#but she came w me to a gig of a person she’d never even heard of the first time we met

[suoulfillem]

oh ….. :( one of my good friends has decided to move back home to nz by june :( I’m so sad

[purlturtle]

Of Knights and Monsters

For @hgandmyka, for the @b-and-w-holiday-gift-exchange 2021/22. Hope you enjoy it! The prompt I went with was:

Myka and Helena are assigned to snag bag and tag a dungeons and dragons related artifact that puts them in an alternate high fantasy universe. (Myka’s got to have a sword!)

Sneak peek:

“What the hell?” [Myka] looked down at herself, alarmed by the sudden clanging noise her legs had made on the last step. She was clad in armor. Full, plate, shining armor. She looked at Helena in alarm, and saw that Helena’s clothes had changed too – but what stopped her even more than that was- “What happened to your ears?” Helena’s hand came up to touch her ear and twitched in surprise at what it encountered. Helena frowned as her fingers explored it. “Vulcan?” she offered finally. Myka took in Helena’s attire: soft boots, woolen pants, a belted tunic of fine linen, a felt cloak. The tesla had turned into a dagger at her side. Add that to the plate armor she herself was in… “An elf, I think.”

Read it on AO3!

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply Category: F/F Fandom: Warehouse 13 Relationship: Myka Bering/Helena "H. G." Wells Characters: Myka Bering, Helena "H. G." Wells, Claudia Donovan, OC - Character Additional Tags: dnd, Dungeons and Dragons, Gift Exchange, Bering and Wells Gift Exchange

Full disclosure: I'm not a DnD player. I've played some RPGs, but never a DnD one. Still, I did my best to do my research and not mess up too badly. If I did, by all means yell at me in the comments; also feel free to nerd out about these two's stats and alignments and all that!

Or read it under the readmore:

It was a truly glorious day – the sky was blue as blue could be, with only a few poufy clouds bumbling across it like sheep on a really wide, really blue meadow. The road was straight and mostly free of cars, and the artifact that Myka and Helena had been sent to retrieve had been an easy snag. Myka was humming along to the song on the radio, tapping her fingers on the steering wheel.

But Helena was quiet, frowning to herself, had been ever since they started out again after lunch.

And Myka had learned not to dismiss gut feelings, even if they weren’t Pete’s vibes. “Something wrong?” she asked finally.

Helena looked over, startled, and weighed her head. “I’m not certa-” she began hesitantly, but then she winced, as if in pain. “Artifact,” she pressed out. “Somewhere in the vicinity.”

Myka blinked, but her hand was already at her ear, activating Claudia’s newest invention: Farnsworth earpieces. “Bering to Warehouse, do you hear me?”

“Loud and clear,” Claudia’s voice came back. “What’s up?”

“Claud, are there any pings near our location?”

“Gimme a sec,” Claudia said, her keyboard clicking in the background. “Hell yeah, the GPS signal in those babies is nice and strong; got a lock on you already. Hang on while I check… Uh, nope,” Claudia said after a moment, “nothing nearby.”

“Can you look into other incidents?” Myka insisted. In the passenger seat, Helena nodded too – thanks to her own earpiece, she’d heard Claudia’s words as well. “Further back in time, too?” Myka put on the turn signal to take the upcoming exit; Helena gave her a thumbs up and a wan but grateful smile.

“There’s a missing person report one county over,” Claudia said after another long moment of typing. “Filed nineteen eighty-eight. School truancy officer, disappeared right before the summer holidays. Hunter Gustavsson, single, fifty-four, army vet, no rap sheet, handful of citations for being drunk and disorderly though. Town of Fleming, turn right at the next intersection,” she added. “Looks like he was the kind of guy that got hot-potatoed from one job to the next; he’d been at that school for only three months before he vanished, after gigs at half the county’s other schools. Complaints piling up until he’s pushed elsewhere, that kind of thing.”

“Charming,” Helena grated.

“Yeah,” Claudia agreed, “doesn’t seem the kind of guy you’d spend a long time looking for. The missing person report was filed in June, sheriff sent out two deputies to look into it, they file a report a few days later saying they found nothing. House untouched, car found on someone else’s property, no signs of shenanigans-”

“That does sound like an artifact disappearance,” Myka said.

“Or murder and a shallow grave,” Claudia said with an almost audible shrug. “Maybe a parent finally snapped. Here’s the address where they found his car.” She rattled it off; Helena put it into the car’s GPS.

“On our way,” Myka confirmed. She cast a glance at Helena. “Right direction?” Helena nodded wordlessly; she was looking queasy now. Myka put her foot down on the accelerator, speeding up the car to as fast as was reasonable on a county road. “Claud, anything more you can give us?”

“Yep,” Claudia said, “that address? The place used to belong to a guy called Jack Johnson, and that guy’s kid Corey Johnson was who Gustavsson was looking for. Seems that Corey hadn’t been coming to school, according to the deputies’ notes. Huh.” Claudia paused, and Helena could hear more clacking of keys. “Okay, now here’s a curiosity for you,” Claudia went on. “Today the property is listed as belonging to Corey Fletcher Johnson by way of inheritance, with the date of transference of ownership, i.e. the death of Jack Johnson, six days before Gustavsson vanished.”

“So the artifact got his father too?” Helena asked. No wonder this pull on her insides felt as wrenching as it did. This was about a parent and a child and grief; she could feel it. She gritted her teeth; she still had a hard time facing loss, even vicarious loss. This would task her – but she owed it to father and son to get at the bottom of this.

“No, he died in a traffic accident,” she heard Claudia reply. “Sheriff himself told the kid on the day it happened; he wrote a note on the deputies’ report. Says Corey ‘took the news stoic, like a man.’” Claudia sighed. “Okay, so I got two theories,” she went on. “Either kid hated his dad’s guts and didn’t want to show relief, or he was so shocked by the news that he froze. Seeing as he was a no-show in school after that, my money is on option two; if he was relieved that his dad was dead, he probably would have kept his head down, done his best not to come to anyone’s attention. Doesn’t mesh with missing enough time in school to have someone sent after you.”

“I believe you’re right,” Helena said. “Call it a hunch, but I think the artifact we’re after is connected to grief.”

Myka bit the inside of her lip at that, but didn’t say anything just yet. Helena had been talking with a therapist for months now, two hours a week – but grief wasn’t so easily overcome. Myka knew a bit about that herself, after all. She reached out across the center console, and shot Helena a smile when her hand was grasped immediately.

“The sheriff’s notes also say,” Claudia was going on, “that his dad was his only living relative. Kid was twelve.” Her voice was quiet now, compassionate. “That’s gonna mess with you. And maybe, yeah, maybe it messes with you to the point where you create an artifact. Channel all that crap into something, you know?”

“Yeah,” Myka sighed. “I know.” She turned from the county road onto a dirt road. It was a pretty part of the country – dense forests lush with growth, nothing like the dry prairie of South Dakota.

“Hang on,” Claudia said suddenly, to the sound of more typing. “I think… it looks like the artifact got Corey too? He should have gone to middle school after that summer, and I’m not finding any evidence of him in any of the county’s middle schools. I’m gonna widen the search just to be sure, but my gut says whatever the artifact is got him too.”

Myka shook her head. “So two people go missing and no one really bothers to look, is that what you’re saying?”

“Sometimes people fall through the cracks,” Claudia said, with an almost audible shrug in her voice. “Especially if they’re loners. Gustavsson seems to have been one; maybe Corey was too. I mean his elementary school principal wouldn’t miss him, right, if he was supposed to go to a different school after summer anyway.” She scoffed. “When kids wanna vanish from the foster system, it’s easiest if school doesn’t expect you back, because no one cares to check whether or not you really did turn up at a different school. Same if foster parents wanna keep it to themselves that one of theirs has gone missing: kid scarpers in June, fosters keep collecting money till September,” she added darkly.

Helena sighed deeply. “That’s awful.”

“Yep,” Claudia said, snapping the p. “The whole entire system is bull crap. Couldn’t blame him for running away, try and make it on his own, rather than end up in there. I know I would’ve.” She fell quiet for a moment, followed by more typing. “No trace of him anywhere, though. No school records, no missing person reports, nada,” Claudia said after a while. “If it wasn’t for the missing officer, I’d probably go with the ‘runaway’ theory, but with Gustavsson on the board too, my money is on ‘artifact got them both.’ Honorable mention to the theory that twelve-year-old Corey killed Gustavsson somehow and ran away so’s to not get caught – I suppose for completeness’ sake you might wanna consider that an option.”

Helena shook her head wildly, causing Myka to look over – Helena was looking greener than ever. “Do you need me to pull to the curb?” Myka asked worriedly.

Helena shook her head. “That poor boy,” she said in barely more than a whisper. “That poor, poor boy.”

“God yeah,” Myka sighed. “You’re sure about that grief thing you’re sensing?”

“Yes. Don’t ask me how; I couldn’t say. It’s only a feeling – but a strong one, if that is any help. Perhaps of the same nature as Pete’s vibes?” Myka nodded her understanding; Helena nodded too. “And I think we’re getting closer,” she added.

“Yeah, that tracks,” Claudia said on the comms. “You’re almost at the property border. There’s a small dirt road coming up on your left; that’s where they found Gustavsson’s car, fifty yards in.”

“Thanks, Claud,” Myka said as she pulled into the very dirt road Claudia had mentioned.

“Sure thing. Hey, be careful, okay? This thing might have offed two people already.”

“Of course,” Helena said. She sounded a bit steadier now, even if she was still paler than usual. “Claudia, please stay on the comms and keep tracking our location; if we suddenly vanish, send in the cavalry.” She got out of the car and opened the back seat door to get out her Tesla.

“Sure, yeah, roger that,” Claudia grated out. “Just, could you not? Go missing, I mean?”

“Fingers crossed,” Myka said, trying to sound reassuring. She pulled her side arm out of its holster to check that it was in order; when she put it back, she didn’t snap the securing loop back into place. She found her flashlight and clipped it to her belt, too – it was barely three in the afternoon yet, but who knew. “Claud, can you give us a moment, though? Off comms, I mean?”

“You got it, boss.” The earpieces bleeped with the sound that signaled the line closing.

Myka turned to Helena, who was looking at her quizzically. “Before we go further in,” Myka said, “you sure you’re okay with all this? Just checking in, making sure that… you know. I don’t want this to be… bad for you.” And quite frankly, if this went sideways, she didn’t want to risk Helena freezing up on the job, or being re-traumatized.

Helena’s expression turned first surprised, then understanding. She gave Myka a reassuring smile. “Can’t rightfully say it’s my favorite kind of case, of course, what with a missing child,” she sighed, “but I’ll be able to handle it.”

“Good,” Myka said quickly. “Okay, yeah, good. That’s… uh, that’s good.” She clamped her mouth shut; Helena was looking a little amused by now, and if there was one thing Myka didn’t want Helena to think of her it was that she, Myka, was a bumbling, rambling idiot. “Taking your word for it,” she added as an afterthought – just to make sure that Helena wasn’t putting up a brave front. The stakes were too high for that.

Helena blinked, pondered the expression for a moment, and then bit her lips together. It was very characteristic for Myka to ask by not asking, she thought – she knew Myka needed to know if she could take Helena’s word for it. In their sessions, Doctor Cho had admonished Helena to be honest about her emotional situation, and moreover, as lead agent on a potentially life-threatening mission, Myka was right to check in on it. “Truth be told,” Helena said, “if… if we find the child-” she almost choked on the word, but forced it out, “-dead, I… I might not fare so well.” She gulped against the lump in her throat and tried to give Myka another smile – neither worked, though. “Hoping not,” she added, doing her best to sound fortitudinous. That one didn’t work either.

Myka pursed her lips, pondering Helena’s reply, and the odds and options. Then she nodded. “This artifact might not be a killer anyway,” she said. “We might be dealing with displacement, in place or time. Or memory loss, or both.”

“Disincorporation,” Helena nodded too. “There are many ways in which an artifact can make a person disappear.”

“Exactly. And if it is… y’know. Death,” Myka said, hesitant on that last word and apologetic when she saw Helena wince, “then just… Just do what you need to do to protect yourself, and I’ll handle it, okay? No judgment.”

Helena inhaled sharply through her nose. She didn’t want to think about the matter, but Myka had been right to bring it up – these questions and answers, these reassurances needed to be spoken aloud, here and now, before they went any further into the case. “Thank you,” Helena said quietly.

Myka gave her a solemn nod that, she hoped, made it clear she considered the matter closed. It was uncomfortable enough for her to talk about the matter; Helena probably felt twice as bad about it, but it couldn’t be helped. And now it was done. “Let’s go then,” she said, and got a nod back from Helena. She tapped on her earpiece again. “Claud? We’re heading in.”

“Roger that, boss.”

The forest was quite fascinating, Helena thought to herself as they walked further into it. Not quite as verdant as the English glades she’d known in her childhood, of course, and much wilder, more untamed, making Helena think of German poets and their odes to the woods. Thick underbrush made it hard to see past a few yards to the left and the right of the road, and the birds’ calls were different from what she was used to; this alone would have been unsettling enough, but the artifact still pulled at her, tugging her ever more urgently. “Somewhere to our right,” she told Myka. “We need to get off this road if it doesn’t turn soon.”

Myka nodded. Presently they arrived at a downed tree blocking the road; it was dry and half-rotted away. “Probably where and why Gustavsson stopped,” Myka said.

Helena hummed her agreement and then pointed to the tree’s root system, a sagging disk that still managed to keep the surrounding bushes at bay. “Through here,” she said.

“Careful,” Myka reminded her, and approved when Helena hefted her Tesla and crouched closer to the ground. So far, so professional, so good.

She let Helena take the lead as they made their way through the undergrowth, only pointing out poison ivy where necessary. While it was a bit odd that Helena seemed able to sense this artifact, it wasn’t more odd than Pete and his vibes, or Leena’s auras or Steve’s lie detector. Just unusual – Helena had never exhibited anything like this before. Who knew, though; maybe the very fact that a child was involved here was the connection. A child who had lost his parent – if being told about that was the origin of this artifact, then it would be fueled by grief, maybe rage, probably pain. And who knew more about that than Helena Wells?

“Claud, still tracking us?” Myka asked after they’d gone maybe two hundred yards. They weren’t going in a straight line, the terrain and the trees prevented that. But Helena was leading them confidently, always back to a generally south-eastern direction.

“Yep,” came the answer via the earpiece. “Reading you clear as day. If you keep going that way, you’ll miss the house by a bit, though.”

“Not sure we’re headed towards the house,” Helena replied to that. “Call it a gut feeling, but it doesn’t seem to me as though our destination is quite that domestic.”

“O-kay?” Claudia said slowly. “That doesn’t sound odd at all.”

“Apologies, darling,” Helena said with a smile – she liked the young agent, and wished she could have given her a more satisfactory answer. “Perhaps we have a little bit of an Alice in Won-”

“No we don’t,” Myka said, quickly and with a shudder. “Tell me this isn’t an Alice-related artifact. Either one of you, tell me that right now.”

“All the ones we know of are present and accounted for,” Claudia told her.

“Not exactly reassuring,” Myka complained, and then took a deep breath and shot Helena a grim smile. “Sorry. It’s fine. It’s fine even if this is an Alice artifact. We’ve gotten her before, and we’ll get her again.”

“That sounds as though there’s a story to that,” Helena remarked.

Myka shuddered again. “And one day I might tell it,” she said, “but today is not that day. Not when we’re wandering through creepy w- What the hell?” She looked down at herself, alarmed by the sudden clanging noise her legs had made on the last step.

She was clad in armor. Full, plate, shining armor. She looked at Helena in alarm, and saw that Helena’s clothes had changed too – but what stopped her even more than that was-

“What happened to your ears?”

Helena’s hand came up to touch her ear and twitched in surprise at what it encountered. Helena frowned as her fingers explored it. “Vulcan?” she offered finally.

Myka took in Helena’s attire: soft boots, woolen pants, a belted tunic of fine linen, a felt cloak. The tesla had turned into a dagger at her side. Add that to the plate armor she herself was in… “An elf, I think,” she gave her opinion, “not a Vulcan. I’d say this is a fantasy scenario, not science fiction.”

“I’ve frankly never seen the sense of dividing the two,” Helena said with raised eyebrows, “but I bow to your expertise on the matter.”

Myka laughed out loud. “Yeah, no, I don’t have that. Expertise, I mean. I’ve always been more interested in sci-fi and crime, not fantasy so much. I mean I’ve read The Lord of the Rings, sure, but-”

“Um, guys?” Claudia’s voice sounded in Myka’s ear. From the look on Helena’s face, Helena had heard it too.

Myka’s hand flew up to her ear now – the earpiece was no longer there, but she was wearing an elaborate earring; maybe that’s what the earpieces had been transformed into. Helena was wearing a similar one.

“Yes, Claud, we’re still here – are we still on your GPS?”

“Yeah – but… elves? Vulcans? What’s going on?”

Myka quickly outlined the situation, realizing as she did so that her own sidearm had turned into a veritable sword at her side. Oddly enough she barely felt its weight, nor that of her armor, not in the way she should.

“Dude,” Claudia exclaimed, long and envious. “That’s DnD. You’re in a DnD campaign. Oh this is so awesome.”

“It would fit, too,” Myka mused. “If the kid was a loner, he might have found some comfort in that. Roleplaying games,” she explained, when Helena tilted her head in question.

“Ah,” Helena nodded. “But don’t you need other people for that?”

“These days, only a computer,” Claudia said, “but yeah, back in the eighties? You’d have had to have a group of people, yeah.”

“A boy can dream, even so,” Myka said. God knew she had daydreamed herself out of lonely evenings.

“Imaginary friends, huh,” Claudia said. “Could be, could be. No real friends, only made up ones, and if the kids at his school knew? Prime bullying material right there.”

Myka took a deep breath. “A bullied loner who gets told that his primary caretaker, and perhaps only friendly face in his life, has died.”

“Leading to the creation of an artifact,” Helena completed the thought. “Perhaps one in which he…” she gestured around.

Myka picked up on her idea. “Withdrew from the real world into a fantasy world of his own, so as not to have to deal with the real world and the pain in it.”

Helena nodded somberly. “Quite so.”

“You’re so cute when you’re finishing each other’s sentences,” Claudia said dryly, “but what about the Gustavsson guy? D’you think he was pulled in too?”

“Possible,” Myka said. “It seems to be activated by getting close-”

“Passing into its domain,” Helena agreed.

“-so yeah, maybe Gustavsson did the exact same thing we did,” Myka went on, “got out of his car where the tree blocked the road, made his way towards the house on foot, got caught in whatever this is.”

“So is this a send out the cavalry moment?” Claudia asked.

“Not yet, I don’t think,” Myka said after exchanging a quick glance with Helena, who shook her head in agreement. “We can still talk with each other, you can still see us on the GPS; if one of those two blank out then yes, get Pete and Steve on the road, but until then I think we can handle it.”

“You got it, sire.”

“Sire?”

“You’re a paladin, dude,” Claudia said, as if that was self-evident. “Just keeping with the vibe.”

“Paladin?”

“A knight’s knight, basically,” Claudia said. She sounded like she was grinning. “Okay, let me give you the rundown. Paladins are-,”

“Can you tell us while we walk?” Helena interrupted. She was still feeling the pull of the artifact; there was an added urgency to its call now that they were in its world. Myka gave her a quick look, nodded at whatever she saw on Helena’s face, and motioned for her to take the lead.

“Sure thing, Galadriel,” Claudia said. “Top three things to know about paladins is they have this one ideal that they follow and uphold above all else, they’re fighters but they can do some magic, and they are always lawful good, meaning they always follow the rules and only do morally good acts-”

Helena shot a wry glance over her shoulder at Myka; Myka valiantly resisted the urge to glare back in reply – Claudia would get to Helena’s elf characteristics soon enough.

“So if you do something that’s evil or unlawful,” Claudia added, “that’s gonna impact you. Badly. So, don’t do that?”

“Roger that,” Myka said, trying not to get irritated at being called out by a game. She rounded a tree and ducked under a low-hanging branch. “What if I come across a rule that would be immoral to follow?”

“Well I guess then you’re fucked,” Claudia said dryly. “Or, y’know, let Helena deal with it? Speaking of, top three things about being an elf coming up.”

“I am all ears,” Helena replied, and both Claudia and Myka started to laugh. “What?” Helena asked, feeling slightly aggravated.

“Ears?” Myka said gently, pointing to Helena’s head.

“Oh for crying out loud,” Helena grumbled. “Claudia, top three things?” She pushed aside a branch, perhaps slightly more forcefully than necessary.

“You can see in the dark,” Claudia recited immediately, “you’re harder to kill than a human, and you’re impervious to certain kinds of magic.” After a short pause, she went on, “I have the rule books open on my computer, so if you need to know any details-”

“How do I do magic?” Myka asked. “And can Helena do it too?”

“I mean usually you say which of your spells you wanna do and you roll the dice,” Claudia said. “Can’t really see this work in actual LARPing though. Maybe you just, I don’t know, think of what you wanna do, or state it out loud, and if it works, it works? The one thing Gygax always said-”

“The inventor of the game,” Myka explained under her breath, to which Helena smiled in gratitude.

“-was that even if something wasn’t in the rules: if it made sense for your character and scenario, and if the DM agreed, you could go with it.”

“When the rules do not agree with one,” Helena said with a nod and a smile, “it is sometimes necessary to change them.” She sounded to Myka as though she was reminiscing about something, or quoting someone. “I am good at imagining myself doing things,” she then went on. With a wry smile, she added, “Granted, typically when I did this in the bronze, the result was that I was not able to do that thing, but fates willing things will be different here.” She stilled for a moment, looking around the forest with a small frown. “I think we’re very close now.”

“Myka,” Claudia said, “paladins are able to sense evil – are you getting anything?”

Myka shook her head. “No, not really, but then I don’t think the artifact is evil, per se.”

Helena nodded her agreement to that. “Just a boy fleeing from his grief and anger, if our hypothesis is right.”

“Halt!” a gruff voice came from up ahead. “Who’s there? Show yourself!”

“Sounds like an adult,” Myka whispered. “Gustavsson?”

“Or the kid is grown up,” Claudia suggested. “Technically he should be in his thirties now.”

“Or a figment of the child’s imagination,” Helena added. “Isn’t that the way of it?”

“Possible, yeah,” Claudia said.

“Only one way to find out.” Myka loosened the sword in its scabbard, and stepped forward.

In front of her was a clearing, in which stood a knight in black armor, tall, broad, imposing, sword drawn and ready. Behind the knight was a break in the forest – the path onwards, Myka was sure of it even without looking at Helena for confirmation. She did look over her shoulder though – and Helena wasn’t there.

“I’ll try and go around,” she heard Helena say through the earpiece. “Keep him busy; I’ll try to get at him from behind.” A few leaves rustled, and then she was gone.

“That’s a rogue’s approach if I ever heard one,” Claudia commented. “I got Gustavsson’s stats from the missing person report, by the way; says five foot seven, slight build.”

“That rules him out, then,” Myka replied. “This guy is at least six foot and built like a barn. Unless turning into your fantasy character when coming here includes bulking up.” It hadn’t done that to her, but who knew – this was Corey’s imagination; he might look like anything.

“Yeah, no idea.”

“What’s your name?” Myka called over to the knight. “Why are you here?”

“I’m here to protect the boy,” the knight bellowed back, brandishing his sword. “None shall pass!”

“Claud, did you hear that? Did the earpieces pick that up?”

“Yep,” Claudia replied. “Maybe Corey made him up, to prevent people from grabbing him out of his fantasy world.”

“We mean no harm to the boy,” Myka called towards the knight. “Corey, right? We’re not here to harm him.”

“Don’t they all say that,” the knight jeered back. “Are you here to take the boy back or not?”

“We just want to talk to him,” Myka told him, then gasped as a wave of dizziness and nausea hit her. “Claud, what the hell?”

“Lawful good,” Claudia’s voice came through the earpiece. “That includes lying. Even white lies. Even to bad people.”

“Shit,” Myka hissed.

Over on the other end of the clearing, the knight laughed derisively – and charged.

“Shit!” Myka unsheathed her sword and barely brought it up in time to parry the knight’s first blow. The force behind it was incredible – he really was strong. But so was she: the armor she was wearing didn’t seem to slow her down, and to judge by his lumbering movements, she was nimbler than him even in armor. She ducked under his next blow and moved out of reach.

“Stand and fight!” he roared.

“I have no fight with you,” Myka told him. “We’re here for Corey!”

“You’re here to take him back – but what if he doesn’t want to come?”

Myka bit her lips together; she didn’t want to answer that one and risk another spell of nausea.

“Hah!” the knight exclaimed, and charged her again.

“Myka,” Helena’s urgent voice came from the earpiece, startling Myka even as she parried. “There’s a dragon back here.”

“A dragon?!”

“Ah, the foul beast!” the black knight exclaimed, aiming another blow at Myka.

Myka parried that one too, then danced out of reach again. “What do you know about the dragon?” she asked the knight.

“It is the most dangerous creature you’ll encounter,” he replied. “Even if you should vanquish me, you still have to go through it to reach your goal. You stand no chance! Give up and leave, and save your life!”

“Sorry, can’t do that,” Myka said, feinting towards her left and then approaching him on the right, trying to get past him.

“Then know you’ll perish,” the knight said. “It is an evil, a blight upon the land. It feeds on people!”

“Myka, I have a hunch,” Helena said. “Keep the knight busy – I’ll try and talk to the dragon.”

“What!” Myka exclaimed.

“Trust me. Just buy me as much time as you can, please.”

“Fine. Try not to get eaten,” Myka grumbled, and then withdrew towards where they’d come from, trying to get the knight to follow her.

Helena smiled at the put-upon tone in Myka’s voice, then approached the dragon that was lying curled up in front of her. It was massive – a veritable hill of slate-gray scales, spiky ridges, and big, leathery wings.

“Corey?” Helena called gently. “Corey, is that you?”

The dragon’s talons twitched. “Go away,” he growled.

“Sorry, can’t do that,” Helena echoed Myka’s words, knowing Myka would hear them through the earpieces. “It is you, isn’t it?”

“Go away!” With a bellow and a roar, the dragon reared, spewing a plume of fire in the air above Helena. “I’ll eat you!”

“I know you could,” Helena said quietly. “You ate the man who got here before us, didn’t you.”

This time, the dragon’s roar was wordless, and the billow of fire close enough to singe.

“You didn’t want to go back, and he wanted to make you,” Helena forged on, sure of her hypothesis now. “And you wanted him to just go away, vanish, get away from you. Am I right?”

“I will eat you!”

Helena shook her head. “I don’t think you will,” she said. “I don’t think you want to. You could have already, but you haven’t. I don’t think you wanted to eat that man either. I think the knight has it wrong. You’re not evil. You’re afraid, and you’re hurt, and so you lash out.”

“Go away!”

“Corey,” Helena said, stepping forward. “I know how this feels. I’ve felt it too. And if I could have turned into a dragon, if I could have spewed fire and brought devastation, I would have too, that’s how much pain and rage I felt.” The dragon was rooted in place, listening, and Helena took another step closer. “It was my daughter,” she said, and did not hide a single smidgeon of how much it still hurt to think of Christina. “She was taken from me in a senseless, brutal crime, and I couldn’t save her. It hurt so badly it almost drove me mad.”

The dragon hung his head and huffed – a tortured sound. Then-

“Helena!”

Helena heard Myka’s shout of alarm just in time to turn, realize the knight was upon her, and duck and roll away from his sword blow.

“I couldn’t stop him!” Myka panted, running up to position herself between Helena and the knight, who in turn had taken up position in front of the dragon.

“This beast is cruel and evil!” the knight declared. “It cannot be released unto the world – think of the damage it would do!”

“Oh I know full well what damage someone who’s hurting like this can do,” Helena shot back, speaking more to the dragon than the knight. “I’m responsible for the deaths of three young men; I almost killed all of humanity!” She spread her arms wide. “And yet I am still here, still walking free.”

“How?”

Helena had no idea whether knight or dragon had asked the question – then again, did it matter? “Forgiveness,” she said. “Love. Apologies, and hard work to make things right again.”

“You can’t make killing right again,” the knight sneered. “No one can bring the dead back to life.”

“That is true,” Helena said gravely. “I could not even apologize to their families. I will have to live with that for the rest of my life. But I can live with it, even though it’s difficult.”

“How?” This time, Helena was sure that the dragon had spoken.

“Because I know what made me do it,” she said. “I know what I did came from a heart filled with too much grief, too much guilt, too much anger. When we feel that way, we do things we would normally never even consider, things that we would find absolutely abhorrent in any other circumstances. Corey, let me ask you this – do you regret what happened? Are you sorry?”

“Yes.” If a dragon could whisper, this was it – a low, rasping sound. The dragon’s outline seemed to waver, like hot air in summer.

“No matter!” the knight shrieked. “You’ve killed, and that can never be excused!” His sword point wove between Helena and Myka, but he didn’t move to attack them, as though he was stuck in place.

“Corey,” Helena said, “this knight – he’s your bad conscience, isn’t he. He’s the voice that whispers in your ear that even if you wanted to, you can never go back now because of what you did. That you’d never be allowed to go back, even if you apologized, even if you explained. Because what you did was so horrific.”

The dragon’s neck writhed; he raised his muzzle and bellowed, and another plume of flame and smoke rose from it.

“Shut up!” the knight screamed at the same time. “You have it all wrong! You need to leave and never come back!” He raised his sword and charged at Helena with a yell of rage.

“No!” Myka’s shout pierced the air, and before Helena could even move a muscle, Myka was there, jumping between her and the knight, blocking his sword with hers and forcing him back.

“Don’t listen to him, Corey,” Helena called out over the clash of renewed fighting. The black knight was pressing down on Myka now with an all-out attack; good though Myka was, she was barely holding her own against his onslaught. “You know I’m right,” Helena went on, “despite what he says. I have been forgiven; I have found people who know what I did and love me regardless.” She pointed at Myka; she could hear Myka’s panting both in her earpiece and out loud. She had to get through to Corey; Myka couldn’t withstand this much longer. “And you can have that too, Corey, I promise,” she told him. “You too can be forgiven. You too can find people who love you. I did, and you can too. All you have to do is try.”

The dragon roared – and the knight vanished. Myka stumbled, then bent over, one hand on her knee, the other holding her sword with its tip resting on the ground.

And still the dragon roared.

Helena knew the feeling well.

She approached the dragon, and the dragon let her. She stood in front of him, and put her hand on his chest, as high up as she could reach, as close to his heart as she could get. “You are not a monster,” she said, quietly, for his ears alone, hoping that her words would reach him through his pain. “You are not a monster. You were hurt, and scared, and you wanted the man to just be gone. And you lashed out. That is not what a monster does, Corey, that is very human. And I know you’re sorry now, and you wish it had never happened, and that is very human too. You are not a monster, Corey.” She willed her conviction of this to ring true in her words, to flow into the boy through her hand.

And then she found her hand resting on the chest of a twelve-year old boy, found it vibrating with his sobs, and she pulled him in and hugged him to her, murmuring words of solace and reassurance.

-_-_-

“So what’s gonna happen now?” Corey said, when they’d found the artifact – a well-read copy of the player’s handbook, dog-eared and soft with use – and were back at Myka’s car.

Helena opened her mouth to speak, but then hesitated – she had an idea, but she was very much not sure if Myka would be on board with it.

Myka, who’d seen Helena’s reaction, smiled at Corey. “You can come with us, if you want,” she said. Her smile widened at Helena’s blink of surprise, and she looked over just long enough to grin at Helena. Then she focused on Corey again. “For now, while we figure things out, and for longer if you want to. Helena here has some experience in what it’s like to live outside of time for a few decades; it can be really disorienting, but she can help you find your feet.” It really was the best solution – for now, or for longer if the kid wanted. He had no living relatives, and everyone who knew him knew that he’d vanished as a pre-teen all those years ago. They didn’t expect him to show up as a twelve-year-old now, and he had no way of answering their questions that anyone would believe. “If you want to,” Myka repeated, for emphasis. “Your decision.”

Corey looked at Helena with a question in his eyes. She nodded at him. “That would have been my suggestion too,” she said.

Corey bit his lips together, looked over at Myka, and nodded. “Okay,” he said quietly.

Helena took his hand and squeezed it. “It’ll be alright,” she said. “I got a very good feeling about this.”

He did a double take and then grinned. “Was that a Star Wars quote? Only they always say they have a-”

“-very bad feeling about this, yes, I know,” Helena smiled back. “And yes, it was.”

His hand gripped hers more firmly. “Then let’s blow this thing and go home.” Then he blushed. “I mean, there’s nothing to blow up, obviously I know that-”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Myka said lightly. She shook out a neutralizer bag with a flourish, looked Corey dead in the eye, and said, “Duck.”

Corey yelped and hid half behind Helena when his handbook went into the bag in a shower of sparks. Then he looked at Myka, eyes wide and bright. “That was awesome!”

Myka grinned at him, nodded her chin at him, and dead-panned, “I know.” If the kid was a Star Wars fan, it was the least she could do. She knew he was still hurting – the way he kept close to Helena was a sign of it. Helena, for her part, seemed to shoulder it well; Myka would talk to her, later, when the kid was asleep or being looked over by Doctor Calder or otherwise out of earshot. But for now? They were going home.

[my-arlington-academia]

Karolina and Tegan birthday fanfic! 👓👠

I wrote a (short?) fanfic for Karolina's and Tegan's birthdayyy 🎉🎉 Last time Scholar was a she so I decided that in this one Scholar will be a he again 👍 Hopefully my writing is getting less cringe 😂 but as you'll see for yourselves I'm still really bad, especially the narration, sometimes I'm like "Wait, what am I supposed to describe here to move on to the next scene?" So most of it is really basic 😅 On a lighter note though, I know that many sweet elite players come from lots of different countries and most times their first language isn't English (*cough*like me*cough*) so at least it'll be easy to read for everyone? (Yes, I'm totally trying to make myself feel better for my lack of vocabulary 😔)

Anyways!!! Have a good read! God I hope I'm getting better...

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

"Karolina used to play Maryo Kart!?"

Tegan flinched due to Scholar's sudden outburst and almost dropped the controller out of his hands.

"W-Well... yeah. We were pretty close in elementary school and we used to share the same interests. Not when it came to everything but we usually agreed about a lot of things."

Tyler cackled from the bunk bed upon hearing this. Looks like he was still browsing through a shit-ton of pictures of chairs on Moogle. Apparently, he wanted to draw a chair for his next art piece.

"Just imagining Karolina even playing an app game gives me the same feeling as watching one of John Mulaney's skits: it's hilarious."

Scholar couldn't help but imagine Karolina playing Candy Rush or Flappy duck and it was in fact rather funny. Seeing Karolina frustrated because of a game would be like seeing Tadashi sleeping, which means it was impossible. Those two really need more rest and a bit of down time...

"So Tyler, you found any chairs that give you a spark of inspiration?"

Scholar decided to change the subject, after all Karolina didn't want anything to do with Tegan even though it was... well... their birthday. Scholar doesn't even have siblings let alone a twin so he had no idea how Tegan must be feeling right now. But from an outsider's perspective, Scholar thought that it was kind of sad and a waste that they didn't at least celebrate their birthday together. Tegan said that he didn't want anything too extravagant though. Thus, the 3 of them had gathered in their room to spend some time together, Ellie was also supposed to come but she said that she had "things to do" and that she'd drop by later.

"Nah man. MIKEA is really running out of ideas. I could come up with sicker designs in the blink of an eye. Actually, in a way this encourages me even more to draw a chair. I'll create the best chair this world has ever seen Scholar. Just. You. Wait."

While Tyler was hyping himself up over chairs Tegan had a really stern look on his face. Maybe it was because he was focused on the game but Scholar felt like there was something more to it. Perhaps they should've invited more people? In truth, the only real guest here was Scholar. This was TnT's room after all... Why is Ellie taking so long?

"...Tegan? Maybe you'd like me to go call Axel and Raquel over? Maybe even Alistair and Claire?"

Tegan who was frowning for a while now finally let his eyebrows relax.

"No uh... Sorry if I looked angry or something but um. I was just thinking about something."

When he said that, Tyler immediately let go of his phone and dropped down on the floor, then he sat next to Tegan.

"When you tell us that you're thinking about something, it means that you want to talk to us about it, right?"

Tegan continued to smash the buttons of the controller without even giving Tyler a side-glance.

"Not necessarily."

Somehow, Tegan was acting a bit cold but not in his usual "I'm sleep deprived" way. Tyler gave Scholar a pleading look. Probably meaning that Tegan needed another little push to tell them what was going through his mind. Of course, Scholar couldn't ignore that.

"Aww, come on man! If it was because you were spacing out like usual you would've just said "it's nothing" butcha didn't! You know you can tell us everything right? We won't snitch."

Tyler followed.

"Exactly! We'll never break the bro code of honor. Spill the tea! Or water! Or whatever drink it is!"

Tegan gave them a big sigh before leaving the game on pause and putting the controller down. Tyler and Scholar looked at eachother dumbfounded. When Tegan puts the controller down it means that shit is about to get real... or he's so tired that he'll short-circuit in a span of 10 seconds.

"Well, it's about Karol. Kinda. I guess."

Scholar and Tyler scooched over even closer to be sure to miss none of it. Talking about Karolina wasn't a taboo topic or anything, on the contrary, it was quite frequent and Tegan was totally fine with his friends taking jabs at her as long as it wasn't mean-spirited. But what was rare though, was for Tegan to bring her up out of nowhere.

"It's... how to say this. You know how when it's Christmas and you become super nostalgic about the smallest things? Or when Viewtube recommends you a short clip from a show you used to watch years ago and you decide to marathon it just for the heck of it? Well, for me that "nostalgic" time is our birthday. When I remember how we used to be so close and hang out together all the time I get kinda uh. I don't know. Regretful? Like, maybe if I didn't end up being a loser who spends all of his time playing games and doing dumb stuff Karol might still tolerate me. Or uh. If I dressed up a little nicer or took better care of myself maybe she'd at least want to stand next to me in public? Now, unless absolutely necessary, she doesn't even want to be associated with me. Like, she's ashamed of me or she doesn't want the other students to think that we're related or something. I don't know. Maybe I'm making it sound worse than it actually is but that's how I feel."

Woah. Okay. To be honest, Tyler and Scholar had already thought that something along those lines might be the reason for Tegan's grumpy mood today. That was a feeling he probably carried with him subconsciously everyday, just maybe to a smaller extent since he drowns himself in video games and doritos. But whenever their birthday comes around, all of it resurfaces. He already told them in the past that when Karolina started taking modeling gigs they started slowly growing apart. Tegan had said it so nonchalantly, like it wasn't a big deal and it was natural to "grow apart" but clearly, he wasn't happy about it.

Tegan was hanging his head low, as for Tyler and Scholar, they lay their heads down on Tegan's shoulders. Tyler ran his fingers through Tegan's hair to confort him.

"You're not a loser in any way Tegan. Karolina is the one missing out on you, she shouldn't set standards on you in the first place. So what? Just because you don't wear Bucci, Bupreme or Bouis Buitton it means that she has the right to act like this? You're my best bro and I know that my best friend is the coolest dude in the world. I mean, who can drink 3 monster drinks at the same time through 2 straws amirite?"

"Hm. Actually... You're not wrong."

Wait, 3 monster drinks at the same time with 2 straws? What?? Scholar's eyes widened.

"Uhhh. What the hell do you guys do when I'm not around? And may I remind you that Tegan is also my best friend!"

Tyler let out a laugh through his nose.

"Oh please, you may have barely enough points to unlock his tragic backstory but I'm still the OG. I'm ahead of you by at least a hundred points. Also, I wouldn't exactly call you a friend but rather-"

Tegan swiftly elbowed Tyler in the stomach.

"Ssshhh! Dude!"

"Ouch! Come on man... you know that Scholar is a bit dense sometimes, you gotta at least let me spell it out for him."

This was about to become a fight between the two of them, with Tegan trying to shut Tyler up and Tyler desperately trying to tell Scholar something. However, someone knocked on the door. That's weird, usually Ellie just barges in without even asking if she can. She just says "It's Ellie!" and comes in like this is her room as much as it is Tegan's and Tyler's. Their small fight stopped and Tegan got up to open the door... to be welcomed with cheers and confetti flying in the air. "WOOOOOOO!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY NERD!!!" Ellie had brought the whole gang: Alistair, Axel, Claire, Raquel and even Tadashi. The only ones who weren't there were Karolina and Neha but in a way, it was kind of to be expected. They were maybe celebrating Karolina's birthday in her room with some of their friends from the fashion department? In any case, everyone was thrilled for Tegan. They congratulated him and gave him some gifts even if they were a little bit less personal than anticipated. It was apparent that some of those were chosen in a rush. If Scholar had to guess, since Tegan is so secretive and discreet about everything, he probably didn't tell anyone about his birthday and Ellie had to go around fetching everyone and bringing them together. That's why some of the gifts exuded that "Oh shit! It's Tegan's birthday today!!!" aura. Especially Tadashi's gift.

"This is kopi luwak. Those coffee beans are extracted from the asian palm civet's excrements. I know that you're more into energy drinks but I thought that you might want to try something different. I know it sounds disgusting but the taste is actually not bad and it'll definitely wake you up, everytime you remember that you're drinking coffee that came out of an animal's digestive system it gives you an extra dose of adrenaline. No matter how many times I drink it, this coffee always makes me feel like I'm a little bit in danger and it wakes me up immediately."

Tegan looked really curious about it but at the same time uneasy at the thought of having to drink coffee made of beans that came out of an animal's asshole.

"Woah... thanks... Tadashi."

"You're welcome."

So that's how Tadashi stays awake, huh? He makes himself fear for his life by drinking weird coffee. Scholar had already heard of it, there's even some kinds that are made from elephant poop and civet cat poop. However, Axel was the first and only one to call Tadashi out.

"What the fuck man? It's his birthday and you gifted him fricking coffee beans that come from a raccoon's butthole? Well, I guess the nickname Tadashit fits you perfectly since you literally drink shit."

Tadashi rolled his eyes so far back that his pupils might've gone in his skull if he wasn't human.

"Like I said, it comes from the asian palm civet. Not a raccoon. Also, do not call me that."

Axel and Tadashi kept on bickering for a while before Claire brought the cake.

"Ta-dah! Sorry if it's not good enough but there weren't any backeries out there willing to make a birthday cake on such a short notice. I had to bake it myself with Alistair's help. We hope you like it!"

The cake gave off a really homey feeling. Scholar was reminded from back home when all of his birthday cakes looked really similar to this one. The icing was really amateurish looking but really really cute. Alistair switched the lights off and Tegan took a moment to think about his wish. The room went silent in front of his stern expression, seems like whatever his wish was, it must be pretty important. When he blew the candles everyone cheered but no one asked him what he wished for. Maybe no one felt the need to since it is said that if you say your wish out loud it won't come true.

Before Raquel could cut the cake Alistair took his phone out. "Wait! Wait a sec, let's take pictures with the cake first! I'm the one who drew the Zbox and the Playmotion logo..."

Raquel put the knife down while laughing. "Oohhh. So I bet that's the real reason why you don't want me to cut it yet?"

They all took lots of ridiculous pictures with the cake. It was a pretty big one so Raquel cut it into 10 slices. After a bit of a ruckus, things finally started calming down. The 9 of them sat down in a circle and talked about random subjects: the teachers, the homework, sleep paralysis, the new Store Wars movie, the conscious and unconscious mind in cognitive psychology...

The time was passing by and everyone was having fun no matter how weird the conversation was getting until Raquel reminded everyone of the last slice of cake.

"If no one's gonna eat it, I'll eat it."

The only one who was against it was Tyler who also wanted the last slice. They decided to choose the winner through rock paper scissors. A 3 round match. But just as it was about to start, someone knocked on the door again. Did the noise annoy the neighbours? It was getting pretty late after all.

Scholar got up to open the door only to find... Karolina followed by Neha!

"Happy b- oh. It's you."

Karolina was holding a small package and as for Neha, she didn't even bother to wrap up her gift. It was a fancy hoodie with a sort of skull on its back. Tegan almost flew towards the door.

"Karol! You came... and Neha, is that Sombra merch?"

Neha smiled warmly, seeing that he noticed right away.

"Yes. I mean, kind of. It's that character from Underwatch, right? I don't know if it's your favorite but one time I remember you saying that "she was fun to play". So I made you this. The quality isn't really that good though, sorry. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough time to make it properly. Anyway, I'm rambling. Happy birthday Tegan."

Tegan immediately put the purple hoodie on in excitement.

"Looks sick. Thank you Neha. You really nailed the logo."

Karolina also thought that it looked "sick" but not in a good way. She was clearly not getting why wearing that sort of thing would make someone happy. Since it was made by Neha, of course it was really well done but why does he prefer wearing video game merch rather than high quality clothing? She was almost regretting coming here. Tyler laughed at the sight of Karolina trying really hard not to roll her eyes, it looked like her pupils were trembling. Kinda terrifying honestly.

"I would've thought that you like soldier 76 or Tracer better since... they're about as straight as you are. But besides that, it looks dope Neha! Would you make one of my paintings into a T-shirt one day? Like, you know, my birthday? August 21st? Pretty pleaaase!"

It wasn't long until everyone started requesting clothes from Neha for their birthdays. Of course, she shut them all down while Karolina still stood there with what looked like a gift.

"Ugh. I see that you invited a lot... of people."

Her cold gaze was on Axel and Alistair specifically, since she did not like those two. As for Tegan, he was silently waiting for his gift. Judging by his face, it had been a while since Karolina had showed up to one of their birthdays, not to mention that she brought a gift too.

"Anyway... here. I'm sure you don't play those kinds of games anymore but uh... Well, in any case you better not laugh at my gift. Or else."

Tegan carefully unwrapped the gift. It was the new Maryo Kart! Everyone was baffled. Karolina actually gifted Tegan a video game? What's next? Is she going to play it too on top of gifting it? Tegan thanked her happily and reached for something behind the TV. It was Karolina's gift. Her eyes scanned the shape of the wrapping trying to guess what it was. Though she didn't lose any more time trying to figure out what it was and opened it. It was a Bouis Buitton bag. Karolina smiled.

"Basic choice but not bad. Thanks."

Seeing that Neha had already sat down, Karolina did the same. Of course, to Raquel's regret, they ended up splitting the last slice of cake, Karolina said that she didn't mind since she couldn't afford to eat food with too much calories. Especially not pastries but she let this one slide. As for Tegan, he immediately switched the game on. Of course. But then, he offered the second controller to Karolina. Everyone looked at him like he was batshit crazy. Miraculously though, Karolina sighed and took the controller.

"...Fine. But I don't remember the controls anymore."

That was a fricking lie. Karolina was killing it?? At Maryo Kart?? Raquel was going crazy. Well, everyone actually. But especially Raquel.

"What the hell?! So you steal the last slice of cake and now you're whooping Tegan's ass in a video game? I didn't even think you knew how to hold the controller correctly..."

Karolina clicked her tongue at that remark, looking unimpressed. Though clearly, she was a bit embarrassed about playing against her brother in front of 9 other people who had no idea that she was even capable of touching a controller without throwing up. But during that time, Tegan was grinning like a kid. It was like going back in time for him. He was thrilled. How many years has it been since the last time they played together like this?

"Believe it or not, but Karolina was actually the one to always kick my ass in video games. She was too strong. Thankfully, she's a bit rusty now."

Karolina elbowed his arm violently but Tegan didn't budge. It was like he was used to it, maybe Karolina always tried to distract him from the game by pushing him when they were little?

"Oh shut up. It's the game's fault. Why the heck did they add that much useless features? Also, the maps are way worse than the old Maryo Kart games. Those ones are a jumbled mess, doesn't make any goddamn sense with those twists and turns."

Karolina frighteningly sounded like a retrogaming nerd. Could it be that Tegan's love for video games came from...? Nah, no way. She's just salty that Tegan is catching up in wins. They're tied now.

"Okay! What about this: The one who wins the next round gets a kiss on the cheek from Scholar!" Ellie proclaimed in a loud voice.

"Wait! Why me??"

Scholar honestly doubted that Karolina would like that, Tegan? Maybe. But not Karolina. Surprisingly enough she didn't react but that lack of reaction probably hid something. Usually she would complain and quit but she's not the type to lose on purpose after getting this far. Tegan looked fired up too. Looking back on it, earlier Tyler was trying really hard to say something. Could it be that both Tegan and Karolina like Scholar? Well... that would be extremely awkward and unlikely.

In any case, it looks like Tegan has a head start.

"What's wrong Karol? Have you really forgotten the controls?"

"Say that again and I might murder you."

This is the most intense party of Maryo Kart anyone had ever seen. Isn't there an e-sport for it? Maybe the Novak(ova) siblings should sign up...

In the end, Karolina managed to catch up somehow. Ellie took that host voice again.

"Alright ladies and gents! Looks like Karolina will be the one receiving the prize! But what an act of cruelty on the sister's part, wouldn't you say? Because she was heartless and unpleasant I declare that as compensation the viewers should also get a kiss!"

Everyone cheered for Scholar's kiss but funnily enough, Tegan looked super offended. He was about to throw a tantrum.

"Wait. So I'm the only one without a kiss?!? That is so unfair! It's my birthday... I should at least get a participation fee!"

Tyler patted him on the back.

"That's rough, buddy. But hey, at least your boyfriend didn't turn into the moon."

Tegan quickly elbowed Tyler in the stomach again.

"Dude! Scholar's not my... dammit, I told you to be quiet earlier."

"Ow! I didn't even say any name... You're the one digging your own grave man. Look, he's looking this way."

Seeing that Tegan looked absolutely heartbroken (and pissed), Scholar took Ellie's place as the announcer.

"Change of plans! Only the siblings get a kiss because it's their birthday. All the others won't get any because it would be extremely unfair."

That's when everyone started booing but Raquel seemed to have an idea. A stupid one. But still an idea.

"Uhhh, excuse me! Actually, I'm their sister. We're triplets, so I also get a kiss!"

Axel did the same.

"No, Raquel is lying sir! We're actually quadruplets so I get a kiss as well! The four of us look so similar, I have no idea how you missed that..."

This whole thing turned out to be ridiculous. Seems like Tegan and Karolina suddenly had 8 new siblings. But of course, only the 2 of them got the kiss. Everyone was satisfied with the birthday party despite all of the chaos.

-------------------------------------- Oooookay! That's it! Sorry the ending was so abrupt (as usual) but I never know how to end these... Thank you for reading though! And sorry if you cringed! But that's a risk I'm willing to take ✊😔

[actionnerdgamerlove]

Do You Want Me Now - Chapter 8: 4 +1

Find it on AO3

Summary:  Four times Jaskier touches Geralt by accident, and one time she doesn’t.

C/W: Panic Attack (in the part on AO3)

1.

The first time Jaskier and Geralt touched was completely by accident.  It was a Sunday morning; they’d gotten multiple sessions under their belt and had developed a rhythm.  Geralt would unlock the front door around 8:30 (in the off chance Jask was early, which she had never been) and Jaskier would just come in, instead of knocking.

This morning was no different.  Larkin opened the door, called out ‘Hey, it’s me!’ and began trying to remove the comfy Ugg-type boots she was wearing.  (They were not Uggs.  Jaskier was not a fan.)  She tried. She’d gotten the first one off all right, but she was wearing socks, and she tried taking the second one off standing up on a hardwood floor.

You can see where this is going.

Thankfully, Geralt came upstairs when he heard Jaskier call out, and was in the living room to catch Jaskier before she faceplanted on his living room floor.  As soon as he got an arm-full of Jaskier, he panicked (thinking back to the ‘no touching’ clause of the contract) and set her upright like touching her was burning him.

Jask tilted her head to the side and looked at him quizzically, then considered, and smiled.

“Relax, G, it was an accident and you were helping me avoid breaking my face.  Safety reasons and accidents will always trump that clause. Besides, I trust you.”

Her admission almost made Geralt pass out.

2.

The second time Geralt and Jaskier touched was also an accident.

Geralt and Jaskier were taking a break one Sunday morning, and had come upstairs to get refills on coffee (Jaskier had texted Geralt her preferred type of creamer, which he always had on hand now).  On her way over, she’d stopped by her favorite bagel place, texting Geralt to ask what he wanted (everything bagel with bacon, egg and cheddar).  She also picked up a half-dozen donuts, as a surprise treat (he’d gotten past a tough part of the painting that had been giving him a lot of grief for a few weeks).  She’d noticed in the couple months they’d been spending time together Geralt had a pretty big sweet tooth.  She figured going out on a limb and getting donuts wasn’t really that much of a stretch.

She only got one pink frosted with sprinkles.  That was a mistake.

Jaskier could tell Geralt was pleased because his ‘resting witch face’ shifted ever so slightly and there was the barest hint of a smile on his face.  

They saved the donuts for the now-routine break they took around the hour and a half mark and as they gathered at the kitchen island, they both went for the pink frosted with sprinkles.

WHO COULD HAVE SEEN THAT COMING.

Geralt had been first, by the barest hint of a second, and Jaskier ended up awkwardly holding hands with him in her attempt at her favorite donut of all time, pink frosted with sprinkles.

It was telling that neither of them attempted to move immediately.

Once they did let go of one another, the ‘no you have it – no YOU have it’ argument-that-wasn’t-an-argument started.

Jaskier let Geralt have it, because she wasn’t a jerk. (She brought them, therefore it was her gift to him, and it was his pink frosted with sprinkles donut – she didn’t think Geralt was a jerk.)

Geralt didn’t stop thinking about holding her hand all day.

3.

One Sunday morning, Jaskier needed a bathroom break sooner than the regular break mark.  Her gig the night before ran long, and she’d needed extra coffee that morning to function at Geralt levels.  Thankfully, Geralt had a half bath on the first floor, in between the living room and kitchen.  Taking the steps two at a time, Jaskier all but threw herself into the bathroom; Geralt coming up the stairs at a much more sedate pace, shaking his head.

“You know, you can take a break whenever you want, Jas; there isn’t a rule set about it.” Geralt called through the door.

“I don’t like interrupting your work,” she called back.

Geralt’s chest tightened. He walked into the kitchen to get more coffee and was on his way back down to the basement when the bathroom door opened and Jaskier stepped out.

This was the second time Geralt had ended up with an armful of Jaskier, but this time said armful was naked.

Geralt had no idea where to put his hands.

He ended up kind of wrapping her in his arms, careful to keep his arms away from any sensitive areas.

Geralt was not having the best of days, that day.  His crush on Jaskier – he had eventually, finally, admitted – allowed himself to admit – that he had a crush on Jaskier; a rather large one if he was being honest with himself – was becoming hard to ignore.  Harder to ignore, now, with one naked Jaskier in his arms.

He thought he’d been doing all right, all things considered. Their sessions were going well, the painting was turning out better than he could have imagined.  He enjoyed spending time with her.  That was new; he wasn’t used to enjoying people’s company. He wished their sessions could be longer – well, that wasn’t exactly right.  He wished she would stay longer.  He wanted Jaskier to hang out.  He kind of thought she wanted to, too; it was how she lingered, when she was getting ready to go.  Geralt knew for a fact it didn’t take an extra half an hour to put on a pair of slip-on shoes.  But he didn’t know the right words to say to get her to stay. He’d had the barest figment of a fleeting thought – asking Jaskier if she wanted to be his roommate – living in his head rent-free for the past couple weeks.  He hadn’t said anything to anyone about it, not even his therapist, because it was crazy, right?  They’d only known each other a couple of months by this point.  Maybe he’d talk to his therapist about it.

He wasn’t used to this. The wanting.  Seeing Jaskier naked once a week for two months wasn’t helping, although he really didn’t want it to end.  He’d honestly thought of ways to…extend the painting process, although he hadn’t had the guts to do anything yet.  His masturbation fantasies had never been so vivid, though.  There was a fair bit more of that going on, these days, truth be told.  Not surprising, given the object of his very secret affections spent the majority of her time in his house naked.

The part that drove Geralt absolutely wild was Jaskier was so blasé about the whole thing. Their first couple sessions, he thought she was trying to come on to him.  She was a flirt.  He’d seen it that night at dinner, at the farm.  But, he’d come to realize she was just…playful.  It wasn’t flirting with a purpose, necessarily; she was just naturally flirty and playful.  Geralt likened it to ‘flirting without intent’.  Yen had been the exact opposite.  Everything Yen did served a purpose, flirting included.  Geralt wondered if part of Jaskier’s playfulness had to do with her being a performer.

So now, once again finding himself up close and personal with his naked model, he couldn’t help it. He laughed.

“We’ve got to stop meeting like this,” he said, chuckling.

Her sheepish smile was heart-meltingly adorable.

“Maybe we should get you a robe,” Geralt was hesitant, but he delighted when Jask lit up at his suggestion.

They still hadn’t moved.

The next time Jaskier came for a Sunday session, there was a new, beautiful, multicolored silk robe hanging on a hook Geralt had installed for the sole purpose of robe hanging, in the basement.

Jaskier was ecstatic.

Read the rest on AO3

[adventuresofateenagebitch]

Destiny

Summary: Your destiny was to rule over Hell, it was your birthright. But you couldn’t help but think of another warlock you knew deep in your heart was also part of you destiny.

Pairing: Nick Scratch X Sabrina (Nabrina!)

Wordcount: 2,694

A/N: This is my first post! I mean, it’s Nabrina people. He’s loved her since he first saw and heard her in choir class. Softboi Nick. But honestly, Part 3 of Sabrina messed me up pretty bad. I wanted to write a Calbrina fic, but honestly, I needed to write a Nabrina one as my first post here. No way in Heaven I would do Nabrina dirty like that. So anyway, enjoy! Leave notes likes, asks and such I super duper appreciate them! Calbrina fic is still a work in progrss. Hope you guys enjoy this. I had an awkward time ending it. LOL.

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Ruling over Hell wasn’t that hard. Growing accustomed to the afterlife where souls who deserved it were meant to live in anguish and suffer in the darkest most deranged forms of torture surprisingly happened pretty quickly, at times you’d even feel like it was more home than good old Greendale where you left behind your best friend who fell in love with your ex-boyfriend, and your family who never even noticed that the Sabrina they were living with wasn’t even the Sabrina of their time, but family can only reach so far to really know you… especially when you weren’t even related to them by blood in the slightest, except for Ambrose. You knew for a fact Ambrose noticed right away, the clever little beast. Perhaps another reason you’d grown so accustomed to Hell, your real father was with you, and as strange as it may seem, it was like you were living in any old house with a father and stepmother, minus the demons and the road of blood leading to Pandaemonium. Your father, Satan, Lucifer, or even the Dark Lord was like any other father out there. He had meals with you, guided you through your newly imbued powers, and even gave you advice on how to handle hellish matters when things came down to it. But more importantly, he never really stopped ruling over Hell, sure he had more free time now, but even then, he’d still be backhandedly working, he’d handle the affairs you couldn’t since you haven’t really gotten a grasp on the whole politics of hell, he knew he had to step in when you nearly instigated an uprising after telling a court of demons that Hell would be reformed from top to bottom. Even Lilith proved to be helpful, especially when you had to go to the mortal realm to collect souls, she’d stand guard making sure you didn’t stray from the path you’d chosen, the path of night to go back to your family and friends. Of course, hell wasn’t a full time gig, you were allowed days off, in fact you were only ever really in the throne room when you needed to be which wasn’t exactly all the time, any decision you had to make was reiterated to you through telepathy so you had free time now more than ever.

That was the problem though. 

You wanted to be busy. You wanted to stay busy because whenever your brain had even the tiniest inkling that there was nothing to occupy it with, it came back to a certain raven haired warlock whose smirk could keep you hooked for days. The same warlock who broke up with you because all he could imagine and see when he looked at you was your father who in all fairness did try to overtake his soul. Nicholas Scratch. You look down at the writing in the sand from the Shore of Sorrows and quickly cross out his name. It’s funny, the coven was now praying to Hecate, but you could still hear them, you still imbued them with their dark powers because well, they were your coven, and they really believed Hecate could give them that much power when in reality, casting spells and actually getting them to work required a circle of witches murmuring in prayer to the Goddess. The prayers ranged from offerings to prayers asking for forgiveness, you could hear your Aunties, Prudence, even Ambrose had the quick prayer every now and then even though he claimed to be a Polytheist, but the one voice you’d never heard was his, you’d like to say that you didn’t notice it, but you’d never heard him pray to Hecate.

But you could only keep up this lifestyle for so long. You spoke with your father about this. He was powerful in his own right, already feeling the discord of space and time the second you stepped foot in the throne room. He knew there were two of you, he advised you to first learn everything you could about Hell, because a time would come where you would be forcibly merged with your other self living in the mortal world, and instead of forcing you to choose like he’d done in the past, you’d already agreed to rule over Hell so you would always come back and if not, they would just summon you whenever they needed anyway.

You were walking along the path of blood through the forest where you noticed a tiny scribbling on your palm.

“Spellman.”

You looked at it curiously, and then the realization hit you all at once, there was only one person who had your magic marker. The same person who would use it to have late night conversations with you when he knew damn well that your aunties were sleeping and could hear every single squeak in the house. You quickly clear the forest, hiding the palm of your hand from Lilith when she comes to greet you in Pandaemonium.

Lilith wasn’t and never would be a fan of the Queen of Hell having any romantic life, she always told you to never even think about that.

“Oh, well if it isn’t the Queen of Hell herself.” Lilith has her hands on her hips, talking with an individual who quickly turned towards you, a cunning smirk and devious eyes trained on you. You gulp quickly.

“My, my, Miss Spellman I don’t think I’ve seen you in a long while. I thought you had foregone your magic studies for your mortal friends?” It was Dorian and you realized he was here to bring your father’s monthly stock of alcoholic beverages, he licks his lips, “Never quite thought I’d find you here though.”

You furrowed your brows, “And where exactly did you hear that?”

He turns his body fully towards you, “Why, from Nicky, of course.” Lilith gives you a short nod before going off to find her minion, “And how sad Nicky has been without… well, you.”

Your eyes which had been trained on your shoes snap up to meet his eyes, “W-what?”

He nods silently, eyes closed, “Yeah, he told me months ago and well, there hasn’t gone a day where he doesn’t drink his sorrows away.” He sighs, “Well, that’s what he gets for falling in love.”

He starts to walk around, taking inventory of his deliveries, “You’re his friend, Dorian.”

He hums, “Yes, well, he’s also a customer. A well paying one at that-”

Without even letting him finish, you turn your head in disgust, holding up two fingers to send him back to his bar through a fiery portal.

"Well, aren't you sensitive today." Lilith rubs her still nonexistent pregnant belly, "Has Mr. Scratch got your mind occupied?"

You shake your head, "No. Just-just tell me where my father is."

Lilith moves aside, "Right in his office."

----

You open the large doors shaped like demon hands and without giving him a chance to talk, you ask him, "How do I check up on my other self?"

He grins at you devilishly, "Dear daughter, by now you've already been gifted most of your full powers, it's about time I gift you a another one." He approaches you slowly looking glad to be ripped apart from the paperwork on his desk he holds his hand over your eyes, "Cum his ad divinum manus mea reddere tibi, divina aspectu"

You blink once, twice, thrice. Nothing seemed to have changed, "You seem pretty happy to be away from paperwork " you scoff.

He shrugs, "Well, you did declare a reform of hell and a book keeping of deals made of uncollected souls." He sits back down, "The royalties of Hell cannot be kept away from their collections any longer."

You shut your eyes, imagining yourself, your voice and as if you were astral projecting you see yourself with your friends. You were Laughing with Theo and Roz in the halls of Baxter High in your cheer uniform and before you can move a body passes through you, it was Harvey and when you expect him to make a beeline for Roz, he goes straight to you. The other you, leaning down he pecks you on the lips.

You look in shock as this Sabrina seemingly embraces her mortal life with her friends, in the 30 minutes you'd spent watching her, not even a hint of magic or spellcasting, "No. No, she wouldn't do this she loves her family, she loves her magic." You shut your eyes tight indespair and disbelief transporting you back where you were, not catching the way you voice seemed to have reached the other Sabrina's earsas if a whisper.

Lucifer was leaning against his desk, a knowing look plastered on his face, you walk towards him with intent, "That wasn't me. That COULDN'T have been me."

He chuckles lowly, "But in fact it is." He stands up straight, "You both are Sabrina, when Hell replenishes and provides your powers there are two of you which it splits into, and as time goes on, you and your powers get stronger because she has been slowly giving up the path of the night. It's a slow, gruesome process but she seems to think it was worth it, to keep that Kinkle boy around." He says in disgust.

He leans over you, finally taking the whole two Sabrinas situation seriously, "You see, dear daughter, only a single soul may exist in this world, to have two means it is constantly ripping and tearing the two souls apart one going more to the other, and what is a human without a soul?"

You look at him in shock, "And because the powers from Hell are more powerful with me, and she's trying to rid herself of her powers, she-she's-"

He sighs, "She knows." He pinches the bridge of his nose, "She's spoken with me and she knows everything. She only wished to spend her remaining days living a normal life with her friends and family, before she ultimately dies a slow and painful death. This was her last wish, as she's seen a future where her loved ones were killed by the Pagans." He starts pacing back and forth, "You see, the universe has a funny way of correcting itself. This time paradox which she had created was never to be successful in any way because only one Sabrina was ever meant to exist, the only two things that could have happened were you two would by nature absorb into a single being or second, one of you would have died." He shrugs.

"Now what? What then when she dies?"

Lucifer ponders, "Well, it is up to you to juggle these two lives or to choose one path over the other, but I must warn you that Hell has a way of fighting back if you do not respect the order of your binding to the realm." He sighs, plopping back down on his seat, "Now run along, child. I must finish these papers."

You walk along the corridors, before a voice reaches you, the only voice you’d wish you’d heard, his voice was low and calm as he began his prayer.

“Unholy Dark Lord, I know I have sinned against you but I am in service and gratitude to you for bringing Sabrina Spellman into my life. I only wish for you to bring her back to me. I am merely a vessel in your grand plan as your will commands so long as you bring her back to me. You rule over Hell and our lives, my brothers and sisters of the Order of Hecate do not understand our powers are granted by you our unholy savior. In exchange for my willing service if you cannot bring her back to me, I only pray you keep the love of my life from harm.” 

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

You tossed and turned in your bed, unable to sleep. All you could think about was Nick, how the other you had thrown him away and all you wanted was to be with him, to tell him you loved him.

When you opened your eyes you were sat on the couch right in front of the fireplace in Dorian's bar, sitting next to one Nicholas Scratch who you already knew had been there the whole day. He takes another sip from the bottle in his hand and before his mouth touches it, you call him, "Nick."

As if the faintest of whispers reaches his ears, he looks around, catching you off guard.

"Spellman?"

You feel your eyes fill with tears as he looks around, trying so hard to find you, you speak in a clearer, louder voice, "Nick."

As clear as day, his eyes locked on you and he freezes, slowly bringing his hand to your cheek and cupping it, "Is this real? Are you really here with me? The real Sabrina?"

The tears start falling before you nod your head, "Y-yeah Nick, I'm here."

He embraces you tightly, "I-I just knew. I knew that wasn't you. The day you stopped going to the academy and you told me you were leaving behind the path of night to become a mortal, I just knew that it couldn't have been you." Tears start to stream down his face, “I’m never letting you go, Spellman. Not anymore, now that you’re back.”

You freeze, reluctantly, you clear the air, “Nick, I-I’m not actually back-I, I took the role as Queen of Hell. It’s my domain now.” You can’t seem to find the strength to look him in the eyes, “I’m not even really here. I’m in my bedroom, probably levitating while I meditate my physical and astral body here. Nick, I-I love you, but I can’t give up Hell, I don’t want to anymore. This is my destiny, and even if I did, the hierarchies of Hell would never let me.”

The giant grin on his face slowly lowers to a frown in realization, “H-Hell? You live there now? What happened to the Sabrina here?”

You shake your head, “It’s a time paradox. I’m from this time, but her, well she’s from a different timeline where Caliban was crowned King of Hell and you all died.”

He looks into your eyes, mind made up, and a determination burning in them, “You said before we broke up that you’d give it all up… for me, you would give up your destiny, Hell, Heaven, Earth, you’d give everything up for me.” You didn’t like where this was going because if he was going to make you choose, you knew you would choose Hell, “And Spellman, being apart from you only made everything all the more obvious, I thought my destiny was to become the best warlock of the Church of Night, but now I know my destiny has always been to be by your side-” He holds your hand tenderly in his, “Holding your hand as we travel and explore the path of night together and discover our place in the Underworld. I don’t ever want you to give up your place as Queen of Hell, I know this is what your were meant to do, but I would never ever let you go again, Spellman.”

You shake your head, “Nick, I don’t understand what you’re saying-”

He grasps your hand tighter in his, “What I’m saying is, Spellman, I’d follow you anywhere, even through the gates of Hell because you will always be worth it. Wherever you are, that’s where I want to be because it’s where I’m meant to be.”

You blink away the tears in your eyes, relieved Nick finally opened up to you, “Nick.” You hug him tight, “You’re willing to leave behind everything and everyone, the world, to be with me in Hell?”

He nods confidently, “I don’t care about the world, Spellman. I just care about you.” He leans in pressing his lips against yours as you come back to your physical realm and teleport him to Hell.

He breathes a sigh of relief, “Spellman.” He embraces you, “I love you, Spellman.”

You tuck your head into the crook of his neck, “I love you too, Nick.”

[harveywritings92]

Cheater! Tim Drake x Reader Part 1

The following is a non profit fan based story Batman, Red hood, Nightwing etc. belongs to DC Comics please support the official release.

_

I gain no profit from this nor do I own anything other then OCs  and whatever sprouts from my imagination. Thanks for reading!

Y/n practically flew up the steps of Wayne manor she was so excited! She had to tell Tim, she got the voice acting gig she'd trying for Outta Wack productions! she was a voice actress and apart of the Trophy Scavenger team effective next week! She knocked and ringed the doorbell.

 Dick eating a bowl of cereal answered "ey y/nf!" he greeted as he swallowed a spoon full of Trix he moved aside to let her in Jason who was reading Terry Pratchett's Mort nodded and grunted at her as the h/c merrily walked inside "Is Tim in his room? I got big news!" She chirped and went upstairs practically skipping.

Dick chuckled at her enthusiasm then back to watching cartoons. When it slowly dawned on the brothers; they were pretty sure they both heard Y/n getting 'busy' with Tim in his room, they blanched as Dick was the first to speak "w-wait if Y/n just got here...." Jason whipped his head towards the stairs. "The who the hell is up there with Tim?!" Dick dropped his bowl while Jason bolted over couch and they ran upstairs to catch up with Y/n.

only hear a horrified "WHAT THE FUCK!" the two almost trip when they stopped in front of Tim's room to see a shocked and crying Y/n who was staring at Steph and Tim who were both naked and staring at the three stunned. no one moved nor said anything when a hollow bitter laugh came from the h/c a few seconds of her laughter she spoke up.

 "Jaime was fucking right..." she snorted as tears blurred her vision. "You fucking bastard! You knew I was cheated on in my last relationship! How could you!?"she demanded as taking a step towards them Dick held her back as the 'couple' flinched, the h/c was hands were shaking she so fucking distraught she "He and Bart told me you had a thing for Steph...Did I fucking listen--"

Y/n shook her head "No, Y'know what?...Fuck this! Fuck you both! you deserve each other!" She then turned to Tim took out the cellphone he had gotten her and threw it at him, the phone hit the raven haired boy in the head causing it to turn on and a picture of himself and Y/n came up on the lock-screen he looked down at it dazed.

"Never come near me again...I hate you Timothy Drake." she spat venom dripping off of every word Tim look sick as he watched her shove passed Dick and Jason who were still staring stunned that Tim would betray Y/n like this.

 "I'm gonna go make sure Y/n's alright, help her get home..." Jason muttered and followed after the heartbroken girl, While Dick just shook his head in disbelief at his younger brother disappointment and shame clear in his eyes "Way go Tim, you got the girl you always wanted..." said boy had yet to move from his spot eyes still glued to the phone screen.

Y/n... the way she looked at him with devastation and malice, her words kept echoing in his head "...I hate you Timothy Drake"  Every word felt like a dagger was twisting into his heart...Why? He wasn't in love with Y/n...he just using her,right? that was the plan...act as a rebound. Make Steph jealous then break-up with Y/n before it got too serious (he skipped that step.) and start dating Steph...after all that, He couldn't have fallen for Y/n, right?

The answer was pretty clear as his blue eyes stayed on the screen, focus on Y/n's happy face, it was mocking him. Tim felt dirty as every memory and moments they had shared together started replaying in his head. Tim hadn't realized he was crying until a few tears landed on the cellphone. He hadn't even noticed Steph curse him out and leave. 

Needless to say, the last couple weeks wasn't much of a shock to anyone. Steph wanted nothing to do with Tim, she punched him in the face when he tried talking to her, "You two timing sleaze! I had to find out from Barb, you and Y/n were dating for almost a year and six months! You lying son of a bitch!" she hit him again then called him every name in the book; 

Tim just stood there and took it knowing he deserved every bit of it "Well I hope it was fucking worth it, because we're through!" She yelled before storming off. And as for Y/n nobody seen or heard from her since the incident, and no one would tell him where she was, He asked Jason who was the last person to see her and he told Tim to shove it.

He ended up going to Y/n's apartment and a shady looking guy answer the door. Tim's jaw clenched he was pissed thinking Y/n had gotten together with this guy! he pushed himself passed the guy and looked around the apartment. His anger soon turned to fear and confusion to see all her stuff was gone and unpacked boxes littered the living room. 

"Hey, you can't ju-" The guy reached for Tim's shoulder only for the teen to grab his hand and bend it behind the man's back."Who the hell are you, what are you doing here?" the teen hissed the man winced feeling Tim's hold tighten he stuttered out his name and how he just bought the place from some depressed chick who's boyfriend cheated on her.

"How..do you know about that?"

 "S'what the neighbors told me, I take it the boyfriend is you?"

"Where's the girl now?"

"I don't know! some animation company hired her out of state...She's gone."

Tim's eyes widened he dropped the guy and just stared at his feet, the teen was silent for a few seconds then apologized walked out of the apartment and just as he was about leave he heard the guy speak up. 

"Y'know love is pretty confusing kid, Some are together for life... others aren't so great at it...But that doesn't stop them from trying, I hope it works out for the both of ya's..." Tim frowned taking what the guy said to heart and walked down the stairs and out into the street he stared blankly at the sky for a minute.

 Figures it would be a beautiful sunny day while he's miserable, he then locked on to to some trash cans that were left out, a sudden rush of anger overcame the teen his foot came up kicking one of them sending it crashing into a wall denting it. 

Tim let out a shaky breath then continued back to his car, thinking about how he had picture perfect life and a girl who loved him. and not for money, fame or any other form of greed. But loved him for being his own horrid self...And he threw that all away, because he couldn't let go of a stupid crush! 

Tim looked at Y/n's phone which��was resting on his dash, He stared at it forlornly she must've known he put a tracker in it...Clever girl, Too bad he was to hung up on getting Steph to like him to notice at the time... It was a long drive back to the manor, Tim stayed hulled up in his room burying himself in work only coming out for patrol or if Alfred forced him out to eat, he made the wrong call and he's paying for it.  

2 years later...

"Tim my boy, someone your age should have a nice girl by his side..." And old man boasted to the young CEO, Tim mentally rolled his eyes annoyed and exhausted, listening to Mr. Georgeman boast about his grand-niece, every fricken time he went to gala, there was always some old money or debutante type who would try to set him up with their pretty young niece,cousin,daughter or granddaughter...

And every time he'd turn them down...he learned a long time ago saying that he'd "think about it." gave the parents and the girl false hope and the wrong impression; dates would be set up without his knowing, or he'd show up to a "lunch meeting" and see a living barbie doll dressed to the nines waiting for him.

 which would end in tears and embarrassment for them both when he turned them down, or the girls would show up at his job or apartment whining and wondering why he stood them up.

Now whenever ever a meeting was set up he'd double check to see who set it up and message them to cancel, it saves him the embarrassment and spares the girls their feelings. Tim was pulled out of his reverie by the old man patting his shoulder. 

"Well Mr.Drake would you be interested in my Luba?" the raven haired boy's eye twitched just a bit..."Erm... I'm sorry sir, I'm not looking for a relationship at the moment." Mr. Georgeman bristled at Tim's rejection and stomp away into the crowed which Tim surveyed he sighed checking his watch wondering if he's at that point where he's stayed long enough? and it was nearly quarter-past nine...

Tim hummed and slipped away from the ball room and out into the hotel lobby, when he saw a group of girls gasp when they saw him, They advanced towards him, Till one of them noticed something over his shoulder and shrieked excitedly, Tim sighed annoyed waited for the person to rush up to him and ask for a selfie or whatever only for the person to yell.

"Oh my god it's Y/n L/n!" Tim blinked Y/n...his Y/n? he whirled around as the girls forgot about him, and made a beeline for the h/c who wasn't alone he saw Jaime and Bart with her, but that's not what he was focus on...

His eyes instead were focused on the little raven haired girl who was freaking out and crying at all camera flashes going off. Causing Jaime to step in front of Y/n and the kid protectively, Bart took the baby from the h/c and got into the elevator while Jaime tried to get everyone to back up. "ey,ey everybody just needs ti calm down here" the Latino urged waving his hands. 

"Y/n!? was that Erin, she's gotten so big!"

"Whens your next album coming out?"

"Are you dating Bart or Jaime?"

"Did Erin get the dragon hoodie I sent?" 

"Will you marry me?"

Y/n was overwhelmed by the sudden ambush she barely had any breathing room to think! then she saw him... Tim standing a few feet from her. the h/c felt goosebumps form on her arms, as she watched his eyes narrow and he advanced towards her, she tugged on Jaime's shirt. 

"I see him too.." he said eyes glancing over his shoulder. Y/n took a deep breath and faced the crowed. "To answer your questions, Yes, June, neither, yes, NO!...anymore questons will be answered at the convention, goodnight!" Y/n and Jamie got into an elevator before Tim could reach them or anyone could stop them.

"That was too close!" Y/n sighed sliding down the wall Jaime sat down next to her. "You can't keep avoiding him, hermana." he said causing the girl to snort. "Yes I can! I've been doing it for two years." she huffed crossing her arms, the Latino frowned damn this girl is stubborn!

 "And what about Erin? what are you gonna do when she starts asking about her dad?" The h/c frowned she hadn't thought that far ahead, according to Bart; Her and Tim were apparently still together in the future, she scoffed when she heard that! As if she would take that cheater back! maybe in upside-down world! But in real life that bridge wasn't just burned, it was nuked beyond repair!

"Well what are you going to tell her?" Jaime asked again Y/n hummed "I don't know..." she mumbled Jamie patted her knee and they got up when the elevator pinged telling them they were at their floor, when they got to their room they found Bart waiting sitting on a chair watching TV while bouncing Erin on his knee, He looked nervous as he saw them come in "Tim called...He wants to meet with you." Y/n took Erin from him and balanced the toddler on her hip.

"Well, that's too bad c'os I don't want to meet him." Bart winced as she said this "it's kind of important that you meet him Y/n..." Speedster urged but, h/c wasn't having it, every time he even mentioned Tim she would stare or shoot him down, eventually the brown haired man begrudgingly dropped it. Both he and Jaime knew that Tim wasn't going let it go...he will find a way to get Y/n alone, especially since now Tim saw Erin...he was going want answers.

[ethanswhxre]

Perfect Mistake

A/n: I WROTE THIS WHEN I WAS 15 YEARS OLD AND NEVER PUT IT ANYWHERE so you all get this great gem. Pls do not judge too harshly. Also 1D is still together because I do not care enough to change the plot that much 

Word Count: 3k (I have another 3k I can post if literally anybody wants it)

Summary (this is from 1dff days so its a whole bit w an excerpt and everything): “I just don't know what to do Harry." 

"Well I know what I wanna do," he said, pressing against me. 

"Harry, we're drunk. We're not thinking straight." My voice was shaky as I took a step a backwards, shivering when my back hit the wall. 

"I can think just fine," he purred, leaning in. And then his lips were crashing against mine, hard and demanding. His hands landed on my hips, one running up the length of my body and tangling in my hair. His tongue ran along the seam of my lips and I gave him what he wanted. Because I wanted it too.

He pulled away and looked at me funny. "Marry me." 

It wasn't even a question the way he said it. It was a demand. 

And I didn't even think twice about it. "Okay." 

Harry smiled and picked me up, my legs wrapping around his waist. "Alright then, let's go find a priest." 

And I don't know if it was the alcohol or Harry, but Devon never even crossed my mind. 

Chapter One

It was raining. Again. It had rained everyday for the past week and I was getting really tired of riding my bike around in it. Not to mention, I was supposed to meet Mac at La Val’s Pizza 5 minutes ago. She knew I was prone to lateness though, so she usually told me to be somewhere 15 minutes before she actually wanted me there. Which is why she was my best friend.

My bike screeched up to the front of La Val’s just as Mac rounded the corner.

“Hey Kitty Cat!” She said, sticking her tongue out as she came towards me. Her ratty blonde hair was up in a bun and her small frame was huddled under her bright yellow rain jacket. I had to look just as good in my old black leather jacket and sweatpants.

Mac walked to the door, holding it open for me as I locked up my bike. “Hurry up before I melt!”

“Oh yeah, I forgot that you’re a witch,” I said, snorting.

“No.” She elongated the “O”, rounding her lips exaggeratedly. “It’s because I’m made of sugar!” she said, shivering in her rain boots. “Now hurry!”

My bike lock clicked closed and I ran to the door and inside the warm dry restaurant, Mac following close behind.

I grabbed a table while she went up to order our usual: a large beef, onion, and green pepper pizza. Mac found me a couple of minutes later, Lori Jones in tow.

“Look who I found!” She sat down across from me, pulling Lori in next to her. Lori was a freshman who had a single dorm just down the hall from us. She was pretty enough, with her short brown hair and large green eyes, and nice enough definitely. The thing about Lori though, was that she was overly obsessive. I mean yeah, sure I have my leather jackets and Mac had Spongebob but Lori got obsessive about everything. For example, as soon as her butt hit the seat, she wouldn’t shut up about One Direction.

“They’re playing The Greek Theatre tonight y’know. That’s literally 5 minutes away from my dorm. Aren’t you excited? I’m soooo excited. I mean so what I’ve seen them live 7 times already. I could always go for an 8th! Or even a 9th! Or a billionth really. I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of them. They’re debuting a song tonight y’know. My ovaries are going to explode, I’m sure of it!”

Mac put a hand over Lori’s, quieting her. “Yeah it sounds great and all but Cat and I aren’t even going tonight.”

“What! That’s crazy! Why not! I mean it’s a free One Direction concert! You guys are crazy!”

“Not crazy,” I put in. “Just not fans.”

“You guys don’t like their music!” She looked appalled and enraged at the same time. Like she couldn’t imagine a teenage girl who wasn’t a fan of boyband-pop.

“It’s not that we don’t like it,” Mac said, looking to me for help because she did, in fact, hate everything having to do with One Direction.

“It’s more that we just have a lot to do and aren’t big enough fans to go. I have all their stuff on my phone, I just don’t have a desire to hear it live.”

“Yeah. That’s exactly it,” Mac said, looking quite relieved.

Just then, the pizzas arrived. We were silent as we ate.

At 6, Lori practically ran out of the pizza shop so she’d have enough time to get ready.

Mac and I left a couple of minutes later, me on my bike and her on foot. I rode slowly, never getting more than a couple feet in front of her. It was only drizzling then, and we talked as we walked.

“Y’know,” she started. “I think I might have a crush on Lori. I mean, there’s the whole ‘I’m in love with One Direction, who are boys, therefore I’m straight’ thing, but that’s really just a small issue.” Mac was gay. Like, painfully so sometimes. We’d been friends since 8th grade and while she’d only come out of the closet after we graduated, I’d known since the beginning. People asked me if it was weird, sharing a dorm room with her, but she swore she hadn’t even entertained the possibility of us being together since 10th grade when she’d had a ‘Cat is my soulmate’ spell. I trusted her and she trusted me and she was my best friend whether she liked to have sexual relations with boys or not.

I laughed, “Yeah, that’s really a tiny problem, easy to work around.” She shoved me lightly, almost knocking me off my bike. “What was that for?!”

“You were patronizing me. You with your perfect boyfriend and great relationship. I can’t believe you and Devon have been together for almost 2 years.” She sighed, almost longingly.

“Yup, our anniversary is on Thursday.” I got smiley just thinking of Devon. He and his twin brother, and my longtime friend, Ryan, had spent the last week in L.A. because Ryan had a dancing gig there. Dev was supposed to be home tomorrow and I couldn’t wait to see him.

My train of thought was interrupted by Mac suddenly shouting.

“What the..? Mac are you alright?” She was looking down at her phone, her mouth wide open.

“Look at this picture Annie just sent me of Megan! Look at it!” She shoved her screen in my face. On it was a picture of Megan Fox in a bikini. Spongebob and Megan Fox were Mac’s 2 and only loves.

I just shook my head and pulled my bike up the steps to the front door of Stern Residential Hall. It was on the NE corner of Cal’s campus and only a couple minute walk to all of my classes. I adored it.

Mac caught up to me as I locked my bike up. Her phone was away now. “I’m so drained from work today but I have an essay due on Monday and I just want to watch Spongebob all day tomorrow.”

“Yeah I have loads of homework too,” I said, pulling the door open.

“Suprise!!”

“Ahhh!”

“Cat? What the? Ohhh. You idiot! You know she hates surprises!”

My eyes were squeezed shut and all I could hear was Mac’s loud yelling. Until: “Cat baby I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you or upset you. I just wanted to do something nice. I’m sorry baby. I’m sorry.” And lean arms wrapped themselves around my small frame and lifted me to my toes. My eyes fluttered open to see my boyfriend's extremely apologetic face.

“Devon! You weren't supposed to be home until tomorrow!” I cuddled my face into his chest, inhaling his scent of pine before looking up to take in the sight of him again. His brown hair laid flat on his head but his hazel eyes were alight. I sighed with happiness to just be near him again.

“You alright now?” He asked, putting me back down.

I nodded, snuggling into his side. He laughed and stepped away, making me look up at him. His usually confident air was suddenly shaky, like he was nervous. “Hey, babe?”

“Yeah?” I cocked my head to the side, waiting.

“I have something very important to ask you,” he said, before dropping down to one knee. I could feel my mouth drop open, dread running through my body. 

He could not be doing this. Not now. 

“Catherine Lauren Herrara, will you marry me?” His hopeful hazel eyes shown up at me as time slowed down. I couldn’t say yes. I wasn’t ready to get married. I mean, I loved Devon and I planned to marry him someday, just not any day soon. I loved my life the way it was. No, no he couldn’t do this to me. I didn’t want to hurt him by saying no, but I wasn’t ready to say yes. I could feel tears slipping from my eyes and my fight or flight reaction kicked in.

I fled.

Up 3 flights of stairs and down the hall to dorm number 308. I was shaking and couldn’t my key in the door. I could hear Devon, Ryan, and Mac running towards me, making me panicky. I finally got the key in, unlocked the door, and ran inside, slamming it closed behind me. I heard Mac sliding in her key, and I curled up into a ball on my bed, waiting for them to all come pouring in. But Mac shut the door before either of the twins could make it through.

“I love you, babe. No matter what. Please, talk to me,” Devon said from outside.

“Go away, Dev. Give her a bit. We’ll talk later okay?” Mac said back.

“Yeah, alright. Love you, Cat.”

Mac came and sat on the edge of my twin bed, stroking my hair. “What’s wrong babe? I thought you loved him?”

I sat up and sighed, wiping the tears from my face. “I do, Mac, I do. I really really do. I’m just not ready to marry him. I just… I like the way things are and I’m not ready for them to change.”

“Why couldn’t you just tell him that? He’d understand. Or at least try, for you. He loves you.”

“I know, it’s just that he looked so hopeful, I just couldn’t say no and crush him. I love him too much.” Mac nods, getting up. Well, how about we blast some music and get some schoolwork done? Nothing numbs your brain like good ol’ homework.”

After struggling through my schoolwork for a solid 4 hours, I was exhausted and my stomach was screaming for food. I was a person who had to eat at least 2 hours before I could fall asleep so I couldn't eat much. My stomach growled again and Mac, who'd gone to sleep hours ago, rolled over in her bed. I internally groaned, mind made up. I grabbed my computer and quietly snuck out of the room, tiptoed down the hall, and jumped in the elevator. When I made my way downstairs, I noticed a sleeping form on the couch in the lobby. Tiptoeing closer, I about gasped when I realized it was Devon. He slept here?! Did he think I'd eventually come down and talk to him? Was he planning on ambushing me when I came down in the morning?

I watched him sleep for a moment. He was agitated, tossing and turning. Without thinking I laid a hand on his shoulder. He calmed. I quickly pulled my hand back and walked to the door, looking over my shoulder as I pulled it open.

I left my bike locked up and quickly hopped down the stairs to the street. It was a 5-minute walk to my favorite coffee shop, Brewed Awakening, which was open till 2am. I walked along, lost in my thoughts.

I loved Devon, I did, but I couldn't get married, not with both my parents and my brother in the middle of a divorce. Devon knew my views on marriage. I had to be able to support myself before I got married. I needed a degree and a good job. I needed things to fall back on for when the inevitable happened.

I reached the coffee shop then and pulled the door open. Cathy was behind the counter. She was a senior majoring in news writing and I knew her from my creative writing class. She had talent. "Hey, Cat. Coming from the concert?" She must not have seen my laptop.

I chuckled a little. "Nah, not me," I said, holding my computer up. "Sucks you had to work tonight though if you wanted to go."

She shook her head. "No, I'm not a fan. Greg's paying me double for this shift actually because I'm the only one willing to work tonight."

"Ooh nice," I said, giving her a thumbs up. "Anyway, can I just get a hot chocolate please?"

"Of course!" I handed her a five dollar bill and she handed me the change back. "You alright hon?"

I shook my head. "It's nothing, I'm just arguing with Devon right now. He assured me he understood something and then turned around and proved he actually had no fucking clue." I shrugged, frowning.

Cathy nodded, humming in understanding before turning to make my chocolate milk. "I'm sure he'll come around. But honestly, as perfect for each other as you two are, I'm surprised you've lasted this long. You're both so young, barely 20. You don't know if there's anyone else, any other type of person you fit with. I've been with Tyler for three years but I had a whole year of crazy partying and one night stands. All the experimentation out of my system. Neither of you had that. And I guess some people don't need it and I don't want to say that your happiness isn't valid, it just surprises me."

She works as she talks, finishing just as she ends her last sentence. "Just think about it," she says, handing me the hot cup.

I nod, processing her words. She's right. I'd never been with anyone else. I hadn't had a serious boyfriend in high school and I'd been with Devon for both my years of college. I'd never gone out and danced with strangers or gotten blackout drunk and woken up in bed with someone whose name I didn't know. And these were experiences I wanted before I got married; before I even considered diving into that pool.

I sighed, sliding into a booth in the corner and opening my computer. My blog, Poetry Flowers, had hit 1 million visitors sometime that day and I decided a new poem and a thank you post was in order. All my attention went to that and I didn't notice when the doorbell dinged, or when the two other customers practically shrieked, and I certainly didn't notice when someone slid into the seat across from mine.

Which is why I jumped when he said hello.

My head shot up and I locked eyes with a pair of bright green irises. I raked my eyes up to his dark brown hair and then down to his thin lips. Harry Styles sat in front of me.

"Urm. Can I help you?" I asked, in slight shock.

"No." He slid his hands behind his head and leaned back, looking very at ease.

"Oh. So why are you sitting in my booth?"

"Is this your booth? I'm sorry. I didn't realize you owned it." He smirked.

"I don't own it, but I'm sitting here right now."

"On that side, yeah. So you can have that side, and I'll take this one."

I furrowed my eyebrows. “That’s really not how it works.”

He leaned in. “Look, this is the only place where no one can see me walking by. Please just let me sit here for a bit. I’m exhausted and I don’t think I can handle any more autographs.” His eyes are pleading, his face sad.

I leaned back in my seat, nodding my head a bit before going back to my blog. I’d written a poem already for the 1 million view occasion but I couldn’t bring myself to post it. I put up one I'd written during one of my homework breaks earlier, about Devon.

“So, um, what are you typing so intensely?” Harry asked.

“None of your business,” was my only reply. Suddenly, he shot up from his seat and slid in right next to me, his side pressing against mine.

“I was just 18 when we met

On the train to nowhere

But now we’re somewhere

I never meant to be

And I loved you for miles

Your smile was my heartbeat

And that was quite a feat

For someone without one

You know everything there is to know

But I don’t think you understand

I left my heart unmanned

And you tore it apart

Now I’m running in circles

Scared out of my mind

You say the stars aligned

For us that day

But I can’t bring myself to believe a single word you say”

“Wow. That’s pretty good. Did you write that?” He turns his face toward mine, leaving us just inches apart. My eyes fall to his lips, causing me to bite my own. I notice his eyes drop to where my teeth are dragging over my bottom lip. I want to lean in and kiss him, and I almost do when my head snaps back in place. What am I doing?! I have a boyfriend.

I swing my head around to face my laptop, breaking eye contact with Harry. I shake my head before answering. “Yeah, I wrote it. And you read it. Even though I really didn’t want you to.” I add a “Sorry it’s so sad but thank you guys so much for over a million visits!!” to the bottom and hit post, all while Harry is still breathing down my neck.

“So who’s it about?”

“No one.”

“It has to be about someone.”

“Well, it’s not.”

Suddenly, Cathy appears. “Here’s your coffee, Mr. Styles. I hope you like it. Hey, Cat.” She waves and walks away whistling, not realizing what she’s done.

“Cat, huh? Like a kitty cat? I like it. What’s it short for?” He takes a sip of his coffee. As if he needs more energy.

I don’t reply. “Okay fine. Whatever, Kitty Cat, don’t tell me.”

I close my eyes and take in a deep breath. Harry Styles is much more annoying than I thought he’d be.

“Well, I’m out now. Thank you for letting me sit in not-your-booth.” He shoots me a wink. “Hope I see you around.”

He gets up and walks out, looking back as he opens the door. I sigh deeply, letting my head drop to my keyboard. 

I’m exhausted. 

I drain the rest of my hot chocolate and shut down my computer before waving goodbye to Cathy and leaving the coffee shop. A pool of girls stands on the sidewalk, surrounding Harry. He fakes smiles and laughs and signs a dozen things and I watch him for a moment, amazed at how well he handles the attention. He looks up just as I think that I should look away. Our eyes meet. He smiles, a real one, before going back to his audience.

I walk back home and climb in bed, my mind louder than ever. 

[5hfanfiction]

Come Back, Be Here- Chapter 52

“So you just left. Just like that?” Keana asks as she cooks her best friend some breakfast.

“It was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do, Ke, but we need a break. She needs a chance to get her life together and find who she used to be. If I stayed in that apartment with Camila, well with the person she’s become, I’m worried it would have only led to a divorce.”

“I understand.” Keana nods her head as she transfers the scrambled eggs from the pan to a plate and then sets the plate in front of Lauren. “So when are you going back to Miami?”

“I’m not.” Lauren answers immediately. “I would never dream of leaving her in this city alone. I want to be here in case-“

“Something happens to her.” Keana finishes her sentence.

“Yeah. I have to be here in case she needs me.” Just as those words leave the brunette’s mouth, her phone rings and she looks down to see Camila’s picture on her screen. She sighs and sends the call to voicemail.

“That’s her needing you, Laur.” Keana nods her head in the direction of the phone.

“No, it’s her wanting to beg for my forgiveness and apologize for things she’s not willing to change about herself. If she really needed me, like emergency wise, I know she’d try to get in contact with you or Dinah, and then one of you would get in contact with me.” Lauren says as she picks up her fork and transfers some eggs from the plate in front of her to her mouth.

“In that case, you know you are welcome to stay here as long as you want and I won’t tell her you are here.” Keana says and Lauren nods as she swallows the mouthful of eggs.

“Thanks, Ke. I’ll pay rent I swear.” Lauren picks up her orange juice and takes a sip of it.

“Don’t bother” Keana waves her hand dismissively. “My roommate is studying abroad and she is paying half the rent. I just won’t tell her you are living here.”

The mention of studying abroad makes Lauren’s heart sink. That’s how she met Camila, the girl she thought she would never in a million years walk out on.

The girl she thought she would never in a million years catch doing drugs.

Lauren doesn’t notice that Keana had taken a seat beside her until she feels an arm wrap around her shoulders.

“It’s going to be okay, Lo. You two will get through this.” Keana promises as she guides Lauren’s head to her shoulder and places a quick kiss to the top of it.

“I hope so. I can’t live without her.” Lauren allows a sob to escape her lips and Keana just pulls her closer. She hates seeing her friend this broken.

Speaking of broken, Camila cannot seem to feel anything but complete and utter brokenness. When Lauren left, she laid on the floor of their apartment in a fetal position until the sun came up the next day. It was when the sunlight peaked through the blinds that she finally pulled herself up off the floor. However, she just moved to her bed and she didn’t leave it for a solid week. This past week has been the worst one of her life. She has not heard from Lauren and every single time she tries to call, she is sent straight to voicemail. She hasn’t eaten and she’s pretty sure her body is dehydrated from crying as much as she has.

Currently, it’s Friday, exactly a week since Lauren left her, and Camila is scouring through her purse in search of the drugs that caused Lauren to leave her in the first place. When her hands find the small vial of white powder, she immediately pulls it from her bag and empties all the contents into the toilet. Once the toilet is flushed, she keeps digging until her hands find the orange bottle containing a dozen or so blue Adderall pills. Deciding that she may need them in the future sometime to help her focus, she puts them up in her medicine cabinet instead of getting rid of them.

Once all the drugs are dealt with, she picks up her phone again and dials Lauren’s number. Three rings and then she hears Lauren’s voicemail. Truth be told, she keeps calling so she can listen to it. She remembers when she forced Lauren to make it. A small smile makes it’s way to her face when she hears it again.

Camila: You have reached Lauren’s phone, but she is busy right now.

Lauren: I’m actually not busy, I’m right here, wondering why on Earth I handed my phone to you in the first place.

Camila: You handed it to me because you love me and you trust me to give you a better voicemail than ‘please leave your name and number after the beep.’

Lauren: I do love you.

Camila: Anyways, there you have it people. Lauren can’t come to the phone because she’s too busy loving me. Not in the sexual type way of course. I mean loving me with her heart not her hands-

Lauren: Actually, we’re having sex so call back later!

Camila: LAUREN!

Beep.

When the brunette hears the beep, she ends the phone call and lets out a laugh that quickly turns into a sob. She cries until she physically cannot seem to produce anymore tears and then she drags herself from the bathroom to her bed. Camila has decided that she likes sleeping better than real life because for once in her life, her dreams are better than real life. When she had Lauren it was always the other way around, but now that the green-eyed girl has left her, the only time she gets to see her is in her dreams.

The only time she is happy now is in her dreams.

A couple of hours later she is awoken by the ringing of her phone. She blindly grabs it and answers it without looking at the caller ID.

“Lauren?” She rasps out, her voice laced with hope.

“Not Lauren, sweetie. It’s Eric.” Camila visibly deflates. “I know you are going through a rough time, but I just wanted to remind you that you have the concert tomorrow night. I expect you to be there and I expect you to be pulled together.”

“I’ll be there.” Camila informs him and then ends the phone call. His voice pisses her off more than anything. He is the reason she is even in this mess with Lauren.

She glances at the clock and realizes that it’s 9 pm so she decides to just go to sleep. Tomorrow is a new day and tomorrow she has to be Camila Cabello ,the pop-star who is in love with music and her career. She can’t be Camila Cabello-Jauregui, the girl who just lost the love of her life.

The next day is a whirlwind for Camila, she wakes up, gets dressed for the first time in a week, and heads to the Troubadour, the nightclub in LA, to rehearse for her gig tonight.

She sits down and makes out her setlist. She knows she wants to play her old songs that were on her first album, but she also talked Eric into letting her play her new ones too. When she’s finished typing the setlist, she prints it and tapes it on the stage for tonight.

1. Everything Has Changed

2. She Is Love

3. Love Incredible

4. How Would You Feel

5. Havana (New)

6. OMG (New)

7. Say You Won’t Let Go

8. Close To You (New)

Havana and OMG are two of Camila’s newest tracks. She recorded them a couple of weeks ago when she decided to start working on her second album. The last one, Close To You, is a song she wrote the day after Lauren left. She hasn’t played it for Eric or anyone else, but it’s her concert and she’s going to fucking sing it and they will get over it.

Meanwhile, Lauren and Keana are out having dinner at one of their favorite Chinese restaurants downtown.

“Are you going to go?” Keana finally speaks up, breaking the silence that has lingered between the two of them all night.

“Hmm?” Lauren finally looks up from the table and meets her friend’s worried gaze.

“I know you know what I’m talking about.” Keana presses.

Lauren lets out a heavy sigh. “If I see her the walls I’ve built up will crumble.”

“And that’s a bad thing why?” Keana leans her elbows on the table.

“Because we need time, Ke. She needs time to get better and find herself. If I just go running back into her arms like nothing happened, I’m worried nothing will be solved between us.” Lauren rubs her finger over the band on her left hand.

“But you’re miserable and you miss her.” Keana points out. “How about this, how about I go with you and we just stand in the very back, and I make sure you don’t do anything stupid like run on stage or try to go backstage to see her? She doesn’t have to know you were there, but I think it’ll make you feel better if you get to see that she alive and okay.”

Lauren checks her watch to see that it’s 6:00 pm and she knows the show starts at 7. Deciding that Keana is right, she quickly digs in her wallet and slaps a 20 dollar bill on the table.

“That’s my girl.” Keana beams as she slides out of the booth and follows Lauren out of the restaurant. They call an Uber and an hour later, they are standing in front of the concert venue.

“So you already had the tickets purchased?” Keana quirks an eyebrow when Lauren retrieves the two tickets from her jacket pocket.

“I bought them the minute they went onsale. I just didn’t know if I had the courage to actually come to the show.” The green-eyed girl confesses and Keana just nods. Once inside, they find a spot in the very back corner of the room close to the door. Since it’s general admission, they are able to stand wherever they want. When they get situated, the lights go off and the crowd goes crazy.

“Hello LA.“ Lauren hears her favorite husky voice echo through the room and her heart immediately starts hammering in her chest. "I must say, you are looking rather beautiful tonight.” Camila is wearing ripped skinny jeans and a yellow and purple Lakers jersey that is so big on her that it reaches to her knees. She’s also wearing some purple and yellow Nike High Top shoes to match her jersey and Lauren cannot take her eyes off her.

“Fuck your girl looks like a full course meal up there.” Keana whispers to Lauren. The green-eyed girl turns to her and raises an eyebrow at her friend. Keana just raises her hands in surrender. “What? It’s not like you weren’t thinking it.”

Before Lauren can reply, Camila’s voice fills her ears and she turns back toward the stage.

Her eyes do not leave Camila for one second. Lauren is absolutely mesmerized the entire concert. Camila is so good with the crowd and her voice sounds amazing. Before Lauren knows it, it’s the end of the concert and Camila is thanking the crowd for coming.

“LA, thank you so much for hanging with me tonight.” Camila’s voice breaks Lauren from her thoughts and the older brunette frowns when she realizes the concert is about to come to a close. “I have just one more song for you before I leave. I wrote it a couple of days ago and no one has heard it. Not even my manager.” She chuckles as she pulls up a stool and grabs her acoustic guitar. “It’s a song that means a whole lot to me. I hope that it’ll mean a whole lot to you too. It’s called Close To You.”

Nothing but a tear, that’s all for breakfast Watching you pretend you’re unaffected You’re pulling our connections, expecting me to let you go But I won’t

No you don’t need my protection But I’m in love, can’t blame me for checking I love in your direction, hoping that the message goes

Somewhere close to you Close to you Like so close if they heard you, you wouldn’t find out Just say now, I’m coming right now, to be close to you

Said you let it go, you kept it Working hard to perfect it Now your fear is reckless, and it’s out of your control Would you let it go?

No you don’t need my protection But I’m in love, can’t blame me for checking I love in your direction, hoping that the message goes

Somewhere close to you Close to you Like so close if they heard you, you wouldn’t find out If you let me, I’d be there by now Close to you

Camila strums the last chord on her guitar and looks out into the audience. As soon as she does, everyone claps loudly and cheers. She just smiles and blows them kiss after kiss before setting her guitar down by her stool. As her eyes are scanning the audience, she sees a brunette leaving the building, a brunette that looks almost identical to Lauren from behind. However, once the door to the club shuts, she just shrugs and blows one last kiss to the audience before exiting the stage.

It couldn’t have been her. She wouldn’t of come to my concert. Camila thinks as she high fives everyone backstage. It wasn’t Lauren. There’s no way it was Lauren. Right?

Camila spends the rest of the night trying to convince herself it was not her wife in the back of the audience at her show tonight.

Lauren, however, spends the rest of the night trying to convince herself that she did the right thing by letting Keana drag her out of the concert venue tonight before she could say anything to Camila after her set.

But they both spend all night, wide awake in their beds, thinking of the other.

[sweetheart-minnie]

Down to the Prison Hell || Dog Mouse

Summary: Minnie makes it to the Prison Hell and finds Dodger

Trigger Warning: Noneee :DDD 

Additional Information: This took a bit bc of course it became work weekend for me -_____- but it’s done now :DD

MINNIE:

If Minnie had to be particularly honest with herself…. She didn’t have much of a plan as to what she was going to do when she actually got to the prison itself. This has been part of the journey where she was to go alone. Raksha had stood in the Asphodel fields and both Sally and Violet had stood somewhere Minnie was left unaware of. They had split once they reached the city, Minnie following a grungy seward path Sally had told her would lead her to the prison.

It felt awful having to do the ending alone.

Luckily, her father had appeared for this part of the journey and through some minor bumps Minnie had made it to her destination.

The only problem was that upon reaching close to the prison she had gotten caught and ended up a prisoner herself. Funny as this may sound… while speaking to her father she came to the conclusion that her grand master plan was to simply get caught.

Look she was exhausted!

At the same time, Sally had suggested such an idea. She promised Minnie that all of this will soon be over and so all the brunette wanted to do was stay in the prison and rest in Dodger’s arms. So, she had done her fist part of the plan: became a prisoner. Her eyes scoured around the small area. The heat was unbearable clinging on to her skin making it itchy from the mud that had dried out. She saw a couple of people, others hidden in the shadows, and was there… a naked pair there?  

It didn’t matter… her eyes were growing heavy and all they were looking for was Dodger. She stepped a little further into the prison managing to bump herself into someone. “Oh... I-I’m so—” Minnie had turned around to see who she bumped into and long and behold it had been Dodger himself!

All Minnie did at that point was simply throw herself on him wrapping her arms tightly around him as she cried.

DODGER:

Prison sucked. That was it really.

It fucking sucked. Of course, Dodger expected the whole prison thing to not be fun in the slightest, but come on, it was Dodger. He never really thought that he was going to get caught, or even that he’d be able to sneak his way out of jail if he did get caught.

That was not on the agenda in hell prison.

He tried, boy did Dodger try hard trying to get out of that goddamn cell. Not to mention the fact that he wanted to get as far away as possible from the assholes that managed to get stuck in prison with him. (They didn’t fucking shut up). It left Dodger bruised and battered and burnt, the bars of the jail cell not budging even an inch, scorching hot to the touch.

Dodger needed to get out. He needed to make sure that everyone up on the surface was okay. God fuck, Minnie. Hadn’t he literally just gotten done promising Minnie that he wasn’t going to get caught? And the second he walked away and to the temple, what happened? He fucking got dragged into the ground. He had to apologize for going back on his word, tell her that it wasn’t going to happen and prove that he could get out of this for her.

He moved towards one of the other ends of the cell, one of the ones that was less crowded to see if he could maybe find a secret passageway or maybe even a small area he could start digging into to make a little tunnel when he bumped straight into someone. Dodger was frustrated at this point though and it began to show in his voice when he spoke out, “AYE! WATCH WHERE YOUS GO-” but then it hit him.

Quite literally.

Because the person he had run into was none other than Minnie herself. Dodger was completely and totally shocked, but he didn’t even have a second to think about how the hell Minnie got down here or what happened that got her sent down here, she had thrown herself into his arms, balling. His arms went around hers in an instant, keeping her close half because she was crying and he wanted to be there for her, but half because he still couldn’t believe that she was standing right in front of him.

“What the hell is goin’ on Mins? What are you doin’ down heres?” He spoke out, still holding her close as his hands trailed against her back to try and calm her down somehow.

MINNIE

Minnie only continued to cry. She knew that she should probably say something, but all she could do was allow tears to fall from her eyes. A huge portion of it all stemmed from how exhausted she felt.

She could truly fall to the ground right now and stay there passed out to the world.

She was dirty from the mud that coated her skin and her eyes were heavy and puffy from the crying that had happened in the Doors of Judgement. Her legs, muscles and arms were so sore and as Dodger held her in his arms softly rubbing her back Minnie just wanted to close her eyes right in his embrace.

And she had for a small moment, closed those eyes and continued crying burying her face into the crook of his shoulders. She felt the sobs beginning to settle in her chest threatening to break through her lips.

Minnie looked up then through the thick veil of blurriness in her eyes.

“I-I came down…. I found out you were here and I… I came down.”

Her head fell back on the crook of his neck. Minnie hardly realized when she started hiccuping the sharp forced grasp of air feeling like blades in her chest. She knew that in hindsight this all had to appear embarrassing. She was filthy from head to toe, sobbing, felt exhausted and now she was hiccuping. Yes, very embarrassing but the tiredness felt so heavy over her bones that none of that mattered as much as being inside of Dodger’s arms.

DODGER:

As Dodger held her, all he could feel was the utter exhaustion that she had to be feeling. The cries, the way that her body felt almost heavy in his arms, the mud that was caked to her arms, and even the look on her face when she pulled her head away from his shoulder to look up at him. It absolutely ate at him knowing that she felt like this, and all he wanted to do was make sure that she felt better. To make this better because he didn’t know what the fuck had happened to get her to this point.

But then she spoke, and Dodger was at a loss for words for the second time in a matter of a minutes.

She found out he was in prison and she came down.

He couldn’t have heard her right. There was no way that Minnie traveled through hell just because he was in prison. No, there was no possible way. He...he wasn’t worth that. Why the hell would she do that?

Because if she had come all the way down here just for him…

Well, even thinking about that made something in Dodger’s chest tighten, and he couldn’t put a finger on what it was, but it was something and he wanted to get to the bottom of it. But that wasn’t important right now. What was important was making sure that Minnie was alright.

When she looked up to him, Dodger removed one of his hands from her back, making sure the one that remained was firmly around her so that she wouldn’t fall, before reaching up to try and wipe a couple of her tears off of her cheek. Though when she finished speaking, her face was buried right back into his shoulder, and Dodger wrapped that arm right back around her. Whatever had happened to her must have been serious, he had never seen Minnie like this before and it was breaking his heart. She needed to rest, or sit or something just to at least get her off of her feet. Dodger gently kissed the top of her head, giving her back a few more rubs before scooping Minnie into his arms, much like how he did the night she showed up at one of his gigs. He leaned against the wall for support before slowly lowering himself onto the ground, keeping Minnie on his lap as her back pressed against his chest.

“Aye, you’re okay now, alright? I’m here, I got yous. I ain’t gonna let anythin’ happen to yous down here.”

MINNIE:

Minnie hardly realized when Dodger had picked her up, but she really hadn’t minded. She had curled up in his arms and when he sat down she only curled even closer to his body. The journey down to the prison had been unlike something Minnie had ever done in her life and it had come with some hardships that had literally broken her apart.

But it had all been worth it.

Dodger was safe, healthy and she was curled in his arms. She would re-do her whole trip in the underworld all so that she could be right where she was: inside of Dodger’s arms. She didn’t know what that meant, how deep everything ran now that she had internally come to that conclusion.

Maybe if she didn’t feel as exhausted as she was she’d be able to analyze everything and put a word to all that she had done simply to make sure that Dodger was alive. In all honesty though, all Minnie could think about was the softness in his voice, and being so glad that she could hear it in the first place. She had been so worried when she first found out that he had been sent to the prison.

Worried enough that she came down.

Now that she knew he was okay, could hear him speaking, hear the strong beating of his heart so very close to her owns…. everything felt right, even if they both were within a hell prison.

“I’m sorry… I-I don’t even know w-why I’m crying.” She was still hiccuping and her words sounded so slurred and worn out that Minnie hardly knew what she was actually saying. She was speaking without a thought to anything that left her mouth.

“A-and I’m okay…. I-I’m just so, so tired…. But I’m g-glad you’re okay… I w-was worried that you w-wouldn’t be… you are though, okay… right?”

DODGER:

As Minnie curled into him, Dodger wrapped his arm around her even tighter than it had been before. There was absolutely zero way that he was going to let anything happen to her while she was down here. Nor was he going to fucking leave her while she was like this. It just...Dodger wanted to help. He didn’t want to ever see Minnie like this again, and he hated to think about something that could happen to her again to cause this.

But he couldn’t just shake what Minnie had said. That she had heard that he was in prison and came down because of that. To make sure that he was okay. No one...well, no one had ever really done something like that for him outside of his little crew. Maybe not even them. Yeah, they always had one another’s back, but coming to the Underworld just to make sure he was okay?

That was on another level.

“Shh, you don’t have to apologize,” Dodger spoke out, keeping his voice low as he smiled own towards her. “Yous just need to rest, that’s all.” God she had to have had a long journey here in the first place. He wanted to know about it. About what exactly Minnie had gone through to get to Dodger, but at the same time, it only made him angry. Because he wasn’t there to make sure she was okay.

It only proved how strong she was though. Dodger had heard some other stories from some of the people in the prison of what they had to go through to get there, and if Minnie went through the same shit? God, she’d have to be one of the strongest people that he knew.

He nodded at her question though. “Yeahs, I’m okay. Betta now that yous here.” He lightly teased, though he would have rather her stay safe up on the surface than go through hell to find him. Speaking of, he had to know for sure. “You really came down all this way just because I got sent down heres?”

MINNIE:

Minnie smiled a small little thing of a smile hearing Dodger tease even when the both of them were in the Underworld. She had been scared that she would never get to hear him tease at her, see his smiles, hear him laugh or even get to look into those dark brown eyes that she loved so much.

She had turned her head to look at them now, remembering how Raksha’s son’s eyes had reminded her of his and the ache of not knowing how he was.

That ache was gone now, replaced by a general warmth that didn’t make the stuffy heat worse. She laughed a little although it almost came out in a raspy whisper. Her throat felt dry and her head was slightly pounding from all of the sheer exhaustion that befell her, but she was happy enough to laugh.

Happy that Dodger was holding her and was so glad to have her in his arms. She couldn’t ask for anything else in this moment, nothing else would compare.

“Good…. it’s the same for me…. that I’m here….” She hoped that made sense she wasn’t so sure…. but it was fine surely Dodger would understand her.

At his question, Minnie just blinked. Did… did it look like there was disbelief behind his eyes? Did… did he not think that she wouldn’t come down here for him? “Yes…”

She answered quietly more so because she was far too tired to speak any louder. “I-I couldn’t stay up there… not-not knowing if you weren’t okay…. it was eating at me… I-I needed to know if you were okay… I-I had to make sure you were….” She paused then for a moment.

“I saw my mom…. she likes you.”

DODGER:

At the confirmation that, yes, Minnie did fact come to the Underworld just to make sure he was okay, he was hit with that feeling once more. It was strong in his chest, felt like it was clutching at his heart, ripping it down to his gut. He hadn’t know what it was before, but now he did.

It was love.

Minnie had come all the way to the Underworld, probably battled off monsters and demons and ghosts all just to make sure that he was okay. She showed so much strength and so much courage that Dodger couldn’t even bare to understand it all. All he knew though was that he wasn’t going to say shit. He couldn’t. Who was he to spring that sort of shit on her after all she had just gone through. Especially when he wasn’t even completely sure what the hell was happening in his life anymore. It was...it was so soon. They hadn’t even defined what they were yet and now Dodger was fucking realizing just how much she meant to him.

That he loved her.

Then she spoke again though. Talking about how her mother liked him, and Dodger knew exactly what that meant. Her mother had visited Minnie on her journey here. A while ago, Minnie had shared with Dodger the story of her parents’ accident. He knew that they had died, and that she had been without parents for over half of her life. Her words now only meant that her mother had managed to come in contact with her though, and that maybe just maybe, she had been keeping an eye on Minnie in the afterlife. How else would she know about Dodger.

It made his gut sink once more though, having the knowledge that his mother liked him. It made him feel like maybe he wasn’t as big of a piece of shit as he thought. Though it also worried him that maybe he was just fooling everyone. But no, what he felt for Minnie was real. He realized that now. He’d do anything for her.

The words had threatened to escape his lips as well, but Dodger held back. He couldn’t say that to her now. Instead he smiled, tucking a strand of hair that had fallen in front of Minnie’s face behind her ear, “I don’t know why the hells you would do somethin’ like that, but thank you.” He spoke softly, leaning down and kissing her forehead gently. He wanted to ask her to tell him about her mother, but she already sounded so tired and Dodger didn’t want to emotionally drain her anymore than she already was. So instead he settled with a short, “Does she now?” Leaving it more open to her as to what she felt comfortable saying.

MINNIE:

It was funny that even though Minnie was extremely fatigued and all worn out, she could tell that Dodger had been thinking about something in the back of his mind. Normally, she would have been worried that she might have spoken something wrong, but as it was, she hardly remembered what she said.

Her eyes were still looking at Dodger when he spoke. She knew that he didn’t believe he was worth the trip she had taken, but Minnie disagreed. He had been worth every bit of it. All the terrors, the cold, exhaustion and trials she had to face. She would repeat it all again exactly how it had been all to know that Dodger was okay.

Even if she didn’t end up right in Dodger’s arms, all she needed was to see that he was alive and well.

Dodger had been the only person whom she had been with who actually cared about her. He took care to make sure she was safe, happy, and well. He sought to make her smile, make her laugh. He made her feel like she was worth something to someone… no one had done that before to her save her parents.

And for that he was worth coming to the Underworld.

“Because I wouldn’t be okay i-if I didn’t know that you were okay…. or at least alive… I-I don’t think I’d ever be okay… but I’m… I’m okay now. If you’re okay… I’m okay...”

She laughed a little then. “Sorta like Titanic… you know? ‘I jump you jump.’” Her words were mumbling a bit now almost slurring all together.

Minnie loved the soft feeling of his lips pressing over her forehead. He can do that gesture over and over again and she would love it all the same each time. She wanted to kiss him too, press her own lips to his cheek, even intertwine her fingers with him, but she was so tired… even talking felt so tasking.

“Mhmmm…” She nodded slowly. “She told me so herself…. she said t-that you’re good for me…”

DODGER:

God, see, this is why Dodger didn’t do this shit. Because he didn’t want to bring someone close enough to the point where he felt this. Where he felt this strong sense to just...love. To love and hold and keep her safe as long as he possibly could. For fucks sake, she told him that she wouldn’t be okay if he hadn’t been alive. To the point where she had to just come to check to make sure that that wasn’t the case.

Not wait until later, when it would show up in the goddamn paper.

He wanted to tell her. God, Dodger wanted to fucking tell her just how much she meant to him, but there was no way that he could say it without letting those three little words slip right out of his mouth. How could he tell her? That he was so thankful that she had come all this way down to make sure he was okay. That he was proud of her for making it as far as she did and for literally going through hell to get here. For showing him that maybe he was worth something. That his life wasn’t meaningless.

She helped give him meaning.

Hell her fucking mother was even able to see that. See that he was good for her.

“I’m glad I got your mother’s approval then.” Dodger teased with a smile because that had never fucking happened before. Not that he ever got close enough to someone to actually meet their family for real, but the ones that had walked in while Dodger was in their house...yeah. That never went over well.

He wanted to still make sure that she was okay before she closed her eyes and went to sleep in his arms though. “How was that...seein’ your mom?” Dodger didn’t want to bring up something terrible for her, but he didn’t want to let her sleep with a potential nightmare brewing from what she had witnessed and come in contact with.

MINNIE:

It felt nice to be held in Dodger’s arms. Minnie had probably thought this thought a hundred times already, but it was. It made everything simply disappear. Right now, she could close her eyes and just drift away comfortably forget about the darkness, the stuffiness of the heat, and the things she faced getting to where she was right now.

Back in the marshes while the girls had been wading through thick murky waters filled with the souls of the damned, Minnie had closed her eyes, yes, but hadn’t completely slept. How could she? How could anyone?

But here in Dodger’s arms she knew that she could.

Minnie didn’t know when it had all transitioned, when her feelings for Dodger had grown to the point where she would go through the Underworld without giving it a second thought. No thought towards her safety, what she would face and well…. her life really. She just knew she had to find him that nothing would be okay anymore if she hadn’t.

A part of her could say that that was simply who she was, because it was. Minnie always gave all of herself away if it meant being there for another. She would exhaust herself, bleed herself down if she had to, but to go to the Underworld?

She didn’t know when it had all began. When everything had grown had grown and she couldn’t place what it was, not when she was so, so tired. What she could place is that she wouldn’t be okay if anything were to happen to him, that she wouldn’t want to be with anyone else but him, that his arms were her absolute favorite place to be in, and that even with all that she went through Dodger was worth all of it and more.

Minnie was taken from her slurred thoughts when she heard Dodger speak. Her eyes were slowly becoming heavier, lids dropping in their heaviness.

“Hmmm? Oh…. my mom. It was…. it was really nice. I missed her…. I missed her so much…. but it was….” It was hard. The trial was something Minnie never wanted to experience again. “It was hard too…. really hard…” She shifted a little in his arms remembering the anger she had so secretly harbored for her mother and how she was made to see it’s ugly head at the Doors of Judgments.

“But… she’s okay… she’s at peace. I’m happy about that.”

DODGER:

You know, this moment really would be one that Dodger wouldn’t mind staying in for a good while. It felt...perfect.

Well, except from being locked in a prison in the middle of Hell.

Other than that it was great.

Dodger never ever, in a million years, thought that he was going to find someone as special as Minnie was in Swynlake. Never. He wasn’t exactly a fan of the entire magic spells springing on the town at the drop of a dime when he first arrived, but it was starting to seem like it might not be all that bad. Especially when it was because of one of those crazy spells that he even met her in the first place.

That gorgeous, shy little Puff that couldn’t find her damn quill.

He glanced at her periodically in the library that day, he remembered. Seeing her frantically look around for something instead of just using the one thing that made the most sense. She was frazzled, much like she had been after they first kissed. It brought a smile to his face just thinking about both.

When he looked down to her now though, he could see her struggling to keep her eyes open. Minnie was exhausted, he knew that. She needed to sleep despite how much Dodger wanted to just keep talking to her. Because it made this all feel so much more real. “You can go to sleep you knows. I ain’t gonna be mad at yous.” He adjusted his grip on her so that it was just a little looser, so that she had room to move if she wanted to to get comfortable. “I’m real glad that yous got to see her again though. You’re so strong, Mins.”

MINNIE:

Minnie instantly felt the adjustment in Dodger’s arms and it was as if her body moved all on it’s own inching just a little closer so that she was as closely cuddled as she could get. It felt so comfortable, even against the heat, it all felt comfortable and right…. Like she belonged right where she was.

One could also argue that Minnie herself was so beyond exhausted that dirt would feel just as comfortable, but thankfully she found herself being held and not having the option of dirt.

You’re so strong, Mins.

Minnie felt the words blur through her head, her eyes tiredly looking up at Dodger. She didn’t know if she would consider herself…. bold. She never felt as though she was. In fact, she often felt scared more so than anything. That’s what had her stray slightly away from Dodger when she had initially met Rita: her fear. Out of all four women that went down in this journey, she could easily tell she was the weaker link even when Violet was younger than she was. She wasn’t sure if bold was the correct word for her….

But she was so tired she couldn’t even think to argue against it. Instead, she smiled softly using the little energy she had left to lift her head a bit and place a small kiss on Dodger’s cheek. She had been wanting to do that since she had seen him if she was honest with herself.

“Thank you….” Was all she said in a small whisper as her head fell back onto Dodger’s shoulder.

You can go to sleep you knows.

Hmm, she wanted to. Minnie wanted nothing more than to drift far, far away in her sleep, allow the soreness and the heaviness of her muscles to lull her to unconsciousness. She didn’t want to leave Dodger alone though awake in this hell prison. She had come here for him, not to just leave him.

It was getting harder though to ignore the exhaustion. The heat felt thick adding an extra layer over her already worn body, Dodger’s heart beat sounded so strong and soothing against her ears and her body felt relaxed… it all got so hard that Minnie ended up succumbing to a deep sleep.

[setoangel01-fanfiction]

Disclosure - Part 2

Set Me Free - Chapter 13 (Previous Chapters)

Fandom: Sing 2016

Pairing: Johnny x Ash

Rated: T

Chapter Summary: …and perhaps Johnny learns more about Ash in the process…

Fanfiction.net

A03

It took all of three seconds for Ash to realize what she had done.

Blind panic setting in, Ash abruptly yanked herself back and away from Johnny. Frantically scooting across the cement where her skirt and leggings caught on the bumpy, rough asphalt beneath her rump; probably loosening a few seams in the process. All the while, Ash silently began cursing her brief lapse in judgment and abnormal actions; eyes widened and staring at Johnny, who had the same surprised expression she was undoubtedly wearing right now.

Just where the hell had that come from?!

Ash sat in stunned silence, chest heaving with frantic breaths and confusion as to what had gotten into her in first place. It was as if for those few brief seconds, she wasn't even in complete control of her body; rather allowing her pent up frustrations and emotions cater to her physical movements. Sure, his story was downright heart-breaking and tragic; the situation with his father's coldness toward Johnny bothered her immensely considering how he didn't allow it to get him down… but outright hugging him?!

Seriously?

Her?! - the very embodiment/poster child of the prickly porcupine - the who never bothered to hug anyone let alone a guy she barely knew?!

Ash stared wide-eyed at him for quite some time; taking notice of his elevated right arm that appeared to attempt to curl around her as if to perhaps return the hug - or at least that's what it looked like. She watched as he gingerly lowered it back to his side while wearing a rather embarrassed expression. If only he knew the amount of embarrassment she was feeling at this moment would overwhelm whatever his was.

Hell, even Johnny was staring back at her as if she'd grown two heads - probably questioning as to what she was going to say or do next that was completely out of character for the rebellious rocker.

Ash wasn't even certain of what she would do anymore.

"I-I'm sorry…" she finally gasped out like a fish out of water, "I really didn't mean to do that…I swear I di- " hands up in an almost surrender as she spoke.

"It's okay!" Johnny was quick to speak out and interrupt whatever the hell she was attempting to apologize for. "I-It's fine…" Johnny's gaze fell from hers for a second; appearing almost…disappointed? …what that meant she didn't care to ponder long so she dutifully ignored it.

Instead, Ash yanked her eyes away from that kind chestnut gaze; icy eyes refusing to acknowledge Johnny's questioning stare and questions he undoubtedly had about her strange behavior.

Feeling more than anxious, Ash stood to her feet. Not caring to notice how Johnny glanced over at her as she paced a few steps away and back again; her eyes frozen to her feet and the cement she treaded over. In these long, terse moments, all Ash could frustratingly think about was that brief hug.

Three measly seconds of her small fingers digging into the soft, worn leather jacket that easily creased under her touch. Face buried into his green jumper; the fabric pressing gingerly on her cheek as she squeezed him as hard as her tiny arms allotted. Even the small nuances of his scent still permeated her nostrils, warm, woodsy and strangely comforting… a glimpse of his heat pressed against her cheek and within those short moments, she found herself filled with contradiction. In that strange and out of character (for her anyway) moment, she wanted to apologize for her own behavior to him thus far; to offer to help regarding his situation even if it seemed out of the range of possibility…yet it didn't matter for the words simply wouldn't come. Ash didn't trust herself to speak; preferring to hide her face in his firm chest rather than facing his questions and trusting eyes.

Then it all came to a sudden halt when she had come to realize what she'd done.

Hugging him out of virtually nowhere like some kind of demented, needy individual. For being so cold to him thus far and for her to go out and embrace him for no other reason than she felt sorry for his situation and circumstance. How he held such unimaginable pain behind that kind smile and sweet demeanor and how genuine it was. It was as if her body did it of its own accord; that the walls she steadily built up around her heart shattered for merely a second. The side of her that wanted to keep the gorilla (and everyone else for that matter) at an arm's length seemingly didn't matter anymore…

Ash was more terrified than she could ever imagine being at that revelation. Could scarcely recall a moment when she allowed her emotions to control her like that…because that's all this was…wasn't it?

"I'm sorry." Ash spoke out as if to quell these rampant thoughts; to change the subject and hopefully quell this nausea boiling in her gut. "Ya know…about your dad."

If Johnny was surprised by the change in conversation, he didn't say anything. Spared her a simple glance over at her standing form and gave her back a small, non-reciprocated smile before replying.

"...Oh. Uh - thanks…" his voice a mere whisper when he finished.

"Yeah..." Ash kicked lightly at the scattered pebbles near her feet; doing anything to possible keep her mind occupied. Ash was lost in her own head for a moment when she heard him sniffle a bit; he tried to hide but she heard anyway. Accepting of her fate, she watched in barely withheld sadness as he wiped his wet eyes. Guilt and actual emotion were things she wasn't prepared to confront. She didn't know Johnny existed just over a month ago and it shocked her how much it truly saddened her to see him cry.

Ash hated it…

"I-I'm sure it'll work out." Ash shrugged; still finding it rather difficult to meet his eyes.

Johnny's questioning stare asked her what she meant without him having to say a word.

"...You know, you're a good singer." small shoulders shrugged while admitting it, "I-I bet if you wanted, you can earn money around town doing that. That way you're semi-living the dream and earning money for your dad's lawyer. Maybe then, he'll take your dream more seriously." Ash suggested; inwardly cringing at her own advice - she should be the last one giving advice about parental relationships when her own was in tatters.

"Thanks… M-Maybe that'll work." Johnny seemed to appreciate the compliment but when she mentioned his father, she saw the flash of emotion in his expressive eyes.

It was a good few moments before Johnny spoke again.

"Listen…" Johnny swallowed before continuing, "I'm sorry to drag you into this. It was my problem - I should have kept it to myself…"

"No." Ash spoke almost too suddenly.

"..." Johnny's brow ridges creased; his eyes slipping to hers with a questioning gaze.

"I was the one who asked - you just answered and for whatever the hell it's worth…I'm kinda glad you did. Really looked like you needed to get it off your chest…Helps to talk about it sometimes…" Ash shrugged, tempted to sit down next to him but held back, worried she'd do something crazy like hug him again.

"Thanks." Johnny muttered, running the back of his hand across his face.

"...Wait - what? You're thanking me? Heh. What for?" Ash chuckled louder than intended.

Legitimately confused as to what Johnny could possibly thank her for. In actuality, she was the one who should have been thanking him for everything he'd done for her in the short month they'd known each other. From giving her a ride to the moment he saved her life by blocking her with his own body from potentially fatal debris during the theater collapse.

"Listening…I-I never told anyone about this part of my life. You're actually the first." Johnny shrugged and Ash noticed a soft flush scattered about his cheekbones; Ash hating how her stomach twisted at the sight of it.

"...why me?"

"I dunno. You're just easy to talk to I s'ppose." Johnny replied and Ash really didn't believe it. Her whole life, she'd been the animal hardly anyone wanted to associate with given her actual spikes covering her head and back, dark clothing, resting bitch face, and rather prickly personality (pun not intended).

…and for Johnny to think she was approachable? It would be laughable had he not said it so genuinely.

"Are you shitting me?" she asked and Johnny's eyes widened at her sudden curse.

"W-What?"

"I mean, you've gotta be joking!"

"What do you mean?"

"Aw, come on. I'm not exactly an approachable animal by any stretch of the imagination."

"...why would you say that?"

"Aw, come on. I'm moody, literally covered in spikes, and I haven't been exactly nice to you since we've met." Ash felt as if she was rehashing a line. Recalling all of Lance's less than kind words to her over the years. Telling her to back off while he scored the gigs because she came off as unlikable or unapproachable; even downright rude. Ash recalled arguing with him about that saying he acted much of the same way but he excused himself saying he did it as a laid-back charm while she didn't possess that…

"It doesn't seem that way to me. You may have been a bit standoffish but that's to be expected between strangers. But since I've gotten to know you a bit more, I'd say you're a very nice person, Ash. If you weren't, you wouldn't have cried for me after hearing 'bout my dad..."

Ash froze for a moment under his intense gaze. It was as if she just felt the wetness gathered on her lashes and cheeks. Nearly slapping herself for not even bothering to wipe her face on her sleeve! For a second, she did just that before turning to him and clinging to anger before replying.

"It's been a long month, alright?" she defended her actions, hating to seem weak by crying. "And we just turned down by Buster and any hope of a career is kaput so tears were bound to happen eventually. You just caught me at the right time is all." she excused her behavior nervously and Johnny just smiled.

"...Regardless, I think you're very kind, Ash."

"Heh. If you say so." Ash muttered, eyes rolling a bit. Eventually straying from him as she lost herself to her thoughts.

The quietness that flooded the air this time around seemed a lot more calm. Not as tense and unsettling at it had been before they started this strange, albeit it rather…interesting conversation.

"Perhaps we should be going." Johnny's gentle voice barely disturbed the relaxing silence. Ash peered over at him to where he brushed his sleeve back to take a quick glance at his watch.

"Yeah..." Ash agreed but neither made a move to the truck. Didn't even attempt an inch toward the vehicle; neither vacating the spot they resided; both filled with trepidation on heading back even if it was only now someone opened up about it.

"It's-It's weird going back to an empty house." Johnny sighed, his statement didn't match the statement before so it felt as if it was thought out loud.

…Ash froze for a second, the familiarity with that statement hit her and she realized that perhaps her and Johnny had more in common than she thought.

"Yeah...Couldn't agree more.." Ash said before she even was aware the words left.

Eyes straying toward Johnny when he suddenly moved. The gorilla looking over at her as if something just dawned on him.

"Oh! T-That's right. Your boyfriend, right?" Johnny muttered out and a strange emotion flicked through his eyes but Ash didn't quite catch it.

"EX-boyfriend." Ash was sure to correct with a grunt; sudden anger at this whole damn situation rearing its ugly head. "…and yeah, I kicked his ass out."

"I'm sorry - that must have been hard. H-He um, was the porcupine that was with you at audition, right?"

"Yeah. That's him." Ash growled out.

"...ya mean the one that kept trying to convince you to not come back?" Johnny asked, voice grumbling the words and Ash's eyes widened and she stared over at him. Johnny flinched back at her imposing stare and questioning gaze; falling back on himself as if he didn't intend to say those words by how he was reacting.

Ash's brows furrowed, recalling that tense moment after she was accepted and Lance denied.

Lance's mutter of "…What?" as if it was the most shocking thing he'd ever heard.

Ash was more or less in shock, and if she could recall correctly, she said the exact same thing.

Questioning if she heard right and Buster had indeed wanted her and not Lance. Anger rising in her at Buster for not choosing both of them was short lived when Lance started to get really angry. Acting so damn insulted at the fact she was chosen over him; yanking her out of there by telling her it wasn't worth it. The fine cracks that had been growing over the course of their relationship were spreading like wildfire; this fine veneer slowly shattering when she came to realize Lance was not happy for her. Was willing for her to throw away such an amazing opportunity in the trash simply because he was not chosen. Called her a sell-out later on to discourage her from going…

Ash initially allowed him to pull her out of there; agreeing with Lance verbally but staring back at Buster; sheer astonishment that perhaps…he saw something in her no one else did before….

Not even her…

To think back and realize that moment had played out in front of Johnny and a room full of strangers.

Ash finally faced Johnny; her arms crossing as she stared at his profile, "Wait...You saw that?" she muttered out as almost an afterthought.

"...It was kind of hard not to notice." Johnny answered, face turned away from her and rather far off to his right.

Ash really wasn't sure how to respond; uncertain as to what, if anything, that meant.

"...if you don't mind me asking - what exactly happened between you two?" Johnny's voice cut through the terse silence and although it was prying and not something she was particularly happy with discussing with Johnny; Ash supposed he deserved an answer. The guy bared his soul to her so what was wrong with answering this rather easy question?

"Heh. Other than him being an obsessive control-freak and dickishly cheating on me after five years together? Eh - not much to tell." Ash shrugged, her eyes straying from Johnny and off to the distance before she could elaborate further.

"We dated for almost two years before moving in together. Three years and many failed gigs later, we auditioned for Moon's show. You know how that went. Anyway, he tried to coerce me into giving it up but I didn't want to. So, going against his wishes, I decided to do something for us - to win the competition and open a studio. Yet, one night after auditions, I came home…where I found him with some chick we knew back in high school." Ash swallowed thickly, that night painfully flashing in her head yet she continued.

"Long story short, he basically threw away our entire relationship because he was fucking petty that he didn't get chosen and deciding to take it out on me by finding someone else…So, I threw his ass out." Ash muttered out; hating how her relationship with Lance could be fit into a few painful sentences and feel somewhat complete.

It said a lot about how stupid all of it was…

"..." Johnny was completely silent. So much so Ash peered up at him and seen a look of anger she didn't expect; it had her stomach fluttering for reasons she didn't care to ponder.

"Well, that's about it..." she book-ended it; eyes slipping to the ground.

"So, let me get this straight - y-you're a wonderful singer and guitarist who deserved to get chosen and he was bloody upset that you're better than him? It should have been fairly obvious." Ash's eyes widened a bit at the compliment; hardly recalling the last person to ever blatantly tell her she was a formidable singer and outright better than Lance. She supposed she had just gotten used to Lance's demands of her to keep it down to even be confident in her own voice.

"I just don't get it...How could he do that to ya?" Johnny asked a moment later; barely even bothered hiding the obvious anger in his British voice. She could tell he probably wanted to speak further but kept silent to allow her time to answer.

Ash shrugged, "…I wish I knew…" hating how her voice broke near the end as familiar pain welled up deep inside of her.

"I mean, ya said you dated him for five years - and he cheats on you just because of that?! If he was your boyfriend and cared for you, he should 'ave been happy for ya! Supported you one hundred percent not go out to find someone else! Who does that!?" Johnny muttered out and Ash flinched a bit at how ridiculous she felt in this.

How stupid and blind she felt now when during her relationship with Lance is was so obvious because when Johnny spoke of being happy for her and supporting her…Lance was never any of that.

"The warning signs were there all along. I just ignored them I guess; just a naive girl who really thought he loved me." Ash shrugged it off, "Hindsight is 2020 after all…" she could have, should have said more but she didn't in fear of losing it. The pain was still so fresh and she feared that the slightest nick could start that scab bleeding all over again.

It was a few moments before Johnny spoke up, "'m sorry you had to go through that, Ash. Must make it hard to trust anyone - especially if someone you thought you knew for five years could do that to ya."

Ash furrowed her brows at that statement, sparing a glance over at him to where he was looking out over the beautiful scenery in front of them.

"All that time I was with him, he made it his mission to put me down while at the same time making it seem like he gave a crap. He never did. Kept telling me to pipe down and any fame I got was because of him - so many gigs he played where no producers called him - he claimed it was because I was holding him back. Ugh…" Ash muttered out, surprised at her lack of filter at this moment but she didn't care.

It felt as if her entire career was already grumbled and blowing around in the wind anyway, so what the hell did it matter if Johnny knew any of this? It felt almost like a release button much like with Rosita; except instead of crying like a sad-sack, she was more frustrated and pissed than anything. It was a nice change.

"I think he was the one holding you back." Johnny's words were soft, accent thicker than usual as he spoke them.

If Ash was surprised at that statement, she didn't allow it to show. Mind flitting about to Lance's harsh words over the years; pushing her to the background as if she was just lucky to be there in the presence of his "musical genius". That if they made it anywhere, it was because of his talent and not her own…

It went on for so long that she began to believe it. Yet Buster saw through Lance's act; saw straight through the bullshit to see something she believed even Lance acknowledged and feared…

Ash didn't need him.

All Lance did was control her and control her damn well but she never needed him to succeed. Hell, it appeared even Johnny saw through the facade she was so certain about for all those years.

Damn, did she feel stupid…

"...Yeah. I know." Ash muttered out instead. Not trusting herself to say much more to elaborate but appreciating his words nonetheless. "I'm much better off without him even if none of this worked out in the end - at least if I do make anything of myself-"

"You will." Johnny spoke with more assurance than she felt about anything at this moment. For a split second she met his eyes and knew immediately that perhaps Johnny was right.

"...I'll do it on my own." she finished her thought and Johnny smiled at her.

For a few more moments, silence was allowed to reign. A comfortable, relaxing time. Just the two of them listening to the sounds of nature and soft wind flitting about; calmness and gentle ease of each others presence comforting even if neither would admit it.

"I-I'm glad the cheating asshole is gone but it's still weird being alone. I never lived alone before and it's just an adjustment."Ash brought it back to the whole thing that started this conversation. She hated to admit she felt lonely in that empty apartment. Even if Lance was a cheater and deserved no sympathy or redemption, Ash admitted she'd gotten used to at least having someone there when she went home. Not just white walls and humming electricity and the droning of the television to fill the deafening silence.

"...Yeah…It is." Johnny agreed with a shrug, "You're just used to being greeted going home - now it's just quiet."

"Not in the good way either."

"Heh. Yeah."

There was a shift in that moment.

A familiarity neither had felt in quite some time. Almost a comfort to have someone to talk to. So much so, Ash allowed herself to sit next to him again; realizing the hug was most likely a one time thing and she didn't plan a repeat performance.

Ash sat there - not necessarily thinking about anything right now. Just allotting the sounds and scenes of nature to overtake her senses - to breathe in the cool air and warm sun still glistening down on her fur. She had to admit - Eddie and Buster had quite the view up here. Much better than crowded streets and cars honking all hours of the day and night; there was no peace out her window - but here…

"Well…shall we?" Johnny suddenly asked whilst standing to his feet, "I think my bum fell asleep."

"Heh. Mine too." she chuckled and froze when Johnny suddenly offered his hand.

Ash just stared up for him for a moment - the weight in her chest feeling lighter even if the circumstances didn't change one bit. Whataya know? Talking about it had helped and she felt…closer to this guy somehow. If she liked that feeling or not - she couldn't tell you.

With slight hesitation, Ash took his hand.

[honestfutures]

When You’re Alone, You’re So Alone

1700 w

Cameron Howe/Donna Clark, Cameron Howe/Tracy

ao3

who the fuck is tracy you may be thinking. well tracy is the space bike booth babe with two lines because i can't do anything normal

At night sometimes she crept out of bed and wandered through the streets of Tokyo, a stranger to them and to herself. She wondered, dimly, if feeling detached was part of growing up.

The flight from Tokyo was nine and a half hours. Atari was paying for first class (it was nice; free champagne), and, for the first time in a while, after the hectic crunch time for Space Bike IV, Cameron had time to think.

She was doing okay, or at least she thought she probably was. She and Tom didn’t ever fight, after all; instead they seemed to orbit each other, living in the same space but on different planes of existence. Oh, they talked, they shared a bed, but there was a degree of separation she just couldn’t quite get around. Part of it was work, both of them so busy since moving to Tokyo, hell, working on a game a year was enough to overwhelm most people on its own, but part of it was something else. Cameron didn’t get as sad or angry (or joyful, or excited) as she used to get, either, emotions like big gaping wounds in her chest. Just a little hollow, a little numb. It was better than the alternative, she supposed.

At night sometimes she crept out of bed and wandered through the streets of Tokyo, a stranger to them and to herself. She wondered, dimly, if feeling detached was part of growing up.

Because she was, now. Grown up, that is; she had a nice husband and a job working on her own successful franchise, and if one was dull and the other more out of her control than she would like, well, that was adulthood was about. Giving up risks, to be safe. It would be childish to want more. Immature, as Tom often told her, when commenting on her clothes, her hair, her attitude (though that had diminished as those things had changed, little by little), like he had married a woman unfinished. It was okay; he meant well. Either way he would not take away her name; she had done away with so many things but that she would not give up.

By the time the plane landed, she hadn’t yet managed to decide if she was happy.

When she got to the booth it was impressive, a far cry from her haphazard spray painted construction at Comdex 83. There was a futuristic cardboard bike, a large Atari banner, and behind the whole thing, a backdrop of space.

There was a girl too, next to the bike, dressed in camo and a pair of aviator goggles.

“Hi! I’m Tracy,” said the girl. For a second Cam just stared. She knew Space Bike was about her, it had always been, but seeing it come to life- someone dressed, essentially, as her younger self- it was weird, kind of.

“Hi, Tracy.”

Tracy leaned in, conspiratorially. “They told me not to sit on the bike, ‘cause I might crush it.”

 Despite herself Cam laughed. It did look pretty flimsy. “Probably good advice.”

She sat down at the booth and the next few hours were a blur, signature after signature for teen after teen. Every time she saw a girl clutching her copy of Space Bike among the sea of boys, Cameron felt a pang, because- that was her, or it could have been, in a different time.

And then suddenly someone tossed a Parallax diskette down in front of her. She looked up (and up) and-

“Can you make it out to Joe?” he said.

Somehow she’d known he’d be here. What she didn’t expect was the relief- she hadn’t been sure how she’d feel but she didn’t hate him anymore, the scars healed over into something closer to pity, and she was homesick enough that a familiar face, even his, felt like a port in a storm. Slowly, she smiled.

Before leaving she shoved through the teenage boys and took a picture with Tracy, who scribbled her number on the Polaroid.

Joe, though he would never say it, was looking for absolution. She wished him the best, she really did, but God, the guy needed badly to unfuck his whole life before he hurt someone else. Maybe some people weren’t meant to be around others; ticking time bombs who blew up in your face as soon as you got too close.

Still, for all his faults he was still Joe MacMillan, engaging and familiar, and she’d loved him, once, so she walked with him and they talked for a while. It was- it was fun, actually, easily falling right back into that rhythm. They’d always had a kind of natural affinity, maybe just the mutual understanding of two deeply fucked up people with dead parents and lonely childhoods, but like this it was safe to enjoy, chaste and platonic.

It felt good to let go of anger. She told him so; absolved him as best she could of his sins so maybe he could start again fresh. After all, seeing him like this with dark circles around his eyes and no future in sight- well, it was sad. He was just a man, and he had no one.

“Hey, so…” she started, “I have this Atari party that I have to go to that would be so much more fun if you would come and get drunk with me.” As she said it she wasn’t sure if it was more for her or for him.

“What, so I can fend off your groupies?”

“Exactly,” she said, but her groupies weren’t the ones who had come to her like a man to church.

Cameron hadn’t danced in years.

She still wasn’t good at it at all, but Joe didn’t seem to mind, content to bounce along with her, and she certainly didn’t care what he or anyone else thought. There was good music, and good alcohol, too, at this party.

A girl, slightly tipsy, grabbed her shoulder. “I loove Space Bike!”

“Oh!” She grinned “And I love you!” And there were good fans.

“Cameron!” And then everything ground to a halt as Donna emerged from the crowd, like a ghost from a time Cam would rather forget.

“How are you? How’s Japan?”

Cameron couldn’t move. She felt cold. “What are you doing here?”

Donna’s face fell as she floundered, some excuse about making appearances at the parties. And then- “Okay… Look, I… I came to see you.”

“I don’t know why you would do that.” Even as she said it it felt cruel but the words coming out of her mouth felt a million miles away. She couldn’t do this, she needed to-

Still Donna was talking, begging her to give her a chance, have lunch with her, and her voice was too loud and too close, the room suddenly cramped. “I can’t believe this is happening,” she muttered under her breath. She had to get out of here.

Donna frowned, clearly hurt. “What, you’re gonna tell me that you’ve completely moved on?”

“No.” Suddenly something snapped, and those emotional scars she’d been so proud of having healed over hours earlier ripped wide open again and now they were bleeding all over the shag carpeting. “I think about you and me every day. And it makes me furious.”

“So, let’s fix it.” She sounded desperate now, “I wanna fix it.”

“I don’t.” Cam said. She didn’t want to think about Donna. Nevermind that she was always on her mind- she wanted to think of nothing, right now, she wanted featureless white noise instead of sharp painful thoughts of Donna, Donna smiling and Donna laughing and Donna betraying her, again and again on a loop. She turned away, looking for something, anything-

She bumped into Joe’s chest and he caught her arms. “Everything okay?”

Cameron glanced up at him and for a minute- but then she looked into his eyes and saw it, saw the way he looked at her. “You knew she’d be here,” she said, softly. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Joe said nothing; he didn’t have to. He’d expected this, her weakness, was here to scoop her up at her most vulnerable. He did not deserve absolution. He didn’t deserve anything.

Cam pushed his arms away and stumbled into the hallway. She walked until she found a payphone, pulled a picture out of her pocket and dialed the number written on it in sharpie. “Tracy, hey, it’s Cameron. You wanna get a drink?”

Tracy, it turned out, was a big fan. She loved Space Bike; had inhaled it, really, and now as she sat across from Cameron in the hotel bar she gushed about the narrative and the visuals and the potential for exploration. She had never even heard of Mutiny.

She was so animated, Cameron thought, leaning over the table and waving her hands around as she spoke. Tracy was an aspiring actress (the cosplay modelling was a temporary gig), and she had those overly ambitious dreams that kids always have, before they realize things don’t ever turn out that way; she wanted to move to Hollywood and make it big, become the next it girl. God, she was so young. What a difference a few years made.

Cam was content just to let her talk, sipping her drink and nodding along.

“So,” she said, the next time Tracy paused for breath. “You wanna get out of here?”

When she took off her shirt, she had a tattoo of a butterfly on her shoulder (For personal growth, she said). Cameron kissed it, kissed her everywhere, on tanned skin where hers was pale and freckled.

“Hey,” Tracy said, frowning as she ran her fingers over Cam’s wedding ring. “Why…”

“It doesn’t matter,” she replied quickly, and it didn’t; Tom wasn’t here, Tom was irrelevant and anyway he wasn’t who she’d been thinking of in the first place. It felt good to be touched by a woman. It’d been a while, Tom was an idiot, and Tracy was soft and gentle. She’d intended it as a distraction, at first, a way to get the hurt off her mind but this was better than that, better than what she would’ve had, no doubt, if she’d gone with Joe instead. It was light and giggly and it was fun and after, in the morning, her mind felt clear, clearer than it had been in a while.

Maybe there was a balance to be struck, between numb and hurting.

Cameron wheeled her suitcase through the hallway and stopped in front of the door. Then she took a deep breath, and knocked.