smiled at the their interaction. Indexia was certainly no Glossaryck, but she was just as interesting as the little man. "You two sure are great friends, aren't you?"

"Yeah, the best," Marco muttered. "You can tell by her sarcasm."

Indexia flew up and sat on Marco's head. "Well you know what they say, boy. Sarcasm is the best form of friendship, and friendship is magical. So that means sarcasm is magical."

"Then you must be the most powerful magical being in the universe."

The fairy poked his head with the bottom of her staff. "As a matter of fact, I am. I rival Glossaryck, after all."

"You definitely beat him in terms of annoyance."

"What did you say?"

"I said you're just a joy to have around."

Star couldn't help but giggle at their banter. Marco definitely has an interesting mind with his creative imagination. This place is proving to be a lot of fun for the princess with the dream manipulation and everything. Maybe even comparable to the Bounce Lounge… alright, maybe just a little less fun than the Bounce Lounge. Nothing beats the Bounce Lounge.

Star stretched her body, feeling a new wave of fatigue wash over her. "Alright, well, I think I've seen enough for one night. Pretty cool stuff you got here, Marco. Maybe next time, don't start us off at school."

"Star, you're not making much sense today. The sun's still out. And what do you mean by 'don't start us off at-'"

"Oh, silly Marco. Don't worry. You'll probably forget everything that happened here. Buuuut at least I got to meet little Indexia here, heehee~" she patted Indexia, making the fairy giggle.

"I don't know where you're going, princess, but be back soon. I can only take so much of this boy's simple thinking."

Marco picked the fairy off his head and gave her an annoyed look. "I'm sorry, who are you? I can't remember. Oh, that's right, no one does."

"Well played, human."

Star pulled out her wand and waved. "Bye guys! I'll see you tomorrow night!" Before they could say their goodbyes, Star tapped her head with the wand and watched as the environment faded to darkness. She felt herself be pulled back into her own mind and the sounds of Marco and Indexia bickering became muffled until all was silent and dark.

Marco entered the kitchen, letting out a yawn followed by a stretch. He saw Star in her pajamas happily eating a bowl of cereal. "Morning, Star."

"Good morning, Marco~" she sang as she took another bite.

The boy grabbed a bowl and took a seat next to Star, pouring his breakfast out. "Man, I had a weird dream last night. You were there, a monster showed up, I think Glossaryck was a girl or something…"

Star laughed. "I don't know, Marco. That sounds like something that happens, like, every other day."

"Maybe… Oh, and I think I borrowed your wand? And Glossaryck was pretty annoying in that dream… well, he's kind of annoying all the time... actually you're right. It does sound like every other day."

'Aw. Poor Indexia. I guess no one really does remember her.' Star shrugged. "Sounds to me like someone's jealous of me~"

Marco raised an eyebrow. "Jealous? Why would I be jealous?"

"Monsters showed up? Glossaryck was there? You had my wand? I may not know about psychology like you do, but that sounds like a case of jealousy. And that's just adorable~"

"Trust me, you bring enough excitement in my life. I don't need a magic wand to make things more crazy."

"Awww someone's in denial~"

Marco scoffed. "In your dreams."

Star smiled. "Well… more like in your dreams."